The Empress remarried, and I retaliated by wiping out the court.

This happened extremely suddenly!

now.

Cao Ji was listening to a report from the Eastern Depot agents and was more than 20 meters away from Ye Wudao, so he had no time to save Ye Wudao!

"His Majesty!"

Cao Ji screamed in terror!

"Be careful!"

Zhao Min, riding on horseback, never expected the other party to suddenly attack, and she also didn't have time to make a move!

Du Yuteng had also anticipated this.

A close-range sneak attack would surely kill Ye Wudao!

The dagger stabbed wildly toward Ye Wudao's heart!

He could almost see Ye Wudao being killed, and him being richly rewarded by Xiao Linyuan, soaring to great heights from then on...

but--

Out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly saw a flash of white light appear inside the phoenix carriage beside Ye Wudao.

"Clang!"

A clear, crisp sound of a sword ringing out.

Du Yuteng only felt a blur before his eyes.

next moment.

He felt the world spinning and discovered that his field of vision was constantly rising.

He saw Ye Wudao's calm face, and he also saw the Imperial Guards in the distance, their faces filled with horror.

Then, he saw a figure dressed in Dragon Guard armor who looked remarkably like him.

Du Yuteng's pupils contracted sharply: "Huh? That looks like my body?"

Oh, so he was beheaded with a single sword strike!

Du Yuteng is dead.

On his deathbed, his eyes were fixed on Xie Bingyu's carriage. He couldn't understand how the usually gentle and unassuming Seventh Empress could have the ability to kill him so easily!

"Your Majesty, are you alright?"

Cao Ji arrived late and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Ye Wudao was unharmed.

Then, he looked warily at Xie Bingyu's sedan chair.

Grandmaster!

The aura behind that attack was definitely that of a grandmaster!

An answer is obvious!

Xie Bingyu is actually a young grandmaster prodigy!

What does it mean to be a 20-year-old grandmaster?

This means that this woman is very likely to reach the legendary Grandmaster realm in the future!

That's a peerless genius capable of unifying the martial arts world!

And this monstrous talent has actually been hiding by His Majesty's side all along?

"Ruthless..."

Zhao Min rushed over almost instinctively.

Are you hurt?

"fine."

Zhao Min clearly didn't believe him, so she went around behind him and looked at him carefully again.

Only after confirming that Ye Wudao didn't have a single wound did she breathe a long sigh of relief: "That was close! I was so scared just now."

Ye Wudao laughed and said, "This is all thanks to Eunuch Cao's timely rescue, don't you think?"

Cao Ji was taken aback, then seemed to realize what he meant and quickly replied, "Yes, yes, Your Majesty is blessed with good fortune!"

He thought to himself, "It seems that our Emperor doesn't want outsiders to know about Empress Xie's strength."

He secretly vowed to keep this secret a secret, and never reveal it, even if it meant his death!

Be more careful next time!

Zhao Min punched Ye Wudao in the chest with her little pink fist.

"Hmm." Ye Wudao looked at Zhao Min and asked, "My beloved consort, Black Wind Stronghold is easy to defend but difficult to attack. Do you have any good strategies?"

Zhao Min remained silent for a long time before saying:

"If we launch a direct attack, even if we manage to win, we will suffer heavy losses. In my opinion, we should take a more cunning approach."

"How to take a shortcut?"

"this……"

Zhao Min couldn't say anything for a moment. After all, bandits have always been difficult to suppress because they have the advantage of the terrain, which is a headache for the imperial court.

"Bring me the map!"

Ye Wudao took the map from the soldier, pointed to Yanlang Mountain, and asked, "How many people does Black Wind Stronghold have now?"

Li Yanran replied in a deep voice, "Black Wind Stronghold itself has about two hundred people."

"But I have received news that the forces of Flying Eagle Stronghold, Bear Sky Stronghold, and Fierce Tiger Stronghold have all gathered at Black Wind Stronghold, totaling about 570 people."

Ye Wudao narrowed his eyes, realizing that this must be a trap set by Xiao Linyuan.

"So, Black Wind Stronghold now has the strength of four strongholds?"

"good."

