Chapter 506 Xu Zhaojie’s worries!

Although the news sent back from Youyan was not very good, with the Yan army retreating step by step and the Fengwu army under Ye Mingsheng winning battles one after another, Xu Zhaojie still had a glimmer of hope for the Yan army in his heart. After all, the main force of the Yan army and Zhao Fuqu were still in Yun and had not returned...
When Zhao Fuqu leads his army back, the Yan army will surely undergo tremendous changes. However, although Zhao Fuqu has returned now, Yijing has been lost and Zhao Yong was defeated and killed. In such a situation, even if Zhao Fuqu comes back, it will be difficult for him to do anything in the face of the unstoppable Fengwu Army!

Feeling the urgency at the thought of this, Xu Zhaojie couldn't help but clench his fists, realizing that he didn't have much time left and had to speed up.

Xu Zhaojie did not understand why Zhao Fuqu "gained", he did not believe that Zhao Fuqu could not see the logistical problems of the Fengwu Army, and now taking advantage of the opportunity that Ye Mingsheng had just captured Yijing and had not yet established a firm foothold, launching a counterattack immediately was the best chance for the Yan Army to retake Yijing, and basically the last chance!

Giving up the opportunity to counterattack Yijing now and retreating to the southern part of Youyan may make them safe for the time being, but it also undoubtedly means that the Yan army has entered a stage of lingering and chronic death. As long as the Fengwu army digests Yijing and other large tracts of territory in the northern part of Youyan, the demise of the remnants of the Yan army entrenched in the southern part of Youyan is only a matter of time.

Although Zhao Fuqu, a famous general of the Great Zhou Dynasty, was defeated by the Fengwu Army, his image in Xu Zhaojie's heart had plummeted to the freezing point. However, Xu Zhaojie still found it hard to believe that Zhao Fuqu did not see this step clearly, or that the old and frail Zhao Fuqu had given in and was frightened by the Fengwu Army, and now only wanted to live in disgrace, and had lost the courage to fight the Fengwu Army to the death...
Looking at the map, Xu Zhaojie was extremely disappointed with Zhao Fuqu. After a sigh, he shifted his gaze to Qilu and Jiyu, the two most important provinces in the east of the Great Zhou. This was Anqing where Xu Zhaojie was located, the last barrier facing the Fengwu Army!
Based on his understanding of the Fengwu Army and Ye Mingsheng, the Fengwu Army could digest the territories it has obtained from Youyan and integrate the manpower and material resources on these territories in about three to six months. This means that the Fengwu Army could launch an operation to eliminate Zhao Fuqu as soon as three months later. By then, the lingering Zhao Fuqu would basically find it difficult to survive.

This means that if nothing unexpected happens, by the end of this year at the latest, Ye Mingsheng will monopolize the two provinces of Liaoyang and Youyan and become the most powerful prince in the northern part of the Great Zhou!

And Ye Mingsheng’s next step is most likely to go south!
Thinking of this, Xu Zhaojie's breathing became heavy and his eyes became sharper. Looking at the entire north, apart from Shangguan Hongyuan, the hero who intended to steal the country, Zhao Fuqu, who was stationed at the northern gate of the Great Zhou and had the Youyan Iron Cavalry, was already a very powerful figure. Otherwise, he would not have been targeted by Shangguan Hongyuan in the past ten years.

Apart from Zhao Fuqu, there are only a few people left: Feng Han of Yunbing, Gao Zongchang of Jiyu, Cao Changping of Qilu, and Jiang Xu, the King of Qin of Yongliang...

King Qin Jiang Xu and the Fengwu Army, who were stationed in Yongliang, were located in the east and west respectively, and were thousands of miles apart and could be completely ignored. As a general under Shangguan Hongyuan, Feng Han could only be forced to make a strategic contraction as Shangguan Hongyuan was concentrating on dealing with the grand strategy of the southern tour of the court. It was already very good enough for him to recapture Jinzhong that was captured by Zhao Fuqu. Even if he wanted to, he was powerless to cause any interference to Ye Mingsheng.

The only two people who can stop Ye Mingsheng's expansion in the north now are Gao Zongchang, the commander of Yujingdu in Hebei and Henan, and Cao Changping, the governor of Qi and Lu!

Silently reciting the names of these two men in his heart, Xu Zhaojie couldn't help feeling a little pessimistic. If Zhao Fuqu was the ambitious, capable, and powerful one among these princes, then Gao Zongchang, the commander of Yujingdu, was the capable one but not ambitious.

