That night.
The study in the main hall of the Prince of Jin's residence.
After seeing off Sun Heling, the Vice Minister of Rites, in the afternoon, Chen Huai'an returned to the Prince's Mansion and immediately ordered Pang Xianchu, the military commander, to impose martial law on the entire city, prohibiting anyone from entering or leaving the city without his written order.
Afterwards, Chen Huai'an locked himself in his study and arranged guards outside the study. No one was allowed to enter the study without his permission.
Several hours passed, and the Prince's mansion was already crowded with people anxiously waiting for the Crown Prince, but Chen Huai'an was still nowhere to be seen.
At this moment, he was in a secret room in his study, offering incense to the memorial tablet of Prince Jin while looking at the set of golden armor left by his father, Chen Polu, and talking to himself.
“Father, when you were alive you always taught me that a subject should never have a disloyal heart.”
"You were loyal to the emperor and loved your country throughout your life, but in the end you died far from home."
Even so, that scoundrel Emperor Zhao Gan still wouldn't let our Jin Prince's family go. Not only did he confiscate our last remaining military power, but he also wanted to exile us to the frontier, to the extremely cold and barren north to fend for ourselves.
"Eh—"
Chen Huai'an sighed, then skillfully took down the Hundred Battles Golden Armor hanging on the wall, put it on, and continued:
"Father, if I only had eight thousand Polu soldiers under my command, I would have simply handed over the military power. But I was born with the destiny of an emperor, and overnight I had 800,000 private soldiers. Can you believe how messed this is!"
"Tell me, sir, should I hand over this military power or not?"
At this point, Chen Huai'an had already finished donning his golden armor.
He looked up into the bronze mirror, where he saw a tall figure clad in golden armor, with distinct features, sharp eyebrows, and bright eyes. His entire being exuded an extraordinary aura, and his every move already showed the demeanor of an emperor.
"Father, if you don't say anything, then I'll take that as your agreement that we won't hand over the military power!"
As he spoke, Chen Huai'an glanced at the incense-filled memorial tablet of the Prince of Jin and said to himself, "Father, whether you say it or not, I know that you never intended to hand over the command of these eight thousand Po Lu troops to that dog emperor Zhao Gan from the very beginning."
"Otherwise, when you went to the capital to participate in Zhao Gan's Fengshan ceremony, why did you hand over the imperial pardon and the golden token of immunity from death, but keep this golden whip for beating the king?"
After speaking, Chen Huai'an took out a rectangular nanmu box from under the altar of the Prince of Jin's memorial tablet. The box was also carved with a coiled dragon pattern symbolizing imperial power.
The next moment, he opened the nanmu box without hesitation.
What came into view was a golden mace (a whip used to strike the king) lying quietly on the brocade.
Chen Huai'an casually picked up the golden mace forged from brass from the nanmu box and examined it carefully. The mace was engraved with the words "Strike down the tyrannical ruler above, strike down the disloyal civil and military officials below, neither gods nor men can avoid it, personally bestowed by the Great Xin Emperor Gaozu".
The Golden Whip (Golden Mace) bestowed by Emperor Zhenwu of the Great Xin Dynasty by Zhao Mang was the last life-saving talisman left by Prince Chen Polu of Jin for Chen Huai'an and his family.
It turns out that three months earlier, when Chen Polu left home to go to Beijing to participate in the Fengshan ceremony held by Emperor Jian'an Zhao Gan, he had left a letter for Chen Huai'an.
Furthermore, it was agreed with Chen Huai'an that if Chen Polu could not return home safely, Chen Huai'an should open this letter and deal with the matters of the Prince's Mansion according to the instructions on it.
One of the rules was that if the current emperor intended to attack the Prince of Jin's residence, he could use this golden mace (the whip of the king) to negotiate with the emperor and secure a chance for the more than a thousand family members and servants of the Prince of Jin's residence, as well as the eight thousand soldiers of the Polu Army, so that they could go to the Western Regions and never set foot in the Great Xin Dynasty again.
