Demoness, where are you Fleeing to?
Chapter 752 - 623: I can give you everything_1

Chapter 752: Chapter 623: I can give you everything_1

After the First Hope Dachao on the first day of March, Emperor Jingtai and Yu Jie led an army of 140,000 from the Jingying Forbidden Army and set off. They moved towards Datong and Taiyuan via Zijin Pass.

Li Xuan, as the ’General Zhenji’, was in charge of the defense of North Zhili, so there was no hurry to leave the capital city.

However, since the alert message from the Northern Border on the 27th of February, Li Xuan has been preparing for war.

Various grains, military supplies, and so on, were continuously transported to the military warehouses in Jizhou Town.

The Weisuo armies from North Zhili and Shandong also successively received Li Xuan’s orders and flocked towards Jizhou Town.

The total strength of these two regions was 80,000 troops. Coupled with the local Weisuo army in Jizhou Town itself, the total was 280,000 men.

It is worth mentioning ’Jizhou Town’. This town governed Jizhou, Yongping, Changping, Miyun and other places. It was the first of the nine major frontier towns of the Jin Dynasty and was the heavily armed forces second only to the capital’s Forbidden Army.

During the Taizong era, the quota of soldiers in Jizhou Town had reached 240,000. It assumed the duties of the Forbidden Army to some extent, and later gradually increased to 270,000.

Among the nine major frontier towns, only Xuanfu and Datong can compare to it.

Last year, Emperor Jingtai defended against Mongwu’s army near Tangshan, relying on the power of Jizhou Town.

And this time, apart from the 70,000 soldiers stationed in various places, Jizhou Town alone provided 200,000 Weisuo soldiers.

As it had just undergone a militia purge, the morale and overall state of Jizhou Town were very good. Its soldiers were second only to those in Jingying in combat ability.

Among these 280,000 troops, 100,000 were divided by Li Xuan to garrison in the two major pass cities of Xifeng Pass and Gubei Pass, while the remaining 180,000 were arranged by him at various passes along the Yan Mountain Range, such as Jiangjunshi Pass, Malanguan Pass, and so on.

Although these checkpoints could connect the north and south of Yan Mountain Range, their military value was far less than that of Xifeng Pass and Gubei Pass. This was because the two major strongholds of Xifeng Pass and Gubei Pass both had rivers passing through, and they could allow passage of large armies of over 100,000 without worrying about water sources.

Therefore, under normal circumstances, Li Xuan only needs to allocate 5,000-6,000 soldiers to these checkpoints to ensure safety.

The problem is that his opponents this time were different; they were a swarm of undead Iron Cavalry who did not need to eat or drink!

As long as there was enough blood food or Karma of Yin to supply, they could march tirelessly, without any supplies, and to some extent, they could even ignore the terrain.

Thus, any passable bottleneck in the Yan Mountain Range must not be left undefended.

Li Xuan also placed the Shenji right and left camp, totaling 41,000 people, in Jizhou city as the main reserve force.

As a result, his 40,000 firearm troops could be sent to suppress any warning in the north.

Li Xuan’s combat strategy was very different from what the Emperor and Emperor Jingtai had envisioned. They preferred to separate the Shenji right and left camp and divide them into several checkpoints for defense.

However, Li Xuan knew that this full firearm troop could exert its maximum power in field battles only when they were clustered together, so he made the choice of ’the general does not necessarily obey the emperor’s orders’.

Since The Court appointed him to be the ’General Zhenji’, then he could decide how to fight the battle.

Li Xuan did not leave Beijing until March 5th. By then, Yu Hongchang, despite being the caretaker, personally sent Li Xuan 20 miles outside Chaoyang Gate.

At the time of parting, Yu Hongchang found Li Xuan looking at her steadily, with a hint of resentment in his eyes.

Yu Hongchang knew what he was thinking, and immediately turned her blushing face and averted her eyes.

