Chapter 383: Chapter 251: The Tianqi King’s Army Advances Eastward_3

Lu Chen said, “That is true, I have overestimated those Aristocratic Families.”

Just then, a guard from the Prince’s Mansion entered the rear courtyard and said, “Prince, Commander Wu of the Brocade Guard requests an audience.”

Lu Chen said, “Let him come directly to the rear courtyard.”

“Yes.”

Soon, Wu Yuan appeared in the rear courtyard. After glancing at Qin Yushan, he said to Lu Chen, “Greetings, Prince!”

Lu Chen asked, “What’s the matter?”

Wu Yuan took out a piece of paper intelligence from his sleeve and said, “We’ve just received news that people from the South’s Aristocratic Families have been spotted in Qi Country. It seems that the Southern rebels are trying to win over the Qi Prince to lead troops south.”

Upon hearing this, Lu Chen, while taking the intelligence from Wu Yuan’s hand, asked, “How did the Qi Prince treat those people?”

Wu Yuan replied, “The Qi Prince has arranged for them to stay at the best tavern in Qi Country and has met with them several times. As for the Qi Prince’s attitude, the Brocade Guard has not been able to find out yet.”

Lu Chen opened the intelligence in his hand and skimmed through it quickly.

Lu Chen did not believe that the Qi Prince would rebel along with the South’s Aristocratic Families. Although the Seigniors of Great Xia had long been dissatisfied with the royal family, the current power of the Seigniors was no longer what it used to be.

If they rashly decided to rebel, not only would their current wealth and honor be lost, but they also risked losing their lives.

However, this was not certain; power is so tempting that no one could be sure whether the Qi Prince harbored imperial dreams.

But if the Qi Prince were to rebel, he would surely send envoys to the North Country. The North Country, bordering Qi Country, had now become an entity that Qi Country could not ignore.

Most of Qi Country’s troops were positioned in the north, clearly to guard against the North Country. If Qi Country wanted to transfer troops south to attack the Capital city, the Qi Prince would have to consider the possibility of the North Country marching south to support the Emperor.

Just as Lu Chen was about to return to the study, a guard from the Prince’s Mansion brought in a soldier bearing a red flag into the Prince’s Mansion.

The Red Ribbon Messenger, upon seeing Lu Chen, immediately knelt halfway and handed over the intelligence contained in a bamboo tube, “Prince, the Barbarian Tribe’s Tianqi King is leading an army of four hundred thousand troops eastward, and some of the vanguard Cavalry has already arrived in the North Land. In less than half a month, they’ll reach the North Country!”

Hearing this, the faces of everyone in the courtyard instantly turned stern. Lu Chen quickly took the bamboo tube from the Red Ribbon Messenger and removed the intelligence, then said to Wu Yuan and Qin Yushan, “Commander Qin, Commander Wu, go immediately to the Hall of Political Affairs and summon the Military Generals from Yan County.”

Both men said in unison, “As you command, Prince!”

Afterward, they promptly left the North Prince Mansion, while Lu Chen stood in place, seriously reading the battle report from the front.

After finishing the intelligence from the North Land, something suddenly occurred to Lu Chen.

This so-called Tianqi King had also attacked the Da Yue Dynasty not long ago, but was defeated by the Empress of the Da Yue Dynasty.

Unexpectedly, after being repelled by the Da Yue Dynasty, they didn’t settle down; instead, they moved to the North Land, and there was even a possibility they were planning to attack the North Country.

With an army of four hundred thousand marching to the North Land, Lu Chen didn’t believe they were just there for sightseeing; it’s more likely that the Tianqi King felt humiliated by the defeat in the Da Yue Dynasty and wanted to regain confidence from Great Xia.

Moreover, the Barbarian Tribe has always had a penchant for raiding the south. Having not plundered much of what they needed from the Da Yue Dynasty, they naturally would look to raid other places, and Lu Chen assessed that there was a high probability that the Tianqi King was targeting the North Country.

Recently, from intelligence gathered by Wang Qingci, he knew that since the Da Yue Dynasty had defeated the alliance of the Barbarian Tribes, they had been on guard against the Barbarian Tribes advancing from the northwest. He hadn’t expected them to actually come, and with an army of four hundred thousand, no less.

Their ability to gather such precise intelligence was all thanks to those Barbarian Tribes living in the North Land; it seemed his initial decision to incorporate the North Land Barabarians into the North Country proved to be very useful.

After reading the urgent intelligence in his hands, Lu Chen immediately went to the Hall of Political Affairs to await the arrival of the Military Generals.

Meanwhile, not far from North Prince Mansion, some people were watching the entrance of the mansion closely.

These people belonged to the Shadow Guard. Wang Jiantao had been looking for an opportunity to assassinate Bai Qingqing recently, but he dared not directly infiltrate the North Prince Mansion because he was wary of Zhuge Zhongguang.

Though he practiced a Cultivation Technique that allowed him to conceal his presence, he was not confident that he could escape the detection of Grandmaster Zhuge Zhongguang after eliminating Bai Qingqing.

If it were an ordinary Grandmaster, perhaps he might have attempted it, for an average Grandmaster might not detect him in his stealth state. But Zhuge Zhongguang was a Grandmaster on the verge of breaking through to the Heavenly Human Realm.

While killing Bai Qingqing might be easy, after doing so, Wang Jiantao was likely to end up staying in the North Prince Mansion permanently.

Wang Jiantao thought that he was only there to eliminate a traitor, not to be a suicide attacker, so there was no need to risk his life sneaking into North Prince Mansion for an assassination.

Just as Wang Jiantao was staring blankly at the entrance of North Prince Mansion, one of his Shadow Guards whispered a reminder, “Leader, look quickly, two Grandmasters have arrived at the entrance of the North Prince Mansion!”

Upon hearing this, Wang Jiantao’s gaze instantly fixated on the two people at the entrance of the mansion.

Those two men rode black horses, cloaked in thick armor, and exuded the aura of Grandmasters from their beings.

Wang Jiantao frowned slightly, sensing that these two Grandmasters were not ordinary in strength; in fact, they seemed even stronger than the Grandmaster who had just left the mansion, which made him feel a tremor in his heart upon seeing them.

He himself was someone who did the Emperor’s dirty work, and many had died by his hand, but the murderous aura he possessed was nothing compared to those two, who seemed as though they had emerged from the underworld, their killing intent so intense that he felt uncomfortable even at this distance.

At that moment, Xuanyuan Chen dismounted at the Prince’s Mansion entrance and then turned to look in a certain direction, lingering without entering the mansion.

Seeing this, Wenren Lie, who had already stepped through the gates, asked, “What’s the matter?”

Xuanyuan Chen then turned and said, “I just felt as if someone was watching us.”

Wenren Lie said indifferently, “It’s normal. Every day, many petty thieves keep an eye on the North Prince Mansion.”

The North Country was no longer what it used to be, and the North Prince was no longer the North Prince of old, so it was common for many foreign spies to monitor every move of the North Prince; there was nothing new about it.

As Xuanyuan Chen walked toward the mansion, he said, “True, let the Brocade Guard deal with those petty thieves. The main matter is what’s urgent.”