The memorial was sent away, and it was those fools who saw it off. Anyway, I've finally put one thing to rest.

  Zhao Xi thought the same way, he had no patience to continue pretending anymore. Now it's finally over, and he can focus on more important things, like worrying about the war situation.

  Di Qing was very satisfied with the current situation. The Crown Prince did not come to this side of the military camp to point fingers, but only wandered around on the civil servant's side.

  Yu Jing is indeed meddling a lot, fortunately the imperial edict granting me authority surpasses Yu Jing's. It's rare for this expedition to be so smooth sailing.

  The military's mind is somewhat complicated at present.

  Yu Qian's defeat had a great impact on the Western Army, and this is also the reason why Di Qing has not taken action so far.

  It's okay, near New Year's Day, the bandits also remained cautious and did not continue to invade the counties, which also made his inaction not be criticized.

  It's just the morale of the soldiers...

  "Your Highness..."

  Di Qing himself was worried, but had never shown it in front of his generals. The morale of the army was already low enough; if he, as commander-in-chief, showed no confidence in front of his generals, then this battle would be pointless.

  So Zhao Xi asked Cao Lin about the situation, but he didn't know anything and only said that Di Shuai had not deployed any military operations.

  Zhao Xi arrived, and came to see what Di Qing was hiding.

  Without any urging, Yu Jing found it difficult to provide logistical support, and Zhao Xi also didn't have the intention of urging her on.

  On the eve of battle, it is most undesirable to be forced into action by the enemy, as this can easily lead to disadvantageous situations.

  Kedi Qing doesn't think so. The Crown Prince let go, but he himself has not come up with a strategy yet. It's just the Crown Prince, if it were other civil officials, they would have urged him countless times by now, and might even have directly taken over command of the battle.

  "Di Shuai, but is there worry?"

  For martial artists, Zhao Xi didn't beat around the bush. A straightforward explanation was enough.

  "Your Highness, it is indeed so. The enemy's army has been almost invincible for nearly a year, sweeping away all obstacles like a hot knife through butter, except for the resistance in Guangzhou, all other provinces have fallen easily."

  "Moreover, Wen Guang's first battle was not successful. At this time, the enemy should be in high spirits. As for our Southern Expeditionary Army, due to the defeat of the vanguard, although I have reassigned the defeated troops, their morale is still low."

  "I have been slow to take up arms, all because of the matter of the morale of the troops."

  The prince asked, and it was probably tolerated to the extreme. Di Qing did not hide anything, saying all his concerns.

  This is also a fact, after repeated drills, the morale of the soldiers was not high, although it did not reach the point of hanging their heads in despair, but absolutely did not reach the mood of going out to battle.

  Everyone is nervous.

  Morale... this thing is still the most crucial factor in this year's war. Zhao Xi also understood this point.

  "Di Shuai, is there a way to change the morale of the soldiers?"

  If there were a ready-made solution available earlier, would one still need to worry about it secretly?

  "Unless divine..."

  Di Qing spoke out, only to realize that he was a bit too sudden.

  This was indeed what he had in mind, but unexpectedly blurted out in front of the Crown Prince.

  Soldiers are mostly illiterate, and those who can read don't believe in their commanders as much as they believe in gods.

  These days, Di Qing also boosted the morale of his subordinates. However, these officers, apart from shouting a few slogans, were completely useless in terms of eloquence, and before they could even do that, they would whip out their whips.

  Di Qing's nursing of the Wei camp was completely different from that of the Western Army in terms of training and morale.

  This is a systematic method of training soldiers, and it cannot be accomplished overnight. The urgent task at hand cannot be borrowed.

  If he wanted to change the morale of the Western army in a short period of time, perhaps only divine intervention would work. He had thought about this before, and the idea still occasionally popped up in his mind. It was quite helpless.

  "Oh, divine spirit..."

  Di Qing had such an idea, and Zhao Xi was not surprised.

  Not to mention now, even in later generations, there will be some accidental magnifications that can reverse the situation.

  It is implied in mind that it should be applicable in any era. Nowadays, the southern expedition and western army are just being intimidated by the war record of Niu Jie for nearly a year.

  And this Nong Zhigao even established a country, with its name and national title already in place.

  Throughout history, such anti-government behavior has always had some sort of slogan, from Chen Sheng and Wu Guang's "The Great Chu is rising, Chen Sheng is king" to Liu Bang beheading the white snake, all rebellions have concocted some deceitful rhetoric to deceive the people.

  He must have been very intelligent and able to speak convincingly, otherwise it would be impossible for the entire tribe to follow him to death.

  Zhao Xi hadn't heard about it either, and maybe that's because the excuse was a bit too lame for the Zhao family, so others didn't dare to mention it to him.

  It's likely that there are rumors among the people, and it's likely that these soldiers have also heard something.

  No big deal, isn't it just letting the divine spirit enlighten? This old man can do it too!

  "Di Shuai, since only divine spirits can boost morale and change the current situation, let the divine spirits enlighten us!"

  Uh... Your Highness is the Crown Prince, you don't really think you can summon a divine spirit, do you? Di Qing was confused by Zhao Xi's words.

  Let the spirits enlighten? Are there spirits?

  "Look back at the temples in Guilin City, find the one that is most effective and has the greatest reputation among the people, and let the soldiers know about it."

  "On New Year's Day, I will offer incense and pray to heaven, the commander will respond to the scene, make a spell, so that the people of Guilin and the soldiers of the southern expedition can see with their own eyes, the divine revelation, the flag opens to victory!"

  It's been said so much already, shouldn't Di Qing understand by now?

  Di Qing's eyes widened and rolled around a few times, with narrowed eyes thinking...

  "Your Highness's words will be heeded, I will take care of it myself!"

  It's underestimating Di Qing to say he hadn't thought of this plan. The reason for the delay is that he was worried about having a conflict with the Crown Prince... After all, this is the emperor we're talking about, and it's taboo to speak ill of him.

  Di Qing was afraid of offending His Highness the Crown Prince.

  Now that's good, with His Highness taking the initiative, his own preparations will also come in handy.

  His Royal Highness the Crown Prince prayed for blessings for the people of Guangnan on New Year's Day, prayed for blessings for the Western Army fighting against bandits, and prayed to heaven for Guangnan to end the war...

  In the East City of Guilin, Qi Xia Temple is the most efficacious temple in Guilin. Not to mention during festivals and holidays, even on ordinary first and fifteenth days of the lunar month, locals flock here to make wishes and repay vows without end.

  The day before yesterday, the monks of Qixia Temple cleaned up the temple early and sprinkled clean water on the streets... The prince is going to worship at Qixia Temple.

  Zhao Xi went to such a special occasion for the first time, and even let Yu Jing make new ceremonial attire...

  The Crown Prince's behavior cannot be measured by common sense... This is what Yu Jing thinks now. So even if he thought the Crown Prince didn't need to make such a big fuss, and was still on the front line in Guangnan, he still did it anyway.

  The prince's intention is hard to guess, so I'd better just follow orders.

  Unfortunately, the eunuchs in charge of the ceremony didn't let them follow, although it was the Crown Prince's sedan chair, it was being carried by a group of soldiers. The procession was grand and majestic, if not for the officials from Guilin accompanying them, one would have thought they were going to war.

  It doesn't matter, Zhao Xi's goal is to restore the morale of the soldiers, these trivial details are not important to Zhao Xi. Originally, he didn't care about these things either.

  But the sense of ritual still needs to be done properly.

  So Zhao Xi arrived at Qixia Temple and followed the temple's established procedures with a serious expression, doing each action carefully.