The following day.
The western border of Great Wei.
It was already dawn.
Two hours had pa*sed since the Marquis of Qu Zhou had cast his poison.
The Marquis of Qu Zhou did not know if it had any effect, but what he did know was that the third battle had already pa*sed.
If the water source was destroyed, even if the tribal soldiers were martial artists, they could go without water for ten days or even a month.
But the people would have to drink water, right?
But if the water source is contaminated, the only way out is for the people to migrate, to leave the Western Territory and go elsewhere to survive.
In that case, without these tribesmen, even if the tribal generals wanted to fight, they would not be able to stay.
After all, they are tribal generals, not generals of a certain country, so they will naturally give priority to the survival of their own tribe and cannot fight to the death.
The task given by the imperial court was to sweep the western border, and the destruction of the water source was in itself a sweep. As for killing or not, it was perfectly fine to wait until the triumphal return and settle the matter by hand.
And what one has to do at the moment is to arrive at Chen by the day after tomorrow.
At this moment.
The sky had already brightened up, and as the white of a fish’s belly appeared in the sky.
The voice of the Marquis of Qu Zhou rang out.
“All troops stand by, three hours later, push across the western border.”
The Marquis of Qu Zhou gave the military order for the army to prepare, and in three hours, a full sweep would be carried out.
At this moment, as the military order was given, the 900,000-strong Heavenly Son Army was suddenly in high spirits of battle.
All this time, we had been fighting a circuitous war, with me running after the enemy and the enemy running after me.
This was extremely defeating for the Tien Tzu army, which was unfamiliar with the terrain and environment.
The spies who were secretly watching also pa*sed on this information in droves, informing the tribes everywhere to pay a little attention.
The misconception was that the Son of Heaven’s army was about to begin a real onslaught.
With an army of 900,000, the entire western border could be leveled twenty times. As long as it was a head-to-head encounter, there was no need for 900,000 Tianzi troops, 90,000 would do.
The reason for this is that they are afraid of casualties and trampling within the army.
This is how powerful the Tien Tzu army is, pushing across the Western Realm with no effort at all.
This is something that the tribes in the Western Realm fully understand. The advantage they have is the terrain, and with the help of the terrain, they can pull the Tianzi army’s advance route.
Of course, the Tien Tzu army could also charge sideways, but if they did, the army would easily be blocked or their flanks would be constantly consumed.
Not only would it affect morale, but it would also increase casualties for no reason.
In this situation, the solution Xu Qingnian came up with was simple: poison.
Poison these dogs to death.
With the order given, in less than an hour’s time, all the major tribes received the news.
If the Tien Tzu army wanted to fight hard, they would have to lurk and hara*s the Tien Tzu army at any time.
And since they were going to lurk, they had to be prepared with food and water and so on.
After the scouts had been ambushed, the tribes began to prepare food and water, and they were ready for a war of attrition.
Two more hours pa*sed.
Just as the Heavenly Son’s army was sharpening its swords and preparing to go to work, the Marquis of Qu Zhou’s orders came down again.
“All troops prepare, five hours later, push across the western border.”
As the Marquis of Qu Zhou’s order was given, the army of the Son of Heaven froze a little.
They had just said they would march in three hours, but now they were delaying for five hours?
What the hell is this?
The whole army was in an uproar, discussing, not knowing what the above meant, but as generals, obedience was the first priority, so no matter how much doubt there was in their hearts, they still had to honestly listen to the arrangements from above.
Little by little, time pa*sed.
Another five hours later.
The Marquis of Qu Zhou’s order was given again.
Five more hours of delay.
For a moment, there was even more chatter in the army, but this was quickly silenced.
After all, there were no casualties in the army of the Son of Heaven, it was just a delay in the battle.
And then.
A change came out.
The Western Realm.
A horde of 4,000 men, at this moment close to 70% of the generals were slumped on the ground, weak and looking incomparably weaker.
The commander examined everything and knew almost instantly what had happened.
“The water source!”
“They’ve poisoned the water supply.”
“D*mn it!”
The tribal commander clenched his fists, he was a little angry, and there was a look of disbelief in his eyes.
