CH 174

Chapter 174: Is the Duke of Wuxi colluding with foreign enemies, about to rebel?

Princess Ziyue led Lin Beifan to the back of Xiyue Building.

There was a tranquil courtyard pavilion connected to Xiyue Tower, which was Princess Ziyue’s residence in the capital.

Although the courtyard was small, it was decorated very elegantly, obviously with a lot of thought put into it.

Lin Beifan followed the princess into the pavilion, where a faint tea fragrance wafted through the air. It turned out that the tea was already brewed.

Princess Ziyue removed the purple veil from her face, revealing her stunningly beautiful face.

Then she invited Lin Beifan to sit down and delicately lifted a cup of tea, placing it in front of Lin Beifan with a smiling face. She said, “Advisor, please enjoy!”

Lin Beifan took a sip and smiled, “The fragrance is intoxicating, and the aftertaste is sweet. What a great tea! It is an honor to drink tea personally served by the princess!”

“If the advisor is willing to accompany me to Wuxi, you can drink my tea every day!” Princess Ziyue took the opportunity to say.

Lin Beifan continued to taste the tea without responding.

Princess Ziyue cast a resentful glance at Lin Beifan.

She also knew that Lin Beifan now had an unlimited future and would definitely not abandon his current glory, wealth, and bright future to follow her on a risky adventure.

Therefore, she stopped dwelling on this question.

Then, they discussed the development of Wuxi while drinking tea.

After nearly three months of secret development, the Slanted Moon faction had made some achievements. The number of members had reached 300,000, distributed in various border villages.

The formal military strength they had absorbed had already reached 30,000, forming a certain scale.

However, they had not yet formed combat effectiveness and needed to focus on training.

“Princess, congratulations!” Lin Beifan smiled and bowed, “In another three months, these soldiers will be able to be deployed to the battlefield and train with the soldiers of Duke Wuxi! The restoration of the Slanted Moon Dynasty is just around the corner!”

“Thank you, advisor! If it weren’t for your assistance, we wouldn’t have achieved our current results! If our great cause succeeds, you will be the greatest contributor!” Princess Ziyue thanked Lin Beifan with gratitude.

“Princess exaggerates, I only gave some suggestions, but you all took action! I am also very happy to see your achievements!” Lin Beifan humbly smiled.

“However, we have discovered a major problem! This problem is related to the restoration of our dynasty, so I came to seek advice from the advisor!” Princess Ziyue’s expression gradually became serious.

“What problem, please tell me, Princess?” Lin Beifan asked, his expression becoming solemn.

“We have discovered that the Duke of Wuxi and the Dayue Dynasty are secretly colluding!” Princess Ziyue said in a low voice.

Lin Beifan became unsettled, and the two women standing on the pavilion were also unsettled!

The Duke of Wuxi was a prince of the Great Wu Empire!

He was the uncle of the current empress, a member of the imperial family!

Not only did he fail to protect the borders for our ancestors and the court, defending against enemies outside the country’s gates, but he also secretly colluded with other dynasties. This is such a treacherous act!

What does he really want to do?

Lin Beifan’s gaze hardened as he asked, “Is this true?”

“How could I dare deceive the advisor?”

Princess Ziyue explained in detail, “We stumbled upon this situation accidentally! The Dayue Dynasty and the land of Wuxi are separated by the Qinglong Mountains. As long as we defend several key checkpoints, we are basically worry-free! But in reality, there is a secret passage unknown to outsiders, and we had used this passage to travel between our Slanted Moon and the Great Wu!”

Lin Beifan nodded, indicating for her to continue.

“However, we unintentionally discovered that the Duke of Wuxi knows about this secret passage! They use this passage to secretly trade with Dayue Dynasty, transporting provisions, warhorses, weapons, and more!”

“No! It shouldn’t be called a trade, it’s more like one-sided assistance! Because all we have seen is the Dayue Dynasty sending these military supplies to the Duke of Wuxi, while the Duke of Wuxi hasn’t given anything in return!”

“So I suspect they may have a secret agreement, possibly targeting…”

Princess Ziyue pointed towards the Forbidden City, “The Great Wu!”

On the rooftop of the pavilion, the empress clenched her fist, gritting her teeth. “He is truly a good uncle of mine! Actually colluding with outsiders, inviting wolves into our home, and disregarding our ancestors’ legacy! How admirable!”

“Your Majesty, please calm down. Let us continue listening!” Bai Guanyin calmly spoke.

“Hmm!” The empress nodded, perking up her ears, not wanting to miss a single word.

Inside the pavilion, Lin Beifan asked, “How much provisions, warhorses, and weapons have they transported so far?”

Princess Ziyue immediately responded, “Since we discovered this situation, we have sent experts to keep a close eye on that secret passage! Up until now, they have transported a total of 40 million catties of provisions, over 20,000 warhorses, and numerous sets of armor, difficult to count, but enough to equip an army of 50,000!”

Upon hearing this, the empress turned cold all over. “Truly, a good uncle of mine!”

Over 40 million catties of provisions, over 20,000 warhorses, and enough armor to equip an army of 50,000…

These were enough to fight a medium-scale war!

If they were to wage war, who could they fight against?

Certainly not the Dayue Dynasty, the supplier of the resources, it could only be…

The Great Wu Empire!

Assisting outsiders to fight against their own empire!

Shameful and detestable!

