Chapter 243: Lan Yusheng

When the court failed the first Northern Expedition, the time gradually came to winter, which was a time of rest. Although Li Jinglong vowed to destroy Yan in the court for three months, it was just a statement of his intention to obtain power. After replacing Geng Bingwen as the commander of the Northern Expedition, he was not anxious and needed time to consolidate his military power. He wrote to Zhu Yunwen again, proposing that the court had a new defeat and the morale of the army was unstable, which was not conducive to immediate combat. He asked Zhu Yunwen to give him a winter time to rectify the army and restore morale. Zhu Yunwen agreed to his request and relaxed the period of his Northern Expedition from three months to half a year.

At the same time, King of Yan Zhu Di also used this precious period of truce to integrate the army. In this way, the armies of both sides began to calm down. They prepared for war and actively prepared for war. The Central Plains was in a quiet state before the storm came.

But Lan Yu from Guizhou did not follow the rhythm of the Central Plains. He had been waiting in Guizhou for nearly three years. At the end of the first year of Jianwen, he finally felt that the opportunity had come and carefully took a critical step.

In Sinan Prefecture, Guizhou, the sky was gloomy and lightly drizzled, and it was full of coldness. Two messengers wearing straw raincoats and hats were leading their horses to trek on the muddy mountain road. In front and behind them, an army of more than 300 people guarded them. After climbing a mountainside, they had already seen the low walls of Sinan Prefecture and the endless military camp outside the city. Everyone couldn't help but speed up their pace and walked towards the military camp at the foot of the mountain.

At this time, Sinan Prefecture had become the garrison of Lan Yu's main force. Sinan Prefecture was in an extremely sensitive area, connected to Chongqing Prefecture in the north and Huguang in the east. This was a place that Lan Yu was very familiar with. In the 23rd year of Hongwu, Lan Yu was ordered to quell the indigenous rebellion in the western part of Huguang. At that time, his army had stationed in Sinan and was very familiar with the local natives. This time he entered Sinan again and received full support from the local indigenous people and governments. Although the food that Sinan could provide was far from meeting the needs of the 200,000 army, they successfully kept the secret for Lan Yu's army. Lan Yu's 200,000 army rectified Sinan for nearly a month, and they were unaware of it in both Chongqing and Huguang.

In the big tent, Lan Yu had just finished lunch and was pondering in front of the map. Although Lu Siyuan left him, Lan Yu was no longer as anxious as he had been three years ago. He also began to become calm and learned to wait for opportunities. Half a year ago, he took advantage of the opportunity of Mu Chun, Yunnan to return to the court to report his duties and led 50,000 troops to Yunnan, trying to connect Yunnan and Guizhou. He won three battles and three victories, killing the Mu family's army to escape. However, he eventually failed because he was not familiar with the terrain of Yunnan. He was cut off the food route by the local indigenous army supporting the Mu family and was forced to retreat to Guizhou. This failure made him realize that the Mu family was deeply rooted in Yunnan and he could no longer display his military talents in the complex terrain of Yunnan.

Lan Yu's eyes turned to Sichuan, which was treasured and sky-high. This time, his eyes were no longer just considering robbing money, grain and materials like he did three years ago. He began to consider moving his foundation to Sichuan. Guizhou had a sparse population and barren land, which made his strength almost unrealized in three years, but Sichuan could become the basis for him to become the emperor.

Lan Yu had been in Sinan for nearly a month, and he was waiting for the best opportunity. At this time, a report came from outside the door: "General, the messenger of the King of Qin has arrived."

Lan Yu was overjoyed and strode out of the tent. He saw two haggard men standing in the drizzle, all wearing straw raincoats and straw hats. When they saw Lan Yu coming out, the leader immediately knelt down and said, "Yang Qing, a hundred personal soldiers under the King of Qin, met General Lan."

Lan Yu quickly helped him up and sighed: "The road is really difficult. Three months ago, I received news from His Highness Qin. I hope to cooperate with him to seize Sichuan. I waited for him for three months before finally waiting for you."

"Report to the general, we set out from Xi'an a month ago and traveled thousands of miles before we arrived in Guizhou. Fortunately, the general agreed to leave Sinan Prefecture in advance, otherwise we would enter Guizhou by sowing, and then we missed the general."

Lan Yu laughed, he grabbed the arms of the two and said enthusiastically: "You have worked hard all the way, come in and have a little hot tea, and have a good meal."

