The emperor is biased and wants to kill me, but you chickened out when the army is at the city gates

Inside the Hall of Mental Cultivation in the Imperial Palace of Daqi.

Minister of War Fan Jin, holding the urgent report just delivered by his subordinates, respectfully said, "Your Majesty, 50,000 Northwest Army soldiers are about to arrive at Qushui City, and another 100,000 Qingyun Army soldiers will arrive at Wanlipo tomorrow. At the current marching speed, they will surely be able to set up an ambush before the Shence Army arrives at the northern border."

Qushui City is only fifty miles away from Tianshan City, while Wanlipo is located north of Tianshan City, which is between Tianshan City and the northern border, about eighty miles away.

Wanlipo, in particular, is located in a mountain forest, with high earthen slopes on both sides covered with dense forests, making it the best ambush location.

"Is the Shence Army still outside Tianshan City?"

A ruthless glint flashed in the eyes of the Emperor of Daqi as he coldly asked.

"According to reports from scouts, the Shence Army has been blocked outside Tianshan City for seven days and has not yet been able to pass through."

"Alright, this time I'll see just how capable you really are, Qin Xuan."

The refugee issue had previously caused Qin Tian's grand scheme to fail.

But with a combined army of 150,000 lying in ambush, even if Qin Xuan is hailed as a military genius of our time, there is absolutely no way he can win.

Moreover, he had already secretly sent envoys to the Jurchen Kingdom to discuss how to deal with Qin Xuan. As long as Qin Xuan's Shence Army dared to appear in the northern border, they could join forces to completely destroy it in one fell swoop.

In fact, many ministers in the court opposed this alliance.

After all, Qin Xuan is a citizen of Daqi and has royal blood. No matter how much the Daqi emperor suppresses him, it is still an internal conflict within the country.

But if the Jurchen state is involved, how is this any different from treason and betrayal?

However, the current emperor of Daqi is blinded by hatred, and those loyal ministers who supported Qin Xuan have been dismissed or demoted.

In today's court, treacherous officials hold power, so naturally there's no room for polite obstruction.

Inside Tianshan City, after two days of preparation, the Shence Army not only replenished a large amount of supplies, including 80,000 shi of grain, but also took away a large amount of gold and silver treasures.

Of course, all of these things came from the wealthy merchants and high-ranking officials of Tianshan City.

"Eighty thousand shi of grain is enough to feed our army for three months."

Qin Xuan finally smiled as he watched large quantities of supplies and food being loaded onto the trucks.

"Your Highness, the monkey wants to see you."

Just then, Guo Huan suddenly came to report.

Qin Xuan immediately ordered Guo Huan to bring the monkey, only to find that behind the short man was a ragged man.

"This humble servant greets Your Highness." The monkey bowed respectfully, and the person behind him paused for a moment before following suit.

Monkey was a skilled fighter taken in by Guan Xingsheng after he founded Xingyuan Escort Agency, so he did not belong to the Shence Army, which is why he called himself "a villain".

Qin Xuan waved his hand: "No need for formalities, what do you need me for?"

"Your Highness, his name is Zhao Hai. He is a courier. He overheard the stationmaster mentioning that a combined army of 150,000 men was about to march to Wanlipo to ambush the Shence Army. So he risked his life to run away overnight to deliver the message."

Monkey had always acted as a scout or intelligence agent in Xingyuan Escort Agency. It was his beggars who found the courier lying on the official road and rescued him.

The monkey noticed that although he was dressed in civilian clothes, he had calluses on his thumb and forefinger, so it judged him to be a soldier and asked him a few more questions.

Little did they know that this inquiry would yield such shocking news.

However, this matter was of great importance, and the monkey dared not believe it easily, so he had no choice but to bring the person to Qin Xuan.

"Since you are a courier, why did you inform me of this?"

Qin Xuan was shocked, but his face showed no emotion.

Zhao Hai's face was covered in dirt, and he was breathing weakly, but his eyes were unusually firm: "I served in the army on the frontier before, but because I was afraid of dying, I asked someone to find a way to return to my hometown of Qushui. Later, because I was good at riding warhorses, I became a courier."

"But I always remember that it was His Highness who led us, a bunch of good-for-nothings, to defeat the Khangu tribe on the northwestern border for the first time two years ago."

"Although I am afraid of death, I cannot bear to see anyone plot against the Prince and the Shence Army, because I know that only you, King Chu, can make us ordinary people live a good life."

Zhao Hai's eyes reddened, and large tears fell, perhaps out of regret for his cowardice and fear of death back then.

Hearing this, Qin Xuan was slightly moved.

He first instructed the monkey to take Zhao Hai away to have something to eat, and then he led Zhuge Xuan, Zhao Luoying, Guo Huan and others to the government office.

"Gentlemen, how much of what Zhao Hai said is true and how much is false?"

As the commander-in-chief of an army, Qin Xuan could not so easily trust a stranger.

“I observed that Zhao Hai does indeed have calluses on his thumb and forefinger, and he walks with a distinct pigeon-toed gait, which is consistent with the characteristics of cavalry.” Zhuge Xuan pondered for a moment, then continued, “However, it is better to believe that this matter exists than not. I had previously considered that if there really is an allied force lying in ambush, the only troops that the Emperor of Daqi can quickly mobilize are the Northwest Army and the Qingyun Army.”

“That’s right.” Qin Xuan nodded: “The Northwest Army is closest to Qushui City, and because it needs to fight against the Mongols all year round, it has the most cavalry.”

"As for the Qingyun Army, they should have received orders to head to the capital on the day we forced the emperor to abdicate. If the Emperor of Daqi reacted quickly and ordered them to detour via Wanlipo, then the timing would be just right."

"So, the courier's message was true?" Zhao Luoying was slightly surprised.

She couldn't imagine that an emperor would dare to collude with foreign tribes to deal with his own son for his own selfish desires. If she had known this would happen, she should have carried out the purge of corrupt officials from the beginning.

"It should be true."

Qin Xuan affirmed, then continued, "Based on the time, we must set off immediately tonight, otherwise we might not be ambushed, but rather encounter a battle."

Guo Huan nodded, and couldn't help but sigh, "This time it was quite lucky that the monkey actually ran into that courier."

"That's wrong!"

Zhuge Xuan smiled and shook his head: "What we should be most grateful for is the arrangement made by the prince before. If he hadn't decisively taken control of the entire Tianshan City and left 50,000 Shence Army soldiers outside the city to confuse the emperor's spies who might come, even if we had messengers to inform us, it would probably have been too late."

Upon hearing Zhuge Xuan's words, Guo Huan immediately nodded repeatedly.

Indeed, if it were any other commander, they would likely still be arguing with the Tianshan City garrison commander.

But how decisive was Qin Xuan?

After being rejected on the first day, they implemented a coordinated attack from within and without that night, and then breached the city the following day.

This requires absolute courage and boldness.

After the city fell, Qin Xuan's arrangements were even more impressive.

On the one hand, they quickly took control of the entire Tianshan City, and on the other hand, they continued to create the illusion that the Shence Army was being blocked. These two arrangements were indispensable.

Looking at Qin Xuan, who remained calm and composed, Zhuge Xuan would occasionally think that whether he, the strategist, was present or not would not affect the overall situation.