Chapter 251 Battle of Xi'an 7
Zhao Xiaofei summoned Wan Shan, Zhou Shuai, and Fang Xinyu to his tent, leaving his personal guards outside. Even Ma Wanchun and Qin Yiming were told to wait outside.
The four of them sat there, and Zhao Xiaofei said, "Damn! We were careless! I really didn't expect the Jianlu to be so strong. If we weren't well-equipped, we would have been defeated miserably!"
"This is my fault! I thought I was the best in the world because I defeated Hauge by defending the city! Later, Zhu Guobi and Zuo Liangyu were defeated by us, including Li Zicheng and others. I didn't expect that they were all weaklings! Only the Jianlu cavalry was really awesome! Later, there was no targeted training!" said General Zhou.
"Old Zhou is right! I think so too! In the future, we must focus on cavalry and strengthen the training of infantry and cavalry coordination!" Wanshan said.
"That's a matter for the future. The most urgent task is how to completely wipe out the Jianlu camp?" Zhao Xiaofei said anxiously.
"Boss! I think we should forget about it this time! Let's do the easy thing first and then move on to the difficult one. Let's deal with Li Zicheng who is guarding the city first! We can use the air and ground forces to capture Xi'an city first. I think the Jianlu are showing signs of trying to escape, so why not let them go first! Besides, if you release the virus, who knows how many Jianlu and the Eight Banners of the Han Army will be infected when they go back!" said General Zhou.
"Yes! Boss, let's do it this way for now!" Wanshan said.
Just then, there was a noise outside the door. Upon listening carefully, it turned out that Li Zichu had a conflict with the guards and insisted on coming in.
Zhao Xiaofei said to the guards outside: "Let him in!"
Li Zichu was let in, covered in dust and looking anxious, revealing he'd barely rested on the journey. As soon as he entered the tent, he declared, "Your Highness, this is bad! Gao Jie and Huang Degong didn't follow your instructions and instead reached the border of Zhili and refused to leave! Shi Lang is under house arrest on the fleet, so it looks like a landing in Tianjin is impossible!"
"What? The three armies actually disobeyed orders? You should have gotten some news about such a big thing in advance! I gave you so much silver, where did you use it?" Zhao Xiaofei was a little anxious.
"Your Highness, it's not just that! There is a traitor in the Jinyiwei! The princess and I have already cleaned out a group of them before coming, but according to intelligence, there are still some traitors in the army! Here is the list! Please make the decision, Your Highness!" Li Zichu said with a stiff face.
"You go down first!" Zhao Xiaofei said gritting his teeth as he took the list.
Li Zichu went down to rest trembling with fear. Zhao Xiaofei took a quick look at the list and handed it to Wanshan, Zhou Shuai and the others. The three of them took turns reading it and were all surprised.
After reading the list, Fang Xinyu said, "Boss! We are stuck now, so why not withdraw our troops first?"
"Old Fang is right! First stabilize the country, then fight against foreign aggression!" Wanshan said.
"Boss, I think there are three options!" Zhou Shuai said.
"Why are you also learning the tone of speech of people from the Three Kingdoms period? Speak!" Zhao Xiaofei said.
"The first thing is to withdraw our troops and march to Nanjing. In the name of clearing the court of corrupt officials, we will get rid of the Donglin Party forces that are against us! We will confiscate their property and exterminate their clans, and use the emperor to command the princes!" said General Zhou.
"If we do this, Huang Degong and Gao Jie will immediately lead their troops back to support, and then Jiangnan will be in chaos. When the Jianlu come, Jiangnan will die even faster!" said Zhao Xiaofei.
"Secondly, we must kill Li Zicheng first and let the Jianlu return to Beijing! We will take Li Zicheng's head back to Nanjing to claim credit! Those people will have no reason to stop us. After we go back, we will deal with them first, and then force the emperor to abdicate. We will support Prince Lu as the emperor!" said General Zhou.
"My brother-in-law has done nothing wrong. Besides, does he have the ability to do that? He is probably still in the palace and having sex with the young nun from the Emei Sect! He can't do these things! My brother-in-law can be trained well!" Zhao Xiaofei said.
"In the end, we will destroy Li Zicheng, and then we will march to Sichuan with the White Spear Army and become local emperors in Sichuan!" said General Zhou.
"Whatever happens, let's destroy Li Zicheng first, right? That's it, then. Let's prepare for battle tomorrow. First, drive out the Jianlu, then destroy Li Zicheng! I don't know what this idiot is thinking. He could have lived two more days by giving up Xi'an, but now he's courting death," Zhao Xiaofei said. History had been completely altered by Zhao Xiaofei, and now he was making sarcastic remarks.
After Wanshan Zhou Shuai and Fang Xinyu left, Zhao Xiaofei summoned Ma Wanchun and Qin Yiming, gave them a few words of encouragement, and promised to build a temple for Qin Liangyu. Ma Wanchun and Qin Yiming left happily.
After they left, Zhao Xiaofei called Li Zichu back. Zhao Xiaofei asked, "What's the current situation in Nanjing? Are the princess and the others in danger?"
"I guarantee with my life that no one can touch the palace!" said Li Zichu.
"Princess, you did a great job, but not enough people were killed! Donglin Party members, please collect the names of the names, and when I return to Nanjing, I will send them all to hell!" said Zhao Xiaofei.
"Then how should the Queen Mother deal with it?" Li Zichu said.
"She's the Queen Mother, and she's also my mother-in-law. What can I do? Filial piety is the most important virtue! Let her live out her old age in peace in the palace!" Zhao Xiaofei said helplessly. The Queen Mother was really hard to deal with. If he really tried to kill her, everyone in the world would be his enemy. The best way was to confine her!
"I understand!" said Li Zichu.
"You know shit! Go back and clean up the bloodshed inside the Jinyiwei first! Then find me a few smart and capable people and transfer them to the internal guards of the army! If we rely on you alone, there will be problems!" said Zhao Xiaofei.
When Li Zichu heard this, he thought it was a check on him, but he also understood that this was a normal thing. Moreover, after such a big mistake, it was lucky that the prince didn't kill him.
"Yes! I understand!" said Li Zichu.
After Li Zichu left, Li Sihong came in. She asked, "What happened? Wasn't Li Zichu in Nanjing? Why did he come to the army? What happened in Nanjing?"
Zhao Xiaofei, realizing this woman's intuition was sharp, said, "The Donglin Party in Nanjing has been pacified by the princess! When we return, we will thoroughly punish them, demolish the Donglin Academy, and destroy all their works! Kill anyone who refuses to obey! We were too lenient in the past!"
"Husband! Not all the Donglin Party's writings are useless! How about letting me collect the Donglin Party's works?" Li Sihong said. She really couldn't bear to see her husband do something like Qin Shi Huang did, burning books and burying scholars alive.
"Okay! It's up to you! Go to bed early! We still have to fight tomorrow, so go back and rest!" Zhao Xiaofei asked Li Sihong to leave, and sat alone in the big tent thinking about things.
Everything had gone so smoothly for me before, but today, when I wanted to fight, I found myself completely inadequate. There were still people within the Ming Dynasty who were disregarding the overall situation and trying to hinder me. What should I do? Zhao Xiaofei could never have imagined that a dangerous situation was slowly approaching him.
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