At the end of summer in the twelfth year of Tiancheng Lingwei, the emperor personally led an expedition to the Blue Frontier. He approached Sanmu Pass in the east, leading the White Bandits westward. He later stationed his troops on the east bank of the ancient Yanxi Tianmu Road, orchestrating his strategy. On October 26th, heavy snow fell, and fog rose from west to east, resulting in a solar eclipse at mid-sky, a grave concern for the monarch. That night, the Bai clan secretly dispatched Yan Zi and Kui Lang to attack the royal tent, intending to kill the imperial throne. However, they were ultimately defeated at Seqiu. History calls this the "Zi Greedy Day."
This is the description of the Battle of Seqiu in history books.
After the battle of Seqiu, the situation between Tiancheng and Bijiang was overwhelmingly reversed. The Bai family was no longer able to compete and fled to Kizhou in a state of disarray. This is a story for another time.
However, at that time, Xiao Nanhui was still unable to realize how decisive the battle that followed would be in Tiancheng's efforts to recapture Bijiang.
At this moment, she was standing among a dozen generals, holding her breath and listening to the latest battle reports from the front, with joy and sorrow on her face.
Good news came from the west of Tongcheng, Jizhou. The 300,000 Subei troops led by Xiao Zhun have wiped out the Bai family defenders in the entire Yanxi area. The entire army is stationed outside Sanmu Pass, waiting for the best time to launch a general attack.
The moment the message was read, the atmosphere in the tent suddenly became lively. Although the spy had just been discovered in the army, the news of the Subei Army's successive victories was still reassuring. If the timing was right, perhaps Tiancheng could quickly end this war to quell the rebellion, thus avoiding years of wasted confrontation.
Xiao Nanhui knew all this, but she was more worried about Xiao Zhun.
More than a decade ago, Xiao Zhun was still a young man with unstoppable talent and hot blood. He led the former subordinates of Prince Shuo to chase the Bai family, but was defeated at Sanmu Pass. If General Fei Lian had not led the Guangyao Battalion's heavy cavalry to rescue, the 100,000 elite soldiers of his former subordinates would have been wiped out, and there would have been no Subei Army afterwards.
That was the only defeat in Xiao Zhun's life. Others might not know it, but Xiao Nanhui knew: for the young man who had just lost his entire family, the impact was like the echo of the abyss, which was difficult to truly dissipate.
Inside the big tent, everyone was offering suggestions and advice one after another. The emperor listened quietly, with neither joy nor worry on his face. He just placed his left hand lightly on the small table, tapping the surface lightly with his fingertips.
"Sir Xiao." The emperor's gaze suddenly turned to her. "I've often heard that Bijiang is rich, that a small area can produce thousands of dan of millet and hundreds of cattle and sheep. I wonder if this is true?"
Xiao Nanhui replied cautiously, "The rumors are exaggerated, but Bijiang is indeed a fertile land." After a pause, she added, "During the months I've been there, I've also discovered that the sand in many parts of the north has turned ochre, and occasionally tung flowers grow luxuriantly, all of which are signs of copper and iron."
As soon as she said this, Wu Ku Ling Lu Ziyue was the first to react.
"Tiancheng has always strictly controlled the copper and iron mines, but if what the general said is true, then the Bai family has indeed found a good place to recuperate. Now that so many years have passed, I'm afraid they have already smelted iron and sharpened their weapons, making them difficult to deal with."
Yan Guang was somewhat displeased. "In my humble opinion, there's no point in throwing our forces into disarray over a mere iron lure. They're just crude barbarians. How can they possibly withstand my Tiancheng Iron Cavalry?"
Lu Ziyue wiped the sweat off his forehead and said, "General, you are wrong. If it were just the Southern Qiang people, they wouldn't be a big threat, but the Bai family is full of talented people..."
"Ridiculous! How can a mere traitor deserve the title of 'talented generation'? Is Lord Lu getting senile and confused?!"
"alright."
The emperor finally spoke up, ending this meaningless argument, and then turned his gaze to Xiao Nanhui again: "It's a rich place, but its people are so fierce. Why is that?"
Xiao Nanhui's heart was bleeding. The old emperor truly refused to let her go, repeatedly urging her to start a quarrel among the people in the tent. She, the Right General, hadn't even been back for an hour, and already she was completely offending her future colleague.
Despite the agony, she still had to bite the bullet and answer, "Bijiang is rich in water and grass, and it's the promised land in the hearts of the Southern Qiang people. However, it has been fought over and conquered throughout history, so the Southern Qiang are quite hostile to outsiders. In addition, their language, writing, and even their customs are very different from those of the natural world, making assimilation difficult. Therefore, the people often feel unruly and unruly."
The emperor nodded. "If you want to capture their city, attack it with military force. If you want to conquer their clan, pacify them with wise strategies. Do you, my generals, understand my intention?"
The big tent became quiet for a moment, and many generals seemed a little dissatisfied.
This isn't hard to understand. Soldiers go to war to either expand territory or defend their country. Their hearts are solely with their own people, so why would they ever consider the feelings of foreign nations?
However, these words resonated with Xiao Nanhui, and she had a different view of the emperor. She had always believed that people like him wouldn't care much about the lives of others. Or rather, they wouldn't care about the title of "wise ruler."
But even if he said such words, did he really have any compassion in his heart?
She could only guess that someone who didn't even care about his own life or death was born heartless. The fact that such a heartless person could make such a kind and gentle decision was not only surprising, but also terrifying.
He was just playing the role of a kind and gentle person.
Since ancient times, it has been easy to kill but difficult to stop killing. Everyone was wondering how much the emperor meant by stopping killing.
Huang Wei, the chief clerk, pondered the matter and asked, "I agree with your majesty, but I wonder how this war should be fought so as to be... not to resort to violence?"
The emperor tilted his head slightly, as if he had just thought of something and was sharing it with everyone. He then spoke, "Send a small team of no more than thirty people to the upper reaches of the Tianmu River in Bijiang and destroy the dam built by the Sun family. How many days can it take to complete it?"
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone present more or less understood what the emperor was going to do.
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