Let Me Explain, Fairy
Chapter 365 - Two Hundred Fifty-Five: Chess Player_3

Chapter 365: Chapter Two Hundred Fifty-Five: Chess Player_3

Several breaths later,

she looked at his chiseled profile:

"Xu Changtian, from the beginning, you’ve been trying everything to make Northern Border City fall as quickly as possible, am I right?"

Xu Yuan slightly lifted his head to meet her gaze, nodding straightforwardly:

"Yes."

Upon hearing this, Li Qingyan let out a long breath, not angry, but calmly asked:

"In that case, was the explosion at the South City’s Triumphal Arch also your doing?"

At her words, Xu Yuan hesitated slightly, his answer ambiguous:

"Maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t."

Li Qingyan’s eyebrows slightly furrowed, her eyes gradually narrowed:

"What do you mean by that..."

Xu Yuan placed his hands behind him on the snowy ground, looked up at the dark snowy sky, and after a moment of silence, spoke softly:

"I didn’t do it,

"But I suspect it was my father’s doing."

"....." Li Qingyan.

This statement had quite a bit of information.

Thinking deeper, could it mean that Minister Xu had private dealings with the Barbarian Tribes?

After a brief pause, with furrowed brows, Li Qingyan asked:

"Are you saying that Minister Xu has connections with the Barbarian Tribes?"

"Huh?"

Xu Yuan chuckled, his gaze playful as he stared at Li Qingyan: "Why would you think that?"

"......"

After a moment of silence, Li Qingyan chose to sit down beside him, took a breath:

"That’s right, I was a bit confused just now. Minister Xu and the Barbarian Tribes have no common interests, and with my understanding of the Barbarian Strange King, he wouldn’t stake the fate of his entire tribe on someone else’s promise, to circumvent Northern Border City from the South—it would have been his own decision."

As she said this, Li Qingyan turned her gaze towards Xu Yuan:

"So, it seems... this was just an idle move by Minister Xu?"

"Probably, after all, a carriage full of Source Crystals isn’t too expensive for my Prime Minister’s Mansion."

Xu Yuan’s voice was calm and measured.

The giant triumphal gate to the south of the city was blown up by a carriage from the Tian’an Commerce Assembly. At first, Xu Yuan had also thought that someone was framing the Prime Minister’s Mansion.

But the more he knew about the incident, the less right it seemed.

Their party of four had been able to enter Northern Border City without being inspected because the Commander of the Feathered Forest Army, Li Qingyan, was with them.

And what about that carriage with the Tian’an Commerce Assembly insignia?

It just carried a carriage full of contraband goods, passing openly through the layers of checks outside the city, all the way into the Triumphal Arch.

More importantly,

even after Lou Ji personally investigated, she couldn’t find any trace of that carriage.

How many in this world could do such a thing?

Plus, Zong Qingsheng was able to use the Tianxun Crystal Orb to contact Di’an City in real-time, which means that old man knew very well how long it had been since the large army that went deep into the snow plains had been subject to any large-scale harassment.

If this wasn’t an idle move by that old man, then who did it?

After his words, the two fell into a brief silence.

Li Qingyan’s eyes showed contemplation for a long while, then she asked deliberately:

"Even if it’s just an idle move, there must be a reason for it. Minister Xu... and you, Prince Consort, what is your reason for wanting Northern Border City to fall?"

"Because it can’t be defended."

"It can be defended."

Li Qingyan said earnestly, "From the beginning, if you hadn’t done those things, Northern Border City could have been defended if they wanted to."

Xu Yuan sighed, making a point:

"I don’t understand military affairs. With your strategies, Qingyan, perhaps it could be defended, holding out until Lord Hou and Master Zong come down from the north, but that wouldn’t maximize our interests."

"....."

Li Qingyan pondered for a moment, her eyes immediately growing more complex, her red lips parted as if to say something, but in the end, she remained silent.

Watching the change in her expression, Xu Yuan smiled kindly:

"I thought you were going to hit me."

Li Qingyan slowly raised her eyes, a self-deprecating smile on her lips:

"Between a single Northern Border City and a century of peace for the Northern Frontier, I know which to choose. Just as you said the last time you left, there must be sacrifices for gains."

As she spoke,

she pursed her red lips: "It’s just that I never expected to become a chess piece in your hands, Prince Consort."

"Me?"

Xu Yuan lifted a hand to point at himself, shaking his head: "You’re giving me too much credit."

Li Qingyan’s lips held a cryptic smile, her long hair dancing in the cold wind:

"I led the Elite Troops out of the city to attack the camps, and as soon as I did, you immediately provided the Sects with Cloud Qi Bombs. Initially, I thought it was your foolish act, but now it seems I was the one with limited vision. All to force the Barbarian Tribes to assault the city and simultaneously draw out the Sects’ thirty thousand elite troops for an encounter outside Northern Border City."

"I only thought about how to annihilate the Barbarian Tribes, while you, Prince Consort, not only wanted to get rid of the Barbarian Tribes but to also use this opportunity to swallow up these thirty thousand elite troops of the Sects in one fell swoop. Isn’t someone who uses Northern Border City, this age-old key stronghold, as a sacrificial piece, considered a chess player?"

"Certainly not."

Xu Yuan looked deeply at Li Qingyan, shaking his head:

"What I’ve done is only a corner of the chess game."

"A corner?"

"Do you... remember those military carriages we saw on our journey north?"

"The military carriages that transported relief materials for the disaster victims of the Northern Frontier?"

"Yes, exactly those. However, I guess that those being aided with ’relief’ aren’t just ordinary disaster victims, but the mountain gates of the Northern Border Sects."

"...."

The wind howled, silence spreading.

Xu Yuan slowly propped himself up by the knees and stood, gazing toward Di’an City, and said softly:

"Qingyan, we are all chess pieces, the real chess master... is in Di’an City."