The sky gradually brightened, and when the figure of the last Nanzhao soldier disappeared outside the city, Wang Yuan ordered to start extinguishing the fire and opening the streets to occupy the southern city. Wang Yuan stood on the wall of the southern city and looked down on the whole city, Quzhou City was already in a mess, most of the houses were destroyed, and there were ruined walls and smoke-burning houses everywhere.

But fortunately, the city wall is intact, only need to repair the broken city gate, hesitate Nanzhao soldiers and horses do not have strong siege weapons, so Quzhou City is still a city outline, is still a barrier in front of Nanzhao soldiers and horses.

Wang Yuan ordered the soldiers and horses to clean up the battlefield, clear the streets, and bury the bodies of the dead and wounded enemy soldiers. At the same time, he ordered the cavalry to accompany Huang Taishou out of the city to persuade the people who fled overnight last night to return to Quzhou. Wang Yuan did not want the tide of refugees to spread to the state capital behind because of the loss of Quzhou, and at the same time, Quzhou needed to be rebuilt, and the city defense houses needed to be strengthened and rebuilt, and a lot of labor was needed.

There is no need to worry about the people's living problems, and they ordered someone to go to Chengdu to inform Xian Yu Zhongtong and ask him to speed up the delivery of grain and grass to Quzhou for relief. As for whether the use of military rations for relief is in accordance with the rules, Wang Yuan can't manage so much.

At noon, the people, who couldn't escape far in the dark, returned to the city one after another, and began to settle in the designated areas under the organization of Huang Taishou. For a while, men, women and children called their children and daughters to make a fuss, and they were naturally ecstatic when they found their families, and those who couldn't find their family members or learned of their family's death beat their chests and cried. Before noon, 20,000 infantry finally arrived in Quzhou with heavy grain and grass supplies, and the city seemed to be turned upside down, with soldiers everywhere and the shouts of the people everywhere.

Wang Yuan was a little big for a while, Wang Yuan had never experienced this kind of scene, in fact, it was the first time for Wang Yuan to bring tens of thousands of soldiers and horses to fight. However, Wang Yuan still knew what it meant to know people and make good use of them, so he called the marching Sima Song Jiangong and ordered him to coordinate the encampment of soldiers and horses, the restraint of the people, and the development of the reconstruction work as soon as possible. Let Liu Dehai assist him in proceeding.

Song Jiangong really had two brushes, and he worked together with Liu Dehai, and after an hour, order in the city was gradually restored, soldiers and horses were stationed in place, the people were temporarily settled, and all the supplies, baggage, grain and grass were also piled up in the right place, and everything finally calmed down.

In the evening, in the hall of the Quzhou Yamen, which had been temporarily renovated in the city, Wang Yuan convened a meeting of all the officials and generals, and the atmosphere of the meeting was very warm.

Before the meeting began, Song Jiangong was the first to stand up and bow his hands to dozens of generals and officials and shouted: "Everyone, Quzhou has been lost and recovered, and tens of thousands of southern barbarian soldiers were killed by more than 3,000 cavalry of Deputy Marshal Wang and fled, greatly boosting the prestige of our southern army and sweeping away the decline after the Battle of Lushui, which is the work of Deputy Marshal Wang." It is proposed that we all pay our respects to Vice Marshal Wang. ”

When the generals heard this, they all stood up to congratulate and pay respect, and most of them agreed with Song Jiangong's words, since the Jiannan army began to conquer Nanzhao, it almost never won a battle, and today it finally reversed the decline and recaptured the city of Quzhou, which had been occupied by the Nanzhao barbarians. Although the Jiannan army suffered nearly 8,000 casualties, the casualties of the Nanzhao soldiers and horses were also considerable, and the key was that the last 3,000 cavalry scared the barbarians and ran away without looking back, which was the most relieving.

