“He thinks he can turn black into white with just an imperial edict, as if it were that easy!”
“Let those Buddhist monks stabilize their people and spread the truth. This is the perfect opportunity to undermine the imperial authority and extinguish the Jiang family’s Incense Fire!”
The old man with the cane bit his teeth as he spoke.
Spreading the truth… The woman with purple patterns felt that these two words together seemed somewhat odd.
Nevertheless, she quickly agreed and left with the young man in the black robe.
However, just as they were about to retaliate, suddenly, traces of top-tier demonic forces appeared in various states.
These demonic forces raised their banners high, commanding spirits of mountains and rivers and other demons, bypassing the border towns, infiltrating into the states, and attacking the cities where Buddhist disciples gathered.
“The Buddha Lord is dead, Dayu shall fall!”
“Your Buddha Lord has been slain by our Demon Emperor; surrender at once!”
“Kill, exterminate them all!”
Among these demonic forces were remnants of Gragon Gate, leftovers of the Holy Palace, the Ancient Demon Palace, and the Star Moon Academy, which, like Dayu Hanlin Hall, was widely influential among demons in teachings and fostering demons.
Star Moon Academy had always remained neutral among the demonic forces. Unlike the Great Void Realm, which secluded itself, the Star Moon Academy never involved itself in conflict, not offending Dayu Divine Dynasty and vice versa. But now, they had come down from the mountains to wage war against Dayu.
Leading these invading demons were Great Demons of the Three Immortal Realms, second in status among the top demonic forces only to the elder Demon Kings.
Raising their flags high, they commanded the assault with a formidable force.
As city after city fell to devastation, with the demons’ onslaught, those previous allegations from the high-ranking Buddhists, accusing His Majesty of cronyism, were shattered in an instant.
An imperial decree could only win the trust of the world, but the ravaging demons before their eyes made many Buddhist disciples realize that their Buddha Lord had indeed been killed by demons!
After all, the demons were flagrantly proclaiming it!
They couldn’t help but believe it.
…
In Youzhou, the Xia Family.
Numerous secret reports arrived from various states and cities. In the council hall, Xia Linglong, having received a heart-calming pill from the Eunuch, had returned from the Imperial Palace.
At this moment, the demonic forces were causing chaos everywhere, raising their banners high, seemingly ready to launch a full-scale attack on Dayu, causing widespread fear and panic.
“Was it really the Demon Emperor who struck?”
In the council hall, many from the Xia Family were surprised; they had thought it was the young man who had killed him, not realizing there was more to the story.
Xia Yuanwu and several other elders had a look of shock in their eyes. Their family had done many things for His Majesty, and that Elder sister-in-law was skilled at taming demons. There were some secrets they had only heard through the grapevine and could not reveal.
But now… the current events seemed to validate the rumors they had caught wind of previously.
Xia Linglong was somewhat lost in thought. The heart-calming pill the Eunuch had given her reassured her, but the current situation… Was this the safety net that His Majesty had prepared for the Haotian General?
Her thoughts were interrupted until the discussion below concluded, and someone asked how to deploy troops to deal with the demons invading the cities where Buddhist disciples congregated in Youzhou.
Xia Linglong snapped back to reality, her mind rapidly turning over the situation before finally speaking,
“With the demonic forces causing chaos, we need to be wary of other places. Have the city guards there cooperate with the Buddhist disciples to hold out, send your troops to protect the other cities, and don’t let the demons cause misdirection.”
The crowd was astonished and gave puzzled looks at Xia Linglong.
Not aiding the cities under attack but instead reinforcing other unaffected cities?
The decision seemed odd and unlike the kind of poor strategy Xia Linglong would come up with.
“This…”
Someone hesitated, sparking a dispute.
Before Xia Linglong could speak, Xia Yuanwu glared and said, “Didn’t you hear clearly? Do as the Family Head says. Do you know more or does the Family Head know more?”
Seeing that the elder generation also felt this way, those who had been skeptical fell silent at once, realizing that there must be another reason.
After all, the intelligence they saw was different from what the Family Head had.
And as someone with a military background, he knew that having the right intelligence was having the advantage, and only decisions based on intelligence were the right ones. Otherwise, rushing to help merely on passion might disrupt the upper echelons’ strategy and ruin everything. Find adventures at empire
They had experience in warfare and had heard countless military cases, such as using thousands of soldiers as a bait in a desperate situation, counter-attacking from the city, et cetera, ultimately securing a complete victory.
In war, there were always sacrifices, not just in charging into battle but also in baiting, ambushing, and employing dead soldiers, among other tactics.
Hence the saying goes: the first requirement in the military is obedience!
With no further objections in the council hall, as everyone left to carry out their orders, Xia Linglong exchanged glances with a few uncles and saw the thoughts in each other’s eyes.
Xia Linglong said nothing but went to the deeper part of the Xia Family to meet the old lady living in a farmhouse.
“There are indeed His Majesty’s spies among the demons.”
This old lady, sitting in a rocking chair with a face full of wrinkles, shockingly revealed this secret to Xia Linglong.
She had had a hand in the matter but had not disobeyed the Emperor’s orders, and had never disclosed it even to Xia Linglong, the current Family Head.
It wasn’t that she mistrusted Xia Linglong, but first because the matter was a secret command from the Emperor himself, not to be leaked, and she did not wish to secretly contravene it; second, knowing this would do the Xia Family no good, only harm.
Because when one knows about something, pretending to be ignorant is quite taxing, and the reactions made during the long-term military commands would eventually reveal some flaws.