Chapter 412: Power Struggles

Weng City.

At this moment, the Great Song's four hundred thousand-strong army was camping here.

Tent after tent, like a white ocean, tightly surrounded the gray-toned Weng City, leaving only a gap on the north side of the city.

In the middle of the camp south of Weng City, a tent more than three times larger than those of the ordinary soldiers appeared particularly conspicuous.

The clean and tidy fabric was embroidered with colorful dragons and phoenixes.

A circle of golden threads wound around the tent, with small golden bells hanging beneath it.

In front of the tent, Imperial Guard soldiers wearing shiny silver Plate Armor leaned their Long Swords against their shoulders, gazing ahead.

This made the tent appear even more daunting.

But right now, things in the tent did not seem very harmonious; bursts of arguing could be heard from within.

"Your Majesty, while General Yang is indeed a veteran of a hundred battles, your son believes we should not leave a gap on the west side, giving the Xiliang soldiers a chance to flee. We should annihilate them in one fell swoop; otherwise, if they escape into Xian City, Xian City will be even harder to attack." The Second Prince Zhao Qu glanced at Yang Feng and said to Zhao Heng, who was sitting on a tiger-skin chair.

For this Northern Expedition, the Han Family agreed to send troops; besides the pressure from Dou Wei, it was also because when Dou Wei lobbied him, he agreed to let him follow the army on the expedition and serve by Zhao Heng's side.

For his family, this was an excellent opportunity for him to earn military merit.

Now that the Third Prince could no longer compete with him, if he could earn merit in this Northern Expedition, the position of Crown Prince would be within his grasp.

It was just that the command of this Northern Expedition army was in the hands of Yang Feng.

All matters in the army were dispatched by him.

As such, he himself appeared to be nothing more than a figurehead in the army.

The outcome of the war had nothing to do with him.

But since he had come, how could he leave empty-handed? He was determined to demonstrate his own talent before his Imperial Father.

He wanted to vie with Yang Feng for military power and claim a portion of the military merit for himself.

Thus, ever since Yang Feng proposed the strategy of "surround three sides, leave one open," he had been opposing it.

In his view, with over four hundred thousand troops in the center, the Imperial Guards, the Dou Family, the Han Family, and the Wang Family together possessed over three hundred pieces of Artillery.

Such a formidable force could completely wipe out all the Xiliang troops inside the city.

"The Second Prince is right."

"With our four hundred thousand troops fighting one hundred thousand, why be so cautious? Even if we set an ambush on the north side, they will surely let many escape."

"Since this is the first battle, we must crush the morale of the Xiliang people; why be so timid?"

"..."

Other generals in the tent began to clamor.

Zhao Heng frowned upon hearing this; he was not very proficient in warfare, but he subconsciously felt that the Second Prince was right.

Because he also wanted to wipe out the Xiliang defenders in the city in one go, making the first battle of the Northern Expedition a beautiful one.

However, since he had appointed Yang Feng as the Grand Marshal, it would not be good to reject his military orders in the very first battle.

But now that the Second Prince and a group of generals were opposing it, he could not help but waver, so he said: "Marshal Yang, state your reasoning."

Yang Feng was silent for a long while, swept his gaze over the Second Prince and the generals, and said: "Your Majesty, according to what this subordinate knows, His Highness Yan Wang often used this strategy when attacking Jincheng,"

"The results were always excellent. If we do not give the enemies in the city a way out, their resistance is often fierce, which will cause our army heavy casualties."

After pondering for a moment, he continued: "If we suffer too many losses just at Weng City, how will we go on to attack Xian City? Furthermore, according to the intelligence sent back by the Scouts, the Northern Di have not made any moves yet, and having no moves is actually the most dangerous thing. Therefore, we should not fight to the death at Weng City, but should take Weng City as quickly as possible and have the army move in, to avoid being attacked from both inside and outside by the Northern Di and Xiliang."

