Chapter 184 Di Renjie is heading north
When Di Renjie asked about the details of Wang Tiehan's rescue, Ruyan's heart suddenly tightened, as if she had missed a beat.

He came from Bingzhou, but he saved Wang Tiehan who came from Pingzhou. It was indeed a coincidence, but the arrangement was reasonable and should be able to deceive Di Renjie...

Wang Tiehan sighed when he heard Di Renjie's question and said slowly, "I had been traveling peacefully since I left Pingzhou, but when I arrived at Heyang Posthouse, north of Shendu, I was attacked by a group of people in purple."

"I fought desperately to get out, but I was seriously injured and fainted on the road. I happened to meet Miss Ruyan, and that's how I survived."

Ruyan and Wang Tiehan came from the northwest and northeast respectively, and they could only meet near their common destination, Luoyang.

Di Renjie nodded slowly upon hearing this, agreeing with the explanation: "It's the purple-clothed men again... It seems that this group of purple-clothed men is quite powerful. Wang Xiaojie has been so careful, but they still discovered your whereabouts."

"If General Wang's memorial cannot be delivered, the consequences will be disastrous. Ruyan, thank goodness for you. You are worthy of being my niece, Di Renjie!"

"Thank you for the compliment, uncle." Ruyan said with a smile.

Di Renjie waved his hand and said, "Okay, it's late, you've all worked hard. I've asked Di Chun to clean up the East Cross Courtyard, go and rest."

"Thank you, uncle." Ruyan nodded. Several servants came in from outside the door and helped Wang Tiehan go downstairs to rest.

After everyone left, Li Yuanfang came up behind Di Renjie and said, "Sir, the other party came prepared. There are traitors in the court and Turks outside for support. This situation is exactly the same as the Youzhou case."

Di Renjie nodded and said, "Yes, Xiao Bao sent by Chengyuan was not attacked, but Wang Xiaojie's general Wang Tiehan was targeted. What does this mean?"

Li Yuanfang said without hesitation: "The traitor must be from Wang Xiaojie's army."

Di Renjie nodded, and then asked in confusion: "You hit the nail on the head. The current situation of the Pingzhou army is probably not optimistic. But I don't quite understand why Wang Xiaojie said that the Turks and the Great Zhou were at war and asked the court to dispatch the army to the north."

"Is there anything wrong with this?" Li Yuanfang didn't quite understand what Di Renjie meant.

Di Renjie smiled and explained, "It was Chengyuan's troops that were fighting against the Turks, so Wang Xiaojie's news must have come from Chengyuan. But Chengyuan clearly said that there was something fishy about the Turks, so the court should be cautious."

"How can Wang Xiaojie be so confident that he said the two countries have already gone to war and ordered the court to dispatch a large army to the north? Now the Khitan has not been pacified yet, and they are going to go to war with the Turks again. As a general, Wang Xiaojie is so radical, which is worrying."

Li Yuanfang thought for a moment and said, "Perhaps Wang Xiaojie did not think so much, but just asked the court to take precautions in advance. After all, the conflict is real, and no one can guarantee that the Turks will not launch a large-scale invasion in the next moment."

Di Renjie had another idea in his mind, but it was not mature yet: "Maybe. This matter is of great importance and there is no time to delay. I will file a memorial to the emperor tonight to explain this matter."
-
The next morning, Di Renjie rushed into the palace and presented Wang Xiaojie's report to Wu Zetian.

When Wu Zetian heard the news, she felt a mixture of joy and anger. She was happy that Li Jinzhong was dead, but she was angry about the defeat in Dongxie Shigu, as well as the unspeakable matter of the traitor in the army.

In addition, the empress was also worried about the involvement of the Turks in the war.

The front line suffered another defeat, and it would have been appropriate to find a famous general in the court to lead the reinforcements. However, the matter involved traitors and the Turks, and no one was more suitable for the task than Di Renjie.

Di Renjie was then appointed as the commander-in-chief of the Hebei Province, in charge of all military and political affairs of Hebei Province, and in control of all the troops in Hebei Province. From Wang Xiaojie to Zhao Ji, all were under his command and were allowed to act at his discretion, to fight against the Khitan and at the same time to guard against the Turks.

As for Su Honghui, who was impeached by Wang Xiaojie, he fought incompetently and fled in fear, which led to the defeat of the army. His crime was unforgivable, so he was immediately executed.

