Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Becoming the Prince Consort was my ladder to the heavens.

It was also the most correct decision I had made in all these years.

I still remember the first time I went to war.

I raised my broadsword and hacked off an enemy’s head.

Blood splattered across my face.

I wasn’t shocked. I wasn’t afraid. I didn’t retreat.

If anything, I felt a faint thrill.

Because I knew those heads were the keys to power.

But if my disguise was ever exposed-if anyone learned I was a woman dressed as a man who had joined the army-it would be a capital crime.

So I began to ponder one question.

How high did I have to climb before people stopped caring about my sex?

Then Princess Mingyang came all the way from the capital to the northwest to serve as military supervisor.

By then, I was already a centurion.

Lost among countless soldiers, I watched the princess from afar.

Her beauty was as delicate as a flower.

No one in the army took her seriously.

At night, inside the tents, the soldiers all talked about her.

“A woman as military supervisor? We might as well desert now!”

“I heard this Princess Mingyang is something else. The Emperor once praised her, saying that if she had been born a man, Great Xia would know no worries for the next hundred years.”

“What damn use is that? A woman can’t be Emperor!”

When I heard those words, I was chewing on a blade of sweet grass.

In my heart, I asked back:

A woman can’t be Emperor?

Everyone said women couldn’t fight wars, either.

And yet here I stood.

Not only had I gone to the battlefield, I had become a centurion because I was brave and skilled in combat.

So there was no such thing as impossible.

All shackles were things men had forced onto us.

Say we cannot once. Say we cannot twice.

Say it a thousand times, ten thousand times, countless times, and women will start to believe they truly cannot.

Then when an opportunity comes, they will be the first to shrink back.

They will say timidly, I can’t.

And just like that, opportunity is wasted.

The discussion grew more and more vulgar.

“Heh, the princess really is extraordinary. Such smooth, tender skin.”

“Fuck! If I could sleep with the princess just once, I’d be willing to die tomorrow!”

At that, I stood up, stared at the two men, and said in a low voice, “Shut your mouths. She is our military supervisor. Show some respect.”

One soldier said defiantly, “Chief, don’t make such a fuss. What military supervisor? She’s just a woman.”

I sneered. “All I know is that since she has come to the battlefield, she is a warrior. She is the military supervisor, and she is here to change the course of the war. This has nothing to do with whether she is a man or a woman. The young general has skin as fair as jade and is prettier than a woman. How come I don’t hear you bastards running your mouths about wanting to sleep with him?”

That left the soldier speechless.

My deputy, Zhang Dashan, started shouting, “All right, enough! The chief told you to shut up, so shut up! Look at how many men have died in the other squads. Only our squad is still whole. Every one of you sharpened your skulls trying to squeeze into our squad, and wasn’t it because our chief is strong? Anyone who’s not convinced, anyone who talks too much, can get the hell out!”

At that, the tent fell silent.

The men who had run their mouths earlier all gave awkward laughs and said, “Chief, we were wrong.”

I said mildly, “I know you didn’t mean it. Think of your own sisters. Put yourself in her shoes. The princess is also a cherished daughter of her family, a beloved younger sister to her elder brother. Why must you use a few obscene words to humiliate her?”

This time, the soldiers flushed crimson with shame and said nothing more.

I caught sight of a silent figure outside the tent, quietly walking away.

I thought in silence:

If she were merely a pampered princess, why would she come all the way to the northwest to supervise the war?

I had heard that in court, the struggle over the position of crown prince was growing fiercer by the day.

If the princess directed the war well, she could win favorable leverage for her elder brother.

Those born into the imperial family all had an innate ambition to grasp power.

The power of life and death over tens of thousands-could the princess herself truly feel no desire for it?

Could she really be willing to pave the way for that useless elder brother of hers?

I didn’t believe it.

Given the chance, everyone was ambitious.

From that day on, I waited.

I waited for a chance to be seen by the princess.

After the princess became military supervisor, the stagnant war truly began to progress.

The Grand General respected the princess greatly and ordered everyone to obey her commands.

The princess commanded troops like a god.

After three great victories, no one dared insult her behind her back anymore.

