After receiving the messenger of condolence and reading the letter delivered by the messenger, Dong Sima and Nan Sima's faces immediately became sad.
"Really want to return to the court and hand over Huben to the adulterous consort?" Dong Sima had now become nonchalant towards Yi Ji, calling her the adulterous consort.
"At first, the Great King repeatedly told you and I to keep the Tang army away from the border, how can we not fulfill the Great King's last wish!" Nan Sima sighed and shook his head.
The East Secretary and the South Secretary are cultivated by the King of Wu, and they have always obeyed the King of Wu, and no one can order them without the King of Wu. This is also the reason why Yi Ji had to transfer the two Secretaries of Departments away from the royal capital before she dared to stage a coup.
"But the adulterous consort put both of us under house arrest in the palace, this is clearly using them to threaten you and me ah." Dong Sima painfully took off his helmet, and began to scratch his hair with both hands. Loyalty to the King of Wu and affection were at war in his heart.
"We can't go back." Nan Sima suddenly sounded resolute.
"Not going back?" Dong Sima looked up at his colleague and best friend, his face hesitant.
"Originally, I couldn't go back for the sake of the king's legacy and family, but now I can't go back even more for the sake of the king's legacy and family." Dong Sima seems to have made up his mind. "We must hand over the military power after we go back, after handing over the military power, the family can be saved, but what if Ulsan is going to break the city?"
Nan Sima's face turned pale, "Yes, the 10,000 troops of the Azure Mountain army completely annihilated 50,000 men of the royal capital, such elite troops, and won the hearts of the people, sooner or later the city of the royal capital will have to be broken, and at that time, you and I will be the culprits, and our family will refuse to be able to preserve it all the same."
The two could stay at the border and not move because of King Wu's last orders, and after Azure Mountain defeated Ripple Ji, the two would have a great righteousness to fall back on, and Zheng Yuming would only commend them for defending the land. If they withdrew their troops back to the king's capital according to Yi Ji's request, they would not be able to have great righteousness to rely on, and they would also be aiding and abetting the enemy, making it difficult for Azure Mountain to attack the king's city, and the casualties would definitely increase, and all of these losses would be credited to their heads. After the destruction of Ripple Ji, the two are the culprits, and the family will follow the same bad luck.
"Our best countermeasure now is still not to banish our troops and continue to intercept the Tang army, Gongzi Ming is kind and wise, he will sympathize with such a single-minded move for our country."
Nan Sima not only decides to stay at the border, but also prepares to write a secret letter to Jung Yoo Ming to ask for help, asking him to think of a way to rescue his family members who are under house arrest in the royal palace.
South Sima admired Zheng Yuming and Chu Chaohui, last year's harvest festival, when everyone was ignorant of the bandits that appeared in the south of the royal capital, Zheng Yuming and Chu Chaohui detected the conspiracy from the clues and paralyzed the west Sima, then turned to the north and took a boat back to Ulsan safely. The victory at the Ulsan Pass made his admiration even greater.
Nan Sima believes that he and Dong Sima have no way to deal with the family under house arrest, and that the benevolent and wise Gong Zi Ming will surely have a way to free them. Instead of betting the fate of the family on Ri Ji, whose future is bleak, they should bet on Zheng Yu Ming, who has already won the hearts and minds of the people and has the power.
South Sima at the same time calculated that he and the East Sima as long as not openly defected to the azure mountain, Yi Ji in the end of the road before the end of the road, do not dare to poison their families, that would be directly to push them to the side of the azure mountain. In addition, they resisted the Tang army to disobey the order to stand on the righteousness, kill their families will provoke some neutral ministers of the royal court opposition, when the enemy is approaching the city, Yi Ji must stabilize the situation in the royal capital, on their families to poison is the next best thing.
Nan Sima and Dong Sima discussed some more details, first they respectfully wrote a secret letter to Zheng Yuming and sent a fast horse to the army in Ulsan, on the other hand, they politely invited a messenger of condolence, first they expressed their gratitude to Empress Dowager Yi Ji for her concern for the families of the generals who fought hard in the outside world, and then they said that when they received the late king's last order, they promised that they wouldn't return to the capital until they had beaten back the invaders, and that the Tang army had already invaded the border of the Kingdom of Wu, so they had to drive the Tang army out of the border for the sake of the integrity of the Kingdom. Now that the Tang army has invaded the border of Wu, the two of them have to drive the Tang army out of the border first for the sake of the integrity of the country. When the invaders were driven away, the two Secretaries of Departments promised that the army would immediately ride back to Kangdu to protect the king.
