Damn it, I'm in the garbage book I wrote

Chapter 649 Even the Heavenly King himself has to eat first.

Yang Ying knew perfectly well that the warlords' forces had already been decimated by more than half, but he still refused to allow the remaining troops to retreat. No matter what they did, they could not retreat. Moreover, he issued a decree that if the new army wanted to enter Handan City, they could only do so by stepping over their corpses.

In reality, Yang Ying was waiting for the cavalry coming south from Zhangjiakou to arrive. If they could hold out for two more days, the arrival of the cavalry would surely turn their defeat into victory.

The Eastern Turks... no, they should now be called Mongol-Han. The Mongol-Han cavalry are far superior to those useless Western Turks. They've developed incredibly rapidly over the years, I don't know what they've been doing. This once nomadic people are now farming, mining, and doing all sorts of research and development, making them even more Han than the Han Chinese. Li Shimin treasured his three thousand heavy cavalry, but the Mongol-Han's twelve thousand super-heavy cavalry just smiled and remained silent.

Therefore, Yang Ying only needs to stall Emperor Jingtai's progress now, and leave the rest to his strongest external support.

He had only one thought in his mind: "I'm waiting for the heavy cavalry. What are you waiting for? To die?"

Oh! What a coincidence! Emperor Jingtai was also waiting for heavy cavalry.

These past few days, he's been watching the Shenji Battalion's daily drills. The cannonballs, as tall as a person, are hoisted up and then pulled out of the barrel several times a day. He's really itching to do it.

Several times he couldn't help but think about giving Handan a good beating, but in the end he held back the idea. It wasn't just about money, but also about being heartless. He could even imagine what Xia Lin would do if he actually did it.

"Just be a good emperor and don't leave the island in the middle of the lake unless necessary. Live a peaceful and stable life here."

This was probably the best outcome for Emperor Jingtai, because he disobeyed his father's dying wish and broke Xia Lin's promise. He said he wouldn't rebel or betray the emperor, but he didn't say he wouldn't put the foolish emperor under house arrest.

To avoid becoming a foolish emperor, Emperor Jingtai could only watch helplessly as cannonballs went in and out every day, and then pray that the barbarian cavalry would arrive quickly. He would ask three times a day about the progress of the barbarian cavalry, just like checking the delivery status three times a day after buying a new and interesting toy.

Actually, it wasn't that no one had tried to tell him in various ways that he was a useless emperor. At first, he thought so too, and even considered banning Xia Lin.

The turning point came when the Li Tang dynasty declared itself independent. When the Li Tang dynasty established itself independent, Emperor Jingtai looked around and found that he had no cards to play, and could only rely on the trump card left by his father.

Only after it was played did I realize it was a royal flush...

Later, in Lingnan, he experienced this feeling again: as long as he dutifully played the role of an emperor, he would get everything an emperor deserved. He shouldn't think about those unreliable things about Xia Ji Ba; naturally, someone would help him solve all the problems.

He had both face and substance now, but more importantly, he discovered that Xia Lin was suppressing Jinlian both openly and secretly, preventing her from becoming a demon concubine.

Seriously speaking, without Xia Lin, Da Wei would have been finished sooner or later.

Now, looking at it from another angle, was he a coward? In the eyes of the world, he was not a coward at all; in fact, he was able to suppress Xia Daosheng at the right time and place.

For example, if this personal military campaign succeeds, he will be incredibly powerful—he can't even imagine it himself. He has already successfully brought down Xia Daosheng and imprisoned him in Jinling City.

Is such an emperor still incompetent? He fought against powerful ministers, pacified all directions, quelled bandits, and recovered lost territories.

Is such an emperor still incompetent?
He was undoubtedly a prodigy. So here's the question: if there was someone manipulating things behind the scenes, but not interfering with the emperor's actions or thoughts, only intervening at crucial moments to prevent problems, why would he still want to fight against them?
Given the current situation, Emperor Jingtai cannot withstand it alone, and he knows he cannot. With Xia Lin helping him and being willing to give him most of the spoils of war, why should he feel like a coward?
What are we eating today?

"Your Majesty, we have fried chicken eggs and some fish today."

Emperor Jingtai stroked his chin and clicked his tongue: "Send the order down, everyone gets an extra chicken leg today. Is there any left in stock?"

"There's still some, but not much. The next supply won't arrive for quite some time."

"It's alright, I will handle this matter myself."

That day at mealtime, the entire army got an extra chicken leg...

Emperor Jingtai is currently only in charge of this matter; he doesn't concern himself with military affairs, but he finds it quite fulfilling. For example, a few days ago, Emperor Jingtai taught the kitchen staff how to make Luoyang-style braised meat, which the soldiers used to mix with rice, receiving rave reviews.

After finishing his meal, Emperor Jingtai went to the watchtower and, as usual, used a telescope to look at Handan City. Suddenly, he saw someone on the city wall looking at him, and the two of them looked at each other from a distance.

They all saw each other, and Emperor Jingtai even waved to the people on the city wall, though he didn't know if they would recognize him.

Meanwhile, Li Mi also spotted Emperor Jingtai. He quickly put down his binoculars, crouched down, and hid behind the parapet. After all, meeting in such an environment was somewhat awkward, especially since Emperor Jingtai was waving at him.

But soon, Li Mi's smile vanished, for Emperor Jingtai's secret envoy arrived, demanding two hundred cows, five hundred pigs, and two thousand chickens.

Li Mi's head throbbed at the sight of that list; he couldn't find so much stuff even if he searched the entire city of Handan...

The problem is that they're just standing there, eyeing us menacingly. If we don't give in, they might breach the city, and if the city falls, we'll have nothing left...

What else could Li Mi do? He simply couldn't produce that much meat, so he opened the large granary that had been prepared for the siege and gathered ten cartloads of all sorts of strange and unusual things, including cured meat, sausages, rabbits, pheasants, and the like.

Although it's not as tasty as chicken legs, cured meat is still meat. Li Mi has done quite well to achieve this. Moreover, Emperor Jingtai probably already has a thought in mind: Li Mi is likely ready to surrender.

No, it shouldn't be called surrender, but rather a prodigal son returning home.

"General Shan, how many days until the barbarian cavalry arrives?"

This was the third time Emperor Jingtai had asked this question, which had become Shan Xiongxin's daily nightmare and routine. He let out a strong sigh through his nostrils, turned around, and cupped his hands, saying, "Your Majesty, according to the reports from the front, the enemy still needs two more days, but whether they will make any adjustments during this period is unknown. On the battlefield, there are no plans, only changes. We need to assess the situation and then make a countermeasure."

Emperor Jingtai was greatly disappointed for the third time. He looked up, sighed, and glanced back at the sausages on the carriage: "In that case, let's eat first."

(End of this chapter)