Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Chapter 1185 – Assassinating Hanwu Emperor
After an hour of discussion, the Qing conquering legion corps name list was completed.
Ouyang Shuo had two principles regarding his choices. First, the Guards Legion Corps and the Dragon Legion Corps that had fought in successive wars would not participate this time. They would take the time to rest to prepare for the next large war.
Secondly, apart from the Beijiang region border defense legion corps, other border defense legion corps were not to participate.
After making those rules, the choices were limited.
The 4th and 5th legion of the Beijiang legion corps needed to defend Liaojin Province to prevent the Mongol Empire from attacking. On the other hand, the 3rd legion had to defend the beast caves and monitor the grain line.
Hence. only the 1st and 2nd legions could be sent.
The 2nd legion of the Yingzhou Formaiton would remain in Yingzhou Province, and the 1st legion would be sent.
The City Protection Legion Corps that had not been participating in many wars would send their 2nd, 4th, and 5th legions. The 2nd legion had to defend Mulan Stronghold, and the 4th legion had to defend Beihai City. As a result, they did not have many chances to fight wars.
If an army did not fight wars for a long time, problems would arise.
The capital defense duties of the City Protection Legion Corps would be taken over by the Guards Legion Corps that had returned to Shanhai City.
Similarly, the Eagle Legion Corps in charge of the Shu Lands had not fought many wars since their formation. This time the 1st, 2nd and 3rd legions would be sent, led personally by Li Mu.
Next would be the 1st and 2nd legions of the Bear Legion Corps.
Sending the Bear Legion Corps was because the Alliance Army needed a marshal. Han Xin was in Luoyang, Baiqi was resting, so Li Jing was the only choice. Moreover, the Bear Legion Corps needed to be trained.
In total, the Qing conquering army included the southwest warzone, Zhili army, and Beijiang legion corps, including four legion corps and one formation for a total of 11 legions and 770 thousand troops.
Just moving the soldiers would take up a week.
On the logistical front, apart from using the combat logistic supplies stored in Beijiang Governor-General House, they would use the ocean route to transport grain from Chuannan, Lingnan, and Minnan.
The Binhai and Yashan Squadrons would be in charge of escorting the ocean grain path.
After settling the battle plan, the Grand Council and the Privy Court got to work, trying to complete their preparations in the shortest amount of time possble. The spies of the Shanhai Guards and the Military Intelligence Division went right to work once the meeting ended.
The war machine that was Great Xia started rumbling into action once more.
…
After ending the military meeting, Ouyang Shuo returned to the Imperial Reading Room.
The moment he sat down, he called Feng Qiuhuang through a video call. The Feng Qiuhuang who appeared on the screen looked calm, but exhaustion was evident at the corners of her eyes.
The huge war exploding, and a suppressive pressure was pressing down on her shoulders.
Unlike Great Xia, since the territory days, Great Jin had developed smoothly and did not have many problems apart from the family issues due to the region that they were in.
The battles they joined in were just battle maps and country wars.
To suddenly face the danger of being destroyed, the amount of pressure Feng Qiuhuang was facing was obvious. Luckily, Great Jin had Guo Ziyi, Ran Min, Meng Tian, Wang He, and other famous generals.
Guo Ziyi led the full blazing legion corps, while Meng Tian led the newly formed, four legion strong Guards Legion Corps. The two of them were seen as the two pillars of Great Jin.
General Ran Min was the commander of Feng Qiuhuang’s Personal Guards and was in charge of Feng Qiuhuang’s safety.
Ouyang Shuo went straight to the point, telling her Great Xia’s plan and saying, “If you defend for a month, the Great Jin problem will be settled. Can all of you hold on?”
A complicated expression flashed across her face. Since the start, Great Jin had simply owned Great Xia too much. Now, Great Xia was helping to dig them out of their problem once more. It seemed like she was not a decent ally.
At that moment, Feng Qiuhuang made a decision in her heart.
“Ouyang Shuo, I will not say much thanks. For Great Xia’s kindness, I’ll pay you back after this war,” Feng Qiuhuang said seriously.
Ouyang Shuo waved his hand, “There’s no need for thanks; we are allies.”
He did not bother to probe about the meaning behind Feng Qiuhuang’s words.
Feng Qiuhuang looked deeply at Ouyang Shuo and did not say much. Instead, she changed the topic. Raising it up with much difficulty, she said, “As for grain, I am afraid you will laugh at me, but the weather is too unusual, and the grain yield is bad. If we need to support the Leopard Legion Corps, we will not be able to last for a month and a half.”
As they say, ‘If one forgets about war, one would be in danger.’
