The people who had come to watch the excitement heard Wang Yue's announcement and promptly turned their attention elsewhere. No one cared about Ye Shian's matchmaking anymore. They hurried home, eager to share the earth-shattering news with their friends and family.
Only after everyone had left did it occur to them that Ye Shian's matchmaking event had ended rather abruptly. So who had he chosen?
But before long, no one cared about that question anymore. The next day, Wang Yue suddenly announced the results of the investigation into the assassination attempt: the assassin had come from Yangzhou.
Wang Yue decided to send Great General Wang Shou south with fifty thousand Qingzhou troops and fifty thousand newly retrained Jingzhou troops, and demand an explanation from Yangzhou's Wang Shanquan.
The news sent shockwaves throughout the land.
Prefect Liu of Yangzhou had always been supported by Wang Yue and had occupied eastern Yangzhou. It was perfectly reasonable to assume that Wang Shanquan would send someone to assassinate Wang Yue or Ye Shian.
But everyone knew that Wang Shanquan was already struggling to deal with Prefect Liu alone. Now that the Qingzhou Army was heading south, Wang Shanquan had virtually no chance of survival unless he could find reinforcements.
However, Liu Xingzhi of Yizhou and Fan Xuan of Central Prefecture were fighting over Yongliang Land. Neither side could possibly come to Wang Shanquan's aid, leaving him to face the Qingzhou Army and Prefect Liu's forces alone.
The campaign went about as smoothly as everyone had expected. With the powerful Qingzhou navy at their disposal, Wang Shanquan was unable to stop the Qingzhou Army from advancing south. In less than a month, he had lost Jiujiang Commandery, Lujiang Commandery, and Danyang Commandery. He even lost Yangzhou City.
Wang Shanquan had caused no end of trouble