The emissary sent by Ripple Ji dawdled with the two Sima for several days, but did not see the two Sima change their minds, so they had to go back to the royal capital first to resume their orders to Ripple Ji.
When Ri Ji received the news that the border army's squad refused to return to their division, she immediately summoned the ministers of the royal court.
"Now that the king's capital is in danger, the two Secretaries of Departments even resisted orders and refused to return to the division, this is a great sin that I cannot bear to dispose of. Do you have a way to persuade the two Secretaries of Departments to return to the capital quickly, lest they commit a heinous crime."
Seeing that the ministers on the left and right all bowed their heads in silence, Tai Fu had no choice but to take a step forward to admonish, "The Eastern Sima and Southern Sima are dedicated to the country, and it is justifiable for them to disobey their orders and not return to the king's capital."
"If the rebels break through the royal capital and put the Great King in danger, can the two Secretaries of Departments bear such a great crime? I think the Great King should issue an explicit edict to recall the border Huben to protect the King first, and if they disobey the order, they should be punished for the crime of rebellion." Dr. Jiang stepped forward to rebuke.
Tai Fu raised his eyelids and said coldly, "The new king is important, and the gods of the earth and grain are more important! How is this rebellious?"
Yi Ji listened to what Tai Fu said and sucked in a breath of cold air, these ministers who acquiesced to her son's succession didn't stand with them at all, Tai Fu is Gong Zi Yong's teacher, but in Tai Fu's eyes, surprisingly, it's still the state of Wu's society that's more important than his student, because as long as the state of Wu's society exists, there's still other royal dukes who can be the king of Wu if Gong Zi Yong is missing.
Just when the royal court was cold, the attendants outside reported that the Northern Marquis had sent a messenger to the royal court for an interview.
"This is a letter from my marquis to the royal court." The Northern Marquis messenger's face had pride.
Ri Ji's fingers gripped the silk silk tightly, suppressing her anger: "Present it."
The king's court attendant took the letter and handed it to Gong Zi Yong who was dozing off, Gong Zi Yong was awakened, took the letter and didn't even look at it, and sent it to Ripple Ji's hand, Gong Zi Yong, since he realized that he was just a decoration in the king's court, he was lack of interest in this kind of court meeting, and he was either sitting in the room and dazed, or he lowered his head to pretend to be asleep.
"How dare you! The left and right Huben drag me down to behead them!" After Ri Ji read the letter, she was so angry that she was trembling, she threw the letter at the Northern Marquis messenger and suddenly stood up and rebuked in a stern voice.
Taifu picks up the letter and looks at it, it turns out to be the Northern Marquis questioning the legitimacy of Gongzi Yong's ascension to the throne, the Northern Marquis thinks that there is a conspiracy in the fact that the King of Wu didn't issue an edict when he was awake, but after he fell unconscious, he changed the crown prince instead, there is a conspiracy in the fact that Gongzi Yong being the King of Wu is a usurpation of the throne, and Zheng Yuming is pretending to be Gongzi Ming's status as a male son, and both of them aren't qualified to be the King of Wu, and now he, the Northern Marquis, is the only person that is most qualified to be the Lord of the Kingdom of Wu, and that's why he has made himself a king in the feudal land.
After reading the letter, Tai Fu was silent, he deeply felt that Wu was facing an abyss, and hoped that there was a strong royal figure who could clean up the chaos of Wu and return it to a peaceful environment. And not only do Ri Ji's mother and son not have such ability, they are also the culprits of the current state of affairs in Wu.
After Yi Ji finished her anger, she realized that the ministers of the royal court were silent and voiceless, even Dafu Jiang bowed his head and didn't dare to speak, and now the only troops in the royal capital had to be reserved for the opposing Azure Mountain army, where else could they be detached to conquest the Northern Marquis.
