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

Chapter 258 That's enough, it's time for her to let go.

Although each dynasty had its own internal problems to varying degrees, they all paid more or less attention to the situation in the North.

Since the military parade in the North, people have been eager to know how much fighting power the 200,000-strong army of the North actually has, and whether it can withstand the army of the Heavenly King.

The Heavenly Apocalypse King is neither the Heavenly Wolf King nor the Northern Xian King. The Heavenly Apocalypse King is a true Grandmaster, and he has quite a few Grandmasters under his command, as well as many high-ranking martial artists.

Although King Tianqi suffered a defeat in the Dayue Dynasty, this does not mean that King Tianqi's strength was weak.

The heavy cavalry of the North were indeed formidable, but they were no match for the 400,000-strong army of the Apocalypse King.

Currently, the only group not paying attention to the North is the Jiangnan rebels of the Great Xia Dynasty. Recently, the Jiangnan rebels led by Lu Shuyun have been facing enormous pressure. Their army is no match for the imperial army and is basically crushed by the imperial army on the battlefield.

The Jiangnan rebels have suffered repeated defeats and lost some key cities they had previously occupied. Now, the Jiangnan rebels are being forced to continuously shrink their defensive lines by the imperial army.

Even though they used the Cloud Piercing Bow, they didn't gain much of an advantage on the battlefield, which worried Lu Shuyun a lot.

He finally understood why his father wasn't worried about his rebellion at all, and even forced him to come to the south to lead these Jiangnan aristocratic families in a rebellion.

These prominent families in Jiangnan were unwilling to give up their own interests, and even if they united, it would be a loose alliance.

They fight their own battles and scheme against each other, making it impossible to lead anyone.

Lu Shuyun suddenly regretted coming to the south to rebel. If he hadn't come to the south, he would at most have been deposed as crown prince.

Now he's in a bind, there's no turning back, and he has no choice but to grit his teeth and fight against the imperial army.

Wang family.

Council hall.

Lu Shuyun sat in the position of the Wang family patriarch, looking down at the patriarchs of the Jiangnan families below. At this moment, he asked, "Still haven't found the Dongfang family?"

Upon hearing this question, no one in the council hall spoke.

The disappearance of the Dongfang family was too sudden. They didn't even know when the Dongfang family was gone. Perhaps the others had already run away, but they just didn't know it.

At this moment, the head of the Qin family said, "Your Highness, the Dongfang family has probably already pledged allegiance to the imperial court. The Dongfang family has been in business for generations and is a commercial family. They don't own much land in Jiangnan, so it doesn't matter to them where they go. They have no reason to take such a big risk."

Upon hearing this, the Wang family head snorted coldly and said, "Do they think that by pledging allegiance to His Majesty the Imperial Court they will be spared? His Majesty has long wanted to eliminate all the ancient aristocratic families within the Great Xia territory. Although the Dongfang family doesn't have as much land as we do, with their commercial network throughout the Great Xia, manipulating prices would be a piece of cake. I don't believe His Majesty will ultimately let them go!"

At this moment, Chu Liang said, "The Dongfang family must have left by sea. The Dongfang family's merchant ships are so big that transporting all the Dongfang family members away in a short time is not a problem at all."

Speaking of merchant ships, Lu Shuyun immediately had a bad feeling. If the Dongfang family could transport all their family members away in a short time, then the Dongfang family could also use their merchant ships to transport the imperial army to their rear without anyone noticing.

If the Dongfang family had truly betrayed them and sided with the imperial court, then the Dongfang family would definitely help the imperial army attack them in order to show their loyalty to their father, the emperor.

Thinking of this, Lu Shuyun's face instantly darkened and became very unpleasant.

Just then, a soldier rushed in in a panic, "Your Highness, something terrible has happened! Imperial troops have appeared in the southeast!"

Upon hearing this, Lu Shuyun's heart skipped a beat. He had indeed guessed correctly. He knew that once the Dongfang family betrayed them, they would definitely help the court transport soldiers to their rear.

……

a few days later.

Ningbei City.

The vanguard cavalry of the Tianqi King's army finally arrived at Ningbei City. However, they were only there to clear the way. After arriving outside Ningbei City, they did not launch an attack, but simply conducted a simple reconnaissance of the surrounding situation.

