During the ten years when Qi and Song fought for hegemony over Chu, Yan was not idle, they followed the example of the Song State and focused on restoring the domestic economy and people's livelihood.

This time the sudden attack of the Qi State, Emperor Yan Zhu Tingxun was not unprepared, and sent the general Ning Zeping to Hanzhong City to resist Sun Zhongmou at the first time. After Tian Wuji sent troops, he summoned Ning Buqu, the commander of the naval army, back, and named him the general of the chariot cavalry to garrison Nanjun. As for the position of the commander of the navy, he was taken over by the current deputy commander of the navy, Niu Qingyuan, the great leader of Shangchuan Island that year.

This time, the battle between the two sides was more fierce than before, and Tian Wuji's strategy was to fight a war of attrition, and the comparison was not the military strength of the two sides on the battlefield, but the comprehensive national strength.

But now that Yan Guo has been recuperating for ten years, if he fights a war of attrition again, even if he and Jiang Wushuang pass away, this war will not be finished, so he will use strong offensive methods from the beginning. Yan State is not as good as Chu State, there are only 300,000 people with armor in the country, Tian Wuji believes that in the face of his stormy attack, Yan State will not be able to support it for a few years.

Sure enough, just three months after the war began, the number of dead on both sides had already exceeded 50,000.

Just when the battle between the two sides was escalating, Deng Yuanjue, the king of Wei and the general of the Song State, led an army of 100,000 out of Jingzhou, bypassed Jizhou, and attacked Guangyuan City on the border of Chu and Yan.

Guangyuan City was defenseless and defenseless, and the only 5,000 city defense troops in the city resisted for only half a day, and they were killed by the pioneer Zhou Yunjing, and even Wang Ling's head was cut off by Deng Wenjie, who had been a hostage for seven years.

If in the face of Tian Wuji and Sun Zhongmou's 200,000 army, Zhu Tingxun still has the confidence to be able to resist it, then Deng Yuanjue's 100,000 army is a sharp knife that crushes his confidence.

In a panic, he sent people to Guangyuan City and Jianye City respectively to question Xiao Yan and Deng Yuanjue: "Yan and Song are allies, why did Deng Yuanjue treacherously send troops to attack him, and also killed Taishou Wang Ling and occupied the city?" ”

Xiao Yan could only smile bitterly when he saw the envoy of Yan State, on the one hand, he reiterated that the alliance between Song and Yan would not change, and on the other hand, he also sent an envoy to Guangyuan, asking Deng Yuanjue to return the city and give Yan a reasonable explanation.

The envoy of Yan State who went to Guangyuan City was not so smooth, not to mention Deng Yuanjue himself, even generals like Zhou Yunjing and Deng Wenjie did not see him, and it was only Chen Zhengquan, the newly appointed Guangyuan Taishou Chen Zhengquan appointed by Deng Yuanjue, who received him.

Although Chen Zhengquan was unusually polite, he made it clear that he had just been transferred from Jingzhou and did not know anything about the decision of the King of Wei, so he asked the envoy to stay in peace first, and then receive him when the King of Wei was free.

The envoy had no choice but to accept it, but how did he know that the reason why Chen Zhengquan would stabilize him was because Deng Yuanjue sent Zhou Yunjing and Deng Wenjie soldiers to attack Liping City in two ways.

It wasn't until Lipingcheng was defeated by Deng Yuanjue that the envoys of Yan State found out that they had fallen into a big trap, so they had to flee back to Anyang first to report to Zhu Tingxun.

At this point, no matter how much Xiao Yan emphasized the alliance between the two countries, Zhu Tingxun didn't dare to believe it anymore. Although he knew that the relationship between Deng Yuanjue and Xiao Yan was very delicate, who would dare to guarantee that this was not between the two, and after the annexation of the Chu State, the Song State didn't want to eat the Yan State again?

