"What?"
Upon hearing the guard's words, Kerley's expression changed drastically, and he involuntarily took two steps back.
"Your Highness!"
Upon seeing this, the official standing nearby quickly stepped forward to help Kerley up.
Kerley looked at the guard with a gloomy expression: "What exactly happened? Father was fine last night, how could he have passed away today?"
The guard said, "Your Highness, the King was indeed fine last night, but when the palace maids went to check on him this morning, the King had already passed away!"
"Where is the physician? Where is the physician who treated my father?" Kerley roared.
"They...they've already disappeared!"
"You bastard, you damned thing!"
Upon hearing that the doctor had already run away, Kerley immediately cursed angrily.
He knew that someone must have done this behind the scenes.
"Well done, my good second brother! He's even resorting to such methods to deal with me!!"
Recalling the contents of the letter requesting help, Kerley naturally thought of his younger brother, Camorra.
"Your Highness, what should we do now?" The official standing nearby couldn't help but panic.
Before, when the old king was alive, they could easily debunk the rumors in the proclamation. But now that the old king is dead, the rumors have become true and can no longer be erased.
"Hmph~, if he dares to use such tricks to frame me, I can naturally shift the blame onto him!"
Kerley snorted coldly, his gaze turning icy as he looked at the guard beside him:
"Immediately issue the order: arrest all the palace maids and guards serving Father and torture them severely. Make them confess that the Second Prince instructed them to poison Father and frame me...!"
"yes!!"
The guard agreed and then quickly ran out.
After the guards left, Kerley immediately looked at the official: "Immediately order a reward notice to be posted, saying that the physician colluded with the second prince to poison the king, and a reward of 10,000 taels of gold is offered for his capture...!"
"Yes, Your Highness!!"
The official agreed and quickly left.
Soon, all twenty guards and fifty maids who were responsible for serving the old king were arrested by Kerley's guards.
After being tortured, the guards and palace maids confessed to the whole process of conspiring with the second prince to poison the old king and frame the eldest prince.
Meanwhile, the streets and alleys of the capital city of Dayuan were plastered with wanted posters.
In no time, news that the second prince had poisoned the old king and plotted a coup spread throughout the streets and alleys of the royal city.
Two days later, Cao Cao's scouts also distributed the proclamation around the capital of Dayuan.
Seeing the completely contradictory content on the proclamation and the bounty notice, the people of Dayuan were confused and didn't know who to believe.
Of course, that's not important. What's important is that the second prince has already raised an army, and war is imminent.
In an instant, the people in the royal city were plunged into panic.
Of course, the most panicked were the nobles and officials within the city.
Unlike ordinary people, these noble officials were the ones who knew best the fighting strength of the cavalry under the Second Prince's command.
If the second prince, Camorra, really leads 10,000 cavalrymen to attack, I'm afraid no one will be able to stop him.
In an instant, all the nobles and officials tacitly began to secretly pack up their valuables, preparing to flee the place at any moment.
Just as panic gripped the capital, Kerlai did not delay any longer and immediately dispatched the official with 30,000 troops, under the pretext of suppressing the rebellion, to head southeast.
Although Kerley couldn't guarantee that his 30,000 troops could quell the rebellion, he had no choice but to bite the bullet and do it.
Otherwise, if the panic continues to spread, we won't even need the Camorra to fight; we'll collapse on our own side first.
After the army set off, Kerley immediately transferred the remaining 10,000 troops into the city to reinforce its defenses.
...
The capital of Dayuan is located two hundred li to the east.
A long line of people struggled to walk along the dilapidated road under the scorching sun.
Cao Cao, standing at the front of the column, wiped the sweat from his brow and then opened his water pouch and began gulping down water.
After drinking more than half of it, Cao Cao put away the water bag, then shaded his eyes with his hand and gazed at the distant horizon.
"Mr. Wen, this is really strange. Why are there still no enemy troops ahead?"
Li Ru said in a deep voice, "Perhaps they have sent out troops, but they are heading towards a different route!"
"Other routes?"
Cao Cao's brow furrowed: "Could it be that the troops from Dayuan are heading towards Zhongying?"
Li Ru smiled and said, "It's very likely. According to the reports from various groups over the past few days, although all groups have made gains, General Dong's group has made the most. The closer the town is to the capital, the more prosperous it is, and the more nobles live there."
Whatever the reason, Kerlai would do his best to protect the southeastern part of Ferghana.
Of course, this is also related to the secrecy of our scouts, which led Kerley to mistakenly believe that we only had that one force!
"You're right, sir!"
Cao Cao agreed with Li Ru's analysis, but then asked with concern, "But in that case, won't Zhongying have some problems?"
"Haha, General Cao can rest assured about this. The Dayuan Kingdom has practically emptied its coffers for those ten thousand cavalrymen."
According to my calculations, the number of soldiers that can be recruited within the territory of Dayuan Kingdom at present is no more than 40,000.
This Kerley is cautious by nature and would certainly not send all his troops out of the city to quell the rebellion; he would at least leave 10,000 troops to guard the city.
Therefore, General Dong will at most face 30,000 enemy troops. It should be noted that General Dong is leading the elite Gaoliu troops who have received training from the Han army and are equipped with weapons, armor, saddles, and stirrups.
Facing those Dayuan soldiers who were only recently recruited, let alone 30,000, even 50,000 would be no problem at all.
Despite Cao Cao's concerns, Li Ru remained nonchalant and relaxed.
Having lived among the Xianbei for a long time, he naturally understood the terrifying nature of the Gaoliu elite troops.
In his mind, apart from the Han army, no one dared to claim to be the first among the elite troops of Gaoliu.
The elite troops of Dayuan that he had previously wiped out are the best proof of this.
"That's good!" Hearing Li Ru's explanation, Cao Cao finally felt relieved.
Li Ru then said, "General Cao, we should also speed up our march, lest General Dong's great victory frighten away the enemy in the capital!"
Cao Cao nodded, then summoned a messenger and ordered, "Immediately send messengers to inform Generals Hua Xiong, Zhang Xiu, Xiahou Dun, and Xiahou Yuan to speed up their march and reach the capital of Dayuan within five days!"
"Here you go!"
The messenger responded loudly and then rode away.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
