The relentless, freezing monsoon rains transforming the eastern mountain ranges into a sprawling, churning swamp provided the perfect, chaotic camouflage for a silent coup.
Within the sprawling, mud-choked perimeter of First Prince Huang Wei's forward encampment, the intricate, arterial flow of imperial logistics was undergoing a masterful, entirely bloodless amputation. The primary supply lines, originally dictated by the rigid, bureaucratic ledgers of the capital's quartermasters, were being systematically diverted, choked, and rerouted by two women who possessed an unparalleled, predatory mastery over the flow of wealth.
Lin Ruoli, the calculating mastermind of the Jade Serpent Merchant Organization, and Ya Su, the brilliant architect of the Gilded Lotus Auction House, moved through the secondary command tiers of the encampment like phantoms in the mist.
