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Chapter 399: Chapter 257: A Mere Two Hundred Thousand Troops, Nothing to Fear_1

Hearing the soldier’s reply, the Sum Emperor fell into silence, his expression constantly changing.

The Dongfang Family’s interest in joining the court and cooperating with the Emperor was undoubtedly the best choice. Allying with a group of rebels was, to begin with, very unlikely to succeed, and should they fail, the entire Dongfang Family would be finished.

The Sum Emperor believed that since the Dongfang Family chose to cooperate with him in the first place, it showed that they also thought the aristocratic families in the South were bound to be eliminated, so why had they suddenly disappeared?

If the aristocratic families in the South were all looking for the Dongfang Family, that would be even more bizarre. Logically, if the Dongfang Family regretted their decision and didn’t want to collaborate with the Imperial Court, thinking the Imperial Army was no match for the southern rebels, then the Dongfang Family should have actively sought to join Lu Shuyun. Instead, both the court and the southern rebels were now searching for them.

Upon hearing the dialogue between the soldier and the Sum Emperor, Situ Ce had pretty much guessed what was going on, and he spoke up, “Your Majesty, hasn’t the Dongfang Family’s merchant fleet been going north frequently lately?”

Hearing this, the Sum Emperor’s mind jolted, and his face grew even more grim as he spoke in a cold voice, “You mean to say that the Dongfang Family has neither planned to cooperate with the court nor to join the rebels, but has instead chosen to join the North Country?”

Situ Ce said, “The Dongfang Family has likely seen your determination to eradicate the ancient families, and the Dongfangs themselves are one such ancient family, and moreover one controlling Great Sum’s economy. They probably don’t believe that after eliminating the Southern families, you would spare theirs.”

“Nowadays, the North Country values commerce, and joining them could be a good choice for them.”

The Sum Emperor pondered for a moment, thinking there might be some truth to Situ Ce’s speculation. Could it be that the Dongfang Family had really run off to the North Country?

No wonder the Dongfang Family still ventured north to do business with the North Country while the court and southern rebels were at war. He had initially thought that, as merchants are profit-driven, with Great Sum embroiled in civil strife and prices soaring, the Dongfang Family went to the North Country to profit from the war. But in fact, they had directly fled there.

At that moment, the Sum Emperor was in a terrible mood. He had expected the Dongfang Family to collaborate with the Imperial Army in the South, making it easier to get intelligence on the rebels and even attack them from behind. He hadn’t anticipated that they would flee the scene so cunningly.

The Sum Emperor snorted coldly, “What I hate the most is betrayal. Do they think they can live in peace after fleeing to the North Country?”

He had originally intended to deal with the Dongfang Family last, but now it seemed these people were so eager for death. So after dealing with the southern rebels, he would immediately seek a way to eliminate them.

However, it was still uncertain whether the North Country would last until the end of Great Sum’s civil war.

The Tianqi King was no ordinary barbarian. According to the intelligence they had gathered, the Tianqi King had long been a Grandmaster, and his tribe was a main branch derived from the royal line of the barbarian tribes. Their overall strength far surpassed that of the Sky Wolf King and the North Fre King, two tribes from the North Land.

This time, the Tianqi King had brought four hundred thousand troops to march eastward, and

…

Meanwhile.

In a military tent of the Great Wu dynasty.

Wu Junwan, clad in silver-white armor, was intently reading a letter. As she read the contents, her brows lightly furrowed.

She had suspected from the beginning that the heavy cavalry of the North Country had not been defeated by the North Fre King’s forces, and that the North Country claimed their cavalry had been destroyed merely to conceal their military strength.

To her amazement, her suspicions had been confirmed; the North Country’s heavy cavalry was indeed still around, and not only that, it was even stronger than they had imagined.

With two Extreme Realm Masters as military generals and over four thousand Fifth Grade Martial Artists, this heavy cavalry unit was clearly stronger than the main forces of various dynasties.

Even the heavy cavalry of the Great Wu dynasty couldn’t achieve having all soldiers be Fifth Grade Martial Artists; such warriors were distributed across different military units.

At that moment, she looked at the person who had delivered the intelligence and asked, “Didn’t Zhuge Zhongguang follow the North Prince up north?”

The person in front of Wu Junwan replied, “No, he is still in Yan County. Right now, the political affairs of the North Country are managed by him.”

After hearing the intelligence operative’s reply, Wu Junwan fell into deep thought.

As far as she knew, the Tianqi King was a Grandmaster, and to confront him, the North Country would need at least one Grandmaster on their side.

Moreover, the Tianqi King had led four hundred thousand troops on an eastern campaign, but the North Country only had two hundred thousand.

Even though the North Country’s heavy cavalry were all above Fifth Grade Martial Artists, with tremendous strength, the strength of the Tianqi King’s forces was not to be underestimated. Without a Grandmaster overseeing the situation, relying solely on their heavy cavalry, it wouldn’t be easy for the North Country to defeat the Tianqi King.

What was that young man thinking? Why didn’t he allow Zhuge Zhongguang to follow him up north, instead choosing to lead the troops himself?

Could it be that the North Prince Mansion has more than one Grandmaster?

At this thought, Wu Junwan instantly remembered the Tower Master of the Rain-listening Pavilion she had met when she entered Yan County as a member of the Qian Family. The Tower Master was a Grandmaster, and his strength was nothing short of formidable.

Wu Junwan thought to herself, if the Tower Master of the Rain-listening Pavilion had also gone north with Lu Chen, that would explain why Lu Chen didn’t take Zhuge Zhongguang with him.

She hoped the Tianqi King’s troops would greatly weaken the military power of the North Country, especially those heavy cavalry. It would be best if those heavy cavalry units could be annihilated.