The voices of the people in the Daqing Hall gradually quieted, and the ministers stood quietly waiting for Zhao Zhen of Renzong to speak, Zhao Zhen's face was gloomy, his expression was tired, and he glanced at the ministers of His Royal Highness, old and young, tall and short, and sighed and said: "Zhong Aiqing, these major events today have made me quite a headache, and they are all important. ”

Everyone looked at each other, not knowing what made the emperor so worried; Of course, Lu Yi, Jian Yanshu and others knew about it, but if the emperor didn't say it, it was naturally inconvenient for them to say it.

"Holy Lord, it is better for the guilty minister to narrate on his behalf, this matter is the fault of the minister, and the minister is responsible." Han Qi, who was tall and muscular, walked out of the train, knelt down the steps and said in a loud voice.

Zhao Zhen looked at the dust on his face, sighed again and said, "It's okay, Han Qing can tell Zhongqing about this matter, get up and talk about it." ”

Han Qi's face was depressed, Xie En got up, was silent for a long time, and said in a deep voice: "Ladies and gentlemen, the war in the northwest has suffered a major disadvantage, half a month ago, our army and the western thief Li Yuanhao's army encountered in the north of Weizhou, the western thieves in our army were ambushed, more than 6,000 people were killed, and hundreds of generals and officers such as General Ren Fu were killed and martyred. ”

Han Qi choked up, tears rained down, as if he had returned to the tragic battlefield in front of his eyes, after the defeat, Han Qi personally led the army to respond, and immediately ordered to retreat, in the middle of the way, thousands of fathers, brothers and wives of the fallen soldiers, crying in front of Han Qi's horse, the scene is vivid, miserable.

The ministers were in an uproar, and they always thought that the war in the northwest was just a stalemate, winning a defeat and a seesaw, everyone knew in their hearts that as long as they were glued, Li Yuanhao of Western Xia would definitely be a retreat; The protracted war is a war of attrition, and the gap in national strength will make Li Yuanhao exhausted in the end, although the Great Song Dynasty also suffered self-inflicted damage, but compared to defeat, this is the best result.

Unexpectedly, 6,000 people were killed in the first battle of Haoshuichuan, according to the proportion of battle losses, at least 20,000 wounded, and the total strength of the Western Northern Song Army was only 100,000.

Han Qi wiped his tears with the sleeve of his robe and continued: "In the spring of this year, the 100,000 army of the Western Thieves entered Weizhou, and Weizhou had no danger to defend. ', the initial small victory in Zhangjiabao, the Xia army was defeated and retreated after the discarding materials along the way, the minister was surprised to report that it was a feint plan, and he was busy ordering people to fly and ride to order Ren Fumo to catch up, but Ren Fu was greedy, and when the messenger arrived, he had already led the army to chase to Weizhou Haoshuichuan, so that there was this defeat, and the minister ......"

"Deputy Envoy Han, are you shirking responsibility? Ren Fu is dead, you are talking like this at this moment, you want to put the blame on Ren Fu's head, it is a little inappropriate. Lu Yijian directly interrupted Han Qi's narration and said loudly.

Everyone echoed and accused Han Qi of being inauthentic and using dead people to defend himself.

"The minister is just playing according to the facts, and the minister knows that he is guilty, but the minister's fault is the minister's responsibility, and the non-minister's fault naturally needs to be explained to the emperor."

"It's a grandiose statement, will the emperor wronged you? You still need to appeal by yourself, if the old minister is not mistaken, you are the main attack, and the Xia army decisive battle, thinking that the delay in time, the financial situation is weak, it is difficult to support, the first year of Kangding, you came to Beijing to offer advice to the emperor once said: Although Yuan Hao poured into the country, the crowd was only forty or fifty thousand people, and I was heavily defended by myself, and the strength was weak, and the enemy was unable to support it. If one is combined, the drum marches forward, and the thief is arrogant and lazy, and it will be broken. That's what you said? ”

Han Qi said: "It's my original words, but it's ......"

"Since it was your original words, it was said that there were only forty or fifty thousand thieves that day, how could Yuan Hao's 100,000 troops come out again in the first battle of Haoshuichuan today, and you were originally strongly advocating the attack, then Ren Fu just respected your order, how could he say that he was greedy for merit and reckless at this time, and his inconsistent words were very inappropriate."

Han Qi said dejectedly: "What Lu Xiang said is reasonable, but the time when the lower official said that the fifty or sixty thousand soldiers was the last year, and the situation has changed greatly now, and it is very different from the last year, so it is ......."

"Lord Han, the prime minister originally admired your personality, he was brave and brave, and he never dragged the mud and water, but today you made the prime minister look down on him, your reasons are simply untenable, last year there were fifty or sixty thousand, and this year there will be one hundred thousand, will Yuan Hao conjure up this double of the troops? Or did the Liao State borrow troops from him? It is clear that you misjudged the situation, and you are fully responsible for this. ”

Han Qi was speechless, his face was extremely ugly, this time he couldn't change, and he could only bear these responsibilities himself.

Emperor Renzong sat on the throne with his cheeks held and listened to the debate between the two, without saying a word, this is his old habit, and it is also his shrewdness, he never participates in the dispute between his courtiers, nor does he openly express favoritism, for this matter, he is more concerned about the question of who is guilty and who is responsible, but what to do next?

