Chapter 141: Crisis at the Heart of the Kingdom

Something’s gone terribly wrong.

And this time, it’s a serious disaster.

In the capital region of the Xitoris Kingdom, all the patriarchs from several powerful inner circle families have gathered together.

Originally, they thought they had dirt on Tuoba and were getting ready to bring his family down.

On one hand, it was another move to suppress those borderland families, and on the other, a way to seize more foreign trade routes.

The plan was solid, thoroughly considered, and from a technical standpoint, there were zero difficulties in execution.

After all, even though those border families had their own forces, they only had a few Pioneer Fleet warships.

Not only were their numbers no match for the King’s Army, their ships and soldier training lagged behind too.

So when the Third Legion made its move this time, no one expected any issues.

It should’ve been easy to suppress all of Tianyuan IV.

But then…

What did the latest reports say?

The Third Legion’s fleet stationed on Tianyuan III—over 700 warships—

was completely wiped out by Tuoba’s fleet after reaching Tianyuan IV.

Worst of all, according to frontline reports, beyond his 400-strong Pioneer Fleet, Tuoba actually had a brand new fleet with 1,200 warships.

And not just numbers—the ships in this new fleet were more advanced than even the King’s Army warships.

Even more shocking…

When the two sides closed in to seventy or eighty thousand kilometers, Tuoba’s fleet unleashed energy weapons.

Those energy weapons were exactly why the 400 warships that barely managed to get close were wiped out within half an hour.

None of these patriarchs ever imagined Tuoba would dare fight back—much less that he’d have this kind of power.

No one expected Tuoba to be holding onto such strength.

Now that Tianyuan IV has openly rebelled, what about the other border regions of the kingdom?

Inner circle and border tensions have simmered for ages. If not for the threat of the King’s Army’s four legions, things would’ve spiraled out of control long ago.

But now, that threat—

With the Third Legion’s defeat, it’s collapsed completely.

“This can’t go on. We have to convince the king to mobilize the army and crush this uprising as fast as possible. If we delay even a little, more border families will join in and it’ll get even more complicated!”

“We all know that, but how many ships do we need to call up?”

“Exactly. Based on current intel, if it’s just the Third Legion’s remaining 3,000 warships, even gathered together, it’s likely not enough to quickly put down Tuoba. And if we fail again, things will really spin out of control.”

“I agree. No one knows if Tuoba has other hidden cards. At the very least… we should dispatch two legions to be safe!”

——

While the family patriarchs argued behind closed doors,

news from the Third Legion reached King Sadik’s ears.

“Purge the traitorous ministers?”

“What does that even mean?”

Sadik blinked, completely baffled.

He had no idea what the term was supposed to mean.

Which made sense, since Tuoba picked it up from Bilodis,

who had in turn learned it from Mu Qingxue.

“Yes, Your Majesty. That’s the public declaration Tuoba just made to the entire kingdom.”

“Basically, he’s accusing the ministers at your side of leading you astray. So they’re not rebelling, they’re trying to purge the ‘traitors’—namely, the eight inner circle families!”

Ha. Traitorous ministers?

Of course he knew that already.

But Tuoba was making one mistake.

The mastermind behind all of this was never the eight families—it was him all along!

Honestly, this all came down to the greed of those border families…

Couldn’t they just handle frontier expansions and secure more territory for the kingdom?

Did they really have to monopolize the foreign trade routes?

After all, those routes are the kingdom’s biggest source of income.

If we don’t target them, who else should we move against?

Still, it wouldn’t look good for a king to launch a crackdown purely for money’s sake.

So he used the eight inner families as a shield, even letting them think he was a fool, some easy puppet for them to control.

Little did they know that, though they’re greedy now, once every border family is destroyed…

They’re the ones who’ll take the fall.

Outsiders will see all of this as nothing more than a dispute between the inner circle families and the outlying border clans.

At first, the inner families win, crushing and plundering every border family.

Afterward, with no rivals left, the eight major inner circle families get even bolder, thinking they can replace the old order whenever they feel like it.

In the end, after years of resistance, the king finally defeats the eight families, restores order, and emerges as a great ruler.

From start to finish, every step has unfolded on Sadik’s chessboard—those ‘pieces’ never even realized it.

Not for a second.

So even though the four legions seem to cozy up to this family or that one and help with their schemes…

In truth, every single legion is filled with his loyal men, people he handpicked over time.

But now…

Sadik’s perfect script had gone off the rails.

All because of an unexpected twist.

Sadik wasn’t surprised that the border clans would revolt after being pushed so relentlessly.

In fact, that was exactly what he’d hoped for.

He’d even quietly ordered the Third Legion that, once they reached Tianyuan IV, they should get as ruthless as possible—stir up a massacre if they could.

Part of that was to push the border clans into banding together and launching a desperate rebellion.

Another part was to throw all the blame on the eight inner circle families—making them easier targets later.

But the real snag—

Tuoba somehow had power Sadik never imagined.

Where did those 1,200 cutting-edge warships even come from?

And does Tuoba have even more of them hidden away?

For the first time, things have slipped out of Sadik’s control, and he’s not happy about it.

So now, crushing Tuoba’s rebellion has—

shot up to the very top of Sadik’s to-do list.

——

The next day.

Following his previous orders,

every one of the kingdom’s legions—except the Capital Guard Fleet stationed around the capital—was mobilized.

The Third Legion would send its remaining 3,000 warships to Tianyuan III…

while the First, Second, and Fourth Legions would each pull out 2,000 ships, mobilizing to Lalande, Wolf, and Sirius respectively.

After all, Tianyuan IV is a critical traffic hub, connecting to Alpha Centauri, Tianyuan III, Lalande, Wolf, and Sirius.

Sadik’s plan was straightforward.

He’d use his overwhelming numerical advantage and attack through four spacelane flows at once, overwhelming Tuoba and breaking his absolute defensive advantage.

Of course, the only headache was that such a massive movement would take over eight years—nearly nine, in fact.

Tack on the final phase of coordinating the attack and getting the ships through those spacelanes…

The real war probably wouldn’t erupt until nine or even ten years from now.

That’s when the fighting would finally begin.