This time, Liu Che's decree was aimed at the plan against Cheshi Kingdom that Liu Tan mentioned last time.

Because Liu Tan submitted a serious memorial, Emperor Wu of Han simply issued an order in the form of an imperial edict.

In fact, when Liu Tan heard that the imperial edict had been conveyed, he knew that Liu Che must have agreed.

He was a little surprised. Huo Guang had thought that this should not be done before, but he didn't expect that Liu Che agreed.

At this moment, Huo Guang was a little puzzled: "Your Majesty, why are you issuing this decree now?"

The Northern Border Kingdom has been busy with production recently and has not made any major moves. Why is an imperial edict needed?

You should know that Emperor Wu of Han usually wrote a letter to Liu Tan to tell him what to do, unless it was something particularly important, so imperial edicts were rarely used, and they were only used during specific periods in the past year.

Liu Tan felt a little guilty about Huo Guang's doubts. After thinking for a while, he gave Huo Guang a warning: "That... might be related to the Western Regions."

Huo Guang's first reaction was, "Does Your Majesty regret agreeing to the Wusun King's request to march in winter?"

Liu Tan quickly said, "It shouldn't be. Let's take a look first."

The imperial edict was issued to the King of the Northern Territory, but since an imperial edict was used, it was generally assumed that all officials in the Northern Territory had to cooperate in this matter, so Huo Guang went there without any pressure.

Then he heard that His Majesty the Emperor agreed to the Northern King's request to attack the Cheshi Kingdom in winter.

Huo Guang: ???

What was going on? Why attack Cheshi in winter? How come he didn't know?

After the angel made the announcement, Liu Tan immediately had the angel taken away and taken good care of. At the same time, he turned around and looked at Huo Guang cautiously.

He originally thought that Huo Guang would be livid at this moment, but in fact Huo Guang seemed to be completely out of the situation, looking at Liu Tan with a blank face.

Liu Tan was immediately startled. Huo Guang had never shown such an expression in front of him before. He said worriedly, "A Guang, just say whatever you want to say. Don't hold it in."

Huo Guang came back to his senses and asked in disbelief, "Your Highness submitted a memorial to His Majesty?"

Liu Tan was a little embarrassed. "Well... I just wrote it casually. I didn't expect that the emperor would agree."

Huo Guang took a deep breath, regretting his earlier celebration of the Northern Border entering a period of stability and development. What was he celebrating? How could his Highness possibly live a peaceful life?

He said helplessly, "I will immediately send someone to count the food and supplies, and also to check the weapons and other things. However, I don't know when Your Highness wants to go to war, and who will lead the troops?"

Liu Tan tilted his head and looked at Huo Guang: "You're not angry?"

Huo Guang couldn't help but turn his head and look up at the sky. What's the point of being angry? Even the emperor has agreed to it.

And after the initial surprise, he also figured out some things, such as why Liu Tan chose to attack Shi Guo at this time.

Isn't it just that they want to take advantage of the fact that the Huns are busy with the King of Wusun and have no time to take care of other things?

As for why it was Cheshi Kingdom, the first reason was that it was close, and the second reason was that Cheshi Kingdom was the throat of the Han Dynasty leading to the Western Regions. It would be unsafe for such an important thing to be controlled by others, so it had to be taken down.

Of course, these are all superficial excuses. In fact... Huo Guang knew very well that the prince of his family still remembered the grudge from that year.

Tsk, anyone who talks about the Northern King Kuan and Dadu again must be blind!

In this case, there is nothing for Huo Guang to stop.

Seeing that although his face was expressionless, his aura did not seem particularly angry, Liu Tan said, "Who else can we send? Let Wei Buyi go. By the way, let Li Ling and Wei Deng take the elite regiment to see some blood. This time, try to focus on the elite regiment, supplemented by the ordinary troops. As for how to deploy them, Li Ling and Wei Deng must obey Wei Buyi's command."

Huo Guang raised his eyebrows: "Are you willing to do that?"

Liu Tan was silent for a moment. He knew what Huo Guang meant was that people would die in war. The elite regiment was indeed good at individual combat and teamwork, but they were still human beings after all. Once on the battlefield, they might encounter various things that could lead to their death.

He sighed deeply, "It's no use being reluctant. This will happen sooner or later. The Cheshi Kingdom is far inferior to the Xiongnu. This is the best opportunity to train our troops. We may not have such opportunities again after this one. The casualties in the so-called actual combat exercises in the past were all fake. If this continues, it will easily make them think that war is just like this. This is not good."

Huo Guang didn't say anything. Actually, Wei Buyi had told him about this matter before, but private discussions were private discussions and no one could interfere with the Northern King's guards.

Everyone knows what the future direction of the elite regiment is, but on the surface, these are Liu Tan's guards, and even Wei Buyi can't say anything more.

Fortunately, Liu Tan figured it out and realized the importance of actual combat.

Huo Guang asked, "If that's the case, when will we march out?"

"Let's prepare first. Once Axuan leads his troops out, we'll assemble the army and have everyone on standby." Liu Tan finished his speech and explained, "It's still unclear how the fight with the Xiongnu will play out. The ideal scenario is that the Xiongnu can't spare any effort to control the Cheshi Kingdom, but this may not be so easy, so we must also be prepared to deal with the Xiongnu."

Huo Guang laughed and said, "Since Your Highness has such intentions, if the King of Wusun knew about it, he would definitely find a way to entangle the Xiongnu."

