Chapter 92: Exaggerated Combat Power
After the head-on battles with the Duke of Yan and the Marquis of the Northwest, and after finding out the specific combat power of the Grandmaster, Zhu Chengwu already had a preliminary assessment of his own combat power.

Without using any forbidden techniques or secret skills, Zhu Chengwu in his normal state, relying on three great-master-level unique martial arts, is roughly equivalent to half the combat power of an ordinary grandmaster.

After using the Lotus Fire Mystical Technique, in the fire attribute state, Zhu Chengwu's defense power is roughly equivalent to 1.5 ordinary masters, and his attack power is roughly equivalent to 3 ordinary masters.

In the earth attribute state, Zhu Chengwu's defense power is roughly equivalent to 3 ordinary grandmasters, and his attack power is roughly equivalent to 1.5 ordinary grandmasters.

Don’t think that Zhu Chengwu’s highest combat capability is equivalent to that of three ordinary grandmasters just because his attack and defense are equal to those of three ordinary grandmasters.

But in fact, it's not!

Because in order to bring the "Earth Core Fire Lotus" to its full potential, the fire state and the earth state cannot be maintained at the same time.

This means that Zhu Chengwu's highest combat power is only roughly equivalent to that of two ordinary grandmasters.

Not much difference from Zhao Yuguang at his peak!
The biggest reason why Zhu Chengwu appeared so strong and invincible in the previous battle was the intelligence gap.

The Duke of Yan and the Marquis of the Northwest knew nothing about Zhu Chengwu's strength and methods, but Zhu Chengwu already knew the conventional Grandmaster combat power in this world.

Therefore, not only when two armies are fighting, but even when two people are fighting, the role of intelligence cannot be underestimated.

There is another very important reason why Zhu Chengwu appeared so invincible, and that was the role of Zhao Yuguang.

The hard power of the Marquis of Northwest is actually much stronger than that of the Duke of Yan.

The reason why he performed so poorly was that Xibei Hou had consumed too much energy in the previous head-on confrontation with Zhao Yuguang.

And the Yang God who suddenly appeared afterwards, if it weren't for Zhao Yugang's restraint...

Once he/she is allowed to let go and cooperate fully with the Duke of Yan and the Marquis of Northwest, Zhu Chengwu will be in great trouble.

Although at that time, Duke Yan was already seriously injured!

The Northwest Marquis also suffered great damage in terms of combat power!
However, the cooperation between the Refining Spirit Yang God and the Martial Arts Grandmaster is enough to make them combine to exert the combat power equivalent to that of 3-4 ordinary grandmasters in their prime.

That would be very difficult for Zhu Chengwu to deal with.

But because of Zhao Yuguang's existence, the Yangshen who was refining his spirit seemed to be fully cooperating with the Duke of Yan and the Marquis of Xibei to attack Zhu Chengwu, but in fact most of his/her attention was on Zhao Yuguang.

As for why Zhu Chengwu exaggerated his own fighting power when the local spears attacked Duke Yan and Marquis of the Northwest, taking advantage of the obvious advantage on the scene and when Duke Yan and Marquis of the Northwest Wuxia opened their defense.

With the memories of his past life, Zhu Chengwu feels that people in this world can be divided into two types: honest people and smart people.

Smart people can be divided into two types: those who are just being smart and those who are exaggeratingly smart.

how to say!

Just like Zhu Chengwu has first-class strength, he honestly displays his first-class strength without increasing or decreasing it, and that is an honest man.

In this world, most warriors are honest people like this.

If Zhu Chengwu also has first-rate strength, but has been hiding it, only showing the strength of an average or even average warrior, hiding his cards deep to make the enemy misunderstand, and then when the enemy attacks, he ruthlessly reveals his strength and counterattacks, then this kind of person is a smart person.

In his previous life, Zhu Chengwu emphasized the doctrine of the mean, and the people of Longguo, who believed in hiding in the city, were one of the representatives.

If Zhu Chengwu also has first-class strength, but exaggerates his own strength everywhere, and even asks people to play fake games, and publicizes that he has the strength of a master, this is an exaggeration of a smart person.

