Chapter 871 Use each other!

In addition to preparing to inform Lu Jianchao of the movements of the Zhennan Army, Ye Mingsheng also planned to support Sun Chenggong in taking back part of the territory in southern Jingchu from the Zhennan Army·································

The battlefield in Yunbing was in full swing during this period, but the diplomatic front of the Fengwu Army was also not idle. Under the instruction of Ye Mingsheng, on the one hand, they stepped up their contacts with the Luobei people in the north and kept a close eye on the situation in the northern grasslands. On the other hand, they were also negotiating successfully with Sun Chenggong of Jingchu.

Although Sun Chenggong and Xu Zhaojie signed a peace treaty at the end of last year, and the two sides ceased fighting with Hanyang as the boundary, and Sun Chenggong tacitly acknowledged that the area south of Hanyang belonged to the Zhennan Army, neither side believed that this armistice treaty would completely end the war.

The reason why the two sides signed a peace treaty was entirely because after taking over the area south of Hanyang, the Zhennan Army's accumulated offensive potential had been completely consumed, the soldiers were exhausted and weary of war, and logistical supplies were unsustainable, making it difficult to continue supporting the war.

As for Sun Chenggong, the Chu army was not doing well on the battlefield, and the internal situation was in chaos due to the death of his father Sun Liangyu. So Sun Chenggong needed time to integrate the internal forces and reorganize the Chu army. So with both sides having ulterior motives, they signed the armistice treaty.

However, as Xu Zhaojie turned his spearhead towards the more prosperous Jiangnan region, Sun Chenggong, aware of the opportunity, also became restless, thinking that when Xu Zhaojie concentrated his forces to attack Jiangnan, he could stab Xu Zhaojie in the back and take the southern Jingchu region that would be occupied by Xu Zhaojie...
However, the Luoan court disagreed with Sun Chenggong's idea!

For the Luoan court, if Sun Chenggong failed in his attack on the Zhennan Army, it would be difficult for the Luoan court to spare some energy to support Sun Chenggong when it was fully focused on fighting the Fengwu Army. Therefore, if Sun Chenggong was defeated, Jingchu would most likely be completely taken over by Xu Zhaojie.

Even if Sun Chenggong defeated the Zhennan Army and recaptured the southern region of Jingchu, it would not be good news for the Luoan court. In that case, Sun Chenggong's strength and prestige within the Chu army would increase greatly, and at that point it would be difficult for the Luoan court to control him!
Therefore, whether Sun Chenggong wins or loses, it will not be a good thing for the Luoan court. At present, the Luoan court has put all its energy into dealing with the Fengwu Army, so they hope to maintain stability in other areas and avoid other unexpected events.

After realizing the attitude of the Luoan court, Sun Chenggong was both angry and helpless. After Wang Dayou's betrayal and the invasion of the Zhennan Army last year, the Chu army suffered successive defeats. In order to protect himself, although he knew that it was like inviting a wolf into the house and drinking poison to quench thirst, he could only ask the Luoan court for help.

With the help of the Luoan court, Sun Chenggong gradually stabilized the situation, but the Luoan court did so with conditions································

As a condition for asking for help from the Luoan court, Sun Chenggong led the Chu army to swear allegiance to the Luoan court, and tacitly agreed that the Luoan court would extend its tentacles into the Chu army.

Therefore, under the interference of the Luoan court, it was difficult for Sun Chenggong to directly implement the order to attack southern Jingchu within the Chu army, which also made Sun Chenggong feel humiliated and alert.

Sun Chenggong began to realize that if he allowed the Luoan court to continue to develop within the Chu army, then his position as the nominal commander of the Chu army would be sidelined, and the Chu army would change its name to Shangguan and become a real force of the Luoan court.

Therefore, Sun Chenggong wanted to change all this, but he knew very well that his strength was not enough to compete with the Luoan Court, and if he wanted to fight against the Luoan Court he needed to take advantage of the situation!

And looking at the world today, who can resist the Luoan court?
There is undoubtedly only one answer!
So Sun Chenggong wrote an extremely flattering secret letter to Ye Mingsheng through some channels. In the letter, he wrote to Ye Mingsheng that he admired Ye Mingsheng's heroic deeds of clearing the court and gathering the righteous flag, and he had always wanted to surrender to Ye Mingsheng and serve him under his command.

