In years of famine and drought, their village even rejected fatty meat.

Chapter 853 The dragon raises its head

Logically speaking, as the court's greatest enemy, the Yang family army, knowing of the court's crushing defeat, should have made some moves, but...

The Liangzhou and Qingzhou regions under Yang Zheng's rule were strangely calm, which undoubtedly puzzled many people, and some even couldn't help but suspect that Yang Zheng was brewing some kind of conspiracy...

And obviously, their doubts were quickly answered!

On February , the dragon looked up.

On this day, the 100,000-strong army that Yang Zheng had secretly assembled on the border was mobilized instantly and split into two routes to rush straight to Youzhou. Before the Lu family could react, the flames of war had already been ignited in Youzhou.

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Lu Family Manor.

Lu Shengyan lay on the couch covered with soft cushions with his eyes half-closed, his head resting on the snow-white thigh of a maid. Beside him, several other maids with soft figures, light clothing and pretty faces were serving him.

Two of the maids were responsible for massaging Lu Shengyan with their soft, boneless hands, while the other two maids peeled grapes for him.

The maid carefully peeled off the grape skins completely, and then fed the sweet pulp to Lu Shengyan.

The sweet and juicy grape flesh melted in his mouth, and the fair skin of the maidservants, who were dressed in thin clothes, made Lu Shengyan's heart flutter. He couldn't help but pull one of the maidservants into his arms and caress her wantonly.

"Master, something bad has happened!"

Just then, the anxious voice of the steward Lu Changjiang came from outside the door. Immediately afterwards, Lu Changjiang disregarded etiquette, pushed open the door with a bang and rushed in, saying in a panic, "Master, something terrible has happened!"

"Bastard!"

Disturbed of his mood, Lu Shengyan angrily rebuked, "As the Lu family's steward, do you not even know etiquette?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Lu Changjiang felt a chill in his heart. Don't be fooled by how polite Lu Shengyan was to the invited martial artists at the banquet earlier; that was because those martial artists were highly skilled, and Lu Shengyan had no choice but to be polite to them.

Only those who lived in the Lu family manor knew how capricious Lu Shengyan could be.

On ordinary days, countless slaves and servants in the manor have been executed on Lu Shengyan's orders. The reason for these servants' executions was often just a minor mistake while working. Even the beautiful maids who served Lu Shengyan would be executed at any time if they displeased him in the slightest...

This shows just how capricious Lu Shengyan was.

Faced with the unpredictable Lu Shengyan, Lu Changjiang always walked on thin ice, never daring to slack off in the slightest.

Therefore, upon seeing Lu Shengyan's anger, Lu Changjiang hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed, saying, "Master, please calm down! Master, please calm down!"

Fortunately, Lu Changjiang was, after all, the Lu family's steward and Lu Shengyan's confidant, so Lu Shengyan wouldn't punish him for such a trivial matter.

With the help of a maid, Lu Shengyan sat up from the bed and asked calmly, "Speak, what happened? Is there any news from Pei Chen?"

For the Lu family now, the only matter that can be considered a major issue is Pei Chen's affairs.

Previously, the Lu family had sent Pei Chen to lead a large number of martial artists to besiege and kill Tian Yu, but so many days have passed and there is no sign of Pei Chen returning!

Although Lu Shengyan knew that Pei Chen was most likely dead at Tian Yu's hands, he still couldn't help but harbor a sliver of hope.

After all, a first-rank martial artist is an invaluable fighting force for the Lu family. Therefore, Lu Shengyan instinctively refused to accept the news of Pei Chen's death and still hoped that Pei Chen could come back alive!

"no!"

Lu Changjiang shook his head frantically, saying, "It's not news from Mr. Pei, it's news from Liangzhou!"

After saying that, Lu Changjiang continued, "News has come from Lingshui and Qingyou counties that Yang Zheng of Liangzhou has personally led a large army to Youzhou, and his forces have already reached Lingshui and Qingyou counties!"

"what?!"

Lu Shengyan could no longer maintain his composure. He stood up abruptly and gritted his teeth, saying, "That cowherd Yang Zheng is so audacious!"

Youzhou borders Liangzhou, so the Lu family naturally paid attention to Yang Zheng, who was entrenched in Liangzhou. However, because Yang Zheng had never shown any intention to send troops to Youzhou, and because the Lu family needed to be constantly on guard against the Great Wall Army in the north, the troops under the Lu family's control were always stationed in northern Youzhou.

Therefore, Lu Shengyan reacted so strongly when he heard that Yang Zheng was advancing into Youzhou, because he knew very well that the two counties of Lingshui and Qingyou, which border Liangzhou, had almost no troops stationed there, which meant...

These two county towns were practically ghost towns. Yang Zheng's army could seize them at any time and then use them as a base to conquer and plunder territory within Youzhou...

"When did the news come out? How many troops does Yang Zheng have?"

Lu Shengyan forced himself to calm down and asked.

"The message was sent out two days ago."

Lu Changjiang replied, "Lingshui and Qingyou counties have probably already fallen. As for the troop strength... we don't know yet!"

Yang Zheng's move to send troops was too sudden, giving the Lu family no chance to prepare. As soon as they entered Youzhou, they quickly surrounded Lingshui and Qingyou counties. The information Lu Changjiang received was sent by the county magistrates of the two counties at great risk before the siege. Under such circumstances, the information sent could not possibly be very detailed!

"hateful!"

Lu Shengyan angrily slammed his fist on the small table on the bed. Two days may not seem like a long time, but Lu Shengyan knew that two days was enough for the Yang family army to take over Lingshui and Qingyou counties, and even... the fall of more than just these two counties was possible.

Realizing this, Lu Shengyan was instantly thrown into a panic and shouted angrily, "That damned cowherd Yang Zheng, I will definitely kill him!"

After finishing his rant, Lu Shengyan forced himself to calm down and instructed Lu Changjiang: "Immediately send an order to the Youzhou army, instructing them to return immediately to reinforce and resist Yang Zheng."

Youzhou also had its own Youzhou Army, which, theoretically, should have belonged to the imperial court.

The purpose of the imperial court in setting up the Youzhou Army in Youzhou was very simple: to involve the Great Wall Army and the Lu family and prevent them from breaking away from the imperial court's control.

Now, three hundred years have passed, and the Youzhou Army is no longer the same as it used to be. For the past three hundred years, the Lu family has been infiltrating the Youzhou Army, trying their best to arrange for people close to the Lu family or members of the Lu family to serve in the Youzhou Army, gradually transforming the Youzhou Army into the shape of the Lu family.

Although the Youzhou Army is still nominally the government's official army, it has long since become the Lu family's private army. This can be seen from the fact that the government is unable to mobilize the Youzhou Army to quell the rebellions that are raging throughout the Nine Provinces.

Because of the incident a year ago where the Great Wall Army led troops to forcibly enter the county town, the Lu family stationed the Youzhou Army in the north to guard against the Great Wall Army at all times.