Emperor Longdao of the Great Zhou frowned and walked around the warm pavilion.

After a while, he asked:

"My Great Zhou official army, do you have the ability to recover Liaodong before the Governor's Mansion of Qi Province?"

Tong Guan hurriedly knelt down: "Minister, never give up!" ”

"I ask if you have the ability!" The Son of Longdao said in annoyance: "You don't have to show your determination. ”

Tong Guan was speechless, and in the end, Bao Zheng really couldn't stand it, and spoke out to relieve him:

"Your Majesty, Jianghuai has been open up for two years, Jianghuai is still unstable, and the division of the imperial court should not act rashly."

"If the imperial court wants to recover Liaodong, it must pass through Qi Province, and if it really wants to recover Liaodong, it must rely on the power of the Governor's Mansion." Wen Zhong also spoke: "What's more, the governor of Qi Province is also an official of the Great Zhou, and their recovery of Liaodong is the same as the imperial court's recovery of Liaodong. ”

"Hmph, is it really the same?" Emperor Longdao asked coldly.

Of course not.

Qi Province is now a de facto independent regime.

Three years ago, when Emperor Longdao had just ascended the throne, the Governor's Office publicly expressed Shun's support for the new emperor and accepted the canonization of the imperial court.

Then, that year, the imperial court sent a prison army to Qi Province, and allocated a year's military salary to the Qi army according to the amount of 20,000 regular soldiers.

At that time, everything seemed to be going well, and the obedience of the Governor's Office to the court of the main battle faction seemed to be genuine, and they were willing to recognize the authority of the court.

But ......, but it didn't take long for things to change.

The Qi army crossed the sea to attack Liaodong, and won successive battles against the Jin army, which seemed invincible in the past.

The reputation of the Governor's Mansion has become very loud unconsciously, and folklore and even legend that the Qi army is really invincible in the world, and sooner or later they will suppress all kinds of barbarians and completely recover the homeland of Jiangbei.

This made the emperor very unhappy.

If the Governor's Mansion really recovers Jiangbei, then wouldn't the Governor's Mansion have the capital to fight against the imperial court?

Emperor Longdao remembered again that his courtiers also seemed to like to bet on the Governor's Mansion - the Wen family married the Governor's Mansion, and most of the others also had some investments in Qi Province, ranging from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of guan, and even millions of guan were invested in the governor's mansion!

In addition to Xu Shisong and Xu Shiliu, two important ministers of the court.

Sometimes, the Longdao Emperor wondered who his courtiers were more loyal to. Imperial Court or Governor's Palace?

This is also an important reason why Wen Jifu finally lost the emperor's trust.

If it weren't for the fact that he couldn't find someone to replace him, the emperor even wanted to drive Wen Zhong, Xu Shisong, and Xu Shiliu, the three guys who were close to the Governor's Mansion, away.

Wen Zhong could probably guess the emperor's thoughts, so he always gave the Son of Heaven some ideas that could be used to restrict the development of Qi Province, and the same is true today.

"Your Majesty, Zhang Mingyi reported that the next stage of development of the Governor's Mansion is divided into two paths."

Wen Zhong sat on the chair and said softly:

"One is to develop along the canal to Yanjing in Hebei Province, and the other is to develop along the coast to Gaizhou. In the minister's view, the Governor's Office was distracting from its power by doing so. ”

"Oh? So? ”

"After all, there is only one ruined Qi province in the Governor's Mansion, and they can't even feed the population under their rule without the food support of Jiangnan."

Wen Zhong chats about it:

"Now they are in a hurry to recover both Liaodong and Hebei provinces at the same time, and they will inevitably not be able to concentrate all their strength. Ji Province is just that, but Liaodong is a nest of gold thieves, how can they give up easily? Since they are all strong armies, the minister believes that they will inevitably lose both. ”

"Really?" The Son of Heaven asked with some excitement.

The Son of Heaven liked this idea very much.

"It has to be." Wen Zhong said firmly: "The minister believes that the imperial court should encourage the Governor's Office to continue to fight the Jurchens - no one needs to feel sorry if they die, and the more losses of the two armies, the better." ”

"How to encourage?"

"Give some false name, but the benefits can no longer be given." Wen Zhong replied: "The first emperor has an edict: the one who recovers Yanyun is the king. ”

"The minister thinks that this edict can continue to be executed, and one article should be added: The one who recovers Liaodong can also be the king."

Emperor Longdao nodded approvingly: "Well, the Governor's Mansion will definitely work hard to fight the gold thief for this." ”

"One province against one country, even if the Governor's Mansion wins, what can it do?" Wen Zhong said with a smile: "Besides, if they use all their strength in the north, the south of Qi Province will be empty ......." ”

"I heard that the most capable warrior in Qi Province is Xu Shiyang? And Xu Muhe also has a brother who has been a jinshi? ”

The Emperor pondered seriously:

"If Xu Shiyang and Xu Mujiang are crowned kings, Xu Muhe is still just a big governor, I don't know if they can unite ......."

"Your Majesty's clever plan." Wen Zhong and Tong Guan complimented together.

Only Bao Zheng, who had never spoken, thought disdainfully: 'How did the imperial court degenerate to the point of using such a despicable and dark technique?' ’

The Son of Heaven said proudly: "Hey, I am also kind, the Xu family has two kings in one family, and one provincial governor, so it can be called the first wealthy family in the world." ”

"As long as they are faithful to me."

"As long as they are faithful!"

……

On the steppe, the contraction of the Jin army gave the reunited Dayuan a good chance.

After a lapse of several years, the Great Khan of the Mughurs once again erected his golden tent on the Modong grassland, which was close to Liaodong and had fertile water and grass.

Surrounded by Gulhan Zamuhe were 60 Mughal thousand-strong troops.

In terms of core strength alone, the Mughurs under Zamuhe were even much more numerous than the Jurchen soldiers in the Jin army.

But combat effectiveness is not.

Zamuhe has more troops and more cavalry, but most of them are archery light cavalry based on cavalry and archery tactics, and half of the men and horses only have bones or stone arrow clusters.

However, after all, there were 60,000 riders, and if the Jurchens concentrated all their forces on a decisive battle with the Qi army, it would be no problem for them to go deep into Liaodong to deal with those Jurchen old and weak.

Therefore, Zamuhe was now also very concerned about the actions of both Qijin and Jin—he did not want to fall headlong into the trap of the Jurchens.

"I hope Wang Qinian can give me enough news."

Zamuhe prayed secretly.

As long as he can win this time and grab enough wealth in the Jin Kingdom, he will have the ability to further integrate the various tribes, win over the Shanxi and Han armies, and improve the equipment conditions through them, so as to build Dayuan into a truly powerful empire.

……

No matter what others think, Qi Jun really didn't plan to fight a decisive battle with the Jurchens this time.

Although they have actually put pressure on the Jurchen decisive battle.

In particular, the timing of the Qi army's choice to set off coincided with the time when the land of Liaodong was about to mature but could not be harvested yet.

During this period, no matter who starts a military operation, there will be tremendous pressure on the supply of food and grass.

Militarily speaking, this was an action to force the Jurchens to fight with the Qi army.

Of course, if the Qi army is successful, the newly opened land will help the Governorate recoup this investment in the next few years.

That's enough.