Chapter 674 Xu Zhaojie arrived quietly!

After discussing the matters from Jiangnan, Gu Sansi, who was appointed by Ye Mingsheng to handle the situation in Qi and Lu, introduced the changes in the situation in Qi and Lu to Ye Mingsheng...
"My Lord, just half a month ago, Yin Biao sent people to negotiate with our army to purchase arms, but secretly he was gathering troops and dividing them into three groups to attack Han Wenbao's lair, Bozhou! He was determined to kill Han Wenbao in one fell swoop!"

"However, the spies planted by the Coordination Office in the Qi army had already discovered Yin Biao's military deployment. Therefore, when Yin Biao led his troops into action, our army also revealed this news to Han Wenbao. After receiving the news, Han Wenbao ambushed Yin Biao's troops at Xiaodinggang outside Bozhou City, causing thousands of casualties in Yin Biao's troops!"

"Although Han Wenbao won the first battle with the help of our intelligence, Yin Biao is obviously stronger than him. Therefore, Han Wenbao's troops were at a disadvantage in the several battles after the first battle. Currently, they can only hide in Bozhou City. Although Yin Biao's troops are at an advantage, they have suffered heavy casualties in the previous battles and are currently unable to launch an attack on Bozhou City. The situation in Qi and Lu is currently in a stalemate!"

After hearing Gu Sansi's introduction, Ye Mingsheng became thoughtful. Last year, because the troops in the battle against Hebei and Henan suffered heavy casualties and the financial pressure was also great, he did not launch an offensive against Qi and Lu, but only exerted extreme pressure from the outside, causing the internal conflicts in Qi and Lu to erupt and kill Cao Changping.

At that time, according to Ye Mingsheng's idea, he was going to support Yin Biao to take the position and control the entire Qilu. However, he later discovered that Yin Biao was also ambitious and was not as easy to control as he had imagined.

Although Yin Biao agreed to join the Fengwu Army due to the situation, he actually wanted independence, which Ye Mingsheng could not tolerate, so Ye Mingsheng turned to support Han Wenbao and others, letting them fight against Yin Biao and contain Yin Biao to prevent him from unifying the entire Qi and Lu regions and becoming the next Cao Changping!

There is no doubt that Yin Biao is not a fool. He also saw through Ye Mingsheng's thoughts. Although he was still playing tricks on the Fengwu Army on the surface, he was actually accumulating strength in secret and wanted to kill Han Wenbao by surprise. If the Coordination Office had not received the news in advance and guarded against this move, Han Wenbao would have been in danger this time!
After thinking for a while, Ye Mingsheng asked with some doubt:
"Yin Biao, why don't you wait until Yun Bing starts the battle before you take action?"

Gu Sansi had reported Yin Biao's situation to him before, and the General Staff had also made a rehearsal based on this information. The General Staff predicted that Yin Biao might take action against Han Wenbao after the Yunbing War began.

The reason for making this prediction is that the Yunbing battle will involve a lot of energy of the Fengwu Army, so Yin Biao may think this is an opportunity, thinking that the Fengwu Army will not fight on two fronts, so he takes the risk. Therefore, Yin Biao's action now really surprised Ye Mingsheng a little.

Facing Ye Mingsheng's question, Gu Sansi said truthfully:
“Although Han Wenbao killed his two allies, Song Peishen and Ma Shanyuan, the process of annexing their territories and troops was not smooth. There was news that Song Peishen’s subordinates contacted Yin Biao and wanted to join him, so Yin Biao saw this as an opportunity to send out a large number of troops…”

Ye Mingsheng nodded slightly and said:
"What does Yin Biao think now?"

Gu Sansi heard this and continued:

"Yin Biao sent several envoys to ask for help from our army. He also produced a lot of evidence of collusion between Han Wenbao and Xu Zhaojie, hoping to gain our support to help him capture Bozhou City. However, I did not meet these envoys. Yin Biao had no choice but to let Sun Jing'an, the governor of Qilu, go to our side in person. Now Sun Jing'an is in Yijing City."

Hearing this, Ye Mingsheng smiled slightly and asked:
"I heard that Yin Biao was even willing to use the taxes of Qi and Lu as collateral in order to buy firearms?"

"Reporting to the Lord, it is true! And this matter was promoted by Sun Jing'an. He is a good friend of Yin Biao and has been actively pushing Yin Biao to get closer to our army!" Gu Sansi nodded and responded:
Hearing Gu Sansi speak well of Sun Jingan, Ye Mingsheng smiled and asked him:

"Have you seen this Sun Jingan?"

