Chapter 120: The Path
Main hall.
There was complete silence.
A strange atmosphere seemed to permeate the air.
The faces of the other princes turned pale instantly.
Zheng Fu was extremely excited. She suppressed her excitement and said calmly, "My son, why don't you thank your father?"
Xie Ling was extremely happy and knelt down to express his gratitude.
"Okay, let's all retreat!"
The old emperor didn't care what others thought, and slowly left with the help of the eunuchs. Everyone could only kneel on the ground and see him off respectfully.
After the emperor and empress left, the hall suddenly exploded.
There was a lot of discussion.
What does the emperor mean?
At this time, the inclination is so strong? In addition to the crown prince, there is only the third prince? What about the other princes? They are not considered at all? As the saying goes, serving the emperor is like serving a tiger. These people are used to guessing the emperor's intentions, so the meaning revealed by the emperor today is a bit meaningful.
The emperor is a patient man.
Even though he fell seriously ill last year, he did not make it clear who would succeed him.
But today, he expressed his favor towards the crown prince, especially towards the third prince Xie Ling. What does this indicate?
First of all, His Majesty's health is almost failing? He only expressed his thoughts clearly today?
Secondly, will this fight against the Huns be a test for him to choose to inherit the throne?
at last……
It has been a tradition since ancient times for the crown prince to lead troops to fight against the Huns. The purpose is to allow the crown prince to get familiar with the army as soon as possible and establish good relations with the military leaders.
But what about the third prince?
The Third Prince is also leading troops. This is not in line with tradition, and it is easy for various accidents to happen...
Everyone sighed.
It seems that Your Majesty still likes the Third Prince more...
…
When Longhu Pass was about to be lost, Prince Lu's Pingzhou army finally came to the rescue.
This made the Liangzhou Army and the Baiya Army breathe a sigh of relief.
But the Xiongnu army was very mobile and moved like the wind. When they saw the arrival of the Pingzhou army, they quickly retreated and did not suffer heavy losses. On the contrary, the Liangzhou army and the Baiya army lost 30,000 in one day! Corpses and debris were everywhere!
Zheng Yuxing himself was injured!
The Pingzhou army, this time it was the Prince of Lu who personally led the army. Seeing the smoke everywhere and the corpses piled up in the valley, he couldn't help but curse with red eyes: "This Chen Ping is such a jerk! Why didn't he come to reinforce Wushimi?"
Zheng Yuxing smiled bitterly and said, "Liangzhou used the excuse that it was the rainy season and the roads were slippery, so the troops were moving slowly."
"Bullshit! I see the Yinzhou army is coming soon! Is he farther away than Yinzhou?"
The King of Lu was furious.
Zheng Yuxing clasped his fists and thanked him, "Prince Lu, you are so kind and generous. I will never forget you! If it weren't for the reinforcements from Prince Lu, the Liangzhou Army would have to go into battle bare-handed!"
The generals also cursed loudly.
How can we fight without food and weapons?
King Lu sighed, "General Zheng is devoted to his country, and heaven and earth can bear witness to that! But General Zheng..."
He paused deliberately, as if to make light of it: "The Third Prince is already on his way to help, and he came with the Crown Prince. Each of them leads an army of 50,000."
Zheng Yuxing's face changed when he heard this: "What? Each leading 50,000 troops?"
Isn't this nonsense?
Although it sounds like there are a total of 100,000 troops, once the two princes come, won't the front line become a battlefield for the princes to fight for power? With each other strife, can this war be fought well? In this case, it is better to send 50,000, which will be easier to deal with.
The generals at the front are most afraid of these princes leading troops to reinforce.
You said you were here, who should you listen to? Your prince, or me, General Pingdi?
Logically speaking, it should be General Zheng who issues the orders, but you can't avoid the prince giving you a hard time! One person is enough, and now two people have come, making it even more difficult for Zheng Yuxing.
Prince Lu laughed and patted Zheng Yuxing on the shoulder: "Don't worry, General. I'm still here, right?"
Zheng Yuxing smiled bitterly and clasped his fists: "Then we will have to rely more on the mediation of Prince Lu."
…
Qingfeng Gorge.
Not far to the north,
It was the camp of the Xiongnu royal court.
There was singing and dancing in a gorgeous marching tent.
The Huns, dressed in Hun costumes, ate meat with big mouthfuls and drank wine from large bowls.
"It's such a great day today!"
"Come, come, taste the refined salt of the Dragon Flame Dynasty!"
In front of the table of a group of people, there was a small dish of refined salt, which made these people's eyes light up. Some people even dipped their fingers into the salt and tasted it with relish. If Liu Zheng was present, he would probably spit it out. This is similar to the actions of drug addicts in later generations...
Little did they know that there was no salt on the grassland. If the Huns wanted to eat salt, they had to buy it from the Longyan Dynasty at a high price.
There are many conflicts every year due to the fight over salt.
So when the Huns saw this refined salt, how could they resist?
Why do all the good things belong to your Longyan Dynasty?
If we don’t have it, let’s steal it!
“What a good thing!”
"Hahahaha, we must defeat the Baiya Army this time!"
A big bearded man laughed loudly , arrogantly. This man was the little Khan of the Eastern Xiongnu, named Rogel, who was brave and good at fighting, and was known as the best warrior on the grassland.
