Princess Promotion

A fast horse came galloping, and the bamboo basket on the messenger's back shook with the bumps, as if it would fall apart at any time.

The messenger galloped along, shouting, "Eight hundred miles, hurry up, get out of the way!"

Li Yinhan ran into the meeting hall excitedly and asked excitedly, "Is there any news from His Majesty?"

The smile on his face slowly froze after he saw the expressions of everyone in the hall.

Everyone's expressions were solemn and silent. Li Yinhan's heartbeat quickened, and an ominous premonition spread in his heart.

Could it be that Achu met with an accident?

As soon as Lin Wan saw Li Yinhan's pale face, she knew that he had strayed from his thoughts again, and she immediately interrupted him, saying, "Your Majesty is not dead."

Li Yinhan's breath was instantly stuck in his throat and he almost cried.

Li Yinhan said angrily, "Then why do you all look so dead? His Majesty still has the energy to send out news, which means the situation is not too bad."

"This is not something to be happy about. Why are there no joy on your faces?"

Fu Hongxuan said with a complicated expression, "It's worth being happy about. We just didn't expect His Majesty to have so much energy left."

Li Yinhan was puzzled when Fu Hongxuan pointed to a basket of memorials on the ground... Are these memorials?

Yan Mingzhe sighed, "Your Majesty is truly a god. He persists in handling state affairs under such difficult circumstances."

Yan Mingzhe considers himself a self-disciplined and diligent person, but he cannot survive on the run and devote himself to studying at the same time.

It's like everyone is running a thousand meters, feeling dizzy and having difficulty breathing, but you are still running and doing your homework at the same time.

Just thinking about this scene makes people feel suffocated. Being surrounded by an army of 200,000, Yao Chuguang was able to lead his men to deal with the situation with ease while still finding time to handle government affairs.

The content of Yao Chuguang's letter was very simple. She asked them to issue all these memorials and she would hold back Zhou Ze's 200,000 troops in the rear.

She asked them to deal with the barbarians as soon as possible, and finally asked them to find a way to send the memorials that needed to be processed to her.

Yan Mingzhe's admiration could no longer be described as admiration, he could only be described as prostrating himself.

When others faced an army of 200,000, they would think about how to escape, but Yao Chuguang was thinking about how to hold back these 200,000 troops.

She dares to think about and do things that she wouldn't even dare to dream of. No wonder she can become the empress.

Lin Wan concluded, "Your Majesty is so powerful that he makes us look like worthless!"

Now Li Yinhan understood why no one was laughing even though it was good news!

On one side, Yao Chuguang was dealing with 200,000 troops from the Western Territory with an army of less than 10,000, and he even had time to handle government affairs.

On one side, they had an army of 500,000 and were fighting against the barbarians, but there was no progress at all.

The contrast is so great that it is humbling.

Li Yinhan said nonchalantly, "Comparing brains with Ah Chu is just asking for humiliation. Anyway, we are not the most useless. The one who suffers the most must be Zhou Ze."

Li Yinhan laughed frivolously and said, "Two hundred thousand men can't defeat ten thousand. Zhou Ze will definitely go down in history!"

There is a kind of poor student mentality that as long as you are not at the bottom, it is no big deal.

Li Yinhan suddenly thought of something and ran out. His previous impatience and anger changed, and he shouted to the barbarians below the city with a gloating look, "I have good news to tell you today. Your 200,000 reinforcements have been tied up by His Majesty's 10,000 troops."

King Ada understood every word Li Yinhan said, but when they were put together it sounded particularly outrageous.

He waited outside the city for half a month in the wind and sun, being scolded like a grandson by these people from the Central Plains, just to wait for the news that the Queen of Qi had been captured.

Now he was told that the Queen of Qi was not only still alive and well, but was even able to tie down the western border army.

King Ada was so angry that he was fuming. You know, war is extremely costly, with hundreds of thousands of people doing nothing but wasting time.

Who can afford such a huge food consumption?

King Ada was so angry that if conditions allowed, he would have wanted to personally capture that loser Zhou Ze and give him a beating.

Trash! An army of 200,000 couldn't even capture 10,000 people. Not to mention 10,000 people, even 10,000 ferocious prairie wolves wouldn't be able to be captured.

In a flash, the offensive and defensive situations changed. Now the Qi army was no longer in a hurry, but the barbarians and the Western Border Army were.

