"My idea is very simple." Zhao Jiu let go of Han Shizhong's hand and said slowly. "Liang Chen is a famous general of the country. We must listen to your advice on the war. Since you said from the military strategy that the Jin army did not need to retreat in a hurry, then there must be something to discuss about such a hasty retreat this time."
The several civil officials who accompanied him stood silently, but Emperor Zhao turned his head and looked at Zhang Jun:
"Deyuan's words during the day certainly make sense, but military affairs are a matter of life and death. We can only be lenient with the enemy and strict with ourselves, and we can't just find an excuse and let it go once things go smoothly... If we really want to find an explanation, Jin Wushu is young and hot-tempered, and his temperament is exactly the same as mine. He even sent a letter to mock me when he was free during the battle. How could such a person, who has no one in the army to really restrain him, give up so easily?"
Zhang Jun immediately bowed his head and said: "Your Majesty is right. I was not thoughtful enough and made assumptions."
"So you are a good minister." Zhao Jiufu looked at Han Shizhong again. "I came to you today not to force you to admit your mistakes, but because you are my backbone and I still rely on you in military affairs... Tell me, if Jin Wushu has other plans, what are his plans? How should we respond? You are the one who can do this."
Han Shizhong was immediately proud at first, but he couldn't help but be solemn after hearing what he said. Finally, he just looked up and thought for a while, and came up with the answer: "If I am Jin Wushu, and I have other plans, there are only two options. One is to take advantage of the northward movement of the camp and suddenly start in Mengcheng, leading the main force of the cavalry to attack Jeju and swallow up the troops of Yue Fei and Zhang Rong... But if that's the case, we have no other choice, and we won't even have time to notify them."
Zhao Jiu nodded slightly. Jeju was more than 400 miles away, and the Jin army was all cavalry. If this really happened, they could only leave it to fate. But then again, Emperor Zhao was not too worried, because according to the military report, Yue Fei and Zhang Rong had nearly 20,000 people, and they occupied Jeju City and Liangshan Lake at the same time. So with Yue Fei's ability, what would it matter if he defended a city? Even if he couldn't defend it, he could retreat to Liangshan Lake and occupy the local advantages. Would Jin Wushu dare to chase him in?
"The other reason is that they want us to slack off so that they can launch a surprise attack and continue to think about crossing the Huai River to attack me?" Thinking of this, Zhao Jiu took the initiative to continue speaking along the other party's line of thought.
"Reporting to the emperor, this is true and not true." Han Shizhong stood in the military quarters and answered proudly, holding his waist. "I am not bragging. Although the emperor has reminded me that the sea vessels rely on large sails to move, once the wind stops, they will become targets for rockets from small boats. However, the emperor has fortified the city and cleared the fields in advance, and collected the ships. How could the Jin army suddenly gather small boats, and how could they turn around and destroy my fleet? Therefore, if I were Jin Wushu, I would not come from here to kill this wave of surprise attacks."
"Then where does it come from?" For some reason, Zhao Jiu felt relieved after hearing this.
"There are only two ways. From the north, we can sneak across the Feishui River and Yingshui River to the west and attack Guangzhou (Gushi and Huangchuan in later generations), or sneak across the Woshui River and Huanshui River to the east and attack Sizhou (Hongze Lake in later generations, but there was no lake at that time)!" Han Shizhong said thoughtfully. "Among them, Guangzhou is the most likely choice!"
"Why?" As the second person who knows about military affairs, Yang Yizhong finally couldn't help but interrupt. "Guangzhou has strong troops, but Sizhou has few troops. Moreover, after crossing the river upstream, they rushed to Bagong Mountain. There are many mountains in the middle, while the road downstream is smooth... Didn't the Shulie get lost and get stuck in the mountains?"
"No." Han Shizhong waved his hand and said, "Guangzhou may have more troops, but Miao Fu, Liu Zhengyan, Ding Jin, Liu Yan and other generals are all under different command, and Yuwen Xianggong may not be able to unite them; besides, Ding Jin, who has more troops, is a new surrender, and it is hard to say whether he can fight or is willing to fight! As for the terrain, let me ask you, Yang Dalang, if the Jin army exceeds 10,000 and crosses the Huai River together, what does the terrain matter? In addition to gathering troops to escort the emperor south, is there any other way for us to do it?"
"Then Sizhou..."
"Sizhou is not impossible, but isn't it too far?" Han Shizhong sneered. "Since it is a surprise attack, it is the last trick. We need to catch them by surprise. Sizhou is separated by Haozhou, so how can it be as convenient as Guangzhou, which is just to the west? Besides, how can they know that I, Han Wu, have hollowed out Sizhou to protect Shouzhou and Haozhou? They only know that Sizhou is my defense area, so they might be afraid of it!"
Yang Yizhong had no way to refute it.
"Besides that, there is another reason." Zhang Jun, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly spoke slowly. "If we want to attack Guangzhou, we must go through Shunchang Prefecture (Fuyang in later generations). When we withdrew from Shunchang Prefecture, the government was kind and relocated many people from Shunchang Prefecture... Marching from there would provide some protection. What General Han said makes sense."
"No matter what, send someone to notify the upstream and downstream overnight. They should be sent to Sizhou and Guangzhou, so that they can prepare in advance." Hu Yin also spoke at the right time. "Even if it is Jeju, we should try to send people to take a detour. We can't just ignore it because the delivery is slow."
Everyone nodded together and looked at Zhao Jiu again.
However, Emperor Zhao sat expressionlessly on a chair in the military quarters. He nodded slightly at first, but then shook his head repeatedly, as if he had other ideas: "It must be so, but even so, I am still a little worried, because in Guangzhou, except for Liu Yan, I am worried about everyone else..."
Among the people in the military dormitory, except Han Shizhong and Bachelor Kobayashi, the other three raised their eyebrows almost at the same time!
Although Scholar Kobayashi did not raise his eyebrows, his mind was functioning normally, even faster than others - let's say, it is normal for Ding Jin to be worried, everyone would be worried, but why are Miao Fu and Liu Zhengyan also worried?
Could it be because they were generals of the Western Army? And the government had ill will towards them because of Liu Guangshi?
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