Don’t think that exaggerating your strength is useless!
Most people in this world admire the strong!
People always trust the strong more, because in their opinion, the stronger the strong person is, the easier it is for him to lead them to victory, and the easier it is for them to get the dividends after success.

Wasn’t it that the Hengtai Thunder in Zhu Chengwu’s previous life was caused by too many people believing in the “richest man” with “a huge net worth” that eventually created such a big hole?

A fence-sitter who follows the crowd, although it is a derogatory term!

But many times, Zhu Chengwu had to admit that most people in this world are fence-sitters who follow the crowd.

In the past, although Zhu Chengwu was known as the Zhu family genius, he still had the opportunity to hide his own strength a little and try to be a smart person.

But now, with Duke Yan's sudden action!

With the intrusion of the Northwest Marquis and the unknown Yangshen master, Zhu Chengwu can no longer follow the path of a smart guy!

If the humble way doesn't work, then Zhu Chengwu will take the exaggerated way.

As for being an honest person?
Zhu Chengwu said: Who are you scolding?
An honest person who does not hide his shortcomings or exaggerate is not even worthy of being a dog!

Whoever likes it should go!

Anyway, Zhu Chengwu is not qualified!
As long as the exaggeration is reasonable and can be self-consistent.

The more he exaggerates his own strength, the more fearful and trusting others will be of Zhu Chengwu.

The more people there are, the more they will be afraid and terrified of Zhu Chengwu.

Those who support and obey Zhu Chengwu will also benefit from it.

Zhu Chengwu exaggerates his own strength and is able to win over a large number of fence-sitters in the world!
As long as more and more people turn to Zhu Chengwu and form a trend, even the Ming King, the Da Zongzhengyuan and the central court will have to compromise under the will of the masses!

After all, the foundation of rule is people!

After all, Zhu Chengwu's surname is also Zhu, and he is also the legitimate son of King Ming.

If they insisted on not letting Zhu Chengwu succeed to the throne, they would have to consider whether Zhu Chengwu, who was extremely powerful, influential and had many supporters, would launch another "Battle of Jingnan"!

After all, the third emperor of the Ming Dynasty in this world also came to power through the "Battle of Jingnan".

Since there is a precedent, will there be a later one?
Once Zhu Chengwu really decided to launch the Jingnan Rebellion and it was finally successful, the interests of those officials in high positions in the central court would inevitably suffer great losses!
As the losers, they had to make way and make room for the heroes who followed Zhu Chengwu in successfully suppressing the rebellion.

These are all obvious at a glance!

If it is really confirmed that Zhu Chengwu has the determination and ability to quell the rebellion, Zhu Chengwu believes that many people in the court will change their positions and support Zhu Chengwu, the Marquis of Fu'an, to succeed to the throne.

After all, for them, no matter who becomes the King, it will not be their turn, and the impact on them will not be too great, let alone immediate.

In this case, it would be better not to take the risk and let Zhu Chengwu, the Marquis of Fu'an and the legitimate son of King Ming, succeed to the throne from the beginning!

Don’t think that since the officials in the court hold high positions, there are no fence-sitters among them who follow the crowd!
Countless historical facts have told Zhu Chengwu that there may be more fence-sitters among the bigwigs in high positions than among the common people at the bottom of society.

Moreover, as officials in high positions in the court, they are all bourgeois with considerable assets.

The bourgeoisie is weak!
Zhu Chengwu still knew this sentence from his previous life!
But Zhu Chengwu didn't exaggerate too much!
For example, he is invincible than the Grandmaster, and even the top Grandmaster can only be his subordinate.

Such lies are too unreliable and too easy to be exposed!

Now, it means that only 5 grand masters have a chance to surround and kill Zhu Chengwu, and only 7 grand masters have the certainty to annihilate Zhu Chengwu, which is just right!
This is because even a wise king would find it difficult to mobilize this force, and he may not necessarily have the determination to mobilize it!

It's not that the problem cannot be solved, but one must be prepared to pay a huge price to solve it.

Just like the campaign against the evil cult decades ago.

As for that, not everyone may believe Zhu Chengwu’s one-sided statement?
Zhu Chengwu is not just talking without evidence!

But it is backed by the current solid record!

