As soon as the envoy mission heading to the South Kingdom left the Birch Pass, Luther blocked the pass, preventing anyone
from entering. Some businessmen were quite dissatisfied with his action, but Luther never gave them a chance to question him
while he was doing his job. The businessmen dared not to speak out their discontentment.
"Humph! Good for General Luther! Anyone can't disobey his orders in the Birch Pass. Even the other two generals don't make
friends with him. Now he has become even more arrogant. He forbids everyone from entering the city."
"You don't have to be angry about it. When the envoys are entering the South Kingdom, he has the reason to block the Birch
Pass. After all, Prince Matthew and his wife are part of the mission, and he didn't want others to know about their presence
among the envoys. That's why he blocked the borderland. Don't worry. It won't be a long time, and in three days, it will be
reopened," another man said slowly.
"Mister, so what should we do? Are we going to stay in the Birch Pass?"
A faint smile appeared on the man's face. "If everything is normal in the Birch Pass, we will be in the city. But if something goes
wrong in the pass or if something happens here, it will be uncertain."
"Mister, we didn't get the transfer order yet. Leaving without authorization..."
"Who said we didn't get the transfer order?" The man turned around, revealing a familiar face. It was the powerful and dignified
commander in chief of the Northern Expeditionary Army, Marquis Shawn.
"Do we have the transfer order?" The deputy general, Freeman Yan, scratched his head in confusion. 'Even if we have the
transfer order, what is the Northern Expedition Army going to do in the south domain? We shouldn't have come to the south in
the first place, ' he thought.
Seeing the confusion on Freeman's face, Shawn explained to him, "Currently, the Great Jade Kingdom is stable. The Wonder
Kingdom is peaceful as well. Yet, only the South Kingdom will try something unexpected to create problems. In the past few
years, they have colluded with Harrison, and they are very ambitious. Now that the new emperor has just ascended the throne, it
would be the best time for them to create fresh troubles. So, the South Kingdom will certainly try to do something evil on the
pretext of the Worship Ceremony."
"I heard that Prince Francis was defeated, and is gone missing since then. Mister, is he..."
"Don't talk nonsense. We shouldn't spread rumors without evidence. We are soldiers," Shawn said, and then sipped his tea from
his cup elegantly. He just looked like a graceful young master, and not like a tough soldier.
As he looked at Shawn repeatedly, Freeman wiped off the tears in his eyes. When Shawn first arrived at the camp of the
Northern Expeditionary Army, he was so thin and weak that the soldiers looked down upon him and didn't want to submit to his
leadership. Shawn defeated all the commanders with his bare hands and punished all the soldiers who disobeyed his orders.
There were three hundred thousand soldiers in the Northern Expeditionary Army, and many were punished. He was lenient to
none, and thus the whole training ground became a punishing ground. The soldiers there cried and howled like ghosts and
wolves in agony, and this scared the entire army!
People said that the law failed where the violators were legion, but this young general proved he was different. He was very cruel
when it came to punishing people. He looked weak but was horrifyingly powerful. The soldiers in the army were trained to be
fearless, but they feared him and were obedient to him. They praised him with their innermost reverence the moment his name
was mentioned. Moreover, the old generals too had great admiration for him.
Freeman thought, 'You tricked all of us with your appearance back then. We all thought you were a scholar who was weak and
decent, but when you beat those soldiers, you didn't even treat them as fellow human beings. I still remember the darkest days
after you joined the Northern Expeditionary Army. At that period, we trained all day and night, and many soldiers couldn't bear
the pressure of excessive training. But still, no one dared to give up. It was because you, whom they considered as the weakest
amongst them, kept practicing with them without giving up. However, they had to admit their defeat in the end.'
"Mister, but this is not our battlefield..." Freeman said cautiously.
"No, you're wrong. This too is our battlefield. The army of the south domain has remained as a malignant tumor in our country
since the time Harrison's family led it. Now Prince Matthew wants to remove this tumor once and for all. The new emperor has
just ascended the throne, and every neighboring country desires to control our territory. Obviously, the emperor of our country is
the most unimportant one among the four countries," Shawn explained once again.
Freeman racked his brain, but couldn't figure it out. So, he asked, "Is it the idea of His Highness or His Majesty?"
Shawn glanced at the deputy general, while hiding his face with his hand. He was a little worried about his deputy's intelligence.
The new emperor was chosen by both the late emperor and Matthew. Although Lucas was not outstanding, he was not
worthless. Matthew was not interested in power. He came to interfere with the army of the south domain, perhaps because he
wanted to strengthen their allegiance to the country and hand over the army to the emperor.
The people who would guard the south domain for the coming generations would probably be a branch of the royal family, and
the best candidate was Carlson, who had gained military experience in the Northern Expeditionary Army. If it wasn't for fear that
Carlson might not be able to control the entire south domain, he would have been the one to be here in the first place.
"Of course it's their idea." As Shawn spoke, his memories travelled back to the time when Harper leaned on Matthew lazily. She
had changed a lot since the last time they saw each other almost one year ago. Back then, she had been acting more cautiously,
but now she was more confident and elegant.
While they were talking, Luther suddenly walked by downstairs, followed by a group of soldiers. Shawn's eyes fell on Luther, who
seemed to have noticed them. Luther looked back quickly, but couldn't find anyone. Though doubtful, he assumed that he was
being too sensitive.
"His Highness was right. Luther is not simple-minded." A meaningful smile appeared on Shawn's face. But it seemed that
something occurred to him all of a sudden, and his face darkened. It was because he still remembered that day when he was
punched by Matthew!