Taiping Rift 394. Compromise and Exploitation on the Battlefield

In the western camp of the Chu army, Zhao Lian and Lei Tengfeng sat opposite each other, smiling bitterly at each other. Mu Yang and Gao Ming's troops were ambushed by the Mohist army at the same time, and the Chu army lost tens of thousands of soldiers in a blink of an eye. Now the two finally understood that what happened in the past few days was a conspiracy of Prince Ding's Mansion. They actually destroyed the most resourceful old Marquis Muyang and the most promising rising star in the Chu army.

The methods used by Prince Ding's Mansion are truly shocking.

Lei Tengfeng lowered his eyes and said, "Now that we have eliminated the Marquis of Muyang Mansion, I am afraid... the next target of the Mo family army will be you and me. General Zhao, you must be careful of Lu Jinxian's army." Lei Tengfeng knew that Lu Jinxian's army must be very anxious to join Yun Ting on the other side. But Lu Jinxian was not the only one who was in a hurry. Lei Tengfeng was also in a hurry. The news from the war between his father and Mo Xiuyao in the west was not going well.

Zhao Lian nodded solemnly and said, "Prince Lei is right." Although the confrontation with Lu Jinxian these days made Zhao Lian feel that the situation was quite big and frustrating, his troops were obviously much stronger than Lu Jinxian's, but he was still suppressed by the opponent and could not display his strength. Zhao Lian had to admit the gap between himself and Lu Jinxian, but this was already the last line of defense for Lu Jinxian's army to leave Hangu Pass, and he had to stop it no matter what.

Hearing Zhao Lian's intention to use the tactic of procrastination, Lei Tengfeng's eyes flickered slightly, but he didn't say anything more.

When he returned to his tent, a guard immediately delivered the battle report of the Xiling Army. Although they were thousands of miles away, the battle reports of the Xiling Army and the Mohist Army were delivered to Lei Tengfeng at any time without missing a day. Looking at the secret letter in his hand, Lei Tengfeng sat down, pressed his tired forehead and asked, "Did my father tell you anything?" Originally, he could have arranged it calmly with hundreds of thousands of Xiling troops secretly coming here. Unfortunately, what Mo Jingli had in his hand was too important, so he had to expose his own troops in exchange for that list. Compared with hundreds of thousands of troops, a hidden chess move that could turn the tide at a critical moment was what the Zhennan Palace needed.

The guard said in a deep voice: "The prince said that what the prince did was right. But... we still have to withdraw from the current stalemate as soon as possible. The war in the west is not good for Xiling. The prince suspects that Mo Xiuyao has sent an army of nearly 200,000 people to bypass our army. Please ask the prince to withdraw within half a month and rush to Yuming Pass, 300 miles west of Hangu Pass, to intercept this army."

Lei Tengfeng was startled and said in a deep voice: "Two hundred thousand people? Where did the Mohist Army get so many people?" The total strength of the Mohist Army was less than one million. Before, the Mohist Army had killed a million-man army, so the losses of the Mohist Army should be at least over two hundred thousand. Even if the Mohist Army did not lose a single soldier, and taking into account the garrisons in various places, it was impossible for the Mohist Army to withdraw two hundred thousand people to attack the rear of the Xiling Army.

The guard said, "You forgot, Prince Ding's military service system is different from that of other countries. According to the prince's estimate, if Prince Ding is willing, he can mobilize a million well-trained troops within a month and recruit two million new soldiers within three months." The area controlled by Prince Ding's Palace is the largest among all countries, and the victory over Beirong has boosted the morale of Prince Ding's Palace. It is easy for Prince Ding to recruit soldiers.

Lei Tengfeng couldn't help but take a breath of cold air. The most reassuring thing about the Mohist Army was the manpower. The Mohist Army never had many men, but they forgot to take into account the foundation of Prince Ding's Mansion and the appeal of the Mohist Army. Once Mo Xiuyao wanted to expand his army, he would have a steady stream of men to replenish it.

"The prince has one more thing to say to the prince." The guard said respectfully. Lei Tengfeng looked at him, and the guard whispered, "The prince said that the prince doesn't need to care too much about Mo Jingli, he can't beat Princess Ding. Please get out of here as soon as possible."

