Zhao Chen said: "Why did Qing say this? ”

Liu Heng said: "Your Majesty Mingjian, only Anqing has been lost in the three counties of Jiangbei, and Huangzhou and Qizhou are still in the hands of our Song army. Although Dengzhou and Huyang were lost, as long as Xiangyang was held, the Jin army still could not continue to move south. What's more, the Yangtze River defense line has not yet been broken through by the Jin army, how can it be said that the situation is critical? ”

Han Yanzhi also came out and said: "Your Majesty, what Liu Shumi said is extremely true, and at this time, you must not panic and mess up. Now as long as you hold all the roads, you can only wait for Yang Juma to come back from patrolling Sichuan, and then make plans. ”

Among the six ruling ministers, only Han Yanzhi and Liu Heng are proficient in military affairs, and Zhao Chen, after all, has also spent some time in the military camp with Yang Yan, and he still understands some military affairs, and after listening to the analysis of the current situation by the two of them, he is also a lot more relieved.

Zhao Chen nodded, and was about to speak, when suddenly an internal waiter walked up to the lobby in a panic and said, "Your Majesty, the big thing is not good, Huizhou and Chuzhou have been lost." ”

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It turned out that at the same time that Wanyan Changzhi sent troops to capture the three counties of Jiangbei on Huaixi Road, the Jin army in the south of the Yangtze River also divided troops from Sushi Lie Zhining and Po Sa to attack Chizhou and Xinzhou.

Sushi Lie Zhining led an army of 80,000 troops, sent troops from Ningguofu, attacked Chizhou, first captured Qingyang County, and then went straight to Chizhou.

The defender of Chizhou was Meng Zongzheng, with a total of more than 35,000 horses, 8,000 sailors, and more than 250 warships. Seeing that the Jin army was coming, on the one hand, it strengthened the city defense, and on the other hand, it sent the navy down the river to attack Tongling, Fanchang, Nanling, Wuhu and other places along the Yangtze River. In addition, Meng Zongzheng also carefully prepared Yueshe in Chizhou, and the defense was impregnable, and the Jin army and Ben had no chance to take advantage of it, and they fell into the situation for a while.

But on the other road, Po Sa mobilized an army of 130,000 troops, divided into three routes, and led 30,000 troops to sit in Quzhou, contain the men and horses of Xinzhou, and sent Wan Yan Ting and Wan Yan Kuang to lead 50,000 troops each, and attacked Huizhou and Chuzhou separately. After the two roads have succeeded, the three routes will attack Shinshu together.

Xinzhou's men and horses were transferred by Yang Yan to 6,000 men and horses into Sichuan, and 8,000 men and horses were assigned to support Chizhou, and now there are more than 70,000 defenders, plus more than 20,000 people under Liu Bao, the defender of Chuzhou, and the troops are also very strong. Therefore, Bi Zaiyu was not willing to blindly defend and sent Cao Xun to guard Huizhou with 15,000 men and horses. He personally led a large army of 50,000 and formed a superior force to attack Quzhou. As long as the Jin army can be defeated in Quzhou, then the Jin army in Huizhou and Chuzhou will naturally retreat.

Sure enough, as Bi Zaiyu thought, the Song army first defeated the outpost of the Jin army at Yushan and beheaded more than 1,000 people. Then Bi Zaiyu and Gao Zhen each led a road of men and horses, divided into two ways to attack Quzhou, the march along the way was also very smooth, Bi Zaiyu captured Jiangshan County, Gao Zhen captured Changshan County, and both roads of men and horses approached Quzhou.

Po Sa personally led 25,000 men and horses into battle, intending to break them one by one while the Song army was dividing its forces. Then the first attack on Gao Zhen's men and horses, the two armies launched a big battle outside Changshan County, when it was inseparable, Bi Zaiyu led the army after a night of rapid travel, rushed to the battlefield, the two Song armies were flanked before and after, the Jin army was defeated, and more than 6,000 people were killed. Po Sa was defeated and returned to Quzhou City, and he could only send someone to Wanyan Kuang for help.

