Liu Guozhu nodded, then looked to the west: "The regiment leader said that he wants to continue advancing 30 kilometers to the west and stabilize the defense line after reaching Zangjian Gorge."
"Okay, after passing the Zangjian Gorge, isn't it the Jiange Pavilion?" The commander was slightly stunned when he heard the place name, and then a smile appeared on his face.
As this advance approached Jiange, the top officials of the Dahua Empire were probably not thinking about whether Wangchun City could be recaptured, but about the country's own problems.
You must know that Jiange is one of the three places where the founding emperor of the Great China Empire started his career. The ancestral graves of the founding emperor's grandfather and grandmother are still buried here in Jiange, but Zhao Kai would never dare to throw them away.
If this place is really captured by the Tang Army, then Zhao Kai can be said to have lost his ancestral foundation. This is absolutely unacceptable to Zhao Kai: what he values most is face, so he absolutely does not want to do such a shameful thing.
Hold your nose to recognize it.
So he forgot about his previous order for the troops to counterattack and retake Wangchun City, and strictly ordered Feng Kezhi to guard the Zangjian Gorge and not to retreat even one step.
In addition, he personally appointed a frontline commander, Prince Zhao Jie, who was also a member of the royal family, and personally rushed to Jiange to supervise the battle.
This move made the Ministry of War and General Feng Kezhi very dissatisfied. It was tantamount to saying that the emperor was dictating and interfering with the frontline generals' use of troops, which was completely taboo for military strategists.
However, a series of previous failures made it impossible for Shen Chuan of the Ministry of War and Feng Kezhi, the imperial general, to stop Zhao Kai, who was micromanaging crazy. So the front line suddenly became chaotic.
On the one hand, in order to save the defeat as much as possible, Feng Kezhi is personally deploying troops and generals, hoping to reorganize an effective defense, stabilize the front, and then look for opportunities to counterattack and recapture Wangchun City.
On the other hand, Prince Zhao Jie, who hurriedly left for Jiange, took the imperial order to supervise the entire southeastern war and had the authority to mobilize troops.
At the same time, the frontline commander who was ordered to gather the defeated troops and take over the mess left by Han Zhiyuan was named Ding Hong. He was directing responses to the Tang army's attack based on the actual situation.
In fact, the one who really played the role was the previously unknown Ding Hong. He was the commander who directly faced the Tang army's attack.
Compared to Han Zhiyuan, this eldest brother is actually even less capable. If he is asked to do step-by-step management at the rear and worry about logistics, he is still very competent.
But let him lead his troops to directly confront the most ferocious Tang army in the world. This eldest brother is definitely a typical example of someone who has more than enough ambition but not enough power.
What he did most in the past few days was to send telegrams to Feng Kezhi to ask for countermeasures. At the same time, he also kept amplifying the pressure on the front line tenfold and cried to Feng Kezhi in order to get more support.
There was no way. After all, after Han Zhiyuan died in Wangchun City, the war situation took a turn for the worse, and the Dahua army continued to be defeated. If Ding Hong didn't make the matter more serious, how could he explain it to the people above him?
Therefore, the news that Feng Kezhi heard from far away in the imperial capital was basically where the Tang army had captured, the defenders surrendered without a fight, how many oil and artillery shells were lost, requests for support, etc.
The general's countermeasures based on this kind of news were basically conservative and ordered the troops to retreat.
There was no way, Feng Kezhi was at least a sensible person. He knew that there was a delay between his orders and the battle situation on the front line, so he could only order the troops to retreat first, stabilize their positions in a relatively safe position, and then do other things.
But during the retreat, Ding Hong withdrew his defense line from the west of Wangchun City to a position with his back to Zangjian Gorge.
This is a position that cannot be retreated - even Ding Hong knows that if he runs away again and loses the city of Jiange, not to mention the black gauze hat on his head, even the head on his neck may be lost.
So he changed his normal behavior and began to request a counterattack. Anyway, no matter how much the troops lost or whether the battle was tragic or not, he no longer cared about it.
The result was that the Dahua army, which finally escaped all the way to Zangjian Gorge, had some capital, but lost most of it to Ding Hong, the eldest brother.
It was only then that Feng Kezhi, who was in charge of remote control in the imperial capital, realized that General Redman was quite powerful.
Before actually experiencing it personally, he had only heard about the so-called five tiger generals in the Tang Dynasty: Redman who was good at fast breaks, Tiger who was good at defense, and Burton and Straw, who were famous for their time in Dorne.
Si, and Admiral Bernard.
But he actually had no idea how powerful these people were: It wasn't until Redman charged into the formation to kill Han Zhiyuan, turning the southeastern region of the Dahua Empire upside down, that Feng Kezhi knew that the so-called Five Tigers
How valuable is the admiral?
It was at this time that he realized what kind of monster Qian Jinhang had been fighting for so many days! After all, Redman was so good, and Tiger sitting next to him was obviously not a rookie.
.
Then Feng Kezhi suddenly realized that Qian Jinhang, who was fighting on the front line, had been reporting to him that the Tang army was not defeated, but was deliberately retreating, and that the battle of Xicong was very difficult, and it was very likely that it was
real!
