C228 (1/2)
”Of course.” Ji Na immediately thought that this was Chinese Army Generals getting to know the situation from him, and said honestly, ”Second Prince has sixteen civil officials, twelve generals, and twenty-four thousand soldiers. They are all ministers and generals of Old King, and soldiers are the regular army of Fuyu Nation. Being able to withstand the attacks of over fifty thousand Gaoguellian, they are also very capable of fighting. ”
”Oh …” Huang Zhong nodded, and asked: ”Are they all loyal to the Second Prince?”
”Not necessarily.” Ji Na thought that Huang Zhong wanted to get rid of the supporters of the Second Prince, so he did not want to harm the ministers and generals: ”Old King suddenly passed away, and did not have the time to make a will, so everyone does not know who the king is. It was only because the Second Prince held the support of Yu Gong's regular army that they chose to join the Second Prince. As for whether or not he was loyal to the Second Prince, that would depend on whether or not the Second Prince could become king. To be precise, they were loyal to the King Fuyu. Of course, there are also some generals and ministers who are resolutely loyal to the Second Prince. ”
”Oh …” Huang Zhong turned his head, looked at the mountains in front of him, and fell into deep thought. It would definitely not be possible for the Han army to declare the Second Prince king in front of everyone. Was he really going to make a move against the helper? That would be inconsistent with Lord General's strategy of conquering the helper.
Ji Na also saw Huang Zhong's hesitation and knew that Huang Zhong was in the midst of making his decision, so he hurriedly said: ”Two sirs, Ji Na is sincerely welcoming the Chinese army. If Sir has any misgivings, why not tell Ji Na that Ji Na is willing to share your worries.”
”Is that so?” Huang Zhong turned his head, his eyes staring straight at Ji Na, but he couldn't understand anything. He thought for a moment, then bluntly said, ”Sir, you are also a scholar, you should understand the imperial court's rules. Don't you understand? How can something as important as a king or a marquis be decided by a general? ”
”To tell you the truth, I have already guessed the result. This is the reason why I did not follow Ba Lu back. To be honest, I do not wish to see the Han army and helper fight. No matter what happens, the helper cannot afford to take such a blow anymore. ”
As Ji Na said till this point, his eyes started to turn red and his voice became choked with sobs. He was really thinking for the helper, and did not want to see his suffer another disaster. If abandoning the Second Prince could be exchanged for peace with the helper, he was truly willing to cooperate with the Han army.
”Can the two sirs tell me who the Darky Court is planning to establish as king?”
Since the words had already been said, Huang Zhong felt that there was no need to hide it from Ji Na anymore: ”Let me be honest with you, we also don't know who the imperial government is planning to appoint as king. The orders we have brought here is for us to send Second Prince s, Third Prince s and Ninth Prince s to the Youzhou, for the imperial government to inspect them before deciding on the person to be the king. ”
”Understood.” As intelligent as Ji Na was, he immediately understood the imperial court's intentions. No matter who the emperor was, they would still have a false reputation. On the bright side, they were like princes, enjoying the taxes of their fiefdom. On the bad side, none of the princes could ever return to the support of others.
The Han Dynasty also had many subordinate countries, such as Zhongshan, Zhao, Chen, Pei, Lu, Jinan, and so on. The emperor's brothers were all conferred kingdoms, and those kingdoms were their fiefdom. The Prime Minister of the Kingdom had been changed to become the Prime Minister of the Kingdom, and was appointed by the Imperial Court. The State also had the mission of supervising the King, which provided that the various marquis could not rule over the civil affairs and could only ”rent taxes”, that is to say, the status of the Kingdom was no different from that of the Hanzhou Region.
Ji Na who was familiar with the history books was pleasantly surprised. If his judgement was right, then Fu Yu would become a direct subordinate of the imperial government in the future. The imperial government would help the remaining troops to ensure the safety of the helper, which was not necessarily a bad thing for the remaining commoners!
However, with Ji Na's understanding of the Second Prince, he would not easily admit defeat. The reason why he was willing to follow the command of the Han army was because he hoped that the imperial government would make him king. Now that he could not be king, he was sure to take the risk. Ji Na thought about it, then cupped his hands towards Huang Zhong.
”Milords, Second Prince is a very smart and scheming person, and his actions are very decisive. If you want him to go to Youzhou for an investigation, he definitely will not accept it.
What Huang Zhong was most worried about was fighting with the rest of the army, which were more than 20,000 regular soldiers. Even if he could win in a battle, it would definitely result in heavy casualties. More importantly, once a conflict broke out, a seed of hatred would be planted between the helper and the Han Chinese, making it extremely difficult for them to assimilate and fuse with the helper.
”Sir, according to your estimate, how should the Second Prince prepare?” At this point, Huang Zhong had to prepare for the worst. Although he did not want to fight with the helper, but at the most crucial moment, he would still kill him.
Ji Na thought for a while, then said to Huang Zhong: ”Masters, our mountain stronghold is divided into two parts, the South Village and the North stronghold, and when the Gaoguellian attacks, they are divided into two sides. I am sure that the Second Prince has gathered a portion of his army in the northern stronghold and is waiting for the Lord to announce him as the King. The other armies were already prepared to fight in South Village. If it is not as good as he wants, he will not hand over the military power, and it will most likely turn into a war. ”
Huang Zhong was still hesitating, but Wei Yan, who was at the side, could not hold it in. His expression changed, and he said coldly: ”Once we enter the mountain stronghold, we will control Second Prince and his generals, and ministers. They will even overturn the heavens!”