Chapter 949 Declaring War!

Just as A-Ming liked drinking and the Blind Man liked peeling oranges, what Liang Cheng loved was training soldiers.

It was just that the other demon kings all paid attention to combining work with rest, being busy when they needed to be, but also never stinting on enjoyment when the time came. Even Si Niang, who was always busy managing the accounts, didn't she also take the time to have a child?

But Liang Cheng had always been fixed in one position, and a position that, without him, simply wouldn't work.

The other demon kings weren't good at leading troops; it wasn't that they couldn't learn, in fact, no one doubted their ability to learn, it was mainly that their own personalities were simply not suited for the position of a military commander.

At this thought,

Zheng Fan felt a little guilty,

Because of these people at home... to say that there really wasn't anyone who could replace A-Cheng, that wasn't entirely true, there was actually one, and that was himself.

He had learned from Liang Cheng earlier, then from Li Fusheng, then from Tian Wujing, and had also paid great attention to practical experience.

It was no exaggeration to say that his current level, while certainly not as exaggerated as those famous generals of the time, and the title of "Military God" was also undeserved, could still securely sit in the front row of the second tier behind the Military God.

But he was just lazy,

He had to enjoy life, and in recent years, with his wife and children on a warm bed, he had been a hands-off shopkeeper far too comfortably.

It was precisely because of Liang Cheng's selfless dedication that he had been able to live these comfortable years;

To some extent,

A-Cheng was taking the hit for him,

Blocking this knife,

The knife that came from life, or rather, survival.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

At this moment, the heavily armored iron cavalry, having fully accelerated, was passing in front of him, and the earth was trembling along with it.

Even now, their speed wasn't particularly fast, but as a general proficient in cavalry warfare... no, to be precise, as a general who had been using cavalry to fight since his debut, Zheng Fan knew clearly what kind of damage this three-thousand-strong heavy armored cavalry could cause on the battlefield.

It wasn't just the actual damage caused by the impact,

Any army, when facing such an iron cavalry charge, the most terrifying thing was actually the psychological pressure, which could cause the enemy to collapse in an instant.

The Chu people claimed that their infantry was the best in Xia,

But in front of these three thousand heavy armored cavalry,

Zheng Fan could be sure that they would be vulnerable!

Because this wasn't purely "heavy armor" in the traditional sense; these three thousand men were the elite of the entire Jdong Army, with many experts who had attained the ranks, and the armor was personally designed and organized for forging by Xue San, and in terms of mounts, he had even used his own name to request many pixiu beasts from the Imperial Beast Bureau in the capital.

It wasn't just a simple "Iron Pagoda" from another time and space,

It was a true war behemoth.

This was a trump card that could directly shatter the enemy's lines and crush their morale at a critical moment, turning the tide of victory or defeat in an instant.

Looking further afield,

Below the high platform, an endless array of soldiers and armor;

In recent years,

Liang Cheng had organized the annual assembly and military exercises of the standard households soldiers, Liang Cheng had organized the rotation of various troops, and Liang Cheng had pondered the infantry tactics that the Yan Kingdom lacked the most.

This was actually the same as the Blind Man's constant desire to rebel and Si Niang's calculations of development expenditures and revenues,

For a single goal,

To work hard, to move forward,

To arrange the stones neatly,

Just to gently push down the first one after everything was ready, and reap the pure joy of that moment.

And he,

Would lead this army, as well as the other Yan troops that would soon be arriving, to fulfill his promise to unify Xia.

Zheng Fan closed his eyes,

In his ears,

Came the rolling sound of thunderous hooves.

Below,

Liang Cheng, who was leading the heavy armored cavalry forward,

Suddenly froze for a moment,

The baleful aura within his body suddenly surged;

Hmm, advanced?

Not done yet,

Just as it surged up, before the remaining force had dissipated, this aura burst upwards again!

Hmm, advanced again?

With two consecutive surges of advancement and the baleful aura that was released, even Liang Cheng couldn't control it immediately.

Therefore, the baleful aura inevitably began to leak out;

The surrounding soldiers immediately saw that their general seemed to be dyed with a layer of black flames, burning fiercely;

The pixiu beast that Liang Cheng was riding seemed to have long been accustomed to this baleful aura; if you looked closely, you could see that some of its mane was already showing a purplish color, which was a sign of atavism;

In other words, in the time it had spent with Liang Cheng, this pixiu beast had gradually learned how to absorb baleful aura to stimulate its own bloodline, so it didn't feel uncomfortable at all at this moment, but felt very comfortable.

