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

After Mu Changtian walked up to the city wall, he immediately picked up a megaphone and shouted, "King Zhao, how have you been? It's been more than ten years since we last met!"

Upon hearing that it was also Mu Changtian's voice, King Zhao immediately frowned.

He was puzzled. Wasn't Mu Changtian long dead? How did he end up in the Northern Kingdom?

After a moment of stunned silence, King Zhao came to his senses and exclaimed, "Indeed, it has been ten years since we last met."

"You're incredibly lucky. I thought you were long dead, but I never expected you to still be alive!"

Mu Changtian chuckled and then said, "I never thought I'd be alive today."

The King of Zhao said, "You've come out at this time, probably not to curry favor with me!"

Mu Changtian ignored Zhao Wang's words and instead said, "Zhao Wang, I never imagined that after seeing what happened to me and Lao Zhou, you would still stand on Lu Xingqiu's side! Is a tyrant like Lu Xingqiu, who discards his tools after they've served their purpose, worth your following?"

Upon hearing Mu Changtian's words, King Zhao's face instantly darkened.

Although King Zhao was indeed on the side of Emperor Xia, his people never knew this. His subordinates believed that he had destroyed the vassal kings within the Great Xia territory and chosen to march north in order to seize the throne.

If Mu Changtian were to say such things directly, and Zhao Wang's subordinates were to believe them, they would certainly harbor resentment towards Zhao Wang.

They followed King Zhao so desperately, risking their lives to help him ascend to the throne so they could become his loyal subjects. But King Zhao was secretly acting as Emperor Xia's lackey. How could his subordinates possibly tolerate this?

King Zhao sneered and said, "As a vassal king of the Great Xia, I naturally cannot stand by and watch treacherous officials usurp the throne!"

King Zhao neither confirmed nor denied it. After all, they marched north under the pretext of serving the king, and his subordinates would not think there was anything wrong with his words.

"As for you, Mu Changtian, His Majesty suspected your Mu family of plotting a rebellion back then, but who would have thought you actually did it!"

"However, I am quite curious. The Northern King is also His Majesty's son, so why did you side with him? Aren't you still working for the Lu family, still their dog!"

Mu Changtian said calmly, "The Northern King is a wise and virtuous ruler, far superior to that tyrant Lu Xingqiu."

Upon hearing this, King Zhao burst into laughter, "What kind of wise ruler is someone who plots to kill his father and usurp the throne!"

Mu Changtian ignored Zhao Wang's words and said, "Zhao Wang, before the war begins, for the sake of our youthful friendship, I advise you one last time: surrender to the Northern King. This is your only choice!"

King Zhao said, "Ridiculous! How could I possibly side with a traitorous minister!"

Mu Changtian said, "Since King Zhao remains obstinate, further words are useless; let's begin the war!"

As soon as Mu Changtian finished speaking, King Zhao drew his sword from its sheath. "Attack!"

The next moment, the drums sounded, and countless arrows flew out from the soldiers' battle formation.

Mu Changtian also raised his sword and said, "Attack!"

Immediately, the sound of horns, "woo woo woo~", rang out over Jingjiang City.

The moment the bugle sounded, the sound of cannons echoed over Jingjiang City.

In an instant, countless cannonballs rained down on King Zhao's army. Before King Zhao's soldiers could react, they were overwhelmed by the cannonballs.

Where the shells exploded, men and horses fell, dust filled the sky, and limbs flew everywhere; less than one in ten of Zhao's soldiers survived.

Upon witnessing this scene, King Zhao's soldiers were stunned, and panic spread throughout the army.

King Zhao murmured, "So this is the weapon of the northern kingdom!"

"No wonder Da Wu fell in the Northern Kingdom."

King Zhao quickly regained his senses and shouted, "Retreat!"

His attack was originally a probing one, and he did not intend to capture Jingjiang City.

Having witnessed the terrifying weapons of the Northern Kingdom, not only the soldiers, but even King Zhao himself had lost the will to fight.

With the sound of the retreat horn and the waving of the command flag, the Zhao soldiers retreated swiftly and, most importantly, without the slightest disorder.

Even when bombarded by cannons, Zhao's soldiers were still able to maintain their composure and control their panic.

At this moment, Mu Changtian's adjutant asked, "General, should we give chase?"

Mu Changtian immediately said, "No need."

The retreat of King Zhao's army shows that this army is extraordinary. If they chase after them now, they will not be able to bring heavy artillery, and relying on muskets and grenades, they may not be able to achieve much.

Although firearms are more powerful, the enemy's arrows are not to be underestimated either.

Of course, the most crucial point is that Lu Chen stated in his military order that for armies with strong combat capabilities, the primary approach should be deterrence and appeasement.

After all, the Great Xia will belong to Lu Chen in the future. If it is completely destroyed and almost all the men of the Great Xia are killed, how will he unify other dynasties in the future?

For Lu Chen, population remains an important resource.

Mu Changtian believed that the weapons of the Northern Kingdom had already intimidated King Zhao. Now it was up to King Zhao to decide what to do. If King Zhao insisted on standing on Emperor Xia's side, then there was nothing that could be done.

After King Zhao retreated to one of the cities they had occupied, his emotions remained unsettled for a long time. He had anticipated that the weapons of the Northern Kingdom might be very powerful, but he had not expected that the power of the Northern Kingdom's weapons would actually be comparable to that of a Grandmaster.

How are those exploding iron balls made? How can such a small iron ball have such great power?

Fortunately, Mu Changtian led his troops in pursuit; otherwise, they would probably have lost at least a third of their forces today.

This is troublesome. With such powerful weapons in the North, his soldiers simply cannot guard the road to the capital. He is afraid he will be unable to complete the mission entrusted to him by the Xia Emperor.

Thinking of this, King Zhao felt extremely frustrated. How could the Northern King have created so many things in such a short time since arriving in the Northern Kingdom? There were no such explosive iron balls in this world before.

King Zhao began to worry; now, the outcome of the battle was difficult to predict.

The war that follows is beyond the control of ordinary people; we can only place our hopes on Grandmasters and Celestials.

If the Xia Emperor can kill the Celestial Being of Xuan Yue Palace and become a Celestial Being himself, then the Northern Kingdom's weapons should be unable to deal with him, and he might even be able to turn the tide.

But if Emperor Xia's plan fails, then Emperor Xia will have to step down from that position.

What should I do if the Xia Emperor fails?

King Zhao frowned, his mind racing. Over the next few days, he kept a close watch on Mu Changtian's eastward advance while pondering what he should do.

Meanwhile, the war on the coast had also been largely decided. Although the Great Xia had dispatched its elite troops, the imperial army was ultimately forced into retreat by the bombardment of the northern cannons.

Seeing the urgency of the situation, Emperor Xia even considered sending a Grandmaster to assist him. However, at that moment, the northern armies on the east and west sides stopped advancing, seemingly waiting for something.

at the same time.

The capital of the Kingdom of Qi.

Amidst the cheers of the people of Qiwang, Lu Chen embarked on his southern expedition.

Lu Chen, mounted on his horse, gazed in the direction of the capital and muttered to himself, "I'm back!" (End of Chapter)