Gao Zongchang, who is now sixty-three years old, successfully ascended to become the commander of Yujingdu in the first year of Anhe in the Great Zhou Dynasty by virtue of his wife's relationship as a royal family member. He took this as an opportunity to gradually erode and successfully controlled Jiyu, the most populous province in the Great Zhou Dynasty, in the following years...
After gaining control of Hebei and Henan and becoming a local emperor, the already very old Gao Zongchang completely lost his ambition and focused his attention on eating, drinking, and having fun. His mansion became bigger and bigger, and he married dozens of concubines in a few years. Sometimes he was so busy that he could be said to be a bridegroom every night. In more than a year, he had more than 30 children. It can be imagined how young his heart is.

In order to preserve his own power, Gao Zongchang did everything he could to try to please Shangguan Hongyuan when he used the emperor to control the other princes. In order to prevent himself from becoming the target of Shangguan Hongyuan's authority, Gao Zongchang tried to please Shangguan Hongyuan. Every year when all parts of the country paid taxes to Shangguan Hongyuan, Gao Zongchang was the most active.

As the saying goes, what goes up comes down. Gao Zongchang was so addicted to enjoyment that his Henan Army naturally did not want to be outdone. Although they claimed to have a strong army of 100,000 and dominated the Central Plains, but excluding those who were drawing salaries without working, it would be good if they could mobilize 70,000 to 80,000 people. On weekdays, when they were suppressing bandits and peasant uprisings, they had to temporarily conscript able-bodied men to maintain the number of men.

In addition, although there have been occasional uprisings by peasants who could not make a living in the Central Plains in recent years, generally speaking, these were small-scale uprisings that did not amount to anything. The overall environment was relatively stable and there was no chaos that would threaten the survival of Gao Zongchang's regime.

Therefore, the actual combat effectiveness of the Henan Army, which was only responsible for suppressing bandits on weekdays, was a big question mark. It was hard to say whether they could stop the fierce Fengwu Army. In a word, although the Hebei and Henan under Gao Zongchang had sufficient manpower, money and food, the Henan Army might not have the combat effectiveness to match it.
Gao Zongchang was like this, while Cao Changping was at the other extreme. As the General of Qi and Lu, although Cao Changping was nominally the highest military and political chief in Qi and Lu, he was promoted to the General of Qi and Lu because he quelled a large-scale peasant uprising in Qi and Lu a few years ago.

Cao Changping, who made his fortune by suppressing peasant uprisings, had very good combat effectiveness under his command. Therefore, with his elite troops and powerful generals, Cao Changping was also ambitious and wanted to accomplish something big.

However, because he had only been in power for a short time and lacked prestige, some places in Qi and Lu, such as Boshan, Shouguang and Changle, although on the surface they obeyed Cao Changping, were actually somewhat alienated. Cao Changping tried several times to change this situation, but due to the constraints of the interests of all parties, his efforts were mostly in vain and there was no significant improvement.

Moreover, as a region with a high incidence of peasant uprisings in the Great Zhou Dynasty in the past decade, and the core area of ​​the large-scale peasant uprisings led by Zhang Sheng and Liu Guang, a lot of manpower and material resources in the land of Qi and Lu were wasted on internal friction, which also led to the economic difficulties of Cao Changping's regime. This is also an important reason why Cao Changping has always wanted to advance to the wealthy areas in the south.

So in a nutshell, Cao Changping and his Qi army had ideas, and their combat effectiveness was also very good, but the only pity was that they were in great financial difficulties, and it was difficult for them to support large-scale operations...

If Cao Changping and Gao Zongchang could join forces, they might be able to stop Ye Mingsheng, but unfortunately, when Cao Changping first came to power, he also coveted the fertile land and abundant manpower and material resources of the Central Plains. When he first took office as the governor of Qi and Lu, he had some small-scale frictions with the Henan Army. For this reason, Gao Zongchang wrote a handwritten letter to Cao Changping, angrily accusing Cao Changping of being greedy and wanting to swallow an elephant. The two of them also had a verbal fight with each other for a while.

