Jiuxi

Chapter 898: 896 [Invisible Gun Smoke]

In late March, Lu Chen arrived at the penultimate stop of his border inspection.

Fengqiu City is the strategic core of Dingzhou’s northern line and the strongest backing for the entire defense line.

At that time, Qing Yugong personally led the army to break through Dingfeng Road, and the Jing army's cavalry trampled on the northern border of Dingzhou, but they could never take Fengqiu City. Miegudi and Xilie had to allocate 20,000 troops to monitor the Feiyun Army in the city, thus giving Li Jingda the opportunity to lead his troops north to rescue the trapped Seven Star Army.

After this battle, Lu Chen attached more importance to Fengqiu City. Now there are 8,000 elite soldiers stationed in the city. The main general is Bao An, the deputy commander of the Ningyuan Army. He was one of the captains after the Rui Shi Camp was established. He and Li Chengen each led half of the troops.

After the Rui Shi Camp was expanded into the Dingbei Army and the Ningyuan Army, Li Chengen gradually grew into the commander of the cavalry, and Bao An did not stop there. He was promoted to the deputy general of the Ningyuan Army by virtue of his repeated military exploits.

Lu Chen admired this old subordinate who was neither arrogant nor impetuous and was loyal. After inspecting the city defense, he stayed for another day and discussed many things with Bao An in secret. The next morning, he continued to march north with Lin Xi and five hundred personal cavalry guards.

Facing the warm spring breeze, Lin Xi said a little embarrassedly: "I still don't understand."

Lu Chen asked gently: "What's wrong?"

The two men rode their horses side by side. Lin Xi said, "You let Pucha go, obviously to confuse Emperor Jing through him and make him fall into self-doubt. In this case, why don't you just tell Pucha directly that Emperor Jing might be faking an injury and that you have seen through his intentions. In this way, Emperor Jing might be in a dilemma, after all, his plan has failed."

"Senior Sister, what you said makes sense, but..."

Lu Chen paused for a moment and said with a smile: "Actually, this is a game of you guessing or not."

"game?"

Lin Xi tilted her head and looked at him.

Lu Chen nodded and said, "Emperor Jing is a very confident and even conceited person. Since he ascended the throne, he has solved the hidden dangers within Jing one by one, and he is invincible in external affairs. He destroyed Zhao, swallowed Yan and conquered Dai. The territory of Jing continued to expand under him. Only the blood of a whole generation of people from Da Qi could barely stop it. Now he is determined to pacify the world. It seems that we have no way out, but I have to give in and throw the problem back to Emperor Jing."

Lin Xi gradually understood.

Lu Chen continued, "I asked Pucha to tell Emperor Jing clearly that I knew how fierce his last attack was before his death, so I chose to avoid him. But he will die after all, and when he dies, he will definitely find a way to take Qing Yugong with him. When they are all dead, who will be able to take charge of the situation in the Jing army? In other words, this is my first test of Emperor Jing. If his injuries are really difficult to heal and his life is coming to an end, the most sensible decision is to stop and try to stabilize the domestic situation."

Lin Xi suddenly realized, "If he insisted on marching south, it means that his injuries were not that serious, or he was confident that he could completely defeat the Daqi border army before he died. Judging from his actions over the years, he should not be so conceited. There is only one possibility."

"Chu Long mentioned this before. The unknown physical condition of Emperor Jing means that we have to make two completely different preparations. Now I want to put Emperor Jing in the same situation."

Lu Chen's expression was gentle, but his eyes were slightly sharp: "I told Emperor Jing about my response strategy. He will definitely doubt whether I have guessed that he was faking his injury. If he continues to advance, then every response of mine could be a feint. On a specific battlefield, every retreat of our army could be a trap, because he cannot be sure of my true intentions."

This statement actually takes several detours.

Lin Xi thought for a moment and smiled, "I understand. You play this guessing game to turn passivity into initiative."

"Senior sister is smart."

Lu Chen quickly flattered him.

Lin Xi rolled her eyes at him sweetly. Although they were no longer newlyweds, she still cherished the time she spent with Lu Chen.

Lu Chen held the reins and said leisurely, "Although the war has not yet broken out, it has actually begun. I just want to use every tiny detail to accumulate advantages for my army as much as possible. In fact, the Jing army is now ready to launch an arrow. The Emperor Jing will not stop because of my little trick, but because I want to force him to guess his mind, he must spare some energy to consider one thing. If Jinglian nobles like Qing Yugong know that he is faking an injury, can they still maintain their current obedience and docility?"

Lin Xi asked curiously: "What does this mean? If the Jinglian nobles knew that Emperor Jing was not seriously injured, shouldn't they be more respectful?"

"Having said that, human hearts are not that simple."

Lu Chen smiled calmly and said slowly: "The fact that Emperor Jing was assassinated and injured does not mean that he has lost control of the internal affairs. On the contrary, he will become more dangerous. For an emperor with such high prestige and deep scheming, there is no such thing as a dying man speaking well. Anyone who dares to jump out in the last stage of his life will surely die miserably and will also bring disaster to his family and relatives. Therefore, those Jinglian nobles, including Qing Yugong, dare not disobey during this period. Knowing that Emperor Jing will use this national war to consume their strength, they can only obey orders honestly."

Lin Xi said: "That is to say, if they knew that Emperor Jing would not die, they would become more cautious and angry because they were deceived, and would not give their all in the war."

