Kang Luo kept his eyes on the crown prince, and what was in them slowly went black.

For the first time, it occurred to him to take the position of heir apparent for himself.

Hand Nanyue's realm to a man like this and sooner or later it would be finished.

Kang Luo knew the two cities were lost.

At least he had sent word when the recall came: if Ning Chen brought an army up to the walls before Kang Luo got back, his men were to pull out and give the two cities up.

Otherwise he'd have lost the cities and Nanyue's troops along with them.

Kang Luo stopped defending himself.

There was no point explaining anything to fools who could only fight a war on paper and talk big about it.

His mind was made up. He would take the crown prince's position.

First, for Nanyue.

Second, for the woman he loved.

Because Nanyue's crown prince had been drooling over the first beauty of Nanyue for years.

Ning Chen had already begun his assault on the city.

He hadn't expected it to go so smoothly. You could call it easy.

Nanyue's army had withdrawn.

The two sides barely fought at all.

Nanyue's army handed the city over without a fight. (TL Note: Literally "gave it up with hands cupped in salute," a set phrase for surrendering something valuable without contesting it.)

On their way out, though, Nanyue's men had stripped the place of gold, silver, valuables and supplies. What they left behind was a mess for somebody else to clean up.

Not Ning Chen's problem, of course. That headache belonged to Jin Dongxing.

Inside the city, nothing but wailing.

Nanyue's soldiers had raped and looted and slaughtered at will as they pulled back, and the whole of Yong'an City was a wreck.

Pan Yucheng couldn't make sense of it. "Why would Nanyue's army suddenly pull out?"

Ning Chen shrugged. "Because Kang Luo isn't here... With Kang Luo they might have held us a few days. Without him they can't hold us at all, so pulling out was the…