The fact that Great Wei had poisoned the water source was not what surprised him, but the fact that the water source they had obtained, which was from the water veins in the Western Realm, was not just something they could drink.
More importantly, the tribesmen of the Western Realm also had to drink the water. If Great Wei had really poisoned the water, and could poison a martial artist, it would have been a disaster for the common people.
He was shocked, shocked at how ruthless the Great Wei was, not even sparing the ordinary people.
This was how they claimed to be a benevolent and righteous army? How can you call yourself a great nation? It was really despicable and vicious.
“Listen to the order!”
“Send the wounded to a secret camp to recuperate, immediately inform the tribesmen that no drinking water should be pulsed, and prepare to migrate.”
He spoke reluctantly, but he knew that this was the best option.
If four thousand of them died, it would be fine, but if all the people of the tribe died, then they would be finished.
“Chief, will this battle not be fought?”
“If we don’t fight, I’m afraid the countries won’t let us go.”
Someone frowned and asked the other side inquiringly.
“There is still a fight, Great Wei has already pushed us to the brink, the water source is polluted, the western border is not viable, now we can only pray that this water source will not be completely polluted.”
“Otherwise, we’ll have to migrate, we’ve done what we need to do, there’s no point in giving the lives of our entire clan, there’s no point.”
He cursed, somewhat angrily, it had come to this and he was still thinking of war? Let alone the fact that their original mission was to delay the advance of the Heavenly Son Army.
Even if they won, so what? What did they have to gain? The countries’ aid had arrived, all that should be taken had been taken, Great Wei had poisoned them, and they had already been considered to have paid the price by moving.
Indeed, with these words from the commander, the generals were silent.
Immediately afterwards they took the wounded away, but soon some of them died of poison, and time was short, they could not even bury them in time, they had to burn them in a fire.
And such was the situation that arose in various parts of the West.
It was not that no one had guarded against poison in the water, but they had not thought that Great Wei could contaminate a water vein. Just ask, if you saw someone throwing a poison into a big river.
Would you think the river water was poisonous?
Even a stronger poison would probably not be able to do this, but the problem was that Great Wei had done it.
In this way, the Western Realm has not just fallen, the whole Western Realm is going to be completely lost, this move of the Great Wei is ruthless, ruthless, ruthless, too ruthless.
In contrast to what had happened to the tribes in the Western Realm, there was a lot of discussion among the Son of Heaven’s army, and many of the generals were really confused as to why they had to wait so long.
Should we fight or not fight?
The crowd was full of curiosity.
The 900,000 strong army was densely packed and gathered together, yet in one place.
A man of about thirty years of age, wearing battle armour, sat outside his tent, fiddling with a few stones, an unusual curiosity in his eyes.
He was a quartermaster, responsible for the transport of food and gra*s, and there was no need for him to be on the field for such a great battle, he only needed to follow the army and secure the transport of food and gra*s.
“Lord Yu Yi, what are you thinking about again?”
“It’s already been three days, can you think of what the court wants to do?”
“Yes, we’ve been here for almost three days, have you thought of a way to break the enemy?”
Some soldiers came and after seeing Yu Yi, they couldn’t help but laugh and speak, their words slightly amused.
They weren’t being sarcastic, but rather they were just joking between friends.
Yu Yi was a bit eccentric. He was obviously a quartermaster, not even a ranking officer, but he liked to discuss military operations and the situation at court.
The main thing is that he is not a member of the Tien Tzu army, but has been placed here by the court for this march to war.
If Yu Yi had not been a real citizen of the Great Wei, plus having read and understood the language, and having escorted several grain shipments, he would not have been able to join the Tianzi army temporarily.
In the words of Yu Yi, he was worried that he would not be able to pa*s the examination, so he went out with the army to earn more silver to prepare for the next examination.
The Chinese government has not believed in this kind of talk, after all, Yu Yi is a citizen of Wei, and a small quartermaster, even if he is a spy, is useless, he does not have any authority, he is just a follower of the inspection.
The soldiers still admire people who read, especially Xu Qingnian, who commanded two victories in battle.
The group of soldiers understood one thing.
Knowledge is power.
