Chapter 205: Defeat in Xuzhou
a few days later.

Zheng Yi looked at the two jade slips sent by Zhao Suling, his eyes full of surprise.

"This thing is..."

"Return to Your Majesty."

Zhao Suling said: "This item is the method of alchemy and talismans that my master collected over decades of traveling to Dayu, overseas cultivation circles, and several other countries."

"Master specially gave these to Your Majesty to thank you for the five purple ginsengs you gave me."

"Junior Sister Yuheng also received the complete contents of the 'Chaoqi Zixia Gong' given by our Master."

Zheng Yi was pleasantly surprised and said, "Old Heavenly Master...you are so polite!"

"By the way, Your Majesty, there is one more thing."

Zhao Suling said, "My junior brother has already entered the world to gain experience. Master wants him to investigate the sudden increase in the number of spiritual medicines in the capital area. I hope the Jinyiwei and the Shadow Guard can give some convenience, otherwise it may cause a conflict."

"Your junior brother? What's his name? Why did you send him... Could he be the true disciple of the old Heavenly Master whom I have never met?"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Zhao Suling said: "The disciple of the old Taoist priest is called Zhao Suzhen. He has been practicing meditation with the master since he was eight years old. It has been sixteen years now."

"I'm not very clear about his cultivation. I heard him mention before that he has entered the late stage of Qi training."

"As for which level it is, I don't know."

"The late stage of Qi training..."

Zheng Yi's eyes flashed and he asked, "Master Zhao, what is the character of your junior brother?"

"Junior Brother Su Zhen has been practicing in the mountains since he was young. He has a kind nature and doesn't know much about the affairs of the martial arts world. That's why Master allowed Junior Brother Su Zhen to go down the mountain to gain experience."

Zhao Suling said: "Junior Brother Suzhen is the best at thunder magic, his strength is beyond doubt, even I am no match for him."

"The world is in chaos right now, and I am afraid that Junior Brother Su Zhen has gotten into trouble or met with an accident, so I came to Your Majesty in secret, hoping that Your Majesty would take care of him."

"Lefa?"

Zheng Yi said: "This matter is simple. I will give you a Shangwu Division jade token, just like you, and hand it over to Junior Brother Zhao Suzhen."

"With this token, Junior Brother Zhao Suzhen can call upon the Imperial Guards, Jinyiwei and Shadow Guards at will, and can also check the protected spiritual herbs at will."

"I obey your order!"

Zhao Suling said respectfully, then hesitated for a moment before saying, "Your Majesty, Zhao Suzhen is Senior Brother Yuheng. Logically, you should call Zhao Suzhen Senior Brother."

Zheng Yi was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter and said, "Hahaha, Zhao Suling, you really are... Never mind, I get it."

"Ha ha ha ha……"

Zhao Suling said awkwardly: "Your Majesty, it is the old Taoist who is wrong."

"We are brothers, and more importantly, we are the ruler and his subjects. It is the old Taoist Meng Lang who is so arrogant..."

"It's okay, it's okay. Why are there so many vulgar etiquette between you and me, the king and his subjects?"

Zheng Yi smiled again and said, "In the world of cultivation, the wisest one is the master. It is only right for me to call you Senior Brother!"

Zhao Suling said quickly: "Thank you for your understanding, Your Majesty. Your Majesty, if there is nothing else, I will take my leave first."

"it is good!"

Zheng Yi said: "I will ask Chen Liancang to take out the token and give it to you. You wait outside the palace first."

"I obey your order!"

Zhao Suling turned and left, and Zheng Yi called out Chen Liancang.

"Mr. Chen, what do you think of Zhao Suzhen?"

Chen Liancang hesitated and said, "Your Majesty, I have never met Zhao Suzhen, so I really cannot comment on her."

"Forget it. After all, he is from Taiyi Dao. He should not be an enemy."

Zheng Yi said, "Go to the Shangwu Division and get a jade tablet for Zhao Suling. I will study these two jade slips first."

"Old slave obeys!"

Chen Liancang left, and Zheng Yi came to the quiet room and carefully looked at the jade slip "Detailed Explanation of Elementary Alchemy".

Holding his breath, concentrating and calming his mind, the words on the jade slip slowly appeared.

"The elixir is made by taking the essence of the creation of heaven and earth and spiritual objects, and integrating them into one through different means. With the assistance of the ruler and his ministers, it can be condensed into an elixir with different energies of heaven and earth..."

"In addition to spiritual herbs, those who refine pills can also add different spiritual objects according to different medicinal properties, including but not limited to spiritual medicines, demon beasts' inner pills, and even minerals, etc...."

