Thief Emperor

Chapter 265: Rebirth
When the eunuch who delivered the imperial edict left, he took a last look at Jiang Yan and his tone became stern.

"General Jiang, the Shuofang Army has already begun to advance. Your troops must also begin attacking the rebels within this month, otherwise we will miss the opportunity to fight!"

His voice became shrill: "Next time, the court will not send an envoy, but bring someone here directly!"

Jiang Yan was trembling with fear. He bowed his head and clasped his fists to the messenger. Just as he was about to say something, he looked up and saw that the messenger had gone far away.

General Jiang stood there in a daze for a long time before he walked into the house in a daze. He came to the bedside of General Su, knelt on the ground with a plop, and kowtowed, saying, "General, my ability is limited, really, really..."

He bowed his head, his voice trembling: "General, please teach me..."

As a military general, Jiang Yan may not be very capable, but he is not afraid of death. Even though he is trembling with fear at this moment, it is not because he is afraid of death.

He was afraid that he did not have enough ability to lead the troops, and that the 20,000 Jiangnan soldiers that Su Jing had managed to save would be killed on the battlefield.

Su Jing had opened his eyes at this moment. He silently looked at Jiang Yan who was kneeling beside his bed. He did not speak for a long time. After an unknown amount of time, he said in an extremely hoarse voice: "If the 50,000 Shuofang troops were willing to try their best, they would have already... already fought with the main force of the rebels, and even had a decisive battle, instead of just three or four encounters like now."

At this point, Su Jing shook his head silently and sighed: "It's a pity that the court... the court did not give me enough time, otherwise... these Jiangnan soldiers I led might not be inferior to the Shuofang Army."

The reason why Su Jing suffered a loss in the Central Plains was that, on the one hand, he was outnumbered by a huge margin, and his weapons and equipment were just those of an ordinary local army.

What’s more important is…the training time is too short.

He was sent by the imperial court to Jiangnan to quell the rebellion. At that time, Qiu Dian's rebellion had already broken out for several months. The soldiers he recruited in Jiangnan were all new soldiers, but he had no time to train them.

After only a brief one or two months of training in Ningguo County, they were urgently thrown into the battlefield.

It is a rare achievement to be able to mobilize a group of soldiers to go to the battlefield in two months.

Even so, because of the fall of Qiantang County, many people in Qiantang County were cursing Su Jing's mother.

After that, before Qiu Dian's rebellion was completely over, he was dispatched by the court to the Central Plains to quell the rebellion. He thought that the rebels in the Central Plains should be not much different from Qiu Dian and his ilk, but he didn't expect that General Tianbu actually had some skills. Although the hundreds of thousands of rebels could not be called elite troops, their organization was no different from that of local troops.

Coupled with the disparity in troop strength, these poorly trained Jiangnan soldiers naturally suffered losses.

Originally, even if he suffered a small loss, General Su could have retreated and taken advantage of the time to start training, and slowly he would have been able to maintain a stalemate with the rebels.

Over time, by training through fighting, an elite force can be slowly honed.

At this time, the war was not going well, and the political struggles in the court led to the imprisonment of the eldest son. The old general, who was already in his sixties, suffered a relapse of his old injuries and became seriously ill.

Illness comes like a mountain.

He no longer has the spirit and energy he had in his prime to change the world bit by bit.

After a long silence, Su Jing continued, "If you...if you lead the troops to Henan Prefecture, as long as you suffer one or two defeats, the army will definitely...definitely mutiny."

Jiang Yan looked up at Su Jing, worried.

That's exactly what he was worried about.

Although he also participated in the training of the Jiangnan soldiers throughout the whole process, until now, his prestige is far less than that of General Su. General Su can control the situation, but he cannot.

"Commander."

Jiang Yan lowered his head and said, "Please...give me some pointers!"

He is from the capital and his family is all in the capital.

Su Jing could disobey the imperial edict from the capital, but he could not disobey the orders given to him.

"Since you want to fight..."

Su Jing closed his eyes, coughed violently a few times, and said, "We can only pretend to attack but actually defend."

"When your troops enter Henan Prefecture, the rebels will definitely attack our army after they find out. You must...keep shrinking your camp along the way."

“Although we are moving forward, we must always be prepared to defend.”

"Fight...fight a few battles, morale will be up, and we can continue to fight. If...if we suffer a major defeat."

Su Jing coughed violently several times, almost coughing up blood. He then closed his eyes in pain, as if he had foreseen the tragic scene of defeat.

He knew very well that the rebels had suffered consecutive losses at the hands of the Shuofang Army and their morale would not be very high at this moment. The best way to boost morale was naturally to win a big victory.

Therefore...as soon as our troops enter the battlefield, they will be attacked fiercely by the rebels.

"Then... even gods can't save you."

"When the time comes, just do your best to stay alive."

Jiang Yan lowered his head, almost crying: "I will remember this."

He stood up, bowed his head and clasped his fists towards Su Jing: "General... take care of yourself. If we are lucky enough to win, I will come back to visit you."

After that, he turned and left.

Su Jing lay on the bed, staring at the bed in a daze.

He now has no strength left.

