the empress livestream
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Even though Jiamen Gate had been invaded numerous times, its reputation as an unbreakable passage still caused quite a headache.
When Prince Changshou forcefully broke into Jiamen Gate, the allied forces utilized their combined numbers to win. Still, the cost of victory had been hefty.
Jiang Pengji’s expression looked grim as she said, “Send someone to investigate who the gatekeeper general is.”
More importantly, she needed to find out if the people who were stationed at Jiamen Gate were the same people who had ambushed the Chief of Wolong.
If they were not the same, Jiang Pengji would not only need to be careful about encountering a hidden enemy, but she would also need to face another group of enemies in Jiamen Gate.
It was indeed a situation where their enemy could be surrounding them.
In this situation, everyone suddenly looked extra serious. Several generals were already mentally preparing themselves to break through the gate.
Jiang Pengji ordered her troops to set up a camp while they carefully observed the situation inside Jiamen Gate.
The soldier who was sent over to investigate shouted at the gate. He said, “Fellow men of the city, my master is the Governor Liu Xi of Wanzhou, why are you not opening up the gates for her?”
Shortly after, someone shot an arrow from the gated wall above. It landed a few dozen meters away from the soldier.
“Treacherous servant, how dare you claim to be a governor! Only a governor officially appointed by Emperor Long Qing can pass through here! Leave!”
The soldier’s heart sank a little when he heard this.
Emperor Long Qing was Prince Changshou. Evidently, he changed the dynasty name to “Long Qing” when he claimed the title of emperor.
“Who is Emperor Long Qing? There’s only one emperor in Dongqing and he is still in Chenzhou Palace. The emperor you speak of is the treacherous one. Why don’t you give up and turn yourself in, traitor above the gate?”
The person above the gate fired two more arrows at the soldier as he finished speaking.
Unfortunately, the distance between the two arrows was quite significant, meaning the arrows still didn’t hit their target.
The two continued to bicker with each other from above and below the gate.
After some time passed, a large man in armor walked up to the wall of the gate.
He questioned his colleague and understood the situation. With a sneer, he then asked his subordinate to bring him his bow and quiver.
He pulled the string of his bow until it arched like a crescent moon. The arrow left the bow and flew directly at the soldier’s head.
The soldier only felt a gust of cold air blow past his head as a heavy force pulled his whole body down to the ground.
“Hah!”
The large man snorted coldly and asked him to deliver a message.
“Go back and tell Liu Xi to come over here.”
Although the soldier’s life was spared, he was completely thrown off. The spirits of the Jiamen Gate guards soared as they praised their great conquering general like a dramatic ocean wave.
Their voices were so loud that even Jiang Pengji could hear them from her camp.
Shortly after, Jiang Pengji received a message from the soldier she’d sent out.
“Fu Wang? Who is this person? Have any of you heard of him before?”
Jiang Pengji wasn’t too familiar with the forces under Prince Changshou. She looked to her subordinates for insight when she heard this unfamiliar name.
Yang Si’s old master was Prince Changshou. As his former head strategist, Yang Si was very familiar with the generals who worked under Prince Changshou.
He carefully thought about it and shook his head. “I don’t remember a general by the name of Fu Wang working under Prince Changshou. Perhaps he is someone who joined their forces later… However, just based on his archery skills, he is probably a person with some degree of notoriety.”
What kind of average general could possibly shoot down a soldier’s headpiece and send him flying backward from such a distance?
Prince Changshou wasn’t a great person, but his luck and acting skills were top-notch. He’d managed to find many people to work for him in the early days.
Perhaps it was the same with this Fu Wang person.
Jiang Pengji noticed that Meng Hun looked quite shocked. She asked him, “Does Officer Meng know this person?”
Meng Hun let out a forced laugh. He knew exactly who Fu Wang was.
“Fu Wang wasn’t a subordinate in Prince Changshou’s camp, so it makes sense that Mister Yang doesn’t know him.” Meng Hun spoke up when he noticed that all the attention was on him. He said, “Fu Wang is actually a servant of the Meng family. He had a very good reputation in the Cang Prefecture. It has been said that he was the strongest general under the Meng family. Prince Changshou doesn’t have enough military power, so it’s completely understandable that the Meng family would send out backup troops to support him.”
