Thief Emperor

Chapter 730: The outcome of the Northern and Southern Dynasties?

Of course, some of these officials in the capital who advised for the throne were instructed by Li Yun.

However, it is not necessarily true that they persuaded Wei Quanzhong to ascend the throne under the instructions of Li Yun.

Persuading someone to ascend the throne is a political act with a very high return rate. At this time, Wei Quanzhong had already occupied the capital, and the Wu Zhou Dynasty had clearly given up on them. In this case, persuading Wei Quanzhong to ascend the throne became a sure-win move for them.

Of course someone would do that.

It can even be said that the first, second, and third people who persuaded him to ascend the throne were not even instructed by Li Yun.

And those who followed the crowd would certainly not need Li Yun to give any instructions.

At this time, General Wei, dressed in the robes of a prince, stood in the Chongde Hall. Looking at the Wu Zhou officials kneeling in front of him, he felt extremely proud.

You have to know that he came from a grassroots background. Although he was promoted by the previous emperor, he also rose up step by step.

The people kneeling before him now, the older ones, were mostly at the same level as him, or even his superiors.

As a real man, having been reborn into this world, and having made it from a peasant with almost nothing to his current position, no one would feel unhappy about it.

He stood there, smiling for a moment, then tried his best to hide it. After a long while, he coughed, pretended to be angry, and said in a deep voice: "Everyone, we are all officials of the Great Zhou. I, Wei, have received the grace of the late emperor, which is why I am here today."

"I came to the capital to protect the country and restore the Great Zhou. I never had any ill intentions."

"Everyone, please stand up quickly!"

General Wei said in a deep voice: "Don't even mention this matter. If you mention it again, I will punish you according to the laws of the Great Zhou Dynasty!"

Everyone was still kneeling on the ground, refusing to get up and asking again.

Three requests and three refusal is the normal procedure for persuading someone to take the throne.

Wei Quanzhong climbed up the imperial steps, stood in front of a group of officials, and shouted, "Let's disperse today. No one is allowed to mention it again. Come here!"

He said in a deep voice: "Send you gentlemen back home."

Soon, a group of Shuofang soldiers came forward like wolves and tigers, and took all the officials away. After everyone left, General Wei sat down on the dragon chair without any courtesy, and then called his subordinates and asked, "Did you see Cui Yuan and Prime Minister Cui just now?"

The man shook his head and whispered, "My Lord, none of the gentlemen who stayed in the capital, Cui Yuan, Wang Yan, Li Fang, etc., have come."

General Wei had an inexplicable look on his face. He narrowed his eyes and said softly, "Prime Ministers, you are really noble."

He was about to continue speaking when the messenger came in hurriedly, knelt in front of General Wei, bowed his head deeply and said, "General, a letter from the Major General!"

"There is also urgent military information from Luoyang sent by scouts."

Wei Quanzhong was stunned for a moment, then asked, "Wasn't he surrounded by Li Yun? How did he get the letter out?"

The messenger lowered his head and spoke in a hoarse voice: "General, the deputy general sent 5,000 men to break out of the siege in order to deliver the letter. After a bloody battle, more than 3,000 of these 5,000 men returned to Luoyang."

"Taking into account the casualties of the Jiangdong Army, the letter in front of the general is at least..."

"It took five hundred brothers who risked their lives to deliver it!"

"Nonsense!"

General Wei's face was gloomy. He slapped the armrest fiercely and said angrily: "Give him the military power, but he treats it like this. What kind of news is worth my five hundred elite soldiers?"

"He should just concentrate on guarding Luoyang, defending Luoyang, and doing his job well. It won't take long before he can defeat the Jiangdong Army with the help of both inside and outside forces. Why do these stupid things that will only cost him money?"

After cursing for a long time, General Wei opened the letter with bloodstains in his hand. After opening it, he saw his son's handwriting.

He only read it once and his face immediately turned gloomy.

Then he looked at the military reports sent from various counties in the Central Plains, and his expression became even uglier.

After a long while, he lowered his head and looked again, and then there was a long silence.

After a long time, General Wei turned his eyes back to the letter and whispered to himself: "Long live Dengfeng, the river is clear..."

"Huaizhou..."

General Wei murmured a few words and roughly understood the intention of the Jiangdong Army. His face looked even uglier.

This kind of fighting tactics of the Jiangdong Army was contrary to the military tactics of that era. The mainstream military tactics of that era, faced with the current situation, was probably to concentrate superior forces, be as flexible and maneuverable as possible, and then look for opportunities to defeat the two powerful enemies, the Hedong Army and the Shuofang Army, one by one.

As long as they can seize the initiative and defeat one of the two armies, the Jiangdong Army will be able to regain the initiative in the entire Central Plains battlefield.

And Li Yun's current approach is more like breaking the whole into pieces, turning the Jiangdong Army into a huge piece of iron sheet, covering Luoyang inside. If it were conventional forces, this approach could easily be reversed by the enemy and defeated one by one.

The Jiangdong Army’s superior military strength would also be wiped out.

