Xi Cheying, who was in the capital, did not receive the letter from Liu Xiu. It was not that the messenger did not deliver it, but that the delivery process was too slow. Even if the messenger traveled day and night, it would still take several days to get from Jiyang to Chang'an.
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On this day, Sima Dong Zhong and General Wei Wang She came to the Imperial Prefecture to have secret discussions with Liu Xin.
Xi Cheying, who was originally with Liu Xin, wanted to get up and leave, but was stopped by Liu Xin.
In Liu Xin's mind, Xi Cheying is not only his confidante, but also his woman. Regarding some confidential matters, there is no need to avoid her deliberately.
Seeing Liu Xin leaving Xi Cheying behind and asking her to make tea for them, Dong Zhong and Wang She looked at each other and smiled. The former said: "Master Guo, you owe me a favor as a matchmaker!"
Liu Xin looked up and smiled, waved his hands and said, "I will certainly keep this favor from Brother Dong in my heart."
After joking for a while, Dong Zhong got to the point and said meaningfully: "Master Guo, the prophecy in "Chi Fu Fu" may come true!"
Hearing this, Liu Xin was shaken suddenly, looked at Dong Cheng in surprise, and asked: "Brother Dong, what do you mean by this?"
Dong Zhong and Wang She looked at each other, lowered their voices and said, "The Grand Master may not know yet, but a few days ago, His Majesty had issued a secret order to mobilize a hundred thousand troops to leave the capital."
Liu Xin took a breath and said in surprise: "Transfer one hundred thousand troops to leave the capital!" He turned to look at Wang She and asked, "Does General Wei know about this? Where have the one hundred thousand troops been transferred?"
Wang She nodded and said: "Your Majesty secretly mobilized a hundred thousand troops to go to Wuguan. I originally thought that Your Majesty put a hundred thousand troops in Wuguan to contain Gongsun Shu in Shu. Now it seems that His Majesty's intention is not the same.
Gongsun Shu."
"That is?"
"Nanyang!"
Hearing the word Nanyang, Xi Cheying, who was making tea, trembled slightly, and a flash of surprise flashed in her eyes. However, none of the three people who were having a secret conversation noticed this subtle abnormality in her.
Liu Xin rolled his eyes and suddenly showed excitement, saying, "Your Majesty is planning to attack Zhu Tiandu's men in Nanyang?"
Dong Zhong and Wang She nodded in agreement.
One hundred thousand capital troops secretly entered Nanyang. With the current strength of Zhu Tiandu Department, how could it be the opponent of one hundred thousand capital troops? Liu Xiu no longer had to eliminate this serious problem by himself. Wang Mang had already solved it for him.
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Looking at Liu Xin with a smile on his face, Dong Zhong and Wang She looked at each other again. They leaned towards Liu Xin, leaned close to him, and whispered: "Master Guo, now is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for us.
!”
Liu Xin was still immersed in the joy that Liu Xiu was going to die with Zhu Tiandu. He didn't think much and just asked casually: "What opportunity?"
"Kill Wang Mang and give the Grand Master a chance to proclaim himself emperor!" Dong Zhong and Wang She said in unison.
Dong Zhong and Wang She are both people who have done a lot of research on prophecies, and they also believe deeply in the prophecies in "Chi Fu Fu".
In their opinion, the Liu Xiu mentioned in "Chi Fu Fu" was the Grand Master Liu Xiu and could not be anyone else.
It was precisely because they believed deeply in the prophecies recorded in "Chi Fu Fu" that they followed Liu Xin's lead. The three of them had been plotting how to get rid of Wang Mang and push Liu Xin to the supreme throne.
Some time ago, Wang Mang secretly mobilized troops to Wuguan. Neither Wang She nor Dong Zhong knew what Wang Mang meant and did not dare to act rashly. After all, Wuguan is not far from the capital. If there is a slight disturbance in the capital, a hundred thousand troops can be the first to attack.
Time is coming back.
