Having many children brings many blessings; the struggle for power begins with marriage.

Chapter 117 The Cards Are Revealed

After the soldiers from the Northern Commandery escorted the barbarians away from them, Li Feng smiled and said to Lin Xiuming, "General Lin, let's continue. We will soon reach the battlefield where the fiercest fighting last night took place."

Upon hearing Li Feng's voice, Lin Xiuming, who had been in a daze, finally came to his senses.

His mind was completely occupied with writing folded paper.

"Okay, okay."

At this point, Lin Xiuming shouted to the soldiers behind him, "Keep advancing!"

Upon hearing Lin Xiuming's voice, the imperial soldiers, whose minds had been blank, finally came to their senses.

What had just happened still seemed so unreal to them.

They even doubted whether they were actually still on their way to Beijun, and whether everything they had just seen was just a dream they had on the road due to their exhaustion. In reality, Yancheng might have already been captured by the barbarians.

Of course, they knew very well that this was reality.

Before long, under Li Feng's leadership, the imperial army of 70,000 arrived at the place where Mu Changtian and the Black Cavalry had met the night before, which was also the place where the barbarian soldiers had died the most.

The entire riverbank was littered with the corpses of barbarian soldiers, stretching as far as the eye could see.

Seeing so many barbarian soldiers' corpses, even the imperial soldiers who had been mentally prepared were stunned at this moment.

Compared to the gruesome corpses they had seen before, the barbarian soldiers' bodies here were much more intact and less mangled.

However, the shock of this scene strewn with corpses was no less than that of the bloody battlefield just now.

The bodies of the barbarian soldiers were piled up, and the water of the Wanning River was dyed red, as if the entire river had turned into blood.

Two hundred thousand barbarian soldiers! The fighting power of the Northern Commandery is terrifying!

Lin Xiuming and the soldiers couldn't help but gasp.

It's been a long time since the Great Xia has had an army with such formidable fighting power!

No, it should be said that the Great Xia Dynasty has never had a vassal king with such power!

Whether it was a good thing or a bad thing for the Xia Emperor to send the Northern King to the Northern Commandery was unknown.

At this moment, Li Feng said to Lin Xiuming, "General Lin, I'll leave the task of cleaning up the battlefield to you. The soldiers of Beijun fought a bloody battle all night and are exhausted. They are no longer able to clean up the battlefield."

Upon hearing Li Feng's words, Lin Xiuming snapped out of his daze and immediately said, "Okay, General Li, you should go and rest too. Leave the rest to us."

Li Feng said, "Okay, then I'll leave it to you."

Lin Xiuming said politely, "It's no trouble at all, it's what we should do."

As soon as Lin Xiuming finished speaking, Li Feng turned around on his horse and left the battlefield.

Watching Li Feng's departing figure, Lin Xiuming fell into deep thought.

After a long while, Zhou Yu's voice finally rang out beside Lin Xiuming, "General, how should we report the matter in Beijun?"

The results of the battle in Beijun were too astonishing; even if such results were reported, the imperial court probably wouldn't believe them.

Lin Xiuming pondered for a moment, then said, "Report it truthfully."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Yu paused for a moment, then tentatively asked, "General, are we really going to report this truthfully?"

Upon hearing Zhou Yu's question, Lin Xiuming turned to look at Zhou Yu and asked seriously, "What? Do you want to take all the credit?"

Zhou Yu quickly said, "General, that's not what I meant. I just felt that if we reported the truth, we might offend the Northern King."

Zhou Yu thought to himself, how could he dare to covet such military merit?

If Beijun had only repelled the barbarian attack, they might have been able to claim some credit when reporting the victory, saying that their imperial army of 70,000 had played a significant role.

But things are different now. Before their imperial army even reached Yancheng, the war between Beijun and the barbarians had already ended.

It was not just over, it ended with a crushing victory for North County.

If they were to embezzle such military merits, and the higher-ups investigated, they would definitely be exiled or have their entire family beheaded.

Moreover, after seeing the tens of thousands of heavy cavalry in Beijun, who among them would dare to have any thoughts of greed for military merit?

The Northern King is clearly no ordinary person. If anyone dares to covet the Northern King's military achievements, the Northern King will probably kill them before the court even investigates.

Although Zhou Yu was the Eighth Prince's man, after seeing the heavy cavalry of Beijun and the mountains of corpses of barbarian soldiers on the battlefield, he had no intention of doing anything underhanded.

He still wanted to return to the capital alive.

With the Northern Prince's power so terrifying, who would dare to make any trouble under the Northern Prince's nose?

After hearing Zhou Yu's words, Lin Xiuming thought for a moment and then said, "Let's ignore the Northern King for now. Tonight, send a messenger with red silk to deliver the battle report to the court. If the Northern King doesn't send anyone to intercept it, that would be best. If he does, I will personally go to the Northern King's residence to discuss with him how to report to the court."

Regardless of whether the imperial court believes in the results of the Northern Prefecture's battle, once the matter of the Northern Prefecture is reported to the imperial court, the strength of the Northern King will no longer be concealed. Therefore, Lin Xiuming is also worried that the Northern King will intercept their Red Silk Messenger.

"Alright, enough of that. Order the soldiers to begin cleaning up the battlefield!"

As soon as Lin Xiuming finished speaking, the imperial army of 70,000 began to clean up the battlefield.