But at this moment, Liu Bao, the defender of Chuzhou, saw that the Jin soldiers attacking Chuzhou were overwhelming, and he was cowardly and did not fight, and treated himself as an old qualification, and ignored the general order of Bi Zaiyu, and withdrew his troops without fighting. And ran all the way, until the Jianchang army stopped its footing, and gave up Chuzhou, Songyang, Longquan, Pucheng, Chong'an and other places, and left all the baggage and grain to the Jin army. After Yan Kuang took Chuzhou, he marched all the way, almost bloodlessly, and occupied Songyang, Longquan, Pucheng and other places one after another. At this time, he received an urgent letter from Po Sa, and immediately waved his army north, captured Yushan, and attacked the rear road of the Song army.

Bi Zaiyu was also taken aback after receiving the report, and at this time, Yijing could no longer attack Quzhou, so he hurriedly ordered Gao Zhen to return to the army to save Yushan, and he led the army to break off. And Po Sa also immediately seized this opportunity and sent troops from Quzhou to pursue the Song army. In the end, the Song army retreated in time, and Bi Zaiyu also commanded well, although the Song army held but did not mess up, it was regarded as not defeated, and it retreated to Xinzhou all the way. However, the obtained Jiangshan, Changshan, Yushan and other places were all recaptured by the Jin army. And the Jin army pursued along the road, and also pursued it all the way to the city of Shinshu.

At this time, not only was the area east of Shinshu occupied by the Jin army, but even the flanks of Huizhou were exposed to the Jin army. Bi Zaiyu had no choice but to order Cao Xun to abandon Huizhou, retreat to Dexing, and send Gao Zhen to lead 10,000 horses to garrison Chong'an, and the three places were horns for each other to resist the attack of the Jin army. After the Jin army captured Huizhou, it concentrated another 100,000 troops to attack Xinzhou.

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With a "slap", Zhao Chen was so angry that he threw the battle report on the ground, and said hatefully: "This Liu Bao is really hateful, I want to punish him." ”

Several ruling ministers picked up the battle report and read it, and they all understood why the little emperor was so angry. It was a very good situation, who knew that Liu Bao's cowardly retreat actually triggered a chain reaction, leading to an almost complete rout on the battlefield in the south of the Yangtze River.

Zhao Chen was still angry, and said: "I want to immediately pass on the decree, dismiss Liu Bao, and immediately take it back to Tianlin Mansion to ask for guilt, so as to show the generals." ”

Chen Junqing hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, this matter must not be done. ”

Zhao Chen said: "Chen Qing, why not, a person like Liu Bao who fears the enemy like a tiger and retreats without a fight, shouldn't he be punished?" ”

Chen Junqing said: "Punishment is naturally due, but now that the war is urgent, Liu Bao still has the power of the army, in case he is forced to hurry, he throws himself to the Jin country, wouldn't it be self-defeating." What's more, even if you want to take him, you need to be fully arranged before you can start. ”

After listening to Chen Junqing's words, Zhao Chen calmed down a little, he was not a willful person in the end, knowing that Chen Junqing was right, there were many examples of forcing the generals who controlled the military power to surrender to foreign countries, the most typical was the Huaixi Mutiny in the seventh year of Shaoxing (1147). But he was a little unwilling, and said: "It's so difficult that it can't be calculated." ”

Chen Junqing said: "Naturally, it can't be counted like this, Your Majesty can first issue an order to reprimand Liu Bao, so that he can't be cowardly and not fight, so as to calm his heart." Wait until the situation is stable before punishing them. What's more, the current priority is not to punish Liu Bao, but how to resist the attack of the Jin army. ”

Zhao Chen was silent when he heard this. Chen Junqing is right, resisting the Jin army now is the top priority. This time it's not like Wanyan Changzhi, just an activity in Jiangbei, after all, there is a Yangtze River natural insurance that can be guaranteed. Posa's army was in the south of the Yangtze River, and once it conquered Xinzhou and broke through Longxing Mansion, the soldiers pointed directly to the city of Tianlinfu.

