In the fifteenth year of Liyang, the twenty-first day of the first month

Di Yi led an army of 200,000 to arrive in Qiao County, Beiling Prefecture, and in the evening of the same day, the Jin army attacked the city.

Only two days, Qiao County was broken by the Jin army, the Zhou army Qiao County defenders were killed, 30,000 defenders either died or surrendered, Di Yi out of the pass, the first battle was won.

After taking Qiao County, Di Yi did not lead the army straight to the main force of the Zhou army in Beiling Mansion City and fight a decisive battle with it, but while mobilizing grain and grass from General Pass to relieve the people of Qiao County who were robbed of grain by the Zhou army, he sent the head of the army to attack Jiao County with 50,000 troops.

Five days later, Jiaoxian was taken by the pawn, Di Yi was mainly Qiaoxian, supplemented by Mengcheng and Jiaoxian two counties, faintly formed a semi-encirclement of the Zhou army in Beiling Fucheng, not only divided the Zhou army of Fucheng and the soldiers and horses of several counties outside Beiling, but also firmly occupied the position of attacker.

Di Yi's move was quite ingenious and secretive, and when Ning Dewu, the commander of the Zhou army, reacted, the Jin army was already in a good situation.

In order to prevent the peripheral soldiers and horses of the Zhou army from being broken by Di Yi, the helpless Ning Dewu had to let the Zhou army shrink the battle line and abandon the three counties far away from the capital city, and then concentrate the troops mainly in Beiling Fucheng, Jun County, Xiechun County and Xiaoguan area.

Fortunately, Zhou Jun had already robbed all the food in the three counties that he had given up before, which made Ning Dewu feel a little uncomfortable when he made this decision.

……………

Ning Dewu gave up the three counties from a strategic point of view, and Di Yi naturally took all the orders, but in terms of the food of the three counties, because of the distance, in order to prevent the Zhou army from intercepting it and financing the enemy army, Di Yi could only encourage the people to migrate to Nanling or Jiaoxian.

Not to mention how the people of the three counties threw themselves into Jin, and said that after the Zhou army shrank its troops, Di Yi also divided his troops to defend the two counties of Mengcheng, and led the remaining 150,000 Jin troops to Beiling Mansion City with Qiao County as the rear.

At this time, the Zhou army suffered heavy losses after a series of fierce battles and Ning Dewu's Nanling defeat, coupled with Ji Linbing's previous onslaught at the general pass at any cost.

The strength of the Zhou army on the front line was reduced from 600,000 at its peak to just over 400,000.

This nearly one-third of the loss rate made the morale of the Zhou army low to the bottom, except for a small number of diehards, many people had the heart of retreating from the enemy.

In this case, Ning Dewu, the commander, turned a blind eye, and just blindly held more troops and more generals, ignoring the morale of the army.

When he saw that Di Yi only led 150,000 Jin troops to come, he was overjoyed, and regardless of the advice of Ji Linbing's people, he personally waved his army of 250,000 to kill Di Yi.

In the fifteenth year of Liyang, at the end of the first month

The Jin and Zhou armies fought a great battle on a plain more than ten miles away from the outskirts of Beilingfu City.

It was a battle, Ning Dewu was greedy for merit, commanded the army to besiege the Jin army, and fell into Di Yi's plan to lure the enemy into the depths, causing the Zhou army to be attacked by the two wings of the Jin army, and then the formation was chaotic, and the Jin army took advantage of the situation to attack and kill, and the Zhou army was defeated, and the armor was lost.

If it weren't for the critical moment when Ji Linbing led 50,000 white feather flying cavalry to participate in the battle and curb the fierce offensive of the Jin army, I am afraid that Ning Dewu would have lost even the city of Beiling Mansion in this battle.

However, Rao is like this, the Zhou army also suffered unclear casualties, there were 20,000 people killed in the battle alone, and countless wounded, the most important thing is.

After this defeat, the morale of the Zhou army, which was already extremely low, was even more sluggish.

On the day of the defeat and return to the city, there were several small-scale desertion incidents in the Zhou army, although they were quickly suppressed by Ning Dewu, who reacted, but the war-weariness of the Zhou army has inexorably spread to the whole army.

However, at this time, the blessing is incomparable, and the disaster is not alone, and the Zhou army in Xiechun County came with news.

