Qin Liangyu smiled and shook her head.
"Li Ruolian's order is indeed a bit rash, but it's exactly what I wanted!"
She had fought against the Jurchens a few years ago and knew their capabilities.
“These Jurchens are not easy to deal with. Not only are they formidable fighters, but their chieftains are also very shrewd.”
"If they realize they have no chance of winning, they will definitely retreat immediately."
"Will we still be able to drag our cannons and chase them all the way there?"
"Only by showing them that they have a chance of winning will they be lured into launching an attack."
Upon hearing this, the lieutenants understood.
"General, do you mean that if we advance quickly, we will deliberately create openings to lure the Jurchens into launching a surprise attack?"
Qin Liangyu nodded repeatedly.
"That's exactly what I mean!"
She suddenly stood up and slammed her hand on the table.
"His Majesty summoned us to the capital from afar, not so that we could just sit here and do nothing."
"Go down and tell the men that we must not only win this battle, but win it beautifully."
"Let those Jurchens know how powerful we are!"
Several lieutenants also became excited.
"General, you're right. Damn it, these northerners have always looked down on us."
"This time we must win a decisive victory and show them!"
Seeing that the morale was good, Qin Liangyu said nothing more.
Instead, he turned to look in the direction of the capital.
"As long as we win the battle, I will not have failed His Majesty's trust."
Inside the palace, Zhu Youjian seemed to sense something.
"Hmm, any new intelligence from beyond the Great Wall?"
He looked at Luo Yangxing, who was standing to the side, and asked him casually.
Luo Yangxing immediately gave a bitter smile.
"Your Majesty, you have asked me this question six times in the past hour, and this is the seventh time."
“I have been by your side the whole time. If the Embroidered Uniform Guard gets any new intelligence, they will report to me. You will know it directly.”
After hearing this, Zhu Youjian sighed and said:
"I was indeed confused by my concern."
He stood up and circled around the dragon throne.
"This time is different from the last one!"
“Master Gao already advised me last time that the Jurchens were just testing us, and that they would naturally retreat as long as the court sent troops.”
"So I'm not too worried."
"But this time, we have to fight the Jurchens with real swords and spears. How can I not be anxious?"
Since the Jurchens began their rebellion during the Wanli era, the Ming Dynasty had suffered more defeats than victories in its wars with the Jurchens.
In just over a decade, the Jurchens swept across Liaodong.
"Alas, if we lose this battle..."
Zhu Youjian couldn't help but feel anxious and uncertain.
Seeing this, Luo Yangxing wanted to say a few words of advice.
But deep down he wasn't sure either.
He worried that if he advised the emperor at this moment, the emperor would be pleased.
But what if the front line is defeated? Would the emperor then directly blame him, thinking that he had deceived the emperor?
So he rolled his eyes and threw the pot away.
"Your Majesty, please don't worry too much. This time, we not only have Generals Li Ruolian and Qin Liangyu going into battle, but also Master Gao's student."
"The Italian cannon that Li Zicheng brought was indeed extraordinary."
"With the help of these cannons, the Jurchens will surely suffer a crushing defeat."
Zhu Youjian's mood improved considerably after hearing this.
"That's true! Moreover, Master Gao is incredibly insightful. If he feels there's a problem with this battle, he will definitely find a way to tell me."
He sat back on the dragon throne and continued to handle state affairs.
Luo Yangxing finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"Fortunately, there is Master Gao. As soon as I mention him, His Majesty will feel at ease instantly."
"But can this battle outside the pass really go so smoothly?"
In the days that followed, the capital city fell into an eerie silence.
News from outside Shanhaiguan continued to reach the capital, but the content was always the same.
It simply means that the Jurchens launched a fierce attack on Ningyuan, but the Ningyuan defenders were united and killed many enemies, making Ningyuan as stable as Mount Tai.
Meanwhile, Li Ruolian reported that the army was traveling smoothly and would arrive in Ningyuan in a few days.
The situation seems to be very good.
Even Zhu Youjian's face gradually filled with confidence.
"It seems that even if we can't deliver a crushing blow to the Jurchens this time, we can at least force them to retreat."
"This battle cannot be considered a great victory, but the Jurchens have returned empty-handed twice in a row, and they will certainly not dare to provoke our Great Ming again in the short term."
"I can now calmly reorganize the capital garrison."
But Luo Yangxing always felt a little uneasy.
"Something just feels off to me."
He hesitated for a long time, but finally made up an excuse to go find Gao Qingyun.
"Master Gao, can you analyze this for me? What exactly is going on?"
Luo Yangxing, imitating Zhu Youjian, rewrote the current battle situation and told it to Gao Qingyun.
Upon hearing this, Gao Qingyun revealed a disdainful smile.
"Old Luo, you couldn't even figure this out?"
"Think about it, if that old Yuan really runs into trouble, regardless of whether he can solve it himself, he will definitely come to you to complain and hope to get some support from you."
"But since he didn't complain, it means he didn't encounter any trouble at all."
Upon hearing this, Luo Yangxing slapped his forehead.
"Oh dear, how could I not have thought of that!"
Gao Qingyun shook her head with a smile.
"You're just blinded by your own involvement!"
"And judging from your appearance, you are probably quite concerned about Old Yuan's affairs as well."
"In that case, the more this news matches your expectations, the more likely you are to believe it."
"This is just self-deception."
"But that's just human nature; people are willing to believe things that are in their favor."
At this point, Gao Qingyun himself fell silent.
He was also hoping that the system would really work, and that as long as he completed his task of educating the students, his eyes would be cured.
Gao Qingyun smiled bitterly to himself, "Actually, I'm not much different from this old Luo."
"But my system is much more reliable than that old Yuan's."
Thinking of this, he smiled again and said to Luo Yangxing:
"Alright, I can hear you're breathing a bit heavily. Are you in a hurry?"
"I know you're in a hurry, but I advise you not to rush."
Even if Lao Yuan is just fooling you, what big trouble could this cause?
Luo Yangxing was almost frantic with worry. He thought to himself with a wry smile, "Isn't this a big problem?"
"If what you say is true, then the Jurchens are just feigning an attack on Ningyuan, and their real main force is probably already going to cause trouble for Li Ruolian!"
"Right now, somewhere beyond the Great Wall, it's probably already a scene of carnage, with mountains of corpses and seas of blood. How can I not be anxious!"
He slapped his thigh abruptly, no longer wanting to explain in detail to Gao Qingyun, and instead jogged back to his Jinyiwei headquarters to send more men out of the pass to investigate.
But he didn't expect that somewhere outside the Great Wall at that time, there was indeed a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.
But the situation was subtly different from what he had expected.
Li Ruolian looked at Qin Liangyu with a strange expression and asked, "General Qin, how should we report this to the imperial court?"
"Could it be that the Italian cannon was so powerful that the Jurchens inexplicably collapsed?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com