What made Feng Kezhi feel worried was not Qian Jinhang who was far away in Xicong, but what the Tang army's true combat intention was.
Previously, the Tang Army violently attacked the defense line. After breaking through the border defense line of the Dahua Army, it attacked southward from the central area. Anyone who is not a fool can see that the Tang Army is preparing to cut off Qian Jinhang's retreat and surround Qian Jinhang.
An army of hundreds of thousands.
This is also the outcome that Shen Chuan, Feng Kezhi, and even Sirik's advisors are most worried about: the Tang army encircles the Dahua army near Xicong, eats Qian Jinhang's troops, and turns around to attack the southeastern region of Dahua.
After all, the annihilation of nearly one million Dahua troops really made Dahua very passive: but waiting for the Tang troops to eat up Qian Jinhang's troops and then turn back and march westward had actually wasted a lot of time.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! From Dahua's point of view, Qin's troops will be able to arrive at that time. The situation may seem passive, but it may not be impossible to fight.
But now Redman's troops have changed the direction of their attack. Although there is also a unit attacking south, the troops heading west are also advancing very quickly.
This made Feng Kezhi unsure of the context of the Tang army: he didn't know whether the Tang army wanted to break through the Zangjian Gorge and capture the entire southeastern region where Jiange plotted Dahua, or was preparing to cause trouble for Qian Jinhang.
So he hesitated, unable to make a correct judgment, and was influenced by Zhao Kai, a master of micro-management, and began to worry about gains and losses.
In a swordsman duel, a moment's hesitation can cost one's life. In a war between two countries, a commander's hesitation can also affect the outcome on the battlefield.
"Is it Zangjian Gorge... Jiange City, or Tengyun... Nanfengkou?" Looking at the map in front of him, Feng Kezhi narrowed his eyes and muttered something.
At this moment, he really envied the opponent named Redman. Being able to command such a powerful army to gallop on the battlefield was definitely the lifelong dream of all generals.
It's a pity that dreams are just dreams after all. Tang's troops are indeed powerful. Tang Mo may be the only one who can command and mobilize them.
Feng Kezhi took a breath and saw Shen Chuan, who had just walked in with a pale face. This Minister of the Ministry of War could be said to have been extremely depressed in the past two days.
Emperor Zhao Kai was always in a state of explosion. Every day when he went to court, Shen Chuan, the Minister of War, would be pulled out alone to criticize him.
The atmosphere in the court was very solemn, and the fact that Jiange was in danger also made the Ministry of War unable to hold its head high in front of other court elders.
Everyone is very worried about the safety of the southeastern region of the empire. Even if it is just a show, they have to show it to His Majesty the Emperor - at least, they have to show that everyone values the emperor's ancestral tombs.
"How is it?" Looking at the depressed Shen Chuan, Feng Kezhi asked with a little bit of schadenfreude. He was specially exempted from going to court to attend the court meeting due to the tension of the war, so he was very happy that he did not have to look at the emperor's stinky face.
But before he could feel happy, he saw His Majesty the Emperor who was the first to walk into the room. He didn't say anything, but just walked to the map and looked up.
"I have seen your Majesty!" Feng Kezhi immediately stepped forward, knelt down, bowed his head and paid homage to Zhao Kai, saying: "I didn't know that your Majesty was coming, and I missed you from a distance to greet you. Please forgive me for your majesty's sin."
"Get up!" Zhao Kai ordered without looking back: "Tell me about the situation at Jiange..."
His tone was not very friendly, and was obviously a little emotional - the military's performance these days was extremely poor, which made Zhao Kai very annoyed.
In the past, it was the Ministry of War that required the most money. It was engaged in reforms and purchased new equipment, and also opened factories and laid railways. It was a waste of money.
How did the military assure him at that time? What Feng Kezhi and Shen Chuan said at that time was that only in this way could Dahua's army win the next war.
Now the next war is coming, how can Zhao Kai be satisfied with a fight like this? He spent a lot of money! In order to strengthen the army, he did not expand the harem for two years, and did not repair the garden for more than three years.
!
Feng Kezhi heard Zhao Kai's dissatisfaction and immediately explained: "Your Majesty, please rest assured! I have organized troops to build the defense line of Zangjian Gorge! Across a big river, it will be difficult for the Tang army to attack Jiange Pavilion!"
"Hmph!" Zhao Kai snorted coldly: "A few months ago, you also said that it would be difficult for the Tang army to break through the border defense line as if it were like climbing to the sky!"
"Your Majesty..." Feng Kezhi still wanted to explain.
Zhao Kai waved his hand: "Keep Jiange at all costs! This is the bottom line! If it really doesn't work... let Qian Jinhang give up Xicong."
This is the first time that Zhao Kai has allowed Dahua's frontline troops to retreat since the war began, which shows the importance of Jiange in Zhao Kai's mind.
"In this way, Qian Jinhang's troops can even retract and threaten the Tang army from the flanks. With his hundreds of thousands of troops, the Tang army will definitely retreat from the direction of Jiange." Feng Kezhi was overjoyed, bowed his head and sent himself away with dignity.
Flattery: "Your Majesty is wise and wise, I... feel inferior to you."