As long as the empress is not captured, there will be basically no loss for the Qi army, but it will be a disaster for the barbarians and the Western Border Army because they cannot consume the enemy.

Now the barbarians and the Western Frontier Army are in a passive position. If the barbarians attack at this time, the Western Frontier Army will be unable to support the barbarians even if it wants to.

Originally, King Ada's plan was to tie down the Qi army for at most half a month, allowing Zhou Ze to capture the empress alive, and then they could retreat to the grassland and watch the fight between the two tigers.

But who could have thought that Zhou Ze was such a loser, with a full 200,000 soldiers and horses unable to subdue a mere 10,000 people.

The good situation was abruptly ruined, and the food and supplies brought by the barbarians were not enough to support them in continuing to fight with the Qi army.

If we launch an attack, Zhou Ze's side might have a better chance of winning if they attack from both sides.

But it is easy to imagine how Zhou Ze would allow the empress to cause chaos in his rear and assist the barbarians in attacking the Qi army.

If the barbarians accepted the benefits from Qi and withdrew their troops, wouldn't we be the ones caught in a pincer attack?

There is no trust at all between the barbarians and the Western Territory. It's all calculation. They all want the other side and the Qi army to suffer losses so that they can benefit.

King Ada even began to suspect that Zhou Ze had captured the empress long ago and kept it a secret, deliberately spreading rumors that the empress was holding them back.

The purpose was to muddy the waters, force the barbarians to fight the Qi army, and finally wait until they were both defeated before rushing out and killing them all.

The barbarians wanted to wait until the western border captured the empress and then go to war with the Qi army. Zhou Ze had thought of this and would never be willing to become a stepping stone for others.

If Zhou Ze had already captured the empress, but kept it secret and deliberately showed himself incompetent and useless, he would lower their guard and force the barbarians to make a choice.

Either the barbarians retreat in disgrace, leaving the Western Border Army to deal with the Qi Army, but in that case, no matter which side wins, it will not bring any practical benefits to the barbarians.

They just ran for a whole month without any benefits. How are they going to survive the winter this year?

The only remaining option is a barbarian attack. We should grab as much as we can to survive this winter first.

The more King Ada thought about it, the more he felt that this was the most likely possibility. If all this was Zhou Ze's plan, then it would make sense.

He said that even if a fool was in command, 200,000 people would not be able to defeat 10,000 people.

King Ada was furious and cursed: "The people of the Central Plains are indeed cunning and treacherous."

As King Ada was cursing, he suddenly thought of something and asked his staff, "What's going on in Yan State?"

The staff member deliberated and said, "There's been no movement from the Prince of Yan, but there's been some movement among the people."

King Ada asked in confusion, "What's going on?"

The staff member hesitated as he spoke, "The largest gambling house in Yan State is offering a bet on when the Western Border Army can capture the Empress of Qi. The odds are 10 to 1."

King Ada's expression froze. If his previous inference was true, and Zhou Ze was pretending, there would definitely be no news of the empress being captured for a while.

On the other hand, if Zhou Zezhen is so useless that he can't capture the empress, then the bet will still be the same.

King Ada immediately called his men and ordered, "Take 100,000 taels of silver and bet that Zhou Ze will not be able to capture the Empress."

The subordinates took the order and left, and now they can only make as much money as possible.

In the Qi army camp, Fu Hongxuan and his men also heard the rumor.

Yan Mingzhe said with deep sorrow, "How can such a major national issue be treated as a joke? The world is becoming more and more corrupt and moral."

Li Yinhan slammed the table and agreed, "Exactly. Why is Ah Chu's odds 10? No matter how you look at it, Zhou Ze is the bigger loser. Why is his chance of winning greater than Ah Chu's?"

Lin Wan...Is this the point?

Lin Wan rubbed his aching temples. Why did the situation suddenly become so weird?

Barbarians: Hundreds of thousands of troops are stationed at the border, neither attacking nor leaving.

Qi Army: An army of 500,000 soldiers stood guard at the border facing the barbarians, unable to leave or fight.

Yan State: also sent out hundreds of thousands of troops to watch the Qi army and the barbarians stare blankly from the sidelines.

Western Territory: The 200,000-strong army circled around for half a month but still couldn’t find Yao Chuguang’s army. They were dumbfounded and confused.

Yao Chuguang gnawed on the sweet potatoes he had just dug with his left hand, and held fresh grass roots in his right hand as he led the civil officials to survive in the wilderness.

Yao Chuguang...so she lives the most miserable life!