Frost for a Thousand Years

Chapter 89 reaches Sheng'an, the Emperor is furious.

"Urgent dispatch—"

The military report from Langya traveled thousands of miles to reach the imperial palace and into the hands of Emperor Yu.

As the emperor read the military report, his expression grew increasingly cold and stern.

The hand gripping the paper tightened more and more.

Suddenly, he slammed the military report in his hand to the ground, veins bulging: "I should have strangled him back then!"

The palace eunuchs and maids immediately knelt on the ground, prostrating themselves facing the stone slab, each one trembling with fear.

"Chen Bao!"

The emperor looked at the chief eunuch who was prostrate at the front, his expression still as fierce as thunder, his tone full of undisguised killing intent.

Chen Bao raised his head shakily.

The emperor pointed to the military report on the ground.

"Yes." Chen Bao quickly crawled over and knelt on the ground, reading the military intelligence that had angered the emperor so much.

As he looked on, he was also shocked by what he saw.

"Was it that top scholar who instigated it?" the emperor questioned him.

"..." Chen Bao raised his head and looked at the emperor. After a brief struggle, he nodded, "Yes, it was the top scholar who instigated it!"

This military report was devoid of any emotion; it simply provided a complete account of the events, including the subsequent process of the Imperial Guards taking over the navy and the garrison.

The military report contained not a trace of speculation.

But no one is stupid.

Chen Bao could obviously tell that this was Song Shi'an's idea.

Your Highness is merely an executor.

When Song Shi'an was making appointments and dismissals at the Ministry of Personnel, every word he uttered revealed his ambition.

Now that such a horrific thing has happened, it's natural to pinpoint the mastermind behind it all.

In fact, his initiative to go to Shuofeng was all in order to become Wei Wusheng's confidant and quickly seize power.

This person's obsession with power has reached a point of madness.

"Lock the entire Song family in the Dali Temple, go!"

Pointing at Chen Bao, the emperor was like an enraged dragon, ready to unleash his divine might.

"Yes!" Chen Bao immediately stood up, stepped back, walked out of the hall, and made a gesture as if he was about to carry out the order.

"Enough!" But soon, the emperor spoke again in anger.

Chen Bao immediately stopped and awaited orders.

He understands everything.

Having served the true dragon for so many years, no one knew better than Chen Bao which of the other party's words were true, which were tests, and which were just angry words.

That was just something I said in anger.

"Go back."

After calming down a bit, the emperor's tone returned to calm, but the icy coldness in his words made it impossible to sense any human emotion.

"Yes."

All the eunuchs and palace maids in the palace left.

The emperor, sitting on the dragon throne, closed his eyes, and after a long while, slowly opened them.

He increasingly felt that the dream was not something that had come out of nowhere.

Day two.

Another urgent military report arrived.

This time, however, it came from the north wind.

After reading it, the emperor showed no change in emotion this time: "Summon the Duke of Li to the palace."

After giving this order, the Duke of Li entered the palace once again.

Two people sat facing each other.

"Duke Li, please take a look."

Chen Bao handed him the letter from Langya.

While watching, his emotions were slightly more composed than the emperor's. But he was still excited.

"Nonsense, absolutely nonsense."

Ordinary people would never evaluate a prince in this way; that would be a capital offense of insubordination and abusing one's seniority.

Even the Duke of Li could not name Wei Wusheng.

But this matter is indeed seriously terrifying.

This completely disrupted, or even destroyed, the empire's plan to retreat to Southern Liang and confront Ji Yuan.

"With so much baggage, most of it has been packed up in the north wind. If we lose this battle, not only will we lose several thousand more veterans, but the entire Liangzhou army will also be unable to move and will only be able to passively defend," Duke Li analyzed quite sharply. "Although the original intention was to defend, it is completely different from simply defending. Without the ability to mobilize troops, even if Xiao Qun were in charge, it would be difficult to achieve anything."

"And Ji Yuan, after swallowing up the entire Northern Liang and preparing for it, will wait for the snow to melt before directly targeting Southern Liang and then expanding into the entire north." This is what the emperor fears.

