Chapter 233 Raising troops to investigate crimes
At present, Li Yuanhui only appointed two guards, one was Xiao Shizhi, who was in charge of the Guide Army, and the other was Lu Xiang, the governor of Lujiang, who was in charge of the Lujiang Army.

They are all temporary in nature.

Even the camp leaders of each camp were mostly temporary military positions such as Sima of other departments. This was also to solve the problem of the rank of military commanders. If all of them were granted the rank of Langjiang, Langjiang would be worthless.

Therefore, apart from the powerful men who later joined the army with their troops, among the original eighteen battalions, only Chen Zhen of the Xuzhou Right Battalion was the Eagle General.

Li Yuanhui brought back a group of 20,000 Lujiang local tyrants and established the "Lujiang Upper Army" with Qiao Xiaojie and Li Su as the left and right commanders.

Later, he ordered Li Su to lead more than 5,000 people to Liyang for a change of defense. Li Su was appointed as the governor of Liyang. Zhu led his people to withdraw from Liyang.

This also means that Li Yuanhui's metaphysics failed.

It makes sense. Cai Shi is an important place along the river. The Eastern Wei side was garrisoned by General Miao Xianyun, who led a large army of more than 30,000 soldiers and sailors. During Zhu Yuanzhang's garrison, he also took the initiative to attack Liyang many times.

In this situation, it would be a pipe dream to want to capture Liyang without superior military forces.

In response, Li Yuanhui said, "I admit that I had a gambling component."
Although I don’t have great luck, I haven’t lost either.

After all, Zhu Yuanzhang was able to defend Liyang firmly, so Li Yuanhui did not have to look east while confronting Cao Yuanjing in Xunyang.

Later, Li Yuanhui appointed Xiahou Yuanhong as the governor of Ruxu and ordered him to lead 4,000 men from the Tianzhu Mountain Camp to garrison at Ruxukou.

Xiahou Yuanhong's Tianzhushan Camp basically spent the year in Hefei for repairs and was responsible for defense.

The guard general Xiao Shizhi, who was originally stationed in Ruxu, led the Guide Army of up to 8,000 people to assemble in Hefei.

Zheng Shandao has left, and Guo Fenghe is currently acting as the prefect of Huainan.

By the time it was the twelfth lunar month, the troop rotation had basically been completed.

Among the eighteen battalions, except for Zhou Ben's troops of the Lujiang Right Battalion stationed in Anxian County, He Gui's troops of the Xuzhou Left Battalion stationed in Guangling, the Tianzhushan Battalion stationed in Ruxu, and three battalions of cavalry stationed in Yinling, the remaining twelve battalions all returned to the vicinity of Hefei.

Together with the Guide Army, the Governor's Army, and part of the Lujiang Army, there were nearly 70,000 people.

This scale of assembly and mobilization made the generals begin to speculate about the purpose.

If they wanted to capture Yuzhang, they should also gather in the direction of Wankou and Xunyang.

If they wanted to mobilize troops against Jiangdong, they should gather in Guangling and Liyang areas.

Gathering in Hefei seems more like a move towards Yuzhou in the north or Jingzhou in the west. Could it be towards Xuzhou?
Li Yuanhui didn't explain much.

Hefei is not far from Shouchun. Down below is Chaohu Lake, and you can enter the Yangtze River through Ruxukou. From this location, it is convenient to support various places.

After the army was mobilized, Li Yuanhui first asked Guo Fenghe to return to Hefei from Shouchun, preparing to arrange the marriage for Zhu Yuanzhang in the new year.

Meanwhile, an imperial edict arrived from Luoyang.

Li Yuanhui was ordered to return to Luoyang to report on his work.

Along with the imperial edict came Princess Jinyang, Murong Jiayin, who had not been seen for two years.

"It's been two years since we last met, Shiro, I hope you are doing well."

When Li Yuanhui saw Murong Jiayin in the hall, he was first shocked, then surprised, and then astonished.

Murong Jiayin, whom I haven't seen for two years, looks even more radiant. She is wearing a white fox fur coat and looks very charming.

"Hahaha, why are you here?"

Then he walked forward and took her into his arms, leaving everyone stunned.

Li Yuanhui simply left the eunuch who was announcing the decree behind him and without paying any attention to him, he pulled Murong Jiayin straight to the hall in the backyard.

"Why are you here?" The two of them entered the hall in the backyard and sat down, and Li Yuanhui asked again.

Murong Jiayin asked teasingly, "Why, you don't welcome me? Why, are you happy here?"

Li Yuanhui smiled and said, "How could that be? I have been looking forward to your coming for a long time."

Murong Jiayin said, "Oh, oh, oh, Governor Li really knows how to say nice things. Not bad. I thought you only heard the smiles of the newcomers now. You can still say a few words to coax an old friend like me, which is not bad."

When Li Yuanhui heard this, he suddenly felt guilty and laughed awkwardly twice.