Liang Cheng's figure then leaped up from the pixiu beast beneath him,

His boots continuously kicked against the railing of the high platform, using the force to rise up, and when he landed on the platform, he grabbed the black dragon flag in front of him.

In an instant,

The baleful aura on his body spread to the black dragon flag, making the scene extremely dazzling.

The soldiers on all sides didn't know that this was an unexpected situation, and would only naturally assume that this was a part of the military parade that their general had arranged long ago.

Most importantly, this scene was too shocking.

When Liang Cheng waved the black dragon flag,

The soldiers below instinctively raised the weapons in their hands and shouted:

"Long live the General!"

"Long live the General!"

At this moment,

Liang Cheng finally controlled the baleful aura brought about by the two consecutive advancements; he inserted the flagpole into the platform and knelt down on one knee to Zheng Fan:

"Thank you, my lord!"

Seeing this, the surrounding soldiers were pushed to a new level of excitement:

"Long live the Prince!"

"Long live the Prince!"

"Long live the Prince, long live, long long live!"

……

"Long live the Emperor, long live, long long live!"

"My lords, you may rise."

Ji Chengjue sat on the dragon throne, looking at the kneeling officials below.

There were two people, still standing;

One was the Qian Kingdom's envoy, and the other was the Chu Kingdom's envoy.

After the Jin Kingdom was destroyed, the former Four Great Powers of Xia became Three Great Powers;

Right now, in the Great Yan's court, the envoys of other small countries had long knelt down, and only the Qian Kingdom's envoy and the Chu Kingdom's envoy could maintain the dignity of their countries with a bow.

However, with everyone else kneeling and only I standing, from the emperor's point of view, it seemed a bit too jarring.

But Ji Chengjue wouldn't be angry because of this; an emperor, after all, had the magnanimity to embrace all rivers.

The officials rose;

Today's court meeting was a grand court meeting, with many officials participating, and one of the main topics was that the envoys of many countries would be setting off to return to their countries tomorrow, which could be considered a farewell.

Between countries, there were generally diplomatic personnel stationed; the Honglu Temple was specially responsible for arranging this, but the envoys who were truly of a certain level were the imperial envoys representing their respective monarchs, and they wouldn't be stationed permanently; most of the time, they would come once a year, stay for one to two months, and if other major events occurred, additional imperial envoys would be sent and the duration would be extended.

The envoys of the small countries began to step forward one by one to speak, the general idea being to thank the Yan Kingdom and His Majesty the Great Yan Emperor for their hospitality, and wishing that friendship between their countries and the Great Yan would last forever.

After the envoys of the small countries finished speaking,

The Qian Kingdom's envoy stepped forward first;

In the Qian Kingdom, no matter when one was sent to the Yan Kingdom, it was a significant political qualification; after all, they were being sent to the Tiger-Wolf Yan, and after returning, they could ask someone to praise them and perform it, and arrange for a few busybodies in the delegation to make up a story, such as remaining calm in the face of danger, standing in the hall, and the righteous aura directly intimidating the Yan Emperor, etc.;

There were many similar stories.

After all, for a hundred years, the Qian Kingdom had not won much on the battlefield, but in stories, they had never lost.

During the reign of Emperor Renzong of the Qian Kingdom, the most famous "Court Full of Righteousness" was that most of the chief councilors had been sent to the Yan Kingdom and relied on this to fiercely boost their prestige.

"Your Majesty the Great Yan Emperor, this envoy has one thing he doesn't understand, and asks Your Majesty to enlighten him."

The emperor did not respond.

The Qian Kingdom's envoy continued:

"This envoy has heard that within the Yan Kingdom in the past two months, there seems to have been a relatively dense mobilization of troops and supplies; may I ask Your Majesty the Great Yan Emperor, what does the Yan Kingdom intend to do?

Now,

My Great Qian, along with the Yan Kingdom and the Chu Kingdom, has ceased hostilities for five years, and the people of all countries have finally had a chance to breathe;

Does the Yan Kingdom

Want to repeat the old tricks and tear up the alliance again?"

The Qian Kingdom's envoy's question was extremely unreasonable.

He had also prepared himself to wait for a few Yan Kingdom ministers to jump out in the hall and scold him for being "bold" and "arrogant",

And then he would take the opportunity to step down and apologize,

In this way, he could both bring up the "question" and ensure his own safety.

However,

What surprised the Qian Kingdom's envoy a little was that,

The hall was extremely quiet.

