Chapter 383: Think Before and After
Early November, Queshu Valley.
Unlike the previous Tieling Pass, the Fen River runs through the middle of Queshu Valley, and there is even a Lingshi County between Yangliang South Pass in the south and Yangliang North Pass in the north, which means that this place is destined to not be a simple dangerous valley.
On this day, the early winter morning fog had just dissipated, and about a hundred Jin knights, without even raising their flags, arrived at Lingshi City from the south to the north. The leading general stopped his horse in front of the city gate, looked around the terrain around Lingshi, and couldn't help shaking his head, looking around and sighing:
"When I usually walk here, I always feel that this Queshu Valley is not smooth from north to south, but today I just feel that this valley is too smooth."
The surrounding Jin army officers and generals also looked unhappy.
The leading general, Wanyan Balisu, the commander-in-chief of the Jin army's Taiyuan march, saw this and knew that the crowd's emotions might not be the same as his own, but that they were dissatisfied and angry about the previous escape without a fight... He also sighed slightly in his heart, and then urged his horse into the city.
After entering the city and taking a short rest, in just over a quarter of an hour, they heard the sound of horse hooves from the north of the city. Sure enough, there were also more than a hundred elite cavalrymen, also without flags. They also stopped their horses at the edge of Lingshi City, looked around for a while, and then rode into the city.
The one coming from the north to the south was none other than the King of Wei of the Great Jin Dynasty, Wanyan Wushu, commonly known as the Fourth Prince.
"Meet the King of Wei!"
Balisu had been standing inside the gate waiting for someone to come in. When he saw the person entering the city, he bowed and walked forward.
"Meet the Marshal!"
The unshaven Wuzhu rolled off his horse and also bowed, which was extremely polite, and he also used a strange title.
Balisu was stunned for a moment, and then he forced a smile: "King Wei, you are joking. The Marshal's Office has been gone for several years. Where is the Marshal?"
"Yes." Wuzhu was standing in the city gate with a serious face. "The court has already issued an order. Your Majesty has issued an order, the Secretariat has discussed it publicly, and the capital and the Privy Council have signed it. It has been announced to the world, appointing you as the Grand Marshal of the Jin Army, the governor of the military affairs in Hedong and Hexi, commanding 200,000 people, and then appointing Gao Jingshan of Daming Prefecture and Erluguan of Xijing Datong Prefecture as deputy marshals... How can you say that you are the official marshal of the Great Jin Kingdom?"
In the morning sunshine, Balisu was in a trance for a moment, but it was only a trance for a moment, without any extra expression, and not even any big inner waves.
Just nodded slightly.
In other words, this matter should be discussed from three levels.
First of all, both Balisu and Wuzhu knew that having this marshal or not might just be a matter of title. After getting this marshal, Balisu would never be able to become a powerful official of the Great Jin Kingdom like Nianhan. His basic base was still the five or six thousand households of the Taiyuan Military Command. If he wanted to dispatch Datong Prefecture, Longde Prefecture, and Daming Prefecture, that is, to control the so-called 200,000 Jin troops, he still had to get the approval of Wuzhu, the King of Wei.
The practical significance of this move was more to show that the truly powerful King Wushu of Wei agreed with his overall strategy. Even this point was guessed in advance by Balisu from the previous retreat order.
But... even if he understood all this, even if he knew all these realities, he was still a marshal, the real marshal of the Great Jin Kingdom after Nianhan.
So, here we have to say, what do people seek in life? Especially for Balisu, who has been in the army since he was a child, he probably has some idea of where he can go in his life.
Why did the conflict between Balisu and Loushi arise when Yin Shuke and Xi Yin went north? Wasn't it because they were unhappy and wanted to compete for the leadership of the Western Route Army?
And now, no matter what, when the central government of the Jin Kingdom made a gesture and gave him this position, whether it was real or imaginary, Balisu finally reached the peak of his life.
No matter who writes history books in the future, the fact that Wanyan Balisu was appointed as the Marshal of the Great Jin Kingdom in a time of crisis will be indispensable.
What more could I ask for?
However, the problem is that after getting the title he had dreamed of for many years, Balisu did not feel too excited, but only pressure in his heart - because behind him there were more than 100,000 main forces of the Song army pressing from the south to the north. Wushu seemed to understand this truth, and smiled when he saw it, and then he became serious: "The military situation is urgent. The marshal wrote a letter to me before, and I reported it to Yanjing with my approval. Later, I heard some of the marshal's strategies from Tai Shinu, and I still agree with them in general, but the specifics still need to be decided by the marshal in person."
Balisu sighed, but did not speak directly. Instead, he gestured with his hand, inviting the other party to come up to the city wall to talk. Seeing this, Wushu signaled Taishi Nu to guard the steps and not let others come up, while he went up first.
When they climbed up Lingshi City, they saw the Fen River flowing around the city and the mountains on both sides. Wuzhu suddenly realized something and blurted out, "Marshal, are you planning to use Lingshi City to hold back the Song army?"
"It's not Lingshi City." Balisu, who followed him up the city wall, responded solemnly, pointing north and south. "The Song army has come with all their might. Just across the Fen River is an army of more than 100,000 led by the Zhao Song government. Han Shizhong, Li Yanxian, Ma Kuo, Wang Yan, Wang De, Li Qiong and many other famous generals have gathered... In this situation, how can we expect a mere city to stop the trend? I plan to set up defenses from Yangliang South Pass to Taiyuan City. Even so, I only hope to delay them for a while until we return from Hebei."
Wuzhu pondered for a moment and asked seriously: "In this case, how many troops should be left behind to stop them?"
"At least three thousand households!" Balisu blurted out. "First, use the terrain to block the enemy in Queshu Valley. If the northern pass of Yangliang is breached, disperse immediately... On the one hand, we need to have troops dispersed along the way to defend the cities in the south of Taiyuan to delay the enemy; on the other hand, we need to have a part of the troops to take charge of the cities in the east of Taiyuan and block Jingxing to protect the passage to Zhending Prefecture and Longde Prefecture... Then, we need to have a proper garrison in the main city of Taiyuan Prefecture."
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