Now Wang Mang has ordered that the capital army of 100,000 people be handed over to the command of Nanyang Prefect Zhen Fu and Duwei Liang Qiuci. They have already secretly transferred 100,000 troops into Nanyang. The capital is now empty of troops, which is the perfect place for them to plot a great cause.
What a time.
Liu Xin frowned and was silent for a long time, then said quietly: "For the past few days, I have been observing the sky at night. The moon and the five stars in the twenty-eight constellations meet. This is the eclipse of the stars and the moon. The moon is bright, and although the stars are moving, they are restrained.
I still can’t tell whether it will be a star eclipsing the moon or a moon eclipsing the star in the end, so I can’t rush this matter yet!”
Others may not be able to understand the astrological terminology he spoke, but both Dong Zhong and Wang She could understand it. If the starlight moves, the world will be in chaos. If the starlight is sharp, it will stab the king, while if the starlight is restrained, it means the monarch.
No worries for now.
When the moon moves within the twenty-eight constellations, and the starlight covers the moonlight, this is a star-eclipsed moon. On the contrary, when the moonlight covers the starlight, this is a lunar-eclipse star. For the monarch, the former is a bad omen, while the latter is a good omen.
According to Liu Xin, the stars and the moon have just met now, and no one can tell whether what will happen is the eclipse of the star, the moon, or the eclipse of the star. Now is not the best time to assassinate Wang Mang and support Liu Xin on the throne.
Dong Zhong and Wang She looked at each other, frowned closely, and both lowered their heads. Liu Xin smiled and said: "Sima and General Wei, don't be anxious. Since the stars and the moon have met, whoever can defeat the other in the end will meet soon."
We’ve figured it out.”
Wang She sighed softly and said, "Master Guo, I just think it would be a pity to miss this opportunity."
Liu Xin shook his head and said with a smile: "If you want to achieve great things, don't act too hastily! What's more, Yan You is still here in the capital, so don't take it lightly!"
Yan You is the Grand Sima, Dong Zhong's immediate boss. The key is that Yan You is in charge of tens of thousands of forbidden troops.
If they want to assassinate Wang Mang, they must either win over Yan You or get rid of Yan You first. Only by clearing the final obstacle of the Forbidden Army can their operation be successful.
Dong Zhong and Wang She shook their heads helplessly. Since Liu Xin had said so, they couldn't persuade them anymore.
After helping Liu Xin, Wang She and Dong Zhong make tea, Xi Cheying found an excuse to leave.
After leaving the study, she immediately returned to the other courtyard where she lived, called a personal maid, handed her a secret letter, and asked her to leave the house immediately and send it to Yanchun Pavilion.
She brought this personal maid here from Yanchung Pavilion. She didn't need to explain too much, the maid naturally knew what to do.
The secret letter was successfully delivered to Yanchung Pavilion. Xi Cheying did not dare to delay under Yanchung Pavilion. He immediately arranged for manpower to send the secret letter to Nanyang to remind Liu Xiu to pay attention to the 100,000 capital troops who secretly entered Nanyang.
It is a pity that this secret letter has not been delivered to Liu Xiu's hands, but on the way, the main force of the Zhutian Capital Department commanded by Liu Yan, as well as many family members, left Jiyang in a mighty manner and went to Jiyang.
Heading to Wancheng.
This time, the scale of Zhu Tiandu's troop dispatch can be said to be unprecedented.
So far, Zhu Tiandu's troops have expanded to nearly 20,000 people. Counting the family members and dependents accompanying the army, all together, there are 30,000 people.
In this attack on Wancheng, Liu Yan brought everyone he could with him, in order to fight a final decisive battle with Nanyang County.
Liu Yan has already made up his mind to go all out. This battle can only succeed, not fail.
The team of 30,000 people was unprecedented in scale and mighty, stretching for more than ten miles.
Looking around, flags are fluttering, embroidered ribbons are flying, and the military appearance is not neat, but everyone's face is full of excitement, and everyone is high-spirited and energetic.
