Volume 1, Chapter 97: Besieged on All Sides
The offices of the three ministries, namely the Secretariat, the Ministry of Palace Affairs and the Ministry of State Affairs, were all located in the same courtyard. Although they were divided into three places, they were not far apart.
In the study of Prime Minister Liu Yiyi, Zhu Qiyu, Wang Shu and Liu Yiyi were all looking at Jiang Yue with smiles on their faces. Their eyes were more fiery than each other, making Jiang Yue feel embarrassed.
"My three prime ministers, I am ready to suppress the bandits. Please give me the orders." Jiang Yue said with a bow.
Zhu Qiyu and Wang Shu both looked at Liu Yiyi, obviously waiting for her to make the decision.
Liu Yiyi smiled and said, "The emperor has already issued a death order. On the day of the emperor's triumphant return, no more banditry should occur in the dynasty. Time is running out, so the three of us have been waiting for the general to come back!"
"It's time to give the order, but before that, I, the Prime Minister, would like to congratulate General Jiang first!"
Jiang Yue was confused and asked quickly, "Prime Minister Liu, where does this joy come from?"
The three prime ministers looked at each other, and then Liu Yiyi took out a letter and said, "After the emperor learned of the great victory in the northern border, he was overjoyed and sent an imperial edict to the capital yesterday, specially conferring General Jiang as General of Cavalry, second rank! His brother Jiang Fei was conferred as General of Cavalry, second rank!"
Jiang Yue exclaimed in surprise: "What? The emperor rewarded us."
Wang Shu smiled and said, "His Majesty the Emperor really favors you, General Jiang. This time your Jiang family has two generals, both of whom are great generals. This is a great thing that will bring honor to your family and fame to your relatives!"
Jiang Yue, who had reacted, quickly bowed towards the western border and said, "Your humble servant Jiang Yue, kowtows to thank the emperor for his great grace."
After Jiang Yue stood up, Liu Yiyi continued, "Your Majesty is deeply sorry about General Jiang Fei's incident. He has ordered the Northern Frontier soldiers to search for him with all their strength. Please don't worry too much, General Jiang."
Jiang Yue nodded and said, "Whether my brother is blessed or cursed depends entirely on his luck."
Wang Shu said: "There is no one as brave as the Cavalry General. If there is no one like him, there will be no one like him before. A man with great luck will surely turn danger into safety."
"Okay, General Jiang Yue, listen to my orders!" Liu Yiyi said solemnly, "Appoint Jiang Yue as the Grand Marshal of Suppressing Bandits, lead 100,000 troops, and wipe out the bandits and robbers who are causing trouble in the Great Sun Dynasty. The troops will set out today!"
After Liu Yiyi finished speaking, she took out a letter of appointment that had been prepared long ago and handed it over, with the seals of their three prime ministers on it.
Jiang Yue quickly took it, then bowed and said, "I obey your orders!"
"Well, the three of us have something to ask of you, and we hope General Jiang will agree!"
Jiang Yue said quickly: "The three prime ministers can speak directly if you have something to say. Why do you have to do this?"
The three of them were silent for a while, and Wang Shu stood up and said, "It's like this. Recently, the Black Witch Nation in the southern border has repeatedly invaded our border. It seems that they will attack our country in the near future."
Zhu Qiyu said: "Now our dynasty is under attack from three sides and is forced to fight on three fronts. We no longer have any extra troops and supplies to support Southern Xinjiang!
Fortunately, the war in the northern border has ended, but it is impossible to transfer the garrison and food supplies in the northern border back to the southern border in a short period of time. By that time, the southern border will have been conquered by the Black Witch Nation! "
Jiang Yue frowned upon hearing this, and immediately bowed his hands and said, "The three prime ministers, if you need me to do anything, there is no need to beat around the bush, just tell me!"
Liu Yiyi said, "It's not a big deal. It's just that the court has a batch of extremely important military supplies that need to be escorted to the southern border. We hope that when General Jiang leads his troops to suppress bandits, he can arrange the route to the southern border first, suppress bandits along the way, and escort military supplies to the southern border at the same time."
This matter is not a big deal, but it is not a small one either. It is nothing more than asking Jiang Yue to go to southern Xinjiang and serve as an escort officer before leading his troops to suppress the bandits.
The key point is that even if this is done, Jiang Yue will not benefit from it and has no obligation to escort the goods. After all, he is now a general of the second rank, and the three prime ministers cannot force him to do so.
After all, the emperor's decree ordered him to lead troops to suppress the bandits as soon as possible. If time was wasted or something happened during the escort, the responsibility would be held on Jiang Yue.
It is completely a matter of great harm and no benefit. In fact, if there were generals in the court, the three chancellors would not have resorted to such a desperate measure.
"It's just a trivial matter. I will obey your command!" Jiang Yue naturally knew the pros and cons, but he still agreed without any hesitation.
The reason is very simple. He is a general who cares about the dynasty and is loyal to the emperor. He can see the difficulties of the three prime ministers and now he is willing to share as much burden as possible.
The Great Sun Dynasty is in turmoil, and now is the most critical moment. As a man, I need to shoulder some of the burden for the dynasty!
Wang Shu was overjoyed when he heard this and said, "Well, the emperor was right about the general!"
Jiang Yue bowed to the three of them and said, "In that case, I will go back immediately to recruit troops, plan a route, and set off early tomorrow morning!"
Watching Jiang Yue's leaving back, the three prime ministers sighed together. In fact, the pressure on them was more than just that.
Since the emperor went to war, Zhu Qiyu took charge and, with the help of Zhen Dajin, the head of the Zhen family, fleeced a large number of wealthy businessmen, powerful people and aristocratic families in the Da Ri Dynasty, and collected countless food and military supplies.