Naturally, the attitude towards Yi is also quite good, but Yu Yi is a bit impractical, always going to study what the army wants to do, what the court wants to do, even the battle of the Fan Kingdom, the battle of the Tang Kingdom, Yu Yi several nights without sleep, is to study the method of breaking the enemy.
This matter also made the generals feel a little funny.
You are a small quartermaster, to study this? You have nothing better to do than to eat?
Do you have Xu Qingnian’s talent? If you did, you wouldn’t be in such a bad position.
Outside the tent, listening to the jokes of the soldiers, Yu Yi did not feel any humiliation, but instead he sank down even more and laid out the stones.
He had drawn a map on the ground, a map of the western border. He had been to the army camp and had seen the full picture of the western border map, and had memorised it all with just a glance.
The map on the ground, of course, must have been a rudimentary version, and it must have been difficult to really draw it out.
Looking at the map on the ground, Yu Yi’s brow was locked, and he even made a muttering sound.
“The Western Realm is extremely mountainous, the desert is dangerous, and there are depressions everywhere. The foreigners in the Western Realm, with their circuitous warfare, are consuming our army’s battle strength and delaying our progress.”
“If the Great Wei Heavenly Son Army wants to push all the way across, the 900,000-strong army will need to give at least 50,000 or even 100,000 generals’ lives to get as far as Chen.”
“Especially the latter 100,000-strong army, if the tribes are ambushed, they can form a broken tail, while the front army echoes, it will definitely attract the attention of Chen, and then it is likely to be scattered from the camp.”
“Chen and the tribes will join forces, annihilating our army is not possible, but it is enough to make our army suffer a big loss.”
“To break it, hard! Difficult! Difficult!”
Yu Yi fiddled with the stone formation, but no matter how he fiddled, he could not deduce the perfect formation.
Time pa*sed little by little.
He hadn’t eaten anything since morning. He took a glance at the sky and saw that it was past mealtime.
This meant that no one was cooking.
“Strange!”
Yu Yi frowned, this might seem like a trivial matter, but in his eyes, it was not a trivial matter.
When marching and fighting, martial artists could indeed go hungry, but if it wasn’t some kind of rush or something big was happening, they would still basically cook and cook.
At least among the 900,000-strong army, there were many who were not martial artists, and quartermasters like him, who had to eat.
Just now, the Marquis of Qu Zhou said that there would be a delay of five hours, so it was perfectly fine to cook and cook, but the army did not cook.
That was a bit odd.
However, after thinking about it, Yu Yi did not look deeper, after all, perhaps it was because the great war was approaching and he did not want to be delayed by such things.
Continuing to sit down, Yu Yi rubbed his stomach as his eyes fell on the map once more.
“The imperial court said that in three days, they must arrive outside of the Chen Kingdom.”
“Now two days have pa*sed, which means that by the day after tomorrow, the army must march outside of Chen and join up with the First Army’s Second Army.”
“At this rate, how can it possibly arrive tomorrow?”
“And today is a complete inaction, staying here all the time to waste time, if they want to charge, they can do it in one go and still have less casualties, otherwise, what is the point of staying like this?”
“Is it possible that the Marquis of Qu Zhou has secretly sent someone to sneak in?”
“That’s not possible.”
“Then what exactly is the Marquis of Qu Zhou trying to do with this intention? To be submissive? No, that’s not possible either.”
Yu Yi was indeed at a loss for words.
He pondered.
And then glanced around the camp again.
Again, he pondered.
Another glance around the camp.
The whole army is on standby.
No cooking.
Arrive in Chen in three days.
As each piece of information poured in, Yu Yi still couldn’t figure it out, his stomach was hungry, so at that moment Yu Yi picked up the water jug and took a sip, wanting to pad his stomach.
But the moment Yu Yi picked up the water jug, a thought appeared in his mind in a flash.
Immediately afterwards, Yu Yi’s entire body froze.
“Water veins!”
Yu Yi’s entire body froze in place as he held up the kettle for a long time.
It was not because Great Wei did not want to delay for this matter, but because Great Wei had already poisoned the water.
The army all had their own water bladders, which were perfectly adequate for self-supply, but for cooking and such, they would have to go to a nearby water source to fetch water.
It would be impossible for everyone to empty their water bladders, right?
In extraordinary times, there is nothing wrong with this.