"Your Majesty, regardless of whether Emperor Song Xiao Yan's words are true or not, we have to send someone to Fuquan City to garrison it as soon as possible. If Fuquan is breached, only Liuzhou and our capital Anyang will be left. Prime Minister Zhu Yingyu admonished.

"The general and the general have gone to the front line, Prime Minister, is there anyone else you can recommend to resist Deng Yuanjue?" Zhu Tingxun couldn't help but have a headache when he mentioned this name.

Zhu Yingyu said: "I can order Zhu Zuoshen, the general of the Fu army, to be the commander and lead his troops to block the Song army in Fuquan." ”

Yan is different from the Song State, the Song State is controlled by the family, and the Yan State is the royal family, although there are also big families like the Ning family in the court, but their forces are in the army, and they are not like Deng Yuanjue who controls the army of the whole country, the Ning family only controls the troops in the Dongchuan area of Yan State and the water army of Penglai.

In contrast, in addition to the Zhu family itself, Prime Minister Zhu Yingyu and Fujun General Zhu Zuoshen are both nephews of Zhu Tingxun, and there are also a large number of middle-level and above officials in the army and the court who are promoted by the Zhu family themselves.

Zhu Tingxun's face was worried: "It may be okay to deal with others Zhu Zuoshen, but I am afraid that there is no chance of winning in the face of Deng Yuanjue." ”

Zhu Yingyu persuaded again: "If Your Majesty has to find someone who can match Deng Yuanjue, I am afraid that you will not be able to find it if you search the entire Dayan." Chen also knew that General Fu Jun was not an opponent of the enemy army, but at the moment he was the most suitable person. ”

"Then according to the prime minister, give an order to General Fujun to let him lead his troops to Fuquan." Zhu Tingxun had no choice but to agree.

Ning Zefeng, who had not spoken on the side, spoke: "Your Majesty, last time the Chu State was also destroyed by the armies of Qi and Song, on the surface, it seems that they are repeating their old tricks this time, but in fact it is not that simple. Deng Yuanjue's sudden sneak attack on us may be just the beginning, and there will definitely be more means that we can't think of in the future. ”

Ning Zefeng is the deputy sect master of the Ghost Shadow Sect, and he is also the intelligence leader in charge of Yan Guo's external affairs, so whenever there is a war, he also goes to the court to observe.

Zhu Yingyu reacted: "Sect Master Ning is saying that the Qi Congress sent a naval army to attack Penglai?" ”

Ning Zefeng nodded: "The minister got the information, and the State of Qi reappointed Jiang Huanyan as the commander of the water army, he has been reorganizing the army in Jiaozhou recently, once he leads the army to attack, we are surrounded by enemies, and the situation is even more dangerous than that of the Chu State that day." ”

After the last naval battle, the whole court of Yan knew Jiang Huanyan's strength, and he was known as the first person in naval warfare overseas. If he led the army to come again, then the Yan Kingdom would face the number one general in the world and the first person in naval warfare at the same time, which was something that the other four countries on the continent had never faced.

Zhu Yingyu thought for a while and asked, "It seems that Sect Master Ning has been paying attention to Jiang Huanyan's movements, and there must be a way to deal with it, so you might as well speak it out and listen to it." ”

"If you talk about naval warfare, none of the four countries on our continent is the opponent of the Qi State Naval Army, but the Qi State Naval Army is not the first in the world, at least there is one force that can fight him, that is, the Tianluo Sect located in the Ryukyu Islands." Ever since the Yan and Song alliances broke up, Ning Zefeng had been thinking about who else could help Yan Guo.

In the past ten years, Yan Guo has vigorously developed maritime trade, and he is in charge of the intelligence department of the entire country, although Ning Buqu has never revealed to him about Shi Luosheng, but he can also conclude that his son's relationship with this force is not ordinary, as long as Ning Buqu is willing to come forward, Yan Guo may be able to reach a new alliance with the Tianluo Sect.