Li Yanran pointed to the map and said, "Black Wind Stronghold occupies the main stronghold, Flying Eagle Stronghold's troops are stationed on the east side, Bear Sky Stronghold is responsible for the west side, and Fierce Tiger Stronghold is arranged in the back mountain, surrounded like an iron barrel, just waiting for us to come to our door."

Ye Wudao suddenly laughed, "That makes things even easier."

Li Yanran was taken aback: "Even easier to handle?"

Ye Wudao raised his head and looked at everyone: "If they only had one stronghold, I would really be in trouble. But now, the forces from all four strongholds have gathered together, which has given me an opportunity."

The crowd looked at each other, puzzled as to why Ye Wudao would say such a thing.

The situation is clearly worse, so why is Ye Wudao happy instead?

Ye Wudao slowly said, "Have you noticed a problem? These four mountain strongholds usually fight independently. The people of Black Wind Stronghold are not familiar with Flying Eagle Stronghold, and the people of Flying Eagle Stronghold are not familiar with Bear Sky Stronghold..."

"Although they are now gathered together, they are not a real army at all, but rather four groups of bandits who have temporarily come together!"

Zhao Min's eyes flickered slightly: "You mean...?"

Ye Wudao reached out and pointed to the back of Black Wind Stronghold, where there was a steep cliff.

An ordinary army could not possibly climb the mountain from there.

Ye Wudao said calmly, "Black Wind Stronghold is surrounded by mountains on three sides, making it easy to defend and difficult to attack. But they would never have imagined that I would attack from a place they thought no one could possibly reach."

At this point, Ye Wudao looked at Zhao Min and Xie Bingyu: "You two lead men to climb up the cliff behind the mountain. I'm going to carry out a decapitation strike!"

"A decapitation strike?"

This was the first time Zhao Min had heard such a novel idea.

"That's right. Bandits are a loose alliance, not as strong as an army. Once they lose their leader, they will instantly fall apart."

"Can you really rely on us?"

As she said this, Zhao Min glanced at Xie Bingyu, seemingly unintentionally.

She could understand taking other soldiers, but taking Xie Bingyu, a woman who couldn't even kill a chicken, was just a waste of her time.

After all, not all women are as good at fighting as she is!

Ye Wudao patted her on the shoulder: "Trust me!"

"Although these four mountain strongholds are united, they are not familiar with each other. They need to rearrange who is responsible for patrols, who is responsible for guarding, and who is responsible for relaying orders. In fact, they also need to be wary of each other."

"The people of Flying Eagle Stronghold will not completely trust Black Wind Stronghold, and the people of Bear Sky Stronghold will not completely obey the orders of the Black Wind Stronghold Chief. This is their greatest weakness."

A cold glint flashed in Ye Wudao's eyes.

"Consort Zhao, tell me, if someone dressed in Flying Eagle Village clothing killed a member of Black Wind Village at night, wouldn't the Black Wind Village members think that Flying Eagle Village was responsible?"

"Similarly, if someone were to wear Xiong Tianzhai's clothes and kill someone from Feiyingzhai, what would they think?"

"You let them fight amongst themselves, set fires inside, while I will lead a large army in a frontal assault and annihilate them in one fell swoop!"

Zhao Min's eyes lit up: "Brilliant!"

Ye Wudao looked at Yanlang Mountain again, the smile on his face gradually disappearing, his voice as cold as ice:

"They dared to touch my women and rob my grain; they have already committed treason!"

"so……"

"In this battle, I will not beg for mercy, nor will I take prisoners. I only wish for the complete annihilation of the bandits on Yanlang Mountain! May Black Wind Stronghold be wiped out from this day forward!"

Looking at Ye Wudao in front of her, Zhao Min suddenly realized that she seemed to have never truly understood this man.

Previously, she mistakenly believed that Ye Wudao was just a puppet emperor who had been sidelined.

However, Ye Wudao's actions during this period completely overturned his imagination of this man.

From killing treacherous officials to quelling the regent's rebellion, Ye Wudao displayed a level of skill and shrewdness far beyond what one would expect from someone his age.

At this moment, Ye Wudao stood in front of the map, as if everything in the world was under his control.

That air of strategic mastery was so captivating that Zhao Min couldn't take her eyes off him...

Marrying a man like this... doesn't seem like such a bad thing?