"Xianggong, are you worried about the Western Expeditionary Army again?" Just when Li Yuntian was standing at the window looking at the heavy snow blowing in the yard, a crisp voice came from behind him.

"Do you think the wind and snow in the Western Regions will be bigger than the capital?" Li Yuntian knew who was coming, and turned to look at Nuo Min who walked in the door with a smile.

"According to my brother, the wind and snow in the Western Regions seem to be heavier than in Daming, and the weather is particularly cold." Nuo Min held an official document in his hand and handed it to Li Yuntian with a smile, "This is a joint letter signed by the students of the Martial Arts Hall, and they want to go to the Western Regions to fight and kill the enemy." ”

"These guys with too much energy." Li Yuntian shook his head slightly, and did not look at the joint letter, but casually threw it on the desk next to him.

Recently, the large battalions of the Xiaowu Army have presented petitions written by grassroots military attaches and soldiers to Li Yuntian, wanting to go to the Western Regions to fight the Timurid Empire and the Northern Yuan, but Li Yuntian has suppressed them.

Li Yuntian understands the mood of these soldiers to fight, but there are no rules, there is no circle, the imperial court has its own conclusion on the matter of sending troops, and the major battalions of the Xiaowu Army have different defense objects, even if Li Yuntian sends troops, he selectively chooses the troops of the corresponding battalion.

"Xianggong, I heard that the Wuguo Mansion has been very lively recently, and the guests who went to visit the Duchess of Wuguo were about to break the threshold of the Guogong Mansion."

Nuo Min knew that Li Yuntian would definitely not agree to let the students of the Wutang go to the Western Regions to participate in the war, so he sat on the stool on the side, picked up a red apple on the table and took a bite, and said to Li Yuntian with a smile while chewing, "Now it is rumored in the capital that Wu Guogong defeated the 700,000 allied forces of the Northern Yuan and Western Chagatai this time, and he will definitely be crowned as a king!" ”

I am afraid that the only person who can behave so casually in front of Li Yuntian is Nuo Min, Li Yuntian knows that Nuo Min has been free and comfortable since he was a child, so he specially told Zhou Yuting not to be too restrained by him, which makes Nuo Min still maintain a lively and cheerful nature.

"If you really win this time, even if you enter the title of Duke of Wuguo, it is not impossible!" Li Yuntian also heard about this, so he looked out the window again and said, now he is afraid that the Western Expeditionary Army will fall into the trap of the Timurid Empire and the Northern Yuan Dynasty and achieve a fiasco in the Western Regions, and he does not know how many soldiers will die at that time.

"Xianggong, like you, I am not optimistic that the Western Expeditionary Army will win this time, and many people in the martial arts hall think that Wu Guogong is too aggressive in the Western Regions."

Nuo Min heard the meaning of Li Yuntian's words, so he got up and walked to Li Yuntian's side, stretched out his hand to catch a few snowflakes outside the window, and then said to Li Yuntian, "Now the main force of the Northern Yuan and Western Chagatai coalition forces has not suffered much damage, once it makes a comeback, I am afraid that the battle situation will change abruptly." ”

"Oh?" Li Yuntian couldn't help but feel a little surprised when he heard this, he didn't expect the students of the martial arts hall to have such thoughts, and then his face showed a look of relief, it seems that those students have not studied in vain these years, and they know how to objectively analyze the situation on the battlefield.

"It's just a matter of saying this kind of thing in private, and don't spread it outside, so as not to cause unnecessary incidents." Then, Li Yuntian's face turned pale, and he instructed Nuo Min in a deep voice.

"Don't worry, everyone is smart, no one will spread this kind of words, just bring up this issue when discussing the war situation in the Western Regions in class." Nuo Min smiled at Li Yuntian when he heard this, and it was obvious that the doubts about the command of the commander of the Western Expeditionary Army were not suitable for spreading when the news of the Western Expeditionary Army was frequent.

"By the way, last night, the third son of Wutaihou and the second son of Yong'an Hou fought in the Jade Building for a dancing girl, which led to a conflict of nearly 100 people, and even Shuntianfu Yin was alarmed." Then, Nuo Min thought of something and said to Li Yuntian with a smile, "It is said that Wu Taihou was very angry when he learned about this, and now the third prince is still nesting in the prison of Shuntian Mansion. ”

"The tree wants to be quiet and the wind does not stop." Li Yuntian naturally heard about the matter of the Jade Building, and said with a wry smile.

Jade House is one of the famous green buildings in the capital, although Wu Tai Hou and Yong'an Hou are both noble Ming nobles, but the two belong to different camps in the honors, Wu Tai Hou is Zhang Hao's Jing Nan Xun Gui line, and Yong'an Hou is Song Hai's founding noble line.

