Chapter 693: Successive Successes

Chang'an, Imperial Palace

When Xie Zhan arrived at the palace, the urgent report from the front line had been delivered to the emperor.

Song Mo was shocked and angry at the moment.

Xie Zhan took a deep breath and went to meet Song Mo.

Song Mo looked at Xie Zhan who was kneeling in the middle of the hall, "What did you say? Lv Songli has safely given birth to a daughter?"

When he heard the news of Lv Songli's unexpected premature birth just now, combined with the news from the front line, he was happy for a while, thinking that Xie Zhan's plan worked, Lv Songli was in trouble, so Pingzhou went crazy and launched a large-scale attack on Xianbei and Dali.

Now Xie Zhan told him that Lv Songli was fine?

"Yes."

"Waste, all waste!" The angry Song Mo swept the objects on the dragon table to the ground.

After venting his anger, Song Mo panted and looked at him unkindly. He had tried his best to protect him in front of the aristocratic family before, and now this is his reward to himself?

"Your Majesty, I am incompetent." Xie Zhan apologized to the emperor!

"Besides that, I am worried about one more thing."

"What is it?" Song Mo asked with gritted teeth.

"As far as I know, after Lv Songli gave birth prematurely, the people of Pingzhou Prefecture are investigating the matter thoroughly. Although my people have tried their best to clean up the traces, it is inevitable that some clues will be left. Lv Songli is a vindictive person. After this disaster, I am afraid he will not give up. Dali may be in trouble."

Since ancient times, sending troops has always been about having a legitimate reason.

He has figured out Lv Songli's methods of doing things, from rising up when the negotiations between Youbei Ping County and Pinggang broke down, to being invited to go to the East China Sea, and this year's sending troops because merchants from Zhuozhou and Qingzhou broke the contract...

Her actions are very "righteous", and this righteousness means that when she sends troops, she always likes to make up a legitimate reason to boost morale.

Now Pingzhou is attacking Dali on such a large scale. Without a tenable reason, it is probably not possible. But Pingzhou has not given a reason yet, which makes him have to beware that Lu Songli will put the reason for the military campaign on him.

Song Mo sneered, "Pingzhou wants to fight, so why should Dali be afraid of a small Pingzhou?"

"Your Majesty is right. If we talk about the past, with the strength of Dali, there is no need to be afraid of a small Pingzhou. But I always feel that Pingzhou must rely on something when it sends out a large army this time. I am afraid that Dali will suffer a big loss this time."

"Humph, alarmist!"

"Your Majesty, I just hope that I am worrying too much. If it really comes to that, I am willing to bear all the blame." Xie Zhan expressed his loyalty and showed his value by the way.

He now wants to tell Song Mo that he is foresighted and predictable.

Although he lost more than he won when fighting with Lu Songli. When it comes to dealing with Lu Duanli, he is not very good, but others are worse.

If he died, Dali would have no hope.

Xie Zhan was gambling, gambling on the development of the situation.

Song Mo looked at him gloomily, and of course he heard that Xie Zhan was predicting the next situation.

Forget it, let's keep him for the time being.

...

Yang Yingqin and Dong Guowei retreated to Yangping and the southern part of the plain to deploy defenses.

Xie Wei also withdrew from Shangdang County in Bingzhou and retreated to Hedong and Henei in Yongzhou.

After Yang Yingqin and Dong Guowei joined forces, they looked very heavy when they met again.

Dong Guowei said, "Our defeat is not the fault of war."

Yang Yingqin nodded silently.

I didn't expect that Pingzhou actually had such a city-breaking artifact. How can such a battle be fought?

The generals on both sides also looked at each other.

"I heard that the artifact is called dynamite."

Dynamite? Judging from its power, this name is quite appropriate.

Yang Yingqin said, "I just don't know how many such weapons Pingzhou has?"

"It shouldn't be many, right?" Dong Guowei said uncertainly.

Dong Guowei and Yang Yingqin looked at each other, their expressions were quite solemn. If Pingzhou had a large amount of explosives, Dali would be in trouble.

Finally, Dong Guowei sighed, "I have ordered people to report the situation of this battle for 800 miles, and go back to ask the emperor for instructions." This is a big variable, and it must be reported to the court. The emperor needs to make a decision on how to deal with it later.

As for the current strategy against the enemy...

We can't win the battle, we can't defend the city, and we can't retreat...

For the first time, Yang Yingqin felt that being a military general was so difficult.

Dong Guowei: "During this period, let's try to stop them here." Try not to let the Pingzhou army go south again.

But the question is, can they stop them? Yang Yingqin doubted.

Wait, there is one more thing, Yang Yingqin said, "Qin Heng said before that this battle must take over the entire Jizhou territory. We retreated to Yangping and Pingyuan, I am afraid Qin Heng will still not give up." Pingyuan, Yangping and Weiyi still belong to Jizhou.

"There is a way to delay it."

"What method?"

"Let's do this..."

Leping, Xianbei King's Tent

At this time, Tuoba Khan also had the same idea as Yang Yingqin and Dong Guowei, how to fight this war?

Yuchi Rui and Yang Min went through untold hardships, and even fought a small team of Sun's army in the wild in Xinxing City, and finally returned to Leping County.

Hearing that Yuchi Rui and others only brought back more than a thousand people, Tuoba Khan felt short of breath. He seriously doubted whether Yuchi Rui, the general, could still do it?

