At the same moment when the 20,000 puppet Qi army in Ganquan Fort was destroyed, the 20,000 Song army besieged in Pingliang County was cut off from food. Guan Shigu, the commander of the capital, led his army out of the city and surrendered to the puppet Qi army.
Guo Zhen immediately led his army into Qinzhou and quickly marched towards Xihe Road. At this time, Wu Zuo's 15,000 troops had withdrawn into Xianren Pass, and the puppet Qi army immediately occupied Gongzhou, Lintao Prefecture, and Taozhou.
, Hezhou, Jishizhou and other places.
Under the strong pressure of the Jin Kingdom, Xixia was forced to withdraw from the Deshun Prefecture it had previously occupied. The puppet Qi army was able to successfully occupy Deshun Prefecture. At this point, except for Ganquan Fort, the Song Army's land north of Dashan Pass was exhausted.
When the news reached Lin'an, the civil and military officials of the entire court were shocked.
You know, more than a month ago, the imperial court was still celebrating the recapture of Xihe Road, but this victory was like a flash in the pan, withering just as it bloomed, which really hit the emperor Zhao Gou and the imperial court.
In the imperial study, Prime Minister Zhang Jun was heartbroken and complained that Zhu Shengfei was incompetent and had ruined the hard-won good situation.
"Your Majesty, the ministers reminded him again and again that the Puppet Qi sent an additional 150,000 troops to Guanzhong. The retreat of the Jin soldiers does not mean abandoning Fengxiang Mansion and Xihe Road. The Puppet Qi will definitely send out troops in large numbers. We do not have enough troops. We cannot be greedy for more and disperse. We must concentrate our troops.
Defend Xihe Road and Qinzhou, and then expand after defeating the puppet Qi army.
But Zhu Shengfei did not listen to Wei Chen's persuasion at all, and insisted on going his own way, sending out all-out troops. In the end, the Song army was defeated one by one, Guan Shigu's 20,000 elite army was destroyed, and the situation that Wei Chen worked hard to win was ruined. It is heartbreaking.
!”
There was silence in the imperial study room. Qin Hui sighed and said: "Actually, this cannot be completely blamed on Governor Zhu Xuan. It is a long way from Lin'an to Hanzhong. He only walked for more than a month on the way to take office. The enemy took advantage of this gap to mobilize troops.
After dispatching the general and completing the deployment, it was already too late to deal with him when he arrived in Hanzhong. Under certain circumstances, this is indeed a kind of providence."
"God willing?"
Zhang Jun did not agree with Qin Hui's defense for Zhu Shengfei. He said to Zhao Gou: "When the minister left, he empowered Wu Jie and asked him to send troops northward according to the situation to consolidate the results of Dashan Pass. Originally, Wu Jie appointed Guan Shigu
As the commander-in-chief of the troops and horses of Xihe Road, Chen Qing was appointed as the envoy of Qinzhou system. Fengxiang Mansion is in no danger to be defended. We are no match for the opponent in terms of strength.
But Zhu Shengfei was still on the way, so he denied Wu Jie's appointment and appointed his confidants to guard Fengxiang and Longzhou. Being greedy, he divided his troops to guard Pingliangfu and Yuanzhou. How many troops do we have in total? We dispersed the troops and Hanzhong
Who will guard it? Who will guard the hinterland of Bashu?
What's even more terrible is that he issued an order as soon as he took office to stop the supply of military food to the troops going north and let them raise their own food. Your Majesty, the Jin soldiers have looted all the food and asked the Song soldiers to raise their own food. Where can the army raise food?
The army has no food, its morale is low, and it collapses in one battle. This is the root cause of the army's defeat!"
Zhang Jun strongly disagreed with Zhu Shengfei's idea of separating Sichuan and Shaanxi. Without Sichuan's financial and food assistance, Hanzhong would have nothing to offer against the Jin soldiers, and it would be impossible to sustain it.
Zhao Gou said helplessly: "Zhu Aiqing has just arrived in Sichuan and Shaanxi and does not understand the situation. Mistakes are inevitable. I feel that it is not the time to hold people accountable yet. How should we deal with the current passive situation in Sichuan and Shaanxi?"
At this time, Lu Yihao, who had been silent, slowly said: "Although the situation in the northwest is dark, there is still a little light in the darkness. The Qinzhou system made Chen Qing defeat the puppet Qi army at Ganquan Fort and wipe out 20,000 enemies.
, it is said that before this, he had fought against the Xixia army several times, winning consecutive battles and rescuing tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians of the Song Dynasty who had been kidnapped. At least we have not suffered a complete defeat in the northwest, and there is still hope."
Zhao Gou's eyes lit up. He only cared about losing the defeat in the northwest, but did not pay attention to the victory. He actually wiped out 20,000 enemy troops, while Guan Shigu only lost 20,000 people. Isn't this evenly matched?
"This Chen Qing really surprises me!"
Lu Yihao smiled slightly and said: "Your Majesty had the foresight to appoint him as the Qinzhou envoy, so he lived up to your Majesty's expectations."
