Chapter 503: The Man of Destiny! (Thanks to book friend 16571, who loves the Four Elements the most, for the reward!)
Listening to Zhao Fuqu's words and feeling his earnest eyes, Huang Wen Ze was still very unwilling in his heart, but he could only sigh in his heart, bowed to Zhao Fuqu helplessly and said:
"In the future, please focus on military and political affairs..."

Seeing that Huang Wen Ze no longer mentioned Hu's affairs, Zhao Fuqu finally showed a relieved smile on his face, and nodded repeatedly in agreement:

"Of course. After my army suffered such a great defeat, I will naturally regroup and fight this young man named Ye!"

Huang Wen Ze has followed him for decades, and he was able to dominate Youyan because of his great contributions. Therefore, he has always been Zhao Fuqu's most trusted adviser and Zhao Fuqu's right-hand man. Just as Huang Wen Ze said, Ye Mingsheng's Fengwu Army is coming with great momentum and is likely to swallow up Youyan.

Therefore, Zhao Fuqu was well aware that he and the Yan army had reached the most dangerous time. If they wanted to resist the storm of the Fengwu army at this time, the first thing was to be united internally and work together to deal with the Fengwu army!
Precisely because he realized this, in the face of Huang Wen Ze's advice, Zhao Fuqu chose to retreat in order to advance, in order to win over his strategist and prevent him from becoming disloyal. In order to deal with this wolf cub Ye Mingsheng, Zhao Fuqu would also require Huang Wen Ze to make great efforts!
Huang Wenzhe frowned slightly when he heard Zhao Fuqu still calling Ye Mingsheng a "young boy". At the beginning, Ye Mingsheng was living in a corner and had just unified the poor and weak Liaoyang. Zhao Fuqu had been managing Youyan for decades and had a strong army. Naturally, he was qualified to look down on Ye Mingsheng who had just stepped onto the table of hegemony.

But now Ye Mingsheng has even conquered Yijing, your old nest, and you still look down on Ye Mingsheng. That would be a bit too arrogant. If you continue to fight the Fengwu Army with this mentality, it would be really dangerous...

Just when Huang Wen Ze was hesitating whether to remind Zhao Fuqu, he didn't know whether Zhao Fuqu saw what he was thinking. He looked east in the direction of Yijing with a complicated expression and said:
"While I was lying here, I kept wondering if I had underestimated Ye Mingsheng. Shangguan Hongyuan was so powerful, a powerful minister who shook the world. I had fought with him for decades, and he could not do anything to me, no matter how hard he tried. But how long has Ye Mingsheng risen to prominence? Only a little over a year at most, and he made me lose Yi Kyoto. At his age, I have lived a dog's life..."

Huang Wen Ze was extremely pleased to hear Zhao Fuqu's sigh and realized that Zhao Fuqu had begun to value Ye Mingsheng. He immediately organized his words to cheer Zhao Fuqu up and said:

"Marshal, although Ye Mingsheng is ambitious and a wolf cub who eats people without leaving any bones, he is still far inferior to Shangguan Hongyuan!"

"The reason why there is such a big gap between you, Marshal, is not because Ye Mingsheng is more powerful than Shangguan Hongyuan, but because you regard Shangguan Hongyuan as your greatest enemy in your life. So when facing Shangguan Hongyuan, you will be very cautious for fear of making the slightest mistake. When facing Ye Mingsheng, you are confident of your own strength and are full of contempt and disdain for Ye Mingsheng, so Ye Mingsheng took advantage of you!"

"Although Yijing has fallen and most of Youyan's land is about to be taken away by the Fengwu Army, the Fengwu Army has just entered the country after all, and our army has been operating in Youyan for decades. The people of Youyan still have their hearts on our side. As long as you can regroup, it is very likely that we can recapture Yijing and drive the Fengwu Army out of Youyan!"

When Huang Wen Ze said this, Zhao Fuqu, who had been looking a little depressed, immediately had a glimmer of hope in his old eyes. He looked at Huang Wen Ze expectantly and said:
"Mr. Huang, do you have any good ideas for defeating the enemy?"

Under Zhao Fuqu's gaze, Huang Wen Ze nodded and said calmly:
"If my guess is correct, the Fengwu Army's next offensive may have to be suspended for a while..."

Listening to Huang Wen Ze's analysis, Zhao Fuqu was somewhat surprised and asked:
"The Fengwu Army defeated Yong'er and captured Yijing one after another. Now is the time when morale is at its highest. How could they stop here?"

