Because of Yang Shenxing, Hsu Fengnian thought of the entangled Ji Zhou, and then he thought of the complicated situation in the two Liao and Beiliang. He could not help but sigh at the invisible shadows of swords and blades outside the imperial court. These were the real killers. The small Ji Zhou involved Cai Nan, the nominal head of the military of the Lianghuai Dao. Although he had lost power, he still controlled nearly ten thousand elite cavalry of the Li family of Yanbao. Han Fang, who was personally roped in by the Emperor of Liyang, and Yang Huchen, who represented the return of his family's power to the old land. There was also the new King of Han, who did not bat an eyelid, and the interests of the group of civil officials behind Han Lin. As for the two Liao, whose territory was even larger, other than Gu Jiantang, who led the government on the surface, there was also Xu Gong, who replaced the Emperor as the assistant minister of the Ministry of War to patrol the borders. There was also Zhao Sui, who had been rooted for a long time, and the traditional power of the northern scholars led by the Peng family. There were four heroes. If one were to take them out and look at them individually, it would seem that each of them was well-respected, but in reality, no one had a choice.
Hsu Fengnian unconsciously stood at the foot of the wall of the small courtyard. He stretched out his palm and placed it on the wall, looking up at the top of the wall.
The great building was about to collapse.
Previously, through the intelligence reports from Fu Shui Fang and secret court reports from Li Yang, which were only sent to the provincial governors of each province, the situation of the Guangling Taoism War had already tipped in West Chu's favor. After Cao Changqing led the navy to defeat Zhao Yi's navy, on the second battlefield west of West Chu's capital, the three young men of West Chu once again shone brilliantly. Pei Sui, who had previously presided over the clamorous government affairs, assisted Xie Xibian, who had returned from the western front to preside over the defensive line. Together, they successfully blocked the river crossing army led by Wu Zhongxuan, the number one general of the Southern Frontier Path. In addition, Xu Yunxia, who had led twenty thousand light cavalry to fight to the death against Yan Zhenchun's army, crossed the river and attacked the rear of the Southern Frontier Army, cutting off two main supply routes. Not only did this slow down the pressure on West Chu's western front, it was also equivalent to breaking the plan of Li Yang's four fronts to encircle the capital. For West Chu, they had opened up a large and valuable strategic depth in the vast area south of the Guangling River. In order to coordinate with the Southern Frontier Army on the western front, Zhao Yi's army, which had chosen to quickly advance westward, suddenly fell into a situation where they were alone and deep in the enemy's territory. The thirty thousand elite soldiers under Zhao Yi's command, who were skilled in mountainous warfare, were defeated by Cao Changqing's ten thousand infantry and two groups of three thousand light cavalry each. In just half a day, Zhao Yi's army had been completely annihilated. Were it not for the fact that the commander in chief of the southern expedition, Lu Shengxiang, had taken an unexpected move and led five thousand cavalry into the southeastern battlefield, and then his eight thousand infantry had successively defeated the two cities of Yinma and Yangying, with the vanguard cavalry only fifty li away from the main force of West Chu, forcing West Chu to have no choice but to give up on advancing east in one spurt of energy. Perhaps Zhao Yi would have become the second Li Yang Great Feudal Lord to die on the battlefield after the Duke of Huainan.
It seemed that West Chu had won successive victories on the various battlefields like a hot knife through butter, ushering in the most prosperous state since the restoration of the country.