"This is the most ideal outcome, but I will not underestimate Emperor Jing's methods. If we remove the lid hastily, perhaps he can take advantage of the situation and resolve the hidden dangers."

Lu Chen raised his eyes to the clear sky and said softly, "So I want to make him guess. Only in this way can I make him hesitate, because just from what I told Pucha, I can't be sure that I have guessed that Emperor Jing is faking injury. In this case, it is better for him to continue with the previous strategy, but then again, what if I guessed it? In short, as the supreme commander of the Jing army, he has to put in some extra effort."

Lin Xi suddenly had an idea, and after hesitating for a moment, he said, "I think there is another reason why you don't open the lid."

"You said."

"You want to bring Qing Yu Huai Jin into the game."

"Cough cough."

Lu Chen did not deny it, and nodded: "The one who knows me well is my senior sister."

Lin Xi couldn't help but smile slightly.

The two men began to speed up their journey, and five hundred cavalrymen followed closely behind them.

In the afternoon, they finally arrived at Dingfeng Road.

Song Shifei, the commander of Feiyun Army, and Liu Jiangdong, the commander of Ningyuan Army, who had received the news, came to greet them in person. After the Battle of Yongqiu ended, Miegudi and Xilie had no choice but to withdraw their troops from the northern part of Dingzhou. Naturally, they were unwilling to leave in disgrace, so when they left, they burned the Dingfengdao stronghold to pieces with a big fire, and tried every means to destroy the city walls that could not be burned.

In the last year of Xu Zuo's administration in Dingzhou, the thing he was most concerned about was the reconstruction of the Dingfeng Road defense line.

Compared with the repair and reinforcement of Yaoshan Pass, Dingfeng Road was almost demolished and rebuilt from scratch.

Today, Jiuquzhai at the southern end of Dingfeng Road is the forefront, forming a defense system of seven villages and four forts, garrisoned by nearly 20,000 elite soldiers from Feiyun Army and Ningyuan Army.

There are mountains on both sides of Dingfeng Road, and on the east side, the Seven Star Army relies on the geographical advantage to form flank protection. In the middle, seven camps and four forts firmly guard the north gate of Dingzhou.

"Old Song."

Standing in Jiuqu Village, Lu Chen looked towards the north and shouted calmly.

Song Shifei quickly responded, "I am here."

Lu Chen retracted his gaze and said seriously: "We can't make the same mistake again this time."

Song Shifei's old face turned red.

At first, he was dazzled by Qing Yugong's feint and did not expect that the other side would transfer its main force to Dingfeng Road. Jiuqu Village was hastily broken. If Lin Xi had not led the Seven Star Army cavalry to reinforce in time, he and the Feiyun Army would most likely have been surrounded and slaughtered by the main force of the Jing Army.

Finally, he led the Feiyun Army to retreat to Fengqiu, but was still besieged for more than half a year.

Hearing Lu Chen's instructions, Song Shifei said guiltily: "Your Majesty, I will stay at the front line now and will never give the enemy another chance."

Liu Jiangdong, who was standing next to him, said, "Your Highness, Commander Song has been working very hard these past two years. He even gave up drinking."

The two of them were the first generals in the Huaizhou army to join Lu Chen, so Lu Chen treated them with sincerity and without any ambiguous remarks.

At this moment, their answers were also extremely frank.

Lu Chen raised his hand and patted Song Shifei on the shoulder, nodded and said: "Only when you know shame and then you are brave, you are a real man."

Song Shifei said sternly: "I will keep this in mind!"

Lu Chen looked at the soldiers standing solemnly in the distance and said to the two men, "You have done a good job. When the Jing army launches a large-scale attack, I hope you can give them a head-on blow."

The two men obeyed in unison.

Lu Chen said no more and continued to carefully inspect the armaments of various forts, and rested in the military camp at night.

Two days later, when Lu Chen left Dingfeng Road with satisfaction and was about to continue moving eastward, several riders came galloping over.

"Your Majesty, there is a letter from the north."

The visitor took out an envelope with intact wax from his bosom with great respect, handed it to Lu Chen, and then quickly retreated. Only Lin Xi remained standing beside Lu Chen.

Lu Chen did not hide anything. He opened the envelope in front of Lin Xi and took out a thin piece of letter paper.

There were only eight words on it, with no heading or signature.

"Look, Senior Sister."

Lu Chen calmly handed the letter to Lin Xi.

Lin Xi felt relieved and then read it out in a low voice: "The mountains are high and the waters are far away, and I can't reach them."

There is no doubt that this was written by Qing Yu Huaijin himself.

She thought for a moment and asked, "Does Qing Yu Huai Jin agree to join forces with you?"

"She's obviously still testing the waters, but this sentence shows that she's already moved."

Lu Chen held the letter with his hands behind his back, turned around and walked slowly towards the tent, a complex emotion emerging in his deep eyes.

Lin Xi followed his footsteps and asked with concern: "So what are you going to do?"

Lu Chen pondered for a moment, then suddenly stopped and turned to look at Lin Xi, sighing, "Now I roughly understand that Qing Yu Huaijin wants to be the empress of Jing Kingdom."

"what?"

Lin Xi couldn't hide his surprise.

Lu Chen shook his head and chuckled, his tone becoming a little sharper: "That's fine, then I'll lend her a hand."

(End of this chapter)