贵女撩夫攻略

Chapter 097

Chapter 97 – Die a Martyr

Wangdu has not been very peaceful recently. There is only one dispute whether it is in the royal court, teahouses or the academy of classical learning — King Lan is plotting a revolt.

Some believed that Chu Jinglan was furious and attacked the crown for a beauty while others thought he had long premeditated and seized this opportunity to launch an onslaught. In short, the opinions were widely divided and it was difficult to distinguish the truth from falsehood. The common people only knew the truth when a proclamation was widely issued by the Shen-ce Army with the submission of a written memorial stating the full crimes of Chu Sanghuai and the content of the late Emperor's testamentary edict to all the prefecture offices.

This is not plotting a rebellion but rather to suppress a traitor.

The entire Chu Country was in shock and all parties reacted differently but this did not affect the progress of war. Leading the Shen-ce Army, Chu Jinglan was an irresistible force all the way. In addition, with Meng Xuan's northern troops and Chu Zhenghe's Youzhou's defending troops, they raided all the way to Jiangbei in less than three months. The imperial army suffered defeat after defeat and retreated to the last defence line at Jiangbei's natural stronghold – Lushan.

The so-called favorable geographical and social conditions are just like this. In these past six years, the common people have been driven beyond forbearance by Chu Sanghuai's forced laboring with extensive constructions. So when Chu Jinglan rallied for troops, many patriotic men enlisted to join the army with redoubled power while the prefecture's army along the way to Wangdu were practically a bed of scattered sand. There were some who resisted and fought but after several tough battles, they suffered big losses due to inadequate supplies. Owing to anger, Chu Sanghuai chopped off the newly appointed Minister of Revenue yet was no longer able to take out a tael or two to fund the troops' provisions.

Fortunately, there is still the Wang family left out of the four prominent families. Not only were they usually rampant in and out of the royal court, they also roped in masses of fortunes and had to support Chu Sanghuai during this critical moment. Although both sides nearly fall out due to the Empress' death, it is not beneficial to them should Chu Jinglan become the Emperor. Hence, they could only stifle their indignation and dug the silver out.

Half of the money fell into King Tao's hand. The reason was simple. 300,000 imperial army had been dispatched to fight Chu Jinglan while there was still one Ye Huaili in Jiangnan who had rapidly led the Guanzhong's troops to the north where he successively defeated the defending troops in Liuzhou and Tanzhou. He would soon break through the northern defense line and reach the foot of Wangdu in a couple of days if the Xiaoqi Battalion was not sent to stop him.

Besiegement is already on all sides.

Chu Sanghuai was hard-pressed at this moment. He never expected that killing one Ye Huaiyang would lead to such a chain-reaction which would cause the collapse of his kingdom!

As a matter of fact, he was not without misgivings about Ye Huaili but the Ye family's direct descendant was all within his grasp. So, he put his mind at ease to dispose of Ye Huaiyang. Who would have thought that someone would suddenly come to report after he returned from worshipping the Heavens, saying that the Ye family's people had disappeared in broad daylight. He was so angry that he had all the imperial guards responsible to keep watch flogged to death in front of the courtyard. Yet in the end, he still could not figure out how they had vanished.

He has completely lost control under these continuous defeats and will simply kill at every turn. The imperial harem and the royal court seem to be shrouded in dark clouds where everyone is in a state of panic. If there is still someone who is not afraid of death, it will probably be the commander of the imperial guard, Zhang Yin.