Ningbei City is a relatively isolated city because it is surrounded by grasslands and has no terrain to rely on, not even a moat.

If such an isolated city were to be besieged, the soldiers inside would likely be trapped and die.

After thoroughly investigating the situation in Ningbei City, the barbarian vanguard immediately relayed the information to King Tianqi. Upon hearing that the 200,000-strong army of the Northern Kingdom was mostly stationed in Ningbei City, King Tianqi was overjoyed.

It just so happens that the northern army is all in one place. Their barbarian army can decide the outcome of the battle in the north. After the northern army of 200,000 is defeated, they can then enter the north to plunder without any obstacles. This is a great thing for them.

To prevent the 200,000-strong army of the Northern Kingdom from splitting up at this time, the Tianqi King quickly ordered his soldiers to speed up their march, fearing that if the Northern Kingdom split up its forces, they would have to take over one city after another.

Lu Chen stood on the city wall, gazing at the barbarian vanguard cavalry camp in the distance, a slight smile playing on his lips. In just a few days, the Northern Kingdom's army would begin its first battle showcasing firearms.

At this moment, Xiao Pengtian approached Lu Chen and said, "Your Highness, how about I lead some men to wipe out the barbarian vanguard?"

Xiao Pengtian was eager for military merit. After all, he was a barbarian, and he had to be more proactive and hardworking to gain Lu Chen's trust. The barbarian cavalry under Xiao Pengtian shared the same thought.

Lu Chen said calmly, "There's no need to rush. What if we wipe out the vanguard of the barbarians too quickly and scare away the Tianqi King's army?"

The firearms they used were too powerful. If they were used and failed to wipe out all the cavalry, the fleeing barbarian soldiers would surely tell the Apocalypse King what had happened.

If the Apocalypse King is frightened by firearms and doesn't come at all, how can they fight this battle, and how can they test the combat effectiveness of their army?

Seeing that Lu Chen still wanted to wait, Xiao Pengtian had no choice but to say, "Your Highness is right. I was too impatient."

Lu Chen smiled and said, "General Xiao, there's no need to rush. Your time to make a name for yourself will come. You are light cavalry, but if the barbarians are defeated, I will need you and your cavalry to pursue them."

Hearing Lu Chen's words, Xiao Pengtian's heart was once again invigorated.

Last time, when they resisted the Northern Xian King's army, their light cavalry did not play a significant role, mainly because they lured the barbarian soldiers into Tianguang City. Once the cannons bombarded them, the barbarians were so frightened that they surrendered.

But this time is different. This time there is a full 400,000 barbarian troops. It won't be so easy to use the "luring the enemy into the trap" tactic again.

With such a vast grassland, after the barbarian army is defeated outside, the Northern King will definitely use light cavalry to pursue the enemy. In this way, Xiao Pengtian and his light cavalry can play a role.

At this moment, Mu Changtian arrived at the top of Luchen City. "Your Highness, everything is ready. Now we are just waiting for the Tianqi King's army to arrive."

Looking at the barbarian military tents in the distance, Lu Chen smiled and said, "I hope our friends from afar will like the gifts we've given them."

Upon hearing this, Chen Wanrong looked at Lu Chen with a puzzled expression from a distance.

For some reason, she always felt that Lu Chen seemed to be particularly looking forward to the barbarian army coming to attack the Northern Kingdom these days.

War means death, and this time the Northern Kingdom only brought 200,000 troops north, while the Tianqi King's army had 400,000 soldiers. In terms of numbers, the Northern Kingdom was at a complete disadvantage.

The most formidable force in the Northern Kingdom's army is the Black Cavalry, but no one can say for sure that the Apocalypse King's army also has heavy cavalry of comparable strength.

The Tianqi Kings were a branch of the main lineage of the barbarian royal court, and their strength far surpassed that of the Tianlang King tribe and the Beixian King tribe.

The Northern Kingdom may be able to defeat the Sirius King and the Northern Xian King's tribe, but they may not be able to defeat the Heavenly Apocalypse King. At this moment, Lu Chen is still able to laugh so happily.

