The eldest prince thought about how great Li Tongguang's contribution was, which made the other princes look a little pale in comparison, so he stepped out and said, "Father, I think we should ask Marquis Changqing about this matter. He was able to capture Emperor Wu in this battle because he was very familiar with the local area. He should know the origins of the bandits."
When Emperor An heard this, he nodded and said, "Your Highness is right. Tongguang, tell me, what is the origin of these bandits?"
Li Tongguang really wanted to curse him in his heart. He didn't think of him when good things happened, but he thought of him when bad things happened. He had just stripped him of his military power a few days ago, and now he came to find him.
But he still bowed quickly and said very respectfully, "Your Majesty, I don't know either. During the last war, there were no bandits. All the bandits nearby hid.
Besides, if it was just the bandits nearby, they wouldn’t have the strength to capture three cities. I’m worried that this is a covert scheme by Wu Nation, and they want to use the bandits’ name to take back the city, and then we won’t be able to find any evidence against them.”
After hearing this, the Second Prince said unhappily, "If Wu Country had the strength to take it back, they would have done it long ago. Why wait until now?"
When Li Tongguang heard this, he immediately shirked responsibility and said, "I don't know about that. I have been staying in Andu for many years. It was only this time that His Majesty personally led the army, so I had the opportunity to lead the troops. The reason why the sneak attack was successful after the Tianmen Pass Battle was mainly because the Emperor of Wu retreated too panic. I just needed to follow them."
Emperor An knew that it was useless to embarrass Li Tongguang, so he hesitated for a moment before saying, "Deng Hui!"
Deng Hui was the commander of the Red Guards and a close confidant of the emperor. When he heard the emperor's call, he immediately said, "Your Majesty, there are three largest villages near the border, namely Ping'an Village, Wild Boar Village and Wutong Village, but they do not have the strength to send troops to capture three cities at once. Therefore, I think what Changqing Hou said makes sense, and it is really possible that the Wu Kingdom is behind this.
After all, if the emperor doesn't go back, then the Danyang King will be firmly in power. If the Danyang King's confidants do this, they may really have the power to do so."
Emperor An saw Deng Hui saying the same thing, so he nodded and said, "Wu State is so brave! In this case, Deng Hui, send someone to Xu Cai Jingzhou to investigate thoroughly and produce evidence. Once we have substantial evidence, I will definitely make Wu State pay! If we can capture one of their emperors, we can capture two!"
Deng Hui saw Emperor An say this and did not dare to refute, so he said excitedly, "Yes, I will do it right away!"
Emperor An waved his hand to let Deng Hui go, and then said to several important officials, "Go back and be alert. If the bandits can sneak attack once, they can sneak attack a second time!"
Several generals did not dare to say anything more, and quickly saluted and said, "Yes!"
Chapter 243: Caught a big fish!
Guideyuan, Zhuyiwei temporary camp
After receiving the order from His Majesty, Deng Hui immediately returned to the camp. He called Jia Ling, the right emissary of the Red Guards, and asked him bluntly, "Besides charming men, do you have no other abilities? Where did the bandits from Xu, Cai, and Jingzhou come from? Why is there no news at all!"
After hearing this, Jia Ling was very angry. They, the Zhuyi Guard, were not omnipotent, so how could they know so much?
Moreover, the reason why Your Majesty was able to win this time was entirely due to the effective intelligence provided by the Zhuyi Guards. However, despite such a great contribution, the Emperor only rewarded the commander and did not reward his subordinates at all. This is really unfair.
Of course, the reward for Deng Hui was actually very small, but it was better than nothing.
It was as if if they did a good job it was Zhu Yiwei's duty, and if they did a bad job it was Zhu Yiwei's fault.
But Jia Ling knew that Deng Hui's family members had died at the hands of the Zhuyi Guards, so she didn't dare to argue and could only bow depressedly and said, "I'll send someone to investigate right away!"
Upon hearing this, Deng Hui snorted coldly and said, "You're sending someone else again. This time you have to investigate in person. If you can't find any useful results, I'll skin you alive!"
Jia Ling trembled all over when she heard this, but she could only suppress her anger and said respectfully, "Yes, I'll do it right away!"
After Jia Ling finished speaking, she quickly retreated from the camp, but when she came to a corner where Deng Hui couldn't see her, her face became gloomy.
Jia Ling's confidant Qiongzhu hurried forward and asked solemnly, "Sir, has the commander made things difficult for you again? You are too wronged!"
Jia Ling walked out and said seriously, "It's no use to feel wronged. Zhuyiwei is no longer the same Zhuyiwei as before. You must gather some people for me. We will set off to Jingcheng now. I also want to see who has robbed the three cities."
