Liu Ziyu became more speechless, but could only nod.
At the same time, as the lights in the tent were lit one by one, they reflected the bonfire outside the tent and also illuminated the faces of many important officials accompanying the emperor. Among them was the Prime Minister Wang Boyan... and below the Prime Minister, there were the military officers and editors of the Privy Council, the Hanlin scholars, secretaries, and attendants who had the duty of accompanying the emperor, and the generals of the imperial camp and the imperial guards. There were no less than twenty or thirty people, and they had crowded the central military tent early on.
It was in such a situation that Zhao Jiu began to ask the attendant Hu Hong to lay out the map.
"Sir, it would be better to enter the pass..." The guard of Sishui Pass who came out of the pass to greet him turned out to be a scholar, and a descendant of a famous family. He was a new commander of the Eight Character Army, named Fan Yihong. Seeing this, he could not help but be cautious. "Once you enter the pass, you will have a big house, and you can eat more freely."
"I have already entrusted my son to my care, so why would I want a big house?"
Zhao Jiu didn't even raise his head, stroking the crude map and speaking. "Let's not talk about this matter. Today, we got military intelligence that Wanyan Loushi sent his son Wanyan Huonu to split up his army and attack Danzhou (southeast of Yan'an, next to the Yellow River, now Yichuan). Wu Jie hastily left Luochuan to support them, but was defeated by Loushi and his son again. Danzhou had no help and surrendered directly. After Danzhou was lost, Fuzhou (southwest of Yan'an, where the main road to the North Luo River leading to the Guanzhong Plain is located, now the area of Fu County) was attacked from both sides. In addition, Wu Jie suffered heavy losses in troops. How do you think we should deal with it? Should we defend or retreat?"
"Let's not talk about this for now!" Qu Duan was about to speak, but Liu Ziyu stepped forward again and confronted him sternly. "Your Majesty, although the military situation in other places is unclear except for the Loushi army, and even General Han is probably still on the way, but since the emperor is about to enter Luoyang, and the military situation in other places is within the scope of speculation, I think we should decide on the general plan for this journey to the west as soon as possible, so as to avoid the unpredictable military situation ahead and we cannot be prepared!"
"What kind of plan?"
Zhao Jiu looked at him sternly. "Does the Privy Council have any comment?"
"Yes." Liu Ziyu replied loudly. "The current situation is becoming clearer. The Jin army is attacking from the west and attracting troops from the east. The two armies in the east and west have nearly 200,000 troops... More than 50,000 troops have joined forces with the pseudo-Qi troops, trying to use Damingfu as a node to connect to Jingdong to contain the front and right armies of the Imperial Camp; while 150,000 troops are working together to the west, intending to annex Guanxi..."
"This is nonsense!" Qu Duan finally couldn't help but interrupt and scold. "The Privy Council is in charge of the country's confidential military affairs. These things have been known to everyone for months, but now they are telling the emperor about it as if it were some important military intelligence... Is this how the Privy Council works?"
"Deputy Commander Qu!" Liu Ziyu was also known to have a bad temper. How could he tolerate Qu Duan? He immediately scolded him back. "Today is the first day of April. How many days ago was the month ago? Besides, there was the matter of Yiyou Gate and the grand court meeting, and then the march to here! Besides, the military situation is serious, some news always needs to be confirmed again and again..."
"If you were so sure, you would have ruined the government long ago!" Qu Duan was fearless and skipped over 'Moon ago' and sneered. "Don't think I don't know that you have a personal grudge against Ma Kuo, the chief steward of Taihang Mountain. You always judge the information he conveyed with your own interests, so that you sacrificed public interests for personal interests last time in Nanyang! I just want to ask you, what does it matter if you confirm it again and again? Did Ma Kuo deceive you? He was thrown into prison by you and your son, and the Jin people released him, but he abandoned his family to fight against the Jin people. Why would such a loyal and righteous man deceive you? Just because he has a grudge against you? Even if he has a grudge against you, he must not have a grudge against the government, the people of Lianghe, Guanxi, and the Central Plains! In my opinion, you, a young master born in a civil service, are just pretending even if you wield swords and guns and learn some superficial military skills. The Jingkang Incident was because the national affairs were controlled by people like you and your son..."
Liu Ziyu had been holding back before, but when he heard the other party mention his father who died for his country, he became completely fearless, and suddenly sneered, then recited word by word with his hands behind his back in the tent:
"Instead of going to Guanzhong to build a business, I come to the river to fish."
There was silence in the tent for a moment, and Qu Duan's face turned red from holding it in.
At this moment, Zhao Jiu, who had been quietly listening to the two people's quarrel, suddenly laughed: "Yang Yizhong."
"I'm here." Yang Yizhong walked forward following the voice.
"Roll up the tent door again." Zhao Jiu ordered calmly. "Let the officers and soldiers outside, as well as the clerks who are accompanying the army, see what's going on here clearly, so they don't get curious."
Yang Yizhong was stunned for a moment, but still walked past the embarrassed Qu Duan and Liu Ziyu and went forward to roll up the curtain himself.
"Go on." After the tent door was reopened, Zhao Jiu casually pointed at Liu Ziyu.
“Yes!”
Liu Ziyu took several deep breaths, suppressed his anger, and continued to report to the emperor. "Good sir, you know, the Privy Council believes that whether we want to defend or fight, if we want to win this battle, the most important thing is isolation."
"What do you mean?" Zhao Jiu perked up a little.
"It means to do everything we can to prevent the various Jin troops from gathering in Guanzhong." Liu Ziyu's breath gradually calmed down. "The Jin army was divided into three parts, but in the end, we have to fight with all our strength only against the troops that entered Guanzhong, so..."
"Therefore, the most urgent task is to try to stop the reinforcements from the enemy in Taiyuan to Loushi." Zhao Jiu suddenly realized it and said it directly. "But Danzhou has been lost. What if the Jin army crosses the river from Yan'an and Danzhou to provide support?"
"No." Qu Duan explained before Liu Ziyu. "Your Majesty doesn't know that the upper reaches of the Yellow River, starting from Longmen, are mountainous and narrow. If the Jin people want to gather from northern Shaanxi, they can only use the Yanhe River in Yan'an Prefecture as a grain route between the east and west of the river, and then they have to go around Yan'an Prefecture and go south... This route, even if the Jin people already have Yan'an Prefecture, Jinning Army and the three states outside the river to collect grain nearby, supplying 50,000 to 60,000 people is already the limit, it can't be too much! The five routes to attack Xia were defeated because they ignored logistics. Lou Shi must be three points stronger than the civil officials of this dynasty."
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