The king behind the empress

Chapter 402 This week, I'm going to decide!

The efficiency of these Patriarchs sitting together in the alliance is much higher than before. After all, they can make decisions on their own without asking anyone for instructions.

Therefore, under such circumstances, the Patriarchs of the Seventeen Families quickly finalized the matters of the alliance.

It was no surprise that Situ Yao was the leader of the alliance. After all, apart from him, there was no general in the southern counties who could command more than 10 people.

It's just that the leader of the alliance belongs to the leader of the alliance. The owners of these aristocratic families have no intention of handing over all the soldiers and horses under their command to Situ Yao. The army is just following Situ Yao's dispatch in most respects.

And Situ Yao didn't have any objection to this, as long as they sent troops and were willing to obey his orders, then it didn't matter who led these soldiers.

In this alliance, in addition to finalizing the position of the leader, it also discussed how many troops each family needed to send. The final result of the negotiation was that, except for the three southernmost counties, the other 70 families sent a total of 80 troops, plus Situ Yao's [-] elite soldiers in Qianjiang County add up to [-] troops.

As for the three stubborn states and counties, since they don’t want to send out people, let them provide food directly. Half of the food and grass needed by the 80 army will be supplied by the three of them. Otherwise, if the army is formed, the first one will get it They operate.

After the result was confirmed, the patriarchs of the three states and counties almost cried, but seeing the aggressive other patriarchs, they didn't dare to say anything, so they could only smash their teeth and swallowed, silently agreeing to the plan.

After discussing these matters, Situ Yao set the time for dispatching troops five months later, that is, in the spring of the next year.

After all, the weather was about to turn cold, and their subordinates were different from Mo Zizai. Most of them were ordinary soldiers, and they couldn't use soldiers in the freezing weather.

What's more, the sources of soldiers promised by each family are not immediately available. According to the current situation of the soldiers raised by each family, it is not bad if they can get half of the 80 soldiers. As for the rest, they need to recruit soldiers again. Training, five months, just about the same.

Although the combat effectiveness of the soldiers trained in this way will definitely be very poor, they did not expect these soldiers to have much combat effectiveness. After all, in their opinion, they have 80 people, and what combat effectiveness is needed? The army of the imperial court.

What's more, don't they still have half of the elite, enough.

Situ Yao was well aware of this result, so he didn't say anything. Anyway, in his opinion, the newly recruited soldiers would definitely not be used for fighting. When the time came, they would be sent out to attack the court's defense line from other directions.

In fact, to put it bluntly, he sent these people out just to bully Mo Zizai, who only had an elite army in his hands.

It is true that Mo Zizai has an elite army, but how many teams can he divide into?When the soldiers attacked from multiple directions, he would like to see whether Mo Zizai would take care of it or not.

If he managed it, he would definitely not have enough soldiers in his hands, and if he didn't care about it... You know, rebellious soldiers are sometimes more terrifying than rebellious bandits. If they were swept all the way to the capital to fight, he would not believe that Mo Zizai could really sit still.

By this time, the attitudes of the imperial court and the southern family were already obvious. Both sides were at war, but because they had their own plans, they were silently preparing for war.

On Mo Zizai's side, he is actively building bridges, paving roads, building railroad tracks, and selling coal wantonly to gather funds to expand his troops.

On the other hand, the southern family is much simpler. There are only three things, that is, recruiting young men, raising rations, and training the army. They are also actively preparing for the upcoming war.

……

Just when the Dazhou side, or in other words, the three parties were gearing up and preparing for a big battle, Zheng Guo, who was far away from the Dazhou, did not seem to be very calm at this time.

Zheng Guo, Zheng Guogong's mansion, that is, the mansion of Xiao Yanbing, the only surviving David Shuangbi, welcomed a rather distinguished guest at this time.

As the Duke of Zheng, Xiao Yanbing can already be regarded as an extremely human minister, but today the guest was asked to walk out of the gazebo in the backyard to greet him.

"Second Brother Xiao, you have been idle at home for more than ten years, and your strength hasn't declined, right?"

Xiao Yanbing's guest was over 70 years old, his hair was a little gray, but his expression was extremely energetic. Before he arrived, hearty laughter had already spread to the gazebo.

"Your Majesty is joking."

Xiao Yanbing is almost 80 years old today, but as a body cultivator with a golden body, his figure is extremely burly, not at all decayed by an old man, but more like a young man in his prime.

He bowed and bowed to the visitor, and then said: "I have been practicing day and night, it's fine if I can't touch the Martial God Realm, how could I regress."

"Haha, that's good, that's good."

