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After entering Qi Country's Royal Capital, Lu Chen immediately enacted a series of policies beneficial to the common people.

In addition, since Lu Chen spared even the people of Qi Prince Mansion, the locals quickly came to view the North Prince as a merciful Prince, unwilling to kill the innocent indiscriminately. This also alleviated some of the fear the people of Qi Country had towards Lu Chen.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

However, those Aristocratic Families that had once helped Qi Country resist the Northern Army mostly met with poor fates.

Once Qi Country had stabilized, the armies led by Wei Siyuan and Mu Changtian, each numbering two hundred thousand, also began their advance towards the heartland of Great Sum.

Mu Changtian and Wei Siyuan led the vanguard. Their task was to eliminate the majority of Great Sum's military before Lu Chen would march straight for the Capital city.

Time flew by, and half a month later,

Lu Chen's temporary office.

Lu Chen was reviewing some official documents sent from Yan County when Bai Qingqing's voice sounded at the door.

"Commander Qin requests an audience."

Lu Chen replied indifferently, "Let him in."

Then Qin Yushan entered the room, "Paying respects to the Prince."

Lu Chen nodded and said, "Hmm, any recent intelligence?"

Qin Yushan immediately handed over the intelligence he held to Lu Chen and reported, "Prince Lu Yi's men have discovered the ingredients for making gunpowder and have already begun attempting to produce firearms."

"Moreover, in order not to clash with the Northern Army, Prince Lu Yi has already led his troops to move southward."

Upon hearing this, Lu Chen was taken aback.

Have the people of this world discovered gunpowder so quickly?

Lu Chen regained his composure, thinking that although it had only been a few short years, the firearms of the North Country had already undergone several generations of improvement. It shouldn't be strange that the people of this world had discovered gunpowder.

Lu Chen then opened the letter in his hands and began reading it carefully. The intelligence detailed how Prince Lu Yi had discovered gunpowder.

Seeing that Prince Lu Yi had discovered gunpowder through the alchemical experiments of Fake Taoist Priests, Lu Chen thought to himself that if he had not appeared, even if they had discovered gunpowder, they probably would have only used it for fireworks. Without several hundred years, they likely wouldn't have applied gunpowder to military uses.

But on another note, even if Prince Lu Yi and his group had discovered gunpowder, the gunpowder they could produce would be at best black gunpowder, certainly not as powerful as the firearms of North Country, which had already been upgraded through several generations.

Of course, this was indeed a significant threat; he needed to seize the imperial throne quickly.

Now that Prince Lu Yi had discovered gunpowder, other forces might have done the same. As time passed, other dynasties could potentially possess firearms as well.

Although their firearms wouldn't be as powerful as those of North Country, if other dynasties acquired firearms, it would pose a significant threat to the soldiers of North Country. When North Country prepared to unify the several major dynasties in the future, firearms would inevitably slow down the process.

It would be best to conquer the major dynasties before any of them could invent firearms.

With that thought, Lu Chen picked up his pen and began to write military orders.

Soon, new military orders reached Wei Siyuan and Mu Changtian, and in the following days, they quickened the pace of their offensive.

Meanwhile,

In a city to the south,

Zhao King looked at the intelligence in his hands, his brows furrowed, and he remained silent for a long time.

Standing in front of Zhao King were more than a dozen of his subordinates. One of them spoke up, "My King, now that we are not present, Prince Lu Yi has colluded with the remnants of the Seigniors and occupied the territories we fought hard to win. We cannot let this go unnoticed!" Read latest chapters at empire

No sooner had this subordinate finished speaking than another one added, "Indeed, my King, if we do not take action now, who knows what else Prince Lu Yi will do!"

Zhao King had his own clear objectives, and he didn't value the gain or loss of some lands that much, but his subordinates were different. They had managed to conquer those feudal states with great difficulty, only for Prince Lu Yi to come and occupy those lands.

