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

Chapter 154 War Breaks Out

Early in the morning.

The sky was still a hazy gray.

Lu Chen rode his horse straight to where the craftsmen lived, and then handed over some information on coal mining and processing to Mo Fei and the others for them to study.

Afterwards, Lu Chen discussed the construction of the earthen bed and the heated room with Mo Fei and the others. Lu Chen and the craftsmen spent a whole day discussing the details.

This once again made the craftsmen of Dayu City feel the sincerity of the Northern King. Generally speaking, if the Northern King wanted to discuss something with them, he only needed to send them to the Northern King's Mansion. However, the Northern King came to their residence early in the morning, braving the cold wind, to discuss matters with them.

a few days later.

North Palace.

Lu Chen was reviewing intelligence gathered by the Embroidered Uniform Guard in his study when a maid's voice sounded at the door, "Your Highness, Commander Qin requests an audience."

Lu Chen immediately said, "Come in."

Then Qin Yushan pushed open the door and entered. At this time, Qin Yushan was covered in snow. It was even colder today, and it was snowing heavily outside.

After entering the room, Qin Yushan gave a simple bow.

"Greetings, Your Highness."

After bowing, Qin Yushan immediately placed the bamboo tube containing intelligence on the desk. "Your Highness, urgent report from the capital!"

Upon hearing this, Lu Chen, who was reviewing Da Yue's intelligence, was taken aback.

After regaining his senses, Lu Chen swept the other intelligence reports on the table aside with his hand, then immediately opened the bamboo tube on the table and took out the intelligence reports from it.

Qin Yushan continued, "Winter has arrived, and none of the carrier pigeons released by the capital have reached Yancheng. We can only rely on the Embroidered Uniform Guards to deliver messages on horseback, so the intelligence from the capital is much later than before."

After taking the intelligence out of the bamboo tube, Lu Chen carefully read its contents. As his gaze gradually moved downwards, Lu Chen's expression became increasingly serious.

After reading the intelligence report, Lu Chen pondered for a moment, then said to Qin Yushan, "Immediately notify Li Rui and the others to come to the Northern Prince's Mansion to discuss important matters."

"Yes, Your Highness."

Half an hour later.

Li Rui and other officials, along with a group of military officers from Beijun, appeared in Lu Chen's study.

They were all a little curious. Today wasn't a meeting day, so why had the Northern King summoned them? Could it be that the Northern King had already gone south?

After everyone arrived, Lu Chen did not speak immediately. His gaze was still sweeping over the map on the desk, as if he was thinking about something.

Seeing that Lu Chen's expression was somewhat serious, everyone remained silent, standing quietly in the study watching him and waiting for him to speak first.

After a while, Lu Chen realized that everyone had arrived. He glanced at them and then said, "I just received intelligence that the Great Xia and the Great Wu have gone to war."

Everyone was stunned when they heard Lu Chen's words.

How is that possible?

The major dynasties had been at peace for countless years. Although there were constant frictions between them, no major wars had ever broken out.

Why did the Great Wu and the Great Xia suddenly break out into war at this time?

Mu Changtian immediately asked, "Your Highness, did the Great Wu launch the attack?"

It was obvious to everyone that Emperor Xia's original plan was to deal with the powerful families within the Great Xia territory. Therefore, Emperor Xia would definitely not take the initiative to start a war at this time. The only possibility was that Great Wu would take the initiative to attack Great Xia.

Hearing Mu Changtian's question, Lu Chen shook his head and then said, "It's strange, it was actually our Great Xia that started the war. When I saw the intelligence sent from the capital, I didn't react for a moment."

This……

The people in the study looked at each other, unsure of what to say.

They were also somewhat incredulous that the Great Xia would actually provoke a war at this time. Would the Xia Emperor still deal with the aristocratic families?

At this moment, Li Rui asked, "Your Highness, could the intelligence be wrong? There are already undercurrents within the Great Xia territory; how could His Majesty choose to attack the Great Wu Dynasty at this time?"

Lu Chen said, "The intelligence is most likely correct; the problem lies with the people who started the war."

"A month ago, the major dynasties had already been secretly mobilizing troops. The Dayue Dynasty and the Beijun border area have 200,000 soldiers stationed there."

"I suspect that someone colluded with the Great Wu Dynasty to provoke a war, thus giving the Great Wu Dynasty a pretext to attack the Great Xia."

Upon hearing Lu Chen's words, everyone immediately realized what he meant.

Indeed, Emperor Xia was certainly unwilling to launch a war against foreign powers at this time. He wanted to purge the ancient families within his own territory. If he launched a war against foreign powers at this time, how could he purge those ancient families?

Therefore, the only possibility is that a powerful family colluded with the Great Wu Dynasty and actively provoked the war.

The Great Wu Dynasty may not actually want to defeat the Great Xia Dynasty, but as long as it can put enough pressure on Great Xia, the powerful families within Great Xia will give Great Wu a lot of benefits.

Under external pressure, Emperor Xia ultimately had no choice but to compromise with those powerful families and abandon the idea of ​​purging the ancient clans.

However, Lu Chen did not think the matter was that simple.

At this moment, Lu Chen looked at Mu Changtian and said, "General Mu, although you are a military general, you have also served as an official in the capital for decades and have a good understanding of the political environment there. According to your analysis, if the war between the Great Wu and the Great Xia was instigated by a powerful family, what would its ultimate goal be?"

Upon hearing this question, Mu Changtian replied, "In my opinion, there are three possibilities."

"The first possibility is naturally to use external pressure to put pressure on His Majesty, so that His Majesty would not dare to take any major actions against the aristocratic families."

"The second possibility is that the aristocratic families want to take advantage of this opportunity to unite with the other princes and force His Majesty to abdicate and replace him with a more obedient emperor. Of course, this possibility is the least likely, because the factions led by the princes still exist. At this time, no one is willing to submit to anyone else, so electing any one of the princes could lead to the division of the Great Xia."

"As for the third possibility..."

At this point, Mu Changtian hesitated, but he finally spoke up: "I have recently heard this argument that Your Highness was sent to Beijun by His Majesty, so the 50,000 Black Cavalry are not actually Your Highness's, but His Majesty's."

"If even the common people of Beijun think this way, then the powerful families probably think the same way."

"Therefore, I believe that the powerful families will likely take advantage of this opportunity to persuade Your Majesty to deploy 50,000 heavy cavalry to the front lines and engage the Great Wu Dynasty in a direct confrontation."

"The Great Wu Dynasty was always militaristic and maintained an army of several million men. Moreover, their strength was no less than that of the northern barbarians, and they were even more difficult to deal with than the barbarians."

"Although these 50,000 heavy cavalry are very strong, if they go to the front line and fight a war of attrition against Da Wu, they may be completely wiped out in less than a year."

In fact, not only the common people and those aristocratic families, but even Mu Changtian had wondered some time ago whether Lu Chen was a pawn specially sent to Beijun by the Xia Emperor, since Lu Chen did not have the ability to build 50,000 heavy cavalry in a short period of time.

However, when Mu Changtian learned of the existence of Dayu City, he abandoned this idea.

However, the others in the Great Xia Dynasty were unaware of the existence of Dayu City. Therefore, in their view, only the Xia Emperor had the ability to command 50,000 heavy cavalry in the Northern Commandery. Thus, in the eyes of others, these 50,000 heavy cavalry were actually the Xia Emperor's personal private army.

(End of this chapter)