Chapter 1004 is about to break out!
As for the matter of moving the capital, Ye Mingsheng had actually already considered it when he was in Yijing. After all, for Ye Mingsheng, Yijing was his home base where he had run his business for many years. The rule of the Fengwu Army in Yijing was also very stable and also very popular among the people.
Even if we ignore political factors, although Yijing still has a certain gap with Luoan in terms of economies of scale, it is one of the largest cities in the Zhou Dynasty after all, and its overall foundation is still good!
In addition, Ye Mingsheng has been running Yijing very attentively over the years, and under Ye Mingsheng's policy of encouraging economic development, Yijing has also begun cross-domain development!

According to incomplete statistics, as of now, there are nearly 300,000 households in Yijing and its surrounding areas, and the total population is close to one million!

Even if we only count the population within the city, the population of Yijing City is already around 80,000 households, with a total of more than 300,000 people.

At present, in terms of population and economy alone, looking at the entire Great Zhou, Yijing has surpassed Hanyang, Jinyang, Licheng, Rongcheng, and Yujing, becoming the third city in the Great Zhou after Luoan and Lin'an!
So there is no doubt that Yijing is qualified to become the new capital!
From the perspective of strategic focus, Ye Mingsheng's established policy is to go east first and then west, that is, to first deal with Gongdu, Silla, Baekje, Dongdao Waguo, and other countries that are very similar to the political and economic situation of Da Zhou...
Only after incorporating all these countries into the territory of the Great Zhou and making them the existing territories of the Great Zhou since ancient times, will Ye Mingsheng begin to consider managing the Western Regions!

Therefore, choosing Yijing as the new capital is very consistent with the overall strategy set by Ye Mingsheng for the Fengwu Army!

During these days in Luoan, Ye Mingsheng also inspected all aspects of Luoan and gained a full understanding of the general situation in Luoan. This also made Ye Mingsheng make up his mind to finally move the capital!

Although Ye Mingsheng had made up his mind, moving the capital was no trivial matter after all. Ye Mingsheng could foresee that as long as he proposed this idea, the old and young people of the Great Zhou would definitely oppose it!

That was why Ye Mingsheng was not in a hurry, and he had used the matter of enthroning the emperor to test the reactions of some of the old and young people of the Great Zhou.

Then, seeing that the fish had taken the bait, Ye Mingsheng began to close the net. Ye Cheng had done a very good job these days, using all kinds of excuses to frame and smear some resolute old and young men of the Great Zhou Dynasty, and sent them to their deaths!

Under such means, the arrogance of the old and young people of the Great Zhou Dynasty was obviously weakened, and basically no one dared to openly oppose Ye Mingsheng!

Ye Mingsheng completed the enthronement of the new emperor within a month, and then announced the decision to move the capital. Regardless of whether these old and young people were willing or not, they had to follow them to Yijing...

This is Ye Mingsheng's will, and no one can disobey it!

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Just when Ye Mingsheng was thinking about enthroning a new emperor in Yijing and preparing to move the capital to Yijing.

At this time in Yi Jingye's mansion, in the Loyalty and Bravery Hall which represents the highest authority of the Fengwu Army, a group of Fengwu Army officials headed by Cui Shao and Zhao Han were gathered here for a meeting!
Because the situation was urgent, Cui Shao didn't bother to be polite. He just looked at Zhao Han and asked in a deep voice:

"Chief of Staff Zhao, what's the situation now?"

Following Cui Shao's question, the dozen or so people in the Loyalty and Bravery Hall all looked at Zhao Han in unison. Everyone was very concerned about this issue.

Under the gaze of the crowd, Zhao Han also felt a huge pressure. He organized his words and said in a deep voice:
"According to the previous battle report, Xu Zhaojie has led the coalition forces of the Zhennan Army and the Sichuan Army. After defeating Duan Zhibao's troops at Xiaowu Mountain, he also broke through Tanzhou and completely annihilated the main force of the Fifth Army!"

Zhao Han paused for a moment, and after hesitating for a moment, he decided to tell the truth:

"Although the latest situation of Jingchu has not been reported yet, according to our estimation, Xu Zhaojie has probably led his troops to the outskirts of Hanyang City!"

Everyone was shocked when these words were spoken. They were all important figures in the Fengwu Army and were well-informed. They had already received some rumors before the meeting!
We know that the Fengwu Army suffered a great defeat in Jingchu and the situation is very bad, but no one expected that Hanyang is also in danger······························
A few seconds after Zhao Han finished speaking, Gu Sansi took over the conversation and asked:
"Lord Zhao, what is the current situation in Hanyang City?"

