Chapter 10 The Only Choice

Once there is a real problem between the two states and Hebei, even if Youzhou wins this time, it will be very unfavorable to the whole situation in northern Xinjiang. Wang Chong naturally understood this more than Xu Jinghong, so after listening to his inference, the old marshal frowned and said, "Let's talk about what should we do to solve this difficulty?"

"Take the initiative to attack instead of defense! Just like this time, we defeated the Hu people outside the city with a night attack, invaded the land of the Hu people, raided the people and grasslands in their territory, and cut off the way behind them, so that the Hu people who killed our northern Xinjiang completely became alone. Xu Jinghong said his thoughts.

This shocked the generals around him. To be honest, in the past 30 years, no one has thought about taking the initiative to attack Hudi. It's good for the Hu people not to come to harass them. How can they attack them in turn? But thinking carefully about the meaning of his words, many young generals also had some motivation. Yes, why is it that they are the only ones to attack our Song Dynasty, and we can't go to their territory to kill and rob them?

"This... No matter whether we can get benefits from killing Hudi, we are not familiar with it, and I'm afraid that the passers-by we send will become alone before them. This is very unfavorable to us..." Wang Chong put forward his opinion in embarrassment after thinking for a moment.

"The general's doubts are reasonable, but I think that in the current situation, our people still have a good chance of winning. First of all, the main force of the Hu people has arrived in our Song Dynasty, and the defense on their territory must be very weak. Second, under the new defeat of the Hu people, their morale declined. Even if they want to resist, they are afraid they don't have the courage. Three years ago, we have not used troops against it for 30 years, which makes them completely unprepared and can be caught off guard. Therefore, my subordinates think that as long as we dare to send elite soldiers into Hudi, we will achieve great results, and even reverse the offensive and defensive situation between the enemy and ourselves in one fell swoop!" Xu Jinghong still insisted on his opinion, and at the same time talked about it and said the benefits.

This made other generals even more excited. As a general, the most hope is to make contributions, and the Song people's consistent policy has made them most of the time. Not only is there no credit, but they also feel uncomfortable. Now that there is such an opportunity in front of us, naturally everyone wants to have a try.

However, Wang Chong is a cautious and conservative man. He used soldiers against the barbarians in the southwest when they were forced to helplessly. Now in the face of his powerful opponent Hu Ren, he naturally dares not take the initiative to attack: "Well, let's make a decision after considering it. After all, sending troops is a big deal, and there can't be any mistake.

Xu Jinghong sighed in his heart, but still arched his hand and said, "I obey. However, there is one thing that the general should do quickly, that is, the good news of this victory over the Hu people must be sent to the capital as soon as possible. If I guess correctly, there will be problems between the two states and Hebei. And once those people in the court use this to attack the general, they will have to rely on this big victory to offset it.

"Well, I saved it!" Wang Chong nodded and knew that this matter could not be delayed.

When this meeting was over, many generals came to Xu Jinghong and asked with great interest, "Brother Xu, do you think it is really possible for us to send troops to Hudi and win?"

"Of course, we Han people fought back to attack, and it was not once or twice that the barbarians fled in confusion. Aren't Qin Zhitian, Han Zhiwei and Huo all earned the prestige on the heads of the Hu people? Since our predecessors can do it, why can't we descendants do it? What's more, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The land is empty and suitable for our raid. Xu Jinghong immediately made his own response. He was very clear about the role of these generals in this matter, so he vigorously promoted the heroes who had broken the Huns apart for the Han nation.

He said this, which really attracted the pride of others and said that he wanted to kill the Hu field like their ancestors, so that the Hu people knew that the border army of the Song Dynasty was not so easy to bully.

Although Xu Jinghong did his best on this matter, Wang Chong failed to nod this in the end. In his opinion, Hudi is too strange after all. He is afraid that sending troops easily will damage the soldiers and will not get any benefits. It is better to stay close to Youzhou and then watch the changes of the other two states.

In fact, Wang Chong is not to be blamed for being conservative. In fact, since the beginning of the Great Wu of the previous dynasty, the people of the Central Plains have not attached much importance to Hudi. Now that the family is in power, they just want to keep one mu of land. As for the threat of the Hu people, as long as they do not enter the Central Plains, they never want to completely eliminate the threat. Such a negative policy has allowed the Hu people to continue to rest and gradually grow over the past 30 years, and finally have enough capital to invade the border of the Song Dynasty this time.

After thinking about this, Xu Jinghong once again had an urgent understanding of eradicating the family. He knew that Song would never really become a powerful country without removing the parasite on the body of the Song Dynasty!

Just as Youzhou was still struggling with whether to use troops, what they were most worried about still happened. On November 25, Bingzhou City, located east of Youzhou, was attacked by the Hu people.

Although Bingzhou is not as high as the wall of Youzhou, there are also 30,000 border guards, which is not easy to be taken down by these barbarians who are not good at attacking the city. However, no matter how strong the castle is, it can't resist the attack of internal and external enemies, so Bingzhou City still fell.

