At night, several cavalrymen rushed to the gate of Bianliang City, holding command arrows in their hands and shouted: "Hebei urgent report, open the city gate quickly!"
A basket with a rope was dropped on the top of the city, and the defenders shouted: "Put the command arrow in the basket!"
The messenger had no choice but to put the order arrows into the basket and pull the basket up for inspection. After a while, the city gate opened and several messenger cavalry entered the city. After receiving the order arrows, they rode towards the Marshal's Mansion.
At this time, night had just fallen, and Bianliang City had already been under curfew. The rapid sound of horse hooves running on the silent streets was particularly harsh, as if the whole city could hear it.
Wanyan Wushu did not rest. He was still discussing the battle situation with several counselors in the map room. Chen Qing's army came fiercely and had won two games in a row, capturing Henan Prefecture, Ruzhou, Dengzhou and Tangzhou.
The army was destroyed.
It is not surprising that the Song army captured Henan Prefecture. The Song army seized Hulao Pass, causing the 50,000 reinforcements he sent to be blocked outside Hulao Pass. Dengzhou was attacked by surprise. Although Wanyan Wushu scolded Zhang Zhongxiong, he also
I can accept that the 20,000 troops commanded by Zhang Zhongxiong are indeed relatively weak, and it is reasonable that they cannot defeat the 30,000 elite Song troops.
But the defeat in Ruzhou made Wanyan Wushu heartbroken. It was clear that he could win, but in the end he was completely defeated. What was the problem?
Xiao Jilie and Li Cheng each held their own opinions. Xiao Jilie criticized Li Cheng for being blinded by victory, advancing rashly, and not being prepared for the Song army's reinforcements. As a result, he was attacked by two armies of the Song army.
Li Cheng also accused Xiao Jilie of disobeying his command and leading his men to flee before fighting, which caused the collapse of the entire army and was the main culprit of the Ruzhou defeat.
Both of them insisted on their own opinions, and both of them were right. Wanyan Wushu also sent people to investigate among the lower-level soldiers, and the conclusion was true. Both of them were right.
But Wanyan Wushu knew very well that the responsibility probably still lay with him. He was the one who ordered Li Cheng to go south to destroy the army in Ye County. He did not consider the possibility that the Henan Prefecture would send troops to support Ruzhou.
Therefore, in the end, the defeat of Ruzhou was settled, and Wanyan Wushu was unable to hold the two men accountable.
Counselor Fan Gong saw something deeper.
"Your Majesty, I always feel that there is another reason for this failure."
Fan Gong said cautiously: "I don't know whether I should say it or not!"
Wanyan Wushu glanced at him and said with some dissatisfaction: "Have I ever blamed Sir in all these years? Is there anything I can't say in front of me? Unless it's to attack the emperor!"
"That's not the case. I actually want to talk about the issue of joint operations."
Wanyan Wushu reacted immediately, "Are you talking about the Hu-Han coalition?"
Fan Gong nodded, "When two armies fight, the most important thing is to work together. If one part of the army escapes first, the morale of the entire army will collapse. Even if the other part of the army fights bravely and skillfully, it will be useless. It is like a barrel.
As long as one board is broken, no matter how hard the other boards are, they will still be unable to hold water, and the barrel will be useless.
If the Hu and Han jointly fight, it will be okay if the Hu is the main general, but if the Han is the main general, there will be a situation where the main general cannot command the Hu army, which will lay the root of defeat."
Wanyan Wushu was silent for a moment and said, "Sir, what do you mean, the responsibility for the defeat still lies with Xiao Jilie?"
Fan Gong smiled bitterly and said: "If Xiao Jilie had not been defeated without a fight, the final result would not have been so tragic. At least more than 10,000 troops could have been defeated. The Song army would also have suffered heavy casualties, but humble duty does not refer to this.
The thing, humble position means that in future battles, try not to let Han people command the Hu army."
Wanyan Wushu sighed and said, "I understand what you mean. Twenty years have passed. The once powerful Khitan Army and Xi Army have long since disappeared. The current Donghu Army is basically an ordinary herdsman with no combat experience and relatively low combat effectiveness."
Weak, it was indeed a bit of a mistake for me to send this Donghu army to support Ruzhou!"
At this time, a soldier reported in the hall, "Please tell me, Your Majesty, Hebei sent someone to send urgent information!"
Wanyan Wushu said quickly: "Come up here!"
Not long after, the leader of the messenger went to the hall and knelt down on one knee to report, "I am sending a letter to the prince on the order of Marshal Zuodu!"
He took out Wanyanchang's letter and presented it to him. Wanyanwushu took the letter and asked, "Is there any other message?"
"There is no more message, Marshal Du said, everything he needs to say is in the letter."