Different from Great Xia, Great Jin was at peace for too long. Their Combat Logistics Department did not have a habit of storing military grain and usually just stored a small amount during every harvest season.
The grain that they stored from the last season was running out.
The month and a half she mentioned was after using the disaster relief grain and seeking grain from the people. If not, they would not even manage to last a month.
Ouyang Shuo was mentally prepared and said understandingly, “I predicted your problems. Although I cannot send grain over, you can stop sending grain to the Leopard Legion Corps.”
“How can we do that?”
She shook her head, “Providing grain to the Leopard Legion Corps is our promise, and we cannot go against that. I’ll rather we go a little hungry and still ensure the resource provision.”
“I’m telling you that not to share my problems but to remind you that if the battle drags on, we might not be able to hang on,” Feng Qiuhuang explained.
“I know.” Ouyang Shuo smiled, “If nothing goes wrong, the Battle of Luoyang will end soon. With the current grain and gathering some from the land, they will have enough. Great Zhou is attacking aggressively, so you must not be careless. Do not fall because of grain.”
“Do not lie to me.”
Feng Qiuhuang was not one that was easy to fool, “Luoyang is an imperial city, how would it be easy to take down?”
Ouyang Shuo did not explain much more, but he had to let her put her worries aside, “Do I look like one who cares so much about face? Just wait for my good news.”
Feng Qiuhuang looked at Ouyang Shuo hesitantly and finally nodded.
Speaking the truth, Great Jin was having a grain problem. Once Fallen Pheonix City was surrounded, without enough grain amassed, they would not be able to defend. If they did not need to continue providing grain for the Leopard Legion Corps, the pressure would be greatly reduced.
Although it was a little selfish, they had no choice.
Following which, the two of them informed each other of their own situations and ended the conversation. Both of them were busy people and had a huge number of matters to handle.
Especially Feng Qiuhuang, who was so busy that she could not sit down to take a break.
Great Zhou had deliberately planned it from the start, attacking with lightning speed right away. They aimed directly at Fallen Phoenix City. Their goal was to cut off all possibilities of Great Xia reinforcements and surround Great Jin to the death.
Starting from the border, both armies started to go head to head. The battle was really intense.
Regardless of the outcome of this battle, Great Jin would definitely be badly hurt after this battle as the main battlefield.
…
Hanging up the call, Ouyang Shuo did not hesitate. Following which, he found Tingyu Floor guild leader Jianqi Leiyin in his friend list and called her.
Before officially splitting, Jianqi Leiyin was an ally of Great Xia and was naturally his friend. When Gaia pushed out the communication compass, all friends were migrated over.
If not, Ouyang Shuo might not have been able to find Jianqi Leiyin.
In less than 10 minutes, she agreed to the call request, appearing in the video call, “Xia King?” Ouyang Shuo suddenly contacting her shocked Jianqi Leiyin.
At the start, as she was persuaded by her ex-boyfriend, along with the mysterious Silver Hand, she betrayed Shanhai Alliance and joined the Yanhuang Alliance camp.
Who would have expected the Shanhai Alliance to fight back so quickly, dealing a heavy blow to Tingyu Floor. Jianqi Leiyin also became really down, leaving the Yanhuang Alliance camp and not joining either side.
Even in the 6th year of Gaia, Tingyu Floor remained in Luoyang and did not move to any territory.
The previous betrayal had made her feel really guilty. Since then, she had never contacted Ouyang Shuo, and they were completely isolated from one another.
As such, one could imagine how shocked Jianqi Leiyin was when she received Ouyang Shuo’s call.
Times have changed.
When one reached Ouyang Shuo’s position, many things could be put down.
Everyone had their ambitions and working together between powers was a normal matter. Furthermore, Jianqi Leiyin had warned Ouyang Shuo before she joined Yanhuang Alliance.
It was because of that that Ouyang Shuo was willing to contact her.
“It’s me.” Ouyang Shuo smiled.
“Do you need something?”
Jianqi Leiyin’s voice was really uncertain. Seeing that the China region was really unstable and Great Xia was attacking Luoyang, Jianqi Leiyin did not think that Ouyang Shuo contacted her just to reminisce the past.
As a guild leader, her sense of smell was really sharp.
Ouyang Shuo was straightforward, “Are you interested in working together once more?”
“Working together?”
Jianqi Leiyin was filled with thoughts. She gripped her fist tight as waves surged uncontrollably in her heart. At the current day, seeing Great Xia become stronger and Great Zhou becoming weaker, to say that she did not regret her decision would be a lie.
“How to cooperate?” Jianqi Leiyin was a really decisive person. When something she hoped for, but she did not think she could get, appeared in front of her eyes once more, she would not miss it.
