Having arrived in Chang'an, or rather, from the moment he left Tokyo, Zhao Jiu's mood had been constantly heavy. It's hard to imagine the extent of his pressure if you weren't in his position… The lives of hundreds of thousands of people, the fate of millions, could be determined in a single battle, and the success or failure of that battle largely depended on the choices and judgments of him, the Emperor.

Yet, at the same time, apart from the names Yue Fei, Han Shizhong, Zhang Rong, and Li Yanxian, everything else seemed unreliable.

Even the things Zhao Jiu had personally worked on, or rather, all the accomplishments of this transmigrator over the past three years, now felt questionable in the face of the impending test.

Could the direct diversion of Southern wealth to the various regional commanders really improve the efficiency of army building? Were the resources, almost entirely squeezed from the blood and sweat of the people of Henan, truly being used for military purposes by these individuals? Would the 200,000 troops of the Imperial Guard truly fight bravely because of those official documents for the high-ranking officers, and the soldiers because of their salaries and the last-minute imperial gazettes? Were the *Jinshi* (进士, successful candidates in the highest imperial examinations) sent into the army not just complaining all day, wasting money, food, and manpower?

And this was just the Imperial Guard, the Imperial Guard that had received so much effort and investment, and that would likely only account for half of the fighting strength in the decisive battle. As for the other half, the Western Army, Zhao Jiu couldn't find fault even if he wanted to, because he didn't even know where the problem might lie!

But, wasn't there a child now? Wasn't there a double anchor in this world?

Wasn't it the convergence of selfishness or righteousness, of future expectations or past experiences, that ultimately created a sense of responsibility that compelled him to face it?

So he had persevered until now, and would continue to persevere in the future.

"Your Majesty has excellent archery skills!"

Seeing Zhao Jiu fire several arrows in succession, almost without missing a single shot, Zhang Jun, the Transportation Commissioner of the five routes of Ba-Shu, sincerely praised.

However, in the comfortable morning temperature, Zhao Jiu, who had only shot half a quiver of arrows and hadn't even broken a sweat, put away his bow and arrows, but didn't think much of it: "My archery skills are only honed on the practice range and in the hunting grounds. They look flashy, but when I'm actually on the battlefield facing the Jurchens, I might not even be able to draw the bow… Enough about this. What news brings you to me so early, De Yuan?"

"There is a report from Fangzhou to the Chang'an Garrison Command." Zhang Jun immediately became serious and cupped his hands in reply. "Your Majesty, this time it's Wu Jie's own report…"

Zhao Jiu nodded and went directly to sit down in the corridor, without any extra expression: "Wu Jie is still in Fangzhou? Being able to resist layer by layer is actually quite good. Then, according to the previous plan, send reinforcements to Tongguan in Yaozhou (later Tongchuan), which is next to Fangzhou, to provide support, so that he can retreat if necessary…"

"It's not other cities within Fangzhou, it's Fangzhou City." Zhang Jun, following into the corridor, patiently waited for Zhao Jiu to finish speaking before explaining.

Zhao Jiu initially didn't react, but then suddenly froze: "Wu Da is still in Fangzhou City?"

"Yes!" Zhang Jun earnestly replied. "He wasn't a Pacification Commissioner before, and didn't know Your Majesty was in Chang'an, so naturally everything had to be relayed to Pacification Commissioner Hu in Ningzhou. Now it's different, so he's reporting to Ningzhou on one hand, and sending messages to the 'Chang'an Garrison Command' on the other."

Zhao Jiu ignored why the message to the Chang'an Garrison Command wasn't being reported by Yuwen Xuzhong but by Zhang Jun. He was still somewhat incredulous: "If he's sending messages directly from Fangzhou City, wouldn't that be much faster than from Ningzhou… The message delivered this morning might only be from the day before yesterday? That should be two days faster than Hu Yin's daily report last night?"

"Yes!"

"He was still in Fangzhou the day before yesterday?"

"Yes!"

"He held it?"

