Chapter 118 – Changes in the North

“It must go.” These four words Wang Zhikun didn’t say, he just coldly glanced at these generals in the tent, tapped the table, and said in a serious tone, “This Governor doesn’t care who these Black Riders belong to, this Marshal only knows that the Privy Council’s Winter Training Directive states clearly that no one can stop the Yanjing Battalion’s 3,000 Riders from entering Eastern Barbarians!”

The three thousand Yanjing soldiers were just a test, a vanguard, an attitude shown by the court as they pushed step by step towards the Grand Imperial Prince. Wang Zhikun’s eyes narrowed slightly, the cold light in his eyes gradually rose, squeezing his voice into an icy line, “No matter what, the 10,000 soldiers led by the Grand Emperor are ultimately my Daqing subjects, it is impossible for the Grand Emperor to risk a mutiny and bring those soldiers to block, so the issue at hand is the 1,000 Black Horsemen laid along the Niutou Mountain. The day after tomorrow, the Privy Council transfer order will be passed to the other side, if the other side still refuses to give way …… then it can only prove that they are no longer our Daqing’s army.”

“But …… His Majesty’s attitude towards Lord Little Fan is still unclear.” A general said worriedly. If Yanjing Battalion really dry up with the Black Riders, it would be like formally tearing the face with the forces of Fan Xian’s lineage, right now the atmosphere in the capital is very delicate, the generals in Yanjing City, are not clear about the one in the palace, exactly how to dispose of Fan Xian, if they just want to chill Fan Xian, then if Yanjing Battalion’s hand is too black and too heavy, it will be hard to round back in the future.

Camp tent deep in yanjing city, in fact, is a very wide room, only with a military color very strong name. At this time in the room of these generals, all is Wang Zhikun’s direct line of cronies, so a lot of words to say up is relatively no taboo, some things can also say through some.

Previously, the general’s concern was also the concern in Wang Zhikun’s heart. His Majesty has indeed cleared all of Fan Xian’s official positions, but there has been no real questioning, who knows what the situation will develop into in the future?

Outside of Yanjing, the thousand black cavalrymen with the flavor of the underworld under the Niutou Mountain were indeed a very strong force. However, Wang Zhikun had been leading the army for twenty years, and with 100,000 elite soldiers under the Yanjing camp, in terms of numbers and equipment alone, it was really the top of the five border soldiers of Qing, so how could it be impossible to not be able to break through the blockade line of these 1,000 black cavalry.

The problem right now was that Yanjing could not possibly commit all of its troops. Once the flames of war ignited, Dongyi City is only a nominal belonging, but the hearts and minds of the people have not yet been determined, and I am afraid that it will really lead to the first real civil war in the country of Qing.

This kind of historical responsibility, Wang Zhikun is in any case do not dare to undertake, especially his position in the military has climbed to the top, no matter in the sand field to make any more achievements, at best, like Marshal Ye returned to Kyoto, become the Privy Council of Ministers, in the reputation of the progress, but in fact there is no benefit, for this Yanjing great governor, life left him to struggle for very little room.

So he had to consider for his family’s first line, for the future. Right now although his majesty is still proud of the world, but his majesty has finally become old …… in the future there will always be the day to go, if this time Fan Xian is able to survive this storm …… no, even if Fan Xian can not survive, but in the future when the third prince sits in the dragon chair, in order to his With Fan Xian’s love and affection, would he tolerate himself?

Wang Zhikun’s brows were furrowed extremely tightly, he was after all a military marshal, adept at strategizing on the sands, but it was difficult to notice the movements in the details, and the Kyoto casting had not given him any insight into His Majesty’s intentions. His brows furrowed and loosened, finally making up his mind, he said in a cold voice: ”Move again the day after tomorrow. If anyone dares to stop again, directly disarm them!”

All the Yanjing generals each had their own thoughts and left the tent worriedly, because they were not sure if the military action on the day after tomorrow would really clash with the Black Riders, and even more so, they did not know if that Great Hall Master in the city of Dongyi would really lead those 10,000 elites to return to the east and fight the border army of Qing head on, which summarized it into one sentence that these loyal generals of Qing were worried about whether the first civil war of Qing would break out right in the their own jurisdictions.

Governor Wang seemed to have made up his mind, but that night he went to Mei’s residence and found Mei Baili, the head of the civil officials in Yanjing City.

