Chapter 208
Everyone was focused on the situation in Jiaozhou. A clash between the Yichun forces and the imperial court was inevitable, and the opportunity would come after the Jiaozhou conflict. This realization dawned on Yao Chunnuan after Xing Changfeng reappeared. He immediately ordered the army to rest and recuperate in Jizhou and Bingzhou, and also transferred a large number of personnel from Youzhou to begin post-war reconstruction and governance work in the two states.
There was a tacit understanding between the monarch and his subjects. Xing Changfeng was the first to understand Yao Chunnuan's intentions and guess her plans.
The Regent and the Prince of Ruyin came up with this idea after being reminded by their respective think tanks, but the new emperor understood it without the need for his ministers to remind him.
Once Jiaozhou is settled, Xing Changfeng will march north, and Yao Chunnuan's forces and the Huo family's army in Liangzhou will also mobilize. At that time, the three armies will surround Sili and march to the capital, where they will engage the imperial court in a decisive battle.
The imperial court no longer mentioned the issue of moving the capital. Yao Chunnuan was stationed in Jizhou with 100,000 soldiers, the Huo family army occupied Liangzhou, Xing Changfeng was in Jiaozhou in the south, and the King of Ruyin was in the east. Where else could they move to?
At this time, the minister who reported the news hurried over, "Your Majesty, Regent, good news! Yao Chunnuan from Yichun and the one from Xuzhou are fighting."
"Yao Chunnuan and King Ruyin? Impossible!"
"Royal brother, nothing is impossible. Yao Chunnuan is a vindictive woman. Prince Ruyin just stole two counties in Jizhou. It would be strange if she didn't retaliate."
"Yao Chunnuan is definitely not someone who doesn't have a sense of the overall situation. She must have some other purpose." The new emperor still insisted.
The Regent said nonchalantly, "Whatever her purpose is, it's probably targeting Prince Ruyin. Let that old thief deal with it on his own!"
The new emperor closed his eyes tiredly. His brother's words were true, and he really didn't have the energy to care about other people's affairs.
The 100,000-strong Youzhou army from Jizhou attacked Luwei and Xianlai counties with a measured and measured attack. Sima Xian sometimes felt that the enemy was using this battle as a training ground for new recruits. This tactic further confirmed his previous suspicion that her attack on Luwei and Xianlai counties was a feint to the east and attack in the west.
And their people indeed found traces of the Yichun cavalry in their spare granary in Xuzhou.
The heavy troops guarding the spare granary fought two or three fierce battles with the Yichun cavalry, and only with continuous reinforcements did they manage to repel the cavalry.
When the soldiers in Xuzhou were cleaning up the battlefield, they couldn't help but talk about this battle.
"Fortunately, our military advisor anticipated that the enemy would target our granary, and we were well prepared, which is why they returned empty-handed."
"If we weren't prepared at all, we would definitely be captured by these Yichun cavalrymen."
"The military advisor is wise."
A soldier said weakly, "Actually, the enemy is also very powerful. Our granary is very secretive. It is a backup granary. The enemy can find it with one touch."
"You think you know Yao Chunnuan, the second-in-command of Yichun City? She's incredibly powerful. It's said this plan was hers."
"Go away, everyone knows Yao Chunnuan."
The soldier who had just spoken raised his hand weakly, "I don't know, Brother Yang, can you tell me?"
At that moment, quite a few new recruits came over curiously.
The Ruyin King maintained strict control over his troops, keeping very little information from the outside world. Although Yao Chunnuan was renowned, he deliberately blocked information about her deeds and any information related to Yichun and Youzhou. But there were some things where the more you tried to stop them, the more curious others became.
This military leader surnamed Yang was obviously not someone who would be blocked. "Then let me tell you a little about her deeds. It is said that when she first arrived at the shogunate under General Xing, she was still unknown, but she immediately made a big move. Did Marshal Zhu know about it at the time? Before she surrendered, she had two or three secret vaults in her hands. No one knew about it except her confidants. But Yao Chunnuan used the data and information she collected to speculate the specific address of one of his secret vaults. Then General Xing took his personal soldiers, disguised as bandits, and went to rob the secret vault. So their calculations about our reserve granary were accurate."
The soldiers gasped when they heard this.
…
Kino led a whole team of cavalry elites on the return journey. This route had been determined before the expedition.
The cavalry elites below were all dejected. They had come out to work in such numbers, only to return empty-handed.
