Chapter 146: Games of Strategy

"What is it?"

Hu Xi'er looked curiously at Liu Zheng, who was sitting across from her, hesitating over his move.

Those pure, large eyes blinked and flickered, exceptionally moving.

At this moment, she actually understood why her father had sent her over. It was not to have her directly confront the world-renowned Zhang Xiao, but to have her facilitate Liu Zheng's growth.

Board after board of chess games extended in Liu Zheng's mind.

His train of thought suddenly became much clearer; that intricate, tangled web of relationships, once unraveled, gradually became distinct.

Liu Zheng chuckled: "We still forgot the most important existence."

Hu Xi'er's delicate body trembled: "The Taishoufu?"

Liu Zheng nodded with a smile.

This was Baiya Prefecture, after all!

Although the presence of the Taishoufu was not strong, it was still the Taishoufu! A genuine, authentic Taishoufu! In the Longyan Dynasty, there was the imperial family, there were Feudatory Kings, and there were scholar-official Powerful Clans. Although the situation in Baiya was special, it was indeed rare for such martial arts figures to occupy a piece of territory.

But the general environment was as such!

The entire Longyan Dynasty could not escape the control of these few forces!

Let alone a mere Baiya?

"So that's how it is, so that's how it is!"

Liu Zheng laughed heartily; he finally felt he had realized it!

Hu Xi'er was even more puzzled: "What exactly is going on?"

Liu Zheng sighed: "The gentleman is truly a master; Liu Zheng is inferior!"

Now he was truly having a moment of sudden enlightenment.

In reality, the entire conflict in Baiya Prefecture did not lie on the surface, but behind it! One could even say that the Baiya Army—a group that was very special for this era and should not have appeared—must have been deliberately created by someone behind the scenes.

What did that mean? It meant that regardless of what the internal state of the Baiya Army was like.

No matter how powerful the Baiya Army was, how much it won the hearts of the people, or how many resources it controlled.

They were still chess pieces!

Chess pieces for those people behind the scenes!

Regardless of whether it was the Great Leader, the Second Leader, or the Third Leader, what they represented were, in themselves, some massive interest groups behind them.

They were merely puppets being manipulated by others, that was all.

They were even just puppets in the eyes of Wang Chengjiang of the Taishoufu, that was all.

If Liu Zheng had previously admired the Baiya Army immensely, he had now been in Baiya for so long that he could clearly see that no matter how the Baiya Army developed, it could never threaten the imperial court.

Since it could not threaten them.

Then you are a chess piece!

Liu Zheng took a deep breath, a faint smile appearing on his face.

The imperial family, the Prince of Wei, the scholar-official class...

As it currently appeared, as long as he clarified these three aspects and then connected them to the struggle between the Crown Prince and the Third Prince, then the contradictions and the entire truth of Baiya Prefecture would be revealed.

Baiya Taishoufu.

Still in that boudoir in the backyard.

Zhang Chengjiang stood obediently outside the door.

"How is that variable?"

The cold, clear voice sounded once again.

Zhang Chengjiang said ingratiatingly: "He hasn't made any moves these past few days, just promoting his Yinzhou Chamber of Commerce. Xiao'er, Father thinks..."

"Go and prepare. No matter what, the Baiya Army cannot be left this time."

Zhang Chengjiang was overjoyed to hear this; how long had he waited for this day!

In order to resist the powerful Baiya Army, he had been lying low for decades!

Today, he had finally waited for it!

He knelt down in excitement.

"Your subject, kowtows in gratitude..."

"Leave!"

Far away in Jinghua.

Secret report after secret report from the Secret Guard was delivered into the hands of the old Emperor, Xie Tianyao.

At this moment.

A chessboard was also placed in front of him.

But he was playing alone.

A pot of wine was warming nearby, and he occasionally sipped a cup.

Even the head of the Secret Guard was not by his side, which made Xie Tianyao feel that he had truly become the lonely man of this world.

"Your Majesty, the Empress has arrived..."

The young eunuch in charge of warming the wine said with lowered eyes and a submissive expression.

Xie Tianyao sneered: "What is she here for? Tell her to go back!"

"Yes!"