Meng Hun paused as he finished the sentence. He smiled at Jiang Pengji and said, “That reminds me… My lord has crossed blades with him once before.”
“I crossed blades with him?” Jiang Pengji was stumped for a bit. “Are you saying that the general outside of Chenzhou Palace that day was Fu Wang?”
Meng Hun said, “It was him.”
Li Yun also remembered this and asked Meng Hun, “That Fu Wang… was he the person who Officer Meng stopped me from chasing after that day?”
Li Yun could almost feel the cold sweat rolling down his back as he recalled the situation that day.
If not for the fact that Meng Hun had stopped him from trying to win merit, he would have been hit by Fu Wang’s counterattack and suffered a great injury.
Meng Hun nodded.
The month before, Prince Changshou sent out troops for a surprise invasion of Chenzhou Palace, forcing the emperor to escape with Huijun. In the end, they were still caught up by Fu Wang’s troops. If Jiang Pengji and Yang Jian’s team hadn’t arrived in time, Fu Wang may have returned with a hefty war prize.
By the way, Jiang Pengji had also stolen Huijun from Fu Wang’s arms.
Jiang Pengji was quite upset when she remembered what had happened that day.
She didn’t care if the emperor and his officers died, the point was that Huijun had almost become this person’s war prize.
Even then, Jiang Pengji still acknowledged Fu Wang’s abilities. “That Fu Wang sure has some skills.”
She could beat him up because they were on completely different levels.
Everyone in the world would be considered a useless level-5 warrior if she was set as the standard.
If she used this world’s average standard to measure this man, Fu Wang was indeed quite strong.
How strong was he?
To use Li Yun as an example, despite lacking much frontline experience, Li Yun was considered the second strongest person in terms of combat ability within the Wanzhou organization.
If Li Yun went up against Fu Wang in his prime, it was very likely that Li Yun would be at a disadvantage and potentially lose his life if he wasn’t careful.
The day Fu Wang had first fought against Jiang Pengji, then faced Li Yun after receiving an injury, Li Yun still hadn’t managed to defeat him.
Meng Hun’s expression darkened as he said, “Jiamen Gate on its own wouldn’t have been a problem, but with a Fu Wang here, it will be more of a problem than we expected.”
“How much does Officer Meng know about Fu Wang? Does he have any weaknesses?”
Meng Hun said, “Weakness? He does have some problems. I’ve heard that Fu Wang was raised by wolves. When he was younger, he was very violent and cruel. He was taken in by a family of the Cang Prefecture and was treated like a fighting dog. Death fighting is a form of entertainment among some noble and wealthy families. It’s similar to cockfighting… The only difference is that it’s a fistfight between two death-sentence criminals. The one who wins gets to live while the loser dies. Fu Wang was one of the ones who lived…”
Jiang Pengji didn’t bat an eyelash at Meng Hun’s explanation.
She was quite familiar with these kinds of death battles.
When she was still a genetic soldier, in order to complete a mission from the higher-ups, she had once ventured into battlefields of the beasts.
Humans versus galactic creatures. Only the winner had the right to survive. These fights were much crueler than anything Fu Wang had ever experienced.
Clearly, no matter what time they lived in, bored rich families were all the same.
“And then? How did he become the servant of the Meng family?”
Meng Hun continued, “Fu Wang didn’t have a name at first. He was just a feral child who didn’t know the human language. He had physical strength but didn’t have proper training, meaning he was easily manipulated. He lost during one death fight and was saved by Fu Zhang at the last moment. Fu Zhang pitied him and acknowledged his potential, so he took him in as his servant. As for Fu Zhang, I’m sure nobody is familiar with him. To put it simply, this Fu Zhang was a spy who the late emperor stationed in the Cang Prefecture. He was the mortal enemy of the Meng family.”
Jiang Pengji frowned. “If you were mortal enemies, then how did this Fu Wang become a servant of the Meng family?”