The Emperor Reigns Them All

Chapter 412 Coping

Pinglu was under Zhu Wen’s attack, and Zhu Wen had the support of the Taoist sect. So Pinglu was in a dire situation. Once Pinglu was lost, not only would Li Ye’s strength be greatly damaged, his reputation would also take a big hit. After all, Li Ye had not suffered such a defeat since his debut.

And with Zhu Wen’s rise in power, Li Ye’s followers would have to rethink their future and consider turning their backs on him.

But that was for the future to think about. At present, Kang Chengqian and others just couldn’t refuse Li Ye. Plus, If Zhu Wen really replaced Li Ye and became the rightful ruler of the Central Plains and the North, wouldn’t they have to bow at his feet?

So there was no difference between lending their loyalty to Zhu Wen and to Li Ye.

In reality, Kang Chengqian and others knew that even if Li Ye lost Pinglu, he still had the vassal states of Hedong and Weibo. So Li Ye’s power was still great, coupled with his prodigious cultivation, Li Ye was not someone they could afford to mess with.

Opportunities were plentiful in troubled times. Everyone could accomplish things, and there was more than one way to the destination. Some people would stand on their own and make a name for themselves, while others might follow others into battle. To make great achievements and gain prosperity and wealth, you did not necessarily have to do it on your own.

With the change in situation, it would take the right timing and opportunity to see if a minister could become an emperor.

Pinglu was in the middle of a battle. Yet Li Ye was thinking about striking while the iron’s hot, and through taking Chengde, Yiwu and Lulong in by his majesty and powerful strength, he wanted to completely control Zhaoyi, Tianping, and Henghai. This also meant that he might have to battle on two fronts.

Fortunately, he had immense cultivation and had an abundance of high-level cultivators. He could take his group of cultivators and go to Qing Prefecture to settle the situation, there and return to Hedong the next day. As long as he had great generals on both sides to command the three armies, he’d be fine.

With Li Ye’s development in the years, although he wouldn’t boast that he had plenty of talented men, however, it was true that he was not lacking in that department.

But with such a vast territory, it was tiring jumping from place to place.

Li Ye felt the trouble of happiness.

Li Ye planned to rest the troops of Hedong’s four vassal states and give them some recuperation time before setting off to battle again.

Li Ye needed to personally check out the situation in Chengde, Yiwu, Lulong and other vassal states. He couldn’t just blindly take his troops to war.

A recent matter had puzzled Li Ye. Since Zhang Ji was killed, He Jingcheng never troubled him again, which disrupted Li Ye’s arrangements for the aftermath of the assassination.

It seemed that He Jingcheng was content with being Zhu Wen’s personal guard. Li Ye did not know what to think of this trend. Although he was not afraid of He Jingcheng, he also did not have the confidence to defeat He Jingcheng before reaching the Immortal Realm.

In addition, the group of cultivators He Jingcheng brought was stronger than that of the seventy-two Earth Devils. It would be logical for them to make a thunderous attack and not give Li Ye the opportunity to pacify Hedong, but they didn’t do that.

There must be a demon in an abnormal situation and Li Ye felt that this matter could not be ignored.

Not long after sending away Kang Chengqian and others, Song Jiao brought the Qing Prefecture battle report.

Since the information came from the Black Office, so Cui Keli’s dialogue with Zhang Zhongsheng that day was also recorded.

Li Ye looked at the report for a while, and remained silent for a long time.

He had previously doubted Cui Keli’s position. The reason why the Red Boy and others did not lock him up was that his suspicion was not very strong. And he wanted to use him to see what arrangements the Confucians would make.

Now it seemed that Confucians had no intention of choosing him, but Cui Keli’s loyalty could basically be confirmed.

This was of course normal in troubled times. It was not uncommon for fellow disciples of the same school to be selfish. There were more than ten million Confucian disciples. Even if the main body and authority represented by the four sages, such as Wang Zaifeng, chose a feudal prince, other disciples might not follow suit.