Qiongzhu originally wanted to say that she could take people there herself, but she felt that since she was always being targeted by Deng Hui here, it would be better for her to go out and do things. So she did not stop him and hurried to gather people.
Caizhou, prefecture government office
After hearing Wang Yue's request, Ruyi asked with some confusion, "The Jinyiwei you are talking about is no different from the Zhuyiwei of Anguo. Are you still planning to exploit those poor women?"
Wang Yue saw Ruyi's big reaction, so he smiled and said comfortingly, "Don't think too much. How could I do such a shameless thing? Jinyiwei only recruits men. Although they will also spy on information, they will never be like Zhuyiwei.
Besides, you see, there are not that many women in my village to arrange. I can't even find enough women to be their wives, so I won't waste that resource."
Seeing Wang Yue say this, Ruyi finally felt relieved, and she nodded and said, "If that's the case, I can help. Then give me a warrant, and I will start training in the village now."
Wang Yue nodded and said solemnly, "You can go to Wangjiazhai and transfer people from there. There is also an intelligence organization called Dawancha there. There are already small shops in various countries, but they are not as professional."
Ruyi had heard Wang Yue talk about Wangjiazhai. Now that she heard Wang Yue actually asked her to go to Wangjiazhai, she asked curiously, "Do you really want to hand over Wangjiazhai's intelligence network to me?"
Wang Yue nodded and said solemnly, "Although you are just borrowing my seed, I treat you as the mistress of the house. Since you are good at this kind of thing, of course you will be busy."
Ruyi was very satisfied with Wang Yue's words, so she turned around and walked out, saying as she walked, "You have good vision! I will definitely help you build the Jinyiwei!"
Wang Yue looked at Ruyi's happy expression and knew in his heart that this woman had secretly fallen in love with him, but she didn't know it yet.
……
On the third day after Ruyi left, Ning Yuanzhou had already received news from Wudu and hurried to find Wang Yue.
After he met Wang Yue, he asked solemnly, "Brother Wang, there is news from Wudu that they are ready to exchange three cities for the delegation to continue moving forward. What do you think?"
Wang Yue hesitated for a moment, then said seriously, "How far is the messenger? How long will it take to get here?"
Ning Yuanzhou calculated the journey and said solemnly, "It will take about ten days if we hurry!"
When Wang Yue heard that it would take ten days, he immediately smiled and said, "I didn't expect to get three cities for free. I don't want to miss it. Let's do this. You can reply to them and say that we will release the three cities to the division as soon as we take over them.
In this case, it will take at least fifteen to twenty days. I think An Guo must have reacted.
We will then decide whether the delegation should continue its journey, what do you think?"
Ning Yuanzhou was relieved to see that Wang Yue had no intention of leaving the delegation behind, and then he asked curiously, "Are you still going with us?"
Wang Yue thought about it for a while, then smiled and said, "What do you think about moving the transaction to He County?"
Ning Yuanzhou immediately understood what Wang Yue meant. If it was placed in He County, Wang Yue could act as a mediator, and it would be difficult for An Guo to embarrass them. He asked uncertainly, "Will this work?"
Wang Yue said confidently, "Of course it will work. Think about it. Anguo knows nothing about us and will definitely send Zhuyiwei to investigate. I can then capture a group of Zhuyiwei and use them to threaten Anguo. As long as Anguo is unwilling to continue the war, we must make a deal at Tianmen Pass."
Ning Yuanzhou saw that Wang Yue was willing to risk a war to protect them, so he bowed to Wang Yue and said, "If that's the case, then our Liudao Hall will definitely help Brother Wang find all the Zhuyi Guards."
Wang Yue could tell from An Guo’s reaction that An Guo was a little weak, which was why he was so unscrupulous.
Seeing that Ning Yuanzhou was so moved that he wanted to help, he smiled and nodded, saying, "In that case, thank you very much, Brother Ning!"
……
Ten days passed quickly, and the Ming army had expanded to 80,000. There were still many young and strong men who signed up enthusiastically, and even many young and strong men from other states and counties came secretly.
The reason was that Wang Yue said that as long as there was someone in the family serving in the army, they would be given an extra piece of land.
Wang Yue accepted all the young and strong people who signed up, and also arranged people to provide them with emergency training.
There is no need to worry about armor and weapons. After all, this place has just experienced a great war, and there are many weapons in the warehouse. We just need to take them out and use them.
The envoy of Wu State also arrived. After discussing the terms with Wang Yue, he began to assist Wang's army to take over the three cities.