In response to Gu Sansi's question, Zhao Han did not speak directly, but looked at Huo San, the director of the Coordination Office who was the last person standing in the Loyalty and Bravery Hall.

Under Zhao Han's gaze, Huo San also said in a deep voice:
"The Fifth Army Commander, Hanyang General Li Zhengyong colluded with the Zhennan Army and wanted to give Hanyang to the Zhennan Army, but their conspiracy was uncovered by our coordination office!"

"Huang Dale, a centurion of the General Coordination Office, Ye Pengchao, deputy envoy of the Jingchu Censorate, and Zhang Shengli, deputy general of Hanyang, jointly eliminated Li Zhengyong. Currently, the deputy general of Hanyang City Defense has taken over!"

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone in the Loyalty and Bravery Hall felt a sense of relief. After all, Hanyang was the political and economic center of Jingchu. As long as they controlled Hanyang, they could make a comeback even if they lost a strategic location like Tanzhou!

At this time, the Sixth Division General Ye Tie also cursed angrily;
"These bastards in the Jingchu Army are unreliable. The Marshal treated them well. He made his mother Duan Zhibao the deputy commander and Li Zhengyong the deputy commander, and handed the Fifth Army over to them!"

“How did these people serve the Marshal? Duan Zhibao destroyed the main force of the Fifth Army, and Li Zhengyong actually wanted to surrender. These people really deserve to be killed. Ye Pengchao and the others did a good job…”

Cui Shao shook his head and said calmly:
"Killing Li Zhengyong is a small matter. The question now is what is the situation in Hanyang?"

"The Fifth Army has not yet started to reorganize. Most of the troops in Hanyang are Li Zhengyong's former subordinates. What do Ye Pengchao and his men think of killing Li Zhengyong's gang?"

Facing Cui Shao's question that went straight to the point, Zhao Han spoke very carefully:
"The Fifth Army has been in arrears of pay for almost half a year, and the soldiers below are quite resentful!"

"So after Ye Pengchao and his men killed Li Zhengyong, they immediately raided Li Zhengyong's house, distributed the tens of thousands of taels of silver they obtained from the raid, and pushed the charge of unpaid wages onto Li Zhengyong!"

"This immediately earned them the support of the Fifth Army. After doing this, Ye Pengchao killed hundreds of Li Zhengyong's former subordinates on charges of corruption! At present, the situation in Hanyang has been basically controlled!"

"There are 18,000 soldiers in Hanyang City, 12,000 of them belong to the Fifth Army, and the remaining 6,000 are from the First and Fourth Armies!"

"After Zhang Shengli took over the city defense, he quickly recruited young and strong men in the city. All men aged between 15 and 50 were required to participate in the defense of the city. Therefore, it is conservatively estimated that the Hanyang garrison will have about 25,000 people!"

“Zhang Shengli was a commander of the First Division before. Although he is not well-known, he participated in the Battle of Hebei and Henan and the Battle of Huainan, and made many military achievements. He is a brave general of the First Army with rich combat experience…” “And Xu Zhaojie was just a detachment of the Zhennan Army at the beginning, with a scale of only about 20,000 to 30,000 people. Including the troops borrowed from Sichuan, the total number of troops was about 50,000!”

"However, after the battles at Xiaowu Mountain and Tanzhou, there was news that Xu Zhaojie absorbed a large number of the Fifth Army's surrendered troops into the Zhennan Army. Currently, there are about 70,000 troops under Xu Zhaojie's command in the Jingchu direction!"

"Although Xu Zhaojie has a great advantage in terms of military strength, they lack large-scale siege equipment and artillery, and Hanyang is a fortified city!"

"Therefore, without the support of large-scale equipment and artillery, even if Xu Zhaojie attacked Hanyang regardless of casualties, he might not be able to capture Hanyang!"

"At least in the short term, as long as Ye Pengchao, Zhang Shengli and others who are responsible for defending the city do not make any serious mistakes, Xu Zhaojie will basically have no chance of capturing Hanyang!"

After hearing what Zhao Han said, everyone's nervousness began to ease, and they all praised Ye Pengchao and Zhang Shengli for their means, abilities, and timely responses.

