Chapter 979 Give Lu Laogui confidence and courage!

Before Yuan Song defeated the Cumans and conquered Yongliang, Ye Mingsheng originally wanted to confer the title of Duke of Da Zhou on himself, and then confer the titles of marquis on Yuan Song, He Jingyun, and Cui Shao...
However, judging from Yuan Song’s current military achievements, a marquis is not enough, so Ye Mingsheng is also considering conferring the title of Duke on Yuan Song.

But there is a problem here. Since Yuan Song is a duke, Ye Mingsheng himself cannot be a duke. Ye Mingsheng himself must be one level higher than Yuan Song.

Above the Duke is the Prince, and according to the ancestral precepts of the Great Zhou Dynasty, anyone who claims to be king but is not surnamed Jiang will be punished by the whole world!
Therefore, it is not tenable for Ye Mingsheng to claim the throne of king now, and it will be detrimental to the Fengwu Army's subsequent expedition to the south. It is for this reason that Ye Mingsheng did not plan to be crowned king before, but planned to confer the title of duke on himself, and then accept the abdication and proclaim himself emperor after unifying the world.

Therefore, Ye Mingsheng thought that Yuan Song might have been guided by an expert, who made him aware of this problem, so he was now defaming himself in order to reduce his merits and avoid putting himself in a difficult position!

However, this is just Ye Mingsheng's idea at the moment, and there is no other evidence. As for the final decision, Ye Mingsheng needs to go to Luoan and meet Yuan Song before making it.

Now that the Kipchaks are almost finished, Ye Mingsheng will continue his journey to the west. Ye Mingsheng has begun to look forward to his return to Luoan after many years...

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Jingchu, South, Hezhou
Xu Zhaojie, the Marquis of Zhenyuan of the Great Zhou Dynasty, was inspecting his own military camp. Just a month ago, under the planning of Fang She, he led only a few personal guards and sneaked back to Shouchun from Jiangnan.

Although there are still more than 10,000 Zhennan Army soldiers left in Chishan Prefecture in Jiangnan, Xu Zhaojie still has many feelings in his heart when he is able to return to his old nest!

Xu Zhaojie had planned to rest for a while, but unfortunately the change in the situation in the Great Zhou made Xu Zhaojie feel very uneasy. This also made him, the Great Zhou Zhenyuan Marquis, realize that he had no time to rest. If he continued to rest, it would not be long before Ye Mingsheng would come to reap his head!
So after doing some things in Shouchun and stabilizing his own nest, Xu Zhaojie immediately came to Jingchu in secret.

Carefully observing the situation in the military camp and the condition of the soldiers, Xu Zhaojie was basically satisfied!
With the previous failure of the northward advance and the successive capture of Anqing, Kangyin and a large area of ​​northern Huainan by the Fengwu Army, the situation of the Zhennan Army was not particularly good. Otherwise, Xu Zhaojie would not have made a desperate move and led the elite troops of the Zhennan Army to invade Jiangnan.

Compared with the elite Zhennan Army led by Xu Zhaojie to invade Jiangnan, the Zhennan Army left behind in Hezhou, Hengzhou, Yongshao and other places are relatively inferior, and their combat effectiveness is not that strong························

However, considering that the enemy on the opposite side was the Jingchu Army of the Sun family, Xu Zhaojie had nothing to worry about. Facts also proved that Xu Zhaojie's decision was completely correct.

Although the Jingchu army was large in number, their combat effectiveness was not strong due to various reasons. Therefore, even if Sun Chenggong gritted his teeth and let his subordinates attack fiercely for several months, he was still unable to shake the Zhennan Army in the slightest. Large prefectures like Hezhou, Hengzhou, and Yongshao were still under the control of the Zhennan Army.

The Jingchu Army lost tens of thousands of men and spent countless amounts of money and food only to gain some insignificant counties and towns. This indirectly caused concerns within the Jingchu Army about their future and doubts about Sun Chenggong's leadership ability, allowing the Fengwu Army to take advantage of the situation!

Xu Zhaojie was so angry when he thought about the Fengwu Army taking advantage of the situation. He had been planning to take over Jingchu for a long time and had put all his main forces into it. It took him a lot of effort to take over half of Jingchu's territory.

The Fengwu Army was just pretending, and then relied on the spies from the Coordination Office to fan the flames, which changed the world in Jingchu!

The difference between them is not as huge as heaven and earth, but it is not much different either!

After a brief inspection of the military camp, Xu Zhaojie took Han Ruohu, the general of Hezhou whom he appointed, to the north city wall of Hezhou.

Looking towards the north, Xu Zhaojie asked Han Ruohu:
“I came here from Shouchun in a hurry, and I don’t know much about the situation in Jingchu. Ruohu, can you introduce it to me?”

