At the crucial moment when the old king of the Purple River Kingdom passed away and the First Prince and First Princess were about to enter a subspace to "vie for the throne,"
the First Princess, who had suffered a severe loss of strength after Wang Dong had taken half her personal fleet, realized that her chances of winning the contest had become vanishingly small.
In the end, she chose to withdraw from the struggle.
Thus, the First Prince of the Purple River Kingdom ascended the throne and became the new king.
The Purple River Kingdom's policies began shifting toward the dovish side.
Accordingly, its support for its proxy forces within the New Song Kingdom fell sharply.
It did not abandon them outright, but it shifted from "invest heavily and secure victory" to "invest moderately and see how things develop."
On top of that, the truth about the Purple River Kingdom's Third Prince conspiring with the Mechanical God Cult came to light. He was quickly placed under house arrest and kept under control.
The Purple River Kingdom's proxy forces within the New Song Kingdom, which had previously maintained a degree of "understanding" with the Mechanical God Cult's faction, soon drew a clear line between themselves.
As a result, during the stalemate and attrition phase, the Purple River Kingdom's proxy forces within the New Song Kingdom suddenly began to fall behind.
At a time like this, it was already like rowing upstream. The moment you faltered, others would rush in and take a bite out of you!
The Purple River Kingdom's proxy forces within the New Song Kingdom soon found themselves in crisis.
If only one faction had run into trouble, the remaining three could simply have divided up its territory; the overall situation would not have been thrown into turmoil.