The fall of Wuwei was a major strategic defeat.

Now, the strategic significance of the north wind has been elevated once again.

These two defeats against the Great Yu, while not enough to crush them, severely damaged their vitals.

For the puppet state of Qi in the north, this was a source of national exhilaration.

The young and vigorous Ji Yuan already showed signs of conquering the world.

"Is this the idea that the top scholar came up with?" asked the Duke of Li.

"It's a resolute decision," the emperor said. "In a situation where Shuofeng was doomed, he went there willingly, wanting to take control of the situation."

"With such arrogance, how can he possibly defend the city?" Duke Li shook his head and sighed.

"This is another urgent letter from Wei Wusheng, delivered over 800 li." The emperor held out his hand.

Chen Bao took it.

After reading it this time, the Duke of Li calmed down a bit. It wasn't that he agreed with it, but he had already calmed down from his anger.

"He took all the blame himself, trying to exonerate the top scholar," the emperor said.

“Then at least the war in the north must be kept secret for the time being,” said Li Guogong. “These changes should not be known to the officials, let alone spread among the people, otherwise panic will spread throughout the country.”

"Paper cannot keep out fire, and it cannot be hidden for long," the emperor said.

"Then we'll push that top scholar out and make him the target of everyone's criticism."

Although the most hateful person in this matter is Wei Wusheng.

But princes are incapable of making mistakes.

Only the emperor can define and judge the mistakes made by princes.

The others were also unable to attack the prince.

But if this anger has nowhere to go and is suppressed, that's the most dangerous thing.

In a unified dynasty, a tyrant can silence all officials.

But now, with the country divided and beset by internal and external troubles, we can't treat imperial power as just imperial power or the emperor as just the emperor.

This power will be greatly diminished.

But once you have someone to vent to and suppress your emotions, you won't feel repressed anymore.

In fact, emperors who sent their sons abroad had to compensate the doves with something.

The Song family was neither a noble family nor a prominent clan in Jiangnan. With Song Jing gone, this important vacant position became a bargaining chip to ease tensions. "And what about Shuofeng?" the emperor asked.

"I think we should issue more imperial edicts to replace the Sixth Prince," said the Duke of Li.

"Ah."

The emperor nodded.

Both of them knew perfectly well that at this point, the imperial edict was utterly useless.

But at least Wei Wusheng needs to understand that his reckless actions are not without resistance.

Even if we win in the future, disobeying the imperial decree will still be accounted for, and some of our merits will be diminished.

Of course, such tremendous contributions can never be erased.

"But this Liangzhou..."

Looking at the Duke of Li, a man of similar age to himself, the emperor felt a pang of pity and said, "Old brother, why don't you go?"

"If Your Majesty commands me to go, I will certainly do so without hesitation," the Duke of Li said with difficulty. "But Xiao Qun is already there. Trust him. He is there, and there is not much difference between him and me."

Seeing that even the once mighty Duke of Li, who had conquered many kingdoms, had grown old, the emperor felt increasingly insecure.

"So, is this all there is to Liangzhou?" the emperor asked.

After a brief pause, Duke Li said helplessly, "There are no more troops to be mobilized in Liangzhou. Let's try to mobilize tens of thousands more troops from Qinzhou and Huaizhou and hand them over to Xiao Qun."

"That's all it can do."

Song Shi'an has thrown the entire Liangzhou into chaos.

Although both the Duke of Li and the Emperor wished they could tear him to pieces, they had no choice but to grit their teeth and provide support at this time.

.........

In the main hall of the general's mansion set up in the county government office, Song Shi'an and Wei Wusheng were discussing something around a sand table.

Suddenly, as if remembering something, Wei Wusheng asked with some concern, "If my letter reaches Sheng'an and ends up in His Majesty's hands, what will he do?"

"They'll probably be very angry," Song Shi'an said with a smile.

"Of course, they probably all regret not killing me when I was born," Wei Wusheng said self-deprecatingly.

Song Shi'an dared not laugh at this joke.

It's not everything; it's all something that can be laughed at.

Of course, it's kind of funny.

