The Seven Princes didn't expect Zeng Fangzhou to not express any opinions, but let himself have an idea, this is the first time, whenever he encountered anything before, he would point fingers and get involved, even the women who followed him, many of them were also arranged by him, and not expressing his opinions made the Seven Princes feel very strange.

The Seventh Prince hesitated for a moment, and then said: "Lord Shangshu, I am ready to gather troops to attack Jinning City, and the south of the Xinguo is basically pacified, I think it's time to show my strength, and let the young people who have other ideas know that the south is already my world!"

Zeng Fangzhou's old god was there, and he didn't express any opinions.

Seeing this, the Seventh Prince didn't say anything more, he thought in his heart that it was time for him to handle affairs on his own as he got older, and he didn't like to be criticized, so it was much easier.

The Seventh Prince said: "Since Lord Shangshu has no objection, then His Royal Highness will send troops to attack Jinning City on the same day." ”

After Zeng Fangzhou left, the Seven Princes sent someone to summon Zhang San and Li Shi.

"The two of you were supposed to be the city lords of Yuanwang City or Black Sheep City, but since Chu Jing refused to give it, I didn't want it anymore, now there is an excellent opportunity, the former dynasty of Jinning City, the Xiao family, did not respect my orders, and now I am ready to send troops to attack him. I will give you an army of 100,000 people, whoever captures Jinning City will be the lord of Jinning City. ”

Zhang San and Li Xian were overjoyed, Yuanwang City and Black Sheep City were just small cities compared to Jinning City, and the prosperity of Jinning City was no less than that of Xinyang City, the capital of Xinguo.

It's a fat, oily errand, and both of them want to fight for it.

It's just that......

Li Xian hesitated, but still said what he thought in his heart, "Your Highness, the Xiao family has occupied Jinning City for a long time, and it has been built like an iron bucket, and there are 100,000 defenders in the city, not to mention that the Xiao family also has family members and guards, and there are many masters, and 100,000 soldiers are far from being able to attack." ”

The Seventh Prince's face changed, and he said in a deep voice: "How many people are there in Chu Jing of Renjin City, the army left at that time was only 50,000, not only successfully defended Renjin City under the 300,000 army of the Great Prince, but also sent troops to conquer the two cities of Yuanwang and Heiyang, and besides, I will give you 100,000, not to say that you will not be allowed to cooperate, as long as you capture Jinning City, according to the size of the merit, I will naturally give you the reward you deserve." ”

Li Shi slurred: "Two hundred thousand...... It's not enough......"

Zhang San tugged at Li Shi's clothes slightly from the side, but this sentence still came out of his mouth.

The Seven Princes were furious, if it weren't for the selfishness of the city lords who refused to sacrifice bigger soldiers, how could he only make up 200,000, and the defenders of each city were more and less, and the number would not exceed 100,000, and the few were only 30,000 or 40,000.

At most, a third of the army will be assigned to the Seven Princes, and any more will damage the control of Dao's own city.

"These 200,000 are the advance troops, if you really have the talent of a general, these are enough for you, if not, I will personally lead the army to attack Jinning City. ”

The Seventh Prince threw off his sleeves and left directly, not wanting to see the two who were picky and incompetent.

Zhang San and Li Shi walked out together, now is not the time to fight for power and profit, they need to think about how to take Jinning City, otherwise the position of city lord is still the Xiao family.

"Brother Li, you shouldn't refute Your Highness to your face. Zhang San said.

Li Xi patted his head and said, "I'm also confused, but this capture of Jinning City with 200,000 is really not within the scope of our ability, and I'm not worried about being punished." ”

Zhang San also sighed helplessly, and said: "Don't look at the fact that there is a day to cut off the north and south of the country, the Seven Princes are like a fish in water in the south, in fact, which of those city lords does not have their own careful thoughts." The eldest prince can be said to be justifiable, even if some people don't admit it, he is also the prince of the prison country after all, and then look at the three princes, brave and strategic, after the battle that approached Xinyang City, his prestige increased greatly, and many city lords are actually more optimistic about a prince who can fight on the throne, so as to bring more benefits to Xinguo, and they can also benefit. ”

"The Seven Princes can only be regarded as lucky, there are many old ministers around them, and most of the city lords also trust the eyes of those old foxes, but unfortunately, the Seven Princes themselves don't seem to have the ability to achieve great things. ”

Li Shi said, "Brother Zhang, what do you think...... How many more men can the Seven Princes borrow?"

