Even if he is an arrogant general, he now has to admit that today's Nanguo is no longer the remnants of China and the DPRK who fled south in the old days and was bitterly suppressed by the Qianguo in Huaixia and Jiangdong, but the absolute hegemon of this world and an opponent who is almost impossible to defeat.

Including the Lord Shi Hu, they no longer dared to hope that they could completely defeat the Northern Expedition of the Southern Kingdom this time, and all the efforts they made were just to struggle to survive as much as possible, in order to win the turning point in the unpredictable future.

And if you want to stop the momentum of the southern offensive, it is obviously impossible to rely on the appearance of the 12 armies inside and outside the Xindu City at present. At present, the number of soldiers who can really be put into battle in Xindu is only 50,000 or 60,000 at most, and among them, there are also private troops owned by powerful ministers like Zhang Jackal.

However, it is clear that even if the ministers inspire the courage to fight through the division ceremony, the forces of the Xindu side should not be desperately thrown into the battle against the Jin army of Tobu Castle.

What's more, the current Jin army's Dongwu City battalion itself has gathered far more than 50,000 troops, not to mention that its army is a fierce and victorious division with successive battles, and there are also famous generals like Shen Mu in the south under the command of the commander, and the dispatch instructions of its troops, including the play of combat effectiveness, are far better than the army cobbled together by the private troops of all parties in the country.

As for the tens of thousands of Chinese troops directly led by the Lord Shi Hu, it can be said that they are the few remaining bargaining chips in the hands of the Lord and the Lord who can control the situation, let alone invest in the consumption of attacking fortified positions.

Because he wanted to take advantage of the excitement of the people after the ceremony and wanted the Jin army of Tobu City to attack, the only way to attract a strong army was to attract a strong army from outside Xindu. At present, there are only capable soldiers in the state of Qian, who are capable of fighting outside the Xindu, and the troops under the command of Shi Bin, the king of Zhangwu, Zhang Ju, the assassin of Youzhou, and Sikong Li Nong. Originally, Ma Qiu of Xiangguo was also among them, and now it has naturally been excluded.

Among these people from other towns, the strongest combat effectiveness is the first to push the begging army under Li Nong, but Li Nong is the farthest away from Xindu, and he is also responsible for deterring the Dai Guo on the block, which cannot be moved lightly, and the generals of the Qi State are also relatively reluctant to enter the begging army into the center.

There were originally 50,000 elite soldiers in Youzhou, and 20,000 soldiers were led by Shi Bin, the king of Zhangwu, to come south to aid the battle in Bohai County, and then Zhang Ju will also lead the remaining 30,000 soldiers to return to the country as the main force to attack the Jin army's Dongwu City camp.

The reason why Zhang Jackal took the initiative to undertake the task of intercepting and killing Ma Qiu and blocking the military situation of Xiangguo was that it was because of the cooperation between Shi Bin, the king of Zhangwu, and Zhang Ju, the assassin of Youzhou, who were the king of Zong, and the strong domain.

Although the division of the princes has become a tacit consensus among the ministers in the country, in Zhang Jackal's view, it is very difficult to achieve the ideal offensive and defensive alliance even in peacetime when there is nothing to do at home and abroad, not to mention the direct threat of the Jin army's strength at present.

What's more, human desires are endless, and no matter what the rest is, when the jackal himself understands this intention of the Lord, he is already planning how to annex and devour the existence of other princes. Although the vision of the feudal princes was to form an offensive and defensive alliance to resist the Jin army, it was also possible to further collapse the country, and the parties were at odds with each other.

Therefore, Zhang Jackal did not pin all his hopes on the ceremony of dividing the seal soon after, as he had discussed with his cousin before, they Zhang wanted to consolidate their position and even go further, and the strange goods were also of legal significance.

Because in the past year or so, Zhang Jackal has often been active in the Forbidden Garden, and he has also had a certain contact with the nobles in the garden, such as the lord's concubine Liu.

