Li Jinyuan led Xuan Yuanyu to a special reception tent in the military camp and had the soldiers serve him tea.
But Xuanyuan Yu was not there for tea: "Alright, stop fussing. I'm not here for tea. My father has a decree for the Su family army."
As he spoke, Xuanyuan Yu took out the imperial edict again.
Upon seeing this, Li Jinyuan immediately knelt down.
Xuanyuan Yu opened the imperial edict and read it aloud: "By the grace of Heaven, the Emperor decrees: Holy King Xuanyuan Zhan has rebelled and has already captured Min City. The Su family army is hereby ordered to go to Min City to defeat Xuanyuan Zhan."
After Xuanyuan Yu finished reading the imperial edict, Li Jinyuan showed no reaction and no intention of accepting it.
Standing behind Xuan Yuanyu, Yue Yuan shouted angrily again, "How dare you! This is the Emperor's decree! Quickly accept the decree!"
Xuanyuan Yu stared at Li Jinyuan and said coldly, "General Li should know what the consequences are for disobeying the imperial edict!"
Li Jinyuan then raised his eyes to look at Xuan Yuanyu, his gaze cold: "This humble general remembers that Your Highness came to the Su Family Army camp with the General when you were a child. Your Highness should know that our Su Family Army only recognizes the Su Family Army's military seal."
Their Su family army cannot be commanded by any imperial edict.
Li Jinyuan spoke neither humbly nor arrogantly, his eyes showing no fear nor any disrespect for Xuan Yuan Yu, which made it impossible for Xuan Yuan Yu to get angry.
"It's just the military tally of the Su family army. I've brought it here." Xuan Yuan Yu took out the military tally from his robes and slammed it on the table.
Perhaps because he knew the military tally was fake, Xuan Yuan Yu felt somewhat guilty. He slapped the table very lightly, as if afraid of breaking the tally.
Li Jinyuan recognized the military tally. The emperor had once sent General Cao with this tally to the Su family army camp, but it turned out to be fake!
Li Jinyuan looked at Xuan Yuanyu: "Your Highness is the son of Consort Su and the nephew of the Great General. There are some things I will not hide from Your Highness. This military tally is not the real military tally of the Su family army. This military tally is fake!"
When the Emperor sent General Cao with this military tally, he didn't say it outright. In fact, he wanted to protect Consort Su. It was said that Consort Su had presented this military tally to the Emperor.
But this time it was the Third Prince who came. The Third Prince is the son of Consort Su. Consort Su knows best whether the military tally is real or not, and the Third Prince should know as well.
Xuan Yuan Yu was taken aback when Li Jin Yuan directly exposed the fake military tally, and his expression instantly turned unnatural: "So, your Su family army is really planning to defy the imperial decree?"
"Your Highness, we are not aware that we, the Su family army, do not receive military pay from Eastern Chu, so we are not bound by the imperial edict of Eastern Chu!" Li Jinyuan remained defiant and was not threatened by Xuan Yuanyu's words.
Xuanyuan Yu was instantly furious with him.
Enraged, Yueyuan roared again, "How dare you utter such treasonous words!"
No matter how much Yueyuan made a fuss or shouted, Li Jinyuan ignored him.
Seeing that Li Jinyuan was as unmoved as a block of iron, Xuanyuan Yu became somewhat anxious and frowned, asking, "What do you want in return for sending troops?"
send troops?
Li Jinyuan had no intention of sending troops. He sighed and said, "Your Highness may not understand, but our Su family army does not want to get involved in the internal strife of the royal family. This humble general has not sent out any troops."
"You..." As soon as Li Jinyuan said this, Yueyuan was so angry that she wanted to start cursing again, but she saw Xuanyuan Yu raise his hand again to stop her.
Xuanyuan Yu looked at Li Jinyuan and said solemnly, "We are not outsiders. This Su family army belongs to my maternal uncle. Even when my maternal uncle was still alive, he dared not say that the Su family army did not receive the emperor's salary and need not bear the emperor's worries! Even if your Su family army really does not receive the salary of Dong Chu, the place you are in is Dong Chu territory! Now the emperor has ordered you to send troops. If you disobey the imperial decree, it is still a crime of deceiving the emperor! Furthermore, if your Su family army really cannot be used by the emperor and Dong Chu, do you think the emperor will still tolerate you?"
Li Jinyuan listened to Xuan Yuanyu's words in silence for a long time before finally speaking: "Since Your Highness is the General's nephew, then this humble general is willing to give Your Highness face. Our Su family army can send troops, but we will only defend the capital city. We will not interfere in other internal strife!"
Xuanyuan Yu didn't expect Li Jinyuan to have conditions, but the fact that he could say such a thing was already beyond his expectations.
Since the Su family army was willing to send troops, what could he possibly disagree with? "Fine, let's defend the capital then!"
Before he came, he was anxious about not being able to persuade the Su family army to send troops. Now that the Su family army is willing to send troops, even if it's just to defend the capital, it's still great news.
The Su family army has 300,000 troops, and they are all elite soldiers. As long as they are willing to send troops, even if Xuan Yuanzhan really marches to the capital, he will have no way to break through it.
Furthermore, the Su family army's strength is equal to that of Xuan Yuanzhan's. Since the Su family army cannot be fully utilized by him, he can also use Xuan Yuanzhan's forces to wear down the Su family army's strength.
Ideally, they should be weakened to the point of exhaustion, so that he can eliminate Xuanyuan Zhan and the Su family army without lifting a finger. That would be wonderful!
Xuanyuan Yu was pleased, but Li Jinyuan was not: "Please return to the capital first, Your Highness. I will pack my things and set off for the capital."
Xuanyuan Yu nodded in satisfaction: "Then I'll trouble General Li. I'll be waiting for the Su family army in the capital."
Xuanyuan Yu was pleased, accepted the imperial edict, and left with Yueyuan.
Once Xuan Yuan Yu left, Li Jin Yuan sent someone to summon the other two generals of the Su family army, Yun Song Quan and Wu Li Ping.
Li Jinyuan explained to the two of them the purpose of Xuanyuan Yu's visit to the military camp.
Upon hearing Li Jinyuan's words, Yun Songquan frowned deeply: "You agreed to him? How could you forget the military rule established by the General that we cannot participate in the internal strife of the Eastern Chu royal family!"
Wu Liping glanced at Li Jinyuan without saying anything, but his eyes were full of disapproval.
Li Jinyuan sighed helplessly: "I have no choice but to do this. The Third Prince brought the Emperor's decree. Are we, the Su family army, really going to disobey the decree?"
Yun Songquan scoffed disdainfully, "What imperial decree are you defying? We're not..."
"Ahem!" Before Yun Songquan could finish speaking, Wu Liping coughed lightly to remind him.
Yun Songquan glanced at Wu Liping, but ultimately didn't say anything more.
Wu Liping then looked at Li Jinyuan and said, "Jinyuan did nothing wrong. If the Emperor hadn't issued an imperial edict, we could have made excuses. But now that the imperial edict has been brought, it would indeed be easy to cause unnecessary trouble if we don't express our opinions at all."
If things really get serious, although they are not afraid of fighting the Eastern Chu people, it will still be troublesome.
Yun Songquan frowned, and said indignantly, "Then we can't get involved in the internal strife of the Eastern Chu royal family!"
This was not just the general's order, but also an order from their master!
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