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Chapter 62: The imperial court’s countermeasures
In the depths of the court, Murong Tong was currently carrying his youngest son, Murong Ran as he went through the documents on his table. His expression flickered between solemn, pale, red and powerless.
And finally, it all turned into a sigh that escaped from his lips.
At the tender age of ten, Murong Ran was nothing but a naive child that couldn’t grasp the emotions of the man that was carrying him, “Father? What’s wrong?”
He had lived with his maternal uncle in the Mo Shan sect from the age of six, and because of that, he treated his father with the utmost respect. After all, his mother passed away from a disease when he was still very young, leaving only his father to look after him.
With the passing of his grandfather, Murong Ran’s uncle took him to the grand imperial court to honour the departed soul. Their plan was to remain there for a considerable period, paying their respects and fulfilling their duties.
He believed that the loss of his elder brothers had deeply wounded his father. Consequently, he dutifully stayed by his father’s side, observing him silently and attentively.
This was something his uncle had taught him.
Once more, Murong Tong let out a sigh, his gaze shifting downward to the child cradled in his arms. “They possess such short-sightedness, even amidst the nation’s turmoil, their focus remains fixated on personal interests.”
Baffled by the words he couldn’t comprehend, Murong Ran squirmed in Murong Tong’s embrace and inquired with genuine curiosity, “Who?”
Gently patting Murong Ran’s head, Murong Tong replied, “I’m talking about that silly uncle of yours and those old farts. Their focus remains solely on safeguarding their own interests, it seems.”
Then, he exhaled yet another long sigh, “Haah, Yi Fei, don’t blame me.”
There was a reason why the imperial court didn’t rush to duke Sheng’s aid.
It was because someone of the four great clans had disclosed the duke’s actions of conscripting soldiers and acquiring horses.
Upon conducting their own thorough investigations, the imperial authorities verified the truth of the matter. Although Luo Pao Pao’s squad was not particularly exceptional, their audacity in clandestinely forming a private troop in the capital right under the emperor’s nose signified a lack of good intentions as well.
Sheng Yi would have never guessed that the squad he had created to protect the duke’s residence had been uncovered by the four great clans.
Because of that, Murong Tong truly believed that the duke had intentions of starting a rebellion, and that they might even be working with the South Village King, Ning Wei Wu!
Up until this point, the existence of the Qing Lou Tower had remained entirely unnoticed, orchestrating their intricate schemes from behind the scenes throughout all these events.
Observing his father’s sighs, Murong Ran astutely decided to shift the topic, “Father, can you tell me more about the Great Nan Yue Wan Guo Tournament?”
Murong Tong caressed his head as he laughed, “You’re still young, and here you are, dreaming of joining the tournament? You have to be at least twenty years old for me to send you off without any worries. Aside from that, the competition might not be a good thing, at least for small countries like us.”
Clutching onto Murong Tong’s arm, Murong Ran implored with a touch of childlike sweetness in his voice, “Please, just share a little about it with me. My uncle and the others on the mountain are always busy with their cultivation and hardly talk to me. I’m so bored I could die.”
With a warm laugh, Murong Tong settled the child on his thigh, saying, “Ran’er, you should know that this tournament occurs once every five years, yet more than a million people partake in it. Though our country is granted a participation quota of five, we’re unable to send five representatives each time.”
“Why?” Murong Ran asked curiously as he kicked his feet in the air.
“Because the chances of death or severe injuries are too high, reaching a point where even Manifestation realm experts have a staggering 90% likelihood of perishing or being left crippled.
Do you think the people of Yan would dare to participate? They’re only hoping to win the right to participate and gain access to resources from our country’s internal tournament.
As for participating in the Great Nan Yue Wan Guo Tournament? It has been more than three centuries since the last person from our country managed to succeed.
In these three centuries, we’ve lost more than two hundred geniuses from our country. This is the reason why no one wished to participate in the tournament.
Haah, even so, there will still be people willing to participate. Why, you ask? Why else if not their desire to enter the ten great sects?”
Murong Ran asked as he pouted, “Ten great sects? Who are they? Are they very strong?”
Murong Tong couldn’t stop himself from laughing as he flicked Murong Ran’s forehead, “They aren’t just strong. In simple terms, these ten great sects rule over this entire continent of more than a trillion people.
Eh, they all have the hidden realms in their possessions, independent from this continent as their sect’s mountains.
The smaller sects have more than ten thousand people, and the bigger sects have hundreds of thousands of people.
