Chapter 157
Ruyin, Xuzhou
Prince Ruyin, who had just come down from the battlefield, was a little tired. The shortcomings of the culprit appeared. Compared with the ease of the other two places, the court was under heavy fire here, and it was also difficult to fight.
When he returned to the mansion, he picked up the official newspaper and saw a piece of big news: "Zhu Fugui has surrendered to Xing Changfeng?" Zhu Fugui was too soft-hearted, wasn't he? Xing Changfeng hadn't done anything to him yet, and he surrendered?
Sima Xian nodded. Xing Changfeng had the advantage of location, so it was only a matter of time before Marshal Zhu surrendered.
"You said he has at least 70,000 or 80,000 soldiers and horses, why didn't he join us in declaring himself king? He actually surrendered to Xing Changfeng, which is too useless!" King Ruyin said with a look of disappointment.
Thinking that Zhu Fugui surrendered with 70,000 to 80,000 soldiers and horses, Prince Ruyin was really envious.
Since the uprising, their territory and army have expanded rapidly. Currently, they have 500,000 troops and the entire Xuzhou has become their territory. Unexpectedly, the expansion in the northeast is also not slow!
Besides being envious, he couldn't help but let his imagination run wild. He asked his advisor Sima Xian, "Do you think that if we had sent people to Yichun to persuade Zhu Fugui, would he have been willing to submit to me?"
Sima Xian shook his head. Xing Changfeng, Yao Chunnuan, and the others considered Marshal Zhu their personal treasure, and there was no way they would let Ruyin get their hands on him. It would be very difficult to snatch food from their clutches.
Sima Xian had already seen from the forced uprising that the enemy was vindictive. If they dared to raise a hand against Marshal Zhu, he would surely strike back without mercy, possibly even using some tactics to make their struggle with the imperial court more difficult. Currently, they were at a stalemate with the imperial forces, with neither side clearly gaining the upper hand. It was best to avoid further trouble at this point. Most importantly, it was not yet time for the three factions to engage in a confrontation.
If Zhu Fugui does this, the situation in the northeast will probably change again. Thinking of this, Prince Ruyin could no longer sit still.
"Bring the map!" King Ruyin gave an order, and his guards brought the enlarged map to him.
Prince Ruyin's gaze immediately fell on the northeast. After a moment's hesitation, he came to a conclusion, "Xing Changfeng's territory is growing larger and larger. It won't be long before he makes a move on Songhua Prefecture."
Sima Xian waved his fan and did not object to the conclusion reached by Prince Ruyin. Anyone who understood military affairs could see at a glance the importance of Songhua Prefecture to Xing Changfeng and others.
Xing Changfeng originally controlled three-quarters of Yichun's territory, bordering Songhua Prefecture to the east. His subsequent capture of Huining County effectively added another piece to Songhua Prefecture's south. With Zhu Fugui's surrender, he added another piece to Songhua Prefecture's north. From a map, Songhua Prefecture seemed to be half-embraced by Xing Changfeng's territory. With the capture of Songhua Prefecture, all of Xing Changfeng's territory was now connected into one vast expanse. How important was that?
Now, except for the east, Songhua Prefecture is bordered by Xing Changfeng's territory on the other three sides, and the enemy can send troops from any direction. Songhua Prefecture can be said to be Xing Changfeng's favorite.
Prince Ruyin frowned and said, "Zhu Fugui is such a bad guy!" Once he surrendered, Xing Changfeng's strength increased, and the speed of his secession also increased.
"Do you want to make things difficult for Xing Changfeng?" Xing Changfeng's success in conquering territory was so smooth that it made people jealous.
"Don't do that!" Sima Xian said. As the saying goes, those who mess with others will always be messed with. Xing Changfeng and the others were not weaklings. If they messed with the other party once, they would get messed with back the next day. Could they bear it?
Although the three factions were currently out of touch, they all shared a tacit understanding: to seize territory and plunder Daliang's territory. Now was truly not the time for these three factions to engage in a fight. If they did, the Crown Prince would likely die of laughter.
"Not only should we not trip them up, but if we can, we should also show some kindness to them."
"Why is this?" asked King Ruyin.
Sima Xian reminded him, "My Lord, you forgot that we are running low on salt."
"No, what does tripping up Xing Changfeng have to do with the salt issue?"
