Outside Dingyuan City, Xu Shiji personally welcomed out of the city, and saw the vanguard army fleeing back in embarrassment, the number of people was close to 40,000 when they went, and less than 10,000 when they came back, his heart suddenly lit up, and his face turned cold.

There are 30,000 people in the vanguard army, all of whom are elite, brought from the attack on Jinyang City, have strong combat experience, and are also the main force of the Jianghuai army of Du Fuwei in the southern expedition, but after this battle, they lost three-quarters of their losses, and their strength was greatly reduced, which made Xu Shiji have an urge to spurt blood.

"Where is Cui Jun?" Xu Shiji looked at the team when they arrived, their clothes and armor were dirty, their morale was sluggish, they were very embarrassed, and they had completely lost the appearance of the elite people of the past, and asked angrily.

At this time, Wang Jun turned over and dismounted in astonishment, walked forward quickly, and said: "Go back to General Xu, General Cui Jun is ...... Already dead! ”

"Killed?" Xu Shiji was stunned for a moment, then reacted immediately, and sighed, this fight is a hundred dead, and there is no need to accept military trial.

Xu Shiji was still thinking about it just now, if Cui Jun came back alive, what should he do, he really wanted to be killed, it was a bit inappropriate, after all, Cui Jun was a deputy general, and he was also an older general in the army, he met His Majesty Luo Zhaoyun ten years ago, and fought together on a horse, and he was just the commander not long ago, and he directly killed this kind of old senior deputy general, I am afraid that it will cause dissatisfaction among some soldiers in the army, and it will also cause the disgust of some ministers in the court.

But if Cui Jun was not dealt with, this time he obviously disobeyed the military order, so he was defeated, losing nearly 30,000 soldiers, and many people in the army were extremely indignant and demanded severe punishment.

As the commander-in-chief, he must not only know how to lead the troops to fight, but also deal with the emotions and responsibilities among the generals, and master the balance in order to control the three armies, which is by no means an easy task.

Now that Cui Jun is dead in battle, it is to avoid a layer of trouble, Xu Shiji paused, and shouted: "General Cui Jun disobeyed the military order, led troops into Jiangdu County without permission, and committed the taboo of a lone army, so he was defeated, he punished the mistake, and it is not a pity to die in battle, but 30,000 Dahua Jian'er sacrificed in vain, General Ben ......." Xu Shiji's eyes turned into tears, and he choked up: "General Ben really can't bear it, I hope other people can take this as a warning, whoever dares to disobey the command and lead the troops to act without permission is a violation of military regulations, Don't let go! ”

"Violating military regulations, you will not be spared!" The generals around him shouted loudly, and the surrounding soldiers also shouted, forming a slogan.

With such a move, it is reasonable and well-founded to calm the morale of the mourning soldiers, and also to deter other unruly generals, and smoothly settle the welcoming scene here.

Xu Shiji ordered that the vanguard army be settled, the meals were prepared, the wounded were sent to the wounded and sick to be bandaged, and after resting, they waited for reorganization.

Since the commander of the vanguard army is dead, the other generals and soldiers are all passively following, and they can no longer condemn it, affecting the morale of the army, so they can only be pacified first, so that they can recover their mentality and combat strength as soon as possible.

When Xu Shiji was worried about the loss of troops and generals, he just returned to the Jieshuai Hall in the city, and got the latest news that the scouts had inquired from the Huaishui area, and the Jianghuai Navy went upstream, and the battleships filled the river, crushing the ships of the Dahua Army in the river and blockading the Huai River.

"What, the Huai River is blocked!" After Xu Shiji heard this, he was even more surprised and changed color.

"Then what about our grain and grass!"

"Oops, the Jianghuai Army is going to cut off our back road!"

The other generals were also taken aback, and the atmosphere in the Jieshuai Hall was a little panicked.

Xu Shiji only felt that there was a cold sweat on his back, cold on the ground, his hands were cold, and the Jianghuai army suddenly appeared and cut off the back road, this idea, he didn't speculate, but he still had a fluke mentality, feeling that they had collected a lot of large and small ships, and there were also garrisons on the riverbank, so they would not fall all at once and the whole army would be wiped out.

As long as the Jianghuai army appeared, the sailors fought hard with them, and the bow and arrow defense on the shore could also force the Jianghuai army to fail to move forward, but they didn't expect that they, who had been in the north for a long time, did not understand the strength of the southern navy division at all, and their combat effectiveness was so strong, that they could wipe out all the transport ships of the Chinese army on the river in two hours.

As a result, the situation is passive, and if the supply line is cut off, the more than 100,000 troops can only stay in Zhongli County to find a way to regain control of the sea in the waters of the Huai River and expel the Jianghuai army.

The second way is to withdraw from Zhongli County, continue to go west, go to the border of Xiao Liang, and find a way to return to the north bank, but in this way, it takes a lot of twists and turns, and there is also a situation of joint encirclement and suppression by Xiao Liang's army and Jianghuai army, and even these 100,000 troops are easy to be wiped out until the strategy of conquest of Jianghuai in the south fails.

Xu Shiji got the news, and the soldiers and horses of several small princes in the south were all gathered, headed by Du Fuwei, to form the Jiangzuo Alliance, and the prestige was so great at that time, with more than two or three hundred thousand people, how could they resist?

Fang Yanzao said anxiously: "General Xu, you need to feel and act, otherwise when Du Fuwei gathers all kinds of troops and attacks Zhongli County from Jiangdu County, we will be unable to resist these two small cities, and once the army is in turmoil and there is a lack of food and grass, the local soldiers and horses in Zhongli County will even defect, we are not people here, we can't keep one mind with them, and there will be an uncontrollable chaos at any time." ”

Xu Shiji frowned, nodded and said: "Yes, this general also thought of this, it is nothing more than three ways, one is to lead the army north, regain control of the Huai River, and repel the Jianghuai Naval Division, but our army is mostly northern horse infantry, not many are proficient in water warfare, temporary formation, lack of ships and training, unable to repel the Jianghuai Naval Division." ”

"Second, lead the army to the west by land, but it is easy to be blocked by Xiao Liang's army in front, and the Jianghuai army is chasing behind, lacking sufficient food and grass supplies, and the situation of our army is grim. Only quietly retreat the army, find a place to cross the river in the upper reaches of the Huai River, return to the area of Huaibei, and reorganize the army. However, in this way, we have done useless work this month, and we have lost troops and generals, and it is difficult for us to explain to the court. ”

Everyone was silent, but they still preferred to return to Huaibei in their hearts, because it was better to lose face than to annihilate the whole army here.

"General Xu, what about the third plan?" Wei Yijie asked.

Xu Shiji was silent for a moment, his eyes became a little firmer, and said: "The third plan is to ask for help, quickly send people to cross the river, all the way to Luoyang for help, where the garrison is relatively close to the Huai River, and there is a way, send the song to Chang'an City, report to the Ministry of War and the Privy Council, please Your Majesty continue to send troops to help, we will take this as the foundation, attract Du Fuwei's army, so that the enemy will turn from dark to light, and when the imperial court soldiers and horses come, you can attack from the north and south, and take the initiative instead of passivity!"

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