But in this case, doing so would only make the army curious and it would be very easy for news to leak out, as there were many spies watching the movements of the 900,000-strong army.
This was unavoidable.
So, the water was poisoned.
Moreover, it is not as simple as one water vein, it could be several or even a dozen.
“This plan, militarily speaking, is a plan to break the game, a superior plan.”
“Humanely, I fear that this matter will attract some curses.”
“But the war of the country is not to be confined.”
“In war, there are only allies and enemies, Lord Xu has really opened a door for Yu.”
Yu Yi was shocked.
He had already guessed that poison had been placed in this water vein.
The first reaction was shock.
After all, this matter was not humane.
The second reaction was contemplation.
This matter was indeed inhumane, but this was a war, a national war, and it was highly likely that the country would break the mountains and rivers, so there was no place for mercy.
The third reaction was to comprehend.
His own mind had been so constrained that he had forgotten what the essence of war was, so that he had struggled to understand how to break the situation and had been unable to guess what the Tenno army was going to do.
Now, his mind was opened and he had a new knowledge and understanding of war.
At this moment, Yu Yi took a big gulp of water, he revealed a smile, then got up and kicked the stones off the ground directly, wiped the map with his shoes, and stopped thinking about the matter.
For, in this battle, the Tien Tzu army had won.
Not only had it been won, but most likely, it had swept the entire western border without spending a single soldier.
So he no longer bothered to study the battle.
Xu Qingnian had already done everything, and right now it was time to send troops to the Chen Kingdom, thus welcoming the fourth battle.
The real war of nations.
So it was.
Another two hours pa*sed.
Just when the Heavenly Son’s army thought it would continue to delay, the Marquis of Qu Zhou’s military order came down.
“The whole army marches out!”
As the whole army marched out rang out, the army of the Son of Heaven was suddenly excited, all the generals clutching their weapons, and a war horse neighing as it flanked the army to the left and right.
As the army marched out.
The land of the West raised the yellow sand to roll.
In less than two quarters of an hour.
At once, the scouting party found three thousand foreign warriors lying on the ground, and for a moment, the scouting party sent back information.
In a short time, five thousand iron hors*men galloped up and, after confirming beyond doubt, simply beheaded the three thousand foreign generals, the kind of generals who did not need to be taken prisoner.
The military order given by the court was to sweep across the western border, to make the road to the west, unobstructed, both now and afterwards.
The army kept running towards Chen.
But for an hour, the army had not seen any of the foreign tribal generals. On the contrary, the left and right flanking guards moved and spurred their horses away, and returned within a quarter of an hour, not knowing what they had gone to do.
Finally, another hour later, 10,000 foreign generals appeared, ambushed here, but these 10,000 generals did not have any courage to confront the 900,000-strong Heavenly Son army.
It was useless to even try to let off cold arrows. 20,000 iron hors*men pinned down the attack, causing the other side to flee in haste and beheaded thousands of elites.
The other side was confused, and so was the army of the Sons of Wei.
The point of confusion for the foreigners was where their own teammates had gone.
And the Tienzi army was confused because 10,000 foreigners dared to sneak in?
Have you grown bold, or do you think that the Sons of Heaven army of Wei are easy to bully?
But in any case, the rest of the journey was smooth, but the more it went on, the more alert the army became, because there was no reason for these foreigners not to come out and interfere, right?
The delay in coming out could well be a big killing move in the making.
The whole army was on alert, which was good for marching and fighting.
And so it was, a full ten hours later.
It was the following day.
The front marching army had already reached Chen, and the rear marching army was moving at a very fast pace, with 200,000 cavalrymen holding the rear, so that if there was any attack, they would instantly form up to kill the enemy.
But after the army had withdrawn peacefully, the foreign tribe still did not appear, and at this moment everyone really did not know what to say.
Everyone was in a state of confusion, and even some experienced veterans were a little confused.
With an army of 900,000, apart from a few scattered pursuits at the beginning, where a thousand or so people died, there were no casualties.
The battle in the West was predicted to be about 50,000 casualties, but only 1,000 casualties had been incurred, which was completely unexpected.
At that moment, the army was heading south, and after about a hundred miles, they finally saw a large camp.