In fact, after the news of his father's death reached the Prince's Mansion, Chen Huai'an had been making plans in this manner after reading the last letter left to him by Chen Polu.
With eight thousand elite troops at his disposal, it shouldn't be difficult for him to take the Prince of Jin's family to the Western Regions to find a place to settle down.
As for finding out the real reason for the Prince of Jin's death and avenging his father, that can only be done gradually after these concerns have been resolved.
But all of this will change with the sudden "ding" sound in Chen Huai'an's mind that afternoon.
During the few hours he locked himself in the study, Chen Huai'an had figured out the operating rules of the [Born to Be an Emperor] system:
The 800,000 soldiers awarded by the system are all Chen Huai'an's personal troops who are absolutely loyal to him;
When the host achieves the "Unify the World" achievement, the unlimited troop production privilege will be unlocked;
When the host achieves the "Emperor of All Time" achievement, the right to explore immortality will be unlocked!
However, Chen Huai'an currently has only 80,000 soldiers he can summon, all of whom are fully armored (with all their weapons, equipment, and warhorses).
The remaining 720,000 soldiers are in a state of waiting to be called up, and all of them are in a state of blank (they need to be provided with their own weapons and equipment).
Furthermore, when he first summons 80,000 troops, the system will randomly give him a legendary historical general who can command troops.
According to the system rules, if Chen Huai'an wants to summon the remaining 720,000 soldiers and unlock more legendary historical generals to lead troops into battle, he must exchange them using system points. The exchange ratio is 1 point for 1 ordinary soldier and 10 points for 1 super elite soldier.
The system points are also quite easy to obtain; points can be earned by killing or recruiting enemy soldiers and by attacking or defending cities. Specifically:
1 point is awarded for each enemy soldier killed or recruited (no upper limit).
Killing or recruiting enemy generals earns points based on their rank: Centurion, 100 points; Thousand-man, 300 points; Garrison commander, 800 points; Commander, 2000 points.
5000 points for Lieutenant General; points for Deputy General; points for Commander-in-Chief; points for Admiral; points for Governor-General; points for Grand General of Military Affairs; points for Commander-in-Chief.
Note: These points can only be used to redeem system-rewarded soldier summoning quotas and unlock historical legendary generals.
The points awarded for attacking and defending cities vary depending on their size: small cities (population under 100,000) earn 1 million points, while medium-sized cities (population between 100,000 and 500,000) earn 5 million points.
Medium to large cities (population between 500,000 and 1 million) accumulate 10 million points; large cities (population over 1 million) accumulate 30 million points.
Note: These points can only be used to exchange for supplies such as food, weapons, and military equipment.
Food fodder is exchanged for 1 point per kilogram; warhorses are exchanged for 100 points per horse; weapons and equipment vary between different troop types, ranging from 20 to 100 points.
The system points are awarded immediately after the end of each battle or after the completion of a city attack or defense operation.
As for the system's function to summon legendary historical generals, it can only be unlocked when the host's system points reach a certain level, and it is unknown which legendary historical generals can be summoned.
Finally, Chen Huai'an used the phrase "using war to sustain war" to describe the [Born to be an Emperor] system.
As for whether he could ultimately achieve the feats of "unifying the world" and becoming "the greatest emperor of all time," Chen Huai'an had no time to consider that at the moment. What was pressing at hand was how to resolve the emperor's power grab and the incursion of 100,000 enemy troops.
Let's get back to the main topic.
During the few hours that Chen Huai'an locked himself in his study, the entire Prince Jin's mansion and even Flying Dragon City were in an uproar, with all sorts of rumors flying around.
No secrets stay hidden forever. The news that Emperor Zhao Gan had ordered a "cleansing" of the Prince of Jin's residence, intending to exterminate the Prince of Jin's family, followers, and servants, had already spread far and wide.
In particular, the news that Emperor Zhao Gan intended to transfer the command of the 8,000-strong Polu Army in Longcheng to Wu Qingyun, the Northwest General, caused a great uproar among the Longcheng garrison.
