Chapter 602

Wei Zheng pondered for a long time and asked suspiciously: "How about our army capture Qingyuan first? Qingyuan City is well-defended. As long as our army captures Qingyuan City first before the Feng Army arrives, and relies on its city defenses, plus the inner city With the stockpile of grain, grass and supplies, it will not be a problem to resist the wind army for two or three months.TXT download.”

Changsun Yuanhong smiled lightly and asked: "Then what?"

"Then? Then of course we will wait for the king to send troops to help."

"Impossible!" Changsun Yuanhong waved his hand and said: "Now there are no troops available in the capital. Otherwise, the king would not have brought me back urgently. Our army is now alone. Without reinforcements, we can only fight alone. Even in If the Feng Army could capture Qingyuan before they arrived, they would have to be surrounded by the Feng Army and trapped in the city. It would not only be us who would suffer, but hundreds of thousands of people in the city would also be affected. In addition, Qingyuan is the county seat. You may have stocked up a lot of food, grass and supplies before, but after being occupied by the Feng Army, can you still ensure that the Feng Army still keeps all the food, grass and supplies in the city? What if there is no food and grass in the city? Can you last two or three months?”

When asked by Changsun Yuanhong, Wei Zheng was speechless. He nodded secretly. Changsun Yuanhong's concerns were not unreasonable. Seizing Qingyuan was a dangerous move. One mistake could affect the entire army and the people in the city. , this is a bad idea! Thinking of this, he asked: "Is it true that our army has no way out?"

Changsun Yuanhong said: "As I said before, retreat to the west of Hexi and resist the Feng army's westward invasion. After pacifying the Duji people in the north, we can then concentrate our forces to counterattack east of Hedong and regain the lost territory!"

Wei Zheng was surprised and said: "Don't Feng Guo want Hedong? Will they continue to move west?"

Changsun Yuanhong shook his head and smiled, and said: "The human heart is not enough for a snake to swallow an elephant! What's more, Tang Yin is not a person who will be easily satisfied."

Wei Zheng took a breath, rolled his eyes, and nodded thoughtfully.

At the request of Changsun Yuanhong, the Ning army did not stay any longer outside Qingyuan City. The entire army packed up the camp, taking only their belongings and all the complicated baggage. They retreated westward overnight. During this retreat, led by Changsun Yuanhong and Wei Zheng, More than 100,000 Ningguo's Western Army retreated across the Zhang River. The entire army was stationed on the west bank of the Zhang River between the two cities of Yongzhou and Shunchang. They set up camp and transferred more than 300 warships and 20,000 soldiers from Yongzhou City and Shunchang City. The remaining naval forces were ready and prepared to defend the west bank.

The battle between the Western Army of the Ning State and the Feng Army in Hedong ended with the Western Army retreating on its own initiative. It seemed that the Western Army was defeated, but the losses of both sides were about the same. The Western Army of the Ning State suffered 50,000 casualties. The casualties of the army were about 50,000. The 400,000 elite Fengjun who entered Hedong at the beginning have been reduced by more than half, with just over 200,000 left.

Of course, Feng Guo can accept that the war has reached this level. The two hundred thousand casualties in exchange for the entire Hedong region are worth it from any angle. The solemn atmosphere in the country has been replaced by sudden joy. So many generations of monarchs in Feng Kingdom wanted to regain Hedong, but no one succeeded. Feng people thought that they would never see the day when Hedong returned to its customs in this life. Unexpectedly, such a powerful Ning Kingdom was actually conquered by them. The country's new monarch Tang Yin was defeated, and the entire Hedong area was recovered by Tang Yin. At this time, the voice of opposition to Tang Yin could no longer be heard in the Feng Kingdom, and people's attitude towards Tang Yin gradually changed from the original wait-and-see attitude to the Because of blind worship, almost all Feng people firmly believed that Tang Yin was a monarch who could lead Feng Country to become more and more powerful, and a king who could make them live a good life.

Facts have proved that Tang Yin made Feng Country become stronger quickly and the people's lives became more and more prosperous. However, at the same time, it also brought endless wars to Feng Country, making Feng Country the center of the whirlpool of chaos.

On the other hand, the Ning State was in panic throughout the country. The Ning State had not suffered a defeat on the local battlefield for more than a hundred years. In the minds of the Ning people, the Ning State was the most powerful vassal state in the northern part of the empire and even the entire empire. The Ning Army's army It was an invincible and invincible army. As a result, the battle in Hedong completely shattered the confidence of the Ning people. The Central Army of nearly one million people was defeated in Hedong. Sun Yuanhong, the most powerful general of Ning State, also suffered a defeat in Hedong. Instead of retreating to the west of the Zhang River, the successive reports of defeats made Ningren confused. People are like this. The stronger their self-confidence is and the higher they place their position, the more fragile they become and the less they can withstand blows. This is exactly the situation in Ningguo now.

In the court of Liangzhou, no minister now dares to take charge of the battle. What people are most worried about is what will happen if the Feng army takes advantage of the victory and continues to advance westward and directly attacks Liangzhou? Now that the capital is short of soldiers and generals, what can we do to resist the wind army? All the ministers had the same idea and negotiated peace with Feng State.

