Yuan Long suddenly said, "My lord prince, the Nanyue army hasn't pulled out."

Ning Chen was taken aback. "It hasn't?"

"No. The scouts report the Nanyue army is camped fifteen miles outside the city."

Ning Chen frowned. "What's Kang Luo up to?"

Yuan Long shook his head.

Ning Chen lowered his head, lost in thought.

Suddenly something seemed to occur to him.

"Yuan Long, let me ask you... After I passed out, was I brought straight here?"

Yuan Long nodded.

"So everyone knows I'm badly hurt?"

"Yes!"

A smile spread across Ning Chen's face in spite of himself. He murmured, "So that's Kang Luo's game?

Yuan Long, spread the word right away that my wounds were beyond saving and I've died.

No. Tell everyone this: I could have been saved, but last night an assassin tried to kill me, and his dagger was poisoned. I didn't make it to this morning."

Yuan Long and the others stared at him, bewildered.

Ning Chen laughed coldly. "Kang Luo is camped fifteen miles outside the city. He obviously means to take Yangzhou back."

Yuan Long said doubtfully, "Does he have the nerve?"

Ning Chen narrowed his eyes slightly. "If I'm dead, he does.

There are only two reasons Kang Luo hasn't come back yet.

First, he isn't sure I was really blown to death.

Second, if I am dead, the Ning'an Army is a beast off its leash. If he comes back now, he's asking to die.

So he's waiting for the right moment, for your fury to die down, before he brings his army back to attack."

Ning Chen couldn't help laughing. "This time we'll invite the turtle into the jar." (TL Note: A mash-up of two idioms: "please step into the jar, sir," for trapping a man with his own scheme, and "catch a turtle in a jar," for a sure capture.)

Yuan Long said, "My lord prince, then why don't we just go after him?"

"Are you stupid? If you go after him, won't Kang Luo just run?"

"But a lot of people know my lord prince is alive. I'm…