Huang Wen Ze explained upon hearing this:
"Since the Fengwu Army sneaked into the pass, they have indeed achieved brilliant results, and our army was left in disarray. However, this cannot cover up the fact that Liaoyang is poor and weak. According to my observation, Ye Mingsheng of the Fengwu Army personally led the attack this time. The Fengwu Army dispatched its first, second, and third divisions. Not only that, they also assembled 20,000 people from the rear to form a mixed division for support!"

"So far, the Fengwu Army has dispatched 80,000 troops, which is basically the limit of the troops that the Fengwu Army can dispatch! It is precisely these 80,000 troops that give the Fengwu Army an advantage over our army, and is one of the important reasons why our army is losing ground!"

“However, while this has brought an advantage in troop strength to the Fengwu Army, it has also increased the pressure on its logistical supply. Since Ye Mingsheng took charge of Liaoyang, Liaoyang has been completely renewed both inside and out. But Ye Mingsheng has only been in charge of Liaoyang for more than a year…”

"Although Liaoyang has changed a lot under Ye Mingsheng's leadership, he is not a great immortal. He cannot completely change Ye Mingsheng's poverty-stricken and weak situation in such a short time!"

"It has been almost a month since the Fengwu Army sneaked into the pass. The money and food consumed by the 80,000-man army in a month of fighting may have already been used up by Ye Mingsheng. So even though the Fengwu Army has achieved brilliant results now, their logistics support may be almost unsustainable!"

Zhao Fuqu listened to Huang Wen Ze's analysis and felt that it made more and more sense. He became excited all of a sudden, and even a gleam of light flashed in his cloudy eyes. He looked at Huang Wen Ze and said directly:
"Wen Ze, do you mean that we should take this opportunity to launch a counterattack now?"

Huang Wen Ze knew that Zhao Fuqu had misunderstood his meaning after hearing this. He shook his head with some regret and said:
"Sir, we only brought back more than 40,000 soldiers from Yun. If General Zhao Yong was still in our hands or Yijing was still in our hands, we should have launched a counterattack immediately. But now Yijing has been lost and General Zhao Yong has also died at the hands of the enemy. It is unwise for our army to rashly launch a counterattack when we are not in a favorable position in terms of manpower and situation!"

“Although the logistics of the Fengwu Army are now difficult to sustain, the enemy has occupied our Youyan land after all. They can obtain supplies on the spot. Therefore, the supply problem of the Fengwu Army in the later period is only temporary and will not last too long...”

Huang Wen Ze's words were like a bucket of cold water. While helping Zhao Fuqu to recognize the reality, they also extinguished the little fire that had just ignited in his heart. After sighing, Zhao Fuqu asked Huang Wen Ze:

"In that case, Wen Ze, what should we do now?"

Facing Zhao Fuqu's inquiry, Huang Wen Ze replied solemnly: "I think we should deal with it properly. During the window period when the Fengwu Army temporarily suspends its offensive, the first thing to do is to contact the loyal and dedicated people in Yijing, Jizhou, Yuyang and other places, and let them organize forces to harass the Fengwu Army in the rear, block the Fengwu Army's food supply, and harass the Fengwu Army's food and gunpowder depots and other important measures. Let the Fengwu Army run around and be exhausted, pin down part of the Fengwu Army's troops, and reduce the pressure on our army on the front battlefield!"

"The next thing our army needs to do is to return to Zhuo County, Xinle, Shunping, Lingqiu and other places that are still loyal to our army, gather the defeated troops and regroup, rely on these cities to form a solid line of defense, and wait and see how the situation changes!"

“The third point, and the most important one, is to seek external assistance. It is difficult to defeat the Fengwu Army with our current strength. So in order to drive the Fengwu Army out of Youyan as soon as possible, our army should seek help from other princes, such as Gao Zongchang of Hebei and Henan, and Cao Changping of Qi and Lu. These are all people we can win over. We can even use the Luobi people on the grassland!”

Listening to Huang Wen Ze's words, Zhao Fuqu looked hesitant, and after a moment's hesitation he asked:
"Even if the Luobei people have evil ambitions, they are still more ambitious than Ye Mingsheng. What's more, we have been fighting for decades and it is a life-and-death feud. If the news leaks out, I'm afraid the morale of the army will be in chaos. As for Cao Changping and Gao Zongchang, I support your idea, Wen Ze, but are they really willing to help us at this time?"