It's unclear whether the person behind Lu Chen will show up this time.

Chen Wanrong has basically confirmed that Lu Chen is not an ordinary person. There must be a powerful figure behind Lu Chen. If the Northern Kingdom loses this battle, the person behind Lu Chen will not just stand by and watch.

Chen Wanrong was very curious to see who was behind Lu Chen, who could enable Lu Chen to break through to the Grandmaster realm in such a short time and bring about earth-shaking changes in the Northern Kingdom.

……

Time flies.

Finally, ten days later, the horns of the barbarian army sounded outside Ningbei City.

Upon hearing the barbarian horns, Lu Chen immediately went to the city wall and gazed at the dark mass in the distance.

The soldiers of the North were already fired up; they had been preparing for this moment for so long.

Advanced firearms filled them with confidence, and they could no longer contain their urge to unleash a barrage of cannon fire on the barbarians.

After arriving outside Ningbei City, King Tianqi glanced at the royal flag of the Northern King's Palace hanging on the city gate tower and then said with a smile, "These people of Great Xia are truly courageous. I still remember when I was a child, I went south with my father to plunder. Those Great Xia soldiers abandoned the people and ran away without even defending the city."

"I never expected that these northerners would not only lead an army of 200,000 northwards, but also wait for my arrival in Ningbei City."

"Very well, I want to see just how capable the Northern King of Great Xia is to have wiped out the Sirius King's tribe."

"Form ranks! Prepare to attack!"

As the Apocalypse King finished speaking, the barbarian horns sounded once more.

Seeing that the barbarians were preparing to attack, Lu Chen directly ordered the soldiers behind him, "Beat the drums! Load the cannons!"

The next moment, deafening drumbeats echoed continuously over Ningbei City, and all the cannons on the city walls were ready to fire.

Seeing this, Chen Wanrong couldn't help but guess that those iron balls were probably similar to the catapults used for defending the city, but it would probably be difficult to use them to stop the barbarian attack.

In the first siege by the barbarians, countless soldiers of the Northern Kingdom died.

Chen Wanrong witnessed the cruelty and bloodshed of the battlefield when she was a child, and knew that once a war broke out, corpses would be strewn everywhere.

At this moment, Chen Wanrong noticed that the soldiers of the Northern Kingdom were very excited, as if they were not afraid of death at all.

It's so weird.

She had witnessed the battle when the Chen people defended the imperial city when she was a child. At that time, the faces of the Chen soldiers showed only exhaustion, despair, and fear, which was completely different from the state of the northern soldiers now.

Why are the soldiers from the North so excited?

Chen Wanrong was curious about how Lu Chen had trained this army to be so fearless of death.

Just as Chen Wanrong was lost in thought, a grandmaster general under the command of the Tianqi King led a barbarian army to charge forward.

As the barbarian army drew ever closer to the walls of Ningbei City, the soldiers of the Northern Kingdom hesitated to fire their arrows.

Just as the barbarian army was about to reach the city walls, the drums sounded again. With the first drumbeat, a series of loud booming sounds followed.

Chen Wanrong immediately used her inner energy to seal her ears. As she watched the flying iron ball, wondering why these "metal catapults" could make such a loud noise, the iron ball exploded among the barbarian soldiers.

The explosion ripped through a large area, sending countless severed limbs flying everywhere. Chen Wanrong was completely stunned by the sight.

Although the Xuan Yue Palace possesses even more powerful divine artifacts, divine artifacts are still divine artifacts, and their quantity is limited; not just anyone can create them.

The metal catapults from the North were clearly made there, and the sheer number of exploding iron balls indicated that they were also mass-produced by the North.

The Northern Kingdom has so many terrifying weapons!

No wonder the soldiers from the North showed no fear at all; in fact, they were quite excited. With such terrifying weapons, what enemy did the North have to fear?

Chen Wanrong glanced at the Northern soldiers operating the cannons. Most of them were first-rank martial artists, and some were even ordinary people who weren't martial artists at all.

After those iron balls exploded, they could directly blast the ninth-rank experts in the barbarian army to pieces, and easily kill high-rank martial artists with ordinary soldiers. In the future, the entire martial arts world will probably be overturned.

