Lu Xingshi was soon assigned to the Cangwu Army. It was a cavalry force of three thousand men, personally commanded by the Prince of Wu and serving as his personal guard.
The corresponding expenditure was enormous as well. Aside from each man being assigned two horses, every cavalryman was also equipped with three auxiliary soldiers. Thus, the Cangwu Army actually required the expenditure of twelve thousand men.
Of course, the auxiliary soldiers could not fight. Their duties were feeding horses, maintenance, helping don armor, and so on, so their consumption was not particularly high—not nearly as great as that of the Cangwu cavalry.
After a single day of work, Lu Xingshi had gotten the hang of it. He calculated the Cangwu Army's logistical expenditures and consumption with crystal clarity, then began his pleasant life of slacking off.
That slacking only lasted three days before there was no more chance for it, because the Cangwu Army set out. The Prince of Wu led them personally, and Lu Xingshi, as the Military Accountant, naturally accompanied the army. Every day, he had to regulate all sorts of figures and write reports.
"Recently, the Cangwu Army has actually suffered neither food shortages nor a lack of supplies." The Prince of Wu discovered that this campaign had gone remarkably smoothly, without any issues.
Unlike before, when problems cropped up every so often.
He was skilled at wielding political power, but not particularly adept at military affairs. Thus, even the Cangwu Army sometimes developed flaws.
Yet this time, everything felt exceptionally smooth. His worries at the rear had been completely swept away.
"Reporting to Your Highness, the Military Accountant in the army has been coordinating everything," the Deputy General said.
"A Military Accountant? Where was such a talent recruited from? How can someone like this be left in a lowly position?" The Prince of Wu was rather surprised.
There was no scrambling for merit within the Cangwu Army. After all, they were the Prince of Wu's personal guards, and rewards and punishments were handled quite fairly.
"He came from the Prince of Wu's Estate. It is said that when he heard Your Highness had raised an army to rid the court of treacherous ministers, he volunteered to accompany the army," the Deputy General replied.
Previously, Lu Xingshi had been the first to give the Steward face. Therefore, afterward, the Steward slightly adjusted the circumstances of Lu Xingshi's enlistment, changing it from conscription to volunteering. That sounded much better, so the Deputy General remembered it.
Thus, when the Prince of Wu asked, he was met with this favorable impression.
"A man of such loyalty and righteousness should be made Principal Secretary!" Upon hearing this, the Prince of Wu directly promoted Lu Xingshi.
He was desperately short of personnel. Military officers were manageable—wandering martial artists or suppressed military officials could fill those roles—but clerks were all scholars. They were useful, yet one also had to guard against them.
Who would have thought that even his own estate contained such talent?
"Yes, Your Highness." The Deputy General naturally did not object. If Lu Xingshi took charge of more matters, he would be able to relax considerably. If nothing else, when charging into battle afterward, he would at least have no worries behind him.
After promoting Lu Xingshi to Principal Secretary, the Prince of Wu paid him no further attention. A Principal Secretary was equivalent to an assistant, needed by every position, and there were quite a few of them in the Cangwu Army. Unless Lu Xingshi earned further merits later, he would not catch the Prince of Wu's eye again.
"In this battle, we must first defeat Zeng Ye's Beiliu Army. The enemy..." The Prince of Wu pointed at the map and began laying out the strategy. The Deputy General listened and recorded everything, to relay later as orders.
The entire process lasted nearly four hours before the plan was finalized. Afterward, the other commanders of the Cangwu Army would need to refine it or offer suggestions.
"What a pity. That Golden Crow Divine General Lu Xingshi still has not arrived. With such a fierce general charging into battle, even an army two hundred thousand strong would be nothing more than earthen dogs and clay chickens." After taking a sip of tea to moisten his throat, the Prince of Wu sighed.
Naturally, through the Inner Guard, he had received his father's decree. Aside from the Golden Crow Divine General, the other grandmaster-level figures had mostly arrived, though he had already dispatched them elsewhere.
