The World is Shocked 134. Going to War (3)

Ten miles outside Xinyang City, hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses of Xiling were staring at the city in sight not far away. That city was more attractive and meaningful than a mere border city. There were countless grains and military supplies there, the wealth and prosperity of the largest city in the northwest, and it would be their first real step in conquering Da Chu. In the commander-in-chief's tent, the nearly fifty-year-old King Zhennan sat behind the desk, holding the memorial just delivered by his subordinates in one hand, and after reading it for a while, he suddenly laughed wildly. The generals below looked at each other, wondering what made the prince so happy. When he had laughed enough, he shouted: "Mo Liufang! You have come to this day too! If you could still see that your Dingguo Palace has reached the current situation, would you regret it?!"

The generals exchanged glances, and the one standing in the front stepped out and asked, "My Lord, is there any good news?"

The King of Zhennan casually handed the memorial over, and said to everyone with a smile: "The Dingguo Palace really has no successors, and a woman is actually in charge of the military power!" The generals who read the memorial also had a strange look on their faces, saying: "Deputy Marshal Nanhou, Princess Dingguo is supervising the army? What does Dongchu mean by this?" The King of Zhennan snorted and said: "I have no choice but to give up. I have heard a little about Nanhou. He has always been neutral and does not care about worldly affairs. He can be a general, but he does not have the ability to lead the Mohist Army. What's more, the military power of the Mohist Army is not that easy to get."

"Could it be that the Mohist army is now in the hands of Princess Dingguo?" the general asked in astonishment.

King Zhennan nodded and smiled thoughtfully, "That's right, Mo Xiuyao is too far away in the Northern Rong to come back. Without Mo Xiuyao, there is no one in the Dingguo Palace who can lead the troops to the battle. Now the military power has fallen into the hands of a sixteen or seventeen-year-old girl." The generals under his command couldn't help but get excited. After whispering to each other for a while, someone stepped out and said, "In this case, Your Majesty, let's take this opportunity to clean up the The Mohist Army. So that they won't reunite with Prince Ding and bring us trouble in our Eastern Expedition to Dongchu!" Prince Zhennan narrowed his eyes slightly, and stroked his empty left sleeve with his right hand casually, saying: "Although I want to fight with Mo Xiuyao, but... as a general, I must not fight for my feelings. This time, it is indeed the best opportunity God has given to our army. If we can destroy this army, the Prince Dingguo's Palace will never be a success again!"

"We will follow your orders, Your Highness!" everyone said in unison. The idea of ​​destroying Prince Dingguo's Palace made everyone feel excited.

King Zhennan nodded with satisfaction, "Very good, speed up the attack on Xinyang, and take Xinyang City within three days! Then go to Jiangxia and wipe out the Mohist Army in one fell swoop!"

"Yes, sir!"

"Princess, a letter has arrived from No. 2." In the Mohist army camp, Ye Li was sitting in the big tent, discussing matters with Nan Hou and others while the whole army was stationed. Zhuo Jing came in holding a letter, and Ye Li said in a calm voice without raising her head, "Translate it for me." Zhuo Jing nodded and walked to the desk in the corner of the big tent to translate the letter. Ye Li continued to say to Nan Hou, "It will take at least seven days for us to get to Jiangxia. I'm afraid it will be difficult for the Marquis to speed up the march as he said."

Nan Hou frowned and said, "Why is that? The Mohist army has always been fast in marching. I remember that the fastest time was when they marched hundreds of miles a day..."

Ye Li shook his head and said, "Marquis, that is a small group. We have nearly 300,000 troops, and the journey that should have taken ten days was compressed into five days. Do you think that even if we really get to the border, these 300,000 soldiers will still have the strength to fight? I'm afraid the people of Xiling will not give us time to repair. Once we arrive in Jiangxia, we will only be greeted by a fierce battle." Nan Hou sighed heavily, "I know what the princess said, but I am really worried about Xinyang..." Ye Li shook his head and whispered, "Xinyang can't be defended. With your ability, how many days can you defend Xinyang City against the King of Zhennan?" Nan Hou thought for a moment and said, "Xinyang City is not short of military supplies. If it were me, I should be able to defend it for a month."

Ye Li said: "General Leng can hold out for half a month. Lord, please calculate what day it is today. We can't reach Xinyang even if we have wings. Besides, Xinyang City is not short of everything. Xinyang City lacks water!"

Everyone's face turned pale. If they were short of food, they could still hold on for a while, but if they were short of water, there was really nothing to say. And Xinyang was located in the northwest, where water was originally scarce. After being besieged by Xiling, water shortage was almost inevitable.

"No matter how fast we hurry, King Zhennan will definitely be waiting for us in Jiangxia." Ye Li sighed.

Mu Yang frowned and asked, "What if Jiangxia is also breached?"

Lu Jinxian raised his eyebrows and said, "Don't worry, Prince Mu. Although General Yuan Pei, the defender of Jiangxia, has only tens of thousands of troops under his command, Jiangxia is completely different from the flat Xinyang. It is absolutely no problem to defend it for ten days or half a month. Even if the King of Zhennan really presses forward with a large army, as long as Jiangxia still has a soldier, it will never let the people of Xiling take a single step!" Hearing this, Nan Hou and Mu Yang couldn't help but blush. The Mohist Army has been guarding the border for a hundred years and has never let the enemy step into the territory of Da Chu. And now, just because the emperor was jealous of the Dingwang Mansion and idled the soldiers of the Mohist Army, less than a month after the war started, the Xiling Army has already captured several cities and advanced three or four hundred miles.

