On June 22, late at night, Li Fengyun and Li Mi led the main force of the alliance to cross Hangu Pass and move forward rapidly towards Mianchi.

At the same time, Yang Xuangan led the main army of the headquarters to follow up and quietly approached Hangu Pass.

On the same night, the guard Wensheng, left by Xijing, led his army to Hongnong City, the capital of Hongnong County. Hongnong Prefect Cai Wang Yang Zhiji did not leave the city to greet him on the grounds of being unwell, and also refused the invitation from Wei Wensheng, Mingya and other ministers to express his anger at the fact that the people of Xijing took the opportunity to attack Hongnong Yang, and even committed grievances such as digging graves and whipping corpses and burning bones. In a sense, this matter was a naked and naked slap in the face, not only slapping the royal family, but also slapping the Holy Lord's face. The Hongnong Yang family fell to such an unbearable level. The Yang family killed each other and lost themselves, which was also an irreparable huge blow to the authority of the royal family and the Holy Lord.

Wei Wensheng knew what he had done. Although he was open-minded, he was also an old man in his seventies. The view of right and wrong was difficult to change. He was more or less guilty about the Holy Lord and the royal family doing what they should not have done. Seeing that Yang Zhiji refused to meet, Wei Wensheng was a little depressed, so he entrusted Mingya, the Minister of War, to go to the city on the grounds of visiting. Whether he could see Yang Zhiji or not, he must explain the interests clearly. Once Yang Xuangan advances westward, Yang Zhiji must fight to block Yang Xuangan at all costs. This is no longer a personal emotional issue, but a matter of survival and demise. It is not a matter of negligence.

Mingya entered the city and did not see Yang Zhiji, nor did she see Yang Zhiji's son. The one who came forward to receive him was Yang Xu, and Yang Xu was the son of Yang Xiong, the King of Guande. Yang Xu did not give Mingya a good face. From beginning to end, he had a gloomy face, and his eyes were even more gloomy, as if he wanted to eat people.

Mingya could understand that although she dug up the ancestral tomb of Yang Xuangan's lineage, it hurts Yang Xuangan's heart, but the royal family and Hongnong Yang family have the same roots and roots, and the royal family also have the same spirit. This is a great humiliation. This slap is not only slapping Yang Xuangan's face, but also slapping Yang family and the face of the Holy Lord, but also slapping the royal family and the holy master.

Mingya made a tactful explanation. This matter was indeed done by Wei Wensheng, but the initiator was the local nobles of Guanlong, and the culprit was the local wealthy families of Guanlong. If they did not set up many obstacles in rushing to Dongdu, Wei Wensheng would not have lost his mind and carried out the worst strategy of burning both jade and stone.

Yang Xu sneered without saying a word.

The centralized reform insisted by the two generations of emperors offended all the aristocratic families, especially the Guanlong ruling group with the greatest vested interests, including the Hongnong Yang family. Yang Xuangan, as the new generation leader of the Hongnong Yang family, openly raised the flag to oppose the reform and oppose the Holy Lord, which was equivalent to stabbing his own family in the back. Then, the forces of all parties rushed forward, took advantage of the situation to rob, and rob, and everyone pushed them down. Yang Xu was prepared for this. At the beginning of the month, Yang Gongren asked Yang Shidao to go west to Huayin to persuade the elders of the house to make corrections at the critical moment.

It is true that you don’t fight in the nest or give your political enemies a single shot. But if you do it all, you don’t think that the political enemies are so crazy that they are so incredible. Digging tombs and whipping corpses, crushing bones and ashes, this will be a blow to the Hongnong Yang family. This is a wanton trampling on the dignity of the Yang family and a ruthless crushing of the Yang family. Dignity and reputation are the spiritual core of the Yang family. In this case, if the Hongnong Yang family does not fight to the death, if the Holy Lord and the royal family do not take revenge, if the descendants of the Yang family do not avenge the shame, the Hongnong Yang family will surely quickly decline.