"Not only did he hold it, but he achieved successive victories in three days of fighting, injuring 10,000 Jurchen households, forcing the enemy to change commanders, and launching a counterattack out of the city the day before yesterday, beheading 500 and wounding thousands!" Zhang Jun took a step forward, unable to suppress the excitement in his voice. "Your Majesty, you know Hu Yin. He's always been rigid and must be extremely resentful of the practice of subordinate generals exaggerating reports. Wu Jie probably wouldn't dare to fabricate."

Zhao Jiu was completely stunned, and even Liu Yan, the attendant at his side, was completely stunned… If he remembered correctly, this was likely the first instance of a local battlefield victory by the Song against the Jurchens with fewer troops, a veritable miracle! Even Li Yanxian's recapture of Shanzhou was more of a strategic miracle.

So, it was almost unbelievable.

But, under these circumstances, whether it was successive victories, injuring 10,000 households, or beheading 500 in a counterattack… In short, all these details didn't matter, because the key issue was that the fact that Wu Jie was still in Fangzhou City the day before yesterday was hard to fake! It was probably true!

And the previous details became insignificant in the face of the overall situation of Fangzhou City still being under Wu Jie's control.

By the same token, five hundred was a very strange and untraditional number for the Western Army, but the key was another set of numbers.

"When Wu Jie retreated into Fangzhou City, he reportedly had four or five thousand troops?" Zhao Jiu thought about Hu Yin's daily reports from the previous few days and the geographical information he had seen on the map these days, and slowly asked.

"Yes." Zhang Jun, standing to the side, had an excellent memory.

"Then what does Lou Shi mean by dividing his troops to the south of the Bai River when Fangzhou City is so secure?" Zhao Jiu continued thoughtfully. "Is he dividing his troops to the Bai River in preparation for Han Shizhong's northward support, making it easier for him to concentrate on attacking the city? Or is he abandoning Fangzhou City and heading south along the Bai River? If so, how many troops should he leave behind to contain it?"

"Regardless of which one." Zhang Jun earnestly replied. "Your Majesty, Lou Shi has already divided his troops in fact, at least a *wanhu* (ten thousand households), four or five thousand real Jurchens! Moreover, the news should be verified within a few days!"

Zhao Jiu slowly nodded. This was what he was concerned about. Wu Jie was still holding Fangzhou City the day before yesterday, but Yelu Mawu led his tens of *Mouke* of the Khitan on the same day and appeared in the downstream Bai River. Combining these two ironclad facts with the objective geographical conditions, a conclusion could be directly drawn – that whether Lou Shi wanted to take either path, he had in fact divided his troops in an organized manner, and his core main force at his side had been reduced by at least four or five thousand.

This was a very sensitive number.

"Have scouts been sent to Wu Jie's position?" Zhao Jiu came back to his senses and asked seriously.

"I have already sent them out without authorization." Zhang Jun couldn't wait. "Your Majesty, if Fangzhou holds firm and Lou Shi divides his troops, and the Jurchen army in Hedong cannot cross the river for a while, I believe we can gather our forces and annihilate them! One battle to determine the fate of the country!"

Zhao Jiu looked at this trusted subordinate who had been in Ba-Shu for so long that he had missed many things, pondered for a moment, and ultimately shook his head slightly: "De Yuan, Liu Yanxiu (Liu Ziyu's courtesy name) has his reasons. Matters concerning the life and death of the country, either we are forced to do so, or we have sufficient certainty. We cannot gamble everything on one throw!"

Zhang Jun wanted to say something, but stopped, speechless, but ultimately remained silent.

Moreover, Zhang Jun's thoughts could be understood without anyone saying them.

Firstly, it was his nature, and secondly, he was eager to prove himself… This attitude was both public and private, but the slight selfishness became insignificant after he donated his family fortune to serve the country.

"Pay close attention to the news, and we will discuss the matter of engaging the enemy again." Zhao Jiu said as such, but got up again and started shooting at the target.

