Chapter 263 He Is Already a Grandmaster

Although the court officials have recently focused their attention on the war in Jiangnan, they still know some news about the North.

Especially the news of the North's military parade. The 200,000 troops in the North have made the court officials realize that the North has grown to an uncontrollable level.

However, the Jiangnan rebels have not been eliminated, and they have no energy to pay attention to what happened in the North.

Before the Jiangnan rebels are eliminated, they go to the North to cause trouble, and they are likely to fall into the dilemma of being attacked from both sides. Therefore, the court officials' attitude towards the North is very clear, that is, ignore the North and treat it as if it does not exist.

Moreover, after hearing that the 400,000 troops of King Tianqi are advancing eastward, they also believe that there will be a battle between the North and the army of King Tianqi. With the strong enemy of King Tianqi, the strength of the North will inevitably be weakened.

But then again, although they want King Tianqi to further weaken the strength of the North, they don't want to see the North defeated by King Tianqi.

Now the focus of the court is on Jiangnan. If the Northern Kingdom is destroyed by the Apocalypse King, it will be another disaster for Daxia. The Apocalypse King is a great master, and the Apocalypse King's tribe is a large tribe separated from the former barbarian royal court. The barbarian soldiers under the Apocalypse King are very strong, which is a very powerful enemy for Daxia.

Once the Northern Kingdom is destroyed by the Apocalypse King's army, it is equivalent to a sharp sword hanging over Daxia's head, which is extremely disadvantageous for Daxia.

Just when the whole hall of civil and military officials thought that something had happened to the Northern Kingdom, the messenger Hong Ling said loudly: "The Northern Kingdom has won a great victory!!! The Northern King led an army of 200,000 and killed 320,000 barbarians in Ningbei City, captured 80,000 barbarian soldiers, and the barbarian Apocalypse King was also killed by our general!"

Hearing this, the hall suddenly became even quieter, and some officials couldn't help but take a breath.

They just thought that the Northern Kingdom was destroyed by the King of Apocalypse, but they didn't expect that the Northern Kingdom defeated the 400,000 troops of the King of Apocalypse, and even killed the Grandmaster of the King of Apocalypse.

This...

How is this possible...

How did the Northern Kingdom do it?

As far as they know, the Grandmaster of the Northern Kingdom, Zhuge Chongguang, has been in Yancheng all the time and has not gone to Ningbei City at all.

To kill a Grandmaster, the Northern Kingdom must have a Grandmaster. If Zhuge Chongguang did not go to the battlefield, doesn't it mean that the Northern Kingdom has a hidden Grandmaster?

A small feudal state, with two Grandmasters?

Is this still a feudal state?

The Great Xia Royal Family only has one Grandmaster, the National Master Situ Ce, but the Northern Kingdom has two Grandmasters. If the Northern Kingdom has no rebellious intentions, I'm afraid no one will believe it?

This makes those who used to think that the Northern King was the pawn of the Xia Emperor doubt whether the Northern King is really the pawn of the Xia Emperor. Does a pawn need two Grandmasters?

When a chess piece has the ability to jump out of the chessboard, is he still a chess piece?

The court was unusually dull at this time. People seemed to have felt the imperial pressure released by Emperor Xia, and the officials did not dare to breathe.

After a long time, the eunuch beside Emperor Xia came back to his senses. He immediately walked to the side of the Hong Ling messenger, took the battle report from the Hong Ling messenger, and then tremblingly returned to Emperor Xia and handed the battle report to Emperor Xia with both hands.

Emperor Xia took the battle report at this time, opened it and glanced at the content inside, and did not speak for a long time.

When he first heard that King Tianqi was advancing eastward, he also thought that the Northern Kingdom would inevitably face a great crisis this time. Even if the Northern Kingdom blocked King Tianqi's attack, the strength of the Northern Kingdom would be greatly weakened.

As a result, the battle report now tells him that the Northern Kingdom not only defeated King Tianqi's 400,000 troops, but also killed King Tianqi, the great master.

Has the strength of the Northern Kingdom become so strong in such a short time?

The key is that according to the information sent back by the shadow guard, Zhuge Chongguang did not go to the battlefield. The Northern Kingdom at least has a grandmaster. He was still thinking that Zhuge Chongguang was the person behind Lu Chen at first, but now it seems that Zhuge Chongguang may not be the person behind the changes in the Northern Kingdom.

