Chapter 9 The whole story (1)

"Thank you for the reward, Master. I will never say anything more."

After receiving the reward, Ye Kui made a solemn promise to Ye Mingsheng, then took the silver and left happily.

With Ye Kui's departure, Ye Mingsheng was the only one left in the study room. He quietly looked at the map of the palace in front of him.

Although at this moment, he still felt that Wang Kangxin's plan was very crazy, Ye Mingsheng also had to admit that if he thought about it carefully, Wang Kangxin's plan had a high chance of success.

In September of the seventh year of Anhe in the Great Zhou Dynasty, Gongdu Prime Minister Park Sung-tae colluded with the Luobi people on the grassland to launch a rebellion. Gongdu King Li Jae-won was defeated and led his loyal troops to defend the capital Liujing while contacting the suzerain state Da Zhou to request reinforcements.

After receiving the news, the Prime Minister Shangguan Hongyuan immediately dispatched Zhenyuan Hou Xu Zhaojie to lead the Xuanwu Imperial Guards and the Iron Cavalry, totaling 70,000 people, to rush to the support of the palace capital. After the Great Zhou reinforcements arrived at the palace capital, they resolved the rebels' siege of Liujing and formed an alliance with the palace capital army. They fought two consecutive battles with the rebels in Wanfeng Prefecture and Shangyuanli, successfully wiped out all the rebels, and drove the Luobi people from the hinterland of the palace capital to the north of the palace capital.

Because the northern part of the palace was basically all plains, it was suitable for the Luobi people who were mainly cavalry, but not conducive to the coalition forces who were mainly infantry. Therefore, Xu Zhaojie, as the commander-in-chief of the coalition forces, chose the policy of fortifying the city and clearing the fields, and held on to the strong city of Wanfeng Prefecture in an attempt to force the Luobi people to retreat without a fight.

The Robe people were unwilling to give up, so they left in disgrace. After failing to lure the main force of the coalition forces into battle, they wanted to make trouble for the coalition forces' logistical supplies. They sent out several elite small cavalry units, which, with good mobility, bypassed the fortified cities controlled by the coalition forces, attacked the coalition forces' food supply routes in the rear, and forced the coalition forces to fight outside the city.

In order to thwart the conspiracy of the Luobi people, Xu Zhaojie also sent several troops of more than a thousand people to guard the important nodes of the grain road from the Luochuan Road granary to Wanfeng Prefecture and resist the attacks of the Luobi cavalry. This is why Ye Mingsheng, Wang Kangxin, and Li Wanshun, the three commanders of the Great Zhou Imperial Guards, appeared in the heart of the palace.

In this way, the two sides were deadlocked for more than two months. Finally, the Luobi people could no longer hold on. After looting and plundering, they withdrew to the grassland from the north of the palace. Logically speaking, with the withdrawal of the Luobi people, the crisis in the palace was resolved, and the imperial guards of the Great Zhou should also return to the capital.

However, due to the evil ambitions of the Luobi people, they are likely to make a comeback after the spring. After the chaos, the national strength of Gongdu State declined, and seven or eight out of ten of the country's original elite soldiers died in the civil strife. They were simply unable to resist the Luobi people's invasion again, so the Great Zhou Imperial Guards stayed temporarily to help the Gongdu army reorganize its armaments, and have stayed until now.

When facing a powerful enemy, the Zhou army and the Gongdu army were naturally able to unite and face the enemy together. However, when the Luobi people retreated and the external threat was basically eliminated, the imperial army of the Great Zhou Dynasty had different ideas. Many ambitious military officers in the imperial army who wanted to make achievements set their sights on the Gongdu Kingdom, which was an ally not long ago! Although the Gongdu Kingdom was nominally a vassal state of the Great Zhou court, and its monarch Li Zaiyuan was also a minister of Emperor Hui of the Great Zhou Dynasty, it would send envoys to meet the emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty every year and present court gifts.

But in fact, before the rebellion of Park Sung-tae, a great noble in Gongdu, the Gongdu Kingdom had always been a fence-sitter, trying to please both the Luobi people and the Great Zhou court, and was loyal to whoever fed them. It even secretly sold ironware and food to the Luobi people despite repeated orders from the Great Zhou court.

The Great Zhou court had long been very dissatisfied with Li Zaiyuan's behavior. If they had not been worried that sending troops to attack the Gongdu Kingdom would push Li Zaiyuan, the old fox who was good at playing both sides, to the side of the Luobi people, causing too much pressure on the northeastern border, they would have taken action against the Gongdu Kingdom long ago...
So at this moment, when tens of thousands of the Great Zhou imperial guards have entered the territory of the Gongdu Kingdom and are controlling several important passes of the Gongdu Kingdom and have an overwhelming advantage over the Gongdu army, many military officers in the Xuanwu and Iron Cavalry imperial guards have become active, wanting to make achievements for the court, expand the territory, and at the same time, to gain wealth and glory and a bright future for themselves!

As the commander-in-chief of the army and Marquis of Zhenyuan, Xu Zhaojie naturally understood what his subordinates wanted to do, but unfortunately, for some reasons, he did not follow their advice and do as everyone wished.

Instead, he kept ordering his subordinates not to act without authorization, claiming that there was no order from the imperial court. He strictly prohibited any conflict between the imperial guards of the Great Zhou Dynasty and the troops of the palace. Anyone who disobeyed the order would be executed directly, regardless of his official rank!

Wang Kangxin was the representative figure among the military officers of the Imperial Guards who wanted to occupy the Palace Capital. He and Li Wanshun, an equally ambitious military officer of the Imperial Guards, hit it off immediately and conspired to disobey Xu Zhaojie's orders, deliberately create conflicts with the Palace Capital army, and then quickly attack the granary in Luochuan Road, occupy the main source of logistical supplies for the coalition forces, and force Xu Zhaojie to occupy the Palace Capital!

As for why Wang Kangxin wanted to involve Ye Mingsheng in his plan, the reason was very simple. The Gongdu army had a total of 30,000 troops in the rear, while Wang Kangxin and Li Wanshun had a combined force of only 2,000. Once they took action to capture the Luochuan Road granary, the Gongdu army that had received the news would certainly gather and counterattack. So in order to hold out at the Luochuan Road granary until Xu Zhaojie's army arrived, they needed help to block them and stop the Gongdu army that was rushing to support the Luochuan Road granary!
And the best choice for this helper is undoubtedly Ye Mingsheng, who currently occupies Ruishan County!
First of all, there is the geographical advantage. Although Ruishan County where Ye Mingsheng is located is not large, it is a transportation hub for the north and south of the palace. Once Wang Kangxin and Li Wanshun take action at the Luochuan Road granary, the palace reinforcements from Liujing will have to pass through Ruishan County. If Ye Mingsheng assists their plan and blocks them in Ruishan, it can at least reduce one third of the pressure on Wang Kangxin and Li Wanshun at the Luochuan Road granary.

Secondly, Ye Mingsheng, Wang Kangxin and Li Wanshun all came from the Zhaowu Camp of the Prime Minister Shangguan Hongyuan. They were Shangguan Hongyuan’s direct lineage and belonged to the same faction in the imperial guards. So when Wang Kangxin and Li Wanshun were planning, it was natural for them to come to Ye Mingsheng and want to pull him in to do it.

According to Wang Kangxin's idea, the three of them together had a total of 3,000 troops against the 30,000 troops of the palace capital left behind. From a simple comparison of troop strength, his idea was indeed very absurd, giving people a feeling of going to die.

But if you analyze it carefully, you will find that the facts are far from as difficult as you imagined!

(End of this chapter)