In less than two days, Chu Yan finally decided on his final idea.
In the end, he agreed with his elder brother's opinion and decided to lead the old troops of the Beijing Camp to the north to fight against Qi.
On the surface, it was to resist the army of Qi, but the two brothers had already made it clear what the actual purpose was.
However, even though he had made up his mind, Chu Yan was still a little worried.
"Brother, when I get to Yannan, I'll follow your arrangements. Are you sure there won't be any chaos?"
Chu Yi patted his shoulder, signaling him to be at ease, "Don't worry, I have anticipated everything. If there is any unexpected situation, just send the information to the capital in time."
Chu Yan finally nodded and agreed. He took a look at the familiar city wall of Beijing and felt inexplicably reluctant to leave.
"...After I take my troops to Yandi, big brother, please take care of yourself in the capital."
"Well, you should be more careful. If you really want to become a local emperor, you must carefully consider your decisions and keep the place entrusted to you."
Chu Yi smiled and gave a final reminder.
The two brothers parted outside the city, and Chu Yan rode back to the Beijing camp.
Outside the moat, the dead trees remain, there is no bird song, and everything is still bleak.
Horse hooves passed by on the official road, and dust was faintly flying, bringing the dryness of winter.
After a long time, Chu Yi sighed and turned back to the city.
According to the expected development, he and his third brother probably won’t see each other again in the short term.
This time the arrangements were kept basically secret, and the hasty collection of food and fodder for the army had already begun. No one else in the court had received the news except Chu Yan and his men.
Chu Yan returned to the Beijing camp and secretly set out with several trusted generals and a thousand cavalrymen, and first arrived at Menghu Pass.
The expenses of the Beijing army's march north basically did not come from the national treasury. Chu Yi rarely spent a lot of money, and everything was developing as expected.
Meanwhile, in the capital, preparations for the Spring Examination began.
However, just a few days after the incident, when the Beijing army began to move, an unexpected person came to the Chu Mansion.
"Lord Chu!"
"Without orders from the Governor's Office and the Ministry of War, Chu Yan mobilized the Beijing Camp troops without authorization. Do you need to give this Governor an explanation?"
In the lobby of the Chu Mansion, Shi Qingxue, who had been promoted to the Grand Commander of the Left Army Commandery, looked very unhappy and ignored the tea served by the servants.
She just looked at Chu Yi coldly, and at one point she could no longer suppress the anger in her heart.
When an army sets out, it is always important to prepare food and fodder before the troops move forward. However, the food and fodder collected by the five military camps in the past few days had already been prepared in the capital area at the beginning of the month and did not attract anyone's attention at all.
It was also because of this that Shi Qingxue only got wind of the movement when he saw that the Beijing camp suddenly and blatantly made moves to break camp today.
She knew very well that the movement of the Beijing camp this time was very sudden, and even the Governor's Office had not received any orders from the emperor.
The entire Beijing camp has been emptied out. What is the Chu family going to do?
If Shi Qingxue had not learned that Chu Yi, the big boss, was still in the capital, she would have suspected that the Chu family was planning to rebel again.
Facing Shi Qingxue's questioning, Chu Yi was very calm and not at all impatient.
"General Shi, why are you so anxious? This official is confused. Why should I report to you about the emperor's decision?"
"This governor has not received any order from His Majesty to transfer the Beijing troops north."
Shi Qingxue clearly didn't believe this, and couldn't help but add, "Besides, even if His Majesty wanted to mobilize troops, the Governor's Office should have the right to know. In my opinion, such a large-scale operation is clearly a conspiracy by your Chu family!"
Shi Qingxue's tone was very bad. Although she couldn't figure out Chu Yi's purpose, she felt inexplicably worried.
It seemed as if the Chu family was planning something earth-shattering.
"General Shi, please don't talk nonsense. I have no intention of doing anything bad right now."
Chu Yi spoke calmly, "I would like to tell General Shi that the Beijing garrison marched north to resist the Qi army's southward advance. Is this a reasonable goal?"
"Master Tianguan, do you think this governor is a three-year-old kid?"
Shi Qingxue raised an eyebrow in displeasure. "Since you were going to mobilize the Beijing troops north, why hadn't you discussed this matter with the Governor's Office? Why didn't this Governor get any information? Why did your Chu family conceal this?"
"Isn't it possible to catch them by surprise?" Chu Yi waved his hand.
The guy in front of him really made him feel helpless.
However, Chu Yi also had some guesses in his mind as to why Shi Qingxue was so angry, so he patiently evaded the question with a few words.
But these words were met with Shi Qingxue's increasingly impatient denial, "This governor doesn't believe it!"
Chu Yi: “…”
It’s a headache...
There was no other way. He knew he couldn't hide it, and it was not easy to hide it from Shi Qingxue. After struggling for a while, he finally confessed:
"Forget it, I'll tell you the truth."
"The reason why Chu Yan led the entire Beijing army northward was indeed His Majesty's intention. As for the purpose... General Shi must be clear about it. I don't intend to waste time on internal conflicts. As long as His Majesty remains in power, many of the Chu family's officers and soldiers in the Beijing camp will be dissatisfied. Staying here will only be a powder keg, ready to explode at any time..."
Chu Yi stated his purpose in relatively simple words.
Of course, as for the fact that he asked his third brother to find a place in the north to become a local tyrant, he would never tell the truth.
Therefore, Chu Yan's purpose of leading his troops north was simply to gain military merit, allowing them to temporarily resist foreign enemies and quell their temporary dissatisfaction.
Chu Yi even explained that if they could successfully resist the Qi army, then Da'an and Qi might be able to negotiate, forcing Qi to cede land and allowing Chu Yan to establish a small country on Qi's land.
Of course, these ideas Chu Yi presented at this time were only in their initial stages, and specific actions would depend on the situation.
But Shi Qingxue was confused and stunned.
She just listened to Chu Yi's vivid narration, the expression on her face changed from confusion at first to shock, and finally to a look as if she was looking at a fool.
Fortunately, she was born in a family of military generals and nobles, so even though she was a military general, she had enough self-control and did not curse directly.
Finally, after Chu Yi finished telling the story he made up, Shi Qingxue couldn't help it anymore.
Snap——
She slammed her hand hard on the table next to her.
"Lord Chu!"
"This governor has always believed that you, Lord Chu, are a talented person. You are not as pedantic as other civil servants in the court, nor as simple-minded as Chu Yan. But I didn't expect..."
"You are also capable of coming up with such ridiculous decisions!"
"With Anguo's current strength, we are trying to deal with Qi and defeat it, forcing it to cede territory and beg for mercy. How ridiculous!"
"Also, if Chu Yan goes crazy and fails to restrain Zhou, and at the instigation of his gang of men, he raises his own army and intends to rebel, how will you deal with it, Lord Chu?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
