Chapter 1058 An unexpected situation!

Huainan, Shouchun

It was already past noon when He Jingyun slowly opened his eyes from the crowd of beautiful women. With pain in his lower back, he looked at the indescribable scene in front of him, and a wry smile appeared on his rough face...

old!

It’s impossible to refuse to accept the old age!

In the past, he, He Jingyun, had no problem with Ye Yu's ten, but now it has become like this with only three. It is really sad!

He Jingyun sighed in his heart, asked the woman on the bed to leave, and prepared to start his first meal of the day.

To be honest, ever since the first Yunbing battlefield ended a few years ago, he was arranged by Ye Mingsheng to go to Yujing to serve as the commander of the First Army. It can be said that he has not had a single peaceful day!

There was even a time when He Jingyun was so decadent that he drank every night to drown his sorrows. At the beginning of the year, he watched Yuan Song making rapid progress in Yunbing and Guanzhong, establishing meritorious services. Not only did his reputation in the army surpass his own, but the gap between the two was gradually widening. The bitterness in He Jingyun's heart reached its peak!
At that time, He Jingyun was very eager to make achievements for the Fengwu Army and use victory and military exploits to tell everyone that he, He Jingyun, had not completely faded into obscurity!

Maybe it was that hard work paid off, or maybe God heard He Jingyun’s voice and let He Jingyun seize the opportunity that Ye Mingsheng entrusted to him on the southern front····························
In this battle, He Jingyun not only resisted the offensive of the Zhennan Army, but also led the First Army and the Fourth Army to capture Huainan, captured Xu Zhaojie alive, and completely destroyed the Zhennan Army, the old enemy of the Fengwu Army!

He Jingyun fought brilliantly in this battle. Not only did it sweep away the haze and rudeness he felt because of Yun Bing's previous poor performance, but it also restored his reputation in the Fengwu Army!

He Jingyun was naturally very happy and excited for achieving such success, but he was not satisfied with it!

After all, although it was definitely a great achievement for the Fengwu Army to eliminate the Zhennan Army and its arch-enemy Xu Zhaojie, He Jingyun regarded Yuan Song as a competitor!

Yuan Song won the victory in this Western Expedition. He not only entered Guanzhong and destroyed the Luoan court, but also recovered the lost territory of Yongliang in the great war with the Golden Horde!
Therefore, the military exploits of taking down the Zhennan Army and Xu Zhaojie were undoubtedly not enough to be comparable to Yuan Song. The destruction of the Zhennan Army and the capture of Huainan also aroused He Jingyun's ambition!

He Jingyun not only wants to be comparable to Yuan Song, he also wants to surpass Yuan Song and take back everything he has lost. He wants everyone to think of He Jingyun, not Yuan Song, when they think of the Fengwu Army general!
But to achieve this, the Zhennan Army alone is not enough. He Jingyun also wants to conquer the vast territories of Jiangnan and Sichuan!
In addition to conquering the territory of Da Zhou, He Jingyun also set his sights on Guangnan and Shanyue. For a general, the greatest military achievement is always the expansion of territory, and this also deeply attracted He Jingyun...

So on the day of attacking Shouchun City, He Jingyun began to prepare for the attack on Jiangnan. For this purpose, he specially submitted a memorial to Ye Mingsheng and issued a military order to Ye Mingsheng!
There is no need to provide him with more troops and horses, just the First Army and the Fourth Army under his command. He Jingyun guarantees to capture Jiangnan within two months and present Jiangnan as a New Year's gift to the Marshal!

However, just when He Jingyun was full of confidence and was waiting for Ye Mingsheng's order to lead his troops on the road to conquest, He Jingyun not only did not receive Ye Mingsheng's order to start the war, but instead received Ye Mingsheng's order not to move without authorization!

He Jingyun was very puzzled by this. As a military man, he felt that the morale of the army was high and they could incorporate Jiangnan into the territory of the Fengwu Army in one go. Why should they waste the opportunity and give up such a great chance at this time?

So He Jingyun, who was puzzled, wrote to Ye Mingsheng again, but his letter fell on deaf ears and he did not receive any response from Ye Mingsheng. However, Zhao Han, the Chief of the General Staff, sent a letter to his old boss.

