Traveling through Tianlong: Starting from the Zhenlong chess game

Chapter 585: I was badly cheated by you, the tyrant
Hearing Zhao Ji's stern question, Prince Consort Wang was also panicked. He said, "This is impossible. Not to mention that Liao sent 200,000 or 300,000 troops to attack Qi, it should be difficult for the Qi King to resist. Retreating back to his country is his best choice."

"Besides, the defenses of Dongjing include Hangu Pass, Hulao Pass, and Xijing City. How did the Qi King's army get here? Could it be that our garrison mistook the troops summoned to defend the king for the Qi army?"

Gao Qiu said at this time: "Your Majesty, don't panic. What the Grand Tutor said makes sense. I will go and ask for clarification. And please order a curfew in the city. If the rebels really arrive, it means that the two passes and one capital have been lost. The city was lost so quickly, there must be a traitor supporting the rebels. Now, in order to prevent the same thing from happening again, please send troops to strictly guard each prefecture."

Zhao Ji let out a long sigh and said, "What Mr. Gao said is absolutely right. I will leave this matter to you. Also, call Yelu Yanxiu to me! I want to ask her in person what is going on."

After receiving the order, Prince Consort Wang and Gao Qiu left without delay. Gao Qiu went to find out the situation, while Prince Consort Wang went to invite Yelu Yanxiu.

Half an hour later, Prince Consort Wang invited Yelu Yanxiu to the palace, and Gao Qiu also found out what happened.

Zhao Ji was so anxious that he paced back and forth in the imperial study. When he saw Gao Qiu coming back, he asked hurriedly, "What's the situation? Is it the army of the king, or the rebels of Qi?"

Gao Qiu took a breath and replied, "Your Majesty, it is indeed the rebels from Qi. I have just asked about it. The rebels from Qi have already broken through Zhuxian Town and are now stationed there. They seem to be waiting for the follow-up troops. I believe it won't be long before they arrive at the city of Bianjing."

Zhao Ji was so anxious that he stamped his feet and said, "Oh! What should I do?"

Gao Qiu said, "Your Majesty, please be at ease for now. I have already ordered all the imperial guards in Bianjing to return to defend the city. Although the rebels are coming with great force, they are few in number. Moreover, Xijing has not been breached yet, so they must be alone in advancing deep into the city."

After hearing this, Zhao Ji finally felt relieved.

At this time, Prince Consort Wang also arrived with Yelu Yanxiu.

Yelu Yanxiu looked at the two of them and now she was getting anxious.

According to her previous estimate, Zhao Mu should have returned to Qi to rescue. Why did the Qi army appear here?

Yelu Yanxiu was so anxious that she even forgot to greet Zhao Ji. After she entered the room, she hurriedly asked, "What's the situation? Has the Qi army arrived?"

Afterwards, Gao Qiu repeated what he had said before to Yelu Yanxiu.

After hearing this, Yelu Yanxiu was so scared that she took a half step back. She said, "Impossible! This is absolutely impossible! Even if Zhao Mu broke the rules and did not occupy the prefectures and counties, and went deep into the enemy's territory alone, Qi had just taken over the Western Regions not long ago, and the troops came east without resting. Now he doesn't have too many troops available. Even if he made some gains when he came east, according to our previous estimates, he only had a few hundred thousand people. But our Liao Dynasty assembled 300,000 troops to attack Qi, and he should have returned to the city to rescue. Is he really crazy and planning to abandon the land?"

After hearing Yelu Yanxiu's analysis, Zhao Ji and others felt a little embarrassed for a moment.

Seeing Zhao Ji's embarrassed expression, Yelu Yanxiu discovered something and asked, "Your Majesty, it seems that you are hiding something from me? Your Majesty is in a very urgent situation right now. If you are hiding something from me, it will be a big hindrance to our cooperation."

Seeing that Zhao Ji remained silent, Yelu Yanxiu looked at Prince Consort Wang again.

Prince Consort Wang said at this time: "The reason why Prince Qi could come so quickly is because the commanders of Qinfeng Road and Guanpai were his old subordinates. These people betrayed him and turned against him in the face of the enemy. As a result..."

Hearing this, Yelu Yanxiu was slightly stunned. She said, "Although I know that Prince Qi has a high prestige in the army. But why didn't Your Majesty and the Grand Master replace all his old subordinates? That led to the disaster today!"

Zhao Ji returned to the Dragon Desk and then slumped on it. He sighed and said, "It's all the fault of those rebels. Just before I ascended the throne, the Dragon Guards rebelled against the court and stole not only the Imperial Seal, but also the Imperial Seal for issuing imperial edicts. Now that I lack the Imperial Seal, I am unable to change the external officials. I was thinking of conferring the title of Emperor Zhao Mu as well, and using this as a condition to get back the Imperial Seal. But I didn't expect..." "What!?" Yelu Yanxiu was so angry that he couldn't speak.

But Yelu Yanxiu remained calm. He asked, "How many troops can the King of Qi mobilize now?"

At this time, General Gao said: "Including the soldiers who surrendered to him in Qinfeng Road, King Qi should have 300,000 or 400,000 people under his command."

After hearing this, Yelu Yanxiu couldn't help but lean back. If it weren't for her strong self-control, she would have been angered to death by Zhao Ji.

In order to fight this war to split the Song Dynasty, Yelu Yanxiu spent half of the Liao Dynasty's wealth.

The 300,000 troops that Liao State sent to attack Qi State were a fortune that Liao State had scraped together from all over the place. Now it seems that they will be lost again.

All this was caused by Zhao Ji, Gao Qiu and others not telling her the truth.

Although Zhao Mu's manifesto to attack Zhao Ji had spread throughout the world, Yelu Yanxiu only thought that Zhao Mu was bluffing and trying to build momentum for his actions so that he could have a legitimate reason to attack.

But she didn't expect that what Zhao Mu said in the manifesto was actually true.

Yelu Yanxiu was willing to cooperate with Zhao Ji and put everything on the line in front of the Liao ruler, strongly supporting the war with Qi State, because he believed the lies of Zhao Ji, Empress Dowager Gao and others, saying that Zhezong passed the throne to Zhao Ji and made him the new emperor.

Although Yelu Yanxiu knew there must be something fishy going on, she didn't care. But she didn't expect that the emperor in Bianjing was actually a "blank emperor" without a jade seal.

By now Yelu Yanxiu already knew that this defeat was inevitable and the situation was over.

Seeing Yelu Yanxiu's decadent look, Prince Consort Wang was extremely anxious.

Prince Consort Wang said quickly, "Your Highness, do you have any good ideas at the moment? General Gao still has 80,000 imperial guards under his command, and all of them have returned to defend Bianjing City. Do you think the Liao Kingdom can send some more reinforcements?"

Yelu Yanxiu shook his head and said, "We are powerless to save the situation now."

Zhao Ji also asked at this time: "What? Are we really..."

Yelu Yanxiu glared at Zhao Ji, cursing him in his heart as a bastard who was incapable of accomplishing anything, but always failed and made many stupid decisions. If it weren't for the fact that this was in the palace of the Song Dynasty and Yelu Yanxiu was alone and weak, Yelu Yanxiu really wanted to go up and slap this stupid emperor twice.

But Yelu Yanxiu thought: "Since it has already happened, the defeat is inevitable. So now is not the time to be angry with this bastard. The most urgent task now is to minimize the losses of my Great Liao. What should I do?"

At this time, Yelu Yanxiu remembered the "three strategies of best, middle and worst" that Prince Consort Wang had told her before.

(End of this chapter)