Deyang Palace.

Behind his desk, Liu Hong was engrossed in reading a memorial to the throne.

Before the documents, Zhang Huan, Huangfu Gui, Xu Rong, Wang Yue, Tong Yuan, and several staff officers from the Privy Council's General Staff sat on either side.

What Liu Hong was looking at was the allocation of various military supplies.

After several months of hard work, production lines in various locations have produced enough cotton yarn, wound medicine, dried meat, as well as military supplies such as arrows and armor.

These things are enough to ensure that an army of 300,000 can launch a major war that lasts for more than six months.

Now, the royal transport fleet and local governments have also begun to organize caravans to carry these supplies to Bingzhou and the Hexi Corridor.

In another two months, the supplies will be allocated and in place.

After a long while, Liu Hong put down the memorial and looked up at Zhang Huan, the deputy chief of the Privy Council.

"Minister Zhang, what is the current status of troop deployments across various regions?"

"Your Majesty, Zhu Jun of Liaozhou has already deployed 20,000 cavalrymen to the Daqing Army camp, ready to bypass Hulun Lake and attack the Xianbei tribes east of Tanhan Mountain at any time."

Lu Zhi of Youzhou also deployed 15,000 cavalry to Chengde, which could launch an attack on the Xianbei tribes southeast of Tanhan Mountain.

Huangfu Song of Bingzhou was also prepared. His four battalions of cavalry, together with Lu Bu's Bingzhou wolf cavalry, totaled 25,000 elite troops, ready to attack the Xianbei tribes south of Tanhan Mountain.

Duan Jiong of Liangzhou also dispatched 10,000 Xiliang cavalry to Zhangye, eyeing the southwest of the Xianbei.

The Northern Army's Fifth Battalion and the Chang'an Battalion's 20,000 cavalry and 30,000 infantry are also fully prepared for battle..."

Zhang Huan also told Liu Hong about the military preparations in various places, but he omitted the situation of the Imperial Guards.

It wasn't that Zhang Huan was negligent, but rather that the Imperial Guards were the emperor's personal troops, and even the Privy Council, which was in charge of the nation's military affairs, had no right to interfere.

"Yes, very good."

Liu Hong nodded in satisfaction, then said in a deep voice, "Order the soldiers of the five battalions of the Northern Army and the Chang'an Battalion to await orders in Shuofang County."

The four battalions of Bingzhou arrived in Zhangye to join the Xiliang cavalry and awaited orders.

"Here you go!"

Zhang Huan agreed, and the staff behind him also wrote down Liu Hong's instructions.

Liu Hong then turned to Wang Yue and asked, "Master Wang, what's the situation with the Imperial Guards?"

Wang Yue reported, "Your Majesty, the 20,000 elite Imperial Guards have been fully equipped and are ready to set out at any time!"

Liu Hong nodded and turned to look at Tong Yuan.

"Your Majesty, a thousand Imperial Guards are also ready!"

"Good!" Upon hearing this, Liu Hong immediately stood up, glanced around at everyone, and said, "Gentlemen, go back and prepare. Once the battle between Tan Shihuai and the Yuwen tribe is over, we will immediately send out troops to sweep across the grasslands!"

"Here you go!!"

Everyone stood up and responded loudly.

After everyone left, Liu Hong sat back down behind his desk, picked up a secret letter, and began to read it.

This secret letter came from Juyan and was handwritten by Jia Xu himself.

Juyan was a crucial outpost on the front line of the Hexi Corridor facing the grasslands, and it was of paramount importance to the Han Dynasty.

Tan Shihuai was well aware of this.

Therefore, after the Han Dynasty occupied Juyan, Tan Shihuai continuously sent spies to infiltrate Juyan, not only to gather intelligence but also to prepare for the future attack on Juyan and the takeover of the Hexi Corridor.

After Jia Xu arrived in Juyan, he led the intelligence officers to expose all the Xianbei spies who had been hiding there.

However, Jia Xu did not take action against these Xianbei spies, but instead secretly monitored them. The messages that the Xianbei spies passed on to Tan Shihuai were all things that the intelligence bureau wanted them to know.

Therefore, Tan Shihuai dared to confidently gather all his forces and launch a decisive battle against the Yuwen tribe.

In addition to introducing the situation of Tan Shihuai's army, the secret letter that Jia Xu sent back this time also mentioned that Tan Shihuai was in contact with the Eastern Qiang and Western Qiang to prepare to divide Liangzhou.

It turns out that Han Sui had previously been ordered by Tan Shihuai to send a secret letter to Dianxian of the Western Qiang and Ma Yi of the Eastern Qiang.

This secret letter was intercepted by the intelligence agency while passing through Juyan.

After learning of the alliance between the Xianbei and the Qiang people, Jia Xu, after some deliberation, decided to launch the entrapment plan ahead of schedule.

According to Jia Xu's plan, after the battle between Tan Shihuai and the Yuwen tribe, Juyan also needed a lure to make Tan Shihuai abandon the agreed time with the Qiang people and lead his main force to Juyan to fight the Han army in a decisive battle ahead of schedule.

In this way, while eliminating Tan Shihuai's main force, the success of the various armies sweeping across the grasslands was also ensured.

As for what the bait was, Jia Xu did not say it explicitly, but Liu Hong could easily guess.

In the entire Han Dynasty, only the Emperor himself could make Tan Shihuai lose his mind.

"Heh, this Jia Wenhe is really bold!"

After reading Jia Xu's plan, Liu Hong couldn't help but chuckle.

Using the emperor as bait—this insane plan, once it gets out, will cause not only the young men and soldiers below, but also the court officials to rush to Juyan and tear Jia Xu to pieces.

However, Liu Hong quite agreed with Jia Xu's plan.

Only in this way can the threat on the grassland be eliminated at the lowest cost and at the fastest speed.

Of course, most importantly, Liu Hong himself wanted to experience the feeling of leading an army in person again, and even dreamed of doing something like Huo Qubing, such as sealing the wolf's lair and drinking from the vast sea.

If it could really come true, then this life would not have been in vain...

Thinking of all this, Liu Hong's blood began to boil.

Liu Hong stood up, looked outside the hall, and shouted, "Someone, summon all officials to court for a meeting!"

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