"Things have come to this, so let us move past it for now."
Xu Yuan refrained from beating the dead horse of Li Junwu's foolish choice, instead saying in a quiet voice, "Though your choice was exceedingly risky, there is no denying that it helped us root out some hidden internal dangers."
Li Junwu was still somewhat indignant, but she adjusted her composure quickly and followed his lead:
"Do you mean the generals who stood by and watched me attempt suicide?"
Xu Yuan's eyes narrowed slightly. Leaning against the edge of the desk, his gaze fixed on the calligraphy hanging on the side wall, he murmured faintly, "Killing you is one of their ultimate objectives. The spies inside your Zhenxi Manor would naturally love nothing more than to see you dead."
Hearing this, Li Junwu pursed her lips gently.
"You mean to say all the generals who stood by with folded hands are traitors?"
Xu Yuan shook his head. "Not necessarily all of them. Failing to step in and save you doesn't automatically make them traitors. Some might simply not have reacted in time, while others might genuinely be loyal to Zhenxi Manor but harbor resentment toward you, causing them to hesitate at that split second."
With that, Xu Yuan glanced with a gentle expression at her seated in the high seat.
"To us, Zhan Xian'an is a traitor, but to the generals under his command, he was an elder brother who braved life and death with them for years. It is only human nature that they cannot accept such a reversal of identity in so short a time."
Li Junwu knitted her willow-leaf brows and said in dissatisfaction, "Can't you just get straight to the conclusion?"
"See? There you go again. Just because I'm analyzing things for you doesn't mean you can turn off your brain."
"My old man has plenty of strategists around him too. Most of the time, he just judges whether they are right or wrong."
"..."
Xu Yuan was rendered speechless for a moment. Letting out a soft sigh, he chuckled. "Reverse the traits I just mentioned: someone whose overt relationship with Zhan Xian'an was not particularly close, and who possessed enough strength to react in time and stop you from committing suicide. Anyone who fits both traits is very likely a traitor in your Zhenxi Manor."
Li Junwu narrowed her eyes. "You're saying Lu Baizou is also a traitor? He's a veteran who went through the Dachao Turmoil alongside my father, and he already has one foot in the grave. What could he possibly gain by betraying Zhenxi Manor?"
Xu Yuan nodded and said softly, "There are countless reasons to choose betrayal. It could be family, personal greed, or perhaps uneven division of the spoils after your father rose to power, leaving him dissatisfied with his current rank."
As he spoke, Xu Yuan casually pulled out a dossier from the stack on the desk, opened it, and murmured, "I looked over his record earlier. Given Lu Baizou's decades of achievements, he truly does deserve the post of commander of a division."
Hearing this, Li Junwu grew somewhat dejected. "So my father failed to reward him according to his merits?"
*Thwack!*
Xu Yuan raised a hand and rapped Li Junwu right on the crown of her head, snapping exasperatedly, "Rather than looking for faults in yourself, blame others more. You'll live a much happier life that way."
"What kind of twisted logic is that?"
"I mean you should look at things from your own perspective. There isn't that much fairness in this world. For many things, your father didn't have a choice either."
Li Junwu rubbed her head. She raised a hand to strike him back, but stopped herself, feeling it would be too childish. "What do you mean?"
"My Chancellor's Manor was able to rise in large part because it swallowed up the Long family and my mother's clan. You don't actually believe Zhenxi Manor grew to its current scale purely through your father building it up step-by-step, do you?"
After entering the prefectural yamen and inspecting the secret archives of Li Junwu's family, Xu Yuan had discovered that the root of Zhenxi Marquis Manor's troubles had been planted back during the Dachao Turmoil. It was not just the Mu Family Chamber of Commerce, but also the remnants of sects that had been destroyed.
Xu Yuan spoke in a measured voice, a faint, elusive sigh lacing his tone: "When the sects in Xize Province collapsed, your father absorbed the remnants of those factions. Those people backed your father, providing money, grain, and manpower for Zhenxi Manor, so naturally they expected returns."