Zhang Jun had no choice but to obey and take his leave.

In this way, the hurried meeting between the monarch and his minister failed to change the core strategy in Chang'an… Of course, that was how it should be. The core strategy of a large-scale battle could not be changed by slight changes in a local battlefield.

The three-layered defensive system relying on a zone of Tongzhou, a line of the Wei River, and a point of Chang'an, was still the originally planned and bottom-line choice for the current war.

However, the news that Wu Jie had likely held Fangzhou City still brought great encouragement to Chang'an, especially as various news gradually arrived…

That night, the report from the local officials of Fangzhou and Hu Yin's new daily report arrived in Chang'an together.

And the next day, on the first day of the fifth month, first in the morning, the scouts sent by Chang'an brought back the news of Wu Jie's several days of defense and counterattack in Fangzhou at the fastest speed, changing horses along the way. The scouts claimed to have personally seen a large number of Jurchen heads. In addition, they also brought back the news that the Jurchen army had abandoned the siege, leaving the Hekou camp to divide their forces to the south.

At this time, many people had already shaken their previous views, and even Liu Ziyu remained silent.

By noon, as Wu Jie simply sent someone to deliver a handwritten account of the battle in Fangzhou City… Zhao Jiu himself not only no longer doubted Wu Jie's battle achievements, but had even keenly realized that this general, who had previously ranked below Qu Duan and suffered repeated defeats, was likely a great talent like Li Yanxian, misled and obscured by his own poor historical knowledge, and then standing out with his ability.

Moreover, Wu Jie's memorial naturally lacked the kind of words like "relying on heavenly power", but compared to these empty words, some descriptions that clearly conformed to the objective laws of the battlefield, some truthful words, coupled with the irrefutable fact that he had held Fangzhou City, were the fundamental reasons why Zhao Jiu completely realized the other person's talent.

There weren't many of these words, only three paragraphs, but they were enough.

The first said: 'Select strong bows and crossbows, and shoot fiercely in rotation, continuously firing without end, arrows like pouring rain, arrows like stationed troops without rest'… This was about how he specifically won, and the rotating shooting and suppressing fire were too in line with an ordinary college student's understanding of the key to victory on the battlefield.

The second said: 'The Divine Arm Crossbow is the most useful, but it cannot win every battle. It can sweep the battlefield, and artisans are stationed in the camp to repair it overnight, otherwise the arrows cannot be continued'… This was about the battlefield risks and the limitations of victory, and implied that Wu Jie's reason for choosing to attack was largely because he was worried about the lack of crossbow bolts, and was an act of seizing control of the battlefield in order to recover the crossbow bolts for overnight repairs.

The third said: 'The Jurchens have four strengths, namely cavalry, perseverance, heavy armor, and bows and arrows. Therefore, use terrain to disable cavalry, use heat and alternating shooting to disable perseverance, and use the Divine Arm Crossbow and bed crossbow to deal with heavy armor and bows and arrows'… This was from a theoretical source to explain the overall strategy of his battle, and was also implicitly explaining why he had previously abandoned Luojiao City and why he chose to retreat to Fangzhou City to hold it.

Objectively speaking, Zhao Jiu had never seen anyone make such an outstanding summary of battle events… Han Shizhong and Zhang Rong were big rough guys, not to mention, Li Yanxian didn't have it, and even Yue Fei didn't show similar things! Qu Duan might have, he was Wu Jie's superior after all, but his character was a fatal flaw.

And this Wu Jie was undoubtedly a great talent more outstanding than Qu Duan, and of the same caliber as Han, Yue, Li, and Zhang!

On the second day of the fifth month, Han Shizhong sent a special fast horse to report that countless Jurchen soldiers were going down the Beiluo River and stationed in Baishui City. He sent someone to capture a Jurchen scout, who clearly stated that Wanyan Lou Shi, Wanyan Balisu and others personally led troops to this place, and there were also words about Tu Heshu being injured and Sa Lihu being defeated and staying behind to guard. More importantly, at this time, the Jurchen army at Baishui City was definitely only around 30,000!