Lei Tengfeng was stunned for a moment, and then he understood his father's intention. His father had no intention of really cooperating with Mo Jingli. From the beginning, his father had never been optimistic about Mo Jingli. The reason for such an arrangement and the alliance with Mo Jingli was just to use Mo Jingli to restrain Ye Li. After all, Mo Xiuyao alone was already difficult to deal with. If Ye Li was added, even the Zhennan Palace might not be able to cope with it. Once the goal was achieved, Mo Jingli would be of no use. Whether Mo Jingli won or lost was not important to the Zhennan Palace. If the Zhennan Palace defeated the Ding Palace in the end, it would be best if Mo Jingli lost, and then the Zhennan Palace would be the biggest winner. If the Zhennan Palace loses, then Mo Jingli must not be allowed to stay, as he will definitely become a major threat to the Zhennan Palace.

After frowning for a moment, Lei Tengfeng raised his head and said, "I understand. I will go back and tell my father that I will leave this battlefield as soon as possible. Please take care of yourself." The guard nodded and retreated respectfully. "I will take my leave."

In the big tent, Lei Tengfeng was silent for a long time before he said, "Someone come."

A man who looked like a guard appeared at the door. "Prince."

"Send a letter to Princess Ding on my behalf. I want to talk to her." Lei Tengfeng said.

The guard's eyes flashed with surprise, but he still responded respectfully: "As you command."

A dozen miles from the two army camps, Ye Li sat by a stream, leisurely watching the water flowing by, with a calm expression. On the grass beside the stream, some of the originally yellow weeds had sprouted tender green shoots, adding a touch of warmth and hope to the originally withered and cold scene. Qin Feng and Zhuo Jing stood side by side not far behind Ye Li, each thinking about their own things.

"Master Lei, since you are here, why don't you come out and see me?" Suddenly, Qin Feng and Zhuo Jing looked at the woods behind them, and Qin Feng spoke.

"Princess Ding is surrounded by experts. I admire her." Lei Tengfeng walked out of the woods and said with a smile. Ye Li stood up and turned back and said with a smile: "Prince Lei is also a rare expert. Unlike Ye Li, she has no skills and has to bring some people with her to avoid accidents." Lei Tengfeng's mouth twitched slightly. If the woman in front of him had no skills, there would be few capable people in the world. At the same time, Lei Tengfeng was also surprised at Ye Li's prudence. Although Lei Tengfeng rarely took action, there were very few people in the world who could understand his skills. But Ye Li did not forget that he had a father who was one of the four great martial artists in the world, and Lei Tengfeng himself had good qualifications. As long as there were no accidents, Lei Tengfeng's martial arts would definitely not be bad.

"Princess, you're joking. When encountering a princess...it's others who get into trouble." Lei Tengfeng said with a faint smile.

Ye Li didn't care about his sarcasm and smiled faintly: "Now that the two armies are at war, Master Lei privately asked to see Ye Li. It can't be that he wants to make a few sarcastic remarks to Ye Li, right?"

Lei Tengfeng smiled calmly and said, "Princess, please be frank. I will not nag you. I know that the princess is anxious to go to Hangu Pass to meet General Yun Ting, but?" Ye Li nodded slightly. Some things on the battlefield can be kept secret, but some things cannot be kept secret from others. At least the current movements of the Mohist Army cannot be kept secret from people like Lei Tengfeng.

"I will join forces with General Zhao. Princess, are you sure you can reach Hangu Pass within half a month?" Lei Tengfeng asked.

"No." Ye Li said frankly. A quick victory requires the right time, right place, and right people, and most of the time, none of them can be missing. Not every battle can be controlled, otherwise there wouldn't be times when a battle would last three to five years. Although they don't have an advantage in terms of military strength at the moment, both Ye Li and Lu Jinxian are confident that they can defeat Zhao Lian and Lei Tengfeng. But the problem is... it will take a long time.

