You were driven out of the capital at the start, and you ask me why I rebelled?

"Your Highness, this is all the information on Liangzhou..."

Shuoyangcheng, inside the Liang King's Palace.

Cui Zecheng placed several jade tablets on the table in front of Ying Chen and respectfully began to speak.

"Alright, you may leave now! I will summon you if needed..."

Ying Chen waved his hand and said.

"Here!"

After bowing, Cui Zecheng slowly left the room.

Stepping out of the room, he visibly breathed a sigh of relief. Normally, the prince had the power to appoint and dismiss officials within his fiefdom. He had previously worried that Ying Chen, as a new official, might make an example of him and dismiss him from his post as governor, and that this might happen to all the officials in Liangzhou as well. But now it seemed there were no problems...

Having understood the situation, he left with ease. At least for now, it seemed that this Prince Liang was not difficult to get along with, and he could rest easy now...

"Fengxiao, the situation in Liangzhou is not optimistic!"

Ying Chen said to Guo Jia, who was standing to the side.

Guo Jia nodded solemnly and said, "When we entered the city, Chen also observed the situation and found that the number of cultivators in Shuoyang City was pitifully small. You must know that this is the capital of the entire Liangzhou! If the capital of a prefecture is like this, you can imagine what the rest of Liangzhou must be like..."

Then Ying Chen picked up the jade tablet on the table. This was a recording jade tablet, used to record events. Cui Zecheng had given him three jade tablets in total, each recording the population, number of cultivators, number of troops, and tax revenue of various regions in Liangzhou...

After a short while, Ying Chen had gradually learned about the affairs of Liangzhou. Liangzhou had a total population of 350 million, of which about 2 million were cultivators, most of whom were at the Qi Refining stage. The army numbered 500,000, and it could provide 10 million low-grade spirit stones in tax revenue annually...

"Fengxiao, you should take a look! Liangzhou is absolutely terrible. Any one of the other provinces in Qin is several times, or even dozens of times, better than Liangzhou..."

Ying Chen handed the recording jade tablet to Guo Jia so that he could take a look as well.

Guo Jia took the jade tablet and began to examine it.

After a moment, he raised his head and said, "Your Highness, the most urgent task now is to find out the reason for the depletion of spiritual energy in Liangzhou, as current development is based on the concentration of spiritual energy..."

Ying Chen nodded and said, "I will send the Embroidered Uniform Guard to investigate, but Father Emperor sent people to investigate for so long without any results, I'm afraid the Embroidered Uniform Guard won't be able to investigate so smoothly either..."

"Your Highness, General Zhao Yun has arrived!"

At this moment, Lu Bing, who had been hiding nearby, suddenly appeared in the room, followed by a young general in armor, none other than Zhao Yun...

"See Your Highness!"

Zhao Yun knelt on one knee and bowed.

"Get up! How is the army? Are you satisfied?"

Ying Chen said with a smile on his face.

Zhao Yun stood up, his face full of excitement, and said, "Satisfied, extremely satisfied! This cavalry is practically tailor-made for me! I guarantee that this army will be absolutely invincible on the battlefield..."

"Haha! If you like it, then you and your White Horse Cavalry can set up camp in the Meteorite Mountains and await my summons..."

Ying Chen chuckled and said.

"Your Highness, should we send a portion of the White Horse Cavalry to Shuoyang City to protect your safety...?"

Zhao Yun hesitated.

"No need. I am not a weakling, and besides, I have Fengxiao and Lu Bing with me, and the Embroidered Uniform Guards are hidden around us. In Liangzhou, no one can threaten my safety..."

Ying Chen waved his hand dismissively.

"That's... okay!"

Although Zhao Yun was still somewhat worried, upon further reflection, he realized that His Highness was right; there truly was no one in Liangzhou who could break through the protection of two Nascent Soul stage experts and threaten Ying Chen's safety...

......

"Ding! Task issued: The spiritual energy in Liangzhou is showing signs of unnatural depletion. Please investigate the cause and resolve the spiritual energy problem in Liangzhou. Rewards will be given upon completion of the task..."

Just then, the system issued a task in Ying Chen's mind.

Ying Chen was overjoyed. So far, the system had issued two tasks. Ascending the throne required a gradual approach and couldn't be rushed, but this new task was much simpler. After all, the Embroidered Uniform Guard was an expert in this area...

"Lu Bing!"

"My subordinate is here!"

Upon hearing Ying Chen call his name, Lu Bing immediately knelt on one knee, respectfully awaiting Ying Chen's command.

"You dispatched the Imperial Guards to secretly investigate all suspicious matters within Liangzhou, searching for the reason behind the depletion of spiritual energy in Liangzhou..."

Ying Chen said in a deep voice.

"Here!"

Lu Bing said solemnly.

The spiritual energy in Liangzhou is too strange. Even if its concentration isn't as high as other states, it should at least be half as high! But Liangzhou's spiritual energy concentration is less than one-tenth of other states, which makes Ying Chen suspicious...

If it's caused by natural causes, that's fine. But if it's man-made, that would be troublesome. If it's caused by someone, he can't even imagine how high that person's cultivation level must be...

He had Lu Bing investigate secretly to avoid alerting the enemy...

This isn't just about completing system tasks; it's also about future development. His current territory is Liangzhou, and without spiritual energy, nothing can be developed...

After Ying Chen had arranged everything, the three of them left. Ying Chen then resumed his cultivation; his cultivation level was crucial to his ability to summon everyone, so he couldn't afford to slack off...

..............................

Inside an ordinary house in Shuoyang City.

The room reeked of blood. Inside were five masked men dressed in black. A family of four lay on the floor, clearly the true owners of the household, now lifeless corpses. Each had wounds on their necks, indicating they had been killed instantly, without even a chance to resist...

"Boss, when do we make our move?"

One of the men in black looked at another man in black and said, clearly he was their leader...

"Don't rush. Let's wait until the Imperial Guards escorting Prince Liang leave. The Imperial Guard captain has the cultivation of the Golden Core stage, which is not easy to deal with. In addition, with those Imperial Guards, we are even less of a match for him. For now, let's lie low here..."

The leader of the men in black spoke up.

"Boss, I still feel something's not right. Although the Prince of Liang isn't favored, he's still a prince of the current dynasty. If he dies, who knows, the one in the palace might seek revenge for him..."

At this moment, another man in black spoke up somewhat hesitantly.

"Third brother, you're overthinking it. Once we finish this job, we can take the bounty and head to other dynasties. No matter how far the Qin Dynasty's influence extends, it can't reach other dynasties..."

"The man in black who spoke earlier spoke up."

"But......"

The man in black, referred to as the third brother, wanted to say something more, but was interrupted before he could finish...

"Alright, there's no turning back now. Since we accepted the bounty, we have to complete it. Besides, we can impersonate members of the Blood Barbarian Dynasty and frame them. The Qin Dynasty and the Blood Barbarians are constantly at odds, so taking action is perfectly reasonable..."

The leader of the men in black clearly agreed with the opinion of the man who had spoken first; the thought of the hefty bounty instantly ignited a glint of greed in his eyes...

If he could obtain this bounty, it would be enough to support his cultivation to the Nascent Soul stage. Once he reached the Nascent Soul stage, he could establish his own sect and become its founder. This was far better than being an assassin...