C580
C580
The four hundred thousand Ning Army that Zhan Wushuang and Zhan Wushuang had invaded into the Feng Country were completely annihilated, and adding the five hundred thousand deaths of the Hedong this time, it caused the number of strong men in the Profound Veins Country to drastically decline. This was something that could not be recovered in ten or even twenty years.
However, all of the ministers of the empire said that Wei Zheng was conservative and did not dare to go out to battle with the Feng Army, resulting in a disadvantageous situation in the war of Hedong. Even Zhangsun Yuanhong had said that he could replace Wei Zheng with any of the other Chief General, and as a result, with Ming Xiaotian as the overall commander, over 400,000 Generals And Soldiers of Ning Army s were immediately burnt to ashes and not even their bones could be found.
At this time, Yan Chu hated the civil and military officials of the empire, he hated Zhangsun Yuanhong even more, but he did not dare express his own attitude, his Liangzhou was no longer an elite, only two hundred thousand recruits remained, and the only hope of defending against the Feng Army was Zhangsun Yuanhong and the three hundred thousand soldiers under his command.
However, he had underestimated the Feng Army. He had thought that with the over four hundred thousand people under his command, Ming Xiaotian would be able to easily defend against the Feng Army, and at that time, he should be able to lead his army over there. He never thought that the moment Wei Zheng was transferred away, Ming Xiaotian would have completely annihilated him and his army of several hundred thousand.
Zhangsun Yuanhong was extremely regretful. He was also filled with guilt towards Yan Chu and he also silently vowed in his heart that he would avenge the Ning Country warriors who died in battle.
The Ning Country used to reinforce the Hedong had been completely lost, and the Feng Army had no more worries whatsoever. So far, the Ning Country no longer had any foundation, so the entire Hedong Region had basically fallen into the hands of the Feng Country.
Just as Feng Army was busy receiving the various cities and towns, three hundred thousand Ning Yue troops led by Zhangsun Yuanhong arrived at the Liangzhou. Although Yan Chu hated Zhangsun Yuanhong secretly, but he still gave him a high form of respect and personally led the people of the imperial court out of the city to welcome him.
On the night that Zhangsun Yuanhong entered the capital, he was summoned by Yan Chu alone.
However, before Zhangsun Yuanhong could even enter the palace, Right Prime Minister Ning Zhang Zhihong was already there. When Wei Zheng was transferred back to the capital, it led to the defeat of the reinforcements for Hedong. It was hard for Zhang Zhihong to avoid responsibility, after all, he was the first one to propose to remove Wei Zheng from his duties. Zhang Zhihong was deeply afraid that Yan Chu would hate him for doing this, so he specially entered the palace to see Yan Chu to clarify the relationship. In front of Yan Chu, he had pushed the matter of him opposing Wei Zheng's title of Commander to Zhangsun Yuanhong, saying that he had been instigated by Zhangsun Yuanhong, and Zhangsun Yuanhong's goal was to avoid Wei Zheng having too much power, so he did not dare fight, so he wanted to make use of Wei Zheng's reason of not daring to fight, to take over's power.
Yan Chu was not an idiot, how could he be deceived by his words? Zhangsun Yuanhong and Zhang Zhihong had never interacted before, how could they suddenly incite him to impeach Wei Zheng in private? This was utter nonsense. However,'s framing and blame for the event had forced Yan Chu to reconsider his decision. What was the purpose of Zhangsun Yuanhong opposing Wei Zheng being a commander in the first place?
With Zhangsun Yuanhong's brain, it was impossible for him to not know that Wei Zheng's ability far surpassed Ming Xiaotian's, but why did he still agree to let Ming Xiaotian replace Wei Zheng? Could it be that it was as Zhang Zhihong had said, that Zhangsun Yuanhong was afraid of the military power in Wei Zheng's hands, that he was afraid of Wei Zheng becoming an obstacle for him to monopolize the entire nation's military power?
One of the most important points between the monarchs and officials was that they had to trust each other. Tang Yin letting Zi Ying take the blame for him was because he believed that Zi Ying could understand his own difficult situation. If Zi Ying was willing to accept it, then he would completely trust Tang Yin's performance. And right now, there was a lack of trust between Yan Chu and him. Adding to the matter of his Hedong losing, Yan Chu became even more suspicious of him.
From Yan Chu's point of view, forming a private party was a huge threat to their country. If Zhangsun Yuanhong was truly plotting against Wei Zheng for the sake of military power, then could be dead in his heart.
Not long after sending Zhang Zhihong away, Zhangsun Yuanhong arrived. In the palace's study, Yan Chu first invited Zhangsun Yuanhong to take a seat, then exchanged a few words with him and cut to the chase. He asked: "General Yuanhong, how much of a chance do you have to defeat Feng Army and recover the lost ground in this eastern expedition?"
Zhangsun Yuanhong didn't even think, and directly answered: "At the end of this battle, there's a eighty percent chance of winning!"
"Oh?" Yan Chu was shocked, but he maintained his composure on the surface. He smiled slightly and said: "General Wei leads five hundred thousand troops, and is beaten up so badly that he doesn't dare to leave the camp to fight. General Ming leads over four hundred thousand troops, and was beaten up by the entire army.
