Cultivation Begins with Caring for Sister-in-law-Chapter 552: King Chong Seeking Alliance
Chongzhou, Prince Chong’s Mansion.
Prince Chong, Chu Yan, was standing under the rockery, gazing into the distance, while to his left, Gongsun Yan, wearing light armor, stood with his hands at his sides, waiting attentively.
On Chu Yan’s right was a man in a stone-blue brocade robe, the former Prefect of Yuzhou, Liang Song, who was also Liang Xue’s father.
Having been rendered a powerless figure, he returned to West River and was employed by Chu Yan as the Chief Clerk of the Prince’s Mansion.
Behind Chu Yan, a man dressed as a servant reported the latest situation from the outside world, hands cupped and bowing forward.
After listening, Chu Yan snorted coldly, with a displeased expression, saying, "Lately, this Duke An is really enjoying a smooth ride, isn’t he?"
"I never expected that this Yue Ruyan, being of imperial lineage from the Nanyue Kingdom and a Divine Power Realm Martial Artist, would become a concubine of that Chen Thief," Gongsun Yan remarked.
Gongsun Yan at this moment had an air of sour grapes about him.
In fact, no one knew that when Gongsun Yan was initially sent by Prince Chong to reinforce Longyou, he had fought side by side with Yue Ruyan for over a year and had developed some romantic feelings for such a brave and beautiful Female General.
In reality, within the army, with its high pressure and relatively closed environment, where women were rarely seen, even a sow could outrank Diao Chan in beauty. The unplaceable hormones naturally spurred Gongsun Yan’s affections for Yue Ruyan.
To be honest, that day Gongsun Yan wanted to bring Yue Ruyan and her people back to Chongzhou with the hope of gaining an advantageous position due to proximity.
After all, in the shelter of another, one must bow their head, and with Yue Ruyan relying on Prince Chong, he as the top general under Prince Chong would have a great chance to win the beauty’s heart.
Moreover, he had helped Yue Ruyan before.
Liang Song, naturally harboring anger towards the one who took his wife and daughter, had learned to suppress and hide it, though he hadn’t forgotten this hatred even after more than three years. Seeing Prince Chong’s furrowed brow at this moment, he couldn’t help but devise a plan, saying:
"Your Highness, now Chen Mo controls the entire North and the wealthy southern lands of Huai, Jiangdong, and Jiangnan, and has allied with Yang Xian of the Shu Residence. His power is far greater than Xu Guozhong ever was. If we wait for him to use the imperial examination to select talents and thus take over the entire North, then no one in the world will be his match. He will inevitably covet the South and pose a threat to Your Highness.
Your Highness, if you wish to achieve what’s in your heart, you must remove this great enemy quickly."
Prince Chong’s gaze grew dimmer for a moment. He was well aware, and replied, "This prince knows, but with my current strength, how can I compete with him?"
Liang Song said, "Your Highness, the present strategy is to form alliances with the various Vassal Kings, put aside past grievances and displeasures, and join forces against Chen, supporting each other through difficult times.
"Chief Clerk Liang is right, Your Highness. If the lips are gone, the teeth will feel the cold. Prince Huai has already been defeated, Jin Xia has retreated, and the ambitious Chen Thief’s next step is surely targeting Your Highness. Since King Anping allowed Prince Huai to come to Chongzhou, clearly due to familial love, if Your Highness can explain the stakes to him, you will surely be able to win him over to jointly resist Chen Thief," Gongsun Yan said.
It wasn’t because Yue Ruyan had become Chen Mo’s concubine that he said this, but because of the current situation; with Chen Mo’s growing power, to gain space for survival, confrontation is necessary.
Unless Prince Chong bows down to Chen Mo in submission.
Which means, even knowing they aren’t a match for Chen Mo, they must fight him, because if they wait until Chen Mo has fully taken control of the North, with its resources constantly supplying him, it will be impossible to lose, even if they wanted to.
"Brother Yan, we can’t let him develop any further. I just received news that the Qing, Yu, Lin, and Huai Four States are recruiting soldiers, and Chen Mo has also arrived in Huai State. Clearly, he is coming for my Fengzhou."
Just then, Prince Huai disregarded the steward’s obstruction at Prince Chong’s Mansion and hurried over with a worried expression.
When Prince Huai first sought refuge with Prince Chong, he had been urging Prince Chong to send troops to Huai State, but was refused by Prince Chong, citing that it was too cold to deploy troops. Thereafter, every time Prince Huai proposed to attack Chen Mo, Prince Chong always gave various excuses to refuse, clearly still wary of confronting Chen Mo.
"Your Highness, the servant couldn’t stop Prince Huai..." The steward showed a troubled expression.
Prince Chong furrowed his eyebrows and waved his hand to let the steward leave, saying, "Fourth Brother, didn’t I say this isn’t urgent, and the time isn’t right yet?"
"If we keep waiting, the opportunity will never come. If I hadn’t kept dragging it out, and had attacked him when he first began his surprise tactics on Linzhou, denying him the time to grow, I wouldn’t have ended up in this situation today," Prince Huai said.
Upon hearing this, Prince Chong inwardly dismissed it, thinking, was that caused by dragging out the situation?
Back then, after you had just quelled the Celestial Master Army and still held Huai State, if you had at least called on me to join you, Huai State wouldn’t have been lost.
But back then, your confidence was overinflated, not wanting to share the spoils with me.
Fine, even if you didn’t want me to benefit.
At least you shouldn’t have crossed the river from Fengzhou to attack Qingzhou; directly amassing troops to cross the river from Huai State to attack Linzhou—could Chen Mo have stopped you?
So many opportunities to win, you insisted on choosing a path to lose.
Luckily, Prince Huai didn’t know of Prince Chong’s thoughts, or else he would have defended himself, saying, how could I have known Liu Ji would betray me, or that the Wu Family would ally with Chen Mo, or that Chen Mo dared to raid Huai State, or that Chen Mo was a Divine Power Realm Martial Artist, or that Liang Xuan would be slain by Chen Mo?
Chu Yan was silent for a moment, and said, "Even if I send troops to attack Chen Mo, I must pass through Uncle Wang’s territory, and you know Uncle Wang won’t let me use his path."
The Uncle Wang Chu Yan mentioned was King Anping.
King Anping had long played the role of a turtle with its head down; he dared to let Prince Huai come to Chongzhou, but would absolutely not allow Prince Chong’s troops to pass through Yan State to attack Chen Mo, for such a move would make it clear that he and Prince Chong were united in attacking Chen Mo.
Even Prince Chong could foresee that even if he followed Gongsun Yan’s suggestion and clarified the stakes to King Anping, the latter still wouldn’t dare to form an alliance with him.
"Uncle Wang is nothing but a bully to the weak. Back when Xu Guozhong was powerful, Uncle Wang dared not provoke him, but when I united with various Vassal Kings to support the King, Uncle Wang also sent troops," Prince Huai pondered for a moment, saying, "As long as Brother Yan makes a grand gesture, Uncle Wang will naturally be agreeable."
Prince Chong focused his eyes, wondering, "How to make a grand gesture?"
Prince Huai was silent for a while, and following the advice of Diwu Fusheng before his arrival, said, "We can collaborate with Lu Sheng. As the saying goes, there are no eternal enemies, only eternal interests. Now with Chen Mo’s growing power, Lu Sheng will also feel threatened. As long as Brother Yan can unite with Lu Sheng, Uncle Wang will undoubtedly join in once he learns of it." 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺
Moreover, at that time, the support for the King was against Xu Guozhong, not Lu Sheng.
"Lu Sheng..."
Upon hearing this, Prince Chong fell into thought.