The Chancellor's Manor had brought every faction it absorbed thoroughly under control; the Prime Minister's Manor was an autocratic realm ruled solely by Xu Yinhe.
Yet the Marquis of Zhenxi's Manor, having started out by the same means, seemed to have been swept along a different path against its will.
While the Marquis of Zhenxi lived, he could still rely on his own prestige and the direct confidants he had personally raised to suppress those beneath him. But once the marquis and that old cohort passed away, what would be left to Li Junwu was a Zhenxi Marquis Manor whose authority was already riddled with holes.
This was likely one of the reasons the Marquis of Zhenxi had always been reluctant to let Li Junwu take over.
Li Junwu caught Xu Yuan's drift, yet she did not show much dismay. Instead, she chuckled softly: "Looks like my family's situation is even more troublesome than I expected."
Xu Yuan met her eyes for a moment and said in a low voice, "Still, it's not as though there is no solution."
Li Junwu raised an eyebrow, her eyes curving. "What solution?"
"If you want to keep it simple, let my Chancellor's Manor step in to help and carry out a direct purge."
"And then my Zhenxi Manor becomes a vassal to your family, right?"
"Tsk, saw right through me, did you?"
"..." Li Junwu fell silent.
Xu Yuan smiled faintly, then turned serious. "Just a joke. In truth, I really don't recommend relying on the Chancellor's Manor to overhaul Zhenxi Manor from within. If you actually did, your family's fate would most likely mirror that of the Long family. The best option is still to play the game of political maneuvering yourself—co-opting and suppressing, forming vertical and horizontal alliances."
"Is there any need to make it that troublesome?"
"Hm?"
"Isn't this assault on the city by the six Saints our best opportunity?"
"Since when did you get this smart?"
"..." Li Junwu stared at him.
Rolling her eyes, too tired to bicker with him, Li Junwu gave a soft huff and said, "Still, the premise to all of this is that we hold the city first. How do you think we should handle Lu Baizou?"
Returning to the main topic, Xu Yuan answered in a low voice without hesitation: "We no longer have any excuse to move against him right now. If we execute him by force, the fallout could be even greater—in the worst case, it could spark a mutiny."
Li Junwu said in a low voice, "I know that, of course. So what should we do?"
Xu Yuan furrowed his brows in slight contemplation, then said: "Lu Baizou's biggest threat is actually the Xuanting Army under his command. According to your Zhenxi Army's military system, unless you continuously channel your cultivation to seize control of the military array's power, any ill intent on his part could allow him to coordinate with the Saints outside at any moment."
Having reached this point, Xu Yuan's eyes suddenly flashed, and he chuckled. "Promote him on paper while stripping his power in secret. An army cannot go a day without a commander. Use your status as commandery princess to appoint him provisional commander of the Second Division, tethering the man to your side. That way, once the fighting breaks out, it will be convenient to deal with him directly."
Li Junwu hesitated and asked, "Will he agree? With Zhan Xian'an's precedent right before his eyes, Lu Baizou is bound to hunker down in the Xuanting Army camp. How could he possibly agree to stay inside the prefectural yamen?"
Hearing this question, Xu Yuan grinned. "Of course he won't agree. That's why you have to create an occasion that forces his hand."
Li Junwu pondered for a moment upon hearing this, then smiled as well: "Then this young lady shall summon all the generals in the city and publicly appoint Lu Baizou? By then, even if he doesn't want to agree, his subordinates will push him forward. After all, he holds the highest prestige in the city right now."
Xu Yuan nodded, a chill flickering through his gaze. "Besides that, we need to find a way to give real authority to that general surnamed Jin—preferably transferring him to the Xuanting Army to command that combat unit with the strongest fighting power."
Li Junwu pointed out, "Lu Baizou will surely pass that post to his deputy."
Xu Yuan smiled nonchalantly. "Then let the general surnamed Jin become the deputy's deputy first, and have Lu Baizou's deputy fall ill. Wouldn't that solve it? We hold Linlang, a top-tier Saint Tier combatant, in our hands; making a person disappear isn't exactly hard."
Chapter 642