The storm that Bai Zhizhan was worried about did exist, and it was coming for Xue Yuan's expedition.

Before the outbreak of the Great War, Xue Yuanzheng's prestige in the empire had reached an unparalleled level. Although in the early days of the war, a few days before the war, to be precise, his leadership was questioned. Why was the mighty Southern Fleet attacked in its home port? However, after the Imperial Navy almost completely annihilated the permanent fleet of Narrows, the voice of doubt changed to praise, and no one dared to doubt Xue Yuanzheng's ability to command.

As the empire entered a state of war, Xue Yuanzheng became the de facto supreme commander of the empire.

This situation was maintained until the Luosha Federation turned back.

The ill-intentioned people took the opportunity to attack Xue Yuanzheng.

Prior to this, due to other considerations, the Imperial authorities highly praised the friendship with the Luosha Federation and the importance of the Triumvirate Alliance in their external propaganda, as if as long as the Triumvirate alliance was maintained, the Entente could easily win.

In essence, the top echelons of the empire, led by Xue Yuanzheng, did not have much illusions about the Triumvirate Alliance.

As for propaganda, it's just propaganda.

Wartime propaganda itself is a great exaggeration, and in extreme cases, it is necessary to deliberately publish false news to confuse the public.

As a result, these propaganda were exploited by people with ulterior motives.

In late October, that is, after the Luosha Federation rebelled, rumors appeared in the country against Xue Yuanzheng, and some people turned up old things.

During the last war, Xue Yuanzheng served as the garrison commander in the northeastern region of the empire, that is, the Ice Storm Peninsula, and the Narrow Yi army landed a huge land in his defense area and quickly swept half of the Ice Storm Peninsula, causing the Imperial Army to fall into a death battle in this direction.

It's not that Xue Yuanzheng is a spy of the Narrow-Sized Imperial Kingdom, but that he has a grudge against the Narrow-Sized Imperial Kingdom.

It is precisely because of this that he deliberately curryed favor with the Luosha Federation in order to eliminate the Narrow Imperial State, and ignored the harm caused by the Luosha Federation's anti-water.

To put it bluntly: in order to completely eliminate the Narrow Empire, Xue Yuanzheng weakened the forces in the northwest region, so the Luosha Federation had a chance to take advantage of it.

If heavy troops are deployed in the northwest, the Luosha Federation may not dare to oppose the water.

If this is the case, Xue Yuanzheng has to be responsible for the Luosha Federation's anti-water.

In addition, there are rumors that it is because Xue Yuanzheng advocated reconciliation with the Luosha Federation after the end of the last war, thus laying the root of the curse.

In addition, it was also considered a wrong decision not to directly send troops to capture the Sagi mainland.

According to rumors, if the Imperial Army had attacked the Sagi mainland at the beginning of the year, that is, after gaining sea supremacy, it would have been able to occupy the entire territory of Sagi within half a year, so that the battle in the Guia Ocean would have ended when summer came, and the heavy troops would have been sent to the northwest.

At this time, even if the Luosha Federation ate ate the gall of the leopard, it would never dare to turn back.

The reason is also very simple, there is still half a year to go until the harsh winter, and the Luosha Federation may not be able to withstand the two-sided attacks of the Riman Empire and the Liangxia Empire.

If a heavy force can be deployed to the northwest by the middle of the year, the value of the Luosha Federation will be minimal.

In addition, with heavy troops in hand, even if the Luosha Federation rebels against the water in the autumn, the threat is not very great.

If there is no reconciliation with the Luosha Federation, that is, there is no possibility of an alliance between the three giants, it will definitely have to pay more attention to the army before the war, and there is hope that it will be able to advance by land and sea after the war. According to the blitzkrieg theory, joining forces with the Riman Empire can destroy the Luosha Federation within a year.

Whether it is for the Luosha Federation to sign an alliance, or to send troops to destroy the Luosha Federation, it can greatly alleviate the problem of oil shortage.

All in all, Xue Yuanzheng has to take responsibility for the perilous situation that the empire is currently facing, and the situation in which it is being flanked.