The night before yesterday, the Hu people, who were only scattered and plundered, suddenly gathered more than ten miles outside Bingzhou City. Then after a short rest, he took advantage of the night to touch the city. At this time, the defenders in the city were still unaware of the danger. Only more than a dozen soldiers stayed at the head of the city to watch, and they all hid in the breeze and waited for dawn.

Naturally, the Hu people will not let go of such an opportunity. They climbed to the head of the city with hooks and nopes, and then opened the gate of Bingzhou after cleaning up the soldiers who had removed the head of the city.

As soon as the gate opened, Bingzhou City was like a girl with her whole body stripped of her clothes, and she could only wait for the Hu people**. The Hu people rushed into the city on a fast horse and carried out a shocking burning of this city with a population of nearly 50,000. Except for some defenders who took advantage of the chaos to escape from the horses, there is no one in the city!

After venting their animal desire, the Hu people not only robbed all the property and food in the city, but also completely destroyed the border town with a fire. In their opinion, in this way, there is a big gap in the northern border of Song, and they can naturally come and go freely. It is much easier to enter the Central Plains or return to Hudi.

This day is the third day of the end of the Battle of Youzhou. Hu people still don't know that the people they used to delay the main force of the Song army have been annihilated, and they are still planning how to take advantage of the victory to enter the Central Plains to grab more benefits.

On the side of Song, because Bingzhou's official road to the Central Plains was covered with snow, the news of the loss of the city spread very slowly. It was not until the Hu people were fully refreshed and prepared to kill from here to the hinterland of the Central Plains that they brought the news that shocked the world to the court. It was five days later.

"What? Bingzhou has been lost?" Lv Zhonghe, as the prime minister of the dynasty, suddenly turned pale. Looking at the war report handed over by the Ministry of War, he couldn't believe his eyes: "What the hell is going on? My Song Dynasty has hundreds of thousands of soldiers in northern Xinjiang. Why did the Hu people capture our town so easily?

Xu Wanyou's face is not good. With such a big defeat, as a minister of the Ministry of War, he can't escape responsibility. And it was his father who recommended Wang Chong, and now he took the blame. But he still argued a few words: "Maybe it's because the enemy is powerful, and the border army has adopted a strategy to lure the enemy deep..."

"Xu Shangshu, I'm afraid this is only used to coax a three-year-old child. Bingzhou is one of the three major towns in northern Xinjiang. Once it is lost, it will directly face the iron hooves of the Hu people in the hinterland of the Central Plains. Seducing the enemy like this will only make the enemy happy, right? Ye Mingyang suddenly said with a cold face.

The mood of him and Wu Jingzi is also very complicated. They originally wanted to use the Hu people to deal with Wang Chong and Peng Ziming. As long as they were defeated, the court would have a good reason to dismiss their military power. But this time, the development of the two people was unexpected. The Hu people were not satisfied with the burning in northern Xinjiang. They not only took Bingzhou, but also had the intention of continuing to go south. In this way, the whole Song Dynasty fell into crisis. This is not what they want to see, because the Song Dynasty is really in turmoil, and it is not the interests of the family.

But at this point, it's too late to regret it. The only thing Ye Mingyang can do is to block the human beings, but also to take the opportunity to remove Wang Chong from power. So after refuting Xu Wanyou's explanation, he said, "And this time, the reason why the Hu people took me so smoothly, Wang Chong, the new northern landlord, can bear all the responsibility. Why was Beijiang still fine before he went there, but he only went here for a few days, and Bingzhou was lost.

"What Ye Situ said, Wang Chong must take full responsibility for this matter!" Wu Jingzi also immediately echoed. These two bosses have made such statements, and other officials naturally know what to do and talk about Wang Chong's no. He said that he only knew how to defend, and finally let Bingzhou fall into the hands of the enemy. He said that he would not judge the situation and concentrate his troops only a little, which led to the thinness of the army... and so on, there was only one meaning, that is, to remove his military power.

As for Peng Ziming, another target, he had the responsibility of losing the three-guan fortress before. Naturally, he will be carried away this time. At least he, who is injured and unable to command, can no longer retain military power.

Listening to the ministers below and me saying the same words, the emperor's heart has sunk to the bottom. He didn't expect that things would come to this point, and what he didn't expect was that by this time, these important ministers in the court were not thinking about how to deal with the aftermath, but continued to eliminate dissidents.

And what makes the emperor feel powerless, he still can't make the decision on this matter at all. The matter has been put in front of him. It is indeed Wang Chong's fault that made Bingzhou fall into the enemy, although he always feels that there must be something wrong with it. But what's wrong with him? He can't say anything. He has to swallow this fact.

Ye Mingyang and Yang saw that even Lv Zhonghe and other people who were enough to sing against him were silent, so they knew that this plan was successful. Although the price paid this time is very high, and there will be more trouble to deal with later, now we have to achieve the set goals first.

