To seek the help of savages and cannibals sounded like a ridiculous idea. However, it was still better than allying with the foreign factions; the formers were at least native to the continent.
After somewhat convincing the shell-shocked youth, Wuzhi then began making preparations for their journey to the north.
Alexandros' position and influence in the Capital City of Caroxtel were shallow at best and precarious at worst. Nine out of ten ministers were firmly entrenched on the Regent's side while the rest held meager and inconsequential positions in the imperial court.
Fortunately, not all hope was lost for the boy emperor had the support of the military generals. This force earned him some right to speak and had to be carefully protected and cultivated; lest they be whisked away by the enemy camp. Wuzhi's preparations began in this aspect.
To his surprise, the young scholar found out that the boy emperor had already made some moves in consideration of this very fact.
Firstly, Alexandros had issued an edict disallowing the generals and the soldiers to return to the Capital City and instead continue with the campaign over the south. He had even ordered them to extend their campaign to include the lands under the Duke of Auberville's rule!
With the faction leader ending up dead, these lands were now free to be reclaimed under the Empire's flag. And Alexandros, sensing this opportunity, had sent his own men to do the claiming first. While this was nothing major, this was the boy emperor's first victory over his Royal Uncle.
When Wuzhi happened upon this news, he felt pride blooming within his chest. Alexandros had proven to be a worthy student; one that had understood the essence of his lessons and even improved upon it.
Foundations already laid, Wuzhi moved to reinforce Alexandros' orders and worked on its finer details. He wrote specific instructions on which cities were to be taken, which were to be sacked, and which were to be given up to the Regent's camp. He even went on to describe exactly how many men were to be deployed in each instance, how many days the sieges were supposed to last and even made delicate plans to crack some of the tougher nuts.
When the boy emperor laid his eyes on Wuzhi's plans, he felt a shock run through his spine. Wuzhi's plans went from being mere strategies employed by strategists to being an exact step-by-step guidebook!
Should one follow his strategies they would see the situation evolve in the exact manner detailed by the young scholar; it was akin to a transcript from the future.
Alexandros' already overwhelming feeling of awe and respect for his mentor went through a metamorphosis after witnessing this event and the boy emperor grew even more reverential.
Alas, only Wuzhi knew that he was still lacking in his ability to scheme and plot. As the Heaven Scheming Devil's sole successor, Wuzhi had been privy to some of the plans made by his teacher. And those… were on a completely different level.
Wuzhi's mastery over 'Schemes and Strategies' was still at the 'One Step Ahead' level; that is, his plots only accounted for the enemy's most probable move and progressed according to that. However, this was not the highest attainable level in this art.
Wuzhi knew from his teacher's words that the highest attainable level in this art was called 'Heaven and Earth Revolves around Me!' The meaning behind this level was self-explanatory.
'Actually, Teacher's attainment in this technique is even beyond the 'Heaven and Earth Revolves around Me' level. I'm still far, far, far, far from reaching his level of attainment.' Wuzhi sighed.
His teacher's overwhelmingly high attainment level made sense, especially considering the fact that he was the creator of this supreme technique. Still, the sheer gulf between their respective levels caused the young scholar to sigh wistfully.
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With the matters regarding the military generals thus settled, Wuzhi moved on to making preparations in the Capital City and the imperial court. His plans in this aspect were far less intensive. Wuzhi simply settled for creating a few intelligence cells whose sole purpose was to spy and gather information from the Regent's faction. He made no attempts to stop or resist the Regent's consolidation of power as such attempts would be useless and easily discovered.
Preparations complete, Wuzhi and Alexandros left during the dead of the night on the fourth day. They informed no one of their departures and instead only left a letter on the Regent's desk. With only a single horse carriage and a few bags of essential luggage, the duo began on their journey.
The next day, when the Regent discovered the letter on his desk, he broke into loud laughter and felt ecstatic. He then made arrangements to make it seem like the boy emperor was in closed cultivation and wasn't to be meaninglessly disturbed. As Alexandros held no actual authority in the imperial court, most were more than happy to comply and no one missed his absence.
Except for a certain young maid; who fell sick for an entire week upon learning of this news.
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26th Day of the Seventh Month in the Year 735.
Warm sunlight filtered through the lush canopy of the surrounding trees and gently hit the roof of a certain carriage. Outside, seated upon the seat of the coachman were two shadows.
The larger of the shadows was handsomely dressed in scholarly robes and wore a wide-brimmed bamboo hat on his head. He held a stalk of wild grass in his mouth and gently chewed on it whilst driving the horses.
The smaller shadow, who was seated next to the first, also had a bamboo hat over his head and was dressed in rich, peasant clothing. Unlike the larger shadow, however, the smaller shadow seemed much more energetic and was actively looking around and appreciating the flowing scenery.
After looking around for a while, Alexandros reclined on his seat and pleasantly sighed. "Hah! I suppose I now understand why those poets singing about nature found themselves so enthralled by its beauty. Mother Nature is quite intoxicating."
Wuzhi laughed at the boy emperor's comment. He then shook his head and coolly asked, "Is Your Majesty not going to return inside the carriage? This bench is rather hard, is it not?"
"Fur covers and velvet cushions are comforting, yes," said Alexandros. "However, such comfort requires me to sacrifice this pleasant revelry that I find in sitting out here in the front."
"Hardships have their own flavours of joy, Your Majesty," replied Wuzhi. He then looked towards the pleasant blue sky and slowly asked, "Have you ever been to the north, Your Majesty?"
"Never," replied Alexandros. "Although, I have heard stories about it from my Royal Father. He said that the snow-capped mountain ranges were a divine sight to look at." A gentle smile occupied the boy emperor's face.
The northernmost parts of the South Aislan Continent, particularly those that were close to and beyond Cloud's Break Mountain Ranges experienced snowfall during the winter months. Travellers often spoke of the unassailable 'White Wall' that stretched from the north and pierced the heavens!
"How about you, Wuzhi? Have you experienced snowfall before?" asked Alexandros.
"No, Your Majesty. The Isilda Continent sees an abundance of heat and thus has never experienced snowfall before," replied Wuzhi. An unconcealed look of interest and excitement appeared on his face as he continued. "This will be my first time experiencing snow."
As Wuzhi's mother used to be the sect master of the Sacred Snow Heart Sect, an organization nestled in the Permafrost Region of the North Aislan Empire, and had lived most of her life in that region; she had many a time recounted to Wuzhi her fond memories of that place. Vivid descriptions of ice lakes, snow palaces, frost mountains, and the immortal scene of whiteness had filled the young Wuzhi's mind. Alas, the Isilda Continent experienced no snowfall even during the heights of its winter. As such, these scenes only existed within Wuzhi's mind.
This was about to change. While the Hielands were not the Permafrost Region and hence did not possess the same immortal sights, it was still a world of ice and snow. Wuzhi was beyond thrilled and very much excited to experience his first snow.
Alexandros noticed the excitement on his mentor's face and felt that Wuzhi still possessed a child's heart underneath his grown-up exterior. He let out a good-natured laugh and the duo engaged in further conversation.
The journey to the north from the Empire was long. Fortunately, it was mostly peaceful. Due to the frantic recruitment drives by each of the warring factions, there were no adult men free enough to play bandits. Oddly enough, it was during this period of lull in the great war for unification that the South Aislan Continent experienced its greatest peace.
Three more weeks passed. A full month had gone by since Alexandros' departure from the capital city.
The duo had finally arrived in the north. More specifically, they arrived in the large city that the Mu Family Faction used as their main base of operations for the war.