August 15, Mid-Autumn Festival, the moonlight is bright.

That night, Yang Wu held a banquet in the palace, and most of the officials above the fourth rank in Jinling came to attend.

Yang Wu personally set up a banquet, and those who could participate were naturally deeply honored.

However, those who can enter the main hall of the inner hall and drink with Yang Wu are naturally only some officials at the highest level of the Wu State, such as the three scholars of the cabinet, the Shangshu and Shilang of the Six Ministries, the deputy privy envoy of the Privy Council, the Siqing of Dali Temple, etc., are some of the most noble people.

Of course, clans such as the crown prince Yang Jiong, Hailing King Yang Longyan, relatives such as Xu Shan and Zhong Yangui, and some other honorable veterans are also eligible to enter the main hall.

On the banquet, the staggered planning, singing and dancing, talking and laughing, the atmosphere was not warm.

"King, this year I have a good harvest in all parts of the country, and this is a sign of Tianxing and my dynasty, and the minister is here to congratulate the king on the harvest." At this time, Luo Zhixiang, who was the head of the household, was toasting Yang Wu with a smile on his face.

"In the past few years, there have been bumper harvests in various places, which is also inseparable from your efforts, not the joy of being alone." Yang Wu replied with a smile on his face, raised his glass and took a sip of wine.

But his expression was obviously a little absent-minded, and he was only barely coping with the toast of the ministers, but he was thinking about other things in his heart.

"It's mid-August now, it stands to reason that Li Cunmiao, the king of Jin, should have already done something to Zhang Wenli, but for some reason there is no news sent to Jinling until now, does it mean that Li Cunmiao doesn't plan to do anything to Zhang Wenli? Well, this shouldn't be possible. Yang Wu groaned in his heart.

He had been waiting for the Northern Expedition to the Central Plains for too long, and how many veterans of Wu died of illness during this period, and he failed to see the arrival of the Northern Expedition.

For example, at this time, the ministers gathered in the palace have lost many of the old faces of the year, and many newcomers have entered the cabinet to fill the gaps after the death of those old ministers.

The current Cabinet First Auxiliary University Fellow is still Chen Yanqian.

Originally, according to Wu Guo's system, the term of office of the first assistant university scholar could only be ten years, but at the beginning, Chen Yanqian was only acting as a first assistant university scholar as a Dongge university scholar, and he officially became a first auxiliary university scholar after Gao Miao's death; Second, considering that the Northern Expedition is imminent, in order to ensure the stability of the court as much as possible, Yang Wuxia specially ordered Chen Yanqian to continue to serve.

In addition to the first assistant university scholar, the other two university scholars are Zhu Jin, a scholar of Wu Yingdian University, and Yang Tingshi, a scholar of Wenhua Palace, who are in charge of the Privy Council and the Inspectorate respectively; The original Wu Yingdian University scholar Li Chengsi and Wenhuadian University scholar Zhou Yin both died of illness two years ago.

In addition, there are also many new faces in the six Shangshu, the original Shangshu Yin Wengui of the Ministry of Rites and Lu Shu of the Criminal Department have passed away, and now they are held by Pi Guangye and Jiang Mengsun respectively.

The former secretary of the military department, Liu Wei, and Tao Ya, the secretary of the ministry, died a few years ago, and they were served by Yan Keqiu and Li Yu respectively.

Only Luo Zhixiang, the secretary of the household department, and Yang Xin, the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, still remain.

In addition, the original Fujian governor Xu Wen has now also entered the cabinet and served as the secretary of Dali Temple, plus Yin Fengdao of Jinling Mansion, who has been promoted all the way in recent years, and the two deputy envoys of the Privy Council, Guo Chongtao and Wang Juan, this is the core group of people in Wu today.

Of course, in addition to these people, there are some people who are favored by Yang Wu, but they have not entered the center for the time being, such as Wang Taifu, who served as the governor of Fujian; Jiang Yanhui, who served as the Yin of Jiangdu Mansion, Xu Zhihe, Chang Mengxi, Zhang Yanhan and others who served in the East Palace, were all temporary choices and would definitely be reused in the future.

At this time, in the main hall, although many people noticed that Yang Wu's expression was a little wrong, they didn't know the reason, after all, only a few people in the audience knew the news that the Northern Expedition was about to begin.

At this moment, Fan Yu, the commander of the long sword capital, suddenly hurriedly walked in from outside the hall, then looked at Yang Wu, and nodded slightly.

"It's finally here!" Yang Wu's spirit was shocked, and he immediately understood.

He glanced at the ministers quietly, then got up and said, "Everyone, drink slowly, and go out for a while." After speaking, Yang Wu left the main hall with Fan Yu.

"But the news of the Jin army's attack on Zhenzhou has arrived?" As soon as he got out of the hall, Yang Wu hurriedly asked.

"It is exactly like this, eight days ago, the Jin army divided troops from along the Yellow River to Xingzhou, with Fu Xi as the queen of Chengde, with Yan Bao as the general, leading the troops to attack Zhenzhou. The Jin people blocked the news very strictly, and our people wasted a lot of time to send the news. Fan Yu hurriedly replied.

"I see." Yang Wu nodded.

Now that the Jin army and the Liang army are facing each other in the river, there are many people on both sides patrolling along the Yellow River, and it is not easy to pass the news back, and it is normal to delay for a few days.

