36 A Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon

482 BC - The Capital of Wu State

Goujian got a piece of news that Fuchai had taken his best troops with him gone north to Huangchi for a meeting with the other rulers. He's leaving the crown prince behind with a force of old and weak soldiers to defend Wu.

Goujian was very excited when he got the news. He consulted with Fan Li and Wen Zhong and asked them if it's time to attack Wu.

However, since Fuchai had just recently left the capital, he was still not far from Wu's borders. If he got the news that Yue had taken advantage of his absence to launch a surprise attack, Fuchai might cancel his trip and return to his capital. Therefore, they decided to hold off until spring.

In early summer, Goujian once again inquired of Fan Li, whether the time was ripe to attack Wu. This time, Fan Li said yes.

Goujian thereupon dispatched a force totaling almost fifty thousand troops to attack the capital of Wu.

When the news arrived at Wu, the ministers and military generals of Wu were panicked. They only had old, weak, or new young soldiers who had never been to the battlefield guarding the city.

The Crown Prince You was a young man who had no experience on the battlefield. He called all the ministers who were in the city to have an emergency meeting.

"Bo Pi…you are my father's trusted minister. Tell me what's going on? Why suddenly Goujian attacks us? I had always thought that Wu and Yue had a good term!"

Bo Pi was a sly minister who only thought about his benefit. He always received bribery from Yue to speak good things about Goujian and Yue. In return, Bo Pi gave them information about the internal of Wu. Yet he had never thought that Goujian would attack Wu.

"Crown Prince, I'm a Wu minister, how do I know?" Bo Pi said.

"You don't know? Then who knows? The late Minister Wu always warned us of the danger of Goujian of Yue, and you're the one who always opposed him. Now I'm suspicious if you did that deliberately because you hated Wu Zixu! You misled your king!" Crown Prince You angrily said.

"Crown Prince, I'm wronged! I didn't mislead the king. Yue State is such a backward state. How can their strength be compared to us?" Bo Pi said.

"Bo Pi, you always say things that make us off-guard toward Yue and Goujian," Crown Prince You sighed.

"At this moment, our best troops are following the king to go for the meeting. Therefore, it will be challenging for us since we only have the old and weak soldiers. They have fifty thousand soldiers, and Yue soldiers are aggressive barbarians!" He sighed again. "How can I not worry?"

"They are attacking us while we're defending our capital. They have to go quite a distance to come here. They're limited in resources. I'm sure if we can defend for at least a month, then we will survive!" Another minister said.

"That's true!" Crown Prince You said. "But, who can lead this campaign against Yue? We need soldiers to guard the capital, also soldiers to go the front line to welcome them!"

"I'm afraid we don't have any suitable person for it!" One military official said. "Our military strategy men are all with King Fuchai now. We have no one who could be the commander who can make strategy!"

"Our Wu State has many soldiers and capable generals. Don't tell me that we don't have anyone at hand now!" Crown Prince You desperately and angrily said.

The general said, "For more than thirty years, we depended on the late Minister Wu and General Yan for military strategy. They made strategies, and we followed their orders and gained our victories."

Hearing that word, Crown Prince You was more enraged. He shouted, "Bo Pi, it's all because of you! You always cornered Minister Wu. Now he died…"

Bo Pi was angry, but he knew that he'd better make a strategy to deal with the crown prince. He immediately kneeled and said, "Crown Prince, please, although I disliked Minister Wu, yet he's also my compatriot. Also, it was not me who asks the king to punish him. I guess everyone knows who asked Minister Wu to commit suicide!" He said in a weak, desperate voice.

Everybody knew that what Bo Pi was right. Although Bo Pi always cornered Wu Zixu, it was not Bo Pi who suggested the king kill Wu Zixu.

"Crown Prince, what if we send someone to go to General Yan and ask for his help to lead the campaign?" One of the generals said. "Although he was displeased that Wu Zixu died, but he might still want to defend the capital for the sake of Wu!"

"That's a good idea. Anyone knows where General Yan lives right now?" Crown Prince You asked.

Crown Prince You was still young. Yet he's wiser if compared to his father, Fuchai. He knew how dangerous Goujian and his troops were. Therefore once he knew where Yan Xuanye lived, he went to meet him by himself to ask him to lead the Wu troops.

Yan Xuanye lived in a small manor not far from Gusu. It was only an hour trip for the Crown Prince to visit him.

Xuanye and his wife and two sons welcomed Crown Prince You with formal kowtows.

"General Yan, please, don't be too formal," Crown Prince You humbly raised Xuanye.

Xuanye knew that Crown Prince You must have come to see him because of the war issue.

"General Yan, I'm sure you know why I come here," Crown Prince You said.

Xuanye nodded.

"I hope General Yan would fulfill my request and lead our troops," Crown Prince You said and kneeled in front of Xuanye. "I beg you, please come back and take your position as a commander!"

"Crown Prince, what are you doing?" Xuanye said and raised Crown Prince You. He sighed and continued, "I will help and lead the troop as commander and push back the Yue army. But afterward, I will still return to my retirement."

Crown Prince You and Xuanye mobilized their remaining troops to defend the capital city.