Looking at the content of the war report, Emperor Xia's face darkened and became very ugly.

Originally, the Northern Kingdom was a vassal state of Daxia. The Northern Kingdom won the war. As the emperor of Daxia, Emperor Xia should be happy, but the vassal state is too powerful and has seriously threatened the court and his position as emperor.

The Northern Kingdom is vaguely on the verge of losing control. The Daxia court obviously can no longer control the Northern Kingdom and must find a way to deal with the affairs of the Northern Kingdom.

After an unknown period of time, Emperor Xia said coldly: "My dear ministers, the Northern King is brave and good at fighting. He has made such a great achievement. How do you think I should reward him?"

Hearing Emperor Xia's cold tone, no official in the hall dared to speak.

It was obvious that Emperor Xia was very unhappy with this result. A vassal king had such a strong military force, which was a huge threat to the court.

At this time, the right prime minister Zhao Wenhan stood up and said, "Your Majesty, although the Northern King has made great military achievements, he violated the military limit order and expanded the army to 200,000 without authorization. Unauthorized expansion of troops is a very serious crime, but considering that these 200,000 troops went north to resist the invasion of foreign enemies for Daxia, I think the merits and demerits are offset, so there is no need to reward the Northern King with anything else."

Hearing what Zhao Wenhan said, Emperor Xia sneered and said, "It's not good not to reward. If you don't reward anything, it will chill the heart of the Northern King."

At this time, Zhao Wenhan bowed and continued, "It all depends on your majesty."

After the voice fell, Zhao Wenhan retreated to his position.

Zhao Wenhan was just helping Emperor Xia to talk. He could see that Emperor Xia had no intention of rewarding the Northern King at all. Let alone rewarding, Emperor Xia probably wanted the Northern King to die quickly.

The Northern Kingdom suddenly had such a strong military strength. After they finished suppressing the rebellion in the south, I'm afraid the court will start to reduce the vassal state again. The Northern King still wanted a reward, so rewarding him with a cup of poisoned wine would be better.

At this time, Emperor Xia's eyes fell on Lin Gaoyuan, "Lord Lin, what do you think I should reward the King of the North with?"

Hearing Emperor Xia's question, Lin Gaoyuan slowly stood out of the queue, then bowed and said, "Your Majesty, I think the same as Prime Minister Zhao."

Although Lin Gaoyuan stood on Lu Chen's side, it was not easy to speak for Lu Chen at this time. Anyone with a discerning eye could see that Emperor Xia's attitude towards Lu Chen had changed a lot.

Now the officials of the court basically no longer think that the King of the North is Emperor Xia's pawn.

The development of the North Country has obviously been out of the control of Emperor Xia. Emperor Xia is a traditional emperor. He would never allow the people from Huanyu Academy to come to Daxia to mess around.

Perhaps the former King of the North might be a pawn of Emperor Xia, but the current King of the North is definitely not.

Emperor Xia glanced at the people in the court, and then asked: "Does anyone have other ideas?"

After the voice fell, the court fell silent again, and no one spoke. Emperor Xia said at this time: "It seems that you all think so."

"Since you don't want me to reward the King of the North, then I won't reward him."

"But the King of the North has made such a great contribution after all. Even if there is no reward in kind, verbal rewards are still needed. Zhao Aiqing, please go to the North Country for me and convey a few words for me."

Hearing this, Zhao Wenhan was stunned. He didn't want to go to the North Country. The North Country now is no different from a dragon's den and a tiger's lair. Everyone can see that the North Country may rebel at any time. If he happens to catch up with the North Country's rebellion, he won't even be able to find the body by then.

However, this was Emperor Xia's intention after all, and Zhao Wenhan did not dare to disobey. He had no choice but to say, "Minister, I accept your order."

Emperor Xia continued, "Besides the war in Jiangnan, do you have anything else to do? If not, this morning's court session ends here. I am tired."

No minister in the hall spoke. Everyone could see that Emperor Xia was in a very bad mood, and no one dared to offend him at this time.

Seeing that no minister spoke, Emperor Xia immediately stood up from the dragon throne and shook his sleeves, "Since there is nothing to do, let's do it this way."

After the voice fell, Emperor Xia left.

The ministers immediately bowed and said, "Farewell, Your Majesty!"

