The messenger who came to report to the imperial camp was named Wang Yu, who was a commander under Zhao Hui and was imprisoned by the soldiers and horses of Shaanzhou. In the face of Liu Chengyou's inquiry, he very competently told the battle situation in the river, which was almost the same as the battle report.

What is written in the military newspaper is concise in description, emphasizing the result and omitting the process. Basically, Zhou Hui led the small army to drive Hedong City, attacked the city, and counterattacked the defenders in the city. The officers and troops could not be stopped for a while, and the second and fifth armies on the right side of the small bottom were commanded to make He Hui and Fan Aineng cowardly flee from the battle, resulting in chaos and the rout of the whole army. The small bottom army broke its troops, more than 1,300 soldiers.

On the battle report, many places, especially about the antecedents, are vague, and it seems that all the pots are thrown on He Hui, the commander of the army.

Liu Chengyou sensed at a glance that something was wrong with the military report, stared directly at Wang Yu, his eyes seemed to release essence, and asked: "Who let the small bottom army and the lone division go to attack the city?" ”

Unconsciously, Liu Chengyou's aura was strong enough, Wang Yu subconsciously buried his head, and replied in a loud voice: "The rebels retreated north from Fenglingjin, our army crossed north, and the military discussed in advance, and the deployment of Baidu decided to take a temporary rest, and Zhou Du commanded the decision to take advantage of the situation to attack the city in a hurry, and led his division to go." ”

Hearing his words, Liu Chengyou still didn't understand what was going on, and he suddenly became angry. However, he restrained himself from venting in front of a messenger, and asked in a deep voice: "What is the situation on the front line today?" ”

"The small army retreated to the Fenglingjin battalion, regrouped, and the white capital was deployed to prepare for the recovery of morale, and then went north to ......"

"Your name is Wang Yu?" Liu Chengyou pondered for a while, looked as usual, and asked.

"Yes." Wang Yu's face couldn't help but show a little joy.

Nodding, Liu Chengyou waved his hand and ordered: "It's been hard all the way, let's go down and rest first!" ”

As a result, Liu Chengyou's originally happy mood suddenly dissipated. Subsequently, reports of the battle in the river followed, especially the details of the defeat. Zhou Hui pleaded guilty, and at the same time impeached Bai Wenke for inaction, supporting the army with self-respect, sitting back and watching its defeat, and even when it was defeated and retreated, he did not move.

In addition, it is the secret report of Liu Chengyou's supervision army in Xiaodi Army and Zhuzhou, which completes the details of the defeat before and after. Then, Liu Chengyou was really angry!

"This Zhou Hui, with his old general in Hedong, the Yuan of the Great Han Dynasty, and the small army with him, entrusted him with a heavy responsibility. went to the battlefield, and was so big, unruly, and stubborn. Bai Wenke was personally appointed by me to deploy the battalion, and he dared to ignore his military orders and enter the army privately, and he was tired of this defeat! In the imperial tent, Liu Chengyou slammed on the handsome case and reprimanded angrily.

"Your Majesty, please calm your anger, General Zhou is also eager to fight, and wants to take the rebel city and sacrifice it for Your Majesty." Feng Dao spoke of comfort.

"You don't have to speak for him!" Liu Chengyou directly flicked his hand: "Hedong Chengjian, what did he use to fight, why did he break the city and hit the city gate with his head?" Hundreds of miles of marching, the division veterans are tired, they don't have time to rest, they send them to the door, the soldiers are jealous, they are all committed by him, and they dare to enter the table, speak and quibble, and blame others, can I be bullied? ”

Worried about the difficulty of attacking the city, Liu Chengyou was of course also prepared, and there were a large number of craftsmen in the camp. Heavy equipment such as artillery trucks and cloud carts were found and made from local materials, but other heavy weapons such as crossbows and weapons such as rockets and fireballs were transported by water and land.

Zhou Hui was tired and light, carrying a few ladders to rush to Hedong City, and he wanted to take it, which was simply wishful thinking.

"Changdao Domain Town is arrogant and difficult to control, I see ......" sighed for half a sentence, Liu Chengyou slanted to the several ministers who stood in front of the emperor, and swallowed the second half of the sentence by himself. The second half of the sentence can't be spoken, and if it is passed out, it will have a bad impact.

Taking a deep breath, Liu Chengyou changed the spearhead again: "Bai Wenke is deployed as a battalion, Zhou Hui doesn't listen to the command and enters the army privately, why don't you do anything?" ”

Hearing this, Fan Zhen came out of the ranks, waved his hand and said: "The forbidden army is under the personal jurisdiction of His Majesty this time, although Bai Gong is deployed for all armies, but there is no clear command and control over the small army......

One sentence made Liu Chengyou a little embarrassed, looked at respectfully Shulai Fan Qian, raised his hand, put it down again, held it for a while, and finally said: "That's because I didn't arrange it properly?" ”

That's not what the minister meant. It's just that the minister thinks that the matter has come to this point, and the remedial method should be implemented quickly, as for the front-line generals, how to deal with it, whether it is punishment or debasement, it still needs His Majesty's royal arrival, and then make a district. Fan Zhen said solemnly.

