Luojing, Imperial Palace.

"He actually dared to issue a manifesto?!"

The impassioned manifesto was copied in its entirety and submitted along with the letter to the emperor of Great Chu. Wei Xian read it hastily and became furious.

"Does he know what a ruler is? What a father is? What filial piety and loyalty are?!"

If the king wants his subject to die, the subject is disloyal if he does not die; if the father wants his son to die, the son is unfilial if he does not die. What is father and son? What is the relationship between ruler and subject?

Wei Xian tore the letter to pieces, furious: "How dare such a disloyal and unfilial person publish a letter to spread it to the world?!"

What made him most angry was that, once this manifesto was released, it shocked the whole world, and there were so many people who sympathized with it, agreed with it, or even expressed indignation at it, that it even overshadowed the voices accusing the traitor king.

Among the common people of his Great Chu Dynasty, there were actually so many who were willing to rebel against the king and survived!

Wei Xian gasped heavily and swept all the papers and memorials on the imperial desk to the ground. Still not satisfied, he kicked the desk twice in anger.

The palace maids and eunuchs were silent. Qi Tian waited for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, I don't know why the rebellious king suddenly issued a manifesto. The strategy we discussed before can no longer be used."

His face didn't look much better either. Wei Jing's sudden announcement of the manifesto was beyond everyone's expectation. Did the news leak out?

But no matter what, the most urgent task is to formulate a new battle strategy.

Before this, the king and his ministers discussed day and night and finally came up with the best solution for the current situation.

Just as Wei Jing guessed, he really used Zhenquan Army and Prince Ji first, letting them attack Pingyang County first to consume Wei Jing's strength. Immediately afterwards, the emperor issued an order to encircle and suppress "Yang Ze".

Yizhou is closed, and it will take a lot of time to replenish soldiers and armaments. Wei Jing, who has just experienced great consumption, will have the greatest advantage if he fights hastily.

On the battlefield, it is never a matter of personal strength.

The court's chances of winning increased greatly.

Unfortunately, Wei Jing's manifesto was issued very timely, and the Prince Ji and Zhenquan Army that were led to Pingyang County stopped immediately, and retreated instead of advancing. It was obvious that the two were in a posture of sitting on the mountain and watching the fight between tigers.

The crucial war of attrition could not be fought and all previous strategies had gone to waste.

Wei Xian's face was as gloomy as water. "Draft an edict. The traitor King Wei Jing has no respect for his king and father. He is disloyal and unfilial. Such a traitor should be executed. Summon all the princes and counties in the world, send troops to Pingyang, and kill the traitor king together!"

Killing the rebel king is what must be done.

The strategy of using Prince Ji and Zhenquan's army failed, so they had to settle for the next best option.

The princes and counties across the world all had their own little thoughts, and it was becoming increasingly difficult for the central government to control them. Wei Xian was naturally aware of this. But to say that they have completely lost control has not yet reached that point. Everyone still considers himself a minister of the Great Chu.

Since he was a minister of the Great Chu, Wei Jing was guilty of treason, which was a crime determined by the late emperor himself. Now that the emperor has issued a clear summons, all the princes must send out some troops, no more, no less.

The world is so big that the total number of people added together is not a small number.

In addition, Wei Xian had freed up 250,000 northern troops, together with the 180,000 that could be mobilized under Prince An.

"Six hundred thousand troops, to defeat the rebellious king!"

…

Prince Ji currently does not know the emperor's plan.

His mood now is somewhat complicated.

Wei Jing is not dead?

He was having lunch when he received the news. He was so shocked that his hand holding the bowl shook and the scalding soup immediately spilled all over him.

The heat made him jump up immediately, but he didn't care. He asked in shock while jumping, "What did you say? I didn't hear it clearly, say it again?!"

As it turned out, Prince Ji was not hallucinating.

It took him a whole cup of tea to read the manifesto. To be honest, he felt very complicated. He thought that his deceased legitimate brother was not dead and had occupied Yizhou.

The situation was actually somewhat unfavorable to him, because he raised his army in the name of his emperor father's dying will, to avenge his biological mother and brother, and to restore order.