When Emperor Xia left Xuanzheng Hall and returned to the study, his face became ugly, but this time he did not use Gangqi to attack the surrounding things. He said to the shadow of the bookcase in the study: "Have the two old guys from Sifang Mountain and Dingfeng Mountain agreed?"

Someone in the shadow of the bookcase said, "Your Majesty, they are still hesitating."

Emperor Xia said coldly, "A bunch of cowardly rats."

For the current Emperor Xia, no matter how the North Kingdom develops, it doesn't matter, but Zhuge Chongguang must not break through to the Heavenly Man Realm.

No matter how the North Kingdom develops, the North Kingdom is only a secular force, but if a strong man in the Heavenly Man Realm appears in the North Kingdom, it will not be something that Daxia can deal with.

The Heavenly Man Realm is the highest realm of martial arts known to people. Before people discovered immortals, the Heavenly Man Realm was equivalent to immortals. There were no immortals in other countries or dynasties. If an immortal appeared in the North Kingdom, would the North Kingdom still be considered a secular force?

The disciples of Xuanyue Palace do whatever they want in the major dynasties, but not many forces dare to target Xuanyue Palace, because Xuanyue Palace has a strong man in the realm of heaven and man, and this strong man in the realm of heaven and man has killed many grandmasters, which makes the major dynasties always afraid of Xuanyue Palace.

Only those stubborn forces dare to target Xuanyue Palace, such as the Chu family in Jiangnan. The Chu family went to provoke the disciples of Xuanyue Palace for a divine weapon. If Chu Yue was not the goddess of Xuanyue Palace, there would probably be no Chu family in this world.

At this time, Emperor Xia continued to ask: "What did Taohua Valley say?"

The shadow behind the bookcase replied: "The owner of Taohua Valley agreed. If your majesty wants to take action against Zhuge Chongguang, you can send someone to notify her at any time."

Hearing this, Emperor Xia breathed a sigh of relief. As long as someone agreed, it would be fine.

Zhuge Chongguang is not an ordinary grandmaster. It is definitely not that easy to kill Zhuge Chongguang. He must invite a few more grandmasters before he can feel at ease.

Thinking of this, Emperor Xia's eyes flashed with a gleam of light, and he asked in a dull voice: "How is the investigation of the matter I asked you to investigate?"

"Your Majesty, I still haven't found evidence that Concubine Yue has an affair with other men. I have investigated the people in the palace, and the Chu family has also been there. Now the only thing I haven't investigated is Xuanyue Palace. If Your Majesty believes that Concubine Yue has an affair with other men, then it is likely that the man can only be in Xuanyue Palace."

Hearing this, Emperor Xia fell into deep thought, and then he said: "There was a maid next to Chu Yue back then, she should know a lot of things that others don't know."

The shadow behind the bookcase said: "Chu Yuqin is now in the Northern Palace, and I can't contact her for the time being."

Emperor Xia frowned, then said: "Continue to investigate."

Although all kinds of evidence show that Chu Yue had not had contact with other men for more than a year before she became pregnant, Emperor Xia still did not believe that Lu Chen was his child. He had never been awake every time he went to Chu Yue's room. How could he believe that he and Chu Yue had something going on?

If it weren't for the sake of consolidating the throne and not wanting to offend the Chu family, I'm afraid he would have fallen out with the Chu family long ago.

And it's not a good thing for him as an emperor to make such a thing happen. It's a great shame for him as an emperor. Even if he knew that Lu Chen couldn't be his child, he couldn't say it.

The reason why he asked people to investigate this matter after more than ten years was mainly because he couldn't get over it. Because of this matter, the shadow guards had killed many men related to Chu Yue, but he was still unwilling to give up before finding Lu Chen's biological father.

...

At the same time.

In a military camp in the Dawu Dynasty.

Wu Yunwan, wearing silver-white armor, was talking to the leader of a certain rebel army. This was the fourth rebel leader who chose to surrender to Wu Yunwan.

The reason why Wu Yunwan was able to suppress the rebellion so smoothly was mainly because she adopted the strategy of surrounding but not fighting. On the one hand, she used force to deter, on the other hand, she sent people to persuade them to surrender, and used various methods to bribe the people around the rebels.

Wu Yunwan controlled the Qianhai Chamber of Commerce, and at the same time, she controlled the most powerful intelligence agency in Dawu. With money and connections, it was very easy for her to accurately bribe the people around the rebel leader.

