Quick Transmigration: Why did you provoke him? He's love-struck!

Chapter 496 Relying on Favor (41)

In the stillness of the night, at the Prince of Zhao's residence.

In the courtyard where Yang Jun was resting, several dark figures entered the side room one after another.

The room was dark. Yang Jun sat in a round-backed chair, listening to the scout kneeling below him give a low report.

"There are three granaries in the city, piled high with potatoes, estimated to be 30 million catties."

"There are at least six or seven thousand horses kept in the military camp."

"A piece of land behind the city was fenced off specifically for raising pigs and sheep, with a rough estimate of more than 20,000 head."

Yang Jun's expression grew increasingly grim as he listened.

Zhao Yuan has such a vicious mind!

Yunzhou was conquered by him and I. We killed and seized the city, but he pretended to be a benevolent ruler, spreading the message that he would not harm the people and would accept refugees, attracting people from the east to his side.

Now, the western part of Yunzhou where he is located is prosperous, while the eastern part that he occupies has been decimated and almost completely destroyed.

Moreover, when I went to his door to borrow grain, he clearly had wine and meat, but he hid them away and only agreed to lend me one million catties of potatoes.

The more Yang Jun thought about it, the more unbalanced he felt.

He had to find a way to take control of western Yunzhou and Tingzhou.

And then there's the beautiful princess behind Zhao Yuan... If she were to come with him and manage the three prefectures from the rear, once there's money and grain, would he still be afraid of not being able to take down the Great Liang?

Thinking of this, Yang Jun narrowed his eyes and began to carefully consider the matter.

After annexing the eastern part of Yunzhou in the past year, and with the remnants of the Yunzhou army and the several cities captured in the past six months, Yang Jun has 110,000 troops at his disposal.

The Tingzhou and western Yunzhou where Zhao Yuan was located had a total population of just over 90,000.

Although his troops are exhausted from years of fighting, if he were to be tempted by the abundant reserves of money, food, wine and meat in western Yunzhou and Tingzhou, and fight to the death, the Jingzhou army might not be no match for the Tingzhou army.

However, considering that he had staked everything on fighting Zhao Yuan to the death, the Great Liang might take advantage of the situation to seize the spoils.

Thinking about this, Yang Jun hesitated again.

At this moment, another scout quietly sneaked into the room, knelt down in front of Yang Jun, and said in a trembling voice: "Your Highness, your subordinate has discovered a large number of armors and weapons in the military camp outside the city."

Yang Jun was taken aback: "How many?"

"There must be at least ten thousand!" the scout said. "They're all new, and they seem to have been forged by Zhao Yuan's men from iron ore."

"Mining iron ore?" Yang Jun's expression turned to horror. "Where would you find iron ore?"

"I was unaware of this. The scout who accompanied me went to investigate along the route the Tingzhou army used to transport armor and weapons. I have returned ahead to report."

Yang Jun's arms broke out in a fine layer of goosebumps.

As the old saying goes, "If you want to do a good job, you must first have the right tools." In warfare, weapons and armor are consumables.

If Zhao Yuan is indeed mining iron ore and forging weapons, his 110,000 troops would have no chance of winning against the Tingzhou army, which has no shortage of food and supplies and a constant supply of weapons. They would be lucky if they weren't being chased.

Yang Jun sat in the side room until almost dawn when the last scout returned, radiating coldness.

"Your Highness, Zhao Yuan has sent people to mine iron ore in Xilan Mountain and forge a large number of weapons and armor!"

Yang Jun: "..."

Upon receiving confirmation, an indescribable anger welled up within him.

No wonder Zhao Yuan wanted to cooperate with me to conquer Yunzhou. It turns out he wasn't after half of Yunzhou's territory, but rather he wanted the iron mine in Xilan Mountain!

He painstakingly helped him take away half of the enemy's troops, but the other party concealed the location of the iron mine and monopolized it!

