Qingzhou.

Pingting County.

Prince Huai led an army of sixty thousand, landed in Qingzhou, and captured it effortlessly.

Yet, not a trace of a smile could be seen on his face; instead, his expression was extremely grim.

The staff officers and generals below were also silent, fearing to evoke Prince Huai's wrath.

There are many reasons to wage war.

For example, limited production capacity leads to unequal resource distribution, making war a means to resolve conflicts.

But the main reason is still to plunder land, population, and resources.

However, now, Prince Huai could be said to have "gained nothing."

It seems like he obtained all the lands of Qingzhou, but the people of Qingzhou were gone.

This is equivalent to getting a vast empty land with no one to create wealth on it, so what's the use of having it?

As for resources, granaries, weapon depots, and treasuries were all empty.

Even the weapons workshops had been destroyed.

Prince Huai hadn't even seen a single copper coin.

Seeing that no one was speaking, Diwu Fusheng couldn't help but step forward and bow his hands: "Prince, in my view, the news of us attacking Qingzhou has likely been leaked in advance.

Otherwise, Qingzhou's people and army, according to our information, over two hundred thousand, along with various military materials, couldn't have been transferred so cleanly on such short notice."

With these words, the implication was clear, and the generals and staff below, to avoid Prince Huai's anger being directed at themselves, began to speak out.

"Not many knew about Prince attacking Qingzhou, and since we have always been together without leaving, the only ones who could leak are General Wei and Liu Ji."

"General Wei is part of the Liang Family, Chen Mo has offended the Liang Family so badly, that even the cultivation of Lord Liang Song was wasted, General Wei definitely wouldn't leak it."

"Liu Ji, it must have been Liu Ji who leaked it."

"..."

Everyone kept talking, but as they talked, they discovered a serious problem.

Why would Liu Ji leak it?

There are only two possibilities: either he was captured and surrendered.

Or he was bribed by Chen Mo and betrayed the Prince.

If this is the case, then the information sent back by Liu Ji, can it be trusted?

Thinking of the worst-case scenario, if Liu Ji really betrayed the Prince, then the Wu Family sending troops is false. If the Wu Family didn't send troops, then Chen Mo, knowing the Prince was going to attack Qingzhou, not only didn't come to support Qingzhou but instead had Qingzhou's military and civilians evacuated, what was his purpose?

"Prince, it's not good, Chen Mo is going to raid Huai State." Diwu Fusheng said in alarm.

After saying it, he too was startled by his own words.

What kind of guts does it take for someone to abandon their hold in Qingzhou and turn to attack someone else's Huai State?

The staff officers and military generals were also startled by this statement from Diwu Fusheng.

Chu Ce said: "Sir's words might be a bit reckless. How many troops does Chen Mo have in total, Qingzhou just relocated so many people, he still has to guard Longyou, the most he can muster is thirty thousand, while Huai State has General Liang Xuan seated there, and an army of fifty thousand, he'd need the courage of a bear and the heart of a leopard to dare attack Huai State."

"I also hope my words are reckless, but it's not without possibility, you all must understand, he has Liu Ji in his hands." Diwu Fusheng said.

This statement from Diwu Fusheng left everyone silent.

Although they felt this possibility was very low, what if, what if Chen Mo really attacked Huai State?

If Huai State meets with disaster, who will bear the blame? Who can afford the responsibility?

Prince Huai's face looked even worse.

Originally he thought he just gained nothing here, which made him a bit angry, but listening to this, how come his own base also felt endangered...

"Fusheng, so what is your suggestion?" Prince Huai asked with a stern face.

"Better safe than sorry, my suggestion is to immediately withdraw and return to Huai State." Diwu Fusheng said.

As soon as he finished speaking, it stirred up a thousand waves, the once quiet crowd began to argue heatedly.

"Return to Huai State? Then capturing Qingzhou was for nothing, giving it back to Chen Mo."

"General Wang is right, in my opinion, since Qingzhou is already taken, we should strike while the iron is hot and attack Yu State, which is Chen Mo's base."

"Great minds think alike. Huai State has General Wei holding the fort, even if Chen Mo attacks Huai State, General Wei can hold it, why not take the opportunity to capture Yu State."

Prince Huai felt tempted, if Chen Mo were indeed attacking Huai State, hearing Qingzhou was attacked, he would certainly return to support, just right to relieve Huai State's siege.

Besides, he also thought General Liang Xuan could hold Huai State, withdrawing now would be like fetching water with a bamboo basket, wasting effort for nothing.

Prince Huai looked at Diwu Fusheng.

Diwu Fusheng could also see Prince Huai's intentions, and immediately started to dissuade: "Prince, it's inadvisable, Yu State is different from Qingzhou, Yu State is mountainous, easy to defend and hard to attack, it's not something that can be taken in a short time."

"But do we give Qingzhou back just like that?" Prince Huai was somewhat unwilling.

Diwu Fusheng proposed a compromise, saying: "Prince, you could have General Chu Ce lead the navy back to aid Huai State, while the remaining troops feign an attack on Yu State, this way we can hold Qingzhou and force Chen Mo to return for support.

If Chen Mo isn't attacking Huai State, then have General Chu Ce lead the navy and General Wei lead Huai State's troops to jointly attack Linzhou, surrounding Chen Mo."

"Good." Hearing this, Prince Huai's eyes lit up.

...

Huainan County.

Chen Mo wasn't solely focused on attacking Huai State, he was also thinking about the affairs behind him.

By this time, Prince Huai's army surely had taken Qingzhou, then seeing Qingzhou empty, they would definitely figure out what had happened.

Thus, in front of Prince Huai, there were only two paths: immediately return to aid Huai State, or attack his Yu State.

Chen Mo felt the likelihood of the second path was very high, after all, in the eyes of the world, he didn't have enough strength to take Huai State.

What lay before him was to prove to the world that he had this strength.

"Wuguan..."

Chen Mo heavily pointed at the position of Wuguan on the map.

Once Wuguan is taken, Huai State would be within easy reach.

When the news spreads, he didn't believe Prince Huai could remain indifferent and not return for support, which would just relieve Yu State's siege.

But to ensure safety, Chen Mo sent someone quickly back to Yu State, asking Zuo Lianglun to move his family to Linzhou first.

Chen Mo summoned Zhao Liang to inquire about the situation of Wuguan.

Now Chen Mo wasn't afraid of Zhao Liang not telling the truth.

Chen Mo's success in capturing Huainan County owed much to Zhao Liang's merit, if Zhao Liang didn't want to be settled with by Prince Huai afterward, he could only rely on Chen Mo.

If Chen Mo survived, so could he.

Chen Mo first asked him how many troops were left at Wuguan.

Zhao Liang replied: "At most ten thousand."

"What about in the North House?"

"Three thousand men." Zhao Liang said.

"The three thousand men in the North House, after hearing Huainan County was seized by us, will certainly retreat to Wuguan, meaning Wuguan will have over ten thousand people." Chen Mo mused.

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