While drinking water and eating dry food, Mu Ye comforted the boy below, "Don't think too much. We have come this far. As long as we return safely, our mission is accomplished."
The soldiers were puzzled, but they didn't even get a bag of food.
Mu Ye didn't explain further. "That's what Lord Yao arranged. You've all rested, right? Then let's go back to Jizhou!"
In a valley somewhere in Qishan, there was a faint smell of blood in the air.
After a fierce battle that was both deliberate and unintentional, He Qing only left a few people to clean up the battlefield. He said they were cleaning up the battlefield, but in fact they were checking whether there were any Xuzhou soldiers present who were alive, and if there were any who slipped through the net, they would kill them directly.
The rest of the people worked as porters, as they didn't have much time left.
He Qing didn't expect that there was indeed a small gold mine here. It has been mined almost completely. All the gold has been refined into gold and then stored in a warehouse.
The soldiers' eyes lit up when they saw the boxes of glittering gold. They had never expected that this little job they were doing was actually moving gold! They loved this kind of little job!
Under emotional stimulation, these soldiers seemed to have taken a magic pill and worked very efficiently.
Soon, with the help of Brother Han and Han Jinan's caravan, He Qing's team successfully loaded all the gold in the warehouse into the truck.
"Let's go!" After loading the car, everyone set off without delay.
He Qingchong gave a wink to the deputy captain, who nodded and took the two men to stay and hide at the gate.
As the convoy gradually moved further away, a man suddenly emerged from inside. The deputy captain's blade struck, and the man's body was torn apart. This time, he was dead, deader than dead. The three of them waited for a long time, and after confirming that no one else had emerged, they looked at each other and decided to leave. They still had to catch up with the main force. This mine would be patrolled by King Ruyin's men every two hours. They didn't have much time; they had to get the gold onto their ship before the enemy patrols discovered them.
"Hurry up, there are only a few kilometers left." Everyone was sweating profusely from the rush of the journey. If they only went a few kilometers further, they would see the boat coming to pick them up.
"Wait, there's movement behind us!" One of the scouts felt something was wrong.
At He Qing's signal, the entire team stopped, and the scout immediately crawled to the ground with his ears pressed tightly against the ground.
After a while, the scouts confirmed that there were indeed pursuers behind them.
This situation was not unexpected. Two hours was too short after all. In addition, it took them some time to deal with the heavy troops left behind in the valley of Qishan.
He Qing gritted his teeth and said, "Xu Cong, you take this batch of gold and leave. I will stay with half of my brothers to cover our retreat!"
This batch of gold weighs about 20,000 kilograms. As long as they can bring this gold back, any sacrifice will be worth it.
Brother Han and Han Jinan were also decisive. After saying take care to He Qing, they led their men forward quickly.
Jizhou, inside the main tent of the legion camp
The messenger came hurriedly to report, "Master Yao, He Qing and the others are back."
"Really?" Yao Chunnuan stood up excitedly. "How is it?"
Yao Chunnuan deduced that the King of Ruyin had a gold mine based on the information he had collected, and combined it with the judgment of the geological experts who had previously accompanied the caravan before taking action.
The man smiled and said, "Mission successfully completed."
"Great!" She had been quite worried. They were deep inside enemy territory. Even with her strategy, which had distracted the attention of Prince Ruyin and his men, and even with Mu Yedai's horseback ride to the enemy's reserve granary as a smokescreen, Prince Ruyin of Qishan must have deployed a large force to guard it. Retrieving the gold would be difficult. Fortunately, everything went smoothly.
Yao Chunnuan went to meet He Qing and others in person, and brought 20,000 kilograms of gold, which was packed in wooden boxes or sacks and piled together.
Yao Chunnuan only took one look and praised He Qing and other soldiers who had returned from their mission. "You did an excellent job this time! It's very satisfying!"
The soldiers all straightened their backs, their tired faces filled with excitement.
Yao Chunnuan then said to the quartermaster beside him, "Thank you for the hard work of the personnel involved in this mission. Each of you will be awarded ten gold coins. In addition, they will be recorded as Class A merits!"
Upon hearing this, everyone present's eyes lit up.
Yao Chunnuan even patted the shoulders of He Qing and other injured soldiers, saying kindly, "Thank you for your hard work. From now on, take good care of your injuries and don't let them cause any chronic illness."
He Qing nodded repeatedly. He had been injured a bit this time, but he felt it was all worth it and lucky. Because there were not many pursuers, they fought and retreated, and finally, with the help of the navy, they defeated the pursuers.
