Chapter 691: Choices

"Your Majesty, Xie Duan requests an audience." While Han Zheng and Sato Masahisa were conferring, another eunuch arrived at the Imperial Study.

Exchanging a glance with Sato Masahisa, Han Zheng said, "Speak of the devil, and he appears."

Then, he turned to Sato Masahisa and asked, "Does Lord Sato need to step aside?"

Shaking his head, Sato Masahisa said, "No need. Since he has come regarding the Southern Liang's withdrawal, my presence will better persuade him to join you in resisting Yan Wang."

Han Zheng was of the same mind; he nodded to the eunuch, signaling for Xie Duan to enter.

Within the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Xie Duan arrived, and upon seeing Sato Masahisa, he was visibly surprised.

But now, unable to care about the presence of an outsider, he said urgently, "Your Majesty has not yet slept so late, surely you have already heard the news of the Southern Liang's withdrawal."

"Indeed," Han Zheng said truthfully.

Seeing Han Zheng's unhurried demeanor, Xie Duan said irritably, "At a time like this, Your Majesty is still so calm. Without the Southern Liang's two hundred thousand troops and the Northern Di's one hundred thousand cavalry, how can we fight Yan Wang?"

Pausing, he continued, "After the Liang Family and the Fan Family pulled up stakes and left the Southern Liang, they also retreated south."

Han Zheng's gaze darkened; this matter was within his expectations.

However, he could not reproach the Liang Family and the Fan Family now, because if the war went poorly, he would still have to rely on them.

So he said, "It is not that I am not anxious, but that anxiety is useless. In the end, the most dangerous position in this war is for your family and mine; for them, the fire has not yet reached their eyebrows, so they are not yet that desperate."

Xie Duan was almost on the verge of tears, "Then what is to be done? Can we defeat Yan Wang relying only on our two families?"

"We must fight even if we cannot win. Do you intend to hand Jinling over to Yan Wang on a silver platter?" Han Zheng retorted.

"Naturally not. If he, Yan Wang, wants to occupy Jinling, he must be made to pay a price in blood. Even so, if we are defeated, your head and mine will end up as night-pots for Yan Wang," Xie Duan said with a bitter smile.

"That is not necessarily true!" Han Zheng glanced at Sato Masahisa, giving him an inquiring look.

Sato Masahisa nodded, and Han Zheng then told Xie Duan about the plan in the letter.

Xie Duan was shocked upon hearing this.

His eyes darted around, and he said, "This is indeed a way out."

Having said that, he nodded and said to Sato Masahisa, "I, Xie Duan, am willing to fight Yan Wang alongside Qi to delay Yan Wang's southward advance."

Sato Masahisa laughed heartily, putting one arm around Han Zheng and the other around Xie Duan, and said loudly, "This is retreating to advance. In the future, if we destroy Yan Wang, I promise to help you restore your kingdoms and continue to be your carefree emperors."

Xie Duan and Han Zheng nodded, saying in unison, "Then we shall rely on you, Lord Sato."

They had no other choice at the moment.

If they did not agree to Sato Masahisa, they would still have to fight Yan Wang to defend their own territories.

Since that was the case, it was better to cooperate with the Dongying plan.

After all, they could see that Dongying did not want Yan Wang to unify the Great Song, but rather hoped for several dynasties to emerge across the territory of the Great Song.

And this also aligned with their own interests.

Having settled this matter, the three of them discussed how to deal with the upcoming war.

Having lost the Southern Liang troops, they could no longer take the initiative to launch an attack on Yan Wang.

But holding strategic points to resist Yan Wang step by step was still achievable.

For now, their goal was to hold the fortresses on the outskirts of Lu City at all costs.

Dongping City.

At the same time the Southern Liang withdrew their troops, Zhao Xu also received the news sent by Ma Han.

According to Ma Han, Dian Zhang had already arrived at Xiangcheng.

The next day.

Zhao Xu immediately dispatched scouts to investigate, and sure enough, they discovered the Southern Liang troops and Northern Di cavalry retreating toward the Southwest.