Liu is the daughter of Liu Yao, the old lord of Han Zhao, when attacking Guanzhong in the old year, he was captured by Zhang Jackal in Shangqi, and then transferred Liu to Shi Hu, who was the king of Zhongshan at the time, to show his loyalty, and then Liu gave birth to a son named Shi Shi for Shi Hu.

It is true that there is no good relationship between Zhang Jackal and Liu, but when they regained contact with each other, they naturally came together to reach an alliance under the common demand. The Liu family naturally hopes that his son can inherit the throne, and Zhang Jackal also needs a young master to continue his throne.

Although there is no old and sick posture under the Lord, it is not appropriate to hang the storage position for a long time. At present, among the sons of the lord, although there are still many elderly people such as Shi Jian and Shi Bao, there is no support from tough people behind these people.

Only Shi Bin, the king of Zhangwu, himself has a reputation for bravery, and he has been in the land of Youyan for a long time, and the relationship with Zhang Ju, the assassin of Youzhou, is also harmonious, although his mother's status is low, but in such a situation in the country, this is not a big problem.

What's more, Shi Bin is already in charge of tens of thousands of troops, and there is a Zhang Ju faintly behind him as a backer, once the two are completely united, they will be the most powerful military force in the country at the moment, even Zhang Ju will not be their opponent.

Therefore, to ensure that the New Year's ceremony is held as scheduled, there is another layer of meaning for Zhang Jackal, and Shi Bin and Zhang Ju will return to China at that time. Zhang Ju planned to seize Shi Bin's military power by means and limit it to Xindu, and then attack Dongwu City, Zhang Ju's troops would definitely have very serious losses, and to a certain extent, they would be able to suppress the new momentum of his people from the south.

At that time, Zhang Ju could come forward to lobby Zhang Ju and ask him to echo his suggestion and agree to support the young prince Shi Shide to occupy the throne.

After all, there is no irreconcilable contradiction between him and Zhang Ju, and there is no shortage of similar situations between them, a young and easy-to-control prince is definitely better than an older and powerful prince like Shi Bin for these generals who are in charge of military power.

At present, Zhang Jackal is writing a letter to Zhang Ju who is on the way to the south, although he will not directly express his plans at the moment, but he might as well show a good foreshadowing first. In the letter, he expressed to Zhang Ju that he would make a statement at the New Year's ceremony later that Zhang Ju would be promoted to the rank of lieutenant and that he would be in charge of the country's military affairs, and he believed that this would make Zhang Ju feel his goodwill and sincerity.

Zhang Jackal was still sitting on the desk and thinking hard about the words, suddenly there was a mess of voices and a woman crying outside the warm pavilion, after the train of thought was interrupted, his heart suddenly felt irritable, he got up and pushed the door out, only to see a plump and beautiful woman lying on the ground masked and crying: "My son has been healthy since he was a child, how can he ignore his illness and die...... It must be the jealousy of the eldest woman that caused the evil slave to harm my mother and son! Lord Lang is in the house, you slaves dare to stop me......"

Hearing the woman's crying, Zhang Jackal felt even more upset, and suddenly roared angrily: "Who released this cheap maid and allowed her to cry and talk about right and wrong in the court!" Quickly expel me from the prison, dare to violate the ban again, and give me a rod to kill this! ”

When the woman heard Zhang Jackal's scolding, she was stunned for a while, and before she had time to react, she was wrapped up in brocade and withdrawn from the courtyard by the house slave.

Zhang Jackal bowed his head and lingered under the corridor for a long time, and the depression in his heart slowly dissipated.

Originally, this beautiful young son was his favorite object, if it weren't for the lord's strict monitoring of him, and even the current mansion in Xindu was to control his family, if there was no definite opportunity, it would be difficult for him to find an excuse to leave the forbidden garden and return home. I remembered in my heart that although there was no lack of hidden pain, but in troubled times, if you can't bear to give up even a son and a concubine, how can you have the luxury of creating an extraordinary feat!

After his mood calmed down a little, Zhang Jackal returned to the warm pavilion and continued to write the unfinished letter. In addition to Zhang Ju, there are also some old friendship portals, taking advantage of his temporary leisure, they also make an appointment to conspire.

