Chapter Thirteen: Can You Accept It? You Cannot!
With each roar, tinged with a hint of hysteria, Sun Feng could hardly believe what he was hearing. After enduring countless hardships, he had finally returned from among the people to the Prince of Conquest’s residence.
Having barely reclaimed everything that was originally his, how could it all mean nothing now?
“Do you really think your father would let someone without any merit become the next Prince of Conquest?”
“Or do you believe that military strategy and battlefield tactics can be mastered without learning, simply by intuition?”
“Even if you were given all these opportunities, how many battle achievements do you think you could truly earn?”
These three soul-searching questions left Sun Feng utterly stunned. Trembling with anger, he clenched his fists tightly and gritted his teeth, retorting, “I—I can do it just as well as you!”
“I am the heir to the Prince of Conquest’s residence. I wonder who among the troops would dare disobey me!”
With a clang, he drew his sword, the metallic sound sharp and cold.
Like a madman, Sun Feng brandished his blade, pacing before the training ground.
His gaze fixed on Qin Yong, one of the thirteen armored warriors who stood apart from the Prince of Conquest’s army.
“You, you don’t submit to me, do you?”
Lin Qian saw the scene and nearly laughed aloud.
Sun Feng was truly blind; if he wanted to pick a soft target, shouldn’t he at least choose someone smaller in stature?
Qin Yong looked at Sun Feng’s wild demeanor with disdain and snorted coldly through his nostrils.
“Fine, fine! So be it!”
“You’re eating the rations of the Prince of Conquest’s army and now you wear Mingguang Armor? A traitor! I’ll chop you down!”
Before anyone could react, Sun Feng’s sword swung fiercely toward Qin Yong.
Everyone watched in stunned silence, some even shouting, “General Qin, dodge!”
But Qin Yong stood unmoving until Sun Feng’s blade struck the armor’s plate with a clang.
With a sneer, Qin Yong suddenly raised his foot and kicked Sun Feng hard.
Boom!
The force was immense; Sun Feng, gripping his sword with both hands, was sent flying, his weapon clattering to the ground.
Qin Yong shook his neck, a mocking smirk spreading across his face.
“What use is being the heir of the Prince of Conquest’s residence? A useless fool who struggles to kill even a chicken, and yet you dare to give me orders!”
“When I followed the young marshal on campaigns, I earned the honors for first assault and slaying enemy generals. I once fought a hundred alone, killing over one hundred and thirty enemies. What are you to shout orders at me?”
Qin Yong regarded the dazed Sun Feng as if looking at a fool. “When has the Prince of Conquest’s residence ever harbored such a good-for-nothing? Apart from the young marshal, no one else can be the next Prince of Conquest! I only recognize Lin Qian as the rightful heir!”
Sun Feng lay dazed on the ground, bruised and humiliated, never expecting such shame.
“You wretched bastard! I’ll ruin you!” he snarled.
“Guards! Seize him!”
Dozens of loyal guards of the Prince of Conquest’s residence swarmed around Qin Yong and the remaining eleven warriors.
At that moment, Lin Qian slightly bowed and then tapped his fingers on the table.
“Zhou Yang, are you ready now?”
Zhou Yang turned around and almost lost his footing upon seeing Lin Qian sitting in the center of the training ground.
“Y-Your Highness!” he exclaimed in shock.
The other guards of the residence quickly bowed to Lin Qian as well.
Even after three years away from the Prince of Conquest’s residence, in the eyes of these guards, Sun Feng was no true heir.
They had always addressed Sun Feng as heir reluctantly.
“Step aside. Have you all forgotten your manners?”
Lin Qian’s eyes curved with a faint smile.
The entire Prince of Conquest’s residence knew that when Lin Qian smiled, it was far from a happy one.
Only when he did not smile could it be said he was not angry.
But once he smiled, it meant the former heir was truly enraged.
The old steward, Sun Ying, hurried forward with a forced smile. “Young master, please don’t be angry with the servants…”
Lin Qian tilted his head, looking down at the steward, and asked, “When will the prince and Sun Yi arrive?”
“Very soon, any moment now!”
The steward looked out and indeed saw a figure in brocade robes riding swiftly toward them.
Hearing the approaching sounds, Lin Qian rose calmly, standing tall and resolute like a mountain of gold and jade pillars.
“Qian!”
Sun Ye gasped, watching the farcical scene before him.
Hadn’t he said he wanted nothing? Why was he back in the camp now?
Where had he gotten that armor? And that scarlet cloak embroidered with a phoenix motif tied behind him?
“Father!” Seeing his father arrive, Sun Feng scrambled toward him in a clumsy crawl.
His bruised and battered face looked comically pitiful.
Before he even reached Sun Ye, Sun Feng knelt in a skid and grabbed the reins of his horse.
“Father! They defy me and rebel!”
“They don’t submit to me. I only stopped the eldest brother from taking three thousand elite soldiers, but they revolted—revolted!”
“Revolted?” Lin Qian murmured the word, his gaze turning suspiciously toward Wei Ji, the chief commander of the central army.
Wei Ji hurriedly bowed and reported, “Your Highness, Lin Qian, under imperial order, is to select three thousand elite troops and thirteen commanders from the Prince of Conquest’s Fish Drum Camp to accompany him!”
A sharp intake of breath.
Even the old prince, Sun Ye, felt some resistance upon hearing this.
But if he carried an imperial edict, why had he not returned to the residence to inform him? Why come directly to the military camp to requisition troops?
“Qian, since you bear the emperor’s command, you may take the three thousand soldiers. But I must ask, where do you intend to lead them? And what rank has His Majesty promised you?”
“Does the Prince of Conquest’s residence truly no longer have a place for you?”
“Even if you cannot be heir, would I wrong you? The Prince of Conquest commands an army of a hundred thousand, with me as commander and you as deputy. Where else would you go?”
Hearing Sun Ye’s words, Lin Qian smiled bitterly to himself.
A place for me? If there truly was, why reclaim the Sun family name?
If there truly was, why scatter all my trusted men from the central army into disparate camps?
Wasn’t this just paving the way for Sun Feng?
“Your Highness,” Lin Qian spoke calmly, neither humble nor arrogant, “His Majesty has ordered me to lead three thousand iron cavalry to Chunping City as the Deputy Commander of the Dragon Martial Army. This is still a border defense. From now on, the Prince of Conquest’s residence has nothing to do with me.”