The reason why Jiangdong Army, or Li Yun and Meng Qing dared to do this was mainly because Jiangdong had a huge variable on the battlefield of this era. Thunder!
Or firearms.

These firearms are still in the early stages of development, and their application on the battlefield, or their specific positioning, is still in the exploratory development stage. However, one of their functions is to defend cities, and has already been used in battles to defend cities such as Yangzhou and Chuzhou.

The thunder bombs and firearms at that time were still relatively rudimentary. Now Jiangdong's gunpowder and firearms have reached a new level, and the thunder bombs have also undergone a round of upgrades, with their lethality greatly increased.

As Li Yun spared no expense in deploying firearms around Luoyang, even the Shuofang Army and the Hedong Army could still "defeat them one by one", but the price they would have to pay for doing so was definitely something they could not afford.

Wei Quanzhong, after all, grew up from the grassroots. He lowered his head and pondered the purpose of his son sending the letter. He was silent for a long time before slowly standing up.

Because of his anxiety, his voice was even a little hoarse.

"Call Yang Houlai, call Yang Houlai!"

Soon, Yang Hou, the "new noble" of the Shuofang Group, was invited from his home to the palace. At this time, Yang Hou already had some spies and knew what happened in Chongde Hall today. When he saw Wei Quanzhong, he knelt down and bowed his head and said, "Your Majesty, your servant Yang Hou, pays homage to His Majesty!"

Hearing the word "Your Majesty", General Wei found it even more irritating. He snorted and said angrily, "You are playing the piano!"

After taking several deep breaths, he looked back and said calmly, "General Yang, I, Wei, have always been a loyal minister of the Great Zhou. Don't say such things again. Now I have something for you to do."

"Li is wreaking havoc outside the Great Wall, causing trouble for the people. You are from Ruzhou, so I will order you to lead the army to first occupy Ruzhou, then Luhun and Yique, and connect to Luoyang, so that the Jiangdong army's conspiracy will not succeed."

Yang Hou was stunned. He looked up at Wei Quanzhong, somewhat incredulously: "My lord, me?"

Wei Quanzhong looked calm and said calmly: "Yes, it is you. General Yang has tens of thousands of soldiers under his command, right?"

"This time, General Yang can take out 20,000 soldiers and horses, and I will give you another 10,000 Shuofang troops."

Upon hearing this, Yang Hou knelt on the ground with his head lowered and his eyes turned away.

If the military structure under his command had not been disbanded, there would have been a lot of possibilities!
Although Yang had been fooling around in recent years and had several offspring, his personality was such that he never cared about those women and children.

Wei Quanzhong seemed to see through his thoughts and said slowly: "General Yang, don't worry. You have made great contributions in the capital. No matter what, I will not let you get hurt. This time, I will give you one thousand soldiers from my guard camp to protect you."

"These guards of my king are all warriors who have fought in hundreds of battles. No matter how dangerous the battlefield is, they can ensure that you are safe and sound."

Hearing this, Yang Hou's heart tightened. He knew that as long as Wei Quanzhong's guard camp followed him, his life and death would be in Wei Quanzhong's hands.

Yang Hou whispered: "Since the general has placed great importance on me, I must serve him loyally and do my best!"

"it is good."

Wei Quanzhong didn't waste any words and said directly: "The military situation at the front is urgent. General Yang, don't delay. Set off from the capital immediately tomorrow or the day after tomorrow and rush to the battlefield as the vanguard."

At this point, General Wei patted him on the shoulder and said slowly: "Don't worry, I am leading the troops right behind you and will provide support soon."

Yang Hou lowered his head deeply, replied "yes" respectfully, then stood up and walked away.

After Yang Hou left, Wei Quanzhong returned to the dragon throne and sat down. He played with the armrests of the dragon throne in his hands, looked up at the outside of the hall with a burning gaze.

After a long while, he stepped down from the dragon throne and left Chongde Hall. Outside the hall, he met a scholar in black.

After the two exchanged a few words, the scholar lowered his head slightly and said, "General, if things don't go well on the battlefield in the Central Plains, you may send a private letter to Xiao Xian."

"Let him let the Khitans go south and cause chaos in the north. Then..."

"Then Li Yun will be attacked from all sides, and he will definitely not end well."

Wei Quanzhong stared at the scholar, who looked calm and bowed slightly.

"General, I am only offering suggestions. The decision rests with you, General."

Wei Quanzhong was silent for a while, then slowly said, "If you offer this kind of strategy, you deserve to die."

The scholar smiled.

"The general is right, but he won't kill me."

General Wei looked up at him and didn't say anything for a long time. After a long time, he asked, "Sir, what will become of the Great Zhou after the Khitans enter the pass?"

"The Khitans will occupy Hebei Province."

"When the Fanyang Army has time, they will fight with the Pinglu Army to compete for the eastern half of Henan Province. If the victor can put aside his pride and kowtow to the Khitans, he may even be able to establish a country and become emperor."

"As for the Central Plains battlefield, it's hard to say. There will be several parties fighting. As for Li Yun..."

"He can only go back to the southeast and establish the Southern Dynasty."

(End of this chapter)