Chapter 93 Just around the corner
Murong Ying arrived, and with him came soldiers from Jizhou, Yanzhou, and Yuzhou, totaling more than 40,000 men.

At the same time, he also issued an edict, ordering the governor of Xuzhou, Dai Wang Murong Jian, to lead his troops to Langya and join forces with the main force of the central army to attack the rebels from the north and south.

Zhao Da was also ordered to leave some troops behind to maintain the openness of the canal, and led 15,000 infantry and cavalry to Licheng.

This also meant that the number of Yan troops on both sides of the Yellow River exceeded 200,000.

It is worth mentioning that after the saint arrived in Licheng, he did not show up again except for summoning the generals to encourage them.

As the commander-in-chief of the army, Prince of Qi Murong Ju commanded all the troops in battle, and three generals, Li Shenfu, Lou Jushi and Duan Yihong, served as deputy commanders-in-chief.

Among them, the governor of Jizhou, Xia Wang Murong Hui, led an army of 20,000 and was located on the north bank of the Yellow River. A war was about to break out.

Late in the night, in the Jizhou army camp, Prince of Xia Murong Hui was buried in paperwork handling military affairs. He was the grandson of Prince of Xia Su Murong Wang, the second son of Emperor Taizu Murong Yi. He was handsome and dignified.

Murong Wang was a brave warrior, and he was the most meritorious among all the sons of Murong Yi. He once led 3,000 Yan cavalrymen to attack day and night and defeated 30,000 Wei troops. If he had not died young, the throne would never have fallen to the late emperor.

This is a consensus among the Murong royal family.

Murong Hui's father died of illness when he was less than 30 years old.

After Murong Hui came of age, he inherited the title of prince. When he was a teenager, he followed Murong Ying, who was the crown prince at the time, to the south to pacify Wei. Later, he participated in the Western Expedition to Tuyuhun and the Northern Expedition to Turks. He had many military exploits and was considered a young talent among the royal family. Before he was 30 years old, he became the governor of a state. Even for a prince of the royal family, this promotion speed was fast enough.

"My king, there is someone outside the camp who wants to see you. He says he is your cousin."

Murong Hui put down his pen upon hearing this, raised his head and asked, "My cousin?"

The soldier below then placed a jade pendant on the table. Murong Hui took a glance and knew that the owner of the jade pendant must be a member of the royal family, because the word "Murong" was written on it. He also had such a jade pendant, and it was obviously made by the Zongzheng Temple.

"Bring people in."

Murong Hui gave the order casually, then closed the document regarding the replenishment of military equipment that he was checking. After waiting for a while, his soldiers brought the young man in uniform into the tent.

"I've met the king."

The boy was about fourteen or fifteen years old, well-dressed, handsome, and had a pair of bright almond-shaped eyes.

"Whose son are you?"

"My name is Murong Sanzang. I am from the Cao family. My ancestor is the Prince of Anding."

Murong Hui was stunned at first. The first Cao Wang was Taizu's brother Murong Ming. He had four sons. The eldest son inherited the title of Cao Wang, and the other three sons were all made princes. Among them, the late Anding Prince Murong Tai had six sons. The eldest son inherited the title, and the others were useless. Only the third son, who was born out of wedlock, was a palace guard when he was young, and later joined the army. He accumulated merits and became a general, and later became the governor of Qi County.
Then he laughed loudly, "Hahahaha, just say that your father is Murong Xuande, the Prince of Chengyang."

The young man named Murong Sanzang smiled and said, "It's not because I'm afraid that the king won't want to meet me."

After Murong Hui finished laughing, he snorted coldly, "Stop talking about this. You and your son are both rebellious thieves now. How dare you, distant relatives of the royal family, covet the throne? I was ordered to attack you. You came to my tent. Are you trying to give me a credit?"

