39 A Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (part 4)

Wu Zixu knew that Yan Xuanye was an immortal even before Xuanye himself even realized his own existence.

Yet, Xuanye's wife and their adopted children didn't know about his immortality. They could feel something odd with him. Xuanye had never fallen ill. Although many times he got severed wounded in the battles, yet he had always recovered in a quick time. Not to mention, there's even no trace of a scar on his skin. Although he had a thick beard that covered his face, everyone could see that there's no single wrinkle on his face, and his hands were just as soft as a young people's hand. His wife looked much older than him, and even his oldest son got wrinkles or his face.

His wife and children could not understand why Xuanye didn't age. But after all, Xuanye was a good husband and a great father. They could not complain. But a woman is a woman. And as Xuanye's wife grew older, she became insecure and jealous of any young woman who spoke to her husband.

Xuanye was a kind man, and he loved his wife so much. To please his wife, he avoided talking with young women, especially the beautiful ones. He also paid more attention to his ailing wife.

Suddenly, Xuanye got news from his servant that his wife was struck ill and demanded him to go home.

Xuanye felt uneasy and answered, "Is her illness serious? We are at war now. I'm not free to leave my post!"

"Master, Madame wants you to go home," the servant said. "Madame said that she might die if she couldn't see you today!"

"Alright, you may go home now. I will finish my work here and go home as soon as possible," Xuanye said. He then delegated his works to his trusted men.

"But General Yan, Crown Prince You, Bo Pi, and the others are coming to do some inspection! They may not be happy if you're not here!" his adjutant, Ji Nan said.

"My wife is seriously ill, and I could not forgive myself if there's something ever happened to her! Besides, I'm not neglecting my job. Everything is in order. As long as no one breaches the rule, then everything will be fine until I return. And you have to make sure no one breaches the rules I set!" Xuanye said. "Tell Prince Crown You that no matter what, I will be back before sunset!"

Xuanye then left hurriedly to go home to see his wife. He didn't know that someone had made a deliberate plot to make him leave his post.

Meanwhile, as scheduled, Crown Prince You, Bo Pi, Minister Shi, and the others came to the military post on the southern gate to check the condition.

"Look at that, Your Highness!" said Bo Pi, pointed to the southern part where the Yue soldiers camped. "They still have around thirty thousand soldiers! While we…"

"Where's General Yan?" Crown Prince You said.

"Report: Your Highness! General Yan's wife is seriously ill. Therefore General Yan had to leave for a moment to check her. He would return before sunset!" Ji Nan replied.

"Oh!" Crown Prince You nodded.

"We are at war, how could he just leave his post?" Bo Pi knitted his eyebrows. "If we are not at war, then he could freely leave. This General Yan is too audacious!"

"His wife is ill. As long as he returns before sunset, then it should be fine!" Crown Prince You said.

"Yes, Your Highness," Bo Pi said.

"Your Highness, I think it's enough with the southern gate. I will take you to the eastern gate! Your Highness could see by yourself that we're almost defenseless there. Only two thousand soldiers guarded that gate. And that's because we don't have enough soldiers!" Minister Shi said.

"Hmm!" Crown Price You said. He pondered and calculated if he should concede with ten cities, as suggested by Bo Pi and Minister Shi. Or should he trust his gut and General Yan's suggestion?

"Your Highness, please, let us proceed now to go to the eastern gate!" Bo Pi said.

Ji Nan - General Yan's trusted adjutant, heard the plan and said, "Your Highness, Minister Bo Pi, General Yan said that no one, especially high-level officials go to the city gates, especially eastern gate! Your Highness should return to the palace first. Please come back tomorrow when General Yan is on duty if Your Highness still wants to see the condition on the other gates."

"This kingdom belongs to the king and the crown prince! How dare you forbid His Highness when he wants to do an inspection!" Bo Pi said.

"I dare not," Ji Nan said. "But, this is a military order!"

