Chapter 996 The courtyard of those days!

Hearing what Xiang Zeng said, Xu Zhaojie nodded in agreement, and then said with some emotion:
"I met Song Weijie when I was in Sichuan a few years ago. At that time, I really didn't realize that he had such ability. I never thought that he would become a figure now. This is really the unpredictable world..."

Although Xu Zhaojie was reluctant to admit it and never said it out loud, he had already acknowledged in his heart that his Zhennan Army could no longer fight against the Fengwu Army alone. If the Zhennan Army relied on its own strength, it would be powerless to resist the Fengwu Army's powerful army!

So under the planning of a group of advisers, Xu Zhaojie began to look for partners to fight against the Fengwu Army together. His first target was Lu Jianchao, who had been fighting not long ago!

Although the combat effectiveness of the Jiangnan Army is average, the wealth of Jiangnan is known to the world. If Xu Zhaojie can be brought along, he will no longer have to worry about food and wages!
However, although Xu Zhaojie wanted to bring Lu Jianchao together to fight against the Fengwu Army, unfortunately, due to the threat from the Fengwu Army and the fact that Xu Zhaojie had attempted to invade Jiangnan not long ago.

Lu Jianchao was so scared after being bitten that he dared not cooperate with Xu Zhaojie again. The fact that he was released by the Zhennan Army of Chishan Prefecture was the result of the Zhennan Army's envoys doing their best and begging for favors!

In the absence of much assistance from Jiangnan, Xu Zhaojie had no choice but to turn his attention to the chaotic Sichuan...
After the Luoan Incident, Xu Zhaojie also followed the Luoan court to Sichuan. The few years in Sichuan were the most unsuccessful and decadent time in Xu Zhaojie's life.

Despite this, Xu Zhaojie's stay in Sichuan was not in vain. He got to know some local figures in Sichuan and formed some good relationships!
This time, Xu Zhaojie also relied on his connections in Sichuan to deliver the letter to Song Weijie!
However, originally Xu Zhaojie's letter was not written to Song Weijie, but to Shangguan Tingshu. At the same time, he had no intention of ceding Yongzhou and Hengzhou to Sichuan!

At that time, Xu Zhaojie believed that Ye Mingsheng and the Shangguan family were mortal enemies, so as long as he was willing to fight against the Fengwu Army, Shangguan Tingshu would definitely do his best to help him take revenge on the Fengwu Army!
However, when Xu Zhaojie had finished writing the letter and was preparing to have someone take it to Shangguan Tingshu, news came from Sichuan that Song Weijie had joined forces with many powerful local figures in Sichuan and directly killed Shangguan Tingshu and his followers. Song Weijie also called himself the Grand Commander of Sichuan!
This news undoubtedly caught Xu Zhaojie off guard, but in order to win over the fresh force from Sichuan, he had to tear up the letter he had written to Shangguan Tingshu, and wrote a new letter to Song Weijie, tempting Song Weijie with Yongzhou and Hengzhou and hundreds of thousands of local people...

Xu Zhaojie believed that the Fengwu Army had always been very strong, and as the Fengwu Army won battle after battle, Ye Mingsheng also began to become arrogant.

Therefore, if Ye Mingsheng knew that the Sichuan-Shu Army came to help him, then with Ye Mingsheng's arrogant character, he would definitely not give up. In all likelihood, he would regard the Sichuan-Shu Army as an enemy and think of killing Song Weijie, the Sichuan-Shu commander-in-chief!
At that time, even if Song Weijie did not want to be an enemy of the Fengwu Army, facing the Fengwu Army's relentless advance, the Sichuan Army could only follow him, Xu, to the end!

In this way, although the cost of sacrificing hundreds of thousands of civilians in Yongzhou and Hengzhou is huge, compared to dragging Song Weijie and the Sichuan Army onto his own ship to deal with the Fengwu Army together, Xu Zhaojie thinks it is still worth it!

However, what Xu Zhaojie did not expect was that Song Weijie also saw through his purpose, but Song Weijie also had his own ideas!
Although Song Weijie proclaimed himself the Grand Commander of Sichuan and Shu, and was in control of all military and political affairs in Sichuan and Shu, unfortunately there were many powerful figures in the local area. They secretly disobeyed Song Weijie's orders and did not take them seriously!