Originally, these 70,000 soldiers were the elite of the imperial court, veterans of countless battles, but now they have been reduced to cleaning up the battlefield.

However, most soldiers did not complain. Compared to fighting the barbarian soldiers head-on, carrying their corpses was an easier job and did not pose a danger to their lives.

Moreover, after witnessing the terrifying strength of the Northern County, they were willing to clean up the battlefield for the Northern County soldiers.

It was evening.

Inside the camp.

Lin Xiuming was writing a battle report while he was hunched over the table when a red-robed eunuch walked in. The eunuch was the supervising officer of the imperial army.

Like Lin Xiuming and the others, he was also shocked by the strength shown by Beijun.

At the same time, he also had a worry in his heart, which was whether his battle reports could be sent out of North County.

Both the supervising general and the general in charge of the battle were required to write battle reports, and they were not allowed to communicate with each other. This was to prevent the generals in charge of the troops from exaggerating their achievements.

Originally, Eunuch Wang didn't need to come to Lin Xiuming. He could have sent the messenger Hongling directly after finishing the battle report. However, thinking that his battle report might not be delivered, Eunuch Wang still came to Lin Xiuming's tent.

Seeing the military supervisor enter his tent, Lin Xiuming asked, "Eunuch Wang, is there anything I can help you with?"

With a worried expression, Eunuch Wang asked, "General Lin, has your battle report been completed?"

Lin Xiuming said, "I'm writing it now. Eunuch Wang came to see me. Could it be that he wants to collude with me to change the battle report? That won't do."

Eunuch Wang said, "Oh dear, General Lin, what time is it? You still have the mind to joke around."

"General Lin, you can't be unaware of our current predicament, can you?"

"The Northern King didn't even let us into the city, but instead ordered us to camp in the Wanning River Valley. This shows he's wary of us, and whether our battle reports can even get out is a question!"

Lin Xiuming said calmly, "So, what does Eunuch Wang mean?"

Eunuch Wang said, "Our idea is to first go and discuss it with the Northern King to see what he has to say, what can be written and what cannot be written, so that we can have a better understanding."

Lin Xiuming said, "Does Eunuch Wang intend to conceal the results of the battle in Beijun?"

Eunuch Wang said, "It's not a matter of whether we want to hide it or not, the key is whether the Northern King wants the court to know."

Lin Xiuming continued writing the battle report, saying as he wrote, "Eunuch Wang, do you think the Northern King can hide such an astonishing victory from the court? Even if we exaggerate, the court will soon find out what happened in the Northern Prefecture."

"The Northern King is not a fool. The news that he killed 200,000 barbarians and captured 100,000 has already spread throughout Yan City. Soon His Majesty's shadow guards will know, and the events in the Northern Prefecture will also reach His Majesty's ears."

"What the court needs to know, the Northern King will let the court know. We just need to keep writing. If the Northern King really intercepts our battle report, we can go to his residence to find him then."

Hearing Lin Xiuming's words, Eunuch Wang felt that there was some truth to it, and then said, "Alright, then I will listen to General Lin. General Lin, after you send the battle report up, let me know, and I will send Hongling messenger afterwards."

Eunuch Wang wanted to see if Lin Xiuming's battle reports could be sent out. If they were, he would send another one. If the Northern Prince's Mansion blocked Lin Xiuming's reports, he would go to the Northern Prince immediately to avoid offending him.

In the stillness of the night.

Wangfu.

Lu Chen had just finished showering and planned to go to Bai Qingqing's room to stretch his legs.

At this moment, a female guard came up to Lu Chen.

"Your Highness, Commander Qin has stopped the imperial messengers, and he has asked me to inquire whether you require them to have their battle reports reviewed before allowing them to leave?"

Lu Chen immediately said, "No need. If I really did that, and the court found out, I'd probably be labeled a traitor immediately."

The Red Silk Messenger's battle reports were delivered on a one-to-one basis, meaning that once sent from the frontline general, the emperor was the first to open and view them.

If a vassal king were to open and inspect the war reports sent by the Red Silk Messenger, he would undoubtedly be branded a traitor, without a doubt.

Moreover, the results achieved in the Northern Commandery were too great to be kept secret from the imperial court. Lu Chen had no intention of hiding it either, and since he had played his cards openly, what was the point of hiding it?

With tens of thousands of heavily armored cavalry and hundreds of thousands of barbarian prisoners, do we still need to be as timid and cowardly as before?

There's absolutely no need for that!

Moreover, his father's focus was on powerful families, so he had no interest in weakening the power of the princes.

Upon hearing Lu Chen's words, the guard replied, "Your Highness understands. I will have Commander Qin release the messenger, Hong Ling, immediately."

At this point, the female guard immediately turned and left the courtyard.

a few days later.

Anping City.

After arriving in Anping City, Mu Zixuan and her group were very worried about the situation in Yancheng and frequently sent people from the Prince's Mansion to Yancheng to gather information.

Chu Yuqin sat in the courtyard, looking listless. She suddenly realized that without her Chen'er, she couldn't muster any energy.

She used to always think about keeping her distance from Lu Chen to avoid things going wrong, but now that they've actually broken up, she's actually very reluctant to part ways.

Chu Yuqin sighed deeply, "Alas, I don't know when I will be able to see Chen'er again."

Just then, a maid entered the courtyard. "Madam Chu, there's a woman outside looking for you. She says she's your sister!"

(End of this chapter)