Lu Tongzhou stood by and watched with a cold eye, naturally able to see the look of relief on Zhang Jie's face, and he was puzzled in his heart.
Perhaps he had misjudged, and this Zhang Jie was not guilty of anything serious. He filtered through the several major events that had recently occurred in his family one by one, but still couldn't find any connection between them and this unremarkable man in front of him.
Xu Haifeng reached out to help Zhang Jie up, then turned to Lu Tongzhou and said: "Brother Lu, since you've already forgiven him, please go back and withdraw his wanted order."
Lu Tongzhou was taken aback, hesitated for a moment, and said: "Xu brother, to be honest, the wanted notices of my humble abode have always been issued by me personally. But there has never been this gentleman in front of us."
Jiang Kungming burst out laughing and asked: "General Lu, how long have you been in charge of the pursuit order?"
Lu Tongzhou didn't hide it and spoke the truth: "It's already been a whole decade."
Jiang Kung-ming pointed at Zhang Jie and said: "However, this man's wanted order has been issued for eighteen years."
Lu Tongzhou was shocked and asked in surprise: "Eighteen years?"
They had been pursuing him for eighteen years, and he was still able to escape; it was a great loss of face.
Xu Haifeng smiled slightly and said, "Eighteen years ago, Zhang Jie inadvertently encountered your family's smuggling operation under the name of the Tianying Military Unit. At that time, he didn't know any better and was seen by your family members, so a wanted order was issued for him. Fortunately, he was clever enough to see the situation wasn't good and immediately abandoned his home and fled far away, thus avoiding this disaster."
"Ah...... is that all?" Lu Tongzhou couldn't help but laugh and cry at the same time. Just for this trivial matter, Xu Haifeng actually went to great lengths to invite him over for a chat, which was indeed a bit of an overreaction.
Smuggling in the name of the military, using power for personal gain, in their eyes, it's just a normal thing. These things have always been handled by the elderly at home, whether it was Lu Ding-sheng in the past or Lu Tongzhou now, they only care about how much profit is made each month, as for how things are done below, they never interfere.
Because such things are indeed not of paramount importance in their eyes.
Zhang Jie was hunted down because he wasn't qualified, if he had the same prestigious status as Xu Haifeng, at most it would have been laughed off and wouldn't have led to a whole heap of trouble.
Xu Haifeng explained and said: "Zhang Jie, are you relieved now?"
"Is... being able to get Master Lu's personal promise, if Zhang Jie still doesn't believe it, then he is ungrateful."
Xu Haifeng nodded with a smile, looking at Zhang Jie, and didn't urge him.
This person was also a clever one, as soon as he saw Xu Haifeng's expression, he immediately understood and respectfully said: "Several adults, I unintentionally went to the Kaisa Empire and lived there for nearly twenty years. I don't dare to boast about anything else, but I do have some understanding of human geography."
"Ah……" Lu Tongzhou blurted out in surprise, and he immediately understood. No wonder Xuhai Feng was so serious about it. It turned out that this person was actually the fugitive Caesar, who had been hiding there for over a decade. The value of this person was beyond measure.
Zhang Jie had prepared a set of words before coming here, and at this time, there was no longer any concealment, and the next thing that came out was a brain dump.
"When Xiao arrived at Caesar, it was when Emperor Caesar was on a western expedition and returned triumphantly. This Caesar seemed to be a born warlord, he spent his life fighting east and west, and the number of battles he experienced is countless. In power for decades, the territory of the Caesar Empire has more than doubled."
Lu Tongzhou had never heard anyone evaluate Caesar in such a way before. As a military man himself, he couldn't help but feel a sense of reverence and admiration for the great achievements.
"The little man used to walk on the commercial road of Caesar and the Great Han. After a long time, he also understood some of the words of the Caesars. At that time, he was at his wit's end. Happening upon their army recruiting firemen, he changed his name and joined in. Originally, he only wanted to make a living, but unexpectedly, this stint lasted for eighteen years."
He swallowed his saliva and said: "The Roman army is strict in discipline, and what they value most is the coordination of various troops in combat. That night..."
He suddenly stopped here and carefully glanced at Xu Haifeng.
Xu Haifeng smiled kindly at him and said, "Just say what you want to say, no one will blame you."
Zhang Jie replied in a low voice, finally saying: "If Bancroft wasn't a reckless surprise attack, but rather a formal deployment on the second day with various branches of the military working together, your army may not have been able to easily win a great victory."
Xu Haifeng's mind suddenly turned, and he asked abruptly: "How did you know?"
Zhang Jie hesitated and stopped, saying in a low voice: "I once saw the scene of your army fighting against the Roman Empire that night, but this is just my nonsense, please don't take it to heart, generals."
"The City Garrison." Jiang Gongming said with a smile.
Lu Tongzhou on the side couldn't help but laugh, how could the mere city guards be compared to the Black Flag Army?
But this principle was something no one had explained to him.