Next, the gold was moved into a heavily guarded warehouse. After all, 200,000 kilograms of gold was worth 2,000,000 taels of silver.
Moreover, this batch of gold will be of great use to her.
Surrounding the capital with three armies was indeed her original plan.
But since she was hesitating in her heart whether to implement the plan ahead of time, she specially visited the villages in the Central Plains. The situation in the villages was very bad, with nine out of ten houses empty, which was shocking.
The population in ancient times was originally small. According to statistics from the past two days, the population of Daliang was around 50 million. However, due to natural disasters, man-made disasters, and constant wars in the past two years, the population of Daliang is estimated to be only around 40 million, and no more than 45 million.
The entire Daliang population is only about 40 million. This population density may seem acceptable to others, but to Yao Chunnuan, who has experienced the 1.3 billion population in the future, the current population is too small. Moreover, the ability to resist death, disease, and natural disasters is too weak.
Yao Chunnuan felt that if the war continued, at least several million more people would die, directly or indirectly. The ultimate result would be a devastating blow to the very foundations of China. If this land were left with only 30 million people, Yao Chunnuan couldn't imagine it. Therefore, it was best not to continue the war.
But the world wasn't unified, and with three factions fighting each other, the war was endless. What could be done? She could only implement the plan she had in mind. Then, with a two-pronged approach, she could conquer the enemy without fighting! This would be a perfect opportunity to show the Ruyin King and his bunch of unsophisticated people what a population war really is.
Xuzhou
The Prince of Ruyin had been in a good mood recently, for while they hadn't won their clash with the Yichun forces, they hadn't lost either. The current situation was faring much better than he had initially anticipated. This had given him unprecedented confidence in his bid to challenge Xing Changfeng for the throne of the world.
Now, after repelling the Yichun cavalry who wanted to lay their hands on their reserve granary, Prince Ruyin was discussing the next plan with his military advisor Sima Xian.
"Your Majesty, something bad has happened in Qishan."
Hearing the word Qishan, King Ruyin's heart skipped a beat. "What happened?"
The man gasped and said, "All the gold we left in Qishan that we didn't have time to transport away has been robbed."
"Everything was robbed? Not a single piece was left for me?" That was two hundred thousand taels of neatly stacked gold!
"Yes." The messenger said with a sad face, let alone a piece of gold, we didn't even have a penny left.
Prince Ruyin was so shocked by the news that he fell into his chair.
Sima Xian has been stunned since he heard the news.
When he came to his senses, he couldn't help but bang his head with his fan. They had underestimated the enemy. He should have thought of it earlier. He saw that the other party was trying to make a feint to the east and attack in the west, and at most, they would add a tactic of besieging Wei to save Zhao. Unexpectedly, there was also a tactic of pretending to repair the plank road while secretly crossing Chencang. Yao Chunnuan was using two strategies at the same time. Impressive. This time, he finally experienced Yao Chunnuan's strength.
Zhu Fugui had always been in charge of the rear, but when he heard that Yao Chunnuan had someone seize one of the Ruyin King's gold mines, he couldn't help but rush to Jizhou. If he were the Ruyin King, he would be furious right now, having his hard-earned fortune taken away by her. Oh, how could it be so satisfying to watch others suffer the same hardships he had endured?
When they arrived in Jizhou, General Zhu asked Yao Chunnuan how much gold he had taken from the King of Ruyin this time. Yao Chunnuan smiled but said nothing, giving him a look that said "you know what I mean."
Zhu Fugui really understood. Wow, it seems that the amount of gold is quite large.
Just as Zhu Fugui expected, Prince Ruyin was really angry and beat his chest and stamped his feet. He suffered a huge loss for the two counties. Yao Chunnuan was not a human being!
This gold wasn't his entire fortune, but it certainly constituted the majority of it. It could even be considered the capital needed to recruit soldiers and horses. Now it was all gone, leaving him with nothing. He had never panicked before, having a gold mine. Even if the rebellion failed, he could still use the gold to make a comeback or become a wealthy man.
Prince Ruyin clutched his chest, his heart aching. How could he have been so confident back then? How could he have thought that he, a warlord with three prefectures and two counties under his control, had the capital to challenge the enemy?
Sima Xian was also worried. Yao Chunnuan's move was truly powerful. It had essentially cut off the possibility of the Ruyin Prince rapidly expanding and becoming powerful. Of course, their foundation was still there, and they could still develop slowly, but would Yao Chunnuan give them this opportunity? Would she let them expand and become powerful?
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