Han Ruohu lowered his head and quickly organized his words before introducing himself:

"My Lord, after Duan Zhibao replaced Zhao Zongchang as the frontline commander of the Jingchu Army, he stopped attacking Hezhou, Hengzhou, and Yongshao, and withdrew tens of thousands of Jingchu troops to Xiangzhou. Then there was news of a mutiny in Hanyang!"

"Duan Zhibao became the deputy commander of the Fifth Army of Fengwu Army, and Li Zhengyong became the deputy commander of the Fifth Army of Fengwu Army. Because the Fifth Army of Fengwu Army currently does not have a commander-in-chief position, Duan Zhibao and Li Zhengyong became the de facto top two leaders of the Fifth Army!"

"During the Hanyang Rebellion, the enemy army was in chaos for a while. I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to attack and see if I could achieve any results. However, because the Fengwu Army had already dealt with Duan Zhibao and Li Zhengyong, the situation was quickly brought under control with the cooperation of these two people and the use of force to suppress the enemy!"

"So although our troops achieved some results and killed more than a thousand enemy soldiers, because the enemy's strength was several times that of ours, we were eventually forced to retreat!"

“At present, I heard that the Fengwu Army intends to appoint Zhao Dongsheng, the former deputy governor of Jingchu, as the governor of Jingchu. Zhao Dongsheng is a representative of the Jingchu local faction. This can be regarded as a gesture of goodwill from the Fengwu Army to several local powerful families in Jingchu…”

"However, the Fengwu Army is said to be transferring people from their Central Government to take up the positions of Jingchu Provincial Surveillance Commissioner and Deputy Provincial Governor!" "In addition, the Fengwu Army is said to be reviewing and reorganizing the Fifth Army, rectifying the Fifth Army's practice of drawing empty salaries, and eliminating some of the old, weak, sick and disabled within the Fifth Army. After completing the review and reorganization, the Fengwu Army will provide the Fifth Army with equipment, salaries and other supplies!"

Hearing this, Xu Zhaojie narrowed his eyes and immediately interrupted Han Ruohu's introduction and asked:
"Has the Fengwu Army started its reorganization review of the Fifth Army?"

Han Ruohu thought for a moment, shook his head and said:
"The reorganization review of the Fifth Army, judging from the news sent from Hanyang, is still a plan that has not yet been implemented in action!"

"It is said that the Fengwu Army is now focusing all its energy on dealing with the Kipchaks in the north, so the Fengwu Army has no energy to take care of the Fifth Army. However, there is also news that the reorganization and review of the Fifth Army has been arranged. Once the Fengwu Army's war in the north is over, the reorganization and review of the Fifth Army can officially begin!"

Upon hearing the news, Xu Zhaojie nodded calmly, but he was a little disappointed in his heart. If the Fengwu Army began to reorganize and review the Fifth Army, it would inevitably make the Fifth Army panic and the morale unstable, which would give him an opportunity to take advantage of the situation!
His visit to Jingchu this time was naturally not just to inspect the situation, but to consider the next step of the Zhennan Army...
Although he was reluctant to admit it, Xu Zhaojie also understood that after defeating the Luoan court, the Fengwu Army already had the momentum to unify the world!

Although there are still several separatist princes in the south, even if these princes can put aside their inner conflicts and cooperate sincerely, they will still be unable to compete with the Fengwu Army!

It would be very difficult to contend with the Fengwu Army even if they united, not to mention that now everyone has their own thoughts and are wary of each other, so the Fengwu Army has a huge advantage, and it is entirely possible for them to unify the world!

Fortunately, the Fengwu Army also has its own problems. In addition to the internal problems that gradually emerged in the Fengwu Army, the Fengwu Army’s external enemies are not limited to the princes in the south. The Fengwu Army also has to face a number of foreign ethnic groups such as the Cumans and the Robe on the northern grasslands. These have tied up a lot of the Fengwu Army’s energy!

Before he could escape from Chishan Prefecture, Xu Zhaojie came up with the outline of a plan after he learned that the Fengwu Army had engaged in a fierce battle with the Golden Horde in the north!

Xu Zhaojie wanted to take advantage of the time when the Fengwu Army was concentrating its forces to fight a decisive battle with the Golden Horde to stab Ye Mingsheng in the back, making it so that Ye Mingsheng would be attacked from both sides and unable to take care of himself!
There were some opposing voices in the Zhennan Army. These people believed that the Zhennan Army had just suffered a great defeat in the southern expedition, and the consumption of both manpower and money and food was very large...

