As the king of Zhou forced himself to compromise, the matter of personal expedition was agreed upon.
Danqi and Xunshu immediately dispatched their own troops and horses. On the one hand, they sent two groups of 10,000 soldiers to surround Qianyi and Dongyu respectively, but they did not attack, thus cutting off the connection between the three cities.
Then he led a main force of 40,000 people, and marched straight to the capital with great fanfare in the name of King Zhou Meng Yujia personally conquering the rebels.
When Wang Zichao heard the news, he immediately became restless.
After the consumption of several previous battles, although it has been rested and recuperated, the troops of the Prince's Dynasty are only more than 30,000, and Qianyi and Dongyu each have 7,000 troops to defend the city. In other words, the Prince's Dynasty has no available troops in Jingyi.
Still less than 20,000.
Moreover, among these people, there are both refugees, private soldiers of wealthy families who have just defected, and surrendered soldiers and prisoners gathered from all over. It can be said that people's hearts are divided. Even if they train day and night, they may not be able to compete with the Xionghu Army of Jin State.
Confrontation head-on.
When Wang Zichao summoned Li Ran and others, although he did not show timidity, his heart was actually burning.
"Sir, the current situation is critical. Since we are acting in the name of supporting the Zhou Dynasty, and now the king's brother is personally campaigning, the situation is very powerful. I wonder if you, sir, have any good ideas to solve it?"
Li Ran has actually considered this for a long time:
"Your Highness, there is no need to panic. The current King of Zhou is nothing more than a puppet in Shan Qi's hands. He said he was going to conquer it himself, but in fact he was coerced by Shan Qi and had no choice but to do it."
"As for the 40,000 troops, please rest assured, Your Highness. We only need to hold on to the city now. As long as we try our best to ensure that the capital is not lost, we will be in an invincible position!"
When Wang Zichao heard these words, he was obviously relieved.
"Everything depends on sir."
Li Ran heard this and shook his head at this moment:
"The enemy is powerful, and we can't succeed just by standing in an invincible position! So we must not take it lightly. They are going straight to the capital this time, and now Yin Bo is guarding Dongyu and Fan Li is guarding Qianyi. These two places are different from the capital.
The cities and towns are like horns to each other, attracting many enemies. Therefore, as long as the force of the horns is not broken, there will be no hindrance to the capital!"
The ancestor of Yin Yu was canonized as an earl, and his fiefdom was in Luoyi, which belonged to the Jinei Kingdom of the Zhou Dynasty. He had previously been ostracized and suppressed by Danqi because he could not understand what he was doing. Therefore, he sided with the princes in this civil strife, and he was cautious.
, which is actually more stable.
As for Fan Li, he has a very strong ability to scrutinize the situation. He must understand the current situation now, so Li Ran is also very relieved about him.
"It's just that now we are facing a powerful enemy and we must not be careless. I also ask Your Highness and all your lords to work together. If there are people like the former who secretly sow discord and harbor evil intentions, then based on today's situation, it will be serious
It’s difficult to handle.”
At first, although Li Ran didn't know much about Wang Zichao, he only knew that Wang Zichao was a person who was determined to achieve great things. However, after Li Ran successfully captured Dongyu, Wangzichao suddenly sent Yin Yu to supervise the army. Of course, Li Ran
I guess someone must be gossiping behind my back.
That's why Li Ran said this specifically in the main hall.
When Wang Zichao heard this, how could he not understand what Li Ran meant?
"What you said is absolutely true. No one can disrupt the morale of the military at this moment! Anyone who violates the rules will be dealt with according to military law and will not be punished after the past!"
Sun Wu came out at this time and said:
"Your Highness, the enemy's army numbers 40,000, but the baggage, chariots, and chariots are very heavy and heavy, and the march is slow. Wu has a plan. He can take advantage of their unstable footing to attack the enemy first, even if he cannot annihilate them.
, but it can also gain the upper hand!”
Wang Zichao said worriedly:
"General Sun is brave, but...if this move fails, I'm afraid the defenders will also be severely affected!"
