Wu Jie officially took over the Hedong Front Army after dark and began the next step of coordination. In the Hexi area of Daming Prefecture, the leaders of the main force of the Jin army stayed up until the third watch, finally suppressing all kinds of anxiety and holding a temporary military meeting by a big bonfire somewhere outside Ligu Town.
There was no other way. Although the chain explosions destroyed the camps of both armies, the Song army quickly realized that it was their own miracle and destroyed the enemy's city defenses, so they finally entered the city calmly in the afternoon. On the other hand, the Jin army had to gather its troops and quickly transfer several Wanhu to the north and south of the river to ensure the safety of the camp, which was already very difficult and challenging.
All I can say is that fortunately the vast majority of the middle and low-level Jin troops did not have the vision to witness the serial explosions, otherwise, even the process of gathering the troops would have been difficult.
Even this military meeting seemed somewhat awkward... because the vast majority of the people had not yet recovered from the earth-shattering destruction of the city during the day. Many people had directly lost their basic logical thinking and were clearly in a trance.
Among them were even the two highest leaders of the army, Balisu and Wuzhu.
In fact, deep down, these top Jin elites understood that they had to make a quick and decisive decision and immediately change their strategic deployment, but even though they understood it, the sense of shock of being there in person was not something that could be easily dispelled.
Several times, everyone tried to speak, but the Hedong generals such as Balisu could not help talking about Taiyuan as soon as they opened their mouths, and their speech became incoherent. Shaohe and Ali mentioned Yuancheng and Gao Jingshan as soon as they opened their mouths, and they were in grief. Even generals such as Elubu and Wanyan Bendu looked dazed and absent-minded, without the steadiness of veteran generals, nor the arrogance they had when they were fighting for power before.
"Everyone, let's do this." Wuzhu wanted to speak several times, but he didn't know where to start. Then he vaguely remembered someone, so he tried to support his body and stood up beside the campfire. "You and I all saw what happened in the daytime. You said that you knew it was gunpowder, but in fact you were still shocked, so your mind was confused and you couldn't speak properly... I will replace an aide, you all know him, the interpreter of the Western Route Army before, and later Gao Qingyi who worked with Gao Jingshan. There should be no doubt about his ability. Let him help us sort it out."
Beside the campfire, the generals including Balisu looked at each other. All of them had gloomy expressions and were helpless, so they had to nod.
About a moment later, Gao Qingyi was called over. He listened to Ali's retelling of a few words, but he didn't say a word. When everyone looked at him, they saw that except for his eyes which were red in the light of the fire, his expression was calm, but they didn't know what was going on.
Only Wushu secretly called himself confused for a moment - others didn't know, but didn't he? Gao Qingyi had received great favors from Gao Jingshan, and the latter was now most likely dead without a burial place, so how could the former be in a good condition?
When the fourth prince thought of this, he was about to wave his hand to dismiss the other party.
However, unexpectedly, at this moment, Gao Qingyi actually spoke. Although his voice was a little hoarse, it was calm and serious, which lifted everyone's spirits.
"Forgive me for being blunt." Gao Qingyi said calmly. "The matter itself is very simple. The reason why the Fourth Prince, the Marshal, and the other officers were unable to properly analyze it is not because they did not know, but because they were unwilling to say it... Please allow me to explain it briefly."
There was no noise of talking by the campfire, but the sound of the wind howling and the crackling of the campfire could be heard.
"First, the Marshal is right. If Yuancheng can be blown up like this, then Taiyuan can be blown up as well. Considering that today is the end of the year, and the Song government marched into Taiyuan so quickly before, I'm afraid there was an agreement. Taiyuan must have been blown up like this at this time... and since Taiyuan City has fallen, it is equivalent to the general's death in nine out of ten cases."
Balisu pursed his lips, seeming to want to say something but stopped himself.
"Secondly, since Taiyuan and Daming have both fallen into the hands of the Song army, let's not talk about Daming here, let's just talk about Taiyuan. Once Taiyuan is lost, the fundamental foothold of our Great Jin Kingdom in the Hedong area will also be lost. The entire Hedong area, from Datong to Shangdang, will inevitably be swept away by the main force of the Song army... Now, don't expect these two places to be defended. We need to issue a military order quickly to let the two Wanhu in Datong, the remaining troops in Taiyuan, and the few remaining troops in Shangdang evacuate as soon as possible. If it's too late, they will be blocked by the Song army and end up being annihilated in vain."
"Is there really no hope?" Balisu finally spoke, his words were difficult.
"How can we save them?" Unexpectedly, the one who responded to Balisu was Wanyan Bendu, whose face was swollen and he looked depressed. "What Gao Tongshi said is right. Not only is Taiyuan hopeless, but Longde Prefecture can only retreat. If we are a step late, the Song army will come in from both the north and the south, and we will be dead... Looking at what happened today, it is clear that the strong passes and cities are useless in front of the Song people. The several passes in Longde Prefecture can't stop the Song army at all. The few cities and soldiers left in Taiyuan Prefecture are just at the mercy of others... Salihe is also waiting to die!"
The scene became quiet for a moment, but soon Wanyan Tuhesu suddenly sighed to the sky, almost like a roar.
The generals under Wuzhu knew that his family was on the west bank of the Fen River, and they probably had not yet been captured, but it seemed that they could not escape either. They were so dejected that they had nothing to say.
"The key is Datong Prefecture." After an unknown amount of time, with the help of Gao Qingyi's explanation, Wuzhu finally gritted his teeth and admitted the reality. However, from his point of view, he was obviously more concerned about other places. "The two Wanhu left behind in Datong Prefecture are the key... Gao Tongshi, are the soldiers in Taiyuan Prefecture useless?"
"Having soldiers is more dangerous." Gao Qingyi responded calmly. "Fourth Prince... Let's not talk about whether Yanmen Pass can stop the Song army. Let's just say one thing. Hebule has been wavering in the north. Now that Taiyuan has been broken, will he continue to remain neutral? If Hebule goes south, Datong will be surrounded on three sides or four directions, or even the whole place."
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