Zhao Min held his chin and said, "Say it, I'm afraid you won't believe it." I am the emperor and the crown prince, sent out to ask for help. ”

"Huh?!" Zhang Wuji was even more surprised.

Seeing Zhang Wuji's expression, Zhao Min looked at Zhou Zhiruo and said, "How is it?" What am I talking about? Brother Mowgli's expression is the same as yours. ”

Zhou Zhiruo also smiled: "I thought that Brother Wuji had seen the world, but I didn't expect it to be the same as me." ”

Zhao Min replied helplessly: "Because my father, the king, is an official and a lieutenant, and the people in the court have a very high expectation. Although Polo Timur coerced the Son of Heaven to order the princes, he did not dare to touch the Ruyang Palace. So I became their savior. They asked me to use the edict of the Son of Heaven to carry my father back to save him. ”

Zhang Wuji thought for a while at this time and said, "If I didn't guess wrong, you shouldn't have told the prince, but moved the old lady back." ”

Zhao Min smiled: "Hmm! This, Brother Wuji guessed correctly. After analyzing the situation, I planned to transfer the master back. First, let the old lady who was protected by King Qin and Polo Timur join the fire, and we will reap the benefits of the fisherman. Second, it can solve the crisis in Jiangnan. Zhang Shicheng is afraid that he will thank me well. As for my father's side, I'm afraid he won't divide his troops easily. ”

Zhang Wuji asked rhetorically: "Why is this?" Could it be that the prince has the intention of being self-reliant? ”

Zhao Min shook his head and said, "This is not true, in the eyes of my father, the harm of Polo Timur is just a disease of scabies. And the Han rebels in the Central Plains are the real henchmen. He wanted to take advantage of the victory to cross the Yangtze River, but General Li's defection pinned down my father. If my father withdraws, we will be able to march in for a long time. Therefore, my father cannot advance or retreat at the moment. ”

After listening to Zhao Min's words, Zhang Wuji had a general understanding of the current situation.

Now intrigue has begun not only on the side of the rebels, but also on the side of the Mongols.

The Mongols were roughly divided into three forces, one was Polo Timur, who had the intention of usurping power.

One is the king of Ruyang, who is difficult to ride a tiger.

The last strand is the Taishi Detachment, who is loyal to Dayuan.

On the side of the rebels, they have already annexed the forces of Liu Futong and Chen Youliang.

As for Fang Guozhen, Chen Youding, Ming Yuzhen and others are not worthy of competing with themselves for the world. The only threats are Zhu Yuanzhang in Jiangdong and Zhang Shicheng entrenched in the land of Suyang.

Zhang Wuji thought about it comprehensively and said, "Minmin, tell General Li tomorrow that we will give up attacking Chang'an City!" Occupy the land of Longxi and defend it. ”

If it were someone else, he would definitely shout and let Zhang Wuji give a reason.

But Zhao Min knew Zhang Wuji very well, and just asked plainly: "What is the reason?" If we don't contain my father's forces here, then my father can go back and put down the rebellion. Although the current instability within the Great Yuan Imperial Court has appeared by chance, it is also a good opportunity for us. ”

Zhang Wuji asked, "Oh? Min Minling is so sure that your father's soldiers and horses will retreat, will he be able to quell the chaos soon? ”

Zhao Min said: "This is natural, and now my father's strength is very strong. It is not an exaggeration to say that he is the emperor of the Central Plains. I personally investigated it when I visited. Now my father is divided into troops to control Guanshan, Jingluo, and Taihang with heavy troops, and the camps and banners look at each other for thousands of miles. I feel that my father has at least nearly 600,000 troops under his command. ”

"Although Polo Timur opportunistically occupied most of the capital, he held the emperor hostage. But he had less than 100,000 soldiers under his command. If my father had freed his hands and gone to King Qin, he would have destroyed it in no time. ”

"When the civil strife ceases, what do you think my father's next goal will be?"

Zhang Wuji couldn't help but laugh when he heard this: "It seems that Minmin, you still don't know how many troops we have at the moment." ”

Zhou Zhiruo replied at this time: "Now we have 380,000 soldiers and horses, including General Li's troops and the soldiers of the Western Regions recruited by Prime Minister Fan Cheng, as well as the Ming Sect members. However, most of the soldiers and horses are used to maintain and control the vast Western Regions, so we can now use 150,000 soldiers and horses. ”

Zhang Wuji shook his head when he heard this, and said, "No! We now have 800,000 troops available! ”

Zhang Wuji was complacent at this time, and said with his head held high: "800,000 vs. 600,000!" The advantage is mine! ”

"What? 800,000? Where did we get so many soldiers and horses? Zhao Min stood up abruptly and looked at Zhang Wuji in disbelief.

Zhang Wuji said: "Do you think that I came back so late just to adopt orphans and widows? Compared to the situation in the North, the situation in the South is much better. ”

Then Zhang Wuji briefly told everyone about his past during this time, how to find Zhu Jiuzhen and others, and how to take advantage of Chen Youliang's attack on Hongdu to kill him and incorporate his soldiers and horses.

After that, he took Wuchang as the accompanying capital, lived there for a period of time, and in order to win people's hearts, he included many young ladies of the scholar clan in the harem, and told Zhao Min and others about 1510.

After listening to this, Zhao Min said: "I see. In this way, my father also helped Brother Wuji by mistake. Although we have lost the Central Plains. But it also created an opportunity for Wuji's brother Dove to occupy the magpie's nest. ”

Zhang Wuji nodded and said, "Yes, counting the soldiers and horses left behind by Chen Youliang, as well as Liu Futong's old department." I have soldiers and horses under my command, and the total number of horses and sailors is 650,000. Counting the soldiers recruited by Fan You's envoy, we have enough 800,000 troops to mobilize. And the land of Jingxiang Chu has all been returned to us. We can sit in the south and face north, east and west. ”

Zhao Min stood up happily and said, "Okay! If the soldiers of Jingzhou can respond, then it will be difficult for my father to resist, and at present, my father's army is defending against Polo Timur in the Taihang area, and there are not too many soldiers and horses in the Central Plains. If the 650,000 troops drove north, my father's personality would have shrunk to the north of the Yellow River. We can easily take back the Central Plains. ”

Zhang Wuji shook his head at this time and said, "No! I have other plans, and I am not in a hurry to recapture the Central Plains at the moment. ”

Zhao Min asked, "Huh? Why is that? ”

Zhang Wuji said: "Zhu Yuanzhang and I have torn our faces. If we had driven north, he would not have stood idly by. Now that I have ceded the land of Huainan to him, he can attack and retreat and defend. Although there is a thorn in the back of Hongdu City, if our army goes north, it cannot be ruled out that he will take advantage of our emptiness to attack Jiangnan. ”

"When the time comes, our main force will be pinned down by the prince in the Central Plains, and he will attack Jingxiang and cut off our food routes, then we will be completely passive. Hundreds of thousands of armies lack the supply of food and wages, so they become hundreds of thousands of rabble. ”

Zhao Min thought for a while and said, "That's right, this has to be guarded against." What do you think, Brother Wuji? ”

Zhang Wuji replied: "The top priority at the moment is to open up the connection between the Jingxiang Han army and the soldiers of the Western Regions. If our soldiers, horses, grains and grass can be connected together, then we are truly invincible. ”

(End of chapter)