Wan Qingyan and Gai Huan were speechless, knowing that they had no choice, but the feeling of experiencing such an unexpected disaster was really frustrating.
Wan Qingyan couldn't help but curse, "Everyone knows that the Shang Dynasty Sect is very ambitious. Dingzhou is so close to Nanzhou that it has been unlucky for eight lifetimes."
Gai Huan said, "Zhou Shouxian is even more unlucky."
What time has it been? You actually still have the mind to talk nonsense. Xue Xiao was about to urge the two of them to stop talking nonsense when suddenly there was a call from outside, "Sir, there is news from the court!"
"Bring it here!" Xue Xiao roared angrily.
The sergeant was startled, came in in panic, and handed it over to the court for summons.
Xue Xiao read the contents of the letter and waved the sergeant to retreat.
Wan Qingyan asked: "Have the imperial court already come up with a response to the letter at this time?"
"There is a countermeasure. The day lilies are already cold." Xue Xiao didn't hold back his complaints and threw the letter to the two of them.
After the two looked at it, they found that it was a warning from the imperial court, saying that Nanzhou was very likely to provoke this area and took the opportunity to send troops. Xue Xiao quickly restrained his subordinates and gave the imperial court time to solve the problem.
Wan Qingyan couldn't help but spit out her teeth, "I only thought of reminding you after people called me, what does the Imperial Intelligence Department do for food?"
When something like this happened, the usually calm trio could no longer hold back their anger.
There was no choice. It was estimated that the news sent to the court had not yet arrived, so what should be done was still done. The three brothers and sisters had to leave the governor's mansion together and rushed to the battlefield as quickly as possible. On the way, they kept sending orders to the army to gather and deploy defenses. Block the Nanzhou army.
The army rushed forward, a golden wing fell from the sky, and a secret letter soon reached Gai Huan's hands.
"Brother Xue, Brother Wan." Gai Huan greeted after reading the secret message.
The army continued to march forward, and the three of them rode out. When they arrived at the official road, Gai Huan handed the letter to the two of them to read, "I feel strange, with the three major sects here, how could Nanzhou suddenly provoke and attack Dingzhou? Dare to be sentimental?" The problem still lies with the imperial court. The imperial court mobilized a group of people to sneak attack the Maolu Villa and started a bloody battle with the defense force of the Maolu Villa. As a result, they failed. Cao Yu'er, the head of Feihua Pavilion, Jin Wuguang, the head of Zhenling Academy, and other senior officials He was caught and met with a miserable fate. He is now hanging on top of the Qingshan County city in public! You two, it was the imperial court that angered Niu Youdao and provoked Niu Youdao's revenge!"
After reading the secret letter, Wan Qingyan cursed, "Did Shang Jianxiong take the wrong medicine? It's not a good time to take action, but he did it at this time. He didn't look at the current situation of Yan State. Song and South Korea were watching eagerly. How dare you do such a stupid thing when you are internally empty? I am convinced by this emperor. How can we be emotionally involved in national affairs? We can easily do this even if we are not sure about it? He is not afraid of trouble, but we were tricked to death by him! "
He was really angry, and he lost all respect for Shang Jianxiong and was venting his anger.
The two of them didn't know the specifics of the actual battle at Maolu Villa. They didn't know that the imperial court even dispatched Zong Yuan, the seventh master on the Dan List, and still lost, otherwise they would have been shocked.
The army was passing by in billows of dust and smoke. Xue Xiao looked at the secret letter in his hand with a cold expression. He didn't say anything about Wan Qingyan's blasphemy against His Majesty the Emperor. There were some things outside that had to be turned a blind eye.
In fact, he had known about the imperial attack on Qingshan County for a long time, much earlier than Gai Huan.
The Shang Dynasty clan was very ambitious, and there was a tiger licking its paws on the side of his bed, which was a serious problem for Dingzhou. Being on the edge of Nanzhou, how could he, Xue Xiao, not pay close attention to the movements of Nanzhou.
He has already invested a large number of spies in Nanzhou and keeps an eye on Nanzhou's every move.
If not for this, how could those generals arrive from all over the place so quickly and in time? It was he who summoned those generals in advance.
