Volume 1 Chapter 141 First Battle

These days, these two families have been like eggplants hit by frost, wilting.

They stay at home and don't go out. Even the clan members who are outside have kept a low profile and rarely show off.

This was a tough time for the rebel kings who were supported by them and instigated to rebel. Without the support of the aristocratic families, it would be difficult for them to win the support of the people. Secondly, such a large number of troops would require a considerable amount of expenses day and night.

After all, they didn't launch an attack and started to attack the Great Sun Dynasty. Everyone was extremely afraid and started recruiting soldiers every day. The daily military rations, military pay, and even the manufacture of military uniforms and weapons all cost money!

These rebel kings cannot even afford to support themselves!

This has led to a situation in recent days where some rebel kings have stopped recruiting soldiers, and some have even directly disbanded their troops, leaving only a few tens of thousands of soldiers to reduce their own burden.

This was not a solution at all, so the rebel kings united together and went to pay the two great families a visit, but the funny thing was that they were all turned away.

Not to mention meeting the heads of the two major families, they couldn't even get through the gate. This made the rebel kings very angry. They were now in a dilemma, which was like putting them on the fire.

Now that they have received the news that the imperial court has sent troops to wipe them out, some weaker rebel kings have begun to think about running away.

If he quit his official position and hid in the mountains, he might still be able to survive.

This is what aristocratic families are like. No matter what kind of interests they are tempted by, the top priority is to preserve the continuation of the family!

They may not fear anything, but they are afraid that the foundation passed down by their ancestors for hundreds of years will be destroyed, and in the end not even a root will be left.

These days, the major rebel kings in the south and east are still in a panic, while the rebel kings in the west are feeling as uncomfortable as if they had eaten a fly.

The death of King Taishan not only dealt a heavy blow to the morale of the various rebel kings, but also caused these rebel kings in the west to be scolded and despised by the rebel kings in other places.

This made them feel ashamed and extremely angry.

However, they did not vent their anger on the Great Sun Dynasty. Instead, they began to send troops to seize the Eastern families' assets in the West.

These were all money picked up for free. Even the residential compound of the Dongfang family was confiscated by Han Ling King Duan Rui and turned into his own house.

Fifty percent of the Dongfang family's assets were forcibly seized by King Ling of Han. Later, the former Zhenxi Admiral, now Prince Yuan, Yuan Zimo, led his troops into rapid action and forcibly took away 40%.

The remaining three weak and powerless King Deng Yan, King Yunlu Wei Shu and King Feiyi Xiong Wenwen only got 10%!

Although just this 10% of assets is enough to make their strength 30% stronger, it is a huge humiliation for the three rebel kings. They feel like beggars, and King Ling of Han and King Yuan are treating beggars well!

This incident directly led to the five rebel kings in the west of the Great Sun Dynasty turning against each other, and the previous alliance was directly broken, resulting in a situation where they did not help each other and developed on their own.

King Duan Rui of Han Ling, who got the most benefits, doesn't care about what these people think. Now he has money and soldiers. Others don't dare to take action against the court, but does he dare!

There is no way, being powerful means being willful!

King Ling of Han had already thought it through. He didn't even need to attack the capital. He just needed to conquer cities step by step and expand his territory.

When one day your territory becomes more vast than that of the emperor sitting on the dragon throne in the imperial court, that will be the time for you to ascend the throne and become emperor!

Therefore, the next step now is to send troops to directly capture Longxi Province, which is adjacent to Handa Province, and expand their territory!

The border pass where Handa Province enters Longxi Province is called Linxi Pass. Except for the garrisons in various cities and places, Duan Rui gathered all his troops here, a total of 400,000 troops!

In the past few days, he has made proper arrangements for food, fodder, and military supplies, and is now ready to go. He will soon go out to attack Longxi Province!

Facing the central army tent of Xiguan, Duan Rui sat on the marshal's chair with a majestic appearance. He was only forty-five years old this year and still in good health. It was rare for him to reach such a status at this age.

But he had just become King Ling of Han, and he was already wearing a golden dragon chain mail armor, a purple gold crown with a dragon pattern on his head, and the chair under his seat was covered in gold, making him look very majestic.

The generals under the tent were quite unhappy to see this scene. What a guy, you haven't even gone to war with the court yet, and you're already dressed like this. People who don't know would think that you are not the King Ling of Han, but have directly ascended the throne and proclaimed yourself emperor.

What these generals didn't know was that after Duan Rui obtained the Dongfang family's fortune, he actually spent a huge sum of money to hire the best tailors and craftsmen to make dragon robes and court clothes for himself!

The money spent on this is enough to feed their army for a month.

At this moment, a soldier hurried into the tent, knelt down and said, "Your Majesty, we have discovered a large army of the imperial court ten miles outside Linxi Pass, and they are rapidly approaching Linxi Pass!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the generals around were all shocked. Duan Rui was so surprised that he stood up. There was no panic on his face, but excitement instead.

