Chapter 7131 Confirmed News

The sun rose as usual the next day, and Zhang Zhi, the Grand Master of Ceremonies, received Liu Tong's official decree concerning the establishment of Liu Shan as Crown Prince. Shortly after this message reached Zhang Zhi, all the aristocratic families received it.

After all, unlike other things that might need to be done in secret, this thing is something that everyone needs to know about. And normally, such a thing would require a lot of struggle to get it implemented. However, this time, from the time the order was issued to the time when the Taichang (Imperial Academy) started operating, there was not a single ripple.

No matter how many rumors are spread or believed, no one would say that A Dou is not suitable to be the crown prince at this time. At other times, saying such things and making some impact won't kill anyone, but now, if you spread rumors recklessly, you will really offend Liu Tong, Liu Bei, and Chen Xi all at once, which could be fatal.

"The crown prince has been appointed. Judging by the timing, it's indeed time to appoint one." Sun Qian, who was pretending to be sick at home, was taken aback when he received the report from his steward. He nodded at first and also felt that the fact that the matter was decided so quickly might really be related to what he had been rambling about last night.

"Furthermore, the decree specifically mentioned that Chen Hou's eldest daughter, Qian, would be made Crown Princess, and the Grand Master of Ceremonies was ordered to select an auspicious day." Sun Qian's steward informed Sun Qian of all the information he had gathered.

“It’s normal. They’re childhood sweethearts, and it was something they agreed on back then. The kids have grown up these past two years and haven’t shown any signs of reluctance, so of course we should continue what we said back then,” Sun Qian said matter-of-factly. In their eyes, this was the most appropriate thing to do.

To put it bluntly, winning over Chen Xi is the most effective way to strengthen the imperial cause, and the marriage between Chen Qian and Liu Shan is the most suitable solution. If the two children have no resistance, then implementing this plan is the most correct approach.

"Is there any other news?" Sun Qian asked with some curiosity.

"Madam Wu's son has been enfeoffed as a prince." The steward frowned and said. He wasn't sure who had suggested this, but he had a feeling that things couldn't be that simple.

"That was truly a swift and decisive move. Her Highness is indeed capable. Rather than letting the lord handle it himself, it was better to let the princess make the decision directly." Sun Qian clapped his hands and said, "What kind of king was he bestowed?"

"King of Shu," Sun Qian's steward quickly informed Sun Qian.

Upon hearing this, Sun Qian sighed deeply. In terms of rank, this king was not low, after all, he was a feudal king with a single character. However, this king was quite special. Most of the kings in the world with a single character had special meanings. For example, the King of Qin, the King of Chu, the King of Jin, and the King of Qi. These kings were very special. Those who could obtain the title were either dead or alive.

Among the remaining vassal kings with names and surnames, the title of King of Shu is quite special, because this title is almost an implication that you should stay in a corner and not come out, so that everyone can be on good terms with each other.

Clearly, Liu Tong has resolved all the problems at once. As for the Wu family in Sichuan, I'm now arranging for the King of Shu to come to your hometown. If you uncles really have any ideas, then come and let me see if you can help Liu Yong out.

“Your Highness, you do know everything and know how to handle things, but…” Sun Qian shook his head and said. Just from this operation, Sun Qian knew that Liu Tong actually knew everything and was knowledgeable about everything. She might even be good at politics, at least better than more than half of the emperors of the Later Han Dynasty. But ability is ability, and the tide of the times is the tide of the times.

Thinking of this, Sun Qian couldn't help but recall the terrifying topic Zheng Xuan had mentioned to him yesterday. If Chen Xi and Liu Tong were to have a child, it would indeed be a terrifying prospect. However, they couldn't have one, nor did they dare to. Given the current situation, whether they had a son or a daughter, it would be troublesome.

Needless to say, the son is definitely going to be contested, but as for the daughter, given her mother's record of ruling the country for over twenty years, it's impossible to lock her up completely.

"This is truly a terrifying matter, but it seems that it has been discussed and resolved, which is for the best." Sun Qian smacked his lips twice, dismissed his butler, who was currently suffering from a sudden cold and was staying at home, unable to go out.

Meanwhile, Wu Yuan, who was breastfeeding her child, also received a message from her maid. To be honest, since she gave birth to Liu Yong, Liu Bei's household had been in turmoil. Previously, she had a very good relationship with Zhang Shi and Gan Shi, because they all protected Liu Shan and held similar feelings about Liu Shan as the heir apparent.

After all, Zhang's constitution seemed a bit strange, as she could only give birth to daughters. Wu Yuan only planned to give birth to a daughter and return to the Wu family to settle scores with the clan elders. Although this behavior seemed a bit outrageous to Zhang and Gan, it was generally understandable. More importantly, this way, everyone's positions would not conflict.

Therefore, the situation in Liu Bei's courtyard at that time was that the main wife Zhang, the most capable Wu Yuan, and Liu Shan's biological mother Gan were protecting Liu Shan. With these three working together, the other concubines could basically be considered non-existent, because they really had neither background nor ability.

