As soon as Grand Tutor Nu left, the hall became noisy again... Obviously, as mentioned before, the wounded and dead bodies that almost blocked the four gates made everyone in Zhending City face the reality completely. Now the whole city is crying, and the morale of the remaining troops from top to bottom has collapsed... Even if there are a whole army of tens of thousands of people and countless stocks, they must discuss their retreat.
But in this situation where the earth is collapsing and the mountains are breaking, how can we easily think of a way out?
"Can we lead the army to withdraw at night?"
"Where to retreat to?"
"Wuji in the east, Xinle in the north are both fine... Of course, it's just a temporary stop. What I mean is, since we were defeated so badly yesterday, this Wanhu in the city has become even more important. If we can bring him back to Yanjing, he will be a reliable support."
"Even if there is a place to retreat, how should we retreat? How can a whole Wanhu in the city, half of which are infantry and half are cavalry, retreat under Han Shizhong's nose? Does the so-called Left Army of the Song Army have no cavalry? It is the spring flood season, and we encounter a small river on the road. What if we are caught up with it? You and I both know that this Wanhu is the last resort, how could the Song people not know it? As for Yanjing... Taiyuan... let's not talk about it!"
"You are asking me these questions, but who should I ask? What if we don't retreat now? The whole city is crying and the morale is broken. No one dares to fight. As for the existence of Taiyuan, of course I know about it, but the more so, the more it shows that this place is definitely impossible to defend!"
"What are you talking about? Even if we can't defend the city, we have to do it! Once we leave the city, we will die. If we stay in the city, we can survive for a few more days..."
"After a few days, all the people in the hall will be captured in one fell swoop! If they escape at night, even if they lose, they can still gamble their fate!"
"Have you ever thought about this? If we leave, the Song army will march straight in from the north bank of the Hutuo River. We won't even have to chase us. The Fourth Prince and tens of thousands of defeated soldiers on the other side of the river will not be able to return north!"
"The Fourth Prince's life is life, but the Sixth Prince's life is not life?"
"Wait a minute... You guys don't care about the corpses and wounded outside the city? They are all our own men! Especially the wounded... their lives are not lives?"
"Well..."
"There is also the treasury... The warehouse in Zhending Prefecture is the main military warehouse built with the efforts of the whole country. It is where the Third and Fourth Princes usually patrol and stay. There are countless armors, food, arrows, swords, leather, gold, silver, copper and iron ingots in the city... Are we going to throw them to the Song people?"
“…”
“…”
Besides, Hong Ya, who was watching from the sidelines, had already seen it clearly... These people were talking about one thing and another, saying nothing more than that the situation was very bad, they couldn't defend themselves, and it was difficult to escape, so they were caught in a dilemma and were almost forced into a corner... This was of course, as the Song army had won the battle yesterday. Even the survival of the Great Jin Dynasty depended on the right time, the right place, and the right people. There was no way a mere Zhending Prefecture could have any grand plans.
But then again, if you really have to, it is still possible to survive by taking some extreme paths.
For example, if the entire city, starting from the Sixth Prince Eluguan, surrendered directly with countless civil and military officials who had retreated here, a whole army of tens of thousands of households, and countless government treasuries... this was what Hong Ya wanted to see the most. At this point, he desperately needed the Zhending City to gain merit and a way to survive in front of the official. At the same time, if everyone surrendered together, it would also effectively protect his family members in Yanjing.
Of course, this is too idealistic. Hong Ya is just thinking about it in his mind for the time being and does not have much hope of implementing it directly... No one in the hall dares to really say the word "surrender" now... We need to observe and seize the opportunity first.
In addition to this, there is another way, which is to abandon the wounded, leave the corpses behind, burn the treasury, and at the same time abandon Wuzhu and the scattered army in the south of Hutuo River, and then use the large army of ten thousand households in the city as bait and cover, and flee in different directions, then the dignitaries in the hall may be able to escape with a considerable probability.
But this is even more extreme...how does that sentence go?
The great Jin Kingdom has its own national conditions. Even though it suffered a crushing defeat, it still has to save face. Don’t you see, Gao Qingyi knew to walk a few steps into the river and then go ashore after he had walked away? So I’m afraid no one in this room can grit their teeth and say such words.
"If you ask me, why can't we abandon those corpses and the wounded, burn down the treasury in the city, and then use the entire Wanhu army as bait to lure Wuji, while we concentrate our elite guards to protect the Sixth Prince to Xinle?" At this moment, a Han general suddenly stepped forward and said something that stunned everyone in the room. Even Hong Ya was stunned.
Everyone was still confused, when suddenly, someone's face flushed red, and he stepped out and scolded in public. It turned out to be a Han official in a red robe:
"Liu E! You are shameless and unworthy of being the descendant of King Liu! If you carry out this plan, you must kill me first!"
"If this strategy doesn't work, what else can we do?" The Han general named Liu E was furious when he saw the man jumping out. "Cheng Cai, tell me, how should we respond now?"
"We must defend Zhending to the death. We will defend it one day at a time. If the city is captured, we will set it on fire to prove our loyalty!" The official named Cheng Cai responded without hesitation, but his opinion was almost the opposite of Liu E's.
"What nonsense are you talking about?" Liu E completely lost his composure after hearing this.
"What nonsense are you talking about?" Cheng Cai did not give in. "How can you abandon the army and save your life?! I still say the same thing, if you want to do such a thing, you must kill me first!"
"Do you think I dare not kill you?" Liu E became more and more angry and simply stepped forward with the knife.
"I am an angel. Should I kill you or will you kill me?" Cheng Cai was not afraid and held his sword in the same direction.
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