The destiny of all heavens begins in the Red Chamber

Tsk!

Hearing the old lady's rebuttal, Jia Huan was still quite disappointed.

As the undisputed core of the Rong family, the old lady held the reins on the overall direction of the Rong family's development.

Even she couldn't see the huge hidden danger of the Prince of Nan'an being defeated and captured, which only shows that the old lady's abilities are somewhat inadequate.

The Prince of Nan'an has been defeated and captured; it is indeed impossible for the current ruler to ignore him!

But the real problem is that the Prince of Nan'an has squandered all his power, which is the most fatal flaw.

All we can do now is try to redeem the Prince of Nan'an.

It's impossible to replenish the lost troops of the Prince of Nan'an and allow him to continue to hold the fort in the southwest.

It's not easy to have a chance to easily reduce the power of the feudal lords, only a fool would ignore it if he were emperor.

Jia Huan didn't offer any further explanation, but simply stated calmly, "The Prince of Nan'an's mansion is completely finished this time!"

"How to speak?"

The old lady was a little unhappy and said irritably, "They certainly won't settle scores later!"

"Yes, but the Prince of Nan'an's mansion no longer has the strength to inspire fear or even respect!"

"The fate of the Prince's Mansion rests on the decision of this very moment!"

The words have been explained so clearly, how could the old lady still not understand?

The next moment, the old lady swayed, and her originally rosy face turned deathly pale.

"Brother Huan, you mean..."

The old lady gave a strained smile and looked at Jia Huan to confirm, "It won't come to that, will it?"

"We have lost the right to speak on par with the current rulers, or rather, the royal family!"

Jia Huan said unhappily, "Ugh, he's really just a useless piece of trash!"

The old woman's expression shifted several times before she finally said weakly, "Then what are you going to do there? It probably won't be able to salvage the situation, will it?"

"We'll save as many as we can!"

Jia Huan said coldly, "We absolutely cannot let the worst-case scenario happen!"

At this point, he said unhappily, "Otherwise, we nobles will truly be nothing more than appendages of the royal family, to be ordered around and manipulated at will, our lives hanging by a thread!"

"The situation can't be that bad!"

The old lady spoke with certainty, merely trying to bolster her own confidence, and asked directly, "Could it be that the Beijing garrison and the border troops have completely lost control?"

"Then who is the leader?"

Jia Huan couldn't help but sneer, "In our Noble Group, there isn't a single person who can command the respect of everyone. Before we can even deal with external threats, we might have to fight a fierce battle within our own Noble Group!"

Seeing that the old lady had her eyes on him, Jia Huan said arrogantly, "I am confident!"

"But my grandson is so old, he doesn't really have much credibility. It's good enough if he can protect himself and hold onto his military power. There's no point in thinking too much about it!"

"At this time, the southwest is in chaos, so there is still some room for maneuver!"

The old lady suddenly realized, nodded, and said in a deep voice, "You're so young, you still need to protect yourself!"

"My grandson knows what he's doing; it's really not a big problem!"

Jia Huan smiled and looked at the old lady, revealing his true intentions, and said, "Grandson hopes that Grandmother will personally make some efforts to persuade the Dowager Princess of Nan'an to hand over all the core connections and resources in the Southwest region. Grandson will try to salvage as much as he can, at least there will still be some room for maneuver!"

"If we really get into the most dangerous situation, we'll have to live a miserable life from now on!"

The conversation between the old man and the young man left the rest of Rongxi Hall completely bewildered. They had no idea what had happened; it was utterly inexplicable!

However, through their observations, they could vaguely discern the content of the conversation between the old lady and Jia Huan, and they guessed it wasn't anything good, otherwise their expressions wouldn't have been so solemn, or even ugly.

The matter concerned the defeated and captured Prince of Nan'an, and they felt a chill run down their spines.

Whether it was Madam Wang, Wang Xifeng, or Madam Xing, they were mostly only interested in the Rong family's own little world and had little interest in outside affairs.

When it involves someone of the caliber of the Prince of Nan'an, it is already considered a matter of great national importance.

Let alone participating, just being contaminated with it terrifies them.

Lord Zheng's expression was slightly better, and he probably knew that the matter surrounding the Prince of Nan'an had been quite lively in the court recently.

Regardless, everyone present has shown a strong desire to save lives.

In his view, as long as everyone was safe, that was enough; everything else could wait until the Prince of Nan'an returned safely.

However, he did not expect that when the old lady talked about this with Jia Huan, her tone and expression were quite frightening.

He did catch some clues, and in the end, he was so shocked that he was dumbfounded!