"Military order? Do you have the guts to disobey Crown Prince?" Bo Pi asked.

==========

When Yan Xuanye arrived home, he was surprised. His wife was not ill. Madame Yan was waiting for his arrival at the main hall with a young woman.

Yan Xuanye felt something was not right. "My wife, what's going on here? The servant said that you are ill!"

Madame Yan pointed at that young woman and said, "Laoye, how could you have another wife outside?" She started to cry hysterically.

"What?" General Yan disbelieved his ears.

The young woman knew that General Yan's weakness was his wife. And Madame Yan's biggest flaw was her jealousy. The young woman deliberately came to General Yan's house claimed that she was General Yan's wife to make General Yan left his post.

It was Fan Li who used the trick to make Crown Prince You unprotected and fell into Bo Pi's trap.

While General Yan was busy at home since his wife cried hysterically, Bo Pi was executing his plan at the eastern gate of the city wall.

Bo Pi managed to persuade Crown Prince You to inspect the east gate. But on the way, he changed the route, and instead of going to the east gate, he took the prince to the west gate.

At the western gate, Crown Prince You saw there were many civilians were queueing to enter the city.

"See Your Highness!" Bo Pi said, "General Yan didn't let our civilians enter the city. As a result, many of our civilians died under the Yue soldiers!"

Crown Prince You took pity on them and ordered the western gate to be opened.

The commander in charge didn't want to open up the gate. After some argumentations, Crown Prince You threatened the commander. The commander could not refuse, and he opened up the gate.

Crown Prince You had never thought that Bo Pi would cooperate with the enemies to kill him. Those civilians were the Yue army who dressed up like Wu citizens. Many of them were trained assassins to kill Crown Prince You. One of the assassins was Yue Maiden.

Once the gate was opened, these fake civilians rushed inside and killed the guards guarding the gate. Thousands of the Yue army marched into the city.

Crown Prince You was too late to realize that he was tricked. Yue Maiden captured him.

Yue forces then entered the Wu capital and set fire to Fuchai's Gusu Palace. Luckily, when they started to set fire, General Yan had returned and led his soldiers to expel the Yue army from the city.

General Yan ordered the western gate to be closed. He called some troops from the southern and eastern gates to capture or kill the Yue army entering the city.

The Yue army was led by two generals, Yue Maiden, who led the soldiers who disguised as civilians. The other one was Shi Lingfu.

Yue Maiden managed to get out of the city before General Yan closed the gate. Shi Lingfu and his men were trapped and captured by the Wu army.

Crown Prince You was brought in front of Goujian and Fan Li.

Crown Prince You was only a boy when Goujian and Fan Li were captured and had to be Fuchai's horse-keepers. As a boy, he sometimes would mock or angrily slap his horse-keepers. And that day, his life was in the hand of one of the horse-keeper he used to slap.

Crown Prince You's face turned to pale. "Goujian, my father spared your life once. Now you have to spare my life!"

Goujian said nothing, and he stared at Crown Prince You.

A report came to Goujian, informing him that Shi Lingfu and his men were captured.

"Our ten thousand soldiers!" Fan Li said. "I don't know how many of them are now dead and how many are captured! We underestimate General Yan!"

Goujian sighed. "We are running out of time. Fuchai might return soon!"

Fan Li and Goujian were still discussing any possibilities they should make when a report came to them. A messenger from Wu came and sent a negotiation letter.

"Should we release the crown prince as an exchange of Shi Lingfu and our three thousand soldiers?" Goujian asked Fan Li after he read the letter from Wu. He passed the note to Fan Li.

Fan Li nodded. "Our three thousand soldiers are more valuable than the crown prince! Besides, when we make an exchange, some of our soldiers could attack the eastern gate. And if they dare to cheat us, we could kill the crown prince!"

Wu and Yue agreed to make an exchange. Crown Prince You exchanged with Shi Lingfu and three thousand Yue soldiers. They decided to do the deal in front of the eastern gate two days later at noon.