And this is obviously not what Song Weijie wants to see!
As the saying goes, "How can one allow others to snore beside one's bed?" Song Weijie wants to grasp all the power in Sichuan and Shu and become a true governor of Sichuan and Shu...

However, there are many local soldiers and horses. If Song Weijie goes to war directly, he may not be able to win the battle. This is also why Song Weijie is very cautious.

So after seeing Xu Zhaojie's letter of borrowing troops, Song Weijie wanted to take advantage of Xu Zhaojie's letter of borrowing troops to eliminate dissidents and transfer the troops from Sichuan and Shu that did not listen to his orders out of Sichuan and Shu!
Although Jingchu is not as prosperous as Jiangnan and Huainan, it is still slightly more prosperous than Sichuan and Shu!

Therefore, when everyone heard that Xu Zhaojie was willing to give Yongzhou and Hengzhou as rewards, and was willing to give half of the other territories if they conquered them, they were all tempted.

In addition, although the Fengwu Army has been powerful and victorious in battles over the years, it is far away in the north after all. Although the people in Sichuan and Shu know that the Fengwu Army is powerful, they do not know how powerful it is exactly, so they are not very afraid of the Fengwu Army!

With Song Weijie secretly fanning the flames, this group of people soon gathered nearly 30,000 troops and rushed to Jingchu under the leadership of Yang Zhen and Cai Qiang.

Xu Zhaojie originally wanted to lure more Shu troops into the trap, but after thinking clearly about Song Weijie's thoughts, he began to feel that these 20,000-plus soldiers were most likely the first and last batch of Shu troops to come to Jingchu to support him!
Feeling the melancholy in Xu Zhaojie's expression, Xiang Zeng spoke very calmly:
“My lord, Ye Mingsheng is a very strong and overbearing person. Therefore, even if Song Weijie is willing to surrender to him, he will not accept Song Weijie and Sichuan to continue to maintain independence. In my opinion, Song Weijie is not a pushover either. The conflict between the two of them is inevitable…”

“So as long as our army fights well in this battle and lets the heroes of the world know that the Fengwu Army is not invincible, then I believe that more and more loyal and righteous people will stand up to resist Ye Mingsheng’s tyranny!”

Xiang Zeng's words were like a shot of adrenaline, which immediately cheered up Xu Zhaojie, who had just been feeling a little melancholy.

At this moment, a guard walked in quickly and reported to Xu Zhaojie:

"My Lord, the Commander of the Thousand Tiger Guards, Liu Shuxin, wants to see you!"

Upon hearing this, Xu Zhaojie immediately ordered:
"Let him in!"

"Yes!"

Under Xu Zhaojie's order, a man like an iron tower strode into the room. When he saw Xu Zhaojie, he wanted to report something immediately.

However, when his eyes fell on Xiang Zeng standing beside him, he swallowed back the words that were about to come out of his mouth, and his gaze towards Xiang Zeng became hesitant.

Seeing him like this, Xiang Zeng didn't understand what the commander of the Thousand Tiger Guards meant, so he just bowed to Xu Zhaojie and was about to leave. But at this moment, Xu Zhaojie said:

"Mr. Xiang, please stay!"

After saying this, Xu Zhaojie instructed Liu Shuxin:

“Mr. Xiang is a person whom this Marquis can trust. You can speak directly if you have anything to say. There is no need to be reserved or hide anything…”

Liu Shuxin glanced at the news again, and Xiang Zeng, who still looked extremely calm, whispered:
"Report to the Marquis, according to the spies in Tanzhou City, the enemy has taken the bait!"

Hearing what Liu Shuxin said, Xu Zhaojie was overjoyed and quickly walked to the sand table. Looking at the coordinates on the sand table, his expression was full of determination to win!

Just now Xu Zhaojie told Yang Zhen and Cai Qiang that the Fourth Army of the Fengwu Army stationed in Anqing was a group of rabble and was vulnerable!
But that only gave Yang Zhen and Cai Qiang more confidence. Xu Zhaojie would never forget in his life that when he was fighting with the Fengwu Army in Hebei and Henan, he had everything ready and wanted to continue to fight with the Fengwu Army!
However, he never expected that Zhang Meng and the Fourth Army would capture Anqing like a divine force descending from the sky, cutting off his retreat and forcing him to make drastic measures and abandon his chariot to save his soul. He fled back to Huainan in a very embarrassed manner with only a few personal guards.

