Empress: Your Majesty, please respect yourself, I don't want to be promoted

After the welcome banquet, time seemed to speed up.

In the blink of an eye, more than three months have passed.

The northern border remained calm, with neither the generals of the state nor the barbarians from beyond the borders nor the sea creatures of the East Sea taking any action, as if they had chosen not to participate in this north-south turmoil.

While intimidating all sides, General Gu Simiao was also constantly reorganizing the rear, placing Lu Chen's disciples and followers in important positions in various provinces, prefectures, and counties to advance the new policies and quickly transform Hebei and other provinces into a stable rear base for the imperial court.

He was probably the most relaxed of the three governors-general.

At one point, Jiang Chengwan even considered transferring her to the Eastern Route Army to increase its combat strength, assist Jiang Chengdao in breaking through Sanjiang Pass as soon as possible, and accelerate the progress of the southern expedition.

However, as soon as she brought it up, apart from Gu Simiao herself agreeing, Lu Chen, Jiang Chengdao, and Xiao Yun all strongly opposed it.

The reason is simple: Gu Simiao is the pillar of the Northern Territory and cannot be moved, otherwise it is hard to guarantee that no unexpected situations will arise.

The two pillar generals in the north cannot be fully trusted, and the barbarians and sea tribes are not without the possibility of taking advantage of the situation to invade. Without Gu Simiao in charge, the northern rear cannot be guaranteed to be absolutely stable.

If chaos breaks out in the North, it will be a huge problem.

Therefore, Jiang Chengwan and Gu Simiao had no choice but to give up.

Things have gotten lively in the southwest.

The Southwest Pillar State and the Southeast Pillar State simultaneously dispatched troops to Zhuzhou to besiege Ruan Min, attempting to remove this thorn in their side before Lingyun Prefecture could completely control the seven provinces.

With the support of numerous powerful families, Chen Ba, the Pillar of the Southwest, and Su Peixian, the Pillar of the Southeast, personally led their troops, and the two armies advanced with unstoppable momentum, causing Ruan Mei to suffer repeated defeats.

However, Zhuzhou is covered with dense forests and miasma, and countless poisonous insects and snakes are everywhere. After suffering several defeats, Ruan Min knew that he could not confront the rebels head-on, so he abandoned some less important prefectures.

The main force was concentrated in various key or strategically important passes, and by taking advantage of the terrain, they managed to hold off the rebels and stabilize the situation.

Although logistics became a problem, it shouldn't be an issue to sustain operations for a year or two.

Although Chen Ba and Su Peixian are both experts in the Unity Realm, battles between Unity Realm cultivators are not necessarily won by sheer numbers, especially since Ruan Min's strength is already among the top of the Pillar Kingdoms.

Therefore, it is impossible to overwhelm them with the power of the Unity Realm; a stalemate can only be achieved.

However, after Ruan Min was suppressed, he was unable to send troops to assist the court in quelling rebellions in various parts of the south, which can be considered as achieving the strategic goal of the King of Chu.

In the capital, as the war intensified, Jiang Chengwan became too lazy to deal with the unsettling elements within the court, such as Yan Song, and decided to take them all away in one fell swoop.

Unfortunately, Yan Song and several other key members of the Yan faction were cunning and shrewd, and they realized Jiang Chengwan's intentions in advance, so they used their trump card to escape from the capital.

Jiang Chengwan felt it was a pity about the result, but she wasn't very surprised and didn't care too much about it.

After getting rid of the obstacles, Tiangong Company's various projects were fully launched.

The Illusionary Spirit Array and the Spirit Pivot are of paramount importance, and resources should be concentrated on their production. At the same time, the new type of communication array developed by Su Ning has also begun to be put into use, following the method provided by Lu Chen, so that it can perform a similar function to a telegraph machine.

While training the liaisons mentioned by Lu Chen, personnel who were already proficient in using the new communication array were sent to Luyang, Huaiyang, Yuzhou, Nanpi and other places in order of importance.

On the contrary, things have been relatively calm in the Jianghuai region over the past three months.

