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

Chapter 169 Lin Wanyun Feels Guilty

Upon hearing Lin Xiuming's question, Lin Wanyun said softly, "What does it have to do with me if the Palace Master goes back? I'm not the Palace Master of Xuan Yue Palace."

At this point, Lin Wanyun glanced at Lin Xiuming and then continued, "Wouldn't it be better if the Northern King let you stay in Yancheng? Why do you come to the Xuan Yue Palace restaurant every day to drown your sorrows in alcohol?"

Lin Xiuming said with a smile, "Sister Yun, you are a woman and don't understand men's thoughts. If I could, I wouldn't want to come to Beijun."

"Let's not talk about my business anymore. There's something I need to tell you."

Lin Wanyun asked in confusion, "What is it?"

Lin Xiuming asked with a smile, "You should still be at the Northern Prince's residence, right?"

Although Lin Wanyun was only Lin Gaoyuan's adopted daughter, Lin Xiuming and Lin Wanyun had a relatively harmonious relationship. Lin Wanyun had even taught Lin Xiuming martial arts.

Although Lin Wanyun has now left the Lin family and joined the Xuan Yue Palace, the two of them can still speak frankly about anything they want to say when they meet, and neither of them feels that the other is distant.

Lin Wanyun replied, "I am currently the deputy commander of the guards in the inner courtyard of the Northern Prince's Mansion."

Hearing Lin Wanyun's words, Lin Xiuming was somewhat surprised. He hadn't expected that Lin Wanyun, a member of the Xuan Yue Palace, would become the deputy commander of the inner courtyard guards of the Northern Prince's Mansion.

Although she was only a deputy commander, this was enough to prove how much the Northern King trusted Lin Wanyun and the Xuan Yue Palace. After all, Lin Wanyun was a protector of the Xuan Yue Palace and represented its interests.

Lin Xiuming said, "I didn't expect the Northern King to trust the Xuan Yue Palace so much. There must be some kind of cooperation between the Northern King and the Xuan Yue Palace, right?"

Lin Wanyun immediately became alert. She then asked, "Xiuming, you're asking me these questions because my godfather sent you to inquire, aren't you?"

Lin Gaoyuan is now the Left Prime Minister of the court. He belongs to the Great Xia Dynasty. Lin Xiuming is Lin Gaoyuan's son. Lin Xiuming's sudden question about the Xuan Yue Palace makes Lin Wanyun suspect that her adoptive father wants to know something.

Or perhaps the Xia Emperor wanted to know something and sent Lin Xiuming to test him.

Lin Xiuming immediately replied, "No, I was just asking out of curiosity."

"By the way, Dad asked me to tell you that you're already in your thirties and it's time for you to get married. He thinks the Prince of the North is a good candidate."

"Since you are the commander of the guards in the inner courtyard of the Northern Prince's mansion, you can get in touch with the Northern Prince."

Upon hearing Lin Xiuming's words, Lin Wanyun raised her beautiful eyes, her eyebrows furrowing slightly, and said speechlessly, "Is that really what Godfather thinks?"

"The Northern King is only seventeen years old, while I am already in my thirties. How could I possibly marry the Northern King? The Northern King's mother and I are sworn sisters. If I were to marry him, wouldn't our generations be all messed up?"

"What is Godfather thinking? How could he have such an absurd idea?"

Seeing Lin Wanyun's strong reaction, Lin Xiuming said with a smile, "Sister, isn't the Queen Consort of the Heavenly Wolf King also quite old? She still married the Northern King."

"What's so special about being in your thirties? Father said that the Northern Prince lacked love since childhood and prefers older, mature women. Look at Chu Yuqin, she's quite old too, but she still stays in the Northern Prince's mansion."

Lin Wanyun immediately said, "I don't care what your godfather thinks. Go back and talk to him, and tell him to get rid of this absurd idea as soon as possible."

"Now that I have chosen to join the Xuan Yue Palace, I have no intention of getting married in this lifetime, let alone marrying a man like the Northern King who is more than ten years younger than me."

Lin Xiuming shrugged and then said, "Alright, I'll go back and tell Father that you don't want to marry the Northern King."

At this point, Lin Xiuming reminded her, "Sister, although you are now a member of the Xuan Yue Palace, I still want to remind you that Father has already decided to support the Northern King. If the Xuan Yue Palace wants to harm the Northern King, you'd better think about what to do."

Hearing Lin Xiuming's words, Lin Wanyun was slightly taken aback. She asked in confusion, "I remember that my godfather never got involved in anything related to the struggle for the throne. Why would he support the Prince of the North?"

Lin Xiuming said calmly, "I don't know about that. Maybe he discovered that the Northern King has more potential than the others, which is one of the reasons why he wants you to marry the Northern King."