It was the Great Wei army camp.
The camps of the Great Desolate Army and the Qilin Army.
Stomp, stomp, stomp!
An elite army attacked, and after identifying themselves again, they could not help but reveal their joy.
The three armies had converged.
The Great Desolate Army, the Qilin Army and the Heavenly Son Army had converged and gathered a hundred miles away from Chen, this was a great thing.
“All the troops listen to the order, set up camp and rest.”
The next moment, Marquis Qu Zhou ordered the Heavenly Son Army to set up camp immediately, while he, Marquis Yang Du and Marquis Chong Ping, went straight to the Kirin Army camp.
A preparatory meeting was held.
However.
The arrival of the Son of Heaven’s army had also fallen on the ears of the State of Chen.
Kingdom of Chen.
The royal palace.
The ruler of the State of Chen, sitting atop the king’s chair.
He is dressed in a black dragon robe and looks askance at all his ministers.
All the officials are gathered together, their eyes are all aglow.
When the report of the battle came in, there was no outcry from the court, but rather a sense of calm.
Compared to Tang, Fan, Amuta and Tuliang, Chen was clearly more confident.
“I, Zhou Liang, Minister of War, present.”
It was at this moment that the Minister of War of the State of Chen spoke up and addressed the king.
“Present.”
The State Monarch of the State of Chen spoke, looking cold and incomparable.
“The seventy-two provinces have completed their preparations for war, arranged in three provinces and one city, and the foreign generals, who control the twelve provinces and cities, supply their own food and supplies.”
“I have completely blocked off the secret pa*sages, and have also informed the foreigners that if any foreigners surrender in this battle, they will be killed.”
“Forty percent of the men in the sixty provinces of my country have been conscripted into the army to guard the country’s gates, and all the people are soldiers.”
“In the country, the people are united in their determination to build weapons, battle armour and stone throwers.”
“The people’s wealthy merchants have all donated silver, and there are three thousand people in my ministry who have volunteered to die, and I have delivered the Heavenly Thunder talisman.”
“Before the battle, it will be possible to seriously damage the three armies of the Great Wei.”
The Minister of War spoke, every word was categorical, and every word seemed incredibly confident.
The last sentence, in particular, seemed cold.
And after hearing these words again, the ruler of the State of Chen looked very satisfied.
“Good.”
“Very good.”
He nodded, and then slowly spoke.
“Back then, the Great Wei’s Great Ancestor, shamed my country, Chen, as a miscellaneous country, and insulted my country, Chen, with an impure bloodline.”
“Today, I will fight this battle with the nation.”
“The Great Wei is full of tricks, night raids, killing surrenders, turning against them, using poison, it can be said that the methods are dirty and despicable.”
“It is disgraceful.”
“It is a pity that they are too stupid. If these schemes had been hidden in the background and targeted at my country, Chen might have been defeated.”
“They were greedy for the momentary results of the battle, and by doing so in advance, they also put my country of Chen on the defensive.”
“They are too foolish and too arrogant, in their hearts, Chen is still a miscellaneous country, but I want to show them the strength of my country, the prestige of my country.”
“I know that I cannot crush the three armies, but I am confident that I can delay the Great Wei for three years.”
“As soon as the great war begins, it will be the time of death for the Great Wei.”
“The va*sal kings of Wei have already spoken to me in secret, and when Wei’s war is burning, they will attack Kyoto and kill the thieves.”
“At that time, the Wei kingdom will collapse.”
The ruler of the State of Chen said so, his words full of confidence.
His bottom line was not that he could defeat Great Wei, but that he could hold back Great Wei and plunge it into internal fire.
Internal turmoil was more terrifying than external war.
The bottom line of Great Wei was that it was by no means possible to annihilate all enemies, whereas internal turmoil was different, especially the turmoil of the va*sal kings.
These va*sal kings, all of them were the imperial family of Great Wei. The empress could order a first-grade martial artist to strike, but first-grade martial artists also had their own thoughts.
In the end, it is still the same story, even if there is a big civil unrest, it is just a change of emperor, and this emperor will be fine as long as he is of the royal lineage, and the Great Wei rivers and mountains will not fall into the hands of outsiders.
Then all was well.
