"Good plan!" Xia Chongwen was overjoyed when he heard this and indeed adopted Shen Yizhong's plan.

"A general is not allowed to obey the king's orders when he is away!"

Unexpectedly, Li Jiujiang, who was stationed in Hejian, was somewhat displeased after hearing the eunuch's order from the palace.

"How should this war be fought? When should it be fought? That is all my business!"

"This..." The eunuch who delivered the imperial edict could hardly believe his ears.

A trace of disdain flashed across Li Jiujiang's eyes, and he added, "Your Excellency will naturally return to the palace to report the truth to the Emperor. There is no need for you to speak well of me."

Great Xia Dynasty, Imperial Palace, Fengxian Hall.

"Bang!"

An exquisite blue and white porcelain teacup fell to the ground and shattered.

Xia Chongwen was still not satisfied and wanted to overturn the teapot beside him, but was stopped by Eunuch Wang.

"Your Majesty, please calm down!"

"Your Majesty, calm down."

Civil and military officials, eunuchs, and palace maids were kneeling on the ground in Fengxian Hall.

"Li Jiujiang! I will punish you!" Xia Chongwen roared.

"Your Majesty, please calm down. If we punish General Li now, I'm afraid he will lead his army to surrender to Xia Yu!" said Qi Tai.

"Your Majesty, don't employ those you doubt, and don't doubt those you employ! Since the important task of suppressing the rebellion has been entrusted to General Li, Your Majesty may as well wait and see!"

After hearing this, Xia Chongwen's expression finally eased a little.

If you think about it carefully, what Qi Tai and Huang Zicheng said makes sense.

If he insisted on punishing Li Jiujiang at this time, regardless of whether he would be forced to lead the army to surrender to Xia Yu, even if he obediently returned to Beijing to accept punishment, who should he send to replace him?

Shen Yizhong?

No!

His relationship with Xia Yu was too close, it was hard to believe.

Huang Zicheng is right. Don’t employ people you don’t trust, and trust people you employ!

"Someone's coming!"

"Pass on my imperial decree. General Li is not subject to military orders when he is away. He may deploy his troops and fight on the battlefield. I sincerely hope that General Li will return triumphantly soon!"

"yes!"

......

Where the two armies were facing each other, Xia Yu looked at Li Jiujiang, whose troops were several times larger than his own, but he still did not dare to attack Yanjing. He also knew that Li Jiujiang wanted to be foolproof and would only attack Yanjing after waiting for a large number of reinforcements from the court.

Xia Yu finally showed a smile that had not been seen for many days. After seeing the situation on the front line, he immediately returned to the palace to find Monk Daoyan.

The corners of his lips curled up slightly, "Daoyan, I will leave tens of thousands of soldiers and horses in Yanjing. You must defend Yanjing for me!"

Daoyan frowned slightly, then suddenly relaxed, "I guess the prince is going to Beilin!"

The Three Guards of Doyan, the elite troops of the Great Xia Dynasty, are now serving under the command of King Beilin.

At this time, the three guards of Doyan are naturally what Xia Yu wants most!

"Yes! I'm going to borrow troops from my seventeenth brother, King Beilin!"

As expected, the monk understood him. With just one look, Daoyan knew what Xia Yu was thinking.

"Your Highness, go with peace of mind. We still have me and Lin'an in Yanjing City!" Shen Yuyao looked at Xia Yu with a firm gaze. She also knew that going north to ask King Beilin to borrow troops was the key to truly turning the tide of the war.

Xia Yu turned to look at Shen Yuyao, and only then discovered that there were a few strands of silver hair on her temples.

She was only in her thirties, but since the Jingnan Incident, her face seemed to have aged several years.

Xia Yu felt a little sad, and his eyes turned red, "Yuyao, thank you for your hard work."

"Your Highness, instead of entrusting the fate of yourself and the people to others, you might as well give it a try! No matter what the outcome is, I will have no regrets in my life!" Shen Yuyao also had tears in her eyes and bowed to Xia Yuyingying.

"I will definitely protect Yanjing City and its people!"

"Hahaha, with a wife like this, what else could a husband ask for!"

Xia Yu laughed out loud, and even Monk Daoyan, who had been solemn just now, was infected and looked happy.

The next day, Xia Yu led some elite troops and rushed to Beilin.

Only Shen Yuyao, Xia Linan and Monk Daoyan were left to guard Yanjing City.

At this time, Xia Linan also showed a tough style that he had never shown before.

He brought Zhang Mingyu's eldest son, who had just been born to him, to the city wall of Yanjing before he even gave him a name.

Xia Linan swore in front of all the soldiers and civilians in Yanjing City: "Soldiers! If Li Jiujiang attacks Yanjing City, my newly born eldest son and I will be here with everyone to fight against Li Jiujiang!"

"I, Xia Linan, swear in the name of the Prince of Ning's Mansion that I will never abandon you and run away!"

"If this Lizheng Gate is breached, my master and I will die here together!"

After Xia Lin'an said this, the morale of the soldiers below was greatly boosted.

On the other side, although Li Jiujiang did not move his troops, he was still waiting for reinforcements from the court.

However, the day after Xia Yu led his troops to leave Yanjing City, Li Jiujiang suddenly seemed to have come to his senses.

He thought of fighting first to test Yanjing's strength.

The next day, Li Jiujiang's army launched a fierce attack on Yanjing City.

The imperial army's first battle in Yanjing was naturally accompanied by extremely fierce artillery fire. Even if the walls of Yanjing were high and thick, they could not withstand such heavy artillery fire.

Outside the city of Yanjing, Li Jiujiang’s camp.

"Report!"

"Come in!"

"General, the bombardment of Yanjing City has lasted for three days, but we haven't seen the figure of Ning Wang Xia Yu." Li Jiujiang's deputy general reported.

"Hmm? Have you seen Zhang Yu? Or Ma Sanbao, Zhu Aneng, and the others?"

"General, I haven't seen any of the brave generals around Xia Yu!"

Upon hearing this, Li Jiujiang's face was filled with shock. He immediately stood in front of the map in the tent and stood there blankly for a stick of incense.

"Oh no! Xia Yu went to Beilin!"

Li Jiujiang pointed to the map in the tent and said to his subordinates, "The most elite cavalry of the Great Xia Dynasty are all there! He must have gone to Beilin!"

"Immediately send someone to Songting Pass and have General Chen strengthen the defense!"

"Also, send someone to report back to the capital six hundred miles away. Request Your Majesty to issue an order, requesting the Duke of Wei to rush to Beilin immediately and take over military command!"

Li Jiujiang, who had just woken up from a dream, hurriedly gave three orders!

It has to be said that Li Jiujiang's arrangement was perfect, but what he never expected was that he completely overestimated Xia Chongwen's magnanimity!

Now Shen Yizhong is under house arrest by Xia Chongwen every day. No matter how he says it, Li Jiujiang's arrangement is very smart. He even issued an order to Chen Heng, the garrison general of Songting Pass, to stop Xia Yu's army immediately if he encounters it.

He also reported it to Li Jiujiang as quickly as possible, so that Xia Yu's only way to Beilin could be blocked.

But when Xia Chongwen wanted to send Shen Yizhong to Beilin to take over the troops, he looked at Qi Tai beside him.

"Prince Ning is, after all, the brother-in-law of the Duke of Wei!" said Mrs. Qi. "But I've always heard that the eldest daughter of the Shen family has always been deeply loved by the Duke and her brothers in the Duke's Mansion!"