Wang Yuan smiled and got up and arched his hand: "Rejoice and rejoice, everyone's credit." In particular, General Song has made great contributions, and if he hadn't stuck to Quzhou and swore not to retreat, we would not have had a chance to recapture it. General Song is the model of our Jiannan Army, and you are the object of emulation. I have written to the commander of Xian Yu, asking him to jointly promote General Song to serve as the commander of the Jiannan Festival, and I believe that it will be approved soon. ”

Song Jiangong waved his hand in astonishment and said, "This, I dare not be ashamed." ”

Wang Yuan said: "Well deserved." If the generals and soldiers of my Southern Army are as bloody as General Song, why worry about these soldiers of the small southern barbarian countries? What is hateful is that Sun Youneng's generation is greedy for life and afraid of death, and disobeys military orders, and a mouse feces spoils a good pot of food for our Jiannan Army. Since I, Wang Yuan, have accepted the military affairs of Jiannan, I will not tolerate sand in my eyes from today onwards. I am not to blame for all this in the past, but from now on, the Jiannan Army must govern the army strictly, with strict military discipline and clear rewards and punishments. I have said the ugly words in my head today, who will commit a crime in the future, Sun Youneng and Zhao Maocai, Cheng Dayou and other eight sinners who have been dealt with by military law are examples. ”

The news that Sun Youneng, Zhao Maocai and others were killed in Rongzhou has actually spread throughout the army, and many people think that Wang Yuan was impulsive, and a young man with a weak crown age took on a big responsibility, and he killed the veteran generals in the army first, which had a great impact on the morale of the army. Although Liwei's goal has been achieved, many generals have a lot of complaints in their hearts. It wasn't until Wang Yuan personally led 3,000 cavalry to Quzhou and recaptured Quzhou from the occupation of tens of thousands of barbarians without the assistance of a large army, that everyone realized that this new young deputy marshal was not a powerful man, and he couldn't fight fiercely.

Looking at the solemn and respectful faces of the generals, Wang Yuan knew in his heart that his prestige among the officers in Jiannan was slowly building. As long as you lead everyone to win a few more battles, basically the Jiannan Army will be completely controlled by yourself. But thinking of the war, thinking of the current situation, Wang Yuanyuan's skin exploded, and he felt a lot of pressure.

However, before considering the follow-up military, the things to be solved in front of him are the top priorities, Wang Yuan relaxed his tone and motioned for everyone to sit down and said: "Although Quzhou has been recaptured, the settlement of the people is the top priority. Although tents and many of the houses in the city can barely accommodate people, don't forget that it is the harsh winter season, and the night is cold to the bone, so the rebuilding of the houses must be carried out as soon as possible. There is no need to say much about this, Huang Taishou, from tomorrow I will order a thousand soldiers and horses to assist you in gathering the people and start repairing the house. Allocate enough food to you, and you will be fully responsible for the relief and recruitment of migrant workers. ”

Huang Shoucheng got up and arched his hand and said: "Vice Marshal Wang, rest assured, this matter is the duty of the lower officials, and from tomorrow the lower officials will take the officials of Quzhou to take the lead to ensure that the people can have a place to live." ”

Wang Yuan nodded with satisfaction, and then arranged a series of issues such as repairing the city wall and gate, reorganizing the army, and adjusting the generals' positions. This time is of great significance to Wang Yuan, and it is very necessary to use the support of Song Jiangong to adjust the positions of many generals who had been mixed with Sun Youneng and them before. Although the replacement personnel are all recommended by Song Jiangong, but things are gathered by like, Song Jiangong thinks it is good, Wang Yuan thinks it is not much worse, in short, it will be twisted into a rope first, and then it will be replaced as appropriate.

After the meeting ended, Wang Yuan left Song Jiangong for dinner, and the two simply ate dried meat and bread, and each poured a glass of wine and sat down to drink. Drink and talk.

"General Song, I learned about the situation of the Jiannan Army before I came, and in the entire Jiannan Army, I have long heard of what General Song did. If it weren't for General Song's break in the First Battle of Lushui, the situation would have been unimaginable. This time I was ordered to accept the conquest of the Nanzhao military, and the only thing I hoped for was that General Song would work with me. I don't know what General Song thinks. ”

Song Jiangong felt Wang Yuan's trust and support after the meeting just now, and he already had a great good impression of Wang Yuan. Moreover, in the battle in the early morning, he witnessed Wang Yuan's prediction of the behavior of Nanzhao's soldiers and horses much more than himself, and he also admired Wang Yuan very much.

