"Lu Yan, do you know? I have a crazy plan."
Shen Qingfeng's eyes were extremely bright. There was an unusual glint in his dark pupils, shining as dazzling as stars and directly reflecting into Lu Yan's eyes.
Lu Yan reached out and tucked a wisp of blue silk behind Shen Qingfeng's cheek, asking softly, "What plan?"
Shen Qingfeng looked at him. Lu Yan, who was so close, was incredibly handsome. He traced Lu Yan's eyebrows and eyes with his gaze. Finally, he couldn't help but plant a kiss on the tear mole at the corner of Lu Yan's eye. Then he straightened up and said, "Before I tell you, I'll ask you something first. Answer me honestly."
Lu Yan was quite pleased with the kiss Shen Qingfeng had just given him. In a great mood, he said, "Just ask. I'll definitely answer honestly."
"Without the ten - thousand troops from King Xia Jie, do you have a chance of winning?" Shen Qingfeng hesitated for a moment and said seriously, "You should know that the Donghu tribe has an army of two hundred thousand. This doesn't even count the part that may not have been exposed and could be approaching the Northern Kingdom."
Although Shen Qingfeng asked this question, in fact, he wasn't very worried about this. After all, in his previous life, Lu Yan had never used a single soldier from Liange. He had purely relied on his ability to fight against a hundred and had withstood the Donghu troops attacking from the Northern Kingdom and Qimen, achieving a great victory.
However, in that battle in his previous life, Lu Yan had fought for a long time. Shen Qingfeng remembered that according to the timeline of his previous life, it wasn't until he and Xia Chuli forced the emperor to abdicate and eliminated the dissidents the next year that Lu Yan finally finished this battle. All in all, this battle had lasted for one year and three months.
The reason why Shen Qingfeng asked for Lu Yan's opinion was mainly because he was afraid that his rebirth might have a negative impact on this war. After all, many things had been different this time around.
"Although it will be quite difficult, the Donghu army is already my 'old acquaintance'. Qi Shuhuan thinks he can control my success or failure with just ten - thousand troops. He's being too arrogant." Lu Yan snorted softly.
Shen Qingfeng said, "The Donghu tribe borders both the Northern Kingdom and Qimen. They're just trying to empty out the Northern Kingdom and then use the Donghu's strength to sweep over it. The Donghu soldiers are strong and they've been building up their strength for years. What's your plan?"
Lu Yan said, "First, we'll protect Qimen. I've already sent people to make arrangements in the Northern Kingdom. The situation on the battlefield is unpredictable, and we need to act according to the circumstances."
Remembering the plan Lu Yan had told him before, Shen Qingfeng asked softly, "Are you going to abandon Liangcheng?"
Lu Yan nodded and said, "Yes, we'll abandon Liangcheng and retreat to Fengping. We'll get rid of Guo Zhuyi, that two - faced person. Moreover, the terrain of Fengping is much better than that of Liangcheng. If we defend Fengping, it will save us a lot of effort when the battle starts."
Shen Qingfeng nodded. He knew why Lu Yan had made this decision. He also knew that the decision Lu Yan and Chu Jietian had made was a risky move to gain greater benefits with a small sacrifice. In a battle where they were outnumbered and the survival of the country was at stake, this was the most correct approach.
However, Shen Qingfeng still felt a bit powerless.
This sense of powerlessness came from multiple aspects. Shen Qingfeng was a person who never admitted defeat. For this kind of thing, he always felt that there must be an optimal solution. So when there was no choice, he would feel frustrated because of his own lack of ability.
At the same time, this sense of powerlessness also came from other aspects. Maybe it was because Shen Qingfeng had seen too much bloodshed in his previous life, or perhaps it was because his cold - heartedness in his previous life had ended up with him dying without illness. Shen Qingfeng attributed these suppressed emotions to his regret for his previous life and a vague sense of atonement in his heart. He lowered his head, looking a bit dejected.
