The Return of the King: A Generation of Prodigies

When Shen Tingzhi heard Shen Tianjiao's definite answer, his face immediately turned dark.

Originally, he had a pretty good impression of Li Zhaohui. After all, everything he had heard about Li Zhaohui before was positive and inspiring.

Now that he learned from his sister that Li Chaohui was the culprit who wanted to kill his entire family, his perception of Li Chaohui automatically fell into the enemy camp.

"Second brother, Li Hong rebelled not long ago. When I was trying to kill him, Li Zhaohui set a trap for me. Now I have no choice but to find a way to free her from Anguo Temple."

"Releasing her isn't scary. What's scary is that after she's released, she'll retaliate like a mad dog and will definitely come back again. To take the throne, she'll go to great lengths to rebel."

"Although she has been imprisoned in Anguo Temple for these years, her supporters and loyal ministers are still active in the court."

"Our Prime Minister Wang Yunzhi is one of them. As the head of all officials, he has the authority to command all officials."

"Most people in this court listen to Wang Yunzhi, so the problem now is very difficult and troublesome."

"We must come up with a response plan as soon as possible, otherwise we will be in big trouble."

If Shen Tianjiao loses in the game with Li Chaohui this time, not only she, but also everyone related to her will not escape the fate of being killed.

If the Yunli Kingdom were to be handed over to Li Chaohui, there would surely be great suffering to the people. It is possible that the war of annihilation in the previous life would come ahead of time.

"Jiaojiao, don't worry. Second brother is here. We can definitely come up with a plan to deal with it."

After listening to Shen Tianjiao's analysis of the situation, Shen Tingzhi now has a clear understanding of their situation.

They must win this game of chess with Li Chaohui. They have no other choice but to win.

"I used to have some friendship with Prime Minister Wang's son, Wang Qingyuan. I'll find a time to meet him tomorrow."

"Wang Qingyuan is different from Prime Minister Wang. He's an upright man with a strong sense of justice. I only knew that he had a bad relationship with Prime Minister Wang and his son, but I didn't expect there was such a thing behind the scenes."

"Let's first figure out Li Zhaohui's power, and then break them down one by one, starting with Prime Minister Wang, the head of all officials."

Shen Tingzhi is worthy of being a think tank and the intellectual pillar of the Zhenbei Marquis Mansion. Within such a short period of time, he has already figured out how to deal with those who followed Li Chaohui.

"Okay, second brother, let's do whatever you think is right." Shen Tianjiao handed the absolute initiative to Shen Tingzhi. She had nothing to worry about her second brother.

"The next step is how to set a trap for Li Zhaohui to fall into."

The fact that Li Chaohui can still get the support of her former supporters after being imprisoned for so many years is enough to prove that she is actually a very scheming and resourceful person.

Such a person is not easy to deal with. If the trap is too small, she cannot be subdued. If the trap is too big, she may not fall for it.

To subdue such a person, you must kill her with one blow. If you fail to do so, she will become defensive and it will be difficult to subdue her in the future.

"She was able to grit her teeth and endure these difficult years simply so that she could one day realize her dream of becoming an emperor."

"How about we use the throne as bait to lure her into the game?"

"Although she is a person of deep heart and great endurance, when faced with her deepest desires, she may not be able to maintain her persistence and will not take risky actions under impulse."

"As long as she falls into the trap, we can slowly close the net and force her into a desperate situation with no way out. In this way, I will be the knife and she will be the fish, and we can replace her as we please."

Shen Tingzhi looked up at his sister in shock. She was worthy of being his sister, Shen Tingzhi's sister. Her strategy and courage were simply unmatched.

When did the little girl in his eyes suddenly grow up?

Shen Tingzhi looked at Shen Tianjiao, feeling both proud and a little sad. His sister should have lived a carefree life under the care of her family.

But now, not only do we have to worry about state affairs, but we also have to fight wits and courage with these villains and make careful plans to ensure the safety of Yunli Country. It is really not easy.