Zhang Jackal's prediction was not wrong, the lord Shi Hu did not give him too much time, and on the third day after he returned home, he sent an envoy to summon him into the garden, and Zhang Jackal used the excuse of holding illness as an excuse to delay for another two days, and made sure that some finishing matters were properly handled, and then left home and returned to the garden.

The old palace, where Zhang's mansion is located, is not too far from the newly built Forbidden Garden, and in fact, the new capital of Xindu has not been built on a large scale in the past year.

It is really too short of materials in the country, and even the most important soldiers cannot be satisfied with their diet, and as for those cold soldiers, there is no food and clothing allowance at all. Especially when the forbidden garden was built more than halfway, there were almost a thousand soldiers every day or tired to death, or starved to death, although the lord Shihu did not cherish his life, but he was afraid of death, and simply stopped the construction of the palace.

Between the old palace and the new palace, there is a large temple called Howang Temple. Perhaps because he felt that he was poor in manpower, Shi Hu's belief in gods and Buddhas had reached an incomprehensible level, and he even preferred to live in an unfinished forbidden garden, and to give priority to building a Buddhist temple to support the great monk Buddha Tucheng and his followers.

It's a pity that this protector of the Dharma Temple has not yet been completed, and the great monk Buddha Tucheng died in the middle of the year. For Shi Hu, the psychological blow was not inferior to being defeated by the southerners on the battlefield, so much so that he angered the disciples of Buddha Tucheng and killed nearly 100 Shamen.

In order to show that the gods and Buddhas are still sheltering the Great Zhao Guozuo, Shi Hu also strictly ordered that the death of Buddha Tucheng should not be leaked, and at the same time, the corpse of Buddha Tucheng was carefully handled, and the gold juice was poured from the eyes, ears, mouth and nose, etc., and the body of Buddha Tucheng was directly poured into the golden body and enshrined in the temple hall.

Zhang Jackal himself does not believe in or doubt the theory of gods and Buddhas, but since the Lord is keen on this, he at least reveres it on the surface. However, when I passed by Huguo Temple this time, I saw that there were many worshippers in the temple, and the corners of my mouth couldn't help but have a trace of ridicule.

He also knew some details of Xiangguo's defeat, especially the strange deeds of the unexpected setback of the Jin army in the Jin State Array, although Zhang Jackal had reservations and did not believe it, but he couldn't help but think a little: If there is really any gods, Buddhas and ghosts mixed with the Mandate of Heaven, it seems that the southern kingdom should be more helped.

After passing through Huguo Temple, Zhang Jackal entered the forbidden middle through the side door of the palace, and passed several checkpoints one after another, but unexpectedly saw a young man standing there at the corner of the corridor, as if he was waiting for him deliberately.

He raised his hand and motioned to the palace people who were leading the way to stop for the time being, turned to the young man, and arched his hand from a distance: "Your Highness has been standing here for a long time, I don't know who is waiting for?" ”

The young man was Shi Zun, he turned sideways to avoid Zhang Jackal's salute, and then replied with a humble look: "I am also deeply saddened to learn that Zhang Gong lost his beloved son, but because he stayed in the garden, he could not come to the mansion to mourn. I am waiting here for a special trip, and I ask Zhang Gong to mourn for the national day. ”

Zhang Jackal was not surprised by Shi Zun's respectful attitude, several princes died last year, and he could make these smart people among the princes who were still alive in the world see clearly, their so-called princely status was not a kind of unharmable protection, and they should be respectful to the real powerful courtiers.

Regarding Shi Zun's overture, Zhang Jackal just nodded and responded slightly, and when he saw that the other party stepped forward and took the opportunity to talk deeply, he simply bowed his hand and left directly, really too lazy to deal with this disadvantaged prince.

Seeing Zhang Jackal's contemptuous attitude, Shi Zun was also stunned, and after a while, his still slightly childish face was a little gloomy, and he snorted coldly: "The traitor dog is bold, I really think that I can completely cover the eyes and ears of the king......"