Facing Ye Mingsheng's gaze, Gu Sansi said with a little embarrassment:

"I originally wanted to continue to control Yin Biao, but Sun Jingan and Su Yi have a good relationship, so I took the time to meet with him!"

"Sun Jing'an was very sincere when talking to me, and he was very eager to meet you, sir, to apologize to you on behalf of Yin Biao for suddenly launching a military action without informing us, and he expressed his willingness to hand over the power in Qi and Lu in exchange for your forgiveness and our military support!"

After hearing Gu Sansi's retelling, the smile on Ye Mingsheng's face gradually turned into a playful one. Since Yin Biao came to power, he has always been obedient to his orders on the surface, but in fact he was secretly disobeying them. Otherwise, he would not have asked Han Wenbao to check and balance him...

And now that Yin Biao is such a teacher and is willing to hand over the power of Qi and Lu, it is probably because he is afraid that he will order the First Army stationed in Fengqiu to send troops to Licheng to attack him from behind, so he has to do this!
Although he was somewhat annoyed with Yin Biao, a real villain, on the one hand, the main focus of the Fengwu Army was indeed on the Yunbing battlefield, and the First Army was also mainly used to deal with Xu Zhaojie, and could not be easily mobilized to prevent Xu Zhaojie from seizing the opportunity; secondly, compared to Han Wenbao, who was rumored to be a cannibal and secretly in contact with Xu Zhaojie, Yin Biao was undoubtedly the one who could still be used!
Of course, although he still needs to continue to use Yin Biao, this time Ye Mingsheng wants to use this incident to put a leash on him, so as to restrain his ambition and arrogance and make him follow the path he has set for him!
After pondering for a while, Ye Mingsheng instructed Gu Sansi:

"You go find Ye Cheng later and negotiate with him to see when I can find time in the next few days to meet this Sun Jingan!"

"yes!"···························
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Anqing, Chengfeng County
A middle-aged man with a handsome face and a tall and slender figure was standing on the city wall with his hands behind his back, gazing into the distance. What he was looking at was Fengqiu, an important city in Ji and Yu, less than a hundred miles away from here.

Just as the middle-aged man was looking out quietly, footsteps sounded behind him, and then a military officer in military uniform came over with hundreds of guards. Seeing the back of the middle-aged man, the military officer immediately knelt down and said in fear:

"My Lord, you are personally conducting an inspection. I am guilty of not being able to meet you from afar. I deserve death. Please punish me, sir!"

Facing the general's apology, the middle-aged man did not turn back, but continued to look towards Fengqiu, as if there was some priceless treasure, or a beautiful woman, or a mortal enemy attracting him. Just when the middle-aged general was getting more and more uneasy and even beginning to despair, the middle-aged man with his hands behind his back slowly turned around and said with a smile:

"Songhe, you're here!"

Feeling Xu Zhaojie's gentle tone, Wang Songhe felt as if he had been pardoned, and he almost cried, but at this time he could only control his emotions and said to Xu Zhaojie very respectfully:
"I am late, please punish me, my Lord!"

Xu Zhaojie smiled when he heard this, then helped Wang Songhe, who was kneeling on the ground, up and said:
"I am traveling incognito this time, and I am deliberately not letting you know. Don't be too panic!"

Faced with Xu Zhaojie's comfort, Wang Songhe nodded with emotion, and the fear in his heart was gradually relieved. He was a general under Chen Zongchang. Although he had met Xu Zhaojie before, he had not said much to Xu Zhaojie.

Therefore, his understanding of Xu Zhaojie was entirely based on the rumors about Xu Zhaojie in the Zhennan Army...

It is said that Xu Zhaojie is fair in rewarding and punishing people. As long as you have made military achievements and met his requirements, he will reward you generously. He will give you whatever you want, such as money, fertile land, luxury houses and beautiful women. But if you are defeated in the war and fail to complete the task he has assigned you, then no matter you are his relative or an old subordinate who has followed him for more than ten years, Xu Zhaojie will not show any mercy and will kill you without mercy!

Haven’t you seen that Zhao Hanshu, who had followed Xu Zhaojie since the Xuanwu Army, was ruthlessly chopped off his head by Xu Zhaojie and the weapons were passed to the three armies just because of a disastrous defeat of the navy!

