knife

Chapter 509 When a general is in the field, he may disobey the emperor's orders.
Linghu Shili suddenly understood what Zhou Xuan wanted to do.

He was going to break away from the Wei family and go it alone.

To be honest, as a member of a large family, Linghu Shili was actually quite disgusted by this kind of thing.

In essence, Zhou Xuan was a retainer of the Wei family.

Without the support of the Wei family, he wouldn't be where he is today.

Now that the Wei family is in dire straits, Zhou Xuan has turned around and sold them out.

Despite the aversion, this matter is highly beneficial to the Linghu Group.

The Wei father and son's asking price will definitely be high; otherwise, the uncle wouldn't have sent Li Guohua specifically out of fear of failing the negotiation. In terms of cunning, even ten of me combined wouldn't be a match for Li Guohua. Of course, neither would I be a match for the Wei father and son.

I'm not afraid of fighting, but I'm not good at talking.

So this credit, just like a cooked duck, was about to grow wings and flutter away.

Just when you think you've reached the end of the road, a new path opens up before you!
Zhou Xuan's sudden appearance, however, shoved the duck that was about to take flight back onto the plate with a fork.

If we disregard the Wei family father and son and let Zhou Xuan set the price, then the price naturally won't be high.

"What do you want to do?" Linghu Shili asked. "Can you do it? Wei Yi still has ten or twenty thousand elite soldiers under his command. I'm afraid they won't listen to you, will they?"

"General Linghu, you may not know this, but of Wei Yi's nearly 20,000 soldiers, more than half have already entered the Qinling Mountains to defend against the enemy from Shu!"

Linghu Shili was slightly surprised: "Did Zhang Songlin and Wu De also send people out to try and seize Hanzhong County?"

“Fake!” Zhou Xuan laughed. “Li Dachui is not in Shu County. Zhang Songlin and Wu De don’t have the decision-making ability. But since they didn’t come, I can tell Wei Yi that they did. So Wei Yi led the main force into the Qinling Mountains, preparing to ambush the enemy in Shu County on the way.”

“Once they realize there are no enemies coming, they will turn back!” Linghu Shili pondered.

“By then, Hanzhong Commandery will already be in your hands, General Linghu.” Zhou Xuan laughed. “So what if Wei Yi has troops? Without supplies, will they starve? Besides, by then, I think even if the Shu Commandery’s army is slow to react, they will have arrived. At that point, they will be attacked from both sides. What will Wei Yi choose?”

Linghu Shili nodded and said, "You can only surrender to me, and you have no right to bargain. Prefect Zhou, you are indeed very shrewd, but can you really completely control Hanzhong Prefecture?"

Zhou Xuan smiled and said, "I've been operating in Hanzhong for nearly two years. There, I'm the host, and they're the guests. They're new here, so they can only follow my orders! Besides, everyone knows the current state of the Wei family. There aren't many who are determined to follow the Wei father and son down this dark path! General Linghu, as long as we cooperate properly, we can take control of Hanzhong Commandery in one fell swoop, completely and cleanly. In that case, the credit will be yours, General Linghu, and for Commander Linghu, we won't have to pay any price to gain Hanzhong. Why not?"

Linghu Shili stood up and paced back and forth in the room. If he really did that, it would undoubtedly be disobeying the commander-in-chief's orders, because the commander-in-chief had already ordered Li Guohua to take over his duties in Hanzhong. But, but…

He stopped and looked at the smiling Zhou Xuan. It's said that a general in the field can sometimes disobey the emperor's orders. Given Zhou Xuan's unexpected situation, as the commanding general, his decision on the spot wasn't considered overstepping his authority, was it?

Moreover, this is a good thing both publicly and privately! "Let's do it!" Linghu Shili shouted.

Zhou Xuan laughed and said, "General Linghu, I have already made plans! However, we must act quickly. If we are too slow, I will no longer be able to fully control Hanzhong Commandery as I am now. After all, Wei Zhengdao is not a fool. If he stays here too long, he will inevitably catch on to something."

"I will appear beneath the walls of Hanzhong County at dusk two days from now!" After glancing at the sky outside and estimating the speed of his troops' advance, Linghu Shili felt that he could still squeeze a little more of his subordinates' potential.

Zhou Xuan took out a letter from his pocket and handed it to Linghu Shili: "This is a letter from Prime Minister Wei to Commander Linghu. It contains the conditions he has set. Hehe, I think Commander Linghu will definitely be unhappy when he sees this letter."

Linghu Shili pulled out the letter, and after reading only the first page, he sneered: "A plucked phoenix, it still has such a big appetite, it truly has no shame!"

Zhou Xuan said, "I also think that Prime Minister Wei is being too irrational. My asking price is much lower."

"what do you want?"

“I have some experience in financial management. In the future, when Commander Linghu takes office, I would like to take the position of Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue!” Zhou Xuan said.

“This request is quite reasonable!” Linghu Shili said with a smile. “Prefect Zhou, after you return, there is one more thing you must do no matter what, and that is to ensure the safety of the Emperor.”

"Does the commander still need this young brat?"

"Of course we need to! It's not time to completely abandon the Li family yet. Don't forget, isn't Li Dachui the one who claims to be the son of the former Crown Prince Li Zemin? Legally speaking, Li Zemin has been deposed, and Li Anmin's lineage is the legitimate one. So this Li Ping is still very useful. If we really want to depose him, it will be after we eliminate Li Dachui, and then we can have Li Ping abdicate!"

"General Linghu is quite considerate!" Zhou Xuan laughed. "Don't worry, General, leave this matter to me. I'll take my leave now, and I'll be waiting for you in Hanzhong City in two days!"

The army in Hanzhong Commandery has been completely replaced by troops from Shu Commandery, while the troops brought by Wei Zhengdao and his son, after being inexplicably disarmed, are now being transferred to Shu Commandery in batches.

Wei Yi died, but Wei Zhengdao stepped in to appease him. Although there were some minor disturbances, things were generally calm.

“Wei Zhengdao’s spirit is completely broken!” Standing on the city wall, Fang Xiaomao said to Wu De, “He won’t live much longer. He’s just holding on for the moment. I estimate he only has three to five days left!”

“From the day he saw us, he was already dead. He’s just holding on now to give the Wei family’s descendants a chance to survive and a future!” Wu De said calmly.

"They look so pitiful!"

"That's because you didn't see his power!" Wu De laughed. "Every sip and every bite is preordained by Heaven. The sins committed in the past will now be repaid in kind."

"If we can successfully wipe out Linghu Shili's thousands of fierce soldiers in this next battle, we will have truly grasped Hanzhong in our hands!" Fang Xiaomao said, "However, I'm afraid that the flames of war here will continue indefinitely from now on."

“That’s true. Linghu Ye certainly doesn’t want to have a sharp knife pointed at his waist,” Wu De said. “However, with Shu Commandery as our support, it won’t be so easy for him to take Hanzhong!”

(End of this chapter)