After the negotiation with Wu Yunwan was over, the rebel leader left the military tent with a smile.

Looking at the back of the rebel leader, the smile on Wu Yunwan's face froze instantly, and then she asked the people around her: "This should be the last rebel leader who can be persuaded to surrender, right?"

General Da Wu beside Wu Yunwan immediately replied: "Yes, the remaining rebels are mainly supported by the aristocratic families in the southwest region, and they are unlikely to surrender."

Hearing this, Wu Yunwan immediately said indifferently: "Think of a way to deal with that person just now in a few days."

"Yes, Princess."

Wu Yunwan values ​​the rebels, not the rebel leaders. She bribed the people around the rebel leader in order to let the people around the rebel leader help her control the rebels. As for the rebel leader, who bargained in front of her, it would be better for him to die.

At this time, a soldier entered the military tent and handed an envelope to Wu Yunwan, "Your Highness, there is information about the North Country."

Hearing this, Wu Yunwan immediately took the envelope from the soldier, opened the envelope and looked at the contents inside.

When Wu Yunwan saw that the Northern Kingdom had destroyed the 400,000-man army of the Apocalypse King, her face suddenly became very serious.

At this time, Wu Yunwan asked: "Is this news confirmed?"

The soldier replied: "This news has been published in the official newspaper of the Northern Kingdom, and our people have heard that the Northern King is on his way back to Yancheng, and will soon meet with the envoys of the Dayue Dynasty, so this news is likely to be true."

Hearing this, Wu Yunwan murmured to herself: "I thought it was good that the Northern Kingdom could stop the attack of the Apocalypse King, but I didn't expect them to directly destroy the Apocalypse King's army. The growth rate of the Northern Kingdom is faster than I imagined."

At this time, Wu Yunwan suddenly thought of the news mentioned in the intelligence that the Dayue Dynasty sent envoys to the Northern Kingdom. She then looked down at the content of the intelligence again, and then the expression on her face relaxed.

She also realized why her good sister sent an envoy to the Northern Kingdom at this time. It was obvious that Emperor Yue was planning to use the Northern Kingdom to split the entire Great Xia. Although the Northern Kingdom was very powerful, its strength was not a good thing for the Great Xia court and Emperor Xia.

After Emperor Xia resolved the rebellion of the Jiangnan family, I am afraid that the next thing Emperor Xia would do was to reduce the vassal state. If he could provoke a war between the Northern Kingdom and the Great Xia court, the division of Great Xia would be just around the corner.

The military strength of the Northern Kingdom has been verified, and it is definitely not as vulnerable as the Jiangnan rebels. If the Northern Kingdom rebels, it will definitely be a disaster for Great Xia, but it will be a good thing for other dynasties. Without the powerful opponent of Great Xia, they can not only take the opportunity to expand, but also face much less external pressure in the future.

Wu Junwan thought to herself that the Great Yue Dynasty has taken action, and Prime Minister Chai Jiliang should also know what to do.

Since Dayue wants to establish an official channel of communication with the Northern Kingdom, Dawu must also intervene. This will make it easier to stimulate the Daxia court. When the Northern Kingdom has established diplomatic relations with other dynasties, the Northern Kingdom will be close to de facto independence. At that time, Daxia will definitely take action against the Northern Kingdom.

Now what the Dawu Dynasty has to do is to fan the flames and make the fire burn more vigorously.

Thinking of this, Wu Yunwan said: "I will write a letter to Lord Chai later, and you can come to my tent in an hour to pick it up."

The soldier said: "Yes, Your Highness the Princess."

...

Half a month later.

The Northern Kingdom, Yancheng.

Today, the North Gate of Yancheng is crowded with people. Today is the day when the Northern King returns triumphantly. The people of Yancheng spontaneously go to the North Gate to welcome the Northern King.

In order to verify whether the Northern King really defeated the Apocalypse King, spies from various countries also mixed in the crowd, waiting for the Northern King to return.

The people of Dayue delegation also found a place to wait for the Northern King's convoy.

After a while, the handsome figure of the Northern King appeared in the distance.

As the Northern King rode slowly through the main road into the city, the people of the Northern Kingdom cheered immediately.

Murong Xueer, who was wearing black and white clothes in the crowd, glanced at Lu Chen riding a horse and said to herself: "He is really a handsome man."

"It seems that we still underestimated the Northern King. He is already a grandmaster."

...