Qiu Jing was to blame for failing to supply food and fodder to the army, and was dismissed from his post on the spot. He was escorted back to the capital in a prison cart and handed over to the officials for trial.

Wang Xiaojie himself was not blamed because of his contribution in planning, the fact that the defeat was caused by certain reasons, and his ability to break through the encirclement and save the main force of the army. He was also temporarily appointed as the governor of Pingzhou and continued to fight against the Khitan.

All the soldiers under Zhao Ji were rewarded, but Zhao Ji himself was only promoted one level in the rank of honorary officer. It seemed that he would have to wait until the Khitan was completely annihilated before his achievements would be settled together. As the saying goes, three times is the limit, this time the empress's most trusted Di Renjie personally took action. Her patience had reached its limit, and she was ready to completely annihilate the Khitan.

The only drawback was that the government and the people finally decided to send more troops to Gansu and Liang, which in turn exacerbated the tension between the Great Zhou and the Turks.
-
The imperial edict was transmitted to the northern border at an urgent speed of 600 miles. At the same time, Xiao Bao also reported to Zhao Ji with Di Renjie's reply.

Zhao Ji sat in the commander's tent and read the letter carefully. Then he turned his gaze to Xiao Bao and asked, "Is everything going on over there, Lord Di? Is there anything wrong?"

Xiao Bao bowed and reported: "General, on the day I first arrived at Di's house, an assassin sneaked into Di's house and wanted to assassinate Di Gong, but fortunately General Li repelled him."

Zhao Ji heard this, and a trace of doubt flashed across his brows: "Repel? General Li let the assassin escape?"

Xiao Bao nodded and said, "That's right. I heard from Zhang Huan and the others that the assassin was a woman. She was able to deal with General Li. She's really amazing."

Zhao Ji secretly speculated that the female assassin was Ruyan, and asked, "The letter said that Di Gong's niece Ruyan has arrived. Have you seen her?"

"Yes, Miss Ruyan and I arrived on the same day. Zhang Huan said that it was because of Miss Ruyan's arrival and Di Chun's report that the female assassin ran away." Xiao Bao replied again.

Zhao Ji fell into deep thought after hearing this: "So if it's not Ruyan, the female assassin who can fight Yuan Fang for a few moves, then it must be Xiaofeng, right?"

"Did the assassin run away? He didn't suffer any injuries?" Zhao Ji asked again with concern.

Xiao Bao shook his head: "It seems not."

Zhao Ji breathed a sigh of relief, waved his hand and said, "Okay, I got it, you can go down and rest."

Xiao Bao left, and Shen Tao hurried into the tent with a letter in his hand, reporting: "General, General Wang has a letter!"

Zhao Ji was cheered up when he heard this and said, "Bring it here for me to see."

After taking the letter and reading it, Zhao Ji frowned and said after a long while, "Go and ask General Yang to come and discuss the matter."

Yang Xuanji was then invited by Xiao Bao and asked directly, "What's the news about General Wang?"

Zhao Ji took a deep breath and said slowly: "The court has granted the reward for the meritorious soldiers we requested last time."

"This is a good thing." Yang Xuanji smiled.

Zhao Ji continued, "Wang Xiaojie also said that there are traces of Khitan outside Pingzhou City. He suspected that the Khitan were going to besiege the city, so he asked us to lead the army to reinforce them."

Hearing this, Yang Xuanji frowned slightly and asked in confusion, "Oh? That's not right. Didn't Sun Wanrong just withdraw his troops back to Yingzhou to clean up the mess and inherit the Khanship? Why is he going to attack Pingzhou so soon?"

Zhao Ji nodded and said in a deep voice: "I also think there is something strange about this. Even if Wang Xiaojie loses a battle, he still has at least 30,000 people in his hands."

"Even if Sun Wanrong goes all out now, he only has 60,000 to 70,000 soldiers and horses at most. 30,000 men are more than enough to defend the city. Why would he need our help?"

"Besides, it's winter now, and the weather is getting colder. How could Sun Wanrong lead an army of 60,000 to 70,000 to attack the city? Is he crazy? Where did he get the food and supplies?"

"What the governor said is absolutely right. We need to respond with caution and not act rashly." Yang Xuanji agreed.

(End of this chapter)