Demoness, where are you Fleeing to?
Chapter 786 - 647 Battle 4_1

Chapter 786: Chapter 647 Battle 4_1

When the Shenji right and left camp was still twenty miles away from the Chaobai River, Li Xuan’s main body had already arrived at the east bank of the Chaobai River.

This was the benefit of having a clone. Li Xuan’s clone was in command of the army in the back, while he himself moved on to inspect the situation from the east bank of the Chaobai River.

At this point, it was the fifth moment of the Hour of Mao (six in the morning), about an hour later than Li Xuan had originally scheduled. But this was already their fastest speed. Li Xuan had used all his means and could not advance the time they would arrive at the Chaobai River by even a moment.

Fortunately, according to the news fed back from the Forbidden City, the situation had not worsened to an unacceptable level.

He felt heavy-hearted about Emperor Jingtai moving out ahead of schedule and making a life-and-death battle with Zhengtong Emperor, but at least Yu Hongchang, the Crown Prince, and the imperial grandson were safe and sound.

The moment Li Xuan reached the shore, he immediately sent out his Azure Phoenix Niulang to observe the situation from the air.

At this moment, Li Chengji flew over from the opposite side of the river and came to stand beside Li Xuan.

"How do you plan to fight, with the enemy outnumbering us? Are you really going to take the initiative to cross the river?"

Li Chengji’s look towards Li Xuan was fairly peculiar.

No matter how much he had expected of his second son, he had not thought that a year and a half later, Li Xuan would become the backbone of the Court, leading an army of hundreds of thousands to fight on the battlefield and suppress rebellion.

The man even achieved an unprecedented victory in Chengde not long ago.

However, Li Chengji believed he could still give some guidance to Li Xuan in terms of military strategy. "Why do you keep insisting on attacking? Why not just hold our position here on this side of the river?"

"We, father and son, can jointly intercept the food supply. Food can continue to be transported from Jiangnan. Your Jizhou Town and Taiyuan Town in the west can calmly send troops over."

After listening, Li Xuan glanced at Li Chengji: "Zhengtong Emperor was able to rebel and restore his position under the watch of Jingtai Emperor, father, how do you know what other means they have or what other changes might occur next?"

He continued, "If the food supply to Beijing is cut off, do you think Liang Heng would admit defeat? What if he loots the grain from the local population and drives the people of Beijing southwards, how would we handle it? The Emperor is benevolent and has been good to the Li family, should we ignore this? Even for the sake of our family’s survival, we can’t let Zhengtong Emperor have his way."

Upon hearing this, Li Chengji was speechless.

Li Xuan then pointed to the south: "Don’t forget we have Prince Ning! The rebellion force of Prince Ning has been brooding for more than a year or two. If the chaos in Beijing lasts too long, then the south may not stay peaceful."

Li Chengji was even more silent.

The force of Prince Ning originated from the 17th son of Great Ancestor, "Prince Ning" - Yu Quan.

His territory was originally located most northward of the Jin Dynasty, named Ning State. As Ning state was located between Xifeng Pass and Gubei Pass, it is where the ancient Huizhou lies, connects Liaozuo on the east and Xuanfu on the west, and is one of the large defensive forts. This was where the ’Duoyan Three Guards’ once stationed their troops.

At his peak, Prince Ning controlled dozens of towns over three thousand miles, had 300,000 men equipped with armored gear, including seventy thousand iron cavalry, and also had Duoyan Three Guards as vassals.

The historical records depicted his military strength as ’the most indomitable among all the princes,’ even surpassing that of the King of Yan.

Later, when Emperor Taizong declared a war to restore order, he personally went north to hijack Prince Ning and took over his military power. This gave him the capital to counter the Court.

After his war of restoration was successful, Emperor Taizong moved Prince Ning to Nanchang. The region of Nanchang was rich, but after the move, the Prince Ning’s region no longer held the strength it had during the reign of Emperor Taizong. Taizong Emperor and Xuan Emperor repeatedly reduced Prince Ning’s royal army.

However, the current ’series of Prince Ning’ is still powerful, with its fiefs including the five prefectures of Nanchang in Jiangxi, as well as the Five Guard Private Army.

This Five Guard Private Army theoretically has a formation of twenty-five thousand, but Li Chengji knew that the Ning series was very deep-rooted. When Prince Ning moved his fief to Nanchang, he was still carrying hundreds of thousands of armored soldiers. After Prince Ning’s royal army was cut off and disbanded, the soldiers and armor were not handed over to the Court.

The local people were theoretically governed according to the Li Jia system, but in fact, they followed the Weisuo System.

So, all the current Prince Ning had to do was to issue an order, and he could easily gather over three hundred thousand troops in and around Nanchang.

The Ming Dynasty in another world also had a ’Prince Ning’, likewise transferred from Ning State to Nanchang. The fourth generation Prince Ning raised hundreds of thousands of troops in rebellion during the Zhengde Era, but was eventually put down by the great scholar Wang Yangming, who was then the governor of southern Jiangxi.

As for this world’s Prince Ning’s mansion, it was currently held by the second generation Prince Ning - ’Yu Dianpei.’ He was the grandson of the original Prince Ning Yu Quan and belonged to the same generation as Ren Emperor of Great Jin. He was a direct uncle to Zhengtong Emperor and Jingtai Emperor.

Both generations of Prince Ning had high cultivation, aspired towards the Heavenly Tier, and lived extremely long lives.

The original Prince Ning was forced to give up his seat and leave this world by the Jinque Palace in the thirty-second year of Zhengtong.

Prince Ning Yu Dianpei ascended to the Heavenly Tier twenty-five years ago. During the Tumu Fort incident, calls arose from the Court to bring Prince Ning to succeed to the throne and save the state.

It was said that this man was suspicious and extremely ambitious. Since his inauguration, he had demeaned his uncle, "Lin Chuan King" Yu Panyan, and his younger brother, "Yiyang King" Yu Dianzhou, to the status of common people.

During the Tumu Fort incident, if he had not just taken his position and was not yet firmly established, he might have rebelled outright.

"So, we can’t delay!"

Li Xuan pointed at the other side with his whip, his expression indifferent: "Remember, I have dealt with seventy thousand demons under Liao Empress Shulv Ping, so what do I have to fear about Liang Heng’s mere thirty-seven thousand mob? Moreover, with both time and geographical advantages on our side, we are sure to win in one battle."