Seeing this scene, Mu Changtian and the other generals sighed repeatedly, just like they had done in Tianguang City last time.

Although Lu Chen had told them when the army was equipped with firearms that martial arts were still very important, seeing the barbarian masters being blown to pieces, they found it hard to believe that the martial arts world would continue to prosper.

At this moment, the barbarian master who led the barbarian army to attack the city was completely dumbfounded after seeing the flying limbs and severed bodies.

Of course, he wasn't the only one who was stunned; all the barbarian soldiers were stunned.

Good heavens!! What kind of weapon is this?!

How could its power be so terrifying?!

Is this really a weapon that could exist in the human world?

……

Finally, some barbarian soldiers in the crowd were so frightened that they turned and fled.

In an instant, the sounds of cannons and the cries of barbarian soldiers rang out.

At this moment, even the King of Apocalypse, who was in the distance, was dumbfounded.

He gazed at the routed barbarian army, unable to believe what he was seeing.

This was the first time in his life he had ever seen such a terrifying weapon!

After the iron ball exploded, it was almost as powerful as a Grandmaster's attack.

The explosion of countless iron balls was equivalent to countless grandmasters attacking them.

The Apocalypse King muttered to himself, "How could this be..."

He originally thought it would only take a few days to defeat the 200,000-strong army of the Northern Kingdom, but they encountered such a blow on the very first day of their siege.

How could the Great Xia Dynasty possess such terrifying weapons!

This is practically a divine artifact, isn't it?

Could a single dynasty possess so many divine artifacts?

The barbarians were routed very quickly, but King Tianqi soon came to his senses. Since they were divine artifacts, they could not be used an unlimited number of times, or rather, using a divine artifact once would require paying a great price. He did not believe that the Great Xia could use those divine artifacts indefinitely.

Thinking of this, King Tianqi immediately led the barbarian army to retreat. However, he did not really retreat; he intended to let the barbarian soldiers calm down first and then continue the siege after resting for a while.

The scene today has frightened the barbarian soldiers. If they were to attack the city now, they certainly wouldn't dare to charge forward, so they can only retreat temporarily.

Seeing that the barbarian soldiers had already retreated, Xiao Pengtian asked from the side, "Your Highness, should we pursue them?"

Lu Chen glanced at the slowly retreating barbarian army in the distance and said with a smile, "No need for now. King Tianqi probably hasn't given up yet; they will attack again."

Cannons in the north are not easy to transport, especially on the grasslands.

The main barbarian army is still there. If they pursue them now, they can only send their cavalry to chase them down. If the cavalry catches up and fights the barbarians, it will be a huge loss.

Thus, the first siege of the Tianqi King's army ended in less than half an hour.

At this moment, Lu Chen approached Chen Wanrong and asked, "Palace Master Chen, what do you think of the weapons of our Northern Kingdom?"

Chen Wanrong asked, "Were all these weapons made in your Northern Kingdom?"

Lu Chen replied, "Yes."

Chen Wanrong then said coldly, "Your ambition is too great and will bring disaster to this world."

Lu Chen chuckled and said, "Palace Master Chen, where did you get the idea that I have great ambitions?"

Chen Wanrong said calmly, "With a weapon in hand, the desire to kill arises. I hope that one day you will not become an enemy of Xuan Yue Palace."

After saying this, Chen Wanrong turned and left.

At this moment, Chen Wanrong realized that her restoration of her country was completely hopeless. First of all, her mind and body were inseparable from Lu Chen, and even if she left Lu Chen, Lu Chen would not necessarily allow her to restore her country.

The fact that the Northern Kingdom possesses such terrifying weapons and can mass-produce them suggests that Lu Chen must harbor extremely strong ambitions.

Perhaps unifying the entire world is this man's ambition. If that's the case, then he certainly wouldn't allow her to restore her kingdom.

The whole world is unified, so how can there still be a Chen Kingdom?

At this moment, Chen Wanrong suffered a heavy blow.

After a busy year of preparation, all she gained was a man, and the hope of restoring her kingdom was gone.

Perhaps her master was right; everything in this world is just an illusion, and the more you pursue something, the less likely you are to get it.

That's enough, it's time for her to let go.

(End of this chapter)