Therefore, at this time, the Zhennan Army should be like a wounded beast, quietly licking its wounds and accumulating strength, and should not act rashly and start a war again!
Xu Zhaojie disagreed with this voice. In his opinion, the gap in strength between the Fengwu Army and the Zhennan Army was already very large. Therefore, even if the Zhennan Army licked its wounds and quietly accumulated strength now, it would be difficult to narrow the gap in strength with the Fengwu Army!
Judging from the fact that Ye Mingsheng did not forget to take over Jingchu while concentrating his forces to fight a decisive battle with the Cumans, Ye Mingsheng had decided not to give the southern princes a chance to breathe due to the internal problems of the Fengwu Army. After solving the problem of the Cumans in the north, the Fengwu Army's southern expedition will come soon.

Therefore, instead of falling into the rhythm of the Fengwu Army and passively waiting for the Fengwu Army to eliminate the Cumans and then march south, it is better to take the initiative to disrupt the rhythm and deployment of the Fengwu Army while the main force of the Fengwu Army is being pinned down by the Cumans, and survive from the ashes!
Anyway, Xu Zhaojie would not passively wait for Ye Mingsheng to put a knife on his neck. Even if he died, he would rather die on the road of charging and bite off a piece of flesh from Ye Mingsheng, so that the bastard named Ye would be terrified at the thought of his name!

Xu Zhaojie’s idea of ​​taking the initiative is a good one, but it is difficult to implement the plan on a practical level!

First of all, although the main force of the Fengwu Army is in the north, the leadership of the Fengwu Army with Ye Mingsheng as the core is not stupid. They have long been prepared for someone to stab them in the back...
The Fengwu Army deployed the Fourth Army in Anqing, while the most elite First Army of the Fengwu Army was arranged in Hebei, Henan and Huainan. The troops of these two armies were to guard against anyone who wanted to cause trouble behind the Fengwu Army!

Although the strength of these two armies is only a detachment compared to the 200,000 main forces of the Fengwu Army in the north, they still have certain advantages compared to the current Zhennan Army!

In addition to the troops of these two armies, there is also a natural barrier called the Nanjiang River. Although the Nanjiang River restricted the Fengwu Army's attack to the south, it also restricted the Zhennan Army's attack to the north.

Therefore, Xu Zhaojie did not even think about counterattacking in Anqing and Kangyin. He knew that counterattacking in these two places would be a dead end. He would gain nothing except defeat!

Therefore, Xu Zhaojie aimed his counterattack at Jingchu from the beginning. He wanted to give Ye Mingsheng a surprise in Jingchu and show the momentum of the Zhennan Army here!
Although he had such an idea, there were still many difficulties in reality. First of all, the biggest difficulty was the difficulty in manpower. According to Xu Zhaojie's calculations, if he wanted to launch a counterattack in Jingchu, he would need at least 50,000 troops!
There are about 20,000 Zhennan troops in Jingchu. Shouchun is on guard against the Fengwu Army crossing the river to attack, so at most it can withdraw more than 10,000 people to participate in the counterattack. Therefore, there is still a gap of more than 10,000 people. Therefore, Xu Zhaojie now urgently hopes that Lu Jianchao can release the people as soon as possible...

In addition to the problem of military strength, there are also certain problems with money and food. As the saying goes, food and supplies go before troops move out. To a certain extent, war is a battle for your money and food supplies. Xu Zhaojie originally hoped that Lu Jianchao could solve this problem for him.

But judging from the news Fang She sent back from Jiangnan, this old fellow Lu Jianchao was too timid and was frightened by the Fengwu Army!
Although this old guy wanted to continue to be independent, he was afraid that the Fengwu Army would vent their anger on him, so the most he could do was quietly release the Zhennan Army from Chishan Prefecture. As for providing money and food, he simply didn't dare to do that!

Xu Zhaojie felt sorry for their lack of resistance and was angry at their misfortune, but he had no choice but to accept it!

Therefore, in this battle, Xu Zhaojie not only wanted to disrupt the deployment of the Fengwu Army, but also wanted to fight for Lu Jianchao to see!

Judging from the information sent back by Fang She, Xu Zhaojie also realized Lu Jianchao's thoughts and knew that this old guy had the intention but not the courage to do so!
If Xu Zhaojie wants to compete with the Fengwu Army, the Zhennan Army alone is not enough. He needs to gain as much support as possible from Jiangnan. Even if Jiangnan does not directly send troops to participate in the exhibition, he must get strong support from Jiangnan in terms of money and food!

For this reason, Xu Zhaojie wanted to make Lu Jianchao understand that the Fengwu Army was not invincible. The Fengwu Army was made up of human beings, not gods, and it was impossible for them to win every battle on the battlefield. He wanted to use victory to give Lu Jianchao confidence so that this old man could muster up the courage to face the Fengwu Army!

(I have seen everyone's ideas and suggestions yesterday. Originally, this chapter should have been about the harem struggle, but because this chapter is already in the plan to lay the groundwork for the upcoming war in the south, tomorrow's chapter will be about the harem struggle!)
(End of this chapter)