"Tianluo Sect? Is it the sect that has taken advantage of the chaos to integrate the southwest region of Chu in the past few years? I heard that their leader is called Shi Pre, it seems that he is from the Song Kingdom, will it have anything to do with Xiao Yan and Deng Yuanjue? "Dongchuan, which is adjacent to the Tianluo Sect, is the territory of the Yan Kingdom, so Zhu Tingxun pays more attention to the Tianluo Sect than other countries.

Although Shi Yu served as a staff member in Deng Yuanjue's army, he was not well-known, not to mention that he was still a literati, how could he subdue so many masters of the rivers and lakes? Even when Deng Yuanjue heard Shi Yu's name, he thought it was just a guy with the same name.

"Yes, the minister wants to ask for a trip to Rongcheng, the Song State has reneged on the alliance, we must find a new ally, although the power of the Tianluo Sect in the mainland is not large, but it cannot be underestimated overseas, if they can agree to the alliance, then at least in terms of naval warfare and strategic materials can provide us with some help." Ning Zefeng has always wanted to meet this mysterious sect.

"Sect Master Ning only thinks about what they can provide us after forming an alliance, but what can we provide to others now?" Zhu Tingxun thought one step deeper.

"Of course the minister has thought about this problem, the Tianluo Sect has always been developing overseas, and suddenly came to the mainland a few years ago, with obvious intentions, just to take advantage of the chaos in the world to get a piece of the pie. Qi and Song are so strong now, and they dare to come, which is enough to show that they are not afraid of these two countries. If they are willing to promise to help us snipe Jiang Huanyan at sea and provide us with material help during the war, then we can even cede Dongchuan to them. Ning Buqu gave his own advice.

Hearing that Ning Zefeng said that he wanted to cede Dongchuan, everyone present was angry at first, how could the national territory be ceded if it was ceded. But on second thought, ceding Dongchuan is indeed a good move. After Dongchuan was ceded to the Tianluo Sect, in the future, Sun Zhongmou's Qi army in Hanzhong could also be handed over to them to deal with, and Ning Zeping's 80,000 army could withdraw back to deal with Deng Yuanjue.

This seems to have lost a large piece of territory, but in fact it has abandoned a bottomless pit, saved a lot of military spending, and at the same time attracted a strong ally.

"What do you think, Prime Minister?" After all, it involves land cutting, although Zhu Tingxun agrees with it in his heart, as an emperor, if he says it from his mouth in person, it will inevitably be remembered by the historian.

How could Zhu Yingyu not know his intentions: "The minister thinks that Sect Master Ning's suggestion can be tried, and Dongchuan's handover to the Tianluo Sect can also allow us to better concentrate on dealing with the other two armies." ”

"Do others still disagree?" Zhu Tingxun saw that the prime minister agreed, and asked the other ministers present.

Everyone present is a human spirit, seeing that His Majesty did not object, and the prime minister took the lead in agreeing, even if they have different opinions, who dares to say it?

Seeing that everyone agreed, Zhu Tingxun said: "Since everyone agrees, then send Sect Master Ning to Rongcheng to discuss the alliance with the Tianluo Sect." ”

Although the Tianluo Sect is divided into one side, it is only a Jianghu sect on the surface, and Ning Zefeng's external identity is also the deputy sect leader of the Ghost Shadow Sect, and if he is sent forward, even if he can't negotiate in the end, he will not lose the face of the country.

"Sect Master, Ning Zefeng of the Ghost Shadow Sect came to the door to ask to see him, if it is inconvenient for you to see him, I will come forward and send him away." Hidden Star Sect Sect Master Yang Yi considered that Shi Luosheng's identity had not yet been disclosed, so he had this proposal.

"Our Tianluo Sect has no contact with the Ghost Shadow Sect, Ning Zefeng suddenly came to the door, I'm afraid it's not for the affairs of the rivers and lakes, is it for the Yan Kingdom?" Wang Lun guessed Ning Zefeng's intention after a little thought.