Chapter 147 Backstabbing: Zhao Jiashu Died

Mao'er Mountain.

Yue Yao personally collected the bodies of his brothers and uncles from the mountain and dug graves on the mountaintop, burying them one by one.

Then they carved the wooden tombstones by hand.

The young general sat on the mountain, holding a wooden plaque in one hand and a carving knife in the other, carving the words "Tomb of XXX, respectfully erected by his younger brother Yueyao" stroke by stroke.

The fallen petals landed on his legs and then on the ground.

Behind him were several uncarved wooden plaques.

The soldier standing not far away peeked out and whispered, "Why won't General Yue let us help?" Collecting the body, digging the grave, burying the body, and carving the tombstone—if everyone had helped, it would have been done long ago.

Another soldier sighed, "Because General Yue wanted to come in person, these people from Mao'er Mountain are like family to him."

"Huh? Then why didn't he kill Zheng Jiming?" Instead, he spared his life.

"Because Zheng Jiming did not surrender to him, but to the goddess."

While the soldiers chatted idly, Yue Yao finished carving the last wooden tablet and erected it in front of Zhang Zigao's grave.

He lit incense and burned paper money.

"Brother, please rest assured, I will take good care of everyone's families. From now on, they are my family!"

Yue Yao picked up a pot of wine, opened it, and poured the wine onto the ground.

Rest in peace.

The young general, carrying his crescent-shaped halberd, left the graveyard and walked towards the soldiers.

The soldiers straightened their expressions and stood at attention.

They heard Yue Yao shout in a deep voice, "Form ranks, return to Shengzhou, set off!"

The crowd responded in unison, "Yes!"

In Shengzhou, Ning Huai'an led his army to withstand Lu's attack, and the two sides fought back and forth. Lu Hong's men were unable to enter the border of Shengzhou.

But something unexpected happened in Gyeongju.

Zhao Jiashu is dead.

Hu Dazhu, who was fighting Sun Yannan in the prefectural capital, was greatly shocked: "No, didn't Zhao Jiashu already escape? How could he be dead?"

Cao Yuan, the leader of the Qingzhou army, looked extremely grim. "Our governor was planning to return to the prefectural capital, but he was attacked by Sun Yannan's men on his way back. The governor... was brutally murdered!"

Hu Dazhu frowned deeply, "Sun Yannan's people...could it be..."

He only got halfway through his sentence, but Cao Yuan understood what he meant and gritted his teeth, "I don't know. I don't know if the governor has been betrayed!"

Now Cao Yuan has no time to investigate the cause of Zhao Jiashu's death.

Because they cannot stop the war. Once they stop, Sun Yannan will immediately press his advantage and fight his way through, defeating them decisively until he takes over the entire Qingzhou.

Cao Yuan gritted his teeth.

However, the situation was more serious than he had anticipated.

The civil officials who fled the prefecture with Zhao Jiashu quickly elected Zhao Jiashu's cousin, Zhao Hua, as the new prefect.

After assuming the position of governor, the new governor did two things: first, he wrote a letter to Sun Yannan surrendering; second, he wrote a letter to Cao Yuan, asking him to cooperate with Sun Yannan in suppressing the Jinzhou army.

Cao Yuan could hardly believe his eyes when he received the letter!

What kind of madness is this? Putting aside the fact that we are about to retake the prefecture, just consider that Hu Dazhu led the Jinzhou army all the way from afar. Such a great favor, and not only does Qingzhou not repay it, but it also betrays Yun Kingdom?

To please Sun Yannan, he was willing to offend He Qinglan?

Sun Yannan is not easy to fight, but He Qinglan is easy to get along with?

Cao Yuan disobeyed orders, pretending not to have received them, and continued to command the Jinzhou army in their battle against Sun Yannan.

Seeing this, Sun Yannan put pressure on the new governor.

Zhao Hua was startled, fearing that Sun Yannan would send someone to kill him. He immediately ordered Cao Yuan to be dismissed from his post and appointed a new general to take office. He also ordered the new general to lead the army to attack the Jinzhou army.

