Your Majesty, please beg for mercy. The prince's rebellion was successful.

Five hundred elite soldiers of the imperial court eventually turned into corpses and were left in the valley.

The remains of the one hundred Zhenbei soldiers were brought back to the city by Zhou Zheng himself.

Perhaps, Zhou Zheng still doesn’t know their names, perhaps their heads and bodies can no longer be reintegrated, but Zhou Zheng gave them a common name, heroes!

The whole city observed a moment of silence, and tens of thousands of people watched the funerals of the hundred people in person.

Even though the situation is very tense now, Zhou Zheng still insisted on erecting a monument for them, burying them together, and personally carved the three words "Heroes' Tomb" for it.

At the same time, the imperial court also noticed something unusual.

If the prime minister did not take it seriously when there was no response from the first few dozen outposts, then when the next five hundred elite soldiers did not respond, everyone realized that something was wrong.

You know, these elites are not ordinary elites.

They are fully armed, extremely powerful, and experienced in many battles.

Even if they encountered a team of thousands of people, it was impossible for them to be wiped out.

But as time passed, these five hundred elite soldiers seemed to have disappeared without any sound.

Further ahead is Zhou Zheng’s base camp.

Anyone with a little common sense can think of the key points and possible problems.

Finally, the prime minister could no longer sit still, and this time he personally ordered someone to lead three thousand cavalry to investigate.

Everyone still had a lucky mentality in their hearts, thinking that perhaps they were too playful on the road and delayed the military intelligence.

But finally, when the spy's report came, everyone felt shocked and a little panicked.

"Sir, the outposts and the five hundred elite soldiers are all dead..."

An officer knelt in front of the prime minister and told him the news from the front in a panicked and trembling voice.

Not only that, he elaborated that these people did not just die, but died tragically.

There were broken limbs everywhere, and blood had almost dyed half the mountain red. The air was filled with a strong smell of blood, and even if you got a little closer, you would feel nauseous.

There were hundreds of people, all elite soldiers, but not a single one escaped alive.

Buzz! ! !

When everyone heard this, they felt their heads buzzing, their brows furrowed, and the uneasiness in their hearts became more and more obvious.

Everyone knows that this is by no means a small matter, it is even a huge matter.

Even the prime minister, who was usually as calm as a clock, had a sudden change of expression at this moment.

"Bastard!"

"Who is it? Who did it!?"

He roared almost crazily, his pupils widened with such great anger.

The violent rise and fall of his chest was enough to show the Prime Minister's inner anger at the moment.

However, such angry rebuke made many generals present stunned for a moment, and then the corners of their mouths twitched, with disbelief on their faces.

How could the Prime Minister ask such a stupid question?

You know, hundreds of elite soldiers died in these deep mountains and forests. Even a fool can guess the reason.

Is he a bandit who rules the mountain? ?

Impossible, absolutely impossible!

Not to mention that there are few people within dozens of miles here, so it is not suitable to set up camp.

Even if there really were bandits, they would not be able to have such combat effectiveness in the face of these hundreds of elite soldiers. They would not dare to attack the elite soldiers of the imperial court. After all, that would be a serious matter that would implicate nine generations of their clan.

Is it the people around?!

Less likely!

How can the common people be compared with the regular army?

And here, so close to Zhou Zheng’s base camp, the answer is already obvious.

But at this time, no one dared to say it clearly.

"Hmph, if you fail in your work, you'll die. It's just a bit of bad luck."

However, the Prime Minister's next words made everyone present feel extremely speechless from the bottom of their hearts.

Because the prime minister seemed to have not realized the seriousness of the matter from beginning to end.

Instead, they simply thought that this was a bad start and that these people were responsible for their own misfortunes.

It's really sad.

How can such a person lead troops to fight?

Although the Prime Minister was an expert in governing the country, they now understood that he knew nothing about matters such as marching and fighting wars.

If it weren't for the fact that they had 300,000 elite troops this time, plus the support of the five ancient aristocratic families, and that their news and whereabouts had not been exposed throughout the entire process, otherwise, if they really followed the prime minister to fight, what would be the difference between them and committing suicide? !

You know, Zhou Zheng has fought many battles.

He always returns with a great victory, he is simply a god of war.

However, even though they knew this, everyone still had fawning smiles on their faces.

Everyone knows that there is no possibility of losing this battle and everyone will win in the end.

They knew better that after the war, the prime minister would replace Emperor Tianjing.

In this case, what they have to do is to follow the prime minister's attitude and ideas and make their words as much as possible to make the prime minister happy, or at least not make the prime minister unhappy.

What does it matter how many people die?

Anyway, it's not them who died. Those who died were the elites, and it was not their turn at all.

There are 300,000 soldiers here, let alone 500, even if it's 5,000 or 50,000, what's the difference? !

These are just changes in numbers and will not affect them.

"Prime Minister, I think Zhou Zheng has noticed our actions."

"We have to make plans early."

But, there are still some people with conscience here.

If the Prime Minister did not pay attention to this matter, what might be waiting for them might be a sneak attack by Zhou Zheng.

The army's marching speed was not very fast, and the whereabouts of 300,000 people was difficult to keep absolutely secret.

Especially now that Zhou Zheng might know about it, it means that their plan to surprise Zhou Zheng by surprise is no longer effective.

"Humph, Zhou Zheng is just a nobody. What can he use to fight me now?!"

When the prime minister thought about the fact that he had an army of 300,000 under his command, his heart swelled to the extreme.

"But there is some truth in what you said."

"Do you have any good ideas?"

The Prime Minister still asked in a calm and gentle voice.

Seeing the Prime Minister like this, many generals sighed in their hearts. It seems that the Prime Minister has no idea of ​​the difference between the front line and the court.

In the court, everything can be postponed, but the battlefield changes rapidly.

If you are not careful, you may fall into the abyss and suffer countless casualties.

If it were any other head coach, the events of the past few days would have made them feel panic and fear deep in their hearts.

They have already started deploying their troops and will never sit idly by and wait for death.

He would not be like the prime minister, who seemed to be strolling leisurely in the garden and was not in a hurry at all.

Unfortunately, a higher-ranking official can crush a lower-ranking one. The current prime minister is the absolute authority, and no one dares to point fingers at the prime minister.

You know, along the way, some generals were demoted by the prime minister just because they put forward some bad suggestions. What's worse, some of them even had their official robes taken off on the spot.

Obviously, in the eyes of the prime minister, he is now the absolute authority, and he will never allow anyone to challenge his authority.

Even if the other party may not be provoking but making a suggestion.

Therefore, when the generals heard that the prime minister was still willing to listen to some words at this time, they felt a little relieved.

"Sir, when the time comes, we should split our forces into two groups."

"Send an elite force to gather information, clear the mountains and open a path to prepare for the army's advance."

"The second is that the army will set up camp on the spot, recuperate and prepare for the decisive battle later."

This is a common dead end, but also the safest way.

This is how normal people think.

Moreover, there will be no technical difficulty in doing these two things.

In the eyes of everyone, the prime minister had no reason to refuse.

However, the prime minister's subsequent response surprised everyone and was beyond their expectations.

"The imperial court is a righteous army. We have the best of both worlds. Why should we fear a mere rebel army?"

"If 300,000 elite troops were frightened by a few tens of thousands of them, wouldn't the world laugh at us if the news got out?!"

The prime minister snorted coldly, obviously disdaining to take such defensive measures.

"I told you, this time it's not just about winning!"

"Moreover, it must be an absolute victory!"

"A crushing victory!"

,......