"Let me wipe it for you."

Ling Zhang immediately clapped his hand to his butt. "I'll do it myself!"

Yuwen Tong snorted with a smile. This brat actually began to worry about his butt. "Remove your hand," he instructed.

"No. I can manage it myself. Give me the towel," said Ling Zhang, turning around to face Yuwen Tong, holding out a hand, covering his butt with the other.

Naturally, Yuwen Tong wouldn't give him the towel. There was fire in his eyes which seemed to be boring into Ling Zhang – fire of desire, of course.

"Get over here."

Ling Zhang stared back at him, motionless. After a few moments, he failed to restrain himself and obediently walked up. Yuwen Tong grabbed his arm, turned him around and began to wipe his butt...

Ling Zhang's face was burning badly. Yuwen Tong was such a wretch! He was deliberately washing him so slow!

"Ca–Can't you do it any faster?!"

"Not if you want me to wash it clean enough."

Ling Zhang could feel Yuwen Tong's hot breath on his butt when Yuwen Tong was speaking. Taken aback, he jerked his head aside and found Yuwen Tong staring at his butt. "Hey!" he exclaimed.

He was just about to jump away when Yuwen Tong quickly grabbed him. "Don't move!"

"What do you think you are doing? Get it over with, okay? I'm still naked." The very look in Yuwen Tong's eyes made Ling Zhang scared. This guy was gazing at him like a hungry wolf at a lamb!

"Humph." Yuwen Tong replied with a snort, "You think I'm going to let you get dressed?"

As the warm towel slid through the crack in his butt, Ling Zhang gave a shudder and with that all his attention was focused on his butt, which made it exceptionally sensitive.

After Yuwen Tong meticulously washed it, his delicate, white butt looked even whiter and glistened wet. A particular part of Yuwen Tong's body ached at the sight of this. He muttered a curse, quickly washed Ling Zhang's back and then his front part. After that, he scooped up Ling Zhang and made towards the bed at the far end of the tent.

Ling Zhang felt as though he were a freshly steamed bun that could be swallowed at any moment.

But he was still holding his butt one-handed.

Yuwen Tong tossed Ling Zhang's hand a glance, his eyes full of indifference. 'Keep holding it if you like. Soon you'll see how pointless that is,' he thought.

It struck Ling Zhang that at this time Yuwen Tong looked very much like a gang leader, that he bore no resemblance whatsoever to the emperor he normally was.

"Don–Don't go too far. There are a lot of people out there. I don't want to be a laughing stock!"

"Nobody dares approach this tent."

"We're not in the imperial palace or your encampment."

"It sure as hell is my encampment. Every inch of this country is mine. I'm the emperor now, remember?"

Yuwen Tong put Ling Zhang down onto the bed and then began to taking off his clothes. While stripping off, he continued, "You won't have to worry about anybody hearing you if you don't groan that loud."

A flush spreading to his neck, Ling Zhang sniffed, "I–I won't have to groan if you could show some restraint!"

Yuwen Tong tossed his clothes to the ground and replied smugly, "Well, that's not on the table."

"Hey, hold on, hold on... Ah!"

...

...

All nearby tents were cleared. Vaguely hearing the voices issuing from Yuwen Tong's tent, Yao Yi and some others inexplicably felt as though they'd returned to the imperial palace.

As a bunch of bachelors, they once again felt hurt as they had in the palace.

...

Ling Zhang had no idea how long the sex lasted, but at the end of it, he didn't even have enough strength to lift a finger. He groggily felt someone wipe him clean, dress him in clean dry clothes, and carefully examined his wounded arm, but soon he drifted into a deep sleep, unable to feel anything.

Seeing he was fast asleep, Yuwen Tong leaned over to kiss him, tucked him in and then went to wash. After changing clothes, he left the tent.

He wanted very much to get some sleep with Ling Zhang in his arms, but he couldn't do that yet.

After instructing Yao Yi and some others to guard the door of the tent, Yuwen Tong went to the main tent.

...

It was already night when Ling Zhang woke up. Yuwen Tong had returned and was reading intelligence reports sent to him by his secret bodyguards from various locations. On sensing Ling Zhang wake up, he rose to his feet, walked up to the bed and laid a hand on Ling Zhang's forehead to feel his temperature. Positive that Ling Zhang was okay and had had a good sleep, he rubbed Ling Zhang's face and said, "You're awake? Do you want to get up?"

