Mang Yingli's foolish move

"Maha Thihathura must have been delirious from his illness; one was S-tier and the other B-tier, yet he chose the B-tier one to succeed him!"

Having just finished celebrating the New Year and not yet having departed, Gao Yuan received the report from Liu Rengui.

Gao Yuan had always considered Maha Thihathura a troublesome opponent, and Bayinnaung a serious threat.

He never expected that Maha Thihathura would ultimately choose such a good-for-nothing to be his successor.

After all, although Bayinnaung had suffered several defeats at his hands, Gao Yuan's own losses had not been insignificant.

Furthermore, when Bayinnaung was in charge, the defenses were always well-maintained; it was considered a success if he could capture even one or two prefectures each time.

But that Maha Bandula came only once, and not only was his main force wiped out, but he also lost vast swathes of territory.

If it weren't for that good-for-nothing Maha Bandula, he wouldn't have had the opportunity to occupy so much territory.

Gao Yuan racked his brain but could not understand why Maha Thihathura had ultimately chosen the even more useless son.

"Forget it, forget it. No use dwelling on it. A useless successor is actually a good thing for me."

Since he couldn't figure it out, Gao Yuan couldn't be bothered to think about it anymore; he handed the intelligence to the registrar to be filed and returned to the back courtyard.

He was setting out on a campaign tomorrow, so today he wanted to spend some quality time with his women and children.

After a warm and cozy night, the women gathered at the entrance of the Grand Princesss Residence early the next morning.

Zhao Xiyao walked up to Gao Yuan, raised her hands, and helped her Husband adjust his clothing and belt.

Finally, she leaned slowly against Gao Yuan's chest.

"Husband, please return soon. I will pray for you every day at home."

Gao Yuan embraced the woman in his arms and responded softly.

"I will think of you every day. You must also take good care of yourself; if I find you've lost weight when I return, I'll have to use family discipline on you!"

"Mm, I will think of you every day too."

Nearby, Zheng Wan and Song Yao held onto Mu Qing.

"Qingqing, you must take good care of our Husband."

"Don't worry, sisters, I will."

The tender farewells concluded. Gao Yuan kissed his two little darlings before swinging onto his horse.

After a final goodbye to his family, Gao Yuan and Mu Qing rode away, their backs to the rising morning sun.

Near the city gate, at a tavern, a second-floor window opened. Three pairs of eyes watched intently as the group headed toward the city gate.

Only when they had left the city and were no longer visible did they retract their gaze and stare at each other.

Yang Xin was the first to provoke, speaking in an unfriendly tone.

"Lady Xian, as a married woman, isn't it a bit inappropriate for you to covet a man like this?"

Xian Ying was not one to take things lying down and retorted directly.

"The feeling is mutual. Master Yang, don't forget that he played a part in the siege of Bo Prefecture back then..."

"That was just a petty revenge for the killing of a father. Besides, he wasn't the main culprit, and furthermore, he saved us siblings."

"I have long since severed all ties with Feng Pu. I am not Lady Xian anymore; I am just myself, Xian Ying!"

The two women went back and forth, trading barbs, leaving Princess Consort Huang Yueying huddled in the corner, shivering in fear.

After a long while, seeing that both women were tired, she poured them fresh cups of hot tea and offered each a piece of pastry.

"Try this pastry, it's delicious!"

Watching the girl eat the pastry, her face beaming with happiness and satisfaction.

The two women, who had just been at daggers drawn, seemed to be affected. How long had it been since they had such a pure and simple smile?

Picking up their chopsticks, they took a bite of the pastry. It was soft, chewy, and fragrant—truly delicious.

In this world, only good food should never be wasted. The two women exchanged a glance and tacitly decided to set aside their dispute for now; eating was more important.

On the way home, Yang Xin felt a bit strange.

"Why was I bickering with that vixen? Did I lose my mind just because I didn't have breakfast and had low blood sugar?"

Similarly, in the carriage on the way home, Xian Ying was also confused.

"Why did I have to be so hostile toward that little girl? She's not anyone to him anyway... Oh my, I should visit the Grand Princesss Residence more often; perhaps if our relationship improves, I can get through the door."