Mei Baili was a disciple of Duke Liu, and although he did not have a deep friendship with the Fan lineage, he was quite familiar with Fan Xian, and after hearing Grand Marshal Wang’s sincere plea for advice, this Lord Mei blandly asked Wang Zhikun.

“Tiel is still in Kyoto, right?” Mei Zhi Li hit from the Qingli four years left the position of Kyoto Prefect, then came to Yanjing City, and Wang Da Du Gui military and political cooperation is harmonious, very little trouble, and Wang Da Du Gui also deeply understand the vision and strategy of this Lord Mei, alone this Lord can from the position of the Kyoto Prefect of the whole body retired, we know that this person in the officialdom in the endurance of the two personal relationship is good, so Lord Mei called the Wang family miss also like treating the younger generation general natural, only called Tiel two words. He only called her TEEEL.

Hearing the word “TEEEL”, Wang Da Dudu’s face remained unchanged, but his heart, which had been polished and hardened by the ice and snow of the battlefield, shivered unintentionally. He knew what it was that Mei Zhili wanted to point out.

Wang Tiel has entered the Prince of Peace’s residence in June this year, becoming the side consort of the Grand Prince, and this young lady has been taught a lesson by Fan Xian’s ear for several months before her marriage. Not only Kyoto Yanjing, in fact, most people in the world know that, in addition to the four sons of Fanmen, Fan Xian also has three noble students, one is the Third Prince, the second is the Ye family Miss Ye Ling’er, the third, is the Yanjing Dudu Wang’s house on the young lady.

South Qing world, the first importance of the word filial piety, the second importance of the word teacher, with the relationship between the Yanjing Wang family and Fan Xian, the thousand black riders stopped at the bottom of the Niutou Mountain, then it seems a little complicated up. Wang Zhikun glanced at Mei Zhili, and said after a long moment of silence, “There is a decree from the palace, and an order from the Privy Council, even if it will stir up some discussion in the future, this must be done.”

“Da Dudu misunderstood.” Mei Zhili eyes to watch the nose, nose to watch the heart, he fled the political whirlpool in Kyoto has been a few years, did not intend to get involved in this big event, but he was born in the State Duke’s House, and the palace that Yi Gui concubine, the three emperors are too deep between the entanglements, and now, although the body is in Yanjing, but in the future really want to escape, I’m afraid that it is also extremely difficult to escape, so this night, he will be in the front of the Wang Zhikun, to speak these words through.

“The teacher-student relationship between Lord Fan Jr. and TEEI, can certainly be considered, and the most critical …… is still ……” Mei Zhili sighed, looked at Wang Zhikun and said: “You want to send troops to Dongyi City, but clear-eyed people can see that the Great Palace has already not listened to the will of Kyoto at all, and TEEEL …… is the side consort of the royal family, have you ever thought about this problem? If the great hall under really occupy the east barbarians to establish themselves as king, even if you set Yanjing 100,000 troops to beat down the east barbarians, TEEEL in the royal family how to live with themselves?”

Wang Zhikun for the South Qing to guard the frontier for many years, suffered a lot of bitter cold, to the age of confusion, but more than a daughter, since when the baby as love, naturally can not help but arrogance, which created the Wang Tiel those bad habits, but also thanks to Fan Xian will be the Wang Tiel’s bad temperament forcibly suppressed, every time I think about this, Wang Zhikun secretly to the little Lord Fan has a few feelings of gratitude. But today, when Mei Zhili made such a point, he couldn’t help but say in a daze, “Could it be that Little Lord Fan had already predicted the situation today? That’s why at first he would surprise everyone, with the identity of the Taishang Temple Secretary to facilitate the Great Palace to marry Teeel matter?”

Thinking of this point, Wang Zhikun’s heart chilled, not having thought that that young lord would be so far-sighted as to be truly palpitating.

Right now Wang Zhikun’s position was really a bit awkward, although Yanjing camp was strong, but the eastern barbarians that the blade was directed towards were already the sphere of influence of the Grand Prince and Fan Xian, and it so happened that there was an unraveling connection between these two young dignitaries and Wang Zhikun, one of them was his son-in-law, and the other one was his daughter’s husband.

