After Liu Heng, the emperor of the Great Jin Dynasty, was poisoned to death by his mother, he sent someone to send the bad news to Chengyin City in Gui'an County, Qianzhou, and informed Liu Ji and Liu Qingmei, the princess of Xiangcheng.

However, Liu Heng did not expect Liu Ji to bring troops to the capital to avenge his mother, after all, now Liu Ji is leading the broken army under his command to fight against the millions of allied forces of the four major powers in the Western Regions, and it is impossible to send a large number of troops to Canglong City at this time.

Moreover, Liu Heng believes that in the face of the coalition of the four great powers in the Western Regions this time, Liu Ji's broken army should not be able to bear it, you must know that each of the four major powers in the Western Regions is not weaker than the strength of the Great Jin, and the national strength of the Great Wan Kingdom is even much higher than that of the Great Jin Kingdom.

As for what Liu Du, the governor of Qinzhou, said about the other force that can confront the Thirteenth Family, that is, the Suzhou Xiang Army, which was adapted from the Red Turban Army, Liu Heng does not think that he can stand on his side.

Liu Du, the governor of Qinzhou, immediately said to Liu Heng in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, although we can't count on the broken army under the command of General Liu Ji for the time being, but the Suzhou Xiang Army may not be able to be used by the emperor, you must know that the Suzhou Xiang Army was a rebel army before, if they can become the emperor's cronies of the army, their identity will immediately change differently, and I believe that the Suzhou Xiang Army will also be willing to be loyal to the emperor." ”

Zhou Qingyao, the waiter of the Ministry of Rites, frowned and asked Liu Du, the governor of Qinzhou: "What does Lord Liu Du mean, is it to mobilize the Suzhou Xiang army into the capital?" ”

Qinzhou Prefecture Mu Liu Du nodded and said: "If the emperor wants to deal with the Thirteenth Family, he must get the help of the Broken Army or the Suzhou Xiang Army. ”

Liu Heng pondered for a moment, gritted his teeth and said: "Immediately contact Zhang Mingqi, the governor of Suzhou, as long as Zhang Mingqi can exterminate the thirteenth family, I can hand over the position of the captain of the military department to him!" ”

Zhou Qingyao, the waiter of the Ministry of Rites, felt very inappropriate about the transfer of the Suzhou Xiang army into the capital, but when he saw Emperor Liu Heng's tearful face, he opened his mouth and did not say anything to stop it.

However, Liu Chong, the governor of Qianzhou, frowned and said: "The predecessor of the Suzhou Xiang Army, after all, is the Red Turban Army that rebelled against the imperial court. ”

Liu Heng, the emperor of the Great Jin Dynasty, said categorically: "In order to avenge the queen mother, it is worth taking some risks, and the matter is so decided." ”

After a pause, Liu Heng said to the three state pastors: "The army of the three of you must find a reason to stay on the outskirts of the capital, if the Suzhou army is unwilling to obey my will, then the army of the three of you is the main force for me to eradicate the thirteenth family." ”

In the palace of Mengyuan City, the capital of the Lu State, which is thousands of miles away from Canglong City, a man in black said to Jiang Sheng, the emperor of the Lu State, in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, our operation in the Jin State has been successful, and the Empress Dowager Zhou who listened to the government in the Jin State has been poisoned by our Black Butterfly people, presumably the situation in the Jin court will be chaotic for a while." ”

Lu is currently the largest power in the East, Lu has 49 large and small states, and the land area is equivalent to the sum of the Jin State plus the Zhou State in the southwest of the Jin State.

Black Butterfly is an intelligence collection agency in Lu State, the emperor of Lu State Jiang Sheng specially ordered it to be in charge of the prison, giving it the right to patrol and arrest, as well as engage in reconnaissance, arrest, interrogation and other activities, and also participate in the collection of military information, rebellion or assassination of enemy generals, etc., many people in surrounding countries heard the name of Black Butterfly and changed color, even the people of Lu are very afraid of Black Butterfly.

And the man in black who talked to Jiang Sheng, the emperor of Lu State, is the biggest leader within Black Butterfly, Zhang Xiang, the commander of Black Butterfly, Zhang Xiang is also one of the most trusted people of Jiang Sheng, Emperor of Lu State.

Jiang Sheng nodded and said: "Originally, I was going to take advantage of the rebellion in the seven southeastern states of the Jin State to annex the Jiao State, the Xun State, the Gu State and the Lai State, the four subject states of the Jin State, but I didn't expect the Jin State to put down this rebellion so quickly, and now that the Empress Dowager of the Jin State has been poisoned, presumably the power struggle within the Jin State will be very fierce, and the Jin State should not have the energy to take care of the affairs of Jiao State, Xun State, Gu State and Lai State." ”

It turned out that the mastermind behind the poisoning of the Empress Dowager Zhou of the Great Jin Dynasty turned out to be Jiang Sheng, the emperor of the Lu State, and the Emperor Jiang Sheng of the Lu State instructed the Black Butterfly to poison the Empress Dowager Zhou in order to make the court of the Jin State chaotic, so that the Lu State could wave its troops to seize the Jiao State, the Xun State, the Gu State and the Lai State, the four nominal Jin vassal states.

