Jiuxi

Chapter 471 Chapter 469 [Thousands of Miles Away]

Jiangnan, Hezhou.

As time enters late October, the scenery along the road becomes increasingly desolate and deserted.

There was an icy chill in the air, and the long team returning to the capital from Chengzhou moved forward in silence. Both the frontier cavalry and the imperial infantry of Jingying Town put on winter clothes to keep out the cold.

After traveling thousands of miles back and forth, coupled with constant training and elimination along the way, the appearance of the officers and soldiers of the Zhenwei Army can be described as brand new.

Although they have not yet withstood the test and temper of the fire of war, at least they seem to have the temperament of an elite force.

In the carriage, Lu Chen was reading a long letter with elegant handwriting, while Tan Zheng sat aside respectfully.

After a long time, Lu Chen put away the long letter, closed his eyes slightly and fell into deep thought.

The battle situation in Jiangbei is complicated. Jingyan's army launched offensives in Dingzhou and Jingzhou at the same time. It is currently in the early stage of stalemate.

Jingjun did not take advantage in Dingzhou, and the two defense lines of Dingfeng Road and Qingliuguan are still very strong so far.

Tan Zheng replied: "Yes, Miss Wang asked the villain to tell the Marquis that she speculated that Jing's army's strategy was to take Dingzhou first, lead the Huaizhou army to the north, and then gather troops to go south to Jingzhou. Once Dingzhou is opened by Jing's army, Huaizhou will The state army could not sit back and watch, and could only go north to rescue them. If they lose the support of the Huaizhou army, there will probably be an extremely brutal battle on the Jingzhou border. Miss Wang also said that if the Marquis has solved the matter in Shazhou. , Maybe you can report to the emperor and take the initiative to go to Dingzhou. With the marquis in charge in Dingzhou, Jingjun’s plan will not be easy to succeed. "

However, the Emperor of Jing State was extremely calm and allowed the main force of Jing's army, which had just experienced the battle to destroy Zhao, to rest and recuperate for nearly a year. At the same time, the bloody courage developed by the Qi frontier army's successive victories gradually cooled down.

Tan Zheng sighed softly.

How can things always go as people wish? In fact, when Lu Chen led his troops to briefly capture Heluo, many people thought that Jing Chao would immediately counterattack.

Otherwise, how can the successor face a powerful minister who is in his twenties and has hundreds of thousands of troops?

Another point is that Lu Chen's status is already unique for his age. Whether he is as good as the forest or has great achievements, he must stay quiet for a while if he wants to maintain the stability of the Great Qi court in the future.

The problem is that Qing Yugong may not be fooled.

If the main force of Jing's army moves south, this will naturally reduce the pressure on the Dingzhou Governor's Office.

This is not malicious suppression or idleness.

According to their judgment, Li Jingda, the governor of Dingzhou, had a false reputation and would probably fall into a big trap at the hands of the main force of the Jing army.

The Jingzhou Army is commanded by Li Tianrun, Duke of Huai'an County, who can certainly ensure that the border is safe.

The issue in Shazhou is indeed very important. If Lu Chen does not repair the relationship with the various ministries in Shazhou this time, Jinglian people are very likely to take advantage of it. Once Shen Min and Jingren collude, Jingjun can take advantage of Shazhou to attack the big army. Qi Jiangnan states pose a huge threat.

"She sees it very clearly, but..."

This result raised many eyebrows.

Now there are no problems in Dingzhou, but there are some loopholes in Jingzhou's defense line.

At that time, Lu Chen, Xiao Wangzhi and Li Tianrun were all prepared to deal with it. The morale of Daqi's border troops was at a high level. If Jing's army advanced rashly, it was still unclear who would win.

Lu Chen raised his hand and gently tapped the table beside him, shook his head and said: "The ultimate competition in this war is the hard power of both sides. No matter how good the strategy is, it depends on the execution of the soldiers. The time is still too short. If the other side can give us more With two to three years of training, our army’s chances of winning can increase by 20%.”

