"If that's the case, I'm afraid the emperor will be even more wary of you, Your Highness!"
A cold glint flashed in Wang Ziwen's eyes as he spoke in a grave voice.
He had his grievances against Emperor Li Anlan. The Great Ning Dynasty might be powerful, but they had conquered Northern Liang themselves. If they hadn't wanted fewer people to die back then, who knew whose hands the realm would have ended up in?
Now that the realm had only just settled down, Northern Liang was already an eyesore to the emperor. He was far too coldhearted and ungrateful, with no capacity to tolerate others.
To put it bluntly, he was a bully who only threw his weight around at home. If he had any guts, why didn't he go conquer the barbarians of the Northern Region? Instead, he resorted to schemes against his own subjects. He didn't have the bearing of an enlightened ruler in the slightest.
Lin Rusong shook his head and sneered. "As long as Northern Liang exists, Li Anlan will never set his mind at ease about us, so it doesn't matter how wary he is. As long as Northern Liang remains strong, there's nothing he can do to us."
Before, he had worried that once he grew old and the soldiers under his command could no longer fight, Northern Liang would be impossible to hold.
But now his son had given him such a huge surprise that Northern Liang would not perish in the future either. As for how far it could go, that depended on Lin Yi's own choices.
"An emperor like that is a joke. If your wife hadn't died at the hands of the Northern Region barbarians, you should have agreed to their request last time and let Li Anlan regret it," Wang Ziwen said, his face dark.
In fact, the Northern Region barbarians had offered a high price last time, intending to grant Lin Rusong the title of prince with a single-character title, putting him on equal footing with their own ruler.
All Northern Liang had to do was join them in attacking the Great Ning Dynasty, and they could share the realm with the barbarians. Lin Rusong had turned them down, however.
How could he forget a blood feud as deep as the sea? Even if he ruled the realm, he would find no peace in sleep or food.
Lin Rusong smiled. "Northern Liang is secure now. It remains to be seen whether Yi'er can succeed in building up Xiliang. If he really succeeds, what's wrong with me, his father, lending him a hand?"
Once Xiliang succeeded, the combined strength of Xiliang and Northern Liang would be enough to contend with any nation.
In the end, it wasn't he who had wronged the Central Plains, but the emperor who was too heartless.
"It won't be easy. The situation in Xiliang is chaotic right now, and all sorts of people are mixed together there, dragons and snakes alike. If he wants to build up Xiliang Commandery, he'll have to take it slowly," Wang Ziwen sighed.
He knew what Xiliang Commandery had been like before. It was precisely because things were so complicated that Northern Liang had abandoned its efforts to govern the place, holding it in name alone.
Forces from all sides had gathered there, and the local natives had banded together. Unless they killed everyone, it would be exceedingly difficult to resolve the situation.
"Report!!!"
Just then, a guard's voice rang out from outside, immediately alerting the two men.
"Greetings, Your Highness!"
Seeing the newcomer, Lin Rusong frowned slightly. This was the man he had stationed in Xiliang Commandery to keep an eye on his son. It seemed something had happened there.
"What happened to make you so anxious?"
"Your Highness, word has arrived that the heir deployed his troops and swept through more than thirty bandit strongholds within a hundred li of White Monkey County. He slaughtered so many that the light of blood soared into the sky over Xiliang Commandery!" the man reported, his face full of shock.
What?
Wang Ziwen's pupils contracted. He had just been saying they needed to take things slowly, but the heir had gone straight on a killing spree. What was going on?
Didn't that mean the heir had offended everyone before he had even arrived to take up his post?
Lin Rusong couldn't help frowning as well. He said gravely, "Why is that brat acting so recklessly? Xu Zhong isn't in Xiliang to protect him. By going on a killing spree, won't he make everyone join forces against him?"
That move was most unwise!
He could kill as he pleased in Northern Liang City because Northern Liang was strong enough to suppress every faction. But the forces Lin Rusong had left in Xiliang Commandery were limited; acting this way was truly somewhat rash.
He asked, "How have the three great clans of Xiliang Commandery reacted?"
"Quite a few factions in Xiliang Commandery had already banded together, apparently to target the heir. But now that this news has spread, I'm afraid they'll lose control."
Lin Rusong nodded slightly.
He understood why the man said they would lose control. After all, his son's methods were far too forceful. Before he had even begun, he had charged in and started killing.
Such a forceful style would not only offend the people behind those strongholds, but also make everyone fear for their own safety.
Wait!
Something wasn't right. More than thirty bandit lairs meant at least ten thousand men.
How had his son managed it with just over a thousand men? Something was off.
Wang Ziwen, meanwhile, was too worried to think straight. Frowning, he said, "In my opinion, we should send Xu Zhong over to keep an eye on him. Otherwise, I'm afraid those twenty thousand men alone won't be enough to protect the heir!"
The heir was far too fierce. Couldn't he at least slow down and kill them one at a time?
Going on a killing spree before he had even taken up his post was bound to provoke a backlash from those factions. They would treat him as their common enemy.
Lin Rusong shook his head and said gravely, "If he wants to transform into a worthy heir to Northern Liang, he must get through this trial. If he has to rely on me for everything, then I'd rather Yi'er simply be an ordinary man!"
There were positions that, once you rose to them, doomed you to anything but an ordinary life. Otherwise, it was a sin.
Since he had already shown himself to be extraordinary, then he should amaze the world with a single feat!
"Yi Yun!"
"At your service!"
A figure emerged from the shadows. It was none other than Yi Yun, the grand commander of the Northern Liang Guard, the man in charge of the entire organization. He was also Lin Rusong's most trusted confidant, a man known as the shadow.
Lin Rusong looked at him and gave him solemn instructions. "I want you stationed in Xiliang Commandery. Unless the heir finds himself in a situation where death is certain, you don't need to intervene. Just report news of him to me promptly!"
"As you command!"
Yi Yun nodded and accepted the task on the spot.
Seeing him take the assignment, Wang Ziwen breathed a sigh of relief. With the grand commander of the Northern Liang Guard protecting him, the heir would be safe.
After Yi Yun left, Lin Rusong, the Prince of Northern Liang, couldn't help sighing. "My son is a bit arrogant. Even I wouldn't dare do something like that. But with Yi Yun and that person there, they should be able to keep him safe!"
"That person?" Wang Ziwen froze for a moment, then his face lit up.
"Have you heard? The heir of Northern Liang swept through more than thirty strongholds! He's killed all the mountain bandits and robbers now!"
"Is that true? Wasn't the heir supposed to still be on the road? How has he already started wiping out bandits?"
"I don't know whether the heir took action himself, but the ones who wiped out those strongholds were the legendary Xiliang Iron Cavalry. They're the heir's private force. Do you think anyone else could command them?"
"The heir is truly a wonderful man. He killed those damned mountain bandits, and now common folk like us are much safer."
News that the heir, Lin Yi, had swept through more than thirty strongholds quickly spread throughout Xiliang Commandery, causing an uproar among its people, followed by earthshaking cheers.
The people of Xiliang had suffered under the mountain bandits for a long time.
The common folk scrambled to celebrate, wishing they could kneel before the heir, Lin Yi.
In the eyes of the common people, the heir's killing spree was not a massacre of innocents. On the contrary, he had rid them of a scourge, greatly improving their opinion of the heir they had never met.
But the others could not accept it.
The people who had been preparing to join forces against Lin Yi were also struck as if by lightning. What was wrong with this heir? Why had he started killing without a word?