He was in Ganzhou before and was unable to help his sister. Now that he is back, he will be in charge of these things from now on.

"Jiaojiao, thank you for your hard work. From now on, I will leave these things to my second brother."

"Yeah, okay." From the moment Shen Tianjiao knew that Shen Yiyang and Shen Tingzhi had returned, she actually felt a sense of relief.

She knew that all the people who had helped her had returned and were now by her side. She was no longer alone in facing everything.

Her backers, her reliance, her confidence, and her arterial blood are all with her, so what else does she have to fear?

The brother and sister looked up and smiled at each other. From now on, they were not only brother and sister, but also allies and comrades who stood together to protect the Yunli Kingdom.

"Jiaojiao, your idea is good, but the specific details need further consideration."

Shen Tianjiao’s idea was very good. The throne had a fatal attraction to Li Chaohui. If this was used as bait, she would definitely take the bait.

But this plan must not only be secret, but also be thorough and flawless.

Because if there is a problem in any link of the plan, it may trigger a chain reaction. By then, not only will they not be able to get Li Chaohui to take the bait, but they will be passively led by Li Chaohui.

"Yes, so I am discussing this with you, second brother." Shen Tianjiao took a sip of tea. The tea tasted fresh and fragrant, not astringent, and had a light sweet aftertaste. She liked it very much.

Shen Tingzhi pondered for a moment and said, "Jiaojiao, do you think Li Zhaohui really has so many troops? My father is in charge of all the military power in Yunli Kingdom. If Li Zhaohui raised an army, how could my father not find out?"

If you want to rebel but have no military force and only rely on the ministers in the court, you will not be able to succeed.

However, maintaining an army not only consumes a lot of manpower, material resources and money, but also easily attracts the attention of various forces.

Moreover, the Shadow Guards under the Marquis of Zhenbei who are specifically responsible for spying on military intelligence are not all pushovers. Some of them are responsible for investigating whether there is anyone secretly cultivating forces and raising private soldiers in Yunli all year round.

These Shadow Guards were specially trained, and their loyalty is unquestionable. Even if someone betrays them, not all of them will betray, right?

But I have never heard that there is a large group of supported soldiers in Yunli?

"Second brother, people have their own ways and snakes have their own ways. There are many things that even the Shadow Guards cannot detect."

"These people will find ways to hide their private soldiers."

"How else could Li Bin lead a large army into the capital to rebel? And how did Li Hong raise his own private army in the mountains of Yanzhou?"

Shen Tianjiao said these words not to question the loyalty of the Shadow Guards, but many things are not so easy to sort out once they involve local areas.

After all, there are countermeasures to every policy. Those people use all kinds of weird and unscrupulous methods, and they will do anything to achieve their goals, making it impossible to guard against them.

Shen Tingzhi sighed. What Shen Tianjiao said was indeed true. He had also been a local official and knew that it was easy to see the King of Hell but difficult to deal with little ghosts.

"But Li Zhaohui's situation is different from theirs. She was imprisoned in Anguo Temple for many years. It's impossible for her to openly raise private soldiers."

"There are probably only two possibilities as to the source of her troops. One is that she is in collusion with the powerful military leaders. The troops under their command are usually part of our Yunli Nation's army, but if Li Zhaohui decides to start a civil war, they will immediately become his men."

"Secondly, there's another possibility. She does have a private army, but she's dispersed them, but not too far apart."

"In peacetime, they might be farmers, merchants, vendors, and the like, but in times of war, they become soldiers who can pick up swords and fight on the battlefield."

Don’t ask Shen Tianjiao how she knew how these two situations happened. The answer is that she had experienced too many such things in her previous life, so she has rich experience.

Shen Tingzhi suddenly realized that the two situations Shen Tianjiao mentioned were very likely to happen.

Although Marquis Zhenbei is in charge of the military power of Yunli Kingdom, not all the powerful generals in Yunli Kingdom come from the name of Marquis Zhenbei.

Many of them also belong to other factions and have their own masters to whom they are loyal.