Everyone respectfully addressed her as Military Supervisor.

Watching these changes, I thought, the three hundred thousand soldiers of the northwest army had submitted to the princess with all their hearts.

There were far too many people the princess could use.

What did I have that would let me surpass all of them and walk before her?

My advantage was that I was a woman.

A woman, just like the princess.

That was why I knew that once a woman obtained power and won the hearts of the people,

those who sought to encircle and destroy her would come pouncing in the dark like hungry wolves.

During one critical battle, the princess used herself as bait to lure the enemy into a trap.

But when the princess withdrew, she encountered an ambush-and assassins!

I had led ten of my men to lie in wait behind them.

Dashan said in shock, “Chief! How did you know the princess would run into an ambush?”

“Cut the crap! Follow the plan!”

The ten men I had brought were all my trusted subordinates.

Every one of them was an expert who could take on a hundred men.

I picked the right moment and gave the order.

They pushed down boulders, cutting off the ambush troops.

I gripped the blade in my hand and charged toward the princess.

I took the princess with me and galloped away on horseback.

The princess had been wounded in the arm and was bleeding heavily, but she held the reins with remarkable calm.

I drew my bow and shot at the assassins behind us.

They pursued us all the way into the forest.

I immediately chose to abandon the horse.

Carrying the princess on my back, I raced onward.

As the sky gradually darkened, we hid in a hollow in the mountains.

I told the princess to take off her outer clothes and stuffed them with straw.

“Your Highness, stay here and don’t move!”

Then I carried the straw dummy on my back and rushed out.

There were still five assassins in the forest.

They had to die.

I had to keep them from surviving long enough to call for reinforcements.

They were all elite fighters.

I could only rely on my familiarity with these mountains and forests to break them one by one.

At last, only one assassin remained.

I lay beneath the withered grass and held my breath.

I waited until he cautiously approached the straw dummy ahead.

Then I sprang up and drove my dagger viciously into his neck.

In an instant, blood gushed like a fountain, spraying across my face.

Only when he had stopped breathing completely did I let go.

I lay on the ground and took a single breath.

Then I stripped the assassin of everything useful.

Following the marks I had left on the way here, I retraced my steps.

The princess was still hiding quietly in that hollow between the hills.

She had a dagger in her hand and had not relaxed for even a moment.

I walked over and handed her the coarse vegetable buns and waterskin hidden in the hollow.

The princess ate a little, then said softly, “You saw this coming long ago.”

In these mountain woods, I had set up countless traps.

Many of those assassins had died to them.

I found the clothes hidden in the hollow and passed them to the princess.

I gave a casual nod. “If we fled from the place where Your Highness retreated, west would be the desert. I assumed the assassins wouldn’t dare enter it. Their only choice was to force us north, so ten days ago, I laid ambushes in these woods and lured them this way.”

The princess praised me, “Bold yet meticulous. Brave and resourceful.”

I smiled.

I took off my clothes and applied medicine to my wounds.

The princess glanced at my chest but said nothing.

She also removed her bloodstained clothes and changed into the outfit I had prepared for her.

The two of us huddled quietly there, eating the coarse vegetable buns.

Waiting for reinforcements to arrive.

The princess’s hair was a mess, so I used a cord to tie it up for her.

She touched it and smiled. “It is rather neat.”

I took out the items I had looted from the assassins one by one and asked the princess to inspect them.

The princess looked them over. “Dead men like these would never carry anything that could identify them.”

She picked out a few short daggers and smiled mockingly. “But not many people could produce daggers this exquisite.”

Seeing the sorrow in her eyes, I gently patted her arm.

The princess closed her eyes. After a while, she finally said, “Those who want me dead are no more than my Noble Consort mother, my uncle, or my elder brother. If I return alive, the military merit for pacifying the northwest will fall to me. But if I die, Imperial Father, overcome with grief, will certainly reward my brother. As long as my brother seizes the right moment, the position of crown prince may not necessarily be beyond his reach.”

May not necessarily?

For such a mere possibility, they were willing to assassinate the princess.

