Converging north of the Huai River

Chapter 92: Taking over the area north of the Huai River

These major moves in the north were naturally known to the court ministers who had already moved to Jianye.

The development of the matter was completely out of the control of the Third Prince.

"Father, this is a denunciation of the King of Zhenbei. Please affix your seal to it."

The Third Prince took the written manifesto and presented it to the Emperor for his seal. Given the current situation, he could have taken the Imperial Seal directly, but to legitimately take over the throne, he had to show some respect.

The emperor sat on the dragon throne, motionless, as if there was a ball of air in front of him.

"Father, I have stamped the seal myself."

The third prince was not angry. After paying his respects, he personally took out the jade seal on the imperial desk and stamped it forcefully on the edict.

Then he put away the manifesto, turned around and left the imperial study.

The emperor issued a manifesto denouncing the King of Zhenbei, which quickly spread throughout Daxia. The manifesto called the King of Zhenbei a traitor who took advantage of the Mongolian attack on Daxia and, after repelling the attack, did not withdraw his troops but instead led them into Fengjing.

The King of Zhenbei spread the evidence of the Third Prince's crimes in Fengjing like crazy. This was slander in itself, just to wash away the fact that the King of Zhenbei had rebelled.

Chu Huaibei smiled.

"The emperor has fallen into the hands of the third prince."

"It can be considered an alternative form of teaching by example."

Sun Mingsi followed up with a sentence, feeling that it was a perfect continuation of the tradition and very wonderful.

"In that case, I originally wanted to take it easy, so don't blame me for being rude."

"Huzhi, you stay in the northern border and find more people who can take up the post of governor. I will go and conquer the land north of the Huai River."

"Okay, go ahead. I'll have Jin Yi make the contact. By the way, this letter is for you. Take it personally to Yuan Bowen, the military inspector who came earlier. This man is trustworthy; he's actually a disciple of my grandfather."

Chu Huaibei was so busy that he had long forgotten about this person, but this person was quiet and silent, and had no sense of existence at all.

Then it seems that his coming here was Hu Zhi's doing.

"Okay, I understand. I'll go to the Military Supervisor's Office tomorrow."

"Well, Huaibei, when are you planning to go on the expedition?"

"It'll just take a few days. We'll go to the military camp tomorrow to check on the troops. We need to settle things quickly. I need the people to catch up with the farming season in March and April. This is related to the military rations in the future."

"Okay, if the military rations are insufficient, take this warrant and go directly to the Jia's Grain Store in Youyun City to get more."

"Well, we Huzhi are very good at preparing for a rainy day."

Chu Huaibei also heard a few words about Jia's Grain Store from his mother. His mother praised the owner of the grain store as a capable person.

"I wouldn't call it impressive, but it took quite a while to get this much inventory."

Sun Ming thought about it and realized that it had taken four years from the preparation to the current scale.

Seeing him thinking about this problem seriously, Chu Huaibei thought he was so adorable.

"Bobobobo~"

Chu Huaibei held his face and drooled three times. Sun Mingsi didn't know why she was suddenly excited. She looked at him with a slightly puzzled look, and then raised her cheeks on her own initiative.

This made Chu Huaibei very happy, and he happily smeared saliva on his other cheek.

-

"Sir Yuan, I apologize for coming here uninvited."

"Zhenbei King, you are too kind. Whenever you come, I will open the bed to welcome you."

The two exchanged pleasantries, and Chu Huaibei took out the letter given by Hu Zhi from his arms and handed it to Yuan Bowen with both hands.

Yuan Bowen took it with both hands, opened the envelope in front of him and started reading.

The more he looked, the more surprised he became, but he had no doubts. The fact that he was a disciple of Minister Zhu was something that no one except him and his teacher should have known.

That was why he was able to serve as an official under the emperor safely and without being implicated.

There was no other possibility except what the teacher had said. He had stayed in the court to keep an eye on Prince Xian, the teacher's treasure.

Now that Prince Xian is in the northern border, it couldn't be better. The letter also mentioned two things that are not difficult to accomplish.

Yuan Bowen carefully folded the letter and put it close to his chest.

