Jiuxi

Chapter 717: Destiny

In late spring, all the flowers have fallen.

Walking in the Imperial Garden, Li Zongben felt very relaxed and comfortable.

It has been more than a year since he ascended the throne, and the court structure has gradually become what he wanted to see, which allows him to finally breathe a sigh of relief.

The power and status of the two prime ministers today are completely incomparable to Li Daoyan. Li Zongben intended to elevate the status of the six ministers. Although the prime minister is still the most respected in name, at least it will not be like the previous emperor's dynasty, where all officials were subject to the prime minister.

In this way, the power of the prime minister will inevitably be weakened, and this is also something that the six ministers will welcome and strongly support. After all, few people are willing to have two ancestors who control their destiny in addition to the emperor.

The fact that Li Daoyan treated all his officials with respect was an abnormality caused by special circumstances and time points. In the more than 100 years of history of the Great Qi Dynasty, there had never been a prime minister who held so much power as him.

Li Zongben just wanted to restore the court to normal order.

On the other hand, a very balanced situation has been formed in the Military Academy. Li Zongben maintains enough respect for Xiao Wangzhi, but relying on the support of those military officials, it is easy for him to interfere in military affairs. The fact that the Northern Expedition can be carried out smoothly is proof of this.

Li Zongben was full of confidence, just waiting for the news of the great victory in Jiangbei to come back, then the biggest hidden worry in his heart would dissipate, that is, there would be someone in the army who could compete with Lu Chen, instead of having to rely on the young Duke of Shanyang every time.

Everything is going well, except for one thing that remains unresolved.

Li Zongben stopped and turned to look at the Minister of Personnel Li Shizhi who was following closely behind him. He asked casually, "I heard that Qin Zheng is still staying in Jinlin?"

Li Shizhi's heart moved slightly. He knew the emperor's thoughts very well and said respectfully, "Your Majesty, yes. My father said that because the Textile Bureau was independent of the court, he had no contact with Lord Qin in recent years, but he always admired Lord Qin's character. Now that he and Lord Qin have retired and returned to their hometowns, they are no longer involved in the court disputes. It's a good opportunity to reminisce about the past, so I asked him and his family to stay in Jinlin for a while."

This was a fairly conventional answer, but after hearing the words "old things in the past", Li Zongben still raised his eyebrows slightly, and then said: "The late emperor was able to turn the tide, and your father and Qin Zheng made great efforts. Now that the court is prosperous, they, the older generation, should enjoy their old age. I plan to send Yuan Yuji to Jinlin to send some seasonal fruits. What do you think?"

Li Shizhi was impressed and said: "Your Majesty, I would like to thank you on behalf of my father."

Li Zongben smiled indifferently and was about to continue the conversation when he suddenly raised his eyes and looked into the distance.

I saw Yuan Yuji, the Junior Supervisor of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, whom I had just mentioned, walking quickly into the Imperial Garden.

When he arrived, the expression of this usually reserved chief eunuch was very different from usual. His slightly pale face and his slender eyes were full of panic.

"Your Majesty, the battle report of Jiangbei 800 miles away."

Yuan Yuji's almost trembling voice made Li Zongben frown.

There is only one word difference between battle report and victory report, but there is a world of difference between them.

"speak."

Li Zongben did not want to lose his dignity as an emperor in front of his ministers, so he remained calm and composed as usual.

Yuan Yuji said in a trembling voice: "Han Zhongjie, the Marquis of Yongyi, and Yuan Xingqin, the general commander of the army, led 80,000 troops to attack Kaocheng, and fought a decisive battle with Wu Yanshu, the commander of the Jing army, outside the city. Unexpectedly, Wu Yanshu risked abandoning the entire western defense zone, gathering all the troops on the western front, and using armored heavy cavalry to attack our central army. In this battle... our army was defeated, the Marquis of Yongyi was seriously injured and unconscious, and more than half of the soldiers were killed."

The spring breeze is blowing gently, and the birds are singing and the flowers are fragrant.

However, in this sea of ​​flowers, the atmosphere was as frozen as ice and dead silent.

Yuan Yuji mustered up the courage to look up, only to see that the emperor had a blank expression on his face and lifeless eyes, and he didn't even show any anger.

He said with great concern: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty..."

The emperor remained speechless.

No one knew that at this moment, what emerged in Li Zongben’s mind was an event that happened many years ago.

That was during the annual ancestral worship ceremony of the imperial family. His elder brother Li Zongzhao, as the eldest prince, accompanied the late emperor in offering sacrifices to the heavens.

Although Li Zongchao was only holding the sacrificial offerings at the side, this still made Li Zongben extremely envious. He had imagined more than once that he was the one standing next to the late emperor, accepting the attention of all officials together with the late emperor, and even -

He really wanted to be the one presiding over the ceremony.

Now he finally has the qualifications. After playing the role of an innocent and filial son for more than ten years, he is the one sitting on the dragon throne, not someone else.

He did not want to leave a name of a mediocre and incompetent monarch in the history books of later generations, because in the past ten years, he firmly believed that he was the best prince and had the greatest hope of inheriting the late emperor's will.

Not only did he want to recover his homeland and return it to the old capital, he also wanted to unify the country and achieve hegemony, becoming a leader of the revival who would be remembered in history and admired by future generations.

After ascending the throne for more than a year, he felt that he was able to firmly control the court. The next step was naturally to launch an expedition to the north and let the flag of the Great Qi fly again in the land north of the Yangtze River.

However, the Northern Expedition Army that he had placed high hopes on actually suffered a defeat?

