As the king of Zhou forced himself to compromise, the matter of personal expedition was agreed upon.
Danqi and Xunshu immediately dispatched their own troops and horses. On the one hand, they sent two teams of 10,000 soldiers to surround Qianyi and Dongyu respectively, but they did not attack, thus cutting off the connection between the three cities.
Then he led a main force of 40,000 people, and in the name of King Zhou Meng Yujia personally conquering the rebels, they marched directly to the capital with great fanfare.
When Wang Zichao heard the news, he immediately became restless.
After the consumption of several previous battles, although it has been resting and recuperating so far, the troops of the Prince's Dynasty are only more than 30,000, and Qianyi and Dongyu each have 7,000 troops to defend the city. In other words, the Prince's Dynasty has no available troops in Jingyi. Still less than 20,000.
Moreover, among these people, there were both refugees, private soldiers of wealthy families who had just defected, and surrendered soldiers and prisoners collected from all over. It can be said that people's hearts were divided. Even if they train day and night, they may not be able to confront Jin's Xionghu division head-on.
Wang Zichao summoned Li Ran and others. Although he did not show timidity, his heart was burning.
"Sir, the current situation is critical. Since we are acting in the name of supporting the Zhou Dynasty, and now the king's brother is personally conquering it, the situation is very powerful. I wonder if you, sir, have any good ideas to solve it?"
Li Ran has actually considered this for a long time:
"Your Highness, there is no need to panic. The current King of Zhou is nothing more than a puppet in Shan Qi's hands. He said he was going to conquer it himself, but in fact he was coerced by Shan Qi and had no choice but to do it."
"As for the 40,000 troops, please rest assured, Your Highness. We only need to hold on to the city now. As long as we try our best to ensure that the capital is not lost, we will be in an invincible position!"
When Wang Zichao heard these words, he was obviously relieved.
"Everything depends on sir."
Li Ran heard this and shook his head at this moment:
"The enemy is powerful, and we can't succeed just by standing in an invincible position! So we must not take it lightly. They are taking the capital directly this time, and now Yin Bo is guarding Dongyu and Fan Li is guarding Qianyi. These two places are closely related to the capital. The cities and towns are like horns to each other, attracting many enemies. Therefore, as long as the force of the horns is not broken, there will be no hindrance to the capital!"
The ancestor of Yin Yu was canonized as an earl, and his fiefdom was in Luoyi, which belonged to the Kinei Kingdom of the Zhou Dynasty. He had previously been ostracized and suppressed by Shan Qi because he couldn't stand what he was doing. Therefore, Wang Zichao, who is on the side of the civil strife this time, is cautious and relatively safe.
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As for Fan Li, he has a very strong ability to scrutinize the situation. He must understand the current situation now, so Li Ran is also very relieved about him.
"But, now that we are facing a powerful enemy, we must not be careless. I also ask Your Highness and all your lords to work together. If there are people like the former who secretly sow discord and have disloyal intentions, then based on today's situation, it will be serious It’s difficult to handle.”
At first, although Li Ran didn't know much about Wang Zichao, he only knew that Wang Zichao was someone who was determined to achieve great things. However, after Li Ran successfully captured Dong Yu, Wang Zichao suddenly sent Yin Yu to supervise the army. Of course, Li Ran guessed that someone must be gossiping behind his back.
That's why Li Ran said this specifically in the main hall.
When Wang Zichao heard this, how could he not understand what Li Ran meant?
"What you said is absolutely true. No one can disrupt the morale of the military at this moment! Anyone who violates the rules will be dealt with according to military law and will not be punished after past mistakes!"
Sun Wu came out at this time and said:
"Your Highness, the enemy's army numbers 40,000, but the baggage, chariots, and chariots are very heavy and heavy, and the march is slow. Wu has a plan. He can take advantage of their unsteady footing to attack the enemy first, even if he cannot annihilate them. , but it can also take the lead!"
Wang Zichao said worriedly:
"General Sun is brave, but...if this move fails, I'm afraid the defenders will also be severely affected!"