Jiang Chengdao changed his previous offensive strategy and stayed in Luyang to oversee the situation. He did not launch any more attacks and chose to stabilize the situation in the Jianghuai region and maintain a stalemate with the south.

On the contrary, the Chu king's rebel army took the initiative to attack, but he repelled them one by one, suffering heavy losses.

However, for some reason, despite launching more than ten strong attacks and suffering more than 60,000 elite casualties, the King of Chu still did not give up and relentlessly attacked Luyang, even more fiercely than when Jiang Chengdao attacked Sanjiang Pass.

It almost came to the point of being willing to pay any price.

Jiang Chengdao is in Luyang, so Lu Chen naturally won't leave either.

When there was war, he stayed by Jiang Chengdao's side and personally experienced the cruelty of the battlefield.

In addition to arranging troops, Jiang Chengdao would teach Lu Chen how to fight whenever he didn't need to personally intervene. In his spare time, he would also teach Lu Chen some basic military knowledge, how to boost morale, and so on, which Lu Chen learned a lot during this period.

Although these things were of no use to him, who was about to die, he couldn't refuse Jiang Chengdao's kind offer.

While Jiang Chengdao was busy, Lu Chen was not idle either. Although he did not handle official business day and night as before, he formally took Fang Yu and others who came to Luyang under his tutelage and taught them by example every day.

He taught them how to be officials, how to govern, how to develop the region, and so on, imparting almost all the knowledge he had. Even Chai Hongyu, who was not very bright before, learned a lot about governance strategies.

When Lu Chen and Fang Yu discussed local governance, Chai Hongyu was able to occasionally chime in, no longer excluded as before, standing there like a wooden statue, without saying a word.

On the other hand, more than three months later, after experiencing various discomforts at first, Fu Xuan's belly began to swell slightly, which was very noticeable against her slender waist.

But the one in Luojing didn't make the slightest move.

Lu Chen breathed a sigh of relief at this.

Because Fu Xian was pregnant, Lu Chen was extra careful every day, afraid that he might accidentally upset Fu Xian, who was always on his body.

Although what happened that night was a mess, he wouldn't deny it.

Since it's his own child, he'll naturally care.

Just as Lu Chen once again sent Chai Hongyu away and took Fu Xian out to bask in the sun,

Yuzhou, Huxian.

The rooftop of a three-story attic.

puff!

With a soft sound of a sharp blade piercing flesh, a flash of cold light instantly pierced the chest of Xiao Zhan, the patriarch of the Xiao family, pinning his hunched body directly to the stone wall behind him.

"ended."

Xiao Yun walked forward with her hands behind her back and an expressionless face, looking down at Xiao Zhan.

Beside her, two women dressed in blue outfits and wearing face shields simultaneously pulled longswords from Xiao Zhan's chest.

puff!
The moment the blade left his body, two jets of blood shot out from Xiao Zhan's chest, and his face turned as pale as paper.

"How...how could this happen?"

Xiao Zhan struggled to lift his head, looking at Xiao Yun with disbelief.

"Why...why did you betray me after making a vow?"

"Ah"

Xiao Yun gave a cold laugh.

“I did swear an oath, but my oath is that everything I did was for the Xiao family.”

As she spoke, she tilted her head slightly, her gaze filled with chilling coldness.

"In my heart, the future of the Xiao family lies in the imperial court, in His Majesty, and in Lu Lang. As for you, all of you are nothing but sinners who attempt to drag the Xiao family into the abyss. Without you, the Xiao family would naturally develop better."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Zhan's eyes widened immediately.

"You unfilial daughter!"

"Xiao Yun! You'll die a horrible death!!"

After realizing what was happening, he angrily launched into a tirade of curses, but the rapid loss of his life rendered his angry outbursts powerless, and his voice grew weaker and weaker.

The next second, he suddenly kicked his legs, his pupils began to dilate, and his breath completely disappeared.

Do not look down.

"Xiao Zhan is dead."

Xiao Yun slowly turned around and said to the several figures wearing Xuanji Guard uniforms who were waiting outside, "We can begin the operation now."

"Yes!" (End of this chapter)