Chapter 440: Chapter 435: Conscription Resumes, An Inscrutable Situation
The festive atmosphere of the New Year had not yet faded when news arrived to shatter the cheer.
The Great Zhou Imperial Dynasty was conscripting soldiers again, this time in even greater numbers than before.
The conscription wasn’t limited to Qing State; it extended to the other thirty-one states as well. In fact, all Thirty-Two States of the Great Zhou Imperial Dynasty were included in the draft, with no exceptions.
The Overlord Level powers in every major state were ordered to send disciples to support the war effort. No specific individuals were named, but quotas were imposed.
The two conscriptions occurred in quick succession, and the attitude of the major sects was naturally not as favorable as it had been initially.
Bound by their treaties, the major sects would of course send disciples as reinforcements. However, to do so consecutively was beginning to stir dissent.
Sects were not the same as the Imperial Family. If the Great Zhou Imperial Dynasty were to be destroyed, the sects would still exist. Their fates were not intertwined to the point of life and death. If pushed to their limits, they would surely push back.
When the Cyan Yuan Sect received the news, Gu An felt it was extremely strange. Connecting it to previous events, he became even more aware of the peculiar aspects of the Great Zhou Imperial Dynasty’s approach to this war.
Under normal circumstances, if a war threatened to engulf the entire Great Zhou Imperial Dynasty, a National Guardian Martial Saint would intervene to prevent it from crippling the nation’s strength. After all, Great Zhou and the Jin Meng Empire were not the only powers in the region.
The Celestial Wind Imperial Dynasty, the Thousand Seas Realm, and the Glacier Snow Country were also powerful nations nearby. If the two empires fought to the death and severely weakened themselves, they would undoubtedly attract the covetous eyes of these other nations, who might even launch their own invasions.
This was all obvious, but right now, both the Great Zhou Imperial Dynasty and the Jin Meng Empire seemed completely unconcerned, burning through their troops at an astonishing rate.
It hadn’t been long since the last draft, and now they were starting another one. It made them look as if they were on their last legs, which was even stranger.
The Cyan Yuan Sect was not alone in this feeling; the other sects felt the same.
The Great Zhou Imperial Dynasty was acting too hastily, as if something were chasing them from behind. It was like they would miss some deadline if they didn’t hurry.
’It seems I must keep pressing them. I need to get definitive news from the Merak Sacred Land!’
’This time, we’ll assign most of the quota to the Affiliated Forces to preserve the Cyan Yuan Sect’s strength!’
Gu An couldn’t make sense of it, but he was making preparations in his heart. If the Great Zhou Imperial Dynasty were to fall, the Cyan Yuan Sect needed to survive, to once again put down roots in the victor’s land, just as their predecessors had done.
The Cyan Yuan Sect was the source of the many benefits provided by the Merak Sacred Land. If the Cyan Yuan Sect was wiped out, it would be like cutting off the roots. Liu Xuan and the others would naturally be affected, and it would become more difficult for him to join the Merak Sacred Land. Even if he did, the situation wouldn’t be much better.
Therefore, he had to preserve the Cyan Yuan Sect’s strength.
’What a time of great turmoil!’
Gu An felt that the new year had brought no new beginnings, only more complications.
He’d had a bad feeling before, and the current situation seemed to be confirming it.
This was not good news at all.
’I hope the Merak Sacred Land sends news soon, so we can formulate a proper response!’
Gu An’s brow was tightly furrowed; he felt this was a thorny issue.
The problem wasn’t the immediate arrangements, but the widespread ramifications of the war between the two nations. If it didn’t affect the Cyan Yuan Sect, he naturally wouldn’t care. But now they were caught in the middle. One wrong move could lead to disaster!
Furthermore, the current attitude of the Great Zhou Imperial Dynasty also struck him as extremely strange. They seemed to be in a great hurry, as if desperate to defeat the Jin Meng Empire.
But they had never acted this way before, and that was the most confusing part.
...
"The Great Zhou Imperial Dynasty is conscripting again."
’It’s only been a little over a month since the last draft. Are they already unable to hold on?’
Yang Chan looked at the letter Han Bingyu had delivered, a flicker of deep confusion in his eyes.
He could understand that the war was intense. But for the Great Zhou Imperial Dynasty to mobilize the entire nation’s strength just because of the war with the Jin Meng Empire... the scale of it was far too large.
It was as if they weren’t just at war with the Jin Meng Empire, but were also being besieged by the Celestial Wind Imperial Dynasty, facing a naval war with the Thousand Seas Realm, and dealing with the restless Glacier Snow Country.