"When refining medicine, you need to retreat and practice in seclusion without being disturbed by anyone, and you need to continuously use spiritual energy to nourish the medicine..."

Thousands of words, all about alchemy.

Includes explanations, detailed explanations of common elixirs, alchemy tools, alchemy time, alchemy techniques, and spiritual fire selection.

There were even prescriptions for four different elixirs at the end of the jade slip.

Huanglongdan can improve the cultivation level of monks.

The Qi-restoring pill can quickly restore a cultivator's magic power.

Rejuvenation pills can quickly restore a cultivator's internal injuries.

And...the Bigu Pill!

These four kinds of elixirs almost include all the elixirs used by cultivators in the Qi training stage.

The refining raw materials, refining techniques, refining time, etc. are all included in the annotations.

After carefully examining them and simulating the refining process of these pills in his mind, Zheng Yi couldn't help but become immersed in it.

Ten days later!
Zheng Yi was awakened by the noise outside the hall again. When he went out, he saw Liu Chengen waiting outside respectfully.

"What's the matter?"

"Your Majesty, Concubine Chan is about to give birth."

"Oh? Yuechan?"

Zheng Yi immediately said: "Go to Mingyue Palace!"

The sedan chair quickly moved towards Mingyue Palace. Zheng Yi saw that Liu Chengen was hesitant to speak, so he asked directly: "Chengen, what's the problem?"

Liu Chengen hesitated for a moment, but still said: "Your Majesty, the imperial army was defeated in Xuzhou..."

"Ok?"

Zheng Yi's pupils suddenly shrank. How could the imperial army be defeated!

Not to mention Xu Mujun, a warrior who broke through the innate realm and entered the spiritual realm, even the more than 200,000 new troops are not easy to deal with.

Who else in this world could defeat those 200,000 new troops equipped with muskets and artillery?

"How could the imperial army be defeated? How could Xu Mu's army be defeated?"

Liu Chengen hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, General Xu did not fail, but General Meng Guang's navy was defeated!"

"Meng Guang?"

Zheng Yi heaved a sigh of relief and asked curiously, "Meng Guang's navy is also equipped with thousands of artillery, how could they be defeated?"

"What is the situation? Tell me quickly."

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

Liu Chengen quickly said, "In February of the eleventh year of Zhengyong, General Meng Guang led a navy of 100,000 soldiers from Jingzhou by water and sailed into Yunmengze to look for traces of the Tuoba family."

"Everything went smoothly at first, but who knew that a thick fog would suddenly appear over Yunmeng Lake, obscuring the navy's vision."

"At this time, a huge wave suddenly rose in Yunmeng Lake, and the battle formation of General Meng Guang's navy was dispersed under the roaring sea water."

"And at this time, the rebels took advantage of this opportunity to attack..."

"Stop talking, I know."

Zheng Yi waved his hand to stop Liu Chengen from speaking. He had already guessed almost exactly what happened.

It must be the Tuoba family in Yunmeng Lake who took action. Using the methods of cultivators, they set off huge waves in Yunmeng Lake and broke through the navy formation.

Other rebels took advantage of the situation and attacked. Meng Guang’s navy was no match for the Tuoba family of Yunmengze!
Such a failure is understandable.

"Your Majesty~"

While Zheng Yi was thinking, Liu Chengen whispered again: "General Meng Guang has submitted a letter of apology, please take a look..."

"What about the naval casualties?"

"According to preliminary statistics, there are over 30,000 casualties, and more than 6,000 people are missing..."

"The casualty rate is almost half!"

Zheng Yi felt a little distressed. The Beiyang Navy was the ace army in his hands. In the future, he was thinking of relying on the navy to deal with the Yuguo Mayfly Tower and search for overseas cultivation worlds.

Who would have thought that nearly half of them would be lost in Yunmengze!
It seems... an army formed by ordinary people can hardly pose a threat to monks under special circumstances.

unless……

An idea suddenly popped up in Zheng Yi's mind: what would happen if a large number of monks were equipped in the navy?
Liu Chengen's voice continued: "Your Majesty, although General Meng Guang suffered a great defeat in Yunmengze, he quickly gathered the defeated troops and occupied an island in Yunmengze to confront the rebels."

"At the same time, we also sent out a large number of scouts to map the Yunmeng Lake and ensure the safety of the left wing of the Xuzhou army."

"It seems that Meng Guang is still somewhat useful."

Zheng Yi murmured, "Nearly half of the troops were killed or wounded. If the other troops had mutinied and collapsed long ago, Meng Guang was able to gather the defeated troops and occupy an island in Yunmengze. This can be considered as making up for the loss."

