The Empress’ Livestream

Jiang Pengji smiled and ridiculed him, saying, “You don’t sound too excited.”

Yan Lin stared at her in silence with his obsidian-like eyes.

Jiang Pengji knew what his grudge was about. Her eyes flashed cunningly like a pair of bright stars threatening to dominate the night sky—fearless and carefree.

“I know you’re upset, but you guys should thank me. If it not for me, Xu Pei wouldn’t have let us do this so easily. He didn’t even need to take any action. If he had pushed it off for several days, it would all be too late. After Chief Yang showed them what he was capable of, other lords developed some respect and fear for him, but that can’t guarantee his safety forever. If the alliance ends up wasting too much time at Jiamen Pass, they will still have to pick someone to spearhead. Who do you think they will pick then? Chief Yang might still be their first choice. So it’s really not too bad to be getting out of here, is it?”

Yan Lin still found letting someone from another force get permission from Xu Pei on his behalf disturbing. Not to mention that his lord would lose a lot of the credit that they deserved.

Yan Lin’s face darkened even more. He turned away from Jiang Pengji’s face, resisting the urge to throw a punch at it.

In truth, Jiang Pengji had stolen their thunder and credit. But according to her mini-speech, Yang Jian and Yan Lin were somehow supposed to be grateful.

A genius at twisting things indeed.

“This guy is something else…”

After parting ways, they went back to their camps to get ready for the mission. Yan Lin, who had been silent the whole way back, finally made a comment about Jiang Pengji.

“Like father, like son. He’s Liu She’s son, what else did you expect? A nice and gentle young fellow? The only thing that surprised me was that this Liu Xi was not just good at fighting, but talented at talking too. Now, that reminded me of Zhengze, a punk that worries me all the time!”

In Yang Jian’s eyes, Jiang Pengji represented the ideal type of son he had always wished he’d had. In comparison, Yang Tao, his son, only made him worry.

Hearing Yang Jian complaining about Yang Tao again, as usual, Yan Lin got an impulse to defend his best friend.

“Zhengze is a warm-hearted man with a sense of justice and good temper. That’s way better than being sinister.”

Even though his buddy was not the brightest star in the sky, Yan Lin still believed that Yang Tao the trouble maker was better than Jiang Pengji. No one could compete with him.

Yang Jian let out a bitter laugh. “You can call it warm-hearted, I call it hot-headed. The good thing is, this punk might have done something really good in his previous life to have you as his friend. With you on his side, I don’t have to worry that someone will get to him after I die.”

Yang Jian had quite a few kids, but Yang Tao was his only son and was also his first wife’s son. The kid was his favorite.

Too bad that Yang Tao seemed to have been born without any prudence or caution. He had caused so much trouble, making Yang Jian worry all the time. Yang Jian even blamed his now lackluster beard on his son. It used to look a lot fuller and brighter.

He had never gotten a break until Yan Lin entered Yang Tao’s life.

Yan Lin laughed and said, “My lord, you are in the prime of your life. Even in three or five decades, you will still look like a young man.”

Yang Jian caressed the beard he had once been proud of. They went back to their camp with their guards to get their soldiers ready for the action.

A little while before the scheduled departure time, Yan Lin paid another visit to Jiang Pengji to discuss the mission.

Liu Xi and Liu She’s camps were pretty close to each other. When Yan Lin got to his new ally’s camp, he saw that although Liu Xi’s men were running around getting ready, Liu She’s camp looked suspiciously quiet. He knitted his brows and kept his questions to himself.

“My father is not a big fan of fighting and killing. He only attended this alliance meeting as a bystander.” Jiang Pengji seemed to have read his mind. She added with a smile, “Taking this unexpected action to stop Prince Changshou’s elite squad would be too much for him, so I didn’t want to bother him with it.”

“If you don’t get your father’s help, you’ll only have 10,000 men. Will that be enough?” Yan Lin asked.

“Yes, enough. Combined, we have about 25,000 men. If we added my father’s force too, it would make us way more conspicuous.”

They planned to surprise the enemy, so being unexpected was the point.

If they had too many men with them and were spotted, their likelihood of success would be severely impacted. In the worst scenario, they would be destroyed.

Yan Lin looked a bit relieved. “That makes sense.”

Jiamen Pass was located in a tricky spot surrounded by mountains. It would be very difficult to go around it to get to Chenzhou.

Difficult, but not impossible.

“To get around Jiamen Pass, we have two options.” As the primary representative for Yang Jian’s force, Yan Lin knew his stuff. He’d had the nerve to propose a plan like that based on his thorough consideration and preparation. So even though the fight would be totally on the road, he was full of confidence. “One is by water. The currents would be very dangerous, not to mention that we will have to go against the flow of the river. Those who are not extremely good in water probably won’t make it.”

Yang Jian’s men were mostly from Dongmen County in Zhangzhou where there were a lot of turbulent rivers. They were no doubt good in the water.

The water route to get around Jiamen Pass seemed below average to them.

But the majority of Jiang Pengji’s soldiers couldn’t even swim. Awkward.

Feng Zhen smiled and pointed at one of the mountainous paths on the map.

“Is this the other option?”

“Yes. The only thing is that it’s not an easy way either. All kinds of wild beasts and poisonous bugs are often seen there. Local people usually avoid that area for fear of danger and getting lost.”

In other words, if Jiang Pengji wanted to stop Prince Changshou, she only had those two options. If she preferred to stay safe and take a third, longer route, it would take a long time. If they did that, they would also run a bigger risk of being discovered by Prince Changshou’s scouts.

The two routes Yan Lin picked were the shortest.

At normal speed, it would only take them one night to get around Jiamen Pass.

“Deal! Just tell us the time and spot, we’ll wait for you there!” Jiang Pengji gave a wide smile.

Yan Lin looked shocked.

The streaming screen was filled with comments appraising her dominant and powerful presence.

Liuli Huoyu: Wow! That’s my streamer! The ultimate personification of dominance!

Koala Off the Tree: What? What did the streamer do that you all say that she rocks?

Cha Mifei: What? Did you miss it? Remember that the streamer said that Yang Jian’s men were all good swimmers and that they would choose the waterway with full confidence. The streamer’s guys can’t even swim, so they had to pick the mountainous one. The mountainous one is longer and more energy-consuming. Even on the map, it looks longer. But the streamer said she would wait at the destination for Yang Jian’s force. If that doesn’t rock, I don’t know what does.

Saipu: Um, can I say that? Even though that did rock, it was more annoying.

Yan Lin’s eyes burned with flames after that brief shock.

In front of someone so unpredictable and with such bizarre ambition, few could keep their cool.

Even Jiang Pengji’s men sometimes couldn’t stand her weird sarcasm.

“Fine, if you’re so confident, my lord, let’s meet right here.” Yan Lin pointed at a specific spot on the map. He had regained his calm and smiled.

“Good.”