"How did Prince Yong'an die? Is there any specific information from the Seven Banner Guards?" Sun Hao asked Jia Xu anxiously.
Jia Xu then said, "My lord, according to some intelligence we, the Seven Banner Guards, have obtained, Prince Yong'an was assassinated on his way back to the Prince's Palace after inspecting the military camp.
The assassins used the army's standard crossbows, and the crossbow arrows were coated with poison.
Prince Yong'an, who was riding a horse, was struck by three crossbow arrows. Although none of the wounds were fatal, the poison in the arrows caused him to die before he could be carried back to the Yong'an Palace.
"Where are the assassins? Have they been caught?"
Jia Xu shook his head, "There were twelve assassins in total, their faces had been slashed and even their tongues had been cut off.
After the assassination was successful, the twelve assassins bit the poison hidden in their teeth one after another, and none of the guards around Prince Yong'an were caught alive.
However, judging by the situation of these twelve assassins, they must have been trained by a certain force for many years. Even if Prince Yong'an's guards could capture them alive, they probably wouldn't be able to get anything out of them.
After hearing Jia Xu's description of these assassins, Sun Hao couldn't help but feel a chill in his heart. It seemed that he would have to be extra careful when traveling in the future.
"What is the current situation in the capital?" Sun Hao continued to ask.
“Thanks to the Yong’an Prince taking over the Eight Imperial Guards and the Imperial Guards, the situation in the capital has been relatively calm.
But we, the Seven Banner Guards, have received news that the Left Prime Minister Lu Zeng and the Right Prime Minister Fan Ziyong are secretly trying to win over the governors of the various Forbidden Army garrisons."
After more than two years of recuperation, the imperial guards Guangwu Town, Xingwu Town, Yingwu Town, Zhenwu Town, Jingwu Town, Chaowu Town and Xiaowu Town, which suffered heavy losses in the battle with the Northern Jin Army, have all recovered.
In addition, Prince Yong'an may have been stimulated by the heavy cavalry of the Zhenxi Army. After returning to Beijing, he immediately began to expand the Yulin Cavalry.
The Yulin Cavalry, which is now affiliated with the Imperial Guards, has 80,000 heavily armored cavalrymen, which is equivalent to Prince Yong'an building a new town composed entirely of heavily armored cavalrymen for the Imperial Guards.
As for the so-called Prince of Yong'an, he was not actually the biological son of Prince of Yong'an Chen Su, but a member of the royal family who was adopted into the Yong'an Palace. According to seniority, he was the nephew of Prince of Yong'an Chen Su.
Sun Hao pondered for a moment and asked, "Do you, the Seven Banner Guards, suspect anyone of the real culprit behind the assassination of Prince Yong'an?"
Jia Xu sighed and said, "There are so many people in the entire Liang Kingdom who want to kill Prince Yong'an. If I were to list the suspects, there would probably be dozens."
After hesitating for a moment, Jia Xu continued, "My lord, some people in the court are spreading rumors in the capital that the real culprit behind the assassination of Prince Yong'an is from our Zhenxi Protectorate."
Sun Hao waved his hand and said, "It's normal to suspect me. After all, Prince Yong'an has been targeting me for the past few years.
However, a person with a clear conscience has nothing to fear. Since the death of Prince Yong'an has nothing to do with me, no one should try to put the blame on me.
This matter will be handled by you, the Seven Banner Guards."
"Yes, my lord!"
The seven armies of the imperial guards were able to recover quickly, and the Yulin cavalry was able to expand to 80,000 men, all because Emperor Chen Xun mobilized the royal treasury under the persuasion of Prince Yong'an.
Otherwise, given the financial situation of the Liang court, Prince Yong'an would be in a difficult position.
With the support of a large amount of money from the royal treasury, in order to guard against the Zhenxi Army, King Yong'an Chen Su allocated a large amount of military funds to the Ganyang Protectorate in Pizhou, the Huaide Protectorate, and the Shaochang Protectorate in Huaizhou, which enabled these three protectorates to expand to a certain extent.
Today, the Ganyang Army has eight guards under its command, with a total strength of 160,000.
The Huaide Army was also expanded to eight guards, but Fan Cheng, the Grand Commander of the Huaide Protectorate, could only control six guards. The left and right guards of the Huaide Army were still controlled by the Wang family of Quan'an City.
The Shaochang Army took the opportunity to expand four guards at once, making the Shaochang Army have six guards and a strength of 120,000.
In this way, Prince Yong'an had placed 400,000 elite border troops of the imperial court at the doorstep of Xizhou to guard against the Zhenxi Army.
In addition, in order to guard against the Zhennan Army under Sun Hao, Prince Yong'an allocated a large amount of military funds to the Anfeng Protectorate in Leizhou in the southeast region and the Xingling Protectorate in Xinzhou.
At present, the Anfeng Protectorate and the Xingling Protectorate have been expanded into eight guards, each with 120,000 soldiers and horses.
The Tiansu Protectorate in Yizhou in the southwest also received a huge amount of military funds allocated by Prince Yong'an.
This allowed the Tiansu Protectorate to not only rebuild the five severely damaged guards, but also expand the eight guards under its jurisdiction from four brigades of 20,000 people per guard to six brigades of 30,000 people per guard.
Because Yizhou is close to Xinzhou, once the Zhennan Army invades the southeast region, the 240,000 Tiansu Army can quickly enter the southeast region and jointly resist the invasion of the Zhennan Army with the 120,000 Anfeng Army and the 120,000 Xingling Army.
The court's expansion of the imperial guards and several border troops not only made Sun Hao feel threatened, but also made other protectorates of Liang State that had become vassal states feel threatened.
In the past two years, all the vassal states in Liang State have expanded their military forces to varying degrees.
Relatively speaking, the Zhenxi Army and Zhennan Army under Sun Hao's command are the least active. Currently, the Zhenxi Army and the Zhennan Army still have four guards under their command.
Sun Hao only slightly expanded the Xizhou and Lianzhou wing troops.
Now the total strength of the Xizhou wing army has reached 800,000, and the total strength of the Lianzhou wing army has reached 600,000. Among the 600,000 Lianzhou wing army, there are 100,000 Lianzhou navy.
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