Lost?

A sense of absurdity and bewilderment surged in his heart. He looked at Yuan Yuji steadily and said grimly, "What did you say?" Although Yuan Yuji was an old friend of the emperor, he had never seen the emperor in such a state. Fear instantly overwhelmed him, and he stammered, "Your Majesty, Commander Liu has sent a messenger, who is waiting outside the palace now. I can go and summon him."

Li Zongben suddenly took a step forward, his eyes suddenly filled with rage, and he gritted his teeth and said, "I'm asking you, what are you talking about?"

Yuan Yuji's body began to tremble. He looked to the Minister of Personnel beside him for help. However, he found that Li Shizhi's expression was not much better. He could only say helplessly: "Your Majesty, the Northern Expedition Army was defeated--"

"Snapped!"

Li Zongben suddenly raised his hand and slapped Yuan Yuji fiercely on the face, causing the eunuch leader, who was a skilled martial artist, to fall to the ground.

Yuan Yuji didn't dare to hide at all, and quickly stood up and said in panic: "Your Majesty, please calm down. This servant deserves death!"

Li Zongben simply refused to listen and said in a stern voice: "Han Zhongjie and Liu Shouguang were entrusted with important tasks and used their troops steadily and practically. How could they suffer such a huge defeat for no apparent reason? As the leader of the eunuchs, how dare you lie to me about military intelligence? Are you tired of living too long?!"

Yuan Yuji knelt down with a plop and kowtowed, saying, "Your Majesty, even if I had the guts to do that, how dare I lie about military intelligence? This is indeed what the messenger sent by Governor Liu said. If I lied even a little, I will be punished by lingchi!"

Li Zongben's hands were trembling slightly.

The slap just now also woke up Li Shizhi who was in shock.

He, like the emperor, had high hopes for this Northern Expedition, and after repeated consideration and reflection, he believed that the probability of victory in the Northern Expedition was extremely high.

After all, Han Zhongjie and Liu Shouguang’s mission was not to attack the capital of Jing State directly, nor even to recapture Heluo, but only to clear out the Jing army’s garrison southwest of Heluo City.

Both of them were veterans who had fought in many battles. They might not be as wise as Lu Chen, but under the premise that Jing State was in civil strife and the border troops of Da Qi had an absolute advantage, they could achieve their strategic expectations even if they had to fight hard step by step.

That's why he told Yuan Xingqin that when he won the battle, he would find a way to kill Han Zhongjie, and he sent many of his confidants and experts to accompany Yuan Xingqin north.

But I didn't expect it to end like this.

Li Shizhi looked up at the blue sky, suppressed his anxiety and panic, and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, calm down. Victory and defeat are common in the military."

It was difficult for him to calm down in such a hurry, so it was understandable that the emperor, who was only in his twenties, would lose his composure like this.

No one was willing to believe that the Northern Expedition Army, despite having the upper hand, suffered such a crushing defeat at the hands of the Jing Army.

"Common in the military?"

Li Zongben's eyes were slightly red, and he said slowly: "Didn't you hear what he said just now? 80,000 troops, my 80,000 troops, more than half of them were lost! What a brave and righteous Marquis, what a Han Zhongjie, how can he live up to my earnest expectations! I handed over more than 100,000 troops to him, and never forced him to annihilate many Jing troops, as long as he could safely capture those cities! But not only did he fail to do this, he also lost so easily!"

From the seventh year of Jianwu to the present, for nearly ten years, although Da Qi was in a strategic defensive position most of the time, thanks to the near-perfect defense of Li Tianrun and Xiao Wangzhi, the border troops had never suffered such heavy losses.

More importantly, Han Zhongjie must have brought elite troops to attack the city. Losing 40,000 people at once will affect the safety of the entire Jingzhou.

Li Shizhi also felt a sharp pain in his head as if it was torn apart, but at this time the emperor could no longer remain calm, so he could not panic, because he still needed the young emperor to preside over the overall situation. So he tried to be tactful and said: "Your Majesty, now is not the time to pursue responsibility. The most urgent task is to stabilize the situation and at least keep Jingzhou. Once Jingzhou falls into the hands of the enemy, the Jing army will probably cross the river and head south!"

These words were like thunder, exploding in Li Zongben's mind.

Han Zhongjie lost one third of his elite troops in one battle, and even he was injured and fell into a coma. The situation was reversed in an instant.

How could the Emperor of Jingguo miss this opportunity?

After Li Shizhi's reminder, Li Zongben finally realized the most serious problem. The Northern Expedition Army's disastrous defeat in Kaocheng would most likely trigger a series of reactions and even threaten the security of Jiangnan.

At this moment he finally panicked.

He turned to look at Li Shizhi and said helplessly: "My dear, what should I do now?"

Li Shizhi sighed softly in his heart.

The emperor has been doing very well for the past two years and has hardly encountered any hardships. He only behaved so abnormally when he heard the bad news. If it were the late emperor, how could he be so unbearable?

However, precisely because of this, he has been planning in secret, but he is not sure whether Da Qi can escape danger this time.

Thinking of this, Li Shizhi no longer dared to hide his thoughts and quickly said, "Your Majesty, please summon the important civil and military officials to brainstorm and discuss countermeasures!"

"What Ai Qing said is absolutely true."

Li Zongben calmed down a bit, turned to Yuan Yuji and said, "Quickly summon the two prime ministers and the military minister to the palace!"

Yuan Yuji immediately took the order and left.

Li Zongben looked up at the sky. It was clear as day, but it seemed as if an endless haze was swallowing him up.

(End of this chapter)