"Haha, Rogel, Baiya Prefecture is in the interior of Liangzhou. I don't think it's possible to occupy it. Let's follow the old rules and just plunder it and take it back! The weak Han people of the Longyan Dynasty will definitely negotiate with us. Hahahaha, when the time comes, we can ask them to supply us with refined salt!"
However, the Western Xiongnu general, Gerdan, who was standing next to him, laughed out loud.
When Rogel heard this, he threw the wine bowl in his hand and flew into a rage: "What are you talking about, you coward? It's just Baiyazhou. I want to occupy it. Who can stop me?"
Ge Erdan sneered: "Your title of the first warrior in the grassland is not useful in Longyan!"
"You... come and compete with me!"
Rogel stood up and was about to take action, but fortunately he was held back by his own people. However, he still kicked over the table full of wine and meat.
Ge Erdan smiled faintly and said disdainfully: "Are all the Eastern Xiongnu people like this? They are indeed a group of uncivilized beasts!"
"you……"
"What are you doing? Stop it!"
"Don't move!"
Since ancient times, the customs have continued the fierceness of the previous grassland people. However, the Western Xiongnu, because they like Han culture more, have made their tribe more civilized. This is the source of the conflict between the two Xiongnu tribes. The Eastern Xiongnu despise the Western Xiongnu for being spineless and losing their fierceness. The Western Xiongnu mock the Eastern Xiongnu for still behaving like beasts and being a group of barbarians.
The two tribes united this time also for refined salt.
But in reality, both sides still look down on each other.
"Alright, alright, calm down. This time we are cooperating for refined salt. Don't forget, we beat the Longyan Dynasty several times and made them beg for mercy. It was because we fought among ourselves that we were unable to successfully occupy an inch of Longyan Dynasty's land for so long!"
At this time, a pale-faced scholar at the table said.
When this person spoke, Rogel and Gerdan both snorted coldly, stopped making a fuss, and sat down one after another.
This pale-faced scholar had a great background. He was originally a Han Chinese, but was exiled to the northern border for his crimes. He then fled to the Xiongnu alone. He became a grassland military advisor highly respected by both the Eastern and Western Xiongnu by giving advice to the Xiongnu royal court. His nickname was Cheng Mu.
This man is also a genius. His several plans have caused heavy losses to the Longyan Dynasty.
The Longyan Dynasty even issued a bounty, offering a reward of five thousand gold to anyone who could get Cheng Mu’s head!
However, more than ten years have passed and no one can find any trace of this person.
"Hahahaha, no matter what, let's attack his Longhu Pass first tomorrow!"
"That's right, this way we will have bargaining chips !"
A group of people who were about to fight just now started to call each other brothers again after drinking some wine.
Cheng Mu smiled faintly and did not comment.
This time, the Xiongnu claimed to have an army of 200,000, but what was the reality? There were more than 200,000! The Xiongnu had a big plan this time! Under Cheng Mu's training, the Xiongnu's military force was strong enough to take advantage of the numerous vassal kings and prominent internal contradictions of the Longyan Dynasty to give the Longyan Dynasty a heavy blow!
Cheng Mu was very much looking forward to it.
What kind of expression would the old emperor, who had executed almost all of his family members, have when he saw him?
That's right.
This time he will force the emperor of the Longyan Dynasty to come and negotiate with the Xiongnu royal court in person!
He has been waiting for this day for thirty years!
This time, Cheng Mu improved the long curved sword based on the Yinzhou Army's Mo Dao, and was almost invincible. He was very confident that he could really break through the Dragon and Tiger Pass. He knew that the reinforcements from the Longyan Dynasty would continue to flow, but so what?
In front of his extended scimitar, we are nothing!
…
"bamboo?"
Zheng Yueru changed from a female businessman to a female official who transported food and military equipment, and once again resumed her masculine attire.
When she received Liu Zheng's order, she was stunned.
What do we need bamboo poles for in a war?
"Miss, what is this Mr. Liu doing crazy again?"
"Yeah, are we going to use fire attack?"
"No, if we're going to use fire, why do we need fresh bamboo sticks? Can they light up?"
Everyone was a little confused.
Zheng Yueru was too lazy to explain to them: "If the master says he wants it, then it will be useful!"
"You guys are responsible for continuing to transport the food and supplies. I'll go south!"
Without saying a word, she led out her horse and, although it was still dark, she began to gallop non-stop.
Only a group of people were left looking at each other.
Isn't this young lady too blindly following Young Master Liu?
…
The journey continues.
"Is the prince finally going to pass?"
Liu Zheng received another report from the front and laughed, "It seems we have to speed up the process."
"ah?"
Jiang Xuan was stunned: "Master, why is this happening? Shouldn't a hundred thousand troops be able to hold out for a while?"
Liu Zheng shook his head and said, "If the generals in the army came to help, we could still resist. But the two princes are gone, haha..."
Liu Zheng has always believed that everyone has their own specialties.
A general is a general.
Those who govern are those who govern.
Even though he had traveled through time, he still felt powerless when faced with areas he was not good at. What about these two princes who had never been on a battlefield?
Talking about strategy on paper is not scary.
What is scary is that those who are good at talking but not doing anything good come to power and even surpass those who fight.
If this happens, the front line will probably be in chaos.
Liu Zheng sighed leisurely.
Is the current emperor really old? Is he really a little confused? Can he even come up with such a solution?
"Speed up the journey!"
"We must reach Longhu Pass within seven days!"
"yes!"