The sixty-year-old emperor was so angry that his hands trembled as he roared in the palace: "Damn Wei Wusheng, I'll strangle you, you sword sect member!"
"Besides getting angry, what else can you do?" Wei Wusheng asked.

"Hmm..." Song Shi'an wasn't quite sure, but he gave a general idea of ​​what was going to happen: "I think they'll probably send reinforcements to help."

In fact, the whole world can be considered one big stock market.

The development of human history is basically just like stock trading.

Shuofeng's stock price has now plummeted to rock bottom, but confidence is more important than gold. We can't just let it rot. So the old emperor released some so-called positive announcements in order to boost the stock price so that he can find an opportunity to sell.

But at this time, his rebellious son, Wei Wusheng, misappropriated his card and invested a large sum of money into it.

Even though the north wind is still blowing.

What could the old emperor, already trapped, do?
I'm helpless too, but I have no choice but to increase my position!

Those who use leverage deserve it!

"That makes things much better." Wei Wusheng liked this.

“Yes, Ji Yuan is strong, but Northern Qi is slightly weaker than our Great Yu. Even if these troops don’t directly participate in the battle, they can still tie down a lot of our troops by guarding the strategic points on all sides, which will reduce the pressure of the siege a bit,” Song Shi’an said.

"Then Ji Yuan will probably also squeeze the rear and increase the number of troops as much as possible," Wei Wusheng guessed.

“That’s for sure.” Song Shi’an wasn’t afraid of that. “We have the Northeast, and to its east is Liaodong. If it forcibly increases its troops, it will have more concerns than we do.”

"The north wind has turned into a battle for the fate of the nation."

This was something Wei Wusheng hadn't expected.

In response, Song Shi'an flattered, "That's more in line with your status, Your Highness."

"I like your joke."

Wei Wusheng was initially very worried, but now he is completely relaxed.

The situation has become quite simple.

If you win, you're a pillar of the nation; if you lose, you're a scourge to the nation.

"The question now is, what should we do with these thieves?"

Back on the sand table, Wei Wusheng pointed his sword at each of the small fortresses.

These are all the 'castles' of the bandits outside the city.

It is not only countries that own cities; some powerful border families also build smaller, single-function fortified villages and fortresses.

During the Eastern Jin Dynasty, many powerful families engaged in this kind of activity.

During wartime, they would cower in the city, obeying neither the state nor the enemy.

They gathered all the treasures, food, and clansmen together. The Great Yu called these people 'traitors'.

Normally things are fine; they are still considered subjects of the Great Yu.

Once a war breaks out, you'll no longer be able to control him.

And don't expect to suppress it with force.

Siege warfare consumes the most resources.

In the Chishui River basin of Northern Liang, there were more than a dozen fortified villages and strongholds on the fertile plains.

The other residents and the county town were able to implement a scorched-earth policy. But these people were the only ones who couldn't be evacuated.

The fortified village was their entire fortune; once they left, they had nothing left.

When Ji Yuan arrives, he won't have to go to great lengths to attack each of them.

In order to unite the forces and minimize war losses, he would promise all the fortified owners that the land and castles would belong to them after the war.

But in times of war, you must lend me your troops, and all your food and laborers must be at my disposal.

If these fortified villages fall into Ji Yuan's hands, they will be a real problem.

This means that he had more than a dozen solid fortified camps south of the Chishui River, and General Xiao Qun's reinforcements were not able to deter them.

Compared to clans, clan traitors are the most damn hateful.

Because they still have soldiers at their disposal.

"We need to find a way to get all the traitors out of here. Then, burn down all the fortified villages, leaving Ji Yuan with not a single room to use." Wei Wusheng was extremely conflicted.

Song Shi'an, however, remained quite composed.

He has evolved after killing people.

Even more decisive.

"It seems you have a plan?"

Wei Wusheng asked.

"I can't calculate it, but I have a few words to say to deal with these traitors."

"What?"

"Unite the majority and strike at the minority."

He flicked the largest and most important fortified village with his finger, saying, "The ringleader must be punished, but those who are coerced will be spared."

(End of this chapter)