We have fought to the Arctic Circle, and you want me to inherit the throne?

"The defeat in this battle is the fault of this Khan."

Yelu Dahe took the blame on himself in his first words, and all the civil and military officials in the court fell silent.

"This Khan, seeing Prince Feng's young age, looked down on him, leading to such bitter consequences. This was his first mistake."

He raised his hand and pointed to the battle report: "The battle report said that the Fengtian Army has a new type of firearm. When it explodes, it has the force of a mountain collapse and the earth cracking. It can even break metal and stone. The Pishi Army lost because of this firearm."

"But we knew nothing about this, and without knowing the enemy's strength, we rashly sent troops out to fight. This was our second mistake."

"We misjudged the battlefield situation. By the time the army arrived, Xiangping City had already fallen, and our army lost the initiative. This was our third mistake."

Yelu Daha sighed and looked much older.

When the ministers saw this, they couldn't help but feel ashamed.

The Khan is old now. If I remember correctly, he is already fifty-two years old this year.

In ancient times, people in their fifties were considered elderly and could call themselves decrepit.

All the civil and military officials in the court knew that the Khitans could have their current status thanks to this old man who overcame all difficulties and persevered.

A great and holy ruler took all the blame on himself. What else can his subjects say?

"This battle cannot continue," Yelu Dahe said. "Over a hundred thousand soldiers have perished on the battlefield, and only one in ten of those who escaped have survived."

"One hundred thousand Khitan women asked the Khan for their husbands, one hundred thousand children asked the Khan for their fathers, and one hundred thousand parents asked the Khan for their children."

"I cannot face them... If I risk everything and wager war on Feng State, I will lose the support of the people."

After hearing Yelu Dahe's words, an old minister could not bear it any longer. He stood up and said, "Great Khan, I would like to write a letter of peace and send it to the table of the King of Daqing."

Everyone knows that whoever writes a letter of surrender at this time will be cursed for eternity and be secretly stabbed in the back.

Since ancient times, trolls have all been of the same character: they completely disregard objective facts and only consider the results.

This old minister was a member of Yelu Daha's team when he was young and just started his rebellion. He had a deep relationship with him and really couldn't bear to let Yelu Daha be branded as someone who wrote a letter of surrender again.

"No." Yelu Dahe raised his eyelids, a strange look flashing in his eyes. "We are not seeking peace with Prince Feng, we are seeking peace with Emperor Daqing."

The ministers looked at him in astonishment, but saw that the Khan's eyes were not cloudy at all, and showed wisdom and calmness.

"Also, we must be very humble and let the Daqing Emperor feel our fear."

"Make the Prince Feng appear powerful, and let the Emperor of Daqing know that his son has the potential to be a ruler and has the ambition to conquer the world."

"You also need to include the power of the firearms, although I don't know whether the firearms were invented by Daqing or are unique to Prince Feng."

"We still have to cry out. When Emperor Daqing launched the Northern Expedition, he never went to war with the Khitan. Although our two countries are not on good terms, we have never offended each other. Why would he let his son attack the Khitan?"

"In this letter, we must elevate the Daqing Emperor and the Feng Prince to the same level, so that Daqing can feel our respect!"

The old minister suddenly woke up and looked at the Holy King on the throne with wide eyes.

"You mean to use a counter-espionage strategy to drive a wedge between Emperor Daqing and Prince Feng."

A smile finally appeared on Yelu Daha's face. From a distance, he looked like some kind of pointed-mouthed canine spirit.

"I admit that Prince Feng is indeed outstanding, and the Emperor of Daqing is also a great ruler, but that emperor, like me, is already old."

"Will he allow another powerful leader to emerge in Daqing, one whose methods and abilities are no less than his? Even if this powerful leader is his son?"

"The Khan...wise!"

The old minister was trembling with excitement.

This is the holy leader of Khitan. Setbacks and failures will not make him decadent.

While others argued and passed the buck, the Khan had already come up with the best solution.

With such a master, why should Khitan worry about its prosperity?

"Go ahead, I'll leave the book to you."

Yelu Daha said with a pleasant expression.

"Your Majesty, I will obey the Khan's orders."

The old minister gladly accepted the task.

Since it is a counter-espionage plot, the meaning of this letter and book is completely different.

Even if the words he used were humble, he would not be branded as a traitor, because after all, this was all for the purpose of implementing a strategy.

"Great Khan, how should we respond to Prince Feng?" a minister stepped forward and asked, "If he provokes us again, can we send troops to resist him?"

Yelu Dahe pondered for a moment and said slowly: "The defeat in this battle is partly my fault, and partly due to Yelu He's carelessness and underestimation of the enemy."

"Although Yelu He is a distant relative of mine, military law is as strong as a mountain. Behead his family and send them to the Feng King as a token of our Great Liao's friendship."

"Tell Prince Feng that as long as he is willing to withdraw his troops, we can make up for the losses suffered by the Fengtian Army as much as possible."

When everyone heard this, their eyelids twitched wildly and a chill ran down their spines.

The Khan didn't say this before. When the news of Yelu He's defeat came, it was obvious that he wanted to protect him.

Now that the Khitan was defeated in the Battle of Xiangping, although the Khan took the blame on himself, there still had to be a commander responsible for this battle.

It seems that the Khan wants to protect Khal Khan and give up Yelu He.

Anyway, there was a high probability that Yelu He had died in the battle. This not only won over the noble group of the Pi Shi Army, but also demonstrated his impartiality by putting the interests of the country above those of his own.

