"Haha! It's true that we said the wrong thing, but if we really live to be a hundred years old, how can you inherit the throne?"
Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Zhu Biao with a smile.
"Dad, you are saying this as if you, the emperor, are in power, and I, the prince, do not need to help you handle the memorial."
Zhu Biao rolled his eyes.
"That's true."
Zhu Yuanzhang twitched the corners of his mouth and nodded.
…
"Mu Shuai, Feng Xue!"
At the frontline camp, Zhu Wenzheng greeted Mu Ying and Xiao Han one after another. During this period, Zhu Wenzheng had already launched several attacks on the Xia Kingdom's Qutangxia Fortress on the frontline, but he did not achieve any strategic breakthrough.
"We are all brothers, no need to be polite."
"Wen Zheng, has Xia Jun done anything this day?"
Mu Ying sat in the main seat and asked Zhu Wenzheng that Zhu Wenzheng would write a battle report for him on the front line, but what was said in the battle report was not as detailed as a face-to-face report.
"Coming back to the commander, Xia Jun has not made any movement. Dai Shou, Wu Youren and others seem to have made up their mind to lock Hengjiang and defend this place to the death. It is like a turtle shell that is difficult to break."
Zhu Wenzheng bowed his hand to Mu Ying. The former army he led had tried to attack several times, but Xia Jun was extremely cautious and failed to achieve any results. This made Zhu Wenzheng very angry. During the battle, Xia Jun's quality was obvious. Not as good as the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty, but taking advantage of the natural danger of Qutang Gorge Fortress, Zhu Wenzheng was completely unable to attack. At most, he only sent five people to the top of the city in front of him.
"Fengxue, since you don't want to talk about strategy, but we are already here, we have to talk about what we will do next, right?"
Mu Ying rubbed her eyebrows. The fortress here was made like a bastard shell by Xia Jun. Even though Mu Ying had a lot of combat experience, she could not see any flaws. In desperation, Mu Ying could only hope Count on Xiao Han's clever plan.
"Do you still have to ask?"
"You're here, let's fight!"
"Next, even if our soldiers of the Ming Dynasty cannot smash the bastard shell of the Xia army, we must let them feel the combat effectiveness of our army of the Ming Dynasty."
Xiao Han spread his hands, looking matter-of-fact.
Muying:…
Zhu Wenzheng:…
No, brother, we have been looking forward to it for so long, but when we get to the formation, you tell us to fight directly?
If you can defeat the Xia army and march into the Xia capital in these fifty days, you will be considered a ghost.
"call!"
"In that case, Wen Zheng, let's discuss the operational command plan for the next attack."
Mu Ying shook her head slightly. Xiao Han was just a military advisor. Naturally, he couldn't rely on Xiao Han for everything. Mu Ying and Zhu Wenzheng still had to handle the battle planning and wartime command.
On the ancient road in eastern Guizhou, Lan Yu led 10,000 Ming elites, traveling under the stars and at night, and finally completed control of the nearby area before the Duan family and King Liang made any moves.
Lan Yu did not choose to station his troops in Guiyang Fucheng. The city here was not very tall and heavy. Instead of choosing to defend the city, Qiandi, which had long been in an underdeveloped position, would rather choose to stay in the mountain village and stay high up.
At this time, in the lofty mountains called Baili Lianyun Mountain by the locals, Lan Yu followed the Qiandong Ancient Road to the village and blocked the road.
"Everyone, move quickly!"
"The enemy may arrive at any time, and there will be dozens of times our strength."
"Whoever delayed the military plane, don't blame Lan for turning against him!"
Lan Yu personally supervised the work. The Ming army had strict military discipline and moved very quickly. Half of the work was completed in half a day.
At this time, in Dali City, the old place of Dali, Liang Wang Polo Timur had already led his people to the Duan family's sphere of influence.
"His Royal Highness, Prince Liang, can deign to condescend and come to this humble residence in person, which brings great joy to our Duan family."
Duan Bao, the general manager of the Duan family and the head of the Duan family, smiled at Polo Timur.
When Ming Yuzhen sent Wan Sheng to expand southward, the cooperation between the two companies was defeated by Wan Sheng, but this did not mean that the relationship between the two companies was good.
In fact, the two families are vying for power in this area, and both want to complete control of this southern Xinjiang. It can be said that there is constant friction between them.
This time, Polo Timur took the lead and ran to him uncontrollably, which made Duan Bao, the head of the Duan family, feel secretly happy.
