Astral Apostle

  Chapter 249 Negotiation and Sending Troops

  While Zhou Jing was on his way, the news of the defeat of the bandits and the defeat of the front line was sent to the capital by the courier.

When    learned that Tianwangzhai was defeated, almost the entire army was wiped out, and there was an uproar in the capital.

   On this day, the courtiers had heated discussions and criticized Lu Longchuan for being unfavorable for commanding troops.

   "Lu Longchuan is mediocre and extremely incompetent, yet he has been defeated so simply. Bandits are bandits. It is really unbearable!"

   "Knowing this earlier, when you take over this person's military power and send the court generals to command the troops and horses, it will not be wiped out in a battle!"

  The courtiers were excited, criticized and indignant, as if they wanted to play in person.

  Although they have never brought soldiers or seen the battlefield, it does not prevent them from feeling that they are experts, and they scolded Lu Longchuan for being incompetent in commanding soldiers, which fully reflects what it means to stand and talk without back pain.

  In their predictions on paper, the most ideal outcome is that both sides will lose both sides, not only successfully suppressing the bandits, but also weakening Lu Longchuan's men and horses, killing two birds with one stone.

   Once the two sides did not continue the stalemate according to their ideas, and the situation became out of control, they became furious.

  Lu Longchuan's defeat was too complete, which ruined the layout of the court. The court wanted to take advantage of the fisherman, but now not only did the calculus fail, but also lost a handful of rice, allowing the confidant to grow stronger.

  Thinking of this, the courtiers were dissatisfied with Lu Longchuan and at the same time uneasy about the situation.

  Pang Hong, the privy envoy, did not speak, and looked at the ugly ministers with cold eyes, and couldn't help but gloat over the misfortune.

   He has always supported sending troops early, but these courtiers didn’t care, they felt that the situation was still under control, and they wanted to please the emperor’s preference for saving military expenses, so they always refuted him, thinking that they could continue to watch the fire and take advantage of it.

   And the war is changing rapidly, and the current trend has taken a sharp turn. As he predicted at the beginning, the end of the lack of greed is a complete mess.

  Pang Hong from the bottom of his heart disliked this group of civil servants in the same palace who were savage and liked to point the country, but the emperor had supported the other party at the beginning, so he did not dare to show his ridicule, just bowed his head and said nothing.

  On the dragon chair, the emperor listened to the remarks of the ministers, how could he not know that these things were throwing the blame, his face was extremely ugly.

   Qin Song coughed and said:

"If the war is lost, then Lu Longchuan can't escape the blame. It's just that he doesn't know his life or death. It's useless to say that the Tianwangzhai is just a bandit recruited by An. Even if he loses, it won't hurt the court. What should be discussed now is how to deal with this Chen Feng."

  The emperor's face softened a little, and nodded: "Qin Aiqing said that it is true, then Chen Feng brought disaster to the country and the people, do you have a plan to break it?"

  The ministers immediately shut up, shrank their necks and bowed their heads, looking at the nose, nose, heart and mind, the second child, as if they were all silent wooden clay sculptures.

   "Manchu civil and military, no one has a good plan?"

  The emperor's tone was dissatisfied.

   He immediately looked at Pang Hong and said solemnly, "Pang Aiqing, you are someone who knows soldiers, do you have any ideas?"

   Hearing the emperor personally call his name, Pang Hongcai opened his mouth and said the already typed belly draft:

"Reporting to the sage, the thieves used battle to support the war, and seized the legacy of Tianwangzhai, and their forces became stronger and stronger. If they are allowed to digest their gains, it will be even more difficult to deal with in the future. According to my minister's opinion, the elites of the frontier army should be recruited immediately, and then they can be drawn from various prefectures. The soldiers of war, marching from several routes, join forces to suppress the bandits... Now that the bandits have just experienced the war and have not yet fully recovered, they should take this opportunity to attack them with thunder and not give the bandits a chance to breathe."

  The emperor heard the words, frowned, and pondered.