Although this conflict seems to be a jealousy between the two sons and brothers on the party, it actually reflects the subtle changes in the relationship between the founding nobles and the Jingnan nobles in the Xungui group.

Since Yongle, Jing Nan Xun Gui has firmly pressed the founding nobles, and now Song Hai, who is the head of the founding noble line, unexpectedly took charge of the Western Expeditionary Army, and won successive battles in the Western Regions, killing the Timurid Empire and the Northern Yuan Dynasty and retreating again and again, which made the people of the founding noble family can't help but raise their eyebrows.

It is foreseeable that when the Western Expeditionary Army triumphs, Song Hai will be rewarded by the Empress Dowager of the Zhang family, and maybe he will really be crowned king like Li Yuntian.

It was in this situation that the conflict between the two sons of the Marquis of Wutai and the Marquis of Yong'an broke out, because the Marquis of Yong'an followed Song Hai's expedition to the west, then the Marquis of Wutai, who stayed in the capital, naturally had to punish his three boys, and he could not let outsiders say that they were in the Marquis of Wutai's Mansion and took advantage of the fact that the Marquis of Yong'an was not bullying the people of the Marquis of Yong'an.

In fact, according to the news obtained by Li Yuntian, the three boys of Wutaihou lived in a clean single room in the prison of Shuntianfu last night, and even left a maid to spend the night, and this morning and noon were delivered by the subordinates of Wutaihou's mansion, although he lost his freedom for a while, but his life was quite nourishing, in the final analysis, he was the third boy of Wutaihou's mansion, and the so-called detention and imprisonment was just a show for outsiders.

It is worth mentioning that although the people of the founding noble family are more active now, they do not dare to provoke the nobles of the Xiaowu military line.

First, the sons and daughters of the nobles of the Xiaowu Army are usually relatively low-key and rarely cause trouble, and secondly, Li Yuntian has made great achievements in war, and his prestige in the court is fought with real knives and guns on the battlefield, so the sons and daughters of the nobles have an instinctive awe of him, and naturally they dare not touch the nobles of the Xiaowu Army.

Although the commander of this Western Expedition is Song Hai, anyone with a discerning eye knows that the most suitable person to lead the army is Li Yuntian, but Li Yuntian gave up taking command due to various factors, coupled with Zhang Hao's withdrawal, it was Song Hai's turn to be the commander, in fact, Song Hai could not convince the public.

Also, although Jiangwutang did not send troops, it was responsible for the supply of logistics and materials for the Western Expeditionary Army, and even half of the artillery battalion directly under Li Yuntian was transferred to participate in the Western Expedition, so Jiangwutang played a very important role in the Western Expeditionary Army.

What's more, when it comes to the intimate relationship with the orthodox emperor and the Empress Dowager of the Zhang family, the children of the founding nobles are even more willing to bow down, so they respect the sons and daughters of the Xiaowu army and the nobles, and the well water on both sides does not interfere with the river water.

In fact, Song Hai's appointment as the commander of the Western Expeditionary Army was the meaning of the Empress Dowager Zhang, and the Empress Dowager Zhang revealed in her words with Li Yuntian that she wanted Song Hai to take on the important task of the Western Expedition.

As for the reason is very simple, that is, to support the forces of the founding nobles and avoid the nobles of Jing Nan from holding military power, which is the most beneficial to the imperial power.

And it is not easy for Song Hai to serve as the commander of the Western Expeditionary Army, after all, the vast majority of the nobles in the court, how can Song Hai, the founding noble, be allowed to take charge of the command of the Western Expeditionary Army?

The Empress Dowager of the Zhang family can make Li Yuntian give up sending troops to the Western Regions, this is because Li Yuntian is different from those nobles, and is regarded as a junior by the Empress Dowager of the Zhang family, and some words can be said clearly.

But in the face of Zhou Zheng and Zhang Hao, two highly qualified nobles, it is difficult for the Empress Dowager Zhang to open this mouth, after all, this expedition to the Western Regions can obtain great military merits, and no nobles are willing to give up this opportunity to make meritorious contributions and leave their names in history.

What is particularly important is that once the Empress Dowager Zhang does this, it will undoubtedly be regarded by the outside world as a suppression of Jing Nanxun, which is self-defeating.

As a result, Li Yuntian took on the task of persuading Zhou Zheng and Zhang Hao to give up the task of leading the army to the Western Regions, as for Zhang Fu, he has never led the army since Emperor Xuande ascended the throne, and he is old, so it is obvious that he will not participate in the Western Expedition, but will sit in the capital.