Although Wei Jing's manifesto did not involve him, it clearly described the miserable and unfair experiences of his brothers, mother and son. It implicitly denounced the previous emperor and openly scolded the current emperor, which actually completely refuted Prince Ji's statement.

Naturally, the parties' statements are more convincing.

Prince Ji had no reason to rebel, and it was obvious that he rebelled because he coveted the throne.

To be honest, it was quite embarrassing, but strangely, after Prince Ji was shocked, he felt a sense of relief.

"Hahahaha, is Wei Xian scared to death?"

Prince Ji was gloating over the emperor's misfortune, and repeatedly ordered secret agents in the palace to carefully listen to the emperor and the empress dowager's reactions and report to him.

In addition to gloating over the misfortune, he immediately stopped the army from advancing westward and reached a tacit ceasefire with the Zhenquan Army. Both sides retreated instead of advancing, vacating the battlefield and preparing to watch the battle from the rear.

Chu Zhu had a different opinion on this: "Your Highness, no matter what the King of Qi said, he came here to seize the world. This man is very good at military affairs. If we keep him, he will become a great trouble in the future!"

"Your Highness, we are facing a powerful enemy. We can put aside our past grudges with the imperial court and work together to kill the rebellious king first, and then make plans for the future."

Chu Zhu urged Prince Ji to take action and work with the court to annihilate Wei Jing. Yang Shu had a completely opposite opinion on this.

"Mr. Chu is wrong. Our greatest enemy is the imperial court and the emperor. Even if the enemy of our greatest enemy is not our friend, he can still be of benefit to us."

Yang Shu looked solemn, and said with a folded hand: "Your Highness, when two tigers fight, both will be hurt. It will be of great benefit to us to sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight."

Since the war broke out, Yang Shu has repeatedly offered good advice and has been increasingly valued by Prince Ji. Now his status is second only to Chu Zhu, and the two of them are also fighting openly and secretly. Chu Zhu was furious when he saw Yang Shu refute his suggestion thoroughly as soon as he opened his mouth.

"Yang Shu, are you selfish?"

Chu Zhu snorted coldly: "Yang Shu, your cousin is the Princess of Qi. I heard that the King of Qi loves the Princess very much. Humph, I guess you have more than one place to go."

This questioning was clear and humiliating. Yang Shu's jade-white face flushed red with anger. "Chu Zhu! How dare you speak nonsense and slander me?!"

He suddenly turned to Prince Ji and said, "Your Highness, I was down and out in the past, but I was favored by Your Highness. I will never be able to repay your kindness. It is true that the Princess of Qi is my aunt's cousin, but I have never contacted her again, and I have no other intentions towards Your Highness!"

Chu Zhu was about to refute the words with a cold snort, but he saw Prince Ji had stood up and personally helped Yang Shu up: "Ziming's loyalty is something I have never doubted."

He looked at Chu Zhu again and said, "Mr. Chu, you must never say such words again in the future."

Prince Ji thought for a moment and said, "You two are speaking from the bottom of your hearts, which comforts me. However, after thinking about it, I still think it is better to sit back and watch the battle."

At this point in the rebellion, there is no turning back. Regardless of whether Wei Jing is dead or alive, Prince Ji's strategy will not change. After considering it, he maintained his original strategy of sitting on the mountain and watching the battle. He comforted Chu Zhu with a few words in a gentle manner and ordered everyone to disperse and not mention it again.

Chu Zhu glared at Yang Shu angrily and strode away.

When he entered his own room, his angry expression disappeared and his brows were furrowed.

He failed to complete the task assigned by his master. He saw that Prince Ji's expression had relaxed a little, and it was all because of that damn Yang Shu!

But the matter was done, and he had to send back the news of the mission failure as soon as possible.

…

Jingzhou, Liling.

"Yang Shu tried to stop it, Chu Zhu's persuasion failed, and Prince Ji just stood by and watched!"

After reading the secret report, Prince An's face turned gloomy.

Prince Ji was reckless and arrogant, and he trusted Chu Zhu. He had a chance to incite the people, but unfortunately he failed.

Wei Xu was not surprised by this: "This is not an easy matter."