Mei Zhili pondered for a moment and then said: “As for the young Fan how exactly the Lord thinks, you and I now again guess guessing is not interesting, just have a sentence must remind the great Governor …… of the problem here, I can think, the palace that naturally can also think, bias the palace but Yanjing has been no disposition. .”

He raised his head, faintly looked at Wang Zhikun, said: “If the little Fan Lord was really predicted to today’s situation, can only say that he is far-sighted. Da Dudu you are sitting in Yanjing, but you are targeting Dongyi City, if His Majesty suspects that you are not attentive enough, no matter who else comes here, I am afraid that it will be difficult to condense the military heart of Yanjing, in this way, Dongyi City’s safety will naturally be a little more guaranteed.”

“My loyalty to His Majesty can be seen by the sun and the moon, and if Fan Xian wants to take advantage of this, it won’t work.” There was no anger in Wang Zhikun’s words.

Mei Zhili nodded and said, “Obviously, this handful of arrangements by young Lord Fan did not work. The Kyoto side has not been making any moves towards Yanjing City, and His Majesty is ultimately a wise lord who trusts the Grand Governor……. Even this time, the military order from the Privy Council and the secret decree from the palace are actually a test from His Majesty to you, the Grand Governor.”

Wang Zhikun austere, clasped his fists and said, “Taught.”

Mei Zhili’s face, however, remained grave, and slowly said, “But are you really no longer considering Tiel, Great Governor? Considering what the world is saying? If you can really serve Dongyi City in one battle, you are naturally a credit to my Daqing, but once the scourge of civil war arises, the war stretches …… on all sides of the pressure will be piled on your body.”

“But what law can there be? If you really pressurize the troops, you will be ashamed of His Majesty’s trust.” Wang Zhikun raised his eyebrows and said heavily, “The conflict in the middle of Kyoto will ultimately fall on the sands. As His Majesty’s vassal, there are many things …… that have to be done.”

“Have to do, must …… not do.” Mei Zhili quietly looked at him, silent for a moment and then said through clenched teeth, “To say a word of insubordination, this is, after all, the family affairs of the son of heaven, you and I, who are subjects, of course, to be loyal to his majesty, but if the state of Qing really made a civil war, how can you and I explain to the world? The change in Kyoto should have fallen on the sands, but that Lord Little Fan and His Majesty obviously do not want this turmoil to spread too far, otherwise His Majesty wouldn’t have been keeping his mouth shut for Lord Little Fan, and Lord Little Fan wouldn’t have been honest in Kyoto as this rich and noble idler.”

“Those two are guarding that bottom line, the big capital governor to go out the day after tomorrow, please also keep in mind this bottom line, coercion can be, into the offense can be, but if you want to really bleed into a river, I see …… it is particularly unwise, I’m afraid that his majesty wants is also not this result.”

“But the other side is the black cavalry, that group of inspectorate wolf cubs will not know what is called concession.” Wang Zhikun closed his eyes and said, “This proportion is too difficult to grasp, it is necessary to send out troops but not to fight for real, not to miss His Majesty’s grand plan but also to prevent the situation from expanding too much.”

Speaking of this section, Grand Metropolitan Wang sighed deeply, he had spent his entire life in the shadow of the sword, but had never encountered such a complicated situation as today. It would be easiest to fight if one wanted to, even if the other party was Fan Xian, the Grand Imperial Prince, but if the eastern part of the empire was really disrupted, His Majesty would again be unhappy.

“Since His Majesty has a secret decree, to fight is to fight, or at the very least, to truly confront the Black Cavalry’s side and suppress their momentum.” Mei Zhili slightly lowered his eyes and said, “The palace’s decree must be carried out, with the wind and rain pressing over like a mountain, how many days can the Black Riders resist? Although they are a group of murderous, cold-blooded cavalrymen, after all, the Grand Palace is not, and neither is Little Lord Fan.”

“This situation can’t be maintained for a few days, in the end it’s going to end up tearing their faces off.” Wang Zhikun looked at him and reminded, “His Majesty’s decree is here, I don’t want His Majesty, his old man, to mistakenly think that I’m not doing my job properly.”

“No, there will definitely be some opportunity to stabilize the situation between Yanjing and Dongyi City.” Mei Zhili looked at him and suddenly smiled slightly, saying, “Little Lord Fan has spent so much energy on Tiel, on your relationship with the Grand Imperial Prince, in order to seek a balance between the two sides at the moment. As for that decree of His Majesty …… I think he must have a way to bring this matter to an end.”

