Chapter 120

Inside the Golden Throne Hall, the officials were indignant.

Especially the military generals, whose eyes were filled with an indescribable look of anger or excitement.

Di Yi governed the country with benevolence and rarely started wars during his reign.

Now that the Dongyi savage witches actually intended to assassinate Yin Qi and provoke internal chaos in Great Shang, Great Shang could not sit idly by, whether in terms of emotion or reason.

Yin Shou clenched his fists secretly, his eyes bright; he seemed to see an opportunity.

He saw the opportunity to defeat Yin Qi and the opportunity to express himself.

Only Yin Qi in the hall frowned slightly, because there were four corpses of black-clad masked men in his storage ring, which had no characteristics of Dongyi savage witches at all, so he was very suspicious of what Di Yi said.

Dongyi savage witches are descendants of mixed-blood human-witches, although their bloodline is already very thin.

But in appearance, there are still obvious differences.

For example, they are generally burly and tall, their facial features are more three-dimensional, and they even have other colors of hair and eyes, which is determined by the bloodline in their bodies.

Of course, those who have such obvious characteristics in hair and eye color are all people with rich Witch Clan bloodlines.

The vast majority of savage witches, except for their tall stature, are not much different from humans.

Of course, it cannot be ruled out that the assassins were trained by savage witches from childhood.

But with the character of savage witches, they advocate force more and inherit the reckless character of the Witch Clan; I'm afraid they can't do the thing of spending ten or twenty years training human assassins.

Since the Dongyi savage witches are not the real culprits, why did Di Yi do this?

There are only two reasons: one is to provide an 'excuse' for the second competition of the struggle for the Crown Prince.

If the name is not right, the words will not be smooth.

Even Di Yi cannot launch a war for no reason, so as not to be criticized; he must have a teacher and a name.

The second is to paralyze the real culprit and reduce the difficulty of investigation.

If there are no accidents, Di Yi still has less than three years of life, so Di Yi must choose a Crown Prince as soon as possible.

And the second military assessment is the one that needs the most time.

Fighting a war is not like disaster relief, taking supplies and rushing directly to the destination.

To fight a war, one must first sacrifice, then prepare various supplies and mobilize troops, and after the preparations are ready, set off for the destination, and the subsequent fighting is even more protracted.

A few months is short, while years or even more than ten years is very common.

Thinking of this, Yin Qi also relaxed his frown.

"Quiet!"

The old eunuch Bing Zhui shouted lightly, and the hall soon became silent.

Di Yi looked around at the officials, full of majesty, and said in a deep voice: "Just as the ministers said, the Dongyi savage witches' hearts are punishable and should be conquered, so I decided to conquer the savage witches, and at the same time, it will also serve as the second assessment for the struggle for the Crown Prince."

The crowd all had an 'as expected' look.

Di Yi continued: "The Dongyi savage witches are divided into nine branches, namely the Fist Intent, Imperial Physician, Fangyi, Huangyi, Baiyi, Chiyi, Xuanyi, Fengyi, and Yang Yi.

Although each Yi is restless, the Chiyi and Fengyi are the most troublesome, often invading vassal states in the east.

This spring hunt riot was caused by the joint efforts of these two Yi.

Yin Qi, Yin Shou!"

"This son is here!"

Yin Qi and Yin Shou stepped out at the same time, bowed and saluted, and responded loudly.

Di Yi said in a deep voice: "Yin Qi, I appoint you as the Great General Conquering the Chiyi, leading 500,000 troops to conquer the Chiyi.

Yin Shou, I appoint you as the Great General Conquering the Fengyi, leading 500,000 troops to conquer the Fengyi.

I will order the Qingzhou Marquis and the Dongbo Marquis to send troops to assist you.

With one year as the limit.

Whoever has the greatest battle results wins.

In addition, to avoid you being greedy for merit and advancing rashly.

Whoever loses more than half of their troops will directly lose their qualification as Crown Prince; have you heard clearly?"

"This son understands!"

Yin Qi and Yin Shou both felt a chill in their hearts.

Di Yi's last sentence was simply a tight hoop spell.

The Dongyi were not weak to begin with, and with a one-year period to conquer the Chiyi and Fengyi, Di Yi had never thought of wiping them out in one battle.

This is very unrealistic; his purpose was just to assess Yin Qi and Yin Shou.

In this situation, he naturally wanted to avoid the two of them being greedy for merit and advancing rashly, leading to defeat.