At this point, no one doubted the great victory of Fangzhou.

Moreover, without a doubt, Wu Jie had indeed caused the Jurchen army to lose thousands of troops and divide four or five thousand troops with his five thousand remnants… In other words, the most ideal situation had occurred. At the most critical moment, an unplanned person used unplanned five thousand remnants to exchange for ten thousand Jurchen troops.

The entire Chang'an suddenly brightened.

And in the afternoon of this day, at the military conference of the Privy Council held to address the new situation, just as the members of the Privy Council had marked the new battle situation on a simple mud board, and Liu Ziyu had not yet had time to make a few explanations, Liu Xi, the commander of the three routes of the West, formally requested Zhao Jiu to lead the main force directly out to meet the enemy in Baishui.

"Your Majesty."

Because it was a large military conference, with many participants, it was held in the shade of the trees in the backyard. Liu Xi stood with his hands cupped in front of the large spliced mud board, making a passionate speech. "Now, both the enemy and I have no clever strategies to speak of. The war situation in Guanzhong is just a matter of accounting. Previously, I thought that the Jurchens were strong, and one could resist three, so I thought that less than 120,000 or 130,000 troops would not be enough to meet the enemy. Today, I still hold this view, but it is also necessary to have 100,000 troops to actively meet the enemy and block the enemy outside the plain. And now, there are 100,000 royal troops in Guanzhong!"

It must be said that Liu Xi's remarks made some sense.

The closer it was to the showdown, the more everything was like a simple math problem… But the simplicity was particularly deadly.

And Liu Xi's algorithm was the same as always, still one against three, so after the situation changed, the problem could be solved vaguely, because there were indeed about 100,000 Song troops that could be mobilized in Guanzhong… 40,000 troops of the Imperial Guard's Central Army, 40,000 troops of the Western Army's West Third Route plus Jingzhao troops, and Zhao Jiu had a trump card in his hand.

It was not enough. No matter where, for example, Qu Duan and Wu Lin, who should have a reply soon, could scrape together a little, and they could always gather 100,000.

In fact, Liu Xi's move was quickly echoed by many military officers. Except for his brother Liu Qi, who did not participate to avoid suspicion, all the generals of Guanzhong who were qualified to come here to 'meet Prime Minister Yuwen' enthusiastically asked to fight.

Later, even Wang Yuan, the commander of the Imperial Guard, who had been working hard to make mud plates, could not help but step forward and ask to fight… This was his opportunity, an opportunity to turn the Imperial Guard commander from virtual to real, and he was unwilling to give up even a glimmer of hope.

Seeing such an enthusiastic attitude, coupled with the military miracle Wu Jie had just created, Yuwen Xuzhong and Zhang Jun, who had been rejected by the emperor once before, also hesitated.

As for Zhao Jiu, he was as always without extra expression, just sitting in front of the mud plate listening to the generals' words.

"I think it's impossible!" Just as these people finished expressing their opinions one by one, and Zhao Jiu was about to reply, Liu Ziyu, the Chief Administrator of the Privy Council, stood up with a dark face, and his words were fierce. "Not only is it impossible, but I also ask Your Majesty to punish Liu Xi and Zhao Zhe, the two thieves, to warn future generations!"

The summer breeze was blowing in gusts, the shadows of the trees were mottled, Liu Xi and Zhao Zhe, and the other Western Army generals, were stunned. Yuwen Xuzhong and Zhang Jun also shrank back.

Before these people could recover and organize their words to refute, Liu Ziyu cupped his hands again and said something shocking:

"Your Majesty, where are these people for the country? For the Emperor? They are only seeing that Wu Jie has made a great contribution, harboring jealousy, and having the idea of underestimating the enemy. They want to use the rise and fall of the world to win a reputation for themselves! I also ask Your Majesty not to be fooled by them!"

