Su Rong shook her head, telling Fen Ling not to be in a hurry.
If she hadn’t brought three hundred thousand troops, she would definitely have reached out to the necessary contacts before setting foot in Nanchu, so that she wouldn’t be totally blind upon arrival. But now, with these troops, she felt she could stride in confidently.
She could connect with people once she entered Nanchu. There was still time.
Fen Ling nodded, "Alright then!
He was feeling a bit anxious. They were about to arrive in Nanchu, and the anticipation was stirring his emotions.
Su Rong secured the token and prodded at the charcoal fire with a poker, sighing, "I’ve been thinking of Zhou Gu."
Fen Ling: "...."
He thought to himself, you have finally admitted that you miss your brother-in-law.
Su Rong murmured, "I do not know what dangers he faced upon entering Nanchu. Is he okay now? Has he reached Nanchu’s capital and met my father yet?"
Fen Ling considered and responded: "Hard to say."
Su Rong hadn’t expected him to respond, but since he did, she twisted around and glared at him.
Feeling his nose, Fen Ling changed his words, "He should have met people by now. Your brother-in-law is very capable, and he also has Zhang Yun with him. Madam, you don’t need to worry too much. They have the ability and a plan."
Su Rong sighed, "I have indeed been delayed in Daliang for too long."
Fen Ling also felt it had been a slightly long time, but they were going back to Nanchu now, and it was uncertain when they would return to Daliang. It could be three to five years, or even longer. Delaying a little time to say goodbye would save them from the regret of remembering that they didn’t bid each other farewell properly once they are in Nanchu.
Su Rong tossed the poker, "Enough, take a break!"
Fen Ling silently nodded his head.
Zhou Gu and Zhang Yun, whom Su Rong was worried about, had indeed experienced difficulties and dangers. Fortunately, both of them were intelligent and capable. They could predict three steps ahead while taking every single step and managed to survive, but they still couldn’t withstand the onslaught of the Nangong family and the royal family of Nanchu, who were provoked to unleash their anger in a fit of fury.
The patriarch of the Nangong family, Nangong Yin, and the Liu’an Prince Chu Qian, who was leading the Nanchu royal family, were at odds with Nanchu King Chu Rong and Ye Xiang Ye Yu. They were intensely fighting behind the scenes. The Nanchu King was ambushed, bedridden, and Nangong Yin and Chu Qian became relentless. If they could succeed once more and cause the Nanchu King to perish, then before Su Rong arrived in Nanchu, the throne of Nanchu would fall into their hands. Once the Nanchu King died, the Ye Xiang Residence would fall into ruin, and all of Nanchu would be under their control. They would then invite Su Rong in and kill her. They seemed to see a bright future ahead.
Besides, they had the support of the Crown Prince of Dawei, Yuan Zhao.
Initially, Nangong Yin not only colluded with Zhang Ping from Daliang, but also with Crown Prince Yuan Zhao from Dawei.
The Crown Prince Yuan Zhao had also colluded with Zhang Ping, preparing an army of five hundred thousand. When Zhang Ping rebelled, he attacked Daliang, and at the same time, he was also worried about the Nanchu King helping Daliang, so he stationed another five hundred thousand troops on the border of Nanchu and Dawei. If Nanchu dared to assist Daliang, Yuan Zhao would send troops to Nanchu.
Because Crown Prince Yuan Zhao overestimated Zhang Ping and underestimated Crown Prince Yan Huisheng, actually, he didn’t underestimate Yan Huisheng, he just underestimated Su Rong, or rather, he didn’t take Su Rong seriously at all. Therefore, his invasion of Daliang failed.
Since his move to attack Daliang failed, then the troops stationed for Nanchu seemed to have no major use.
Yuan Zhao initially intended to withdraw his troops. But considering the situation in Nanchu, if Nangong Yin could succeed, he could make an opening for an invasion into Nanchu. It seemed feasible.
So, Crown Prince Yuan Zhao did not withdraw the troops stationed on the Nanchu border.
As a result, Nangong Yin got a boost.
Therefore, the second counterattack against the Nanchu King and Ye Xiang by Nangong Yin came violently and intensely. The Nanchu King was already wounded by an assassination attempt and Ye Xiang could hardly resist.
The Nanchu royal capital Jinglu had a hundred thousand troops under the control of the Nanchu King. The western capital of Nanchu also had a hundred thousand troops, controlled by Ye Guixue. The Nangong family controlled fifty thousand troops, while the rest of the troops were scattered around.
In principle, with the majority of the troops in their possession, the Nanchu King and Ye Xiang Residence shouldn’t be so passive. But because Dawei was supporting them, no one expected Nangong Yin to secretly borrow fifty thousand troops from Crown Prince Yuan Zhao of Dawei and create chaos in the Jinglu barracks, which led to the royal capital in Nanchu being in imminent danger.
Fortunately, Ye Guixue returned to Nanchu in time, and he had guessed that the future situation would not be optimistic. Secretly, he ordered the hundred thousand troops from the western capital of Nanchu to rush to the royal capital.
This resulted in an evenly matched situation in terms of troops. Nanchu’s situation suddenly fell into a stalemate and tension.
Just when this tense and critical atmosphere seemed about to explode, Nangong Yin and the Nanchu royal family received intelligence that someone had taken out tens of spies from the Nangong family and over a dozen from the Nanchu royal family, starting from Yanbian city on the border between Daliang and Nanchu.
It should be known that the Nangong family had entrenched itself in Nanchu for hundreds of years and its spies were scattered everywhere. Even the successive kings of Nanchu turned a blind eye to them and did not dare to attack them lightly. Even if it was a small spy, if someone dared to touch them, it would be a serious matter. But now, someone did.
And the person who did it was swift and harsh in their methods. After receiving the news, Nangong Yin found that in less than ten days, the spy network had spread hundreds of miles, across three provinces and six counties. The network of spies was completely exposed and was rapidly spreading towards the royal capital.
At this rate, if they didn’t intervene, in just one or two months, all the forces of the Nangong family spread across Nanchu could be destroyed.
Nangong Yin was furious. He had no choice but to divert some manpower and energy from their aggressive movements against the Nanchu King and Ye Xiang to deal with the audacious person who dared to remove Nanchu’s spies.
He thought it was Su Rong who brought people to Nanchu. Only Su Rong would dare to be so fearless, causing a big fuss against the Nangong family immediately upon setting foot in Nanchu instead of quietly coming to the royal capital. It was truly a death wish.
In a fit of anger, he sent out the other three sons of the Nangong family, who were capable and highly cultivated young figures considered on par with Nangong Yu. Their names were Nangong Xi, Nangong Zhuo, and Nangong Le.
He gave a death order, that they shouldn’t return without killing Su Rong.
Thus, the three sons, each with their own dark guards, left the royal capital along with the locations where the spies had been removed, intending to exterminate Su Rong.
Zhou Gu had some understanding of the power of the Nangong family from the files collected by Crown Prince Yan Huisheng, but his understanding was not comprehensive. Yan Huisheng couldn’t fully grasp the situation within the Nangong family in Nanchu, thousands of miles away. After all, he was still young and had been suppressed by the Emperor, restricting his actions.
The crown prince only dared to place a few spies and informants in Nanchu. There was only one or two in a city, county, or state.
But even this one or two were enough for Zhou Gu and Zhang Yun to make use of, to play a certain role.
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