You know, those who can be sent out are the elite in the army. Fifty thousand elites, only brought back more than a thousand people.

Tuoba Khan asked angrily, "What's going on?" Even if these 50,000 cavalrymen were like cabbages, it would take a lot of time for the enemy to chop them down, right?

Tuoba Yu below tried to show a look of heartache, but in fact he was relieved in his heart. His father Khan always regarded the defeat he had fought before as a shame. After all, he was ambushed by the Jintai army halfway and was killed in a mess.

Now there is a comparison with General Yuchi. He was also ambushed by the Jintai army halfway, but he at least brought back 20,000 soldiers, right? Compared with Yuchi Rui and others who only brought back more than a thousand remnants, he doesn’t seem to be that bad, right?

Yuchi Rui replied anxiously, "Khan, there is a reason why we lost so badly. Pingzhou has the same weapon..."

He then talked about the power of explosives.

After listening to Yuchi Rui's statement and Yang Min's supplement, the whole king's tent was audible.

After Yuchi Rui finished speaking, he stood quietly aside, waiting for his fate.

Through his narration, everyone present could understand that his defeat was inevitable. It was not easy for him and Yang Min to escape and bring back such important news.

Tuoba Khan felt that he had not recovered yet, and the Royal Court Liaison Department received another bad news: Yanmen was lost, and General Helan Yan and the 10,000 defenders in the city were annihilated.

Upon hearing this news, the members in the royal tent were collectively speechless again.

Someone asked a soul-like question, "How many troops did Pingzhou send out?" Both ambushes and sieges. After all, judging from the news, the 50,000 reinforcements led by Yuchi Rui were ambushed and Yanmen was lost.

Tuoba Khan said angrily, "Don't worry about how many troops Pingzhou sent out! Do you have any good way to deal with Pingzhou?"

Since the battle with Pingzhou, they have lost 120,000 to 130,000 troops!

The people below looked at each other, and they knew very well that they probably couldn't win after losing more than 100,000 troops.

Pingzhou has such a sharp weapon, Xinxing will change its master sooner or later.

There is also the Sushen tribe. There is no news yet, but they are afraid that the situation will not be too good when facing the powerful Pingzhou.

"Khan, why not let General Dugu withdraw first." Yuchi Rui suggested that before finding a weapon to restrain Pingzhou, it would be a meaningless sacrifice to continue fighting.

Some people disagreed, "Field battles are the advantage of our Xianbei cavalry. General Dugu can only find a way to defeat the enemy by mediating with the Sun family army in Xinxing and Pingzhou. Even if we are not in an advantageous position against the Sun family army now, Khan, some sacrifices are necessary."

At this time, Tuoba Jin made a suggestion, "Father Khan, we can see what is going on in Dali."

"Pingzhou has such a sharp weapon, and my son does not believe that it can bear not to attack Dali."

Tuoba Yu sang a different tune, "Not necessarily? Pingzhou Lu Songli's malice towards us Xianbei foreigners is much greater than that towards Dali!"

This time Pingzhou did not leave any prisoners. The two sides fought so many battles, and everyone present could see it.

Tuoba Khan said, "Second brother, tell me what you think."

Tuoba Jin replied, "Pingzhou has launched a heavy attack on us Xianbei. It hates us Xianbei foreigners and wants to expel us. On the one hand, it is of course targeting the cities we occupied. Obviously, Pingzhou wants Bingzhou."

"Since Pingzhou is determined to take Bingzhou, it is impossible to ignore the cities between Pingzhou and Bingzhou. Think about it, if Pingzhou officials need to go around a big circle to take office in the south of Bingzhou, do you think Pingzhou can bear it?"

"Pingzhou has such a sharp weapon in hand, can it bear not to take those cities in Jizhou for itself?"

Someone replied, "Can't bear it."

"So Pingzhou will definitely take action against Dali."

Tuoba Jin's insights made the people present look at him with admiration.

Meeting his father Khan's approving eyes, Tuoba Jin couldn't help but secretly calculate and be proud of his unique information channel.

He didn't know that this news was deliberately revealed to him by Cao Huating, with the purpose of gaining his trust and making him stand out.

Tuoba Khan nodded, "Okay, let's do it. Let's see what's going on in Dali first." If necessary, we can join forces with them. We will definitely find a way to restrain Pingzhou!

"In addition, we can't just wait." Tuoba Yu said unwillingly, "The autumn harvest is coming soon. Most of our previous cities have been captured by Pingzhou, and the autumn grain to be harvested is gone. We must go south!"

"Isn't this a bad idea?"

"Nothing bad." Tuoba Khan waved his hand. If Dali was attacked by Pingzhou like the Xianbei, even if they took the city, Dali would have to hold its nose and cooperate with them.

Pingzhou had continuous good news.

Qin Heng commanded the army to expand to the southwest with the territory of Pingzhou in the northeast as the center.

Along the way, he killed gods and Buddhas when he met them.

Countless cities were incorporated into the territory of Pingzhou, and countless grassroots officials were transferred.

"Governor, General Qin Sheng led the Jintai Army to capture Yanmen!"

"Governor, General Sun Ming and Military Advisor Guo Chong led the Sun Family Army to capture the entire Changshan."

While the good news was coming back, the Sun Family Army and the Jintai Army were working together to capture Xinxing.

"Governor, General Qin Heng led his troops to capture Zhongshan, Julu, Zhaojun, Anping, Qinghe, Pingyuan and other places."