"Qingfeng." Lu Yan didn't know what Shen Qingfeng was thinking. He thought Shen Qingfeng was sad about the decision he had made. So he reached out and hugged Shen Qingfeng, saying softly, "Qingfeng, people will die in war. I know you've never seen war, and I don't want you to see it either. But I've been born on the battlefield since I was a child. I hope you can trust me. I'll block all the bloodshed and swords for you."
Shen Qingfeng was stunned. He knew Lu Yan had misunderstood him, but he was still deeply touched by Lu Yan's words. His lips trembled, and he looked up at Lu Yan intently.
Lu Yan also looked down at him and joked, "Why are you looking at me like this all of a sudden? Is your husband handsome?"
Shen Qingfeng felt as if he had eaten honey. The joy in his heart was like sticky sugar - coating, layer by layer wrapping around his heart.
He smiled and said, "Handsome."
Lu Yan was stunned. Shen Qingfeng in front of him was looking up at him. All he had to do was reach out slightly and he could touch Shen Qingfeng's hair, his eyes, and everything that Lu Yan had been longing for.
Holding his lover in his arms, all else faded.
Lu Yan leaned down and gently kissed Shen Qingfeng's lips. They embraced and kissed. This kiss was not full of any lust. Instead, it was more like a connection and communication between their souls, pure and affectionate.
Lu Yan slowly let go of him. He pressed his forehead against Shen Qingfeng's and chuckled a few times, saying, "So Qingfeng, can you tell me your bold idea now?"
Shen Qingfeng licked his moist lips and said, "I'm going to arrange people to force the emperor to abdicate in a month."
Lu Yan was startled. He immediately put away his joking expression, sat up straight, looked at Shen Qingfeng, and said, "Are you serious?"
Shen Qingfeng nodded.
He had carefully considered the matter of forcing the emperor to abdicate.
Forcing the emperor to abdicate required two conditions: intelligence and military power.
In terms of intelligence, because of his rebirth, the establishment of the Listening - Wind Pavilion had been advanced by one year compared to his previous life. Now Xiangcheng was gradually getting better, and Yu Shuang had started to look for other members of the Listening - Wind Pavilion. Although it had been quite difficult to find them for some unknown reason before, Yu Shuang had secretly found some recently. Coupled with Shen Qingfeng's understanding of each member in the Listening - Wind Pavilion, it wouldn't be a problem for the Listening - Wind Pavilion to complete the initial stage of winning people over and coordinating operations within a month.
As for military power, Lu Yan had it. As for how to get Lu Yan back secretly after a month, Shen Qingfeng had already thought of a way. Qi Qi, one of Lu Yan's subordinates, would be a rare military general in the future. Although he hadn't shown his talent yet, his style of leading troops was exactly the same as Lu Yan's. They could use him to pretend that Lu Yan was still in Qimen. Then Lu Yan could lead a small troop of soldiers and sneak into Liange under the protection of the Listening - Wind Pavilion.
If everything went smoothly, they could kill King Xia Jie and Xia Yonglin and others in one night. Then they could support Xia Chuli to succeed to the throne smoothly.
As long as they cut off the other bloodlines of the Li Xia royal family, there would be no controversy about Xia Chuli's succession to the throne except for the bad reputation of "killing his brother and father", and this bad reputation could actually be suppressed by tough measures later.
There were also certain reasons why Shen Qingfeng was in such a hurry.
First of all, Shen Qingfeng was a reborn person. Many things were different from his previous life. Forcing the emperor to abdicate when he could predict the future development could also avoid potential troubles.
Secondly, Shen Qingfeng had a lot of things to do this time around, such as looking for Lan, investigating the cause of the death of the Lu family army, and finding the remains of Lu Jiang. All of these required Xia Chuli's support after he became the king of Li Xia.
Thirdly, Shen Qingfeng actually had his own selfish motives. He also wanted to finish everything as soon as possible and then go to the Northern Kingdom with Lu Yan.
After all, in his previous life, Shen Qingfeng had lived a very tiring life. He had been covered in scars and finally died. But this time around, he had met Lu Yan. For the first time, he had felt true warmth and love. He admitted that he was so infatuated that he couldn't extricate himself. Just like a drifting duckweed finally finding a destination, he was both lucky and happy. He just wanted to continue this love well.