Although he believed that Nanzhou should not dare to act rashly with the presence of the three major sects, he still did not dare to be careless and wanted to make preventive preparations in advance.
However, the response was still too slow. He did not expect that as soon as the Maolu Villa was attacked, Nanzhou would take action immediately. Even though most of Nanzhou's troops had not yet arrived, the border defenders couldn't wait to take action directly.
Before the troops were assembled in place, the main attacker took action in a hurry. How could a war be fought like this? It really caught him off guard.
However, he knew what the imperial court did. To be precise, it was Shang Jianxiong's good deeds, especially the things he messed up. He couldn't tell anyone about it.
He knew clearly that Dingzhou was affected by a wrong decision made by Shang Jianxiong, so he could only knock out his teeth and swallow it in his stomach.
If Shang Jianxiong succeeded in this kind of sneak attack, it would be because His Majesty the Emperor was wise and decisive. If he failed and screwed up, it would be another matter. His Majesty the Emperor was stupid!
How could he dare to add fuel to the fire at this time? He was obviously implicated, so he could only think that he was not disciplined enough and that he failed to restrain his subordinates, so that his subordinates did something stupid like robbing a woman from the Shang Dynasty clan and started the war.
He is the one who has troubles that cannot be told. He can blame anyone in the court. I have seen a few ministers who dare to blame the emperor. It is almost as if he is impatient!
…
Inside Yanjing Palace, in the Imperial Study Room, it’s quiet!
The three elders who were in charge of the palace, from Xiaoyao Palace, Zijin Cave, and Lingjian Mountain, appeared in the imperial study room together, all staring coldly at Shang Jianxiong behind the case.
Shang Jianxiong looked at the letter of complaint in his hand. The letter of complaint from Niu Youdao and Shang Chaozong to the three major sects was transferred here.
The three elders are here to represent the three major sects and seek explanations from Shang Jianxiong.
There were also a few more eunuchs in the royal study room. Tian Yu stood beside Shang Jianxiong. The eunuchs standing on both sides of the room occasionally showed their eyes, as if they were secretly wary of the three elders.
"Your Majesty, have you finished reading this? What is said in the letter is true. Is there such a thing as a sneak attack?" an elder asked in a deep voice.
Shang Jianxiong put down the letter in his hand and said solemnly: "To be honest with you three, I have just received the news about this matter and are confirming the situation. I have already issued an order to Nanzhou to have Nanzhou escort the criminals responsible for the sneak attack to the capital for interrogation. "
The elder sneered: "In other words, His Majesty doesn't know about it?"
Shang Jianxiong said in a deep voice: "Three elders, don't worry, I will definitely get to the bottom of this matter and give an explanation to the three major factions!"
Another elder chuckled and said: "Your Majesty has a body of ten thousand chariots. Since you have said this, we can't force you. However, there is no basis for what you say. Your Majesty had better write it down, so that you can have corroboration when the matter is found out in the future!" "
"Not bad!" The other two nodded.
Shang Jianxiong frowned slightly.
Tian Yu stepped forward and said with a smile: "Your Majesty has spoken so eloquently, why are the three of you worried? Isn't it too much to ask your Majesty to write a testimony? Your Majesty has never treated the three of you badly in the palace."
The elder who had always had a sullen face said indifferently: "Brother Tian, one code is the same. We did not embarrass His Majesty, but His Majesty cannot embarrass us! What is the situation now? Our palace master is furious, and His Majesty's casual words are like this If you relay it back perfunctorily and unclearly, we won’t be able to communicate!”
The three of them were resolute, and Shang Jianxiong had no choice but to write three letters to the three of them and send them back for business, and then sent the three of them away.
As soon as the three of them left, Tian Yu waved his hand, and several eunuchs in the imperial study quietly retreated.
Shang Jianxiong, who was sitting behind the case, grabbed the case with one hand and ravaged a piece of paper on the case. His majesty, the Emperor, was forced to write a testimony. He was furious in his heart, but he dared not speak out in anger. .
"Report!" A eunuch at the door handed a secret report with both hands.
Tian Yu went over to take a look, his face was clearly surprised, he turned around and hurried to the case, stopped talking for a while, and finally said: "Your Majesty, there is an urgent military situation from the Intelligence Department, Nanzhou has sent troops, the vanguard troops We have already entered the territory of Dingzhou, and the defenders on the border of Dingzhou have been killed and are in disarray, making it difficult to stop the Nanzhou army!"
