Empress: Your Majesty, please respect yourself, I don't want to be promoted

"Huaiyu."

That day, when Lu Chen was working in Lingyun Mansion, Fu Ya walked in holding a golden talisman.

"Urgent news from the south."

Hearing this, Lu Chen's face suddenly darkened and he put down the document in his hand.

"What happened?"

"Ah."

Fu Hua said in a deep voice: "Ten days ago, King Jiang Yunrang of Chu raised an army of 100,000 in Wuning under the slogan of [clearing the emperor's side, punishing corrupt officials, protecting the integrity, and defending the legal system], and sent out proclamations to all directions. The southeast, south, southwest, and provinces responded one after another. The royal families of the Shu King, Wu King, Yue King, Zhao King, Liang King, and Zhou King all rose up, and most of the garrisons in various places rebelled. The situation in the south has completely deteriorated."

As soon as these words came out, Chai Hongyu and Jiang Chengyue beside Lu Chen both looked tense.

"Really."

Lu Chen pondered.

Although this was expected, after all, this result was doomed from the moment the empress directly ordered the arrest of all princes, nobles, and aristocratic families who were involved in the Xingping incident and took ruthless action against the ruling class of Daxia.

I just didn't expect those people to act so quickly and decisively.

Then he raised his head, looked at Fu Hua, and asked, "How is the Xuanji Guard Station in the rebellious land?"

Fu Hua sighed, "Due to prior preparations, the losses of Xuan Ji Wei were not great. The various branches switched from being open to covert and are still gathering intelligence in various places. However, the transmission array was destroyed, so the transmission of information will be much slower."

"It's good that everyone is fine. It's okay if it's slow. Building an intelligence network is not easy. Please tell the Xuan Ji Guards in various places not to act hastily. They should put their own safety first."

Hearing these words that were very much in Lu Chen's style, Fu Hua could not help but nod helplessly.

"Well, I'll pass on the message when I get back."

Lu Chen then asked: "What is the attitude of the generals in the south towards this rebellion?"

Fu Hua replied solemnly, "Governors Chen Ba of Dianzhou, Xue Shiqing of Mingzhou, and Sima Ning of Xuzhou raised the banner of rebellion. Governor Fu Guang of Bozhou refused the imperial order to mobilize troops on the grounds that the Qiang and Yi people were making unusual movements, and kept his troops in place. Governor Ruan Min of Zhuzhou angrily denounced the rebels and dispatched a large number of troops to garrison Wanshan Pass."

With just a few simple sentences, Lu Chen understood the general situation of the five major pillar countries in the southeast, southwest, south, east and west.

"That is to say, three of the five generals rebelled, and the one closest to the court chose to sit on the fence and wait and see, and was surrounded on three sides. The governor of Zhuzhou, who was farthest from the court, was loyal to the court?"

Fu Hua nodded slightly.

“That’s certainly the case at the moment.”

Lu Chen stood up and walked to the map of Daxia hanging nearby. Looking at the distribution of cities in each province, the topography of mountains and rivers, and the garrison situation before the rebellion, a thoughtful look gradually appeared on his face.

Although his mission was to stabilize the seven central provinces of the empire and ensure the safety of the central and western lines, the northern part was handed over to Gu Simiao, the empress sat in the center, and the southeastern provinces, which were the core areas of the rebellion, were personally led by the invincible Saint King Cangming.

But that doesn't mean he doesn't need to pay attention to the situation in other regions.

Compared with other people, the pressure he faced was actually not that great. After all, although the Bashu area in the west of Daxia and the Baiyue area in the south were vast, their war potential was not very large due to complex terrain, frequent monsters, rebellion of barbarians and other reasons. They were not as good as the highly developed Central Plains region and southeastern provinces.

The essence of the Great Xia Empire has always been in the north, not in the south, in the east, not in the west.

Moreover, the rebel forces were composed of dignitaries who had lost their power, aristocratic families who had sensed the crisis of the new policy, and ambitious royal families. Most of their roots were in the southeast, an area that had long been out of the control of the court.

Therefore, the main battlefield of this rebellion must be in the east. Even if there are other troops directed at the seven provinces under his responsibility, they will not be too strong.

Under this premise, with the presence of Fu Ya and Chai Hongyu, two top-level masters, the Xingping New Army that can compete with cultivators, and the well-trained Qingning Army, there is no need to worry too much about the war even if the garrisons in various places are all destroyed.

If nothing unexpected happens, at least you will have no problem protecting yourself.

As the saying goes, a good warrior will first establish himself in an invincible position before seeking battle. Since there is no problem in self-preservation, then we should consider what we can do with the resources at hand.

