The three entered the council hall, and no one felt that it was inappropriate for Princess An, a woman, to enter the council hall. After all, the Great Zhou had had female officials for eight years. Moreover, Princess An, together with Prince An, had governed the Huainan and Jiangnan regions in her fiefdom, making them the most prosperous areas in the Great Zhou outside of Shengjing.
Time was of the essence, so Zhu Yu cut to the chase: "Your Majesty, I have received news that the three-nation allied forces, numbering a million, were able to breach Pingcheng so quickly because Xiao Cheng provided the Northern Qi army with the necessary assistance."
The ministers were shocked. Xiao Cheng was the son-in-law of the emperor. Ten years ago, when the late emperor passed away and the new emperor ascended the throne, the emperor reorganized the 180,000 Northern Army into the Xishan Military Camp and appointed Xiao Cheng, the then commander-in-chief, as the commander of the Yan Army to guard the northwest.
I never expected that ten years later, Xiao Cheng would dare to betray the country and collude with the enemy. How could he dare!
"Is the news true?" Zhu Dan asked.
"Your Majesty, I have verified this; it is absolutely true. Princess Zhu Ruorou instigated Xiao Cheng to open the city gates to the Northern Qi. The Northern Qi emperor promised her that once the Great Zhou is conquered, he would support her to become empress. All she needs to do is for the Great Zhou to pay her an annual tribute," Zhu Yu said coldly.
Zhu Dan slammed his fist on the imperial desk in anger: "Has Zhu Ruorou lost her mind! She, the great princess of the Great Zhou, actually let wolves into the house, so foolish as to think that the Northern Qi people would keep their promise to support her as some kind of empress. Humph, she won't even know how she died!"
Lu Xiaoyun continued, "Your Majesty, I am willing to accompany my husband on the expedition to the Northwest. We will surely drive the Northern Qi people out of our Great Zhou and bring back to Shengjing Xiao Cheng and Zhu Ruorou, these two traitors who have colluded with the enemy!"
Zhu Dan gently rubbed his fingers together, stood up, and instead of immediately answering Lu Xiaoyun's question, he looked at the assembled civil and military officials and announced loudly, "I am preparing to personally lead the expedition!"
"Your Majesty, you mustn't!" Apart from Zhu Yu and the other two, all the other ministers knelt down to dissuade him.
Zhu Dan raised his hand, signaling the officials to rise: "You all need not persuade me any further, my mind is made up. This time, the Northern Qi, Chen, and Southern Liang have assembled a million-strong army, which should not be underestimated. But my Great Zhou has gunpowder, as well as elite troops and strong generals. The whole country has more than 800,000 troops with excellent weapons and equipment. We will never lose to them!"
"The war is urgent. I am leading an army of 600,000 to the border, and with the addition of 200,000 troops in the southern frontier, the total force is 800,000. The Ministry of Revenue shall immediately procure provisions and the Ministry of War shall prepare supplies. There must be no mistakes."
"Yes, Your Majesty, we obey." Guo Shaoning, the Minister of Revenue, and the Minister of War knelt down to receive the decree.
Zhu Yu continued, "Those three kingdoms dared to kill my Great Zhou people; they provoked me first. For killing even one person of my Great Zhou, my Great Zhou will surely kill ten, a hundred, or a thousand of them to make them pay with their lives! Those who offend my Great Zhou will be annihilated!"
"Those who offend our Great Zhou will surely be destroyed!" Upon hearing Prince An's words, all the civil and military officials were filled with fervor, and even the civil officials wished they could don armor and go into battle.
With the decree issued, all the ministers began their busy work, each fulfilling their duties.
The Ministry of War swiftly dispatched messengers to the garrisons in various regions, ordering them to immediately proceed to the border and join the 200,000-strong army that the emperor had brought from Shengjing.
After the ministers left, Zhu Dan kept Zhu Yu, Lu Xiaoyun, and Lu Yuyan behind. Behind the dragon throne was a huge map.
"Fourth Brother, my intention is to leave 30,000 of the 180,000 soldiers of the Xishan Military Camp in the capital, and take the remaining 150,000 to deal with the Northern Qi."
Zhu Yu nodded, walked to the front of the map, pointed to the Pingcheng area and said, "Alright. Your Majesty, I will lead 100,000 cavalry on a rapid march. Pingcheng has fallen, and their next target is Xuancheng. If Xuancheng is breached, the northwest gateway of our Great Zhou will be wide open. I will go to support Xuancheng."
