knife

Chapter 789 Wishful thinking
Everyone is trying their best to survive.

Kou Wenhai certainly didn't think he had done anything wrong.

In his mind, the interests of the family must always take precedence over everything else.

Only when the interests of the nation and the interests of their families are highly aligned will they spare no effort to work hard and strive for the country. This is a matter of one thing and two things at the same time.

Just like when Kou Zhong was still around.

When Kou Zhong plotted to overthrow Crown Prince Zemin and Crown Princess Qingqiu, he was still risking his life.

That desperate gamble by the entire family brought decades of glory to the Kou family.

Kou Zhong died in Luoyang, and the previously suppressed forces launched a counterattack. The court turned a blind eye to it. At this time, the interests of the court and the Kou family were naturally not aligned. Therefore, Kou Wenhai did not feel any psychological pressure and led the Chu people to invade. Back then, with Kou Wenhai as an inside agent, Lin Yunqi led his troops to take over the three prefectures of Pengcheng, Donghai, and Langya in one fell swoop.

This was also the last glorious moment for the State of Chu under Jiang Qian's rule.

Now that the State of Chu is on the verge of collapse and is about to fall into the hands of Li Dachui, the mortal enemy of the Kou family, it is only natural that Kou Wenhai would betray the state again.

We can't just sit here and wait to die.

Chang Lei's situation, however, is completely different.

Although Chang Lei, the Duke of Wei and the governor of the Eastern Capital, is currently sidelined, he doesn't actually have any concerns about his life or death.

Linghuye won, and as the most decorated general under Linghuye, he naturally enjoys endless wealth and honor.

Conversely, if Li Dachui wins, since the main body of the Chang family has sided with Li Dachui, Chang Yang of the Chang family will hold great power and be in a high position. He will still enjoy the wealth and honor that Chang Lei enjoys. Even if he cannot dominate the court, he can still live a wealthy and leisurely life without any problem.

But for someone like Chang Lei, a real man cannot be without power for even a day.

Once you've tasted power, you'll never want to give it up again. You'll try to fight for it as long as there's even the slightest chance, to see if you can hold onto it for a little longer.

Therefore, Chang Lei painstakingly planned and executed this surprise attack.

Chang Lei definitely didn't want to become a dish on the dinner table; he hoped he would also have the right to negotiate.

To sit at the negotiating table, you need to have real strength.

If this raid succeeds, regardless of whether Linghu Ye or Li Dachui wins the final battle, Chang Lei will have the right to speak with the victor after the battle ends.

This was Chang Lei's plan.

Linghu Ye won. With his earlier glorious achievements in entering the pass, plus the southeastern territory he had just conquered at a very low cost, it was clear that a Duke of Wei would not be able to reward him for his illustrious exploits.

Li Dachui won, so if everyone wants to end the war sooner and restore peace to the world, they need to sit down and have a good talk. With the Chang family supporting Li Dachui, he definitely won't suffer any losses.

It's the same principle as when Chang Xin's sixth son came to contact him; the Chang family also needs someone with real power in the military.

However, the two sides had different methods for achieving this. Chang Xin wanted Chang Lei to betray him, surrender to Li Dachui, and betray Linghu Ye. Chang Lei, on the other hand, planned to first seize a large piece of territory from the Chu Kingdom, using that as leverage to negotiate with Li Dachui.

Betraying someone's word would burden Chang Lei with moral guilt, but using such methods is aboveboard and beyond reproach.

For Chang Lei, fame and fortune should be earned honestly, never through crooked means. He easily captured Huaiyang County, and then effortlessly took Pengcheng. With the support of the Kou family in Pengcheng, Chang Lei acted even more swiftly. He left his infantry to Kou Wenhai for training, while he himself led his 5,000 iron cavalry, along with 1,000 core elite troops from the Kou family, straight into Donghai County. After the Qin family was destroyed, the local powerful clans in Donghai County collapsed, and the county troops were extremely weak. They were helpless against Chang Lei's whirlwind war. Zhang Shi, the governor of Chu State stationed in Donghai County, spent all the silver in his treasury as rewards to recruit young men to defend the city, but the city only lasted one day against Chang Lei's thunderous attack before it fell.

Zhang Shi was killed, and Donghai fell.

In less than a month, Chang Lei captured Huaiyang County, Pengcheng County, and Donghai County in succession. The 5,000 iron cavalry that set out at the time had now swelled to 8,000 cavalry and more than 50,000 infantry.

Chang Lei's method of gathering troops was very simple.

It's just a copy of the tricks used in Shijiazhuang, Huai'an County.

He detained the families and relatives of local powerful figures, then coerced them to lead their elite men to join his army. With these people's relatives as hostages, Chang Lei was not afraid of them turning against him.

By this time, the blitzkrieg was finally nearing its end, and everyone who needed to react had reacted. Chang Lei's ultimate goal was finally revealed.

He never intended to attack Xiangyang, nor did he ever think about attacking Ruyin.

After taking Pengcheng and Donghai County, his next target was Zhongli County, which was next to Danyang City, the capital of Chu.

If he were to bring his army to the gates of Danyang, things would get really messy.

So when Chang Lei captured three places in succession and then began to reorganize his army in Pengcheng, Danyang City also began to actively reorganize its army and prepare for war.

A month ago, Lin Yunqi returned to Danyang on Jiang Qian's orders. Together with Xiong Yi, Zhou Zheng, and Zhu Chi, they formed a temporary ruling alliance. Xiong Yi was in charge of balancing the interests of all parties and appeasing the forces in various parts of Chu. Zhou Zheng was in charge of allocating resources and governing the local areas. Zhu Chi was responsible for suppressing bandits and collecting taxes and provisions in his jurisdiction. Lin Yunqi was in charge of foreign wars.

Zhongli County must not be lost.

When Chang Lei conquered Donghai County, Lin Yunqi himself went directly to Zhongli County. Accompanying him were the Azure Dragon Brigade and the White Tiger Brigade, plus Lin Yunqi's personal guards, totaling three thousand cavalry. Together with the original five thousand county soldiers of Zhongli County, they prepared to defend Zhongli County to the death.

Meanwhile, Fang Xiaomao's troops, stationed in Ruyin County, will also advance to support Zhongli County.

If Chang Lei wants to attack Zhongli County, he must first eliminate these two forces. Neither Lin Yunqi nor Fang Xiaomao are the weaklings that Chang Lei encountered before.

The benefits of the surprise attack are over; the real battle is about to begin.

This is also why Chang Lei wanted to reorganize his troops in Pengcheng.

You can defeat a weakling without using your brain, but when dealing with a truly powerful enemy, you must genuinely face and respect them.

At this point, neither side is particularly strong; both have their own weaknesses. But it is precisely because of this that the two sides appear evenly matched.

Chang Lei had no reinforcements because Linghu Ye was preparing to go all in with Li Dachui, not wasting a single bit of his strength. He didn't even know that Chang Lei would go so far.

On Jiang Qian's side, her main force was tied down by Na Wei of Liyang County. Without defeating Na Wei, it was impossible for her to send troops out.

And this is precisely Chang Lei's only chance.

If Na Wei collapses and Jiang Qian's troops are freed up, Chang Lei's plan will fall through.

(End of this chapter)