The scouts of the Longcheng garrison had already sent back news that evening that the heavy troops mobilized by Wu Qingyun, the Northwest General, from the three towns were less than a hundred miles away from Longcheng, with a force of up to 100,000 men.
With the military situation urgent, thirty-six generals of the Polu Army, led by Lieutenant General Pang Xianchu, gathered at the Prince of Jin's residence, awaiting the final decision from His Highness Prince Chen Huai'an.
The anxious generals of the Polu Army tried several times to force their way into the Prince's study to ask for orders, but Pang Xianchu stopped them each time.
It wasn't until Princess Xu Ruoyun, who had fainted, awoke that the generals finally found their leader and knelt down to beg the princess to go to the study to summon the Crown Prince.
The matter was of great importance, and Princess Xu Ruoyun of Jin dared not delay. She immediately forced herself to stay awake and dragged her exhausted body to the study in the main hall, surrounded and supported by a group of maids.
Just as Princess Jin and her entourage arrived at the main hall, they came face to face with Chen Huai'an, who had just come out of the study.
Xu Ruoyun looked at Chen Huai'an, who was clad in armor and holding a golden mace, and couldn't help but take a deep breath, followed by a long sigh.
"Mother, what brings you here?"
Chen Huai'an strode forward and naturally took Xu Ruoyun's hand from the maid's. Then he instructed the guards and servants of the Prince's mansion present, "You may all leave!"
"Yes, Your Highness!"
Soon, all the guards and servants withdrew.
In the vast courtyard of the main hall, only Chen Huai'an and his mother Xu Ruoyun remained.
Xu Ruoyun gently stroked the golden armor on Chen Huai'an's body, her eyes welling up with tears as memories of the past flooded her mind.
This set of golden armor was a dowry given by the Duke's mansion to Xu Ruoyun, the eldest daughter of the former Duke of Xu, when she married General Chen Polu. Twenty-five years ago.
Afterwards, Chen Polu wore this golden armor and fought in over a hundred battles, eventually helping Emperor Zhenwu, Zhao Mang, establish the Great Xin Dynasty.
At the same time, Chen Polu also wore this set of golden armor, fighting countless battles in the yellow sands, stepping over the corpses of enemy soldiers to reach the pinnacle of power, becoming the only one-word king in the Great Xin Dynasty.
It can be said that the golden armor left behind by Chen Polu not only witnessed his love with Xu Ruoyun, but also the rise and fall of the Prince of Jin's mansion.
Seeing these objects brought back memories of the person, and Xu Ruoyun couldn't help but feel sad.
More importantly, she knew very well what it meant for her son, Chen Huai'an, to wear this golden armor and wield the King-Slaying Golden Whip (Golden Mace).
To wield a whip without wearing armor is a form of compromise.
Wearing armor and wielding a whip—it's resistance!
Xu Ruoyun, still unwilling to give up, advised, "Son, stop now. You only have eight thousand Polu soldiers; there's no way you can defeat Zhao Gan!"
"My son, listen to your mother. Return this King-Slaying Golden Whip to Zhao Gan, and I'll risk my reputation to beg in the court. I'm sure I can find a way out for you and the hundred-plus family members of the Prince of Jin's mansion!"
Chen Huai'an just smiled, then leaned close to Xu Ruoyun's ear and whispered a few words.
Upon hearing this, Xu Ruoyun's pale, unadorned face suddenly contorted with a complex expression, switching effortlessly between gloom, shock, and joy.
Within minutes, Xu Ruoyun's still tear-streaked eyes revealed a hint of domineering light as she looked at Chen Huai'an again to confirm what he had just said: "Son, is this really true?"
Chen Huai'an nodded and replied affirmatively, "Absolutely true."
The next second, Xu Ruoyun suddenly shook off Chen Huai'an's hands that were supporting her. Her body, which had become weak from excessive grief over the past few days, seemed to be infused with boundless strength in that instant.
Xu Ruoyun turned her back to Chen Huai'an and said, "Son, don't call me 'Mother' anymore!"
ha?
Chen Huai'an was completely dumbfounded.
Xu Ruoyun continued, "Call her Mother!"
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