"Of course, now that you've left the Lin family, it's not up to your father to decide who you marry. At most, you can consider the Lin family your maternal home when you get married."

Lin Wanyun is merely Lin Gaoyuan's adopted daughter, and since she has already left the Lin family, she is fully capable of making her own life decisions. Lin Gaoyuan's desire for her to marry Lu Chen is simply Lin Gaoyuan's personal idea.

Whether Lin Wanyun is willing or not is entirely up to her.

However, if Lin Wanyun is really willing to marry Lu Chen, then when Lin Wanyun gets married, she will definitely marry Lu Chen as Lin Gaoyuan's daughter, which would be a political marriage for the Lin family.

Hearing Lin Xiuming's words, Lin Wanyun was somewhat relieved that she had left the Lin family mansion and become a protector of the Xuan Yue Palace. If she were still in the Lin family mansion, she probably wouldn't be able to make her own decisions about marriage.

Just as Lin Wanyun was about to continue speaking, a soldier knocked on the door and said, "General, the Prince's men are looking for you!"

Hearing this, Lin Xiuming was stunned. He had been in Beijun for so long, and the Northern King had never sent anyone to look for him.

Could it be that the war in the north has ended, and the Northern King wants him to return?

Thinking of this, Lin Xiuming immediately said, "Let him in."

Just as Lin Wanyun was about to avoid him, Qin Yushan pushed the door open and entered. He glanced at Lin Wanyun but didn't take her seriously. Then he turned to Lin Xiuming and said, "General Lin, the situation in Tianguang City is not optimistic. His Highness has ordered you to immediately lead 20,000 troops from the imperial court north to resist the barbarians."

Upon hearing this, Lin Wanyun and Lin Xiuming were both stunned.

The war situation is not looking good?

How is that possible?

Last time, the Northern King led 50,000 heavy cavalry to wipe out the Heavenly Wolf King's 300,000-strong army. How could he not even be able to deal with the Northern Xian King's 200,000-strong army?

real or fake?

Lin Xiuming then asked, "Senior Qin, what is the current situation in Tianguang City?"

Qin Yushan said directly, "The prince's black cavalry suffered more than 40,000 casualties, and only managed to repel the Northern Xian King's army. Currently, the Northern Xian King's army is still occasionally heading south to harass Tianguang City."

"The garrison of Tianguang City is exhausted and urgently needs your assistance."

This……

Lin Xiuming was completely stunned after hearing Qin Yushan's words.

The Northern King's heavy cavalry was wiped out just like that?

Are you kidding me?

Although heavy cavalry does not have a significant advantage over light cavalry in battles on the grasslands, they are certainly not at a significant disadvantage either. It would be virtually impossible for the Northern Xian King's army to wipe out a heavy cavalry force of 50,000 men.

How could there be over 40,000 dead and injured?

The fact that over 40,000 people were killed or wounded means that this Black Cavalry force was completely destroyed.

is it possible?

Qin Yushan's words were full of eeriness, but Lin Xiuming was not sure if they were true. Although the heavy cavalry were indeed very powerful, anything could happen in war and the situation could change in an instant. For example, they had not expected that the Northern King would be able to defeat the barbarian army of 300,000.

Therefore, to find out if this news is true or false, they still need to go to Tianguang City. Fortunately, the Northern King has already sent them north, and they will soon find out whether the news is true or false.

Lin Xiuming immediately stood up and said, "I will lead the soldiers north right away."

At this point, Lin Xiuming took out some silver and placed it on the table, then led his soldiers back to their temporary military camp.

After Lin Xiuming left, Lin Wanyun quickly relayed the important news she had just heard to Xuan Yue Palace.

Those were 50,000 heavy cavalrymen, gone in an instant.

The Northern County had finally become powerful, but it has already returned to the past so quickly.

This might be a major blow to Beijun, but for Xuan Yue Palace and Chen Wanrong, it's fantastic news.

This finally gave Xuan Yue Palace an opportunity to help the Northern King.

The reason why the Northern King had always kept the Xuan Yue Palace was because the Northern Commandery already had 50,000 heavy cavalry, which was a very strong military force, so there was no need to rely on the Xuan Yue Palace anymore.

Lu Chen himself has the ability to participate in the struggle for the throne.

But things are different now. The Northern King's heavy cavalry is gone. Although the heavy cavalry's armor may still be there, it would take a very long time to train a powerful heavy cavalry force. It wouldn't be something that could be trained in a month or two, or even a year or two.

During the period when the Black Cavalry was being rebuilt, the Northern Commandery was relatively weak. The Great Xia Dynasty and its vassal kings absolutely would not allow the Northern King to rebuild the Black Cavalry.

