roccoschili Chapter 168 Rice Seeds
Chapter 168 Rice Seeds
Wu State, inside the imperial palace.
The imperial study was silent at this time. Xie Chengyun, who was sitting behind the desk, did not seem to be angry at all because of the fact that An and Yue countries had captured a city during a night attack. There was even a faint smile on his face.
However, when he picked up the tea on the table to drink, the anger that flashed in his eyes hidden by his eyelashes and the slightly trembling fingers revealed his true emotions.
Putting down the teacup with a crisp sound, Xie Chengyun looked at the ministers he had summoned with eyes as sharp as a knife.
"My dear ministers, what are your plans for responding to the actions of An and Yue?" Xie Chengyun's voice was low and suppressed.
The ministers looked at each other, and for a moment no one dared to speak first.
The air seemed to freeze, and the heavy atmosphere made it hard to breathe.
After a moment, a minister stepped forward, bowed, and said, "Your Majesty, the An-Yue coalition forces were able to capture the city so quickly this time because of a surprise attack, coupled with the fact that Tongguan County has few troops. Now that the main army has arrived, I believe we can send it to directly meet the enemy and recapture the lost territory."
Xie Chengyun frowned slightly, "Directly meet the enemy? Let our army directly confront the enemy's hundreds of thousands of troops?"
The minister was frightened by Xie Chengyun's questioning and broke out in a cold sweat. "Your Majesty, please calm down. I made a mistake. I made a mistake."
Another minister, sensing Xie Chengyun's mood, quickly said, "Your Majesty, calm down. Our army has now reached the front lines. It won't be easy for them to capture our city again. We can slowly plan. With the bravery and fighting prowess of Generals Yi and Ma, we will surely be able to recover the lost territory."
Xie Chengyun was not as optimistic as they thought. The two countries were coming with such a strong momentum this time, taking advantage of the fact that the Wu court was not yet stable.
It has only been three months since he was crowned emperor. How could the transition from the old to the new be so quick?
Although the people in the court have been replaced by his own people, there is no telling how many of those scattered around the country are the old emperor's people.
With internal and external troubles and the two countries joining forces, it is extremely difficult to win.
He glanced at the ministers before him, and after a moment's contemplation, he said, "Send a message to General Yi and General Ma, asking them to sow discord between the two countries so that they cannot work together. When the two countries start fighting internally, we will defeat them one by one."
"Your Majesty is wise." The ministers said in unison.
But this method alone was not reliable. After the ministers left, Xie Chengyun paced back and forth in the imperial study for a few steps, then returned to his desk, wrote a document, and sent someone to deliver it to the State of Yu.
Yu country.
Ji Lingyan threw the document he had read aside and ignored it.
Zhu Yuanhe, standing by, glanced at the document he had thrown there. "Is it from the Wu Kingdom? They want us to support them?"
Ji Lingyan sneered, "The two countries are now coming at us aggressively. Xie Chengyun knows that it might be difficult to resist, so he wants us to send troops to help."
There was a hint of disdain and sarcasm in his tone. Ji Lingyan had always looked down on those who claimed to be emperor through uprising.
"If we want to send troops to rescue them, we have to cross the Yue Kingdom. How can we avoid being discovered? Although General Ning is not in the Yue Kingdom this time, there are still generals such as Pingyang Hou. Doesn't Xie Chengyun think about his current situation? Attacking the Yue Kingdom from two sides? It's simply a foolish dream."
How could Ji Lingyan do such a thankless task, unless Wu State had the ability to resist, in which case he wouldn't mind attacking Yue State from both sides and successfully taking over.
Zhu Yuanhe nodded in agreement, his brows furrowed slightly. "The demise of Wu is inevitable. It will be difficult to turn the tide. Once it is destroyed, the strength of An and Yue will increase greatly, which may be detrimental to our Yu Kingdom in the future."
Ji Lingyan pondered for a moment, "Let's keep our troops in place for now and closely monitor the development of the situation until they conquer Wu..."
He raised his head and looked at Zhu Yuanhe, a shrewd look in his eyes. "Send an envoy to discuss with An Guo about joining forces to attack the Kingdom of Yue."
Zhu Yuanhe was slightly stunned, and then he understood why His Majesty came up with this plan.
"Once they conquer Wu, Yue will be short of food and grass, making it difficult for them to fight. Attacking now will be much easier."
This time, when Yue attacked Wu, its actions were hasty, and it only stockpiled enough food and fodder for a 300,000-strong army for two months before sending out troops urgently.
The heavy snow at the end of last year also affected several areas in Yue State.
Because of the snowstorm, a lot of relief grain was distributed. Most importantly, the weather was so cold that the crops planted during that period did not survive.
This includes winter wheat.
In order to prepare for this expedition, they spent a lot of effort to stockpile this little bit of food and fodder.
Now we are waiting for the harvest of spring wheat and rice, which will be sent to the front line as soon as they are harvested.
"But, will the An Kingdom agree to our alliance?" Zhu Yuanhe's face showed a hint of hesitation.
"There are no eternal friends, only eternal interests. Besides, we have sufficient food and grass, a large number of soldiers and horses, and we can occupy the territory of Yue State. Why not? If they really don't want to, then we can join forces with Liao State." Ji Lingyan's tone was firm and confident.
When the matter of food and fodder was mentioned, Ji Lingyan remembered something.
"We must get the rice seeds cultivated in Anguo."
"This is exactly why I came here today. Their latest batch of crops is hidden away and cannot be obtained, but we have obtained the seeds from their previous batch and are now shipping them back."
"It's enough. At least it's higher than our current output. Have someone keep an eye on that team. There must be no mistakes."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Of course, Ji Lingyan originally wanted more than just the grain seeds. His original plan was to kidnap Tang Qiuwan. However, she was under close guard by the people sent by Yun Zhi, and he could not bring her back successfully.
Of course, they also sent people to try to persuade Tang Qiuwan to rebel, but not only did they fail, they also killed the spy that they had trained with great difficulty.
Who would have thought that just as Ji Lingyan's men extended an olive branch to her, they were immediately arrested by Tang Qiuwan's men.
But it’s good to be able to get seeds now.
Ji Lingyan stood up and said, "Pass on my orders. Reorganize the troops, store food and fodder, and strengthen the city defenses."
His voice echoed in the palace with unquestionable majesty.
All that is left is to wait, wait for their war to end, and when the war is over, it is time for them to send troops.