Chapter 559: How Similar to A Shang
Listening to Luo Guanlin's instructions, Chang Suining smiled at him and said, "Don't worry, sir. I will report the victory back to Luoyang before the New Year."
These words were always spoken with full confidence, without any sense of modesty. Luo Guanlin raised his hand and followed suit, encouraging this trend of boasting without shame: "Please rest assured, sir. I promise you that when you return triumphantly, all the states in Henan will be the first to present gifts to you. By then, all 27 states will be indispensable."
Chang Suining smiled directly into his eyes: "Okay, then I will regard this as a gift that the master prepared for me in advance."
Military personnel conquer the world, while strategists win the hearts of the people in the rear.
Luo Guanlin stayed in Luoyang to help Chang Suining calm people's hearts. In addition to Luoyang, the 27 states of Henan Province were also included in his plan. Chang Suining left 70,000 troops for him to deploy, not including the more than 100,000 captured soldiers from Fanyang.
With the support of Hu Lin of Bianzhou, Zhengzhou and Xuzhou are also under his control. In addition, with the prestige of his own lord as a backing, Luo Guanlin is confident that he can put the entire Henan Province into his lord's sack.
Chang Suining mounted his horse, led an army of 100,000 and marched north.
Among these 100,000 soldiers, there are 60,000 Jiangdu troops, 20,000 Huainan Road soldiers, and the remaining 20,000 are surrendered soldiers from the Fanyang army. Although Chang Suining has no lack of experience in fighting in the north, she does have a shortage of soldiers under her command. It is naturally safer to have the Fanyang army, which is familiar with the terrain of the north, accompany her.
But at this time there was no need to call them the Fanyang Army. As the army marched, only the flag with the word "Chang" on it could be seen.
The battle flag with black background and golden characters fluttered in the wind, carrying an indomitable morale as it stretched towards the vast northern sky.
Chang Suining sat upright on his warhorse, in the center of the army. Amidst thousands of soldiers and horses, he turned his head and glanced far away in the direction of Jiannan Road.
In Yizhou, Prince Rong Li Yin stood quietly on a high pavilion, leaning on the railing and looking towards the direction of Luoyang.
The young girl who had once again disrupted his plans had now become his real opponent.
The other side cut off one of his arms and formally declared war on him with a letter of confession that was allegedly written by Li Fu.
A few years ago, he never thought that such a person would appear.
The appearance of such a person was beyond his plan and even beyond the principles of this world.
Her talent, luck, the speed at which she grew and developed... were all unreasonable, and even revealed a "barbarity" that did not belong to this world.
He wanted to kill but failed. Instead, he felt an indescribable familiarity during this fight in the air.
He threw a leaf into the water, and the leaf became a boat, carrying the fate of the world. It should have drifted in the direction of the water flow, but someone tried to change the direction of the water flow again and again.
With a mortal body, I want to save the world from falling——
Li Yin stared at the sky, repeating this sentence in his heart, and a strange color gradually emerged in his eyes.
This behavior is so similar to Ashang.
There is another unusual thing, that is the attitude of the Queen towards Chang Suining...
Before this, he asked Lu'er to borrow Ma Wan's hand to tell the Queen that Duan Shiang was from the Rong Palace. At this time, the power of Jiannan Road, Shannan West Road and Qianzhong Road had been established, and their intentions were obvious. His purpose was to let the Queen know that the capital had been trapped on both sides, so as to force the Queen to mobilize the Xuan Ce Army stationed in the capital.
However, the Queen did not join the game, and seemed to be certain that Chang Suining alone could eliminate Duan Shiang's threat and resolve the crisis in Luoyang City - it was not surprising that she trusted Chang Suining's ability, but she also seemed to trust Chang Suining's loyalty...
But Chang Suining clearly never concealed his ambition, and Ming Hou has never been a trustworthy person.
So, where did the Queen's almost bizarre sense of trust come from?
Li Yin never believed in ghosts and gods, but in a trance, he actually had a wisp of absurd thoughts. Is there really reincarnation in this world? Could it be that the fragments of Ah Shang's soul have not been destroyed, and her obsession still exists in this world? The north wind blew, blowing up the leaves. A yellow leaf floated into the pavilion and landed on Li Yin's shoulder.
He turned his head and lowered his eyes, then raised his hand to pick up the leaf and carefully observed the veins on it.
At this time, the sound of footsteps climbing up the pavilion was heard, but Li Yin did not look back.
After a moment, the footsteps stopped three steps behind him, and the young man in black robe saluted him: "Your Majesty——"
Li Yin: "How?"
