Prince Zhenbei and Duke Jingguo didn't know, but she herself knew very well that although Duke Weiguo had stood up to help her early on out of gratitude to her, he would not actually send troops to support her.
She could certainly fool Duke Jingguo and Prince Zhenbei for a while by putting the blame on Duke Weiguo for the people from Kaiyang, so that they wouldn't target her together because the troops under her command were the sum of theirs, and wouldn't target Kaiyang and his men because they didn't join the small alliance to attack the Lu family. However, it was impossible for her to keep this secret for several years.
For herself and those who are loyal to her, and to prevent the people of the world from suffering too much from war, she must fight quickly and decisively, and take down the Lu family as soon as possible.
Of course, the most important reason for her to make such a decision was that she was more confident than the Prince of Zhenbei and the Duke of Jingguo.
In the past ten years or so, she not only stockpiled a lot of food and made a lot of money, but also hid soldiers among the people, and relied on her money and food to train a large number of available people in advance.
She was not like the Prince of Zhenbei and the Duke of Jingguo, who announced to the outside world that they would send out "300,000 troops", but in reality the total number of troops sent out was only 250,000 or 260,000.
The most important thing is that among the total number of 250,000 to 260,000, about 70,000 to 80,000 are civilian laborers responsible for logistics, and about 50,000 to 60,000 are ordinary people recruited on the spot for temporary food.
These ordinary people include men and women, young and old. They are not formal soldiers. Even if they go to the battlefield, they will not wear armor or carry weapons. Their only role is to follow the formal soldiers with sticks, hoes and other things, rush forward on both sides, and risk their lives to help the formal soldiers boost their morale.
When there is no war, the military camp will not keep these people who eat for free. Only when war comes will those regular soldiers be ordered to recruit locally.
Excluding these ordinary people who made up the numbers and the laborers who were responsible for transporting food, cooking, feeding horses and other miscellaneous tasks, the so-called 300,000 troops of Duke Jingguo and King Zhenbei were actually only about 120,000 who could actually fight.
Unlike Yu Zizhen, when he said he sent "300,000 troops", he really sent a total of 300,000 elite troops, without any exaggeration.
Prince Zhenbei and Duke Jingguo had no idea how much money she had spent on maintaining the army over the years, nor did they know that she had actually kept 200,000 elite soldiers to guard against a sudden falling out between Prince Zhenbei and Duke Jingguo, and they had no idea that she was actually still continuously accumulating wealth, hoarding food, and maintaining the army.
While they were playing tricks on Yu Zizhen, dragging their feet and slowing down the progress in order to preserve their own strength and consume the troops of their allies, their ally Yu Zizhen seized the opportunity to start her conquest journey to expand the territory.
Not only did she personally lead a team of people and march all the way from Jiangning to the capital, but she also divided the troops into two groups, the left and the right, and sent them heading towards the prefectures and counties in the south and north at the same time.
The same was true for Kaiyang and others in the western region. On their way to the capital to attack the Lu family, they also managed to capture all the battlegrounds along the way.
Prince Zhenbei and Duke Jingguo didn't know at first that Yu Zizhen could actually charge directly towards the capital at such a fast speed. By the time they slowly counted the soldiers and completed the oath-taking ceremony, Yu Zizhen's three teams had already advanced in unison and reached the heart of Da Qi, less than 800 miles away from the capital.
Since Yu Zizhen transferred these 300,000 people secretly and without a sound, and the spies that Prince Zhenbei and Duke Jingguo had placed on Yu Zizhen's side with great difficulty had been recorded one by one in Yu Zizhen's small notebook, it was too easy for Yu Zizhen to avoid them and do some tricks, or use them to pass on some false information, so neither Prince Zhenbei nor Duke Jingguo received the news in the first time.
It was not until Yu Zizhen captured several cities in succession and was about to reach the gates of the capital that the Prince of Zhenbei and the Duke of Jingguo learned from the slowly spreading news that Yu Zizhen had taken his troops away two months ago.
Prince Zhenbei and Duke Jingguo were stunned when they received the news. They never dreamed that Yu Zizhen, who was able to build up a force on his own in just a dozen years, would commit such a taboo as marching alone into deep territory during a battle.
While they hurriedly sent people to inquire about the latest news, they also set out with their army, fearing that if they arrived too late, they would not be able to take advantage of the situation where Yu Zizhen and the Lu family were both defeated.
Yu Zizhen didn't care what they thought. She was making good use of her rare free time and closed her eyes to listen to the baby-voiced system telling her important information about the Lu family, the King of Zhenbei, the Duke of Jingguo and Kaiyang.
The Lu family had already received the news that she and Kaiyang were attacking the capital from both sides. Lu Tong immediately gave a death order to the soldiers in the Tongzhou camp, asking them to destroy the team led by Yu Zizhen to the east of the capital.
As for Kaiyang, Lu Tong sent Lu Dingchang to rely on the capital and lead the army to fight.
Yu Zizhen was not surprised by Lu Tong's reaction. Instead, he was surprised that Prince Zhenbei had brought Yu Zicheng, the crown prince, with him.
In the original book, King Zhenbei did not bring Yu Zicheng with him.
Just like when Duke Jingguo led his troops to war, he left his eldest son, the Prince of Jingguo, behind to guard the southern border to prevent instability on the border. In the original book, the King of Zhenbei also arranged Yu Zicheng in the same way.
After all, outside the northern border, there is Beiyan, which has always been eyeing Daqi. If both father and son are gone, and Beiyan takes the opportunity to move south, who should the remaining Zhenbei Army generals turn to if they encounter major problems?
The baby-voiced system explained Yu Zizhen's confusion succinctly, "It was the Princess of Zhenbei who suggested sending Yu Zicheng to the battle. She was afraid that after you, Yu Zicheng would be outshined by the Zhenbei King's illegitimate sons. Currently, the person in charge of guarding the northern border is the Zhenbei King's fifth cousin. Until the Zhenbei King returns, all matters in the northern border will be under his jurisdiction."
Yu Zizhen frowned.
The fifth cousin of the King of Zhenbei is the eldest grandson of his great uncle. Since his great uncle died on the battlefield before he was thirty years old, the King of Zhenbei's grandfather, father and himself have always taken special care of the descendants of his branch.
In addition, his fifth cousin was very capable and had made great achievements over the years, so King Zhenbei helped him get promoted.
It is said that there is no problem for the King of Zhenbei to let such a person with suitable ability and rank to guard the northern border on his behalf. However, the King of Zhenbei ignored his fifth cousin, who was actually a lustful person in private.
In the original book, the fifth cousin of the King of Zhenbei was also one of the generals who stayed in the northern border, but at that time he was under the pressure of Yu Zicheng, the prince of Zhenbei.
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