Fengzhou.

Upon receiving the secret letter from Liu Ji sent back from Jiangdong, Prince Huai was overjoyed.

The plan is set; this means the Wu Family will dispatch troops to pin down Chen Mo. In this way, Chen Mo will have to defend Linzhou, unable to spare troops to support Qingzhou, nor have the strength to attack his Huai state.

And he would have enough strength and resources to attack Chen Mo's Qingzhou.

After capturing Qingzhou, he could open the crucial route to the Northern Land, making it possible to either completely eliminate Chen Mo or recover the North.

Therefore, Prince Huai decided not to delay any longer and planned to attack Qingzhou as soon as possible.

He gathered his staff officers and generals in his royal tent for a meeting.

Looking at the people below, Prince Huai first mentioned the secret letter from Liu Ji, saying the plan is set and that the Wu Family agreed to send troops to pin down Chen Mo, and asked how to proceed with attacking Qingzhou.

Upon hearing Prince Huai's words, the crowd below was in shock.

They were all surprised at the Wu Family's willingness to dispatch troops.

Even Diwu Fusheng did not stand up to oppose it because if the Wu Family was truly willing to dispatch troops, capturing Qingzhou and eliminating Chen Mo would indeed not be difficult, tearing up the treaty was no big deal.

However, Diwu Fusheng did not agree with sending troops to attack Qingzhou now.

He suggested that Prince Huai should wait first.

Wait until the Wu Family acts first, then attack Qingzhou. This would be more secure.

After all, before it starts, there are still variables. What if the Wu Family suddenly backs out?

But Prince Huai did not heed Diwu Fusheng's advice and said speed is crucial in warfare. If they wait for the Wu Family to act first, and Chen Mo reacts, they wouldn't have the upper hand.

Seeing that Prince Huai was determined to attack Qingzhou now, Diwu Fusheng suggested again, having a part of the navy retreat to Huai state first.

Last time when attacking Fengzhou, to completely eliminate the Celestial Master Army, Prince Huai had transferred all the navy to blockade the river surface on the north bank of Fengzhou.

Huai state now has no navy. What if Chen Mo, driven to desperation, attacks Huai state...

In the end, Prince Huai again rejected Diwu Fusheng's suggestion.

He said Huai state has over fifty thousand troops left, and Liang Xuan, an Upper Third-Grade Martial Artist, stationed there, defending the city. Even if Chen Mo, driven to desperation, desires to attack Huai state, he could at most deploy thirty thousand troops.

Thinking thirty thousand troops could defeat his Huai state is simply a fool's dream.

...

Jiangdong, inside the cabin of the warship at the banks of Fengling Port.

"Husband, let me rest for a moment."

Wu Mi let out a long sigh, just about to withdraw, but Chen Mo quickly held her waist, saying with unfinished business, "Don't rush out, you can rest like this too."

Wu Mi furrowed her brow slightly, hugged Chen Mo's neck, nodded, enveloped Chen Mo warmly, pursed her lips repeatedly, constantly moisturizing, and after taking a breath, said, "Husband, why aren't we returning to Linzhou, why stop here at Fengling Port?"

"Waiting for someone." Chen Mo looked down at the young girl, gently pushing the millstone and said.

"Waiting for... whom?"

Wu Mi's hair was tousled, her cheeks bursting with layers of blush and a silky sheen of fragrant sweat.

"Waiting for many people, I don't know them either." Chen Mo said.

Her waist was slender, like the tender willow swaying in the breeze, without a trace of fat at her waist.

Wu Mi, being smart, did not ask further. After a moment, she said, "Husband, I'm done."

The river suddenly surged, slapping against the riverbank, causing the warship anchored at the shore to sway and rock.

...

The next afternoon, Chen Mo's awaited people arrived. He then returned to Linzhou with them and the remaining seven thousand or so navy under Wu Yu.

After reaching Linzhou, Chen Mo summoned all the generals in Linzhou to urgently finalize the plan to surprise attack Huai state.

...

June 15th was the date Prince Huai set to attack Qingzhou.

The evening of June 14th, Li Yunzhang and Wen Heng, who stayed in Pingting County, received Chen Mo's message by carrier pigeon.

"Abandon Qingzhou and lead the people to retreat to Yu state?!" Wen Heng was dumbfounded after reading the content of the letter, saying, "Captain Li, could this be a fabricated false message?"

The coal factory, sulfur factory, perfume factory, salt lake, and so on are all in Qingzhou. How can we just abandon them?"

"This pigeon is the Marquis's pigeon, and the letter used the cipher designated by the Marquis. If this was fabricated, then something happened to the Marquis as well. The Marquis is so capable, how could that be? Follow the orders." Li Yunzhang said.

Wen Heng, having surrendered and pledged loyalty, was assigned by Chen Mo as Li Yunzhang's deputy, so naturally, he listened to Li Yunzhang at this moment.

"Captain Li, I will follow your lead." Wen Heng said.

"Wen Heng, send a team quickly to Xia Lin, destroy all the weapon workshops in the city as per the Marquis's orders, and evacuate the people. I'll take the remaining troops to cover the people from the two counties evacuating." Li Yunzhang ordered.

After the devastation caused by the Celestial Master Army in Qingzhou, the population is not much anymore; the main population now concentrates in the three counties of Qingtian, Pingting, and Xia Lin.

Of these, Qingtian and Pingting are the most critical, as most of the families of Divine Courage and Divine Martial Guard officers are in these two counties.

"Understood."

Under the governance of Geng Songfu, the two counties of Qingtian and Pingting have developed exceptionally well, with everything orderly.

Therefore, when Li Yunzhang arrived at Pingting County with troops to announce Chen Mo's orders, within less than a day, the people from the two counties knew about it and immediately started bustling, hurriedly packing big and small bags of belongings.

Zhao Daoxian, serving as the County Magistrate of Pingting County, stepped out to maintain order, saying, "Folks, listen to me: each household only needs to take your own money, food, and livestock, leave the rest if possible. If you carry too much, you won't be able to move quickly, and if Prince Huai's troops come, we won't escape."

Yet very few people listened to Zhao Daoxian, wanting to pack even their pots and pans altogether.

For the simple folks, every thread and needle in the house was bought with their hard-earned money, painstakingly acquired, so how could they bear to throw them away now?

Because of this, Zhao Daoxian could only have Wu Mountain enforce his orders with constables.

The military's task, besides covering the people's retreat, also included transporting the accumulated grain and manufactured weapons and equipment from the two counties, things that must even be evacuated ahead of the people.

Pingting and Qingtian are not located by the riverside in Qingzhou; there are still several days' journey to the riverside, so although it would take some time for Prince Huai's forces to reach these two counties, there wasn't much time left, considering the massive relocation of hundreds of thousands of people proceeded at a snail's pace.

...

On the other side, Shu Residence.

After a long journey, Geng Songfu finally lived up to Chen Mo's expectations and reached the "State City" of Shu Residence—He Capital.

After tidying himself up, Geng Songfu arrived outside the Yang Residence and knocked on the door.

Soon, a servant from the Yang Residence came out to see what was happening.

"Sir, could you please inform them that an old acquaintance is here to see Captain Yang, my humble surname is Geng."

ps: The Princess Consort Huai is coming.

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