"Wu Yuan only led five thousand troops to invade the enemy camp!"
At this time, I saw another person coming out of the queue, clasping his fists and bowing, and shouted loudly:
"The last general is willing to join General Sun in killing the enemy!"
Everyone looked at it together, and it turned out that this person was Luo Luo. Just because he was eager for revenge, he asked to fight again this time.
Wang Zichao turned his eyes towards Li Ran, but Li Ran secretly hid his hand in his sleeves and waved his hand gently towards him.
When the prince saw this, he immediately replied:
"General Wu, please be patient. It's difficult to defend the city now. It's better to leave such important matters to General Sun!"
Luo Luo's eyes widened, and the corners of his eyes were about to burst.
"Your Highness! When Situ Chou came with his troops before, Your Highness did not let Luo go into battle. Now that the enemy is approaching and the troops are approaching the city, why don't you let Luo go out? Does it mean that Your Highness does not trust the general?"
The prince shook his head gently.
"General Wu, I don't believe you, but I have more important matters for you to handle later, so please be patient, General."
However, as a Qiang person, Luo Luo was just a straight man after all. Even in public, he couldn't help but say:
"How is it that His Highness only uses people from Li Ran and does not use my old subordinates?! This is not fair! Po Luo refuses to accept it!"
Wang Zichao was shocked when he heard this and said angrily:
"Luo! I have just made it clear that anyone who disturbs the morale of the army will be dealt with according to the military law! Are you doing this kind of thing with your words like this? Come here, pull Luo Luo down and give him twenty whippings!"
When two soldiers came to the palace, Luo Luo said urgently:
"His Highness wants to punish Nao Luo, Nao Luo Gan Ling! But today, Nao Luo must make it clear about such injustices. Otherwise, if we have followed His Highness for so long, can we not be as good as Li Ziming, who is just a mere Li Ziming?"
Li Ran was quite embarrassed at the moment and couldn't help but sigh inwardly.
And Yin Buyi on the side also hurriedly made peace:
"Your Highness, I'd better write down this punishment for now. Naoluo didn't understand the importance of the matter, made rude remarks, and offended Your Highness. He deserves to be punished. But now is the time when men are employed in war, so a beating like this will not be helpful to the morale of the army!"
The prince was silent for a while, then secretly glanced at Li Ran. Seeing that Li Ran was speechless, he immediately said decisively:
"If you are admonishing, even if you are contradicting me, I will never care about it. But his words are clearly intended to sow discord, and his sin is unforgivable!"
Li Ran fully understood Wang Zichao's intention, so he also gave words of advice at this moment:
"General Wu's blunt words are inappropriate for the times, but they are not unreasonable. Although the officers and soldiers want to make meritorious deeds for His Highness, they are a bit over-cautious, but as ministers, there is nothing wrong with them being able to share your worries."
"Therefore, I would like to ask Your Highness to give General Wu a chance to avenge his crime and make meritorious service! If he engages in military law like this, once his bones and muscles are injured, his relatives will be hurt and his enemies will be hurt!"
When Wang Zichao heard this, he snorted again:
"Luo, hurry up and apologize to Mr. Ziming! If he hadn't interceded on your behalf, this whipping would have fallen on you anyway!"
Luo Luo also hesitated for a long time, and then symbolically raised his hand towards Li Ran.
"Thanks!"
The perfunctory meaning was obvious. Wang Zichao still wanted to accuse, but Li Ran said calmly:
"General Wu's words were really unintentional and should not be taken seriously. Your Highness, since he already knows that he was wrong, let's just let this matter go!"
Faced with such a situation, Wang Zichao stopped worrying about this matter.
After the discussion, everyone retreated one after another and performed their duties in preparation for fighting the enemy. However, Wang Zichao deliberately left Li Ran behind.
"Mr. Ziming, although Po Luo is not good at using his brain, he is quite brave. Why did you, sir, abandon him so many times?"
"Reporting to Your Highness, General Wu is brave and has a great enemy. He goes into battle to kill the enemy. He will fight bravely and fight for the first place with all his might!"