Chapter 240

The next morning, the king announced his decision at court; the whole hall stared at each other, and surprisingly no one immediately stood up to oppose.

The king was delighted: "It seems you all support my decision, right? It seems everyone is reasonable." The king's tall hat immediately came crashing down.

This time, Xue Xiang didn't need to pretend; he really had a headache.

The king said he would personally lead the army to attack the Liaodong Xianbei!

Xue Xiang didn't know how to react for a moment.

Whether the You King stands in the position of the Emperor Ningde's son or that of the Great Jin feudal princes, at this juncture proactively attacking the Liaodong Xianbei to hinder the Xianbei allied army's rear is nothing but his loyalty and patriotism, completely understandable. But the problem is that he just turned nine after the New Year—listen, he says he wants to personally lead troops to attack the Liaodong Xianbei!

"Please, Your Highness, think again!"

The king looked at him seriously: "You've thought it over enough! Feudal lords cannot keep private troops, and I also cannot, without an edict, privately lead troops to aid the capital outskirts. Taking more than three thousand out, isn't that just delivering myself into a trap before my father emperor? Taking too few wouldn't help either, right? But I can't just hide in Youzhou doing nothing; one who lacks foresight will surely have near-term worries, and the Chancellor surely understands this better than I. Now I sending troops to East Xianbei to help my father emperor contribute some strength is also good. Think about it: if we attack East Xianbei, the Xianbei allied forces' fifty thousand troops belonging to East Xianbei withdrawing to support would be ideal; if they don't withdraw, it's still a good opportunity to retaliate against years of accumulated grudges. Just thinking about new and old grudges makes me unable to sit still; you all can understand that, right?"

Chancellor Xue had a headache; the reasoning was sound, but the king was too idealistic.

Your Highness, the troops you have at hand look fine, but after all they are few and lack real combat experience. If the allied forces withdraw and attack from both sides, it would be extremely dangerous! The East Xianbei royal city is said to be guarded by three hundred thousand troops; how many can you dispatch, Your Highness? Please think it over again!

The king, blunt and outspoken, said: "Listen to him boasting!" His father's Chang'an also only has four hundred thousand troops guarding it; Xianbei is a sizable region, but each tribe governs itself, so he simply doesn't believe the East Xianbei royal city itself has three hundred thousand troops.

Chancellor Xue: "Your Highness!"

The king: "... Alright, go on."

Chancellor Xue felt overwhelmed: "I've already said it all; a direct northern expedition is overly rash, and I disagree. Youzhou's population and finances cannot support a current campaign against the Xianbei; Your Highness, defending Youzhou well is the best strategy."

The king thought to himself, "Expecting Youzhou to have nothing? No way. I myself have saved up quite a bit of wealth; it's enough to splurge on this trip."

The king tried to reason: "If their plot succeeds, Youzhou is also in danger. Taking the initiative and seizing the element of surprise—what's wrong with that? Youzhou will certainly hold firm; that's also why I don't involve myself in the northwestern battlefield. Youzhou is the foundation; my cavalry cannot stray too far from Youzhou, at the very least we'll leave time for reinforcements. When we attack East Xianbei, facing the enemy, Youzhou lies in the rear; can even such high walls not hold until the cavalry returns to aid?"

Chancellor Xue: "It seems Your Highness has considered the possibility that the Xianbei allied forces might withdraw and then attack Youzhou first; by then, even if you knew, it would be too late."

The king patted the Heaven-shrouding bird perched on the armrest of his throne, saying: "I have my own ways to know the movements of Youzhou city; I can even obtain the southwestern Changzhou troop movements within half a day."

Everyone looked doubtfully at the Heaven-shrouding bird, wondering, "Is it really that miraculous?"

The king remained calm; the Heaven-shrouding bird was even calmer, the two of them—person and bird—letting themselves be observed.

The king must have been bluffing. He knew that the information about Youzhou's movements also relied on Vermilion Hill; when he left Youzhou city, Vermilion Hill definitely could not leave Youzhou.

The king couldn't sleep last night; he thought about all his worries, the savings he'd accumulated over two or three years—now, in this situation, he didn't even dare to undertake a northern expedition; that would truly have been a wasted effort.

Not daring this, not daring that—it simply wasted the great fortune that Mengmeng gave him.

Once he figured it out, the king fell asleep; sometimes when people can't make sense of a situation, they should just follow their inner hearts.

As long as one can take responsibility and not regret it, that's enough.

Today the king announced his decision at the court assembly with that resolve, thinking that even if everyone ultimately disagreed, it didn't matter—he was the lord of Youzhou, and things should be done according to his edict.

Chancellor Xue and the Grand Tutor exchanged a glance; the intention was clearly set.

Chancellor Xue spoke again: "Your Highness's filial devotion to His Majesty and loyalty to the Great Jin deeply move me. But you are still young; personally leading a northern expedition is inappropriate. It would be better to send an experienced commander to lead the troops—I think Commander Zhang would be suitable."

Lao Huli, on the spot, made a U-turn, switching to obstruct the king from personally leading troops.