Now that Aqina is gone, its military development, wealth accumulation, and overall strength remain.
The Northern Xiongnu still have many talented people. Xie Lanzhi thought that General Wang Artu was such an ambitious man, it was simply not worth sacrificing for such a person. No wonder Anshan later defected, wanting to fight for her own life. It didn't seem like she was working for Aqina. Perhaps Anshan had seen something.
There are also longevity cakes and carefree pills; as long as they sell well, they can control people. If Aqina provides the recipes for making longevity cakes and carefree pills, unscrupulous merchants can produce them. As long as they can be sold, these merchants will relentlessly research how to sell them and make a fortune.
Actually, Aqina is quite good at using people. It's just that he was too eager to change bodies and misjudged the situation.
He probably never expected that, despite not having any so-called legally knowledgeable sorcerer behind her, she could still escape death and repeatedly thwart his grand plans.
Actually, she didn't know either. Only the sound of the chains was crucial.
Xie Lanzhi suddenly remembered someone: Xie Ying. Could Xie Ying still be by her side, not yet gone?
If the sound of chains refers to Xie Ying, then she owes Xie Ying a favor.
"If I could, I really would like to meet her," Xie Lanzhi said softly. "I'd like to thank her and apologize to her as well."
"Huh? Why is the Marshal suddenly saying sorry?" Li Li was still worried about Aqina's recovery when she heard the Marshal muttering to himself.
Xie Lanzhi touched her nose, a little embarrassed, and said, "It's okay, you don't need to worry."
"How can I not worry?" Li Li was practically jumping up and down with anxiety. The Northern Xiongnu were so powerful, and Aqina was considered by them to be the most promising king in their history. He was only in his prime. A king in his prime would definitely want to achieve great things.
Those small countries will be in trouble then.
Li Li gave him a look that said, "You never seem nervous at all: You know Aqina's reputation."
Xie Lanzhi rubbed her forehead; she knew, one could say she knew very well.
She just didn't know how to explain it. Anyway, Aqina had already disappeared.
The two discussed Achina in the main palace. Outside, a cataclysmic change had taken place.
Anshan was suddenly summoned back by the Empress Dowager. Arna became the commander-in-chief. News of Dali Luo's death spread throughout the south.
Ma Hong launched a surprise attack on Arna's troops, while Xie Ji launched a surprise attack on the small islands around Luerqu. There were also signs of troops gathering in the northern desert. The situation in Luochuan suddenly changed.
The original strategy seemed to have been suddenly revoked. The political situation that Shan Yuhou had supported in Luochuan began to deteriorate.
Everyone was caught off guard by the Empress Dowager, who remained secluded behind closed doors in the Northern Hu and Xiongnu.
Shan Yuhou immediately wrote a letter to his motherland, asking why the perfectly good strategy was withdrawn so abruptly. Moreover, the Empress Dowager was just a woman; if she said to withdraw, how could she just do it? Where was the King?
But he didn't expect that he would soon receive the king's order to retreat.
Dan Yuhou was extremely unwilling; how could a woman interfere with a plan personally devised by the king? Dan Yuhou decided to contact Alna.
Al-Na also received the order to withdraw.
Al-Na was very puzzled. They clearly had the upper hand in the battle, so how could they just leave?
Shan Yuhou contacted him again, and the two instantly reached a consensus: they both felt that the King was being controlled by the Empress Dowager because of his poor health, which was why he issued this order.
After meeting, the two decided to postpone their trip and had no intention of returning.
The newly dispatched envoy from the Xiongnu, Liu Tao, tried to persuade the two to return, but Shan Yuhou firmly refused, and looked down on Liu Tao for being a minister under the Empress Dowager.
Liu Tao tried to persuade Alna again: "Is the General not going back either? Are you sure you want to disobey the King's orders?"
Arna snorted coldly: "Who doesn't know this is the Empress Dowager's order? Since it's the King's order, then let the King send the State Sorcerer!"
Upon hearing this, Liu Tao's expression changed. Although he didn't know why the Empress Dowager had concealed the news of the State Witch's death, it was clear that Alna and Shan Yuhou were indeed ignorant of their own limitations.
They were able to realize their ambitions thanks to the king's favor and the power he delegated to them.
Liu Tao has always been skeptical about how these two ordinary people were chosen by the king in the first place. However, they are indeed capable.
Liu Tao wondered why the King always managed to find reliable ministers to serve him before the Empress Dowager could, since it was clearly the Empress Dowager who had chosen them first. Yet the King had managed to snatch them away.