Zhao Jiu immediately shook his head repeatedly: "Don't say these presumptuous remarks… What if there is selfishness? As long as we can win! On the contrary, if we can't win, the so-called public heart is just a heart to harm the country… Yanxiu, let's talk about the matter."

"Then let's talk about the matter. I think Liu Xi's calculation is wrong!"

The generals just breathed a sigh of relief, and Liu Ziyu continued seriously. "Your Majesty, I only ask, if 100,000 troops are sent to Baihe to block Lou Shi, what if Lou Shi holds firm and does not come out, waiting for reinforcements? Even if Puzin is blocked by Grand Commandant Han, when it comes to the decisive battle, the critical moment of life and death, can't the Jurchen army abandon the logistical worries and send reinforcements from Longmen to support 20,000 or 30,000 elites? And if we calculate according to General Liu Xi's theory of one against three, where should the 60,000 or 70,000 troops to deal with these 20,000 or 30,000 Jurchen troops come from? Could it be that Grand Commandant Han will abandon Tongzhou and come over? Then, if the Jurchen army forcefully crosses from the direction of Puzin, and comes over 100,000 or 80,000, where should the remaining 200,000 or 300,000 be found? Therefore, I said that Liu Xi and Zhao Zhe should be killed! I don't believe that they are talking about one against three, but can't think of this!"

The courtyard was silent. Zhao Zhe instinctively looked to Zhang Jun for help, but was glared back by the other party. Liu Xi directly knelt on one knee, saying that he was negligent and incompetent.

Seeing this, Zhao Zhe also quickly bowed his head to plead guilty.

Zhao Jiu gestured for the two generals to get up, and slowly shook his head to Liu Ziyu: "What Yanxiu (Liu Ziyu's courtesy name) said is reasonable, but General Liu and they can't be malicious… We'll discuss this matter again!"

Liu Ziyu didn't dare to say more, and could only bow his head and say yes.

In this way, because of Liu Ziyu's insistence, and even more because of Zhao Jiu's ambiguous attitude, this military conference ultimately could not change the overall strategy. At the end of the military conference, it was only to let Wang Yan deploy the Eight Character Army forward to the areas of Pucheng, Meiyuan, and Fuping, to resist as appropriate, and also to provide flank support for Han Shizhong.

The military conference ended without result.

After the military conference, not to mention that everyone had their own place to go, on this side, as soon as Zhang Jun went out, he took the initiative to call his close friend Liu Ziyu and invited him to ride in the same car.

"Yanxiu, neither you nor Liu Xi calculated correctly!"

One in purple and one in red, a pair of prominent old friends sat opposite each other in the stuffy mule cart, and Zhang Jun was also blunt. "You can't calculate on a one-to-three basis! The Western Army is defending the country, the supplies are piled up like mountains, Your Majesty is personally supervising, and the morale is high. Where does it need to be one against three? In Fangzhou, was Wu Jie one against three?"

"Did I say one against three?"

Privately to his friends, Liu Ziyu was of course uninhibited, and he was also very angry in his heart, so he simply sneered. "Liu Xi said one against three himself. And who in Chang'an doesn't know? Prime Minister Yuwen acts weakly, and you and Hu Mingzhong allow everything you say. The North Three Routes are Hu Mingzhong's territory, and the West Three Routes are your territory. The Liu brothers are your personal property! Therefore, even if Wu Jie is available, then it can only be said that the troops of the Shaanxi North Three Routes are available. On the contrary, Liu Xi stated this himself, confirming that the troops of your West Three Routes are weak and can only resist one against three!"

Zhang Jun was choked by this, and was also very angry, but he still forcibly suppressed it and returned to the topic: "Yanxiu, do you really not know or are you pretending not to know? Liu Xi is a Western Army warlord. At first, he saw that the situation was not good and was unwilling to fight. He didn't know that Your Majesty was wise and martial, but thought he could be deceived, so he deliberately made himself weak?"

"How weak can they be?"