Only a scenario where the Great Zhou Imperial Dynasty was under a full-scale siege would justify a full national mobilization. The commotion was absurdly large.
Although the war had started simultaneously in the three states of Lan, Qi, and Yu, and both sides had amassed a large number of troops, it would normally be expected to affect only the surrounding states. Even the previous order for states to send reinforcements could be understood as them taking the Jin Meng Empire seriously.
But to continue conscripting now was not so simple.
Yang Chan had used various methods but still couldn’t find any useful information. He still didn’t understand the reason for this situation!
"I heard that many have died in the three states of Lan, Qi, and Yu. The fighting is extremely fierce, and both sides have suffered heavy losses, but neither has stopped. This is what led to the Court’s new conscription."
"This is the intelligence the Han Family gathered. It’s the fastest report we’ve received, but it has yet to be fully confirmed!"
Han Bingyu naturally couldn’t make sense of the current situation either. The more she looked, the stranger it seemed.
"Who has the upper hand?" Yang Chan asked.
"It’s back and forth; it’s impossible to tell who the situation favors. It’s as if both sides have similar numbers and are just throwing lives away in battle!"
The expression on Han Bingyu’s face grew even more puzzled.
In the short term, it’s difficult to see an advantage in war. But when both sides deployed so many troops, it should have been possible to see who was stronger and make a reasonable judgment.
But in the current situation, it was completely impossible to tell who had the advantage, which made it even more bizarre.
"Continue gathering related intelligence. Bring me any new information."
Yang Chan didn’t dwell on it further. There was no need.
No one had notified him about the conscription, which clearly meant he didn’t need to participate. As long as he remained within the Cyan Yuan Sect, this matter didn’t affect him for the time being.
"Alright!"
After replying, Han Bingyu left the study.
"Can you make sense of the Imperial Family’s intentions?"
After Han Bingyu left, Yang Chan’s gaze shifted to a dark corner as he asked the question.
He was looking to see if this former member of the Imperial Family could offer him a new perspective.
Princess Lan Yue was once a Commandery Princess of the Great Zhou Imperial Dynasty and had shown great talent. If not for an accident, she would still hold a high status. She naturally knew many of the Imperial Family’s secrets and could analyze their arrangements to decipher things he couldn’t understand.
"According to what my father said, the Imperial Family doesn’t want external threats to engulf the Great Zhou Imperial Dynasty. Therefore, if an external threat becomes too great, the Martial Saint Ancestor will intervene."
"Under the current circumstances, for the Martial Saint Ancestor not to act and for them to instead keep conscripting troops—this is not in line with the Imperial Family’s usual style!"
"I suspect something is wrong within the Great Zhou Imperial Dynasty. Perhaps something has even happened to the Martial Saint Ancestor."
"There were rumors before that the Lifespan of the Great Zhou Imperial Dynasty’s Martial Saint Ancestor was reaching its end, and that he might not have much time left."
"So I guess that this incident might be related to the Martial Saint Ancestor, or perhaps the general National Guardian Martial Saint Realm. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be such a huge commotion!"
"The war is now affecting all the major states, yet there’s been no action. It’s highly likely the Martial Saint Ancestor is unable to intervene, or that the price of his intervention is too great. That would be why they are using all their might to clash!"
Although Princess Lan Yue was doing menial tasks within the Cyan Yuan Sect, it didn’t hinder her analysis of the matter.
This was an analysis deduced from the Great Zhou Imperial Family’s situation, the Old Emperor’s personality, and some secrets she knew.
"This is all just speculation. As for the specifics, we’ll need more useful information to deduce the true objective of the Great Zhou Imperial Dynasty, or the shared objective of both Great Zhou and the Jin Meng Empire."
Princess Lan Yue analyzed slowly.
After she arrived at the study, Yang Chan had told her all the information he had gathered and asked for her help in analyzing it.
Yang Chan had originally hoped to get some useful information from Gu An, but unfortunately, Gu An didn’t know anything either and was still waiting.
Naturally, he turned his attention to Princess Lan Yue. At the very least, she knew a considerable number of secrets, especially those concerning the Great Zhou Imperial Family.
By sharing this related intelligence with her, he was likely to gain a great deal of information.
And so it was now. Although he hadn’t come away empty-handed, it was far from what Yang Chan wanted. In the end, Princess Lan Yue’s status had only given her access to partial information; matters concerning the Martial Saint Ancestor were beyond her reach.
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