Let Me Explain, Fairy
Chapter 366 - 256: Open Strategy

Chapter 366: Chapter 256: Open Strategy

The cold wind cut to the bone, and snow fell across a hundred rivers, endlessly vast.

Li Qingyan watched his figure in the blizzard and let out a soft, ghostly chuckle:

"It seems... my position is still too low, so low that I can only concern myself with the survival of Northern Border City."

Xu Yuan glanced at her reaction, smiled faintly, and extended his hand:

"The world is like a chessboard, all beings are the pieces, and there are but two or three who wield the pieces. When that Barbarian Strange King made his risky move to bypass Northern Border City from the south, the overall situation of the Northern Frontier was already set."

Li Qingyan stared at his hand for a moment, grasped it, and stood up from the snow, brushing the snowflakes off her shoulder, and said casually:

"That Barbarian Strange King is not any obedient piece; using him as a piece can easily backfire."

Xu Yuan turned back and glanced in the direction of Northern Border, laughing softly:

"That Barbarian Strange King is indeed a formidable ruler, with vision, strategy, ambition, and courage all being one in a thousand. But for Di’an City, turning him into an obedient dog isn’t really difficult."

Li Qingyan’s phoenix-like eyes held a trace of strangeness:

"Tame that Barbarian King into an obedient dog?"

"It’s just a metaphor."

Xu Yuan took her hand, looking into her eyes: "Qingyan, have you forgotten? In the battle for Northern Border, although you did not obey me, the outcome nonetheless made you my... haha."

With that,

Xu Yuan left it at that, grinning without continuing further.

Li Qingyan, however, was quite calm, her beautiful nose emitting a cold snort, before she laughed and said:

"Prince Consort... are you trying to make me your dog?"

"....."

The directness of her words momentarily stunned Xu Yuan, and the image of this princess as a dog unbidden entered his mind....

Hisss...

Regaining his senses and noticing the amusement in her eyes, Xu Yuan coughed lightly, quickly denying:

"It’s just a metaphor, I certainly....."

"I didn’t say it was unacceptable."

"....." Xu Yuan licked his lips.

Li Qingyan lightly shook her head:

"Heh... men."

Xu Yuan rolled his eyes and exhaled:

"During that time in the Imperial Capital, my father taught me many things, the most important of which was how to manipulate a person who does not obey me to work for me."

"Driven by interests?" Li Qingyan’s voice was cold.

"Something like that."

Xu Yuan nodded with a smile, holding her hand without letting go, and joked:

"I can manipulate you, Qingyan, because I know you want to hold Northern Border City, and my father can manipulate the Barbarian King on the same principle."

Li Qingyan glanced at her hand he was holding, allowing him to take the advantage:

"Prince Consort, you just mentioned the Barbarian Strange King’s strategic prowess and courage...."

"Yes, I did."

Xu Yuan interrupted her with a smile: "If it were the former kings of the Barbarian Tribes, having taken such advantage of Great Yan a few months ago, they would probably have fled to the Extreme Black Lands in the north under the cover of this blizzard by now. But this Barbarian Strange King is different; it’s precisely his strategy and ambition that allow my father to manipulate him."

At this,

Xu Yuan couldn’t help but chuckle lowly, raising a finger:

"Now it’s the same for me. Just as long as I provide that Barbarian Strange King with a path to break free from being a mere piece and become a player in the game, no matter how slim the chance of success is, he will turn into an obedient dog, desperately biting those Sects for me."

"....."

Li Qingyan’s beautiful eyes flickered for a moment: "Are you... sure that the Barbarian King will attack those elite troops of the Sects?"

Xu Yuan shook his head, but said with a smile:

"Not sure, but I’ve sent someone to stay in the city to make contact with that Barbarian King."

Li Qingyan pondered for a moment, then asked:

"Aren’t you afraid it will backfire?"

Xu Yuan shook his head:

"Of course not."

"..."

Upon hearing this, Li Qingyan’s thoughts raced in her head.

And at that moment, Xu Yuan suddenly leaned close to her flawless face:

"Qingyan, as I’ve already said, my father taught me how to use the overall situation to turn an enemy into my dog. Without rice, how can the cleverest woman cook? No matter how great one’s strategic genius is, they can’t escape the limitations of material conditions."

With that, he lifted a finger towards the distant north:

"Even if the Barbarian Tribes exhaust all their resources developing military might in the Extreme Black Lands, they can’t possibly outmatch the riches of the resources in the fourteen provinces of the Central Plains, this is a process where the strong grow stronger and the weak grow weaker. A thousand years ago, the Barbarian Tribes could still match Great Yan’s Border Army in a head-on collision, but now? As long as the generals and commanders are not foolish to an incomprehensible degree, an equal number of Barbarian soldiers simply can’t defeat Great Yan’s Border Army."

