The poorest member of the Imperial Guard, the Empress begged me to embezzle.

"Once Zheng Min, the governor of Yizhou, has compiled a list of all the military achievements, the cabinet will discuss how to bestow titles upon them."

After a pause, Murong Si looked at Zhao Duo, the Minister of Personnel, and others, and said in a deep voice, "I will leave this matter to you, Grand Secretaries."

"I will receive the order."

Zhao Duo, the Minister of Personnel, and others spoke solemnly.

They naturally understood Murong Si's meaning: the Grand Preceptor Qi Tianchen had already reached the limit of his titles, so it was impossible to bestow any further honors upon him.

Qi Tianchen also looked down on these rewards.

The one who deserves to be commended is Zheng Min, the governor of Yizhou, and his 300,000-strong Yizhou army.

If Zheng Min, the governor of Yizhou, led 300,000 Yizhou troops to a great victory over the barbarian army, then he would naturally be rewarded handsomely.

However, they could only claim half the credit at most, or even less; the majority of the credit went to Qi Tianchen.

Without Qi Tianchen's killing of Wutugu, which led to the defeat of the barbarians, such a great victory would not have been possible.

"Someone, take the two messengers away to rest."

"While you're at it, take the head of the barbarian national advisor, Wutugu, down and hang it above the Meridian Gate!"

"And two imperial edicts were posted at the Meridian Gate. One edict informed the people of the world that this was the head of the barbarian national teacher, Wutugu!"

"The other imperial edict was to post the good news that Minister Chu had defeated Xiao Yu, the leader of the Maitreya Sect, as a warning to those who wanted to divide our Great Zhou Dynasty and harbored treacherous intentions!"

Murong Si said with a dignified expression.

"Yes."

An Imperial Guard soldier entered, rewrapped the black package, and led the two messengers away, carrying the package.

"Since there is nothing else, let's adjourn the court."

After watching the Imperial Guards lead the two messengers away, Murong Si stepped down from the high platform and walked out of the Golden Palace.

"Retreat!"

Jiang Wan'er shouted loudly and quickly followed, leaving with Pei Guanyin and Murong Si.

"Your Majesty, we respectfully bid you farewell! Long live the Emperor!"

The officials knelt down to respectfully see Murong Si off.

Yang Mansion.

"Master, something happened!"

The steward of the Yang family came to the main hall of the Yang family mansion and spoke to Yang Yan with a solemn expression.

"explain."

Yang Yan looked at the steward of the Yang family without changing his expression and said calmly.

"Reporting to the master, Chu Xiu is in Queyue City, Jingzhou. He used a scheme to lure Xiao Yu, the head of the Xiao family in Yangzhou, to send two Dharma Kings of the Maitreya Sect with a group of experts to Queyue City to assassinate him."

"In Queyue City, Chu Xiu not only killed a group of experts from the Maitreya Sect, but also killed 100,000 Yangzhou troops deployed by Xiao Yu in Wankou, Lujiang County, as well as a group of experts from the Yangzhou Xiao family and the Maitreya Sect across the river."

"In the entire Wankou region, only Xiao Yu led a very small number of members of the Yangzhou Xiao family and the core members of the Maitreya Sect to escape."

"After this battle, Xiao Yu's strength has been greatly reduced!"

The steward of the Yang family took a deep breath and said with utmost seriousness.

"Chu Xiu wiped out Xiao Yu's 100,000 Yangzhou troops stationed at Wankou with a single strike across the river, forcing Xiao Yu to flee in disarray?"

Yang Yan's eyes narrowed, his expression changed drastically, and he said in shock, "To make Xiao Yu, the head of the Xiao family of Yangzhou and the leader of the Maitreya Sect, flee in disarray, Chu Xiu has already acquired such strength with the Embroidered Uniform Guard's Killing Blade Formation?"

At this moment, even Yang Yan, who considered himself to have been in charge of the court for many years and had long since reached the point of remaining calm even if Mount Tai collapsed in front of him, broke down.

