Chapter 43: Chapter 43 Intelligence from the Capital Cityi
Translator: 549690339
During the Zhou Family’s rebellion, Duke Mu Residence was implicated once, and only by producing the Writ of Protection Against Execution was Mu Changtian able to barely preserve the entire Duke Mu Residence.
Just a little over a year had passed, and the Duke Mu Residence encountered such an incident again.
Lu Chen started to doubt whether his father-in-law was really this foolish.
Even if he truly had a rebellious streak, it wouldn’t make sense for him to align with the remnant forces of Chen Nation again in such a short span of time.
He wasn’t an idiot; the current Sum Emperor was in his prime, and his skill had also broken through to the Master Realm, so living past a hundred years old shouldn’t be an issue.
Thinking that assassinating the Sum Emperor and then overturning the Great Xia Dynasty would be easy was anything but the case.
At this moment, Chu Yuqin quickly said to Lu Chen, “Chen’er, Zixuan has just given birth to a child; she must not know about this under any circumstances.”
Although the term ‘postpartum depression’ wasn’t used in this era, people of the time were aware that women could be emotionally sensitive after giving birth.
If Mu Zixuan found out that the whole Mu Family had been locked up in prison, it could adversely affect her physical recovery.
Lu Chen said, “Mmm, I understand.”
At this point, Lu Chen looked at Qin Yushan and asked, “Commander Qin, has my imperial father incurred any injuries?”
Qin Yushan replied, “Your Highness, the Emperor has not been harmed. It is said that during the assassination attempt by the remnants of Chen Nation, the State Preceptor was right in front of His Majesty.”
Hearing this, Lu Chen let out a scornful laugh.
He then said, “Are these remnants of Chen Nation really that foolish? To dare attempt an assassination on a master in front of a grandmaster?”
Although Situ Ce never declared himself a grandmaster, the fact that he was one was no longer a secret.
After all, as the National Pillar of the Great Xia Dynasty, how could he be called that without the strength of a grandmaster?
When the remnants of Chen Nation tried to assassinate the Sum Emperor, did they not do any homework at all?
Lu Chen continued to inquire, “How many assassins did the remnants of Chen Nation dispatch to assassinate my imperial father? And what is the level of skill of these assassins?”
Qin Yushan replied, “Based on the intelligence gathered by colleagues in the Capital City, the remnants of Chen Nation dispatched a total of thirty assassins to infiltrate the Imperial Palace. Among these assassins, the majority have skill around the sixth rank, with the strongest being half-step grandmasters—there are two of them.”
Upon hearing Qin Yushan’s report, Lu Chen was at a loss for words on how to comment.
Sending thirty assassins, among them two half-step grandmasters, to the heavily guarded Imperial Palace to kill a master.
And these assassins didn’t even bother to find out if there were any formidable individuals around the Emperor beforehand—their brains truly had issues.
Lu Chen even began to question whether these remnants were really from Chen Nation.
Lu Chen immediately asked, “Has the Brocade Guard investigated these remnants of Chen Nation? Are they truly from Chen Nation?”
Qin Yushan responded, “Your Highness, Commander Liang has sent people to investigate, confirming that remnants of Chen Nation indeed entered the Imperial Palace. However, according to Commander Liang’s investigation, the escape of the remnants of Chen Nation from the Capital City is probably not related to Duke Mu Residence.”
Qin Yushan, knowing what Lu Chen wanted to confirm, directly shared Commander Liang’s investigation.
After hearing Qin Yushan’s words, Lu Chen fell silent.
First, the Sum Emperor used the Zhou Family’s rebellion as a pretext to take the Writ of Protection Against Execution from Duke Mu Residence, then stripped Mu Changtian of his military command, and eventually disbanded the Hu Ben Army, redistributing its soldiers to other camps.
Now, by using the remnants of Chen Nation, he has thrown the entire Duke Mu Residence into prison—it seems his imperial father is intent on killing the donkey once it’s outlived its usefulness.