The lord of the Tang Kingdom is no longer good to talk to, the East Sima and the South Sima disobeyed orders and did not return, their families can not yet be convicted, the North Marquis openly scorned the royal court to stand on its own, the royal court was insulted but could not be conquered, all sorts of things that make Ripple Ji's heart angry, powerless, and the silence of the royal court's ministers even more so Ripple Ji's back is cold, up to this point, for the first time, Ripple Ji felt fear, felt fear.
The conquest of Ripple Ji requires the identity of Gong Zi Ming as a banner, Zheng Yuming can no longer stay in the rear, he has to follow the crusading army together, he is the nominal commander of the army.
Zheng Yuming entrusted the city of Dacheng to Wei Shen and Chen Meng, the back slopes, the valley, the south port, and the Su Plain were delivered to Yu Kui, two thousand Huben were left in Dacheng for Wei Ci to lead the defense of the city, and no troops were left in the valley or in the south port, the three hundred patrols that were originally in the valley played the role of guarding the valley's security, and there were more than five hundred security members in the south port, which were taken care of by the brothers Wu Dai and Tian Hu and Tian Bao, and the Tuo Su and many of the tribal warriors of the Eagle Tribe had just been recruited into the the army, and they were left behind to assist the two hundred infantrymen in Su Plain to protect Su Plain.
In the rear of Ulsan, as long as it is not a vassal state that sends out a large army, security is still guaranteed, the only vassal state that borders Ulsan is the Chu state in the west, the Chu state's lord is old and greedy for enjoyment, and doesn't have the same ambition as the Prince of Zhao, the spies sent by Chu Chaohui in the Chu state didn't find any movement of the Chu king's court to send out any troops, Zheng Yuming is very relieved about this gradually declining large vassal state.
When the Ulsan crusading army marched to the place where Jiang Dafu's private army counterfeited the mountain bandits last year, Chu Chaohui received secret letters sent by Dong Sima and Nan Sima, as well as news sent back by secret agents lurking in the Northern Marquis' fiefdom.
Receiving the secret letter and news is in the evening, the army has already found an open place to set up camp, Zheng Yuming's main tent has already been set up, the German shepherd wolf dog wood is squatting at the entrance of the tent to keep watch. Around the main tent is stationed in the valley of the 300 elite soldiers.
After growing for almost three years, Woody finally grew into the image of a big dog and regained its majestic appearance. Before Chu Chao Hui went on his journey, he remembered that Woody had grown into a... Big dog, from the protected to the guardian, can play a role in protecting Zheng Yuming, immediately sent people to carry wood from the valley to Zheng Yuming side.
I do not want this wood simply do not appreciate Chu Chao Hui let it reunite with the master of the love, other people see Zheng Yuming, wood are not nervous, a round to Chu Chao Hui and Zheng Yuming meet, the wood is immediately vigilant, tightly follow the master.
Chu Chao Hui locked eyes with Woody's dog eyes at the entrance to the tent for a moment, and with a soft grunt went around Woody into the tent.
"Woody's IQ regressed when he grew up and became close and distant." Chu Chao Hui went to the tent and whined towards Zheng Yuming, he originally wanted to hug Zheng Yuming first, but looking at the big bull standing straight next to him, and the wood that closely followed his footsteps, he had to stop.
"Nonsense, where does wood have IQ regression." Zheng Yuming smiled slightly, there is a reason why the wood is only nervous about Chu Chao Hui, when others see him at the very least stand three steps away and talk, only Chu Chao Hui comes and takes advantage of the fact that no one is always moving their hands and feet, the wood feels that Chu Chao Hui is the most threatening to the master, of course, he will take Chu Chao Hui as the number one object of concern.
Chu Chao Hui handed the secret letter and the news of the Northern Marquis' fiefdom to Zheng Yuming, and turned back to ask Da Niu to exit the tent so that he could discuss important matters with Zheng Yuming, but after thinking about the content of the secret letter, Chu Chao Hui not only didn't order Da Niu to retire, but instead chatted with Da Niu.
"Da Niu, when you were originally a Huben at the King's Palace, were you on good terms with your fellow officers?"
"Of course it's good, we are all brothers!" Da Niu nodded affirmatively, although his status was lowly, his brute strength was unrivaled among the Tiger Ben of the Royal Palace, and he was righteous and generous, the Tiger Ben who stayed together liked him.