Of course, the so-called responsibility is to resign.

According to rumors, the most qualified replacement for Xue Yuanzheng was Situ Jingde.

However, Lian Xusheng immediately denied this.

Situ Jingde hurriedly returned to the imperial capital to show Xue Yuanzheng that he had no intention of ascending to the throne.

The two have been friends for decades and have common interests.

Even if Situ Jingde didn't have much political acumen, he wouldn't be stupid enough to be used as a gun by others, let alone be an enemy of Xue Yuanzheng.

As for those rumors, they were just used to deceive the uninformed people, how could they deceive Situ Jingde.

Besides, the current situation is not as dangerous as it has been rumored.

In Lian Xusheng's words, Situ Jingde is ready to resign as commander-in-chief of the Praetorian Guard, and the one who is qualified to take over is Lian Xusheng.

Situ Jingde's move is to prove that he has no political ambitions, and even if he takes off his military uniform, he will not do anything that damages the empire.

This is also the key to Lian Xusheng's return.

Of course, with Lian Xusheng's qualifications, he may not be able to sit in the position of first assistant for another 10 years.

Li Yunxiang mentioned one thing here.

Behind the scenes, it is very likely that the Ma family is doing ghosts.

That's right, it is the Ma family created by one of the eight pillars of the empire, the fierce horse Zhanlin.

In addition, Ma Zhongyi, the former commander-in-chief of the Imperial Army, is Ma Zhanlin's great-great-great-grandson.

In the past few decades, the Ma family has emerged 5 marshals, 12 generals and dozens of generals after Ma Xiulin.

Of course, not all of them have the surname Ma, and there are many relatives and disciples.

All in all, the status of the Ma family in the Imperial Army was similar to that of the Liu family in the Navy.

To say, it was only in Ma Zhongyi's generation that the problem occurred.

After Ma Zhongyi, the Ma family began to decline, and by the time Peng Huaisheng took the position of commander-in-chief of the army, the Ma family was already in decline.

In terms of relationship, Peng Huaisheng is actually Xue Yuanzheng's person, and Xue Yuanzheng is a person from the Tang family.

When Li Yunxiang said this, he was also excusing Peng Huaisheng, telling Bai Zhizhan and Lian Xusheng that Peng Huaisheng had no intention of replacing Xue Yuanzheng.

Of course, there is nothing surprising about Li Yunxiang's attitude.

Although the strategic aviation of the Army Aviation has basically become independent, whether or not it can build its own army depends on the commander-in-chief of the army in the end.

Establishing a good relationship with Peng Huaisheng will certainly be of great help to the formation of the air force in the future.

To say, among today's army generals, Peng Huaisheng is relatively open-minded, and relies on Xue Yuanzheng, so he lacks his own opinions. It is precisely because of this that Peng Huaisheng does not have much say in the establishment of the Air Force, mainly depending on the meaning of Xue Yuanzheng.

As far as the matter of the Army Aviation independently forming an air force is concerned, an army commander-in-chief who does not have many opinions is certainly more reliable than an arbitrary commander-in-chief.

In fact, even if Li Yunxiang didn't say it, Lian Xusheng and Bai Zhizhan would not doubt Peng Huaisheng.

Peng Huaisheng can have today, relying on Xue Yuanzheng, everyone knows that he is Xue Yuanzheng's person, so as long as Xue Yuanzheng falls, he will also be finished!

So, is it really the Ma family's people who are doing ghosts?

Bai Zhizhan doesn't think so, after all, the Ma family is similar to the Liu family, and its influence is only in the army.

In other words, no matter how powerful the Ma family is, they may not be able to find a suitable talent to serve as the first assistant to the cabinet, let alone lead the empire in wartime.

The Ma family is just someone else's pawn, and there is an even bigger family behind it.

A political family!

The answer is clear.

Among the big families of the empire, there is actually only one that can be comparable to the Tang family and has strong political influence, and it is also created by the Eight Great Pillar States.

The point is, this huge family is not silent.

In the wartime cabinet, there were spokesmen, and they were in high positions.