Zhao Jiu nodded slowly: "I understand what you mean... It's not that Lou Shi didn't want to gather a large army at the beginning, but the troops in northern Shaanxi are limited, and he still has to rely on the support of the Jin army in Hedong from Hezhong Prefecture. So you want me to deploy heavy troops between Shanzhou and Tongzhou, try to cut off Puzhen and Fenglingdu, and stop most of the enemy in Hedong?"
"That's exactly what I mean." Qu Duan still answered first.
Zhao Jiu nodded slowly, but shook his head for a moment: "Can Li Yanxian's troops in Shanzhou defend two states?"
"Not enough!" Qu Duan responded. "The enemy has 100,000 troops. Even if we defend across the river, we still need 60,000 to 70,000 troops. We still need elite troops to fight..."
Zhao Jiu was silent for a moment, because he immediately understood what Qu Duan meant. When he went to see Liu Ziyu again, the Privy Councilor who had just argued with Qu Duan as if it was a revenge for the murder of his father accepted the order but said nothing.
Now, Zhao Jiu knew that there was no other way to deal with this matter: "Does Han Shizhong have to go to Tongzhou?"
"It has to be General Han."
Liu Ziyu also spoke seriously again. "Your Majesty...Tongzhou is located to the north of the already lost Danzhou, to the west and south of the Luo River, and to the east of the Yellow River. Although the Pujin floating bridge on the Yellow River has been burned down, the ferry is still there, which is the only place where the Jin army crossed the river from Hedong."
"This place is surrounded by water on three sides and mountains on one side." Wang Yuan, the commander of the Imperial Camp who had been silent, also interrupted. "This terrain can be defended with tens of thousands of generals and elite soldiers, and it may be effective. But on the other hand, if we spare our troops here, once the enemy takes advantage of us, we will be strangled to death... Your Majesty, we cannot hesitate at this time, and we must not be stingy with our elite soldiers or generals! After all, we are at a disadvantage, so we should do our best to exchange our troops!"
Zhao Jiu nodded heavily and looked at the military prime minister Wang Boyan who had remained silent. Wang Boyan also bowed his head immediately. Seeing this, the official looked at Scholar Kobayashi who was standing beside him.
Scholar Kobayashi understood and began to write the imperial edict with the assistance of the attendant Hu Hong.
"But if Han Shizhong, Yue Fei, Li Yanxian, Zhang Jun and Zhang Rong cannot move easily, can I only use the troops in the imperial camp and the troops from Guanxi to fight against Loushi?" Even though he knew that he had issued an absolutely rational and correct order, Zhao Jiu's face still looked ugly.
"Your Majesty, please forgive me for speaking frankly. This was originally the reason why Loushi attacked from Yan'an... That place is in the northwest of the country, and it is difficult for the imperial camp army to go there. If we can finally unite the entire imperial camp army and the six routes of Shaanxi to resist Loushi, it will be a great blessing." Liu Ziyu answered proudly. "However, where the war will go, no one knows!"
Zhao Jiu nodded repeatedly...Isn't that the truth?
Wanyan Loushi has been here for years, but he has not hesitated to send tens of thousands of troops south for strategic reconnaissance. Isn't it to find out the strength, support speed and support range of each force?
It would be ridiculous if there were no calculations this time.
But at the moment, this arrangement is the most rational and correct.
but……
"What did we talk about at the beginning?" Zhao Jiu came back to his senses, actually a little dazed for a moment.
"Danzhou has been lost, Wu Jie was defeated for the second time, and now there are not many soldiers in Fuzhou. Should we defend it or abandon it?" Qu Duan stepped forward and reminded carefully.
"Should I defend or abandon?" Zhao Jiu stared at Qu Duan and asked.
"Both defend and abandon!" Dusk was approaching outside the tent, and the soldiers had already gone to eat. Under the light, Qu Duan stared at the expressionless Zhao Guanjia with his eyes burning.
In response, Zhao Jiu said nothing and looked at Liu Ziyu, Hu Hongxiu and others again.
Liu Ziyu first glanced at Qu Duan's serious expression, then stepped forward and said sternly: "The Privy Council also thinks that we should both defend and abandon!"
"What do you mean?" Zhao Jiu's expression remained unchanged, he just raised his head to indicate.
"Your Majesty, this is exactly what I was going to say on behalf of my colleagues in the Privy Council..." Liu Ziyu seemed to have an idea in mind. "If we want to hold Guanzhong, we must first isolate the Hedong army as much as possible to prevent the Jin army in Guanzhong from becoming too powerful; second, we must rely on the terrain of the hills and mountains in northern Shaanxi to resist them layer by layer, but we don't need to fight them to the death or a decisive battle. Instead, we must try to consume and tire out the elite cavalry in the mountains of northern Shaanxi, and at the same time, we have to divide our troops to guard various places, and wait until the summer heat comes and they are exhausted, then we can release them, either to fight in the mountains, or to lure them into a strong city..."
Zhao Jiu nodded slowly and looked at Qu Duan again.
"That's what I think too." Qu Duan answered quickly. "Northern Shaanxi is the key to this battle. If we can defend it, we should defend it. If we can't defend it, we should abandon it. But we must resist and harass, and we must preserve the useful troops. When the enemy is exhausted and our army is gradually strengthened, we can fight or defend according to the situation."
Zhao Jiu nodded heavily and was about to speak, but then kept silent.
At this moment, Qu Duan knelt down in the tent and kowtowed, "Your Majesty! If you still use Wu Jie to guard Fuzhou, I'm afraid he is not enough!"
Unexpectedly, facing Qu Da's behavior, except for Fan Yihong from Sishui Pass who was stunned for a moment, no one in the tent had any extra reaction, as if everyone knew he would do this.
"What do you mean?"
Zhao Jiu also remained calm, but just looked curious. "I heard that Qu Da is good at both literature and martial arts, and Wu Da is brave and resourceful... Wu Da is as famous as you, and although he lost two battles, it was only because of disadvantages in the field battles. How could he not be able to defend Fuzhou?"
"Your Majesty," Qu Duan on the ground said frankly and eagerly. "Brave and resourceful, that's just to make up the words so that he can compare with me... If Wu Da was brave and resourceful, why would he fail like this?"
Zhao Jiu finally sneered.
"Your Majesty, that's not what I meant." Qu Duan explained quickly. "In fact, if it's just to defend one state, any one of the Wu brothers can do it. If they fight bravely in the field, even I am not as good as Wu Da. But the problem is that, as it stands now, Fuzhou will definitely fall. After Fuzhou falls, we should gather our troops and retreat in an orderly manner, and then continue to resist with the support of Jingyuan Road and Huanqing Road... How to dispatch troops from three states? How to lure the Jin army to the west? How to harass the Jin army from multiple directions? Wu Jie is a little inadequate, because he has always been a subordinate of mine and has no such prestige!"
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