"I was wondering how you could be so patient. Let's not waste time. I've seen along the way that the Nanzhao army is almost like a pile of loose sand. The military camps in various places are less than a third of their original size. All of them have been transferred to the royal city by the Prince of Zhennan. So let's not be polite and make arrangements as soon as possible."
Su Dingfang looked at the sky outside. Time is the most precious thing at this moment. If you gather all your troops in the royal city, it means that the prefectures and counties around you will be empty. If you don't occupy them at this time, you will really miss this good opportunity.
"Ah? Shouldn't we combine our two armies and wipe out the troops in the royal city first? This is the last army left in the entire Nanzhao. After we wipe them out, we can occupy other places as we please."
Qin Huaiyu said with some surprise. According to his original idea, the King of Zhennan had already gathered the elite troops from all over the country. This would save us trouble. We don't need to conquer the entire country. As long as we kill this small group of troops, other places will be undefended in the future.
"Even if we destroy this army, we'll suffer a lot of casualties. Why would we do such a thing? As long as we occupy important strongholds across the country, do you think the Prince of Zhennan is gathering an army? He's gathering tens of thousands of mouths to feed. With the supplies he has now, how long can he hold out?"
Li Xiang's voice came from outside. Qian Ping and the others didn't know that Li Xiang was coming with them. They were surprised when they heard the voice and quickly gave up the main seat.
"Greetings..."
"Alright, alright, we're not outsiders. Stop messing around with those useless things. Hurry up and listen to General Su's instructions. Within three days, I'll have you occupy the entire Nanzhao. Then we can just confront them."
Li Xiang did not let the two men kneel down. We don't care about those empty things. Now we have to take advantage of the time when they are guessing the intention of the Tang army, so that we can occupy the important military camps across the country with lightning speed. By that time, everything will be finalized.
Li Xiang nodded to Su Dingfang, and Su Dingfang immediately called in the twelve deputy generals outside the door. Each of them brought one to two thousand soldiers and quickly headed to some military camps and dangerous strongholds across Nanzhao. They wanted to get them into our hands as quickly as possible. Of course, they would fool those who could be fooled, and directly launch a strong attack on those who could not be fooled.
"Where's the stuff?"
Seeing Li Xiang asking questions, no one else understood what was going on, but Qian Ping immediately took out a seal from his pocket.
"There shouldn't be any problem. I've already compared them, and they're practically indistinguishable from the real thing."
Everyone leaned over to take a look, and then they understood what was going on. The seal turned out to be the jade seal of the King of Nanzhao.
In fact, many people can make this thing, but making it might cost you your life, so no one imitates it.
For example, if you get the imperial seal from Li Shimin, no matter where you go, no one in your family will survive, and they will all be cut into pieces.
But the Nanzhao Kingdom is now on the verge of collapse. Even if you forge a fake seal, what good will it do? Will anyone in the kingdom hold you accountable? Even if they do, will the Tang army be willing to take action?
"The imitation handwriting is similar, and the materials for the imperial edict have been researched. It's all ready now, and we're just waiting for your order."
After Qian Ping finished speaking, two young eunuchs brought out more than a dozen imperial edicts from Nanzhao, all of which were written in the king's tone. If it weren't for those people in the palace, no one would have been able to tell that they were fake.
"Having this thing has really saved us a lot of trouble, but will it leave any evidence in the future? For example, if the king announces it in front of others, wouldn't it mean that the Tang Dynasty has done something shameful?"
Qin Huaiyu thought of another thing. If the truth comes out in the future, we will all be cursed.
"You're such a fool. Why keep the king around? After we capture everything, we can just kill him. Besides, this thing has been framed on the Prince of Zhennan. If we deal with these two people, we can put an end to it all. Who can prove that this imperial edict is fake?"
Su Dingfang patted his sword and said, this guy really dares to think and act.
"Don't talk nonsense. If we kill both of them, who will help us rule Nanzhao? Let's handle this matter this way first. I believe that His Majesty the King is a smart man and will never tell anyone about this in the future."
After Li Xiang finished speaking, Su Dingfang stuck out his tongue and quickly ordered his men to find the imperial edict related to him, and immediately took his men out to occupy various places.
"Let Old Su handle this. Gather the five thousand most elite men under your command. If the Prince of Zhennan gets wind of this and wants to leave, be sure to stop them."
After receiving Li Xiang's order, Qin Huaiyu immediately went down to gather his troops. It might be difficult for 5,000 people to stop these tens of thousands of people, but we still have the name of the Tang Dynasty here. We have defeated them several times psychologically alone.
By daybreak, half of the troops here had already gone out, and two nearby military camps had been captured. More than 1,500 Nanzhao soldiers obediently laid down their weapons without any resistance.
The remaining troops had not yet arrived at the place where they were to carry out their orders, but the checkpoints in Nanzhao along the way were useless. After seeing the imperial edict from His Majesty the King, these people were happy to open the checkpoints.
In fact, they were all the King of Zhennan's men, and the King of Zhennan had already given them orders that, except for his own army, other armies were not allowed to travel throughout the country.
These people wanted to obey orders, but the question was, were we even starting from the same level as the Tang army? Look at the warhorses they ride. Have they ever seen anything like them, let alone ordinary soldiers like us? Even generals, have they? Forget fighting them. If both sides stood up and showed their faces, we would already be half a head shorter than them. Do the soldiers have that kind of confidence?
Now that we have the imperial edict from His Majesty the King, these people have even more reason to do so. The order from the Prince of Zhennan is indeed there, but we cannot openly defy the imperial edict from His Majesty the King. Wouldn't that make us disloyal and unfilial?