Jiang Sheng, the emperor of the Lu state, was worried that after the Lu army invaded the Jiao state, the Xun state, the Gu state, and the Lai state, the Jin state, as the suzerain, would send troops to intervene, in which case, the Lu state would have to pay a greater price if it wanted to annex the above four countries.

Jiao, Xun, Gu and Lai are all located between Jin and Lu, Jiao has three states, Xun and Gu have two states, and the weakest Lai has one state, the four countries add up, with an army of about 2.5 million, although Lu has strong military strength, but it is not easy to annex these four countries, if Jin also sends troops to participate, then it is even more difficult for Lu to annex Jiao, Xun, Gu and Lai.

When Jiang Sheng inherited the throne of Lu more than 30 years ago, the land area of Lu was equivalent to half the size of Qianzhou of the Jin Kingdom, but more than 30 years later, Lu has become the first power in the East, and the land area is the largest among the Eastern countries.

Although the state of Lu has become the first power in the East under the rule of Jiang Sheng, Jiang Sheng is still not satisfied with this, Jiang Sheng has an ambition in his heart, that is, he can become the emperor of the entire East in his lifetime, and the annexation of Jiao, Xun, Gu and Lai is an important step for Jiang Sheng to achieve his ambition.

If the Lu State succeeds in annexing the Jiao State, the Xun State, the Gu State, and the Lai State, Jiang Sheng can then hit the Jin State with his idea.

Zhang Xiang immediately said: "Your Majesty, rest assured, if the Jin Kingdom does not become chaotic, our Black Butterfly has other ways, and we will definitely not let the Jin Kingdom delay our Dalu's annexation of Jiao State, Xun State, Gu State and Lai State." ”

"The poisoning of the Empress Dowager of the Jin Kingdom did not leave any hidden dangers, right? We must not let the people of the Jin Kingdom suspect the head of our Dalu Kingdom! Jiang Sheng asked Zhang Xiang.

"Your Majesty, rest assured, the person who did it was the chess piece that our Black Butterfly planted in the Jin Kingdom Palace many years ago, and now that chess piece has committed suicide by poisoning after completing the task, and the personnel related to the chess pieces have already been dealt with, and the people of the Jin Kingdom will never find out the truth!" Zhang Xiang said confidently.

Jiang Sheng, the emperor of the Lu State, asked again: "By the way, what is the current situation in the Zhou State?" ”

Zhang Xiang replied: "Your Majesty, the territory of Zhou can be described as full of troubled people, almost one-third of the twenty-two states of Zhou have fallen into the hands of the troubled people, presumably there is no need for our Black Butterfly to do anything, and Zhou has no power to interfere in the affairs of neighboring countries." ”

There were Jiao, Xun, Gu and Lai between Jin and Lu, and there were also two states between Zhou and Lu, namely Mu and Bai.

Mu Guo and Bai Guo, and even Zhou Guo, Jiang Sheng are also ambitious.

Jiang Sheng pondered for a while and said: "The strength of Mu and Bai is much stronger than Jiao, Xun, Gu and Lai, Mu has the land of five states, and the army is about 1.3 million, and Bai has the land of four states, and the army is more than one million, and the rice must be eaten one bite at a time, and the annexation of Mu and Bai will not be considered for the time being, and then our Dalu target Jiao State, Xun State, Gu State and Lai State, only by annexing these four countries, can we make other plans." ”

Black Butterfly Commander Zhang Xiang nodded and said: "Your Majesty is right, there is no hurry to annex Mu and Bai, the first thing we need to do in Dalu is to eat the eight states of Jiao, Xun, Gu and Lai. ”

Jiang Sheng then asked Zhang Xiang again: "By the way, how is the war between the four great powers of the Western Regions and the Western Regions of the Jin State and the Western Regions Protectorate?" It doesn't matter if the Protectorate of the Western Regions is captured by the four great powers of the Western Regions, but I don't want the four great powers of the Western Regions to divide up the Jin Kingdom, but I regard the twenty-four states of the Jin Kingdom as my meal! ”

Zhang Xiang said: "Your Majesty, Liu Ji, the general of the Jin State who controls the Western Regions Protectorate and the Beiting Protectorate, has now taken the army under his command to kill the Western Regions Protectorate and enter the three provinces controlled by Gaochang State, and in the territory of these three provinces, the alliance forces of the four major powers in the Western Regions have launched a fierce battle, according to the information we have obtained so far, the Broken Army under Liu Ji is not too obvious on the battlefield in the face of the coalition forces of the four major powers in the Western Regions, and it is not very clear who wins and who loses in this war. Maybe the broken army under Liu Ji will create a miracle! ”