Among them, the ‘Hao Ran Men’ is the most righteous, the ‘Dragon Tiger Hall’ is the fiercest, the ‘Buddhistic Cultivation Temple’ is the ancientest, ‘Hundred Cultivation Mountain’ is the most spiritual, the ‘Thousand Opportunity Valley’ is the godliest, the ‘Four Seas Academy’ is the most unrestrained, and ‘Insouciant Island’ is the subtlest.
These seven are considered rather righteous, and the remaining three are sects that ordinary people didn’t wish to enter. It was the most poisonous ‘Desolate sect’, the most vicious ‘Moon Prayer Pagoda’, and the most chaotic ‘Dark Demon Alliance’.”
Murong Tong introduced all of the ten great sects in one go, watching as a longing expression appeared on his younger son’s face as he sat in his lap. With a pat to his butt, he laughed, “Don’t overthink, even if you were able to enter one of these sects, even as an errand disciple, it would be a mixed blessing for our Murong clan.”
Frowning, Murong Ran turned his head in displeasure.
Seeing his reaction, Murong Tong laughed powerlessly as he continued to work on the documents on his table.
The situation in the south was rather serious, the South Village army had defeated and passed through five consecutive counties under Ning Wei Wu’s leadership.
Five counties!
There were only thirty two counties in the entire country of Yan.
And the six hundred thousand strong South Village army had conquered five counties, it was nothing short of a disgrace!
Aside from the South Village army and the Black River cult starting an uprising, the different counties of Yan were all embroiled in chaos. Even in the places where the imperial court’s authority was the strongest, their soldiers and officials were also revolting!
Murong Tong’s vexation was evident as his brows furrowed, his gaze fixed upon the letter sent by the Veteran General, Wen Tian Luo.
Despite the fact that Wen Tian Luo had swiftly left to lead the imperial court’s army and the local soldiers in the different counties, a total of four hundred thousand soldiers, to stop the South Village army, they were being pushed back with every defeat.
Even with Wen Tian Luo’s superiority in war tactics and strategy, under the suppression of Ning Wei Wu’s overwhelming numbers and might, he faced great difficulty in their battles.
Reading the letter Wen Tian Luo had sent urgently to call for assistance, he thought to himself: Now that the matter with the four great clans and duke Sheng has been settled, no other problems should arise.
With the severity of each county’s disarray and the mutinies of the different influential forces, even with forces ranging from thousands to tens of thousands, the local armies were being stretched impossibly thin.
They could only dispatch the soldiers from the capital against the south, but this meant that the capital wasn’t safe anymore.
Among the three great generals, the ‘Calculative General’ Qian Biao was stationed with the supportive forces outside of the city, ready to depart at a moment’s notice. Unfortunately, the ‘Unrelenting General’ Jiang Tian Sheng was still recovering from his injuries, so he couldn’t be deployed.
With a sigh, he yelled to the outside of his room, “Listen to my edict!”
Scuffling could be heard as a few eunuchs ran over with imperial paper and brushes in hand in just the span of a few breaths, kneeling at the tableside as they awaited his words.
After thinking for a moment, Murong Tong spoke, “Command the Calculative General, Qian Biao, to lead the imperial guards, the Eight Guards of the Xiao Academy, the Five Guards of the East Mountain, the Three Guards of Xian Bei and two hundred thousand soldiers to the south to support the Veteran General, Wen Tian Luo.
As for the rebel army, the priority is to defeat the leaders, subdue and forcefully conscript the rebels to form the second wave of the support army headed to the south.”
“Yes, as you command.” An elderly eunuch handed over the imperial decree that he had written down for Murong Tong to check, and after ensuring that his words were documented correctly, he sent his men to inform the rest.
Once they had excused themselves, Murong Tong patted Murong Ran’s head, “Will you leave first? Your father still has other matters to attend to.”
Murong Ran nodded, then asked in curiosity, “Father, with the imperial guards dispatched, what about the safety of the capital?”
Murong Tong caressed his head, laughing as he responded, “With so many Sky Reaching realm experts here, what are you afraid of?”
With a vague understanding of his father’s words, Murong Ran excused himself.
In the dim and desolate room, Murong Tong clapped his hands, “Inform Uncle Jiao, let him know that the ‘Lin Nan rebel army’ can be mobilized immediately to halt the advances of the Willow Sword Saint in the east.”
‘Yes!” Acknowledged a hoarse voice from an unseen figure, lurking in the shadows of the empty room.
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