"Da Niu, what did the Huben's do to the Ripple Ji seal?" Chu Chaohui's eyes glowed.
"We Huben don't like Ripple Ji, this woman controls too much." Da Niu shook his head, the king of Wu had many small wives, only Ripple Ji always instructed them, Ripple Ji was of low birth, Jiang Dafu's reputation was not good, the Huben did not think much of Ripple Ji.
"This way." Chu Chao Hui raised his eyebrows lightly, in that case, the Royal Palace Huben did not defend the Royal Palace because of their loyalty to Ripple Ji, but continued to do their duty because of their loyalty to the old King of Wu.
"Da Niu, are you afraid of dying?"
"How can a warrior be afraid of death?" Da Niu's copper bell eyes glared.
"Ripple Ji disregarded the interests of the Wu Kingdom for personal gain, first luring wolves into the house, and now placing the families of the two Sima under house arrest in the palace as hostages, thereby blackmailing the two Sima into giving up resistance against foreign enemies and returning to the capital."
"This treacherous concubine is detestable! I'll go and rescue the families of the two Simas from the palace, the good sons of the Huben of the royal palace will not tolerate such a traitorous act by a poisonous woman!" Da Niu straightened his back and clasped his fists to ask for orders.
"Good! Good! Da Niu is no less than a true warrior!" Chu Chao Hui gave a thumbs up to Da Niu. "Da Niu you now go to find Huang Zhuang, Huang Zhuang stayed in the king's capital for two and a half years, he is familiar with the king's capital's secret passage, the two of you sneak into the capital through the secret passage, think of a way to turn back the king's palace's Huben, and on the day of the Ulsan's siege, save the two Sima's families from the palace."
"Da Niu takes orders!" Da Niu took Chu Chao Hui's order and turned to the outside of the tent to find Da Zhuang to discuss specific matters.
"Chao Hui, Dajiang's son is only a few months old." Zheng Yuming sighed, after Dajiang and Yu Kui successfully completed their mission, Yu Kui went to manage the valley and Nambu, and Dajiang went to Huang Zhong's Intelligence Office, this time the army's Northern Expedition, Dajiang followed the army's march, and specialized in handling intelligence affairs.
"The two Sima are crucial, I need them to feel at ease at the border to hold back the Tang King, and when Ripple Ji is exterminated, the next step will be to clean him up!" Chu Chaohui pointed his finger somewhere within the borders of the Tang Kingdom, where there were high-quality coal mines.
"After hitting Ripple Ji, we have to hit the Tang King, and after hitting the Tang King, we still have to hit the Northern Marquis." Zheng Yuming sighed heavier, the two had originally Xiao wanted the high quality coal mines in the territory of Tang, the Tang King's active aggression gave them a good reason to send troops. And the northern marquis feudal estate good horse, such a good place how can allow him to break away from self-reliance.
"Fighting Ripple Ji is quick, the Tang army is not enough to worry about, the Northern Marquis fiefdom only has a few thousand soldiers, destroying him is also a small matter." Chu Chao Hui was very confident.
"I know that none of them are opponents, but the logistical rations are under a lot of pressure!" Zheng Yuming had a headache, the rations he had prepared were enough for the Ulsan army to eat for a year, but now that there were more descended soldiers from the West Sima, and the people of the West Hou, the rations were divided by a quarter, and with two more battles in the future, the ration reserves would be strained.
"Yuming, you still have additional rations that must be paid." Chu Chao Hui suddenly thought of something.
"Huh? There are extras?" Zheng Yuming's mouth opened wide.
"Not bad, East Sima and South Sima refused to withdraw their troops back to the capital, Ripple Ji with hostages does not work, will certainly use to cut off their grain and grass to force." Chu Zhaohui heart despised Ripple Ji this woman, in vain the clever head, net make not on the stage of small tricks.
Chu Chao Hui's prediction of Ripple Ji was accurate, Ripple Ji saw that the hostages could not force the border Huben to return to the capital, so he ordered to cut off the supply of food and grass, and the munitions that were transported to the border on the road were all chased back by Ripple Ji's messengers.
The critical moment of the border Wu army food cuts, the south port big ship from the small bay to them military supplies, military supplies escorted by the merchant fleet, bypassing the Tang army line of sight sent to the border Huben camp.