Sovereign of the Three Realms

Chapter 96: Eastern Lu, Here’s Your Dukedom Back

Out of the 108 dukes, more than half of them had already openly sided with the Duke of Soaring Dragon.

“The remaining half of the dukes should be loyal to me. Even if there is a forty-sixty split, I have the Tiandu army, the city guard, the royal personal guards, as well as the royal experts and the court officials’ elite personal guards. My strength will absolutely not be lower than that of the Duke of Soaring Dragon.”

Eastern Lu was calculating the other’s strength. As long as the rest of the dukes were loyal to him, and he added to that the trump cards the royal family held, what need did he have to fear the Duke of Soaring Dragon?

Of course, Eastern Lu hadn’t given up his illusions even now. He was still dreaming of forcing others to submit without a fight.

Except, reality was much crueler than he thought. The rest of the dukes that trickled into the palace one by one only numbered between twenty and thirty.

This was to say that the neutral attitudes of the other twenty to thirty dukes were quite clear. They wouldn’t side with Soaring Dragon, but neither would they listen to the royal family’s deployment.

To Eastern Lu, these neutral dukes were a disaster for the royal family.

However, the twenty to thirty dukes who entered the palace were true friends of the Eastern clan. They were diehard Eastern supporters. They also knew that if the Eastern clan was done for, it would be the end of the road for them too. Once the Duke of Soaring Dragon seized power, he would absolutely not allow them to live free and unfettered lives.

Their profits had long been tied together with those of the royal family. No matter if they were willing to or not, they had to render services to the royal family unto their deaths.

If the royal family lived on, their fortune and prosperity would live on as well.

If the royal family was no more, their family clans would, without a doubt, be annihilated and be replaced by those aristocratic families behind them, who were eyeing their positions with covetous eyes.

Out of the four great dukes, the Duke of Vermillion Bird had clearly sided with the Duke of Soaring Dragon.

The Duke of White Tiger and the Duke of Black Tortoise had sided with the royal family.

These twenty some dukes now looked towards the Duke of White Tiger and Black Tortoise for guidance. With these two great pillars strengthening them, it more or less gave them some confidence.

“Your Majesty, the Duke of Soaring Dragon rising in revolt is now a fact. According to your subject’s thoughts, we should gain the advantage by striking first, and by deploying the Tiandu army, city guards, royal personal guards, and royal experts to suppress the Duke of Soaring Dragon. Otherwise, the capital will be in grave danger when their army arrives.”

“The Duke of White Tiger speaks sensibly. If we suppress the Duke of Soaring Dragon now, not only is our power not too weak, we’re even slightly stronger than him!”

Eastern Lu contemplated. He had tragically discovered that this battle seemed to be unavoidable and couldn’t be delayed. His plan of delaying until the elder grandfather emerged from his closed-door training wouldn’t work.

“Royal brother, the personal guards of the Duke of Soaring Dragon have been rampaging through the streets of the capital and disturbing the citizens. Will you continue to sit idly by?” Princess Gouyu was also extremely agitated these days, and frantically rushed in.

“Gouyu, good timing. We were discussing with the various dukes…”

“Royal brother, the capital will change owners if you just keep discussing. They’re searching around for and arresting members of the Jiang family now, how is this not terrorizing the other dukes as well? If he does arrest members of the Jiang family, how will the other dukes think and feel? Even if they have loyal inclinations to the royal family, will they have the courage to stand up to the Duke of Soaring Dragon’s threatening demeanor?”

Princess Gouyu was irate. She was irate that her royal brother hadn’t listened to her, and had actually withdrawn the Tiandu army when Long Yinye had besieged the Jiang Han manor previously.

After he had made the wrong move then, the balance of the heavens had tilted immediately. The royal family had been severely disadvantaged afterwards, and had lost the people’s hearts.