The two followed Lan Yu into the tent and sat down. They each took a sip of hot tea, and then drove out the coldness of the internal organs. Yang Qing, a hundred household, took out a letter and a map and said: "This is the handwritten letter from His Highness the King of Qin to the general. At the same time, they gave the General a detailed map of Sichuan, including the garrisons in Sichuan and the population tax situation of each prefecture. His Highness the King of Qin hopes to be helpful to the General."

Lan Yu hurriedly took it. He didn't panic and read the letter first, but opened the map and looked carefully. He couldn't help but sigh: "This is really a treasure! With this map, why worry about Sichuan being unable to take it down."

"Please read the letter again, General." Yang Qing reminded in a low voice.

Lan Yu smiled and then opened the letter. In the letter, Zhu Cheng, the King of Qin, asked him to send troops to Sichuan with a very earnest attitude, attacked Zhang Yi of Hanzhong, and supported him as Emperor Ming, and promised to give him the title of king in the future.

Lan Yu pondered for a moment, then asked, "What about the army in His Highness the King of Qin?"

Since the King of Qin did not give in advance, Yang Qing did not dare to hide it, and said, "Your Highness the King of Qin still has nearly 200,000 troops in his hands. Because His Highness and King of Jin had a disagreement on the attack on Hebei, there was a dispute between them. Your Highness has returned to Xi'an Prefecture, but he is under great pressure. There are still 100,000 imperial troops in Longyou and northern Shaanxi. Your Highness plans to enter Sichuan to develop, hoping that the general can cooperate. As long as the general defeats Gao Wei's army in Chongqing, my highness will immediately send troops to Hanzhong to fight with the general."

Lan Yu joined the letter and smiled faintly, "I have already promised to support the King of Qin as the emperor. I, Lan Yu, are a person with one word and nine tripods. Since I have made a promise, I will never lose my words."

In December of the first year of Jianwen, Guizhou Lan Yu led an army of 200,000 from Sinan to attack Chongqing Prefecture in lightning, defeating Gao Wei's general Li Xiaohe's 30,000 troops in the battle of Nanping Pass. Then Lan Yu's army divided into three groups to attack Chongqing Prefecture. Gao Wei, who was stationed in Chongqing Prefecture, led 70,000 troops to strictly guard the city, and on the other hand, he quickly issued an urgent report to the court.

But Lan Yu bypassed Chongqing, and the army crossed the Jialing River in Ba County and rushed straight to Chengdu, which was defending empty. At this time, the King of Shu and the guards had been deprived of the court. Chengdu only had 8,000 troops. The King of Shu was forced to give up Chengdu and fled to Hanzhong. The Chief of Chengdu Chen Silian surrendered to Lan Yu. On December 16, Lan Yu's soldiers occupied Chengdu without bloodshed and publicly announced their support for the eldest son of the emperor, Zhu Cheng, the King of Qin, as the emperor.

The news that Lan Yu attacked Sichuan again shocked the whole country, and the court fell into an extremely dilemma, especially when Huguang's troops were weak. If Lan Yu took advantage of the situation to advance eastward, the consequences would be unimaginable. At this time, someone in the court proposed to reconcile with the King of Yan and do his best to deal with Sichuan Lan Yu, but this suggestion was also strongly opposed. The debate within the court about whether Yan or Lan had entered a white-hot heat.

At this moment, the King of Yan rebuked Lan Yu for usurping the Ming Dynasty and publicly called on the Ming Dynasty's vassal kings to unite and deal with Lan Yu unanimously. The King of Yan's appeal received the support of many vassal kings. Just after the New Year of the second year of Jianwen, King of Yan Zhu Di sent 200,000 troops to march towards Shanxi, and raised the banner of defending the Ming Dynasty and sweeping away the Blue Thieves.

At night, the Minister of War Qi Tai was waiting anxiously outside the imperial study room. During the debate between Yan and Yan Lan, he firmly opposed reconciliation with the King of Yan. However, when Wen Yanming, the Minister of War, met in the afternoon, he found that the emperor had a vague intention of reconciliation with the King of Yan, and immediately told Qi Tai. Qi Tai was extremely anxious. He went to the palace overnight to persuade the emperor.

Qi Tai paced back and forth outside the imperial study with his hands behind his back. At this time, an eunuch stepped forward and said, "My Lord Qi Tai, Your Majesty is here to invite you."