The Yan Kingdom's civil and military officials standing in two rows, not a single one stood up to scold him;

Nowadays, the normal court procedures of the Yan Kingdom have undergone tremendous changes due to the emergence of the cabinet system; in order to increase efficiency, the cabinet will collect the issues in advance;

Then, the cabinet will delineate the issues that need to be discussed at the court meeting, and then submit them to the emperor for the emperor to add or subtract.

And "If you have something to report, dismiss the court if you have nothing to do" is the last time to ask again, who still has any proposed issues they want to report temporarily.

Therefore,

When they entered the court earlier, all the civil and military officials who were qualified to stand here had received today's agenda;

There was shock,

There was astonishment,

There was doubt,

There was confusion,

But the cabinet bosses and the heads of various departments had already reached a tacit understanding on this matter, and they had already participated in it early on, they were very calm, and the officials below could follow their lead and be calm, thereby accepting this matter.

The Qian Kingdom's envoy, who had been left hanging there, seemed a little uncomfortable,

He had to bite the bullet and continue:

"Could it be that His Majesty the Great Yan Emperor really intends to start another war, to let the living beings..."

"Yes."

The Qian Kingdom's envoy was stunned;

The Chu Kingdom's envoy beside him, as well as the envoys of other countries, were also stunned.

The emperor sitting on the dragon throne above looked at the Chu Kingdom's envoy standing there,

And at this time, the Qian Kingdom's envoy woke up from his shock and immediately shouted;

"His Majesty the Yan Kingdom Emperor, this is to betray trust and righteousness, to disregard the people in dire straits, to put the common people in calamity..."

"If you continue to make noise, We will first attack Qian."

"………" The Qian Kingdom's envoy.

When the Qian Kingdom's envoy heard this sentence with... no, it was already a very direct threat, a red color immediately appeared on his face, which was anger, fear, and humiliation;

How unreasonable, how unreasonable, barbarians, barbarians, Yan barbarians!

But no matter what,

At this moment,

He bit his lip tightly.

In fact, thinking about it with his brain, how could the matter of who to start a war with be changed as soon as it was said? Even the emperor couldn't be so capricious.

But this was the Yan Kingdom's court,

This was the Yan Kingdom's emperor,

Plus the Yan people's tradition of not caring,

The Qian Kingdom's envoy was really "silenced".

"Jing Xueyi, the Chu Kingdom's envoy, asks what His Majesty the Great Yan Emperor's previous words meant?"

……

"Jing Renli, the Chu Kingdom's envoy, asks what Your Highness the Regent's previous words meant?"

Below Zhennan Pass, in the central army's tent, facing the military generals standing on both sides, facing the Great Yan Regent sitting there in a python robe;

Jing Renli mustered his courage and, with a demeanor that was neither humble nor arrogant, forcefully opened his mouth to ask.

In fact, the rise of Jing Renli, a member of the Jing family's collateral line, still had some connections with Zheng Fan;

In recent years, Jing Renli would act as the Chu envoy every year, visiting Princess Xiong and Da Niu at the Jdong Royal Mansion, representing the Chu Emperor, and sending a bit of kindness from the uncle.

That's why Da Niu felt that the Chu Kingdom's uncle was good; Jing Renli worked hard to bridge the gap.

He served as a senior official in the Chu Kingdom, not high-ranking and powerful, but also one of the ministers favored by the Chu Emperor.

At this time,

Standing beside the Regent, Eunuch Huang, who was wearing a big red robe and had long since gained weight, stepped forward at this time, pinched his orchid fingers, and said to Jing Renli standing below:

"The Prince's words are so clear, how come, does your envoy have a hearing problem?"

Yes,

Eunuch Huang was here again.

In recent years, Eunuch Huang had already retired to the second line in the palace;

Logically speaking, the thing that the great eunuchs in the palace couldn't stand the most was retiring, not only the sadness of people leaving and the tea cooling, but also the suffering of being retaliated against after offending people and losing power in the past.

But Eunuch Huang was different, he took the initiative to request retirement, and usually lived in his own mansion in the capital, but from time to time, he could still enter the palace to talk with His Majesty.

Among the eunuchs of the Great Yan court, he was one who had been on the battlefield, and had been on it many times, and as a supervising eunuch, he still maintained a record of complete victory.

This was an extraordinary qualification, the solid foundation for standing upright.

Nowadays, he could both live in his mansion outside the palace, being served by his servants, and continue to maintain his relationship with the palace and His Majesty; the face of the ancestor was still not falling;

This life was extremely comfortable, simply the ultimate dream of all great eunuchs after retirement.