Faced with these two people who knew nothing of the situation, Liu Tao couldn't help but shake his head: "The Empress Dowager also greatly appreciates you. You should seize this opportunity!"
"The harem must not interfere in politics!" Alna and Shan Yuhou said in unison.
Liu Tao immediately flicked his sleeve, ordering the Xiongnu soldiers he was about to withdraw to leave.
Arna and Shan Yuhou did not issue any orders. Liu Tao's search was fruitless. He returned to the Northern Hu and Xiongnu and told the Empress Dowager about Arna and Shan Yuhou's affair with exaggerated details.
Empress Dowager Liu Zi of the Northern Hun heard that those two brutes refused to return.
She ordered the king to remain at the Queen's Palace to recuperate, and that the affairs of state be temporarily handled by Prince Ansan.
Lord Anshan dared not take over, even though he had not discussed politics with his brother for a long time and his memory was somewhat hazy. He dared not overstep his bounds.
However, the king suddenly ordered him to take over the administration of state affairs.
Anshan Jun was extremely shocked.
Liu Zi then supported Anshan Jun and began to rule from behind the scenes, which caused much discontent in the Northern Hu Xiongnu court, with many ministers refusing to cooperate. Factions began to spring up within the Northern Hu Xiongnu.
Liu Zi secretly summoned Aba Na back. She used the Empress Dowager's decree to pardon Aba Na's crimes. The Northern Xiongnu ministers felt this was extremely reckless and wanted to report it to the king, but unexpectedly, the king directly agreed to pardon Aba Na. This revitalized the court's officials who already supported the second prince, Aba Na.
The ministers of the Northern Xiongnu were greatly shocked. Unrest began to erupt in the court.
When the news arrived in Lu, Xie Lanzhi fell into deep thought. Why did an empress dowager suddenly appear out of nowhere? There have always been many instances of empresses interfering in politics throughout history, but it is not allowed in name only.
Li Li was still happily saying, "The internal divisions within the Xiongnu have given us an opportunity."
"Marshal, let's assemble our troops and drive the Xiongnu out of the Central Alliance!"
Xie Lanzhi said, "Someone has already sent troops."
Just as Li Li was about to ask who it was, a foreign soldier came in to report on the battle situation outside. He said that Ma Hong's surprise attack had been successful, repelling the Li Kingdom's Alna troops. They had reclaimed territory from both countries and rescued some members of the royal family.
They also launched a Delta attack on the small islands surrounding Luerqu, which was a success and scared away the eight tribes of Luerqu.
Two hundred thousand men in the northern desert suddenly showed signs of retaking Luochuan. Yelü Wen's throne, which he had only held for two months, suddenly became unstable, and he sought help from Shan Yuhou.
Dan Yuhou immediately ordered Al Na to send 5,000 men to support Luochuan.
Arna had just sent 5,000 men to Luochuan.
Suddenly, the northern desert declared independence and appointed Wu Yuejun as the new Khan.
Xieji in the Delta did not advance any further. Yelü Wen's throne was temporarily preserved.
When he heard that the new Tianjing had ordered Ma Hong to reclaim the territory of the Central Alliance, he then went to the palace for a visit.
Yelü Wen felt he had the support of Arna and Shan Yuhou and was not worried.
September of the third year of the Jin Dynasty.
Si Xitong ordered a full-scale counterattack, driving out the Northern Hu and Xiongnu and keeping them far away from the south.
The war truly broke out.
Having learned from his previous experience, Ma Hong had mastered the artillery and gun emplacements as the vanguard, first sweeping away a wave of enemies before organizing an infantry attack.
City after city fell. Arna's forces began a rout, their once fearsome silver shields and bows rendered useless before Changhong could even begin to fight.
Ma Hong's troops seemed to have superhuman abilities. Some of his clever men suggested modifying carts to transport the massive barrels of the Changhong cannons. Then, as they modified them, they added wheels. They even managed to build a boat to carry the Changhong cannons, locking three boats together to fire from the water.
The Imperial Guards, who were bombarding the Xiongnu across the riverbank, couldn't have been happier.
Some even suggested using Lu's large treasure ships to attack the center of the river.
This perfectly leverages Changhong's combat advantages: it can operate at long range, and because of this distance, it avoids being hit by artillery. Even if it is hit by artillery, they can quickly retaliate.