"Why don't you invite one of your Mrs. Zhang over so I can meet her?"

Afterwards, Li Yuanhui ordered someone to go see Zhang Yan and invite her over.

Zhang Yan came with trepidation to meet Li Yuanhui's wife, Princess Jinyang.

The imagined tension and verbal sparring did not happen. As the eldest princess, Murong Jiayin even rewarded Zhang Yan with several pieces of jewelry.

After Zhang Yan left, Li Yuanhui, who was sitting beside her, also breathed a sigh of relief. It is not so easy to enjoy the happiness of having many wives.

"The color is nice, but her personality seems a bit cold. I thought she was a seductress."

Murong Jiayin's comments were both praise and criticism, but generally speaking she had no intention of nitpicking at Zhang Yan.

After all, she knew clearly that when Li Yuanhui was in Jianghuai, what he needed was the appointment and support from the court of Dayan.

But now, he has the support of the army he has built and the powerful families.

Among them, the Zhang family is particularly important.

Now Yan Ting is becoming less and less useful to Li Yuanhui and is becoming a greater and greater threat.

Her position as the legal wife is very awkward.

However, after seeing Li Yuanhui's attitude towards her, she felt that she had made the right choice.

Li Yuanhui wrote a letter to inform Zhang Yan that he was going to marry her.

And the surprised expression on his face when they met just now, all these made her feel much warmer.

"Alright, I won't argue with you about this. You should also know that the prime ministers in the temple will not allow you and your son to become powerful. Now your second brother has seized the natural barrier of Tongguan. The court in Luoyang is very angry about this. Even Gao Situ advocates gathering a large army to attack Tongguan and hold him accountable."

Li Yuanhui shook his head and said, "I can't do anything about this. My father is in Guanzhong, thousands of miles away from me. If you expect me to persuade him..."

Murong Jiayin said helplessly: "Are you still worried about your father? You should worry about yourself first."

Li Yuanhui smiled nonchalantly and said, "The court asked you to come here to persuade me to go to Luoyang and be killed?"

Murong Jiayin shook her head and said, "Not really."

"Not really? Haha, Jialuo, the situation has come to this point. Is there still room for easing the situation between the Li family and the nobles of Luoyang?"

Li Yuanhui's words left Murong Jiayin silent.

After a while, Murong Jiayin continued, "Actually, this time, I told my brother that if I can't persuade you to return to Luoyang, I won't go back. I will live and die with you here, and it will be worth it for us to be husband and wife."

After hearing this, Li Yuanhui burst into laughter. "Hahahaha."

Murong Jiayin frowned when she heard this, "What are you laughing at."

"Why do you think that we will die if we don't return to Luoyang?"

"My brother has issued an edict to Zhai Rang of the Wagang Army. Do you think it's only Murong Deyu and Lou Jushi of Yuzhou? This time the three counties of Jianghuai will face hundreds of thousands of troops. Silang, don't be confused. When you should bow your head, bow your head. My brother is kind and will not attack you."

Murong Jiayin spoke sincerely, as if she was really worried that Li Yuanhui could not withstand the joint attack of the imperial court and Wagang.

However, she did not see any trace of panic or fear on the man's face.

Li Yuanhui placed his hands on her shoulders, looked directly into her eyes, and then spoke calmly.

"Don't worry, a mob of hundreds of thousands can't do anything to me."

After hearing this, Murong Jiayin felt a little surprised and confused.

She didn’t know where Li Yuanhui got his confidence from. Did he know what these things meant?

"Listen to me, Silang, it's not just Wagang"

"I know."

"what?"

"Even if Cao Xuan of the Western Wei Dynasty and Murong Deyu have reached a truce in Ye County, Yuzhou will not dare to take it lightly. They can concentrate all the forces of Yuzhou to deal with me. The court must have made an agreement with Cao Xuan. Well, I think there is probably Cao Yuanjing from Jiangdong involved. The court sent a large army to attack Shouchun, Wagang attacked Zhongli, Cao Xuan's troops were divided into two groups to attack Xunyang and Yiyang, and Cao Yuanjing crossed the river to attack Liyang and Guangling. If I were to preside over the war, it would probably be arranged like this."

After hearing this, Murong Jiayin looked surprised.

"How do you know all these details? Even your elder brother can't know these."

Li Yuanhui smiled and said, "You underestimate your husband, don't you, my wife? I don't know whose plan this is, but if I were an official in Luoyang, I would arrange it this way. It's nothing more than colluding with Wagang and the Eastern and Western Wei. What secrets can there be? I just don't know whose plan this is, is it Xue Chu or Xue Pushe? General Gao even sent his son here, it definitely can't be him, could it be Jiang Yi?"

Li Yuanhui mentioned several names, but Murong Jiayin did not respond.

In the end, he said a name that was both familiar and unfamiliar to Li Yuanhui.

"Minister of War, Pharmacist Li."

(End of this chapter)