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

Chapter 653 What an amazing man!
Li Mi used to speak standing before Emperor Jingtai because he was the Grand Commander and a member of a powerful family, and therefore did not need to kneel before the emperor. He even displayed arrogance and disdain towards Emperor Jingtai, and dared to openly undermine the emperor's power.

But now Emperor Jingtai was sitting, while he knelt beside him, adopting a humble and respectful posture, his face full of subservience. On the contrary, Emperor Jingtai was eating fried beans while looking at the letter Yang Ying wrote to Li Mi on the table. The clattering sound of the paper turning was particularly abrupt in the quiet room.

"Grand Commander Li, I've heard that Yang Ying once had the idea of ​​becoming emperor. Why did he abandon that idea halfway through?"

"Your Majesty, Yang Ying is a cunning man. He does indeed have the ambition to become emperor, but he ultimately hesitated because he was afraid of Your Majesty's power. If he had already become emperor, I'm afraid his head would have been brought to Your Majesty's table by the Turkic Khan."

"Hahahaha." Emperor Jingtai laughed heartily: "What is your opinion on the Turks coming to negotiate peace this time?"

Li Mi lowered his head and said, "This sinful subject dares not speak. As for my defection to the enemy, Your Majesty's magnanimity in sparing my life is already an act of kindness and virtue. To speak further would be to show my lack of self-awareness."

"I ask you, what is the greatest achievement in the world?"

"Your Majesty, it was for saving your life."

Emperor Jingtai laughed again: "And now that Your Majesty has come to rescue you, what should we do?"

"I will gladly give my life and let Heaven and Earth bear witness. If I harbor even the slightest thought of being a traitor or a villain, I will be condemned for eternity and my name will be etched in history."

"In that case, why are you making excuses when I ask you to answer a question?" Emperor Jingtai picked up his teacup and took a sip. "Grand Commander, isn't that inappropriate?"

Li Mi raised his head and straightened up to look at Emperor Jingtai. He could clearly sense that Emperor Jingtai was fundamentally different from before. Although he had lost his former affected mannerisms, his seemingly rude and disorderly behavior and movements still concealed an imperial majesty.

"I don't dare."

With his head pounded on the ground, Li Mi knew he was completely in someone else's hands. He said in a deep voice, "In my opinion, the Turks' peace talks are nothing more than a delaying tactic."

"What delaying tactic?"

"To cover Yang Ying's departure of 200,000 people."

"Then tell me, should I pursue him or not?"

Li Mi's lips moved, but he finally spoke, "Your Majesty, this humble subject believes that Your Majesty should not pursue. Observing Your Majesty's new army, what it needs most right now is rest. I believe that the strength of the new army lies in its supplies and logistics. The longer the battle line, the more disadvantageous it is for the new army. Those divine weapons and weapons look incomparably powerful, like heavenly soldiers descended to earth, but they are clumsy and difficult to move easily. Their effect in establishing prestige is greater than their actual combat effectiveness. In fact, Yang Ying's tactics this time were flawed. The so-called method of warfare is to surround the enemy if you have ten times the strength, attack if you have five times the strength, and divide if you have twice the strength. They have nearly five times Your Majesty's strength but chose to surround you with an impregnable fortress, misjudging the capabilities of the new army, which led to this disastrous defeat. However, the number of new troops is currently insufficient, and the supply battle line is too long. If we rashly attack, we can be surrounded and annihilated."

Emperor Jingtai nodded. Li Mi, as expected of the Grand Commander, did not boast like those fools. Instead, he was able to quickly analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the new army. He did have some knowledge after all.

"So you conclude from this that the Turkic emperor's visit to negotiate with me is merely a delaying tactic?"

"Indeed. Although I do not know what they are plotting, I think they are probably trying to use the tactic of retreating to advance in order to restrain Your Majesty."

"Retreat in order to advance?"

"Yes."

Li Mi straightened up and looked at the map behind Emperor Jingtai, causing Emperor Jingtai to follow his gaze.

At this moment, Li Mi said, "If that barbarian emperor comes to negotiate at this time, I think he will not gain any benefits. He will almost certainly only have to cede territory and pay reparations. However, if he slowly shifts all the blame onto Yang Ying, he will probably pay less."

"Hmm, that makes sense. What's next?"

"The world is bustling with activity, all for the sake of profit. If an emperor of a country could take such action, then there must be some trickery involved, or perhaps he has other plans elsewhere."

Emperor Jingtai's eyes searched back and forth on the map, and then their gazes converged on the same point.

Huangyaguan Pass.

