Inside Tongwen Pavilion, Li Cunxiao carried Li Cunzhong on his back as they hurried toward Li Siyuan's residence.
"Shendu, big brother, this is bad! The Flame Emperor and Li Maozhen are leading troops toward Taiyuan! In about seven days, they'll be at the city gates." Li Cunzhong flipped down to the ground and anxiously reported to Li Siyuan.
"What?! So soon!"
Hearing Li Cunzhong's words, Li Siyuan frowned, his heart lurching.
When Li Siyuan learned that Li Maozhen had annexed Great Liang, he had indeed been startled. However, he had not been overly worried, since Li Maozhen would need time to stabilize the people's hearts after taking over Great Liang.
In Li Siyuan's view, Li Maozhen would not dare attack Taiyuan so soon. In ancient times, mobilizing troops for war was no easy matter. Simply gathering provisions and soldiers took a great deal of time.
Although Li Maozhen had annexed Great Liang, most of her forces were needed to keep Great Liang under control. The former Great Liang soldiers also needed a period of adjustment before they could display their true combat strength.
For these reasons, although Li Maozhen had annexed Great Liang, she should not have had the spare capacity to deal with Jin State in the short term. By the time she did, Li Siyuan would have made sufficient preparations to respond.
Yet Li Maozhen's current actions had exceeded Li Siyuan's expectations. Attacking Jin State at such a time would only leave her with a greater chance of defeat than victory.
"How many troops did Li Maozhen bring?" Li Siyuan asked Li Cunzhong with a furrowed brow.
"According to the scouts' reports, a total of... twenty thousand troops?"
Li Cunzhong froze briefly before replying with some uncertainty.
"What? Just twenty thousand troops, and she wants to attack Taiyuan?