Dominating Martial King

This caused turmoil in the dozens of encampments of the Northern Army. Not only did thousands of grassroots soldiers desert, fleeing under the banner of Changsun Ruolan, but even some high-ranking officers led their subordinates to defect in entire battalions.

Out of the two hundred and ninety thousand troops of the Northern Army, nearly thirty percent had already fallen under the control of Changsun Ruolan, and this trend was intensifying.

This filled Zhangsun Ruoli’s chest with limitless anger and endless sorrow, with nowhere to vent it.

Since Right Minister Gui Haoyuan petitioned for the Grand Festival of Ice City, the situation had worsened day by day.

First, changes occurred in the Sea Suppressing Temple. Her mother did not faint as she had expected, and Emperor Jianyuan unexpectedly appeared inside the Sea Suppressing Temple, seemingly as one of the masterminds behind the conspiracy.

Her mother, in her rage, did not hesitate to break with the ministers, seemingly going mad, killing Ween Tianque and others.

After the deaths of these national stalwarts of Ice City, her mother directly disbanded Extreme East Ice City and, before sealing herself, entrusted all the subordinates, all the people, and all the wealth of Ice City to Chu Xisheng.

Zhangsun Ruoli could not comprehend.

They already knew they were wrong!

This time, they indeed fell into someone else’s scheme, being overly concerned about the future of Ice City, thus falling into the trap of Emperor Jianyuan and those gods.

Was it necessary for Ween Suyi to execute a bloody purge on the ministers for this? Was it necessary to disband Ice City, entrusting everything to Chu Xisheng?

And that fool Changsun Ruolan, she did not help her own kin but went to aid this outsider, Chu Xisheng!

Doesn’t Changsun Ruolan know that the Changsun family and the Ween family are both in a dire situation, possibly facing the risk of destruction?

This two hundred and ninety thousand troops of the Northern Army are their only foundation.

Yet Changsun Ruolan does not protect it, but rather helps an outsider, personally digging out their foundation.

As Zhangsun Ruoli’s thoughts swirled, she flew through the clouds, arriving above a large military camp.

Three days ago, the interior of this military camp was still orderly, with high morale among the soldiers. The blood energy they gathered soared up to four layers of clouds.

But now, Zhangsun Ruoli saw chaos inside the camp.

Many weapons, saddles, and weapon racks were casually piled and scattered on the ground, and many Ice City soldiers, ignoring the curfew, gathered in groups outside the tents.

Their expressions varied, some with blank faces, eyes unfocused; some anxious, doubtful and indecisive; some worriedly whispering to companions; others anxiously shouting aloud.

Zhangsun Ruoli couldn’t help but be secretly alarmed, realizing that the army’s morale had reached a level of chaos that even high-ranking officers couldn’t suppress with strict military laws.

This is what they call ’when people do not fear death, how can you threaten them with death’.

Zhangsun Ruoli couldn’t help but frown.

She knew the first cause of the collapse in morale was because of the fool Changsun Ruolan.

This woman not only publicized that ’Extreme East Ice City was disbanded, and before sealing herself, mother entrusted all the soldiers to Chu Xisheng,’ but also declared that no matter who in the Northern Army’s troops defected, Chu Xisheng would not hold them accountable.

The second cause was their families.

The families of the vast majority of the Northern Army’s soldiers were in the rear, on the way north to You State.

Without ensuring their families’ safety, how could the Ice City soldiers be at ease? How dare they oppose Chu Xisheng?

Currently, in their thirty-seven large camps, although there were still over one hundred ninety thousand people, nearly half had likely made up their minds to defect to Changsun Ruolan, joining Chu Xisheng’s ranks.

Zhangsun Ruoli understood this in her heart, but she still could not help but feel frustrated.

These Ice City citizens ate from her family’s wealth, used their resources, but when it came time to call upon them, simply raising a flag from another made them rush over like dogs.

Zhangsun Ruoli sighed softly, putting away her random thoughts.

She wiped her left arm, forcibly sealing her wound with ice, then changed her clothes and put on a calm demeanor as she entered the central tent.

Zhangsun Ruoli knew that at this moment, the people below had already lost cohesion, filled with fear and anxiety.

The more it was like this, the more she had to remain composed and confident. Only by doing so could she instill confidence in her subordinates and make them willing to follow.

At this time, the tent was filled with many Ice City officers, nearly ninety percent of whom were relatives of the Zhangsun family and Ween family or their trusted subordinates.

Sitting at the head position was Zhangsun Bingquan.

As Zhangsun Ruoli entered, Zhangsun Bingquan’s eyes brightened and he looked over: "Sister Wang, I wonder if Second Princess is willing to join us in this great cause?" 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

Following Zhangsun Bingquan’s words, nearly all the officers in the tent turned to look at Zhangsun Ruoli.

Zhangsun Ruoli shook her head, showing disdain: "That fool has clearly lost her mind, claiming to follow mother’s decree, insisting on following Chu Xisheng. However, mother had obviously lost her senses before sealing herself, so how can we heed such chaotic orders? Besides, she has always been like this, not very close to us and terribly stubborn, so let’s not place our hope in her."

She noticed that everyone in the tent showed signs of disappointment and she was not willing to discuss this topic further, to avoid revealing her own defeat and injury.

Zhangsun Ruoli shifted the topic: "How are things on Chu Xisheng’s side? Where has he reached?"

Yet after she spoke, the tent fell silent.

Zhangsun Bingquan forced a smile and said, "The latest news is that his Pingtian Treasure Ship is less than nine thousand miles from Juzhou Liangcheng County, and just a quarter of an hour ago, he single-handedly killed the twenty-seventh Heavenly List member, ’Double-winged Divine Kill’ Situ Tiansheng and Situ Diguo!