Lei Tengfeng was a little surprised by Ye Li's frankness. But he soon realized that Ye Li also knew his purpose. Otherwise, she would not be so direct. He smiled helplessly and said, "It seems that I can't hide it from you, Princess. I plan to withdraw my troops and leave immediately. Please give me some convenience, Princess."

Ye Li smiled and said, "It's convenient for others and for yourself. Please do as you please, Master Lei."

Lei Tengfeng looked at Ye Li with some suspicion, "Princess, do you know why I withdrew my troops?"

Ye Li smiled faintly and said, "Isn't it to protect Fu Side Wing for King Zhennan?"

"Since the princess knows... if you let me go, wouldn't it ruin the prince's plan?" Even after so many years, Lei Tengfeng still felt that he couldn't understand this woman. But after so much, and having heard so much about her reality, Lei Tengfeng had to deal with it with caution. Ye Li looked at the stream in front of her and said calmly: "If you let the prince go, the prince's plan may just be ruined. And... the prince may not be able to stop it, right? But if I don't let the prince go, Yun Ting's hundreds of thousands of troops will be in trouble immediately. Which is more important, how can I not tell?"

Lei Tengfeng was stunned for a moment, and finally bowed to Ye Li and said, "In that case, thank you for your help, Princess. I'll take my leave now."

"Goodbye." Ye Li nodded.

Watching Lei Tengfeng disappear in the woods, Zhuo Jing said in a deep voice: "Princess, Xiling has fooled Mo Jingli." Ye Li smiled and said: "From the beginning, Lei Zhenting has never taken Mo Jingli seriously." Mo Jingli and Lei Zhenting have unequal abilities, so how can Lei Zhenting really regard Mo Jingli as a partner? From the beginning to the end, Mo Jingli was just a tool in Lei Zhenting's hands.

"Once Lei Tengfeng withdraws, Mo Jingli will lose Mu Jingmin and Mu Yang, so I'm afraid they won't be able to hold out for much longer." Zhuo Jing said. Qin Feng frowned and said, "Even so, Mo Jingli's military strength is still greater than ours. It's unlikely that we will be able to go back to help the prince in the near future."

Ye Li smiled faintly and said, "That depends on how long Mo Jingli can hold on."

Qin Feng and Zhuo Jing both recalled the arrangements they had made when they went to Nanjing. It was hard to say how long Mo Jingli could hold on.

Lei Tengfeng walked quickly and hastily, without mercy. When Zhao Lian returned from the battle with Lu Jinxian, the military camp was already empty. Zhao Lian had no choice but to send someone to report the matter to Mo Jingli.

When the news reached Mo Jingli's camp, he was also furious. The reason was that Marquis Muyang, who was imprisoned in the army, had mysteriously disappeared. In the past few days, Mo Jingli's anger had risen sharply. All the soldiers in the camp were silent and cautious, fearing that they would accidentally anger the emperor.

Mo Jingli felt deeply that this expedition was not smooth from beginning to end. And these few days made him extremely anxious and overwhelmed. First, he suspected that the Marquis of Muyang had betrayed him and defected to the Prince of Ding's Mansion. Before the truth was revealed, Mu Yang dared to kill his guards. When he sent Gao Ming to capture Mu Yang, he did not expect that Mu Yang and Gao Ming fell into the hands of the Mo family army, and Mu Yang thought it was suicide. In this way, he, who suspected that the Marquis of Muyang had defected to the Prince of Ding's Mansion, was probably just a silly little clown in the eyes of outsiders, being played around by the Prince of Ding's Mansion.

Just when Mo Jingli was considering whether to release Marquis Muyang to appease him or just kill him to eliminate the trouble forever, news came from the camp that Marquis Muyang had mysteriously disappeared. Mo Jingli didn't even have time to get angry, a quick letter from Zhao Lian made him spit out blood. A few months ago, Ye Ying's knife wound was not light, and it was not completely healed. Mo Jingli's liver rage rose in the past few days, and now he was so angry that he finally vomited blood.

"Your Majesty!" The generals below were also shocked when they saw this. They just didn't know what the memorial said that made the emperor so angry.