The young eunuch ran out with small, hurried steps.

The Emperor chuckled and said, "Zheng Fu, oh Zheng Fu, all these years, I have given you chances."

"But you cannot even take a mere Liangzhou..."

"How can Ling'er hope to inherit the throne?"

"I even tacitly allowed the existence of that Baiya Army, and your attempts to collude with the Feudatory King of Wei to support Ling'er... yet you are still a pile of mud that cannot be plastered onto a wall!"

The Emperor laughed quite heartily.

"Hahahaha, in the end, after all this playing around, you will only end up trapping yourself!"

"Hahahaha..."

However, the more he laughed, the more desolate he felt.

Looking across the entire Longyan Dynasty.

The Crown Prince is incompetent, and the Third Prince is merely a superficial show-off, yet these two are already the most outstanding among all the princes... If things continue this way, who can truly inherit the throne?

He did not believe a word of the nonsense about "ten thousand years, ten thousand years, ten thousand ten thousand years."

He suddenly felt that the Longyan Dynasty was truly getting worse with each passing generation...

Just two days before the official start of the War Horse Fair, the Imperial Envoy Grand Eunuch Zhou, the Crown Prince, the Third Prince, Chen Ping, and Zheng Yuxing finally arrived at Baiya.

The Prefect of Baiya, Zhang Chengjiang, had long since prepared a grand honor guard to welcome the arrival of the Imperial Envoy.

Yang Ke also followed behind, and accompanying them was Liu Zheng, who had been explicitly named by the Imperial Envoy's messenger.

The arrival of this formation meant that outside the walls of Baiya City, there were several more large armies. Zheng Yuxing's border defense army was guarding the frontier, and Chen Ping had left behind his thirty thousand men, so the large army Chen Ping brought still numbered sixty thousand. Adding the Third Prince's fifty thousand troops, there were already one hundred and forty thousand soldiers gathered outside Baiya City!

At a single glance, it was a vast expanse of nothing but military camps.

It gave one an intangible sense of pressure.

It also seemed to portend that the coming struggle in Baiya City would be extremely intense.

Zhang Chengjiang did not dare to be the least bit negligent; he led a group of people to kneel on the ground, shouting loudly to welcome the Imperial Envoy and receive the Imperial Will!

The carriage of the Imperial Envoy, Grand Eunuch Zhou, slowly rolled up. Seeing such a formation, he smiled with satisfaction, stepped out of the Horse Carriage, and looked down at the kneeling Zhang Chengjiang with a sidelong glance: "Prefect of Baiya, Zhang Chengjiang, listen to the decree!"

Zhang Chengjiang was extremely agitated.

"This subject is here!"

"By the grace of the Emperor, the decree says: The Prefect of Baiya, Zhang Chengjiang, for this resistance against the Xiongnu, the supply of War Horses, and the arduous struggle, has rendered great service..."

"Promoted to ten thousand households, State Marquis, and the rank of Inspector!"

Zhang Chengjiang was moved to tears and excitedly accepted the decree to express his gratitude.

Chen Ping remained expressionless.

After all, he was also a man of merit in this resistance against the Xiongnu, and relying on this great achievement, he had already been promoted to the rank of Prefectural Governor! So even if Zhang Chengjiang became an Inspector, he still held the highest official rank in Liangzhou.

"Is Prefect Liu present?"

After reading the appointment for Zhang Chengjiang, Grand Eunuch Zhou finally looked indifferent, scanned the crowd, and searched among them for the young man who had become famous throughout the world for this great battle.

Liu Zheng took a deep breath, stepped forward, and knelt on the ground: "Liu Zheng of Yinzhou, here to listen to the Imperial Will!"

Swish, swish, swish.

Grand Eunuch Zhou looked at Liu Zheng, and his face, which had been stern the whole time, finally revealed a hint of a smile; he actually bent down and used both hands to gesture for him to rise: "Good, good, good, what a fine Prefect Liu! Raise your head, raise your head, let me take a look!"

Such enthusiasm startled everyone else.

Liu Zheng was also confused and suddenly felt his sphincter tighten.

Could it be that this old eunuch had some special predilection?