In the letter, Zhao Han told He Jingyun that because Jiangnan's economy was developing well and its foreign trade was very prosperous, the Marshal wanted to take over Jiangnan as peacefully as possible and did not want to start a war in Jiangnan and affect its economic development.

So even though you, He Jingyun, are eager to fight, you must also compromise for the overall interests of the Fengwu Army and the will of the Marshal, and you must order your subordinates not to act without authorization...
Although He Jingyun felt helpless about this, facing Ye Mingsheng's order, he was powerless and forced to stop preparations for war against Jiangnan!
With the plan of conquering Jiangnan being stopped, He Jingyun lost his spirit and began to indulge himself. Besides, the emperor was far away and he could be said to be the master in Shouchun!

He Jingyun didn't even need to ask for help. Some people started giving him money and women in order to get his protection.

Knowing that Ye Mingsheng hated corruption very much, He Jingyun only dared to be sneaky and do some small things like collecting money and greeting people, and he didn't dare to go too far!

However, He Jingyun was not so restrained when it came to women. When he was in Yujing, he was frustrated in his career and was very unhappy. So he had no mood to look for a woman, so he only had a concubine by his side!
After achieving such a great victory this time, He Jingyun's mood undoubtedly improved a lot, and he paid more attention to finding a woman!

Maybe he wanted to make up for what he didn't have in Yujing, or maybe he wanted to vent his dissatisfaction and helplessness about Ye Mingsheng not allowing him to attack Jiangnan. He Jingyun could be said to be looking for women in revenge recently!

It might be an exaggeration to say that he is a bridegroom every night. After all, He Jingyun is in his forties and almost fifty, not young anymore, and he doesn’t have the energy...

But as long as his physical condition allowed, He Jingyun would start with three people a night, five people was not too few, seven people was not too many, in short, the main point was to sleep together under the same quilt, indulge in it to your heart's content! In addition to finding women, He Jingyun was also very extravagant in eating during this period. The major restaurants in Huainan took turns to serve him, and each meal had at least eight dishes, six hot and two cold.

Just like this lunch, which was prepared for He Jingyun by Yunshouxuan, one of the best restaurants in Shouchun City. The six hot dishes are sweet and sour pork tenderloin, beef soup, braised chicken with mushrooms, braised eel with sauce, braised spare ribs, and stewed turtle with ham. The cold dishes include cold okra and cold shredded vegetables!

Each dish is personally cooked by the head chef of Yunshouxuan. The beef, mutton and chicken are slaughtered on the same day to ensure they are absolutely fresh. The quality of the vegetarian dishes is also very high, ensuring that He Jingyun has delicious and happy meals every time!

Half an incense stick of time passed and He Jingyun was eight-tenths full. Although he was almost done, he did not leave, but continued to ask the maid to serve him the turtle soup.

Although He Jingyun did not think that the ham stewed turtle was very delicious, he still insisted on drinking the turtle soup. In his opinion, turtle was a tonic, and he consumed so much energy every night, so he needed a good replenishment!
The essence of the turtle is in the soup, so you don’t have to eat the turtle, but the soup must not be wasted····························
He Jingyun's simple meal would cost dozens of taels of silver, enough for a family of five to live on for a year. However, He Jingyun did not consider the issue of silver. After all, in Shouchun City today, there were too many people willing to pay for him, He Jingyun, and letting them pay was a face-saving measure for them!

Just as He Jingyun was leisurely drinking turtle soup and thinking about whose card to turn over today, the First Army Lieutenant General Hu Can came over and reported:
"Master He, the Coordination Office has sent an urgent report!"

He Jingyun didn't take it seriously and started to speak lazily:
"What's going on? Was the Fang Snake caught?"

Previously, Ma Zhongjun of the First Division captured Xu Zhaojie. Everyone knew that Xu Zhaojie had a deep grudge against Marshal Ye Mingsheng, so if they presented him to the Marshal, there was a high probability that he would be appreciated by the Marshal!

So He Jingyun also started to think about it, wanting Ma Zhongjun to hand over Xu Zhaojie, and then offer him to Ye Mingsheng in the name of their First Army!
However, Ma Zhongjun disagreed with this. After all, although his First Division also belonged to the combat sequence of the First Army, once he handed over his men and presented them to the Marshal in the name of the First Army, the bulk of the credit would be snatched away by He Jingyun, and he, Ma Zhongjun, could only drink soup!