Thinking of this, Lu Chen opened his eyes and looked at Tan Zheng and asked, "Miss Wang, do you have anything else to tell you?"

On the Jingzhou side, on the other hand, the Yan army has completed the siege of Gaotang City on the western front. At the same time, the central and eastern fronts are facing threats from the Jing army. The harassment of several Jing army cavalry has made the Feiyu army led by Li Bingxue There is almost no time to rest.

However, in Lu Chen's view, the strength of the Jingzhou Army was more than that, and Li Tianrun was probably deliberately showing weakness to attract the attention of Jingjun and Qing Yugong.

Lu Chen had another consideration that he didn't mention. This trip to Shazhou went smoothly, but as Li Daoyan said before departure, the emperor was consciously suppressing his momentum, so he still let him go despite knowing that war might break out in Jiangbei. Take a trip to Shazhou.

At least in Li Duan's view, he did this to protect Lu Chen.

What's more, with Xiao Wangzhi and Li Tianrun in Jiangbei, no one would be able to lead the army without Lu Chen. If the Daqi border army was really weak to this point, it would have been completely defeated by Jing's army more than ten years ago.

After pondering for a moment, Lu Chen said to Tan Zheng: "Go back and tell Miss Wang that everything is fine here and ask her not to worry. In addition, His Majesty has issued a marriage decree. If everything goes well, I will go to Xunyang in person next spring. City to pick her up."

Tan Zheng said excitedly: "Congratulations, Lord Marquis! Congratulations, Lord Marquis! After knowing this news, I will definitely be very happy."

Lu Chen understood the reason for his expression. In fact, not only Tan Zheng and other close confidants of the Lu family, but also generals such as Duan Zuozhang, Pei Sui and Song Shifei from Dingzhou in the north, and many powerful and high-ranking officials from the capital in the south were present. Secretly worried about Lu Chen's marriage.

After all, in this era, the significance of marrying a wife and having children is extraordinary, especially for the forces gathered around Lu Chen. Lu Chen's personal issues are extremely important to them.

Tan Zheng bowed and left. He had just stepped off the carriage when Qin Zilong's urgent voice came from outside: "Your Majesty, there is an angel from the palace coming ahead!"

"Angel?"

Lu Chen was slightly surprised. After setting off from Chengzhou, he asked Yin Shangfu to send his itinerary to the capital in advance.

As long as you pass Hezhou and enter the capital, it is not far from the capital. The emperor and the princes in the court should be very clear about this.

At this time, the messenger angel suddenly arrived. Could it be that there was a drastic change in a battlefield somewhere in Jiangbei?
Lu Chen put on his horse with a solemn expression, and surrounded by dozens of soldiers, he passed the imperial guard of honor in front and quickly came to the front of the team.

He saw dozens of horses galloping from the opposite side. Lu Chen recognized at a glance that the person was Jin Wang, the eunuch under Lu Shizhou in the palace, and the others were the guards responsible for protecting him.

Jin Wang rode his horse forward and jumped off his horse with great energy. The imperial guards he brought with him and Lu Chen's personal soldiers stayed where they were.

"Your Majesty ordered that Marquis Shanyang immediately lead his cavalry back to the capital."

Jin Wang's words were concise and to the point, and his expression was very solemn. "I accept the decree."

Lu Chen bowed his head and agreed, then asked directly: "What happened in the capital?"

If other ministers were to ask this question, even if Jin Wang couldn't act like a person around the emperor, it would be difficult to give him a good look.

But he knew that the emperor valued and trusted the young prince in front of him, so he lowered his voice and said: "Your Majesty has been feeling cold recently, so he wants to see Lu Hou return to the capital as soon as possible."

Lu Chen was shocked.

The emperor's physical condition is a very serious problem. As early as half a year ago, he told Lu Chen and Qin Zheng that due to the deepening of the disease and the deterioration caused by long-term hard work, he frankly admitted that his life span would not be long.

