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Upon hearing the words of Right Minister Zhao Wenhan, Left Minister Lin Gaoyuan chuckled and said, “Indeed, the Seignior of the border provinces has the duty to ward off foreign enemies’ invasions, but North City has only thirty thousand troops. Does Prime Minister Zhao truly believe that the North Prince can repel the Barbarian Tribe’s invasion with these thirty thousand men?”

Zhao Wenhan immediately replied, “1 never said that.”

At this point, Zhao Wenhan looked towards the Sum Emperor on the Dragon Throne, then continued, “Your Majesty, North City has always been the first line of defense against the barbarian invasions. The customary thirty thousand troops are no longer sufficient to defend against the barbarian incursions, therefore, in my opinion, now is the time to issue a Military Expansion Order for North City.”

As soon as Zhao Wenhan finished speaking, the court instantly became abuzz with discussions.

Ever since the Sum Emperor ascended to the throne, in order to prevent the Seigniors from rebelling, he had issued an edict limiting their troops.

In the territories of a Seignior, based on the size of their lands, there is a maximum number of soldiers they could maintain.

For North City, the upper limit of troops was fifty thousand, which is why when Lu Chen talked about recruiting new soldiers, he was only recruiting ten thousand.

Zhao Wenhan’s suggestion seemed reasonable; after all, as North City was in the frontline against the Barbarian Tribe, granting the North Prince additional soldier quotas was appropriate.

But…

Once this precedent was set, other Seigniors of the border regions would also use the same excuse to expand their armies.

Defending against the barbarians is to defend against foreign invaders, and there are several other great dynasties in other directions of the Great Xia Dynasty. Although it has been many years since any wars broke out among these dynasties, there’s no guarantee that one won’t attack someday.

If North City expands its army, then undoubtedly the other Seigniors will also request to expand their forces.

This would clearly lead to a domino effect.

Moreover, once North City expanded its troops, other dynasties might suddenly decide to attack Great Sum.

Seigniors are not always docile; colluding with foreign enemies and then using it as leverage to demand a Military Expansion Order from the court is not impossible.

The Sum Emperor was no fool; he was also well aware of the potential consequences of issuing a Military Expansion Order for North City.

Nevertheless, at that moment the Sum Emperor spoke up: “Draft the edict, North City is the first line of defense against the barbarian invasions, and the thirty thousand soldiers there are no longer sufficient for this purpose. Effective immediately, the soldier limit for North City shall be increased to one hundred and fifty thousand. Additionally, the North Prince, as the Seignior of the North City territory, must not flee in the face of battle, regardless of the circumstances, and shall steadfastly hold North City!”

Hearing the words of the Sum Emperor, Zhao Wenhan promptly bowed and said, “Your Majesty is wise!”

The Sum Emperor coolly glanced at Zhao Wenhan, then continued, “Minister Wang, Minister Chu, Prime Minister Lin, Prime Minister Zhao; the four of you stay, everyone else is dismissed from the court.”

Having spoken, the Sum Emperor rose from the Dragon Throne, his dragon robe fluttering as he turned and left.

Clearly, the matter of North City’s army expansion was a discomfort to the Sum Emperor, but it was something he had no choice but to do.

Nowadays, undercurrents were swirling within Great Sum; it was not feasible to send hundreds of thousands of troops northward to defend against the barbarians.

To dispatch such a vast force north would be to shake the very foundations of the nation.

The Sum Emperor also understood that the probability was high that the aristocratic families were involved with the barbarian incursion; whether any Princes were entangled in it remained to be seen.

Now was not the time to focus on these matters.

Politics lies behind warfare, and if, as the North Prince claimed in his letter, the Barbarian Tribe was intending to establish a nation in North City, that was absolutely unacceptable.

North City is the gateway to Great Sum, and once captured by the barbarians, their spears would then be pointed directly at the Capital City.

The Sum Emperor knew he had to compromise with both the barbarians and the aristocratic families to resolve this crisis.

This was a considerable frustration for him; ever since he took the throne, this was the most stifling predicament he had faced.

The main issue was he had just begun to reorganize the Great Sum army. The barbarians’ descent from the north had been too sudden, leaving no time to catch his breath.

If only he had another year, once the reorganization of the Great Sum army was complete, those barbarian cavalries would amount to nothing.