However, forced by the situation, he could only submit to the Luoan court, hoping that Ye Mingsheng could give him a chance to turn from darkness to light!

Honestly speaking, this secret letter was so corny that it made Ye Mingsheng sick. He thought that Sun Chenggong was also a figure, after all he was a local lord, so why did he humble himself so much, as if he wanted to acknowledge Ye Mingsheng as his godfather...

Although the words were corny, the central idea of ​​Sun Chenggong's letter was only one: he hoped Ye Mingsheng could support him!
Of course, this support is not just verbal support, but all-round support, such as silver, food, firearms and so on!

Ye Mingsheng originally didn't want to pay attention to Sun Chenggong about this. He knew that even though Sun Chenggong seemed to want to kneel down and call him dad in the letter!

But this guy is a real ungrateful person. The purpose of writing this letter to me is just to use me to get rid of the control of the Luoan court. Once this goal is achieved, he will kick me away without mercy and even stab me in the back!

However, with the current situation in Yun and Bing on the verge of breaking out, and after discovering Xu Zhaojie's intention to attack Jiangnan, Ye Mingsheng also plans to kill two birds with one stone!
Sun Chenggong wanted to use himself to get rid of the control of the Luoan court. He could also use him to hold Xu Zhaojie back and add fuel to the fire of the Luoan court, which was already facing internal and external troubles!

So Ye Mingsheng gave Sun Chenggong’s reply. He told Sun Chenggong that he had no money or food, but he could provide some firearms. However, the requirement was that Sun Chenggong break with the Luoan court and hand over all the Luoan court’s personnel in Jingchu to the Fengwu Army, one person in exchange for a musket...

Sun Chenggong was a little embarrassed at first about the conditions offered by Ye Mingsheng. Although he wanted to get rid of the control of the Luoan court, he did not want to completely break with the Luoan court and stand on the side of the Fengwu Army. However, under the coercion of Ye Mingsheng and the temptation of firearms, he finally made the right choice.

With Sun Chenggong nodding, the negotiations between the two sides were basically concluded. Everything was ready except for the east wind!

According to the agreement, Sun Chenggong will start the action in Jingchu three days later. Ye Mingsheng doesn't care much about whether Sun Chenggong can succeed. If Sun Chenggong wins, he can naturally continue according to the plan and stab Xu Zhaojie's ass!

It doesn’t matter even if Sun Chenggong defeats Ye Mingsheng. If Sun Chenggong loses, the Luoan court will definitely settle accounts with him, which will undoubtedly involve the power of the Luoan court.

Now that the Luoan court is facing internal and external troubles, the force it can mobilize is not much. The more force it uses in Jingchu, the less force it will have in Yunbing!
So no matter what happens, Ye is sitting on the Diaoyutai, making sure to make a profit!

Looking at the dark night outside the window, Ye Mingsheng, who had been dealing with official business for several hours in a row, also felt a little tired. At this moment, he just wanted to have a good meal, take a hot bath, and sleep to accumulate energy for tomorrow's work.

Of course, it would be even better if you could do some wonderful after-meal exercise!
Thinking of this, Ye Mingsheng had the answer in his mind. He asked Ye Cheng to stay in the study to sort out the unfinished official documents, while he and his guards walked towards Pei Zhixiu's courtyard...

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Yunbing, Xiaode County
In a mansion, under the illumination of a kerosene lamp, Yuan Song looked at the sand table in front of him with some confusion. After a moment, he asked Zheng Chuang beside him:
"The enemy forces in Shizhou are still only 40,000?" Zheng Chuang nodded and said with some doubt:
"Yes, according to the latest intelligence gathered by the scouts from Shizhou, the total number of enemy troops in Shizhou is about 40,000. To be specific, it is definitely around 45,000, and definitely not more than 50,000!"

"From this point of view, the rest of the Luoan Imperial Guards in the intelligence of the Coordination Office have not arrived in Shizhou. Perhaps they are still on the way!"

After listening to Zheng Chuang's words, Yuan Song shook his head, and then locked his eyes on the coordinates of Shizhou on the sand table again.