Nan Hou nodded and said, "It's good that the princess knows what's going on."

Ye Li smiled and said, "I know that you are also worried about the war. Don't worry, General Sun Yan has already sent the Black Cloud Cavalry to travel at night to Jiangxia first."

"Princess." Zhuo Jing had already translated the letter and came over to hand it to Ye Li. Ye Li lowered her head and read it for a while, frowned, and handed the letter to Nan Hou and said, "My Lord, what do the generals think of it?"

Nan Hou took a look, and looked at Zhuo Jing standing beside Ye Li with a calm expression in surprise, frowning and saying: "Zhen Nan Wang suddenly accelerated the speed of attack, is it to take Jiangxia before we arrive? No! Princess, I'm afraid something bad is going to happen!" Seeing Nan Hou's face change, Lu Jinxian and Feng Zhiyao hurriedly took the letter and read it together without caring about the order, and the more they read, the deeper their frowns became. Zhen Nan Wang sent people to attack Xinyang fiercely, while dividing his troops to make a detour. Even the southern army, which was not far away from them, divided a team to go north...

"Princess..." Feng Zhiyao frowned.

Nan Hou said in a deep voice: "King Zhennan is attacking Xinyang fiercely while dividing his troops to bypass the route. I am afraid he wants to cut off the retreat of the Yuan army."

Ye Li frowned deeply, and said after a while: "Bring the map." At this time, the disadvantage of poor information flow was reflected. No matter what they analyzed now, they could not immediately pass it to the generals in the front. They could only hope that the generals in the front line also saw the other party's intentions like them and made the necessary responses. Fortunately, this disadvantage is often mutual.

Zhuo Jing turned around and took out a folded paper from the shape behind him. He slowly unfolded the paper to reveal winding lines marking mountains and rivers. The border of Da Chu from south to north was clearly visible. Ye Li picked up the pen on the table and marked the marching routes of the various troops in Xiling mentioned in the letter. He frowned and raised his head and said, "Has the detailed map of the northwest been sent back?" Zhuo Jing turned around and took out another one from the luggage and said, "It arrived this morning. I was planning to show it to the princess." Ye Li jumped onto the table and spread out the map, saying, "What's the use of showing it to me? I have never been to the northwest. Marquis, General Lu, come and have a look."

Everyone had been curious about the map in front of them, and immediately gathered around after hearing what Ye Li said. There were two maps of similar size on the table. One was obviously a map of all the border areas in the west of Da Chu, while the other was much more detailed, but only the northwest area. But it was more specific than what they had seen before. Lu Jinxian praised: "Good stuff, I have been in the northwest border since I was 20 years old. I dare not say that I know more clearly than this map after nearly 20 years." Nan Hou nodded, pointed to a place on the map and said: "General Lu is right, I have been to the northwest several times in my life, and the map drawn by the princess is...very detailed."

Ye Li smiled with satisfaction. How could it not be detailed? All the newly trained people were sent out. In addition to the original maps, if those people were still not familiar with the northwest, it would be equivalent to learning in vain.

Ye Li stared at the two maps for a long time, picked up a pen and drew a heavy line somewhere on the map, and said in a deep voice: "Immediately send a message to the troops in the south, all those near the Xiling South Route Army to gather westward. Intercept the troops sent by the South Route Army!"

Zhuo Jing nodded in response. Ye Li raised her eyebrows, thought about it, and smiled faintly. She lowered her head and took out a piece of paper, wrote a line of characters on it, handed it to Zhuo Jing, and asked, "Where is Qin Feng?"

Zhuo Jing lowered his head and thought for a while, then said, "He is near Lingguan Pass. He should be preparing to come north to join us now." Ye Li lowered his head to look at the location of Lingguan Pass and said, "Tell him not to come back. Give this to him. Let's plan the next step."

Zhuo Jing put the note away and walked out without even looking at it.

"Does the princess have any plans?" Mu Yang asked with raised eyebrows.

Ye Li smiled faintly and said, "It's not really a plan, just some arrangements made in advance. Just in case."

Knowing that she had no intention of explaining, Mu Yang just looked at her with a complicated look and did not ask further questions. For a hundred years, the Mohist Army had been under the command of the Dingguo Palace, and in recent years, they had no good feelings towards the emperor. He was a person who was inserted into the emperor's family and was a confidant of the emperor, so his status was naturally awkward. Fortunately, Mu Yang himself was also a very tactful person.

Nan Hou looked at Ye Li, then at Mu Yang, as if he didn't notice the undercurrent between the two. He stroked his beard and smiled, "It's good that the princess has a plan. We are hundreds of miles away now and it's useless to do anything. We should rush to the battlefield to support as soon as possible." Ye Li and Mu Yang both nodded in agreement. Nan Hou smiled and discussed with Ye Li and others for a while before getting up and saying goodbye and going back to his account to rest. Mu Yang said Nan Hou left, and even if he wanted to stay and continue listening to the people's reply, he had to get up and say goodbye.