Mo Jingli waved away the hand of the eunuch who came forward to support him, wiped the blood from the corner of his lips, and sneered: "What a Lei Tengfeng! Pass on my order, and let the right wing general lead the army to intercept Lei Tengfeng's troops! Make sure to catch them all in one fell swoop!"

"Your Majesty?!" The generals couldn't help but exclaimed. The reason they had the confidence to march north was because of the alliance with Xiling. Now they hadn't made any progress in the confrontation with the Mohist army, but they had already started a fight with their own allies. It was obvious what the outcome would be.

"Your Majesty, please think twice." A general standing in the front stepped forward and said, "Our army is now confronting the Mohist Army. If we clash with the Xiling Army again, I am afraid that the fisherman of Prince Ding's Mansion will gain the upper hand. In my opinion... the most important thing for our army now is to first wipe out the hundreds of thousands of Mohist Army led by Yun Ting outside Hangu Pass. By then, even if Princess Ding and Lu Jinxian's army reach Hangu Pass, they will inevitably be unable to hold on alone and be surrounded by our army."

The sudden breaking of the promise by the Prince of Zhennan in Xiling did surprise and anger everyone. But not everyone was as angry as Mo Jingli and ignored everything. Now even if Lei Tengfeng took his men away and left them to face the Mo family army alone, they were not doomed to fail. But if the emperor confronted the Prince of Zhennan, then they would definitely fail. Lu Jinxian was not so magnanimous as to wait until their internal strife was over before starting the fight.

Mo Jingli was silent for a long while, and finally hummed to show that he had listened to his subordinates' suggestions. There was no benefit in fighting Lei Tengfeng at this time, how could Mo Jingli not know that? But he had just been severely beaten by the Ding Palace, and then he was fooled by the Zhennan Palace again. Mo Jingli could not swallow this anger.

After a long time, Mo Jingli said in a deep voice: "Concentrate all the troops. I want to see Yun Ting's head within three days!?" Mo Jingli, who had nowhere to vent his anger, could only transfer his anger to Yun Ting who was stationed outside the Great Wall.

"I obey your orders!" All the generals below breathed a sigh of relief. Compared to Lei Tengfeng, Yun Ting was naturally easier to deal with. And no matter from the situation or the current war situation, Yun Ting was the target they needed to eliminate first.

After everyone left, Mo Jingli was alone in the silent tent. His expression became more and more ugly. There were too many things in the past few days. Now he finally understood that the so-called betrayal of the Marquis of Muyang Mansion was a plot of the Prince of Ding Mansion from beginning to end. However, he lost two of his most capable men because of this. I guess Mo Xiuyao and Ye Li were also laughing at him in the dark at this time, right?

"Bang!" Mo Jingli waved his hand, and all the decorations on the table fell to the ground. However, none of the people serving in the tent dared to step forward to clean up, but just knelt on the ground timidly and dared not move.

"Mo Xiuyao! Ye Li... I will never let you go!" Mo Jingli's voice was so cold and sinister that it seemed to come from hell.

Marquis Muyang woke up from his coma, and the scene in front of him made him dazed for a moment. This was obviously not the prison cell where he stayed in the Chu army camp. It was a gloomy dungeon. He couldn't help but smile bitterly. Did the emperor move him here because he was worried that someone would come to rescue him? He was being too worried. He handed over the power of Marquis Muyang's mansion to Mu Yang. Who would come to save him?

Having slept for too long, his body was a little stiff. Marquis Muyang moved and sat up, but was stunned when he saw the person not far away.

In an instant, Marquis Mu Yang's face turned pale, and the corners of his old and slightly drooping lips kept trembling. He stared blankly at the "person" outside the cell not far away. To be precise, it was a corpse. Mu Yang's lifeless eyes were wide open, and the large amount of blood on his abdomen had turned dark black. And the hideous scar on his neck repeatedly showed that he had already lost his life.

"Yang'er!" Marquis Muyang screamed, and his old body rushed to the edge of the cell at a speed that was totally inconsistent with his physical condition. Unfortunately, he was blocked by the iron bars of the cell, and he couldn't touch the person lying there quietly. Marquis Muyang burst into tears, "Yang'er... Yang'er! Who... Who killed you?!"

