The Emperor Reigns Them All

Chapter 294 - How Dare You Hit on Me?

The 294 How Dare You Hit on Me?

The three of them looked at each other, and all noticed the sharp colors in each other’s eyes. Immediately, they stepped out and rushed to say to Li Ye, after giving him a fist and palm salute. “Your Highness, our army would like to be the pioneers in attacking Hedong!”

Looking at the two commissioners, Xue Wei and Henghai, Kang Chengqian suddenly had a strange feeling. He had also been asked to assist Li Ye in the fighting. But this time, he seemed to be forced by the two men. In fact, the Zhaoyi Army did not intend to put up such a desperate fight in the beginning, and neither did it want to let someone take the credit. Thus, step by step, his army was increasing its efforts to assist in the fight. For example, Kang Chengqian also stepped forward to request to be the pioneer just now.

Watching the three vigorous people who seemed very anxious to get down to the fighting, Li Wei was indeed startled.

“What the h*ll? Are you guys serious? You are going to fight a war, and wars claim lives. Why are you so eager? Don’t you need to conserve your strength? When the imperial court’s main forces were putting down the Huang Chao rebellion, most of these vassal states promised to help, but did not actually participate in the war. Didn’t all of you tried your best to avoid a war at that time?”

Li Wei suddenly got up and gave three shouts of laughter. He exclaimed in a firm and powerful voice, “Great! All of you are Tang Empire loyalists who always uphold justice. With talents like you, the Tang Empire is destined to be prosperous! I believe in you! The Pinglu Army will give up the pioneer position to make room for the Zhaoyi Army, the Tianping Army, or the Henghai Army. We will choose one of you to attack Hedong!”

The three people were thrilled and quickly said, “The Zhaoyi Army is adjacent to Hedong, so we are in a favorable geographical position, plus we know Hedong better. Our army should be the pioneer army!”

“My Tianping Army has experienced great wars. Our brilliant generals and hand picked soldiers can definitely capture the cities!”

“The Henghai Army is well-trained. All of the people in the army are loyal and righteous, who can face life-and-death wars unflinchingly. They will definitely not humiliate you!”

When they finished speaking, the three of them, Kang Chengqian, Xue Wei, and Henghai, kept looking at one another. But gradually, they started glaring at each other, their eyes gleaming with anger.

Staring at Kang Chengqian, Xue Wei sneered, “In these years, the Zhaoyi Army has watched others fighting in Hebei. Your bunch of guys has yet to experience any war. How can you strive for the pioneer position with the Tianping Army? Do you know how important the pioneer position is? The spearhead must win! Following Prince An, my Tianping Army captured Bozhou and took Weibo Vassal State. Who else, but my army, is qualified for the pioneer position?”

“Hehe.” Kang Chengqian gave him a derisive smile. “The Tianping Army cannot even defeat the Huang Chao rebellion. What makes you think you are qualified to compete with my Zhaoyi Army?”

Xue Wei was furious. “Your army did not even fight in the Huang Chao rebellion. How can you brag so shamelessly about your army?”

Upon hearing these words, the secretary of Henghai protested, “We did not fight in the Huang Chao rebellion. But so what? Though the Henghai Army has never had a war with Huang Chao, our fighting capacity is no worse than your Tianping Army!”

With “good” intentions, Kang Chengqian exhorted, “There are altogether 10,000 people in the Henghai Army. How can it be the pioneer? You don’t even have enough soldiers to besiege a city. I suggest that you should be our rear army!”

The secretary of Henghai could no longer contain his anger. “The Zhaoyi Army is larger in numbers, that’s amazing! So would you dare you to choose several generals to have a competition here, with mine?”

Still smiling, Kang Chengqian accepted the challenge. “A competition? That’s great! Who cares?”

All the senior generals of the three armies were attending the banquet in the hall. Now when they saw that their leaders were starting to quarrel with each other, how could they sit still? They were all tough men of courage and uprightness in the army, so they certainly could not endure the insult. Right away, they pounded their tables and stood up. They abused and sneered each other. Engaged in violent quarrels, they were fuming with anger, their eyes glaring. Rolling up their sleeves, they almost came to blows.

Li Ye uttered a sigh and said to Li Zhen, who was next to him, “To fight for the pioneer position, they nearly get into a fight. Are they the real Vassal State Armies?”

Li Zhen nodded earnestly. “Sure enough, they are the real ones.”

Shaking his head, Li Ye stood up. Taking the officials and generals of the Pinglu Army with him, he left the hall with his hands clasped behind, while the three armies’ generals were still wrangling with each other.