Zhang San thought for a while, "It's difficult, the south is close to the sea, there are few soldiers who need to be garrisoned, and the city lords are selfish, it's really hard to say." If you don't count the recruits, 100,000 is already the limit. ”

The two talked to each other for a long time, and even finally came to Li Shi's mansion and left very late.

The task of attacking Jinning City gave them great pressure, and the battle of the city lord was no longer so important.

Three days later, Zhang San and Li Xian, with 100,000 troops, divided into two routes, and stationed in Luyao City on the south side of Jinning City and Wanggui City on the west side of Jinning City.

These two cities are not very large, and the two city lords have long been attached to the Seven Princes.

Zhang San saw the city lord of Lu Yao City, a fat man with a big belly, and began to sweat on his forehead when he walked for a while, which was a rare city lord who was not a warrior.

"I am General Zhang San, who came to attack Jinning City on the order of the Seventh Prince, please forgive me for taking the liberty of disturbing me. ”

The city lord of Lu Yao City hurriedly replied: "Don't be presumptuous, don't be presumptuous, but the city lord can't meet him from afar, and I ask the general to bear with me." ”

He asked again: "I don't know what the general is going to Jinning City and running to a small city?"

Zhang San said: "General Ben naturally wants to go to Jinning City, but the army is tired from the journey and needs to rest, so he came to disturb the city lord." ”

The city lord of Lu Yao City frowned, even if he was unwilling to do a hundred in his heart, he didn't dare to offend the Seven Princes, after all, 100,000 troops had already come to the city, and in a small city like Lu Yao City, there were only 30,000 miscellaneous troops in the city, and he really couldn't defend it.

The city lord wiped the sweat from his forehead and hesitated: "It's not that I don't want the general's team to enter the city, it's just that Lu Yao City is too small to accommodate 100,000 soldiers......

Zhang San threatened: "Jinning City rebelled against the Seventh Prince, and you are on his south side, do you think you can be spared? I helped you defend the city, not only did you not thank you, but you even dared to refuse, do you look down on me?"

The fat on Lu Yaocheng's face trembled, and he suddenly took a step back, pointed at Zhang San, and said, "Is this what the Seventh Prince meant?

Zhang San frowned, but if he wanted to take Jinning City, he had to seize the rights of Lu Yao City.

"Yes, this is what the Seven Princes mean, in order to capture Jinning City, I decided to temporarily take over the military command of Lu Yao City. ”

Zhang San glared at the city lord of Lu Yao City hard, scaring him into a wrong step and falling to the ground.

An army of 100,000 swaggered into Luyao City and began to prepare various siege equipment and strategic plans.

The situation on the other side is not much different, Li Xi also seized the power of Wanggui City by strong means, and the two cities became horns of each other, besieging Jinning City.

Jinning City's side had also received information a long time ago, but Xiao Jing was not nervous at all.

"Just 200,000 people want to take my Jinning City? The little Renjin City can resist the 300,000 of the Great Prince with 50,000 people, and it is too much to look down on my Jinning City. ”

Xiao Qianfan said disdainfully: "It's not that the Seventh Prince looks down on my Xiao family, it's that he can't get together more soldiers at all, and the Seventh Prince, who has no foundation, really thinks that he can gain a foothold in the south." ”

Xiao Qianfan said it well, the Seventh Prince is young after all, the youngest among the princes, which is also favored by Shangguan Xiaobai, and the younger is easier to control.

However, this is precisely what he is sure of, there are too few people to communicate with, and there is a generation gap with the middle-aged city lord, young and vigorous, and it is difficult to get their full support.

There is another important reason, the Seven Princes did not draw a large enough and beautiful enough cake, and did not promise too many benefits, so naturally they would not let those city lords take out their own soldiers to serve him.

