——
Three days later.
Early morning, Tongwei City.
Commander's Office.
Jin Li sat upright in his chair, fiddling with the jade thumb ring in his hand, while looking at Fang Cheng below the stage and saying:
“Fangcheng, three days ago, you asked me to transfer some more troops to you. I have already started to do it, but as you know, those commanders are quite shrewd and are not very willing to hand over their personal guards.”
"I had to beg and plead with them to finally get them to send out their troops. I was so tired from talking that my mouth was practically dry. It wasn't easy."
Fang Cheng, sitting below the stage, tensed up and immediately bowed, saying:
"This humble general understands! With such help from you, sir, I will certainly serve you with utmost loyalty and dedication from now on! I, Fang Cheng, will do my utmost to carry out any task you assign me!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Jin Li narrowed his eyes slightly and chuckled, saying, "It's good that you know."
"By the way, I have received news from the court that His Majesty has sent the Southern Barbarian army to attack Northern Liang."
"And do you understand what this means?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Fang Cheng's heart sank.
Your Majesty is ordering the Southern Barbarian army to attack Northern Liang. Doesn't that mean that I am also going to attack Northern Liang?
In that instant, Fang Cheng felt as if he had fallen into an ice cave.
A face that was originally rosy began to turn pale to the naked eye.
Jin Li squinted, keenly noticing Fang Cheng's expression, and then chuckled softly:
"What? Hearing that the Southern Barbarian army is coming, you probably don't want to attack Northern Liang anymore?"
"Even if the Southern Barbarian army is coming, it will take them quite some time. What does your invasion of Northern Liang before that have to do with them?"
"Just keep fighting. If the pass of Beiliang is breached, that's a merit, and you'll gain some fame, won't you?"
Do you understand?
After he finished speaking, Fang Cheng's eyes lit up, and he understood Jin Li's implication.
He immediately replied, "Yes, sir! This subordinate understands!"
Jin Li pressed his jade thumb ring and smiled faintly, saying:
“Now, we have raised another 20,000 troops for you in the city. Any more will have to be borrowed from further away. But if we mobilize troops at this time, it will also cause controversy.”
"Adding those to the previous ones, that makes a total of 90,000 people. Are you confident?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Fang Cheng immediately replied, "Yes! I'm confident!"
"I, Fangcheng, will forever remember your kindness in helping me at this time!"
"With these 90,000 men here, I can grind down those Northern Liang defenders to death!"
At this point, Fang Cheng's expression turned solemn.
He knew that although he had recruited 20,000 new men, and these 20,000 men were stronger, the garrison from Beiliang was no weakling either.
I knew from our last battle with them that they were quite strong.
but--
Even so, as long as we fight slowly and take advantage of our superior numbers, we can send out a portion of our troops to lure the enemy out. If they dare to come out, we can wear them down!
Once we conquer Northern Liang, our future will be limitless!
Even if it comes at a great cost, it doesn't matter!
"The sky is clear and blue today; it's a rare and beautiful day!" Jin Li remarked.
"My lord! There's no time like the present! With troops at our command, I'll go to Beiliang today to challenge them to battle!"
Fang Cheng said in a deep voice.
——
It was midday.
In a teahouse in Tongwei City.
Two scholars dressed in plain clothes were chatting idly.
The scholar wearing a turban picked up his teacup, took a sip of the bland tea, and frowned deeply on his thin face. He looked at the man opposite him and said:
"Did you see them this morning? They've set off out of the city in a grand procession again."
The scholar opposite him removed his turban, shook off the bits of grass from it, and without looking up, casually said:
"How come I didn't see him? He was shouting first thing in the morning. That Commander Fang is so arrogant."
"Last time I went to the Beiliang Pass, I fled back in a sorry state, but these past few days, I've managed to rebuild it. What a spirit! Haha."
As soon as he finished speaking, the thin scholar whispered, "Muzhi, you can't say such things. If someone hears you, you might get a beating."
The scholar, addressed as Mu Zhi, finally raised his head. His face was sallow, and wrinkles lined the corners of his eyes. He glanced at the teahouse, then quietly pointed to a table in the corner and chuckled softly:
"There are only two strangers. They don't look familiar and aren't from the Commander's Office, so it's fine for them to listen."
At this point, he chuckled self-deprecatingly: "The people from the Commander's Mansion wouldn't come to such a filthy teahouse, would they? This is a place for people like us; they wouldn't come here."
"Right now, they're preoccupied with attacking Beiliang, so they have no time to come here. What harm is there in me, Liu Muzhi, saying a few words?"
The thin scholar frowned more and more deeply. "We still need to be careful, lest we give them something to say."
Liu Muzhi had already shaken off the straw from his turban, but he noticed that it had a hole in it, which made him feel a pang of heartache. As he fiddled with the turban, he casually remarked:
"It doesn't matter, I'm just a worthless life anyway."
"I've given up my official post and now I just farm every day. Why am I being whipped for saying a few words?"
The thin scholar remained silent for a long while before finally speaking: "Do you think they can conquer Beiliang this time?"
Liu Muzhi was carefully folding his turban at the moment. Hearing his question, he chuckled and said:
"To recapture Northern Liang and achieve unparalleled feats? Ha! That's just a mirage."
"He can see it, but he can't touch it."
The thin scholar knew that he was used to speaking wildly, and since resigning from his official post he had become even more unrestrained, so he stopped trying to persuade him and nodded.
Liu Muzhi tucked the folded turban into his robes, picked up his teacup, took a sip, and after setting it down, continued:
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