However, Hsu Fengnian knew very well that this was just a scene of adding oil to the fire and flowers blooming. Capturing Lu Shengxiang at Yinma and Yangying was just a small test. When this general, who had resigned from his position as Assistant Minister of the Ministry of War, completely grasped the military power of the southern expedition, unless it was Cao Changqing personally overseeing Guangling and Jiangbei, no one would be able to stop Lu Shengxiang's march to the south. His previous inaction was not as simple as Lu Shengxiang being hindered from all sides on the surface. It was because he needed to cooperate with the imperial court to weaken the military power of Zhao Yi, Zhao Ying, and the other feudal lords. In return, the Liyang imperial court had tacitly approved of Lu Shengxiang's actions of waiting for the right price. As for Wu Zhongxuan falling into the mud of the Jiangbei battlefield, wasn't this a situation that Zhao Bing, who was watching the fire from the other side of the river, was happy to see? The true enemy that West Chu Xu Yunxia was going to face next would be the Southern Border elites under the King of Yan's valiant general, Wang Tongshan. Otherwise, the King of Yan's Royal Highness, who had killed the barbarian tribes of Nanjiang Path when he was young, would not have been unable to even put up a fight against Xu Yunxia's sneak attack, no matter how muddle-headed and incompetent he was, and how unaccustomed he was to the environment in Guangling Path.
Hsu Fengnian suddenly laughed with schadenfreude. "Little beggar, little beggar, you are not feeling well right now. That General Wu must have completely turned to the imperial court. There is no other way. Your Nanjiang Path has already done nothing to reward him, but the imperial court is different. They can afford to give him the title of Zhennan Great General, Minister of War, Shang Zhu Guo, and even Da Zhu Guo. Perhaps after he dies, he can even receive a posthumous title as a general. Therefore, it is not your fault that you want to completely fall out with Wu Zhongxuan and watch as West Chu ruthlessly stabbed old Wu in the butt."
Hsu Fengnian withdrew his palm. He bent his fingers and casually knocked on the wall. The sound was muffled.
Today, Beiliang was fighting to the death against Beimang's million-strong army. Zhao Yi, who was known as the richest man in the world, had already wiped out his family's wealth in the face of West Chu. The old King of Jing An, Zhao Heng, sacrificed his own life in exchange for a hereditary title for his son. The Duke of Huainan, Zhao Ying, became the first vassal king to die on the battlefield since the Spring and Autumn Period. After Zhao Sui of Liaodong surrendered, he was cautious for half his life. Originally, Zhao Bing, the King of Yan's army was second only to Beiliang. In the blink of an eye, Wu Zhongxuan led all the northern troops of Nanjiang Path to seek refuge with the Liyang imperial court. It could be said that his vitality was greatly damaged.
All of this was naturally the scheme of the late Emperor Zhao Dun, Yuan Benxi, and the former Grand Secretary Zhang Julu.
It had nothing to do with the current Emperor.
Hsu Fengnian sneered at the wall and said, "Zhao Zhuan, you are thousands of miles away from your father. When you finish using up the Eternal Hui inheritance left by the older generation, do you think you can still easily control the world's general trend? Gu Jiantang, Chen Zhibao, Lu Shengxiang, Zhao Youling, Yin Maochun. Which one of them can you recklessly control? "
Then Hsu Fengnian was silent for a long time. He asked himself, "Then what about me?"
There was no answer.
— —
At this moment, Great Ancestor Gu strode into the small courtyard. Even this famous general of the Spring and Autumn Period could not suppress the excitement in his voice. His voice trembled as he said, "Your Highness! There are two pieces of news … "
Hsu Fengnian smiled and said, "Two pieces of news? Then let's hear the bad news first. The good news later can be used to suppress the shock. "
Great Ancestor Gu laughed loudly and said, "I've disappointed Your Highness. Both pieces of news are great!"
In Liuzhou, Xu Longxiang, Kou Jianghuai and Shi Fu led five thousand cavalry to Qingyuan!
In Youzhou, apart from the vanguard general Zhong Tan and Hong Jingyan, a portion of the Rouran cavalry escaped from the gourd.
Including the general Yang Yuanzan, there were forty-six Beimang generals. All of them died in battle!
A total of sixteen huge temples were built in the gourd!
— —
In the second year of Xiangfu, Beiliang was at an absolute disadvantage in terms of military strength. Especially when Liangzhou's Hutou City was in danger of falling, their three prefectures' border army lost more than a hundred thousand men in battle. They defeated Beimang with three hundred and fifty thousand men.
Beiliang cavalry was the best in the world.
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