"Wu Yuan only led five thousand troops to invade the enemy camp!"
At this time, I saw another person coming out of the queue, clasping his fists and bowing, and shouted loudly:
"The last general is willing to kill the enemy with General Sun!"
Everyone looked at it together, and it turned out that this person was Luo Luo. Just because he was eager for revenge, he asked to fight again this time.
Wang Zichao cast his eyes towards Li Ran, but Li Ran secretly hid his hands in his sleeves and waved his hand gently towards him.
When the prince saw this, he immediately replied:
"General Wu, please be patient. It is difficult to defend the city now. We should leave such important matters to General Sun!"
Luo Luo's eyes widened, and the corners of his eyes were about to burst.
"Your Highness! When Situ Chou came with his troops before, Your Highness did not let Luo go into battle. Now that the enemy is approaching and the troops are approaching the city, why don't you let Luo go out? Does it mean that Your Highness does not trust the general?"
The prince shook his head gently.
"General Wu, I must not believe this, but there are more important things for you to handle later, so please be patient, General."
However, as a Qiang, Luo Luo was just a straight man after all. Even in public, he couldn't help but say:
"Why does His Highness only use Li Ran's people but not my old subordinates?! This is unfair! Po Luo refuses to accept it!"
Wang Zichao was shocked when he heard this and said angrily:
"Luo! I have just made it clear that anyone who disturbs the morale of the army will be dealt with according to the military law! Isn't this what you are doing with your words like this? Come here, pull Luo Luo down and give him twenty whippings!"
When two soldiers came to the palace, Luo Luo said urgently:
"His Highness wants to punish Nao Luo, Nao Luo Gan Ling! But today, Nao Luo must make it clear about this injustice. Otherwise, after following His Highness for so long, wouldn't we be as good as Li Ziming, who is just a mere Li Ziming?"
Li Ran was quite embarrassed at the moment and couldn't help but sigh in his heart.
And Yin Buyi on the side also hurriedly said in peace:
"Your Highness, let's just record this punishment for now. Naoluo didn't understand the importance of the matter, made rude remarks, and offended Your Highness. He deserves to be punished. But now is the time to employ people in wartime. Such a beating will not be helpful to the morale of the army!"
The prince was silent for a while, then secretly glanced at Li Ran. Seeing that Li Ran was speechless, he immediately said decisively:
"If you are admonishing, even if you contradict him, I will never care about it. But his words are clearly intended to sow discord, and his sin is unforgivable!"
Li Ran understood Wang Zichao's intentions well, so he also gave words of advice at this moment:
"General Wu's blunt words are inappropriate for the times, but they are not unreasonable. Although the officers and soldiers want to make meritorious deeds for His Highness, they are a little over-cautious, but as ministers, there is nothing wrong with them being able to share your worries."
"Therefore, I would like to ask Your Highness to give General Wu a chance to avenge his crime and make meritorious service! If he engages in military law like this, once his muscles and bones are injured, his relatives will be hurt and his enemies will be hurt!"
Hearing this, Wang Zichao snorted again:
"Luo, hurry up and apologize to Mr. Ziming! If he hadn't interceded on your behalf, this whipping would have fallen on you anyway!"
Luo Luo also hesitated for a long time, and then symbolically raised his hand towards Li Ran.
"Thanks!"
The perfunctory meaning was obvious. Wang Zichao still wanted to accuse, but Li Ran said calmly:
"General Wu's words were really unintentional and should not be taken seriously. Your Highness, since he already knows that he was wrong, let's just let this matter go!"
Faced with such a situation, Wang Zichao stopped worrying about this matter.
After the discussion, everyone retreated and performed their duties in preparation for fighting the enemy. Wang Zichao deliberately kept Li Ran.
"Mr. Ziming, although Po Luo is not good at using his brain, he is quite brave. Why did you, sir, abandon him so many times?"
"Reporting to your highness, General Wu is brave, and he has a big enemy against him. He goes into battle to kill the enemy. He will fight bravely and fight for the first place with all his strength!"
"Then...why don't you use this person?"
Wang Zichao was puzzled by this.