Although Zhang Jie didn't understand what they were saying, it seemed that they didn't have any intention of blaming him, and he couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief, secretly reflecting on himself and not daring to say anything unpleasant again.
He changed the subject and said, "Actually, as for the wealth of the East, Caesar's country has long been coveting it. Since the defeat of Prince Alregon at the Dragon City... No, after the Battle of Sleeping Dragon City, Emperor Caesar began to prepare for a grand expedition to the East. However, at this time, something happened that caused the plan to be delayed again and again, unable to be put into action."
Xu Haifeng's eyes lit up, this was the intelligence they most wanted to know. The Caesarians had made up their minds to attack the Great Han as early as when they were colluding with the Xiongnu people, but all along they had been holding back, at most just some small skirmishes. Such inconsistent words and deeds left Xu Haifeng and others always unable to guess what was going on. They asked Catherine several times, but the results were always vague and impossible to guess.
"In the northernmost part of the Caesar Empire, there is a group of native people who are as tall as horses and extremely fierce and brutal. They have strong combat power. Emperor Caesar has personally led several expeditions, but because the northern country is indeed too cold, and the natives are even more brave and fearless, so each time he returned without success."
"This time, they suddenly gathered together and invaded Caesar's territory, looting and pillaging, causing chaos in the north. The old men of the Senate were shocked and advocated for driving out these pests first. Especially those great nobles whose fiefs were close to the north, they even gathered a group of dignitaries and personally sought help from the Pope, making Caesar extremely passive."
"The northern indigenous people." Xuhai Feng muttered.
"Hmph..." A cold laugh echoed, and everyone looked over to see Jiang Kongming with a disdainful expression, still sneering.
"What is General Military Advisor laughing at?" asked Rutongzhou.
"This year the weather is cold, those aborigines must be unable to find food, so they can only travel south in groups to plunder. They are doing it for a living, but unexpectedly, they have helped us out greatly...” Jiang Kongming raised his eyebrows and said: “If I were Caesar, I would prioritize and first give them some grain to appease them. Then, I would gather the army and attack the Great Han from both sides. Now is the most chaotic time for the Great Han, if we want to make a move, it’s the perfect opportunity, don’t let it slip away! As for those aborigines, as long as we can take over the eastern region, we can give them a fatal lesson at any time."
"Ah......" Zhang Jie suddenly looked shocked, staring at Jiang Kongming's face which had already turned pale with intense fear.
"What's wrong?"
Zhang Jie lowered his head and said, "This lord is right. Emperor Caesar in the Senate was indeed forcing his way through opposition, advocating for appeasing the northern indigenous people first, and then plotting against the Great Han."
"Oh?" Jiang Gongming was somewhat surprised and slowly said: "This old guy, does he really have some skills? What happened afterwards."
"At the beginning, all northern nobles were opposed. Caesar was dragging his feet in the Senate while actively sending envoys to offer grain and supplies, allowing those northerners to gain an inch at a time, repeatedly satisfying their demands. Just as those northern barbarians left with large quantities of goods, satisfied and content, Caesar's army suddenly launched a lightning-fast surprise attack on them. Caught off guard, less than 30% of the native northerners were able to escape."
"What a Caesar, indeed has some endurance," Jiang Gongming's eyes lit up and suddenly laughed: "The student is actually looking forward to his arrival."
"What's going on now that Caesar has arrived and everything has changed, it's understandable that he would come, but what about now?" Xǔ Hǎifēng nodded and asked the most important question.
Zhang Jie didn't dare to slack off and immediately said: "The great Emperor Caesar personally took command, six of the eight major legions in the country were mobilized, along with some garrison troops, gathering a massive army of no less than 400,000. And... there are also the Temple Knights, renowned throughout Caesar's domain. They have almost mobilized the entire nation's military might for this battle; they will stop at nothing to win."
"Four hundred thousand, this number is a bit exaggerated, hmm... if we want to hold on to it, the cost is also too high." Jiang Kongming muttered to himself.
Although Lu Tongzhou didn't say a word, his face was extremely solemn. Four hundred thousand troops were by no means a small number, and with just the few men they had in Wòlóng City, they probably wouldn't even be enough to fill the gaps between the enemy's teeth.
If the northwest falls, the biggest loss will definitely be theirs. His eyebrows were tightly furrowed, this was not good news at all.
After sending off Lu Tongzhou and settling Zhang Jie, Xu Haifeng said with a sigh of relief: "At this time, Zhang Jie came, it was also fate, if not, we would have been fooled."
The appearance of the Romans and the Han people differed greatly, making it extremely difficult to send spies. Xu Haifeng had only held a high position for a few years, and his reach was not that long yet.
"Hmph... 400,000, what's the big deal? War isn't won just by having more people." Jiang Kongming changed the subject and asked: "Your Excellency, when you left the Council Chamber earlier, what experiment were you going to conduct?"
Xu Haifeng smiled and said a few words, this time it was Jiang Dajun's turn to be speechless.
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