What's the difference between him and the Jingzhou army and them doing the work for someone else?

For a moment, anger almost clouded Yang Jun's mind. He wished he could rush to Zhao Yuan's courtyard and kill him as soon as possible!

But his remaining rationality held him back.

After calming down, Yang Jun quickly analyzed the current situation.

He could no longer allow Zhao Yuan to continue to grow stronger; he had to eliminate him before he became a threat.

Otherwise, judging from Zhao Yuan's stingy behavior of only borrowing one million potatoes and concealing the Xilanshan iron mine, once he has a strong army, his next target will be himself.

He can't just sit here and wait to die!

But Yang Jun knew very well that he was no match for Zhao Yuan now.

Yang Jun pondered for a long time, then thought of Tan Xuanmo.

Perhaps he could cooperate with Tan Xuanmo and join forces to eliminate Zhao Yuan.

As for who will ultimately rule the divided empire after Zhao Yuan's death, that depends entirely on their abilities!

Yang Jun thought of the beautiful Princess Zhao again.

If all goes well in joining forces with the Great Liang to deal with the Tingzhou army, and if I can seize Princess Zhao when the city falls, I can eventually possess everything that Zhao Yuan currently has.

The thought of having a beautiful woman in his arms, money and food in his hands, and enjoying a life of luxury and wealth filled Yang Jun with excitement, his chest heaving with anticipation.

On the other side, in the side rooms of the main courtyard of the Prince Zhao's mansion.

As soon as it was light, Yan Zhen woke up under the influence of his biological clock.

She opened her eyes and glanced habitually at Zhao Yuan, who was sleeping on the outside.

Seeing that he was sleeping soundly, Yan Zhen kicked him.

Zhao Yuan was kicked awake. Still half asleep, he hadn't even opened his eyes yet. He instinctively moved to the side to make room for Yan Zhen to get out of bed.

This tacit habit between the two was formed after Zhao Yuan returned from the battlefield. Zhao Yuan suffered from post-war stress, and even the slightest sound in his sleep would wake him up and launch an attack.

After Yan Zhen was choked twice, he would kick him whenever he got up to pee in the middle of the night or woke up before him in the morning.

This move worked, and she was no longer accidentally injured by Zhao Yuan.

After Yan Zhen got out of bed and washed up, she sat in front of the dressing table to prepare to style her hair.

Zhao Yuan also got up, hugged her from behind, and rubbed his chin against her head.

Yan Zhen's freshly combed hair was messed up by his touch. Without turning her head, she nudged his lower abdomen with her elbow.

Having learned from his experience of being beaten, Zhao Yuan judged from the force of the beatings that Yan Zhen was in a good mood today and wasn't angry at the moment. He became even more demanding, rubbing against her like a cat high on mint.

Yan Zhen was in a pretty good mood today, letting Zhao Yuan hold her and play around while she put on her earrings in front of the mirror.

Just then, there was a knock on the door, and the butler's voice came from outside: "Your Majesty, Your Highness, General Yang has come to take his leave."

Zhao Yuan paused, a hint of displeasure at being interrupted showing on his face: "I understand."

After dismissing the steward, Zhao Yuan washed his face and changed his clothes, saying, "Yang Jun left in such a hurry, it seems he found quite a lot last night."

Yan Zhen took out two hairpins from her vanity case and compared which one matched the color of her dress better today: "Isn't that exactly what you wanted?"

Zhao Yuan snorted, "If he weren't still useful, I would have killed him long ago."

"Don't act rashly," Yan Zhen said. "Whether we can take Jingzhou without bloodshed depends on this."

In the front yard, Yang Jun waited and waited for almost half an hour before Zhao Yuan finally came out from the back yard unhurriedly.

"Brother Yang, it's a rare treat to have you here. Why don't you stay a couple more days?" Zhao Yuan said. "I recently acquired a fine steed and was just about to invite you to take a look."