Xiao Yuning was not as calm as Xiao Jing and Xiao Qianfan, she said in a deep voice: "Jinning City is not only as simple as winning this time, but also creating the illusion that the princes are vulnerable, so that the ambitious city lord can stand up early, only in this way can our Xiao family have a chance to re-establish the Liang Kingdom." ”

Xiao Qianfan said dissatisfiedly: "Why let them stand up first, in my opinion, as long as we raise the banner and raise our arms, there will naturally be many city lords who respond, there is no need to be so troublesome." ”

Xiao Jing glared at Xiao Qianfan fiercely, and shouted: "Give me a clear consideration before I express my opinion! We can still compete with one or two of the Seven Princes, but there are also the eldest prince, the second prince, and the third prince, and their army is much more than that of the Seventh Prince, do you want them to unite to attack our Xiao family together? No matter how the prince fights, it is only an internal struggle between the royal family, but what are we, raising the flag of rebellion, this is a rebellion! It is a foreign enemy! They would rather give up the struggle for the throne than give up the country to people outside the royal family. ”

After Xiao Jing's preaching, Xiao Qianfan also realized his mistake, bowed his head and did not dare to speak again.

Xiao Jing looked at Xiao Yuning and said, "Tell me your opinion." ”

Xiao Yuning walked to the table, put a map away, pointed to it and said: "This is the route of the Seven Princes' troops, one is going to Luyao City, and the other is going to Wanggui City, the intention is obvious, ready to put pressure on the people of Jinning City, let us rout from the inside." ”

This way is just like Chu Jing just arrived in Renjin City, at that time, because of the threat of the eldest prince, the seven princes built a pass in the south, and more importantly, Renjin City could not give up, it had to be defended, and the people in the city could not see hope at that time, so they all left their homes and fled.

Zhang San and Li Xi want to achieve this effect, the two nearby cities have hoarded a large number of soldiers, and there is a possibility of attacking the city at any time, and it will not be long before Jinning City will become disheartened and begin to flee one after another.

Xiao Jing asked, "Since you know what they think, do you have a way to deal with it?"

Xiao Yuning said: "It's difficult, but it's not impossible to implement, there are several ways, and the best strategy is to be like Renjin City, we close the city gates, strictly manage them, and find things for everyone to do, so that they can't be idle, and they don't have time to be afraid and make trouble." ”

Xiao Jing shook his head, "This is not good, the magnates of Jinning City are all related to the Xiao family, and we will not be able to do without their support in the future, so we can't be too harsh on them." ”

Xiao Yuning said again: "The middle strategy is to take advantage of the fact that the forces of the Seven Princes are scattered now, and they have just entered a city, which will definitely cause resistance from the people in the city, and most of the soldiers still need to be stationed outside the city, we can take this opportunity to kill them and consume their troops." ”

Luyao City and Wanggui City are both small cities, and 100,000 soldiers want to enter the city entirely, unless the people's rooms are vacated, it is unrealistic, and they must still set up barracks outside the city.

Xiao Yuning hoped that taking advantage of the scattered forces of the other party and the weak defense, he could kill and injure some soldiers outside the city and reduce the pressure on Jinning City.

Xiao Jing thought for a while, but still shook his head, "The excuse for our Xiao family not to belong to the Seven Princes is that we are loyal to the country, not individuals, and I am the King of Shunping, and the official rank is much greater than that of the prince, which is more reasonable, but taking the initiative to send troops to attack the city of the Seven Princes, this is not in accordance with the rules, inappropriate, inappropriate." ”

Xiao Yuning's two strategies in a row were denied, and she was not annoyed, in fact, this was conceivable in between, but she still felt that it was better to put it forward for reference, after all, the Xiao family was Xiao Jing's master, and many confidential things were only known to him.

Xiao Yuning said: "This last resort is to close the city gate, our Xiao family has accumulated a lot of wealth over the centuries, those merchants and ordinary people who come and go, we can compensate according to the price, I think the Seven Princes will not waste a lot of time on us, and we can't find an opportunity to take the initiative." ”

Xiao Jing nodded approvingly.