Thinking of this, Zhao Chen couldn't help but look at Han Yanzhi and Liu Heng, hoping that they could tell themselves, can Xinzhou hold on? Han Yanzhi and Liu Heng were also silent at this time. Although they are proficient in military affairs, they have not gone to the front line of the battle after all, and they are not sure whether Xinzhou can be defended at this time.

Seeing that they didn't speak, Zhao Chen couldn't help but look at Liang Ke's house again, thinking about whether he would transfer Yang Yan back according to his opinion?

At this time, Shi Hao, who had not spoken, suddenly spoke: "Your Majesty, we are all civilian officials, and we are not very proficient in military affairs. ”

Since Zhao Chen ascended the throne, Shi Hao has been very low-key, and he almost never takes the initiative to speak on military affairs, but only after seeing Zhao Chen's attitude clearly, he shows his attitude, but it is precisely because of this that the bystanders are clear, much more sober than several other people. As soon as he said this, he reminded everyone that it was better to ask Yang Yizhong than to guess randomly with these people. Zhao Chen immediately issued an order and ordered Yang Yi to enter the right.

After Yang Yizhong went to the palace, he met Zhao Chen, first understood the situation, and then read the battle report sent back by Bi Zaiyu, and then said: "Your Majesty, rest assured, Xinzhou will be fine for the time being." ”

Zhao Chen was a little relieved when he heard this, and said busily: "Old King Yang, can you explain in detail?" ”

Yang Yizhong said: "Back to Your Majesty, this defeat is really Liu Bao's fear of war and withdrawal of troops, not a crime of war. And Bi Zaiyu was able to judge the situation and withdraw in time, and there was no major loss of men and horses, which is really commendable. It can also be seen that this person is proficient in the art of war, can use soldiers well, and should be able to hold Shinshu. Now our Song army is divided into three places: Dexing, Xinzhou, and Chong'an, and they are each other's horns, and in the opinion of the ministers, the Jin army may not be able to be easily attacked, so please don't worry about it. What's more, even if the city of Xinzhou is broken, the Jin army will inevitably lose its troops and demolish its generals, and the men and horses will be tired, and we still have Longxing Mansion to defend. Before Yang Yan re-entered Sichuan, he told his ministers that there were still forty or fifty thousand horses in Longxing Mansion, and they should not be moved lightly, and when the Jin army attacked Longxing Mansion with a tired army, it was the day of our Great Song Dynasty counterattack. ”

Listening to Yang Yizhong's analysis, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and it was a famous general in the Shaoxing period, and his grasp of the battle situation was really much clearer than Wenchen.

Especially Zhao Chen, because he almost blindly believed in Yang Yan from the bottom of his heart, so when he heard that it was the plan that Yang Yan left when he left, Zhao Chen immediately felt a lot more relieved. And Zhao Chen also immediately thought that it was Yang Yan who recommended Bi Zaiyu to replace him in Xinzhou before entering Sichuan, instead of Cao Xun and Gao Zhen, who had followed Yang Yan for the longest time, which shows how much Yang Yan values Bi Zaiyu. Even if Yang Yan believes that Bi Zaiyu will be able to hold on to Shinzhou.

So Zhao Chen nodded and said, "Listening to what Yang Laojun King said, I can feel at ease." ”

At this time, Han Yan said straightly: "That is the case, the minister wants to ask His Majesty to send the next holy decree to Xinzhou, explaining that the loss of Huizhou and Chuzhou is not the fault of the generals again, and the imperial court will not blame them for this, so let them do their best to defend Xinzhou." Wonderful