But the ruler of the state of Chen had already predicted that in the near future, Great Wei would be plunged into war, and even if there were capable ministers to calm everything down, the foundations of Great Wei would, once again, be heavily damaged.
There is no coming back.
“My subjects, in advance, congratulate Your Majesty, after this battle, Chen will surely leap to the top of the ten kingdoms.”
“Perhaps one day, the State of Chen may declare a dynasty.”
The Prime Minister of the State of Chen took a step forward and congratulated the King.
All the civil servants of the court also congratulated the State Monarch of Chen at that moment.
The latter revealed a smile, but did not laugh wildly, instead, he looked beyond the main hall, in the direction of the Great Wei Dynasty.
And at the same time.
The Great Wei Dynasty.
In the Hall of Mandarin.
The battle report rang out again.
The three armies had converged, and the Son of Heaven’s army as a whole had suffered 1,000 casualties.
When the news appeared, there was some surprise among the hundred officials in the Great Hall, but it soon subsided.
After all, compared to Xu Qingnian’s destruction of the Fan Kingdom in one day and the Tang Kingdom in five days, such things as crossing the western border were indeed not worth mentioning.
However, when the battle report appeared.
The voice of Zhou Yan, the Minister of War, was the first to ring out.
“Lord Xu.”
“This time when the three armies are converging and a great battle is about to take place, there is one thing that I have to say.”
Zhou Yan spoke out, the war situation was personally regulated by Xu Qingnian, but other matters, they were in charge.
And there was one thing that was nagging at all the ministers, especially after the three armies had converged, and they could not leave it out.
If this hidden problem could not be resolved, it would be extremely bad for Great Wei.
“Is the matter to which Shang Shu Zhou refers related to the Great Wei va*sal king?”
Xu Qingnian spoke indifferently.
At this moment, the civil and military officials all pricked up their ears and listened carefully.
Because Xu Qingnian was right, the matter they were worried about was about the Great Wei va*sal king.
Externally, the three armies had already converged, and the decision to fight or not to fight at the moment was only Xu Qingnian’s command.
But the internal matters had to be resolved.
The civil palace has been suppressed, and the country is safe and sound.
But how will the mainland va*sal kings be resolved?
They are now raising their forces, and once the three armies have stalemated with Chen, they give Great Wei only two options.
Either reinforce their troops or withdraw them.
There is no advantage to continuing the stalemate, only disadvantages. This battle needs to be fought quickly, and if the stalemate is not resolved, it will be extremely detrimental to Wei.
The impact on morale is small, but if it affects the country’s fortunes, that is the big one.
“Yes, it is the matter of the va*sal kings.”
Zhou Yan opened the door and said.
“I already have a response to the matter of the va*sal kings.”
“It is just time for Minister Zhou to prepare a decree.”
“Summon the va*sal kings from all over the world, send out half of their troops, and within five days, gather in the State of Chen, with the twelve Great Wei Marquises in command, to conquer the State of Chen.”
Xu Qingnian spoke out, this was his ploy.
But as soon as this was said, the great hall appeared somewhat silent.
At first, they were filled with anticipation, thinking that Xu Qingnian had some good plan, but what they didn’t expect was that Xu Qingnian had asked the va*sal lords to send troops?
This was really …… This is a bit idealistic.
The first thing you need to do is to find a way to get the best out of it.
The reason for this is to find some excuse to get rid of it.
And even if they did send reinforcements, they would probably do nothing but work.
They would be eating Wei’s food for nothing, and would even be prone to fighting within the army.
It could even lead to disputes within the army.
If these two points alone were not resolved, this holy decree would become a joke.
“Lord Xu, I am afraid that the va*sal kings from all over the world will not willingly send reinforcements.”
“If they do send reinforcements, I am afraid that …… I’m afraid that if they do send reinforcements, they will not be able to do their job.”
Zhou Yan reminded.
However, Xu Qingnian shook his head, looking wise and wise.
“Just convey the holy decree, I have a way to make them conquer the war honestly.”
Xu Qingnian was very confident.
Once this was said, at this moment, the crowd was somewhat curious, they really could not think of what method Xu Qingnian could use to make the va*sal kings from all over the world willingly send troops and willingly go to war.