So in Yang Xu's opinion, these people were crazy. In order to attack the Holy Lord, Yang Xuangan used open conspiracy to rebel publicly, while others secretly used conspiracy to induce fire. Do they really think that they could overthrow the Holy Lord? Can they change the world?

Mingya saw that Yang Xu never spoke, so she had to continue explaining.

This is why Wei Wensheng took this move, that is, the Holy Lord and the royal family would record hatred on the local nobles of Guanlong, and force the local nobles of Guanlong to the edge of the cliff, forcing them to sacrifice their lives on the battlefield of Dongdu.

After the battle between the snipe and the clam, the fisherman gained profits. After both the Heluo people led by Yang Xuangan and the Guanlong local nobles led by Wei, the conservative forces in the court were vulnerable, which would give the Holy Lord and the Reformers the chance to reverse the crisis. After all, the two consecutive defeats in the Eastern Expedition caused too much military and political blows to the Holy Lord and the Reformers. If this mutiny cannot be used to deal a heavy blow to the conservative forces, the Holy Lord and the Reformers will lose their absolute authority, and reforms will stagnate or even be reversed. Such a series of superimposed blows will inevitably put the Holy Lord and the Reformers in danger of collapse.

Mingya, the Minister of War, explained very well. He nominally blamed the local nobles of Guanlong, but in fact he clearly told the royal family that this was the situation that the Holy Lord and the Reformers were willing to see. In order to save themselves, to firmly control their authority and maintain the progress of reform, the Holy Lord and the Reformers would definitely support Wei Wensheng's "a heroic cut off their arms" move. The Holy Lord was definitely willing to sacrifice Hongnong Yang family to ensure the continuous progress of centralized reform. In short, in the eyes of the Holy Lord and the Reformers, in order to establish and improve the centralized system and lay a solid foundation for the unified system of Central Earth, anything can be sacrificed, and Hongnong Yang family can also be sacrificed.

Yang Xu understood, and his cold face changed a little. He realized that things were more serious than he thought. His brother Yang Gongren obviously knew the Holy Lord better than himself. He knew that the Holy Lord was very likely to sacrifice Hongnong Yang family at a critical moment, so he prepared for the future and tried every means to preserve Hongnong Yang family and protect the power of the royal family in case of an accident.

"I will tell the king truthfully." Yang Xu finally spoke, accepting Mingya's explanation.

Mingya's tight heart suddenly felt relieved. What he, Wei Wensheng and others were most worried about was that the royal family lost their minds due to anger. Once King Cai Yang Zhiji provided help when Yang Xuangan entered the pass, or ignored him and even suddenly turned against him in the rear during the fierce battle in front, it would be troublesome.

"In the battle of Dongdu, Tonggui Duke (Wei Wensheng) had no chance of winning, but the situation was unstoppable. Now he can only move forward and fight to the death." Mingya sighed, "If this happens, Dongdu will probably be in danger of being destroyed."

Yang Xu understood it.

The local nobles of Guanlong are in a dilemma. If they don’t fight with Yang Xuangan, the Holy Lord and the royal family will definitely take bloody revenge in the future. Wei Wensheng dragged the entire Guanlong local noble group into the "suspension field" with his own tumultuous body. On the contrary, if they fight with Yang Xuangan, both sides will suffer losses and their strength will be weakened. The local noble group of Guanlong will be the fish on the chopping board in the future and can only be slaughtered by the Holy Lord and the reformists. Therefore, after the Xijing army arrived at the battlefield of Dongdu, although it would not be passive and lazy to fight, it would not sacrifice its life. It is very likely to form a stalemate with Yang Xuangan and drag Yang Xuangan on the battlefield of Dongdu to wait for the arrival of other reinforcements to preserve their strength to the greatest extent.

The attitude of the royal family is very important in this situation. If King Cai Yang Zhiji publicly supports Wei Wensheng, clearly oppose Yang Xuangan, and act as an attitude of preferring to sacrifice Hongnong Yang for the sake of the country's reign, he will definitely put heavy pressure on Xijing politically, thus forcing the Xijing army to make a difference in the battlefield of Dongdu. Even if Dongdu is turned into ruins, Yang Xuangan will never be allowed to capture Dongdu, so that the Holy Lord's face will be beaten again and his authority will be damaged again.

