This star-chart silk wouldn't... riiip~
The Cangwu Army retreated swiftly, shrinking back into Jiangnan once more. As for the other troops, they had been smashed into scattered remnants by the Imperial Court's army. Fewer than one in ten successfully withdrew to Jiangnan. After this battle, not only had Prince of Wu's forces failed to turn the tables, they now bore the air of a setting sun.
Naturally, Prince of Wu began reviewing this defeat. Before long, he found a lead.
Someone had betrayed him. Then, like pulling up a radish and dragging out the mud, the investigation unearthed one thread after another. Prince of Wu had truly been enraged this time. Anyone even remotely connected was stripped of their property and exterminated, stirring up a bloody storm across Jiangnan.
Few of those who died had been innocent. They were all local Powerful Clans, with people serving as officials in the Imperial Court while secretly maintaining ties on both sides. That was how they had been caught by the tail.
Yet it was precisely because of this that Prince of Wu was scorned by the scholars. Many scholars who had once joined him left in succession, leaving vacancies throughout his administration.
This infuriated Prince of Wu even more. He directly began punishing entire families by association—if one was involved, all were killed. His slaughter nearly withered Jiangnan's former prosperity away.
Prince of Wu's reputation in Jiangnan also plummeted in a straight line. Naturally, certain people were unwilling to be outdone and retaliated against him through a campaign of public opinion.
At first, Lu Xingshi could understand it. Prince of Wu had just broken out of a deadlock and was preparing to make a grand move, only to be betrayed right afterward and suffer the annihilation of his entire army. With no