Eunuch Huang knew clearly who he owed all this to.

He was also very fortunate, fortunate that the relationship between His Majesty and the Regent was still "inseparable", then he could continue to think of the Prince's goodness in his heart, without any burden.

A while ago, it was the Emperor who issued an edict asking him if he still had the strength to run to Jdong again.

Eunuch Huang immediately didn't feel any soreness in his waist or pain in his legs, and nimbly entered the palace to face the Emperor, patting his chest and assuring:

"Your Majesty, this servant is willing to dedicate himself to the Great Yan!"

Then,

He rushed to Jdong with the imperial edict and a group of attendants, actually arriving ten days earlier than expected, which showed Eunuch Huang's deep longing for the Regent.

Jing Renli said seriously: "The Regent wants my Great Chu to cede three more prefectures of land? Please calm your anger, Prince, this envoy doesn't need to go back to ask my Emperor at all; here, this envoy can directly give you a clear answer, my Great Chu cannot agree."

Inside the tent, the generals all showed indifferent smiles on their faces.

Do we care if you agree or not?

When do we need to fight? When do we need soldiers?

When I want something and you don't agree!

In fact, the reason why Jing Renli came to Zhennan Pass at this time was also because the large-scale mobilization of troops and supplies in Jdong simply couldn't be concealed, and Jdong didn't seem to have any intention of concealing it.

Therefore, in terms of both reason and emotion, Jing Renli had to take a trip.

"Prince, Yan and Chu have been living in harmony for five years, and in these five years, although there have been occasional frictions on the border between the two sides, the border residents of the two countries can be considered to be living and working in peace.

My Great Chu Emperor even regards you as a confidant, Prince, and you are also my Great Chu's consort;

So, why does the Prince want to restart the war at this time?"

……

"Why? Because We had a dream last night."

On the dragon throne, the emperor leaned slightly to the side, pointing his finger upwards;

In fact, the emperor's posture was very ungraceful, but the emperor was used to it, and the ministers were also used to it.

Sitting upright may be a puppet, in other words, an emperor who can sit on the dragon throne in a very ordinary posture is very likely to have already completed the final say in the court.

Even etiquette and ritual can no longer restrain him.

"In this dream, We dreamed of the Great Xia Emperor, and the Great Xia Emperor personally told Us to follow Heaven's will, inherit Xia's ambition, replace Xia with Yan, and recreate unification."

The envoys of the various countries were suddenly stunned; this... was that direct?

Back then, Zheng Fan and the Blind Man once joked that during the late Emperor's time, fighting wars not only wasted money and resources, but also wasted sons.

A righteous cause, a righteous cause, sometimes, you really need a target of hatred to inspire the whole country, eliminate resistance, and support the war.

But……

Times have changed.

Now, the Great Yan occupies the north, digests and absorbs the lands of the Three Jins, and the new policies have been implemented for eight years.

The treasury is full, and has accumulated wealth, reversing the situation of near-destitution at the end of the late Emperor's reign, and the Jdong Royal Mansion is even more prepared for war, never slacking off.

Now, the Great Yan

No longer needs to hide it, and no longer needs to play coy.

It's time

To uprightly,

Express the grievances and anger of the old Yan people for eight hundred years, the ambitions of countless generations of emperors, openly and honestly……

In the court of the Imperial Palace of Yanjing City,

The emperor sitting on the dragon throne,

Slowly stood up,

His gaze

Swept across all the ministers in the hall.

In the marshal's tent below Zhennan Pass,

The Regent lightly patted the armrest of the white tiger skin chair,

Standing up,

Inside the marshal's tent, all the generals' expressions became solemn.

"Listen well..."

"Everyone, listen clearly..."

"Pass down Our decree, inform the world, from today onwards..."

"Pass down Our royal order, inform all the armies, from this moment onwards..."

"My Great Yan's officials, my Great Yan's royal family, my Great Yan's people, should gather with one aspiration, should condense with perseverance, always remember the remaining vigor of our ancestors' brave efforts, do not forget the magnificent ambition of mountains and rivers stained with blood, help Us reshape the universe into unity, and recreate the country with boundlessness, and one day..."

"My Great Yan's elite soldiers, should inherit the aspect of the black dragon, guard the territory and expand the land, sweep away the barbarians on all sides, and establish the foundation of my Great Yan for eternity, We will lead you, all the way to conquer;

Until, there is no enemy who dares to stand, until, there is no country that does not submit,

Until..."

…

"My Great Yan, is the Central Plains!"