But curious as he was, Zhou Yan thought about it and did not continue to persuade him. Since Xu Qingnian had given the order, he did as he was told.
Soon, in less than two quarters of an hour, the decree was prepared.
After being read over by Xu Qingnian, it was immediately promulgated and made known to the world.
“The imperial decree says.”
“In the first year of Wuchang, the foreigners have been unruly and disruptive to the Great Wei, their hearts are punishable.
The imperial decree was issued.
It didn’t even take half an hour for it to reach the whole of Great Wei.
All the va*sal kings everywhere were informed of the decree, and all sorts of voices were heard at once.
Not all of them were eyeing the throne, and some of them were loyal to Wei.
But most of them remained silent.
There were even some powerful feudal kings who, after receiving the decree, simply sneered and ignored it.
They did not worry about what they could do to him.
Of course, on the surface, they still had letters sent to Wei, refusing to go to Chen on the grounds that they were afraid of civil unrest and that foreigners were overwhelming the country.
Meanwhile.
All the way up to the hour of Shen.
The capital of Great Wei.
In a secret room.
Five figures appeared here.
King Huai Ning was at the head, listening to the voices of the remaining four.
“I thought this Xu Qingnian had some kind of method, but I didn’t expect it to be asking us to send reinforcements, it’s really ridiculous.”
“Now that we have waited so long for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, Xu Qingnian is asking us to send troops.
“All the foreign va*sal kings have scoffed, you all will not agree to this request from Xu Qingnian.”
Several voices rang out, they were full of disdain for this holy decree, and said that they would never agree to it.
However, King Huai Ning’s voice rang out.
“Send troops! Reinforcements!”
With his simple words, the crowd instantly fell silent.
“Send out troops to reinforce? Your Majesty, do you know what you are talking about?”
“If we send troops, won’t we fall for Xu Qingnian’s scheme?”
“He wants us to send troops because he wants to deplete the forces of the va*sal kings. If we do send troops, even if Wei is defeated, we will not dare to rush out.
The crowd was incredulous, and their tone was even more incredible.
Right now, Xu Qingnian had asked them to send troops, didn’t he just want to consume their main army?
They were waiting for Wei’s external war to stagnate and thus start an internal rebellion, and if reinforcements went over now, it would be extremely unfavourable for them.
But in the face of the crowd’s doubts, Prince Huai Ning’s voice was indifferent as he said.
“If we don’t send troops, Xu Qingnian must have a later move. The king can roughly guess what Xu Qingnian wants to do.”
“The people of the country are always concerned about the situation, and if we don’t comply with the call, it will cause public anger.”
“By then Xu Qingnian will have his hands free to deal with us.”
Prince Huining said in a suppressed voice, he saw through Xu Qingnian’s scheme.
But when this was said, the crowd fell silent.
They hadn’t really thought of this.
“But even so, we have a reason not to send our troops, of the five major battalions of the Great Wei, three are already out on the battlefield, and there are perfectly sufficient troops.”
“And if we reinforce our troops again, once the foreigners come to kill, the Great Wei kingdom will be in jeopardy, we can do this and stall back, isn’t that enough?”
Someone spoke up, although they knew what Prince Huaining was afraid of.
But they had reasons to refuse to send troops, there was no problem with conquering, but there had to be people to defend the country, it was impossible for all the troops to go out and conquer, leaving an empty nest?
This would be extremely detrimental to the Great Wei kingdom, and this was their reason, and it counted as one.
Only when this was said, Prince Huai Ning sneered.
“The reason is good, but do the people believe it?”
“The people only want to see what they want to see. If we don’t send troops, Xu Qingnian will only rebuke us in the article and newspaper, attracting public anger.”
“When that happens, no one will be able to bear it.”
Prince Huaining was discerning, he could see through Xu Qingnian’s ploy, which was why he opposed what the kings wanted.
Not only could he not resist, but he had to respond positively.
“If we send troops over, won’t we be at a disadvantage for us?”
The kings frowned, they understood the stakes and Prince Huaining’s meaning.
But the problem was that they were not happy about being held back by Xu Qingnian like this, and furthermore their reinforcements would inevitably be controlled by the three armies of Great Wei as vanguard generals.