Yang Xu pondered for a long time and made a promise to "tell" King Cai.

Mingya said goodbye with hope, but one night later, in the early morning of June 23, the Xijing army set up camp and set off on the journey in the morning light. However, the Cai Wang Yang Zhiji, who was "looking forward to" by Wei Wensheng and others, still did not appear, and the Hongnong County Government did not send a soldier to join the Dongdu to quell the rebellion.

Wei Wensheng and others were very disappointed, but this was in line with the style of King Cai Yang Zhiji. King Cai has always been cautious and self-protection, and has shrunk his head to live. He would rather not act than act wrongly. However, at such a critical moment, King Cai's silence is actually a silent protest, which means that the "good old man" has reached the extreme of anger and has reached the limit of patience, and has even refused to give him a hypocritical smile.

June 23rd, Xingyang battlefield.

The Han Prime Minister led his army to Xingyang, and the troops surrounding Xingyang skyrocketed overnight.

King Yang Qing of Xun decisively ordered to abandon Xingyang, break through the siege and head straight for Guancheng, and go straight to the capital.

Gu Jue entered Xingyang. Han Prime Minister and Lu Mingxing led their troops to directly kill Tongjiqu and continue to advance eastward, and to seize Jindi Pass as quickly as possible.

June 23rd, Liyang battlefield.

The King of Qi continued to attack Liyang City, and the offensive was still "violent". At the same time, he urged Hebei ambassador Cui Hongsheng and Zhuo County deputy left-behind Chen Ling to rush to the Liyang City as soon as possible

Cui Hongsheng and Chen Len both used the excuse of killing the rebels nearby as an excuse to stay in Neihuang and Tangyin, and were reluctant to move closer to Li Yang.

The "threat" meaning of King Qi is too obvious. He wants to use Li Yang to influence and even control the development of the entire situation. The Grand Canal must be cut off, and the East will be in danger every now and then. This storm will become increasingly greater, so as to force the Holy Lord to give up the Second Eastern Expedition and cause the Holy Lord and the Central Committee to suffer heavy damage again. Only in this way can he seize political interests to the greatest extent. Even if he cannot seize the imperial regime, at least he must ensure that he and his political forces can survive without a catastrophe.

Cui Hongsheng and Chen Len agreed that no matter how the province makes a decision, they must keep a safe distance from the King of Qi, and must "trapped" the King of Qi in Liyang, so as not to let the King of Qi enter Beijing and cause the storm to get out of control. Of course, if Dong Chun, the left-behind Pengcheng on the White Horse side, has something to do, they should pay attention to prevent the King of Qi from escaping and entering Beijing under their noses.

At dusk, the Xijing army arrived at Changpingcang, which was close to Hongnong Palace and only dozens of miles away from Shaanxi City.

Wei Wensheng received an emergency document sent by the province from the waterway, and the content of this document showed that the current situation was getting worse. In addition to the rebels completely surrounded by the rebels and losing contact with the province, the most important thing was that King Qi entered the Liyang battlefield, controlled the Grand Canal of the North and South, seized the opportunity, and put the central government in a passive state.

For Wei Wensheng, now he did not take into account the situation in Li Yang, and the most urgent task was to enter the Dongdu battlefield as quickly as possible. Only by rushing into the Dongdu in front of the King of Qi can he prevent the King of Qi from entering the capital, or prevent him from forming an alliance with Yang Xuangan after the King of Qi enters the capital.

However, Hangu Pass had been captured by Yang Xuangan. If the Xijing army went from Wu and Mian to kill Dongdu, it would inevitably be blocked by Hangu Pass. So someone proposed to change the water route, go down the river, and land from Dengjin and Mengjin to enter the Dongdu battlefield. It was both safe and safe. However, this strategy was equivalent to opening the road and allowing Yang Xuangan to enter Guanzhong west, which was naturally opposed by most people.

Wei Wensheng repeatedly weighed the pros and cons, but he was unable to make up his mind.
Chapter completed!