Zhangsun Yuanhong laughed proudly, and cupped his hands together: "Great King, although the number of troops this lowly general has, they are all courageous and capable of killing a hundred elite soldiers, two hundred thousand Western Army, two hundred thousand of Western Army, two hundred thousand of Cavalry of Yue Country s, and even more so, able to move about unhindered in the battlefield. Not to mention that the Feng Army is only three hundred thousand, even if this lowly general has one million profound practitioners, he still has the confidence to kill every single one of his Thief Feng s!"
The reason why he said that was to make Yan Chu feel at ease and not worry about the battle at Hedong any longer. This was also a sign of guilt in his heart.
The latter could not help but take in a breath of cold air. With just three hundred thousand soldiers and Zhangsun Yuanhong leading three hundred thousand men, he had the confidence to break through a million Feng Army. If he were to suddenly turn his head and use it against him, wouldn't he be in danger? Who above and below the Ning Country could stop him?
Although he thought that in his heart, Yan Chu's face did not reveal any hint of emotion. He smiled and nodded, praising: "General Yuanhong is truly worthy of being my, Da Ning's, strongest general. This time, we will have to depend on General Yuanhong to take back the Hedong and lose the land!"
Zhangsun Yuanhong stood up immediately and bowed deeply to Yan Chu, then said sternly: "Your majesty has killed me! To banish bandits for our country is the duty of this lowly general! "
With Zhangsun Yuanhong's arrogant personality, being able to be so polite to him surprised Yan Chu, but also made Yan Chu suspect if Zhangsun Yuanhong had other intentions. He pondered for a moment and said, "To have General Yuan Hong fight against the enemy alone, I am truly worried!" "How about I assign another deputy general to the general?
Zhangsun Yuanhong frowned, he had commanded the Western Army for so long, did he still need to command the second place? He asked, "I wonder who will the King send?"
Yan Chu enunciated each word clearly, "Wei Zheng."
"This ?" Now that he heard the name Wei Zheng, Zhangsun Yuanhong didn't know what he felt in his heart. He was sorry for his hatred towards him and after a moment of pondering, he didn't answer right away.
"Why?" Yan Chu smiled casually and asked: "General Yuanhong thinks that the General Wei is unfit to be a general?"
By saying that, it was equivalent to not giving Zhangsun Yuanhong any leeway.'s heart trembled, he immediately interjected and saluted, and said: "No no no no! This lowly general has no such intention, I shall obey your orders, your majesty! "
"Yes!" Seeing that Zhangsun Yuanhong had agreed, Yan Chu nodded his head in satisfaction and placed Wei Zheng inside his Western Army, placing him beside Zhangsun Yuanhong, he felt more or less at ease.
Not only did this private meeting between the two of them not remove the barrier between them, it even increased their suspicion. Yan Chu did not trust Zhangsun Yuanhong, and felt that he had the intention to monopolize the entire country's military power. But now that he had no choice, he could only send Wei Zheng into the Western Army, in order to spread Zhangsun Yuanhong's power, but Zhangsun Yuanhong and Wei Zheng's temperament and fighting style were completely different, one of them was happy during a battle, and the other was calm and conservative. This made it easy for them to lead the troops.
Zhangsun Yuanhong had only stayed in the city for two days, and then he led the way east straight for the Hedong Region, with Wei Zheng who was assigned to him as his companion.
Although the combined army of Ning Yue with three hundred thousand was not as grand as the previous time with half a million people, because was the strongest general in the Ning Country, his morale was high, and all the lands he passed through were welcomed by the local citizens. From this, it could be seen how important Zhangsun Yuanhong was in the hearts of the peaceful people.
The three hundred thousand strong army had charged straight for the Hedong, and naturally, they couldn't be hidden from the Sky Eye and the Earth Web. The Feng Army scouts immediately reported the news back to the Hedong.
After receiving the report, Tang Yin only laughed leisurely, and said as if nothing had happened, "Zhangsun Yuanhong still came in the end. I was also wondering what kind of power this so-called number one general of Ning Country has!" Don't look at how relaxed he sounded, but his nerves were already beginning to tighten.
Tang Yin had long experienced Zhan Wudi's skills, but even Zhan Wudi's spirit weapon was weaker than Zhangsun Yuanhong's, which showed how tyrannical he was. Right now, Shangguan Yuan had not been seriously injured, it was unknown whether anyone on his side could defeat Zhangsun Yuanhong, but what gave Tang Yin a headache was the South Sea and Jianxing two cities.
These two cities were located in the western part of the Hedong, so they were naturally the targets for the enemy's first attack upon arrival. Right now, their army was divided into two cities and their forces were scattered. If he wanted to be safe, he could only give up a city and concentrate his forces to defend the place. However, Tang Yin was still not willing to give up on his town that he had fought so hard for.
Xiao Muqing and the other generals had the same thoughts as Tang Yin. Everyone thought that it was not impossible to hold on to the second city. The distance between the Southern Ocean and Jianxing was only three days. As long as the city that was attacked by the Ning Army could hold on for three days, their reinforcements would arrive from another city. At that time, the two armies would attack the invading Ning Army from both inside out, and the chances of winning were very high.
Tang Yin felt that the words of his subordinates made sense, and immediately accepted that without leaving the two cities, they would only strengthen the defenses of the two cities, and be ready to fight with the Ning army. It was just that, to the great surprise of Tang Yin's group, the three hundred thousand strong army led by Zhangsun Yuanhong did not attack the Southern Ocean nor did they attack the Jianxing.