But ever since Wu Yuan gave birth to Liu Yong, there has been some discord in Liu Bei's backyard. The reason why the three-person alliance could not be broken before was because the three of them only had one son, but now that they have two, there must be some palace intrigue to determine who is superior.

Even though Wu Yuan withdrew herself, and Madam Gan tried her best to suppress the others, the facts were there. Some things are not as simple as you say they are not, because no matter how much you say, you still have to look at the facts.

So Wu Yuan is also feeling helpless lately. Even though she and Madam Gan have had a good relationship over the years, there are more rumors going around now, and even if both sides know the truth, they can't stabilize the situation.

This is very troublesome, but what can you do when things don't go your way? To be honest, Wu Yuan really wanted to have a daughter; she wished she could go back and hang all the elders of her Wu family one by one.

Unfortunately, the sex of a child is something that cannot be controlled.

"King of Shu." Wu Yuan understood the operation almost instantly. Although her mental talent was in a semi-disabled state recently and her mind was foggy, she still had a minimum level of intelligence. So after thinking for a moment, she understood.

"Yes, Your Highness, Princess has already asked the Imperial Academy to draft the investiture ceremony." Wu Yuan's personal maid said with some concern. As the saying goes, Wu Yuan knows that having a son is a problem, but that doesn't mean those around her won't have wild thoughts.

After all, this is a high position, and with the guarantee of spiritual talent, others are more willing to believe in the child's excellence. Liu Shan's biggest problem is that he lacks spiritual talent.

"That's fine, you can go now." Wu Yuan waved her hand, signaling her maid to leave. At her level, there were many things she couldn't control, and her mind was also foggy right now, so she couldn't handle things as well as before, which caused trouble.

Even so, Wu Yuan tried her best to gather her thoughts and evaluate the whole matter as much as possible. In the end, she decided that securing Liu Shan's position as crown prince and Liu Yong's position as King of Shu now would be more beneficial than harmful in any case.

"That's it for now. I'll think about the rest when my mind is clearer. Now, I'll go to sleep." Wu Yuan thought for a while, and seeing her son start to struggle, she picked him up and muttered to herself with some weariness. She knew very well that she wasn't in good condition, and she somewhat understood why she felt that Cai Yan's intelligence had plummeted when she first met her after she gave birth.

To be honest, Wu Yuan feels that her intelligence has not just declined sharply, but she has started to become forgetful, which would have been impossible for her in the past. The Wu Yuan of the past was very shrewd, but now she is somewhat brainless.

"Zichuan, I'm coming in!" Liu Bei called out twice from inside the courtyard, then led Xu Chu and Guo Jia into the courtyard where Chen Xi was.

"What's going on so early in the morning?" Chen Xi, sporting dark circles under her eyes and looking somewhat tired and disheveled, went out. "Oh, Fengxiao's already here at this hour?"

However, as soon as he said this, Chen Xi's tired expression quickly disappeared, and he became shrewd and capable. But the dark circles under his eyes looked even stranger at this moment.

"No, Zichuan, what's wrong with you?" Liu Bei looked at Chen Xi with some surprise. "We didn't get back late last night, did we? Did you stay up until dawn again?"

As he spoke, Liu Bei even wanted to tiptoe to see what was going on with his adopted daughter. Was this really going too far? It shouldn't be like this, since she was supposed to be pregnant, right?
"Alright, alright, let's not talk about this anymore. Fengxiao is here, what happened again?" Chen Xi asked curiously, and casually pulled Liu Bei towards the main hall. It's the middle of winter, and it's cold, so let's not stay here and go to the main hall.

The four of them arrived at the main hall. Chen Xi had someone bring them some food, and after a few bites, he felt better. He then looked at Liu Bei and asked, "Lord Xuande, what's happening at the front?"

Liu Bei gave Guo Jia a look, and then Guo Jia took out a secret letter. "It's something related to the Ganges. Our intelligence agents over there wrote that the Kushans have officially begun mobilization. This time, the scale is different from any other time. Just in terms of the mobilization force, it's extremely exaggerated."

"The Kushans have begun mobilizing their forces." Chen Xi's expression turned grave upon hearing this. "That's right. In the Kushans' eyes, the next battle is a decisive one, so mobilizing their local able-bodied men is only natural. But does the Kushans have that many centurions and enough weaponry?"

“It’s hard to say about a hundred men, but they still have weapons. After all, they don’t need to be as well-equipped as we are here. They only need a set of ordinary armor, or even no armor at all, just a long spear.” Liu Bei said calmly. “After all, the Kushans have already developed blast furnaces. Even if there are quality problems, they still have spearheads. It’s much easier to arm able-bodied men than before.”

"These young men who lack both talent and organizational skills are utterly meaningless. They're just easy prey for the White Horse Cavalry. Even in the Uttar Pradesh, with its multiple river crossings, the White Horse Cavalry we have now will still be no match for them," Chen Xi said, shaking his head with disdain for the Kushan approach.

Although the White Horse Cavalry has many shortcomings, its unique advantage completely overshadows all of them. Especially the White Horse Cavalry led by Zhang Liao, with a speed of 200 km/h and the ability to fly close to the ground, they are indeed not good at fighting tough enemies, but they are really good at mowing down mobs.