According to the intelligence previously provided by the Coordination Office, Shangguan Changgong was determined to keep Jinyang because he realized that once Jinyang was lost, the people in the court would be in panic and the troops would be more difficult to lead. To this end, he spent a huge amount of money to assemble 80,000 imperial guards and handed them over to Yang Chongqing for dispatch.

According to previous intelligence, under the order of Yang Chongqing, these 80,000 imperial guards will arrive in Shizhou one after another, but now there are only more than 40,000 people in Shizhou!
This made Yuan Song wonder where the remaining 30,000 people went?
As a general from the Imperial Guards, Yuan Song understood the efficiency of the Imperial Guards very well. Now, almost half a month had passed since Yang Chongqing took over Shizhou. With the marching speed of the Imperial Guards, even if they encountered some problems on the way, they should have arrived in Shizhou by now...

But the remaining 30,000 people seemed to have disappeared, and no one knew where they went!
This made Yuan Song have a bad feeling. His intuition told him that Yang Chongqing, who liked to come up with unexpected ideas, should be thinking of some brilliant idea at this moment!

But now I don’t know what he is doing!

After studying the sand table for a long time, Yuan Song still had no clue and asked Zheng Chuang:

"Is there any notification from the Coordination Office?"

Zheng Chuang shook his head without hesitation and said:
"no!"

After saying this, Zheng Chuang hesitated for a moment and reported to Yuan Song:
"Sir, I have a fellow countryman working in the Coordination Office. I got some information from him but I don't know whether I should tell him or not!"

Yuan Song was a little surprised when he heard this, but he nodded and said:

"Say it!"

After getting Yuan Song's permission, Zheng Chuang organized his words and whispered:

“The Coordination Office cooperated with the Flying Tiger Battalion some time ago and launched some decapitation operations in Guanzhong. Although this caused some panic in Guanzhong, the Supervisory Department is no pushover. They also uncovered some strongholds and hidden agents of the Coordination Office in Guanzhong. The Coordination Office has suffered heavy losses in Guanzhong recently…”

"It is said that Director Huo has ordered all the forces of the Coordination Office in Guanzhong to remain silent. In the future, we may get very little intelligence from the Coordination Office!"

After saying this, Zheng Chuang seemed to realize that his words were a little inappropriate, and added:
"Sir, I just heard it from my fellow countrymen, and I don't know the details!"

Yuan Song nodded slightly to indicate that he understood, and then turned his attention to the sand table. Seeing Yuan Song's serious expression, Zheng Chuang began to admonish:
"Sir, I think it would be better if their remaining 30,000 troops did not show up in Shizhou!"

"Now the 9th and 10th divisions have arrived in Jinzhong and can be put into battle immediately. Our army's manpower and supplies have been greatly replenished. In my humble opinion, we can soon launch an attack on Jinyang. By then, even if Yang Chongqing dares to come, with the troops he has now, we can annihilate them on the spot!"

“Now Wang Muzhi and others in the city dare to continue fighting with our army only because of these reinforcements. Once our army has wiped out all their reinforcements, they might obediently surrender the city…”

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Shizhou, Yang Chongqing's study
Tang Peng, the commander of the Tiger Guards, looked at Yang Chongqing and asked loudly with anger and confusion:
"Yang Chongqing, are you crazy? Do you know what you are doing?"

Facing Tang Peng's loud questioning, Yang Chongqing just glanced at him coldly and said without any emotion:

"I am the Grand Marshal of the Army appointed by the imperial court. I will be accountable to the imperial court and the Prime Minister for everything I do!"

"On the contrary, Commander Tang, do you know what you are doing?"

Being swept by Yang Chongqing's cold eyes, the angry Tang Peng's momentum suddenly weakened. Under Yang Chongqing's powerful aura, he was silent for a while and could only bow to Yang Chongqing and said:
"Marshal Yang, my attitude just now was not good. I apologize to you!"

Yang Chongqing nodded slightly, accepting Tang Peng's apology. Seeing this, Tang Peng continued:
"Marshal Yang, the order given to us by the court is to defend Jinyang, but what are you doing now?"

“I, Tang Peng, would like to ask you a question. Have you consulted the Shangshu and the Prime Minister before making this decision…”

(End of this chapter)