Chapter 89

It's no wonder Xu Ren was so shocked, for everything was completely unexpected! At this point, Cai State should have been in a panic, suffering consecutive defeats and losing many soldiers, leaving the country very weak. Fu Minghui didn't need much military wisdom; he just needed to push forward bravely to achieve an unimaginable victory.

After all, these thirty thousand soldiers were the Imperial Guards! Even though the Great Xia State was now corrupt, the Imperial Guards were still the Imperial Guards, and the emperor of the Great Xia State was not completely senile.

However, Xu Ren could never have predicted such a result, such a crushing defeat, with only one in ten surviving.

This crushing defeat also disrupted many of Xu Ren's plans, such as the negotiations with Cai State, securing enough political capital for Li Xian, and Li Xian's commercial dumping plan!

The guard delivering the message slowly recounted the events, as these matters were no longer a secret in the capital, having been widely spread, though the specific details were not clear.

The general situation was that the northern expedition had to pass through the territory controlled by the First Prince, who, now the Crown Prince, was in a precarious position and wanted to win over Fu Minghui. However, Fu Minghui directly rejected the First Prince's overtures. As the head of the emperor's personal guards, Fu Minghui, being the first person by the emperor's side, could not easily take a stance.

At first, the First Prince did not show any reaction, and Fu Minghui did not take it seriously. According to the plan, they requisitioned twenty thousand auxiliary troops, vehicles, and horses from the First Prince, transporting twenty thousand dan of grain northward for the campaign.

Just after entering Cai State's territory, the situation unfolded as Xu Ren had anticipated, advancing like a landslide, covering five hundred li in a day and night, capturing a commandery in a single day, achieving brilliant results. However, when they were preparing breakfast the next day, Fu Minghui was stunned!

The auxiliary troops requisitioned from the First Prince had vanished without a trace overnight, and the twenty thousand dan of grain were all "green food," completely moldy!

Deeply penetrating enemy territory without supplies, the outcome was predictable. Cai State "accidentally" learned of this news and naturally launched a desperate counterattack. In this situation, Fu Minghui had no choice but to break through in a disorganized manner.

However, the Imperial Guards' combat capability was ultimately formidable. Even in such dire straits, more than twenty thousand soldiers managed to break through to the Great Xia State's border. However, at this point, the Great Xia State's border was sealed! The border commander refused to open the gate, citing the reason that he could not allow Cai State's army to enter the country.

Thus, under the Great Xia State's border wall, Fu Minghui and the Imperial Guards were besieged by over a hundred thousand Cai State's irregular troops. In the end, only less than three thousand men managed to climb the wall and escape. Twenty-seven thousand died, but they inflicted nearly fifty thousand casualties on Cai State!

But the most laughable and infuriating part was that the twenty thousand auxiliary troops sent by the First Prince did not run either; they were all captured by Cai State!

"Damn! Absolutely outrageous!" Beichen Yuqing was enraged.

Xu Ren dismissed the guards from the Li residence, slowly turned to look westward, toward the capital Wuyang City of the Great Xia State, and suddenly sighed, "The Great Xia State is finished! This battle has completely squandered the decades of national fortune and breathing room that Li Yulong and Young Master fought for!"

Beichen Yuqing was still trembling with anger, "He is the First Prince, how could he do this! Without the country, he will only be a slave of a fallen nation!"

Xu Ren was not angry but was seriously planning. Suddenly, he smiled, a bit coldly, "Well, this way, I can act more freely. Beichen, now you go and do one thing: spread rumors in Cai State that the Chancellor's two defeats were due to receiving benefits from the Kong family, who ultimately used him."

"The rumors don't need to be too detailed, just a few sentences. Focus on stirring up the families of the dead and wounded soldiers."

"Heh, I was already prepared to do this." Beichen Yuqing immediately turned and left.

Xu Ren continued to look at the western sky for a long time, finally deciding to go to the Qingyun Valley in person.

Li Xian was still in the research room. When the relevant personnel heard that there was a breakthrough in the study of spirit stones, everyone was so excited that they started discussing it enthusiastically.

Hu Juncai, responsible for the smelting of black iron, was the most enthusiastic, "What kind of pressure is needed to compress spirit energy into spirit stones? We have already measured that the atmospheric pressure here is about 100,000 Pascals, equivalent to the pressure of a water column at a height of 10 meters.

"And during the smelting of black iron, we need to use about 100 times the atmospheric pressure. Should we try the equipment used for smelting black iron first?"

"This method is good!" Everyone immediately agreed.

"But how do we collect spirit energy? The amount of spirit energy gathered by the spirit array is really useless!" Someone raised an objection.

"We should create a machine that can collect and compress spirit energy." Everyone had been trained by Li Xian and, when faced with a problem, immediately thought of inventing a machine rather than being at a loss.

"But what kind of machine?" Everyone was at a loss.

Li Xian chuckled, "It's my turn to step in! There is a machine called a compressor. Using a compressor, gas can be compressed to a liquid state. By the way, with a compressor, you also need other pumps. These machines have several structures, including axial flow, centrifugal, and piston types.

"By the way, a centrifuge is a slightly extended version of a compressor.

"The general structure is like this; you can start your research."

After saying this, Li Xian clapped his hands and left, acting as a hands-off manager with great ease.

When Li Xian arrived at the office, Fang Shijing was also there. Li Xian immediately prepared to hold a small technical seminar. However, when everyone gathered, Xu Ren rushed in, looking serious, "Young Master, things have changed! This is a letter from Master."

Li Xian rarely saw Xu Ren so serious and immediately opened the letter, reading it quickly.

"How is this possible! Sir, you take a look." Li Xian handed the letter to Xu Ren. Li Yulong's information was more detailed, even involving many secrets. For example, the border commander was secretly a member of the Wang family! This means that this defeat was not solely the First Prince's responsibility but a collective failure!

"Truly remarkable!" After reading the letter, Xu Ren's expression was strange. The main reason for this defeat was not just the First Prince's fault; the real reason was that the struggle for the crown had entered a white-hot phase!

The emperor favored the young and beautiful Noble Consort Hua, and the Taoist Ge Zhengfeng said that the Crown Prince did not have the destiny to be emperor, so he wanted to establish his youngest son as the Crown Prince.

The Chancellor and his supporters naturally disagreed and strongly supported the First Prince. However, after such an incident, the First Prince was finished. Then, the Chancellor and others, following the rules, prepared to support the Second Prince as the Crown Prince.

Ironically, because Li Xian proposed the slogan of industrial and commercial prosperity, the power of the merchants in the Great Xia State was unprecedentedly strong, and the Second Prince, who had merchant blood, later surpassed the First Prince, completely overshadowing him.

The people were still relatively calm, but the court was already in turmoil, with all the struggles coming to the surface, and a bloody storm was imminent.

The Great Xia State was already in turmoil, and it was now embroiled in the greatest political upheaval, the struggle for the crown! No wonder Xu Ren would describe it as "truly remarkable."

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