Chen Ji's face twitched slightly, and his clenched fist slowly loosened.

Xiao Maha's words and sentences hit the most painful place in his heart. Becoming a Shengming emperor has been Chen Ji's dream for many years, and if you want to do this in this troubled world, the easiest way is to unify the troubled times.

Throughout the ages, the emperors who created the Great Unification Dynasty will be praised by later generations, such as the "ancestral dragon" Qin Shi Huang, such as Han Gaozu, and Han Guangwu, such an opportunity to go down in history, it is impossible to say that Chen Ji does not want it.

And if you want to unify the troubled times, you have to go on the Northern Expedition.

But no matter how hard he tried, the Northern Expedition always encountered all kinds of setbacks and obstacles, the defeat of Jiangling nine years ago, and the retreat of Lu Liang nine years later, all clearly told Chen Ji that he had accumulated so many years of strength and made such a resolute determination, but in the end it was always empty.

In fact, in the past nine years, the entire Nanchen has not been idle, licking the wounds left by the Hou Jing Rebellion in the early years and the later Han Zigao Rebellion, while constantly advancing northward. At least in the past nine years, Nan Chen's national strength has been thriving, and he finally got back the land of Huainan, which also made Chen Ji feel a little comforted.

But this kind of comfort alone is far from enough, the recovery of Huainan can only be said to be the recovery of lost territory, because since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, Huainan has always been the southern land in the traditional sense, and it stands to reason that this should be the territory of the Southern Dynasty, so taking Huainan does not bring much satisfaction to Chen Ji.

This road of the Northern Expedition had just begun, but it was once again frustrated by the Battle of Lüliang.

Chen Ji's gaze slowly swept over every face in the imperial study, Xu Ling sat upright again, Wu Mingche seemed to be anxious to say something, and Pei Ji raised his body slightly and stared at Yutu, as for Xiao Maha, he stared at Chen Ji from beginning to end.

After nine years of non-stop, in the end, only Huainan was obtained, and even Jiangling and southern Sichuan and Shu were still in the hands of the Northern Zhou and Western Liang. Chen Ji didn't want to shirk his responsibility, he was the emperor of Nan Chen, the one who gave the order to attack, and the main problem of the current lack of gain was definitely on him.

Maybe it's really as Xiao Maha said, he is too impatient?

Taking a deep breath, Chen Ji sat back in his chair and said in a deep voice: "How long should you wait and what should you wait for?" ”

Xu Ling, who had never known what he was looking at, suddenly opened his eyes at this time, and the old man glanced at Chen Ji, although he was still silent, but his face showed a relaxed look that was difficult to hide.

Xiao Maha immediately arched his hand: "Wait for the Turks to make a move, or wait for Yuwen Yong to make a move on the Turks!" ”

"Turkic?" Chen Ji's voice raised slightly, and he subconsciously looked at the map, and at this time he was a little embarrassed to find that there was not a trace of Turkic marks on his map, which covered the entire Southern Chen and half of the Northern Zhou Dynasty.

After all, the Turks are just a fledgling steppe people, and they are too far away from Jiangnan. When Chen Ji always focused his attention on Huainan, he would not consider the affairs of the north and south of Yinshan at all.

Of course, not thinking about it does not mean that you have not heard of it, the enemy of the enemy is a friend, although he has never had a good impression of the Turks - after all, they come from the steppe, and the Xianbei people who founded the Northern Dynasty are fundamentally a people on horseback - but Chen Ji has read a lot of information and reports about the Turks.

Chen Ji knew that the Turks were very arrogant, and they had never even looked at the Northern Qi and Northern Zhou in their eyes.

But now it's different, the Northern Qi perished, and the Northern Zhou Dynasty changed from a three-line operation to a two-front operation now, especially in Huaibei, which took over the defense line that the Northern Qi had worked so hard to manage, and it didn't take too many troops to successfully resist the small-scale attack of Nan Chen, which meant that the Northern Zhou had enough mobile troops.

What's more, the current emperor of the Northern Zhou Dynasty is Yuwen Yong, this young male lord will definitely not allow someone to arrogantly provoke his dignity, and because he is out of the grassland, Yuwen Yong, who is a Xianbei person, understands the threat to the Central Plains after the Turks occupy the grassland, so compared to Nan Chen, the Turks are obviously easier to become the target of Yuwen Yong.

Otherwise, Yuwen Yong would not have withdrawn Shi Shiran after Huaibei mobilized a large army to force Wu Mingche to retreat, but would directly take advantage of this opportunity to pounce on Huainan.

This should also be regarded as a signal from Yuwen Yong to the Southern Dynasty and to Chen Ji, as long as you are not idle and bored to cross the Huaishui to beat me, I will not beat you first, and it would be better for everyone to be safe.

Of course, there is no "tacit understanding" in this way, and Chen Xu, or even anyone here, obviously does not intend to abide by it, and for Nan Chen, once the Northern Zhou mobilizes troops to the north, it would be strange if he did not launch an attack.

And now the Northern Zhou's defense of Nanchen is mainly concentrated in Huaibei, so it is indeed a good choice to take the opportunity to mobilize troops to attack Western Liang.

"But has the Qing family ever considered what if Yuwen Yong easily defeated the Turks? Then we haven't taken the Western Liang yet, and we may encounter the army of the Northern Zhou barbarians. Chen Ji said after deliberation.

Xiao Maha was stunned for a moment, then looked up at Chen Ji, and immediately understood. Obviously, the previous battle of Lüliang brought too much shadow to Chen Ji. After all, the cause of the Battle of Luliang was that Chen Ji saw the Northern Zhou Dynasty move troops against the Northern Qi and thought that there was an opportunity, so he ignored the opposition of many generals and ministers, and urged Wu Mingche to lead the army north, wanting to "hunt in the Central Plains" with Yuwenyong.

As a result, who would have thought that before Wu Mingche took Xuzhou (author's note: located in the Xuzhou region under the control of the Northern Dynasties), the Northern Qi would disappear, and Wu Mingche would have to retreat to Lüliang again. Yu Wenyong's thunderous methods obviously exceeded Chen Ji's expectations, so it also brought a shadow to Chen Ji's heart.

Stretching out his hand to point on the map, Xiao Maha said solemnly: "Your Majesty, Xiliang is not the Northern Qi, let alone the Northern Zhou, in the final analysis, this is just a small puppet country with two or three cities, if there is no Northern Zhou standing behind, it would have been destroyed under the Sikong army nine years ago, and it can't support it now, and although the Northern Zhou barbarians have many troops, they can only take a defensive position to deal with the Turks, and according to the current point of view, the focus of their guards is still in Huaibei, so as long as our actions are faster than Yuwen Yong's actions······"

The fingers that were originally on the map closed suddenly, and Xiao Maha smashed it on the position of Xiliang: "This nail inserted in our hearts can be pulled out!" ”

Chen Ji slowly raised his head, as if he had made up his mind: "How sure is Aiqing?" ”

Wu Mingche and Pei Ji looked at Xiao Maha at the same time, His Majesty's title has changed from "Qing Family" to "Ai Qing", what is contained in this is self-evident. And Xu Ling just slowly closed his eyes, as if the matter here had nothing to do with him.

Xiao Maha took a deep breath: "Then it depends on what kind of victory Your Majesty wants." ”

"What do you mean by that?" Chen Ji looked puzzled.

Xiao Maha immediately gave up his hand: "If Your Majesty attacks Xiliang with the strength of the whole country and wants a complete victory, then the minister is ten percent sure; If His Majesty hesitates, wants to break the Western Liang, wants to fight Huaibei, and wants to open the bow left and right, then he will not be sure! ”