Therefore, under Li Yuntian's mediation, Zhou Zheng and Zhang Hao finally gave up the idea of commanding the army, and even Niu Shihao was affected and did not participate in the Western Expedition on the grounds of illness, otherwise Niu Shihao would definitely be the deputy commander of the Western Expeditionary Army.

The Empress Dowager Zhang specially sent people to visit Zhang Hao and Niu Shihao at their homes afterwards, and instructed the two to recuperate well and continue to expand the territory of the Ming Dynasty, which was extremely appeased.

Li Yuntian felt very helpless about this, he had previously reminded the Empress Dowager of the Zhang family of the strength of the Timurid Empire, but the Empress Dowager of the Zhang family had her own considerations, and wanted to take advantage of the opportunity of the Western Expedition to balance the forces of the founding nobles and the Jingnan nobles, and finally Song Hai served as the commander of the Western Expeditionary Army.

Therefore, in fact, it was not Li Yuntian who prevented Zhou Zheng, Zhang Hao, and Niu Shihao from leading the army to the west, but the Empress Dowager Zhang had already had a candidate for the westward expedition in her mind, and Zhou Zheng and Zhang Hao had to give up, which affected Niu Shihao.

During the Lantern Festival in the third year of orthodoxy, the Empress Dowager Zhang summoned the wives of the governors of the five armies and the officials of the six ministries and above to the palace for a dinner and to enjoy the lanterns arranged in the palace.

Because the Empress Dowager Zhang has a sufficient surplus on hand, the lanterns in the palace are particularly beautifully arranged this year, making the palace full of festive atmosphere.

It is worth mentioning that during the dinner, the Empress Dowager Zhang specially arranged the wife of Song Hai, Duke of Wuguo, in her lower right seat, and her status during the banquet was second only to Zhou Yuting and Zhu Yuxin, who sat side by side at the bottom left of the Empress Dowager Zhang.

Zhu Yuxin, the lord of Ruixiang, is the granddaughter of Zhu Yongqing, the prince of Fu, and the niece of the Empress Dowager of the Zhang family, so although she is Li Yuntian's side concubine, she is on an equal footing with Zhou Yuting, and they also appear together in public.

Originally, sitting at the bottom right of the Empress Dowager of the Zhang family was Zhang Fu's wife, Zhang Fugui was the imperial master of the dynasty, and his status in the officialdom was second only to Li Yuntian, so his wife deserved this honor.

However, Zhang Fu's wife died of illness a few years ago, so that the seat at the lower right of the Empress Dowager of the Zhang family was vacant, and the reason for this was because there were several high-ranking officials and magnates in the imperial court who had comparable qualifications and status, which made it difficult to arrange whose wife sat in that seat.

Now that Wu Guogong is leading the army to the west, the Empress Dowager Zhang has arranged his wife in the seat at the bottom of the right, which shows that she is satisfied with the achievements of the Western Expeditionary Army, which makes Wu Guogong's wife flattered and very happy.

Compared with the Duchess of Wuguo, Zhang Hao's wife is undoubtedly the most lonely, and it stands to reason that the person who commanded the army to the west should be Zhang Hao, but Zhang Hao unexpectedly shirked his illness and fulfilled Song Hai.

After the Lantern Festival dinner, the prestige of Wu Guogong in the imperial court reached an unprecedented peak, and Wu Guogong's mansion became the hottest mansion in the capital.

Because the imperial court vigorously publicized the great military exploits made by the Western Expeditionary Army in the Western Regions, even the beggars in the capital knew that Wu Guogong was going to be developed now, and when the class teacher returned to the court, he would definitely add officials and become knights, so everyone naturally wanted to add icing on the cake at this time and get through the door in advance.

The subordinates of the Wuguo Mansion have never been so proud as they are now, not only are they stammered everywhere they go, but they also get a lot of benefits in private, which makes their waists in front of people can't help but straighten up a lot, and they also become a little condescending when they speak.

Perhaps, except for Li Yuntian's worries about the fate of the Western Expeditionary Army, no one in the capital would think that the Western Expeditionary Army, which was so powerful along the way, would encounter any trouble in the Western Regions, and it was only a matter of time before the class master triumphed.

This made Zhang Hao and Niu Shihao a little depressed, and such a big credit flew away from their eyes, and I am afraid it will be difficult to have such a precious opportunity in the future.

However, the higher the return, the greater the risk, the success of the Western Expedition can certainly make Song Hai and others famous, but if something goes wrong, it will be a catastrophe!