Cao Yuan was both angry and desperate. He angrily shouted at the messenger sent by Zhao Hua, "You have handed Qingzhou over to Sun Yannan. You are traitors to Qingzhou!"

The envoy looked at Cao Yuan with disdain. "Cao Yuan, do you think you're the only one who's devoted to Qingzhou, and that everyone else is inferior to you? You said we're going to give Qingzhou to Sun Yannan, so what about you? Do you want to give Qingzhou to He Qinglan?"

Cao Yuan was furious. "I want to see the governor! I want to see the governor!"

The messenger waved for his men to take him away, saying, "You will soon see the governor."

"Where is Cao Yuan?" Hu Dazhu asked.

Xiang Yuesheng held the letter that the intelligence department staff had sent from the Qingzhou military camp: "Cao Yuan has been captured and is to be sent to see the new governor, Zhao Hua."

With his hands behind his back, Hu Dazhu asked, "So, next, will the newly appointed general order the Qingzhou army to attack us?"

Xiang Yuesheng said in a low voice, "I'm afraid so."

Who would have thought that he came to help others fight a war, only to find that the two sides made peace and then turned against him, the one who helped them?

Hu Dazhu sighed, "Sun Yannan played that move brilliantly!"

Xiang Yuesheng had to admit, "Indeed."

Sun Yannan bribed Zhao Jiashu's cousin, Zhao Hua, who, with the help of Zhu Yunze, persuaded Zhu Kexuan, and the two reached an agreement.

They revealed Zhao Jiashu's location to Sun Yannan, who then sent men to ambush and kill Zhao Jiashu. Zhao Jiashu was unable to escape the woods.

He died with his eyes wide open in disbelief.

Zhao Jiashu has just died.

Zhu Kexuan immediately joined forces with other civil officials to help Zhao Hua rise to power.

"Why is this Zhu Kexuan..." Hu Dazhu couldn't understand.

Xiang Yuesheng laughed, "Not everyone wants a neutral Qingzhou. Perhaps what Zhu Kexuan wants, Zhao Jiashu can't give."

He said, "Don't we often manage to expose traitors in Jinzhou too?"

Hu Dazhu remained silent for a moment.

Hu Dazhu asked, "Did the goddess reply? What should we do next?"

Should we continue fighting Sun Yannan in Qingzhou, or lead our troops to withdraw from Qingzhou and go to Shengzhou to fight Lu Hong?

Xiang Yuesheng said, "The goddess has not yet replied."

Hu Dazhu was puzzled. What was the goddess doing...? He thought for a moment, "Then let's prepare our defenses to avoid being attacked from both sides." He waited for the goddess's instructions.

Meanwhile, in the capital of Qingzhou, Sun Yannan received news from the front lines and was very pleased. He said to Zhu Yunze, "Peiran, your move is brilliant. As long as Zhao Jiashu is gone, Qingzhou will definitely be mine."

Zhu Yunze laughed and said, "Zhao Jiashu is trying to remain neutral, but he doesn't have enough ability. Even with Hu Dazhu's help, he can't defend Qingzhou."

Sun Yannan said with a contemptuous expression, "He can't even protect his own life, let alone Qingzhou?"

Zhu Yunze said, "That's right." Zhao Jiashu never imagined that he would never be able to return to Qingzhou Prefecture.

"Next, we will join forces with the Qingzhou army to attack Hu Dazhu's Jinzhou army from both sides..." Sun Yannan raised an eyebrow, "Without Hu Dazhu and these tens of thousands of Jinzhou soldiers, He Qinglan's strength will be greatly reduced!"

Zhu Yunze replied, "Exactly. Even if we can't capture Hu Dazhu alive, we can still destroy his main force." He severed He Qinglan's arm.

Sun Yannan couldn't help but laugh, "He Qinglan, I won this round!"

