Chapter 129 Interests: Their biggest opponent is not me.

The fire was raging.

Ning Huai'an, mounted on his horse, gazed at the imperial army engulfed in flames through the firelight and smoke.

Infantry and cavalry charged forward with high morale, accompanied by a rain of arrows, stones, and fireballs.

Some of the imperial army were putting up a fierce resistance, while others were fleeing in panic, clearly indicating that morale was low.

The generals fought desperately to break through the encirclement, while the strategists actively sought a way out.

Lu Wei took a deep breath and accepted his inevitable defeat.

"The reinforcements from Pingzhou were blocked on their way by Ye Hui's men; Lu Hong and Sun Yannan took advantage of the Pingzhou army leaving Pingzhou to lead their troops to attack; the reinforcements sent by the imperial court are still on their way..." Lu Qingxiang looked worried. "Prime Minister, let's find a way to break out. If we can run into the army that is coming to our aid, we still have a chance of survival."

Lu Wei asked worriedly, "But where do we fight our way out?"

Lu Qingxiang looked at the map, sweat beading on his forehead.

One military officer suggested, "Why don't we send someone to impersonate the prime minister to lure the enemy away, and then we can escape in the chaos?"

Something flashed through Lu Qingxiang's mind, and he said, "It's worth a try."

Li Dinghui cautioned, "You need to set up the scheme well, otherwise you won't be able to fool Ning Huai'an and Zhu Youchuan on the other side."

Lu Qingxiang nodded.

Lu Wei looked at the raging fires all around him and listened to the sounds of fighting. He wondered to himself, "How did I end up like this?"

In the capital...

Xue Rang betrayed me?

How many of my men are still loyal to me?

The army sent by the imperial court is really here to help me?

What if they take the opportunity to kill me after they encounter me?

Lu Qingxiang quickly came up with a plan, and other strategists and generals made corresponding additions.

Everyone looked at Lu Wei, waiting for his reply.

Lu Wei calmed down. The most important thing right now was to escape; everything else could wait.

Zhu Youchuan and his group were not fools; they considered the possibility that they could not surround and kill Lu Wei and that Lu Wei could escape.

Zhu Youchuan: "Look at the two great fires in Eastern Wu. Cao Cao was not burned to death in the Battle of Red Cliffs, but he escaped; Liu Bei was not burned to death in the Battle of Yiling, but he also escaped."

Pan Songshi looked thoughtful. “But I remember in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Liu Bei died in Baidi City after being defeated at the Battle of Yiling.”

Lu Yuanwu immediately replied, "He died of illness the year after he fled to Baidi City."

Feng Jiawei quickly added information: "The imperial court has sent an army. If Lu Wei escapes, he can join up with that army."

Zhu Youchuan shrugged and said, "Fate is just so similar."

Pi Baoshan asked, "Then what should we do?"

Zhu Youchuan said, "Be prepared for Lu Wei to escape, and send troops to intercept him."

He looked at the map and said, "If I were Lu Wei, I would escape from here, here, and here."

"After escaping, I will escape back to Xingzhou from here, here, here, here."

Ning Huai'an's eyes sharpened. "Send several squads to guard these locations. We absolutely cannot allow Lu Wei to rendezvous with reinforcements and escape back to Xingzhou!"

Everyone's expressions turned serious: "Yes, sir!"

On the other side, the Ningzhou army successfully intercepted the Pingzhou army that was coming to rescue Lu Wei, and made the decision for them: they didn't have to hesitate whether to go forward to rescue Lu Wei or return to rescue the governor of Pingzhou!

The two sides engaged in fierce fighting for several months.

The Pingzhou army suffered repeated defeats, buying ample time for both Pingzhou and Ning Huai'an.

Pingzhou County.

Sun Yannan led his troops to the scene first and launched a direct attack with great force.

While resisting, the governor of Pingzhou sent people to recall reinforcements, but the reinforcements could not return. Pingzhou's current fighting strength was inferior to Sun Yannan's, and he was having a very difficult time defending his position.

Just as he was about to abandon the city and flee, Lu Hong arrived.

Although Lu Hong and Sun Yannan had many conflicts in private, they were still business partners on the surface.

Lu Hong made it clear that he wanted to seize Pingzhou, but Sun Yannan didn't turn against him. Instead, he held meetings with him for several days and finally reached a consensus: defeat Lu Wei first, and then discuss how to divide the spoils!

As a result, the governor of Pingzhou was in dire straits. The city was captured at an extremely fast pace, and he fell into the hands of Sun Yannan.

Sun Yannan asked Lu Hong, "Next, should we pursue and kill Lu Wei, or attack Xingzhou directly?"

Lu Hong looked at Sun Yannan and chuckled, "You really haven't given up and are still going to make a move against He Qinglan."

Sun Yannan's expression changed. "You're going to let her grow too powerful?"

Lu Hong didn't take it seriously. "She's just a woman. No matter how powerful she is, can she really become empress?"

Sun Yannan: "...She might not want to."

Lu Hong's face showed a sneer, "Then, I'll lead the troops to attack Xingzhou, and you go and fight Lu Wei and Ning Huai'an, how about that?"

Sun Yannan fell into deep thought.

If Lu Hong were to successfully storm the capital and seize control of the young emperor and the entire court, the future situation... well, that would be hard to predict.

Lu Hong looked at Sun Yannan's expression and laughed.

Southwest China.

All the local officials and ethnic minority leaders were arrested and imprisoned, where they were strictly guarded by Jinzhou soldiers.

Hu Dazhu and his team successfully took over the entire southwest region. Following their previous practices, they collected household registration information, reviewed case files, re-examined cases reported by the people, allocated land to the people, encouraged them to cultivate crops, built workshops based on local characteristics, and recruited workers...

