amaotonovel Chapter 1146: Dispatching Reinforcements
Chapter 1146: Dispatching Reinforcements
Chapter 1146: Dispatching Reinforcements
Yao Guangxiao narrowed his eyes and looked at the map.
As the military strategist and think tank of the Western Expedition Army, he knew what kind of important responsibility Zhu Di had entrusted to him when he asked "what should we do?"
Lisbon is far behind the enemy. It is impossible and unrealistic for the entire Western Expedition Army to go through the enemy territory and find out the truth for a piece of news that has not been fully confirmed. But this matter cannot be ignored. His Royal Highness Prince Zhou and His Royal Highness Prince Yan are brothers from the same mother. They are very close brothers. Moreover, the generals in the Western Expedition Army have many connections with Prince Zhou: when Zhang Yu went out from Naha to surrender to the Ming Dynasty, he surrendered to His Royal Highness Prince Zhou's Jizhen Army; Princess Xu of Prince Zhou is the elder sister of General Xu Zengshou; General Wang Xian, who was born as a ranger, has always respected Prince Zhou. Even ordinary soldiers in the Western Expedition Army, who has not heard of the famous name of Prince Zhou of the Ming Dynasty?
Even Yao Guangxiao himself was once an official in the Zhou Palace. Rather than being a subordinate of the King of Yan, he should be considered an old friend of the King of Zhou.
If the news from His Royal Highness Prince Zhou could be confirmed, the morale of the entire Ming army on the Western Expedition would certainly be raised to a terrifying level.
Moreover, it is obvious that Yao Guangxiao has another consideration: His Royal Highness Prince Zhou is not an ordinary person. If he really appears in Lisbon, and even dares to raise a flag and blatantly become a "Ming pirate", perhaps he is not stranded due to a shipwreck, but does it deliberately.
The purpose was to join forces with the King of Yan's army to attack the Western Yi countries, destroy their churches and put an end to their ambitions.
If they could successfully contact a powerful King Zhou, then the difficulties faced by the King of Yan's Western Expedition would be solved:
They could take a two-pronged approach and simultaneously eliminate the two church forces entrenched in France and Rome, creating a huge ideological and civilizational vacuum in this Western land.
Only then can we inject Chinese things into this land where our ancestors rarely set foot, and help it take root.
After a period of deep thought, Yao Guangxiao had a definite idea. He bowed to Zhu Di and said, "Your Highness Prince of Yan, in my opinion, with Your Highness Prince of Zhou's resourcefulness, you can protect yourself even if you are behind enemy lines in a foreign land."
"In the letter from Archduke Philip, he also mentioned 'a group of Ming pirates'. His tone was quite fearful, which shows that he had no way to deal with them."
"Since His Royal Highness King Zhou is safe, there is no need for His Royal Highness to advance rashly. Send an elite force to Lisbon and wait for an opportunity to contact His Royal Highness King Zhou and inform him of our whereabouts. Even if His Royal Highness King Zhou is in danger, a small number of elite forces will be more flexible than our entire army advancing rashly behind enemy lines."
"Good." Zhu Di nodded. It was indeed dangerous for the whole army to advance rashly. Although he cared about his brothers, he was also the commander of the Ming Dynasty's Western Expedition Army. The comrades who followed him on the expedition were also his brothers, and he had to be responsible for their lives.
Sending an elite force to Lisbon to try to find and contact the fifth brother Zhu Su is indeed the most practical way.
"But, the Western Barbarians are not like our China. The appearance and behavior of the people there are very different from those of our Ming Dynasty. Even if we only send a small team, it will be difficult to avoid being seen along the way." Zhu Di said.
When the Western Expedition Army arrived here, they recruited many Semites. However, these people were not as strong as the elite Han soldiers, nor as loyal and reliable as the Han soldiers. Therefore, Zhu Di had to send Han people, or even his own guards, to Lisbon.
But it is often difficult for the dark-eyed and dark-haired Han people to hide in Europe, let alone travel across Europe to Lisbon, which is almost located in the westernmost part of the country.
When Zhu Di said this, everyone looked worried.
Yao Guangxiao had already thought about this. He smiled and said, "Don't worry, Your Highness."
"Since we can't hide from the public, then we might as well be open and aboveboard."
"We have quite a few hostages in our hands. If we lead this elite force to escort these hostages, will the Western Yi countries dare to stop us?"
Everyone was startled and looked at John, who was standing there like a quail because he couldn't understand Chinese.
John was frightened and felt a little overwhelmed, and subconsciously panicked.
Xu Zengshou laughed out loud: "Great! Although these 'meat tickets' are straw bags, each of them is proud and valuable."
"Master Yao, your idea is brilliant. Just send a group of people and ask for a ransom, and these Western Barbarian countries will not dare to stop us!"
After all, after fighting with these Western barbarians for several years, Zhu Di already knew that the relationships between the nobles of European countries were complicated and that they were often related to each other.
Taking these captives along with them in the name of asking for ransom will surely make European countries cautious.
Perhaps, these European countries would even host grand banquets and provide good food and drinks along the way to send this Ming army over.
"In this case, who dares to take on this task?" Zhu Di said with a stern face.
"We, the Ming Dynasty, have now become a major threat to the Western Barbarians. Although we have captives to protect us, we are optimistic now. However, along the way, there is no guarantee that some Western Barbarians will not think twice and will do something desperate."
"I'll make it clear in advance that we must get accurate information from my fifth brother. No matter who goes, no one will be allowed to give up halfway."
"This matter is extremely important. If you cannot bring back news for me, it will be a waste of merit. If you are not sure, don't ask for a mission."
As soon as these words came out, most of the second and third-tier generals of the Western Expedition Army who were about to volunteer to fight hesitated and retreated. It was not because they were not loyal enough and did not want to make achievements, but because they considered that the soldiers under their command might not have such ability.
If we miss the Western Expedition, we will be punished by death.
After a short silence, Yao Guangxiao stepped out and said, "Your Highness, please allow me to go ahead."
"I am a monk. If I take captives to the Western Yi countries, the Yi people will be less prepared. Moreover, I am an old subordinate of His Majesty the King of Zhou. If His Majesty the King of Zhou is really in the West, it would be more convenient for me to cooperate with His Majesty the King of Zhou."
Xu Zengshou also stepped out and said, "Your Highness, please let me go."
"Lord Yao is our military advisor, and he has a lot of things to do, so he can't leave for even a moment. Besides, the Fifth Prince is my brother-in-law, so it would be very convenient for me to cooperate with the Fifth Prince. I can issue a military order, and I will be able to get accurate information about the Fifth Prince."
Zhu Di was hesitating when he saw Zhang Yu coming out. Xu Zengshou saw him and said, "Old Zhang, don't join in the fun."
"You are the vanguard of my Western Expedition Army and the top general under His Highness. Besides, if you leave the army, who will take care of His Highness's safety? Let me take care of this matter."
"The Fifth Prince and I have a history, and now that I have news about the Fifth Prince, I really can't just sit back and watch... However, I don't want to go there myself, but I want to recommend someone to His Highness." Zhang Yu said.
"Oh? Who is it?" Zhu Di became interested.
"I would like to recommend my son, Zhang Fu." Zhang Yu said to Zhu Di.
(End of this chapter)