Chapter 44: The Prince Is Blinded by Love
On the first day they arrived, Rong Shuyan was already busy preparing the soldiers to face the Southern Wolf Tribe, which would most likely attack their food supplies before winter.
While the soldiers and their servants set up their private tents, Lin Xueyi naturally followed Rong Shuyan into the Command Tent. She sat quietly in one corner, watching him as he stood in the middle of the tent, surrounded by a group of rugged-looking soldiers.
She wrinkled her nose and couldn’t help thinking, [Do these soldiers never take a bath? These men stink!]
[Does this mean Yanyan and I won’t be able to take a bath here either? Heaven, oh, Heaven! I want to go home now!]
She had always heard that soldiers usually became homesick after going through harsh military training. But Lin Xueyi already felt homesick even though she had only been sitting inside the Command Tent for a short while.
On the other side, Rong Shuyan studied the military maps spread out before him with complete focus. His eyes moved quickly across the maps, taking in every new detail.
"Your Highness." One of the generals stepped forward and pointed at a marked location on the map. "Our scouts returned an hour ago. The Southern Wolf Tribe has already been seen moving through the forest. Judging from their route, they’re heading toward our supply depot."
Rong Shuyan calmly traced a finger across the map before stopping at a narrow mountain pass. "They won’t attack from the front," he said. "Their numbers are too small for that. They’ll split into several groups and strike from different directions."
The officers exchanged surprised looks. One of them couldn’t help asking, "Your Highness, how can you be so certain?"
"Because if I were their commander, I would do the same." His calm voice carried through the entire tent.
"If they attack from only one side, we’ll surround them easily. But if they divide their forces, we’ll be forced to spread our own soldiers thin."
He looked up from the map. "They’re not trying to defeat us. They’re trying to starve us."
The officers slowly nodded. The more they thought about it, the more his words made sense.
"General Zhao," Rong Shuyan said.
"Yes, Your Highness."
"Move half of the food supplies to the eastern warehouse before sunset. Leave the rest where they are."
The general blinked. "But wouldn’t that make it easier for them to steal the supplies?"
Rong Shuyan shook his head. "They won’t steal them." He picked up a small wooden marker and placed it on the map. "They’ll burn them."
The officers immediately understood. "If they find only half the supplies..." one of them muttered.
"They’ll believe they’ve destroyed everything," Rong Shuyan finished. "Meanwhile, our real supplies will already be somewhere else."
He then picked up another wooden marker and placed it on the narrow mountain pass. "After that, send five hundred soldiers to guard Blackstone Pass. Once they realize they failed to destroy all of our supplies, they’ll have no choice but to retreat through this route."
"Yes, Your Highness!"
"No, not Blackstone Pass!"
Lin Xueyi’s voice echoed throughout the command tent, causing every soldier who had been focused on Rong Shuyan to turn toward her.
"Princess Consort?" General Zhao frowned.
Lin Xueyi swallowed hard as dozens of eyes landed on her. After all, the original Lin Xueyi had never received any military training. In this world, women were also not expected to understand warfare, let alone interfere in a military discussion.
"I... I just think that maybe..." she said, her voice trembling. "Maybe they won’t choose a route that we can predict so easily?"
The officers exchanged puzzled glances.
[In the book, this was Rong Yunzhou’s biggest mistake!] Lin Xueyi cried inwardly.
[He also thought the Southern Wolf Tribe would retreat through Blackstone Pass, so he sent five hundred soldiers there.]
[But the enemy never took that route. Instead, they escaped through a hidden trail deep in the eastern forest.]
[Those five hundred soldiers ended up guarding an empty mountain pass while the western defense line was left badly weakened.]
[The Southern Wolf Tribe broke through the western line overnight and slaughtered nearly one thousand soldiers!]
[That defeat forced the army to abandon three border forts before winter even arrived.]
[If Yanyan makes the same decision Rong Yunzhou did, he’ll lose his eyes too!]
"Princess Consort, you don’t have to overthink this," General Zhao said and there was even a hint of mockery in his voice. "The military knows what it’s doing—"
"She’s right." Rong Shuyan’s calm voice suddenly cut him off. "If we can think of it, then the Southern Wolf Tribe has most likely thought of it as well."
General Zhao stared at Rong Shuyan in disbelief. "Your Highness, please reconsider," he said anxiously. "That’s the only route they can take to return to their fort."
General Zhao and the other officers couldn’t help exchanging glances. In their eyes, Rong Shuyan had changed his mind far too quickly after hearing Lin Xueyi’s opinion.
Or rather, they thought he was letting his feelings for his wife cloud his judgment.
Ironically, even Lin Xueyi came to the same conclusion.
[How could he trust me so easily?] Her eyes widened. [D-Does he... really like me?]
After all, although she was happy that Rong Shuyan believed her, she couldn’t help wondering if he would have trusted her so completely if he didn’t have feelings for her.
"That’s only the route we know about," Rong Shuyan said, breaking the awkward silence. "This isn’t the first time they’ve attacked the border, so they’ve most likely been searching for other routes that we haven’t discovered yet."
"There’s also a possibility that they have another route through the eastern forest," Rong Shuyan continued. "We should search the eastern forest, especially the areas that seem capable of hiding a large group of soldiers."
He looked toward General Zhao. "Send several scouting teams immediately. Bring a few local hunters with them as well. No one knows those forests better than the people who have lived there their entire lives."