The vast night fell, and there were large thick clouds in the dark sky. Lu Jun, who had been retreating for a day, set up a camp and lit a bonfire. The snow had turned smaller, but it seemed even colder. Lu Wang sat blankly on the pier, his heart was bleeding. His 30,000 troops were over, and Wang Tu's dominance was over.

The entire army was drained from its spirit, and the order was scattered, with no expression on its face. Someone escaped secretly halfway, and now someone is whispering.

King Lu was stunned for a moment, woke up, looked at the dark night, and looked at Eunuch Liao: "Look at whether the enemy will come to steal the camp at night?"

"Your Majesty, no, it is difficult to distinguish between the enemy and us in secret, and the enemy has suffered a lot of losses. Now we must be dealing with the situation of the war. We should be very safe at the moment."

"How many people do we have?"

"General Yan is counting, returning to the organization, appointing and dismissing generals and lieutenants. It seems that there are more than a thousand people." Eunuch Liao said in a low voice, with a sad look. In today's battle, 30,000 soldiers were almost destroyed.

“Where is the food?”

"There is not much food, and now I'm killing horses and eating meat. Otherwise, the cold weather will immediately freeze into ice."

King Lu was silent for a long time, sighed to the sky, and his calmness and majesty were restored in a blink of an eye: "Come here, I will draw my personal guards to form a supervision team to rectify military discipline. Whoever dares to escape will be killed without mercy, whoever dares to secretly discuss destroying the morale of the army will be killed without mercy."

King Lu said to a lieutenant who was following. The lieutenant looked brave and immediately responded and turned around to arrange for the inspection team to supervise.

"The defector will be killed without mercy."

"Disturb the order in the army and kill without mercy."

The supervision team ran back and forth, shouting loudly, and a cavalry happened to want to escape secretly. The supervision team rushed up, grabbed it, cut it off with a knife, blood splattered and the head rolled down.

Looking at this, a fishy smell came up from King Lu's throat, and he couldn't help but reach out to cover it.

"Your Majesty, what's wrong with you?" Seeing that King Lu's face changed, Eunuch Liao hurried forward.

"Wow" King Lu spit out a mouthful of blood, and his chest was relieved. Eunuch Liao was shocked: "Imperial Doctor, please pass it on to the Imperial Doctor..."

After saying this, I realized that there was no imperial physician at this time.

"I'm fine." King Lu reached out to stop him.

"Your Majesty, take care of the dragon body." Eunuch Liao shed tears, and King Lu calmed down and said, "I'm fine, don't make a fuss."

"Now our army suffered heavy losses in a major defeat, and Chenzhou can no longer defend it." Lu Wang said coldly: "Retreat to the city of the city, he was surrounded. The most important thing now is to tighten his fists to avoid a global collapse."

"You make arrangements to find some calm people among the guards, and ride to each county to pass the orders, so that the magistrates of each county can quickly retreat to Jinzhou with their food." Speaking of this, King Lu felt heartbroken again, and a little bloody smell filled his throat.

"Also, let's order Han Hongwu to meet with Gu." King Lu ordered.

This decision is very correct. Due to the great defeat, he only had a thousand people. If he wanted to catch up with the imperial army, he would be completely over. The most important thing now is to gather the army and stabilize the front. However, even though he thought so, King Lu only felt a chill.

Capital City·Imperial Palace·Imperial Study Room

The beast-shaped stove was vigorous and the roast was warm. Several eunuchs and palace maids were waiting at the door. A voice came from the imperial study: "Your Majesty, war is important. All soldiers from all over the country must prepare. Should they issue an order to prepare?"

Emperor Qitai listened and remembered Pei Ziyun's plan, and was silent for a moment: "My dear friend writes a letter, if the war is not good, he will transfer his army to serve the king."

"Yes, your Majesty."

At this time, the cabinet minister Yue Ji took a step forward: "Your Majesty, I have a memorial. It has been snowing everywhere this year, and many places have suffered disasters, so they have to use money to provide relief."

"The army that encircled and suppressed King Lu is still using troops. The money spent this month is more than twice as much as the previous two months. Now we have to mobilize the wing soldiers again, and the national treasury is really hard to support!"

Emperor Qitai raised his face and pondered, holding the teacup without saying a word, and then he said for a long time: "Let's talk about disaster relief first. I remember that there is still a lot of food in the warehouse?"

"The emperor, after a few years of maturity, he has stored grain, but he has used a lot of grain ware in pacifying the Marquis of Jibei, military expenditure and adjustment of disaster relief. Although he still has some foundation, he has not much."

"What do you think should be handled?"

"You can send specialists to provide disaster relief, and adjust them at half a kilogram of coarse grain per person per day, so that there will be no hunger this year. As for money, I really have no choice."

Emperor Qitai was silent for a long time before saying, "What do you think about the battle situation?"

"In my opinion, the camp has been surrounded, and it is difficult for King Lu to break through, but if it is slowly gone, it will take at least three or five years. This military expenditure and food pay are very difficult." Jiang Shuyu, who is in charge of the Ministry of Revenue, said: "The national treasury has used 3.5 million taels last year. Judging from this situation, it will cost 5 million taels this year, but the household treasury is only 10 million taels left."

"Just this little money, if you last for only two years at most, you will be in a situation where you have no money to be available."

Emperor Qitai's face changed: "Why is this the case? I remember that when the late emperor was at least 30 million taels in the household treasury!"

When Jiang Shuyu heard this, he swallowed his saliva: "Your Majesty, the war has been going on for several years. Before, the Japanese pirates were corrupted in the southeast, and the Marquis of Jibei caused rebellion. Now he is fighting against King Lu, and there are also expenses for building a tomb, as well as the throne, etc. The taxes in the place where the war is collected have been greatly reduced, and they still have to pay for it. It is really not enough to make ends meet."