To put it in a bad way, there was a high risk of casualties for nothing.
This problem, if not solved, let them send troops, they are not willing.
“No!”
Prince Huaining shook his head as he looked at the four kings and spoke coldly.
“You all think wrongly.”
“It is fine to send troops, but not to listen to the orders of the three armies, this is where negotiations can take place, after all, we are deployed, the three armies cannot adapt to the adjustment, and with a great war, how can we change commanders on the verge?”
“And if the reinforcements go over, eat the food of the Great Wei, take the silver of the Great Wei, it is also considered to be for our benefit, furthermore after going, who says that we must conquer the war? Can’t we just wait?”
Prince Huining spoke slowly.
As soon as he said this, all the kings instantly understood.
But there were still some who could not help but frown and say.
“But what if they have to let our army take the lead in the charge? If that’s the case, we can’t contribute to the work, can we?”
He understood Prince Huaining’s meaning, wasn’t it just a matter of putting in work but not effort?
The idea was good, but the question was, would they be willing?
At that moment, Prince Huaining shook his head and looked at the other party.
“You still think wrong.”
“Who said that we are not contributing to the work?”
“If Xu Qingnian tells our army to charge, then our army will a*semble and charge, it doesn’t matter how many deaths or injuries we suffer, after all, we will only charge once.”
“After this charge, it will trigger a mutiny in the army camp, with our soldiers charging into battle while the Great Desolate Army, the Qilin Army and the Heavenly Son Army stand by with folded arms.”
“Do the kings think that we can impeach them? Is it possible to let them have civil unrest?”
Prince Huaining spoke like this.
The current situation made it impossible to refuse to send troops, and if they agreed to do so, they could not work without doing their part.
On the contrary, it was the first time to fight to the death, to be fierce, and it was unlikely that Chen would be beaten out of existence at once.
And as soon as this battle is over, they will have a pre-eminent position of invincibility, and afterwards they have to let them go on? Will their armies agree?
Would they agree?
This was Prince Huaining’s strategy.
Knowing what Xu Qingnian wanted to do, he would do what Xu Qingnian wanted first and trigger a mutiny at the critical moment.
Sure enough, as Prince Huaining’s plan was revealed.
All the kings nodded their heads and agreed.
“All right, inform the va*sal kings everywhere and follow this plan.”
“I will leave first, if I leave for too long, I will be watched.”
Prince Huaining spoke, after saying this, he got up and left, he also said in his meter that it was up to the kings to use it or not.
But when Prince Huaining had left.
Their voices also rang out.
“What do you all think, what about this plan?”
“It is feasible, but you all must remember that Prince Huai Ning has no more soldiers under his hands.”
Someone asked what the plan was, but someone else also spoke up, reminding the crowd that Prince Huaining no longer had any soldiers under his command.
When this was said, the crowd fell silent.
That was how the hearts of people were.
Each has their own interests, and no matter how well you talk, who is willing to make sacrifices when it affects their own interests?
So it was.
And so it went on until the next day.
The report of the sixty-three va*sal princes of the Great Wei came back.
Twenty-three of the feudal lords had led their troops out and would arrive in Chen within five days.
The remaining twenty-five feudal lords had more or less made excuses, all of which meant the same thing: they were either afraid of problems at home or of the impact on the people.
So they refused to send troops.
The other fifteen feudal lords were even more direct: they could send troops, but they had to pay for their provisions and wages, and they were asking for a lot of money, obviously wanting to send troops, but wanting to make a profit from Wei.
The majority of them were treacherous, except for a small number of va*sal kings who were loyal to Wei, and the country had reached this point, but they still wanted to make a profit.
This also made Xu Qingnian determined to eradicate the rebellion of the va*sal kings.
Only at the moment, faced with such a response.
Xu Qingnian did not feel any anger either, he had prepared for it.
Today, he deliberately postponed the release of the Great Wei newspaper, and the entire article was devoted to reprimanding the va*sal kings for their inaction.
Xu Qingnian even personally approved the words.
[The rise and fall of the nation is the responsibility of every man, the royal family of Great Wei, cowardly in the face of war].
The sixteen words on the front page instantly ignited the entire population of Great Wei.