The Marquis of Zhenbei was only in charge of the dispatch of troops, and he was not familiar with every general of the Yunli Kingdom.

As for those people that Shen Tianjiao mentioned, they are ordinary people in peacetime, but become soldiers in wartime and are able to take up swords and fight on the battlefield.

In fact, this is common in every military camp. In order to save military expenses, some soldiers need to participate in land reclamation and farming, or other work when there is no war.

On the one hand, it can save military expenses and achieve self-sufficiency, and on the other hand, the fruits of their labor can be used to make up for the shortages in the army.

"Then our task is even more difficult. There are so many generals in Yunli Country. If we check them one by one, it will take forever."

"What's even more terrifying is that there are so many ordinary people in Yunli Country. How can we distinguish who are the real people and who are Li Zhaohui's private soldiers?"

Shen Tingzhi was in a dilemma. He was not afraid of solving the problem, but the time given to him was simply not enough. Li Chaohui would definitely not wait for him to check everything before taking action.

Shen Tianjiao looked at her second brother who was having a headache at the moment, and suddenly felt that her second brother might be too smart, so sometimes he would become silly and not very smart.

"Second brother, is it really that troublesome?" Shen Tianjiao smiled and shook her head, saying, "Wouldn't it be fine if we just find the key people responsible for these things and control them?"

"As long as we control them, those who are Yunli's soldiers in public but are actually jackals raised by Li Zhaohui in secret will have no choice but to surrender."

"As for those who are among the common people, it's easier to deal with them. We can check the governor's office in each state and find out where the largest number of new people have been added in the past few decades. That's where they should be hiding."

Shen Tingzhi looked up at Shen Tianjiao. He felt that he didn't know why, but in front of this sister, his IQ always dropped and he acted like a fool. Obviously very simple questions became complicated when they came to him.

"Why are you looking at me like that? Did I say something wrong?" Shen Tianjiao felt scared when Shen Tingzhi stared at her.

"Nothing, I just suddenly felt a little hurt in my pride. My sister is too smart, and she's taking advantage of me as a brother and making me look like a fool."

The strong sense of frustration made Shen Tingzhi suddenly lose all his strength and become listless.

Seeing Shen Tingzhi looking very hurt, Shen Tianjiao immediately tried to comfort him, "No, everyone knows that my second brother is the smartest. You are just too tired after traveling all the way back and haven't had time to rest, so your mind is a little confused."

"Once you've rested well, you'll be my wise and resourceful second brother again tomorrow."

Shen Tingzhi, who was originally frustrated and listless, was immediately revived with full health after being attacked by his sister's flattery.

"Jiaojiao, even if we can control those people and find the rest, we still need a foolproof plan."

"As the saying goes, it's better to be safe than sorry. We don't know what Li Zhaohui's next move is yet. She's not the type of person who would reveal all her cards. She must have some hidden secrets."

Shen Tianjiao nodded and said, "Yes, I know. That's why I sent my third brother to Yanzhou to quell the rebellion. First, to give him a chance to train alone, and second, to prepare for Li Zhaohui's rebellion in the near future."

"Third brother won't attract attention if he's not in the capital. This way, after he finishes suppressing the rebellion in Yanzhou, he can return with his troops and station them near the capital."

"When Li Zhaohui makes a move, Third Brother will be able to rush back to support him as quickly as possible."

"And Yan Mingde, he should have returned to the capital with his army long ago. It was my idea that he hasn't returned until now."

"I asked him to send someone to Laizhou, Li Zhaohui's fiefdom. As a princess with a fiefdom, although she has never been to Laizhou, it is her fiefdom after all."

"Before she was imprisoned in Anguo Temple, she was in charge there for nearly ten years."

"Although her fiefdom was taken back after she was imprisoned, she was able to do a lot of things there for nearly ten years."

Shen Tingzhi now had a new understanding of his sister. His sister had really grown up to be a strong person.

He is also a strong man who can plan and win battles thousands of miles away.