It's none of his business, so why should Prince Ji get involved? In a major war, regardless of whether Wei Jing can be annihilated or not, the imperial court will certainly suffer losses. Wouldn't it be nice to reap the benefits while sitting back?

As long as Prince Ji is not terribly stupid, he will not get involved. The success rate of this matter is already low, so there is nothing to lament.

Prince An threw down the letter and said: "Why did the Prince of Qi issue a proclamation to the whole world out of the blue?"

It happened so timely that the best encirclement and suppression plan was aborted.

"Did the news leak out?"

He suspected that since there were so many people in Luojing and there were many eyes on the street, this was not impossible. Or was it that the Northern Army's reduction of its forces made Wei Jing notice something unusual?

If it was the latter, Wei Jing's extraordinary intelligence would make King An even more wary.

"The emperor's edict will be issued in the next two days. How many troops will you lead?"

Prince An was also one of the main forces in the encirclement and suppression of Prince Qi. A few days ago, he had received a secret letter from the emperor asking him to be the chief commander.

Prince An pursed his lips and said: "Except for the necessary garrisons, all other troops in the pass and city must leave!"

Like the emperor, killing Wei Jing is the most important thing for Prince Cai'an at the moment. No matter how many little thoughts he had in mind, he put them all away now and killed Wei Jing first.

Wei Xu calculated in his mind: "Then it will be about 180,000 soldiers."

Now, Prince An has nearly 400,000 soldiers under his command. Unfortunately, in the previous battle of Pingyang, nearly 90,000 people were killed. Jingzhou is a vast territory, and about 100,000 soldiers need to be left to guard each place. In this case, the number of soldiers being assembled is about 180,000 to 200,000.

Prince An's eyes darkened: "Send the order, prepare for battle immediately!"

…

On March 21, five days after Wei Jing issued the manifesto, the Emperor of Great Chu denounced the rebellious king in the Luojing Palace for his disloyalty and unfilial behavior and his obvious ambition. Then, he issued an edict to all the princes, states and counties in the world to send troops to attack the rebellious king.

The imperial edict announced to the world, and as expected, as ministers of the Great Chu, even if all places were unwilling to get involved in the muddy water, they had to respond to the imperial edict and gather some soldiers and generals.

Gradually, 180,000 troops of princes were gathered.

It was a little better than Wei Xian expected.

In addition to the Northern Army that was confronting the army of Prince Ji Zhenquan, there were also garrisons everywhere. Wei Xian tried his best to mobilize a total of 250,000 elite Northern Army.

There is also King An's army of 190,000.

They came in a mighty force towards Pingyang County in Jingzhou.

…

"Ah Qing, the Emperor of Luojing has issued an edict to gather 600,000 soldiers and horses and march south to Yuzhou to attack us."

In the middle of the night, there was an urgent report. Wei Jing put on his clothes and went out. After a while, he came back and said this to his wife who was sitting up with the quilt.

His tone was calm, but Shao Qing was startled.

It’s finally here!

Wei Jing's position has been rising steadily in the past few years, and training more soldiers has always been a top priority. He now has nearly 400,000 soldiers under his command.

Yizhou was closed off and all the road entrances were blocked. Not many soldiers were needed to guard it, but for safety reasons, tens of thousands had to be left behind.

About 350,000 troops can be mobilized.

350,000 against 600,000, the difficulty of this battle can be imagined. Even though he was mentally prepared, Shao Qing still broke out in cold sweat on his palms at this moment.

Her breathing was rapid.

"Ah Qing."

Wei Jing's voice remained calm. In the dim light, his deep eyes flashed with a fierce light that was determined to win.

"If I win this battle, Wei Xian will no longer be able to stop me."

The imperial court will no longer have the energy to encircle and suppress him a second time. The negative impression brought by his identity will be completely eliminated. He will have a firm foothold in the Central Plains and take a firm and powerful step towards revenge.

Break through the shackles and compete for the world.

…

After saying this, Wei Jing leaned over, accurately covered his wife's lips, kissed her hard, and whispered, "Ah Qing, I will have someone escort you back to Hanzhong tomorrow."