“Although the decree is hard to disobey, this governor really doesn’t want to meet with my sons and daughters of Daqing on the sands.” Wang Zhikun’s frown was extremely deep, and after a long time he slowly said, “It’s just that I don’t see any way in the situation at hand that would allow the Governor to not miss the decree, but also withdraw his troops from in front of Niutou Mountain and return.”

“That will depend on Lord Little Fan’s means.” Mei Zhili calmly stretched out a finger, “If you want to still maintain it, you need a variable. What this variable is, we don’t know, but Lord Little Fan must know.”

Wang Zhikun sighed, “I don’t really believe that he can do this, but if he can really find out this variable within five days, I’m just afraid that I’ll have to admire him just as much as Tiel did.”

Two days later, there was a solemn atmosphere inside and outside of Yanjing City, the border troops that had converged from various military camps assembled in front of the city and started toward the east, and after only traveling for half a day, they had already met up with the 3,000 Yanjing Battalion soldiers that had been sent out earlier, and arrived at the foot of Niutou Mountain.

An official road passes from the foot of Niutou Mountain, through the edge of those golden and colorful red mountain forests in late autumn, extending in the direction of the East Sea coast, following this road, the army can reach Dongyi City directly.

The black army assembled here, flags fluttering in the wind, cavalry light armor covering their bodies, murderous, this army has more than 10,000 people in total, the momentum looks appalling.

However, this is such a raging Qing border troops, but was stranded at the bottom of the Niutou Mountain, a step can not enter, because the mountain that the entrance to the official road, there are three rows of full body black armor cavalry is waiting in the line.

Only three rows of black cavalry, totaling more than a hundred people, but emitting a palpitatingly chilling smell, stopped in the middle of the official road. On the other hand, above the gently sloping hillsides on both sides, there were two even denser black ink lines, also black cavalry.

In order to show his loyalty to his majesty, Yanjing Grand Capital Governor Wang Zhikun had put his blood into this trial, sending a full ten thousand border troops over. The Grand Capital Governor himself of course would not personally lead the troops, the one leading the troops was one of his close generals who had been given secret orders.

This general looked at the black cavalry on the official road in the distance, his heart chilled a little. The Qing military for the black cavalry of the six departments of the Supervisory Yuan is known for a long time, but also jealous for a long time, because the other side has the best equipment, the best war horses, all the light armor all over the body is the inner treasury three big workshops personally build, completely with gold pile out of the combat power.

Within the military, there has always been the legend that the black horsemen are not more than a thousand, more than a thousand can not be defeated, this is certainly because in the decades of cooperation between several times, the Qing military generals are deeply aware of the power of these black horsemen, but also because of the Qing law and decree, the number of black horsemen will be strictly limited to less than a thousand reasons.

Of course, there are military generals who are not convinced, the elite of the Qing army is famous, whether it is the Dingzhou cavalry or the North Battalion’s Long Arrow Battalion, all are famous, how can they be willing to let the Supervisory Yuan’s one subsidiary cavalry will steal all the elegance.

However, three years ago, during the rebellion in Kyoto, Fan Xian took 500 black cavalry to sneak into Kyoto, and in a bloody fight under the Zhengyang Gate, the black cavalry was like a god of killing from the underworld, and in front of countless pairs of gazes, the rebel cavalry brigade was shattered.

That was the elite of the old Qin family! Even Qin Heng was killed by the Black Riders! This ironclad fact allowed the Qing military to truly understand the power of the Black Riders, and no one dared to underestimate the other party any longer, even generating some sort of unspeakable fear in their hearts.

This Yanjing general narrowed his eyes and looked at the lone rider directly in front of those black riders, from the other party’s silver mask, he clearly knew the identity of the other party, the commander of the black riders of the six divisions of the Supervisory Yuan, the silver-faced Jing Ge!

The Yanjing general’s heart was slightly chilled as he knew that this black cavalry commander opposite him was the fierce general who had picked off Qin Heng with a single shot.

Thinking for a moment, this Yanjing general led a few of his personal soldiers, clipped his horse’s belly, and leaned over towards the black cavalry’s defensive line amidst the pitter pattering sound.