   Upon seeing this, Pang Hong paused, continued speaking, and said loudly:

"The commander-in-chief of the three armies, and the one who is recommended by the ministers, is the descendant of Yiguo Gongmacheng, whose name is Ma Zhen. He is currently the defense envoy of Puzhou, and the governor of Yi and Luzhou. He has read military books since childhood. The commander of the army is well-rounded, and he is a commander."

  Emperor's eyes lit up: "Since he is a descendant of a famous founding general, he must have extraordinary skills!"

  The ministers suddenly whispered and discussed in a low voice.

  This Ma Cheng was the founding general of Daxia, and he was also famous for his martial arts and bravery.

Pang Hong bowed, struck the iron while the iron was hot, and continued: "I recommend two people to assist the commander, one of them is Huang Ping, and the descendants of Jiyang Hou, who are in charge of Qizhou's military and horses, are extremely strict in governing the army, and have extraordinary martial skills. The other is Yu Yu. Wen Yan, the descendant of Shandehou, served as the envoy of the Hongwu Army, was good at strange tactics, and knew yin and yang. These two are both famous generals of the dynasty, and they are not comparable to those of Lu Longchuan."

  The emperor stroked his beard and nodded, and was relieved to hear that there were generals in the dynasty.

   But he reacted immediately, he hadn't agreed to send troops, why did he talk about the candidate for the commander-in-chief?

   "I haven't decided on the issue of sending troops, and I'll discuss it again..."

   sent Tianwangzhai to suppress the bandits, and the expenses were still within the acceptable range, so the emperor did not object, but the imperial court personally sent troops to crusade, and the military expenditure was astronomical, which made him hesitant.

   However, as soon as he finished speaking, Pang Hong knelt down and said excitedly:

"Chen Feng, this man has wolf ambitions, does not respect the king's law, and will endanger the society one day, and must not be left unchecked. Now that Lulongchuan has been defeated, only the imperial court can send troops to conquer it, and this harm will be eliminated once and for all! The country will be shaken, and the world will be in chaos!"

   Hearing the words, a minister immediately jumped out and scolded:

   "Bold, you are actually alarming in front of the Holy Spirit?! The Holy Spirit is good at governing the country. How can Chen Feng's short-lived scabies endanger the society? Are you implying that the Holy Spirit is unpopular, what is your motive?"

  The emperor frowned, scolded the minister to shut up, and comforted Pang Hong:

   "Pang Aiqing, let's get up, I know that you are dedicated to the country, and that you are loyal."

   Pang Hong thanked him for getting up, but still sighed deeply.

  The emperor pondered for a while, but still endured the pain, nodded and said: "Pang Aiqing is right, this Chen Feng is a serious problem for the court and cannot be let go. It is time to send troops to suppress it, I have agreed to this matter."

   "Your Majesty!"

  Pang Hong hurriedly saluted and breathed a sigh of relief.

  If you don't fight, you won't have military merit and military expenses. After so long, the emperor finally let go of his willingness to send troops, and finally it was his turn to make money.

   He couldn't help slandering secretly... Now that he knew about sending troops, why did he go earlier? It is better to join the expedition with Tianwangzhai, the odds of winning are better.

  The teammates were destroyed before they knew how to shoot. This is the result of greed and shortsightedness!

  Manchu civil and military, in his eyes are all incompetent!

   Of course, Pang Hong knew that he was not a loyal minister who cared about the country and the people, but at least he knew that if he made money, he still had to win wars.

   Therefore, Pang Hong opened his mouth again and said in a serious tone:

   "Then Chen Feng's bravery is astonishing. If the imperial court is to send troops to win, there needs to be one person to assist him."

"Who?"

   "Naturally it is the real person of Shenxiao Fengling."

  Pang Hong answered honestly.

   After seeing so many battle reports from Chen Feng, he still couldn't figure out how to solve it. He was not confident enough to rely on a famous general to lead the army, and he would be able to solve this unreasonable number one expert in the world.

   So logically, Pang Hong took aim at the real Yufeng who had performed shockingly in this battle, and believed that only by bringing this "weapon" could he contain Chen Feng's point and prevent the opponent from using the powerful decapitation tactics.

