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Chapter 720 Assessing the Situation
"Your Highness Prince Yi!"

Cao Tianbao probably didn't expect Lu Zhang to say that either, and he almost jumped up on the spot, his voice involuntarily rising several octaves: "What are you saying! What do you mean you don't plan to go back?!"

Could it be... could it be that you're still being threatened by that Jie King? Does he still have some leverage over you, threatening you not to return to the capital with me?!

"Nonsense!" Yan Shu was immediately displeased upon hearing this. Unlike Zhu Yu, who always kept quiet and never spoke out, she slammed her hand on the table when Cao Tianbao spoke ill of her father. "My father has always been upright and honest, a truly upright man! Who would do something like holding someone's secrets against them to blackmail them!"

“You can know a person’s face but not their heart! If there were no difficulties, why would His Highness Prince Yi say that he could not return to the capital with me?!” Cao Tianbao was old enough not to be afraid of a young woman slamming her fist on the table, so he immediately retorted without any politeness.

"The idea of ​​being a hostage was entirely your Prince Yi's own. Now you want to shift the blame to my father. With such a despicable mindset, how dare you be the Great General of Jin Kingdom! You have no shame!" Yan Shu immediately retorted, completely disregarding Cao Tianbao's angry outburst.

Upon hearing this, Cao Tianbao was speechless. His old face turned a deep red, and he turned to look at Lu Zhang: "Your Highness, what is the reason for this?!"
The purpose of this old minister escorting Princess Yi here is to bring you back to the capital safely!

If you refuse to come back with me, then I will be unable to report back to the Emperor!

“That’s not necessarily a bad thing.” Lu Qing, who hadn’t spoken until now, suddenly spoke up slowly.

This one sentence immediately drew everyone's attention to him. Cao Tianbao looked puzzled, Lu Zhang was confused, and Yan Shu was surprised, but also somewhat repulsed—clearly, she couldn't wait for Cao Tianbao to leave and go far away.

"What...what does this mean?!" Cao Tianbao looked at Lu Qing, who seemed calm and unaffected by the conflict, and felt that Lu Qing's words were so confident that he had already considered how to resolve the problem.

However, he himself was completely unaware of why Lu Zhang had been suddenly captured by the King of Jie while he was in the capital. He was completely in the dark. Lu Qing and his wife, with only two guards, were out there all alone. How could they possibly have better information than him?
"What does Brother mean...?" Lu Zhang now had a clearer understanding of his own abilities and intelligence. In addition, if Lu Qing hadn't given him heartfelt guidance in Lan Di, he wouldn't have been mentally prepared to deal with the various variables that followed. He might not even be alive now. Therefore, he trusted Lu Qing's decisions more and more.

"Besides the soldiers who escorted Princess Yanshu this time, does General Cao have any other troops in the capital that you can command?" Lu Qing did not answer Lu Zhang directly, but slowly put down his wine cup and looked up at Cao Tianbao.

When Cao Tianbao was asked this question, it touched on his deepest frustration. He sighed and shook his head: "No, if it weren't for this trip to escort Princess Yi, I'm afraid His Majesty wouldn't have assigned these men to me."

Since the incident involving the Duke of Yan, His Majesty had already become wary of the old ministers. At that time, I was a person who was widely recognized as being in cahoots with the Duke of Yan, so naturally I was the kind of person who was more wary of.

After the fact that Zhao Boce, the grandson of the Duke of Yan, was raising troops outside was exposed, the emperor took back all the military power from the generals in the court. Except for those like the Situ family who had been guarding the border for many years, almost all the generals in the capital area had no troops and were all generals without troops or subordinates.

"His Majesty also sent people to investigate me thoroughly, confirming that I have no connection with Zhao Boce. That's why my situation has finally improved. Otherwise, I'm afraid they wouldn't have dared to use me to escort Princess Yi this time." "Since that's the case, once we return to the capital to report, not to mention that Lu Zhang refuses to go back, and whether the General will be punished for it, just the fact that we'll have to return these hundred or so people after returning to the capital means we'll have no one to use anymore. It's better to be like this now. Although we don't have many people, at least we have people we can command." Lu Qing's words were pointed.

Cao Tianbao was somewhat puzzled. He wasn't oblivious to Lu Qing's implied meaning, but he was still unsure: "You mean..."

“I mean, the General should be well aware of this.” Lu Qing smiled. “The General came from the capital and told me on the way that the capital is no longer the capital I left it to be. Many things have changed. It’s impossible for someone as discerning as the General not to see the strangeness of this situation.”

The fact that the emperor neither speaks nor asks does not necessarily mean that he is ignorant or unaware.

However, when you're in the thick of it, you're bound to be hindered by others, and you'll inevitably have many concerns and feel constrained.

Regardless of any twists and turns that may have occurred in the past, General Cao has always been a trusted figure in the Emperor's heart; otherwise, the Emperor would not have entrusted you with such an important responsibility concerning the safety of both the Jin and Jie kingdoms.

Besides trust, I think His Majesty made this arrangement because the General is not only loyal and brave, but more importantly, compared to other brave but reckless generals, he understands how to assess the situation and adapt to changing circumstances.

Zhu Yu glanced at Cao Tianbao without making a sound, and saw that Cao Tianbao's tightly furrowed brows had unconsciously relaxed a little, which made her want to laugh. She turned her head to look at Lu Qing, who was looking very serious beside her.

This fox's speaking skills were truly extraordinary. The more someone praised Cao Tianbao, the more he would perceive the person in front of him as hypocritical and sycophantic, and thus feel displeased.

Lu Qing's words, though spoken subtly, struck a chord with Cao Tianbao, hitting the spot he cared about most, and before he knew it, he felt a sense of comfort.

With this softening, it became much easier to persuade him to change his mind.

"General, have you considered this?" Lu Qing also noticed the subtle changes in Cao Tianbao's expression, "Given the current situation in the capital, none of the military officers have any real power. If a sudden attack from outside the capital were to besiege it, wouldn't everyone in the city become lambs to the slaughter, with no chance of escape?"

Cao Tianbao opened his mouth, his expression turning serious.

He realized that what Lu Qing said was indeed a big problem. Now, not to mention Congzhou, where the capital is located, even in the neighboring Runzhou, there are almost no troops available for deployment.

If something were to happen in the capital, these military generals, despite their exceptional skills, would likely be powerless to help.