187 Doing It Myself
Lin Ran looked at Guo Fuzhen and asked directly, “General Guo, when you fought the Great Yong Dynasty previously, did you notice anything unusual?”

“Unusual?”

Guo Fuzhen frowned slightly when he heard that. Then, he remained silent for a long time.

Lin Ran was not surprised to see this. As the general, Guo Fuzhen had to observe the overall situation on the battlefield. This way, it was inevitable that he would miss out on some details.

Moreover, that kind of team made up of a few hundred people was too similar to the supervising team. When Guo Fuzhen, who had been on the battlefield for decades, saw them, he naturally thought that they were an ordinary supervising team.

However, just as Lin Ran was about to give him some hints, Guo Fuzhen suddenly slapped his thigh. “I remember now! Every time The Great Yong Dynasty launches a large-scale attack, there will be a team of 100 to 300 people at the back!”

Lin Ran’s eyes lit up. Instead of saying it explicitly, he continued to ask, “Isn’t that the supervising team?”

“Definitely not!”

Guo Fuzhen replied firmly, “That team is very strong. Most of them are on par with me. I was injured by one of them when I was chasing after them.”

The empress nodded slightly. “In that case, it’s indeed not the supervising team.”

Lin Ran blinked, not understanding.

The empress explained, “The supervising team is responsible for supervising the battle, so their cultivation is almost on par with the general. This is to ensure that no matter who is escaping the battlefield, the supervising team can kill him immediately.”

“However, the ultimate goal of a war is to win. If all the masters are gathered in the supervising team, it will undoubtedly affect the combat strength of the army. Therefore, in a supervising team, at most a few are masters. The rest are just there to make up the numbers.”

“I see…”

Lin Ran nodded in understanding. Then, he felt a little embarrassed. He was already a deputy general of the Northern Garrison and had a commander’s token that could mobilize 150,000 people, but he didn’t even know this basic information.

Fortunately, the empress did not really ask him to lead troops to war. She gave him the power to mobilize these 150,000 people just in case of emergency.

Just as Lin Ran was deep in thought, the empress suddenly asked, “Why are you suddenly asking this, Deputy General Lin? Did you discover something new?”

After obtaining Guo Fuzhen’s confirmation, Lin Ran was already certain that the Great Yong Dynasty had another motive for starting this war. Then, he repeated his conversation with Yuan Yangguo.

With that, Lin Ran looked at Guo Fuzhen again. “According to Yuan Yangguo, the strength of the main force of the Great Yong Dynasty is relatively low. I wonder if General Guo felt this way during the battle?”

Guo Fuzhen thought for a moment and nodded. “Although the Great Yong Dynasty has a large number of soldiers, in terms of combat skills and courage, they are not much different from the commoners of the Heavenly Saint Dynasty.”

“When we first fought, I thought that the Great Yong Dynasty was intentionally holding back their military strength. However, after hearing Deputy General Lin’s words, I feel that they might have other motives.”

“But why?”

The empress asked in confusion, “Even if the large army sent by the Great Yong Dynasty is made up of civilians, the hundreds of thousands of casualties are still real. Do they have so much population that they want to get rid of some?”

“That will have to be investigated.”

Lin Ran sighed softly. He looked at the empress and said in a low voice, “Your Majesty, I’m going to enter the territory of the Great Yong Dynasty later. It’s not safe for you to stay here. Let me send you back to the palace as soon as possible.”

“You’re going to the Great Yong Dynasty?”

The empress’s expression changed and she immediately said, “I want to go too!”

“No!”

Lin Ran and Guo Fuzhen said in unison.

After the two of them looked at each other, Guo Fuzhen was the first to speak. “Your Majesty, the war has just ended. As the emperor of a country, how can you take the risk to enter an enemy country?”

“General Guo is right!”

Lin Ran also chimed in. He couldn’t say anything too harsh to the empress in front of Guo Fuzhen, but he already looked a little displeased. “You can leave such a small matter to me. You’re the emperor. How can you do such a dangerous thing yourself?”

“My dear ministers, there’s no need to say anything else. I’ve made up my mind!”

The empress put on airs and waved her hand. “Besides, with Deputy General Lin around, what danger can there be?”

Seeing that the empress was putting on airs as the emperor, Lin Ran widened his eyes and wanted to curse. When he saw Guo Fuzhen, he suppressed his anger and gritted his teeth. “General Guo, I have something to discuss with His Majesty. Can you leave first?”

“You are not allowed to go!”

The empress immediately shouted. She had known Lin Ran for a long time and naturally knew what he was thinking.

In front of Guo Fuzhen, Lin Ran would respectfully call her Your Majesty, but once Guo Fuzhen left, he would definitely tie her up and send her back to the palace.

After being in a dilemma for a moment, Guo Fuzhen suddenly had a flash of inspiration. He held his chest and fell to the ground. “Aiya! My old injury is acting up!”

Lin Ran and the empress were speechless. They didn’t expect Guo Fuzhen to put on such a bad show…

However, even if Guo Fuzhen’s acting was a little bad, at least he had achieved his goal.

A few soldiers rushed in and carried Guo Fuzhen away, leaving Lin Ran and the empress alone in the hall.

“You…”

As soon as Lin Ran spoke, the empress suddenly stood up and hugged a pillar at the side. “Don’t come over! I won’t go back no matter what! If you dare to use violence against me, I’ll kill your entire family!”

“What a coincidence!”

Lin Ran sneered. “I have no parents or friends here. My entire family lives in your harem!”

The empress was stunned for a moment before she understood what Lin Ran meant. She hugged the pillar even tighter. “In any case, I won’t leave! If you dare to kidnap me and bring me back to the palace, I’ll go to the Great Yong Dynasty myself!”

Seeing the empress’s reaction, Lin Ran couldn’t help but be curious. “I’m going to investigate, not to play. Why do you have to follow me?”

The empress said seriously, “I’m the emperor of the Heavenly Saint Dynasty. Of course I have to do it myself!”

“Don’t give me that!”

Suddenly, Lin Ran realized that something was wrong and looked at the empress with a scrutinizing gaze.

“Your Majesty.”

Lin Ran shouted and narrowed his eyes at the empress. He asked coldly in an emotionless tone, “I’m afraid you came not just because you are worried about the border soldiers, right?”

The empress did not say anything, but her eyes were darting around.

Lin Ran’s heart sank. The empress was indeed hiding something from him!

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