The voice of    fell, and the civil and military people of Manchao looked at each other in dismay.

  The emperor's face also sank.

   Seeing this, Qin Song observed the monarch's heart, and quickly made a look of worry, as if he was sympathetic to the monarch, and said helplessly:

   "Lu Longchuan was defeated, the entire army fled, and the whereabouts of Shenxiao Fengling Renren are also unknown. It is too early to say this. However, the real person is highly skilled, and the lucky people have their own natural characteristics, so they should be able to turn danger into a safe place."

  The emperor sighed when he heard the words, and also showed concern.

Before    went out to battle, Yufeng Zhenren assured him that no matter what the battle was, he would have the ability to retreat.

  But the current line was really defeated, and the emperor was still worried, afraid that the alchemy master would not come back, and subconsciously refused to let the real Yufeng take risks, wishing to keep him in the capital forever, as a bird in a cage.

   It would be great if the real person was a woman, he would directly enter the harem, and everything would be resolved.

   At this moment, Ning Zhongjun suddenly came out and frowned:

   "Your Majesty, I think this matter is strange."

  The emperor was startled: "What do you mean by Aiqing?"

Ning Zhongjun's tone was puzzled, and he threw a question: "Then Chen Feng turned evil into a human being, and Shenxiao Fengling used immortal methods to fight against him all the time, which made the two armies stalemate, but why did they suddenly lose? "

  The ministers frowned and whispered.

   The scene where the real Yufeng and Chen Feng fought, they had already heard from the battle report, and their hearts were naturally shocked.

   In fact, they believed that one of the factors in the long-term stalemate between the two sides was the immortal methods of Yufeng Zhenren, which prevented Tianwangzhai from being quickly conquered by the enemy.

   But he did not expect that Lu Longchuan was suddenly defeated, and Master Yufeng suddenly fell silent for some unknown reason.

  Because the battle report has not been sent back, everyone in the court did not know the details, and they all had doubts in their hearts.

   At this time, a Qingliu said in a cold voice: "This matter must be investigated strictly. If the real person Shenxiao Fengling neglects the war and leads to the defeat of the frontline soldiers, then he will be responsible for the failure of the war."

The    emperor frowned and scolded:

   "Nonsense, the real person has repeatedly rivaled Chen Feng, I feel that I have no fault, how can I be blamed?"

   Seeing that the emperor had a clear-cut stand to support others, the Qingliu immediately died down, and no longer spoke ill of people behind their backs and maliciously targeted them.

   Ning Zhongjun heard the words and immediately echoed:

   "Although Shenxiao Fengling was not able to suppress this evil dragon during this trip, he never broke the calamity, but he also made great contributions and deserves a reward."

  The emperor's face looked better now.

   Leaving this topic aside for the time being, the ministers discussed the issue of the imperial court sending troops for a while, and then retreated from the imperial court.

  Ning Zhongjun followed the courtiers out of the hall, thinking secretly in his heart.

   Although he hadn't seen the battle report, he was basically certain that there must be something wrong with Lingfengzi that led to Lu Longchuan's sudden defeat. Most of the people who bought it successfully poisoned him.

   It would be best to poison Lingfengzi directly. Even if it doesn’t work, Lingfengzi might be defeated by Longwangzhai and murdered by himself.

   No matter how bad it is, he also dispatched a group of dead soldiers as his back-up, and I don’t know if they have done anything.

  In Ning Zhongjun's view, the chances of Lingfengzi returning to Beijing alive are already very low, so he doesn't mind taking the credit of Lingfengzi in court and doing some cover up.

   "Oh, Lingfengzi is absolutely unlucky, the enemy has been eliminated."

  Ning Zhongjun slightly hooked the corner of his mouth, happy in his heart.

   However, he was not happy for long at all.

   After just over half a month, the Master Yufeng returned to the capital unscathed, and immediately alerted the court and the opposition.

   And that Lu Longchuan, with the only remaining brother, trekked all the way, back to Beijing.

   (end of this chapter)