The last time Chen Zongchang was ambushed and killed by a small force of the Fengwu Army, Xu Zhaojie, while appointing him as the acting general, also ordered him to annihilate this small force to avenge Chen Zongchang. Although Wang Songhe tried his best to complete this task and won Xu Zhaojie's appreciation, the enemy still escaped back to Hebei and Henan under his nose.

For this matter, Wang Songhe specially wrote a letter to Xu Zhaojie to apologize, but Xu Zhaojie never responded. Therefore, Wang Songhe was very worried, fearing that Xu Zhaojie would chop off his head if he saw that he was not doing a good job. However, when he was still in shock, he heard the news that Xu Zhaojie appeared in Chengfeng County. After receiving the news, he immediately brought people to Chengfeng County, and he was very nervous in his heart, not knowing how Xu Zhaojie would treat him.

However, seeing Xu Zhaojie’s gentle attitude now, Wang Songhe gradually felt relieved and looked at Xu Zhaojie in front of him with great admiration·····························
It has only been about a month since Chen Zongchang was ambushed and killed, and the place where he was attacked was not far from Chengfeng County. Because of this incident, the generals and officials of the Zhennan Army were all in a panic, fearing that they would become the second Chen Zongchang to be attacked and killed by the Fengwu Army. However, under such circumstances, Xu Zhaojie dared to come to Chengfeng County, and came quietly without many guards. This really made Wang Songhe admire him very much.

The Marquis is indeed the Marquis and he doesn't give a shit about the Fengwu Army at all. Just this arrogance and composure is enough to suppress the Fengwu Army!
Feeling Wang Songhe's respectful eyes, Xu Zhaojie knew what he was thinking about writing. This time he secretly inspected Anqing, and his initial plan was to capture Wang Songhe. After all, this bastard did not complete the task he assigned him, and let the Fengwu Army's bastards leave Anqing alive.

When Xu Zhaojie in Shouchun heard the news a month ago that Chen Zongchang was ambushed and killed by the Fengwu Army while inspecting the Anqing front, he could not believe his ears!

The Anqing general who was appointed by himself and commanded tens of thousands of soldiers was ambushed and killed by a small force of the Fengwu Army on his own territory?
Are you sure this isn't a joke?

At first, Xu Zhaojie even thought that this was fake news released by the Fengwu Army. He knew Chen Zongchang well. In his opinion, how could a brave general like Chen Zongchang, who had survived so many desperate and dangerous situations, fail in his own territory?
So he scoffed at the news. It was not until news came back from Anqing that confirmed the truth of the incident and Chen Zongchang was indeed killed on the spot that Xu Zhaojie accepted the fact with grief and indignation. He immediately ordered Chen Zongchang’s deputy Wang Songhe to block the border and cut the Fengwu Army that ambushed Chen Zongchang into pieces...

For this reason, Xu Zhaojie specially ordered to keep Chen Zongchang's coffin for seven days, waiting for Wang Songhe to send all the Fengwu soldiers to him, and then let Chen Zongchang rest in peace after being tortured to death and cut into pieces. However, to Xu Zhaojie's great disappointment, Wang Songhe messed up everything, and only got dozens of corpses of Fengwu soldiers, but nothing else, and more than a hundred Fengwu soldiers swaggered back to Hebei and Henan to receive the title and reward!
Although only Chen Zongchang died, this incident had a huge impact on the Zhennan Army. Many generals of the Zhennan Army wrote to Xu Zhaojie requesting him to lead an army to attack the Fengwu Army, avenge Chen Zongchang, and give the Fengwu Army an eye for an eye!
Xu Zhaojie had anticipated this, so he ordered Wang Songhe to wipe out that small force in order to avenge Chen Zongchang!

After all, his top priority right now is to seize Jiangnan and strive to split the south, so he doesn't want to fight a life-and-death battle with the Fengwu Army and let Shangguan Hongyuan take advantage. For this reason, even when the General Coordination Office blew off two of his fingers, he endured it and didn't make it public. Although he was angry that Chen Zongchang was ambushed and killed by the Fengwu Army, he couldn't let Xu Zhaojie change his established plan. Therefore, Xu Zhaojie hoped to use this method to appease the anger of his subordinates and suppress the voices calling for war against the Fengwu Army.

However, Wang Songhe did not meet his expectations. To be honest, after getting the news, Xu Zhaojie almost fainted from anger. He even began to doubt whether the Zhennan Army under his command were a group of incompetent good-for-nothings, allowing the Fengwu Army to be so arrogant and leave calmly after killing people!

The extreme anger in his heart even made him issue an order to kill Wang Songhe’s entire family...
(End of this chapter)