Peace Order
Chapter 633 - 54: All Swordsmen Should Enter the Imperial Palace for a Drink!_3

Chapter 633: Chapter 54: All Swordsmen Should Enter the Imperial Palace for a Drink!_3

They exchanged visits and communications, leading to quite unpleasant tensions, especially since the son of Taiping Duke, Xue Tianxing, seemed to have gotten something terribly wrong.

He even forged a handwritten document from Taiping Duke before his death, which was conferred upon Yue Pengwu.

Yue Pengwu, in great anger, almost drew his weapon on the spot.

Although his body was plagued with serious illness, his remaining influence was still formidable. Together, He Yanxuanji and Yue Qianfeng barely managed to restrain Yue Pengwu.

The Yue Family Army, having disengaged from the two parties, harbored among their ranks the Third Divine General of the World, once a student of the Military School of the Central State Academy, who had traveled extensively, served as a General in Ying Country, and was of the same generation as the Emperor of Ying, close to the original Crown Prince of Ying.

The Emperor of Ying at that time was a child born out of wedlock.

He couldn’t even protect the woman he loved; Gao Xiang also loved her, but felt inferior because he was just a common member of the Imperial Army; being the top young archer of his generation, he still chose to help the Emperor of Ying.

During that time, the Emperor of Ying personally rode a horse and wielded a sword to disrupt a wedding. Gao Xiang, positioned atop a high building, shot arrows, defeating all who opposed them. With three quivers of arrows, he ended up with just one arrow left.

He gifted this final arrow as a symbol of friendship to the Emperor of Ying.

Back then, the young man lay on the grass, covered in blood, yet he laughed heartily, wild and defiant.

However, later, the Emperor of Ying revealed his disloyalty, imprisoning the original Crown Prince, embracing the path of a despot. To become Emperor, after a long silence, he married a daughter from an aristocratic family, gaining their support. Deeply sighing, Gao Xiang remained silent for a long time.

He asked the now-powerful Emperor of Ying,

"Do you still remember the sword from our days of youth and poverty?"

After a long silence, the Emperor of Ying replied, "Let’s not be the subject of ridicule."

Gao Xiang went to find that woman, who was somewhat ill by then. The Emperor had built her the tallest tower, bringing treasures from all over, luxuries not even afforded to the spouses of the Central State Red Emperors.

Even though he married the only daughter of a great aristocratic family, he still made her the Empress, but becoming Empress meant being trapped here, a canary between these high towers.

Gao Xiang wanted to take her away, but in the end received only a call of "big brother Gao."

He finally left this place, leading his troops northeast, cutting through Ying Country to reach beyond the border.

After decades of campaigns, he fiercely carved out a territory in the Northern Domain beyond the border, independent of the grasslands and the Central Plains.

Over a decade ago, when the grandfather of Zhou Liuying died.

Jiang Su was free then and sought to attack Gao Xiang; sighing, the Emperor of Ying stopped Jiang Su, personally leading his forces to the border, riding through the battlefield to the fortress beyond the border. He didn’t bring his personal soldiers, but instead broke that arrow himself.

This signified the end of the bond they once shared in their youth.

Then he declared, "Her child is my Crown Prince!"

Immediately, he turned his horse around to return to his empire.

From then on, Ying Country stopped deploying troops to the Northern Domain beyond the border, focusing instead on the south of the empire, and the grasslands. That Third Divine General, renowned for his archery, simply kept watch beyond the border, ensuring that the alien tribes of the grasslands could not invade the Central Plains through this route.

Now, as the warlords beyond the border seemed to subtly form alliances, planning to encircle Xue Tianxing and the other three former generals of Taiping, as if a storm was brewing. Jiang Gao sighed deeply, saying, "Uncle Gao is usually so composed; why would he do this?"

Jiang Cai, twirling her hair around her finger, said:

"He wants to make these warlords fight one another. Moreover, Uncle Gao never really cared about this place. His only goal is to prevent the iron-clad cavalry of the Turkic grasslands from entering from the Northern Domain. He is not loyal to any country; he is only guarding the old land of the Central Plains."

"But, the combined attack of the warlords was my strategy."

Jiang Gao looked surprised.

Jiang Cai looked at him and said, "Don’t you know why Xue Tianxing and Yuan Shitong would quarrel with Yue Pengwu? It’s because, without such actions, they would have difficulty maintaining their influence in the Northern Domain beyond the border."

"Or rather, the more triumphant Li Guanyi’s Qilin Army is; the harder it is for the old parts of Taiping Duke’s forces in the Northern Domain to coexist in harmony. If they were unified, they would become a target of jealousy and attack, ultimately making it hard to sustain."’

"They are all famous generals; how could they not see this? They are just acting."

Jiang Gao laughed and shook his head, "There’s no chance that the letter given to Yue Pengwu was also fake?"

Jiang Cai thought for a moment and said, "That might just be the doings of that so-called ’son of Taiping Duke’ trying to be clever."

The lady put her hand to her forehead and said, "There are too many fools in this world."

"Some guys always do things that are hard to predict. I stir up trouble in the region beyond the border; the rest of the warlords will staunchly hold down the Taiping Army. If possible, it’s best to completely obliterate that faction of the Taiping Army."

She set up black and white pieces on the chessboard, with black forming a dragon and white placed below, at the top right corner.

Jiang Cai said, "Look, here’s the Qilin Army, and here are the old parts of the Taiping Army, separated at both ends, still making no significant impact. But once connected, it’s like the chess pieces’ ’connected breaths.’

"Hence, the momentum of a crouching tiger and a soaring flood dragon begins."

"The reason I tell you not to worry about Li Guanyi, but to keep an eye on the Regent King, is also for this reason. Jiangnan is strategically pivotal, but it’s really an ’isolated land,’ with established defenses but no base for domination, difficult to advance."

"But if he takes hold of the Northern Domain’s territories, it will be different. Even if General Gao Xiang is present, he can’t get the land; but once our dynasty changes, the Qilin Army and Taiping Army advancing and retreating simultaneously would be like a fire on both ends, likely leading to a great disaster."