In the empty cell, only his miserable voice echoed. Marquis Muyang fell powerlessly beside the cell, staring blankly at his son's body. In a moment, countless thoughts flashed through his mind. Mu Yang was his only son and his only hope. Without Mu Yang, it seemed as if everything in the world had lost its meaning. Marquis Muyang's mansion... was over...

He had been obsessed with fame and fortune all his life, and only hoped that the Marquis of Muyang Mansion would flourish in his hands. But now, the Marquis of Muyang Mansion was destroyed in his hands. His only son also died in front of him. Was he really wrong?

"Yang'er... why? Why don't you take my life?! Why do you want to kill my son! Your Majesty! Your Majesty! The Marquis of Muyang is loyal..."

"Is the emperor that Marquis Muyang called Mo Jingqi or Mo Jingli?" A slightly cold voice came from outside, and the originally closed dungeon door creaked and was pushed open from the outside. A handsome man in black walked in.

"Qin Feng?! You killed Yang'er?!" Marquis Muyang was shocked. He originally thought that Mu Yang was captured by Mo Jingli, but it turned out that he had fallen into the hands of Prince Ding's Mansion without knowing it. It was also... thinking back to the sudden coma before he woke up, if it was Mo Jingli, it would be completely unnecessary.

Qin Feng did not deny it, and said calmly: "Since Marquis Muyang understands, I think he also knows why he has ended up like this, right?" Qin Feng may still have some feelings about Mu Yang's death, but he has no idea about Marquis Muyang's fate. The Mo family army values ​​loyalty the most. Marquis Muyang had an affair with Mo Jingli before Mo Jingqi fell ill and died. The fact that Marquis Muyang caused the princess and the young prince to almost die tragically was a great hatred for everyone in Prince Ding's mansion. Maybe from Marquis Muyang's point of view, he was just following orders. But from the point of view of Prince Ding's mansion, especially from the point of view of Prince Ding Mo Xiuyao, this is a crime worthy of death. This may not be about right or wrong, the strong have the right to deal with their enemies.

Marquis Muyang couldn't help but shudder and closed his eyes in pain. What else is there to not understand when seeing the people of Dingwang Mansion? He has been cautious all his life. In the eyes of outsiders, he is a person who follows the trend and lacks the backbone of a general. Therefore, after the decline of Dingwang Mansion, he wholeheartedly joined Mo Jingqi. He was neither like Nanhou who ignored state affairs nor like the Hua family who secretly sided with Dingwang Mansion. He did whatever the emperor asked him to do. He was a minister, wasn't he? It was natural for a minister to obey the orders of the monarch, even if... that was wrong.

But one of the sins he committed in his life was leading troops to besiege Princess Ding. Because of this incident, the retreat of the Marquis of Muyang Mansion was cut off. So when he saw that Mo Jingqi was dying, he had to immediately surrender to Mo Jingli. He couldn't surrender to the Prince Ding Mansion like Nanhou and the Leng family, nor did he have the courage to bet on the entire Hua family to live and die with the Great Chu like Duke Hua. He wanted to live, hold power, and let the Marquis of Muyang Mansion pass on from generation to generation. But now... all these years of struggle and hard work have finally been in vain.

"Prince Ding's Mansion...Prince Ding's Mansion...Why?! I was just following orders back then!" Marquis Muyang roared, unwilling to accept the consequences. If he had a choice, would he have been so arrogant as to become an enemy of Prince Ding's Mansion? Perhaps...sometimes he had a slight thought, if Prince Ding's Mansion was completely destroyed, could Marquis Muyang's Mansion take its place...but that was just a slight thought.

Qin Feng said calmly: "When I came out, the prince asked me to tell Marquis Mu a message."

Marquis Muyang looked at him and heard Qin Feng say, "The prince said that the excruciating pain I experienced must be repaid a hundredfold. The prince spared Muyang's life back then, but now he is taking it back."

Marquis Muyang was silent. After what happened that year, Mo Xiuyao finally released Muyang. He had once felt a little lucky. So, Mo Xiuyao just felt that the blow he had given him was not enough?