Chapter 41: The Heavenly Secret Must Not Be Revealed

  Lai Fengshan is a volcano, and hot springs are its inherent feature, even in later generations, it is one of the highlights of tourism. Zhu Yongxing smiled and shook his head slightly, saying: "Let's not go today, let's go down the mountain, there are still many things to be finalized!"

  Mengzhu smiled and nodded, following Zhu Yongxing's side to walk down the mountain slowly, while walking, she described the benefits of the hot spring with relish, and felt regretful that Zhu Yongxing couldn't experience it.

  Zhu Yongxing listened with a smile, occasionally interjecting a sentence or two to keep Mengzhu's interest sustained. When Mengzhu finished speaking, Zhu Yongxing carefully chose his words and asked: "Now that your tribesmen have all gathered, won't you be dissatisfied if I linger on and still want to fight using your tribesmen?"

  Mengzhu hesitated for a moment, then spoke the truth: "There are indeed some village elders who have objections, but they have been suppressed by my father and the great shaman. They are short-sighted and do not understand that helping Your Highness is equivalent to helping the Mengshan Ke clan. Without Your Highness's edict and the Ming army's assistance, even if we take down Gaoping, we will not be able to rest easy. How could the Zheng family of Annan tolerate this? Moreover, the Qing army is both Your Highness's enemy and the enemy of the Mengshan Ke clan. If we do not fight today, I fear we will not be able to avoid it in the future."

  "It's good that you think so." Zhu Yongxing let out a sigh of relief, paused for a moment, and said: "I will immediately issue an edict, appointing Si Weizong as the Pacification Commissioner of Annan. With this title, it can also calm the hearts of your people. Hmm, thinking about it now, I was indeed remiss in not thinking of this earlier."

  "Thank you, Your Highness." Mengzhu smiled happily and said: "Your Highness is not a heartless person, nor is he the kind of person who burns bridges after crossing them. My father and Da Wu both deeply believe in this. In fact, even the several chieftains who brought their troops are very admiring of Your Highness and are willing to fight for you."

  "Is that so?" Zhu Yongxing was slightly skeptical, but now being able to get the full support of the Mengshan Ke clan was an important key to victory. These born forest warriors were indispensable in harassment and raids, and were currently irreplaceable by the Ming army.

  "Really." Mengzhu blinked her extremely long eyelashes and said seriously: "Your Highness prays to heaven, obtains the wonderful method of healing diseases and injuries, our tribe also benefits from it, who still doubts that Your Highness is not a divine envoy?"

  He didn't expect the impact of pretending to be a ghost would be so great. Zhu Yongxing felt that this was a characteristic of the times, and perhaps in the future he could use this trick again at critical moments. Of course, as for burying stones, putting cloth strips in fish bellies, or learning to howl like a ghost at midnight, Zhu Yongxing no longer stooped to such low-level and unrefined tactics.

  A group of people had just returned to the city of Tengchong, and before they could even take a break, Yi Cheng hurriedly came over and told Zhu Yongxing some good news.

  "Dig through? Good, great!" Zhu Yongxing heard the good news and immediately jumped up from his chair. The clouds in the sky all dispersed, and the last obstacle to implementing his military plan was removed. The combat operation could finally begin according to his idea.

  "Your Highness, I'm afraid it will still take more than ten days to complete the final work." Yi Cheng strongly suppressed his joy and reminded cautiously.

  More than ten days later, Zhu Yongxing stroked his chin thoughtfully and felt that the timing should be just right. He smiled and praised: "Although I haven't rewarded you yet, I remember all your recent achievements in my heart. When we win this battle, the first credit will go to Zheng Changshi."

  For Yi Cheng, Zhu Yongxing was deeply grateful. Without his and Zheng's family help, Zhu Yongxing would have found it difficult to quickly gather the urgently needed talents, and it would have been even harder to stabilize the morale of the Ming army that had gathered. The maggot therapy and Qing Song had indeed solved the urgent problem, but without the medicine brought by the Zheng family and some horsemen who had painstakingly collected three seven, three red flowers, and broken rice from the mountains and forests, how could the wounded soldiers have recovered so quickly? Without the dozens of miners hastily recruited by the Zheng family, Zhu Yongxing's tactical plans would have been completely empty.

  "Your Highness is overpraising, I'm just doing my duty, and it's only a trivial matter, how dare I take the credit?" Yi Cheng humbly pushed back.

  "I have a plan in mind, and this achievement belongs to none other than Zhang Longshi." Zhu Yongxing repeated firmly, waving his hand to interrupt Yi Cheng's further excuses, and said in a low voice: "This matter cannot be known to outsiders, wait until the time is right to inform the leading generals."

  "Your Highness can rest assured, I have made arrangements and there will be no leaks whatsoever." Yi Cheng's expression turned solemn as he bowed to Zhu Yongxing.

  "I'm very reassured by your handling of things." Zhu Yongxing added another sentence of praise before sitting down in his chair with a flourish, and then issued a stern order: "Please ask the various generals to come immediately for discussion, the Qing army's attack is imminent, we must take swift action. Wait, let's discuss it first, during the meeting try to have you explain the situation to the generals."

  ……

  "Yongchang Guardian Zhang Yong, a renowned Qing general, is intelligent and brave, and his troops are also very elite..." General Ding Shuo Wu Sansheng paused for a moment, feeling a bit intimidated, and hastily changed the subject: "If our army relies on the strong city to defend, the enemy will come from afar and cannot take it, it will be difficult to sustain. Abandoning the city to fight, is it a bit rash? I hope Your Highness will be cautious."

  Yi Cheng glanced at Zhu Yongxing, got his hint, and opened his mouth to say: "A famous general must be cautious in using troops. If we follow the rules and conventions, our military strength is insufficient, and it's hard to gain an advantage. Relying on the city for defense and being passive, if there are no external reinforcements, waiting for the Qing army to retreat on its own is no different from sitting and waiting for death."

  Marquis of Guangchang, Gao Guanggui, hesitated for a moment before saying: "If we surrender Tengchong City to the Qing army, they will gain a stronghold. With this as their base, they can accumulate grain and fodder, and advance or retreat at will. Wouldn't it be even more difficult for our army to win?"

  "Although Tengchong City is solid, the palace has already obtained the method of breaking the city. If you want to take it, it's as easy as turning your hand over." Yi Cheng said confidently, pointing at the map: "The Qing army in Yongchang is only over 10,000, and at most 8,000 can be mobilized. Along the way, there will be camps set up to guard against our army cutting off their grain road. The Qing army that can reach Tengchong should not exceed 6,000. If we abandon Tengchong, it will also tie down a part of their army, and in the end, only 4,000 people will be left to fight with our army, and we should have the upper hand."

  "May I ask if Your Highness can reveal the method of taking Tengchong?" Wu Zisheng, Marquis Huairen, had expected a battle to come, but he was skeptical about the ease with which Tengchong could be taken and asked tentatively.

  Yi Cheng looked at Zhu Yongxing again, saw him hesitate for a moment and shake his head slightly, then opened his mouth to say: "The heavenly machine cannot be revealed, the various generals should trust that His Highness has the ability to do this, and it is only with great effort that he can assist."

  These words were a bit too heavy, and no one dared to openly doubt Zhu Yongxing, although they had doubts in their hearts. At this time, they could only follow orders silently.

  Zhu Yongxing was indeed overly cautious and refused to reveal his trump card in advance, but this battle was of great importance, and once the secret was leaked, the consequences would be unthinkable. So, he had no choice but to use the excuse that heavenly secrets cannot be revealed.