Judging from the expressions of the soldiers, they didn't look like they were going to conquer Wancheng to fight a decisive battle with the county government, but more like they were going to take over Wancheng directly.
It is not to blame that the Zhutiandu tribe generally underestimated the enemy. Since the Zhutiandu tribe's uprising, every battle they fought went smoothly, and in the end they all ended with a complete victory for their own side. In people's eyes,
It seems that the Battle of Wancheng will not be an accident.
Furthermore, the Nanyang County Army was not terrible. On the east bank of the Feishui River, more than two thousand people were killed by our own side. There were only a few hundred strong cavalry troops, but the thousands of County Army soldiers were so scared that they did not dare to cross.
In Feishui, it can be seen that the county army is only in name only, and its combat power is not much stronger than the county soldiers in various places.
Liu Xiu was naturally among the expedition team.
Because he was injured, Liu Xiu did not ride a horse and rode in a carriage with Liu Boji and Xu Xiling. Liu Xiu just entered the carriage and fell asleep in a daze before leaving Jiyang City.
When the carriage shook, he woke up, slowly opened his eyes, and asked, "Where are we now?"
Xu Xiling whispered: "My lord, we have just left Jiyang less than ten miles away, my lord, please rest peacefully!"
"Oh." Liu Xiu responded and closed his eyes. After a moment, he raised his eyes again and said, "Xiling, ask for Zizhang and Ci Kuang to come over!"
"Yes! My lord!" Xu Xiling glanced at Liu Xiu, who was not looking well, with concern, but still followed his instructions and asked the maid Xiaoju to invite Ma Wu and Yaoqi to come.
Not long after, the sound of horse hooves was heard outside the carriage, and then, the voices of Ma Wu and Yao Qi rang outside the carriage: "My lord! See you here, my subordinates!"
Liu Xiu sat up with the help of Liu Boji. He lifted the curtain of the car window and said to the two people outside: "Zizhang, secondly, you two send more cavalry brothers to the front to investigate. Once
If you discover the enemy's situation, report it immediately!"
Ma Wu and Yao Qi looked at each other and murmured in their hearts, whether their lord was ill and confused. We had special scouts to spy on the enemy, so why would we need our own cavalry army?
Liu Xiu seemed to see through what they were thinking. He frowned slightly and said, "This battle is important and extremely dangerous. I can't worry about our scouts."
Ma Wu and Yao Qi both stepped in and responded: "Yes! Lord! We will send our elite brothers to the front to investigate!"
"Yes." Liu Xiu nodded, and then added: "Our two wings should also be investigated together."
"I understand!" Ma Wu and Yao Qi took the order and left.
After the two of them left, Liu Boji helped Liu Xiu to lie down slowly. She looked at Liu Xiu worriedly and whispered: "Third brother, do you think this battle will be difficult and we will be in danger?"
Liu Xiu didn't want to worry his younger sister, so he put a smile on his face and said softly: "If we win this battle, we can take advantage of the situation and capture the entire Nanyang County. From now on, using Nanyang as our base, we will be able to fight against the Mang thieves. This battle is so important, since
Just be more careful."
"Oh!" Liu Boji secretly breathed a sigh of relief and said in a brisk tone: "Third brother, don't worry. I heard that the county army has less than 6,000 troops left, while ours has 20,000 troops, three times the number.
It’s against the enemy! The military manual says that if you are three times larger than the enemy, you will have the advantage of completely annihilating the enemy’s army.”
Liu Xiu was happy and said: "My little sister is also reading the book of war now!"
Liu Boji nodded solemnly and said, "I can't always let my eldest brother and third brother protect me, I have to share the burden with you too!"
Liu Xiu couldn't help laughing when he heard this, but he only laughed twice and coughed violently.
Liu Boji stroked her chest and patted her back. When Liu Xiu finally stopped coughing, she rolled her eyes at Liu Xiu angrily and asked, "What are you laughing at, third brother?"
Liu Xiu sighed: "What makes me laugh is that my little sister has grown up and knows how to share the burden with her brothers."