“Commander Jing.” The Yanjing general instructed his subordinates to hand over the military order from the Privy Council for troop movements and said in a deep voice, “Please also make way for your side.”

Jing Ge silently received the Privy Council transfer order and looked at it twice before saying, “This Ministry is only under the jurisdiction of the Supervisory Academy, and has not received any orders from the Academy so far, so …… I am sorry for not being able to comply with the order.”

The Grand Prince leading 10,000 elite troops is actually also stationed in Song territory not far from Niutou Mountain, just to cope with the court’s questioning, it is impossible for him to personally lead the troops to stop, so he had to give this errand to the Black Riders.

The mask on Jing Ge s face was glowing with cold silver light, looking at the opposite side of the densely packed Yanjing army, and said in a deep voice, “I have been ordered to station in Dongyi, and it is strictly forbidden for irrelevant people and others to enter the country, and if anyone dares to take a step …… into the country, he will be killed without amnesty.”

His sentence was said very clearly, very calmly, but clamped a dare not doubt the certainty.

Ordered to be stationed in Eastern Barbarians? On whose orders? Little Lord Fan’s? But now Fan Xian has long since ceased to be the head of the Supervisory Academy, as for what only listen to the Supervisory Academy’s orders is even more of a joke, if Yan Bingyun really sends a Supervisory Academy official to mobilize the troops, I’m afraid that these Black Riders will cleanly cut down the incoming person with a single slash, and then burn the order of the academy into a ball of black ash.

These words caused the Yan Jing general’s heart to chill slightly with anger as he said in a chilling voice, ”This is the imperial court’s decree. Could it be that you want to disobey the decree?”

Jing Ge did not reply to these words, but just reminded after carrying out the conversation that should have been carried out, “Don’t think about taking a detour into Dong Yi, the Ministry doesn’t want to go over the mountains to disarm you.” With those words, he led his horse by the reins and returned to the black cavalry that responded with solemnity, the iron spear that hung across the side of his saddle shining with a cold aura.

The Yanjing general took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the anger in his heart as he narrowed his eyes and observed the black cavalrymen close at hand. After looking for a moment, he had to admit that the other party’s equipment was far superior to his own, just by looking at the weight of those equipment, he could tell that the quality of these cavalrymen’s individual soldiers and even the quality of their warhorses were far above the Yanjing camp generals …….

Although there are only 1,000 people, but against these 1,000 killing gods, to pay the price of as little bloodshed as possible to break in, how easy is this?

The real confrontation between Yanjing camp and the Black Riders entered the third day, which was also the fifth day in the calculations of Grand Metropolitan Wang. Both sides occasionally had some small friction, the wariness and fire of Yanjing’s side had already surged up, while the Black Cavalry’s side, though small in number, was still indifferent and not very agitated.

It was the time when the swords were drawn, and Grand Metropolitan Wang also felt that he couldn’t stay up any longer and had to teach these Black Riders a lesson. Because His Majesty’s decree was here, being able to wait for five days, he had already given Fan Xian and the Grand Imperial Prince enough time to make a reaction, and if the Yanjing side still maintained a standoff and was unable to enter Dongyi, he was only afraid that His Majesty the Emperor in Kyoto would be shocked with fury.

Just at the moment when Wang Zhikun was ready to issue military orders to forcefully enter the line of Niutou Mountain and charge the Black Riders, suddenly, a general with a slightly stagnant countenance held a battle report and quickly rushed into the Governor’s Mansion.

Wang Zhikun narrowed his eyes at the contents of the war report, and a chill ran through his heart. He hadn’t thought that Fan Xian would actually be able to cause a change in the northern part of Daqing, and that this change was one that he couldn’t have imagined even if he had thought about it!

He knew that his army could be withdrawn back, and had neither disobeyed His Majesty’s will nor allowed a civil war to break out within his own jurisdiction. This would have been an extremely wonderful thing, but for some reason, Wang Zhikun’s eyes did not have a trace of calmness in them, they were full of worry.

The military report came from the northern camp of Cangzhou, and it was written clearly that Uesugi Tiger, who had been recuperating in the upper capital of Northern Qi, had suddenly returned to the borderline, and led 100,000 strong troops straight to the southern line, and had already pressed on to a place seventy miles north of Cangzhou!