Thinking of that handsome face and tall figure, her mature and voluptuous body began to feel hot and restless.

Outside the city, Gao Yuan had just arrived before his Cavalry when he sneezed several times in a row, muttering to himself.

"That shouldn't be. Even in winter, the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau isn't that cold, and I'm dressed warmly enough. How could I have caught a cold? Could it be that someone is talking about how handsome I am behind my back?"

Gao Yuan's Personal Guards Cavalry battalion had expanded from the original one hundred men to one thousand five hundred.

Its nature had also changed from mere Personal Guards to a regular field army, incorporated into the Central Corps.

However, they would still take turns guarding the perimeter of the Grand Princesss Residence, assuming some of the duties of the Personal Guards.

This was the first time many of them were participating in battle as Gao Yuan's Personal Guards Cavalry, and they were all very excited.

Looking at the excited young faces, Gao Yuan couldn't help but feel his own blood boiling with excitement.

Without any extra words, Gao Yuan simply raised his spear and shouted, "Move out!" The crowd became restless with anticipation.

Over a thousand Cavalry moved out, their momentum like a mountain collapsing and the sea overturning—it was spectacular. Soon, they disappeared at the end of the road, leaving only rolling dust behind.

In Toungoo City, Maha Bandula had not yet had time to fully emerge from the pleasure brought by the throne and the mature women when trouble came one after another.

To the north, a hundred-thousand-strong Mughal army had already entered the hinterland and was attacking Sagaing, Ava, and other places. Those were Toungoo's grain and population bases; they had to be saved.

On the other side, the Great Qian army had marched north, and now they had surrounded the prefectural cities of Mawlamyine and Kengtung; the fall of the cities was imminent.

Looking at the many ministers standing in the great hall like wooden statues without saying a word, Maha Bandula made a shocking decision.

"The Han people have a saying: 'To resist foreign aggression, one must first pacify the internal threat.' Therefore, I have decided to mobilize the main force to attack the rebel Bayinnaung first."

Everyone was shocked, looking at Maha Bandula on the throne in disbelief, desperately wanting to confirm if he was joking.

Seeing their shock and suspicion, Maha Bandula emphasized it once more.

"I have decided to recruit troops, first destroy Bayinnaung, and then concentrate our forces to repel the Mughal and Great Qian armies."

Finally, someone could no longer stand it and stood up to object.

"Your Majesty, with foreign enemies invading, I believe we should mobilize all our strength to resist the foreign aggression first. As for Bayinnaung, that is a family matter that should be resolved after the foreign enemies have retreated."

Others also stood up one after another to echo this sentiment.

"Yes, Your Majesty, we should repel the foreign enemies first and then settle the family matter."

"Enough!"

Maha Bandula's rage interrupted them. He slammed the table and stood up, shouting sternly.

"The rebel Bayinnaung has the heart of a wolf and the ambition of a tiger, and he is so close to the capital. If the main army leaves the capital and he takes advantage of the void to enter, how will you all defend against him?"

"Or are you saying that you have long been prepared to welcome Bayinnaung back to the capital, which is why you are obstructing my deployment of troops to attack the traitor!"

With such a heavy accusation placed upon them, who dared to speak again? To do so would be to be branded as a traitor colluding with Bayinnaung.

Having intimidated the officials, Maha Bandula felt quite pleased with himself and returned to the harem in high spirits. Maha Thihathura had left behind quite a few charming and mature beauties, and he still had to properly comfort them in their grief over the loss of their Husband.

The Toungoo officials, seeing that Maha Bandula had made such a reckless decision, could only shake their heads and sigh helplessly as they left. At this moment, they already regretted supporting this prince to take the throne.

They used to think this guy was a good-for-nothing who would be easy to control, but who would have thought he was a stubborn and self-opinionated good-for-nothing?

Subsequently, everyone ostensibly followed Maha Bandula's demand to forcibly conscript young men into the army, but in reality, they had all long since begun planning their own escape routes.

For instance, that former First Prince who was once the most favored, the now-rebel Bayinnaung.