"Vice Marshal Wang. I can only say that in the future, only the deputy marshal of the king will be the first to look forward, and the arrival of the deputy marshal of the king has made the deputy marshal of the king see that the victory of the crusade against Nanzhao is possible, and the confidence of the inferior post has doubled. Vice Marshal Wang was grateful for the recognition of his humble position. No one has ever had such praise for my Song Jiangong. What you do is something that only you know is significant. ”

Wang Yuan said with a smile: "Listen to you, you were pessimistic about the chances of fighting Nanzhao before, I don't know if I heard it wrong." ”

Song Jiangong hurriedly said: "I am talking nonsense, and the deputy marshal forgives me." ”

Wang Yuan smiled: "What is this? Until now, I didn't think the odds were good. Do you know that the news has arrived in Wangzhou? ”

Song Jiangong was stunned and said: "Are you saying that the Tubo army really intervened in the attack on Netzhou?" Is it really an alliance with Nanzhao? ”

Wang Yuan nodded slightly and said, "This is the reason why I said that we don't have a good chance of winning." Once Nanzhao and Tubo join forces, and the imperial court cannot increase its troops, we have little chance of winning. There are more than 10,000 soldiers and horses in Wangzhou and more than 20,000 soldiers and horses in Quzhou, adding up to less than 40,000, how to resist the enemy? ”

Song Jiangong frowned and said: "I don't understand a sentence, why can't the imperial court increase troops?" Tubo dares to fight with the Tang Dynasty, will the court sit idly by? ”

Wang Yuan thought for a while and said, "That's it, I'll treat you as my own person and tell you the inside story." The current crusade against Nanzhao was a move by the left minister to override public opinion, and the right minister Li Linfu and many people in the DPRK and China tried their best to oppose it. So now that the war situation has eroded to this point, the situation of the left minister is very embarrassing. Zuo Xiang was afraid that the news of the unfavorable war would reach the capital and be attacked by everyone, so he kept the matter hidden. Once the troops are increased, it means that the war has been lost, and the left prime minister will be besieged by everyone. So you can't increase your troops, you know? ”

Song Jiangong was stunned for a long time and said: "The war is raging here, and there is still intrigue in the court, what is the reason?" It's really helpless to think about. ”

Wang Yuan smiled: "This is the reality. The reality is very helpless, and it is useless to complain. What we have to do is win this battle and don't think about anything else. ”

Song Jiangong said: "But how to fight this battle now? ”

Wang Yuan said: "Such a battle cannot be achieved with brute force. After the Tibetan state was involved, it was necessary to use strategy to win. Tomorrow morning, I will set off for Wangzhou, which must not be lost, and once Wangzhou is lost, Yazhou and Jiazhou will be exposed, and the city defense of these two states is weak, and there are no soldiers and horses stationed there, so they can't hold it at all. If these two states are lost again, you know what will happen. ”

Song Jiangong took a breath of cold air and said, "Chengdu is in danger." ”

Wang Yuan nodded and said, "Yes, directly threatening Chengdu, wouldn't that be a joke." I, the capital of Jiannan Province in the Tang Dynasty, was ended. That's Chengdu where 7.8 million people live, and 7.8 million people are displaced, which is the worst thing in the world. At that time, everyone in Jiannan Province, including you and me, and the left minister in the middle of the court, will be sinners for the ages. ”

Song Jiangong's hand holding the wine glass was trembling, he knew what it was like, and he didn't want to think about it at all.

"So, I have to go to Wangzhou. Not only did Wangzhou have to be defended, but also the alliance between Tubo and Nanzhao had to be dismantled. Failure to do so is in vain. ”

"The humble post understands, you leave 10,000 soldiers and horses for the humble position, and the humble post will defend Quzhou to the death, and will never lose the city again."

Wang Yuan smiled and said, "I won't take a single soldier away, I'll leave it all to you." ”