"Your Majesty, are you planning to hold the Spring Examination next year?"

"Yes, I am short of talents now."

"Very well, I will do my best. As for the Emperor's manifesto, don't worry. I will personally write a 'Petition to Punish Sun.'"

Ask him to write a manifesto, and he really loves it. He quotes from classics, makes extensive references, and curses people without using a single curse word. When he was young, he was scolded by his teachers several times for his sharp and harsh writing style.

As for preparing for the Spring Examination, it was the thing that the officials of the Ministry of Rites were most familiar with.

"Thank you, Lord Yuan. I will be leaving now. I will be sending troops to Jianye in the next few days to unify the area north of the Huai River."

Chu Huaibei made his words clear, and also meant to urge people to work quickly. Of course, it would be best to announce this manifesto to the world before she officially sent troops.

"Don't worry, Your Majesty. The manifesto will be delivered to you tomorrow."

Not to mention that the prince urged him, even if the prince didn't urge him, he would go into the study immediately after seeing everyone off.

"Thank you very much. Your Excellency, there is no need to see me off. I will take my leave now."

"Goodbye, Your Majesty. I won't see you off."

Chu Huaibei nodded, turned around and took Qin Feng back to the barracks. Xue Zhan was already counting the troops.

Chu Huaibei recently recruited another 10,000 soldiers, bringing the Zhenbei Army to 150,000. It wasn't that he didn't want to immediately fill it to 200,000, but the Northern Territory simply didn't have that many men.

It won’t be too late to recruit soldiers after we have taken control of the area north of the Huai River.

Sure enough, the next morning I received the manifesto written by Yuan Bowen. Don’t say it, ancient intellectuals were really dirty when they cursed people. They said they were cursing the third prince, but in fact they cursed the emperor as well.

Chu Huaibei shouted "six six six"!

He couldn't wait to have more people copy the manifesto and spread it throughout the northern border and Fengjing.

If the news reached Jianye, it would be best if it could piss off the Third Prince and the Emperor to death, thus saving them from a war. Cao Cao was so enraged after reading the immortal "Exhortation to Punish Cao Cao" that his headache was cured.

Now, the area sandwiched between Fengjing and Jianye has begun to show signs of chaos. The bankers took the opportunity to transport a lot of saltpeter, and Longzhou also transported enough sulfur.

The workshop worked overtime and had already assembled nearly two hundred thunder bombs. If the production of iron cans hadn't kept up, they could have assembled even more.

Five days later, Chu Huaibei still left Jin Hongye to guard the northern border, and he took Xue Zhan and Qin Feng with an army of 70,000 and headed straight for Jianye.

The emperor originally secretly recalled the Marquis of Zhennan, hoping to take the opportunity to control the third prince, but the Marquis of Zhennan had already defected to the third prince and turned around and betrayed the emperor.

Without the Third Prince's support, the sugarcane fields controlled by the several aristocratic families in Southern Xinjiang could not possibly monopolize Daxia's brown sugar industry. After all, everyone knew that it was lucrative.

The Marquis of Zhennan got a share of the profits.

The Marquis of Zhennan was recalled by the Third Prince, as the commotion in the northern border was so great that it was impossible to conceal it from the public.

Fifteen days later

The two armies confronted each other in Ancheng in the middle section of the Huai River.

The Marquis of Zhennan led an army of 100,000.

The Third Prince wanted to take advantage of the shortage of troops in the North and use numbers to suppress the enemy and perhaps even launch a counterattack in the North to put down the civil unrest in one fell swoop.

Ancheng has always been a battleground for military strategists, and its city walls are higher and thicker than other places.

Marquis Zhennan was extremely confident about this battle.

Chu Huaibei let the army rest for a day and ordered the kerosene troops to install the pitching vehicles.

In order to facilitate the siege, Chu Huaibei asked craftsmen to make several large four-wheeled carts to place and fix the kerosene carts, making it a movable artillery platform.

Late at midnight

"Aim at the city gate and fire!"

Following Chu Huaibei's order, five catapults threw out thunder bombs at the same time.

"boom--"

Five consecutive explosions scared the people on the city wall out of their wits.

