Quick Transmigration: Why did you provoke him? He's love-struck!

Chapter 509 Relying on Favor (54)

But Zhao Yuan had a premonition that Yan Zhen would not agree to do so.

As expected, after a brief moment of consideration, Yan Zhen said, "No."

Chen He asked, puzzled, "Your Highness, may I ask why this is not permissible?"

"The Northern Jurchens are attacking the Great Liang. If we take advantage of their misfortune, how is that any different from cooperating with them? I, the princess, will not do such a disgusting thing."

Yan Zhen analyzed, "Moreover, if we make a move at this time, and the Great Liang spares troops to deal with us, it will weaken the troops that are dealing with the Northern Jurchens. At that time, if the Northern Jurchens invade the Great Liang and occupy its territory, even if we win, we will still have to go through the trouble of driving the Northern Jurchens out."

You know the way those barbarians from the Northern Jurchens operate. They conquer a city, then massacre the inhabitants, burning, killing, and looting, leaving us with a mess to clean up. It's not worth it.”

"But……"

“There’s no ‘but’,” Yan Zhen made his decision. “I don’t care if the Liang and the Northern Jurchens are fighting to the death, but we can’t make a move now. I’d rather spend more time dealing with the Liang army later than let those despicable people from the Northern Jurchens benefit from it.”

"princess……"

Chen He wanted to persuade him further, but Zhao Yuan coughed at that moment.

Upon hearing this implication, Chen He knew that his master had unconditionally sided with the princess once again.

Knowing that there was no hope, Chen He could only reluctantly take his leave.

The room fell silent again. Yan Zhen held the storybook, but found it hard to concentrate on reading.

Zhao Yuan noticed her reaction and asked, "What's wrong?"

"The Northern Jurchens have 300,000 troops, while the Great Liang, after all these years of turmoil, should only have around 200,000 left... Do they have any chance of winning?"

Zhao Yuan's face darkened: "Are you worried that Xie Ying will suffer a defeat?"

Yan Zhen glanced at him, then raised her hand and slapped his forehead with the storybook: "What kind of time is this to be jealous? Xie Ying can't lose!"

If he loses, Daliang and Qingzhou will fall into the hands of the Northern Jurchens.

The Great Liang was internally divided, and no matter how fierce the infighting was, closing its borders was the Great Liang's own business.

But if Xie Ying loses and the capital is occupied by the Northern Jurchens, then it will be a different story.

It's like brothers fighting. No matter how much they scream and howl, it's fine. But if an outsider dares to interfere, and even breaks into the house to smash things and steal property, the brothers have to put aside their personal grudges and unite against the outsider.

Zhao Yuan, having been hit, glared at her with displeasure: "You want to help Xie Ying?"

“Yes,” Yan Zhen said, “but I’m not helping Xie Ying, I’m helping ourselves. Not an inch of Liang’s land can be given to foreign barbarians!”

-

Tianyin City.

After a chaotic battle, corpses littered the area outside the city.

A small door next to the city gate slowly opened, and a group of soldiers carried out a stretcher and began to clean up the battlefield.

Xie Ying stood on the city wall, his personal guards bandaging his injured arm.

His face was blackened by the smoke of war, and his expression was full of exhaustion.

The deputy general beside him, who also looked exhausted, was reporting the number of wounded and dead in the battle.

"Six hundred and seventy-three people were injured and three thousand nine hundred and thirty-two people died."

Xie Ying remained silent for a moment, then waved his hand, signaling his deputy to go and rest.

After the deputy general left, Xie Ying bandaged his arm and looked down at the corpses below the city wall.

Over the past two weeks, under the fierce attacks of the Northern Jurchens, the Liang army has suffered repeated defeats and lost four cities.

Tianyin City, located here, is only a little over a hundred miles from the capital and is the last line of defense for the Great Liang imperial city.

If even Tianyin City cannot be defended, the Northern Jurchens will advance unstoppably and march straight to the capital.

By then, the Great Liang will be finished.

Xie Ying knew very well that the Northern Jurchens were strong and well-equipped, while the Liang army was exhausted from the internal and external troubles of the past few years. Many of their soldiers were conscripted, and some were even fifteen or sixteen-year-old boys.

With such a disparity in troop strength, how easy would it be to defend Tianyin City?

At this moment, a soldier ran up the city wall and presented a letter: "General, His Majesty has sent a letter."

Xie Ying stared at the letter, hesitating to take it.

He knew the contents of the letter without even opening it; it was nothing more than Tan Xuanmo's words of comfort and concern, urging and instructing him to protect the land of Daliang, and so on...

He would receive one such letter every one or two days.

It does nothing to help the war effort; it only increases his anxiety.

Seeing that he didn't move, the soldier looked up in confusion: "General?"

Xie Ying sighed imperceptibly, took the letter, opened it, and skimmed through the nonsense.

Seeing that he had no intention of replying, the soldier bowed and prepared to leave.

Xie Ying called out to him, "Wait a minute."

The soldier bowed instinctively: "What are your orders, General?"

Xie Ying saw that the soldier's face was so blackened by smoke that only his eyes were white, but it was not hard to tell that he was still young.

He casually lit the letter on the torch and watched it burn: "How old are you?"

The soldier replied respectfully, "I am fifteen years old."

When did you enlist?

"Last October."

"Last October..."

It's only been three months now.

Having been in the army for less than half a year, and not even having mastered the basics, such a soldier would not have been able to go to the battlefield in the past.

Thinking back to the past, Xie Ying couldn't help but give a bitter smile.

in the past?

In the prosperous era ruled by Emperor Taizu, fifteen years old was not even old enough to enlist.

But now, at the age of fifteen, he is forced to go to the battlefield and risk his life to defend this broken land.

As the letter burned down to its last bit, Xie Ying released his grip, watching the ashes curl and fall below the city gate.

"Go down."

Upon receiving these words, the soldier respectfully replied, "Yes."

The wind howled on the city wall. Xie Ying watched the last rays of sunlight sink below the horizon and let out a deep, long sigh.

Back at the military camp, Xie Ying ate a little something that tasted bland, then summoned his subordinate generals to discuss the next tactics.

Five or six generals, still in their armor, were discussing something around a sand table when a scout's urgent and loud voice came from outside: "Report!"

Upon hearing this commotion, everyone present felt a chill run down their spines.

They had heard such urgent reports many times in the past two weeks.

But every time I hear it, my heart skips a beat.

Xie Ying said in a deep voice, "Come in!"

The scout entered the tent and said, "Reporting to General Xie, a large number of soldiers have been spotted marching about sixty miles to the north, suspected to be the Tingzhou army."

Upon hearing this, everyone inside the tent was taken aback.

Xie Ying quickly asked, "How many people are there?"

"At least 100,000!"

One of the more hot-tempered generals cursed out, "Damn it, is that scoundrel Zhao Yuan trying to take advantage of the chaos?"

While they were preoccupied with dealing with the Northern Barbarians, they eagerly rushed over to get a share of the spoils.

With 100,000 troops at this critical juncture, it's enough to make matters worse for the Liang army.

They were already struggling to deal with the Northern Jurchens, and with the arrival of the Tingzhou army, they were certain to lose this battle.

"How can we fight like this!" Some generals were already discouraged, slamming their fists on the sand table. "We're not fighting anymore!"

Some generals were less pessimistic: "Don't talk such discouraging things! Are we just going to wait to die if we don't fight?"

"Isn't this just waiting to die! That scoundrel Zhao Yuan has interfered at this critical juncture; how can we possibly survive!"