Li Xia strode into Pu Ze's army. Looking around, he saw that the soldiers were exhausted and their morale was extremely low.
Entering the big tent again, I saw Pu Zhezhi sitting in front of the map to deduce, looking older and older.
"Pu Shuai."
"Feiyu is back again?" Pu Zhezhi raised his head and glanced at Li Xia, then lowered his head again.
Li Xia handed over Zhu Susun's letter and said: "Zhu Anfu said that he will bring troops from Xuzhou and Luzhou to meet Pu Shuai as soon as possible."
Pu Zezhi read the letter and accepted it, saying: "Fortunately, the people from western Sichuan have been moved to southern Sichuan... What you said is good."
Li Xia saw that he was in a low mood and couldn't help but persuade him: "Shuai Pu need not be too worried. For the time being, the casualties are not too big."
"But all bets are off."
Pu Zezhifu lowered his head and continued to deduce, muttering in his mouth.
"In retrospect, even if we fought against the enemy in the beginning, when Niulin took over, and I had 30,000 men against 20,000 Mongolian troops, I might not have no chance of winning.
However, after Niulin joined forces with the Western Sichuan Army, he defeated Lingquan Mountain and Jianmen Pass, established contact with Wang Dechen's troops in Lizhou, and established his prestige in the army.
And I could only lead the infantry to follow the cavalry, and watched helplessly as the defenders in various places were defeated one by one. I was exhausted... I was exhausted from running for my life."
Li Xia understood Pu Zezhi's helplessness.
Niulin fought hard and steadily, advancing and retreating freely.
Who would have thought that after killing Atahu, the Mongolian army would replace him with a commander who was far superior to Atahu?
"This is also a helpless solution. He is a cavalryman and we are an infantryman. The decisive battle belongs to him."
Pu Zezhi's hands were shaking a little while he was playing the war game, and he slowly pushed his troops back to Chengdu.
Li Xia asked: "Pu Shuai plans to return to Chengdu?"
"Otherwise, where else can we go?" Pu Ze said: "The Mongolian army is closely guarded, holding Han Yong's head high, and pressing forward step by step. Our soldiers are exhausted, and if they turn back to Chongqing at this time, they will be defeated by him.
"
Li Xia stretched out his hand and pointed on the map and asked: "Chengdu is in ruins and cannot be defended. How about giving up Chengdu and going to Yunding Mountain City?"
Yunding Mountain City is one hundred miles east of Chengdu and more than fifty miles away from here.
This is a mountain city built by Yu Jie fourteen years ago. It stands on the top of Yunding Mountain and uses cliffs as city walls, making it easy to defend but difficult to attack.
After the Mongolian army captured Chengdu, they failed to capture Yunding City for two or three years.
If Pu Zezhi's strategy of "closing the door and beating the dogs" has failed, now Yunding City has become the highest table in the house. Pu Zezhi should climb up this table as soon as possible to prevent being bitten by the dogs.
However, Li Xia was puzzled that Pu Zezhi chose to pass through Yunding Mountain City instead of entering.
Pu Zezhi obviously had his concerns and said: "It's not that I haven't thought about it, but Yunding Mountain City has been besieged by the Mongolian army for several years, and the food and grass have been exhausted. Yao Chengshou discussed with me that if 30,000 troops ascended the city, there would be no food and grass supply.
.It is better to guard Chengdu and become the horns of Yunding to draw support."
Li Xia said: "But I am watching the battle in Niulin. If I attack Yunding first..."
At this point, someone outside the tent suddenly heard someone say: "Commander Pu, there are broken troops outside the camp who have come to surrender. They claim to be Wu Xin's army and are preparing to take Nie Zhongyou with him, and he has led 1,300 people."
Hearing the name "Nie Zhongyou", Li Xia couldn't help but turn his head.
"Shuai Pu, this is an old acquaintance of mine, shall I go and greet him?"
"It's an old acquaintance of Feiyu." Pu Zhezhi responded calmly, as if he had known about it for a long time, and said: "Go."
~~
When old friends met, they exchanged pleasantries. Li Xia met Nie Zhongyou and saw that he was really here, so he introduced him to Pu Zezhi.
Nie Zhongyou's eyes turned red when he saw Li Xia. When he came to Pu Zezhi, he looked even more excited when he mentioned the defeat of Jiantandu.
However, the hardships he experienced along the way were far more than that.
"The general wanted to lead troops to Chengdu to see Pu Shuai, but the Mongolian cavalry came out in all directions and blocked the road. We had to escape into the mountains and forests and wander all the way. The army ran out of food and more than 200 soldiers starved to death before we finally reached Yunding Mountain City. Unexpectedly
Yunding guard Yao Shi'an did not allow the last general to enter the city. Fortunately, this morning I saw Pu Shuai's army passing through the mountains and forests, so I pursued him..."
Nie Zhongyou obviously wanted to accuse Yao Shian.
Pu Zezhi's face was as dark as water, but he didn't say much. He only ordered people to prepare food for Wu Xin's army immediately.
Finally, he said to Nie Zhongyou: "There is not much food and grass in Yunding City. Yao Cheng is cautious, or he is afraid that the Mongolian army will send detailed operations, so he does not let you enter the city. You can take the soldiers to eat first. Feiyu, you
Stay with them."
