The Empress traveled through time and space, and she fought for supremacy in the troubled times

Chapter 208 The country of Yue is destroyed

Since Yun Jingxian’s wedding, everything seemed to have been accelerated.

Victory news came from the border one after another. Compared with the attack on Wu State, this attack on Yue State was not only much faster but also much easier.

With a shortage of food and weak military forces, it was already difficult for the State of Yue to deal with the two armies.

However, the coalition forces of Yu and Liao took advantage of Ji Xun's fainting and the chaos in the Yue court to spread the news that Ning Cen had surrendered to An Guo with an army of 200,000.

Suddenly, the already unstable military morale became even more turbulent.

The soldiers in the army were talking about it, and suspicion and panic spread in the team.

"Is this true? General Ning has really surrendered to An Guo?"

"If that's true, how can we fight this war? They have an army of 700,000!"

"Don't believe the rumors easily. This must be a trick of the enemy army, intended to disrupt the morale of our army." A general promoted by Ji Xun stood up and tried to calm the restless soldiers in a firm and powerful voice.

But his words were completely unable to calm the already shaken morale of the army.

"General, you said this was fake, but why didn't we see General Ning leading his troops to battle?"

"Yes, General, what is going on?" the soldiers asked.

The general frowned. He was naturally aware of the inside story. General Ning had indeed defected with a large army, but in order to stabilize the morale of the army, he had no choice but to explain.

"You all know that General Ning was injured and is recuperating in his residence, unable to come. Everyone must trust the court and the general, and must not be misled by the enemy's rumors!"

"General Ning can't come, so what about his 200,000-man army? General, please don't tell me we didn't notice them coming. I didn't see Deputy General Guo, Captain Wu, or Commandant Sima."

The person asking the questions was a centurion. Although he was not one of Ning Cen's soldiers, he participated in the attack on the State of Wu and had some understanding of Ning Cen's soldiers.

It has been nearly half a month since the army joined together, and ten days since they fought against the coalition forces of the two countries, but he has not seen a single soldier under General Ning.

The general met his questioning gaze and felt his heart tighten, but he still pretended to be calm.

He coughed to hide his panic, "Now that things have come to this, I'll be frank with you all. General Ning has led his army around the enemy's rear, aiming to attack from both inside and outside."

The centurion frowned, full of suspicion. "General, are you telling the truth? Is this information reliable?"

The general straightened his back and said loudly, "What I said is absolutely true! It won't be long before we know the outcome."

Seeing that most of the soldiers believed it, the general breathed a sigh of relief. He thought that it would be better to keep it secret for a while.

However, how long can the lie be concealed?

On the other side, it was five days later that Ji Xun woke up again after fainting from vomiting blood.

After waking up, he immediately summoned all the ministers.

"What is the current situation?" Ji Xun asked weakly but anxiously.

The ministers looked at each other in bewilderment. One of them stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, regarding the allied forces, the enemy has spread rumors that Ning Cen has led a large army to surrender to An Guo. General Wei has suppressed them for the time being. As for the other side, we will immediately dispatch soldiers stationed in various places to rush over."

Ji Xun frowned, and his worries grew even more when he heard that he didn't mention a word about how many cities had been captured by the enemy forces on both sides.

"Tell the truth, how many cities have been lost now?" Ji Xun's voice was low and suppressed.

The ministers all lowered their heads, not daring to look Ji Xun in the eye.

The minister who spoke first replied with a stiff upper lip, "Your Majesty, the coalition forces have lost five cities in total, and the Anguo side has lost three cities due to the sudden attack."

Ji Xun's face was terribly gloomy. "In just half a month, we've lost eight cities! What the hell are you doing?"

The ministers were so frightened that they were silent and dared not even breathe.

"Pass on my order, mobilize all available troops and food supplies, and make sure to recapture the city! If we fail again, bring your heads to me!" Ji Xun said angrily.

Facing Ji Xun's wrath, the Minister of War stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, our country's military strength is truly insufficient. All of our forces combined only total 600,000, and we cannot mobilize them all."

This naturally also includes some logistics personnel who play a minor role.

After the Minister of War finished speaking, the Minister of Revenue also stood up and said, "Your Majesty, it is really difficult to raise food and fodder now."

Ji Xun glared at him, "Not enough troops? Not enough food? You don't know how to find a solution. If you don't have enough troops, recruit soldiers from the people. If you don't have enough food, increase taxes!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the ministers' faces changed drastically.

An old minister hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, this is impossible! Recruiting soldiers from the civilian population will only cause resentment, and increasing taxes will make the people suffer. I'm afraid it will lead to civil unrest! And it will cause..."

The old minister stopped talking halfway. He couldn't possibly say that the country would be like the one in Tianqi.

Ji Xun snorted coldly, "So what do you think we should do? Are we just going to sit there and wait for the enemy to break through the city?"

The ministers bowed their heads and dared not speak.

Seeing the ministers no longer speaking, Ji Xun slammed the table and said, "Do as you say!"

"Yes, Your Majesty." The ministers responded in unison.

Looking at the ministers who were leaving one after another, Ji Xun rubbed his brows. Could it be that he couldn't defend the country that his father couldn't?

After the order to recruit soldiers and increase taxes was issued in the first half of the year, the people complained and the situation became increasingly tense.

Fake is fake after all. The Yue army fighting against the coalition forces has not yet waited for the internal and external cooperation that General Wei said, and the morale of the army is getting lower and lower.

The morale of the coalition forces of the two countries was high. They were working hard to occupy more territory of Yue State than An State.

"Comrades, let's work harder and capture more cities. We will reward you according to your merits when the time comes!" The coalition generals loudly encouraged morale.

The allied soldiers launched round after round of attacks on the Yue cities like wolves and tigers.

Even though the State of Yue continued to send new soldiers, it could not change the defeat.

On March 1424, 3, the allied forces of Henan and Liao captured the imperial city of Yue and captured Ji Xun who was about to escape.

At this point, the Yue Kingdom was destroyed.