In the past two days, Yan Chu couldn't sleep well. He really couldn't understand why the Feng army was obviously fighting in a different place and had a weak national power, and it only had a mere 400,000 people. How could it defeat a million-strong army of its own? Company Commander Sun Yuan Hongdu is no match for Feng Jun. Did Feng Jun get help from God or did the problem lie on his side?

Early morning, in the main hall of King Ning's Palace.

As soon as Yan Chu sat on the king's chair, Right Minister Zhang Zhihong walked out of the train, raised his hands and said, "Your Majesty, I have something to report!"

Yan Chu took a deep breath, waved his hand and said, "Speak!"

"Your Majesty, the 200,000 troops commanded by General Changsun and General Wei have been defeated in Hedong and are now retreating to Hexi..."

"Snapped!"

Before Zhang Zhihong could finish speaking, Yan Chu slammed the table, and the loud noise reverberated throughout the hall. Zhang Zhihong and the ministers on both sides trembled and fell to their knees in unison. Yan Chu stood up, looked around at the kneeling ministers below, and shouted loudly: "I heard the news last night. Don't you have anything else to report?"

"Your Majesty..." Zhang Zhihong swallowed and said in a trembling voice: "The Feng Army has been prepared for this war. I am afraid that what they are coveting is not the land east of Hedong, but the entire Ning Kingdom. Now our army is under the influence of the Duji people in the north. There are no troops available in the capital. Once... once the Feng army continues to approach the west, I am afraid that they will... attack the capital! "

Yan Chu was trembling with anger, but he couldn't deny that what Zhang Zhihong said was true. Now he really had no soldiers in his hands. He clenched his fists and dug his nails into the flesh of his palms, forcing himself to calm down. After calming down, he asked: "Zhang Aiqing, in your opinion, how should our country defend itself against the enemy?"

"Negotiate peace! Keep a low profile and strike later!" Zhang Zhihong hurriedly raised his head and said seriously: "Your Majesty, Feng Country is barren and the reason for sending troops to our country is nothing more than face, gold, silver and food. Since they want these, we will give them to them. Well, your Majesty can first cede the east of the river and give gold and silver to stabilize the Feng people. After solving the worries in the north, he can focus on dealing with the Feng Kingdom. By then, our country will have a strong army and a large number of generals, and there will be no need to worry about regaining it. If you don’t return to Hedong, you won’t have to worry about driving out the wind thieves..."

Yan Chu's face turned pale at first, and then turned red. He gritted his teeth and said, "Zhang Aiqing, do you want Gu Xiang Feng to admit defeat and cede territory to pay compensation?"

Of course, Zhang Zhihong understood that with Yan Chu's arrogant character, it would be extremely difficult for him to admit defeat. In addition, it would be even more difficult to accept the cession of Hedong and compensation for Feng Guo's war losses. He sighed softly and said: "Your Majesty, this... is also an expedient measure that cannot be used! Now the wind is strong and I am weak. If we don't make certain concessions, the consequences will be disastrous. But your Majesty, don't worry, wait. In the future, when my strength recovers, I, Daning, can regain the Hedong area ceded to Feng Country, and I, Daning, can also take back double the gold and silver I gave to Feng Country. Please think again, your Majesty!"

To cede land and pay compensation, in the past, this was a very ridiculous thing in Yan Chu's heart. Whoever dared to say that, he would have killed that person on the spot. But now, he really can't find any other way to resist Feng Jun. . Yan Chu seemed to have been hit hard. He stood up and swayed twice, then slowly sat down. He glanced around and asked softly: "Do you all think that I should do this? ?”

After hearing his question, everyone who had been kneeling on the ground kowtowed and said in unison: "We should use expedient measures to stabilize Feng Ren, protect our Daning foundation, keep a low profile, and make plans in the future. This is It’s a good idea, please give me your advice!”

"Haha..." Yan Chu laughed. Looking at the civil and military ministers of the dynasty who were kneeling in darkness, he couldn't restrain the urge to laugh. When the country was in crisis, the ministers of the dynasty were all greedy for life and afraid of death. , no one dared to come forward, these are the ministers he relies on!

People didn't understand why Yan Chu was laughing, but they could also hear the mockery in the laughter. Everyone lowered their heads, looked at each other, and said in unison: "The purpose of negotiating peace with Feng State is to ensure the country and country of Daning, our foundation for thousands of years, and also to protect the people of Daning from the pain of war. , Your Majesty is wise, please make your decision!”

Yan Chu chuckled. He understood what the ministers in the court were thinking. These ministers were all traditional nobles of the Ning State. Their fiefdoms were not in the east of the river. Even if Hedong was ceded to the Feng State, there would be no loss for them. , but the loss of Hedong will cause immeasurable losses to Ningguo as a whole.

But if we don’t negotiate for peace, what can we do? What should we do once the Feng army breaks through Zhanghe and goes straight to Liangzhou? Will he still be forced to move to the capital? Thinking of this, Yan Chu closed his eyes and let out a long sigh. Then he stood up, flicked his sleeves, and walked out and said: "Since you all want to negotiate for peace, let's negotiate for peace according to your wishes. Well, as for the specific content, you can discuss and decide, and then show it to me."

With these words, the ministers finally dropped their hearts in their throats. People kowtowed in unison and shouted loudly: "My king is wise!"

Yan Chu, who had already walked outside the hall, shook his head and smiled bitterly when he heard the shouts from behind.