After returning to the yard where he stayed, Li Ye ordered the servants to make tea. Then, he and Li Zhen sat together and discussed the affairs about the battles, that their army was going to fight. As for those guys at the banquet, they stopped arguing once Li Ye left. Without an audience, they would not bother to quarrel.

Kneeling beside Li Ye, the maid, a nice-looking girl about 16 years old, made tea for them. Though she was young, she had a well-developed body with a plump rump and big breasts. The perfect curves of her figure could be seen clearly under her light outfit. It was still early spring, but her clothes were all made of thin mulberry silk, which did not hide any part of her youthful skin. The pink parts on her delicate white skin were very eye-catching..

Her gentle tea-making movements were as natural and smooth as floating clouds and flowing water. At this moment, this girl looked like an otherworldly fairy. However, each time she glimpsed at Li Ye, she, a girl with an attractive appearance, would secretly cast amorous glances at him with her moist eyes. With two such contrasting qualities, this fairy-like sexy maid was a real temptation!

Even a tea-serving maid was so perfectly attractive. One could imagine how much effort Kang Chengqian had paid to make sure Li Ye led a comfortable life here.

But it was a pity that Li Ye’s eyes had never rested on the maid. Thus, the maid could only display her exceedingly fascinating charms to the bright moon floating in the air.

Leaning against the low, small back of the chair, Li Ye analyzed with his fingers crossed. “Tianping, Henghai, and Zhaoyi, all these three vassal states’ armies have more than 300,000 troops. Plus, we have the Pinglu Army. In this battle against the Hedong Army, we are no longer at a disadvantage in military strength.” “But what surprised me are the excessively enthusiastic attitudes of Xue Wei, Kang Chengqian, and others. Do you think so?”

“Your Highness, do you think it is strange?” Li Zhen took the tea handed by the maid and took a sip to taste. “Nice tea!” he said. Then, he put down the teacup and said to Li Ye with a smile, “Well, I don’t think so. The three vassal states, Tianping, Henghai, and Zhaoyi, have formed a competitive relationship with each other, but they are in a virtuous circle. When you made Xue Wei agree to provide army provisions and selected troops to assist the battles, the circle began.”

“If Xue Wei had not provided so much help at that time, the Henghai Army would not have sent troops to participate in the war. After that, you quickly quelled the Weibo rebellion. Meanwhile, you showed your strength and brought Xue Wei under control. Since Xue Wei took the initiative to be the pioneer to attack the Zhaoyi Army, the virtuous circle achieved a higher level. Then, when we arrived in Zhaoyi, and Kang Chengqian joined us, the competition between the three of them made this a whole new situation. Beyond that, each of them has different circumstances and thoughts, which forces them to strive for credit and their own benefit. Therefore, all of this leads to today’s new situation.”

Li Ye listened to Li Zhen’s speech attentively, and nodded from time to time. When he reached out to take the second teacup from the maid, he touched something smooth and cold, but with a bit of warmth. It was as if his hand had brushed against the surface of the lake in early spring.

Li Ye looked toward the maid and saw her lowering her head shyly. A wisp of her black hair fell on her white and slender neck, which gave others the impulse to touch it. Li Ye had already reached a high level of cultivation, so even if he focused his attention on Li Zhen, he would never miss the teacup. This only proved that it was the maid who had held out her soft and smooth fingers, on her own initiative.

Li Ye took no notice of her little tricks. He took the tea and said to Li Zhen, “So is this situation inevitable?”

“It is inevitable.” Li Zhen poured out his words. “But there is a prerequisite for this situation. That is, you should maintain a strong strength, which can make the three vassal states fear you. Other than that, you should treat people and things objectively and fairly, and always give others proper rewards and punishments. Once those people firmly believe that they can get great benefits if they go on an expedition with you, they will fight at all costs. On the contrary, if you are not strong enough or cannot give out awards and punishments rigorously, the three vassal states will fall into a vicious circle of competing to avoid fighting for you. They will treat you the same way as those Vassal State Armies who were forced to put down the Huang Chao rebellion, treated the imperial court.”

Li Ye nodded because what Li Zhen said was sensible and logical. After all, these vassal states would only stay loyal to the strongest battalions. Such a state of mind should never be overlooked. When the imperial court was powerful enough to hold the world in awe, most of the officials would be willing to serve the country wholeheartedly if the court knew how to reward and punish only those who deserve. Conversely, if the imperial court was like our imperial court, which even failed to hold Chang’an and its emperor was also driven away by Huang Chao, the vassal states would undoubtedly ignore the imperial court, not to mention staying loyal.