"If that Barbarian Strange King wants to lead the Barbarian Tribes to overcome the strong by the weak, to succeed in his southern expedition, he must follow the path I’ve laid out for him."

Li Qingyan looked into his eyes with a smile, unconcerned about the nearly intimate distance between them:

"You...aren’t worried about the conditions offered by the Sects to the Barbarian Tribes?"

"The Sects’ conditions?"

Xu Yuan glanced to the side and whispered into her ear:

"The most the Sects would offer the Barbarian Tribes is to give them the area around Houting County, but the price is to relinquish Northern Border City. Qingyan, you must know what that means, right?"

Li Qingyan’s heart stirred, suddenly finding the Xu Yuan before her somewhat unfamiliar:

"It means... the Barbarian Tribes would have returned to their original state."

"Yes,"

Xu Yuan let out a sigh, "If they were to follow the path set by the Sects, even if the Barbarian Tribes were to intercept the Northern Border Army and the Black Scale Army around Houting County, and even if they successfully encircled and annihilated them while they rested, the Barbarian Tribes would only be back to square one, and they would have to fight all over again for Northern Border City, where the elite forces are stationed, and moreover..."

"And the Barbarian King wouldn’t dare to easily trust the Sects?" Li Qingyan suddenly interjected.

Xu Yuan raised his eyebrows, her intelligence was still as sharp as ever.

Li Qingyan’s eyes half-closed as she added in a low voice:

"Once the Sects leave a portion of their forces in the area around Houting County, the main forces of the Barbarian Tribes would then be completely encircled between Houting County and Northern Border City."

Xu Yuan smiled slightly:

"That’s why I said earlier that when the Barbarian Tribes took a detour south of Northern Border City, the overall situation in the Northern Frontier had already been completely set."

"If that Barbarian Strange King wants to win, he must follow this path to the end, annihilating all seven hundred thousand elites of our Great Yan in the Northern Frontier, and then successfully occupy Northern Border City, that strategic pass.

"And me... I’ve given him this opportunity, so he will inevitably become my, Xu Changtian’s, dog."

After speaking, silence fell.

After a while,

Li Qingyan suddenly stood on tiptoe, bringing her tall figure to his ear, her voice devoid of any emotion:

"Prince Consort... the Source Crystals you left behind, were they always intended for that Barbarian King from the start?"

At her words, Xu Yuan took a slight step back, his long phoenix eyes narrowing into slender lines, not denying it:

"If you were able to locate those Source Crystals, there’s no way that Barbarian Strange King wouldn’t find them."

"Aren’t you afraid he’ll use the Source Crystals for something else?"

"Don’t worry, if there’s any unusual activity, those Source Crystals will self-destruct."

"......"

Neither of them spoke again.

She watched him, his smile, the disdain in his eyes, her gaze becoming increasingly wary.

Li Qingyan never believed in so-called rumors.

In their time together, her opinion of him was neither high nor low.

He was indeed a profligate, but far more shrewd than the worthless Third Young Master portrayed in rumors.

However, compared to those noblemen raised by other Sects, his character and capacity were mediocre, nothing astonishing.

But at this moment,

The dissolute nature he had displayed these days, his cynical attitude toward life, and even the lustful intentions he had shown her, all began to crack at this moment.

She started to find him unreadable, beginning to doubt whether all of his present behavior was pretense...

In the silent snowstorm, Xu Yuan suddenly smiled:

"What’s the matter? Is my Prince Wu Yuan afraid?"

"Ha..."

Hearing these words, a hint of amusement flickered in Li Qingyan’s spirited phoenix eyes:

"Afraid?"

While speaking,

Li Qingyan reached back to grab Xu Yuan’s teasing hand and pulled it between them, her beautiful red eyes held a faint excitement.

On the hillside swaying in the blizzard, with mist all around,

Her smile bloomed brightly like a flower:

"Prince Consort, I am Li Qingyan."

Xu Yuan withdrew his hand slightly, but she gripped it tightly, half in jest:

"Your Highness is not afraid, but I am."

Li Qingyan chuckled:

"It’s too late to be afraid now, for you, Prince Consort, have seen all there is to see of me."

After a moment of silence, Xu Yuan asked with a smile:

"Have you considered divorce?"

Li Qingyan tightened her grip on his hand, tilting her head and laughing lightly:

"Hmm... I might consider becoming a widow instead."