"Why are you calling me so affectionately?" Xue Yan's gentle voice sounded above his head. He was sitting in a wheelchair, holding a drawing board in his hand, writing and drawing something.
Seeing her sit up in shock, still gasping for breath in shock, he asked, "Did you have a nightmare?"
Shen Xu asked vaguely, "What did I say?"
"You're crying."
"Oh." Shen Xu said tiredly, stretched his feet out of the bed, wanted to put on his shoes, and check the time outside.
Xue Yan pressed on, "Why are you crying? Because I've figured out your plan and you're afraid it'll ruin the royal army?"
Or, is there someone very important to you on Xiangyang Mountain?"
Shen Xu frowned, tears streaming down her face uncontrollably. After that dream, she became even more worried about Song Lin's safety.
She looked up and saw Xue Yan looking at her inquiringly. She choked and said, "I... I feel sorry for your 300,000-man army heading south with no way back."
Xue Yan said calmly, "Xiang Yangling is your plan to lure the enemy into a trap, right?"
He said calmly, "Tianmen Yudu is your main force. Once I put all my troops in Xiangyangling, the 200,000 royal cavalry guarding Tianmen Yudu will rush straight to Yuji Pass and cut off my food supply route.
By then, the 300,000-strong army would be trapped, attacked from both sides by the reinforcements from the southwest, and would die without a burial place."
Shen Xu lowered his head and eyes, not wanting to be seen through by him, neither admitting nor denying.
"Then there's no need for you to come to our camp to persuade us to surrender. What's your purpose?"
Shen Xu pursed her lips and said nothing. She came to the Northern Camp with some selfish motives. She wanted to confirm whether Xue Yan was her family member and wanted to recover her lost memories.
However, now not only has the situation gone against our wishes, it has also reached a point where it is out of control.
Xue Yan pondered for a moment, then suddenly realized something and said, "The Southwestern Army is not your army! They want to attack you from both sides. You led us to break through Xiangyangling so that we can face the oncoming Southwestern Army!
It's good to provoke the snipe and the clam to fight, so that you can reap the benefits in the end!"
Shen Xu laughed at himself and said dejectedly, "You guessed everything, why did you lead the army to die?"
Xue Yan wheeled his wheelchair to the bedside, stared at her tear-red eyes, and gently replied, "As you said, if the Northern Army's commander-in-chief has a broken leg, someone will try to seize his position.
The three northern prefectures suffered a severe spring drought last year, with locusts flying thousands of miles away and no harvest at all. The imperial court had not sent any food or money to provide disaster relief.
Coupled with the imperial teacher's heavy taxes and levies, the people in the north had already been boiling with resentment, and many places had risen up in rebellion.
The size of the rebel army is far more than 200,000.
If the Xue family had not sent troops to fight against the imperial teacher in the name of upholding justice and stabilized the people's hearts, they would have been overthrown by the angry people long ago.
Now that he was leading the rebel army southward, the northern military and civilians were able to unite as one, and the war did not spread to the northern land.
Even if you capture Yuji Pass and cut off my food supply route, I will no longer have any food supplies that can be intercepted by you.
I sold all my family property, but that only gave me enough to borrow half a month's worth of food from the North Sea Kingdom. If this continues, not only will our 200,000 regular troops run out of food, but millions of disaster victims in the north will starve to death.
Riots broke out everywhere and people suffered.
Miss Nu Xiang, you are taking a risky tactic, but I am also taking a gamble."
Shen Xu listened to Xue Yan's confession in astonishment. It turned out that he had no food or grass left. If the situation dragged on, Xue's army would surely be defeated.
But the consequence of defeat is that riots will break out in the north, and the Haoyue Kingdom will lose all its territory north of the northern defense line. It may be swallowed up by the North Sea or fall into endless war.
Although Xue Yan's choice was a forced one, it delayed the decline of the north and prevented chaos in the north.
Xue Yan spoke gently, “My Xue family has been the wolf spirit that has guarded the north for generations.
No matter what, I must lead my people in the north through this catastrophe, even if I have to become a bandit leader or die on the road.
I don’t have a choice…
Either we win a decisive victory, seize the world, and appease the resentment of the northern people. Or we suffer a crushing defeat, extinguishing the flames of rebellion once and for all."
Shen Xu tightly grasped his hand and said anxiously, "There is a way, there is a way! There is no need to sacrifice so many people, there is no need for war and bloodshed!"
“Don’t blame the suffering people, they are just fighting for survival.
Ms. Female Prime Minister, when I see you, I seem to see that Haoyue Congress has a brand new future and can lead our North out of the dark future.
You must survive and make that barren land bear fruit again."
Xue Yan patted the back of her hand gently and comforted her, "Don't worry, I won't force you, nor will I hurt you.
Once the army passes Xiangyang Ridge, I will send someone to escort you back to Yudu City, and I will definitely protect your life."
"General Xue Yan, what I'm saying is, if I can find a way to solve the famine problem, can you withdraw your troops and stop fighting?"
Xue Yan was a little surprised and asked: "How to solve it?
The three northern prefectures have a total population of 23 million. The locust plague has now spread to an area of 150,000 acres. The amount of rainfall since last year has been completely insufficient, and several major rivers have dried up.
Even if we open up the national treasury to allocate food for disaster relief, it can only provide a temporary solution, but it cannot solve the fundamental problem at all."
"Dongning Prefecture," Shen Xu said, "Dongning Prefecture rebelled at the beginning of this summer and was suppressed. Eight million soldiers and civilians were massacred or captured, and large tracts of fertile land were seized by the Imperial Master's lackeys. Now that we have eliminated his lackeys, the population of Dongning Prefecture is less than one million.
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