"Manager Duan is joking. You and I are both officials of the Great Yuan Dynasty. We are colleagues. How can we have any distinction between us?"
Polo Timur also smiled awkwardly. The Ming Dynasty sent a large army to attack Mingxia, which greatly aroused his nerves. He once again felt the same crisis as when Wan Sheng went south, so he chose to arrive with Wan Sheng's envoy. First come to Duan Bao to vent his anger.
There is nothing that can be done about it. After all, he is the prince of Dayuan. If he wants to panic, he must be more panicked than Duan Bao.
"Court official?"
"The official position between you and me is far away from that of Emperor Shangao in the north, and Emperor Zhu of Jinling doesn't recognize it."
"His Royal Highness Prince Liang, please come in and sit down and talk about it if you have anything to do. Otherwise, if the news spreads, the world will think that I, the Duan family, have no way of hospitality."
As Duan Bao spoke, he led Polo Timur in. Although he was secretly happy that Polo Timur came to him, as the saying goes, both parties benefit from cooperation and two harm from division. They usually compete for power in southern Xinjiang. , are at odds with each other, but once they face the Ming Dynasty, both sides know that if they cannot unite, they will be unable to survive alone.
"Master Duan, I don't know what to think?"
"Then Zhu Yuanzhang promised us autonomy in the territory we currently control. I wonder if Brother Duan thinks his words are credible?"
Polo Timur said nervously, if Zhu Yuanzhang goes back on his word, Duan Bao, the chieftain, will lose some power at best, but he, the former prince, will most likely lose his life.
"Since the prince has asked this, doesn't it mean that he thinks the Ming Emperor's promise is not credible?"
Duan Bao looked at Polo Timur with a smile. The last time Wan Sheng led his troops south, Prince Liang's palace was even more powerful and as stable as an old dog. The Duan family was groveling for their lack of strength.
Now that the status of the two sides has been exchanged, and the Ming Dynasty's soldiers are coming against the current, it is finally their turn to feel proud and proud.
"oh?"
"Brother Duan thinks so too?"
Boluo Timur's eyes moved slightly, and he was anxious, but he didn't show it on his face. If the Ming army came over, he, Boluo Timur, would be in trouble, but he didn't think Duan Bao trusted the Ming Dynasty that much.
Taking a step back, even if Duan Bao really believed that Daming would keep his promise, he would not be willing to surrender to Daming so easily.
"snort!"
"My master never said that."
"I, the Duan family, are different from you, Prince Liang. We are Han people. When we were still in the Dali Kingdom, we were one of the orthodox kingdoms of the Han family. As long as His Majesty the Ming Dynasty can accept our surrender, why should we fight against the Ming Dynasty's invincible army? Woolen cloth?"
Duan Bao raised his face slightly. When the Yuan Dynasty went south and destroyed Dali, the Duan family was forced to surrender. Now that the Yuan Dynasty has declined and the Ming Dynasty has risen, who is not surrendering to surrender?
He was sure that Boluo Timur was more anxious than him, and he would not agree so easily without providing some practical benefits. The worst he could do was watch the three parties of Ming, Xia and Liang fighting before waiting for an opportunity.
"Is it possible?"
"Brother Duan plans to stay out of the matter?"
"Don't forget, the Ming Dynasty is not friendly to people like you. Emperor Ming recognizes the orthodox status of the Yuan Dynasty. Even the concubine of His Highness King Qin will be the daughter of the Yuan Dynasty."
"As long as I am willing to admit that Emperor Ming inherits the throne and changes the dynasty, I can keep my royal title, but it is hard to say for your Duan family."
"After all, Emperor Ming took away the land and food in Jinling. Who knows if they will spread it here by then?"
Polo Timur gritted his teeth, as if he was showing affection towards Duan Bao, trying to understand him, and he seemed to be persuading himself.
This was Polo Timur's last confidence. Zhu Xi's fiancée was Wang Yuemin, which gave him a glimmer of hope. However, Polo Timur himself was not sure how sure he could be of this hope.
After hearing Polo Timur's words, Duan Bao's face became a little ugly.
"Wanxiang, it seems that our King Liang is indeed planning to help Daxia. I am very happy and congratulated."
Then, Duan Bao raised his eyebrows and suddenly smiled at the screen behind him.
"Haha, Your Highness Prince Liang, it's been a long time since we've been apart, but you're all right now."
