Peace Order
Chapter 593 - 44: Bestowing His Name, Ranking Among the Marquis and Heroes!_3

Chapter 593: Chapter 44: Bestowing His Name, Ranking Among the Marquis and Heroes!_3

But they were directly broken by the Path of the King.

The Qilin Army, under the name of Li Guanyi, promptly stirred throughout the world.

Inside the Imperial Palace of Chen Country, Chen Dingye was in great anger, his heart burning with fury, not even the Ritual Eunuch dared to approach, and this Third Layer Heaven fostered by elixir pills merely stood behind, listening as his Majesty smashed one ancient artifact after another. Chen Dingye’s anger surged to the sky:

"Li Guanyi, you traitor!!!"

"Traitor!!"

"Buying people’s hearts?!"

"What is he to dare buying people’s hearts?!"

He was not a mediocre individual, even though much of his talents were wasted by Tantai Xianming, but his eyes were still there, watching everything Li Guanyi did, leading to the rising fame and prestige of the Qilin Army, and yet he could do nothing about these returned Chen soldiers.

Kill these thousands upon tens of thousands of returning warriors?!

Even Emperor Chen knew that such an act would be cutting off his own path!

How did Li Guanyi buy people’s hearts? By sending captives back to their homes unharmed, even providing them with guides, provisions, and money, which is the very epitome of the Kingly Way.

If Li Guanyi used only gold and silver and favors, Chen Dingye, though angry, would not have lost his composure so completely. After all, his anger would have been confined to questioning what sort of person uses wealth to buy people’s hearts and how much wealth do you have?

But at this moment, what Li Guanyi did was not so simple.

His actions even began subtly transforming from those of an ordinary general.

There was a vaguely imposing aura of an overlord.

It was precisely because of this that Chen Dingye felt especially fearful and angry.

Amidst his regret, he felt as if the seemingly insignificant ant from a year ago, a chess piece played in the palm of his hand, had transformed into a young beast occupying a territory, whose growling, though not deadly, was irritating enough.

"Li Guanyi, you and your father, both of you are a thorn in my side!"

"I should have drowned you or strangled you at the start!"

"You deserved to be hacked to a thousand pieces, to die a slow and painful death!"

The other ministers dared not say anything.

Only the Prime Minister, Xue Daoyong, was heard laughing loudly in the courtyard for several days.

Having reflected upon his pain, Chen Dingye, despite his desperate desire to mobilize hundreds of thousands of troops immediately and crush Li Guanyi’s forces, knew that with Ying Country looking covetously from the north and the Regent King attacking fortresses in the Western Regions, compared to these two nations, Li Guanyi was just a minor trouble.

Li Guanyi’s forces could at most take a large bite out of Chen Country.

The Regent King and Ying Country were aiming for the life of Chen Country.

Emperor Chen, Chen Dingye, thus issued an imperial decree to reemploy the renowned General Lu Youxian, sending this top defensive general to the vicinity of Jiangnan to rally the troops and defend the area again to prevent the Qilin Army from moving southward.

Lu Youxian feigned illness and refused to go.

Chen Dingye felt his rage boiling, yet continued to send several imperial decrees urging action, but Lu Youxian still refused to depart. Controlling his anger, Chen Dingye personally went and humbly invited him, to which Lu Youxian finally paid his respects and answered,

"Your Majesty, it’s not that your servant is unwilling to serve and defend the nation, but the enemy’s position has already solidified."

"Li Guanyi has already taken control of all the water territories in the Jiangnan area, along with cities, soldiers, and popular support."

"Had you listened to your servant earlier and transformed Qu Shui City into a massive defensive city both inside and out, even with a hundred thousand troops of Jiangnan, I dare say we could have held it, at least cutting off Li Guanyi’s ferocity like a tiger devouring ten thousand li, stopping him in his tracks."

"Back then, if the Qilin Army had not been able to achieve a swift victory, losing that momentum, unable to take over the entirety of Jiangnan and control all the ferry crossings, time would eventually lead to their downfall without us needing to attack!"

"But now, Li Guanyi is like a fierce tiger, wild winds already brewing around him, his sharp edges fully revealed."

"Going there now would mean sending weary troops to fight against an elite army fresh from a great victory."

"Our side would still need a long march to lay siege, while the enemy has water routes to support their logistics, further carrying the momentum of a great victory, as if one person stands here, sword already drawn sharply, and I am to attack, the chance of victory is less than twenty percent."

"As for them invading our national territory, you need not worry; the Qilin Army, victorious, currently seeks to recuperate, not to start wars again. There’s a saying in military strategy, forgetting war invites danger; fondness for war leads to destruction. Li Guanyi is not such a warmonger."

No matter what, Lu Youxian refused to agree.

Dissatisfied, Chen Dingye left with a swish of his sleeve, but afterward, facing slander from the aristocratic families, it was heard that Lu Youxian once told his officers under his command while drunk, ’If His Majesty had used my strategies sooner, Li Guanyi would have been subdued long ago. How did it come to this?’

Though Chen Dingye said nothing, his resentment towards this famed city-defending general deepened.

In the capital of Ying Country, the Emperor of Ying, after reviewing Li Guanyi’s battle report, sighed deeply and said, "The Kirin of our age, courageous and domineering, additionally cunning and strategic, his peers cannot contest with him."

"I ought to have cleared Chen Country for my sons, but this man might just be their match now."

He ordered that these troops of Ying Country returning from defeat should not be refused entry but should be welcomed with great fanfare, preparing double the usual reparations for all units, to ensure that Ying Country’s brave warriors are not further injured by their own countrymen after battling on the front lines.

"I should have personally welcomed them back, but I am currently overwhelmed with numerous affairs."

"Crown Prince, you go in my stead."

Jiang Gao accepted the order.

Jiang Yuan’s heart grew increasingly resentful, talking idly over drinks with the Breaking Army of the Turkic Seven Kings’ troops. Breaking Army consoled him, merely laughing, "After all, he is the Crown Prince; such actions to win people’s hearts, and matters of representing the Emperor on tours, naturally should be done by the Crown Prince himself."

"Hahaha, what, does Prince Jiang Guang also wish to go?"