"I didn't intend to let him know." Liu Tan glanced at Huo Guang and said, "I don't want to influence him. The attack on the Cheshi Kingdom is the Northern Border Kingdom's business. There is no possibility of the two sides joining forces, so I will try to minimize the interference."

Haunt the Huns? What? Haunt them with human lives.

If Lu Xuan knew about this, it would be a very difficult decision for him. He needs to be responsible for his people and not let them die if he can avoid it.

Liu Tan felt that Lu Xuan wouldn't be blinded by emotion on the battlefield, but what if? If those people died because of him, even if Lu Xuan didn't think anything of it, he would still feel guilty.

Huo Guang stood up and said, "The King of Wusun has other small nations supporting him. I'm sure he can coordinate them well."

Liu Tan had an idea. If these small countries were allowed to entangle the Huns, that would be a good choice. On the one hand, it could create opportunities for the Northern Border Country, and on the other hand, it could weaken the strength of these small countries.

Perhaps by then it would be much easier for both Lu Xuan and Princess Danyang to annex these small countries.

However, the rulers of those small countries are not fools, so it probably won't be that easy.

After much thought, Liu Tan decided not to rely on these strategies. The Northern Border Kingdom should be stronger than the Cheshi Kingdom, at least in terms of equipment and food.

Moreover, the tread crossbow has never appeared on the battlefield since its improvement, and its power has never been known. Now is a good time to take a look and then see what else can be done with it.

As for those conspiracies and overt plots, they are acceptable, but they cannot be overly relied upon.

Seeing Liu Tan lost in thought, Huo Guang did not say much and decisively began to prepare.

A war involves many aspects, the most obvious of which is conscription, as well as the issue of food and grass, and most importantly, water resources.

As soon as Huo Guang returned to the Prime Minister's Residence, he sent someone to find Wei Buyi.

Wei Buyi was very nervous when he came to the Prime Minister's Mansion. He was even wondering if there was a problem with the public security in Shuofang City recently.

You should know that unless there is a problem with public security or a large-scale arrest is required, Huo Guang rarely cares about him and just lets him do his own thing.

Huo Guang saw Wei Buzhi's alert face and said, "Your mission has arrived."

Wei Buyi whispered, "Everyone involved in the witchcraft case has been apprehended, and the city has been quite peaceful lately. Are there any other missions?"

Of course the city was peaceful now. Wei Buyi had been arresting people everywhere these days, causing panic among the people.

In the past, under Liu Tan's orders, the Marquises of the Northern Border Kingdom had always maintained a serious but friendly personality. When the common people saw the Marquises, as long as they were not on duty, they would greet them with a smile. In addition, Liu Tan made the Marquises wear uniform clothes, and the guards were the face of Shuofang City, so these Marquises were tall and had long legs, standing straight and tall, and were the objects of envy of many young men and the dream lovers of young ladies.

As a result, overnight, these Wu Hou became the most feared existences by everyone, and they were afraid that Wu Hou would knock on their doors.

It was not until this time that the people suddenly realized that no matter how friendly these military marquises were, they were still state violence agencies.

So now the whole Shuofang City is no longer in a panic, and everyone is behaving well and living a good life again.

Huo Guang looked at Wei Buyi and said, "Your Highness submitted a petition two days ago, requesting to attack the Cheshi Kingdom. His Majesty has agreed. Your Highness wants you to lead the troops. You may prepare now."

Wei Buyi was stunned after hearing this and didn't react for a long time.

He thought his mission was to capture people, but it turned out to be to fight in a war?

Huo Guang looked at Wei Buyi standing there in a daze, and couldn't help but pick up a brush and hit him with it: "What are you thinking about? Don't want to go? If you don't want to go, I'll go and tell His Highness..."

"No, no, no, I'm willing to go." Wei Buyi was simply overwhelmed with joy and quickly said, "Then... when will we set out?"

Huo Guang said, "Your Highness means that this time we will focus on the elite regiments and be ready to go as soon as the King of Wusun sets out."

Wei Buyi immediately understood what Liu Tan meant. He rubbed his hands and said, "It seems we'll be heading out in winter. If that's the case, we need to put appropriate training on the agenda. The soldiers here have never conducted winter training before. I'm wondering... will His Highness's elite regiment also need training? When the time comes... will they train with my men?"

Huo Guang looked at him and said, "What are you thinking? The elite regiment is His Highness's guard, and they cannot be moved lightly. Moreover, with the training methods of the elite regiment, the few men under your command cannot keep up."

Wei Buyi chuckled and said, "I'm just jealous of the elite regiment's training methods. Wei Deng is such a tight-lipped guy that I still don't know how the elite regiment is trained."

Wei Buyi was so curious that he almost died. After all, he came from a family of military generals. Wei Qing was a generous person in his time. He didn't have a particularly close relationship with everyone, but he would lend a hand when those military generals were in trouble. As a result, many people owed Wei Qing a favor, so even if Wei Qing died early, there would still be someone who would give Wei Buyi and the others some advice on military knowledge.

As a result, neither he nor Li Buyan could train soldiers as well as their prince. The soldiers under their command would probably not last more than three moves against the elite regiment. This made Wei Buyi almost envious, and he also wanted to train such an army.

Huo Guang glanced at him and said, "You'll have to ask His Highness about this matter."

Wei Buyi thought about it, turned around and ran to find Liu Tan.

After listening to Wei Buyi's words, Liu Tan was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized: "Yes, sending troops in winter requires winter training. It's a bad idea."

Wei Buyi: ???