Wang Yue had a large army at his disposal, and the takeover went very smoothly without any setbacks, which made the Ming army's vigilance in vain.
This also made Wang Yue understand that Wu State should be weaker than An State.
You have to know that Wu State has a total of 38 cities and a population of less than two million. Three were lost before, and now three more have been lost. At once, six cities with a population of more than 300,000 have been lost, which is a serious blow.
Even so, they were unwilling to fight. You can imagine how fragile the Wu Kingdom was.
……
Ning Yuanzhou was busy for a few days before he appeared next to Wang Yue again. He said happily, "Brother Wang, we caught a big fish this time!"
After hearing what he said, Wang Yue asked curiously, "Who did you catch that made you so excited?"
Ning Yuanzhou did not reply, but smiled and said to the person behind him, "Bring the person over here!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Sun Lang and Yuan Lu walked in with a woman.
After Ning Yuanzhou and the others were led in, he smiled and said, "Brother Wang, this woman is called Jialing, the right envoy of the Red Guards. What do you think? Are you surprised?"
Wang Yue heard this and asked curiously, "How could you catch such a big shot like him so easily? Are the Zhuyi Guards so weak?"
Ning Yuanzhou smiled and said after hearing what Wang Yue said, "To be honest, this is all thanks to the people of the three places. When they heard that we were going to arrest the Red Guards, they enthusiastically provided us with information. Therefore, some suspicious people, who had just entered the Ming army, fell into our surveillance early in the morning.
It just so happened that the right envoy of the Red Guards came here in person, and we were running out of time, so we closed the net right away."
Wang Yue looked at Jia Ling who remained silent, and asked curiously, "Since you didn't commit suicide, you probably want to live. Can you tell me what value you have that would allow me to spare your life?"
After hearing what Wang Yue said, Jia Ling immediately said in a deep voice, "How about I provide a list of towns to watch out for in exchange for my life?"
Wang Yue raised his eyebrows and asked curiously, "You actually want to betray your former comrades? This makes me a little surprised."
Jia Ling said indifferently, "The current Zhuyi Guard is no longer the same as before. We worked hard to get the intelligence and assisted the army in capturing the Emperor of Wu, but we didn't get any reward. Your Excellency thinks there is still value in loyalty."
Wang Yue nodded and said with a smile, "That's a good reason. The king treats his subjects like grass, and the subjects treat the king like an enemy. I can promise you that as long as the conditions you mentioned are acceptable, I will not only not kill you, but also let you choose freedom or to work for me as an official."
After hearing what Wang Yue said, Jia Ling's eyes turned red. She didn't expect Wang Yue to say that. If Deng Hui was the same, how could she betray her comrades just to retire?
Thinking of the worry, Jia Ling said very straightforwardly, "But, but I once betrayed one of our own people in the Zhuyi Guards. Are you still willing to believe me?"
Wang Yue glanced at Jia Ling and asked in surprise, "Did Yue Sanniang betray the Zhuyi Guard Wudu Branch on your orders?"
Jia Ling didn't expect Wang Yue to know this. She looked at Ning Yuanzhou in confusion, then nodded seriously and said, "I need money. I want to retire, but Deng Hui found out that I embezzled public funds, so I had to find a way to raise money."
Chapter 244: Sands Tower
Wang Yue understood what Jia Ling wanted to say, so he smiled and said, "Don't worry, your big mistake has not been made yet. The people you betrayed are not dead. They were all rescued by my people. Only Yue Sanniang and her Yulang died.
Since you are so honest, I can give you a chance and not pursue your past. All you have to do is not make the same mistakes again and treat those women well.
Now tell me about Anguo’s food and military deployment. This is very important to me.”
Although Jia Ling was mentally prepared, he still found it hard to believe the fact that the one who saved him was not Liu Dao Tang, but Wang Yue.
She suppressed her shock, thinking that the person she was facing this time was very unusual, and she had to say something useful.
Jia Ling calmed down, looked at the sand table in Wang Yue's camp, and said solemnly, "In order to supply the needs of the armies of Xucheng, Jingcheng, and Caicheng, the Jishan camp has been equipped with food and grass, and there are 30,000 garrison troops guarding it.
Not far away in Cangsongling, there are also 10,000 soldiers guarding the pass. In addition to this, there are 1,000 to 2,000 county soldiers in Bianzhou and Junzhou. The closest to the Jishan camp is the 30,000 imperial guards of Guideyuan who are guarding Emperor An, as well as more than 10,000 soldiers from the three major tribes. "
After hearing this, Wang Yue said solemnly, "Guideyuan is still far away, and there is no time for rescue. It seems that as long as the army crosses the river and captures Cangsongling and Jishan, there will be no need to worry about food and grass in the short term."