Having his face and temple kneaded, Ling Zhang replied in a throaty, languid and faintly nasal voice, "I'm not awake."

Yuwen Tong chuckled, "If you're not awake, then who's talking with me?"

"I'm talking in my sleep."

"What are you seeing in your dream?"

"A gang leader."

"A gang leader?"

Not having caught on, Yuwen Tong said unhappily, "What's the point of dreaming about a gang leader? Where does he live? I'll have him beheaded."

Still fairly unwilling to open his eyes, Ling Zhang snorted softly, "He looks exactly like you. You still want him beheaded?"

The gang leader looked exactly like him? Yuwen Tong came to understand, stooped down, gave Ling Zhang's cheek a playful nibble and then planted a kiss on the corner of his mouth. "What did he do to you?"

Yuwen Tong really believed he was talking in his sleep? Ling Zhang slowly opened his liquid bright eyes to look at Yuwen Tong and then responded, "He harassed me, so I beat him up. After that, he became very submissive and did whatever I told him to. Humph. He kept moving his waist with great gusto."

Yuwen Tong dissolved into chuckle. "Is that so? Oh, my empress is so amazing. Was he doing it as happily as you were?"

Ling Zhang, "..."

He jerked the quilt up and covered Yuwen Tong's head with it, intending to trap Yuwen Tong in it and kick his ass.

"Of course. He was moving it so energetically!"

Beneath the quilt, Yuwen Tong burst into laughter, scooped Ling Zhang up from the bed, put him down to let him sit, and then removed the quilt, looking at him with a twinkle in his eyes. "Okay, that's enough. You need to get something to eat. The food is ready. Given that you only had some steamed buns and flatbreads for lunch, you must be quite hungry."

As if on cue, Ling Zhang's stomach rumbled. He slid Yuwen Tong a sideways glance and said, "It's all your fault. I told you to show some restraint but you wouldn't listen. Now my whole waist is sore."

Yuwen Tong's heart was melted by that sidelong look. He obsequiously reached out a hand to massage Ling Zhang's waist. "You may continue to sleep after filling your belly."

Seeing Ling Zhang want to stand up, Yuwen Tong helped him to his feet, rearranged Ling Zhang's clothes and then, holding Ling Zhang's hand, led him out of the tent to eat his overdue dinner.

Ling Zhang walked around a giant screen with Yuwen Tong and was astonished to see a table full of delicious food. "How did you... You got these from downtown?"

"Yeah. I had them go into the city to buy these," replied Yuwen Tong, settling Ling Zhang in a chair and giving him a bowl of congee. "You barely ate anything during the day, and we did some exercise in the afternoon, and now it's pretty late, so you should just have some congee. Don't eat too much of these meat dishes."

Fortunately Yao Yi and the others had superb lightness skills and could travel very fast, so going into the city to buy these dishes hadn't been much trouble for them.

At least he could have some meat now. Previously Yuwen Tong had forbidden him to eat any meat after sex, allowing him to eat vegetarian meals only. Congee didn't sound so bad now. Ling Zhang took a slurp from his bowl and said, "Have you had dinner? There are so many dishes here."

Yuwen Tong got himself a bowl of rice and sat down beside Ling Zhang. "No. I've been waiting to have dinner with you."

Ling Zhang knitted his brows, looked at the color of the sky and came to know that it was late at night. "You shouldn't have waited for me. This is not to be repeated, or I'll never let you touch me again."

His tone of voice was serious, which suggested that he meant it.

"I waited because this is the first meal we have together since our parting. I won't do it again. Dig in," explained Yuwen Tong.

Finding this explanation acceptable, Ling Zhang slurped down half of the congee in his bowl and then asked, "How's everything going out there?"

"We're still waiting for Mu Rongfeng's reply," answered Yuwen Tong.

It'd been at noon that the letter had been sent. Delivering it to Mu Rongfeng and bringing back his reply would take some time. The reply would've arrived if Mu Rongfeng was in Pingtao City, but considering he'd brought a great number of men to this country, he undoubtedly had to stay with them to make sure everybody toed the line. Those in Pingtao City were just his scouts.

"Has Wu Zhuo gone back?"

"Yeah. Barring accidents, Mu Rongfeng's reply will arrive tomorrow, and his men will come ashore the day after tomorrow. Our navy will have to put on an act convincing enough, and Wu Zhuo will have to cooperate with them."