The person who came was Zheng Ying, the emperor of the Zheng Kingdom. He laughed a few times, and then he took Xiao Yanbing's hand without hesitation, took him to the gazebo and sat down, "As long as the second brother is still old and strong, then I'm relieved."

After Zheng Ying sat down, he poured himself a cup of tea without saying a word, "Second brother has been hidden by me for so many years, I use tea instead of wine for this cup, and apologize to second brother."

"Your Majesty is serious."

Hearing what Zheng Ying said, Xiao Yanbing quickly stretched out his hand to stop Zheng Ying, but Zheng Ying's action was very resolute, and it was obviously not a show. Xiao Yanbing couldn't stop him without using force, but he was worried that Zheng Ying would be hurt if he used force, so I can only watch Zheng Ying drink this cup of tea representing apology.

"Why, Your Majesty?"

Xiao Yanbing shook his head helplessly, "Others don't know His Majesty's intentions, so can I, Xiao Yanbing, also not know?"

Ever since their brothers had severely injured Mo Congyi and beat him back to the capital to become emperor, Zheng Ying withdrew Xiao Yanbing from the border.

Many people said that it was because the emperor Zheng Ying was incompetent, he was jealous of the virtuous and capable, and he was afraid that Xiao Yan's soldiers would take the opportunity to become bigger and support their own self-respect, which is why General Xiao Er was withdrawn from the border.

As the emperor, Zheng Ying, after learning of this rumor, instead of sending someone to stop it, he instead sent people to fuel the flames, so that the rest of the countries who heard the news knew it well. For this reason, Zheng Ying, the emperor, can be said to have a face All lost, and the reputation of an incompetent emperor fell in several countries.

It's just that Xiao Yanbing, who is the core figure in this matter, knows that this is not the case at all.

The reason why I came back from the border back then was because two allies, Wei Guo and Lu Guo, were worried that I would seek their army, so they put pressure on Zheng Ying, the leader of Zheng Kingdom, and forced the leader to transfer him back.

On the other hand, because Mo Cong didn't care about the border anymore, Tang Shuyu was the only one left, so there was no threat to the border.

As for continuing to attack, Tang Shuyu, who is actively defending, is not easy to mess with. If he really wants to continue fighting, he might lose a lot. What's more, Zheng Guo was weak back then. There is no need.

In this way, it would be useless for him to stay at the border, so as soon as Wei Guo and Lu Guo put pressure on him, Zheng Ying immediately called him back, and it had nothing to do with being jealous.

It's just that at that time Zheng Ying felt that he was too sharp to draw with Mo Congyi. In order not to arouse the hostility between Wei and Lu, he did not hesitate to defile himself and created a situation where the monarch and his subjects were at odds. Get rid of the two countries' attention to themselves, and let themselves have more than ten years of leisure time.

Therefore, he felt that Zheng Ying had already sacrificed enough, and he still apologized to himself at this time, which made him feel very sorry.

After Zheng Ying drank the tea very boldly, looking at Xiao Yanbing's expression, he shook his head and said apologetically: "Although there are some objective reasons, the result is that you, second brother, have been hidden by Zhenxue for ten years." several years."

"Speaking of which, I'm still not capable enough, otherwise, if my country, Zheng Guo, is strong enough, why should you be like this, second brother?"

"With your ability, it is more than enough to sweep the world."

"Your Majesty is too humble."

Xiao Yanbing said with a very solemn expression: "My country Zheng is weak, it is really because there are too many problems left by the late emperor."

"Since your Majesty ascended the throne, you have swept away the country's thieves at home, rejected the Great Zhou outside, served lightly and paid less, and treated the people kindly. All these actions have made my Dazheng's national power flourish. I think that Your Majesty is the most wise monarch since Emperor Gaozu. , it’s not an exaggeration at all.”

"Haha, the second brother is too famous."

Although Zheng Ying said so, he was very useful to Xiao Yanbing's words, but he is not a monarch who is easily lost in the praise of others, so after laughing, he said: "Actually, my greatest advantage is that I am alive. Long."

"Zhou Guo's Mo Congyi, great talent and general strategy, whether it is commanding the army or governing the country, is an extreme genius. I think I am not a mediocre lord, but compared with him, I am far behind."

"It's just that he died, before me."

After saying this, Zheng Ying continued: "Wei Huo, the old lord of the state of Wei, knows people and uses them well, and has the courage to accept advice, and he has the foundation left by nearly six generations of British lords. No matter how I compare him with him, It's hard to beat him."

"But he also died, and he died earlier than Mo Congyi."