Because of this, the emperor would force the Jiangnan clan to rebel and strive to solve Daqi's own problems while he was still alive.

Upon hearing the news, Lu Chen felt a strong sense of uneasiness and sadness in his heart.

For Da Qi now, as long as the emperor can still be awake to govern, the overall situation will not be turbulent.

Once there is a change of imperial power, it is difficult to say what impact it will have on the situation on the Jiangbei border.

He forced himself to calm down, turned to Qin Zilong and said, "Let Liu Yin and Ye Jitang come over."

"Follow the order!"

Qin Zilong got on his horse and galloped backwards.

After a while, two young and promising tiger generals came to the front.

Lu Chen didn't waste any more words and said quickly: "Ye Jitang, please gather all the cavalry immediately, each carrying five days of dry food, and follow me to the capital immediately."

Ye Jitang said solemnly: "The last general takes orders!"

Lu Chen looked at Liu Yin again and said, "You can lead the Zhenwei army back at the same speed as before. Be careful not to disturb the people along the way. You must strictly abide by the military discipline prescribed by this prince."

Liu Yin said loudly: "The last general takes orders!"

Jin Wang watched from the sidelines and couldn't help but secretly sigh that the young prince acted cleanly and neatly, without any of the procrastination habits of the officials in the court.

Nearly two thousand cavalry were quickly lined up. Under the leadership of Lu Chen, they immediately set off and galloped towards Yongjia City in the east.

The cold wind is like a knife, as if it can penetrate a person's bone marrow.

……

Beiyan, Heluo City.

In Zhuoyuan, a discussion about military strategy was going on.

The focus of the dispute among Jing's generals was the battle situation on the southern front.

Judging from the current situation, perhaps because the battle front is too long, the Jingzhou Army has not shown the legendary ferocity and initiative, and is rather stretched and cramped.

Faced with the Yan Army's offensive on the western front and the Jing Army's cavalry raids in other places, the Jingzhou Army could only hold on to the city pass. Although the only cavalry force, Feiyu Army, was not weak, the strength of this cavalry force was It was not enough to complete the division and encirclement of Jingjun's cavalry.

To put it simply, the Jingzhou Army is currently in a disadvantageous position of passive defense. If the Jingzhou Army concentrates its forces to attack one area, it may not be unable to achieve brilliant results.

Qing Yugong sat on the main seat, with a calm face as he listened to the generals below spitting.

It wasn't until everyone had expressed their opinions that they would fall into meaningless repeated arguments. Then he cleared his throat and said, "This is the result Li Tianrun wants to see. Do you think he really doesn't have the ability to tie up the defense?" Of course, I know some of you can see that this is Li Tianrun deliberately showing weakness, and think this is also an opportunity for our army, because if Li Tianrun wants to show weakness, he has to reveal a flaw, as long as our army can seize this flaw. , you can still achieve great victory.”

After hearing these words, the generals couldn't help but gradually calmed down.

Qing Yugong smiled slightly, but his tone was very serious: "Remember, don't let your enemy lead you by the nose, even if he takes the initiative to expose his flaws to you. The art of war, the combination of good and evil, first and foremost, is to put me first, and let me The enemy gets into our rhythm."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

There was a roar of response.

Qing Yugong turned to look at one person and said calmly: "A wise tiger."

Mou Lianghu immediately stood up and said: "The general is here!"

Qing Yugong said: "You led 20,000 troops and horses eastward out of Leize Plain, used war to support war and made detours, disrupting the heart of Dingzhou in Southern Qi."

A heroic look appeared on the face of the wise tiger, and he said without hesitation: "The last general will take the order!"

After the military meeting ended, the hall seemed extremely quiet.

Qing Yugong slowly stood up and walked to the west wall. He looked at the map hanging on the wall and his eyes fell on something.

That's northern Dingzhou.

Dingfeng Road and Baotai Mountain.

(End of this chapter)