"This man is indeed valiant. With his strength alone, he drove back the Barbarians and retook Tiange Pass. He is also the disciple of the Yun Zhang Academician."
"Since he has yet to arrive, perhaps he met with an accident on the road," the Deputy General hurriedly said.
This matter had been confirmed. The Prince of Wu had absorbed some of the Prince of Liao's people, including soldiers who had once defended Tiange Pass. However, they had not been assigned to the Cangwu Army. They were infantry, while the Cangwu Army was cavalry—how could the two be mixed together?
"This... is indeed possible." The Prince of Wu's expression shifted slightly at those words.
He was certain that the Golden Crow Divine General Lu Xingshi could not possibly betray them. He had Kunlun in his possession, sent by the Inner Guard at his father's command. It was meant as bait: once Lu Xingshi arrived at the Capital and cleared out the treacherous ministers, Kunlun would be given to him as a means of keeping him in check.
Otherwise, Lu Xingshi was simply too powerful. The Prince of Wu feared he would be unable to control him.
"Could it be that they colluded with the Imperial Awakening Palace?" The Prince of Wu immediately thought of the Imperial Awakening Palace.
As for the True Martial Sect, the Zen Heart Sect, and the others, that was impossible. The two sects, three schools, and Five Veins appeared neutral on the surface, but in truth, they were all his supporters. Beyond those renowned great sects, there were also many Hidden Sects backing him.
It looked as though he was rebelling, but in truth, he was the one who truly stood with imperial authority.
The Imperial Awakening Palace, on the other hand, had become increasingly aloof in recent years. No one knew what was going on with them. They had even stood by and watched as the Emperor was stripped of power.
Therefore, the only force capable of acting and delaying the Golden Crow Divine General's arrival for so long was their own ancestral Imperial Awakening Palace.
The other sects supporting the Prince of Wu also had a purpose: to make the Imperial Awakening Palace lose the protection of imperial authority from that day onward.
That was not impossible. Once the Prince of Wu ascended the throne and took power, after dealing with the ministers at court, the Imperial Awakening Palace would be next on the chopping block.
At that time, the other sects would not only be rid of the Supreme Emperor hanging over their heads, but would also be able to carve up the Imperial Awakening Palace, allowing their own sects to rise another step.
"It is not impossible," the Deputy General said gravely. "Previously, the major sects went to Saibei to support the Prince of Liao. Aside from the Iron Sword Sect, they were all wiped out. Even the Iron Sword Sect suffered grievous casualties."
"Let alone now."
With precedent before them, the Prince of Wu could not help but believe it.
"Send scouts to investigate the Golden Crow Divine General's situation," the Prince of Wu decided.
As the saying went, a thousand soldiers were easy to find, but a single general was hard to come by. In the Prince of Wu's eyes, a ferocious man like Lu Xingshi was an unmatched divine general beneath heaven. Especially since he had come to help him, he absolutely could not be allowed to meet with trouble halfway.
"Yes, Your Highness." The Deputy General accepted the order, then left the tent to issue the strategy and commands.
"If Imperial Brother had not died, the treacherous ministers at court would surely have been purged by now." The Prince of Wu spoke softly. The imperial brother he referred to was naturally the Prince of Liao.
What the Prince of Wu lamented was not that the Prince of Liao had died miserably, but that if the Prince of Liao had not died, this matter would not have fallen to him. As for the Emperor's throne, it was no easy seat to occupy.
Especially since neither their father nor his elder brother, the Crown Prince, had died. Even if he succeeded in Purging the Emperor's Entourage, matters would still become a tangled mess.
Even if the Emperor abdicated and yielded the throne, his elder brother, the Crown Prince, as the heir apparent, would have priority by law—not him, the Prince of Wu.
Once he became a feudal prince, he had naturally lost priority in inheriting the throne. Unless the Crown Prince and every elder brother above him died, only then would it be this Prince of Wu's turn to inherit the throne as the legitimate successor.