Therefore, in Xu Zhaojie's eyes, it is undoubtedly very difficult to get Cao Changping and Gao Zongchang to unite and block Ye Mingsheng's blade for him. Even if the two people come together under the threat of Ye Mingsheng, the result is likely to be a superficial unity and mutual fear. And if the two people remain like this, then in front of the Fengwu Army that integrates the power of Youyan and Liaoyang provinces, it is a foreseeable outcome that they will be defeated one by one. If the situation eventually develops like this, then the Fengwu Army will become a terrifying giant among the princes of the Great Zhou!
Thinking of this possibility, Xu Zhaojie's eyes became a little anxious. He must stop this from happening!
Even if he could not stop Ye Mingsheng as much as possible and delay him, before Ye Mingsheng's troops arrived in Anqing, he had to expand out of Anqing as much as possible to make himself stronger...

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Dongning, Military Governor's Office.

Under the guidance of Qiqige, an old man in white clothes with a slender figure, white hair and beard, who looked very immortal, walked into the main hall of the Governor's Mansion carrying a medicine box.

At this time, An Miaoyi, who was visibly pregnant, was waiting for the old man to arrive in the main hall accompanied by her maid. When she saw the old man in white, a smile appeared on her face and she said softly:
"I'm bothering Mr. Qiu again!"

Listening to An Miaoyi's words, Qiu Jing, a famous doctor in Liaoyang, shook his head and said with a smile:
"Ma'am, you are so polite! It is my honor!"

After An Miaoyi heard what he said, she exchanged a few words of greeting with him. After the host and guest sat down, An Miaoyi put her right hand on the table, and Qiu Jing began to feel her pulse. As a famous doctor in Liaoyang, Qiu Jing was very meticulous in diagnosing a governor's wife like An Miaoyi. After diagnosing for about a cup of tea, Qiu Jing put down his hand, and asked An Miaoyi to change to her left hand, and continued diagnosing for about another cup of tea.

After two cups of tea, Qiu Jing nodded slightly and took his hand back, then bowed to An Miaoyi and said

"Madam, according to my diagnosis, you and the fetus in your belly are both very healthy and there are no problems. As for the due date, it can be three days at most or ten days at most. It's basically within this range..."

"Thank you, Mr. Qiu!"

After hearing Qiu Jing's answer, the smile on An Miaoyi's pretty face became even more intense. As the due date got closer, she sometimes worried that something might go wrong at the last minute, so she specifically ordered Qiqige to call Qiu Jing to check on her. Now after hearing the result, her heart was completely at ease.

After telling An Miaoyi the diagnosis results, Qiu Jing reiterated some precautions to An Miaoyi, and finally prescribed a pregnancy-preserving medicine for her. Everything was going smoothly, and An Miaoyi was very happy after confirming the health of the fetus in her belly, and she gave Qiu Jing double the consultation fee.

However, no one expected that when Qiu Jing was about to leave with his medicine box, the old man seemed to remember something and asked An Miaoyi without thinking:
"Excuse me, Madam, is Changshan Medical Clinic in Dongning City opened by Madam Pei from the Governor's Mansion?"

Hearing Qiu Jing talking about this, An Miaoyi was a little surprised but still nodded and said:
"That's right! Changshan Medical Clinic was indeed opened by Madam Pei in the mansion. Madam Pei's father was the imperial physician of Gongdu State. Madam Pei learned medical skills from her father since she was young. In order to fulfill her father's last wish of saving the world, she opened Changshan Medical Clinic in the city to treat illnesses and save lives. How come Mr. Qiu has also heard of my sister..."

Qiu Jing smiled and nodded and said:

"Of course I have heard of Dr. Pei's miraculous medical skills, but unfortunately I didn't have the opportunity to meet him and discuss some things with him. Three months ago, a patient with a knife wound came to me. After my diagnosis, I felt that he was beyond help, so I asked him to go back and prepare for his funeral."

"But not long after, I saw him again. Even his knife wound was almost healed. Later, I found out that his family not only came to me but also to several other doctors to save him. However, everyone said that he was beyond saving. Finally, his family had no other options, so they sent him to Changshan Medical Clinic as a last resort. After Doctor Pei's miraculous treatment, his wound healed miraculously!"

"In my opinion, Doctor Pei is very good at treating knife wounds and stopping bleeding. Moreover, since she is a woman and the commander-in-chief's concubine, it is very convenient. So when you give birth, you can let Doctor Pei accompany you! It is better to be prepared and be cautious!"

An Miaoyi's expression froze slightly when she heard this, but she immediately returned to her normal expression and said:
"I see!"

Qiu Jing cupped his hands and said:

"In that case, I'll take my leave. Madam, if you have any problems, you can send someone to my clinic to find me at any time. I will be waiting in the clinic during this period of time and will not go out..."

(End of this chapter)