Dayu.
Royal palace, royal garden.
"Your Majesty, King Sheng has already set off."
"Um!"
Emperor Yu grabbed a handful of bait in his hand and threw it directly into the pond. Colorful fish competed for food, creating splashes of water from time to time.
"What are the recent developments in the DPRK and China?"
"Your Majesty, the contacts between Prime Minister Lin and His Highness Prince Qi Lin have become more frequent recently. I cannot find out the specific matters discussed."
"hehe!"
Emperor Yu smiled and said calmly: "This old fox has always been good at protecting himself wisely, but I didn't expect that now he has started to take sides."
"So, he thinks highly of Lao San?"
"Your Majesty, the relationship between the ministers in the DPRK has become increasingly delicate recently. Lord Zhao of the Ministry of Rites has moved closer to Prime Minister Lin intentionally or unintentionally, and Zheng Xuan, the Minister of Personnel, has been suppressing Zhuge Liang for days."
"Shang Yang is even more opposed by the courtiers. If it were not for the protection of Lord Ji from the Ministry of War and Lord Chen from the Ministry of Households, and the support of Duke Shen behind him, I am afraid that it would be difficult to implement the reform!"
"As expected." Emperor Yu was not surprised by the situation in the court, but said calmly: "If I want to implement a new system, the powerful people headed by Lin Qiushi will inevitably stand on the opposite side."
"In this way, even if the courtiers don't want to, they will be forced to take sides by Lin Qiushi."
"Besides, this court is, after all, the court of the powerful."
Emperor Yu smiled, threw out a handful of bait, and said with a smile: "What has the third child been busy with recently?"
"Return to your majesty!"
"His Royal Highness has been entertaining guests at his residence several times recently."
"oh?"
Emperor Yu raised his brows, and his face became a little more meaningful. He stared at the calm water: "Who are you hosting?"
"There are famous Confucian scholars from all over the country who have traveled to Beijing to study, there are young talents, and there are also ministers in the DPRK."
"hehe!"
Emperor Yu smiled, as if he was a little tired, and directly threw all the bait in his hand into the pond, and said calmly: "It is hereby decree that I am ill. From now on, the third prince Ning'an will exercise the power of supervising the country and act on his behalf." I handle the affairs of the government, and I will give you my full assistance in both civil and military matters!"
As soon as Emperor Yu finished speaking, Wei Ying seemed to be stunned for a moment. After coming to his senses, he quickly bowed his hands and saluted: "I obey the order!"
"Go and send someone to bring Zhuge Liang."
"yes!"
Wei Ying walked out of the imperial garden with small steps. After giving instructions to the attendants not far away, he silently stood back to Emperor Yu's side.
"Wei Ying!"
"The old slave is here."
"You have been keeping a close eye on me these past few days. See what kind of virtues the civil and military officials in the court have when I am not in court."
"yes!"
"My second brother is not in court, so my life is really boring!"
…
Under the Eightfold Pass.
The flags are flying, the armor is sparkling, and the square formations stand solemnly.
On the watchtower in the center of the square array, Ning Fan and Mu Qingcheng stood side by side, looking at the tower with far-reaching eyes.
"Are you ready to attack hard in this battle?"
"Every possible trick has been used. I don't have time to drag them on."
"Otherwise, when the armies of various princes arrive, the situation will be even worse."
Mu Qingcheng nodded in agreement, rubbed his hands, put them to his mouth, breathed a sigh of relief, and said softly: "In such weather, it is rare for soldiers to be able to wear armor. As far as I know, there are at least 50,000 soldiers in this eighth level pass. It’s not that easy to capture the defenders.”
Ning Fan glanced at Mu Qingcheng, took off his mink coat, put it on her shoulders, and said softly: "Don't worry, I will never fight a battle that I am not sure of!"
"oh?"
Mu Qingcheng took a deep look at Ning Fan, with a hint of expectation in her eyes. Since she ascended the throne, she has also experienced wars in the north and south, so she can be called an emperor on horseback.
Now, anyone can see that this eighth level is a majestic pass. If you want to attack it by force, you can only rely on the sheer number of people and use the human sea tactic.
But looking at Ning Fan's confident look, Mu Qingcheng couldn't help but be a little curious, who gave him the confidence?
"Boom!"
"Boom!"
"Boom!"
The dull sound of war drums sounded, and now the armies of Prince Yong's Mansion joined forces for the first battle. Generals from all walks of life clapped their horses and came forward to visit the front line in person.
"It's about to begin."
"Um!"
Ning Fan looked into the distance and saw catapults being pushed to the front of the formation. Behind the catapults, a phalanx of crossbows was placed.
For this southern expedition, Ning Fan had been planning for a long time, and the Huainan Engineering Bureau had repeatedly expanded its recruitment, gathering almost all the bows and arrows in Huainan.
This time, Ning Fan even took out half of his property, including one hundred and fifty crossbows, ten thousand crossbows, seventy catapults, and more than a thousand Zhuge Liangnu.
It can be said that in this era of cold weapons, the weapons and armor in Ning Fan's hands have almost reached their peak, not to mention special units such as the Mo Dao Team.
"Why haven't you attacked the city yet?"
"No rush!" Ning Fan smiled and said calmly: "Since we know it is a fortified city, how can we attack it with common sense?"
"Haha!" Mu Qingcheng smiled faintly and said with a hint of ridicule: "Are you still planning to capture the city lying down?"
"Why not?"
Ning Fan asked back. With an order from the front, the catapult finally started to operate. Fireballs streaked across the sky and accurately hit the city tower, instantly igniting flames.
"How can this be?"
"How can the range of your catapult be so far?"
"It's at least one hundred and fifty feet away from the tower!"
Seeing Mu Qingcheng's shocked face, Ning Fan said calmly: "What's so strange about this? Isn't it just one hundred and fifty feet?"
"This is one hundred and fifty feet, not one hundred and fifty steps!"
"My Dali catapult can only take seventy steps at most."
"Your Majesty, don't worry, the fun is yet to come."
Ning Fan looked in the direction of the city tower. The wooden building behind it had begun to burn, and there was also a commotion among the soldiers guarding the city.
However, Dayu's troops still did not begin to attack the city, and only dozens of catapults were in continuous operation.
"damn it!"
"Counterattack, pass on my orders, archers, aim at the enemy's catapult, throw it!"
"promise!"
On the city tower, an old man who was over sixty years old had a gloomy face. He watched the fire jars falling from the sky, and he couldn't help but feel a sense of irritation in his heart.
How great would it be if they could have such a sharp weapon?
"shoot!"
A rain of arrows was thrown directly towards the catapult phalanx below. As the arrows fell, they penetrated directly into the ground, still dozens of steps away from the catapult phalanx.
"Report, General, our archers are out of reach!"
"Asshole!"
The old general looked livid and said angrily: "Are you just going to be beaten like this?"
"General, give me a light cavalry, and the general will lead his army to destroy their chariot phalanx!"
"No!"
…