~~
After retreating from the tent, Nie Zhongyou and Lin Zi had not seen Li Xia for a long time. They were very excited to meet Li Xia and asked many questions.
"The young man is actually a county magistrate?! Tsk tsk, such a young county magistrate, since the founding of the Song Dynasty... I don't know if there has ever been one." Lin Zi turned to look at Nie Zhongyou again and asked: "Brother, is there such a thing?
?Xiao Langjun is the youngest county magistrate, right?"
Nie Zhong did not answer, but looked at Li Xia and said: "Those people in Lin'an are talking nonsense about your extraordinary achievements in going north, but they actually say that you are far away from Liu Zheng, and people like him are worthy."
"Okay." Li Xia said, "Eat something first."
"It's not just Liu Zheng who is hateful." Lin Zi chewed the dry food and said angrily: "There is also Yao Shi'an."
When Yao Shi'an was mentioned, Nie Zhongyou's face also darkened, and the joy of the reunion diminished a lot.
"I really don't understand why Pu Shuai doesn't punish Yao Shi'an?"
Li Xia vaguely felt that Yao Shian's name seemed familiar, so he patted the two of them on the shoulders, stood up and said, "You guys eat first, I'll go find out some things."
He walked through the camp, asked people along the way, and found Pu Fu.
"Feiyu is back, so brave." Pu Fu was busy counting the food and grass, and said hello when he saw Li Xia.
"I want to ask Pu Qianjia about something, Yao Chengshou of Yunding City..."
Pu Fu raised his hand and said: "I have also heard about what happened just now. But in the current war, can we punish one of the generals? What if we mess up the morale of the army?"
Li Xia asked: "Yunding City really has no food and grass?"
"How should I describe this matter?" Pu Fu frowned and said thoughtfully: "Back then, when Commander Yu was building mountain cities, one of his top priorities was to 'accumulate millet to defend them.' These mountain cities were all capable of farming.
There must be food and grass. However, Yunding City can only garrison nine thousand troops at most, and it is true that it is difficult to supply an army of 30,000.
Niulin has broken through Jianmen Pass and has supplies from Lizhou. On the other hand, if the army defends Yunding, it will only need to be surrounded for more than a month and then run out of food. How can it hold on?"
Li Xia asked again: "What if Niulin attacks Yunding first and cuts off Pu Shuai's return?"
"Is it that easy?" Pu Fu said: "Yunding City is steep and easy to defend but difficult to attack. It has been two or three years since Chengdu fell, but Yunding City is still standing. Now with my father's 30,000 troops on its side, it will not be defeated.
Easily captured."
Speaking of this, he smiled bitterly and said: "Father has thought about it. Defending Chengdu and being at the horns of Yunding City is the only way now."
Li Xia thought for a while and asked again: "I think the name Yao Shi'an sounds familiar, but I can't remember where I heard it."
"Feiyu has certainly heard that you are Yao Shian's political enemy."
"Political enemy?" Li Xia was stunned.
Pu Fu said: "Back then, it was Yao Shi'an who submitted the charges against Commander Yu to Uncle Xie."
After saying this, Li Xia remembered it.
When he was in Lin'an, he did hear the inside story of how Uncle Xie Fang framed Yu Jie.
The Song Army had a bad government called "judai", which meant that the commander-in-chief could nominate someone to replace him. Yu Jie was determined to get rid of the bad government. After Yao Shi'an was promoted to guard Yunding City, Yu Jie personally led three thousand people.
People come to Yunding Mountain and want to be replaced by Yao Shian.
Yao Shi'an refused to let Yu Jie lead his troops to the city. At this point, Yu Jie's "prestige was shattered" and the resentment between the two sides gradually deepened.
Yao Shi'an and Uncle Xie Fang were family friends, so they collected evidence of Yu Jie's crime and presented it to Uncle Xie. Uncle Xie Fang had a grudge against Zhao Kui, and Yu Jie was instigated by Zhao Kui, so he forced Yu Jie to be killed.
Yao Shi'an dared not to let Yu Jie ascend the city back then. Now that Pu Zezhi has just taken office, his prestige is far inferior to that of Yu Jie. In addition, he is still newly defeated. He cannot climb Yunding City this time because it is not just a matter of food and grass as he said.
Li Xia thought about this, thanked Pu Fu, and then went to find Pu Zezhi.
…
Throughout the Battle of Chengdu, Li Xia felt that Pu Zezhi had almost done his best in the overall strategic situation, but in the small battlefield, his generals obviously had too many problems.
Liu Zheng was defeated at Jiantandu, Duan Yuanjian was defeated at Lingquan Mountain, Yang Dayuan was defeated at Jianmen Pass...
Of course, this is far more than the problem of Pu Zezhi’s improper employment. There are too many bad policies left by the Song Dynasty. Especially since Pu Ze took office not long ago, there really were not many talents who could take charge of the job on their own.
Now, the war situation has taken a turn for the worse, and Yunding City has become the key, but Yao Shian's actions once again made Li Xia have a premonition that Yunding may become the next Jiantandu, Lingquan Mountain, Jianmen Pass...