Cheng Hui from Jinzhou was very pleased to receive the letter. He announced the matter at the administrative office's morning meeting the next day, and various departments began to discuss the dispatch of personnel to the southwest region.

Because Hu Dazhu wouldn't stay stationed in the southwest forever; it wouldn't be long before they led their troops to attack the northwest.

Qian Shiwen pointed out, "There are many ethnic minorities in the southwest region. When we send people to manage it, we cannot completely ignore the local people."

Some people agreed, while others expressed doubts.

"If we appoint locals, won't they eventually become local tyrants instead of obeying the goddess's commands?"

Song Li, who had just returned, smiled and suggested, "Then let's divide them into more separate groups based on their ethnicity, lifestyle, and folk culture."

If people speak different dialects and have different customs, how can they be considered family?

It's good enough that they don't argue often.

Shi Xinyu was somewhat excited, "That's right, we can also relocate half of the population of County A to County B, and two-thirds of the population of County C to County D."

The Executive Council held meetings for several days and finally came up with several recommendations.

Cheng Hui wrote a letter to He Qinglan to report, including all their suggestions in the letter.

He Qinglan received the letter very quickly.

She replied quickly: she affirmed some points, denied others, and made some revisions.

The plan was implemented in Jinzhou.

Personnel were transferred from the entire prefecture and then sent to the southwest region to take over the relevant work, so that Hu Dazhu and others could leave as soon as possible.

Mo Jingchun and Gu Lanying cooked a pot of hot and sour mushroom hot pot. Mo Jingchun happily added fresh duck intestines and duck blood to the hot pot, while Gu Lanying picked up a piece of vegetable leaf with her chopsticks and put it into the pot and stirred it.

Seeing Gu Lanying's chopsticks reach for the cilantro, Mo Jingchun quickly stopped her, "Aunt Gu! Wait until I finish eating before you add it. I don't like the taste of cilantro!"

Gu Lanying was shocked, "Cilantro is so delicious, why don't you eat it?"

Mo Jingchun: "I don't think cilantro is delicious!"

Okay, Gu Lanying picked up a cabbage leaf.

The two ate and chatted.

Gu Lanying: "The Northwest is not a good place to fight."

Mo Jingchun: "Actually, the Southwest region is not easy to fight in, but we still managed to take it down."

Gu Lanying: "That's true. While the army is resting, let's send someone to the Northwest region first." She sighed, "What you learn from books is never enough. Only by going there in person can you know how severe the altitude sickness is in the Northwest region."

Mo Jingchun picked up a piece of duck blood and nodded, "That's right. If we hadn't come to the Southwest, we wouldn't have known how serious the miasma was, as described in the books."

Hu Dazhu knocked on the door and came in.

Hu Dazhu laughed and said, "No wonder it smelled so good, the aroma could be smelled from outside the courtyard. Turns out you're cooking hot pot."

Gu Lanying invited, "Would you like to eat together? We've prepared quite a lot of dishes."

Hu Dazhu politely declined, saying, "No, no, I came to tell you that the letters from the Goddess and Elder Cheng have arrived."

Mo Jingchun put down her chopsticks.

Hu Dazhu gave a letter to Mo Jingchun, saying, "The goddess says that Prefect Mo can return to Jinzhou to form a women's army."

Mo Jingchun's expression immediately turned serious.

Gu Lanying paused, "What about the Northwest region?"

Hu Dazhu said, "After the people from Jinzhou arrive in the southwest, we will hand over our work and then head to the northwest."

He added, "Shengzhou and Hepingzhou have been captured by the Allied forces, and Lu Wei is about to be killed by us. The Allied forces' next target is Xingzhou and the capital."

Gu Lanying put down her chopsticks and asked, "When is the meeting?"

Hu Dazhu glanced at their hotpot and said, "Half an hour later. It's okay, you guys finish eating, we're not in a rush." ​​The people from Jinzhou won't arrive that quickly.

After reading the letter, Mo Jingchun smiled and said, "I'm in a hurry to go back to Jinzhou."

Her eyes shone brightly, "I will not let the goddess down!"

Our women's army from Jinzhou will definitely play a role in the future struggle for power!

He Qinglan, who lives far away in Shengzhou, has been quite busy lately.

Ning Huai'an, Hu Dazhu, and Cheng Hui, from three different places, frequently wrote to her to report on the situation.

There are many things that she has to decide.

He Qinglan was decisive. After reading the letter, she quickly wrote down her opinion, handed it to Fang Wangshu, sealed it in an envelope, and then sent it back.

Yun Youning sat to the side, somewhat worried. "Goddess, Sun Yannan and Lu Hong joined forces to attack Xingzhou. If they enter the capital first, will they join forces to attack us?"

He Qinglan said, "Don't worry, when that time comes, their biggest opponent won't be me."

Yun Youning was taken aback.

He Qinglan asked indifferently, "If the two of them were to enter the capital, who would replace Lu Wei as the nominal number one person under the emperor?"

This is a very serious issue.

Yun Youning: "..." She suddenly realized, "So even though Sun Yannan clearly wanted to deal with our Jinzhou, he still mobilized a large army to the capital." Instead of intercepting Ning Huai'an.

He Qinglan finished writing another letter.

"Xue Rang is not so easy to deal with either. Lu Hong and Sun Yannan may not be able to break through the capital before we arrive."

A cold glint flashed in her eyes. If it weren't for me, Xue Rang would have been the ultimate victor in this world.

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Author's Note: 6000/20000

The battle is almost over; now we're entering the Domination phase.