What are the resources he has now?
Needless to say, the two states have money, people, and soldiers, which is also his current base, but other than that, it is hard to say. After all, three of the seven provinces have been ravaged by the rebels for many years and were only pacified by the Qingning Army not long ago, and people's livelihood is still in the recovery stage.

The other four provinces were also affected by the anti-army movement. The interests of the powerful naturally did not suffer much, and many even took the opportunity to seize resources and grow stronger, but ordinary people suffered. Therefore, for the current seven provinces, restoring people's livelihood is the most important thing. The people can no longer bear the high-intensity pressure of war.

Of course, as the governor of seven provinces, Lu Chen has the right to forcibly conscript civilians, but being able to do it is one thing, and whether or not to do it is another.

At least he would never give such an order.

"If we don't integrate resources, we'll have to start with those people. But they're not fools. They won't just sit there and wait for death. Unrest is inevitable. Even if we move fast and decisively, we can't solve it completely in a short period of time."

"Relying on Suizhou and Yuzhou alone is a bit stretched in the short term."

Seeing Lu Chen deep in thought over the map, the three women did not dare to disturb him. They just walked quietly to his side and waited for him to speak.

After a while, Lu Chen's gaze stopped at the complex water system that ran through Sui and Yu states.

In other words, it is the area where the Tianmen River Dam was reinforced and repaired when Xiao Yun was the chief water conservancy officer two years ago.

"your Highness."

As if he suddenly thought of something, he suddenly raised his head, looked at Jiang Chengyue beside him, and asked:
"What is the current load of Kaiyuan Cave Heaven under Tianmen River? How many Wanliao Spiritual Ships can it accommodate at one time? How many routes are there? What is the current status of each route?"

Hearing this, Jiang Chengyue was stunned for a moment, a little confused as to why Lu Chen asked this.

She naturally knew about Tianmen River and Kaiyuan Cave Heaven, and she had some understanding of this before coming to Yuzhou.

Yuzhou has not been an ordinary prefecture since ancient times.

You can tell from the name.

The reason why Yuzhou is called Yuzhou is because it is the place where an ancient powerful man named "Yu" sat in meditation.

Legend has it that before Yu passed away, the rivers here were extremely flooded, often causing this vast area to become a swamp and spreading outward at an extremely fast speed.

The people on both sides of the strait suffered terribly, and countless ancestors were drowned in the raging flood.

Yu couldn't bear to see the suffering of all living beings, so he used the spirit of the root as a price, transformed it into a supreme power comparable to the stars, and launched a shocking attack on the area where the flood was most serious. He actually pierced the earth's marrow directly and opened up a cave that just happened to lead to another continent.

That is Kaiyuan Cave Heaven.

Tianmen River got its name from this.

The raging flood that had originally caused a disaster was drained and dispersed by the Kaiyuan Cave, which gradually formed the later Qingning Water System.

Although the Qingjiang and Ningjiang rivers still frequently flood today, they are like a docile kitten compared to the raging floods in ancient times that seemed to be spreading and submerging the entire Central Plains.

Kaiyuan Cave Heaven is the fastest but also the most dangerous passage for the people of Xizhou to reach the inland of the Zhongzhou Dynasty.

After being stunned for a moment, Jiang Chengyue didn't know what Lu Chen wanted to do, but she still told him what she knew:

"About five. There are only two routes now, the Western Route and the Yuanning Route. The Western Route goes directly to the Holy Sword Principality ruled by the Sword Princess in the eastern part of Xizhou. It has the shortest voyage, but because it passes through the West Sea, it is very likely to be attacked by the sea creatures there, so it is also the most dangerous route."

"The Yuanning route is the opposite of the Western route. It goes all the way north, passes through the barren Tiege Mountains after leaving Dongtian, and then goes west after reaching the Yongji Land in the far north. When you see the purple air filling the sky, you go south and finally arrive at the Osco Empire. This is also the main route for the people of Xizhou."

"If the Western Ocean route goes smoothly, it can arrive in two months at most. The Yuanning route takes at least two years one way, and you must arrive at the supply point at a specific time. If you are delayed, you must return. Otherwise, if you force the voyage, you may encounter extreme weather conditions and the ship will be destroyed and people will die. But it is still much safer than the Western Ocean route."

Listening to Jiang Chengyue's leisurely explanation, Chai Hongyu and Fu Ya couldn't help but look at Lu Chen with curiosity.

These two routes don't look like they can be used at all. Why does Lu Chen suddenly care about this?

Could it be that he was planning to organize a caravan to go to Xizhou to load sacks of money? (End of this chapter)