The girl sat calmly in the main hall and listened to the report of her guard captain, while playing with the jacquard silk-embroidered fan in her hand. , this is a tribute produced in Gusu Prefecture in the south of the Yangtze River. It has fine workmanship and ingenious embroidery skills. Especially the two birds on the fan are vivid and lifelike, which is very exquisite. Although the late autumn in the northwest is already getting chilly, she still cherishes it as an item left to her by her mother before she left. At least in the far northwest, where she has no friends, it can bring back memories of her family in her hometown.
The news coming from the empire is very bad. The Kansai rebellious faction has swarmed into the five prefectures of the six Kansai prefectures. It seems that only the Lujiang Prefecture is in a slightly better situation. As for the other five prefectures, they have either been completely destroyed or completely destroyed. Chaos, if this continues, it won't be long before Guanxi County will be owned by someone else. Moreover, I heard that Beiyuan and Yanyun counties are also in the process of starting a prairie fire, but the empire seems to have not made any strong response so far. Thinking of this, the girl can't help but feel a little confused. Is the empire really going to sink like this
Why didn't the father take any countermeasures? Is there anything worth hesitating about now? A feeling of anger and depression arose in the girl's heart. But the urgent information coming from the imperial capital was to know the whereabouts of Li Wufeng, especially the mobilization of the army. Thinking of this, a disappointed and self-deprecating smile appeared on the girl's lips.
My father and Mr. He think too highly of me. I have been in the northwest for more than a month, but in these thirty days, I have only seen my so-called fiancé a few times, and most of them were in those days. On high-sounding occasions, we either visit factories and markets, inspect grassroots villages, or participate in various unknown banquets. It seems that there has never been a time when we can really avoid outsiders. It seems that this man known as the King of the Northwest Lord Jiedushi is also quite wary of himself, the royal fiancée and princess.
Previously, she was reserved and maintained a arrogant demeanor, hoping that he would take the initiative to find her. She was conceited that she was far better than the women around him in terms of appearance, talent and blood status, but soon she was disappointed. His fiancé didn't seem to take him to heart at all. Apart from a few routine outings, he basically didn't pay any more attention to himself. When he put down his identity and paid a visit, it was difficult to find traces of his fiancé. The Jiedushi Mansion seemed to have become a decoration. He never ran into him several times when he came to visit. When asked about the whereabouts of the guards, they did not find any traces. Exceptionally, he told himself that the whereabouts of Lord Jiedushi was a secret and his servants had no way of knowing it.
A month passed in a flash, and she was burdened with a heavy responsibility, but had no clue. Moreover, no matter where she went, she was greeted with politeness and respect, but behind it was a hint of wariness, intentionally or unintentionally. This made the girl feel extremely discouraged, and even almost He gave up on his mission.
But the urgent letter from the imperial capital forced me to cheer up. Fortunately, my status as the imperial princess and the fiancée of the Jiedushi Lord still had a certain effect. At least, I would not be subject to too many restrictions when entering and leaving many important places, and my subordinate Ming The guy who is actually the captain of the guard and actually his assistant on the mission is quite shrewd. After several days of inquiring, he finally got some useful clues.
"Your Royal Highness, it is really impossible to know the specific whereabouts of Mr. Li at the moment, but it is understood that Mr. Li has not appeared in the Jiedushi Mansion for at least five days. Almost everyone said that Mr. Li went to Guide to inspect the work. Yes, but my subordinates are very doubtful about this statement." The guard captain lowered his head and replied respectfully.
"Oh? What do you think?" The girl asked casually, still focusing on the fan.
"I wonder if Mr. Li went to Bonan?" the guard captain whispered his suspicion.
"What evidence is there?" The girl remained calm.
"I don't have much basis for this, but Her Royal Highness the Princess also knows that the rebellion in Kansai is rampant and the situation in various governments is tense. Mr. Li has always paid great attention to military affairs. Maybe he went to inspect Bonan's work and learn about the border situation by the way. The situation is also possible." Although the captain of the guard used a hypothetical tone, the implication was undoubtedly positive, and there was no emotion in his tone, making it impossible to detect any flaws.
Slowly retracting her gaze from the fan, the girl glanced at the man in front of her. The man only felt that that starry glance seemed to have seen her inner world clearly, not missing anything, and her body couldn't help but Shrink.
"Is there anything strange about the mobilization of the northwest troops currently stationed in Qingyang?" The girl finally put down her fan, picked up her tea cup and took a sip.
The man shrugged helplessly and said in a regretful tone: "Back to Your Highness, since the Third and Fifth Divisions of the Northwest Army returned from the Northern Expedition, these two divisions have never appeared again. There is news that they have been Heading to Northern Luzon, there is also news that they actually went to Bonan. Our intelligence network here is not enough to get accurate information, but I think the empire’s intelligence department should know. After all, it is difficult to hide such a large troop movement. Get ahead of others.”