She thought she had been too excessive these past few months. Li Xuan had spent a lot of effort to make her happy, but she had never shown any affection.

But it truly could not work now, as she was currently still breastfeeding.

Although Yu Hongchang could temporarily prevent her milk from overflowing, the milky scent on her body and the changes in her breasts certainly could not slip past Li Xuan.

All he needed to do was touch her, and he would know what’s going on.

Yu Hongchang had occasionally been persuaded into a state of chaos recently and her body was unbearably hot, but now she could only bear with it.

She was crestfallen by Li Xuan’s gaze and could only try to divert the subject, "Xuan, do you have anything else to say before you leave?"

Li Xuan sighed inwardly and could only say, "In matters of literature, Hongshang, you have your own judgment and no one else has a say in it. But in military matters, Hongshang, you have to rely more on Zhu Guoneng and the ’Five Army Camp’. ’Ten Group Camp’ can be used, but precautions must be taken——"

Upon hearing this, Yu Hongchang knew that Li Xuan was still wary of Liang Heng, who had been transferred to Liaodong and served as the General Zhenliao.

The Ten Group Camp was created by Yu Jie, but it was Liang Heng who was in charge of the army training at the time, so Liang Heng’s influence on Ten Group Camp was only second to ’Shaofu Yu’.

Currently, three battalions from the ’Ten Group Camp’ were left in the capital city, all of whom were old subordinates led out by Liang Heng.

Li Xuan continued, "Hongshang, you must be careful with the True Emperor and the Empress Dowager! There is no evidence, but the southern invasion of Mongwu may be related to them. Also, there is Prince Xiang. He cannot be underestimated as long as his punishment is not pronounced. If he dares to make any movements, grant him a cup of poison.

For this battle, I will leave Luo Yan, Qianqian, Xuanchenzi, Lu Xue, and others to help you. Uncle Jiang will also remain in the Jiangnan Hospital until April. Ao Shuying has also promised me that she will station at the Beijing Temple of Immortal Master Shuide. If there is a change in the capital, they can all be your aid."

Yu Hongshang balked and raised her eyebrows: "Luo Yan is staying too?"

It wasn’t that she disliked Demoness Zidie, rather she was surprised at Li Xuan’s decision.

Only when Li Xuan and Luo Yan teamed up, they were the renowned ’Tianji Dihe Yin-Yang Knife’ of the Jin Dynasty.

However, once these two were apart, their combat prowess and deterring power would drastically fall off.

Li Xuan gave a slight nod: "While it seems like Yan will be following me to Jizhou on the surface, she will secretly return to Capital City within two days."

He proceeded to calmly explain: "’Tianji Dihe Yin-Yang Knife’ is widely known, because of which our enemies’ priority is to separate Luo Yan from me. So, the actual chance for both of us to combine forces is almost none.

That’s why I plan to bring my subsidiary body. But once my subsidiary body leaves, there need to be someone overseeing the Liudao Division. The spy network of Shenyi Government was just formed, and it’s at the consolidating stage. Yan can’t possibly leave Capital City at such a crucial time. She is among the top three illusion masters in the world, so she could assist you."

Yu Hongshang thought it made sense. If she were one of the Mongwu people, she would also figure out a way to separate the two ahead of the battle.

However, she knew that Li Xuan’s confidence to do so was mostly because of his and Luo Yan’s progress made during their half-year cultivation.

Their individual abilities were already formidable enough to face any situation alone.

Yet, she was still frowning deeply: "But then, wouldn’t you only be having Dongfang Liang on your side? Would you have a shortage of man power?"

"Apart from Dongfang Liang, we also have Mr. Xue, Hanyun and Yurou. We have enough hands!"

Li Xuan chuckled nonchalantly: "At this time, Venerable Zhu is on his way back to the capital. With him in command, even if the Tai Grand Emperor of Liao returns to life, he won’t be able to cross the Yan Mountain Range."

