A life of two souls traveling through time

Chapter 201: Jingsong State Withdraws

The correspondence between Ning Xi and Li Xu was all sent back and forth by Shangguan Jiuyi, the middleman, and naturally it was all a secret operation. In addition to Emperor Lang, the only people who knew about this were Shangguan Jiuyi, Prime Minister Lu Xiang, and Crown Prince Yingyan. Even the close eunuch Lu was often outside and did not know the details. However, despite all the precautions, Ning Xi did not guard against the person next to her.

When Concubine Xue entered the council hall to bring snacks to Emperor Lang and Ning Xi, Emperor Lang happened to be taking a nap in a side hall. She found a letter on the imperial desk that Li Xu had not yet destroyed, so she hurried out of the palace and went to the temple that day.

After receiving the news from Xuewu, Crown Prince Yan Qiao hurriedly reported the matter to Emperor Yan. Emperor Yan was furious and sent a secret letter to his second son Yan Han who was in Lang State.

After receiving the secret letter from Emperor Yan, Prince Han was furious. He never thought that Emperor Lang and Prince Xian were colluding under his nose without his knowledge. He immediately ordered people to monitor Prince Xian and Xuan'an City's every move, and soon intercepted the secret guard who delivered the letter.

After the Xiyue Kingdom got the letters of secret communication between Emperor Lang and King Xian, it took advantage of the situation to severely reprimand Emperor Lang for his betrayal and repaying the Xiyue army's help with resentment. For this reason, Emperor Yan could not bear the humiliation, tore up the agreement in public, and vowed to send troops to attack.

Emperor Lang and King Xian, who were originally planning to join forces to fight against the Xiyue Army, did not bother to find out the truth after learning that the news had leaked. Seeing that the Xiyue Army was approaching and Lang was in danger, the two brothers instead united as one and took the initiative before Xiyue took action. They attacked from both sides and tried to wipe out King Han's army stationed in Lang first.

Yan Zong, who had been waiting at the border for a long time, quickly led his army to attack Lang State after receiving the order from Emperor Yan. Then, Jing Song State also took the opportunity to attack Lang State under the banner of recovering the six counties. Smoke of war rose everywhere in Lang State, and the people of Lang State were in dire straits, with their families torn apart and their families killed.

Winter came with heavy snow, and the whole country was covered in white. The white snow tried to cover the corpses scattered all over the land of Langguo. However, there were too many corpses and the river of blood turned the white snow into a mess.

The brothers Ning Xi and Li Xu attacked the Xiyue Army from the east and west, forming a pincer attack. However, the Jingsong Army also assisted the Xiyue Army in the six counties in the southeast, making the Lang Army exhausted from dealing with both fronts.

After the Jingsong army cooperated with the Xiyue army to besiege Lang State and captured most of the cities, seeing that the six counties that had been lost had been recaptured and Lang State's national strength had been greatly reduced, the timid Jingdi Gong Liangying wanted to stop. After all, he began to worry that once Lang State was destroyed, the stable situation of the three powers for many years would inevitably be broken. Xiyue State has always been ambitious, and he was afraid that Jingsong State would have to face the wolf-like Xiyue State alone in the future. He was really afraid!

Sui Gong Liangying, feeling uneasy and after a sleepless night, summoned Crown Prince Gong Liangming to the palace early to discuss withdrawing troops.

Gong Liangming heard that his foolish father began to regret that he should not have agreed to Xiyue Kingdom's attack on Lang on impulse, and now he was going to withdraw troops at this critical juncture. He was so angry that he almost vomited blood. Jingsong Kingdom had already offended Lang Kingdom. Now the war in Lang Kingdom was in full swing and it was almost a critical moment. If Jingsong Kingdom withdrew its troops at this time, wouldn't it offend Xiyue Kingdom as well?