The large treasure ship could withstand five cannons. Once the enemy fired one shot, they would have no chance to retaliate.
Xie Ying also led a hundred men, ten of whom carried Type 94 rifles and sailed in unmanned boats. They even had a bomb ship; whenever a ship approached, they would immediately fire arrows from a distance to set it ablaze. Using this method of unmanned boat attacks, they inflicted heavy losses on the Xiongnu ships.
The Hungarian army suffered the direct loss of fifty ships, causing a disruption in their communication with the Central Alliance forces of Arna.
Xie Ying didn't stop there. She seemed to be very good at launching surprise attacks, daring to lead a hundred men to sneak up on the Red River border and ambush Dan Yu from behind. Because she had fewer men, after the harassment, she quickly escaped into the mountains.
When facing Xie's group of monkeys jumping around, Shan Yuhou felt like he was being bitten by lice on a lion's head.
He wasn't just facing these counterattacks. Li Li also led his remaining three thousand soldiers to cooperate with Xie Bing in a surprise attack on Alna.
Arna truly experienced the feeling of being surrounded by enemies. Now, he couldn't escape even if he wanted to.
The Northern Xiongnu are still embroiled in internal strife, and suddenly they heard that Alna's troops are in danger. Liu Zi had previously asked him to return, but he refused; now, he has no chance to return.
A minister from the Northern Xiongnu suggested providing assistance.
Liu Zi proposed bringing Aba back to the country as a pretext for sending troops. The ministers and princes disagreed, and the stalemate continued, resulting in Alna's troops being completely surrounded by the Imperial Guard, cutting off all contact with the capital.
After a brief exchange, Shan Yuhou immediately withdrew most of his men from Luochuan to provide support.
At this moment, Li Li stopped them.
When Shan Yuhou withdrew half of his troops from Luochuan, the northern deserts suddenly launched an attack on Luochuan. Two hundred thousand men, also armed with guns and cannons, attacked the barbarian troops in Luochuan.
In just three days, they drove the barbarian soldiers from Luochuan back.
The northern army occupied Luochuan and ousted Yelü Wen from power. Yelü Wen fled overnight, hoping to escape this calamity.
At this time, Xie Lanzhi went to war.
She led her army north from Huayin Kingdom, cutting off the Red River border's rear route.
Xie Lanzhi led two thousand men to garrison Aicheng, located above the Red River border. Aba had revealed the location of Aicheng to her, saying it was poorly defended, surrounded by mountains on two sides and water on two sides. The garrison consisted of only a thousand men, mostly landlubbers who couldn't swim.
Xie Lanzhi led her troops directly to Ai City, only to discover that not all the Northern Hu and Xiongnu possessed firearms. The Xiongnu soldiers in Ai City were like ducks, helpless at her mercy. A thousand men were annihilated in an instant.
Xie Lanzhi gazed at the half-finished tunnel in Aicheng, lost in thought. Beyond the tunnel lay the road to the northern Xiongnu. The ground was paved with cement, and remarkably smooth. She estimated it wouldn't take her army more than a few days to reach the northern Xiongnu.
She suddenly suspected that her little phoenix was not restricting the sale of cement for some other purpose.
Then she thought of Little Phoenix's Long Rainbow Cannon, which could even blast through cement. Suddenly, she understood.
The cement that Little Phoenix sells to its neighbors seems to be different from the cement used in the construction of the military city wall in New Tianjing.
In a different scenario, if the Northern Xiongnu were to build roads extensively within their own borders, wouldn't that mean they were essentially paving the way for their own little phoenixes abroad if they were to lose control of those roads?
Thinking of this small detail, Xie Lanzhi suddenly shivered. As expected of Little Phoenix, her mind is so meticulous!
Xie Lanzhi kept making a fuss in Aicheng. She left in such a hurry that she didn't have time to bring the cannon, so she could only carry the old mortar with her.
She stayed there for about five days when a scout reported that some Northern Hu and Xiongnu troops had come down and were sure to take back Ai City.
Xie Lanzhi planned to meet this group of people. Unexpectedly, two secret agents from the Yue Kingdom battlefield suddenly appeared in Ai City, informing her to return to Tianjing immediately.
"What happened?" Xie Lanzhi's breath caught in her throat.
Qiankun exchanged a glance before saying, "His Highness has had a high fever for three days and three nights."
"The current battle has proven that the Imperial Guard can stand alone. You no longer need to guard Aicheng. His Highness said that we can cut off the route to Aicheng."