Zhao Fuqu looked at Huang Wen Ze with heavy eyes. Ever since the Luoan Incident, Shangguan Hongyuan's strength had declined significantly and he was unable to interfere in the affairs of Youyan. However, Zhao Fuqu regarded this as a major piece of good news. Confident of his strong army and the invincibility of the Youyan cavalry, he began to seek to expand around Youyan. Therefore, he and his two neighbors, Gao Zongchang, the commander of Yujingdu, and Cao Changping, the governor of Qilu, had a very tense relationship and often had some frictions.

Under normal circumstances, Zhao Fuqu would naturally not care about the feelings of these two people, but now he has been beaten down by Ye Mingsheng. It is already good enough that Gao Zongchang and Cao Changping do not add insult to injury. Will they be willing to send troops to fight against Ye Mingsheng, who is on the rise?

Sensing Zhao Fuqu's doubts, Huang Wenzhe introduced:
“Marshal, this matter depends on human efforts. Although our Yan army had some unpleasantness with Gao Zongchang and Cao Changping in the past, most of them were just verbal battles. The most serious ones were just minor frictions. It has not yet reached the point of fighting. Therefore, there is still room for improvement in the relationship between our two sides…”

"And the most important point is that Gao Zongchang and Cao Changping should both understand the principle of the lips and teeth being cold!"

"I believe they both know about the Fengwu Army's entry into the pass. It took the Fengwu Army less than a month to capture Jizhou and Yijing, and seize half of Youyan's land. I don't believe that Gao Zongchang and Cao Changping will not be deeply afraid of the Fengwu Army!"

"Ye Mingsheng is rumored to be a man with eagle eyes and wolfish backs, so our army can use a little trick to spread the word about Ye Mingsheng's wolfish ambitions, saying that after he captured Youyan, he went back to the south to attack Qilu and Jiyu!"

"The next step is to secretly spread rumors among the people, saying that the Great Zhou has run out of luck, and Ye Mingsheng is the man of destiny, who is bound to change the dynasty and unify the world! In short, we must praise Ye Mingsheng to the sky, make Gao Zongchang and Cao Changping afraid of Ye Mingsheng, and make them believe that after Ye Mingsheng defeats us, he will target them next!"

"In this case, I believe Gao Zongchang and Cao Changping will definitely do their best for their own safety and help our army resist the invasion of the Fengwu Army! Although the Fengwu Army under Ye Mingsheng has sharp firearms and high fighting spirit, I believe that with the combined strength of the three of us, we will be able to strangle them and drive them out of the pass!" Huang Wen Ze looked at Zhao Fuqu with a sharp gaze and said decisively:

After hearing Huang Wen Ze's vicious plan, Zhao Fuqu fell into deep thought. After a long while, he raised his head, gave Huang Wen Ze a thumbs up, and said with admiration:
“Wen Ze, this move of yours is the so-called “killing by flattery” as they say in the rumors, right? It’s not unfair at all that Ye Mingsheng, that little wolf cub, died in your hands…”

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Ye Mingsheng, who didn't know that Huang Wenzhe was going to make him the "man of destiny", was holding a small-scale meeting in a heavily guarded courtyard in Yijing.

Lin Huaiwu stood out from the queue and reported to Ye Mingsheng.

"Reporting to the Lord, the situation of the Yan army in Jiangshan County has been found out. The enemy Dai Yue has 45,000 people, all of whom are the elite Yan army brought back by Zhao Fuqu from Yunbing. Among them, the cavalry unit is about 8,000 to 10,000 people!"

"They are currently entrenched in the Jiangshan County area and have not made any unusual movements. The scouts and the Flying Tiger Battalion are closely observing their movements. As long as the enemy makes any unusual movements, they will immediately report it to us!"

"As for Zhao Jianan, he has led more than a thousand defeated soldiers to flee in a panic, fleeing towards Zhuo County. Our officers and soldiers followed your orders and did not stop him along the way, allowing him to leave calmly!"

Listening to Lin Huaiwu's report, Ye Mingsheng nodded and waved, signaling Lin Huaiwu to return to the queue, then turned his attention to Wang Xuecheng, deputy director of the Coordination Office, who was at the end of the queue, and asked:
"Have the spies of the Central Coordination Office in Jiangshan County found out the situation of the Yan army?"

Facing Ye Mingsheng's gaze, Wang Xuecheng felt some pressure, but he could only bite the bullet and say:

“Since Lord Bing Gao found out that Zhao Fuqu led his troops to Jiangshan County, my Coordination Office has mobilized all the forces in Jiangshan County to find out the situation of the enemy. No news has been sent back yet, but I believe that the news is on the way and will be reported back soon...”

(End of this chapter)