Lin Beifan closed his eyes, then opened them, raising three fingers, “In less than three months, the Duke of Wuxi will definitely rebel!”

Everyone was shocked and horrified.

The princess immediately asked, “Advisor, what makes you say this?”

“Very simple, because this military supply is also a burden for the Dayue Dynasty! They won’t keep giving without any returns, they won’t willingly feed a wolf and let it attack them! So, the Duke of Wuxi must rise up and take action within a short period of time, or else!”

“The reason why the time frame is less than three months is because after three months, the weather will get cold and it will be difficult to wage war. They would have to delay until next year, and neither side can afford to delay! Therefore, they will undoubtedly launch a swift attack before the court can react, all the way to Fenghuang Mountain!”

“By occupying the Fenghuang Mountains, they will have a natural barrier to defend and safely spend the winter!”

The empress on the rooftop felt even colder, with a chill running down her spine.

Because she realized that Lin Beifan’s analysis was incredibly logical!

The Duke of Wuxi was very likely to rise up in the near future and conquer one-third of the Great Wu territory by advancing to Fenghuang Mountain!

At that time, other vassal kings would surely take advantage of the situation and rebel, splitting the Great Wu!

Neighboring countries would definitely not remain indifferent and would invade the Central Plains!

The Great Wu would undoubtedly be engulfed in flames of war!

“Uncle, you are despicable!”

For the first time in her life, the empress despised someone so much!

However, Princess Ziyue in the pavilion was somewhat excited. “Advisor, isn’t the internal chaos in the Great Wu our opportunity? Our chance for the Slanted Moon to ascend?”

Lin Beifan mocked, “Princess, give up on that idea. It’s already good enough if we can survive!”

The princess was dissatisfied, “Advisor, why do you say that? The internal chaos in the Great Wu is a perfect opportunity for power struggles and the rise of various forces. Can’t we benefit from it?”

“If you want to benefit from it, you must have strength first!”

Lin Beifan shook his head and smiled, “But princess, with the forces we currently have, what can we do? Can we defeat the Duke of Wuxi? Can we defeat the Dayue Dynasty? We can’t even defeat a regular army! As soon as we emerge, we might be wiped out by others!”

The princess lowered her head in shame.

She didn’t expect herself to be so blinded by the current situation and come up with such a foolish idea!

Fortunately, she sought the advisor’s advice, or else their grand cause would once again have no hope!

“Now, what we need more than anything is a stable environment for development! When we have enough strength and are no longer afraid of anyone, then we can make waves! In summary, it’s eight words: discreet growth, then powerful domination!”

“What should we do? Please advise me, advisor!” The princess earnestly asked for guidance.

“Naturally! I am the strategist of the Slanted Moon, responsible for the rise and fall of the Slanted Moon!” Lin Beifan declared with righteousness.

“Thank you, strategist!” The princess was overjoyed, eagerly listening.

The two figures on the rooftop also perked up their ears, listening to Lin Beifan’s strategies.

However, after a while, Lin Beifan still hadn’t said anything.

“Advisor, what…”

Lin Beifan coughed, “Princess, have you forgotten something?”

“What?” Princess Ziyue blinked her eyes in confusion, looking unexpectedly cute.

“This thing!” Lin Beifan rubbed his thumb and forefinger together, winking crazily.

Princess Ziyue: “…”

The two women on the rooftop were infuriated, their faces turning black.

At such a critical moment, he still thought about money?

“I want to go down and beat that money-grubbing bastard!”

Princess Ziyue gritted her teeth and took out a stack of silver bills, handing them to Lin Beifan: “Advisor, please accept!”

“Princess, you’re too kind. It’s my duty to offer advice and strategy for you!” Lin Beifan quickly accepted the money while speaking politely.

The corner of Princess Ziyue’s mouth twitched. “Advisor, you truly understand me. Can we speak now?”

“Of course!” Lin Beifan smiled mischievously. “There are three things we need to do now!”

“First, we absolutely cannot let this war break out! Once it starts, even if we don’t want to, we will be involved! At that time, we will not only have to face the Duke of Wuxi, but also the Dayue Dynasty and possibly other forces. It’s too dangerous! Our current strength is too weak, we must be cautious!”

Princess Ziyue nodded in agreement.

“Second, we must prevent the alliance between the Duke of Wuxi and the Dayue Dynasty. If these two, one being a vassal and the other a newly-risen dynasty, join forces, their strength will be too formidable and pose a great threat to us. Furthermore, both of these forces are enemies of our Slanted Moon Dynasty. Only by dividing and weakening them can we benefit!”

“The strategist is right!” Princess Ziyue nodded again.

“Third, we need to seize the opportunity to weaken the Duke of Wuxi’s power. After he obtains this batch of military supplies, his strength will greatly increase, which is extremely disadvantageous for us. If we continue like this, the power gap between us will only grow larger, and it will become more difficult for us to rise!”

“Advisor, do you have any brilliant ideas?” Princess Ziyue eagerly asked.

For some reason, seeing Lin Beifan so calm, her previously anxious heart suddenly became calm, filled with a sense of security, as if there was nothing he couldn’t solve.

The empress standing on the rooftop also had complete confidence in Lin Beifan.

Ever since he entered the court as an official, he had resolved many particularly difficult matters!

As long as the money was in place, nothing was a problem!

She was particularly eager to see how this money-grubbing little bastard would handle the upcoming war and resolve the crisis in the Great Wu!