"Come here, give him ten taels of silver and take him down to rest."
"Thank you, Your Majesty, for the reward!"
The soldier who delivered the letter went down. Wanyan Wushu opened it and read it carefully, then handed the letter to Fan Gong, "It's the same thing as last time!"
Fan Gong took the letter and read it again, and said with a smile: "It's interesting. It's actually Niu Gao's army. Niu Gao led his army south. Did he leave Taiyuan alone?"
"Sir, do you think it's credible?"
Fan Gong thought for a while and said: "Now that the Song Army has captured Henan Prefecture and Ruzhou, and now Chen Qing is in Xiangcheng County, he is ready to attack Yingchang Prefecture in a large scale. The northern front will attack Yingzhou and Zhengzhou. The prince will definitely
Reinforcements will be sent to Zhengzhou and Yingchang Prefecture. If at this time, the Song Army suddenly attacks Kaifeng Prefecture from the Yellow River and catches us by surprise, and the prince returns to rescue Kaifeng Prefecture, then Yingchang Prefecture will be in danger. If we do not rescue, Kaifeng Prefecture will be in danger.
The government and even Bianliang are in danger, and I feel that this is a very good surprise attack strategy, and the possibility is extremely high."
"Wan Yanchang asked us to send people to Mengzhou to investigate. He also wants to send people to Mengzhou. Does Wan Yanchang want to attack Taiyuan?"
"It's possible. If Niu Gao really leads his troops south, Taiyuan Prefecture will indeed be an opportunity."
Wanyan Wushu walked two steps with his hands behind his back: "What if this is a trap? Niu Gao went south and Taiyuan was empty. It was probably an empty city plan set up by Chen Qing. I have been fighting with Chen Qing for many years and know him very well. This person is very cunning and often
Setting traps and laying out bait, we are nominally fighting the Central Plains, but in reality we are also trying to clean up the Hebei army."
Fan Gong admired Wanyan Wushu's vision. This was indeed a possibility. He nodded, "I agree with the prince's intention. I would like to advise Marshal Zuo not to send troops regardless of whether Taiyuan Prefecture has a chance or not. We cannot let Chen Qing put up a false impression."
Temptation, Chen Qing has a lot of troops, he can't let Taiyuan defend the void."
Wanyan Wushu immediately wrote a letter to Wanyan Chang and sent a messenger to take it back. He also sent several scouts by boat to Mengzhou to find out the news!"
The information Wang Shuang sent from Jingzhao that Niu Gao was preparing to lead his army to attack Kaifeng Mansion really tempted Wanyanchang. He knew that Mengzhou only had 10,000 garrison troops, which were used to defend Huaizhou. The troops brought by Niu Gao
It must be the garrison in Taiyuan,
If Taiyuan Mansion's defense is empty, it will certainly be a rare opportunity for itself.
Of course, Wan Yanchang also thought that this was a trick by the Song army to lure troops, but he thought it was unlikely. The key was that Chen Qing did not need to engage in this trick. An army of his own marched into Taiyuan Prefecture, burning and killing all the way.
Robbery, would Chen Qing use the cost of destroying Taiyuan Mansion to annihilate tens of thousands of his own people?
Although tens of thousands of people are important to him, the stability and prosperity of Taiyuan Prefecture is more important to Chen Qing.
That afternoon, Wanyanchang received a letter from Wanyan Wushu. In the letter, Wanyan Wushu tried his best to dissuade him from sending troops to Taiyuan Mansion, which really made Wanyanchang a little disgusted.
He said to his staff Cui Jiu: "At least there must be some basis for persuading me to abandon Taiyuan. If he has spies in Taiyuan and discovers the Song army's hidden army, that's fine. But he takes everything for granted and tries his best to dissuade me. He thinks I don't understand."
What’s on his mind?”
Cui Jiu was from the Cui clan in Qinghe, but he refused to use his real name and took the pseudonym Cui Jiu. Wanyanchang understood his thoughts and did not force him to use his real name. He was one of Wanyanchang's closest aides.
"Marshal Du thinks that the fourth prince is afraid that we won't help him, so he won't let us send troops to Taiyuan?"
"This is an obvious thing. Why does he think Taiyuan is deceitful? I have spies in Taiyuan Mansion. I know what the situation is in Taiyuan Mansion, but this is what he is like. He only wants to use others and will never consider the interests of others.
I originally proposed to join forces with the overall interests in mind, but look at him, he only considers his own interests, what do you think of me?"
Cui Jiu quickly advised: "Maybe the situation in the Central Plains war is not good for the fourth prince, so he is a little more anxious. Marshal Du still puts the overall situation first."
Wan Yanchang said coldly: "I do have to put the overall situation first, but I have a bottom line in helping him. I can't just let him do what he wants and use me like a fool."