Cui Shao and Gu Sansi looked at each other in tacit understanding and felt relieved. After giving everyone a reassurance, Zhao Han asked someone to bring a sand table of the entire south and introduced it:

“Ye Pengchao and Zhang Shengli, who are guarding Hanyang, have asked for help from the First Division stationed in Kangyin. General Ma Zhongjunma is ready to lead his troops to Jingchu to lift the siege of Hanyang…”

"But the problem now is that our staff believes that Xu Zhaojie's plan may not be that simple!"

"Before the battle, Xu Zhaojie placed the main force of the Zhennan Army, 50,000 men, in Huainan near Anqing, preparing to attack Anqing in order to attract our army's attention!"

"After our army was attracted by him, he launched a force in Jingchu to annihilate the main force of the Fifth Army. I have to admit that Xu Zhaojie's move was very clever and caught our army off guard!"

"And now because of the situation in Jingchu, we have to transfer the First Division to Jingchu to relieve the siege of Hanyang, but we must not forget that the main force of the Zhennan Army, more than 50,000 people, are still concentrated in the Anqing Huainan line!"

As soon as these words came out, Gu Sansi was the first to react and blurted out:
"Master Zhao, are you saying that Xu Zhaojie is going to use his old tricks again? While we are distracted by the situation in Jingchu, the Zhennan Army will attack Anqing?"

Zhao Han nodded heavily upon hearing this.

"According to the intelligence from the Coordination Office, the 50,000 Zhennan Army in Anqing and Huainan has fully prepared for war. They are only waiting for Xu Zhaojie's order to charge into Anqing!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the expressions of the people in the Loyalty and Bravery Hall, which had just relaxed, immediately became serious again...

They all understood what Zhao Han said. Xu Zhaojie's plan was linked together. There was no doubt that Xu Zhaojie had made careful preparations and had bad intentions!
While others were thinking about Zhao Han's words, Cui Shao, one of the pillars of the Fengwu Army, broke the silence and asked in a deep voice:

"Master Zhao, I wonder what countermeasures your staff has?"

Zhao Han preached without hesitation:
"At present, our staff's idea is to strictly order the Fourth Army to hold Anqing, and then transfer the Fifth Division stationed in Yujing to Anqing for assistance!"

"In addition, we plan to use the contingency plan left by the Marshal and appoint the First Army Commander He Jingyun as the commander-in-chief, who will be fully responsible for the battle with the Zhennan Army!"

After saying that, Zhao Han looked at Gu Sansi and Cui Shao. When Ye Mingsheng decided to travel west, he anticipated that Xu Zhaojie might not be content.

So considering that he was in Luoan and could not make a decision in time, Ye Mingsheng also left this plan and gave He Jingyun great power to let him handle the war in full!
However, Ye Mingsheng also stipulated that if this plan is to be activated, Zhao Han, Gu Sansi, and Cui Shao must make a decision together before it can take effect!
And now that Zhao Han brought up this matter, it was obvious that he had already believed that the Fengwu Army had encountered a decisive moment on the southern battlefield and needed a commander to coordinate the command...
Gu Sansi thought about it briefly, nodded to Zhao Han and said:

"Things have come to this point. Our army has more than 100,000 soldiers fighting the enemy. Our army in the south really needs someone to take on the responsibility of being the commander-in-chief!"

"Commander He is a veteran of our Fengwu Army. He has been through hundreds of battles and is experienced. He has great prestige in the army. He is the most suitable candidate at this time. I agree to activate this plan!"

With Gu Sansi's agreement, everyone turned their eyes to Cui Shao. Compared with Gu Sansi's quick response, Cui Shao seemed a little hesitant, frowning and thinking.

This also made Zhao Han a little nervous. He didn't know why Cui Shao hesitated, but as long as Cui Shao didn't agree, the plan could not be started.

Just when Zhao Han was about to say something, Cui Shao finally nodded and said:
"I agree!"

As the three words "I agree" came out, everyone felt relieved. At this time, Cui Shao looked at Su Yi, the deputy director of the Foreign Affairs Bureau, and immediately ordered:

"I know that you, Director Su, have been busy with the matters concerning the northern grasslands that the Marshal has assigned to you recently, but you must not slack off on matters concerning the south!"

“Lu Jianchao in Jiangnan and Song Weijie in Sichuan are both ready to make a move. The great victory won by the Zhennan Army in Jingchu this time has undoubtedly fostered their ambitions. So Director Su, you must send someone to stabilize them and don’t let them assist Xu Zhaojie…”

(End of this chapter)