Jiang Sheng touched his chin and said: "That captured general Liu Ji, you Black Butterfly must pay more attention in the future, you can lay down a Western Regions Protectorate for the Jin Kingdom, and a famous Jin State General who can defeat the Beiting Metropolitan Protectorate, maybe it will become an obstacle for our Dalu to annex the Jin Kingdom in the future, if Liu Ji can survive the four major powers of the Western Regions this time, you Black Butterfly will need to formulate a plan to assassinate Liu Ji." ”

Zhang Xiang nodded and said, "Yes, Your Majesty!" In the future, the subordinates will strengthen the strength of our Black Butterfly in the Western Regions Protectorate and the Beiting Protectorate of the Jin Kingdom, and if necessary, they will definitely eradicate the captured general Liu Ji! ”

"Next, the focus of Black Butterfly is still on Jiao State, Xun Country, Gu Country and Lai State, whether our Dalu can quickly capture these four countries, your Black Butterfly intelligence is very important."

"Please rest assured that Black Butterfly will never live up to Your Majesty's trust!"

After Black Butterfly commanded Zhang Xiang to leave the palace, Jiang Sheng, the emperor of the Lu State, summoned Liu Mian, the captain of the military department, into the palace.

There is almost no difference between the people of Lu and the people of the Jin State, whether it is language, culture and living habits, almost all of them are almost the same, but there are only slight regional differences, the administrative system of the Lu State is almost copied from the Jin State, and the entire Lu State court is also divided into six departments, namely the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Officials, the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of Punishment, the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Households, Taiwei is the highest official in each department, under Taiwei is Shangshu, and under Shangshu is Shilang.

After Liu Mian, the captain of the Lu State Military Department, entered the palace, he said to Emperor Jiang Sheng: "Your Majesty, now our Dalu has gathered a total of eight army corps on the border of Jiaoguo, Xun State, Gu State and Lai State, of which the Seventh, Eleventh and Twelfth Army Corps are arranged on the border of Jiao State, the Eighth Army Corps and the Thirteenth Army Corps are arranged on the border of Xun State, the Ninth Army Corps and the Fourteenth Army Corps are arranged on the border of Gu State, and the Tenth Army Corps is arranged on the border of Lai State. ”

The military system of the Lu State is similar to that of the Jin State, five people are a team, ten people are a tithe, fifty people are a team, one hundred people are a tun and two hundred people are a song, a thousand people are a group, three thousand people are a battalion, five battalions are a brigade, and five brigades are a guard, but Lu is above the guard, and there is a larger establishment, that is, the establishment of the legion, and each legion can have a number of guards.

At present, there are a total of 26 legions in the entire Lu country, of which the top 10 legions can be described as the main legions, each main army has six guards, with a total strength of 450,000, and the remaining sixteen legions have four guards, with a total strength of 300,000.

Not counting some of the local garrison troops of the Lu State, the 22 regiments of the regular army of the Lu State alone have more than 9 million troops.

Emperor Jiang Sheng immediately asked Liu Mian, the chief lieutenant of the military department, "How many auxiliary soldiers are temporarily recruited?" ”

Liu Mian, the captain of the military department, said: "Your Majesty, in order to capture Jiaoguo, Xunguo, Guguo and Laiguo this time, in addition to the troops of the eight legions, our military department has also recruited 1.8 million young men to serve as auxiliaries. ”

Emperor Jiang Sheng pondered for a while and said: "The armies of Jiaoguo, Xunguo, Gu and Lai Guo combined, although there are only 2.5 million troops, but after the start of the war, these four countries must not be willing to be captured, and it is very likely to recruit a large number of young people to join the army, so that the army of our Dalu State will face more enemies, and it is not enough to only have 1.8 million auxiliaries as reserves, I think we can transfer two more legions or three legions to the border with Jiao, Xun, Gu and Lai." ”

Liu Mian, the captain of the military department, immediately nodded and said: "Your Majesty is wise, and the minister thinks that the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth legions can be sent to the border with Jiaoguo, Xunguo, Guguo, and Laiguo as the reserve of the eight main attack corps. ”

Emperor Jiang Sheng said: "Today is the 8th of July, and I hope that on the 8th of August, the iron hooves of our Dalu Kingdom will be able to step into the land of Jiao State, Xun State, Gu Country and Lai State. ”

Liu Mian, the captain of the military department, thought for a moment and said: "Your Majesty, rest assured, there is one month, which is enough for us to complete all the pre-war preparations, and August 8 is the day when the army of our Dalu State will attack Jiao State, Xun State, Gu State and Lai State in an all-round way." ”