kvmb Chapter 165 What is your way out?
Chapter 165 What is your way out?
His Majesty had set up this chess game, but it wasn't necessarily under his control. Otherwise, Tang Ling wouldn't have taken the risk, especially since it was Tang Ling herself who suggested Qi Xiao lead the troops into Qi.
"What did your majesty promise to the Zhou Kingdom? One hundred thousand black iron ores are not enough. Even a marriage alliance is not enough."
Tang Ling walked over to the sheepskin map and pointed to a place deep in Qi, very close to the Qi capital, Shuoliang. She said, "Redraw the border using Lingshan and Liujiang as the boundary. The west belongs to Chen, and the east belongs to Zhou. No troops may be stationed within a hundred miles east and west of Liujiang."
Compared with Fenglin Mountain, Lingshan is just a dirt slope, and Liujiang River is just a ditch compared with Taihua River. Using this as a boundary cannot be used as a natural barrier to defend. If you really want to mobilize troops, you can't stop them at all.
To the west of Ling Mountain are mostly mountains, forests and miasma forests, while to the east are plains. Although the capital of Qi, Shuoliang, is on the west side of Ling Mountain, with Ling Mountain as the last pass barrier of Shuoliang, the east of Ling Mountain is the fertile land.
If the borders were redrawn as Tang Ling said, even if Chen could station a large number of troops in Shuoliang, the land was barren and it would not be able to feed its soldiers. On the contrary, Zhou had fields and land, so it would have sorghum and money.
Qi Xiao slowly breathed a sigh of relief: "If the situation is reversed and the Chen-Qi coalition forces destroy Zhou, Zhou's land will be impossible to divide. No matter how it is divided, it will be a plain with no strategic location to defend. Once Chen's troops enter Zhou, destroying Qi is only a matter of time."
Tang Ling nodded. "That's exactly right. Unless Your Majesty is willing to give the entire Great Zhou to Qi, that's another story. But even if Your Majesty is willing, Qi wouldn't dare accept it. The Great Zhou is vast, and Qi can't defend it with its military strength. And if Qi needs to worry about suppressing the remnants of the Great Zhou army and the uprising of the people, then that would be the perfect time for Your Majesty to march south."
Tang Ling had a clear understanding of His Majesty's chess game and had a deep understanding of it, but in the final analysis, this was not a chess game, but a gambling game with many variables.
"If I were the Emperor of Qi, my best option would be to join forces with Zhou, capture the prince leading the Chen army, and then send him back to Chen to show goodwill to Your Majesty. I'd pretend the Chen army never came, and then quietly release you back to Zhou. I'd then instigate a war between Chen and Zhou, and everything would go back to half a year ago, with Lu's troops arrayed along the Taihua River, and Marquis Xun An leading his troops, ready for battle."
Tang Ling gently tugged at Qi Xiao and said softly, "I haven't hidden anything from you. I haven't lied to you or left you, and I've never considered sending you to Qi as a hostage. I will fulfill my promise to the coalition forces to attack Qi, but I also have to leave a way out for the Great Zhou."
"His Majesty has ordered Lu Fang to return to Linjiang Prefecture. What are your options?"
"As long as Lu Fangjin crosses the Taihua River, he will die. An army without a leader will be vulnerable. This is all I can tell you."
Qi Xiao sighed loudly: "If I don't ask today, when are you going to tell me?"
Tang Ling lowered her eyes. "I hope I don't have to say this. The war situation is ever-changing, and who can predict everything? Perhaps after we cross Fenglin Mountain, the situation will be completely different."
Qi Xiao approached Tang Ling, pressed himself against him, and asked softly, "Your Majesty doesn't believe I can win this battle. What about you?"
Tang Ling looked up at Qi Xiao and opened his mouth, unsure how to respond. He wanted to believe Qi Xiao could win; he was brave, resourceful, and surrounded by capable men. But he had no experience commanding or marching troops. If the current Dingyuan Army were still Bai Liu's Dingyuan Army, they might have a 70% chance of victory. Furthermore, Qi's terrain was complex, and the enemy was outnumbered. Even with Tang Ling, the Great Zhou was mostly plains. Just because he could fight Lu Fang on the Taihua River didn't mean he could fight the Qi army in the deep mountains and miasma forests.
"Trust me." Qi Xiao hugged Tang Ling, "But you also have to promise me one thing. If you lose, you will hand me over to Qi and return to Zhou."
Qi Xiao left Yuanjing City in the open and aboveboard to return to his fiefdom. There was also a secret order for him to lead his troops into Fenglin Mountain and wait for the opportunity to attack Qi.
Tang Ling secretly left without telling anyone. Only Huang Zexian and two confidants of Xun Anhou knew about Tang Ling's departure in the Zhou delegation. Everyone else thought that Tang Ling was imprisoned by His Majesty in the new residence. She quarreled with Chen for the sake of Zhou's reputation, and the peace talks could not be continued. The two factions in the Zhou court, those who advocated war and those who advocated peace, quarreled every day. Only the Emperor of Zhou and Xun Anhou watched coldly, pretending to be ignorant while quietly moving camps and mobilizing troops.
Before they left the capital, there was one more matter. His Majesty, keeping his promise, gave an "explanation" regarding Tang Ling's assassination at Tiger's Mouth Gorge. Li Sheng, unable to endure the pain of being in the Tiance Camp, had revealed all the people the Occupational Office had buried in Chen State. He had no idea of the Occupational Office's movements within Zhou State, but he knew their contact information, and he disclosed all of it. His Majesty passed this information, along with the details of Tang Ling's assassin at the Blue Spring Inn, to Huang Zexian.
With Li Sheng's capture, almost all of the operatives within Chen were exposed. They moved quickly, but the Xuanji Camp moved even faster, placing them under surveillance. Your Majesty didn't intend to capture them all in one fell swoop, but rather to use them to spread false news to Qi, such as Tang Ling's house arrest and the hopeless peace talks between Chen and Zhou.
Zong Sheng knocked on the door and entered Qi Xiao's room: "Master, Mr. Tang."
Qi Xiao and Tang Ling were both in the study, one standing and one sitting.
Behind Zong Sheng were Bai Xiqiao, Chi Yue, Ye Huai and Qing Lan. They were the closest and most trusted people around Qi Xiao and Tang Ling, but this seemed to be the first time that they all gathered together to talk seriously.
"Come around." Qi Xiao put down his pen and called everyone to the desk.
There was a map on the desk, which was different from the sheepskin map hanging in the study. This one was a map of Fenglin Mountain. Qi Xiao did not draw it in detail. Fenglin Mountain was too big. Although he had been running around the mountain for several years, he had not been to every place and had traveled all over the place.
"It will take us about ten days to reach Fuzhou. By the time we enter Fenglin Mountain, winter will have almost arrived. Heavy snow usually closes the mountain in the twelfth lunar month, sooner or later. We will probably have to stay in the mountains for three months until the snow melts. This period will be very difficult."
Three months of squatting in the snow and ice made Qing Lan shiver at the mere thought. He couldn't help but look up at Tang Ling first. Everyone else was fine. Someone as skilled as Ye Huai could just endure it and get over it. But Tang Ling couldn't. He would easily catch a cold and cough when the weather got cold. What if his heart disease flared up again? What would he do in the deep mountains, in the snow and ice?!
Tang Ling's face was calm. She glanced back at Qing Lan, as if nothing had happened. Qing Lan was worried about him and was about to speak when Tang Ling glared at her and stopped her.