After a while, intelligence was received that the Liang Family and Fan Family troops were also retreating south.

"Hahaha... His Highness's move truly struck the snake at its seven-inch mark. This Dou Wei is extremely selfish; facing the crisis at Xiangcheng, he truly ignored the Anti-Yan Coalition and only cared for himself," Chang Wei said.

At this moment, he and Zhao Xu were both in the command room in Dongping City.

Zhao Xu nodded. He had ordered Ma Han to advance Northwest, firstly to cut off the connection between the Northern Di and the Southern Liang, preventing the Northern Di from continuously sending troops to the Southern Liang to participate in the internal chaos of the Great Song.

The second reason was to dissolve the Anti-Yan Coalition.

Although he was confident that he could defeat the million-strong army of the powerful clans gathered in Qizhou.

But even if he won, the Prince's Personal Army would certainly suffer certain casualties.

These casualties would be in the tens of thousands, and this was something he did not want to see.

A few days ago, through reconnaissance, it was found that the Anti-Yan Coalition had already gathered over fifteen hundred pieces of Artillery in Qizhou.

Although the range and power of these Artillery were far inferior to the Artillery of Yanzhou.

But if the two armies faced off, and the Yanzhou Artillery could not eliminate them immediately, these Artillery could still cause significant casualties to the Wangfu Army.

Therefore, dismantling the Coalition was the most cost-effective approach.

In this way, he could defeat the powerful clans one by one.

"However, the Xie Family troops do not seem to have withdrawn; it appears they intend to guard Lu City together with the Qi troops," Chang Wei frowned.

"This is not strange. To the Xie Family, it is a case of 'when the lips are gone, the teeth are cold.' If Qi falls, their Ningzhou cannot be preserved either. Rather than retreating, it is better to deal with us together with Qi," Zhao Xu said.

After pondering for a moment, he continued to Chang Wei, "Fighting two at once is better than fighting five at once. You go immediately to reorganize the troops and prepare to take the entirety of Qizhou."

"Yes, Your Highness," Chang Wei said with an excited expression.

During this period, the Prince's Personal Army had captured eight commanderies outside the four southwestern commanderies of Qi.

And they had carried out reforms in all eight of these commanderies, establishing Government Offices.

Now, these eight commanderies were completely under their control.

With the support of the common people, the laborers from Yanzhou only needed to transport grain and fodder to Qi, and then the people of the eight commanderies could relay it to Dongping City.

In fact, they no longer needed as much grain and fodder as originally planned.

Because a portion of grain and fodder supplies could be obtained from the eight commanderies of Qizhou.

Chang Wei departed, and Zhao Xu looked toward Lu City on the Sand Table.

This Lu City is the modern-day Tai'an of Shandong, located at the southern foothills of the Mount Tai mountain range; it can be called strategically dangerous, and to its south lies the Yimeng Mountains, so it can be said to be surrounded by mountains.

And on the mountain roads leading to Lu City through the two mountain ranges sit four fortresses that are both mountain passes and cities.

They are, respectively, Ji City to the north, Zi City to the east, Yang City to the west, and Yi City to the south.

Among them, Yi City borders Ning City; once one exits Yi City, one can reach Peng City of Ningzhou.

Looking around the circle, he finally gazed toward Yang City.

Ji City and Zi City have dangerous terrain; although Yang City is also among the mountains, the mountain terrain here is slightly gentler, making it the most suitable place to attack.

However, Han Zheng would naturally be able to think of this as well, so he would certainly station heavy troops in Yang City.

But there is no other way; on the battlefield, not every campaign can be won with clever tactics, and at times, one must fight a hard battle.

As for Yi City, he did not consider it, because Yi City is at the southernmost end of the Yimeng Mountains, spanning several hundred li.

Going around it would instead be laborious and time-consuming; it would be better to attack Yang City.

Thinking of this, his eyes narrowed slightly.

For him, it was time to sweep across the North Territory of Great Song, then head south to unify Great Song.