If it were any other time, Ma Zhongjun might give He Jingyun a favor because He Jingyun was his superior, but now he, Ma Zhongjun, is in a critical period of attacking the commander, so every contribution is very important·····························

And such a great achievement as capturing Xu Zhaojie alive is very likely to be related to the success or failure of Ma Zhongjun's attack on the commander, so this time Ma Zhongjun withstood the pressure from He Jingyun and refused to hand over the person. He would rather offend He Jingyun and continue with the original plan to hand over Xu Zhaojie to Ye Mingsheng in the name of their First Division!
He Jingyun was also very angry about this, but he had no good way to deal with Ma Zhongjun. After all, Xu Zhaojie was captured by the First Division. No matter how you look at it, he was stealing credit, and he couldn't stand it morally!

If it were someone else, He Jingyun could rely on his status to bully the weak, but Ma Zhongjun is the general of the First Division, and the First Division is the ace of aces and the main force of the main force in the Fengwu Army, and it has a special status in the Fengwu Army!
Therefore, although there were no clear regulations in the Fengwu Army, everyone tacitly looked up to the First Division. This resulted in Ma Zhongjun, the general of the First Division, having a status in the Fengwu Army that was not much lower than that of the commanders-in-chief and assistant commanders of other armies!

In addition, Ma Zhongjun also made great contributions in the Jingchu War and played a very crucial role in the Fengwu Army's victory in Huainan!

So Ma Zhongjun was determined not to hand over the person, and He Jingyun couldn’t do anything about it. After all, he couldn’t replace Ma Zhongjun just because of this matter···························
Just when He Jingyun was feeling helpless and angry, news came from Hanyang that the remnants of the Zhennan Army had broken into the prison. Although Xu Zhaojie did not escape from Hanyang City, he eventually committed suicide, making the plan of offering him alive to Ye Mingsheng come to naught!

This incident also gave He Jingyun an opportunity. Not only did he scold Ma Zhongjun harshly, he also asked Ma Zhongjun to conduct a deep review of the matter, which severely humiliated Ma Zhongjun and relieved his anger for not handing over the person!

Although Xu Zhaojie did not escape from the Hanyang prison break and died in Hanyang city, the impact of this incident was very great!
So in order to deal with the aftermath of this incident, the General Coordination Office and the First Army reached an agreement to take joint action to completely eradicate the remnants of the Zhennan Army in Huainan, Jingchu and other places, to ensure that similar prison breaks would not happen again!

One of the specific goals of this joint operation is to kill Fang She, the former commander of the Thousand Tiger Guards of the Zhennan Army and the big spy chief. He is also believed to be the main planner of the Hanyang prison break. For this reason, the Coordination Office is said to have issued a military order to capture Fang She within two months.

He Jingyun has also been paying close attention to this matter, so he asked this question!
Facing He Jingyun's question, Hu Can shook his head and said:
“It’s not because of Fang She’s incident. Although the Coordination Office hasn’t caught Fang She yet, it is said that they have already locked down his whereabouts and will be able to bring Fang She to justice soon…”

"Oh? If it's not because of Fang She, what urgent news is there from the Coordination Office?" He Jingyun asked with interest after taking another sip of turtle soup:
Hu Can whispered:

"The Coordination Office reported that the Jiangnan side is said to be launching a military exercise in Guangshou in ten days. It is said that not only will all of Lu Yun's 50,000 Jiangnan troops participate in the exercise, but all artillery and muskets will be fired with live ammunition. It is even possible that Lu Jianchao himself will come to watch!"

After hearing this, He Jingyun, who had been looking relaxed and contented, was startled for a moment, and then asked Hu Can in disbelief:
"Is the news true? Do they have the guts to hold a military exercise in Guangshou?"

Under He Jingyun's scrutinizing gaze, Hu Can nodded affirmatively and said:

"The Coordination Office is very sure of the authenticity of this news. It is said that the Zhennan Army under Lu Yun has begun to assemble. In the next five days, the vanguard of the Jiangnan Army will arrive in Guangshou. Therefore, the Coordination Office recommends that you must be prepared to prevent any possible emergencies!"

As Hu Can's words became more and more true, although He Jingyun was still a little confused, he had to believe the news. He immediately stood up and paced back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back...

(End of this chapter)