He raised his neck and drank another bowl of wine until every last drop was left.

There were several wine jars lying on the ground, and Yelu Longxu had been drinking for half the night.

He really wanted to get drunk and lose consciousness, so that at least he could get some time to calm down.

It's a pity that today, the more he drank, the clearer he became, the more he drank, the brighter his eyes became, and the more he drank, the clearer his mind became.

If I drink so much, I'll be drunk by now.

The news of Jianghuai's defeat had been delivered to him by a fast horse traveling 800 miles away.

Although I have some expectations in my heart, I always hold on to some hope before something happens.

What if I win!

There was a smooth road ahead of him in Daliao.

But the hope is full, but the reality is very skinny.

Not only was it a defeat, it was a disastrous defeat.

The Shan army, the most elite Pishi army in the Liao Dynasty, suffered tens of thousands of casualties under Xuzhou City.

The officer who came to report the news couldn't help crying when he talked about the tragic situation under Xuzhou City, which made all the Liao officials present shed tears.

Liu Yu disappeared.

Chen Tiansong rebelled.

If there were no other surprises, Liu Yu should have been arrested by Chen Tiansong.

The State of Qi, as expected, was in chaos.

The Song Army moved across the sea to attack, and the entire Jingdong East Road had almost fallen into the hands of the Song Army. With the help of local powerful people like Chen Tiansong, the local forces on the Jingdong and East Roads might turn against Daliao at some point.

In fact, those people never really had their hearts set on Daliao.

It's just that in front of Daliao's iron fists and swords and guns, he had to kneel down.

A body of one hundred pounds, a bone of ninety-nine pounds,

If you seize the opportunity, trouble will inevitably occur.

We have to retreat. If we don't retreat, if we don't retreat, we won't be able to leave!

Yelu Longxu knew very well that Yeluzhen's failure in Jianghuai also represented the complete failure of Daliao's southern expedition.

Failure is not terrible at first.

In history, Daliao failed many times, but every time, it was able to climb out of the pit of failure.

But this time it's different.

Yelu Zhen knew it, and Yelu Longxu also knew it very well.

The only chance has been lost.

Because the enemy we face now is completely different from the enemies we faced at all times in the past.

This failure is a failure of the entire grand strategy.

The offensive and defensive momentum has been reversed.

Yelu Longxu stood up and kicked a wine jar high into the air. Then it fell towards the bottom of Tucheng. He didn't hear any sound, but saw him turning into pieces on the ground.

He raised his head and took one last look at Xiangyang City, which stood tall on the river bank in the distance. He turned around resolutely and strode down the slope along the Tucheng.

From the first day he came here, he never thought about breaking this city that even Yelumin didn't break.

A month ago, he began making arrangements for his retreat.

On the way to retreat, all the support, food and fodder have been arranged.

Now, he still needs someone to break up with him.

Qu Zhen's face turned pale.

"General, I have always been loyal to Daliao over the years."

Yelu Longxu nodded: "I know this, Your Majesty knows it, and the Queen Mother also knows it, that's why you are the King of Zhao. Your son will still be the King of Zhao! Qu He is very smart, good at both civil and military affairs, and will achieve success in the future.

It must be limitless.”

"Can a King Zhao who has no territory and no subordinates survive in Daliao?" Qu Zhen swallowed and said with some difficulty.

"I guarantee that your family properties in Tokyo will still belong to your family, and your family will also be brought to Shangjing by Qu He." Yelu Longxu said calmly: "I think you know it very well.

, it’s easy not to make a promise, but once you make a promise, you will definitely keep it.”

Qu Zhen gritted her teeth and said, "General, I understand. I will fight to the end and buy enough time for the general to retreat!"

Yelu Longxu nodded with satisfaction, patted Qu Zhen on the shoulder, and said: "You are also a smart person, a manly man, if you can exchange your own life for your descendants to be the duke for eternity, there is nothing wrong with you!

"

"I want someone!" Qu Zhen stood up.

"Song King Zhao Suo!" Yelu Longxu said with a smile.

"Exactly!" Qu Zhen said: "With this person here, I might be able to support him for a few more days. In any case, this person was once the emperor of the Song Dynasty, the Supreme Emperor, and many civil servants and generals in Xiangyang would recognize him.

he!"

"Here you go!" Yelu Longxu said: "The value of his existence is almost nothing. You can squeeze out the last bit of his value. It can be regarded as the last bit of reward that Daliao paid him after raising him for many years!"

Qu Zhen stood up. This time, he did not salute Yelu Longxu, but turned around and strode away.

"I allocated five thousand hand cannons to you. This is half of what I have." Yelu Longxu's voice came from behind.

Qu Zhen paused for a moment, then turned around and sped away.

Giving or not will not change any results, it will only bring more damage to the Song army.

And he would still be on the road to death.

Yelu Longxu held his family as hostage and threatened him with his family's future life. He just wanted to fight to the end.

The next day, the silence outside the city was very different from the past.

A scout from the Song Army cautiously rode forward.

Song and Liao had a long confrontation in Xiangyang. There were no large-scale battles between the two sides, but there were quite a few duels between the scouts.

In this buffer area of ​​about ten miles, the scout duel between Song and Liao was the main theme here during this period.

Today, the scouts have crossed the center line agreed by both sides, but on the other side, they still haven't seen half the enemy.

The earthen city in the distance blocked everyone's view.

Moving forward, and then moving forward, the several scouts looked at each other a few times, nodded, and widened the distance between each other. The one at the front and the one at the back were separated by about a few hundred steps.

This formation ensures to the greatest extent that no one gives the opponent a chance to catch them all.

But it's okay,

Tucheng is getting closer and closer.

The so-called Tucheng is nothing more than an earthen wall that the Liao people dug and piled up over the past few months. It is wide at the bottom and narrow at the top. It is only wide enough at the top for two people to stand side by side.

We are so close now, but no Liao army has shown up yet.

The leading scout no longer hesitated, stepped forward on Pegasus, unhooked an anchor hook from his waist, threw it out with all his strength, and flew up with the long rope anchor hook, then hooked it on top, and with a strong tug, the scout flew away

He stood up, used his feet alternately, stepped on the earth wall, and in the blink of an eye, he had climbed to the top of the earth city.

He glanced ahead, turned his head, and looked at his companions below in disbelief.

"The Liao dog ran away!"

He roared with all his strength.

Xiangyang started to move, Fancheng started to move.

When the news of the Liao army's full retreat came back, Wang Zhu did not hesitate at all and immediately issued an order to pursue the entire line.

Ever since the news of Jianghuai's victory came, Wang Zhu started making arrangements.

The reason why Wang Zhu did not attack after getting the news to stick to Yelu Longxu and keep this group of enemies in Xiangyang was because Wang Zhu believed that a life-and-death fight with the trapped enemy would not only increase the casualties of his men, but also cause him no harm.

It was such a great benefit. He might get a lot of military honors, but Wang Zhu, who had climbed up from the bottom of the army step by step, had no interest in such military honors.

Destroying enemies in pursuit is what he loves to do more.

Such a gain may be small, but it greatly improves the survival rate of my brothers.

Wang Zhu felt it was worth it.

Credit can be earned slowly.

Didn't the chief minister say that? After this battle, the offensive and defensive positions between Song and Liao changed. There will most likely be a stalemate for a period of time in the future, and then the Song Dynasty will attack, while the Liao Kingdom will defend.

After the Northern Expedition started, I was afraid that I would not get any credit!

Even though he quarreled several times with Hu Qi, the Zhongcheng of the Supervisory Yuan who inspected here, Wang Zhu did not change his original intention.
To be continued...