The biggest problem for the Turks right now is the lack of fertile land. Now everyone knows that there is a huge, huge, huge fertile black soil outside the Great Wall. In recent years, no matter how much flooding or soil burying occurred inside the Great Wall, there has never been a famine. In addition to the emergence of various pesticides and fertilizers, the most important point is that millions of acres of fertile land outside the Great Wall have been reclaimed little by little.

Who wouldn't be envious of this stuff? If Emperor Jingtai hadn't controlled all that grain, it would be strange if he hadn't gone up and blew up those bastards from Goguryeo.

What he coveted, Liu Bilie must have coveted as well, and his current initiative to seek peace was precisely to cover Yang Ying's escape to the north.

"If I were to put you in command of the troops, how many days would it take to capture Zhangjiakou?"

“We cannot conquer it, Your Majesty…” Li Mi lowered his head again: “Perhaps Your Majesty is brilliant, but you have forgotten one thing, that is, at this time of year, Zhangjiakou is located in the north wind zone, and there is no one or livestock under the road. Sometimes when the wind comes suddenly, even a horse-drawn carriage can be blown into the sky.”

Emperor Jingtai slapped his thigh and clicked his tongue, "Really?"

"If Your Majesty does not believe it, you may send someone to investigate in person."

As a disgraced official, Emperor Jingtai would certainly not agree easily, so he sent a fast horse to investigate. The journey took four or five days, but only three of the ten people who went returned. They said that the wind in that place carried white hairs, and whether it was day or night, when it blew, people and animals could not be distinguished even three zhang away.

Even more terrifying is the "Bull Run" wind, which is like a sudden gust of wind hitting flat ground. If you are not prepared, it may blow people and horses away. Moreover, it is a crosswind, so the army cannot move forward at all. If it has to move forward, it will probably suffer heavy losses.

Upon hearing this news, Emperor Jingtai looked up and let out a long sigh. He also had some reservations about Xia Lin's plan.

This guy... he doesn't even check the weather before making a strategy, it's really dangerous.

However, upon further reflection, Emperor Jingtai laughed. Xia Lin had indeed made a mistake, but that precisely showed that he was still human. Who in the world is incapable of making mistakes? Even Zhuge Liang was not perfect. Since he could make a mistake, it meant that he still had some humanity.

As long as there is humanity, it's alright.

Not everything is a bad thing.

But now this difficult problem will fall to Emperor Jingtai. He will definitely have to talk to the Turkic Khan, because if he doesn't show martial virtue and detains or kills the Turkic Khan, they will definitely replace him with a new emperor. And the first thing the new emperor will do to consolidate public opinion and national prestige is to declare war on all fronts.

Although the new army was fierce, it was not something to boast about if it really started a full-scale war. Don't forget that there was also the Tang Dynasty squatting on the side.

Before he left, Daosheng said that Zhangjiakou was the limit. If Zhangjiakou could not be taken, troops would have to be withdrawn. If a full-scale war broke out, Tian Wei's current strength would not be enough to destroy Tian Wei and break the backbone of Li Tang at the same time.

The cannons were powerful, but ammunition was limited. The new army, though formidable, numbered only 40,000. The Green Forest Army also had to maintain military affairs in the surrounding areas; they couldn't afford to engage in endless warfare. On the fifth day after entering Handan, Emperor Liu Bilie of the Northern Han Dynasty entered the city with his entourage to participate in peace talks.

It must be said that this man was a real hero. He knew he was at risk of being detained or even killed, but he only brought five or six attendants and seven or eight civil officials with him to Handan. Before he came, he even told the rest of his cavalry to stay thirty miles away from the city to avoid causing any trouble.

When Emperor Jingtai met the Northern Han emperor, his first reaction was that this man was incredibly capable, surpassing him in both cunning and shrewdness.

"Greetings, Your Majesty the Emperor of Great Wei."

"Khan," Emperor Jingtai cupped his hands in greeting, "Please sit."

The two were seated at a table arranged by the servants. Only the two of them could sit at the table; everyone else had to stand on either side to serve them.

They chatted for a while, and then the Khan of the Steppe suddenly stood up, took out a letter of state, and handed it to Emperor Jingtai. It contained a series of peace talks, including a proposal to cede the three towns in the northern desert to the Tian Wei.

However, Emperor Jingtai rejected this proposal. What use were the three northern desert regions to him? What he wanted was the Chule River, the place where his Tuoba family rose to power!

We need to talk.

But once we start talking about this, things get complicated and take a long time.

On the sixth day of the negotiations, the news reached the island in the middle of the lake in Nanjing.