"Your Majesty, I am afraid. For the sake of future plans, can you give me some taxes?"

Emperor Qitai listened and reached out to touch his forehead, feeling bored.

Before becoming an emperor, I only felt that the position was high and I was the only one who was in charge of the world's fate. The wealth, wealth and glory of all the ministers in the court were all in my hands. However, only when I really got to a position was to understand the responsibility.

Emperor Qitai looked at the snowflakes in the distance, refused to look away for a long time, and said, "No, I have just ascended the throne and changed the original country. Do I have to increase taxes? How will the people in the world look at me?"

"The Ministry of Revenue tries to raise the relief and the grants that should be paid as much as possible. My dear friends can offer them all."

The cabinet ministers looked at Emperor Qitai's expression and looked at each other.

Luo Gui coughed at this time: "Your Majesty, you may be able to open up trade places. The sea tax in Yingzhou was 1 million taels last year, which was the first in all states. More sea bans were banned. With the convenience of trade, at least three million taels can be increased."

Listening to this, Emperor Qitai couldn't help but nod: "Ke"

The minister was talking, and suddenly, an eunuch bowed and reported: "Your Majesty, news has been heard by Mr. Pei."

"Hurry, show it to me." Emperor Qitai listened, and the minister hurried over and then turned it over. The emperor demolished the memorial. When he saw the title, he couldn't help but feel surprised. When he looked at it, his hands were a little trembling: "Pei Zhenjun has defeated King Lu, killed 11 generals in the formation, killed 10,000, and captured 20,000. King Lu only led a thousand horses to avoid it."

Emperor Qitai was a little sad, but was stunned at this time, surprised and unbelievable.

"Congratulations to Your Majesty, congratulations to Your Majesty. King Lu's defeat, it seems that peace in the world is about to be far away." The cabinet immediately congratulated, and Emperor Qitai recovered with a happy expression and said, "Okay, okay, it's worthy of Pei Ziyun. He defeated King Lu in one fell swoop and the world is peaceful again."

Hearing this, the ministers changed their faces, exchanged glances with each other, nodded, Yue Ji put on his clothes and stepped forward: "Your Majesty, I have the right to report."

"Huh?" Emperor Qitai was stunned. Looking at the serious expressions of the ministers, his smile couldn't help but snatch the entire study.

Cherishing the wine slope

The weather was not good, and it started to rain, but there were personal soldiers on the hillside blocking the roads and no one was allowed to pass. From time to time, Taoists patrolled back and forth. When Yu Yunjun and the elder arrived, Taoists immediately led them up. Several people wore straw raincoats and climbed up the stairs. In fact, the mountain was not high, it was just a hundred levels. There were some pine trees planted around, and the cold rain hit the face, but the few people didn't notice it.

An elder smiled bitterly and said to Yu Yunjun: "You have accepted a good disciple, and we are not as good as you."

Yu Yunjun also smiled bitterly: "The head of the sect is favored by the destiny and has extraordinary talents, so he should not be regarded as always."

"And whether it is yours or mine, this is a blessing from Songyun Sect. The head of the sect had sent the Taoist Dharma back last time. I have read it. If you want to get the basic Taoist Dharma, I am afraid that Qi Xuan Sect may not be more than it."

"This time the head of the sect will survive the thunder tribulation and will surely bring Songyun Sect to the bright future. If this happens, I will also have a face to see the ancestor in a blessed place a hundred years later."

"Well, let's hurry over and protect the Dharma."

While talking and laughing, when we reached the top of the mountain, the hem was soaked. Looking around, we saw rain falling, and the mountains were chaotic, and there was a hexagonal pavilion on the top of the mountain. Pei Ziyun looked with his hands behind his back, wearing a Taoist robe and looking at the sky. When the wind and rain fell, they slipped past and could not even see the corners of his clothes.

Yu Yunjun looked at the sky and knew that the time was not yet available, so he asked, "We rushed over and heard that you defeated King Lu, but why didn't you take this opportunity to completely defeat King Lu?"

After hearing this, Pei Ziyun smiled and shook his head: "King Lu's reaction was very fast. He did not return to Zhoucheng at all, but returned to Jinzhou directly."

"More importantly, I defeated King Lu and recovered Chenzhou, which was a great contribution. Do you think the court and Emperor Qitai would allow a Taoist to completely defeat King Lu?"

"I am already the True Lord, the highest position that a Taoist can get. I will not be rewarded for my great achievements!"

Pei Ziyun said and let out a sigh of relief, smiling melancholy: "When King Lu was hit by this, he was over, but he just lived for a while."

"Hmph" Yu Yunjun listened and said hatefully: "The court wants to destroy the bridge after crossing the river."

"Yes, but which court is not like this? After all, in the name of the overall situation, do you have to obey me?" Pei Ziyun smiled and was still angry when he saw everyone. He looked at the black clouds and was silent for a moment before saying: "The most important thing is that the foundation of our Taoist people is not here."

The sky surges with clouds, and the yin and yang merge, giving birth to spring thunder. Pei Ziyun looked at it: "Look, the first spring thunder this year is here."

"This spring thunder is the great power of our generation."

"I'm too flirting with you now, but I like to enjoy the beautiful scenery. Everyone knows it. Therefore, I used the excuse of climbing the mountain to watch the rain for entertainment, and only brought my personal soldiers and Taoist people."

"Otherwise, taking advantage of this opportunity, I'm afraid the disaster will happen in a blink of an eye and there will be a lot of trouble."
Chapter completed!