However, the war on Xiang Yun's side dragged on longer and longer. The emperor had to march quickly the whole time, and his speed of conquering cities was astonishing. He reported the army almost every three days, and had already captured more than 17 cities of the Mahayana Kingdom, and the number was still increasing.
Xiang Yun was only responsible for fighting but not for management, which made the three of them exhausted. Just selecting the lords of each city was already a hassle, and they had to send troops from various places to serve as defenders of the city.
Xiang Yun's battle line was too far, and more and more food and supplies were needed. As a result, all the wool they had collected from the three prime ministers and the supplies they had collected from the "Shangshu Case" were invested in, but it was still not enough.
This war is a bottomless pit and it costs a lot of money.
Now the war has broken out again in southern Xinjiang. The imperial court has no soldiers and no food, yet it still has to suppress bandits and build roads. The three chancellors are almost going crazy. It's really like a good cook cannot cook without rice.
Liu Yiyi had submitted three memorials to the emperor, asking him to return to the capital as soon as possible, but each memorial fell on deaf ears and there was no response.
Instead, Xiang Yun's siege speed was getting faster and faster. Liu Yiyi then realized that the emperor was determined to take over the Mahayana Kingdom and even wanted to attack the capital of the Mahayana Kingdom.
The emperor was willful and the three chancellors were helpless, so Liu Yiyi had to finalize the deal. The three of them joined forces and three days ago fleeced all the wealthy merchants and powerful families in the dynasty, especially the Zhen family, from which almost all of their stored grain and silver were taken out.
Even now, Zhen Dajin is still in a daze at home. He was originally very happy because his granddaughter became the queen, but it has only been a short time, and most of his life's wealth is gone.
It's all in vain. Even though the Zhen family is still majestic and magnificent, if any link goes wrong at this moment, it will collapse in an instant and be destroyed.
Because there was no extra money in the family treasury.
But even so, the Third Prime Minister only managed to secure the food and supplies for the preparations for war and the suppression of bandits in southern Xinjiang, and there was no more.
It feels good to take advantage of others, and it feels good to do so all the time. However, is it really so easy to take advantage of the wealthy families, especially those from powerful families? There is a price to pay!
Just yesterday evening, the Ministry of War received a military report that there were 18 armies in various parts of the Great Sun Dynasty, who declared themselves kings and raised the banner of rebellion, "overthrowing the tyrant's rule and restoring peace to the Great Sun Dynasty!"
Behind these people, there are many shadows of wealthy families.
These eighteen rebel kings will definitely not sit still and wait for death. The next moment, they will each send out troops to encroach on the land of the Great Sun Dynasty bit by bit. However, the Great Sun Dynasty no longer has any extra troops to redress the rebellion.
The three chancellors were completely helpless and could only watch as Liu Yiyi sent a military order to the northern border overnight, asking General Qin Su, the Northern Guardian, to lead his troops back to defend the capital, hoping that it would still be in time.
The smiles that San Cheng showed towards Jiang Yue just now were just an act. Now none of them could smile. It would be a lie to say they were not panicking.
This is really a big deal. If the three of them lose the Great Sun Dynasty when the emperor is away on a military campaign, it will be a huge joke.
On the morning of the second day, Jiang Yue, wearing the armor of a second-rank marshal, rode majestically on a warhorse and led a large army out of the capital, attracting many onlookers along the way.
In the crowd, Zhen Yueling looked at the majestic Jiang Yue moving away with a complicated expression. She felt extremely uncomfortable in her heart, as if it was being cut by a knife.
Sun Shang, who was standing beside her in casual clothes and holding a folding fan, whispered to comfort her: "Miss Yue Ling, let's go. He is now a general of the second rank. His standards have risen and he can't look down on you."
As soon as these words came out, Zhen Yueling's fists clenched tightly, and she was obviously furious. Sun Shang continued, "As the saying goes, marry a younger wife. Miss Yueling is older than General Jiang. No matter what, it is unlikely for the two of you to marry her."
"Think about it, even if General Jiang likes you, he is now a general of the second rank. If he marries a girl older than himself, where will the general's face be?"
The more Sun Shang spoke, the more he felt that this made sense, and he continued, "Look, Miss Yue Ling, for example, although I am also a second-rank official, I am exactly thirty years old this year. At this age, it would be perfect for me to marry Miss Yue Ling!"
After Sun Shang finished speaking with satisfaction, he suddenly realized that Zhen Yueling had disappeared. She was clearly here just now, how could she disappear in the blink of an eye?
"Miss Yueling? Miss Yueling!" Sun Shang couldn't help but shouting everywhere, hoping to find Zhen Yueling.
The marching team led by Jiang Yue was about to leave the capital and go out of the south gate.
At this moment, a white figure rushed out from the crowd, came to the center of the road, and blocked the army's way. This person was Zhen Yueling who was running at high speed!
Jiang Yue immediately pulled the reins to stop, frowning. The surrounding Lieyang soldiers rushed forward with weapons in hand and tried to drive her away, but were immediately stopped by Jiang Yue.
Zhen Yueling was still wearing the same white dress as yesterday, but the difference today was that there was obvious dirt on her knees, and blood was faintly seeping out from under her clothes. Her face was full of tears, and she stared at Jiang Yue with red eyes.
Obviously, the injury on the knee was caused by accidentally falling when running over just now. Both hands were also broken and it was very painful.
Jiang Yue felt extremely distressed seeing this, but he was now a general leading troops to war, and he must not ruin the big plan because of a little sentimental love.
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