The man with a face between a teenager and a young man paused before saying, "The rumor has spread to Jiannan Road...Everyone is asking whether it is true or not that Prince Rong's Mansion instigated Duan Shiang to start the rebellion."
Even those advisers in the palace who most often spoke of the righteousness of the people of the world began to voice doubts and dissatisfaction.
"Your Highness..." the young man in black robe asked, "Do you want to try to stop these rumors?"
"No need to overreact." Li Yin said calmly: "Letting the Queen gain the upper hand for a while is not necessarily a bad thing."
The young man hesitated and finally said: "If this happens, the reputation of the prince will be damaged, and those forces who are waiting and watching may..."
"It's just a temporary fame, it's not enough to stop anything." Li Yin looked at the dead leaves between his fingers and said, "This world is no longer the same as before. The road has been paved, and suddenly a bunch of thorns can't block the way."
He seemed to be talking about the impact of Duan Shiang's death, and also seemed to be talking about the incident involving Chang Suining.
"Yicong, don't be anxious. When you plan for a long time and approach the end, if you encounter sandstorms blocking the way, just stop for a few steps and walk slowly. This will help you walk more steadily, and it is not a bad thing." Li Yin said in a teaching tone.
He has been waiting quietly for many years and has never lacked patience when faced with unexpected events.
The person whose patience is about to run out at this time should be the Queen.
The affairs of the Cui family will continue to ferment, and the emperor's majesty is bound to face unprecedented challenges and even subversion.
Li Yin looked at the fallen leaves in his hand and said slowly to himself, "A person who is used to killing, now wants to kill but cannot... How can she accept this?"
The Queen cannot accept the loss of power, nor will she sit idly by and wait for death.
However, with Duan Shiang's death and the defeat of Prince Rong's Mansion in Luoyang, the Ming Queen will surely "pursue the victory" when she has the upper hand here... In this way, it will be an opportunity.
The events in Luoyang were indeed out of his control. Although he was the one who took the initiative to reveal Duan Shiang's identity to the Queen, he also sent a message to Luoyang to remind Duan Shiang to be more cautious... However, Duan Shiang probably didn't even have time to see the letter before something happened to him.
Judging from the time, Duan Shiang's identity was exposed by no means because of Ma Wan's "information" letter.
However, Empress Ming, who had completely lost control of Luoyang City at that time, did not have the ability to eliminate Duan Shiang in this way.
Therefore, in Li Yin's opinion, he had enough reasons to blame Chang Suining for Duan Shiang's death...although how she could have discovered Duan Shiang's identity so early and set up the trap successfully in such a short time was also a big question.
But all these things indicate that it was indeed she who had repeatedly disrupted his plans, causing frequent accidents. Even everything he had taken over with the help of Duan Shiang, including Luoyang, ended up just being a wedding dress for her, Chang Suining.
Furthermore, Li Fu's "Letter of Confession" completely declared that the Rong Prince's Mansion had been completely defeated in this game. All its plans came to nothing, and it was left with a stigma.
But Li Yin never got angry about this.
After the incident, anger is the behavior of an incompetent person, and remediation is the self-consciousness of a mediocre person. He wanted to take advantage of this incident, make a move, and change the course of the fight on the chessboard.
He had been planning for many years, so it was impossible for him to bet his success on just one thing. It didn't matter if one plan failed, as he could just make a slight adjustment to the plan and put it together as a new one.
It is time to take advantage of the fact that the Queen is temporarily in the upper hand and use the Cui family's affairs to make her take the initiative to seize the opportunity and enter this new situation.
Thinking of this, Prince Rong said slowly, "There was news yesterday that the court wanted Xiao Min to rush to Lingnan Road to take charge of the situation. The emperor's secret order should have been delivered to Xiao Min by now."
The young man in black robe heard this and said, "Your Majesty is indeed as good as a god!"
"I just know this majesty well enough." Li Yin said with a smile, "She is afraid that Lingnan Road will fall into my hands, and she is also afraid that the person she chooses will not be able to reach Lingnan Road alive. Xiao Min has soldiers in his hands, and he is currently close to Lingnan Road. It is inevitable that Xiao Min will go there."
The battle between Xiao Min and Bian Jun was nearing its end.
The young man in black robe said: "The Queen is just dealing with things hastily now, but in reality, everything is under the control of the Prince."
"No, she is a very competent opponent." Li Yin said slowly: "I have spent more than ten years accumulating strength, and during these ten years, she has been consuming it."
As an empress, there were countless people she had to guard against, including royal family members, princes, military generals, and aristocratic families... Over the years, she had been constantly engaged in fighting, killing, and consumption.