He asked loudly, "You little emperor, I didn't intend to attack you directly, but you sent troops to attack me. In this case, soldiers, let the little emperor in the palace suffer first, how about it!"

All the generals burst into laughter at once, but they were all just pretending. They were actually very nervous. After all, although they were generals, they had not been fighting on the frontiers for many years and had never had the experience of a large-scale war. If a real war came, they would feel very guilty.

And these people were secretly cursing Duan Rui in their hearts, you don’t have to go to the battle, and you’re not the one to die, so of course you should be happy!

Of course, no one would show these emotions, and these generals looked brave and had no intention of fearing fighting, which made Duan Rui even more confident.

He asked directly: "How many troops did the court send to deal with me?"

The soldier who reported this immediately said, "I can see clearly that there are at least 10,000 Black Armored Soldiers, and they are carrying a lot of baggage. It doesn't look like food or fodder. I am short-sighted and can't tell what it is."

The whole audience fell into silence, and Duan Rui's face turned red, finally turning the color of liver.

Only ten thousand, and they are the Black Armor Army!

What does this little emperor mean? Is he humiliating him?

After a long while, Duan Rui was so angry that he slammed the table and shouted, "This is really too much!"

"Generals, follow me and lead the troops to kill all the 10,000 black armored soldiers of the imperial court to show my majesty!"

When they heard that King Ling of Han wanted to go into battle and kill the enemy, the generals immediately responded in unison: "I will obey your command!"

Then Duan Ruize personally went out of the tent on his war horse to select 50,000 soldiers from the army, and went straight out of Linxi Pass and headed straight for the imperial army.

Ten miles outside the West Gate, Xuanyuan Dabing was advancing in a hurry with his 10,000 Black Armored Army. He had been marching quickly these days and was about to arrive. He couldn't help but get excited when he thought about the war that was about to start.

My goodness, this is the first time I lead troops to fight a war. How should I command my subordinates?

As they got closer to Linxi Pass, Xuanyuan Dabing became more and more energetic, but at this moment, Wang Shu rode up on his horse and shouted bitterly: "General Xuanyuan, do you think we should stop and plan an attack first?"

"What plan?" Xuanyuan Dabing asked puzzledly.

Wang Shu's mouth twitched, and he said quickly: "King Han Ling is the most powerful rebel king in the western part of the Great Sun Dynasty. The number of his troops is dozens of times more than ours. We are only 10,000 people this time. If we want to deal with King Han Ling, we can only use our wits, not force!"

"Uh..." Xuanyuan Dabing's head became huge when he heard this.

"What do you mean by outsmarting? Isn't war just about firing the Japanese cannon at the enemy and then the enemy will raise their hands and surrender?"

"If you don't surrender, can't we just bomb you again?"

Xuanyuan Dabing expressed his incomprehension. He had fought many battles with the Emperor, including more than a dozen battles of varying sizes in the Mahayana Kingdom. Isn't this how they fought?

Unable to figure it out, Xuanyuan Dabing stopped thinking about it and asked, "Prime Minister, have you ever fought on the battlefield?"

Wang Shu was stunned when he heard this. This was indeed the first time for him to ride in a sedan chair during a military campaign, so he said frankly, "This is my first time!"

"Seeing the marching postures and majestic spirit of the Great Sun Dynasty soldiers, I felt a lot in my heart, and even wrote a poem to express my feelings."

"However, I have been well-read since I was young. Not only have I read the Four Books and Five Classics, but I also like to study the records of ancient wars and the military strategies recorded by major military gods and military saints. So although I have no actual combat experience, I think I am still above average in terms of troop deployment and military literacy."

Wang Shu spoke very logically and talked a lot, but Xuanyuan Dabing had no idea what he was saying and could not understand anything. He only understood one sentence, which was that Wang Shu had never fought in a war!

This made Xuanyuan Dabing feel very confident. He was an old general who had fought in more than a dozen battles. This guy had been talking for a long time and he was not even a novice!

He rode his horse to the side and stopped, and Wang Shu followed him. Xuanyuan Dabing patted his shoulder with his big hand and comforted him seriously: "Since the Prime Minister has never fought a war, he naturally doesn't understand the ins and outs of this. When I fought my first battle, I was also as nervous as you!

In fact, war is not that scary at all. Instead, it is extremely fun. When we meet King Ling of Han, Prime Minister, just stand aside and watch how I fight!

Then you will feel at ease!"

Immediately, Xuanyuan Dabing rode his horse to catch up with the troops, muttering, "Oh, these scholars are really troublesome. They talk too much."

Wang Shu quickly rode his horse and followed, but his mind was still confused. This Xuanyuan Pancake was extremely confident, and his words were very perfect, but why did he always feel vaguely uneasy in his heart?

Forget it, forget it. I am just following the army and I am not the military advisor of the army. Maybe I really don’t understand much about fighting.

It would be better to leave the command of the march to General Xuanyuan, who is trusted by His Majesty the Emperor. Perhaps I am really overthinking it.

But at this moment, strange noises came from all directions, and it seemed that shouts and screams were approaching.