With a smug look on Zheng Ying's face, he said, "When they were alive, I couldn't compare to them, but when they died, I couldn't compare to their sons."

"The son of Mo Congyi has made the state of Zhou very restless. Although I can't tell whether he is a mediocre man or a hero, he can't suppress the situation in the state of Zhou like his father, so no matter what kind of man he is This is a good thing for me, Da Zheng."

"As for Wei Huo's youngest son..."

Zheng Ying couldn't help but smacked his lips twice when he talked about the current ruler of the Wei Kingdom, and he didn't know how to comment, "What do you say about this person, he looks like a king who has subjugated the country."

"If it wasn't for the seventh King of the Kingdom of Wei who laid a solid foundation for him, the Kingdom of Wei would probably perish at his hands."

Xiao Daocheng had no objection to Zheng Ying's evaluation of Mo Zizai. After all, although Zhou Guo was in chaos, the root of it was still in the aristocratic family. No big problem.

If Mo Zizai, who has promulgated the New Deal, can win this battle, then Zhou Guo can naturally clarify Yuyu, and it won't take long for him to regain his status as the strongest in the Four Kingdoms, and it may even be a step closer.

Of course, the premise is that these countries will not intervene, but this is obviously impossible, so Mo Zi can only judge his evaluation by success or failure. If he wins, he will be the hero. If he loses If so, then he is a mediocrity, a king of subjugation.

As for the evaluation of the Lord of the Kingdom of Wei, although he generally agrees with Zheng Ying's evaluation, he still has some different opinions on the specifics, "The Lord of the Kingdom of Wei, the country should not be destroyed. Very good."

"Seven successive generations of heroic lords are so rare. In addition, the geographical location of the Wei country is so good. It is bordered by the black desert in the north and bordered by the Lu country in the south. There are these two natural protection circles. Unless someone can Attack directly from Wanling Pass in the western region (the eastern region of Great Zhou), otherwise no one will be able to threaten Weiguo."

Wanling Pass is the gateway of the Wei State in the west. It was built between two mountains and is known as the most powerful pass in the world. If you want to enter from there, you might as well consider destroying the State of Lu and take a detour.

"Oh, that's what I said."

Zheng Ying nodded in agreement, and said enviously: "The foundation left by my ancestors is good, and the six generations of heros have left a lot of foundations, and he can't finish it, unlike me. , after ascension to the throne, he was poor and white, let alone messed up, and he didn’t even dare to slack off on weekdays.”

Listening to Zheng Ying complaining about the previous rulers of his country, Xiao Yanbing just smiled and said nothing. Before, in order to flatter His Majesty, it was okay to complain about the former emperor a little bit, but if he keeps talking about this, it is obviously inappropriate .

"Forget it, let's not talk about these things. There is still a Lu State between us and the Wei State. Whether the Wei State is dead or not, it is not our turn to pick peaches."

Zheng Ying stopped talking about Weiguo, and looked at Xiao Yanbing seriously, and asked, "Second brother, you may guess why I came to you today?"

Xiao Yanbing didn't hide it, and said directly: "If I guessed correctly, it's because of Zhou Guo's affairs, right?"

"Yes."

Zheng Ying nodded fiercely, and said: "There is internal strife in Zhou, the imperial court and the aristocratic family are fighting, maybe the border troops in the northern border of Zhou State will also get involved."

"The three of them are already all the powers of Zhou State. Once they fight, no matter who wins, they will suffer heavy losses."

Zheng Ying looked at Xiao Yanbing with piercing eyes, with burning ambition in his eyes, "This is undoubtedly a god-sent opportunity for us. If we don't intervene, God will not see it."

"Your Majesty is right."

Xiao Yanbing stood up and said with a very solemn expression: "After this battle, the state of Zhou will definitely be seriously injured, and the ruler of Wei is weak, and the ruler of Lu is weak and cowardly. They have no time to interfere with us. If we can catch It is not impossible to seize the opportunity to swallow the entire Zhou Kingdom."

"This is indeed a god-sent opportunity!"

"Okay, I'll just wait for your second brother's words!"

Zheng Ying patted the table with great excitement, and then said: "In the past ten years, I have devoted all my national power to build an elite force of 2 people in the form of Zhou's Fengwei Army, in order to make Mo Congyi Knowing that we are defending the country is not easy to be humiliated, I never thought that this defending army failed to teach Mo Congyi a lesson, but gave me such an opportunity."

"With the [-] guards, plus your second brother's commanding ability, this Zhou Kingdom, I'm going to decide!"

(End of this chapter)