Even as a political novice, Lu Chen had a basic understanding of what the Sum Emperor intended to do.
Mu Changtian and Zhou Wangtian, who rebelled more than a year ago, were once known as the two Sky Kings of the Great Xia Dynasty; now that Zhou Wangtian has been eliminated, Mu Changtian is also almost due to be ousted.
With the fall of these two Sky Kings, the Sum Emperor’s control over the Great Xia Dynasty has reached an unprecedented height in its history. He has taken all military power into his own hands. What is he planning to do?
Seeing that Lu Chen hadn’t spoken for a long time, Chu Yuqin sighed beside him, “Chen’er, I’m afraid your father the Emperor is planning to take action against the Aristocratic Families.”
Hearing this, Lu Chen realized.
His father the Emperor had tried every means to reclaim military power and must have had something in mind; otherwise, why would he go to the trouble of reclaiming military power at the risk of destabilizing the foundation of the nation?
If it was to act against the Aristocratic Families, indeed, it would require having soldiers at hand. He hadn’t expected his father the Emperor to have such boldness.
Throughout history, few Emperors have dared to casually act against the Aristocratic Families.
There’s a saying: “The Aristocratic Families last a thousand years, the dynasties only a hundred.” Even if a dynasty was overthrown, those families would still remain, their dominance of court affairs now taken for granted.
That his father the Emperor had such ambition made Lu Chen also couldn’t help but admire him.
But on the flip side, his current situation was somewhat awkward.
First off, his mother’s family comes from the Chu Family, the largest of the Aristocratic Families in the South, and secondly, his wife is the daughter of Mu Changtian…
Lu Chen then looked at Qin Yushan and asked, “Has the court said how they plan to deal with my wife?”
Qin Yushan answered, “There have been several debates in the court about this issue. Prince Lu Shuyun’s faction believes that the Princess should be brought back to the capital city for disposition, while Prince Lu Yi believes that the Princess, being the wife of a prince, should not be seen as belonging to the Duke Mu Residence anymore.”
Lu Chen said with a smile, “Unexpectedly, there are still people in the capital who speak up for this useless Prince.”
Just then, a soldier from the Prince’s Mansion entered the Training Ground.
“Your Highness, there is a Martial Artist outside claiming to be from the Brocade Guard seeking an audience.”
As he said this, the soldier from the Prince’s Mansion glanced at the Jinyiwei Guards on the Training Ground, and then continued, “He is dressed just like them.”
Lu Chen said directly, “Let him in.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Shortly after, the soldier led the newly arrived Jinyiwei Guard into the Training Ground.
The Jinyiwei Guard saw Lu Chen and immediately knelt down halfway, saying, “Greetings, Your Highness.”
Lu Chen said, “Rise.”
Lu Chen had thought that this Jinyiwei Guard had arrived at the Prince’s Mansion simply because of the long distance, but as soon as the Jinyiwei Guard stood up, he immediately took out a bamboo tube from his waist and handed it to Lu Chen.
“Your Highness, I have a letter from the capital. The Duke Mu Residence is accused of colluding with the remnants of Chen Nation and has been exiled by His Majesty to the northwest.”
Lu Chen was somewhat surprised; he had just taken charge of the Brocade Guard, and its intelligence network was already operating.
Lu Chen took the bamboo tube from the Jinyiwei Guard, removed a piece of intelligence from inside, and read it carefully.
From the content on the intelligence, Lu Chen immediately understood that it was a routine exchange of information between members of the Brocade Guard, and it was not because the Jinyiwei in the capital knew in advance that he, the North Prince, was their master.
Seeing Lu Chen’s expression turn somber, Chu Yuqin asked, “Chen’er, what’s wrong?”
Lu Chen replied, “Commander Liang says in this report that, on his way to exile in the northwest, Duke Mu will be subject to assassination attempts by numerous forces. Now that Duke Mu has been stripped of his skill and is just an ordinary person, it’s very likely that the entire Duke Mu family will not make it to the northwest..”
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