No matter how turbulent the dark tide of Youbei Third Road is at this time, after all, it is only a small issue of distributing benefits; But what is now in front of the Northern Yan people is the biggest and most tragic defeat since the founding of the Northern Yan Dynasty!

At today's court meeting in the Purple Gold Palace, Emperor Tianyou Zhou Yuanqing still had a shallow smile on his face, but the gaze cast on the Minister of Civil and Military Affairs was already cold and piercing:

"The elite of the Governor's Mansion who have been transferred 150,000, plus the 100,000 border troops of the original Pingbei Army, there are nearly 300,000 people, even if Yan Chongwu is tied up and cut off his head one by one, then it will have to be cut for a few days and nights, right? Now it is good, a fire has been burned clean, and at this time, including the East Customs, all of them have been reduced to a scorched earth...... Oh, now all of you in the hall are well-educated and Confucian, but is there any virtuous minister who can explain to me? ”

As for the question raised by Emperor Tianyou, at this moment, there are not even many people in the northern part of the country who can figure it out, let alone these civil and military ministers who are 'high in the temple' on the Purple Gold Palace? But since His Majesty has already asked, no matter whether it is good or bad, there must always be someone who comes out...... As a result, all the civil and military officials in the Zijin Palace locked their eyes on the first two people: the left prime minister of the Northern Yan Dynasty, Wang Fang Wang Mubei; The right prime minister of the Northern Yan Dynasty, Cai Xi and Cai Xianyang.

However, the same people have different lives, and colleagues have different responsibilities; The two prime ministers on the left and right, although they are both participants in the war between the two norths, but after all, Wang Zuocheng is the main initiator, and now that the 'post-war pot sharing conference' has been held, he naturally has to bear the brunt of the wind!

Wang Zuocheng also knew that there was no way back, so he had to hold the ivory fluorene board in his hand, and stood in the hall with his head and bowed:

"Back to Your Majesty, this war between the two norths is the initiative of the ministers, and now that our army is defeated, the ministers are naturally duty-bound. It was all because the old minister was old and faint, unclear about the situation, and made a wrong decision, and started the war lightly, which led to the annihilation of my 250,000 Northern Yanerlang... Early tomorrow morning, the old minister will send the head to the lobby of the Criminal Department to comfort the souls of the fallen soldiers of the Eastern Customs......"

Wang Zuocheng used these words to firmly tie the responsibility for the defeat to himself, which was also a plan he came up with in a hurry: for today's plan, only by picking His Majesty clean first and letting him stand outside the 'fire', can he free his hands and rescue himself from the 'sea of fire' by the way.

If this method is ordinary, it will naturally be tried; It's just that this time, Zhou Yuanqing obviously didn't mean this:

"I'm afraid Wang Zuocheng will be wrong, I don't want to find someone to take responsibility for this matter; Rather, they want to understand why the war has taken a sharp turn for the worse. Frankly speaking, if it weren't for the good news before, I probably wouldn't have increased my troops by another 150,000...... What I'm curious about at the moment is, what happened to the heavenly fire in the East Customs? And the direction of this war between the two norths, was it an accident, or was it expected by whom? ”

As Shen Gui thought, judging from the family background of the Northern Yan Dynasty, even if the fire of the Youbei people turned the 250,000 troops of the Northern Yan and all the grain, grass and ordnance into ashes, although this loss could be called heavy, it was not unacceptable to the Northern Yan people.

Therefore, this defeat is a matter of loss, and it is better to say that it is a matter of face. It's as if the 'adult' of the Northern Yan Dynasty was beaten up in a dead end by a weak 'young son' in Youbei, and before leaving, he snatched the silver bag and stripped Zhou of his clothes and pants. The pain of being beaten is naturally unbearable, but then the act of running naked is really a loss to adults!

After all, his Northern Yan Dynasty is the 'first household' on the Huayu Continent and the one who rules the world, and now he has been burned by a fire from the Northern Barbarians, how can he go out to meet people in the future?

And the right prime minister, Cai Xi and Cai Xianyang, obviously will not let go of this opportunity to fall into the ground. It's not that he is prejudiced against Wang Zuocheng, it's just that the 'this cake' in the Beiyan Dynasty is so big in total, and there are still many mouths waiting for him to 'feed'. Thinking about it this way, it is no longer a question of who can settle it by taking more bites and eating less.

"Back to Your Majesty, the friction between my Northern Yan Dynasty and Youbei has never been broken in the past hundred years, but the attitudes of the enemy and us towards the Eastern Customs are completely different. Throughout the historical records of this dynasty, the first emperors of all dynasties were all wise masters who were handsome and virtuous, both civil and military, but why did they not have the intention of completely exterminating the three roads in the north in the past hundred years? According to the old minister's humble opinion, it is not that the previous emperors of the past dynasties could not be exterminated, but they were unwilling or did not need to exterminate the northern land......

Cai Youxiang's words at this completely aroused the curiosity of Emperor Tianyou. Although he did not explain the defeat of the Eastern Customs from a tactical level, his understanding of the relationship between the two countries is indeed new and interesting to him.

Wang Fang Wang Zuocheng thought that the reason why the Northern Yan Dynasty and Youbei Three Roads could not hold each other was that they always wanted to compete for the important strategic point of the Eastern Customs; However, according to the minister's shallow view, this East Customs is actually far from Wang Zuocheng...... Or rather, it is as important as the two sides of the North recognize...... Wang Zuocheng, please forgive me, the old man is just talking about things......"

When Cai Youxiang said this, there was an uproar in the Zijin Palace! Whether it is a general commander who knows the army and commands the army, or a well-educated person with a scripture in his hand, he feels a little incredible when he hears the statement of the right prime minister.