Ning Yuanzhou frowned and asked solemnly, "Although she is a person who betrayed her colleagues first, how can you believe that she will really betray An Guo this time? You have to know that she is a native of An Guo."
Wang Yue shook his head and said with a smile, "Yuanzhou, you are too narrow-minded. The people of the nine countries in the Central Plains were originally from one country, but later on, many heroes divided their power and thus the nine countries came into being.
Moreover, how did Anguo treat the Zhuyi Guards? Did they treat them as their own people? Who made the Zhuyi Guards so miserable? "
After hearing what Wang Yue said, Jialing couldn't help but burst into tears. Although she had climbed all the way to the right entrustor of the Red Robe Guard, she had climbed all the way up from the Red Robe Clan. She didn't owe An Guo anything, but it was An Guo who owed her.
Ning Yuanzhou also fell silent. Many of the Zhuyi Guards were originally girls from good families. After being abducted and sold, they had to sell their smiles and work hard for the security of the country.
If there is a chance, it would not be too much to seek revenge on An Guo!
So, he collected his thoughts, imprinted the map, and said uncertainly, "Wang Yue, the Ming army just snatched food from the tiger's mouth. An Guo has obviously been prepared for these two places. It may be difficult to take them down."
Wang Yue smiled and said, "Don't worry. This small number of defenders can't withstand a wave of attacks from the Wang family army. Only after we win and make An Guo panic, will there be a possibility of negotiation."
Ning Yuanzhou understood what Wang Yue meant, so he smiled and said, "You are right. Not only that, it can also delay the mission's itinerary again. An Guo must also find a way to stop the war."
Wang Yue saw that Ning Yuanzhou understood, so he did not tell him the real plan in his mind. Instead, he smiled and responded, "You are right. Those who are eaten now are all loyal to Emperor An. Once Emperor An becomes weak, the three places of Shadong, Shazhong and Shaxi will probably take the opportunity to break away from Emperor An's control. Therefore, his 30,000 troops dare not move at all. Only three tribes can move."
The three were discussing the follow-up actions when they suddenly heard Yu Shisan's voice saying, "Wang Yue! Wang Yue! Something big has happened, something big has happened!"
Ning Yuanzhou frowned, looking at the anxious Ning Shisan, and asked in confusion, "What happened?"
Yu Shisan didn't expect Ning Yuanzhou to be there, so he said a little embarrassedly, "I have something to ask Wang Yue!"
Wang Yue raised his eyebrows and asked curiously, "What could be the big deal? Could it be that the Anguo army is coming?"
Yu Shisan shook his head and said anxiously, "No, I am Miss Ruyi. She actually went into the Jinsha Building and hasn't come out yet."
Wang Yue was stunned for a moment and asked in confusion, "Jinsha Building? There is no Jinsha Building in our city. I remember that the nearest Jinsha Building seems to be in Jingcheng."
Seeing that Wang Yue understood so well, Yu Shisan quickly said, "Of course I know. Didn't I just rush over from Jingcheng?"
Wang Yue looked at Ning Shisan suspiciously and asked uncertainly, "Did you go to Jingcheng and fail to enter Jinsha Tower?"
Yu Shisan smiled awkwardly, and then said indignantly, "Wang Yue, don't be ungrateful. I'm doing this for your own good, right? What is Jinshalou? How can Miss Ruyi, a woman, go there? Aren't you worried about her safety?"
Wang Yue said unhappily, "Jingcheng is mine now, and the soldiers there are all brothers from our village. How could Jinshalou dare to touch Ruyi?"
Ning Yuanzhou immediately interrupted Wang Yue and said, "What's going on? Tell me quickly."
Yu Shisan was scolded by Ning Yuanzhou, so he said a little embarrassedly, "I just contacted the nearby Liudaotang branch. I happened to see Miss Ruyi enter the Jinsha Building, but she has been in there for two days and has not come out yet, so I am a little worried."
Wang Yue didn't care at first, but this place was ruled by An Guo after all. Although the building was owned by the Jinsha Gang, and Jin Meiniang of the Jinsha Gang was on good terms with Ruyi and had taken the initiative to show goodwill to her, no one could say for sure whether there were other forces mixed in the building?
He hesitated for a moment, then said solemnly, "In that case, let's act immediately. We'll start from here and just pass by Jingcheng."
Ning Yuanzhou did not hesitate and followed immediately. He knew how important Ruyi was to Wang Yue and was worried that something might go wrong and affect subsequent plans.
……
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