Having children earns benefit, start competing for dominance in the world by marrying a wife-Chapter 587 - 348: Lu Chen Pushed by the Times_2

Last night we failed to annihilate Great Wu's army of three hundred thousand, which left Dongmen Feiyue feeling somewhat uneasy. He thought that if their King allowed a counterattack, they would seize the opportunity to pursue Great Wu's soldiers directly.

After glancing at the military order in his hand, Song Xuelin handed it over to Dongmen Feiyue and said, "The King has no intention of taking action against Great Jue for the time being. He has instructed us not to enter Great Jue's territory. If Great Wu's soldiers flee into Great Jue, let them escape."

Upon receiving the military order from Song Xuelin's hand and glancing over it, Dongmen Feiyue felt immensely frustrated.

Seeing Dongmen Feiyue furrowing his brows and looking very displeased, Song Xuelin said, "General Dongmen need not worry. The King must have his reasons for such arrangements. There will be opportunities for us to distinguish ourselves in the future."

Dongmen Feiyue sighed and said nothing more.

Indeed, as Song Xuelin said, Lu Chen's decision not to pursue Great Wu's remnants or enter Great Jue was indeed based on his own considerations.

A few days later.

Yan County.

In his study, Lu Chen was discussing the battle with Zhuge Zhongguang. He was already aware of what happened in Cloud City; Dongmen Feiyue and his men had not been able to annihilate Great Wu's three hundred thousand-strong army. To Lu Chen, this was to be expected—the three hundred thousand soldiers were the elite of Great Wu and would not be easily conquered.

Zhuge Zhongguang, gazing at the map hanging on the wall of the study, said, "Prince, the two hundred thousand-strong army of Great Wu has retreated to Great Jue. It's highly unlikely they will launch another offensive but will instead withdraw to Great Wu. However, if they do withdraw, they would inevitably pass through Youping County, which could lead to a conflict with our soldiers.

Although we possess firearms, the army is led by two Grandmasters. It would be best to immediately dispatch a Grandmaster to Youping County."

Firearms could indeed suppress a Grandmaster and continuously wear down their strength, but killing a Grandmaster wouldn't be so easy.

Zhuge Zhongguang was worried that if the two hundred thousand-strong army made it to Youping County, and if Zhan Hong and Xu Xingwen, the two Grandmasters, decided to strike Mu Changtian and Wenren Lie directly, Mu Changtian and the others would definitely be no match for the two Grandmasters. If Mu Changtian and Wenren Lie were killed, the North Country's army might very well become leaderless.

In such a situation, even with firearms, the North Country's army might face defeat.

If Zhan Hong and his men were to seize the firearms of the North Country and use them against the North Country in the future, that would be disastrous.

The reason they had managed a crushing victory over Great Wu's large army was mainly due to Great Wu's ignorance of firearms—the thunderous boom of the cannons had terrified the soldiers of Great Wu.

If Great Wu's soldiers obtained the firearms of the North Country and managed to disassemble and study them, they would gain a certain understanding of the weapons, which would make it difficult to replicate the element of surprise in future wars.

Thus, at this stage, Great Wu must not be allowed to get their hands on firearms.

Hearing Zhuge Zhongguang's words, Lu Chen smiled faintly and then said, "Upon receiving the battle report from Cloud City, I immediately sent people to Youping County. Should Great Wu's soldiers retreat there, they will surely be crushed. Great Scholar need not worry."

Seeing Lu Chen's confidence, Zhuge Zhongguang immediately thought of someone.

When it came to dealing with Grandmasters most easily, the natural choice was to send a Celestial. It seemed that Xuanyuan Chaoge had already left Yan County.

Since Lu Chen had already made advance arrangements in Youping County, Zhuge Zhongguang did not elaborate further.

At that moment, Lu Chen stood before the map, his gaze sweeping back and forth over it. After a long while, he posed an important question to Zhuge Zhongguang.

"Great Scholar, do you think the North Country can continue to remain peaceful in the future?"

Hearing this question, Zhuge Zhongguang seemed to understand what Lu Chen was getting at, and then he replied, "No, from the moment firearms were introduced, it became impossible for North Country to maintain long-term peace unless the Prince can eliminate all dynasties and unify the entire continent."

