The other side's dissemination work was far from as airtight as Ye Weiming's. Using the Divine Constable Bureau's still rather immature intelligence network planted within the Liao Dynasty, Ye Weiming easily traced the source of the rumor.
This theory derived from the notion that "every place beneath the blue sky should become the Yuan Mongols' pasture," clearly targeting Crown Prince Yelü Jun, had actually originated from within the Liao military—General Xiao Tianzuo's forces.
Upon seeing this information, Ye Weiming's first reaction was that Xiao Tianzuo must have a grudge against Yelü Jun and wanted to use this opportunity to kill the crown prince outright.
His second reaction, however, was...
Was Xiao Tianzuo an idiot, too?
At a time like this, making an issue out of something like this—and specifically targeting the crown prince.
More importantly, his execution was so lousy that even Ye Weiming knew the news had come from his side. Did he think Yelü Hongji would not know?
After pulling a stunt like this, he probably would fail to harm Yelü Jun and end up getting himself killed instead!
Yet what happened next thoroughly proved a universal truth: novels needed airtight logic; reality did not!
As the rumor of the "Yelü Jun Chosen One Theory" began to spread, Yelü Hongji indeed saw through it all and sent someone to summon Xiao Tianzuo into the palace. Then, when the eunuch tasked with delivering the decree arrived at Xiao Tianzuo's camp, Xiao Tianzuo chopped him down before he could even finish reading Yelü Hongji's imperial edict.
After killing the imperial messenger, Xiao Tianzuo directly led the more than one hundred thousand troops under his command to join Yelü Jun.
Immediately afterward, Xiao Tianzuo's younger brother, Xiao Tianyou, also wheeled his forces around from the borderlands and joined Yelü Jun alongside