After dining outside together, Lan Ningzhen and Xie Jue returned to the residence. The Princess was already waiting for them. Xie Jue reported everything that the Sixth Prince had said in detail. The matter was nearly identical to what the Princess had anticipated. Suppressing her temper, she remarked, "Elder Brother is truly insatiable. Knowing that my husband is occupied on the battlefield, he tries to extend his hand into the mines. If one plan fails, he’ll certainly have a contingency prepared. Helian, do not answer any summons from him in the future; I don’t want sothing like the Xiao Jinghong incident to happen again. With my husband away, I’ll protect your lives. Whatever it is, we can wait until he returns to deal with it."
"The Prince still has several months until his return to the capital. It could either wait until the June guard rotation or until the year’s end. If we continue to avoid head-on conflict, it will only embolden them further. If we weaken by even a fraction, others will seize the upper hand. We cannot afford to sit idly and await destruction. The Great King wants the mines but wouldn’t risk delaying the military shipnts. As long as we keep a close eye on the mines and slting facilities to ensure the tily delivery of weaponry, their plans will be thwarted. The Princess need not worry," Xie Jue replied thodically.
Lan Ningzhen silently mused: True, as long as the mines and slting operations remain untroubled, the Great King wouldn’t dare push too far, lest he disrupt the flow of military supplies. But Xie Jue would never allow the mines to operate smoothly or the weaponry to be prepared on ti. He was certain to create chaos so that the Great King would seize control himself.
The death of Xiao Jinghong had been orchestrated by Xie Jue, who covertly incited retaliation, resulting in the First Prince’s leg being crippled. The motive wasn’t rely to settle a personal grudge but to urge the Second Prince to head to the battlefield, leaving the First Prince with a sense of impending crisis. Thus, the First Prince would almost inevitably devise a plan to seize control of the mines and weaponry during the Second Prince’s campaign.
The advisors by the First Prince’s side had also pointed this out. When the First Prince’s leg injury failed to heal over ti, Xie Jue knew that the First Prince’s desire for the mines had grown. Xie Jue was determined to give him the opportunity—let him seize power. In doing so, the two factions would start to clash, and chaos would erupt in Fox City. Should the delivery of provisions and weaponry be disrupted, it would not only affect the frontline battles but also intensify conflicts on both sides. Even if they didn’t wish to fight, their advisors and subordinates would compel them to. The rivalry between the two princes could shift the balance in Beiman’s favor.
If the Second Prince achieved a triumphant military feat, the struggle would escalate into a fever pitch, and Xie Jue’s mission within Beiman would be nearly complete.
Thus, Xie Jue was determined to find ways to drive the First Prince’s ambition toward the mines and weaponry.
His marriage to Lan Ningzhen was finalized, and the two seed deeply affectionate. The Princess had co to trust Xie Jue imnsely, leaving herself vulnerable and permitting him access to the core of military equipnt managent.
This was Xie Jue’s first visit to the Red Sand Mine, located south of Fox City—a sprawling mountain range that contained nurous mines, abundant and seemingly endless. These rich reserves supported Beiman’s military might. Beiman’s swords could slice through iron like mud, and their armor deflected ordinary weapons with ease due to its unparalleled durability. This was why Ningzhou suffered such severe casualties. Despite the Iron Cavalry’s remarkable combat skills and formidable strength, they were forever on the defensive and could hardly launch offensives. The armor and weapons forged from the Red Sand Mine were the natural neses of the Ningzhou Iron Cavalry.
Years ago, on the battlefield, the Marquis Zhenbei had sacrificed everything to deploy heavy cavalry to scatter Beiman’s forces into countless smaller formations for counterattack and annihilation. The ultimate goal was to seize their weapons and armor. Whenever Beiman soldiers perished on the battlefield, Yanyang troops would desperately drag their corpses into their own camp just to acquire the equipnt on their bodies.
It ca at an enormous cost.
Xie Jue understood why Beiman’s massive army acted with such brazen confidence, provoking border skirmishes year after year. The Yanyang Dynasty was mired in factional intrigue; the conflicts between noble clans and the imperial family, as well as the struggles over military authority, were deeply entrenched and bound to exhaust the Ningzhou Iron Cavalry. This was why he had dared to infiltrate Beiman—he aid to dismantle them from within.
The Ningzhou Iron Cavalry was already showing signs of fatigue. If one day supply lines for provisions faltered, the army would surely be crushed by Beiman’s forces. As Xie Jue gazed at the rows of completed equipnt in the armory, the youth—typically expressionless—revealed a clear trace of envy. If only such equipnt could be used by his own soldiers. With it, the Iron Cavalry would be invincible. Currently, only one-tenth of the Ningzhou army was equipped with Red Sand armor and weapons, all of which had been salvaged from Beiman battlefields.
Both slting and weapon forging took place at the foot of the mines. After inspecting the site with Lan Ningzhen and Du Fang, Xie Jue t General Xiu Li. General Xiu Li, the Second Prince’s most trusted commander, had been assigned to oversee military equipnt production. Among the Second Prince’s faction, his authority was second only to the prince himself.
Before leaving, the Second Prince had t privately with General Xiu Li and Xie Jue, advising them to cooperate inside and out, ensuring things would run smoothly. Upon learning of the Great King’s sche, General Xiu Li was infuriated, especially when Xie Jue submitted a deadline for delivering military equipnt—an almost impossible request given current production capabilities.
"The First Prince is deliberately making things difficult. Producing this volu of armor within two months is utterly unfeasible! The scale of battlefield losses wouldn’t demand such a quantity anyway. Why does he need so much?" General Xiu Li erupted with anger. Clearly, this was a calculated ploy to exploit the Prince’s absence and gain control of the mines.
If they failed to deliver the equipnt, the Great King would have a pretext to interfere in the mines. Xie Jue responded, "I’ve negotiated with them, but the Sixth Prince remains resolute in his stance."
"Despicable!" General Xiu Li fud. Du Fang interjected, "We ca to consult with you to confirm the production capacity, so we’ll have an idea of what lies ahead."
Nodding, General Xiu Li led them to his study for a confidential discussion. Lan Ningzhen didn’t accompany them, as she had rely followed Xie Jue here and didn’t involve herself in these matters—she knew Xie Jue would inform her later anyway.
At present, she was far more intrigued by another matter!
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