"This is not difficult, and the empire can also control it through other channels. What we want to know is how many troops Li Wufeng is prepared to invest in Bonan Mansion. In addition to these two divisions, are there any other troops? From the perspective of his troops stationed in Bonan The troops can guess what his intention is? Is he simply defending to prevent the rebellion from spreading to the northwest, is he preparing to partially intervene in the war in neighboring prefectures, or is he going to march into Kansai on a large scale? It only needs to be based on the number of troops he placed in Bonan. You can tell.”
The girl's incisive analysis made the man in front of her secretly admire her. The trace of contempt she had had suddenly disappeared without a trace, and was replaced by incomparable respect.
After pondering for a while, the girl continued thoughtfully and continued: "I don't know much about the combat effectiveness of the northwest army, but I guess it can compete with the Luobi and Sisluo people, and it shouldn't be much worse. But if you want to get involved in the Kansai war with just two divisions, it’s probably not possible unless Li Wufeng has other arrangements.”
After a pause, the girl suddenly asked: "How many security forces are there in Bonan Mansion?"
The man was startled, and then immediately replied: "There is only one garrison division, and one of the regiments is stationed at the Yangmakou Fortress in the east."
"Then what is the combat effectiveness of this security division?" the girl asked immediately.
"Well," the man hesitated. To be honest, the main focus of the intelligence department was not on the local security forces, not to mention he was not a specialized intelligence officer. "This is not very clear, but the quality of the security forces across the empire is generally poor. , except for the troops stationed in Jiayuguan by Taixuan Mansion, they are only guard forces in name, but are actually evolved from the regular army. My subordinates boldly speculate that even if the combat effectiveness of Bonan Mansion's security forces is better, it will not be too high."
The girl didn't say anything, obviously still thinking carefully.
"In your opinion, Your Highness the Princess, will Master Li send troops from Guide to go south?" Seeing that Her Highness the Princess was still thinking, the man suggested another possibility.
Shaking her head slowly but firmly, the girl then lightly opened her red lips: "It's impossible. Guide only has one guard division, and it has to deal with the Taixuan battlefield. Moreover, the east of Guide is not stable, and rebellions can happen anytime and anywhere. It could spread."
The hall fell into silence for a moment, both of them thinking silently.
"Your Highness, I heard that the Taiping Sect has been developing in the empire for more than ten years. There are now rebellions everywhere and it is difficult to extinguish it. This is because it is deeply rooted in various places. But why haven't we found a similar situation in the northwest? ?”
The man suddenly asked such a question, which made it difficult for the girl to answer for a moment.
After thinking about her words, the girl reluctantly replied: "There are several reasons for this. First, when the Taiping Religion was prevalent, several prefectures in the northwest were always under the actual control of the Luobi people. There were frequent wars, and there were ten households in the territory. Jiukong lacks the necessary conditions; secondly, after Li Wufeng took control of the northwest, he introduced immigrants from all over the mainland. For example, in Qingyang, Indian immigrants accounted for a considerable number, and of course immigrants from all over the empire; thirdly , I speculate that Li Wufeng must have also discovered traces of the Taiping Religion, and perhaps he had already taken countermeasures in secret, so this situation occurred."
The first two reasons are a bit far-fetched, but only the last reason makes the man think it is quite amusing. It is much easier to take precautions and prepare for a rainy day. It is naturally much easier to do the work at the front. Like Kansai and other counties now, they are already in ruins. , it is not easy to clean up the mess!
It was easy to think of the situation in Kansai and other counties, and even she felt that her previous explanation was unconvincing. The girl gently brushed her hair around her cheeks to cover up her embarrassment, and quietly turned the topic back to the topic. He said: "I heard that there seems to be no peace in Northern Luzon. There must be some small war, right?"
Shaking his head, the man was stunned and asked in surprise: "Our intelligence network in Northern Luzon is still too far away to obtain valuable information. I wonder how did Her Royal Highness get this news?"
Originally it was just a casual remark to change the subject, but unexpectedly it led to persistent questioning from her subordinates. The girl felt even more embarrassed and quickly responded perfunctorily: "I met a messenger from Northern Luzon at the Jiedushi Mansion. I just made a random guess."
Military information communications in the northwest and northern Luzon have gradually been transmitted by carrier pigeons. Since this area is under no-front control, the security is much higher. However, more important and complex matters still need to be transmitted by fast horses after being transmitted by carrier pigeons. To supplement the report, the girl happened to meet him at Jiedu Envoy's Mansion. Although she didn't see the content, she guessed the truth with her intelligence.
"Oh." The man bowed respectfully and excused himself: "Then my subordinate will go and report the situation back to him now."
"Well, let's not make any judgments right now. We are just reporting the situation. We will make a conclusion after we have reliable information." The girl returned her gaze to the fan in her hand. In the empty hall, her slightly thin body looked so lonely and helpless. help.