Inside the government office.
After Scholar Twin Whips left.
Jia Huan summoned Ouyang Jin and Xu Jingchun.
He told them bluntly:
"This time, I'm taking seven thousand Embroidered Uniform Guards south!"
Xu Jingchun's expression changed sharply, and he immediately tried to dissuade him:
"Lord Jia, you could lead at least forty thousand Embroidered Uniform Guards. Without control over Jiangnan's military forces, seven thousand men are nowhere near enough!"
Ouyang Jin was also burning with anxiety.
His Majesty would not grant the Tiger Tally. If they truly fell into desperate straits, at least they would still have forty thousand elite warriors!
Although Lord Jia had wrought an unprecedented miracle at Gourd Mouth, he had done so by crushing the morale of Northern Mang's army. Afterward, he had still gathered Northern Liang's border troops to encircle and wipe them out together.
But the White Lotus Cult's followers had all had their minds bewitched. They were puppets of flesh and blood who utterly scorned death-and most crucially, there was that military pledge with its one-month deadline!
"My mind is made up." Jia Huan was resolute as he said in a low voice:
"Moving forty thousand Embroidered Uniform Guards out would leave our rear unstable. If anything happened, it would destroy the foundations of the Embroidered Uniform Guard Office!"
"If I truly need them, I'll write an urgent dispatch to Ouyang."
The two men hesitated, words caught on their tongues, then let out long sighs.
From the standpoint of the state and its altars, the great purge after Jiang Wuyuan's downfall had dealt the Embroidered Uniform Guard Office a grievous blow. Sending another forty thousand Embroidered Uniform Guards out of the capital would spell disaster if anything happened.
Yet the only forces Lord Jia could mobilize were the Embroidered Uniform Guards throughout the realm!