"good."
Zhu Yu then pointed to a spot on the map: "Let General Lu Yucheng lead the 150,000-strong Xishan Military Camp to confront the Northern Qi head-on from here. They have fought against the Northern Qi several times and are quite experienced, and they are also very familiar with the terrain around Pingcheng."
"Okay, bring enough gunpowder."
"Yes, we've produced quite a bit of gunpowder in the past few years, that should be enough."
Zhu Dan nodded, his gaze fixed on the map: "You two will lead an army of 300,000 to attack Northern Qi, while I will lead the remaining 300,000 troops and 200,000 Lu family troops to deal with Chen and Southern Liang. You are fast, so we will meet up in the southern border region."
Zhu Yu nodded, then pointed to the border between Southern Liang and Great Zhou: "After the predicament of Pingcheng and Xuancheng is resolved, I will lead 150,000 troops to bypass the rear from here and attack the capital of Southern Liang, and together with the Lu family army, launch a pincer attack on Southern Liang. General Lu Yucheng will lead 150,000 troops to resist the Northern Qi army."
Zhu Dan nodded: "Once the Southern Liang army learns that their capital is besieged, they will surely return to reinforce it. At that time, Ayan will lead 100,000 troops to cut off their army in this place."
Zhu Yu thought for a moment and said, "Ayan has no experience in leading troops into battle, so let him come with me. We can replace him with Qi Shaocheng."
Zhu Dan nodded: "Alright."
Zhu Yu looked up at Zhu Dan: "But Qi Shaocheng is the commander of the Emperor's Imperial Guards. If he were to lead the troops, then Your Majesty..."
Zhu Dan smiled and waved his hand, "Fourth Brother, what do you take me for?" He then pointed to a spot in Anyang City and said, "I remember there is an extremely wide secret passage here. Ten years ago, you secretly brought Ruoling back from here. We can have General Huang, the commander of the Lu family army, send 20,000 men through this secret passage to infiltrate Liangzhou City and take it over in one fell swoop."
Zhu Yu had the same idea: "Okay."
"There's no need to worry about food supplies and baggage. My only concern for the past ten years has been the covetousness of these three kingdoms towards our Great Zhou, so we've made extremely thorough preparations."
The group exchanged smiles. Although a great battle was imminent, their hearts were filled with excitement. The destruction of the Three Kingdoms and the unification of the world were about to begin!
The group discussed the matter for a long time in the council hall, until the lanterns were lit and the newly appointed chief eunuch, Eunuch Wei, and Zuo Xiu brought them dinner before they finalized their basic battle strategy.
"Fourth Brother, Fourth Sister-in-law, Ayan, why don't you have dinner with me before going back?" Zhu Dan's gaze swept over Lu Xiaoyun only once before settling on Zhu Yu's face.
Zhu Yu nodded. They had been traveling for the past few days, and when they were hungry, they only had some dry food to eat. They were already starving.
Zhu Dan dismissed all the palace servants, personally poured wine for the three of them, and looked at Zhu Yu with a smile, asking, "Will my two little nephews stay in Jiangnan, or will they return to Shengjing together later?"
"Ruoling is bringing them back by carriage; it will take about ten days for them to arrive," Lu Yuyan replied.
Zhu Yu had a very low alcohol tolerance; he only picked up his wine glass and took a small sip.
Zhu Dan nodded, silently ate a few bites of food, and after a while, put down his chopsticks and said solemnly, "I want to issue an edict to establish Zhu Jingxing as the crown prince before leaving Shengjing."
Zhu Yu jumped up from his seat: "Fifth Brother, what are you doing! Your empire is for your own son to choose from, why are you eyeing my son!"
In his haste, Zhu Yu even stopped addressing the emperor.
Lu Xiaoyun tugged at his sleeve, signaling him not to rush. She sat down and said that she had seen Zhu Dan's intentions from the moment he had not established an empress or taken any concubines, and had often sent various toys to his youngest son, while giving his eldest son, Zhu Jingxing, books on the art of rulership.
Zhu Yu couldn't possibly be unaware of this; he just refused to admit it.
Zhu Dan glanced at Lu Xiaoyun, smiled bitterly, picked up his wine and drank it all in one gulp: "Fourth Brother, in my life, I missed Yun'er, and I gave up the idea of marrying and having children long ago..."
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