Xiao Qianfan suddenly interjected full of doubts: "But...... Didn't you just say that you want to win the beauty, and we are defending behind closed doors, how can we let other people take the lead in rebellion?"

Xiao Yuning explained: "On the battlefield, it is changing rapidly, we close the city gate, waiting for the opportunity, if we can bury 200,000 soldiers under the city of Jinning City, then, the Seven Princes will definitely no longer be able to control those city lords who are attached to him, when the time comes, we can find an opportunity, whether it is discord or discord, or whether it is a beauty trick, in short, to provoke the relationship between the Seven Princes and the various city lords, someone will respond soon." ”

Xiao Jing said with a smile: "The Seventh Prince is greedy for beauty, and he even brings a lot of beauties when he goes out, maybe the beauty plan is the best." ”

Xiao Qianfan also smiled awkwardly, he found that this Xiao family is no different from him, anyway, it is Xiao Yuning who has ideas, and he has secretly hated his sister in his heart.

......

......

It is said that the Seven Princes' side has begun to be in the category of soldiers, and it is impossible for soldiers to be brought to the battlefield without training, and their legs will be weak when they see blood, and they will even scream and flee in fear, which is likely to seriously damage morale and lead to defeat without a fight.

The Seven Princes could only continue to fight the problem of the source of troops on those city lords, and their soldiers may not have been on the battlefield either, but after all, they were trained, and it was much better than being recruited temporarily.

The eyes of the Seven Princes were the first to focus on Tiannan Mansion, this city originally had 100,000 soldiers, and after giving 30,000 to the Seven Princes, there were still 70,000, which was much more than most cities.

Tien Nam Province.

It took several days for the Seventh Prince to rush to Tiannan Mansion in person, but after seeing the City Lord of Tiannan Mansion, he was immediately angry.

"What? can't you give it? Zeven, what do you mean?"

Zewen is the name of the city lord of Tiannan Mansion, and he also has a nephew named Zhou Youfu, who was killed by Shen Xiaoye with a sword, but this matter is not over in the end, after all, Shen Xiaoye has a father who is one of the most powerful masters in the country.

The face of the city lord of Tiannan Mansion remained unchanged, and he said indifferently: "The current situation of Tiannan Mansion has been seen long ago when the Seven Princes entered the city, many overseas people came to Tiannan Mansion to trade, these people are not polite and barbarian, and now many of the soldiers guarding the city have gone to the streets to maintain order, shouting all day long and tired, but they also have to put the people first. ”

"Besides, the reason why Tiannan Mansion is guarded by 100,000 soldiers is not only because it is the largest city in the south, but also because it has to guard against people from overseas. In the past, there was not much contact with us overseas, and the number of soldiers on defense has not decreased, but now overseas people still go up to land to trade, but 100,000 defenses are distributed to His Highness 30,000, do you think I can give it to you again?"

The city lord of Tiannan Mansion was reasonable, leaving the Seven Princes speechless, and in fact, it was also true.

Overseas is not as peaceful as imagined, it is said that 5,000 years ago, the ultimate king took many gods and swept away all the major alien races, and many alien races were wiped out before they could escape, but there were still a small number of people who went overseas by boat and never returned.

Even if humans later moved to overseas islands, they were never seen.

It is said that the Ultimate King left the Divine Continent to go to sea in order to find the whereabouts of those remnants.

Five thousand years have passed, and it is difficult to say whether those alien races still exist, but it is true that there are also countries established by humans on overseas islands, and the country of faith has always been strict against overseas forces, and has never slackened.

The Seventh Prince is a sensible person, and if there is really any problem because the guards of Tiannan Mansion were borrowed by himself, he will not be able to escape the blame.

However, the Seventh Prince thought of Shen Yunhe, but also remembered that he was completely indifferent to himself, and did not have the slightest intention of intervening in the battle for the throne, so the Seventh Prince gave up, this kind of peerless master, as long as he is not standing on the opposite side of himself, is already lucky.

"Alas!"

The Seventh Prince sighed and left Tiannan Mansion, he still had several places to go, and he didn't know what kind of excuse those city lords would find to send him.

He now understands why the eldest prince could fight with the three princes that day, so why he would let the three princes leave the north.