Taking a deep breath, Liu Chengyou turned his head and ordered very quickly: "Spread the edict, tomorrow's army will speed up and go west into the river!" ”

"Yes!"

For Bai Wenke, Liu Chengyou had some pimples in his heart, but it wasn't because he didn't suppress Zhou Hui, it was not realistic, if it was hard, it might directly cause the contradiction between the forbidden army and the feudal army to erupt.

What really made Liu Chengyou dissatisfied was Bai Wenke's follow-up disposal.

The rebels withdrew back to Hedong City, which was a move to significantly shrink their troops, Zhou Hui was arrogant and underestimated the enemy, even if he couldn't control it, why didn't he report it, why didn't he make second-hand preparations. Its actions before and after seemed a bit deliberate, firmly anchoring the Fenglingjin camp and watching its defeat.

Fenglingjin is only fifty miles away from Dongcheng, and when he learned of the defeat, he still did not move, and did not send troops to rescue and respond. If it weren't for Yang Ye leading hundreds of cavalry under his command to the north, defeating Wang Jixun, blocking the thief's counterattack, and giving the Xiaodi army a chance to breathe, the final loss would be more than that!

Of course, Zhou Hui's self-assertion and arrogance are the root cause of the failure. As for He Hui and Fan Aineng, the two people who seem to have heard of it somewhere already have murderous intentions in their hearts.

"Defeat is not necessarily a bad thing, the arrogance in the army is growing, and it can be calmed down a little......" exhaled a heavy breath of depression, Liu Chengyou muttered in his mouth.

pretended to be calm, but the tone and self-soothing meaning were too obvious. As far as Liu Chengyou is concerned, if he can destroy the withering and decaying this time, the momentum is like a bamboo, and Li Shouzhen can be successfully eliminated and the strength of the court is displayed, which is naturally the best.

However, after Zhou Hui's defeat, the efforts made by the previous counterinsurgency armies, even if they did not turn into flowing water, the effect was greatly reduced. The situation of the rebels, which was originally stormy, was directly stabilized, at least for a short time.

If Li Shouzhen and his rebels have the confidence to hold on, with the strong city, they can really cause big trouble to the counterinsurgency army. From the very beginning, Liu Chengyou expected in his heart that this time to defeat Li's rebellion and break the city was the biggest test.

The stall in the river had to be cleaned up by him, the emperor, himself.

......

In the evening, west of the imperial camp, the east and west classes are stationed.

The east and west classes are the military numbers left from the Later Jin Dynasty, this time the western expedition, there are two armies and four battalions of soldiers with the expedition, the commander is Zhao Hongyin, and the return battalion horse infantry army is Yu Marquis Li Hongjian deployed and commanded.

"Father, you're back!" Zhao Hongyin held his helmet and returned to his tent, and a young man with a heroic appearance and extraordinary bearing immediately greeted him.

The young man has thick eyebrows and big eyes, a little stubble, a face that seems to be dusty, a pair of eyes are extraordinarily bright, dressed in armor, and a long knife at the waist.

It's Zhao Kuangyin!

"My son is dressed like this, but he looks presentable." glanced at Zhao Kuangyin up and down, and Zhao Hongyin's rough face showed a satisfied expression.

Zhao Kuangyin's life trajectory has not changed, traveling to various states and surveying the world in order to pursue his ambition. In the first year or so of the Han Dynasty, he traveled to many places and was accustomed to seeing current events and civil suffering. This time, he returned north from Dong Zongben, the assassin of Suizhou, coincided with Li Shouzhen's rebellion, and his father followed the expedition and simply came to vote. Chased all the way to the west, and only caught up when he arrived at Michi.

When I first saw Zhao Kuangyin that day, I looked embarrassed, and I almost didn't let Zhao Hongyin recognize it.

"Narrative in the account." patted Zhao Kuangyin on the shoulder, and Zhao Hongyin pulled him in.

"Marquis Li Duyu summoned you to go, did something happen?" Offering Zhao Hongyin a glass of water, Zhao Kuangyin asked.

"It's nothing, it's just that the Son of Heaven ordered to start tomorrow and hurry up to the river!" Zhao Hongyin said casually.

Hearing this, Zhao Kuangyin was taken to heart and pondered: "The river is already close at hand, why did this order come suddenly, could it be that something happened on the front line?" ”

Regarding the eldest son's tired appearance, Zhao Hongyin nodded secretly, and suddenly said, "Sooner or later, I will know." This time, the imperial court mobilized a large army to quell the rebellion, Li Shouzhen will undoubtedly be defeated, you come to vote just right, see if you can have a chance to make meritorious contributions, and seek a career in the forbidden army. ”

Zhao Kuangyin obviously didn't care about this, he came to join the army, naturally with the ambition to make contributions. The dark eyes turned around twice, and said: "The imperial court mobilized this army, and it was the Son of Heaven himself, and it was easy to destroy Li Shouzhen, but if you want to pull it out quickly, it will take some thought......