A chuckle sounded, and the next moment, a figure walked out from behind the screen.
The Prime Minister of the Xia Kingdom, the commander-in-chief who led the invasion of southern Xinjiang, was victorious!
In order to persuade Polo Timur and Duan Bao quickly, Wan Sheng separated from the large army, hurriedly and slowly, and finally arrived ahead of schedule.
"Wan Sheng!"
"You actually dare to come here, are you really not afraid of death?"
Polo Timur looked at the people walking out from behind the screen and couldn't help but change his expression. According to the news he got, it would take at least one day for Wan Sheng's mission to arrive.
When Wan Sheng appeared at this time, Polo Timur was caught off guard. Faced with Wan Sheng, Polo Timur wanted to rip him off before sending troops.
Unexpectedly, all the anxious look he had just now fell into Wan Sheng's eyes. If only Boluo Timur could be calm, there would be something wrong with him.
"His Royal Highness, Prince Liang, was joking. Now and then, we used to compete in the land of Yunshu, each relying on his own abilities."
"Today, the powerful dragon of the Ming Dynasty comes from the east. Naturally, the three of us should join forces to fight against the Ming Dynasty."
Wan Sheng cupped his hands in front of Polo Timur, looking as if his lips were dying and his teeth were cold, as if it was natural.
Make it clear, I've seen everything you did just now, and it won't be fun if you keep pretending.
"Wanxiang is really the same as before. You are so arrogant. In just a few words, you want me to send troops to Daliang?"
"Don't forget, Mu Ying is here to destroy your Xia Kingdom with her troops this time. What does it have to do with me, Daliang?"
Polo Timur curled his lips. He was indeed ready to make a move, but if Mingsheng wanted to let him fight with nothing without giving anything, it would be impossible, so he simply pretended not to understand Wan Sheng's words and stayed put. Play dumb.
Face?
what is that?
When there is no big benefit, everyone is a decent person and wants to save face. But in the face of real benefits, face is completely unnecessary. After all, isn't face something that is usually fought for just for critical moments?
"My Majesty Daxia can promise that as long as you two help me Daxia repel Zhu Ming, I Daxia can help you two establish an independent country."
Wan Sheng handed over his hand, and without any nonsense, he directly stated his conditions. Xia Kingdom was already cornered by the Ming Dynasty. Although the Ming Dynasty had few people, as long as the Ming Dynasty was willing to spend a lot of money to block here for a few years, Xia Guo could win. The country is still at a dead end.
Upon hearing "independence and founding of a country", Polo Timur did not change much, but Duan Bao's pupils shrank slightly.
Polo Timur was originally a king. For him, the so-called independent establishment of a country was just a matter of being able to break away from the regime of the Yuan Dynasty. This was unattractive to him. To retain his identity as the king of the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty, he You can still have some expectations for Wang Yuemin's existence, but if you are separated from Meng Yuan, there will be no expectations.
After all, it was impossible for Zhu Yuanzhang to admit that he, the king of Liang, was independent and competed with Zhu Yuanzhang as a prince. Polo Timur did not want to do such a thing.
But this condition is different for the Duan family. The Duan family was originally a royal family, but was later forced to become the general manager of Meng Yuan. Restoring the country has been the obsession of several generations of the Duan family over the past hundred years.
Now, Wan Sheng said that he could support Duan's founding of the country and fulfill his long-cherished wish. Duan Bao was naturally excited.
"This is not enough. We need to help you get through the difficulties, but in the end we become your vassals. Is this reasonable?"
Duan Bao suppressed his inner excitement and continued to bargain with Wan Sheng without showing it on the surface.
I'm impressed by your terms, but I'd like more if I could.
"We, Daxia, can forever form a brotherly state with the two countries. From then on, we can advance and retreat together, trust each other, open our borders, arrive with the same troops, and guard the country together without any distinction. And if we can fight this time, we can Victory, I, Daxia, will not take any of the land from Guizhou."
Wan Sheng continued to speak and quoted his price.
Mingsheng had transferred his interests to such an extent that Duan Bao and Polo Timur could not help but look at each other for a while.
It is no exaggeration to say that if the battle is won, the Ming family will receive almost no benefits except survival, and they will also have to make a covenant that will suffer losses.
In this way, the Duan family and Liang Guo, who were extremely afraid of the Ming Dynasty, had almost no reason to refuse.
"Hahaha!"