Outsiders may not understand the twists and turns in today's battle and analyze the important role of Zhao Yugang. They will only see Zhu Chengwu suppressing the two famous masters, Duke of Yan and Marquis of Xibei!

The Duke of Yan and the Marquis of Xibei were left without any chance of fighting back.

Even if some big forces and big figures were able to investigate all the details of today's sudden brawl and understand the huge role Zhao Yuguang played in it.

But at the same time, they were also able to find out that there was another Yangshen master who secretly attacked Zhu Chengwu!

It can also be found out that Zhu Chengwu was the first to admit that the three masters could break his "Lotus Fire Divine Gang", but at the last moment a more powerful "Earth Guardian" appeared.

Those smart people would consider the possibility that Zhu Chengwu was exaggerating, but they would also consider the possibility that Zhu Chengwu was still hiding his true abilities.

The only way to determine Zhu Chengwu's true strength is to fight him with real weapons!
However, the Grandmaster's combat power is already the top combat power in this world, and is like a nuclear deterrent.

Is it really possible and capable for them to send out several masters to fight against Zhu Chengwu just to find out his true strength?
Some doubts can only become eternal doubts for many people!
Just like in Zhu Chengwu’s previous life, many people were curious about the private lives of important people.

Curiosity is just curiosity!
Speculations are just speculations!

It can never be confirmed!
They can only see the side that the big guys are willing to show.

The same goes for the current Zhu Chengwu and the people in this world. They can only listen to Zhu Chengwu's one-sided words and guess Zhu Chengwu's true strength. They will never be able to truly figure out Zhu Chengwu's true combat power.

Finally, the Duke of Yan and the Marquis of Xibei waited until the time when Zhu Chengwu's earth-attribute vitality was drastically depleted and the volley of earth-attribute spears weakened!
"go!"

Marquis Xibei supported Duke Yan and quickly moved away from Zhu Chengwu. With the help of various obstacles in Xuzhou city, they left Xuzhou city at a high speed.

Looking at the Duke of Yan and Marquis of Xibei fleeing from Xuzhou City, Zhu Chengwu and Zhao Yuguang tacitly did not chase them!

Some things require fighting but not breaking!
This is the case now.

As for the Duke of Yan and the Marquis of Xibei's previous attempts to kill Zhu Chengwu...

All I can say is that sometimes, the more a person wants to get, the greater the restrictions he will get.

This is what the equality of rights and obligations means!

In this world, compared to the Duke of Yan and the Marquis of Northwest, Zhu Chengwu is now obviously the one who wants more.

Besides, Zhu Chengwu didn't suffer any actual losses at the moment, so he didn't mind being magnanimous.

Show the outside world the magnanimity and broad-mindedness of him, the Marquis of Fu'an and the legitimate son of King Ming.

After Zhu Chengwu achieves his goal, if he still feels unhappy, he will not mind settling scores and finding a "false accusation" just to make himself happy...

"I'm going to look for the Yang God in the dark, and the archer who tried to assassinate you!"

Zhao Yuguang glanced at Zhu Chengwu and said so.

"Okay! Grandpa!"

Zhu Chengwu looked back at Zhao Yuguang and agreed.

Duke Yan and Marquis Xibei can let them go for the time being for various reasons and purposes!
But the Yangshen master who secretly holds hostility towards Zhu Chengwu, and the archer who harbors murderous intentions towards Zhu Chengwu, may not be impossible to kill!
Even if Zhao Yuguang couldn't defeat the Yangshen masters because they were too strong, he at least had to confirm their identities.

Such enemies hidden in the dark whose identities are unknown are often more deadly than enemies in the open.

As for why Zhu Chengwu knew that Zhao Yugang might not be able to take down the hidden Yangshen master and the archer who was assassinating him, but didn't go with Zhao Yugang to increase the chance of success?
Zhu Chengwu believed that Zhao Yuguang, who had been observing the process from the sidelines and had a clearer view, had discovered this reason.

Zhu Chengwu has not yet become a master!
All of this is only possible due to the characteristics of the high-level rare treasure "Earth Core Fire Lotus" and the powerful secret technique "Lotus Fire God".

The normal state of the "Lotus Fire God" secret technique does not put much pressure on Zhu Chengwu, and the sequelae are almost non-existent.

