When Han Chang took such an attitude, the three of them reacted in unison... They all breathed a sigh of relief and couldn't help but curse this man in their hearts for not being able to stick to his position.
Of course, it’s also difficult for Han Chang.
In desperation, beside the fire, Balisu turned back and said to Wuzhu: "Fourth Prince, I only want to ask you one more question. You insist on crossing the river. Do you think the Zhao Song officials should be in the city ahead, or do you want to chase them, surround them, and eat them up?"
Wanyan Wushu was silent for a moment, and instead of answering, he asked: "Let me ask you, Talai is our commander-in-chief this time, are we going to abandon him? According to common sense, even if he is defeated, he should be guarding the Zhengzhou and Kaifeng areas in the Wuhe area, right? Maybe he is surrounded by enemies!"
This is half nonsense but actually does make some sense... The nonsense part is that when Wushu marched south a few months ago, he never regarded Talai as the chief commander. Instead, he forcibly summoned Talai like a subordinate. The truth is, no matter whether Wushu respected Talai or not, this right deputy marshal was still the right deputy marshal after all. After crossing two rivers there was no news. It was likely that the Song army took advantage of the great victory to hit him in the face, so he had to be rescued.
Thinking of this, Balisu shook his head repeatedly, but did not argue with the other party. Instead, he simply said his real suggestion: "This is what I want to say, Fourth Prince, if you want to go to Zhengzhou, why not go through Ruzhou, go through Luoyang, and go out of Sishui Pass to support the Right Deputy Marshal?"
Wuzhu was slightly startled, obviously he had been tricked.
After a long while, the fourth prince of the Jin Kingdom slowly said, "We have already crossed two of the Five Rivers, so why would we give up halfway?"
Balisu had already completely determined the other party's thoughts, but he just sneered and said nothing.
But Wulinda Taiyu was furious: "In the final analysis, the Fourth Prince wants to put the army in danger just for one person's personal grudge?"
"Is capturing the Emperor of Song a personal grudge?!" Wuzhu was also furious. "Have you ever thought about this? Now that the weather has warmed up, we are forced to withdraw today. If we fail to capture the Emperor of Song, all the hard work of several months will be in vain! Henan will once again belong to the Song people!"
Wulin Datai wanted to argue after hearing what was said, but he couldn't, so he simply slapped the ashes in front of him. The ashes flew up and into the campfire, sparks flew everywhere, reflecting the stern faces of the four top Jurchen nobles around him.
To put it bluntly, unless it is absolutely necessary, who would be willing to admit that this southern expedition has failed?
Of course it failed. Just think about it. Let's not talk about the Western Route Army in northern Shaanxi. The 120,000 troops here went south to the Henan area that had already been seized. Even if there were spoils of war and oil, they were gradually consumed in the months of siege. There were not enough spoils of war, and they were defeated, and the entire army lost more than a dozen men.
As for the strategic purpose of capturing the Zhao Song officials and supporting a puppet regime in Henan...
In short, if they chose to withdraw directly at this time, considering that the weather could not support the Jin army's siege for another few months, they would have to retreat completely. However, they retreated without achieving any strategic results and instead lost more than a dozen men. This march southward would certainly be a complete defeat!
What we must know is that even when Wanyan Wushu was defeated at Huaishang last time, it was just a setback after the Jin army completed its established goal (sweeping the two wings of Hebei in an attempt to completely control Hebei)... So, if the Jin army just left in disgrace this time, it would be the first time in the history of the Jin army that a strategic offensive was frustrated... Who can afford it?
Back to the present, the conflict on the banks of the Ru River ended in a stalemate, and since the stalemate had occurred, it was natural for them to continue heading north in accordance with the commander's wishes.
Soon, the Jin army's central force arrived at the third of the Five Rivers, the famous Yingshui River.
As expected, before the arrival of the Jin army, the other side of the river was quiet. However, with the arrival of the Jin army, more Song troops suddenly appeared on the other side of the river than last time. They even clearly saw the word "Yue" on the flag on the opposite side. Considering the rarity of this surname, Wanyan Wushu and others immediately realized that this was Yue Fei, the Jeju Governor who had once annihilated 5,000 Jin cavalrymen in Liangshanpo.
The appearance of a general of this caliber undoubtedly declared that it would be much more difficult for the Jin army to cross the Yingshui River in front of them than to cross the two rivers behind them.
To be honest, that evening, when Wanyan Wushu personally arrived at the Ying River and looked at the Song army on the opposite bank, which was neither too many nor too few, plus the flag that he had to take seriously... at that moment, the Fourth Prince himself was so tired that he wanted to give up.
Linhe stood up and raised his hips slightly. He hated that Talan was defeated but couldn't give him a clear message, so that he was in such a confused situation. He hated that the Zhao Song official was dishonest. He said he would wait for him in Nanyang City, but suddenly ran out to Yanling. At the same time, he hated himself for being incompetent...
If he had been able to destroy the Song army's incredibly efficient artillery carts in Nanyang earlier, he would have been able to lock the dragon in the well and wait for victory.
If we could have seen through the Zhao Song government's scheme by the Baihe River and captured that guy early, this battle would have been over long ago and everything would have been fine.
If they had advanced without hesitation after Talan's defeat, they would not have fallen into such a predicament at this moment.
"The Fourth Prince."
Just as Wuzhu was looking at the river and sighing, his trusted general Han Chang suddenly reined in his horse and came to his side, standing beside him, and then whispered to him, "It must be the beautiful scenery of the Central Plains, right?"
It is indeed a beautiful scenery.
The sun sets in the west, the river is golden, the cavalry are endless, the blood soaks the green grass, and there is a breeze. The flags are fluttering in the wind from behind, echoing with the flags of the Song army on the opposite side. How can it not be a beautiful scenery?
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