"Father, you must not do this. We have already completely offended the Kingdom of Lang. Now everything is done and irreversible. We cannot offend the Kingdom of Xiyue again at this time!" Although he was angry, Gong Liangming, as a minister, could only kneel before Emperor Jing and persuade him earnestly.

"We can't offend them now. When Xiyue becomes stronger, we can't afford to offend them. By then, Jingsong will be like fish on a chopping board, at the mercy of others." Gong Liangying was unmoved by his son's persuasion. He just shook his head with a sad face and sighed, and then said, "Although Lang has suffered heavy casualties, Xiyue has also suffered heavy losses. At the last critical moment, we might as well withdraw our troops and let the two countries fight to the death. It would be better if Lang can survive. If it dies, Xiyue will be seriously injured after a hard battle and may not be able to deal with Jingsong for a while."

Seeing that his father was determined to withdraw his troops, Gong Liangming did not dare to say anything more. However, he could not help but criticize his father in his heart: If you had known this would happen, why did you do it in the first place?

In the court of the Kingdom of Song, the ministers also discussed the withdrawal of troops proposed by Emperor Jing at this time, some agreed and some opposed. The crown prince Gong Liangming did not dare to express his opinion publicly because his father had informed him in advance, so he just stood there silently. The ministers who had always followed the crown prince saw that the crown prince was silent today, and although they were puzzled, they did not dare to speak without authorization.

As Prime Minister Yuan Lin had accepted bribes from the West Moon Kingdom before, he naturally had to speak for the West Moon Kingdom, so he tried his best to dissuade Emperor Jing from offending the West Moon Kingdom at this time. However, Emperor Jing had long been dissatisfied with Prime Minister Yuan Lin's urging him to join forces with the West Moon Kingdom, so he naturally didn't listen to a word Yuan Lin said at this time.

Soon, the order to withdraw troops from Emperor Jing was passed on to General Ruan Xi. Although Ruan Xi did not agree to call off the troops at this time, as a loyal minister, he did not dare to disobey the order. He had to order a reorganization and withdraw from Langguo overnight, only stationing in the six recovered counties.

The sudden withdrawal of Jingsong State directly affected Xiyue State's process of destroying Lang. From Emperor Yan to Xiyue soldiers, everyone was furious.

The State of Lang also got a brief respite due to the withdrawal of the troops of the State of Jingsong, but in the end it was just a spent force.

In the middle of the night, in the East Palace of the Kingdom of Song, the Crown Prince Gong Liangming was awakened by the urgent news that the Japanese invaded the southeastern border. It was really a turmoil before another one came. Gong Liangming hurriedly took the urgent news to see Emperor Jing.

Being disturbed by his son in the middle of the night, Emperor Jing was naturally not in a good mood, and he was also shocked to hear that it was the invasion of Japan. General Ruan Xi was the nemesis of Japan, and he should have been sent to resolve the crisis, but at this time Ruan Xi had to guard the six counties that had just been recovered.

"We have to let Ruan Xi go back to fight against Ying." Emperor Jingdi, Gong Liangying hesitated again and again, and finally sighed.

"But the six counties that we have finally regained cannot be lost again..." Prince Gong Liangming frowned. Both sides were in urgent need of a capable general like Ruan Xi, but there was only one Ruan Xi. He couldn't help but sigh that in the huge Jingsong Kingdom, except Ruan Xi, there was no general who dared to compete with the Xiyue Kingdom.

"The Xiyue Kingdom is in a life-and-death battle with the Lang Kingdom. They should not have the energy to compete with us for the six counties. Let Du Kuo and Kang Jie go to guard them first." Gong Liangying thought for a moment and then said.

When Gong Liangming heard this, he immediately showed contempt in his eyes and couldn't help but worry. These two people were mediocre in ability and couldn't even deal with mountain bandits. How could they defend the six counties? But even if he was worried, there was really no good solution at the moment. At present, most of the military generals in Jingsong State were mediocre generals like Du Kuo and Kang Jie, which led to the rampant bandits in Jingsong State.