Yuwen Tong glanced at him and added, "All arrangements have been made, so there's no need to worry. I got this."

"Um." Ling Zhang helped himself with a piece of meat and observed, "The cooks in Pingtao City do know their stuff."

Yuwen Tong also ate a piece of meat and said, "I was worried that the foods in Pingtao City were not to your liking, so I brought some cooks here from the capital city. It was them who cooked these."

Ling Zhang paused briefly, took another slurp from his bowl and said in a quiet voice, "I'm not that finicky. You shouldn't have bothered about it. I'm okay with any food."

Yuwen Tong leaned over and touched Ling Zhang's forehead with his. "It's no bother. I'm happy that I did it. Doing these things is what makes me happy."

Eyes burning, Ling Zhang turned his head and kissed Yuwen Tong, staining his face with congee. Yuwen Tong didn't mind and resumed eating with the lip print of congee on his cheek.

Ling Zhang tried to keep from wiping it off but failed after a few moments.

Yuwen Tong let him wipe it away and then offered him more food. "Eat."

Ling Zhang obediently enjoyed those dishes and slurped his congee noisily. Since he was not in the imperial palace or at home, he didn't have to pay attention to table manners.

Yuwen Tong pushed a loose strand of Ling Zhang's hair back behind his ear. Seeing Ling Zhang enjoying the congee so much, Yuwen Tong swallowed and said, "Let me have a sip of it."

Ling Zhang looked up at him, perplexed. "Why do you want congee when you have rice?"

"Just give it to me."

Ling Zhang resignedly pushed his bowl to Yuwen Tong, who picked it up, put the part of its brim where Ling Zhang's lip had been between his own lips, took a slurp and observed, "It tastes fine."

Bewildered, Ling Zhang took his bowl back. Before he could figure out the reason, Yuwen Tong planted a sloppy kiss on his cheek, leaving a lip print on it.

Ling Zhang, "..."

He twisted his head aside to look at Yuwen Tong, who calmly looked back at him.

Ling Zhang turned his head back. Never mind. It was pointless to bother with an immature guy like Yuwen Tong.

Yuwen Tong, who was amused by the 'I-don't-want-to-be bothered-with-a-childish-guy-like-you' expression Ling Zhang assumed, raised his hand to rub Ling Zhang's head.

After a vain attempt to shake off Yuwen Tong's hand, Ling Zhang ignored him and resumed drinking his congee.

Yao Yi who was on guard duty outside the door glanced over his shoulder into the tent. Hearing his two masters bickering like children, he felt quite at ease, as though he'd returned to the imperial palace.

However, he was secretly hoping that he would find someone to slurp congee with him as well.

Yao Yi had lost count of the number of times this idea had occurred to him. It'd been only after he was saddened by his two masters' intimacies that he'd started considering this uncontrollably. It struck him vaguely that he didn't really want to get married that bad. Why had he been thinking about this kind of stuff so frequently in recent days?

The two people inside the tent were unaware that they had just depressed the current commander of the Palace Guards once again, but even if they'd come to know about it, they would continue doing it with smile on their faces, showing Yao Yi no 'mercy' whatsoever.

Early the next morning, Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong walked out of the tent.

Mu Rongfeng's reply still hadn't arrived yet, and all sides were biding their time. The atmosphere was subdued and tense.

The two of them quietly entered Pingtao City. Residents were still unaware of the imminent fighting, so the mood in the downtown area was much more relaxed than it was in the military encampment. In order to prevent innocent civilians from being hurt during the operation the next day, the local yamen had some men put on an act at the port in the afternoon. In the name of an inquiry into a fistfight between two caravans, port guards took all members of all the caravans near the port into custody, and then sealed the port entrance temporarily, allowing only a small number of people to go in and out so as to minimize collateral damage.

At dusk, Mu Rongfeng's reply finally arrived. Yuwen Tong was the first to read the letter. In it, Mu Rongfeng agreed to Wang Xiangxin's plan, and he didn't mention anything about the time of their concerted operation, which spared Yuwen Tong the trouble of tampering the letter.

Ling Zhang studied the terrain of the areas outside Pingtao City for a while and then covertly brought Wang Dashan and some others out of the city to scout out the lay of the land. After returning from the trip, he told Yuwen Tong where he was going to deploy a formation.