The Crown Prince's restrictions on salt and iron production in Xuzhou, Ningzhou, and Youzhou had a significant impact on Xuzhou, and from the very beginning, he had been troubled by the problem. He had approached several private salt merchants and obtained some salt, but he was most interested in finding the owner of the private salt field that produced iodized premium salt. Although the owner had only made one move, his shipments were large, and if he could find him, he had a hunch that he could solve Xuzhou's salt problem. Furthermore, he seemed to have some clues, though they were not yet confirmed. Even if he was not, he was unwilling to offend his master.
Sima Xian informed his lord of his discovery. After listening to it, the King of Ruyin remained silent for a long time.
Beijing, Imperial Palace
The Crown Prince also received the 800-mile express message sent back from Ganhua City. He was so angry that he slammed the table and said, "You Zhu Fugui! You actually bowed down to Xing Changfeng?! Do you really think you will die alone and that Daliang does not exist?!"
In the meeting room, all the waiters dared not utter a word. They quietly withdrew at the signal of the Huai'an chief steward.
Seeing the prince's pale face, Huai'an said quickly, "Prince, take care of yourself, don't get angry and hurt yourself." The imperial physician said that the prince's body must not be affected by anger or grief.
The prince took a few deep breaths to ease the pain in his heart, telling himself not to get angry. With the help of his confidant, he drank two sips of ginseng tea before he felt his heart ease.
The prince couldn't help but curse at this easing, "I saw he was a worthless person back in Yichun! Sure enough, I guessed it right!"
"The prince has a keen eye."
"The situation in Yichun has changed. Call all the ministers to discuss the matter!" The prince, who had calmed down, gave the order.
After giving the order, the prince looked at the urgent report with a gloomy expression, "Very good, now each of them has become powerful." He had long seen that Xing Changfeng, Yao Chunnuan and others were a big trouble, but it was a pity that before he could free up his hands, the other party became powerful.
Not long after, the guards reported to the prince that all the ministers had arrived at the conference hall.
The prince didn't waste any words. He went to the conference hall and announced the news he had received.
When the ministers heard the news that Marshal Zhu had surrendered, they were furious.
"What? Marshal Zhu actually surrendered to Xing Changfeng?" He surrendered voluntarily.
"Prince, send the troops to destroy him! You're receiving a salary from the imperial court, yet you lead 70,000 to 80,000 imperial troops to surrender to a thief! Damn it!"
"Prince, Songhua Prefecture is in danger."
"Prince, send more troops! Yichun needs more troops, and Songhua Prefecture also needs more troops."
He was able to see the problems in Songhua Prefecture, so he was quite intelligent. However, those who were summoned by the Crown Prince to discuss matters were not empty-headed people. After the Crown Prince had angered several people, those useless people who saw something and dared not show their heads.
The prince said, "More troops? Okay, the map is right here. It also shows all of Daliang's current military strength. Take a good look at it. Where can we draw troops from to support Yichun and Songhua Prefecture?"
The ministers immediately scanned the map, calculating the troops in various places, wondering where they could withdraw troops to support and slow down the support for Songhua Prefecture. However, after looking around, they finally found that Daliang really couldn't spare many troops.
The Crown Prince observed the changing expressions of his ministers. He had considered this question long before, and the conclusion was likely similar. The battlefield in Xuzhou was at a critical juncture; troops could not be withdrawn from there. Furthermore, the troops sent to Nan'an to quell the rebellion were already small, so they could not be withdrawn from there either. Qiannan was steadily winning, but Wang Lang had said that there were no more troops to spare. No one knew whether forcibly withdrawing some of the troops would alter the current favorable situation.
Facing the silent ministers, the Crown Prince said, "Tell us, do you have any ideas? Even if we can't just immediately resolve the problems like Xing Changfeng, you can still talk about methods that can inflict damage or harm them, or that can stop their expansion."
The ministers looked at each other in bewilderment. They couldn't mobilize any reinforcements at all. What else could they do?
"Your Highness, Marshal Zhu is still fighting Di Luo. They are at their weakest right now. If we can get more troops, we can take this opportunity to attack Yichun. This will allow them to focus on one thing and lose another."
Some ministers were in an uproar. "Prince, no, absolutely no! Attacking Yichun at this time would be untenable for our righteous cause!" The rebels were fighting against the foreign invaders, and their Daliang regular army was attacking Yichun at this time. Isn't this taking advantage of the situation? It would cause an uproar among the people and lose their support!
The prince pondered for a moment and said, "Lord Gong, please be patient. General Zhao's previous statement about attacking Yichun has a prerequisite, which is that we can successfully increase our troops. Otherwise, with the 80,000 troops currently led by General Gan, if we cannot capture Yichun in one fell swoop, the consequences you mentioned will indeed be a rebellion."