"Order that Meng Guang continue to serve as the commander of the navy and defend the northern part of Yunmeng Lake. We must try our best to suppress the Tuoba family rebels in Yunmeng Lake and not let any of the Tuoba family soldiers leave Yunmeng Lake!"

"The slaves obey the orders!"

"besides……"

Zheng Yi thought for a moment and then asked, "How is the Xuzhou army doing?"

"Your Majesty, both my imperial army and the rebels are mobilizing their forces. A major war has not yet occurred, but clashes between small groups of troops occur every day."

Liu Chengen said: "Overall, our army is in the upper hand because of the assistance of the new army."

"And your majesty, several cabinet ministers want to see you, please..."

"See you soon."

Zheng Yi shook his head and said, "I still have important things to do. I will summon the ministers after I finish them."

"The slaves obey the orders!"

As they were talking, the sedan chair had already arrived at Mingyue Palace.

The queen and other concubines were also waiting here.

"I have met your Majesty!"

Several concubines bowed, and Zheng Yi asked, "No need to bow, how is Concubine Chan?"

"His Majesty."

Lu Lin'er stood up and said, "The baby has been born. Sister Chan Fei is also doing well. Both mother and child are safe."

"Congratulations, Your Majesty. Congratulations, Your Majesty. Concubine Chan has given birth to another prince for Your Majesty!"

"really?"

Zheng Yi also pretended to be surprised, although he had known for a long time that the child born by Concubine Chan would definitely be a prince.

"Nurse, please bring the child to His Majesty."

The plump wet nurse came over carrying the child, and Zheng Yi also picked it up and took a look at it.

She has a round head and face, very bright eyes, fair skin, and is very cute.

"Not bad, not bad, Mingyue Palace ladies, give me a reward!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

After teasing the child for a while, Zheng Yi handed him over to the wet nurse.

"I'm going to go see Concubine Chan, you guys go back and rest first."

"promise!"

Walking into the bedroom, Yuechan's eyes lit up when she saw Zheng Yi.

"Your Majesty, you are here~"

"Chan'er, thank you for your hard work."

Zheng Yi said: "You also gave birth to a prince for me, and I like him very much."

"Do you have any wishes? As long as they are not too outrageous, I can grant them to you."

"Really, Your Majesty?"

Yuechan's eyes suddenly lit up and she said, "I haven't been home for several years. Can I go home to see my parents?"

Zheng Yi hesitated and said, "This matter... is a bit difficult to handle."

"There is a rebellion in the south right now, and there are rebel refugees everywhere. It is not appropriate to go out at this time."

"After I put down the rebellion in the south, how about I go to Nanyue County with you personally?"

There are cultivators in Nanyue County, so he had gone there a long time ago.

It would undoubtedly be much more convenient if we had Yuechan, a local boss, to lead the way.

Yuechan was surprised and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty!"

"By the way, Your Majesty, have you named our child yet?"

"I've already gotten up."

Zheng Yi said: "I have prepared two words and I was just thinking of discussing them with you, Chan'er."

"You were born in Nanyue County, and Nanyue County is an inseparable part of my Great Yu, so I want to name our child Nanyue."

"Nan, or Yue, which one do you want, my beloved?"

"South is a direction, generally referring to the south."

"Yue is the name of a country. Three thousand Yue soldiers can conquer Wu!"

"Besides, the word Yue also means 'moon', which complements my beloved concubine's name perfectly."

"I wonder which one my beloved concubine likes?"

Yuechan tilted her head and thought for a while before saying, "My name is Yuechan. We in the Nanyue tribe respect the moon, so why not call me Yue? Your Majesty, what do you think?"

"can."

Zheng Yi nodded and said, "Then our child will be named Zheng Chengyue."

"Zheng Chengyue, Zheng Chengyue, Yue'er."

Yuechan was pleasantly surprised and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty, for the name!"

At this moment, a young eunuch walked in quickly, knelt down and said, "Your Majesty, I have something important to report."

Shadow Guard?
Zheng Yi asked, "What's the matter?"

"Empress Cui ordered me to come and announce that the monk in the dungeon only has one last layer of ice left, and he will be freed soon."

"Oh? Xuanjizi?"

Yuechan said: "Your Majesty has important matters to deal with, go quickly, I will not be in the way."

"Well."

Zheng Yi stroked Yuechan's hair and said, "My beloved, please take a rest first. I will come to see you after I am done with my work."

"I respectfully send you off to Your Majesty!"

(End of this chapter)