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Chapter 190: 154: War Breaks Out i

The sky was still a dusky grey.

Lu Chen rode his horse straight to the area where the craftsmen lived and handed over some materials on coal mining and processing to Mo Fei for research.

Afterwards, Lu Chen discussed the construction of heated kang beds and heated rooms with Mo Fei, delving into the details for an entire day with the craftsmen.

This once again made the craftsmen of Great Yu City feel the sincerity of the North Prince; ordinarily, when the North Prince wanted to discuss something with them, he would simply have them come to the North Prince Mansion. Yet, early this morning, he braved the cold wind to come to their living quarters to discuss matters with them.

A few days later.

North Prince Mansion.

Lu Chen was perusing intelligence gathered by the Brocade Guard in his study when a maid’s voice sounded from the doorway, “Prince, Commander Qin requests an audience.”

Lu Chen immediately responded, “Come in.”

Following that, Qin Yushan entered, his body covered with snow, the cold having intensified today accompanied by a heavy snowfall.

After stepping into the room, Qin Yushan gave a simple salute.

“Greetings, Prince.”

After bowing, Qin Yushan at once placed the bamboo tube containing intelligence on the desk, “Prince, urgent dispatch from the Capital City!”

Hearing this, Lu Chen, who was looking through Da Yue intelligence, paused for a moment.

Regaining his composure, Lu Chen swiftly brushed aside the other reports on the desk and promptly opened the bamboo tube, extracting the intelligence it contained.

Commander Qin continued, “Winter has arrived, and not a single homing pigeon from the Capital City has reached Yan County; they can only have the Brocade Guard deliver messages on horseback, so the intelligence from the Capital City has been delayed by many days.”

After taking out the intelligence from the bamboo tube, Lu Chen scrutinized the contents carefully. As his gaze traveled down the page, his expression grew more solemn.

Having read the content of the intelligence, Lu Chen pondered for a moment before saying to Commander Qin, “Notify Li Rui and the others to come to the North Prince Mansion immediately to discuss important matters.”

“Yes, Prince.”

An hour later.

Li Rui and other officials along with a host of military generals from North City appeared in Lu Chen’s study.

They were all somewhat curious; today wasn’t the day for a scheduled meeting. Why had the North Prince summoned them? Could it be that the North Fre King had already headed south?

After everyone had arrived, Lu Chen did not speak immediately. His gaze was still scanning the map on the desk, seemingly contemplating something.

Seeing Lu Chen’s serious expression, everyone also kept silent, simply standing in the study watching Lu Chen, waiting for him to speak first.

Awhile later, Lu Chen realized that everyone had assembled. He glanced at them and then said, “The intelligence I’ve just received is that Great Xia and Great Wu have gone to war.”

Upon hearing Lu Chen’s words, everyone was shocked still.

How could this be?

The great dynasties had been at peace for countless years, although there had been constant friction, there had never been a major war.

Why would Great Wu and Great Xia suddenly erupt into war at this time?

Mu Changtian immediately asked, “Prince, was it Great Wu that initiated the attack?”

It was clear to anyone with eyes that the Sum Emperor’s next move was to deal with the Aristocratic Families within Great Sum, so the Sum Emperor would definitely not initiate a war at this time. Therefore, the only possibility was that it was Great Wu that initiated the attack on Great Sum.

Upon hearing Mu Changtian’s question, Lu Chen shook his head and then said, “Strangely enough, it turned out that it was us, Great Sum, who started the war. The intelligence sent from the Capital city took me a moment to digest.”

This…

Everyone in the study room looked at each other, uncertain of what to say.

They also found it hard to believe that Great Sum would initiate a war at this time. Would the Sum Emperor still deal with the Aristocratic Families then?

At this point, Li Rui spoke up, “Prince, could there be an error in the intelligence? With the internal unrest already brewing within Great Sum, how could His Majesty choose to attack Great Wu at this time?”

Lu Chen said, “The intelligence is most likely accurate. The problem lies with the one who provoked the war.”

“A month ago, the major dynasties had already been secretly mobilizing troops, with Great Jue Dynasty having stationed two hundred thousand soldiers at the border with North City.”

“I suspect that someone colluded with Great Wu Dynasty, intentionally provoking the war, thus giving Great Wu a pretext to attack Great Sum,” he said.

With Lu Chen’s explanation, everyone quickly understood.

Indeed, the Sum Emperor would definitely not want to wage a war at this time. He intended to purge the Ancient Families within his realm. If a war were to be waged now, how could he carry out his plans against those Ancient Families?

So, it was more likely that some Aristocratic Family had colluded with Great Wu to instigate the war.

The Great Wu Dynasty might not necessarily aim to defeat the Great Sum Dynasty, but as long as they could pressure Great Sum sufficiently, those Aristocratic Families within would likely offer Great Wu many benefits.

If faced with external pressure, the Sum Emperor would ultimately have to compromise with these families, abandoning the idea of purging the Ancient Families.

However, Lu Chen didn’t believe it was that simple.

At that moment, Lu Chen turned to Mu Changtian and said, “General Mu, although you are a Military General, you have served as an official in the Capital city for many years and are familiar with the political environment there. In your analysis, if it were the Aristocratic Families who instigated the war between Great Wu and Great Sum, what would the ultimate goal be?”

On hearing this question, Mu Changtian answered, “According to your subject, there are three possibilities.”

“The first possibility is naturally to use external pressure to coerce His Majesty, preventing him from taking major actions against the Aristocratic Families.”

“The second possibility is that the Aristocratic Families would like to take this opportunity to unite with other Princes and directly force His Majesty to abdicate the throne for a more compliant Emperor. However, this is the least likely, as current factions led by the Princes are still in existence, and no one will acknowledge the others at this time, so promoting any Prince to the throne could lead to the disintegration of Great Sum.”

“As for the third possibility…”

At this point, Mu Changtian hesitated, but ultimately he continued, “Lately, a popular argument I’ve heard is that you, Prince, were sent to North City by the Emperor himself, so the fifty thousand Black Cavalry aren’t actually yours but belong to the Emperor.”

“Even the common people of North City believe this, so those Aristocratic Families almost certainly think the same.”

“Therefore, I believe the Aristocratic Families might use this opportunity to convince His Majesty to deploy the fifty thousand Heavy Cavalry to the front lines to exhaust themselves against the Great Wu Dynasty,” he postulated.

“The Great Wu Dynasty is known for its aggressive militarism, maintaining an army of several million year-round, and their strength is not inferior to the northern Barbarian Tribe, and they might even be more difficult to deal with.”

“Although the fifty thousand Heavy Cavalry are strong, if they were to be sent to the front lines to wage a war of attrition against Great Wu, within less than a year’s time, they could potentially be completely depleted.”

In fact, not only the common people and the Aristocratic Families, but even Mu Changtian had thought for a time whether Lu Chen was a chess piece specially sent by the Sum Emperor to North City, because Lu Chen did not have the ability to build fifty thousand Heavy Cavalry in a short period.

However, once Mu Changtian learned of the existence of Great Yu City, he dismissed the idea.

But others in Great Sum didn’t know about the existence of Great Yu City, so in their eyes, only the Sum Emperor had the capability to endow North City with fifty thousand Heavy Cavalry. Therefore, to others, these fifty thousand Heavy Cavalry might as well be the private army of the Sum Emperor himself..