At this time, a minister stepped forward and said, "Your Highness, can we mobilize troops from the northwest? The Huo family army in the northwest has been fighting against the Western Rong for too long. In the past, they would have been repelled by the Western Rong long ago. I seriously suspect that the Huo family is not putting in enough effort!"
After the minister finished speaking, someone echoed him.
"That's true. The Huo family's fight against Xirong took quite a while this time."
"Yes, not to mention that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince specially replaced them with a new batch of weapons a while ago. It's not like the Huo family to maintain a stalemate for so long."
"Xing Changfeng and the Huo family had previously discussed a marriage, but it ended in nothing. The Huo family is taking such a long time to deal with the Western Rong. Could it be that they don't want to confront the Xing family's army?"
Speculations emerged one after another.
The Crown Prince's face was gloomy. He had recently been thinking about how to handle the relationship with the Huo family. Before Xing Changfeng's rebellion, the two families had indeed discussed the marriage and had already reached the stage of welcoming the bride. To this day, neither family had clearly stated that they would dissolve the marriage relationship.
How to deal with the Huo family was a difficult matter, and the Crown Prince was in a dilemma. He couldn't take it lightly or seriously, and ignoring it was even worse. If he didn't handle it well, the Huo family would most likely turn against him.
He was considering arranging a marriage for the Huo family, choosing a cousin from among the clan members to marry, and then tying the Huo family to the royal family, and then stabilizing the Huo family first.
After careful consideration, the Crown Prince said, "We can dispatch troops from the northwest, but not the Huo family army, but the Wei family army." In the northwest, besides the Huo family army, the only remaining force was the Wei family army, which the Third Prince had previously dispatched. This force, numbering over 30,000, was less useful than the Huo family army, but it would be perfect as cannon fodder and vanguard troops to attack Ruyin.
After transferring part of the Wei family's troops, he issued an order to grant the Huo family a marriage, and then appeased them, which should be able to stabilize the Huo family's army. If the Huo family had any ulterior motives, leaving the Wei family's troops in the northwest would be a tactical threat to them.
When Minister Gong heard this, he became anxious. This was the rhythm of what he had been worried about happening. "Your Highness the Crown Prince..."
The Crown Prince raised his hand to stop the other party from speaking. "My dear Gong, there is no need to say more. These 30,000 Wei family troops are not being transferred to Yichun, but to Ruyin! As for Yichun, I intend to issue an edict to Xing Changfeng and others to surrender. As long as they submit to Daliang, I will forgive their past and, in recognition of his meritorious service in fighting the Northern Di, I will make him the King of Zhenbei, grant him Yichun as his fiefdom, and even arrange a marriage between him and the Huo family! If they refuse, then I cannot blame them. The whole world is at my disposal."
The Crown Prince made a ruthless decision. If Xing Changfeng could be persuaded to surrender, it would be a small sacrifice to avoid a greater disaster. If Xing Changfeng refused to surrender, this move would also be a way to defeat him, making it impossible for him to stand for the greater good. All the troops were betting on General Fan Ye, hoping that he could eliminate the main culprit, the Prince of Ruyin, in one fell swoop. If all went well, only the Prince of Annan would remain, but he would undoubtedly be unable to carry the charge alone.
The prince's decision was indeed bold and decisive.
The minister surnamed Gong opened his mouth but had nothing to say.
With the surrender decree, their court stood on the side of justice, on the moral high ground. Even if Xing Changfeng and his men were fighting against the Northern Di, so what? If you surrender, everything will be fine. Then the war in the Northeast will be stopped. If you don't surrender, I will take advantage of your life-or-death struggle with the Di Luo tribe to attack you. Don't say I didn't warn you!
The prince finally smiled a little. After all, it was just an order and a few words. No matter what choice the other party made, he would win.
The Crown Prince's plan to arrange marriage between the Huo family and the emperor's sister was still under discussion when Yao Chunnuan received the news. At the same time, there was also news that the Crown Prince wanted to enthrone Xing Changfeng as the King of Zhenbei and grant Yichun as his fiefdom.
Upon receiving the news, she immediately ordered a box of gold to be taken from the treasury and sent to the capital. Ever since establishing contact with the Third Prince's aide, Yan Zaichun, Yichun would always send gifts during festivals, regardless of whether he had done anything or sent any messages. This good relationship proved to be very useful.
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