This incident can be said to be an eternal pain in Xu Zhaojie's heart. Although Xu Zhaojie has deliberately stopped himself from thinking about it, the past is still vivid in his mind, so much so that sometimes when Xu Zhaojie goes to bed at night, he will think of the past embarrassment.

Therefore, although Xu Zhaojie said it with disdain, he was still a little wary of Zhang Meng and the Fourth Army in his heart...
Although Xu Zhaojie dispatched most of the main forces of his Zhennan Army to the vicinity of Anqing, pretending to counterattack Anqing, it was just a trick to confuse the Fengwu Army!

The Fourth Army had well-trained soldiers and sufficient food in Anqing, and also had the advantage of the city. Therefore, although Xu Zhaojie emotionally wanted to take back Anqing, the place where he started his business, he knew in his heart that the time for counterattack in Anqing had not yet come!

As the saying goes, you have to pick on the weak, Xu Zhaojie's target from the beginning was Jingchu!
Xu Zhaojie has already investigated clearly. Although the Jingchu Army has now changed its name to the Fifth Army of the Fengwu Army, the resources allocated by the Fengwu Army to the Jingchu Army are very limited, and can even be said to be a drop in the bucket. It has not greatly improved the combat effectiveness of the Jingchu Army!

This also led to the fact that although the Jingchu Army was renamed the Fifth Army of the Fengwu Army, it was actually still the same old Jingchu Army!
Xu Zhaojie was very confident about dealing with the Jingchu army. In his eyes, these people were nothing but traitors!
But to be cautious, he still used a little trick!

And now is the time when the fish is hooked, and Xu Zhaojie is ready to complete this fatal harvest!
Although this group of people are still the Jingchu Army and there have not been many changes, they are nominally the Fengwu Army, and have been organized into a separate army by the Fengwu Army!
Therefore, Xu Zhaojie believed that when the news of his great victory spread, it would inspire loyal and righteous people all over the world, let them see the dawn of victory, and encourage them to stand up bravely and resist Ye Mingsheng’s tyranny with swords...
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Luoan, Yongpingfang, Xicheng District

In a yard, Ye Mingsheng and Pei Zhixiu held hands and sat under the jujube tree in the yard, enjoying the rare tranquility of summer.

Looking at the familiar yet somewhat unfamiliar furnishings in the courtyard, Ye Mingsheng felt both proud and a little sad!

Although he only lived here for less than a year, he still had many good memories in this yard!
At that time, I was just a commander of the imperial guards. Although I made some money from the palace, I didn't dare to spend it recklessly because I had to run around for office and give gifts!
At that time, he lived alone in the main house. Ye Tie, Ye Dong, Ye Kui and others originally lived in the east wing. However, because of the appearance of Pei Zhixiu, they vacated the east wing for Pei Zhixiu, and they all moved to the west wing!
Looking back now, it was indeed a bit crowded, but I didn’t think much about it at the time. After all, the housing prices in Luoan are really high!
I heard that after I was transferred to Liaoyang, the landlord rented this yard to an official working in the Ministry of Works. However, when the Luoan Incident happened later, the official working in the Ministry of Works was implicated and his entire family was slaughtered.

Seeing that Luoan was too chaotic, the landlord and his family fled to the countryside. They have not returned until now, and no one knows how they are doing now.
Leaning in Ye Mingsheng's arms, Pei Zhixiu looked at the east wing of the courtyard with a complicated expression, and then whispered to Ye Mingsheng:
"My dear, I want to stay here one more night!"

Ye Mingsheng was a little hesitant when he heard this. Although the conditions of this courtyard were very good back then, it seems a bit too simple today!

Now Pei Zhixiu is still pregnant and her body is quite special. Seeing Ye Mingsheng not speaking, Pei Zhixiu whispered:

"My husband, you're only staying for one night. Nothing will happen! He stayed here for so many days back then!"

Hearing Pei Zhixiu say this, Ye Mingsheng could only shake his head lovingly, and then warned:

"Then you can only stay for one night! You will be back home tomorrow!"

"Ok!"

Late at night, Ye Mingsheng and Pei Zhixiu slept together in the east wing. Pei Zhixiu seemed to remember something. After hesitating for a while, she mustered up the courage to speak playfully in Ye Mingsheng's ear:
"My husband, the night you went to see Sister Murong, General Ye Tie said bad things about me to you, right?"

(I wonder what you think of the latest plot? Please give me some valuable suggestions!)

(End of this chapter)