Shang Jianxiong's eyes widened instantly, with disbelief on his face. He stood up suddenly, took the secret letter into his hand and checked it quickly.
"Report!" Another eunuch with a secret report appeared at the door.
It can be said that misfortunes never come singly. The house leaked and it rained all night. Tian Yu took a look at the secret letter and found that it was an urgent report from Xue Xiao, the governor of Dingzhou.
The letter detailed Nanzhou's provocation and the excuse to send troops to attack. It repeatedly stated that Dingzhou's defenses were empty and it might be difficult to stop it, so it urgently requested help from the imperial court!
After seeing this, Shang Jianxiong was so angry that he shivered, "You traitor and traitor! You traitor and traitor! How come I don't know that he has taken three more concubines?"
Tian Yu said sadly: "Your Majesty, there is no need to report the concubinage of high-ranking officials in the DPRK. You can just make up any excuse you want. He has to say it is, and the Dingzhou garrison has indeed done something illegal. It cannot be explained clearly. It’s better to respond urgently now!”
"You can be fooled so easily? And you were caught in the act! How did that idiot Xue Xiao discipline his subordinates? The officers and soldiers can actually dress up as masked gangsters to kill people and buy goods. It is simply the most ridiculous thing in the world! Let's talk about this. There is no place to put this face, do you want to tell the world that this is the officer and soldier of the imperial court?"
Shang Jianxiong roared angrily, and fell back on his chair in anger. He almost vomited blood in anger, and panted: "Unfortunately, Da Sikong's words were taken in. The rebellious ministers and thieves really took the opportunity to provoke... Da Sikong still had the foresight. Hurry, Please invite Da Sikong to come and discuss countermeasures!"
…
In the border area between Nanzhou and Dingzhou, a large number of people marched to join the war in Dingzhou.
"Drive! Drive! Drive..."
The rumble of iron hooves made the earth tremble, dust and smoke billowed, countless cavalrymen could not be seen, and the Yingyang Wulie Guards rushed into Dingzhou like a long dragon.
Just in front of the road, there was a carriage with several generals surrounding it. Meng Shanming was sitting on the carriage pointing at a map and giving instructions to the generals.
Niu Youdao's follow-up letter to Shang Chaozong stated that this battle must be fought quickly. The letter of complaint to the three factions was not only a complaint, but also a delay for the three major factions. It was necessary to open the door before the three major factions officially intervened. If you have an appetite, grab as much territory as you can!
Repeated requests mean fast, fast, fast!
In order to speed up the battle, the Shang Dynasty clan sent Meng Shanming to personally direct the battle, giving Meng Shanming the power to kill first and then report later, so as to avoid wasting time asking for instructions back and forth.
In order for Meng Shanming to be on the front line of the battlefield in person and speed up the command's response time, Niu Youdao dispatched five birds to rush to Nanzhou Fucheng and directly pick up Meng Shanming.
The attack of the Nanzhou vanguard went smoothly at first, and the opponent was defeated. However, as time passed, the awakened Dingzhou people gradually gathered to resist. The shortcomings of the Nanzhou vanguard's insufficient strength were exposed and the offensive was blocked.
Although the Yingyang Wulie Guards arrived quickly, the infantry could not keep up, and it was impossible to rely solely on cavalry to attack the city.
Meng Shanming immediately devised a different strategy of warfare. Without waiting for the large forces at the rear, he decided to mobilize the nearby defenders and ordered the nearby defenders to advance and assemble layer by layer.
The nearby defenders dropped their guard and ignored any other guard tasks. They just ran forward at full speed.
I left all the duties of guarding the county and county towns behind and handed them over to the last batch of arriving personnel to take over.
In this way, troops from within the radiation range continued to arrive. Although it could not guarantee that a large number of troops could be quickly assembled, it did ensure that a steady stream of troops would be transported into Dingzhou to cooperate with Yingyang Wu Liewei's offensive.
As for supplies! At this time, Meng Shanming was not very merciful when he entered the battlefield. He used fighting to replenish supplies, and after taking the city, he was allowed to loot on the spot!