Chapter 547 The Imminent Western Expedition

The "sheep cart hope for good fortune" during this period put Zhao Mu in a good mood.

After this period of training, Zhao Mu became more adept at handling political affairs. Being a king is essentially not much different from running a company.

It's just that this company is bigger and has more employees. The six ministers can be regarded as members of the board of directors and managers of each department.

As a ready-made ruler who maintained the status quo, Zhao Mu did a pretty good job. He adhered to the attitude of "be cautious in major matters and careful in minor matters" and "professional matters should be handled by professionals". Although he did not make any great or bold achievements in governing the country, he could barely be considered to have a peaceful and prosperous country.

A month later, the marriage delegation of Princess Anping of Goryeo also arrived in Lingzhou City.

Princess Anping and her group arrived so late, not because of any obstacles on the road. They had a very smooth journey. However, on the way to Qi State,
They went to the Song Dynasty again and did another thing. That was to formally declare Goryeo a vassal of the Song Dynasty and request the emperor of the Song Dynasty to confer a title on them.

Moreover, Qi was a vassal state of the Song Dynasty, so the marriage between the Goryeo princess and the King of Qi had to be approved by the Emperor of the Song Dynasty.

Because of these things, they wasted some time in Bianjing, so they arrived late.

Although it was not as grand as the welcome for the envoys from the Song Dynasty, it did not humiliate the small country of Goryeo.

But what surprised Zhao Mu was that Princess Anping actually learned Chinese. She didn't need Cui Yan to translate for her now, she could talk to everyone fluently.

However, Princess Anping's authentic Henan accent, the official language of the Song Dynasty, made Zhao Mu feel uncomfortable, especially when she was wearing her country's clothes and talking to Zhao Mu in authentic Henan dialect.

Princess Anping was pretty and funny. Everyone in the harem liked her very much. Especially Princess Chai, Princess Xiaoqian, Musa and other girls of similar age, who got along best with Princess Anping.

Now that all his concubines were present, Zhao Mu could finally put his worries aside.

In the past few days, he inspected the combat level of his newly recruited troops. Under the training of his veterans who had experienced war, they were quite capable.

Zhao Mu also sent people from the Lingjiu Palace to help him draw the route to the Western Regions. Not only did the people from the Lingjiu Palace help. Musa also used the power of the Mingjiao, as well as the information left by the Xixia Kingdom and the former Tang Atlas, to plan the most reasonable route to the Western Regions and the customs and practices of the Western Regions for Zhao Mu.

Although Zhao Mu's advance this time would not be as easy as the one against Western Xia, with this map, at least he could make better logistical planning.

Zhao Mu's expedition to the west to protect the Western Regions was actually a continuation of the Song Dynasty's war against the Western Xia. The Qi army was also the army that the Song Dynasty left behind. In addition, in the previous war to pacify the Western Xia, the Western Xia Kingdom did not suffer any serious damage before Zhao Mu took over. Therefore, the treasury reserves of money and grain are now very abundant.

But just when everything was ready, a crucial question stumped Zhao Mu.

That is, what reason was used to launch a "just" war against the Uighur tribes.

Since ancient times, morale is the most important thing for the army to conquer. In addition to the nobles leading the troops to advance bravely, another way to maintain stable morale is to have a "just cause". Let the troops under your command know why they are fighting.

If this problem is not solved, once the attack is frustrated and the war goes against one's will, the soldiers will generally feel tired of fighting. Once this kind of emotion arises, it will have a huge impact on morale.

Although Gaochang Uighurs had taken advantage of the situation to rob Xixia some time ago when the Song Dynasty conquered Xixia, that was just a feud between Xixia and Gaochang Uighurs. After the Song Dynasty conquered Xixia, Gaochang Uighurs also tactfully withdrew their troops and sent envoys to negotiate peace.

In order to stabilize the situation in the northwest as soon as possible, Zhao Mu agreed to the peace talks with Gaochang Uighurs. In return, Gaochang Uighurs acknowledged that the Song Dynasty occupied the entire territory of Xixia. Then they retreated.

But now Zhao Mu really couldn't think of any reasonable reason to beat him up.

After all, you can't just use nonsense like a missing soldier.

But just when Zhao Mu was worried, the female official came to report, "Your Majesty, this is an urgent report from the border 600 miles away."

Zhao Mu stood up and said, "Oh? Which border is the border of Gaochang?"

The female official replied: "My Lord, this is the border between Qi and Liao."

"Liao people?" Zhao Mu felt a little disappointed after hearing this. Originally, Zhao Mu thought that he was just sleeping and hitting the pillow. He had no reason to attack Gaochang, but the other side attacked first.

Zhao Mu said, "Show it up!" Although Zhao Mu was a little disappointed, since the Liao people had taken action, he could not take it lightly.

Zhao Mu took the newspaper and read it carefully.

This matter is not a big deal, but it is not a small matter either.

This letter was sent back from the outpost on the border between Qi and Liao. The Liao soldiers were spotted moving in the northern border of Qi, and when the Liao saw the smoke signals from the Qi army, they immediately sent messengers to contact Qi and informed them of their purpose.

They were escorting the princess of Zhao to Gaochang to marry the Uighurs. They hoped that Qi would not overreact to avoid friction between the two armies.

The border guards of Qi State did not dare to neglect it and quickly sent the news to Zhao Mu, asking King Qi to make a decision.

Zhao Mu looked at the newspaper and couldn't help but chuckle.

"Haha, this woman really wants to create chaos in the world. She deliberately uses this method to inform me that if I don't send troops, she will become someone else's." Zhao Mu then wrote a reply on the newspaper with a big stroke of his pen.

That is to always pay attention to the movements of the Liao army and send scouts to investigate, and immediately fight back if the Liao army has any ill intentions.

Zhao Mu was well aware of Yelu Yanxiu's many cunning schemes. He was afraid that this was Yelu Yanxiu's conspiracy. Once he let down his guard, the Liao army would infiltrate him, just like the Huns' raid on Youbeiping.

Zhao Mu always treated his enemies with the worst attitude.

However, Zhao Mu also stepped up the mobilization of troops. Although he didn't care who Yelu Yanxiu married, the marriage between Gaochang Uighur and Liao was definitely the time when they were most relaxed. If they didn't take advantage of the sudden attack now, if Gaochang Uighur and Liao really united, it would be a bit troublesome.

Moreover, Zhao Mu was also very clear why Yelu Yanxiu, a legitimate princess of the Liao Kingdom, would marry into the small Gaochang Uighur tribe. It must be because they wanted to attack him from both sides.

Thinking of this, Zhao Mu couldn't help but shudder.

He suddenly felt that he was trapped by this woman, Yelu Yanxiu, again.

The dissension between him and the people in the Song Dynasty court might have been deliberately instigated by this woman.

The Song Dynasty was alienated from him, and he could not get reinforcements from the interior, while the Liao army and the Uighur tribes could attack him from both sides. Even if he had great abilities, he was only one person, and he could not look back when he looked ahead. The strategic depth of the Western Xia Kingdom was not great, and its defense was not as sound as that of the Song Dynasty.

When I lead my army to fight the Liao army or the Uighur army, the other side will gather superior forces to raid my lair. Although I can escape with my high martial arts skills, my family doesn't have this ability.

Realizing this, Zhao Mu knew he couldn't wait any longer.

(End of this chapter)

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