"What did Wan Xiang say? We and I live in the old land of Shu, which is a country of brothers. Zhu Yuanzhang is greedy and has already taken over thousands of miles of territory, but he still wants to drive us out and kill us all. I will never agree."
Polo Timur smiled and agreed, but he only talked about the brotherhood and never mentioned the establishment of an independent country.
"The King of Liang is right. Since ancient times, we, Dali, have had a close relationship with the neighboring country of Shu. We are as close as brothers and share weal and woe. This time, we, Dali, will definitely not sit idly by."
Duan Bao spoke, calling himself Dali, and promoted himself from a chieftain to the Dali Kingdom, in order to remind Wan Sheng not to forget his promise.
Qutang Gorge.
The Ming army had been in confrontation with the Xia army for ten days. During the ten days, Mu Ying and Zhu Wenzheng commanded the Ming army several times to push the Xia army's defense line and launch attacks.
Although the Ming army was far more elite than the Xia army, the Xia army had all the advantages. The Ming Dynasty did not take any advantage in the exchanges between the two sides.
"Commander, General He has led 20,000 Hanzhong troops to the northern border of Xia Kingdom and requested to launch an attack on Xia Kingdom."
At the flagship, the Chinese army's tent, guards came in from outside the door and sent a battle report to Mu Ying's desk.
"Um."
Mu Ying nodded slightly, a trace of sadness flashed in her eyes, and her eyes fell on Xiao Han, as if to say, it's time to say it now, right?
"Ahem!"
"Now that He Wenhui from the north has arrived, let's increase the frequency of our attacks and put pressure on Xia Jun."
Xiao Han touched his chin and said to Mu Ying and Zhu Wenzheng that he still had no intention of revealing his plan.
"Still increasing the frequency of attacks? There are already thousands of wounded soldiers in our military camp. If we increase the frequency of attacks, the casualties will probably exceed 10,000."
"Moreover, this seems to have no meaning, and it is not enough for us to break the Xia Army's iron chain across the river."
Zhu Wenzheng frowned slightly. If Xiao Han hadn't said this, he would have wanted to slap the table. Isn't this nonsense? It's almost like standing and talking without pain in the back. Even the elite soldiers of the Ming Dynasty were not used in this way.
"Alas! In that case, let's shorten the rotation time."
Mu Ying sighed, he didn't understand what Xiao Han did, but as a young gentleman in Huaixi, Xiao Han's high status among the Huaixi nobles gave Mu Ying an almost blind trust in him.
Now that Xiao Han has spoken, even as the frontline commander, Mu Ying still has to listen to Xiao Han's opinion. Of course, the more important reason is that Mu Ying really has no better way.
"That's all, Feng Xue never misses the target."
Zhu Wenzheng shook his head helplessly, and then reached out to the sand table to start studying the next battle plan. Facing Mu Ying, Zhu Wenzheng kept pointing out attack points on the sand table one by one, and discussed with Mu Ying the positions responsible for the attack. Although the troops are directly attacking by force, there is still a tactical difference between a force attack and a force attack. They do not just rely on human lives to keep piling up, especially elite troops like the Ming Dynasty soldiers, who are the treasures of Mu Ying and Zhu Wenzheng. , neither of them want to cause too much loss to any of the troops.
Hanzhong border.
"General, what exactly is our plan?"
"Although our actions are relatively hidden, Xia Jun is not all incompetent. I'm afraid it can be seen."
He Wenhui's subordinates asked He Wenhui.
"Feng Xue's ingenuity is not something you and I can understand. Just follow the instructions. Just follow the orders and don't do anything else, even if it can make the strategy more concealed."
He Wenhui shook his head slightly. Before leaving the house, Xiao Han came to him and told him what he needed to do when he came to Hanzhong.
From the time he first came out to now, He Wenhui has been a little confused. He only knows what he needs to do, but he has no idea what it means.
It's not that the arrangement given by Xiao Han is too profound, but that it is too obvious!
So much so that He Wenhui was a little confused about the true meaning.
It's like when a paper is handed out, there is only one question in the whole paper, "one plus one" that occupies the entire paper, and anyone who reads it will feel suspicious.
"That's all, start the pot and make rice!"
He Wenhui shook his head slightly, waved his hand and said, "If you can't figure it out or understand, then don't read it. If you don't want to, he will do whatever Xiao Han says. He will just copy the answer according to the military advisor."
(End of chapter)