Zhao Gou felt a little comforted in his heart and smiled at Zhang Jun: "This is Mr. Zhang's ability to recognize people. Chen Qing has made good use of this!"
Seeing that the emperor did not want to hold Zhu Shengfei accountable, Zhang Jun felt helpless, so he had to bow and said: "Chen Qing is both civil and military, and has extraordinary courage. He has made outstanding achievements many times in the Battle of Dashanguan. The ministers have always placed their trust in him."
I have great hopes. I didn’t take him back to Lin’an this time, but also hoped that he would make great achievements in Sichuan and Shaanxi again. He really did not disappoint me. He lit a fire of hope for your majesty and the court in the darkness. Such
Great talents should be re-appointed, and low-level officials recommend him to be promoted to governor of the capital."
Qin Hui said with some dissatisfaction: "Chen Qing was promoted to commander last year and commander more than two months ago, and now he has to be promoted to commander of the capital. This promotion is too fast!"
Deputy Prime Minister Zhao Ding said calmly from the side: "Your Majesty has always made clear rewards and punishments. He will not punish the guilty and not reward the merits. This is not His Majesty's style!"
Lu Yihao also smiled and said: "Actually, what Qin Xiangguo said is somewhat true. Chen Qing is still very young. It will not be good for him to be promoted too quickly. Besides, we have only seen a few flying pigeon letters, and we don't know many specific details.
Wei Chen suggests that it is best to understand the situation clearly before considering rewards and punishments."
Zhao Gou nodded and said: "Xianggong Lu is right. After all, we only saw a brief letter and did not understand the specific situation. We need to understand the situation clearly. I have decided to send Li Yuan, a member of the driving department, to Fu Yuchuan.
Shaanxi, investigate the truth behind this defeat. Those who are guilty will be severely punished, and those who are meritorious will be rewarded heavily. I will make rewards and punishments clear and unambiguous!"
............
That morning, an envoy from Guo Zhen came to Ganquan Fort. Chen Qing knew it. It was Tao Shuang, the prefect of Pingliang. He was lucky. Neither the Jin Kingdom nor the Puppet Qi State held him accountable and still allowed him to continue serving.
Pingliang Magistrate.
Chen Qing invited him to sit down in the tent, then asked his men to serve tea, and said with a smile: "I have been worried about Tao Shijun's fate, thinking that he would be killed by the Jin soldiers!"
Tao Shuang smiled bitterly and said: "The gentry of Pingliang Prefecture collectively vouched for me. They also need someone to stabilize the situation, so the Jin people did not touch me. This time I persuaded Guan Shigu to surrender, and Guo Zhen thought I had merit!"
"Why did the envoy persuade Guan Shigu to surrender?"
Tao Shuang said coldly: "If he doesn't surrender, tens of thousands of people in Pingliang County will starve to death. I only care about the fate of the people and will not consider his reputation!"
Chen Qing nodded. His stance was different. He couldn't say anything more.
"Then what did Guo Zhen ask the envoy to do?"
"Negotiations with the commander-in-chief regarding Zhang Zhongxiong and 14,000 prisoners of war."
Chen Qing laughed, "You shouldn't come to me! You should go to Hanzhong to negotiate with Zhu Shengfei."
"Zong Zong doesn't know. Guo Zhen is a very pragmatic person. He knows that looking for Zhu Shengfei may not be useful. If the agreement between the two parties harms Zong Zong's interests, will Zong Zong let him go? Absolutely not, so Guo Zhen thinks it is better to go to you directly to find Zhu Shengfei.
.”
This is true. If Zhu Shengfei only wanted to satisfy his face and harmed his own interests, he would definitely not accept it.
Of course, Chen Qing also knew that Zhu Shengfei would inevitably hate him even more, but Chen Qing no longer cared.
"Can Magistrate Tao tell me first why Guo Zhen is in such a hurry to negotiate that he doesn't send troops to attack Ganquan Fort?"
"I heard that the negotiation was the intention of Wan Yanchang. It seems that the Emperor of Xixia sent an envoy to tell Wan Yanchang what he said? I don't know the details, I just heard some gossip.
It turned out that the real negotiating opponent was Wan Yanchang, and Guo Zhen was just standing in for Wan Yanchang. It seemed that Wan Yanchang's intention was also related to Baochuan County. Chen Qing said with a smile: "Then tell me the conditions? Release the prisoners of war, I
What can you get?"
"Guo Zhen will also exchange prisoners of war from the Song army, namely Guan Shigu's men, one to one. But Guan Shigu surrendered voluntarily, and there is no way he will come back."
Chen Qing chuckled, "If Guan Shigu can't come back, then Guo Zhen will have to use other conditions in exchange for Zhang Zhongxiong, or does Guo Zhen not care about Zhang Zhongxiong's life and death at all?"
Tao Shuang shook his head, "Wan Yanchang values Zhang Zhongxiong very much. Zhang Zhongxiong will definitely be released. It depends on what conditions Commander Chen offers in exchange."
Chen Qing pondered for a while and said: "I agree to exchange prisoners of war on a one-to-one basis, but in exchange for Zhang Zhongxiong, I have two conditions!"