Everyone was happy, except Yelu and the hurt world.

Accompanying you is like accompanying a tiger.

. . . . . .

As it turned out, the Khitan monarch and his ministers thought too much. For the next few days, the Fengtian Army remained stationed in Xiangping City and did not continue to move north.

Although the Fengtian Army won all three battles, the price it paid was not small.

According to statistics after the war, the Ninggu army suffered 3,000 casualties and 800 deaths; the cavalry battalion suffered 1,000 casualties and 500 deaths.

The National Protection Army suffered the heaviest casualties, with almost everyone injured, more than a thousand seriously injured, and more than two thousand sacrifices.

In addition to casualties, logistical issues were also an important reason why Li Che did not dare to let the army continue the Northern Expedition.

Although Li Leshi successfully defended Guangning City, it was still three hundred miles from Chaoyang City to Guangning City, and another three hundred miles from Guangning City to Xiangping City.

The long and winding supply lines, coupled with the poor road conditions, made transportation extremely difficult.

Not to mention that along the way, the remnants of the Khitan army and other barbarians would appear from time to time to take advantage of the situation.

Reality is not a game. You cannot win by simply pushing all the way down to capture crystals. The outcome of a war often depends on logistics rather than a temporary victory.

Seeing that the road condition was so bad, Li Che made up his mind to start repairing the road after the war.

If you want to get rich, you must first build roads. As long as the roads are good enough, traffic problems will be solved.

But Li Che did not gain nothing.

In addition to the two cities, the Fengtian Army has been sweeping everywhere in the past few days and has captured a large number of prisoners of war.

All captives of various ethnic groups were taken to prisoner-of-war camps, and some Qing slaves who fell into the hands of the Khitans automatically obtained the status of citizens of Feng State.

According to statistics, there were as many as 50,000 prisoners of war, so at least there would be no shortage of labor for the time being.

Li Che then ordered the repair of Xiangping city walls, the rest of the troops, the treatment of the wounded, and sent troops to escort some prisoners of war back to Chaoyang City.

Western Liaoning, which had been in turmoil for more than half a month, finally settled down. The surrounding small tribes also breathed a sigh of relief and sent envoys to express their submission to the great Prince Feng.

Being weak is the original sin, and the small tribes outside the Great Wall have no power to decide their own position.

Just two days ago, they were delivering food and fodder to the Khitan army. Now the Khitan army has been defeated. If they don't want to be liquidated and exterminated by the Fengtian Army, they can only rely on the new overlord of western Liaoning.

Xiangping City became the central city for Feng State to control these barbarians. Li Che waved his hand and changed the name!

It was still changed to its later name, Liaoyang!

"Liao" refers to the small Liao River (Hunhe River) outside the city, meaning far away.

'Yang' is taken from Chaoyang City, which means sunshine.

There was nothing wrong with the meaning, and his civil and military officials had no objections, so the name of the city was decided.

It’s a pity that Liaoyang City is too far away and close to the Khitan border, otherwise Li Che would have planned to move the factory and the royal palace here.

However, if we were to say which city outside the Great Wall is truly suitable to be the capital, it would have to be Shenyang.

Shenyang is not far from Liaoyang City, and Li Che even went there to take a look.

Just as Li Che remembered, this future first city in Northeast China was still a small earthen city at this moment.

There were no barbarians living in the city, and it seemed that it had been abandoned for a long time.

Li Che rode on his horse, looking towards the small, earthy yellow town, and said to Huo Duanxiao beside him:

"Zhengze, what do you think of the location of this city?"

Huo Duanxiao pondered for a moment and replied seriously, "This area is located on a plain, with mountains to the east and hills to the north. The terrain gradually opens up to the west and south. The Liaohe and Hunhe rivers are also nearby. It's easy to defend and difficult to attack, and it's rich in resources. The geographical location is excellent."

"What if I told you that I plan to build a city here in the future?"

Huo Duanxiao nodded: "Of course it can be done. If this place is well developed, it can support hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians."

Li Che smiled.

Just a few hundred thousand? That's too much of an underestimation of these two generations of emperors.

"What if I said that this city would become the best city in the world?"

"what?"

Even though Huo Duanxiao was extremely intelligent, he was still shocked by Li Che's words.

Liu Bowen's statement that he "knew what would happen five hundred years in the past and five hundred years in the future" was fabricated by later generations. Even the wisest of men could hardly escape the constraints of their time.

Huo Duanxiao could only see that this land had potential, but he could not see how terrifying the potential of this land would be when industrialization came.

Just as the two were discussing how to develop this future first city outside the Great Wall, a cavalryman of the National Protection Army came running from a distance.

"Report!" The cavalryman dismounted and saluted, "Your Highness, the Left Chief Clerk."

"The Khitan Khan has sent an envoy to the city of Liaoyang. General Chen invites Your Highness to return to the city for consultation."

"I know, you go and rest."

The cavalryman said respectfully, "I'll take my leave."

Looking at Huo Duanxiao who was thinking about something, Li Che smiled and said, "This old fox has finally come. Zhengze thinks Yelu Dahe wants to fight or make peace?"

"If we want to fight, the ones coming will not be envoys, but Khitan wolf cavalry," said Huo Duanxiao.

"Hahaha, Zhengze and I really are in tune with each other. Yelu Dahe, who once dominated the frontier, has grown old and has also learned to fawn on others."

Li Che rushed out and said, "Let's go! Let's go meet this Khitan Khan!"