The power of firearms was too great. With the advent of firearms, Lu Chen had essentially made enemies of all martial artists and threatened all dynasties.

Although the war between North Country and Great Wu was able to deter the various dynasties in the short term, in the long run, the dynasties would inevitably form alliances to jointly confront the North Country.

And every major dynasty would try to find a way to manufacture firearms. Once all the great dynasties had firearms, the situation for North Country would be even more difficult.

Lu Chen actually understood this concept as well.

Recently, he had been considering that he actually didn't like the endless waging of war. He wasn't a war fanatic before, he wasn't one now, and it's unlikely he would ever be one.

But even if he didn't want to initiate wars, he couldn't stop anymore. Firearms had been exposed, and in the future, many would want his life. Furthermore, his emergence posed a great threat to the world's major dynasties, so even if he did nothing, those dynasties would try by all means to eliminate him as a threat.

Therefore, he was being pushed forward by the era. If he wanted to live a peaceful life, he would need to annihilate the other dynasties, and only then could long-lasting peace be maintained.

At this moment, Lu Chen gazed at the map on the wall and zoned out for a while. After some time passed, Lu Chen spoke up again and asked, "If we're to achieve unification, which dynasty should we start with?"

With North Country's small population, it was impossible to wipe out all the major dynasties at once. There had to be a starting point, in other words, someone to cut down first.

Zhuge Zhongguang answered, "This servant believes we should start with Great Sum."

Before Lu Chen could ask why, Zhuge Zhongguang began to explain, "Prince is the child of the Sum Emperor and inherently has the right to inherit the Great Sum's throne. If Prince could succeed to the throne, he could use Great Sum as a base to continue increasing strength. Then, when the time is ripe, eradicate the rest of the great dynasties."

"Prince is a Prince. Even if Prince controls the entire Great Sum, it would not lead to much resistance from the Sum people."

"If we do not destroy Great Sum first but rather the other dynasties, Prince would face significant ruling pressure. The people of other dynasties might not submit to your rule. With North Country's population still too small, if those dynasties were to rise in chaos, it would be difficult for North Country to suppress the unrest on their lands."

Lu Chen instantly understood Zhuge Zhongguang's point, which was to use Great Sum as a base, first secure the support of the people of Great Sum, then leverage Great Sum's resources to strengthen himself, and when strong enough to wipe out the other dynasties, use the people of Great Sum to rule over their lands.

With North Country's current population, even if they took down all the great dynasties, they wouldn't be able to govern them well and would end up with a big mess.

This was actually the order of proceeding from the easy to the difficult, Great Sum being the easiest to control; therefore, they should start with Great Sum.

Lu Chen fell silent for a moment, then continued to ask, "In Great Scholar's opinion, when would it be best to move south? Enjoy new adventures from m-v l'e|-novelbuddy.net

What Lu Chen referred to as moving south was, in fact, seizing power and the throne.

Zhuge Zhongguang said, "According to this servant, the time has already matured."

"Great Sum is already in constant civil war, and the common folk wish to see someone appear who can quickly bring an end to Great Sum's internal strife."

"Additionally, there is a rumor among the common people that the Sum Emperor hasn't much longer to live, and the court ministers as well as the princes also believe the Sum Emperor will not last much longer. Although Prince is aware of what the Sum Emperor is planning, we can completely act as if he is truly on his deathbed."

Lu Chen pondered for a moment. Zhuge Zhongguang meant that they could use the rumors of the Sum Emperor's impending death as a pretext to provide an excuse for them to move south.

As to whether the Sum Emperor was truly ill, that didn't matter. Even if the Sum Emperor was not ill, once the army moved south, the Sum Emperor would certainly become ill. Not only ill—there was even the possibility that he might directly pass away.

Seeing Lu Chen frown, Zhuge Zhongguang realized he might have misspoken and quickly said, "Prince, please forgive this servant for speaking out of turn."

After all, Lu Chen was the Sum Emperor's son, and Zhuge Zhongguang was but a servant. For a servant to speak in front of Lu Chen about the "Sum Emperor not having long to live" indeed sounded quite treasonous.

Lu Chen then snapped out of it, and with an air of indifference, he said, "No matter, I do not care about these matters."

"I have given it some thought and find Great Scholar's words to be very reasonable. Once the conflict between Great Wu and North Country concludes, I shall prepare for the move south."