I embezzled 100,000 taels at the beginning, and the empress begged me to be more greedy

"Report! Our army's position on the north bank is under attack by the enemy!"

A soldier rushed into the Yan army camp and reported the situation in the rear to the generals.

"The enemy is attacking our position from the right, intending to seize our position."

After hearing this news, Jiang Zuo's face showed a bit more worry.

The whole situation is now at a complete stalemate, and the Yan army is now stuck in a dilemma.

The previous several fierce attacks still failed to break through Chen Jun’s defense.

Now the intention of the Chen army is very clear, which is to prepare for a counterattack and encircle and wipe out this isolated Yan army that has penetrated deep into the territory.

After the defeat in Guangning City, Chen Jun has gradually come to his senses and quickly added:

At this time, Chen Xiu said: "Immediately dispatch 3,000 troops to reinforce the north bank. We must not let Chen's army occupy the north bank."

The reinforcements of the Yan army have arrived by water. If the Chen army occupied the north bank at this time, the entire line of the Yan army would be cut into pieces.

"Chen Jun's counterattack is getting more and more fierce, which seems a bit strange."

"In the previous battle of Guangning City, we had clearly wiped out most of their main forces, but now they still have extra troops to harass our rear."

The generals present were discussing the matter constantly.

"If that's the case, why don't we take this opportunity to attack and seize Changzhou City, so as to tie up Chen Jun's forces."

Having said that, if they want to launch an attack with authority, the logistical pressure on the Yan army will be extremely great.

Even now, the logistical supplies for their vanguard force of tens of thousands of soldiers are almost unavailable.

The plan to storm Jiankang City came to a halt. If it continued like this, they would end up returning empty-handed.

"Is there any progress in Xinyuan City?"

Jiang Zuo frowned. The series of unexpected events disrupted his plans.

“Two days ago, our army had already mobilized 20,000 troops to attack Xinyuan City, but the number of defenders in Xinyuan City was nearly 50,000, making it difficult for our army to conquer it. In addition, the follow-up troops of the Chen Army continued to harass our logistics line. The current situation is not optimistic.

After hearing the news, everyone's faces became more worried.

During this southern expedition, the Yan army was at a disadvantage in terms of military strength, but this was masked by its repeated victories in the early stages.

"Keep fighting, hold this line, and our army will have hope of victory."

Jiang Zuo still chose to persevere.

Even though the situation is already somewhat critical, the main forces of Chen's army are constantly coming towards them from all directions.

Chen Xiu also said: "I have sent people to the court to request more troops to reinforce."

The tens of thousands of troops on the front line are obviously not enough to capture Jiankang City.

As long as we stabilize the rear and continue to send reinforcements to the front line, it will not be difficult to capture Jiankang City.

……

Yan State, the capital.

The imperial palace's meeting hall.

"Your Majesty, the situation in the northwest has deteriorated. The Uighurs have been harassing Liangzhou. If we continue to tolerate this, I'm afraid the Uighurs will launch a full-scale attack on Liangzhou. We should immediately increase our troops and stabilize the northwest."

At this time, the right prime minister Lu Jun made another suggestion.

His old face was full of anxiety.

Lu Jun was quite concerned about the situation in Northwestern Liangzhou. After all, the Fourteenth Prince, who guarded the northwest, had a special relationship with Lu Jun.

Nowadays, most of the court's attention is attracted to the south, and not many people pay attention to the equally important northwest direction.

Even during the court meeting today, the empress repeatedly asked about the southern expedition, but was indifferent to the situation in the northwest.

As the right prime minister, Lu Jun said that he was helping the country, but in fact he did not want the southern expedition to proceed so smoothly, lest other forces seize the limelight.

It has been some time since the news of the Yan army besieging Jiankang City came out.

There has been no good news in these days, and it seems that the attack has encountered some obstacles.

"Liangzhou is far away from Guanzhong. Even if we mobilize troops today, it will take half a month to arrive. We can only hope that the Northwest Army can hold the front line."

Chen Qingyun said calmly.

Compared with the situation in the northwest, she obviously cares more about the south.

The Uighurs were indeed a strong enemy of the Yan State, but the biggest threat to the Yan State now came from the Chen State in the south.

Hearing the empress's reply, Lu Jun was not surprised. He just sighed helplessly and said, "Your Majesty, there seems to be no victory news coming back from the south. I don't know if the occupation has reached a stalemate. Our army is fighting deep into the battlefield. The pressure on food and logistics is extremely great. If we continue to waste time like this, the chances of winning will only get smaller and smaller."

Other officials at the side also said, "Your Majesty, I also think the Prime Minister is right. Because of the need to support the war in the south to conquer the State of Chen, the government's grain reserves in Jiangnan and Huainan have almost been used up. They can only support it for another half a month at most."

These words are not alarmist.

Now there are many places in Yan State, including Huainan area, whose finances are not as rich as those in Jiangnan and other places, but the taxes paid are more than other places.

The cabinet has also estimated that the current treasury of the imperial court can only support a full-scale southern expedition for half a month at most. If this continues, the treasury will be empty.

Chen Qingyun naturally didn't want to see this scene, and at this moment, she looked a little worried.

"Since we can still hold on for another half month, let's talk about it after half a month. We can't give up halfway."

Chen Qingyun looked indifferent.

The Yan army had finally managed to reach Jiankang City again. If they gave up the southern expedition at this time, all their previous efforts would be in vain.

Seeing that the empress was so persistent about this, the officials of the right party could not say anything more.

These right-wing officials would mention the situation in the northwest to Chen Qingyun at almost every court meeting and when important officials discussed matters, hoping that the empress would shift the military focus to the north.

While everyone was discussing this, they suddenly heard a guard report: "Your Majesty, Zhang Huan of the Thousand Cavalry Division wants to see you."

"Let him in quickly."

Hearing Zhang Huan's name, Chen Qingyun stood up immediately.

This time, I don’t know what news Zhang Huan brought back to the front line.

After a moment, Zhang Huan quickly walked to the Empress, knelt down and said, "Your Highness, I pay my respects to you."

"How's the front line going? Has Jiankang City been captured?"

Chen Qingyun asked anxiously.

She has been working day and night these days just to wait for news from the front line.

Before this, a lot of good news had come to the capital, and Chen Qingyun was eager to know the battle situation at the front.

The eyes of all the officials present were fixed on Zhang Huan.

Whether they were pro-war or pro-peace factions, they all hoped to learn about the battle situation on the front line from Zhang Huan.

"The main force of our army is at the gates of Jiankang City, still confronting Chen's army and has not yet broken through Jiankang City."

Zhang Huan reported.

"Hasn't been breached yet?"

Chen Qingyun frowned, turned around and sighed.

On second thought, Jiankang City was the capital of the State of Chen after all, and it was not so easy to conquer. But for the State of Yan, it really could not delay any longer.

"I wonder what Jiang Zuo's plans are now?"

Chen Qingyun said secretly in her heart that she could only place all her hopes on Jiang Zuo.