"I'm also confused. If you don't know, how can you be so calm and use your own spear to attack your own shield?" Zhang Jun regained clarity and continued to persuade with difficulty. "Yanxiu, now, I won't argue with you about one against three. Even if you and Liu Xi are right, and the troops of the West Three Routes are weak and can only resist one against three, can't the weakest one against three be the strongest one against three? Can't the Imperial Guard troops do two against one? Can't the troops personally brought by Your Majesty be one against one? 100,000 is enough! Moreover, Qu Duan and Wu Lin are both reorganizing their troops, and they may be able to bring one or two *wan* from Jingyuan and Huanqing, or even replace Wu Jie! The troop strength is really enough!"

"So what?" Liu Ziyu continued to sneer.

"Then we can fight! And we should fight!" Zhang Jun said eagerly. "Your Majesty entrusted his orphans and widows and came here, and we must win this battle. The opportunity is in front of us, how can we miss this good opportunity? As ministers, we must share the worries of Your Majesty and the world!"

Seeing that his old friend was speaking frankly, Liu Ziyu became a lot calmer, but he sighed softly and shook his head again: "De Yuan, let's not mention Liu Xi's idea as a warlord. I also know that you have another account in your heart, but do you know how I calculate my account?"

"How do you calculate it?" Zhang Jun also calmed down.

"The Western Army had 200,000 troops that were defeated by Lou Shi's *wan*…" Liu Ziyu opened his mouth and said.

"If you say that, we might as well surrender!" Zhang Jun's expression changed as soon as he heard half a sentence, his breathing was unstable, so that he directly startled the mules outside, causing the coachman to quickly pull and shout. "Why don't you mention the Jingkang Incident? If Your Majesty had been in power that day, do you believe that there would have been the Jingkang Incident? The Jurchens must not have crossed the border!"

"I don't mean that." Liu Ziyu said helplessly. "I want to say that when it comes to the decisive battle, having more troops is not necessarily a good thing… Because a big battle is different from a small battle. A small battle is won or lost, but a big battle must pay attention to no omissions, no leaks, and the intersection of the unexpected and the orthodox. When the armies are fighting, spread out over dozens of miles, and the fighting doesn't stop, one leak, and every place will leak. And this is the helplessness of weak soldiers attacking strong soldiers. If you want to win a strong army with a weak army, you must use more to attack less. However, if you use more to attack less, the more troops accumulate, the more flaws there will inevitably be. And once the weak soldiers are caught with a flaw by the strong soldiers, it is the time for the entire situation to collapse…"

Zhang Jun thought for a moment and nodded slightly: "You have your own military algorithm, and it is quite reasonable. I shouldn't have calculated military accounts with you in the first place, but I have another algorithm. Do you want to hear it?"

Liu Ziyu's heart moved slightly, and he just raised his hand to signal.

"I don't understand military affairs, but I know that from Mingdao Palace, in about three years, Your Majesty and we have always done a lot of things, right?" Zhang Jun's tone was calm, but his eyes were fixed on the other party. "Can't this account be calculated from here?"

Liu Ziyu instantly became solemn, and instantly gave up the intention of arguing with the other party, because he instantly understood what the other party meant and understood the other party's way of accounting from the bottom of his heart.

"In the past three years, whether it is military or political affairs, from Your Majesty down, we have always been working hard, right? We have always been working hard to manage the country and the people, right?" Zhang Jun did not stop because of the other party's solemnity. Not only that, as he continued to speak, his emotions gradually became excited. "Yanxiu, I only ask you, Your Majesty, whether we, or many other characters, dead or alive, stupid or wise, depreciated or retained, civil or military, have always had some people to do something a little bit? And if what we have done is roughly right, then three years of hard work, three years of mutual tolerance for the sake of the country, why can't we let the Great Song re-establish itself?! Why do we have to let these barbarians force us, Your Majesty, and Imperial Song to this point?! Tell me a heartfelt word, shouldn't we win this battle in Guanzhong?! Can't we calculate the account like this?!"