Just as the matter was about to be settled, Wang Chong's position was not guaranteed. Outside the palace gate, a waiter shouted, "Your Majesty, there is a victory in northern Xinjiang, the victory of Youzhou!"

"What?" Lv Zhonghe was stunned again. The gap between the two consecutive war reports was too big. Why did Bingzhou send the news of the fall, and there was a good news from Youzhou?

"Well, Wang Chong must know that Bingzhou has lost. In order to be afraid of the court, he falsely reported the victory!" Someone immediately put forward their own opinions, which quickly attracted the unanimous approval of others.

"Guys, let's send the good news to everyone first before making a final determination!" Lv Zhonghe Road. This calmed the situation in the palace a little, and then someone sent in the good news sent from Youzhou a few days ago.

"On the 22nd, the Youzhou army defeated the 20,000 Hu people surrounded outside the city with a night attack, and only more than 2,000 remnants fled back to Hudi..." Lv Zhonghe quickly swept the whole good news and said with some surprise: "If this is true, this is a rare victory in the Song Dynasty in the past few decades!"

"..." Ye and Wu didn't know how to refute it now. The other party explained the number of enemies killed, which can't be faked. But how can things change again? Shouldn't Youzhou be dragged by the Hu people all the time? How can Wang Chong make the people in the city fight back against the Hu people? Why didn't the chess pieces arranged in Youzhou play a necessary role in this matter?

Is it possible that... After looking at each other, the two suddenly became nervous. If it is true that their people are identified as they are worried about, Wang Chong will inevitably mention it outside the victory. At that time, he will be in trouble, which is much bigger than the invasion of the barbarians.

Just when the two were very surprised and entangled and didn't know what to do, Xu Wanyou said, "I said that the loss of Bingzhou must be General Wang's strategy. Now I think it's worth it for me to exchange the lives of tens of thousands of Hu people in Bingzhou!" He didn't know the current tragic situation of Bingzhou, otherwise he wouldn't dare to say so.

"I still think this matter needs to be verified!" After stabilizing his mind, Ye Mingyang still insisted: "Hu people are good at fighting, especially in the wild. Although the border army of the Song Dynasty is brave, I still can't believe that they can defeat tens of thousands of people and even kill more than half of the people.

It was not until this time that the emperor had some spirit to respond: "What you said is reasonable... But I think that things have just happened, and it is biased to listen to anyone, so we have to make a judgment and wait and see. Maybe soon, things will change next. I don't know what you think?"

"Your Majesty clearly concluded that I should wait for development before being punished. However, just in case, we should be prepared to resist in several cities south of Bingzhou. Lv Zhonghe quickly echoed.

Other people can no longer adhere to their own opinions at this stage, so they have agreed with this most moderate approach.

"What's going on? How could such a change occur in Youzhou that Wang Chong escaped this disaster..." After the fall of the dynasty, Ye Mingyang said unhappily. But those who follow him can't give him a definite answer.

"Your Excellency, why don't we send someone to Youzhou to find out? If Geng He and others had really fallen into their hands, we would have planned to do it a long time ago.

"No, now we can't move at will." After calming down, Ye Mingyang shook his head and said, "Now many people in the court have begun to have some doubts. If we do this, we will not do it. Let's wait for the further development of the situation.

"But seeing that the big plan is about to be completed, but this thing has happened, which is really unacceptable. Your Excellency, do you think it is a real or fake military newspaper for temporary delay?

"I don't think so. Wang Chong doesn't have the courage. However, we can't help but prevent this, so we must be prepared. No matter what the outcome of the north is, we must protect ourselves first and then think about hurting people!" In the end, Ye Mingyang only gave a linguous answer.

At the same time, the situation in Youzhou City also became a little serious at this moment. They finally learned the news of Bingzhou City, and the Hu people succeeded. They not only defeated Bingzhou City and killed many innocent people, but also further forced them to the Central Plains.

Wang Chong's face is like a cold iron: "Those who communicate with foreign enemies should really be killed because of their own personal thoughts, how many people have been killed, and how many people will be threatened by soldiers!" With that, he slapped several cases, and the tea cups and other things on them all fell on the ground and broke.

"Marshal, it's obviously too late to pursue these." Xu Jinghong is the calmest among the people: "What we should do is to make the Hu people's invasion of the Central Plains unsuccessful!" And the only way to achieve this goal is to save the enemy!"

Wang Chong was silent for a long time and finally sighed: "Yes, now we should put state affairs first, so we don't have to look forward to the future!" Although the strategy of surrounding Wei and saving Zhao is old-fashioned, it is obviously the most suitable at this time!"

"It's not to surround Wei and save Zhao, but to destroy Wei and save Zhao!" Xu Jinghong said that the murderous intention was sudden in his eyes. Thinking of those dead innocent people, the murderous intention in his heart woke up again!

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Happy New Year to everyone!!