But there was no room for so many what-ifs.

The pressing matter was to discuss how to resolve the crisis at North City.

The Sum Emperor, having called the four individuals to his study, discussed the matter of the barbarian descent in earnest.

In the end, they decided that the best course of action was to pursue peace through negotiation. Sending troops was certainly necessary, but not in the hundreds of thousands.

As for ceding the entirety of North City, that was out of the question, but there was still room to negotiate, perhaps ceding a portion of North City’s territory to the barbarians.

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After all, North City is the North Prince’s fiefdom, and the North Prince is nothing but a useless Prince, unable to manage such vast lands.

After discussing the specifics of what to do, Lin Gaoyuan left the Sum Emperor’s study directly.

His expression was very ugly, clearly dissatisfied with the outcome they had discussed.

The Sum Emperor had summoned a total of four people, yet one was an Aristocratic Family’s Minister of Revenue, another was an Aristocratic Family’s Minister of War, and there was also a Right Minister who was nothing more than a power-hungry arch traitor.

What good plan could the three of them come up with when gathered together?

It was nothing more than the same old strategy of ceding land for glory.

After Lin Gaoyuan returned to his residence, he brooded in silence for a long while.

At this moment, a man clad in armor entered the hall.

As the man stepped into the hall, he immediately asked, “Father, I heard that thirty thousand from the Barbarian Tribe are marching southward. Is this true or false?”

The Barbarians marching south was a major event, and the ministers could not help but discuss it everywhere right after leaving the court, so it wasn’t long before Lin Xiuming, who was in the military, heard about it.

Lin Xiuming, now the commander of the Qilin Army, took such matters of war very seriously.

Upon hearing his son’s question, Lin Gaoyuan came to his senses and sighed, “It’s still uncertain whether it’s true or false, but the North Prince has used the Red Ribbon Messenger, so it’s likely true.”

Lin Xiuming continued to ask, “Then, what are His Majesty’s plans?”

Hearing this question, Lin Gaoyuan let out a cold laugh, “Plans? Heh, he wants you to lead seventy thousand elite troops northward to assist the North Prince and fight against the Barbarian Tribe’s thirty thousand strong army.”

What?

Upon hearing his father’s words, Lin Xiuming was stunned.

Lead seventy thousand elite troops to fight a thirty thousand strong Barbarian army?

What kind of joke was that?

If they are called elite troops, then surely they must be soldiers fit for combat, but even seventy thousand combat soldiers, together with North City’s thirty thousand, would only amount to one hundred thousand.

A hundred thousand soldiers to withstand the thirty thousand cavalry of the Barbarian Tribe?

Lin Xiuming frowned, clearly puzzled; didn’t the Great Xia Dynasty have around five hundred thousand troops available at the moment? Why then send only seventy thousand northward?

Lin Xiuming then asked, “Father, didn’t His Majesty reorganize the army to have around five hundred thousand soldiers available for deployment?”

Hearing his son’s naive question, Lin Gaoyuan scoffed again and then said, “Five hundred thousand? Does His Majesty dare to mobilize these five hundred thousand soldiers? If he does, it might well lead to chaos in Great Xia.”

Lin Gaoyuan didn’t go into deeper reasons, he simply told Lin Xiuming, “I don’t want to say too much; wait for the Emperor’s edict, then immediately lead the troops to North City and meet with the North Prince.”

“During the battle, just try to hold off the Barbarian Cavalry as much as you can. There’s no need to fight them to the death. The real battlefield is not in North City, but in the royal court.”

Taking note of Lin Gaoyuan’s reminder, Lin Xiuming seemed to understand something, and immediately said, “Understood, father. I get what you mean.”

North City, Yan County.

A woman dressed in black, holding a Longsword, was slowly moving along the streets of Yan County.

Her face was as cold as frost, yet she was incredibly beautiful, like a Goddess who didn’t partake in the mundane world.

Just then, a speeding carriage passed by her side.

The wind blew open the curtains of the carriage, revealing a heavenly beautiful woman dressed in white to the onlookers.

The woman in black on the roadside just so happened to lock gazes with the woman in white.

But it was only for an instant.

The carriage continued on its way, leaving behind the woman in black standing there, indifferently watching the carriage’s receding figure.