"Knock knock." Xiao Yong knocked on the door and entered the room.

Sun Yannan looked at him suspiciously, "What's wrong?"

Xiao Yong's expression was serious as he presented a letter, "Sent by He Qinglan."

Sun Yannan's expression changed.

Zhu Yunze was also on edge.

To their surprise, He Qinglan's letter invited Sun Yannan to join her in attacking Lu Hong.

Sun Yannan: "..."

He showed the letter to Xiao Yong and Zhu Yunze, saying, "She said she would no longer interfere in Qingzhou."

The implication was that Sun Yannan should not attack Hu Dazhu, and the allied forces should attack Xingzhou.

Zhu Yunze: "..."

Xiao Yong: "..."

Zhu Yunze hesitated, "What if we don't cooperate with her?"

Xiao Yong said, "She will join forces with Lu Hong and Cao Ruheng to attack us."

Zhu Yunze thought for a moment, "Now that Lu Hong is tied up in Shengzhou by Ning Huai'an, the capital... is indeed a good place to make a move."

Sun Yannan's eyes turned cold.

He has an emperor enshrined here, while Lu Hong has a minor emperor enshrined in the capital city of Xingzhou.

If, while Lu Hong is tied down in Shengzhou, his army can march north and take Xingzhou and Pingzhou...

They killed that little emperor, Lu Hong.

Just imagining Lu Hong's expression made Sun Yannan feel so happy that he wanted to hum a tune.

Seeing the change in Sun Yannan's expression, Zhu Yunze and Xiao Yong exchanged a glance, realizing that their lord had been persuaded by He Qinglan.

"My lord, are you not planning to take action against the Jinzhou army?" Zhu Yunze asked.

Sun Yannan raised his left hand, signaling Zhu Yunze to stop talking. He said, "Of course we can't let Hu Dazhu leave Qingzhou with his troops like this."

Xiao Yong breathed a sigh of relief, "That's good. I don't think He Qinglan will turn against you because of this."

But Hu Dazhu and Xiang Yuesheng are not fools.

As soon as they received He Qinglan's letter, they immediately began preparations to leave Qingzhou.

Xiang Yuesheng said, "Since the goddess has invited Sun Yannan and Cao Ruheng to attack Lu Hong together, Sun Yannan should not refuse."

Hu Dazhu thought for a moment, "You mean Pingzhou and Xingzhou?"

Xiang Yuesheng nodded, "That's right, Lu Hong's remaining troops can't withstand Sun Yannan's army."

Hu Dazhu said, "Then we..."

Xiang Yuesheng picked up a thin bamboo pole from the table, pointed it at the map, and nodded slightly. "Sun Yannan may not let us leave smoothly."

Hu Dazhu stroked his chin, guessing, "But if we leave Qingzhou, he shouldn't chase after us, right?"

Xiang Yuesheng said, "Let's call everyone over for a meeting and see how we can escape."

Hu Dazhu gritted his teeth and a smile appeared on his face. "I'm really not willing to just let them get away like this."

Xiang Yuesheng was not willing to give up, "Then let's figure out how to teach them a lesson."

Hu Dazhu murmured, "Qingzhou, Zhao Hua. You dare to betray us? You'll be the first to do so."

Ningzhou.

Cao Ruheng declared himself Prince of Ning, Ye Hui became his queen, and their only daughter, Cao Ying, was granted the title of Lady of the Heir Apparent.

“There’s nothing we can do about it,” Ye Hui smiled slightly. “Sun Yannan’s army is tied up in Qingzhou, and Lu Hong’s army is in Shengzhou. Neither of them can come out to fight us.”

Zhu Yunwei said, "That's right. As long as He Qinglan remains undefeated, they will not wave goodbye and head south."

Cao Ruheng held the letter He Qinglan had just written in his hand, "Then this invitation..."

Ye Hui said, "Let's send troops to attack Chuzhou."

We need to deal with Lu Hong and Sun Yannan, these two big shots, one of them at a time.