Putting down the intelligence report in his hand, Zhao King glanced at his subordinates before saying indifferently, "Qi Country has been annihilated, and North Country has dispatched a total of six hundred thousand troops to march south. It won't be long before the Capital city falls. If North Prince manages to break through to the Capital city before me, that position will belong to him."

"Once North Prince becomes Emperor, all of my efforts will have been in vain. If I divide my forces now to contest those few pieces of land with Prince Lu Yi, how can I then contend with North Prince for that position?"

Upon hearing Zhao King's words, his subordinates were momentarily stunned.

At that moment, one of Zhao King's subordinates spoke up, "The King's vision is long-term, his strategies profound, we all admire you!"

Zhao King continued, "We must hurry northward to stop the Northern Army from advancing toward the Capital City!"

"Especially that army advancing from the east of Heyang County."

With that, Zhao King looked up into the distance, his heart filled with a myriad of emotions.

Is this what you wanted!

The war had progressed to such an extent that even if the ultimate unification were achieved and the Sum Emperor's power peaked with no more seigniors within Great Sum, what would fall into the Sum Emperor's hands would still be a shattered Great Sum.

It's uncertain how many years it would take for Great Sum to recover to its pre-war level.

Zhao King felt that the Sum Emperor's actions were somewhat excessive.

However, after all, he stood on the side of the Sum Emperor and wasn't in a position to say much.

Now he could only follow the Sum Emperor's orders to head south as quickly as possible to help the imperial court deal with North Prince, this "last seignior."

Upon receiving Lu Chen's military orders, Mu Changtian and Wei Siyuan hastened their offensive. Initially, the Sum Emperor did not intend to stop them from heading toward the Capital City, so in a very short time, the majority of Great Sum's counties were under the control of North Country.

But the advancement of Mu Changtian and Wei Siyuan was so swift that they were almost reaching the area controlled by the Capital City.

The Emperor realized that Lu Chen was still lingering in the Royal Capital of Qi Country, unmoved, and if he continued to allow the two North Country armies to press on, there was a risk that the Capital City would fall to their four hundred thousand-strong force.

This definitely could not happen. They had to find a way to delay until Lu Chen could move south before allowing them to get near the Capital City. Immediately, the Sum Emperor began to move troops and send generals, and secretly dispatched a letter to Zhao King, instructing him to find a way to delay Mu Changtian's army.

As for the Great Sum imperial court, they turned their attention to dealing with the North Country Navy from the east.

The skirmishes had been minor up until now; the real war was yet to come.

After receiving the letter from the Sum Emperor, Zhao King immediately ordered his troops to move closer to Mu Changtian's army.

At that time, Mu Changtian's two hundred thousand-strong army was still stationed in Jingjiang City for rest and reorganization. With the presence of the Brocade Guard, Mu Changtian was aware of every move made by Zhao King, and he also knew that Zhao King had led a four hundred thousand-strong army close to Jingjiang City.

Even though Zhao King's army was twice the size of theirs, Mu Changtian wasn't panicked in the slightest.

Zhao King and he could be considered old friends by now.

In past years, to help the Sum Emperor seize the throne, they had collaborated multiple times, and Mu Changtian was well aware that Zhao King was the Sum Emperor's man.

Although it appeared that Zhao King had started his rebellion, the fact that he didn't directly attack the Capital City but instead came to intercept the North Country army was enough to see that Zhao King still stood by the Sum Emperor.

At this point, Zhao King did not know who was leading the North Country army he was about to battle. After nearing Jingjiang City, he immediately led his army planning to launch a probing attack, testing the combat strength of the North Country troops.

Zhao King had long heard of the North Country army's formidable strength, and coupled with the Northern Army's achievements in the north, it necessitated his caution.

However, to Zhao King's surprise, just as his forces reached the outskirts of the city, the Northern Army shrank back inside Jingjiang City without launching an attack, which Zhao King found very odd.

Just when Zhao King was about to order his soldiers to initiate the assault, the appearance of Mu Changtian on Jingjiang City's watchtower directly stunned Zhao King.

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