"Bo Yu! Why had you arrived so late?"
Hu Zun sat in the side seat beside the Wu Kingdom emperor's throne, with Guanqiu Jian on his left and Wen Qin on his right.
General Wang Ji stood before them, bowing to Hu Zun in greeting.
Wen Qin rose to return the greeting, while Guanqiu Jian smiled and nodded.
Hu Zun alone grinned, his eyes brimming with delight at another's misfortune.
He had thought himself the unluckiest, only to find someone even unluckier.
For all the glory of destroying a kingdom, he had at least devised the strategy and pinned down the troops on the front line. Whatever else, he could not be left out of the credit for destroying the kingdom.
But this fellow truly had done nothing.
He had only come out at the end to coast along, taking charge of the surrendering officers, soldiers, and commandery governors across the region.
Seeing someone worse off than himself instantly improved General Hu's mood.
None of those seated there was particularly young. Wen Qin was the youngest, but even he was in his forties, approaching fifty.
Next was Guanqiu Jian, who was in his fifties and nearing sixty, followed by Wang Ji. Hu Zun was the oldest.
Wang Ji answered calmly, "Jiangling is very far from here. I could not arrive in time."
Hu Zun laughed at that.
Just as he was about to add a few more mocking remarks, Guanqiu Jian spoke. "We owed much to General Wang in this campaign. Had he not held Lu Kang's forces in check to the south, Jianye could hardly have fallen so quickly."
Hu Zun curled his lip and said no more.
Wen Qin also hastily added, "Indeed. General Wang fought the rebels repeatedly before this, severely weakening their forces. He also built