Liu Ziyu was forced to the corner, unable to refute, and didn't want to refute, but suddenly asked a question that had nothing to do with it: "De Yuan, do you like archery?"

Zhang Jun forcibly suppressed his emotions: "I don't know how at all."

"But I like it, and Your Majesty also likes it." Liu Ziyu said to himself seriously. "Archery is not only used to cultivate energy and practice martial arts, but the sage listed it as one of the six arts for a reason… Firstly, it cultivates prudence; secondly, it determines receiving and sending; and thirdly, it seeks to take and give… I am the Chief Administrator of the Privy Council and hold the position of the Bureau of Land Survey. I am a military advisor for Your Majesty and think about the entire battle situation from Qinghai to the East Sea all day long. The matter is of great importance, and I always feel that I can't bear it. After coming to Chang'an, I am even more anxious, so I will go to the military camp in the city to shoot arrows, while shooting arrows and thinking about ways to deal with it. These days, I spend more and more time there, and sometimes I am unwilling to let go even if my arms are sore from shooting."

"Yanxiu has worked hard." Zhang Jun obviously thought of something. "But Your Majesty has also worked hard, and since you know that Your Majesty has worked hard…"

"I don't mean that." Liu Ziyu shook his head. "I mean, Your Majesty is of course working hard, but I am afraid that he also has his own account in his heart when he shoots arrows, and it is an account unique to the Son of Heaven, an account that we can't imagine!"

Zhang Jun was suddenly stunned.

"You and I both think that Liu Xi's account as a warlord is a mess, and you also think that my account has shortcomings, but perhaps your account of doing your best to let fate take its course also has shortcomings in Your Majesty's place…" Liu Ziyu said earnestly. "So De Yuan, we should each perform our duties, each keep our own accounts, and express our own opinions according to the situation, and Your Majesty will make a decision!"

Zhang Jun was silent for a moment and nodded heavily.

But just as he nodded, the entire mule cart shook violently, causing the two people in the cart to stagger together.

"What happened?" Zhang Jun was annoyed for a moment.

At the same time, Liu Ziyu instinctively grabbed the saber at his side… The war was urgent, Zhang Jun was the actual logistics chief of the entire Guanzhong, and Liu Ziyu himself was the chief military advisor, and he had to guard against assassination.

But immediately, the follower outside the mule cart reported: "Sir and Advisor, there is no major problem. There are too many new troops entering the city from outside, and the intersections are endless. The mules were too fast just now and lost control."

This was a common thing. In fact, the two of them had been hearing the sound of armor and chariots nonstop before, but they didn't pay attention to it. Now that the cart had stopped, Zhang Jun and Liu simply got out of the stuffy mule cart together to take a breath.

However, as soon as the two got out of the car, they were immediately stunned, because the troops in front of them were endless, with flags and armor complete… This was understandable, because foreign guest troops entering Chang'an naturally had to dress neatly to show their military might and combat strength, and the reason why they specifically chose to do so in the evening when the heat was gradually dissipating was the same… So the problem was not only that the flags and armor were complete, but that the number was also very large!

Not only was the number very large, but the rate of armor was also too high. Half of them were cavalry wearing iron masks, and the other half were elite soldiers with iron masks and long axes. Moreover, whether cavalry or infantry, there was actually some semblance of orderly formation in their march. One side of the street was full of cavalry, and the other side was full of long-axe infantry, with large carts of baggage protecting the middle, clearly extraordinary.

"Which route of troops is this?" Zhang Jun, in a purple robe, was dumbfounded. "Where did they come from?"

"This is not a route of troops, this is an account." Liu Ziyu, in a red robe, cupped his hands and watched a young general who had just passed by waving his arms under a large flag with the character Zhang on it, completely ignoring that there was a purple-robed official and a red-robed official watching him by the side of the road. Seeing a large flag with the character Tian raised high on the opposite side of the street, he said in one word: "These are Zhang Boying's and Yue Pengju's accounts!"