After a good while, Mu Changtian and Qin Yushan in the study finally came to their senses, both shocked by Lu Chen's ambition.
However, Qin Yushan quickly calmed down, after all, in his eyes, Lu Chen was the Son of Destiny, who would one day unify the entire continent.
But Mu Changtian was different, although he had also thought Lu Chen's ambition was to unify the world, his definition of the world did not include the North Land.
The expanse of the North Land was so vast that even the Barbarian Tribe did not know its full extent, yet Lu Chen actually wanted to include the North Land into his domain.
If Lu Chen truly did that, then the territory he owned would be larger than all the lands of the Great Xia, minus North City, combined.
If a Seignior owned more territory than an emperor, could he still be called a Seignior?
Of course, that wasn't the key point, the key was whether he could actually possess the North Land.
If one merely drew a circle on the map and claimed the North Land belonged to the North Prince, that certainly wouldn't suffice.
Barbarian Tribes wouldn't recognize your map.
At that moment, Mu Changtian tentatively asked, "Prince, if you plan to include the North Land in your fief, how will you defend against the invasions of the Barbarian Tribes?"
"Do you intend to build a Great Wall in the North Land?"
Lu Chen countered, "Barbarian Tribes? What Barbarian Tribes?"
Hearing Lu Chen's retort, Mu Changtian suddenly felt his mind go blank.
There were several Barbarian Tribe clans in the North Land, which the North Prince was surely aware of, and the Sky Wolf King's royal court was also there; how could the North Prince ask him what Barbarian Tribes?
Lu Chen continued, "What Barbarian Tribes are there? They are all my subjects."
Lu Chen glanced at the map of the North Land and continued, "Any Great Wall, no matter how splendid or sturdy, cannot hold back an internal enemy."
"The Great Wall I want to construct is not an external one, but one in the heart, a Great Wall built in the enemy's heart. One day, I will make the enemy unconsciously retreat the moment they think of stepping into my domain, not daring to take a single step forward."
Hearing Lu Chen's words, both Mu Changtian and Qin Yushan were taken aback.
Lu Chen had a strong desire for the land of the North Land. Not to mention that the North Land could serve as pastures to raise horses, cattle, and sheep for their North City, the vast land surely harbored abundant resources.
Such as coal, oil, various metal ores.
Although these things might not yet have a use or have been discovered, the larger the territory, the more likely it is to hold numerous resources; and he would eventually need these resources.
The key was that the North Land was only inhabited by Barbarian Tribes, and even they were not the masters of the North Land.
The North Land could quite honestly be considered ownerless land.
Even the Da Yue Dynasty hadn't claimed the North Land as their territory.
Lu Chen thought about how the system once hinted that as the number of children born to him increased, the rewards he would receive in the future would become more abundant.
Although many resources couldn't be explored or mined now, as the rewards provided by the system grew, there would come a day when he would have the means to extract those resources.
In short, the larger the territory, the potentially greater the resources; it was paramount to secure the land first.
As for how to handle the Barbarian Tribes of the North Land, Lu Chen had a simple idea.
Population is also a kind of resource.
It had been quite some time before Mu Changtian recovered from what Lu Chen had just said.
He immediately bowed and said, "Prince, your ambition is great, and I wish to become the sword in the Prince's hand. Wherever the sword points, the army advances, and I am willing to build a Great Wall that the enemies will never be able to surpass for the Prince!"
Lu Chen coughed slightly, then said, "I have already felt General Mu's loyalty. Let's talk about serious matters now."
Lu Chen then said to Qin Yushan, "Commander Qin, continue leading the Brocade Guard to collect intelligence on the Sky Wolf King's royal court. You must always have their movements well in hand."
Qin Yushan replied, "Yes, Prince."
Having said this, Lu Chen thought for a moment and then said, "Let's go see Xiao Pengthian first; I have some words I want to say to him."
Hearing this, Mu Changtian and Qin Yushan promptly led the way for Lu Chen, and soon the three of them arrived at the prison in Yan County, where criminals were held.
Xiao Pengthian sat on the ground, disheveled and listless. He had been medicinally stripped of his skill by the Brocade Guard and was now no different from an ordinary person.
The prison room where Xiao Pengthian was held was fairly clean, with a bed and blankets, not at all like the filthy and chaotic other cells.
Hearing the door open, Xiao Pengthian sensed someone was coming and looked up to see who was outside the cell.
Seeing the visitor was a young man dressed in a Brocade Python Dragon Robe, with a white jade belt, Xiao Pengthian instantly guessed the man's identity.
Xiao Pengthian scoffed and said, "They say the North Prince is just a greenhorn, lustful and incompetent, a craven at heart. I never expected that in the end, it would be this greenhorn who led a mere tens of thousands of North City soldiers to annihilate our Sky Wolf Clan's army of three hundred thousand."
Lu Chen said, "Before me, you call me a greenhorn, aren't you afraid I'll kill you?"
Xiao Pengthian said with an air of indifference, "What difference is there between me now and if I were dead?"
Xiao Pengthian thought his skill was gone, that he was now a cripple, and with the Sky Wolf Clan's army of three hundred thousand wiped out by the North Prince, he had no face to return to the Sky Wolf Clan.