Chapter 277 Shen Lanxi plots to seize the entire Northwest!
"General, the trail has gone cold!" Liu Yan said regretfully.
Shen Lanxi: "It wasn't all for naught." Not everyone can call himself the Emperor of Zhou, and not everyone submits to this emperor.
Unless this person is a member of royalty.
Liu Yanhui's eyes flashed, and he realized something. If what he thought was true, then it would be terrifying.
They were wholeheartedly dedicated to protecting the Great Zhou Dynasty and the royal family, but in the end, the root cause of the turmoil in the Great Zhou was actually one of the royal family members themselves. If the world knew this, they would only find it absurd and laughable.
Shen Lanxi reminded the people who were with her today.
“You saw and heard nothing of what happened today!”
"yes!"
Some people haven't figured it out yet, but that doesn't stop them from already being used to obeying Shen Lanxi's orders.
"General, shall we go to the salt lake now, or return to the city?"
The same bait might attract the same people once, but it won't attract them a second time.
Shen Lanxi: "Have someone go back and tell Zhou Ruan that there are bandits in the Northwest and that Mosang Town has been massacred!"
"yes!"
...
That same day, Zhou Ruan received news from Mosang Town that the entire town, with nearly 1,500 people, had been slaughtered by bandits in a single day.
Mosang Town is under his jurisdiction. If this matter were to be reported back to the imperial court, his brothers would laugh their heads off.
Just two days ago, he had ridiculed Zhou Ruyuan for his defeat in Dongchuan and his memorial requesting grain from the court. The memorial had only been sent out yesterday. The news of the massacre in Mosang Town must not be sent back.
Song Daoxi then suggested to Zhou Ruan that Shen Lanxi block the news from Mosang Town and then send her to suppress the bandits.
This idea was exactly what Zhou Ruan wanted to hear, and he readily agreed. He then immediately ordered someone to send a message to Shen Lanxi.
"Shen Lanxi should be back soon, right?" She's so slow even when I ask her to deliver a message. It's such a hassle to ask women to do things.
Song Daoxi then said, "Second Prince, why don't we take this opportunity to kick the Shen family out of the Zhenbei Army?"
This idea hit Zhou Ru'an right in the head again.
He was just looking for a suitable reason to get rid of the male members of the Shen family, and now, there was a perfect reason.
"Mr. Song truly lives up to his reputation as a disciple of Guiguzi; his wisdom and strategy are indeed unparalleled!"
Song Daoxi waved his folding fan and said without any modesty, "It's just a trivial skill, not worth mentioning!"
Zhou Ruan thought that he couldn't kick out all the Shen family members so quickly, but should do it one by one, starting with Shen Yuanjing.
Three days later, Shen Lanxi led her people to the poplar forest thirty miles outside Hailing City.
Inside the large tent, Shen Lanxi pointed to the map of the Northwest and drew a circle on it.
"Next, we'll take all these places one by one!"
Liu Yan, Che Mingyuan, and the others felt as if these words sounded familiar.
She seemed to have said something similar when she said she would take over Dongchuan last time.
"We can't mobilize on a large scale; we need to plan this carefully!" Che Mingyuan waved his folding fan twice as fast as before, almost leaving afterimages.
Shen Lanxi tapped on the map of Hailing City: "The first thing we need to do is take this place!"
Qian Feng: "I'll take a few men into the city to scout ahead!"
Shen Lanxi nodded: "Be careful."
Liu Yan replied, "We have shops in Hailing City; we can enter under the guise of transporting goods."
Shen Lanxi said in a low voice, "There will be bandits appearing in Hailing City soon, and the recruitment office will probably recruit a large number of soldiers. We can arrange for our people to infiltrate then!"
Che Mingyuan frowned: "Even if we take Hailing City, we can't openly mobilize too many troops here." After all, Zhou Ruan is in charge of the army on the surface.
Shen Lanxi said decisively, "I want Zhou Ruan to come to the rescue and take Hailing City openly and fairly!"
Che Mingyuan's eyes lit up; he understood.
This is like the mantis stalking the cicada, or the cuckoo taking over the magpie's nest!
"feasible!"
...
Two days later, Zhou Ruan requested another batch of grain from Hailing City. On the third day, bandits began to roam the villages and towns near Hailing City. These bandits only plundered, did not kill, and left after taking the goods, frequently harassing the surrounding towns.
Chen Xiong lent Zhou Ru'an grain and fodder one after another, and the granary was already empty. If Zhou Ru'an hadn't promised to give Chen Mianmian the position of principal wife after returning to the capital, he would never have lent him another load of grain.
"General, bandits are attacking the villages and towns near our city of Hailing, and they've stolen all the people's grain and money!"
"General, we must find a way to raise grain and fodder as soon as possible, otherwise our current supplies will not last a month."
"General..."
Chen Xiong was already at his wits' end, and he wished he could send someone to get back the grain and fodder he had lent to Zhou Ru'an.
"Damn it, I was thinking of going to the surrounding villages and towns to raise grain and fodder, but I didn't expect the bandits to get there first."
Chen Xiong paced back and forth in the military tent in a fit of rage. He was now beginning to regret trying to curry favor with the Second Prince.
"General, should we suppress the bandits first, or should we raise funds and supplies first?" Chen Xiong's men looked at him expectantly.
Chen Xiong was furious at being urged: "Damn bandits, I'll wipe them all out!"
One of his men suggested, "General, why don't we wipe out the bandits first? Those bandits have robbed the people of their grain and money, but they certainly won't eat it all at once. If we find the bandits' stronghold, we can openly use that grain and money as provisions, right?"
Chen Xiong's eyes lit up.
"You few, each lead a thousand men out and find those bandits as soon as possible!"
"yes!"
That very night, after the 5,000 troops left, a great fire broke out in Hailing City. One-third of the city's military force rushed to fight the fire.
Just as flames were raging inside the city, the city gates opened.
Shen Lanxi: "The main objective is to cause disturbance. We'll assemble at the Populus euphratica forest in half an hour!"
"yes!"
A group of men in black, armed and shouting battle cries, charged into Hailing City!
Shen Lanxi led her men into the city, leaving half of them at the city gate to guard it, while she led the other half of her men and charged towards Chen Xiong's residence.
"Where is the grain? Hand over the grain!"
"Hand over everything of value, now..."
The group killed and shouted as they went.
Chen Xiong had already gone to sleep when he was woken up by his men's urgent knocking on the door. As he dressed, he angrily cursed, "If it's not urgent, I'll wring your heads off!"
"General, something has happened!" his subordinate reported hurriedly.
Chen Xiong knew about the fire in the city and thought his subordinate was referring to the intensity of the fire, so he kicked his subordinate.
"What use are you? You can't even put out a fire!"
His subordinate fell to the ground and quickly got up to explain.
"General, it's not a fire, it's bandits who have stormed into the city!"
Chen Xiong was furious: "What happened? Who opened the city gate for them? How did they get in?"
His subordinates were almost in tears.
"I don't know. There's a really powerful bandit among them. He's charged all the way from the city gate toward us. General, quickly order the troops to be mobilized!"
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