Did I hear that right? What did Jia Huan say?

Are you still eager to go to the southwest and take advantage of the situation?

Master Zheng didn't know what to say; he had never encountered such a situation before.

The old lady agreed with Jia Huan's decisiveness, but she was too old to make a fuss anymore, so she just waved her hand to indicate that Jia Huan should handle it himself.

She also knew that Jia Huan was no longer someone whose thoughts she could control.

The old lady, who has experienced many things, is quite open-minded, as the saying goes, "A man's ambition lies in all directions."

Seeing Jia Huan looking at her intently, the old lady said calmly, "Don't worry, Huan-ge'er, this old woman will take the initiative to go to the Prince of Nan'an's residence tomorrow and have a word with the Dowager Princess of Nan'an!"

"But you should also be prepared that the Dowager Princess may not be willing to agree!"

"That's my grandson's business, so Grandma doesn't need to worry about it!"

Jia Huan chuckled and said, "It's not that I insist on doing this or that, but the situation is beyond my control!"

At this point, he said coldly, "One thing is certain: I certainly don't want the worst outcome to happen, where my life and death are in someone else's hands. How can that be?"

This meeting at Rongxi Hall has come to an end.

The atmosphere was fairly festive, but a gloomy feeling involuntarily settled over the hearts of the core members of the Rong family, as if a heavy stone was pressing on their chests.

Only Jia Baoyu and his nephew Jia Lan didn't react much to this, nor did they understand it.

The old lady and Lady Wang naturally wouldn't mention these things to Jia Baoyu and his nephew Jia Lan. If they were to let their mouths slip out, it wouldn't be a good thing.

In conclusion, Jia Huan's conferment of a title is a huge boon for the Rong family!

Before long, the gatehouse of the Rong Mansion was flooded with congratulatory gifts from all walks of life.

Jia Huan asked Qin Keqing and Wang Xifeng to both come forward to arrange his investiture banquet!

In addition, please ask the Second Master Zheng to personally deliver the invitations to the heads of the founding noble families, and also to mention that Jia Huan wants to hold a private gathering.

The heads of noble families who received the invitations all had very interesting expressions after hearing what the Second Master Zheng had to say, but in the end they all agreed.

As I said before, times have changed!

Jia Huan's status and position have reached a point where these beings take him seriously!

In addition, Jia Huan wanted to take advantage of the banquet to privately meet with the heads of the founding noble families, which clearly meant he had something important to discuss.

The matter that Jia Huan has been paying so much attention to recently is naturally the defeat and capture of the Prince of Nan'an.

It's sad to say, but most heads of noble families think similarly to the old lady.

I feel that the Prince of Nan'an has indeed suffered a great loss this time, but the Prince's Mansion has a deep foundation, and it will be restored to its original state in at most one or two decades!

But do they even consider whether the current government and cabinet would give the Prince of Nan'an's mansion a chance to turn things around?

A few powerful nobles also sensed that something was amiss and feared that things might not be so simple!

Although he has stated in court that he will do everything in his power to rescue the captured Prince of Nan'an!

Whether the rescued Prince of Nan'an can continue to stabilize the situation in the southwest is another matter.

In fact, the core members of the founding noble group also need to get together and discuss this.

Putting aside other matters, the defeat in the southwestern war resulted in heavy losses not only for the Prince of Nan'an's mansion, but also for many other founding noble families.

For example, Wei Ruolan's father, General Wei, died on the battlefield, which was quite a pity.

This man was a crucial military advisor to the Prince of Nan'an. His sudden death in battle was a tremendous loss for both the Prince of Nan'an's mansion and the Wei family itself.

Fortunately, news came from the southwest that Wei Ruolan had been guarding the rear and had not experienced the tragic defeat of the army, but the current situation was still quite bad.

General Wei and many others have suffered misfortune in this southwestern war!

They were either killed in battle or captured, and their families in the capital were also greatly implicated and impacted.

The nobles and powerful figures also need to think carefully about how to help their allies overcome the difficulties!

Indeed, although there were constant internal conflicts within the founding noble group, they naturally needed to band together for mutual support when facing a severe external environment, otherwise they might very well collapse.

Some things are no joke!

I never expected that Jia Huan would pull such a stunt!

Of course, upon further reflection, it became clear that Jia Huan was aiming to seize power.

This kid certainly has the confidence and qualifications to do so, at least for now!

Who could blame Jia Huan for his outstanding military achievements on the northwestern frontier? He is currently the most capable fighter among the founding nobles, without exception.