The emperor would rather have a

Chapter 9 Go to war!

On March 11, Emperor Chai Rong officially led the army to war in person, and the imperial guards accompanying him totaled more than 27,000 people.

Together with the vanguard troops that set out a few days ago, the Tokyo Imperial Guards dispatched more than 30,000 people this time.

Although the Later Zhou Dynasty claimed to have more than 100,000 imperial guards, most of them were inherited from previous dynasties. Many of them were old, weak, sick and disabled, and had no combat effectiveness at all.

Therefore, the number of people who can be brought out to support the event is probably less than half of the number of people on the surface.

In this battle, Chai Rong took away almost all the combat-capable troops, which shows how determined he was and how he was determined to fight head-on.

After all, if we lose this battle, the troops we brought out will suffer heavy losses, and we may not even have the capital to turn the situation around.

However, Chai Rong really had no choice. He had just ascended the throne and his prestige was insufficient. There were even some people in the imperial guards who were not on the same page with him, not to mention the local vassal forces.

The Northern Han chose this time to launch a large-scale invasion, obviously having seen through this point. They wanted to take advantage of Chai Rong's unstable position and destroy the Later Zhou in one fell swoop.

Therefore, Chai Rong insisted on leading the army in person. He had to win this battle and could not lose. He was not confident in letting others command the army.

Otherwise, as Prime Minister Feng Dao said, he would send a general to fight, while Chai Rong himself would stay in Tokyo.

In the end, if they lost the battle, the civil and military officials would just defect to the new master. That was what everyone did during the Five Dynasties period.

But he, the emperor, was really finished.

And even if they win, it is not necessarily a good thing. Not to mention the distant past, it was only a few years ago that Chai Rong's father Guo Wei overthrew the Later Han Dynasty... What did he rely on? It was the huge prestige accumulated through military achievements.

By the time the Northern Han is driven away, it will not be funny if the generals leading the troops on their way back also act out a "you have harmed me and are unfaithful and unjust" drama.

If that situation really happened, how many people would support and support Chai Rong, an adopted son with no prestige?
Liu Chengyou of the Later Han Dynasty was Liu Zhiyuan's biological son after all, so did he have a good ending in the end?

Moreover, personally leading the army to win a key battle could save a lot of effort and twists and turns, and directly help Chai Rong establish his prestige and secure his throne.

In other words, this battle is both a crisis and an opportunity.

Although the risk is indeed greater, this is the way the world is, and what matters is courage.

……

The main force of the expedition was the Longjie Army and the Hujie Army, which were affiliated with the Imperial Guard. Both of them were real field troops.

Among them, Longjie Army is the military name of the cavalry of the Imperial Guard, which means that the nominal commander is the commander-in-chief of the cavalry of the Imperial Guard.

It is further divided into left and right wings, which originally meant left and right wings. Since the middle and late Tang Dynasty, it has gradually become a fixed organization.

Generally, troops with military bugles have this organization, for example, the Inner Palace Guard is divided into the left and right groups.

However, the same organization does not mean the same status. The left and right wings of the Longjie Army are not comparable to the left and right shifts of the Neidianzhi.

After all, the chief general of the Longjie Army and the commander of the guards and cavalry are on par with the commander-in-chief of the Palace Front Army.

At least one has to be given the title of Jiedushi before he can take the position.

Because of this, all cavalry units under the Imperial Guard were nominally under the command of the Longjie Army.

The Hujie Army is the military name of the infantry of the Imperial Guard, and the nominal commander is the commander-in-chief of the infantry of the Imperial Guard.

The rest of the situation is naturally the same as Long Jiejun's.

In addition to the two main armies of Long Jie and Hu Jie, the imperial guards also included the small army, the east and west squads and other troops.

Together, the imperial guards accounted for the majority of the troops going on the expedition, nearly 20,000 people.

The rest were the various units of the Palace Army, which served as the emperor's personal guard.

The troops accompanying the emperor included the Inner Palace Guards, the Outer Palace Guards, the Controlling Crane Army, and other scattered troops, totaling less than 10,000 men. The army, primarily infantry, set out from the North City and exited Tokyo through the Chenqiao Gate, its column stretching for several miles.

There were many people watching on both sides of the road, most of them were families of the imperial guards. The soldiers were about to go to war, and their wives, children and parents at home would inevitably be worried about them.

To put it bluntly, maybe this is the last time we see each other, and how many people can remain indifferent?

The emperor's procession walked in the front, and was relatively neat and clear, but the procession became more and more chaotic as it went further back.

Many families of soldiers blocked the roadside, bidding farewell to their family pillars in tears.

What's worse is that some people chased after the team and their own families, giving them instructions and stuffing them with food and drinks. It was a complete mess.

The generals of various departments turned a blind eye to this, and just scolded him verbally, but did not try to stop him too much.

Li Yi was guarding the emperor's carriage on horseback. He glanced at the crowd on the roadside and did not see Guo.

However, he had a hunch that Guo must have come, but there were too many people and he didn't know where she had been squeezed to.

Or maybe he was too shy to come out in front of so many people, so he quietly hid in the crowd and watched himself.

Thinking of this, Li Yi subconsciously touched his chest.

Suddenly, he felt a cold touch on his hand. He had forgotten that he was wearing armor, but he knew that the amulet hanging on his chest was the amulet that Guo had asked for him.

It was a red silk wrapped in a triangle with blessing mantras painted on it. It was said to have been blessed by the Bodhisattva.

Li Yi didn't understand why the monks in the temple would sell amulets. In his impression, this thing seemed to be the patent of Taoists... But it didn't matter.

After all, it was a token of Guo's love. She stuffed it into Li Yi's hand when she left the breakfast shop that morning.

More than ten years have passed since he traveled through time, and Li Yi is not alone anymore. There are people in this world who care about him, and people he cares about.

He remembered a sentence he had read in a book in his previous life: When a place has people and things that you care about, this place naturally becomes your home.

Li Yi was not sure whether this sentence was right or not, but considering his current state of mind, it did make some sense.

Perhaps it is precisely because this is a real world and I am a living person, regardless of whether I have traveled through time or not, at least home is where my heart belongs.

Therefore, for a better future and for the happiness of my family, I must never stop moving forward.

Whether it is the Zhao family or Zhao Da, the future has not happened yet and is still ongoing.

Who will kill the deer is unknown.

……

"Erlang..."

In the crowd, Guo stared at the tall figure riding on the horse.

She also wanted to be like the other women around her who were bidding farewell to their husbands, rushing forward to grab Li Yi's hand and saying, "My dear, don't rush too hard in the battle..."

But she couldn't muster up the courage, let alone in front of so many people... The confession that night seemed to have exhausted all her courage.

She could only pray silently in her heart, hoping that Yi Ge'er would return safely.

She doesn't ask for wealth and glory, nor does she ask for fine clothes and delicious food... She is even willing to exchange her life for them.

that's it.

Guo watched Li Yi's back disappear from her sight.

(End of this chapter)