JINGNAN CAMPAIGN 4

Liu Ku himself - squeezed in the pulling between the two princes - now smiled sarcastically.

"Yan Wang, I am really sorry, I should follow Zhou Wang. Because it has been my commitment."

Zhu Su was so touched as he heard Liu Ku's words.

"Nevertheless, I will still make a deadly disease for you."

Zhu Su's affected feeling disappeared instantly. He yelled angrily, "Liu Ku! You have said before that you will be loyal to me whatever it takes, haven't you? Why do you say like that right now? Do you want to stand on two boats?!"

"Helping Yan Wang won't make me stand on two boats, as you and Yan Wang are on the same fighting boat."

"But for the matter of principle, we are different!"

"Your Highness, you said that you are willing to get rid of your kindness? To win this war, you have agreed to be a ruthless and unmerciful leader? Then why do you still keep your lenient heart?"

Zhu Su gritted his teeth, but he did not reply to Liu Ku's argument.

Liu Ku turned to Zhu Di. "Alright, Your Highness. I have found some animals, with them we could spread more deadly disease than we do right now. Then we will look for the dirtiest areas in villages within Jiangsu * . That will be easy to do since almost every village there has poor sanitation, and there are so many people who are impoverished as well as uneducated, they don't pay attention to healthcare. This diseased animals will interact with the other healthy animals and pass the disease on to them. They will also poop in the river. So, if the food and water consumed by the people is not clean, they don't notice the importance of cleanliness, eat and drink carelessly, then they will get the disease easily. And so the epidemic begins..."

"Wait a minute!" Zhu Su interrupted. "What if you pass the disease on to the imperial soldiers? Hence we won't sacrifice any innocent people."

"If we pass it to the imperial army, in the battlefield there must be some imperial soldiers whose blood will be shed and maybe splashes onto Yan Wang's soldiers. And then Yan Wang's soldiers will fall sick too. We are self-defeating. Yet it's a different case if we pass it on to ordinary people. We can also monitor the people from our province and prevent them to go to the contaminated areas. This will not harm our side."

"We can make them die before fighting, can't we?"

"What if those sick soldiers are still determined to war? They think they will die soon, anyway?"

"But..."

Zhu Su's words were interrupted by a soldier who came to report, "May I report, Your Highnesses!..."

"Wait a minute! Don't you see that we are having serious discussion?!" Zhu Su shouted, annoyed since his words got interrupted.

"I do apologize, my Lord... but this report is very important! Your Highnesses, the Emperor has sent an army of fifty thousand people led by General Li Jinglong to attack us, in lieu of General Geng Bingwen's defeat last time."

"Li Jinglong?..." Zhu Su's annoyance turned into curiosity. It felt like he was very familiar with that name, he heard it recently, but where...

"Huh, that old man is no different from Geng Bingwen, so pretentious and arrogant, we will definitely defeat him easily!" Zhu Di commented quickly.

Yao Guangxiao, a military strategist for the Yan Fan Wang Guo who was a monk, said, "Your Highness, if the enemy is arrogant, then we will not be the same as them. Do not immediately underestimate our enemy even if he is the real stupid. Because it will make us as stupid as him. And make it more difficult for us to win this war. Moreover, I have a hunch, dealing with Li Jinglong won't be as easy as defeating Geng Bingwen."

Suddenly Zhu Su was able to recall who Li Jinglong actually was. "Li Jinglong... he's the general who arrested me and my family, as well as took us to the exile in Yunnan!..."

"Oh, so he is the executor for your punishment?" Zhu Di asked, curious. "Is he also assigned to punish other younger brothers?"

"Maybe... Because he said, the Emperor is eager to punish all Fan Wangs, just wait and see, soon the other Fan Wangs will also be arrested and punished..."

Zhu Di's face hardened. "Hoo, it seems that I am now granted with the opportunity to avenge you, as well as all my younger brothers who have been treated cruelly by him... Very good! I am getting even more desirous to finish him off!"

"But Brother Di, I agree with Master Yao. Li Jinglong doesn't look arrogant and pretentious, not such the kind of opponents who can be easily defeated. You have to be careful of him," Zhu Su made a suggestion.

Zhu Di turned speechless.

"What you two say makes me a bit worried..." He hooked Liu Ku up. "I'll borrow your Changshi for a while. I need to understand more about how to spread the epidemic."

"Brother Di?! You will really use that strategy?!..."

"Of course! Especially if our opponent is much stronger than us!" Zhu Di stared at Zhu Su, very seriously. "Su! Have you forgotten what Fu Huang once said? A leader must be able to perform the Principle of Wang Dao and Ba Dao at the same time. There is a moment when you have to be gentle and compassionate, and there is a moment when you have to remove all of your kindness and have the heart to do cruelty! I find that you haven't been capable to do the Principle of Ba Dao. How can you be a competent leader? And how can we win against Yunwen then?!"

Once again, Zhu Su could only grit his teeth in silence. Zhu Di continued to look at him sharply, as did Liu Ku.

"Alright!" Zhu Su waved his hand. "Do everything you want!"

Zhu Su thus went out of the room.

...

* Jiangsu = one of the provinces in China, where Yingtian was located.