Thinking of this, Li Ye smiled. In the past, he had nothing. Those people in his Manor were not faithful to him. Amid a raging storm, he did all he could and won the title of Prince An. In the current situation, under his command, there were 100,000 selected troops and a thousand brilliant generals as well as many masters, civil officials, and advisors. Along the way, to establish an his own army, he had experienced all kinds of hardships. After blazing a way through all manner of obstacles, he finally managed to lead a full-fledged alignment, which could at least overwhelm with numerical strength.

In a good mood, Li Ye took the third teacup from the maid. To his surprise, she directly touched the back of his hand. Probably, the maid became bolder, when she found that Li Ye was in a good mood. Notably, she did not lower her head to avoid his eyes, when Li Ye turned around to look at her. Instead, she smiled brilliantly at him, with eyes full of tender affection. What an unparalleled charming woman!

Li Ye sipped his tea in silence. This time, he tasted something different.

If he were still the Heir Apparent in a precarious state, he supposed that even the maids in his manor would not show their charms and plead with him to sleep with them. Now, he was a man of great power and influence. So, even when he was only passing through Luzhou, this maid of unrivaled beauty here would try every means to win his favor, taking the risk of being punished. She hoped to change her destiny and take the broad road to a great life.

Li Ye waved his hand to let the maid go, because Li Zhen and he were going to discuss the military movements.

After he finished his discussion with Li Zhen, it was already late at night.

Li Ye walked into the bedroom. The maids helped him unfasten his girdle and take off his clothes. After that, he waved his hand to get them to withdraw. Then, he lifted the bead door curtain and walked to the bed.

Unexpectedly, the exceedingly beautiful maid who made tea for him in the day, was reclining in his bed. She covered only her belly and a small part of her two heart-stirring snow-white long legs, revealing her satin-like smooth skin, under a thin quilt. Through the piece of gauze, Li Ye could see her plump breasts, partly hidden and partly visible. What a great scene! She exuded tenderness and love in her enchanting eyes, which were blurred with passion at this moment. The maid wanted to talk to Li Ye, but she stopped, biting her lips gently.

“What are you doing in my bed?” Li Ye frowned.

The maid was inevitably astonished, because she did not expect that Li Ye would treat her with such an attitude. Prince An, the person before her, could either give her a lifetime of glory and wealth, or take her life away, only by one word. Being a man of great cultivation and having been in a high position for a long time, Li Ye could frighten people without getting angry. When ordinary people saw him frowning, they would feel considerable pressure. Much flustered, the pale maid whispered, “To warm... warm the quilt.”

“The weather is already warm in spring. Why do I need you to warm the quilt?” With a poker face, Li Ye approached the bed.

Seeing Li Ye acting so indifferently, the maid became even more flustered. Holding the thin quilt before her chest, she curled up and moved backward. Her big and watery eyes were full of fear now. It seemed that she was close to tears. With a trembling voice, she tried to explain, “And... and I’m afraid that the new bed does not smell good. So, I want to leave... leave some fragrance here...”

At this time, Li Ye had already walked to the bed. Such kinds of things like a beauty warming the bed or leaving fragrance were not new to him. High ranking officials and dignitaries liked that. Well, her explanation made sense. Li Ye sneered, “Have I ever allowed you to do this? How dare you decide for me!”

In the face of such an angry Prince An, who was approaching her harshly, the maid became utterly panicky. Now even the last bit of hope of luck in her heart was gone. Initially, she thought that with her appearance and charm, Li Ye would never refuse her, because she was such a sought-after star. Many senior figures craved for her body. They were willing to pay tens of thousands of pieces of gold to sleep with her. But she rejected all of them only because she wanted to wait for the real nobleman.

But it had never occurred to her that when she finally met Li Ye, the real nobleman, he would be so unfathomable, that the situation was now totally out of her control. Realizing that she had caused a catastrophe, the maid felt a huge crisis looming. Uncontrollably, her tears gushed out, and her delicate body trembled. Now she collapsed on the bed and begged pitifully, “Your Highness... Your Highness... Please... please spare...”

“Why are you asking me to spare your life even before anything between us has not started yet?” Suddenly, Li Ye gave her a vicious smile.

The maid who hid in the corner of the bed, was stunned. She looked at Li Ye in amazement.

It was said that cultivators who pursued the Great Tao should break off the seven emotions and six sensory pleasures to cleanse their hearts and limit their desires. But they hardly realized that Yin and Yang should be united. It was the most fundamental principle and the only way to make the world endless. So how could people violate it?