Ouyang Shuo nodded his head in satisfaction. He admired her straightforward spirit, “You know that Great Xia is currently attacking Luoyang. If you can help us do something, I can forget all past matters and allow Tingyu Floor to move to Great Xia.”
When Jianqi Leiyin heard that, she did not immediately agree. Instead, she asked, “What is it?”
It was not that she was bargaining. However, for something to make Ouyang Shuo ask so solemnly, it had to be really difficult. She was afraid that she would not be able to complete it and put both sides in an awkward spot.
“Help me assassinate Hanwu Emperor or Wei Qing. If not, help me burn the Luoyang granary to send Luoyang into chaos at the very least.” Ouyang Shuo did not beat around the bush. Since they were going to work together, he need to be open.
When she heard that, her heart skipped a beat, and she smiled bitterly, “Are you not afraid that I’ll reveal your plan to Great Han?”
While saying that, her tone was really bitter. She was obviously thinking back to the past.
Ouyang Shuo shook his head, “You won’t. It will not do anything good for Tingyu Floor. Luoyang will be taken down by us sooner or later.”
Jianqi Leiyin kept silent. Obviously, she understood what Ouyang Shuo meant.
Since the fall of Luoyang was a matter of time, once it fell, where would Tingyu Floor go to? To make enemies with Great Xia now was a foolish act.
Great Han could not give Tingyu Floor what it needed.
Jianqi Leiyin nodded, and only then did she start considering Ouyang Shuo’s request. She fell deep into thought. Ouyang Shuo did not rush her, as he believed that for Tingyu Floor to spend six years in Luoyang, it would definitely have trump cards.
A full five minutes passed by. She finally returned to her senses and said, “In truth, I have eyes in the palace but to assassinate Hanwu Emperor, such a high difficulty matter, I cannot promise it’ll succeed. As for Wei Qing, with the army protecting him, it is more difficult than killing Hanwu Emperor.”
Tingyu Floor was famous for developing spies and strategists, so it was normal that they had people in the palace. However, whether they could succeed in the assassination or not was hard to say.
“However, regarding the granary I can think of a way,” Jianqi Leiyin said.
When Ouyang Shuo heard that, he smiled. Jianqi Leiyin did not let him down. Ouyang Shuo said, “That’s really good already. I’ll wait for your good news in Shanhai City.”
Jianqi Leiyin nodded.
“Remember, you have at most a week.” Ouyang Shuo reminded her.
“Understood!”
Following which, the two of them discussed some details. Ouyang Shuo even suggested for the Shanhai Guard spies to aid Tingyu Floor to increase their chances of success.
After talking, Ouyang Shuo hung up.
Ouyang Shuo had already placed down the chess pieces, and whether they would work or not depended on patience. However, Ouyang Shuo believed that even if the assassination failed, with the help of Tingyu Floor, Han Xin could find a way to take down Luoyang before the grain ran out.
…
Great Zhou Dynasty, Handan City.
“The old fox has finally started to move his troops. Who knows where he will attack from?”
Di Chen was simply terrified of Great Xia. This attack on Great Jin was his final gamble. If not, he would be destroyed by Great Xia sooner or later.
Cooking a frog in warm water was a scary prospect.
When she heard that, Juedai Fenghua smiled, “No matter where they attack from, they are helping us clear out problems.”
Although the six countries had formed an alliance, Song, Ming, and Qing were all in Great Zhou borders and were all huge cancers. To use Great Xia to remove them was a masterstroke.
Great Zhou’s plan had considered all aspects this time.
Di Chen was not so optimistic, “This fisherman is a tough one to become. If we cannot take down Great Jin before Great Xia succeeds, we will lose everything.”
Juedai Fenghua nodded, “As such, it is time to activate the chess pieces we buried beside her.”
“Let’s follow what you said!” Di Chen did not hesitate.
At such a stage, Great Zhou had no way out. They had to use all the resources they could use to ensure that they took down Great Jin in the shortest amount of time.
…
In the next few days, the wilderness was really busy.
Within a night, the roads of the wilderness were filled with troops. Song and Ming sent their troops down south, Great Xia troops gathered up to go up north, and flames of war spread in Great Jin.
There was not a single inch of land that was spared in the wilderness.
Even Qin and Tang started to move their imperial city guards to the border to defend against Great Xia’s retaliation.
Although their intel showed that Great Xia was targeting Great Qing, who could ensure that Great Xia would not use misdirection to attack them? After all, if they took down either one of them, it would connect them directly to Great Jin.
Great Xia had done such things many times in the past.