But the advanced "True Flame of the Sun" and "Guardian of the Earth" can be regarded as forbidden techniques!

However, in order to demonstrate his strength and pave the way for subsequent exaggeration, Zhu Chengwu had to use it.

In addition, Zhu Chengwu's previous injury had not yet healed, but had only recovered mostly, which would not affect the fight.

Now this wound, which had not yet healed, has relapsed a little due to this war.

Therefore, Zhao Yuguang, who discovered the clue, did not ask Zhu Chengwu to go with him.

Zhu Chengwu did not ask for it actively either.

Both Zhao Yuguang and Zhu Chengwu understood that as Zhu Chengwu displayed such strength, it was inevitable that some rifts would arise between him, Zhao Yuguang and the Zhao family!

In the past, although Zhao Yuguang and the Zhao family wholeheartedly supported Zhu Chengwu's ascension to the throne, among those who supported Zhu Chengwu's ascension to the throne, the leader they recognized was never Zhu Chengwu, the Marquis of Fu'an who was pushed out by them, but the Zhao family.

In the central court, people only divided people into Zhao's followers and the prince's followers, not the prince's followers and the Marquis of Fu'an's followers.

But now that Zhu Chengwu has demonstrated his strength, it is hard to say who is the boss between the Fu'an Marquis and the Zhao family!
Interests, the right to speak, and the position of leader will all cause friction between Zhu Chengwu and the Zhao family.

Moreover, since Zhu Chengwu had not revealed the high-level rare treasure "Earth Core Fire Lotus" and the secret technique "Lotus Fire God" before, Zhao Yuguang knew that Zhu Chengwu had grown up and had his own ideas. He was no longer the weak prince who followed the arrangements of him and the Zhao family in everything.

Thinking back carefully, even in the past, when Zhu Chengwu was a child, every time at a critical moment, Zhu Chengwu, the seemingly obedient grandson, was actually acting according to his own will, and was not as obedient to Zhao's arrangements as he appeared to be.

For example, Tiangang Tongzi Gong, for example, when you come to Xuzhou, you will be sealed...

Now that the threat has been eliminated, Zhu Chengwu, the grandson, is at a stage where he is strong on the outside but weak on the inside. He may not want Zhao Yugang, the grandfather and the master, to stay near him all the time...

This is also one of the reasons why Zhao Yuguang took the initiative to propose to go and hunt for the Yang God and the archer in the dark.

A rift has arisen, and now Zhu Chengwu, Zhao Yuguang and the Zhao family can only take a step back, slowly adjust and find new ways to get along.

As for parting ways!

Neither Zhu Chengwu, Zhao Yuguang nor the Zhao family could find a more suitable target for cooperation!

They have a relationship where if they work together, both will benefit, but if they separate, both will suffer!

The ultimate purpose of Zhao Yugang's letting Zhu Chengwu win in the previous battle with Marquis of Xibei was not to let anything unexpected happen to Zhu Chengwu, but to make Zhu Chengwu realize the important role of him, the master, and the Zhao family, and let the Zhao family continue to dominate the large faction formed by Marquis of Fu'an and the Zhao family.

But now it seems that it is not possible!
Zhu Chengwu's strength was beyond Zhao Yuguang's expectations.

But if one road doesn’t work, just try another one!

It now seems unrealistic to let the Zhao family continue to dominate the large faction formed by Fu'an Hou and the Zhao family, but after all, they are connected by blood, and the Zhao family can take a step back and pursue equal status!

As long as they slowly find a new way of getting along with each other that is acceptable to both sides, Zhu Chengwu, Zhao Yuguang and the Zhao family will most likely usher in a new round of honeymoon period.

Politics is essentially the art of struggle and compromise.

For example, the emperor of Zhu Chengwu’s fighting nation in his previous life and his confidants.

Even if they have the same goals, the same demands, and belong to the same force, conflicts will always arise when people get along with each other.

It is not scary to have conflicts. What is most important is how to find a new greatest common divisor and a new way of getting along after conflicts arise.

Zhao Yugang left alone to chase after Yang Shen and the archer in the dark. All this was just a tacit understanding between smart people!
　Added update for the sixth milestone (1/2)

　　
　
(End of this chapter)