The same was true for Militarism and Taoism. Li Ye now had many military warriors of Militarism, not to mention that the Quanzhen Temple established by Wei Xiaozhuang was also gaining power.

At the end of the day, different experiences determined different choices.

As Li Ye subconsciously went over Cui Keli’s words, he thought, “I’m not greedy enough to attain the Great Tao in this life, I only want to die on the path of finding Tao.”

Throughout the ages, there had been many scholars who asked when they had time after studying and touring the world, or asked when they were stuck at home all old and poor, the same question, “We scholars read many books and have being taught by many great sages, but for what purpose?”

Cui Keli’s words seemed to be the answer.

“Xuanwu Army has begun to attack the city. The battle in Qing Prefecture is fierce. Would you like to go back?” Song Jiao asked when he saw that Li Ye had been quiet for a while.

Li Ye did not answer, but instead asked, “Where is Shangguan Qingcheng?”

Song Jiao replied, “She will arrive in Qing Prefecture in a few days.”

Li Ye breathed a little sigh of relief. “With Shangguan Qingcheng and Cui Keli in Qing Prefecture, together with the demon clan cultivators, it would not be difficult for them to hold off the Xuanwu Army for a while.”

Song Jiao frowned slightly and asked, “You really aren’t going back?”

Li Ye smiled and said, “Now I have three vassal states in my grasp and many enemies. And the situation will only be more complicated in the future. If I don’t have anyone that could hold their own and I have to personally fight every battle, then I have no chance of taking the world. There is Cui Keli in Qing Prefecture that can win over people’s hearts, and Shangguan Qingcheng can fight on the battlefield. The situation is under control. They’re like my left and right arms. It is also time to hone them and let them grow up.”

Song Jiao then asked coldly, “What if they lose?”

A hint of fierceness flashed in Li Ye’s eyes as he folded the report and put it away.

His voice became extremely cruel at this moment. “I need to know the potential of my commanding officers. The battle of Qing Prefecture is their challenge and their opportunity. If they grasp the opportunity and shines, they will be given big tasks in the future. If not, then they’re useless.”

Song Jiao opened her mouth slightly, but didn’t know what to say for the moment.

Of course she knew that if the battle in Qing Prefecture was unfavorable, both Cui Keli and Shangguan Qingcheng might die.

Both of them were close to Li Ye, one was his uncle and the other was his closest confidant. But now he intended to give them the test of life and death.

However, wasn’t this a decision that a ruler must make?

After a while, Song Jiao asked, “Are you gambling again?”

Li Ye laughed and answered, “Of course not, I’m not a gambler. I gambled on Cui Keli’s loyalty last time because I was confident. This time the battle of Qing Prefecture is about Pinglu’s ownership, and also concerns the overall situation. If the situation turns dire, I’ll go back.”

Song Jiao revealed her charming smile. “I knew you’re cunning!”

Faced with such allegations, Li Ye could do nothing.

He suddenly thought of something. “You’re also a disciple of the White Deer Sect, and thus you’re supposed to be proving your strength in troubled times. Yet you’re just managing the Black Office, aren’t you wasting your talent?”

Song Jiao shot a glance at him and asked, “What do you want me to do?”

Li Ye asked tentatively, “How about governing a vassal state to begin with?”

Song Jiao grinned and turned around. She shook her sexy waist as she waked lazily. “Forget about putting me to work. I’m as lazy as anything.”

Li Ye was speechless.

Who else could say that they were lazy in such a righteous and proud way?

...

In Chengde Zhenzhou, several men and women were climbing up a winding mountain path.

This group of people looked very weird. Not that their clothes were strange, but a temperament that was very uncommon.

The man in robes at the front was clearly in his early thirties, but his eyes revealed a hint of maturity beyond his age. Even the pace of each step was the same, stable like a minister of the court.

The woman behind was very young. Although she was average looking, her eyes were pleasing to look at. And she was gentle and demure, even in luxurious clothing, she had the posture of a servant.