"Reporting to Your Excellency, according to the information, Chu Xiu's strength has very likely reached the peak of the ninth level of the Celestial Immortal Realm, and he is definitely not weaker than the Imperial Preceptor!"

The steward of the Yang family said with a look of apprehension.

"Peak of the ninth level of the Celestial Immortal Realm!"

"What a magnificent peak of the ninth level of the Celestial Immortal Realm!"

"The Imperial Guard's killing formation is indeed terrifying!"

"Where did Chu Xiu obtain such a terrifying sword formation?"

A glint of light flashed in Yang Yan's eyes as he spoke in a deep voice.

The steward of the Yang family kept his head down and remained silent.

"Anything else?"

Yang Yan shook his head and looked at the Yang family steward to ask.

"Your Excellency, besides this matter, the Imperial Advisor also intervened last night."

"The barbarian national advisor, Wutugu, was killed by the national advisor with a single sword strike."

"Zheng Min, the governor of Yizhou, personally led an army of 300,000 to break out of Guiku Gorge and defeat the barbarians."

Of the hundreds of thousands of barbarian troops, less than 50,000 escaped.

"I'm afraid that the barbarians won't dare to approach the territory of our Great Zhou Dynasty for a while."

After a moment's thought, the steward of the Yang family spoke in a low voice.

"Won't there be any problems with our Yang family's spies in the Yizhou army?"

Yang Yan suddenly asked the steward of the Yang family.

After all, any normal person could guess that Xiao Yu, the head of the Xiao family in Yangzhou, had rebelled in Yangzhou, and that the barbarian army had invaded the border.

This means that someone must have crossed the Great Wall of Iron and Blood through the Ghost Cry Gorge guarded by the Yizhou Army, contacted the barbarians, and reached an agreement with them.

That's why it's such a coincidence.

Zheng Min, the governor and chief administrator of Yizhou, was no ordinary man.

They will definitely conduct a thorough investigation of the entire Yizhou army and find out the traitors within.

Once this person is exposed, even if he is stubborn, he may still implicate the Yang family.

The entire Yang family could be implicated at that time.

"Your Majesty, this old servant has arranged everything from the very beginning."

"No matter how things turn out, this person will die."

"We will never expose our relationship with the Yang family."

The steward of the Yang family said with a respectful expression.

"That's good."

"Alright, I already know about these two things. You may leave now."

Yang Yan paused for a moment, then waved to the Yang family steward and said.

"Yes, I will resign, old slave."

The steward of the Yang family bowed and silently withdrew.

"As expected, man proposes, God disposes."

"Our Yang family's plans have completely failed."

"Not only did we not gain any benefits, we also lost our Yang family's mole in the Yizhou army."

"This time, we tried to steal a chicken but lost the rice instead."

After watching the Yang family steward leave, Yang Yan frowned and sighed.

"However, has the Xiao family of Yangzhou really had no trump cards up their sleeve all these years?"

"Even if the Xiao family of Yangzhou has no trump cards, does the Maitreya Sect have no trump cards at all?"

"It shouldn't be!"

"Perhaps, Xiao Yu is still waiting."

"After this battle, Xiao Yu's trump cards will definitely be gradually revealed."

"As long as Xiao Yu really has a trump card, in the end I will still have to make a move."

Yang Yan pondered for a moment, then said with absolute certainty, "Therefore, this plan may not necessarily fail."

Next, it's up to Xiao Yu.

More importantly, even Xiao Zhenting, the leader of the Yellow Heaven Sect in Jizhou, would definitely be unable to sit still after learning about this.

Xiao Yu isn't stupid; he definitely understands how important it is for him to have Xiao Yu share the firepower.

Therefore, he could not allow Xiao Yu's rebellion to end so abruptly.

Until the very end, no one knows what the outcome will be.

"The world is like a game of chess, and I am the one holding the pieces; the power of the court is but a single move."

After a long pause, Yang Yan said quietly.