But the people involved need to be punished, that's for sure, so he didn't say anything, just listened quietly.

"The responsibility cannot be borne by Deputy Envoy Han alone, and the minister is also responsible." Fan Zhongyan, who had gray and black hair and was thin and withered, suddenly stood up, this Fan Xiwen was not amazing, and the wrinkles on his face were layered on top of each other, leaving the marks of the axe and chisel carved by the wind and frost of the years.

"Master Fan, what is your responsibility, this matter has nothing to do with you, you are stationed in Yaozhou, and this matter has nothing to do with you." Han Qi was afraid of getting involved with another person, so he said with a smile.

"Lord Han, you and I are jointly responsible for the military affairs of the Northwest, and we should be jointly responsible for the affairs of the Northwest, so you can say that it has nothing to do with me."

Han Qi was so anxious that he almost jumped to his feet and scolded his mother, I have to tell the truth and hope that the emperor can punish him lightly, you are good, but you just pulled the leak on yourself.

Fan Zhongyan didn't care, and said calmly: "Your Majesty, not only are the ministers responsible, but also people have to take responsibility." ”

Zhao Zhen said quietly: "Do you mean Lord Xia?" ”

"It is Lord Xia, as the pacification envoy of Jingluo, the minister and the deputy envoy Han are their deputies, and the responsibility for this defeat should be borne by the three of us."

Everyone's eyes turned to Xia Zhu who was standing behind the privy envoy Du Yan, Xia Zhu was five short and had a white and fat face, but he couldn't imagine that this person was the commander of the 100,000 Song Army in the northwest, and if you saw this person on the street, you would be mistaken for a little rich man, but if you look at him, you will find that this person's eyes reveal a trace of coldness that makes you cold to the soles of your feet.

At this moment, Xia Zhu's face was pale, and when he saw everyone's eyes on him, he knew that he couldn't escape this time, so he secretly cursed and knelt down from class.

"Your Majesty, the minister thought that Lord Xia was not primarily responsible for the defeat of the army, in the past, when Han Fan and the two were ordered by the emperor to go to the northwest, Han Qi had asked the emperor to grant him and Fan Zhongyan full military responsibility, at that time the minister and Lord Xia had objected, but later, in order to take into account the situation in the northwest, it was agreed that Han Fan could decide on his own in military affairs, and Lord Xia was in charge of logistics affairs. Lord Fan said that the three of them shared the responsibility, which was a hard pull on Lord Xia to take responsibility, and the minister thought it was very inappropriate. ”

It was the privy envoy Du Yan who spoke, the Privy Council was the highest military body of the Great Song Dynasty, and the privy envoy was the commander-in-chief of the three armies in other words.

Zhao Zhen frowned and said: "What Du Aiqing said is reasonable, I remember this matter clearly, Han Qi, Fan Zhongyan, you must not forget what you said in front of me that day." ”

Fan Zhongyan kowtowed and said: "It is difficult to escape the blame for the death of the criminal minister, but this matter is indeed related to Lord Xia, how dare the minister slander others indiscriminately." ”

"Oh? Then tell me the reason. Zhao Zhen knew that the northwest would ultimately rely on Han Qi and Fan Zhongyan to stand up, as long as Fan Zhongyan could give a reason, he wouldn't mind pulling Xia Zhu to punish the crime together, then again, if there are more people, the punishment he will be punished later, after all, the three of them will share it, and the guilt will be much smaller psychologically.

"The battle of Haoshuichuan is a military defeat on the surface, but in fact, there is another reason that the emperor does not know; Ren Fusuo led 28,000 men to Huaiyuan to intercept the soldiers of the Western Thieves, at that time, the military affairs were urgent, each person only brought one day's rations, and the deputy envoy of the follow-up grain and grass Han had asked Lord Xia to count and escort to the front line to receive help; But until the end of the war, the grain and grass of Lord Xia had not yet been on the road, and Ren Fujun had been out for four days at that time; It is conceivable that nearly 30,000 people in Ren Fu's army were hungry for three days and were fighting against Yuan Hao's 100,000 army, how could they not be defeated? Ren Fu is not considerate in taking the initiative, but whose fault is it for this backup? ”

The more Fan Zhongyan spoke, the more excited he became, gritting his teeth and wanting to slap Xia Zhu's head on the kneeling beside him.

"Xia Zhu, is there such a thing?" Zhao Zhen was angry, Xia Zhu has always been shrewd, how could he make such a big mistake this time.

"Emperor Qi, the ministers deserve death, Lord Han did talk to the ministers about this matter that day, but the food in the military camp is exhausted, if it is transported to the front line, what will the tens of thousands of troops in the rear camp eat? The transshipment has made the food for the huge army less and less, and the minister is also a clever woman who has no choice but to cook without rice. ”

After listening to Xia Zhu's defense, everyone was dumbfounded, yes, the grasshoppers on a rope were all pulled out one by one, and none of them could escape.

The eyes of the ministers fell on Pang Ji who was standing behind Yan Shu again; Zhao Zhen had a headache to death, seeing that they were all involved, if this Pang Ji said that the supply of the three divisions was not effective, and then pulled out Yan Shu, it would really be good to see.