Qi Tai strode into the imperial study without saying a word. At this time, Zhu Yunwen was reviewing a memorial that Li Jinglong had just submitted, asking the court to immediately allocate 3 million stones of grain. As the military expenditure of the Northern Expedition Army, the court had just allocated 2 million taels of silver. Now he reached out to ask for money again, which made Zhu Yunwen really angry. At the same time, he was also worried. The little wealth that the emperor's grandfather had finally accumulated had been spent by him in just one year.

At this time, Zhu Yunwen had to admit that he had made a fatal mistake in handling taxes in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. He should not obey Huang Zicheng and Fang Xiaoru's advice, implement the strategy of hiding wealth for the people, and should not have large-scale abolition of tax collections, which led to serious tax reductions. However, fiscal expenditures at this time increased several times compared with the past. While incomes were sharply reduced, expenditures soared, which almost squeezed the treasury out of the country.

Zhu Yunwen sighed. In fact, he also knew that Li Jinglong commanded a 500,000 army and only demanded 2 million taels of silver and 3 million stones of grain in two months. The key was that he followed Huang Zicheng's advice and mobilized 1 million troops from seven provinces to Beijing. This item alone consumed nearly 20 million stones of grain. If he was not in charge of the family, he would not know that the firewood and rice were expensive. In the past, he always thought that the emperor's grandfather had too heavy taxes on Jiangsu and Zhejiang, but now he knew that if the taxes on Jiangsu and Zhejiang were not heavy, how could he reduce the taxes elsewhere?

It was the serious financial problems that made Zhu Yunwen shake the confidence of King Yan to resolutely wipe out the Yan King, and he also began to consider the possibility of reconciliation with King Yan.

"See Your Majesty!" Qi Tai's worship interrupted Zhu Yunwen's thoughts. He quickly approved the word "correct" on Li Jinglong's memorial, and then put down his pen and said: "Your dear Qi doesn't have to be too polite, I'll give you a seat!"

"I thank Your Majesty for giving you a seat." Qi Tai sat down, and he did not exchange greetings. He took out a memorial and said straight to the point: "Your Majesty, I have been considering the possibility of fighting on both sides of the court these two days. I have drawn up a plan, please give your Majesty a look."

Zhu Yunwen took the memorial, but did not read it, but sighed and said, "Aiqing Qi, can you still fight on two fronts now? The King of Yan held high the banner of righteousness. If the court went to attack Beiping at this time, how could he explain to the people of the world?"

"But Your Majesty should also be very clear that the King of Yan attacked Lan Yu and the attack on Qin and Jin is true. If the two Kings of Qin and Jin were captured by him, his army would increase by at least another 200,000. At that time, his strength was equal to that of the court. How could Your Majesty resist his going south?"

Zhu Yunwen whispered after a long time: "He is my uncle after all, and I want to reconcile with him and will not cut off the kingly vassal states for the time being."

Qi Tai stared at Zhu Yunwen for a long time and couldn't speak. He finally took a breath and patiently advised: "Your Majesty, the problem now is no longer as simple as reducing the vassal states. Other vassal states may be, but the King of Yan is no longer the case. He took Your Majesty and replaced it. Does Your Majesty even understand this?"

Seeing Zhu Yunwen lowered his head and said without saying a word, he continued, "I believe that Your Majesty is not willing to give way to the King of Yan. In fact, it is not impossible to fight on the two fronts. Since Lan Yu has given up Guizhou, Your Majesty can be transferred to Guangdong, Guangxi's army heading north and then some garrisons in the capital. In this way, there will always be 300,000 troops. In addition, the 70,000 troops in Chongqing Prefecture and 200,000 troops in Hanzhong, so that the millions of troops in the court can be divided into the Western Front and the Northern Front. As long as Your Majesty advances resolutely to Beiping, the King of Yan will definitely return from withdrawing troops. At that time, the two armies confront each other, Your Majesty can free up his hands to deal with Sichuan Lan Yu, and solve the disaster of Lan Yu in one fell swoop."

After saying that, Qi Tai looked at Zhu Yunwen with hope. He thought his plan was the best solution, but he solved the problems on both sides at the same time. Unexpectedly, Zhu Yunwen shook his head and sighed: "My dear idea is good, but our treasury is empty. How can we support large-scale combat on both sides?"

Qi Tai was stunned. He asked disbelief: "Your Majesty, you are not so embarrassed, right?"

"I don't know that I have made too many mistakes and spent too much money. I am about to eat up all the money left by the late emperor. I am guilty!"
Chapter completed!