"I really admire her for being able to get to where she is today." Li Yin said, "I have been trying to find her weaknesses over the years, but I found that she is an emperor with almost no weaknesses."
She has no weaknesses, and her natural desire to control power makes her unusually alert and decisive.
Li Yin: "And now it seems that having no weaknesses is her biggest weakness——"
A person without weaknesses or soft spots, but who has also lost part of her humanity. This missing humanity makes it impossible for her to truly understand the essence of the human heart.
Therefore, her meticulous planning and calculations were not enough for her to anticipate where she would actually fail.
Li Yin looked towards the capital - to make them fail beyond their knowledge was his last plan for the Ming family.
"Get rid of Xiao Min and follow the plan." Li Yin instructed, "Yicong, you will do this yourself."
The young man in black robe was a little surprised when he heard this. He immediately knelt on one knee, clasped his fists and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty, for giving Yi Cong the opportunity to atone for his crime!"
Li Yin turned around and said with a bit of amusement: "Silly talk, what crime have you committed?"
The usually calm young man's eyes turned red, and he lowered his head and said, "My uncle's death and the rumors outside... not only disrupted the prince's original plan, but also brought him a lot of troubles."
"Shiang worked for me, but it didn't end well... I feel guilty towards him." Li Yin sighed and said, "You should comfort your mother and ask her to take good care of Duan's wife and children. This will be a gesture of my gratitude."
The young man in black robe felt relieved after hearing this. He agreed and swore, "One day, I will help the prince get rid of Chang Suining and avenge my uncle!"
The death of my uncle made my mother seriously ill. My mother said that after my uncle's death, she and my mother lost their support, and the prince was very likely to deny the existence of them at this unfavorable time because of the rumors outside...
However, the prince never took those rumors seriously, nor did he change his attitude towards him because of them. He remained kind to him and gave him the opportunity to continue to gain experience and work.
But it was also a fact that his uncle and his Fanyang army were defeated by Chang Suining... He must avenge this.
Li Yin nodded slightly, helped him up with one hand, and said, "When you go to Lingnan, your safety is the most important thing."
The young man agreed, stood up, bowed again, and then left.
Li Yin turned his attention back to Luoyang. If it was as he expected, Chang Suining would be about to send troops to recapture the northern city.
Huainan Road, Luoyang, Henan Road, and if she were to occupy half of Hebei Road... nearly one-fifth of the territory of Dasheng would be in her hands.
Moreover, one of these five, unlike the vast sandy Longyou Road and the remote and sparsely populated Lingnan Road, is in her hands. They are all important political and cultural places, and are also the most prosperous granaries of Dasheng.
This is undoubtedly troublesome.
Li Yin narrowed his eyes slightly, but a faint smile flashed in the corner of his eyes.
But it doesn't matter, he will take control of the capital first, and then the whole world will belong to the king -
Since she looks 70% to 80% like A Shang, she must have the same weaknesses as A Shang.
A person with weaknesses is not to be feared no matter how powerful he is.
Li Yin waved away the dead leaf in his hand.
The fallen leaves swirled and fell in the wind, landing among countless similar dead leaves.
The wind is strong today, and the fallen ginkgo leaves are flying, covering the ground with golden color.
A thin young man wearing a fox fur coat walked slowly on the fallen leaves, making slight sounds under his feet.
Yi Cong stopped, lowered his eyes slightly and saluted: "Greetings, Your Highness."
Li Lu looked at the tall and handsome young man in front of him and said with a smile: "I didn't know it before, but now your identity is clear and there are no outsiders here. You and I don't need to perform this ceremony between brothers."
Yi Cong was stunned for a moment and looked up at Li Lu.
At this point, he naturally expected that Li Lu must have known his identity, but he did not expect that the other party would expose it directly, and in such a calm manner.
"I felt close to you when I saw you before, and it was not an illusion." Li Lu's eyes were gentle, with a hint of relief: "You also know that I have always been weak and can't share my father's worries. I will feel much more at ease if you accompany my father in the future."
As Li Lu spoke, he took two steps closer and raised his hand to Yi Cong's shoulder: "Thank you for your hard work. Now you are the only one in the family who can help father with his worries... But remember, you must take care of yourself."
Yi Cong looked over subconsciously. Unlike the hands he had practiced martial arts with since childhood, that hand was white and weak, frail but noble in its own way.
Yi Cong unconsciously clenched his rough hands, and Li Lu's words "You are the only one in the family who can share your father's worries" kept echoing in his mind...
"Now at home" - he is the only one who can be outside? This statement sounds normal at first, but upon closer thought, the "now" and "only" based on "home" seem to contain many possibilities.
Good night everyone~
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