"Oh? Your Excellency, please continue, I would like to hear and see...... Come on, pass on the whole map of Beiyan! ”

"Your Majesty, colleagues, please see, this location is where the Eastern Customs is located. Judging from the geographical location and surrounding environment alone, it can indeed be called the first-class strategic place of 'one man is the pass, and ten thousand people are not open', but if you look at the overall situation, even if the East Customs really falls into the hands of the Youbei people, what will be the unbearable consequences? ”

The father of Xu Ronghuan, the Marquis of the Giant Spirit, was originally Xu Wanzhou, the former guard of the Eastern Customs. So even if he is a rough person, he also has a very deep understanding of the East Customs:

"Lord Cai, Donghaiguan is the north gate of our house! If it really falls into the hands of those Youbei barbarians, then won't they come and leave when they want to do anything? His Youbei barbarians are not short of good-breed war horses, and the soldiers' physique is much stronger than my Beiyan boys, if they really firmly occupy the East Customs, it will not be ......."

"Not yet? Nuisance place, yes? With their little overstretched men, even if they disturb the place, how much damage can they cause? The silver we throw away in the East Customs every year is enough to break the legs of all the Northern War Horses! ”

When Emperor Zhou Yuanqing heard this, he hurriedly spoke to stop him:

Although Cai Youcheng's words are true, they are also biased! This matter between nations cannot be counted by gold and silver alone! As you just said, our annual investment in the East Customs is indeed a lot of expense; But after all, this is related to the decency and dignity of the Northern Yan Dynasty, no matter whether it can get benefits or not, this Eastern Customs must not let go! ”

As soon as Emperor Tianyou said this, the civil and military ministers present, including Wang Zuocheng, who was anxious and waiting to be released, all had their own judgments in their hearts: It seems that no matter what the outcome of this battle is, His Majesty still has no intention of letting go of the Eastern Customs.

"What Your Majesty said is extremely true, and the subordinates do not mean to completely abandon the East Customs. According to Weichen's analysis, the reason why the first emperor flocked to the East Customs was not to covet the land and people in the north, but to use the East Customs, a place where soldiers must fight, as a training ground for his own training and strengthening the army; More importantly, under such a year-by-year, day-to-day campaign, although it is also a big burden for our Northern Yan, in terms of the amount of food and ordnance consumed, it is only a little more than the formation of an elite army; And the same consumption, for the barbarians of Youbei, has to exert the strength of the whole country...... In the past 20 years, if they hadn't relied on Li Qiyuan, an unborn genius, to support them, we would have dragged the Youbei barbarians alive! Therefore, this East Customs is obviously something that can be obtained sooner or later, why do you have to spend so much manpower and material resources to take it back by yourself? ”

When Zhou Yuanqing heard this, he also recalled the historical records related to the Eastern Customs, and at the same time said with doubts:

"So what Cai Youcheng means is that the first emperors of the past dynasties have long regarded Youbei Sanlu as the fruit of their own trees, and they have not advanced eastward for many years, and they just want to wait for it to ripen and fall?"

"According to the foolish opinion of your subordinates, it should be so!"

With this idea, which was not new, but now seemed to have some truth, the Zijin Hall, which had just been silent, suddenly turned into a lively discussion venue.

In fact, no matter whether the idea of the conservative civil leader, Prime Minister Cai Cheng, is right or wrong, the purpose of this court meeting, to put it bluntly, is only to show the civil and military of the Manchu Dynasty, and then through their word of mouth, to the people of Northern Yan. After all, the leader of the 250,000 army, the young marquis Guo Xing, is still under the pursuit of Yan Chongwu, and his life and death are unknown; And many of the inside information of the Battle of Donghaiguan have not yet been transmitted back to Yanjing City, and it is indeed too early to talk about accountability.

This court meeting, with heavy thunder and little rain, finally ended with Wang Zuocheng, the leader of the main battle faction, 'recuperating from his post'. Zhou Yuanqing's method of lifting it high and falling gently made the Manchu civil and military people a little worried. Anyone knows that this matter is handled like this, and it is definitely not over!

In the imperial study after the dispersal of the dynasty, the fourth prince Zhou Chang'an was sitting in front of the window, reading a copy of "Yanjing Fangwuzhi"; After Zhou Yuanqing, who was on the other side of the desk, finished approving some urgent items, he took out a few pages of stationery from his arms and put them on the desk, and said casually without leaving the book with his eyes:

"Emperor Xuande Yan Hunt of Youbei died early yesterday morning; Yan Chongwu is chasing Guo Xing's department, and he should have approached Zhongshan Road today; Wang Zuocheng's son-in-law, Liang Jing, the chief officer of the Pingbei Army, was also trapped and died in the East Customs; The fire at the East Customs should be the masterpiece of He Wendao, a shaman in the northern part of the country; Oh yes, in the entire Battle of the Two Norths, Yan Chongwu should have been just a practitioner......"

Zhou Yuanqing was stunned when he heard the last sentence, and then chuckled again:

"Hehe, that's right! How could a person who is approaching middle age suddenly open his mind? Since it's not him, who is behind it? ”

"Hmm...... There are preliminary speculations, but no conclusive evidence has been obtained, and it will take some more time to investigate. ”

Zhou Yuanqing nodded when he heard this, after all, the matter has come to this now, and there is no hurry. Then, as if remembering something funny, he looked at the fourth son, who was sitting opposite him and was in charge of intelligence, and asked:

"This Yan hunt is dead, and Yan Day makes up for it; If I die suddenly, do you want to make up for it? ”

Faced with this dilemma, Zhou Yuanqing didn't even raise his eyes, continued to look at Fang Wuzhi in his hand intently, and replied casually:

"There is an eldest son in the family, and the state has a prince, so I can't take my turn! And throughout the ages, which emperor was born in the dark? ”