Di Yi nodded slowly: "Troops, horses, and food supplies have already been prepared. After the sacrifice tomorrow, you can set off. Remember, although the struggle for the Crown Prince is important, your safety is even more important; you must not be greedy for merit and advance rashly."

Yin Qi and Yin Shou nodded one after another: "Yes, Father."

"Hmm, dismiss the court!"

Di Yi said, stood up, waved his long sleeves, and turned to leave.

The officials saluted: "Respectfully send off the Great King!"

Following Di Yi's departure, everyone also exited the Golden Throne Hall one after another.

Yin Shou walked side by side with Yin Qi; his expression was arrogant, and his words were full of confidence: "Imperial Brother, this time conquering the Dongyi, I will definitely not lose to you."

Yin Qi had a gentle smile on his face: "I am looking forward to the Imperial Brother's performance."

Yin Shou nodded faintly and accelerated his pace to leave.

Prince Qi's Mansion.

Just returning to the Prince's Mansion, Yin Qi let Zhou Jian notify Zhang Shaokang and others to come for a meeting.

Main hall.

Yin Qi sat high at the head, and the hall was full of people on both sides; on the left were Zhang Shaokang, Zhou Jian, Ding Ce, Guo Chen, Dong Zhong, Zhao Kun, Bai Feng, Xiao Yun, Yuan Chao, and the eight Heaven Realm powerhouses;

On the right were the three family retainers Kou Feng, Zishi, and Yao Chen, as well as Ma Benqi, Sun Hao, Lu Fei, and Gongsun Shu.

Yin Qi's expression was cold, and he said in a deep voice: "I think everyone also knows that the Great King decided to conquer the Dongyi, and at the same time ordered Yin Shou and me to each lead an army to attack the Chiyi and Fengyi as the second assessment.

After the sacrifice tomorrow, we will set off immediately.

Therefore, we must make preparations today."

Zhang Shaokang and the others revealed looks of excitement upon hearing this.

The second assessment had finally arrived.

If they could win this assessment, then the Prince could lock in the position of Crown Prince in advance.

Yin Qi looked around at everyone and continued: "Kou Feng and Zhou Jian, you stay behind to guard the Prince's Mansion, one civil and one military to handle the affairs of the Prince's Mansion well. Zhang Shaokang, Ding Ce, Guo Chen, Dong Zhong, Zhao Kun, Bai Feng, Xiao Yun, Yuan Chao, Zishi, Yao Chen, you follow me on the expedition.

Ma Benqi, Sun Hao, Gongsun Shu, you also stay in the Prince's Mansion to complete the tasks I have entrusted to you.

Lu Fei, you follow me on the expedition; you are proficient in array formations, so there should be a place for you to make contributions."

"Yes, Your Highness!"

Those who were named to go on the expedition were naturally beaming with joy.

Not only could they follow by Yin Qi's side and increase their friendship with each other, but they could also have the opportunity to make contributions, which could be described as killing two birds with one stone.

Although Kou Feng, Zhou Jian, and others were somewhat disappointed, except for Zhou Jian, they were actually not suitable for the expedition, so it was better to stay behind to guard the Prince's Mansion, and after the Prince returned, he wouldn't treat them unfairly.

Yin Qi looked at Ding Ce and asked: "How many people have the Jiaolong Guards increased to now?"

According to Great Shang regulations, a prince can have a direct guard of one thousand people.

Previously, Yin Qi didn't care much, so the Jiaolong Guards only had three hundred, but after returning from Hongzhou, he appointed Ding Ce as the commander of the Jiaolong Guards, letting him fill the quota of the Jiaolong Guards.

Ding Ce stood up and bowed: "Your Highness, because the time was a bit short, the Jiaolong Guards only increased to five hundred people."

The minimum selection standard for the Jiaolong Guards is the Earth Realm; looking at the Great Shang Celestial Dynasty, every Earth Realm person is an expert who can make a name for themselves in one area, so it is not so easy to recruit.

Of course, there are many people in the Great Shang Celestial Dynasty, and there are countless martial arts experts.

Wanting to recruit one thousand people, the difficulty is actually not very great, it's just that it's difficult to do it in a short time.

Although the Jiaolong Guards are registered under the Heavenly Strategy Mansion, they are actually directly under Yin Qi; they don't need to earn merit points, and all cultivation resources are provided by the Prince's Mansion.