The news that the Zhenjiang Army was ready to leave Jiangnan and return to the Ghost Desert in Western Xinjiang quickly reached the imperial capital.
All of a sudden, there was a lot of discussion between the government and the public, and everyone was discussing the movements and intentions of this Shengtang's number one ace.
Officials of the foreign relatives group generally believed that Li Jiangyao was just trying to cover up his situation by saying that he would lead his troops to the west. In fact, the real target was the imperial capital.
Hundreds of thousands of tiger and wolf troops who had just won a great victory came from the south of the Yangtze River. They pose no threat to Gyeongsang? Just kidding.
Similarly, those ministers who secretly opposed the queen's interference in politics also believed that Li Daduhu's purpose this time was to help King Qin, completely overthrow the rebellious party of relatives who conspired to gain power, bring order to the chaos, and revitalize the government. However, unlike the panic of the relatives and officials, these courtiers were all extremely happy, feeling that they finally saw hope.
Because of this, a debate over whether to allow the Suppressing Xinjiang Army to return to Western Xinjiang through Guanzhong became more and more intense in the court.
The Ministry of War and the Governor's Office, which had been completely controlled by the Hou clan's strength, strongly advocated blocking the Zhenjiang Army in the area east of Tongguan, and not even allowing them to easily enter the hinterland of the Central Plains. Otherwise, once things change, it will directly threaten the safety of the imperial capital.
Regarding this statement, the civil service group expressed strong opposition: Our own army, which had just put down the rebellion in Jiangnan, why should we guard against the Xinjiang Army as we guard against thieves? Even when the emperor was in charge, he never treated Li Jiangyao like this. Why did the court's attitude towards the meritorious troops suddenly become so different as soon as the empress came to the court to take charge of the government? Is it possible that there is something wrong in her heart?
More importantly, Li Daduhu made it very clear in his memorial to the Imperial Capital that he was worried that the war that broke out in the Western Continent might spread to the Western Xinjiang region, so he decided to lead his army back to strengthen the alert.
Why did the Ministry of War and the Governor's Office obstruct this kind of loyal act of working tirelessly to defend the country? From a professional perspective, aren't you the ones who should be most worried about the stability of the western frontier?
The civil servants spoke sharply and spoke truthfully, which immediately left the Ministry of War and the Governor's Office speechless. However, both sides of the argument knew very well that it was probably not that simple for Li Jiangyao's army to cross the border. It might actually be heading towards the imperial capital, which would surely cause a big mess.
However, no one can explain this idea clearly. They can only cover it up and pretend not to think or talk about this aspect.
At the end of the quarrel, Queen Cheng Wen forcibly made a decision: the remnants of the Jiangnan rebellion have not been wiped out, and the task of suppressing the Xinjiang Army has not been completed, so they are not allowed to return west without authorization. When the entire army will be allowed to leave will be decided after the court has discussed it.
This opinion was drafted by the Zhongshu Province and approved by the Menxia Province, and then conveyed to the Xinjiang Army via the Shangshu Province.
The eight-hundred-mile urgent messenger rushed out of the imperial capital with the imperial edict and headed straight to Hangzhou in the south of the Yangtze River. Unexpectedly, only halfway through the journey, they encountered a warship blocking the sky and the sun on the river.
The vanguard of the Zhenjiang Army had already begun crossing the river to the north.
The messenger was startled by this scene, quickly found a small boat, squeezed across the river between the fleets, and delivered the imperial decree to the Metropolitan Protector Li Jiangyao: Sir, stop quickly, the imperial court has not approved your evacuation from Jiangnan.
After Li Jiangyao read the imperial edict, he threw it aside and smiled: "I'm sorry, when we went out to quell the rebellion, it was completely voluntary and we did not follow any order. Now that the war is over, it is normal to go home. Before To express my gratitude to the imperial court, I am just informing you. What does it have to do with me whether you approve it or not?"
The messenger wanted to persuade him again, but at this time, a white-robed soldier came out, carried him out like a chicken, "gifted" him to the boat and left.
Li Jiangyao and the Zhenjiang Army's disdain for the imperial edict immediately shocked the government and the public. Cheng Wen was so angry that he smashed the tea cup and became furious. What surprised her and the ministers even more was the reaction of the state governments along the way.
It stands to reason that the Minister of Prosecution issued an explicit edict, and through the court reports, local governments were informed that the imperial court would not allow the Xinjiang Army to return to the north and west. As it is now, if the army disobeys the holy orders and still insists on setting out, it is in fact no different from rebellion.
However, when the returning army passed through their territory, neither the civil or military officials nor the common people showed any sign of resistance or hostility. Instead, they all paved the roads with loess, splashed clean water on the streets, set up incense tables and fruits, and everyone used pots of pulp to eat. , crowded both sides of the road, warmly welcoming the victorious soldiers.
The title of the Great Protector resounded throughout the sky, deafening.
Especially when the soldiers and horses passed through Luzhou, the base camp of the previous Southern Expedition, young people from hundreds of miles away came to join the army one after another, hoping to become soldiers in Xinjiang and go to Western Xinjiang with the army to guard the border and make contributions to the country.
Firstly, the people are enthusiastic about joining the army and their emotions are high; secondly, after successive battles, each legion really needs to add a certain amount of fresh blood; thirdly, the ownership and stability of the Ghost Desert in Western Xinjiang also need to be maintained to a certain extent. proportion of the Shengtang population. Therefore, Li Jiangyao nodded in agreement. While the army rested and moved forward, it also recruited young people with better qualifications to join the army to prepare for future combat needs.