I was on the verge of life and death several times.

At this time, the best choice for him was to stay in Songzhou to recuperate. Whether he recovered or died, at least his reputation would be preserved and he would not be ruined by the rebels. But when he thought of those Jiangnan soldiers and Jiangyan...

General Su said in a hoarse voice: "Someone come."

Soon, someone came in with his head down and asked, "General, what do you want?"

"Make some medicine for me."

Su Jing coughed several times, his voice becoming weaker: "Tell Jiang Yan to... ask him to find someone to carry me with him, to follow the army..."

"Go to war."

…………

Yuezhou City.

Finally, Duke Zheng was choked by Li Yun's words "I will calm it down" and was unable to take Li Yun with him to Mingzhou for the change of guard. Before leaving Yuezhou for Mingzhou, he looked at Du Qian and Li Yun who were seeing him off, especially at Li Yun.

After taking a deep breath, Zheng Guan said in a deep voice: "If something really happens in Jiangdong, I hope Governor Li can suppress it."

Li Yun was very confident and said with a smile: "Don't worry, sir. If there is any trouble that I can't suppress, I will pay with my life."

Zheng Wei snorted angrily and got on the carriage: "At that time, tens of thousands of people's lives and property were damaged. I'm afraid that Li Shishi's life can't make up for it!"

After saying this, Zheng Wei's carriage slowly left.

Li Yun watched the carriage disappear slowly, then turned to Du Qian and said, "These high-ranking officials in the court, regardless of their abilities, are all first-rate eloquent. I was almost convinced by them."

Du Qian smiled and said, "It's always like this. It doesn't matter if you can't do things, as long as you can talk, you can have a future, especially if you come from aristocratic families."

He looked in the direction where Zheng Wei left and said calmly, "Anyway, when you become an official, you don't have to do anything yourself in most positions. As long as you don't do anything, others won't know that you are incompetent."

As a descendant of an aristocratic family, Du Qian was naturally qualified to say such things. When he said this, he looked at Li Yun and asked, "Erlang is leaving for Wuzhou tomorrow?"

"Yes."

Li Yun smiled and said, "I, as the governor of Wuzhou, must go to perform my duties, but I will bring people with me, and I will be able to take over Wuzhou in general very soon. As for some minor details, I will have to wait until the King of Chu leaves, and then I can slowly take over."

At this point, he looked into the distance and asked, "Brother Du, do you think Jiangnan will become chaotic because of the King of Chu?"

"I wasn't sure at first."

Du Qian put his hands in his sleeves and said, "But after Zheng Wei came here, I think there is a 70% to 80% chance that someone will cause trouble."

Li Yun nodded and said with a smile: "My original estimate was that there was only a 30% to 40% chance of a commotion. I didn't expect the King of Chu to be so heavy-handed. With the precedent of Mingzhou, other states and counties will not sit idly by."

At this point, Li Yun looked at Du Qian and asked, "Brother Du, what do you think about this matter, His Royal Highness the King of Chu..."

"Is it intentional?"

"Mostly."

Du Qian hummed, "He was sent to Jiangnan to get money because of the prince's intention. If this incident causes chaos in Jiangnan, then even if there is a fault, the prince's fault will be greater."

"And he will definitely make a lot of money if he makes a big move in Jiangnan. He will complete the task assigned by the court very well. When he returns to the capital, no one can say anything to him. Zheng Yu keeps talking about the overall situation in Jiangnan, but Wu doesn't care about the overall situation in Jiangnan at all."

Li Yun seemed to be thinking about something, and then he said, "So, I underestimated the King of Chu before."

After the two chatted for a while, Li Yun clasped his fists towards Du Qian and said, "Brother Du, I'm going to go back home today to pack up my things and prepare to move to Wuzhou. When the turmoil brought about by the King of Chu subsides, I will return to Yuezhou and have a drink with Brother Du."

Du Qian returned the greeting with a bow and said with a smile: "Once this is accomplished, Erlang will be famous all over Jiangnan."

Li Yun smiled and said, "Compared to being famous in Jiangnan, I hope to use this to control the salt roads in Jiangnan."

The two men bowed and said goodbye. When they were about to leave, Du Qian suddenly stopped Li Yun. He hesitated for a moment and said, "Erlang, if Wu Yuanyou's action had not caused chaos in Jiangnan, should we not..."

Li Yun smiled silently.

"Brother Du, do you think that if there is no chaos, I will send people to stir up trouble?"

Du Qian looked at Li Yun.

"It's not difficult."

"It's really not difficult."

Li Yun smiled and said, "It's not difficult. If I want to do it, I don't have to wait for the King of Chu to come. I can do it now. Brother Du, do you think this is the truth?"

Du Qian took a deep breath and smiled: "That's the truth."

Li Yun patted Du Qian on the shoulder and slowly looked up at the sky: "Brother Du, it is said that there is a bird in the West called the Immortal Bird. Whenever it is about to die of old age, it will burn itself in its nest and be reborn in the fire."

"If there is unrest in Jiangnan."

Mr. Li's voice was firm.

"Brother Du, just think of it as a newborn blaze."

(End of this chapter)