The Glory After Rebirth [重生之尊荣]

Chapter 310- 312

Chapter 310: Yuwen Tong's Urgent Departure to the North-West

Together, Ling Zhang and his father walked to the side hall which Yuwen Tong, Ji Yin and the other four were already in.

They all took their seats at the dinner table and, after the welcome reception, transferred to the study.

"This time around, the Wan Kingdom and the Luohai Kingdom joined hands to attack us and their massive armies are advancing towards the border as we speak. I have to pay a visit to the border encampment. There's no doubt that troublesome problems will arise in the capital city after I leave, and there's also the issue of the ongoing rebellion in Cangzhou. The other sides might try to stir up trouble as well."

Standing in front of a map, Yuwen Tong marked all the strategically important areas with big circles.

"I've already had Yue Qi bring some men to Cangzhou to aid the General Zhongwu (AKA the General of Loyalty and Valor). They will do their best to keep the fighting from spilling over into areas outside Cangzhou. Except for Cangzhou, Jiangzhou is the closest to the capital city and the garrison there is the most likely to take action. The garrison of Shengzhou have secretly moved southward on my orders and are ready to intercept them. They won't let them approach the capital city. As regards the south... our biggest problem in the south is the troops stationed in the south-west. The south-west garrison are the farthest away from this city, and it's the most inconvenient for them to come compared with armies in other cities, but if they do decide to come to the north, it will be a trouble. I've also taken some precautions against that possibility, making sure that they won't make it out of the south-west before I return if they make their move.

Of course, the best-case scenario would be for all these three forces to be overpowered by the time I return from the north-west."

"Whom will you send to the south?" Ling Zhang asked him.

Yuwen Tong gave a smile and looked at Ling Zhaowu, who answered for him, "He Xiao."

Ling Zhang's eyes widened with astonishment. "He Xiao?!"

Wasn't He Xiao on bad terms with Yuwen Tong? He had always been worried about what this person might do in Tanyang, but Yuwen Tong had mysteriously told him several times that such worries of his were unnecessary. He had thought that Yuwen Tong had made some other arrangements, but it'd never crossed his mind that He Xiao had been working for Yuwen Tong!

Ling Zhang was just as astounded as he'd been the day when it came to his knowledge that the Right Prime Minister was actually on Yuwen Tong's side as well.

"You..." Ling Zhang looked incredulously at Yuwen Tong.

Yuwen Tong said, "That was not really an intentional arrangement. The relations between me and He Xiao are known to very few. The original reason why the two of us put on that act in the first place was to help He Xiao get an opportunity to pursue his talents. After all, he would never have been appointed to a position of responsibility had the emperor found out about his relations with me. The Right Prime Minister took my side because of the arrangements I made in the capital city a few years ago after the spate of postponements of the delivery of provisions for the army in the north-west which nearly caused them to be exterminated. My original intention was merely to make sure the North-western Army would never be short of provisions again. It was in that year that he, Zhao Zheng and Shi Zhong the current Assistant Minister of Revenue started climbing up the hierarchy. As for the General Zhongwu and other officials that are covertly or overtly in support of me, most of them had dealings with my grandfather in the past. The North-western Army is huge, and at least one third, if not half, of the imperial court are related to it. If I'm to guarantee that our military operations in the north-west wouldn't be hindered by our own people, I'll have to make sure that these officials on the home front do their jobs, so I put a lot of effort into it. I never thought that one day these resources would be used in this way. It counts as a great help to me."