The Empress’ Livestream
chapter-496

Chapter 496: Besieging Fengyi County (IV)

There was a raging storm that day. Banners and flags flapped in the wind.

Jiang Pengji was finally leaving the small Xiangyang District and entering a wider and crueler arena.

The troops stood neatly in a line on the drill groundS. Every single one of them stood straight like a ramrod and looked steadily forward, waiting for the pre-war resolution-pledging ceremony to begin.

2,000 veterans and 2,000 new recruits were left behind to guard Xiangyang District. The other 3,000 or so picked troops and new recruits were off to war.

Jiang Pengji originally wanted to use a riskier and more radical method, which was to let the new recruits defend Xiangyang District and her original troops, the imperial guards and some of the newly recruited troops would participate in the war. However, her suggestion was unanimously opposed by all of her subordinates.

Wei Ci said, “This plan mustn’t be implemented. Xiangyang District is your only shelter. If Xiangyang District is solely guarded by the new recruits who are inexperienced, I’m afraid that something will happen if the enemy takes the opportunity to make a sneak attack. It’s better to retain some experienced veterans in order to be safe.”

As he finished speaking, he frowned. He was secretly worried about her stubborn temper, but he could not watch her take the risk without saying anything.

Thinking about her past life, the only time she suffered a loss in Qiguan Rang’s hands was when she was overconfident, causing her base to be almost destroyed by the surprise attack Qiguan Rang had made. She suffered a huge loss that time. Almost everyone thought that she would hack Qiguan Rang into a thousand pieces, but the outcome was a complete surprise.

Not only did Qiguan Rang, who surrendered, not die, but he became her closest confidant.

She took care of Qiguan Rang, the strategist who took the initiative to surrender, from the start of the founding of the country until her death. She even irritated the new Emperor.

It was impossible for Wei Ci to not be offended about it.

Returning to his prime, Wei Ci got to know her from a different perspective and he could slowly understand why she treated Qiguan Rang specially.

It was purely because Qiguan Rang saw her humaneness beneath her mercilessness.

Everyone said that Empress Chen was ruthless, engaged in brutal wars, blew hot and cold, and was dictatorial and tyrannical. However, was it really true?

If she was such a person, how could the Jiang Dynasty be established so steadily?

In the decades in which she governed, the people lived and worked in peace. The troops admired and respected her. Even if she faced obstacles in advocating for women to participate in court matters and implementing laws that would benefit women and sabotage the vital interests of the aristocrats, they could all be implemented smoothly.

Why did no one ever think of rebelling against her ruling, and start a new dynasty?

It was merely because her actions were for the sake of the majority of the people, but the minority who had their interests sabotaged were in control of the right to express their opinions in public. She did not care about fame, so she let the contemptible scoundrels who thought highly of themselves raise a ruckus.

However, humans were not saints. Too many people had their judgments influenced by the opinion of others, but Qiguan Rang saw the truth.

Therefore, Her Majesty said that Qiguan Wenzheng was her only confidant throughout her whole life. If so, he was… probably still lacking.

Being reborn and building everything from scratch by her side, Wei Ci truly saw an entirely different Liu Xi.

He was even more infatuated with her and adored such an Empress even more, but that was it. He did not dare to treat her with the slightest disrespect.

It was a good ending for the monarch-minister relationship to be passed down as a legend.

Thinking about it in his mind, Wei Ci chose an excuse that could convince her and would not incite her to do the opposite.

The others were like this as well. They did not have the same reasoning, but the core idea was the same…

You could be wild, but you could not be too wild.

Jiang Pengji looked a little livid and smacked her lips.

In fact, she originally wanted to drag everyone with her.

She would speedily conquer the entire Fengyi County through a blitz and become an unacknowledged but legitimate country magistrate of Fengyi County. However… she was unable to talk her subordinates into it.

Qiguan Rang looked up and said, “The new recruits are still new, after all. They lack training and combat experience. If the two armies are at war, they’ll be the group of people suffering the greatest loss. It’s not easy to train the troops. It’s better to take a group to the battlefield and leave the others behind to defend the city…”

It was a good thing for their lord to declare a war because none of the troops were conservative.

However, the problem was that their lord liked to be unusual. She would act wildly every day. One careless move might lead to the loss of the entire game. As her subordinates, they had to undergo much distress in their hearts.

Jiang Pengji smacked her lips. “Alright then. I’ll just agree with you.”

She looked at the crowd with a loving look, like she was looking at a bunch of mentally-retarded people. They were really cowardly.

It should be fine if I listen to your decision, right?

Clad in military uniform, Jiang Pengji read the Preamble to Crusade Against the Tsing Yi Army that was written by the marksman, Feng Jin, out loud.

She did not care about an empty thing like this. She read it with cadence, but she secretly rolled her eyes on the inside.

They were just going to snatch the Tsing Yi Army’s territory. If they won, the piece of land would be hers. There were not that many tricks… Was it necessary to embellish themselves as angels who would enforce justice on behalf of the heavens and save the people living in utter misery in Fengyi County?

It turned out that it really was necessary.

The phrase ‘having a good pretext for waging a war’ was not just for show.

Although Jiang Pengji was fed up on the inside, she would not make trouble willfully… People had always denounced one for dispatching troops without a just cause. Even if Feng Jin was not the marksman, she would force him to write a lengthy preamble with hundreds of words and relegate the Tsing Yi Army and their ancestors to hell.

The preamble was used to arouse the aggressive morale. Next, generals were appointed and troops were deployed.

She shouted loudly, “Meng Hun, step forward!”

A burly man with a stalwart figure who was holding a longsword in his hand stepped out of the ranks. Going down on his knees, he half-knelt in front of Jiang Pengji who was on the stage.

“Present.”

“I’ll appoint you as the lieutenant of the vanguard.” Jiang Pengji said, “Do you have the confidence to brush the enemy aside and clear the obstacles?”

“I won’t let you down,” Meng Hun replied emphatically. The silent drill ground was filled with the desire to wipe out their enemy.

“Li Yun, step forward!” Jiang Pengji’s gaze fell on Li Yun. She had quite a high expectation towards the young man. However, Li Yun was young, so he was not as experienced as Meng Hun in combat. Thus, he had yet to be able to lead an army independently, so he was asked to gain some experience in the vanguard along with Meng Hun.

“Present!”

Without his usual dorkiness and silliness, the stern-faced Li Yun was like an entirely different person. His every footstep was sonorous and forceful, as if his every move contained a powerful explosive force and he could behead the enemy with the sword in his hand.

“I’ll appoint you as the deputy lieutenant of the vanguard and raise the prestige of our army together with Lieutenant Meng!”

The vanguard was responsible for scouting, gathering intelligence about the enemy, examining the terrain, and launching tentative and exploratory attacks for the entire army. Disrupting the enemy’s deployment array could boost their morale. The most elite troops of the entire army usually formed the vanguard. If there was a mistake, it would dampen the morale of the troops tremendously. Meng Hun preferred to play it safe, where Li Yun was full of fight. They made an excellent combination.

Qiguan Rang was appointed as the adviser of the vanguard. His deceptive style was very suitable for the vanguard. He could get out of the jaws of danger even if they were ambushed.

Jiang Pengji and Wei Ci would guard the center division, and Xu Ke would be in charge of the rear division. Feng Jin and Luo Yue stayed behind to guard the district.

At last…

“Jiang Nongqin, step forward!”