Ning Chen gave a cool smile.

It wasn't that he couldn't get lost in power. He was only human, and humans have desires. Nobody gets to fucking grovel and pretend otherwise.

He was just lazy. He didn't want to be emperor because being emperor was too much work... He couldn't be bothered to let power run him.

"Old Prince, there's no time to lose. You need to be out of Liangzhou before dawn."

Prince Xiang nodded.

Ning Chen called Yuan Long over and had him take Prince Xiang to pick his men.

After Prince Xiang left, Pan Yucheng came in.

Seeing him hesitate, Ning Chen said, amused, "Spit it out. Since you married Miss Nanzhi, you seem to have picked up hemming and hawing too."

Pan Yucheng: "..."

Pan Yucheng had spent so long around Ning Chen that he'd been led astray too; these days he could usually follow the man's weird way of talking.

He hesitated a moment, then said, "Prince Xiang is a Zhang, after all."

Ning Chen smiled. "This emperor knows what you mean. You're worried that once Prince Xiang is back in the capital, he'll tell Zhang Tianlun my whole plan?"

Pan Yucheng nodded.

Ning Chen said, "But the Emperor Emeritus is a Zhang too... I'm betting he won't help Zhang Tianlun.

First, his family is in Zhang Tianlun's hands. If someone threatened you with Miss Nanzhi, would you still work for him?

Second, Prince Xiang is a smart man. He knows that even if he told Zhang Tianlun this emperor's plan, it wouldn't change anything. It would only get the Emperor Emeritus killed, and when we fight our way into the capital, we'd give him a thousand cuts for it."

Pan Yucheng nodded silently.

The next day.

The people of Liangzhou woke up to find the world had changed!

Overnight, Ning Chen had taken Liangzhou without anyone knowing how.

At once the people cheered and spread the news from door to door.

They'd heard long ago that the Great Xuan meant to ally with the Nanyue bandits.

They'd been living in dread, terrified that once…