“When Li Ye sent troops to Hedong, you all thought that this battle would last a long time. So you wanted to take advantage of the time when the opponent was away and could not preside over political and military matters in Shandong for the imperial court and stir things up by supporting a feudal prince. But you couldn’t have predicted that less than a month later, the eleven prefectures of Hedong had fallen into his hands. Even Li Keyong was beheaded by him. Now, his hands are freed up before everyone’s plans have been realized, are you all trembling now?”

The one speaking was a strong man walking in the back. Although he was not exactly burly, he sure was stocky, like a mighty general who crawled out of a pile of dead corpses. No one dared to look in his eyes, which were full of killing sense.

When he said those words, he did not hide the hint of mockery. When a sturdy man talked and acted straight like an arrow, it didn’t give people a sense of affinity. Contrarily, he was emanating a hint of aggression.

After he had said those words, the young woman frowned slightly and her face was unpleasant. But she didn’t speak, she just set her sights on the Confucian student in front of her, hoping that he would fire back at the insults.

The Confucian disciple did not turn back, but said in a monotone, “The Tang emperor has lost his morals and got the world into a mess. So war flames are everywhere and there is endless internal chaos. In such times the wisest thing to do is support a wise monarch to take over the world and protect the people and the land. That is what the people want, and what the general trend is. So the trend won’t change because of some person disturbing the situation.”

Compared with the sturdy man, the words of the Confucian scholar were righteous and legitimate, and he gave off the impression that his words were not to be questioned.

The stocky man then sneered. “How could you Confucian scholars speak of morality and kindness when you intend to seize the state of the Tang Empire. You’re speaking like saints, like you’re doing everything for the greater good. If you’re really that benevolent, why are you in Chengde at this time?”

The Confucian scholar chuckled and did not answer, as if the opponent’s arguments were not worthy of his contention.

The grey-haired man walking in the middle was dressed in Taoist robes. He had a childlike face, and grasped a horsetail whisk. He had the temperament of an immortal. For a while, he said nothing when the Confucian scholar and the Militarism man argued, as if his mind was elsewhere.

At this moment, he added with a smile, “Everyone says that the three vassal states in Hebei were strong. Now that Weibo is no longer there. I hope that the situation in Chengde and Lulong will not disappoint us.”

The Militarism soldier scorned. “How could anyone have the nerve to seek power in troubled times without an army of Militarism Warriors?”

Then, he even started to ridicule the Taoists. “You Taoists have always thought highly of yourselves. You think that you are better than others because you have the support of the Immortal Court. But haven’t you taken a good beating at the hands of Li Ye? You say you’re supporting Zhu Wen, but you couldn’t even take the vassal states of the Central Plains. On the facet, you’re attacking Pinglu, but secretly you’re stirring things up in Chengdu. You bunch of arrogant and insidious Taoists, how are you different from those rotten Confucians?”

Behind the old Taoist was a young Taoist who heard his words. He then immediately turned and glared at the Militarism soldier with anger. His right hand was placed on the hilt of his sword.

The Militarism soldier was too lazy to even look at him, and he simply ignored the young Taoist’s presence.

The old Taoist then added with a grin, “Within a month, the Central Plains will belong to Xuanwu. You just wait and see. As for you Militarism soldiers, you only dare to show your strength within Guanzhong, in front of a falling imperial court. Do you dare to face off against us Taoists in the Central Plains?”

Faced with the old Taoists taunts, saying that Militarism could only pick on the weak, the soldier sneered. “We Militarism soldiers want to challenge you, but I’m afraid we won’t get the opportunity. Because if Li Ye is the one who occupies the Central Plains in the end, where are you Taoists going to be then?”

Since no one liked anyone, they insulted each other all the way to the top of the mountain. It was surprising that a fight hadn’t broken out between them.

A Taoist temple resided on the top of the mountain.

And a group of people greeted them at the front of the temple.

The person at the front was the Chengde Commissioner Wang Jingchong.

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