"I've been waiting for so long, and this day has finally come." Yang Wu took a long breath, and then asked, "Does Li Chengding, who is in Suzhou, know the news?" ”

"Don't worry, the king has explained before, and after getting the news, he will pass it on to General Li Chengding as soon as possible, so he is afraid that the time when he gets the news is earlier than the king."

"Well, then it's up to General Li Chengding now." Yang Wu said with a solemn expression.

"The king can rest assured, General Li Chengding's son will inherit his father's business, and he will definitely be able to successfully complete this task."

"I hope it's what you say." Yang Wu nodded.

Although with the strength of Wu State, Yang Wu is confident that he can defeat Liang State, but if he can use the method of surprise attack to defeat Liang State at the fastest speed and the lowest cost, this is naturally a better choice for Yang Wu.

Of course, even if Li Chengding failed to successfully complete the task, Yang Wu didn't care, after all, Wu Guo's strength in all aspects surpassed that of Liang State, even if it was a head-on battle, Yang Wu was confident that he would defeat Liang State, the only problem was that it would take longer and pay a greater price.

"By the way, there won't be any problems on Zhu Youneng's side, right?" Yang Wu suddenly asked again.

"The king, please rest assured, even if Zhu Youneng suddenly regrets not wanting to rebel now, but now he has a handle in our hands, he has to rebel if he wants to, and he has to rebel if he doesn't want to." Fan Yu said with a smile.

Not to mention anything else, just the private messages sent by Zhu Youneng to Wu Guo are a sharp weapon against Zhu Youneng, if Zhu Youneng refuses to rebel, Wu Guo only needs to hand over these things to Zhu Youzhen, presumably Zhu Youzhen will definitely try to deal with Zhu Youneng, and then Zhu Youneng will have no other way to go except to rebel.

I believe that as long as he is not stupid, he will not suddenly change his mind at this time.

Fan Yu said with a smile: "When Zhu Youneng rebelled in March, the king sent people to dissuade him, but now I'm afraid he can't wait." ”

"That's good, since the situation in the north has been handed over to Li Chengding, then Lone is waiting for his good news."

After confirming the news, Yang Wu returned to the banquet and continued to feast with the ministers, but his expression was much calmer, and he did not look restless at all.

The warm banquet lasted for another half an hour before it ended, and when the drunken ministers were about to leave, Cheng Xun and a few guards secretly stopped some of the important ministers.

"The king asked the lord to stay, and there will be important matters to discuss." Many people got such a sentence, and by the time they wanted to ask the reason, Cheng Xun and the others had already left.

Only a few people moved in their hearts, and they immediately understood, "It seems that it should be a matter of the Northern Expedition." ”

By the time the remaining ministers came back to the Wuying Hall under the leadership of the guards, Yang Wu had already been waiting there.

After seeing the ceremony, Yang Wu said with some excitement: "Everyone, tonight's banquet, everyone drank more heartily, it stands to reason that you should be allowed to go back to rest now, but now a big event has happened, so I will leave you to discuss this matter." ”

He looked at everyone with a serious expression, and saw that a few of the people had already shown a look of clarity on their faces, and immediately announced: "Presumably some of you have already understood, yes, the battle of the Northern Expedition is about to begin!" Lone has already ordered General Li Chengding of Suzhou to carry out the operation! ”

"What? Has the Northern Expedition begun? ”

"How could it be now? Why didn't I get any news before? ”

"Did I hear me right? Am I drunk? ”

As soon as Yang Wu's words fell, many people immediately exclaimed.

They really didn't expect that the Northern Expedition, which had been waiting for so many years, would suddenly break out silently, and there was no sign in the court before that.

However, it is no wonder that in order to keep it secret, the news about the Northern Expedition before today was only circulated among a very small number of people, even among the six Shangshu, only Yan Keqiu, the Shangshu of the Ministry of War, knew the news, and the other Shangshu were stunned.

As for the servants of the various ministries and some other civil officials, they were even more shocked, only a few people in the cabinet, as well as a few important ministers in the Privy Council, and several governors in the army were the ones who knew about it, and their expressions were extremely calm, and they all looked at Yang Wu with excitement on their faces.

Without waiting for everyone to react from the shock just now, Yang Wu then announced: "Gu has decided that in three days, the army will set off from Jinling and march towards Xuzhou, and then Gu will personally lead the troops to the battle." ”

"Where is the prince?" Yang Wu said loudly.

"The son is here."

"After Gu left Jinling, you will supervise the affairs of the country, and you will be responsible for all the matters left behind, and you must ensure the stability of the rear and the endless supply of grain and grass. This matter is very important, the prince must act well, and must not slack off in the slightest! ”

"The son understands that the son will live up to his father's trust!" Yang Jiong replied with excitement on his face.

"Chen Yanqian, Yang Tingshi, Zhu Jin, the three of you, as cabinet scholars, must be good at assisting the crown prince and must not make any mistakes."

"Your Ministers obey!"

"This Northern Expedition will not only determine the national fortunes of our dynasty, but also determine the national fortunes of our country, and the officials of all ministries must work together to go to this battle!"

Everyone finally reacted at this time, and one by one stood up and shouted in unison: "Obey the order!" ”