The earth was shaking and flames were shooting up into the sky. They had never seen such a scene before.

Under the continuous and unreserved throwing of thunder bombs, most of the city wall was blown up. The soldiers on the city wall had long since disobeyed military orders and took advantage of the chaos to run down.

They didn't even have time to shoot a few arrows.

"The Zhenbei Army will follow me and charge in!"

"kill!"

······

The Zhennan Army, which gave up resistance, was far inferior to the Mongolian army.

The Zhenbei Army was like a tiger among a flock of chickens, and the Zhennan Army was defeated step by step.

The sky in the east began to turn pale, and the deputy general of the Zhennan Army ordered a retreat while resisting.

The Marquis of Zhennan got separated from him in the chaos last night, and now he can't care about so many things. He must retreat first to preserve his troops.

The remaining soldiers quickly boarded small boats and rafts to cross the river.

Chu Huaibei wanted to chase after them. There were still many rafts available on the shore, but it was obvious that only a few people could swim. She had learned this in her previous life.

Very good, a landlubber can’t go into the water...

"Forget it, let's go back and take stock of the battlefield."

Xue Zhan and Qin Feng breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, the prince did not insist, otherwise they would have to go up anyway.

Chu Huaibei turned around and walked back first. With all this incident, it seemed that shipbuilding needed to be put on the agenda.

"Reporting to the prince, in this battle, the Zhenbei Army suffered 2,000 casualties, 8,000 serious injuries, and the number of minor injuries is not counted. The Zhennan Army suffered over 30,000 casualties, 13,000 prisoners, and the Marquis of Zhennan was killed."

"Oh, the Marquis of Zhennan is dead. This is unexpected. Isn't he always very careful about his life?"

Chu Huaibei was a little surprised by this.

"I've examined the wound and the fatal spot is the iron fragments from the thunder bomb explosion. He must have happened to be standing nearby."

Xue Zhan made a reasonable guess based on the condition of the wound.

"So, it's possible."

"Xue Zhan, you will take 20,000 men and stay behind to clean up the battlefield. Then, take the seriously injured soldiers back to the northern border for treatment, and send the prisoners to the fortification camp."

"Qin Feng, come with me to take over the area north of the Huai River."

"Yes, I will obey your orders."

-

Xu Cong, the deputy general of the Marquis of Zhennan, hurried back to Jianye with more than 50,000 people.

"Third Prince, I was incompetent and failed to protect the Marquis of Zhennan. The Marquis has already sacrificed himself!"

"What!"

The third prince waited for so many days, and finally received the news that the Marquis of Zhennan was killed and the Zhennan Army was defeated.

"Didn't they send a message saying that the Zhenbei Army only had 70,000 soldiers? You have a full 100,000! And it's a city defense battle, so why are there so many casualties?"

The Third Prince was able to restrain himself from cursing the good-for-nothing at that moment, thanks to the disguised upbringing that had been ingrained in his bones over the years.

"Your Highness, the Northern Guard has a magical weapon that can blow down city walls. The city gates are as fragile as paper before it. If it falls into a crowd, it can kill a large number of people."

Deputy General Xu still feels a lingering fear when he talks about it now.

The Third Prince's heart sank when he saw that the fear on his face was not a disguise.

"If you are so powerful, why did you come back?"

"My Lord, after the King of Zhenbei blasted open the city gate and destroyed the city wall, he never used this artifact again. I suspect there aren't many of them. When I led the remaining troops across the river, the King of Zhenbei didn't catch up on the raft."

Xu Cong told the Third Prince everything he saw and thought without reservation. Now that the Marquis of Zhennan had died in battle, he would most likely be promoted, and the Third Prince would be his master in the future.

After hearing this, the third prince paced back and forth.

It took a long time before someone got up and went back to bandage the wound.

The situation of the war quickly spread among the ministers. Even though no one talked about it publicly, the discussion behind the scenes never stopped.

Of course, the emperor also knew about the battle situation, but at this time he was already sick in bed. The imperial physician said that he had caught a cold and needed to rest.

The Third Prince did not respond to Chu Huaibei's actions to gather several prefectures and states north of the Huai River.