Under pressure, the Northern King will most likely choose to cooperate with the Xuan Yue Palace. In this way, Chen Wanrong will have the opportunity to get close to Lu Chen and put a love potion on him.

However, for some reason, Lin Wanyun was not very happy after having the news sent out.

At this moment, Lin Wanyun looked at the snow falling outside the window, her mind replaying memories of Lu Chen. Recently, she had been thinking about a question: should she really hurt her best friend's biological son in order to help Chen Wanrong restore her country?

Although Lu Chen was not as important to her as Chen Wanrong, if something really happened to Lu Chen, would she still have the face to face Chu Yue after she died?

If it weren't for Chu Yue, she would probably have died long ago, and she wouldn't have become Lin Gaoyuan's adopted daughter.

Her background is very similar to Bai Qingqing's; both of them were found by Chu Yue on the street. To be precise, Bai Qingqing and she are similar because she met Chu Yue earlier than Bai Qingqing.

The only difference between her and Bai Qingqing was that she was sent to the Lin family and became Lin Gaoyuan's adopted daughter, while Bai Qingqing was taken to the palace by Chu Yue to serve as Lu Chen's maid.

Although she and Bai Qingqing went to different places, Chu Yue treated her no less well than she treated Bai Qingqing. During her time at the Lin residence, Chu Yue often came to visit her, and their relationship was extremely close.

Chu Yue saved her life and treated her like a younger sister, but now she was about to hurt Chu Yue's own son. Thinking of this, Lin Wanyun felt a deep sense of guilt.

At this moment, Lin Wanyun seemed to see Chu Yue's shadow in the swirling snow, as if Chu Yue was saying something to her.

Lin Wanyun stood frozen in place, trying to hear clearly what Chu Yue was saying to her.

In her dazed state, she seemed to hear Chu Yue's voice in her ear.

"Yunyun...please...take good care of...Chen'er..."

Lin Wanyun was taken aback.

I suddenly came to my senses.

Outside the window, snow was still falling heavily, but Chu Yue was no longer there. Lin Wanyun sighed softly and rubbed her temples.

I've been under a lot of stress lately, and I'm experiencing not only hallucinations but also auditory hallucinations.

……

After returning to the military camp, Lin Xiuming gathered the soldiers, took a headcount, and headed north overnight.

He didn't know what the situation was like in Tianguang City, but since the Northern King had sent him north, it probably meant that the situation in the north was indeed not good.

He is a member of the imperial court and represents the court. There are so many secrets in Beijun. If he is sent north, those secrets of Beijun will likely be seen by him and the imperial army.

That's why the Northern King initially had them stay in Yancheng. Unless the situation was extremely urgent, the Northern King would never have risked exposing the secrets of the Northern Prefecture by sending them north.

At this moment, Lin Xiuming also seriously doubted whether the Northern King's 50,000 heavy cavalry had really been wiped out.

If he really runs out of troops, he has to hurry and head north, as this is a great opportunity for him to make a name for himself in battle.

Last time he came to Beijun to move the body of the Northern King, he was ridiculed by many friends after returning to the capital, who called him a corpse mover.

This time he came to Beijun, he must make some military achievements to return home. If he returns to the capital empty-handed again, wouldn't he be ridiculed as a transport worker?

As for whether Tianguang City is in danger, that's no longer something Lin Xiuming is considering.

There is no war without danger.

How could a real man be afraid to go to the battlefield because of this little bit of danger?

Just as Lin Xiuming was full of enthusiasm and eager to head north to make military achievements, he discovered that the road to the north had been covered by heavy snow.

Although they were cavalry, they still found it difficult to advance.

Lin Xiuming was dumbfounded as he watched the army advance at a snail's pace.

At this moment, he couldn't help but want to curse. How much shit was in the brain of the Northern King to think of attacking the Northern Prefecture in the winter?

With this heavy snow, can the Northern Xian King's army even move?

At this moment, Lin Xiuming's trusted soldier approached him and said, "General, at our current pace, it's unlikely we'll reach Tianguang City in less than a month. Is the situation in Tianguang City really that urgent?"

Lin Xiuming frowned and said, "Let's speed up and move forward as fast as we can. There's a high probability that something really happened in Tianguang City."

There was nothing they could do but try their best to reach Sky City in this situation.

Just then, a scout soldier approached Lin Xiuming. "General, there's something up ahead!"

Upon hearing this, Lin Xiuming immediately asked, "Take me there!"

The scouts immediately led Lin Xiuming to the place where something seemed amiss.

The unusual thing the scout mentioned was the footprints and wheel tracks in the snow. Although the heavy snow had covered them, they were still barely visible, and these tracks were most likely made in the last two days.

Looking at the endless tracks of horses' hooves in the snow before him, Lin Xiuming's expression kept changing.

(End of this chapter)