Martial Valor Hall, its plaque inherited from Prince Ning, was an important place for planning military affairs. Shang Chaozong and Lan Ruoting stood before a map, working through every possible situation they might encounter in the future.
Shang Chaozong now had over a thousand of Prince Ning's former troops under his command, and had recruited another thousand or so new able-bodied men to maintain local order. He lacked no men to train the recruits, someone was handling Canglu County's administration, he occupied terrain that was easy to defend and hard to attack, and he had the backing of the Tianyu Sect and Feng Lingbo. The situation had changed drastically. They now had room to gain a foothold and maneuver, and were beginning to make long-term plans.
As a place of military importance, Martial Valor Hall was not somewhere ordinary people could barge into. Shang Shuqing was clearly an exception and could enter directly without being announced.
After Shang Shuqing explained Niu Youdao's situation, Shang Chaozong said in astonishment, "He postponed his closed-door cultivation because something came up?"
Lan Ruoting, who had been studying the map, slowly turned around as well and asked, "County Princess, did he say why he postponed it?"
"He didn't say, and I didn't ask. You and my brother both know what kind of person he is. If he doesn't want to tell you something, you won't get anything out of him no matter how you ask."
That was true. Shang Chaozong and Lan Ruoting exchanged a look, both wondering what business Niu Youdao could possibly have here.
Surely it was not because of growing vegetables? Recently, Yuan Gang had been leading the Nanshan Temple monks in growing vegetables with great enthusiasm. Shang Shuqing had originally planned to plant flowers and greenery on that patch of empty