In this way, under the warm welcome of the officials and people from all over the country, the Zhenjiang Army marched more and more high-spirited and grew stronger. They smoothly entered the Central Plains and approached Luoyi, which was guarded by the White Tiger Army.
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The Zhenjiang Army openly violated the Queen's decree and marched northward, which immediately aroused Cheng Nan's dissatisfaction.
At this time, he led the 120,000 White Tiger Army to guard the line from Tongguan to Luoyi. The most important task was to resist the hostile forces that might threaten his sister Cheng Wen's rule, and the first target was naturally Li Jiangyao's Xinjiang Army.
However, although Cheng Nan is hot-tempered and stupid, he is not a brainless fool. He still knew very well what level of army the Zhenjiang Army was and what level of general Li Jiangyao was.
Therefore, he was dissatisfied, but Cheng Nan himself was quite hesitant to provoke the temper of Zhenjiang elites.
After careful consideration, Cheng Nan made four actions: First, he ordered all his legions to assemble and enter a state of combat readiness to prevent the Zhenjiang Army from suddenly turning against him and catching him off guard; second, he sent an envoy to meet with Li Jiangyao, Dissuade the opponent from stopping at the front line of Xuchang and not to continue to advance westward and break into his core defense area; thirdly, strengthen the defense deployment in Luoyi and Tongguan, especially Tongguan, the gateway to the imperial capital, and absolutely cannot allow any mistakes; fourthly, send people Ask his eldest brother Cheng Dong for help and ask him to immediately dispatch the Forbidden Army to help.
Cheng Nan has been practicing martial arts and studying the art of war since he was a child. He has always thought highly of himself and felt that as a descendant of the founding father Cheng Qianli, he was born to be a general in war. Although he was afraid of the power of the Zhenjiang Army and felt a little unsure, after the current deployment, he felt that he could do it again.
Sixty thousand people will guard Luoyi, and sixty thousand people will defend Tongguan. It should be very safe.
But who would have known that Cheng Nan's operation would be regarded as child's play by the generals in Zhenjiang.
Du Jian made the following evaluation on this: Luoyi and Tongguan, the two strategic locations are more than 300 miles apart. Cheng Nan actually distributed his troops evenly. There was no obstruction in the middle, and the river was flat. All it took was a strong army to intercept it. Building fortifications on the spot will make it difficult for the head and tail to look at each other and take care of each other. Our army will concentrate its superior forces again, select those who are rich and devour them, and kill whomever they can attack.
That is to say, the Zhenjiang Army has not yet regarded the imperial court as an enemy, otherwise Cheng Nan and the White Tiger Army would have been sentenced to death.
The other generals, like Du Jian, all thought that the White Tiger Army was stupid and would never fight again, and would not be so arrogant.
Li Jiangyao reminded everyone: An arrogant soldier will be defeated. Although Cheng Nan has never been on the battlefield, and the White Tiger Army is not one of those who are good at fighting, Luoyi Tongguan is after all a famous giant city in the world, and the opponent's guard strength is more than 100,000. If there is a slight mistake, our side will have to pay. Huge cost.
Therefore, the one who can defeat others without fighting is the one who is superior.
Xiong Yunjie was quite curious: "How can you, the Protector-General, defeat the enemy without fighting?"
Duan Jun also asked: "Since the Demon Queen has ill intentions towards us, of course her brother will never let us cross the border easily. How can we enter Tongguan without a fight?"
Facing everyone's questions, Li Jiangyao smiled calmly: "The so-called no war does not mean not taking any military action at all, but trying not to cause bloody conflicts. No matter how hard the opponent is, there will be at least hundreds of thousands of active troops. Without some actual deterrent actions, I’m afraid it won’t be possible to deter Cheng Nan.”
Jigrizi nodded and said: "Your Majesty is right. Only by taking real actions to make the other party feel desperate can we have the bargaining chip to peacefully cross the border."
"Including Cheng Wen," Li Jiangyao continued: "This woman has always been confident that she is smart. She can turn her hands into clouds and rain in the court, and even the emperor can play with them. Don't let her know. It’s amazing, she thought she had the whole world under her control.”
Du Jian was very interested in hearing this and quickly responded: "Boss, your strategic brothers have always been convinced. Please give me an order on how to deal with it next."
Li Jiangyao glanced at the generals around him and said in a relaxed tone: "To put it simply, there are three strategies. Use weakness to show the enemy, use confusion to confuse the enemy, and use strength to force the enemy."
"The first step is to take the initiative to show Cheng Nan our hesitant side of surrender, so as to stimulate his arrogance and make him paralyzed and relaxed. Then use a strategy to confuse the White Tiger Army, and suddenly take action to win the westward strategy without a single blow. The strategic location of Tongguan will make our army invincible. With Tongguan in hand, we can leave if we want, stay if we want, and we have the initiative."
Xiong Yunjie responded: "Well, the two actions you are talking about should be to show the enemy's weakness and to confuse the enemy. What about forcing the enemy to gain strength?"
Li Jiangyao smiled pretending to be mysterious, and then asked: "Do you know why I asked Xu Shuai to return to Xijiang first?"
"Is it related to the third strategy?" Duan Jun was curious.
"That's right." Li Jiangyao nodded slightly: "The day we captured Tongguan was when Xu Shuai led his troops eastward from Zijin. In the blink of an eye, the imperial capital will face a two-sided attack from our Xinjiang army!"