It can be said that for this level of White Horse Cavalry, quantity is actually meaningless. If their strength is below a certain threshold, no matter how many come, they will all be mowed down by the White Horse Cavalry.

“We received intelligence from an inside source that this was a plan devised by Oswin, but we didn’t get the exact details. All we can confirm is that it was indeed Oswin who did it,” Guo Jia said with a hint of seriousness.

To reiterate, the Kushan Empire's crumbling ship was decimated by the Han Dynasty, and its renowned generals died one after another. Now, only a handful of capable individuals remain, and Oswin is the elite among them. To put it bluntly, it's just that Oswin's qualifications are lacking. If Oswin could become a commander of a large army, it would be a truly terrifying event.

"What use is he to have so many able-bodied men? He's not a commander of a large army, and he can't command so many able-bodied men. Besides, these young men who haven't undergone formal military training will only hinder the army's performance if there are too many of them. It's not that having more people means more use." Chen Xi asked with some doubt.

"Our assessment is that Oswin may have become the Grand Army Commander," Guo Jia said seriously. "The Kushan Empire may have tried every means to ensure that Oswin was promoted. After all, both sides are well aware that Oswin's promotion to Grand Army Commander is more meaningful than that of others. He is truly capable of leading the Kushan Empire."

Upon hearing this, Chen Xi frowned deeply. "Logically speaking, you conducted a lot of assessments at the time, and Oswin was simply not qualified enough, so it was basically impossible for him to be promoted to commander of a large army. That's why, even knowing there was a danger involved, you put Oswin aside for the time being."

In fact, back when Oswin forcibly eliminated the food gap between the southern and northern nobles and fought for the country with pure public interest, the Han Dynasty realized that Oswin was a problem and had evaluated him. However, they finally determined that Oswin was not capable of becoming a commander of a large army, so they placed him in the latter half of their elimination targets.

After all, back then, the Kushans had many large army commanders, young and old. The main goal of the Han Dynasty at that time was to kill these guys. Although Oswin was very important, he was basically the kind of person who would be killed if he could be encountered, and would not be deliberately hunted down if he could not be encountered or killed.

After enduring ten years of hardship, Oswin finally became the commander of a large army?

Are you kidding me? Don't you know how much prestige this guy has in Kushan? He's the kind of person who can be unanimously elected by both the northern and southern Kushan peoples. He's the kind of person who can suppress the conflict between the two sides and even make Kusroy put aside his grudges and go all out. What the hell is going on?

“Zichuan, there’s nothing we can do about this. By now, Oswin has become a symbol of the Kushan Empire, and the Kushans themselves are well aware of his importance. Under these circumstances, unless they’re stupid, they will definitely try everything to help Oswin break through the limits of his own aptitude.” Liu Bei said with a hint of helplessness, “They will do everything in their power to try to help Oswin break through the limits of his aptitude.”

This is only natural, because when the Han Dynasty realized Oswin's importance to the Kushan Empire and began to eliminate him, the Kushan Empire also realized Oswin's importance. With no other choice, allowing Oswin to break through the command of the Grand Army, even if there were some losses, was a very worthwhile thing just to ensure the existence of this banner.

“We believe that the Kushans must have used some unspeakable means to succeed, but in any case, the Southern and Northern Kushans have officially put aside their differences and united with Oswin to begin preparations.” Guo Jia said with a heavy expression, “And now all the movements are actually coming from Oswin. Of course, we all know that the other side will definitely not start a war at this time.”

Chen Xi nodded silently upon hearing this. Indeed, unless the Kushans were foolish, they would definitely not start a war at this time. If they fought the Han Dynasty during the New Year, regardless of whether they won or lost, the Han Dynasty would definitely use all its strength to teach the Kushans a lesson.

Just because there is no war during the New Year does not mean there will be no war later. Based on the information gathered so far, the Kushan Empire will definitely take action in the spring after the New Year.

At this stage, the Kushan Empire's large-scale conscription of young men, reorganization of its army, and preparation of various military equipment have already proven that the enemy is preparing for the upcoming major battle.

"Wenze has also sent word. He believes the current situation is unfavorable to us and suggests a retreat, focusing on defending the strategic point of Baloyajia and the river channels on both sides." Liu Bei briefly informed Chen Xi of Yu Jin's plan. Of course, the main details were unnecessary; Chen Xi only needed to be told that Yu Jin's strategy was to defend as much as possible.

"When will General Guan and General Zhang recover?" Chen Xi asked Liu Bei.

"It will probably take another six months," Liu Bei said with a hint of helplessness. Especially Guan Yu, whose neck was actually injured by metal, and any normal person would worry that Guan Yu's head would fall off just by looking at it.

"What is Wenze's opinion on the situation of the soldiers at the front?" Chen Xi asked, taking a deep breath.

“People’s hearts are wavering, but morale is still high,” Liu Bei said slowly.

"Give Wenze the order that if necessary, we can abandon Prayaga and retreat to Varanasi. It is acceptable to save people but lose territory. We should set up multiple lines of defense," Chen Xi decisively proposed.

Ah, it seems the author is really finished. Sigh.