Xia Lin sat there pondering his good older brother's intentions. After a group discussion, they finally agreed that it was a smokescreen to cover Yang Yingbei's escape.

“What a generous gesture.”

A group of people were eating hotpot and singing on the island, watching the battle reports from the front lines and marveling at the sight.

This is the most peaceful time for them. The annual leave is like a bucket of cold water, temporarily extinguishing the fierce struggle under the capital and giving everyone a moment to catch their breath.

When good news arrived from the front, coupled with the festive atmosphere of the New Year, the whole world seemed to be renewed, and everyone was beaming with joy.

"Master."

The young master of the Yang family bowed and poured wine for Xia Lin, but Xia Lin did not hear his call and instead looked at the map with a frown.

"What exactly do they want to change?"

“I think they should be after the large granary east of Huangya Pass.” Ma Zhou was slightly drunk at the moment. He pointed to the map and said, “Once the grassland barbarians get that large granary, they can sweep across the Central Plains in three to five years.”

Xia Lin propped his head up with one arm and asked seemingly casually, "Could Huangya Pass withstand a strong attack from 200,000 men?"

"Don't even think about it, it's impossible." Old Zhang muttered with his eyes half-closed, "Huangyaguan is indeed easy to defend and difficult to attack, but don't forget, it's an isolated pass. It was originally used to prevent the smuggling of salt by people from both sides, and was later converted for military use, becoming an auxiliary pass to Shanhaiguan. You expect an auxiliary pass to carry 200,000 people?"

Xia Lin jumped up from her seat after hearing this: "Oh no!"

After he got up, he called out to the people outside, "General Huang, come here!"

Soon, a lieutenant general rushed into the room: "General, did you call me?"

How many men do we have left?

"There are still... more than 10,000 people."

"What about the training regiment?"

"Including the training regiment, it's around 15,000."

Xia Lin slammed his hand on the table: "Quickly, immediately mobilize troops to the north, the entire training regiment! Order the Dugu and Tang families to postpone all current missions and prioritize transporting supplies north."

After saying that, he opened the cabinet, took out the military tally, and ran out. Halfway out, he shouted into the room, "You don't know anything!"

Old Zhang sobered up by now and rushed over to grab Xia Lin, saying, "What's the rush? The capital needs someone to keep things under control."

"Any of you can hold down the fort, but my Beidacang!" Xia Lin flung Old Zhang's hand away. "The Turks have their eyes on Beidacang! If they take that place, all these years of my hard work will have been for nothing!"

I have to say that this big guy is really amazing. His move of secretly advancing northward is really hard to defend against. It looks like he is ceding territory and paying reparations to protect Yang Ying. On the surface, he is just staying in the Yan-Yun region. But from the beginning until now, he has been stalling and delaying everything.

His strategic intentions haven't even been revealed yet. What really alarms Xia Lin is the strange nature of the Turks' attack. So many cavalrymen were bombed in a cluster and then turned around and ran away, and then immediately sued for peace. If there's nothing wrong with this, it would be a disservice to Liu Bilie's reputation.

Emperor Jingtai and his comrades probably thought that since the Great Northern Wilderness was under the control of Goguryeo anyway, it wouldn't matter if a Turk came instead.

But in reality, it's completely different. Right now, Goguryeo can completely control Xiaochenzi because the technology and seeds all came from there. But if the Turks take control of that place, and the Great Wei signs a peace treaty with them, then things will get really complicated.

We cannot afford to lose any vital lifeline, especially food. Moreover, the industrial resources there are too abundant. If we were to be held hostage by the Turks, I'm not kidding. We would have to beg the Turks for raw materials for fertilizer, and even have to exchange technology and market access for materials.

Damn it, who raised this bastard? Where did that honest, simple man go? How did he turn into such a wicked and wicked person?

Xia Lin made preparations overnight, and the entire Jinling Training Corps assembled urgently overnight with their equipment and began boarding the ship. Even their thick cotton-padded clothes were transported over on a ship that followed.

Huangyaguan must not be lost. If Yang Ying breaches Huangyaguan, the three northeastern provinces will truly be lost. That is the black soil of his dreams...

This time, Xia Lin didn't tell anyone and personally took a ship north. Once the temporary maritime command was established, they began to study the deployment.

"Remember, we only have 15,000 people, 5,000 of whom are in the training regiment. I need each of you to be on your best. I named you the Jinling Training Regiment so that the toughest challenges would be left to you."

"We swear to complete this mission, even to the death!" The commander of the training regiment immediately stood at attention: "There are no cowards under the training regiment!"

(End of this chapter)