Li Xuan seemed slightly hesitant: "Oh, right, there’s also the newly-appointed Commander of Xuanfu, Fang Ying. You should be on your guard against him, too."

This Fang Ying, who served as the Commander of Xuanfu, had a parallel name and life trajectory as the famed General Fang Ying from the Zhengtong era in another world.

In the early days of Zhengtong, Fang Ying followed his father, Fang Zheng, on a campaign against Lu River. After his father died in battle, Fang swore revenge. He firstly inherited the title of Zhihuishi, then later promoted to Zhihui Tongzhi. He participated in the two battles of Lu River, led armies to put down rebellions in Guizhou and Huguang, and conquered nearly two thousand big and small mountain bases.

It is said that he had a handsome bearing and thoroughly knew ancient military strategies. As a person, he was upright and humble. Everywhere he went, he ensured the safety and wellbeing of the residents, making him one of the best-known generals of his generation.

Especially after the thirteenth year of Jingtai, possibly due to the sudden increase of fortune in Jin Dynasty, he broke through to the Heavenly level, becoming the sixth heavenly level general in the Jin military.

Looking at Fang Ying’s track record, he seemed reliable.

The reason Fang Ying unnerved Li Xuan was the other world where after the restoration of True Emperor Zhengtong, Fang Ying took office as the commander-in-chief of the Jingying military affairs. He was then consecutively promoted to Honored Military Minister with Sincere and Influential Military Valor, Advanced Courtier of Prosperous Benefits, Pillar of the State, and conferred as the Marquis of Nanhe.

After his death, the Zhengtong emperor mourned for him by halting court affairs for a day and granted him the posthumous title of "Zhongxiang", hence he was posthumously referred to as "Fang Zhongxiang".

Li Xuan worried that Fang Ying might have come under Zhengtong Emperor’s sway even before the Palace Coup occurred.

Listening up to this point, Yu Hongshang just managed a bitter smile.

She felt that Li Xuan was being too cautious. Although the Empress Dowager and the former emperor were not to be underestimated, Yu Hongshang firmly didn’t believe that they were currently in the position to restore their power.

However, in the very next moment, she felt Li Xuan suddenly grab her hand, and gently scratched the center of her palm with his fingers.

Li Xuan continued speaking as if nothing had happened, "I don’t think anything major will happen in Capital City this time. However, if something does happen, you must let me know immediately. When my forty thousand troops with fire muskets return, we will be able to suppress anything!"

The Palace Coup from his memory which resulted in the restoration of True Emperor Zhengtong was actually a fluke.

If it hadn’t been for the fact that the Jingtai Emperor had no heir and was critically ill, and that Shaobao Yu Qian, who held the entire Jingying military power, and even a part of the Forbidden Army, didn’t resist his execution, True Emperor Zhengtong would never have succeeded in his restoration.

However, in this world, Jingtai Emperor had established a crown prince and himself, he was at war. Both inside and outside the Great Jin Dynasty, the situation had improved to an unprecedented level.

So even Li Xuan believed that the Palace Coup was unlikely to occur, at least not at this point during the fourteenth year of Jingtai. His arrangements now were merely to be on the safe side.

Yu Hongshang did not pull her hand free from Li Xuan. Instead, she seemed a bit flustered as she looked around nervously.

It was only after noticing that all of her palace maids and attendants were looking outwards, daring not to look at them, she became slightly calm.

Then, with her teeth lightly biting her lips, Yu Hongshang gripped back Li Xuan’s hand.

"Don’t worry, I will be careful in Capital City. I’ll wait for your return, by that time, Xuan, whatever you want, I can give you."

Right then, Yu Hongshang was blushing with a flustered expression enough to almost set her face ablaze.

She thought Li Xuan wouldn’t be able to return to the capital unless he was out for battle for at least two to three months.

Yu Hongshang had already entrusted someone to refine an artifact. Once it was done, it might help her deceive Li Xuan’s touch and intuition at certain specific times.