Meanwhile, Luo He had already settled the matter of the Crown Prince with Jin Mulan. His darker ideas about punishment had remained exactly where they belonged, in his imagination.
Jin Mulan had told him not to interfere in The Crown Princeses of Yue's destruction personally, and Luo He had still, reluctantly agreed. He trusted his wife enough to leave the matter alone.
Even if his mind continued producing these increasingly creative solutions whenever he became bored. With that matter temporarily set aside, Luo He turned toward the next stage of the war against Wu.
He went to meet Gin Wenyuan and Gin Hao. The meeting was a lot more interesting than the battlefield had been. He had already accomplished what many generals would have considered impossible.
Defeating the enemy with three hundred thousand with only twelve thousand five hundred cavalry men. Now he wanted to know whether Gin Wenyuan was prepared to honor the bargain they had made.
More importantly, Luo He had another offer in mind. Gin Wenyuan wanted a throne. He had never said it aloud. He had no reason to. The old man was experienced.
Experienced enough to understand that revealing such a great ambition could be dangerous. He possessed enough wealth, influence, territory, soldiers, and a very high reputation that stretched across the region.
Yet there was one thing he did not possess. A crown. Luo He saw it immediately. Gin Wenyuan, naturally, attempted to hide it. "I already have everything I need. I have no interest in becoming emperor." He said.
Luo He stared at him for several seconds before suddenly bursting into laughter. His shoulders shook, and he had to wave one hand in front of himself as though the sight had genuinely amused him.
"You stupid old man. You really think you can fool me?" Gin Wenyuan's expression darkened. Luo He leaned forward with a grin. "You can pretend you don't want it all you like. But I can read it in your eyes."
"The only thing you don't have is the throne, and that's exactly the thing I can give you." The old man remained silent. Then Luo He smiled even more broadly.
"And I'll give it to you cheaply. I don't even want anything in return. Think of it as my contribution to the family. I'm your favourite son-in-law, after all. A rather shameless one, perhaps, but still your son-in-law."
Gin Wenyuan had nearly forgotten how irritating the young man could be. The first time they had met, Luo He had treated him with considerable respect.
Now, after a single successful campaign, the boy was speaking to him like an old drinking companion. Yet that was precisely the strange strength of Luo He's character.
He was young, reckless, shamelessly confident, and occasionally infuriating. Unfortunately, he was also usually right. That made it difficult to dismiss him. Gin Wenyuan finally sighed.
"What do you want me to do?" Luo He's answer was simple. He wanted Gin Wenyuan to gather as many troops as possible and surround the Wu capital.
Fifty thousand would be useful. One hundred thousand would be better. If he could gather more, he should. If it took several weeks, Luo He did not care.
The important thing was to create an army large enough to place the capital under overwhelming pressure. "Don't worry about the details. This will work. I guarantee it on my reputation."
Gin Wenyuan looked at him suspiciously. Luo He only shrugged. "You have half a million soldiers. What are a few thousand men to you? Gamble a few pieces for the throne. You have almost nothing to lose and everything to gain."
It was exactly the sort of argument that would have been infuriating from anyone else. Coming from Luo He, it was somehow convincing.
They spent the remainder of the meeting discussing routes, supply lines, the time required to assemble the army, and the positions from which Gin Wenyuan could surround the Wu capital.
Only after those matters were settled did Luo He casually introduce the other part of his plan. The Second Prince had to die. Gin Wenyuan immediately understood why.
Gin Xuexin's betrothal could not simply be broken without consequences. A broken engagement would bring dishonor upon the family and create unnecessary political complications.
A dead prince, however, created no such obligation. Death ended the marriage contract naturally. Gin Wenyuan considered it for a moment before agreeing. He also understood exactly what Luo He was doing.
And somewhere on the road ahead, Jun understood it as well. Gin Wenyuan's force eventually assembled at roughly fifty thousand men.
From the no-man's-land where they had gathered, the army needed only about two days to reach the Wu capital at full speed. The Wu Crown Prince, however, already possessed a three-day lead.
Under normal circumstances, that might have been enough. But the Crown Prince was no longer traveling through friendly territory. Luo He had crows.
Messages had already spread through the region. Counts, dukes, castellans, and local commanders across the Yue territories knew that twenty thousand Wu cavalry were attempting to cross their lands.
They did not need much encouragement. Their own castles became obstacles. Their own soldiers became hunters.
The Crown Prince's army, once a powerful force fleeing a defeated kingdom, suddenly found itself trapped inside hostile territory.
Every road became dangerous. Every castle became a potential battlefield. And every day that passed gave Luo He's enemies fewer places to run.
While the armies moved, Luo He finally returned to his wife's tent. After weeks of war, bloodshed, negotiations, and many schemes, there was one person he wanted to see before anything else. Xuexin.
After the meeting, Luo He finally found himself alone with Xuexin, and the young woman seemed almost unwilling to let the opportunity pass.
She had spent so long very living quietly, following the same secluded routine day after day, that having someone she trusted so completely beside her felt almost unreal.
What neither of them had expected was how much more enjoyable it was when there was no longer any need to hide their relationship. They could simply be together without worrying about who might notice.
And that freedom seemed to make Xuexin considerably more enthusiastic and ignorant on suppressing her enthusiasm than Luo He had ever anticipated.
The night stretched on far longer than he intended. Xuexin stubbornly kept drawing him back whenever he tried to settle down, and eventually he found himself lacking.
Luo He was constantly looking at her with a mixture of helplessness and amusement.
By the deepest part of the night, even he was beginning to lose the battle against exhaustion by a little.
"Xuexin, enough for tonight. Go to sleep. I promise this won't be our last time." She merely looked at him with that stubborn expression of hers and refused to listen.
Luo He sighed. He had apparently married someone who was quiet enough to spend an entire week reading books but stubborn enough to make him exhausted.
Gin Xuexin become completely and utterly unreasonable once she found something she genuinely enjoyed.
By the time the sun was barely beginning to rise in the east, Xuexin finally slowed down. It was not quite physical exhaustion. At their level of cultivation, neither of them could feel tiered for a long time.
They could endure things that would have exhausted ordinary people many times over and still be completely fine.
Someone like Jin Mulan could probably stand on a city wall for seven days without moving and still have energy afterward to give Luo He the time of his life.
The real exhaustion came elsewhere. Even at high levels of cultivation, the mind and emotions often tire long before the body did. Intimacy demanded attention, emotion, and concentration.
In ways that ordinary physical endurance could not measure. Even cultivators with extraordinary stamina could eventually find themselves mentally exhausted.
Xuexin finally relaxed against him. Luo He took the opportunity immediately, wrapping an arm around her and pulling her close.
She nestled into the hollow of his neck, finding the familiar warmth there, and within minutes both of them were asleep. They did not wake until nearly afternoon.
For a while, neither bothered getting out of bed. Eventually Luo He opened his eyes and looked down at the woman still resting against him.
"I'll stay with you for a day or two." He murmured softly.
"What do you normally do around here?" Luo He asked enthusiasticly.
Xuexin thought about it seriously. "Read."
She finally answered.
Luo He waited expecting more.
"And practice swordsmanship." She said after another long long time.
He stared at her in suprise and utterly disappointed. "That's it?" He asked confused.
She nodded.
Luo He looked toward the tent entrance as though hoping the forest outside might provide him with a creative answer.
"Then we're going to the forest." Luo He sudjested.