Murong Sanzang did not panic after hearing this threat, and continued with a smile: "Your Majesty, my father and I did this only to protect ourselves. Your Majesty also said that my father and I are distant relatives of the royal family, so how dare we have any unreasonable thoughts? But the world of Dayan was conquered by King Xia Su following Taizu, and King Xia Su is the eldest son of Queen Wu Mu. The world now belongs to King Xia's lineage." "That's enough. If you just want to tell me this, then I will order you to be dragged out and chopped off, and then send your head to Licheng on the other side."

Murong Hui did not get angry at these words, nor did he applaud in agreement. He seemed to be completely uninterested in these things and his expression was quite indifferent.

Murong Sanzang could only pull out some dry goods, "Your Majesty, Taizu was a man of great talent and strategy. He conquered the Central Plains. Emperor Wen ascended the throne and conquered the four directions. He pacified the remnant of Wei in the south and drove out Tuyuhun in the west. As for the current emperor, he conquered Goguryeo twice and the whole world suffered. Millions of people died. The country was in turmoil and the land was full of smoke. He also killed the royal family and successively executed the King of Zhao, the King of Shu, the King of Qin, the King of Jin, the King of Xianyang, and the King of Taiyuan. He said he would tour the north in March, but he did not listen to the advice and was besieged by the Turks in Guangwu for more than a month. How can our Great Yan face the barbarians in the northwest from now on?"

"Today my father has taken over Qingzhou, not to seize the throne, but for the country and people of Dayan. Now many clans including the King of Qiao and the King of Dai in Xuzhou, the King of Xiang in Jingzhou, the King of Chen in Huainan, the King of Han in Liangzhou, the King of Pengcheng in Wujun, etc. have all signed an alliance with my father. It is time to put order out of chaos."

"Your Majesty, please make a long-term plan for the Great Yan Empire."

Murong Hui's expression suddenly became serious when he heard this. There were clan members in charge of various places in Dayan. This was the rule set by Taizu.

The main purpose was to curb the local powerful people and aristocratic families and avoid the predicament of the Former Wei Dynasty.

After all, after Emperor Wen of Wei and Emperor Ming of Wei abolished the royal family, the powerful families in various places were all aristocratic families. If it were not for Emperor Xuan's extreme operations, which allowed the Wei Dynasty to be restored to power, the Wei Dynasty would have perished two hundred years ago.

In addition, the Murong clan was of Xianbei descent, originally a foreign race. Although they had intermarried with aristocratic families from the Central Plains and had been assimilated into the Han culture for a long time, the remnants of the tribal system still had a profound impact on the various systems of Dayan.

Even Murong Ying, who had killed many royal ministers, had to guard against suspicion and entrust important tasks to him.

If these royal family members in charge of local areas really formed an alliance and wanted to depose Murong Ying, it would be possible.

"Alright, stop talking nonsense here. I am trusted by His Majesty, the commander of a state's military, and a hereditary prince. Why should I go along with you traitors? Well, considering that we are of the same surname, Murong, I will not kill you this time. Go back and tell your father Murong Xuan that the imperial army has arrived and ask him to surrender. Come, take him out."

Murong Sanzang did not argue, but bowed and followed the soldiers who had come in out of the tent.

When Murong Sanzang walked out of Murong Hui's tent, he was actually sweating profusely.

What I said just now was half true and half false. Murong Xuan did have contacts with many clan members and had signed alliances with several of them.

But now those people have not started the rebellion yet. I am afraid that they are just trying to test the waters for Murong Xuan, first deplete the strength of the imperial army, and then wait for an opportunity to start the rebellion.

If all the royal families in various places really rebelled, the situation would not be as bad as it is now.

The fact that Xia Wang Murong Hui did not keep him or kill him actually explains a lot. He was just waiting and watching.

Let's wait and see how far this war will go. If Qingzhou can withstand the attack of the central army, it will only take a few months for the royal families in other places to follow suit. Given Murong Ying's character, he will definitely be more tyrannical towards the royal family and court officials.

Being deserted by everyone is just around the corner.

　It will be on the shelves tomorrow, please be the first to pre-order.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)