I said quietly, “I’ve heard of the Third Prince’s reputation. They say he is skilled in both letters and warfare, a pillar of the state.”

The princess chuckled. “Yes, skilled in both letters and warfare. I ghostwrote his essays, and I taught him the art of war.”

So that pillar of the state was the princess.

I looked into the princess’s eyes and said, “If Your Highness’s elder brother dies first, then your Noble Consort mother and your uncle will have no choice but to rely on you.”

There was no retreat in the fight for the highest seat.

Otherwise, once the enemy took power, only death awaited.

The princess stared at me and asked, “Wang Tianjiao, you have quite the nerve.”

Hearing that, I smiled. “Your Highness knows my name.”

Seeing that I was not afraid, the princess smiled and sighed. “It would be hard not to. Commandant Lin offered strategy several times, allowing me to quickly grasp everyone’s preferences in the army and the course of the war. He is nothing but a dandy here to grab military merit. He doesn’t have that kind of mind.”

Embarrassed, I said, “Your Highness is truly perceptive.”

A flash of firelight appeared outside.

I immediately climbed a tree to observe for a while.

I pricked up my ears and listened carefully. It was Dashan’s signal!

After I climbed down, I said to the princess, “Your Highness, I’ll take you to meet the reinforcements.”

The princess lay on my back, her head resting lightly against my shoulder.

I moved at full speed.

The princess murmured as if in a dream, “Mother Empress always wanted me to marry early. In her eyes, once I became a wife, I would dedicate myself to securing my husband’s and children’s futures. To preserve my own glory, I would then have no choice but to willingly support my brother. Wang Tianjiao, I need a husband.”

The chance I had been waiting for had finally come!

Suppressing my excitement, I said, “Your Highness! This humble officer is willing to serve you like a loyal hound or horse.”

The princess burst out laughing at once.

She pinched my ear. “You, honestly. Such a glib tongue.”

I chuckled. “As long as I can make Your Highness happy.”

The princess fell silent for a moment, then asked, “How many people has that mouth of yours made happy?”

I confessed honestly, “I had a sweetheart back home.”

The princess said again, “And what about the woman who runs the medical clinic in the northwest city? People in the army say you often send her money.”

For a moment, I was at a loss for words. “Uh… just a fleeting affair.”

This time, the princess said nothing. She clenched her fist and brought it down hard on my head.

The firelight drew closer and closer.

The princess got down from my back.

I was about to retreat behind her.

She said calmly, “No need. Stand beside me.”

My steps paused slightly.

The princess said in a low voice, “When the snipe and the clam fight, the fisherman profits. My brother will die, but he cannot die by my hand. Without my brother as the fish, the court officials will not be willing to put down their bait. When the day comes that they realize they have invested too much, even if my brother dies, they will have no choice but to keep going down that path. That will be when I profit.”

I nodded. “Your Highness needn’t explain it so plainly. I do have some education. Spilled water cannot be gathered again, after all. It’s easy to board a pirate ship and hard to get off. We need to use the Third Prince to drag everyone else onto our pirate ship.”

The princess laughed again.

She was truly beautiful when she smiled, soft and gentle, like a camellia on the verge of blooming.

Dashan had already arrived with the others.

They stopped not far away and did not approach.

The Grand General hurried over. When he saw the princess and me, he seemed to want to speak but held back.

The princess said with noble composure, “From this day forward, Wang Tianjiao will be promoted to sixth-rank commandant.”

The Grand General looked at me, his gaze carrying a hidden scrutiny.

I straightened my back.

The princess added, “Have my Noble Consort mother’s spies send word back. Tell them I was injured, and in desperation, I had no choice but to remove my clothing so Wang Tianjiao could treat me.”

From then on, I became a sixth-rank commandant in the Grand General’s camp, constantly attending the princess’s side.

The two of us often acted as though there were something ambiguous between us.

The spies’ letters to the capital also grew more and more frequent.

When the imperial edict granting our marriage arrived,

I knew the princess had already made the Noble Consort and the Third Prince lower their guard.

In their eyes, the princess was now nothing more than an ordinary woman who had fallen in love with an unknown nobody.

Our pirate ship was finally about to set sail.