"Considering the scale of tomorrow's operation, we won't be able to keep Wang Xiangxin in the dark about it. If they stay where they are, there'll be no problem, but if they move out of the checkpoint, my formation will hold them back and buy you some time."

Yuwen Tong inclined his head. After giving it some thought, he said, "The formation will have to be large, and those scouts in the city will easily find out about its existence. Do you think it's doable that we make a plan first and wait until tomorrow to deploy the formation?"

Ling Zhang said, "I think so."

The main purpose of the deployment of the formation was to stall the rebel army and buy the garrison some time to round up Mu Rongfeng and his men at the port.

Yuwen Tong and Ling Zhang consulted with Hai Mu about this matter. The next day, Hai Mu would lead the Haizhou garrison to trap the enemy in a pincer movement, and proper coordination would be needed for the formation to serve its purpose.

The consultation lasted until night. After a plan was finalized, Hai Mu took his leave to make final arrangements. Ling Zhang, Wang Dashan and some others, under the cover of night, went out of the city once again.

The next day, at the crack of dawn, the atmosphere was even more subdued than it was the day before. Everybody was poised to take action.

...

On the sea outside Pingtao City.

There had been some unusual movements on the seemingly quiet sea before daybreak. Some pirate ships, hiding in morning mist, had attempted to get through the waters patrolled regularly by the navy to get ashore.

"Pirates!"

Soldiers on an observation tower on an island spotted the pirate ships. The navy immediately sent a couple of warships to intercept them.

The two sides engaged and the fighting was in a stalemate for an hour.

Afterward, the pirates were defeated and made an attempt to detour around the naval base to flee south. The warships exploited the victory and pursued the enemy hotly, sparing no efforts. Soon the noisy sea fell silent, without a single ship in sight.

"Advance! Full speed!" The fleet of 'merchant ships' led by Mu Rongfeng took advantage of this opportunity and sailed through the waters that the navy had originally been keeping close watch on, headed in the direction of the port of Pingtao City. Even if the navy found out about it, their warships wouldn't be able to catch up with them in time.

These merchant ships in disguise were actually small-sized warships from the navy of the Luohai Kingdom. This time, Mu Rongfeng had led one third of the navy south to Haizhou, investing quite a lot in this operation.

The dozens of ships moved very fast, getting closer and closer to the port outside Pingtao City. Distantly, soldiers on the ships could now see the situation in the port clearly.

Mu Rongfeng didn't go ashore immediately. Instead, he sent a couple of ships forward to reconnoiter.

The port was fairly quiet, because the day before some members of two caravans made trouble at the port and had a fierce fight, and then local authorities took all caravans staying near the port into custody, leaving some merchant ships anchored on the side. And then there were some port guards on duty. A couple of fishing boats had just gone ashore. Some fishermen and temporary workers were unloading fish from the boats, which were to be transported into Pingtao City as soon as possible.

According to the plan, Wang Xiangxin would send some men to create disturbance and lure away the port guards to allow Mu Rongfeng's men an opportunity to land on the shore.

Of course, the real date on which Wang Xiangxin wanted Mu Rongfeng to take action was the next day, so on this day, some soldiers of the Haizhou garrison would pose as refugees and create 'turmoil' to 'lure' the port guards away.

Those on the shore were also observing movements on the sea. The moment Mu Rongfeng's warships came into sight, people on the shore started making final preparations.

Mu Rongfeng's scouts came ashore just in time to see the 'turbulence' begin and most of the port guards drawn away.

Finding that the port guards had been lured away, one of the scouts sounded his horn.

The horn tooted.

"Get ashore!"

Mu Rongfeng gave the order and with that all his warships quickly moved towards the shore.

Some warships of the navy had turned around to pursue them. Mu Rongfeng repeated ordered his men to pick up speed and go ashore as quick as possible. "Hurry up! All of you!"

Light and fast, his warships in disguise reached the shore very soon. The marines of the Luohai Kingdom, posing as pirates, were poised to disembark. Mu Rongfeng was standing on deck, his eyes sweeping across the port, surprised that the port was unusually quiet. Berthed at random by the shore were only some fishing boats. Not only had all port guards been led away, but none of the businessmen he'd previously seen engaged in loading and unloading goods was in sight. Seeing this, he couldn't help but furrow his brows.

"What's going on? Why are all those merchant ships berthed there?!" Mu Rongfeng snapped at the scouts who had been waiting on the shore all this time.