"The old general's words make sense." Zhao Heng nodded.

"Imperial Father, General Yang's words are wrong. When Yan Wang attacked Jincheng, he surrounded the city on all four sides, annihilated all the Xiliang soldiers in the city, and killed Tuoba Wuji. This shows that when one has superior force, there is no need to 'surround three sides and leave one open'." The Second Prince raised his head. "As for the Northern Di, we only need to order the Scouts to patrol; if there is any movement, we can be on guard early."

Zhao Heng's frown deepened.

Both sides seemed to have their points, and he did not know what to do.

"Fighting to the death while surrounding the city on four sides will be a protracted affair; if it drags on, changes are likely to occur." Seeing the Second Prince being aggressive, Yang Feng could not help but feel a bit angry.

"If you let a tiger return to the mountains, the tiger will only come back to haunt you."

"..."

The Second Prince did not yield at all, and the two began to argue sentence by sentence.

Just then, a middle-aged general said: "Your Majesty, since both General Yang and the Second Prince have their points, why not take a compromise? First, surround and attack the city on all four sides; if the Xiliang soldiers fight to the death and our army finds it difficult to conquer, then we can withdraw from one side and attack again."

Zhao Heng nodded slightly. "General Dou's words make sense; let's compromise."

"Your Majesty!" Yang Feng cupped his hands, wanting to say something.

But Zhao Heng only waved his hand. "That's enough, you all go out; I am tired."

Yang Feng sighed, flicked his sleeves, and turned to leave.

The Second Prince showed a look of triumph and left one after another with the other generals.

As the crowd exited the tent, they saw Liang Cheng leading someone with their head covered and wearing a cloak inside.

The Second Prince and the generals were accustomed to this.

After just a slight glance, the Second Prince said to the middle-aged general beside him: "General Dou Xiao, thank you just now."

"Why thank me? This subordinate just cannot stand him, Yang Feng, relying on his age to sell his seniority. Furthermore, he keeps saying 'Yan Wang fought like this, Yan Wang fought like that.' Does that mean only Yan Wang in this world knows how to fight, and we are nothing but useless sacks of wine and rice?" Dou Xiao snorted coldly.

Although his compromise seemed to be an act of reconciliation, it was actually biased toward the Second Prince.

After all, how to attack Weng City was originally decided solely by Yang Feng.

Now there were two sets of methods, and the Second Prince's method was prioritized.

"General Dou is absolutely right. Furthermore, now that the powerful clans have joined forces to send troops, how can we let Yang Feng fight however he wants?" The Second Prince said; he was trying to win over the other clan generals, so he spoke on their side.

The clan generals nodded one after another upon hearing this.

Although they had no choice but to fight this war, they could not let Yang Feng manipulate them.

Therefore, they quickly gathered around the Second Prince to use him to check Yang Feng.

After all, they did not want to be sent by Yang Feng to lead the charge.

"Alas, I fear this Northern Expedition will struggle to achieve anything." Returning to his own tent, Yang Feng glanced at the Second Prince and the generals gathered around him.

Immediately, he let out a sigh.

The very first military order issued by him, the Grand Marshal, had been opposed; how was he to command the Northern Expedition army from now on?

With such internal infighting, what kind of battles could this Central Route Army possibly fight?

"Powerful clans are powerful clans after all; even if they are willing to fight, they each still have their own agendas," Yang Feng thought to himself.

Then, he looked toward the east, in the direction of Weicheng.

He felt that the only correct choice he had made regarding this Northern Expedition was allowing Yan Wang and the Ma Family Army to form their own separate route.

If he had followed the Emperor's wishes at the time and had Yan Wang lead troops into the Central Route Army, he feared Yan Wang would have also been dragged into today's squabbles.

Now, he could only do his best to use his authority as Grand Marshal to tie down the forces of Xiliang and Beidi as much as possible, winning time for Yan Wang.

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