Three days ago, the Jin general Yan Kui commanded 20,000 Jin troops suddenly appeared near Jinglongling, and then rushed to attack the defenders of Yuhu Beach, and cooperated with Tang Xiang's troops to successfully take Yuhu Beach.

And what's even more terrifying is that after Yan Kui helped Tang Xiang take Yuhu Beach, he led his troops to Xiao Guan, apparently preparing to attack Xiao Guan.

…………

As soon as these words came out, not to mention that Ning Dewu's color changed greatly, even Ji Linbing was startled, and his brows were furrowed and he was about to catch walnuts.

What kind of place is Xiao Guan?

The original Jin and Zhou were important towns on the border of Beiling, and it was also the main transit point for the Zhou army and the Western Zhou Dynasty, and it was also the most important retreat and ......... for the Zhou army Grain Road.

The Jin army took Yuhu Beach, although it was uncomfortable for the Zhou army, but it was only a pain on the skin, and it was not enough to hurt the root.

But if Yan Kui takes Xiao Guan down, it will be different, it is equivalent to being forced to the throat by Yan Kui with a knife, one is not good, it is fatal.

At present, the Jin army has taken Yuhu Beach and cut off half of the back road of the Zhou army, if Yan Kui takes Xiao Pass again, then the other half of the back road and grain road of the Zhou army are gone.

In this way, although the Zhou army still has 400,000 troops left, the back road is cut off, morale is low, food and grass are in short supply, and it looks like a huge momentum, but it is only a larger number of lambs to be slaughtered.

"Nope."

Ji Linbing slapped the table: "No matter what, you can't let the Jin army take Xiao Pass, send someone, no, Ben Shuai will go in person, you must keep Xiao Pass." ”

Ji Linbing was really anxious at this time, his eyes were red, and his expression was hideous.

He hadn't been so out of shape when he was seized by Ning Dewu before, which shows how important Xiao Guan is in his heart.

Ning Dewu's face was also ugly, but seeing Ji Linbing so excited, he couldn't help but refute the other party's proposal.

"What if you go, from Fucheng to Xiaoguan, you must pass through Yuhu Beach, where Tang Xiang is guarded, he is a famous general in the Northern Jin Dynasty, no matter what, he can stop you for five or six days."

Counting the time you are in a hurry, Yan Kui has almost ten days to attack Xiao Guan, this person is a peerless general of the Jin army, his strength is amazing, a small Xiao Pass, you think he can't take it within ten days. ”

"So what, he can take Xiao Guan within ten days, and Ben Shuai can take Xiao Guan back from him in ten days." Ji Linbing smiled coldly and said confidently.

Ning Dewu shook his head and said in a deep voice: "Even so, how many men do you need, Di Yi is now eyeing the outside of the city, if we have a slight change, he will pounce like a wolf, and when the time comes, with the low morale in the city, how can our army resist." ”

“…… So what do you say? ”

Ji Linbing's face changed slightly, and he asked a little unwillingly.

In fact, what Ning Dewu said, Ji Linbing didn't understand in his heart, but he was too worried about Xiao Guan, after all, it was about the life and death of the 400,000 Zhou army.

If all these 400,000 people were folded in Beiling, then he would become a sinner in the Western Zhou Dynasty, and a hundred years later, how would he face his father Zhou Taizu and the former emperor Zhou Taizong.

Because of this, Ji Linbing is so concerned about chaos, he can afford to lose, but he can't afford to lose 400,000 Zhou troops.

……………

Ning Dewu looked down at the soles of his feet, his eyes showed ruthlessness, and he said in a low voice: "Negotiate, ask for peace with the Jin army." ”

As soon as these words came out, Ji Linbing didn't say anything, and Lu Ba, who had just sat next to him and listened, looked furious.

"Ben Hou would rather die in battle than sue for peace with the Jin army."

Song Han, who was sitting with Lu Ba, did not speak, but looking at the cold face, it was obvious that he had the same meaning as Lu Ba.

It's okay to die in battle, but it's not okay to surrender!

Ning Dewu looked at these two diehards, frowned, and looked at Ji Linbing next to him, seeing that he lowered his head and was silent, he could only explain by himself.

"Now our Great Zhou and the Northern Jin Dynasty have been fighting hard, both sides have suffered heavy losses, and each other is war-weary, and now our army has taken the initiative to seek peace, and the Northern Jin Dynasty monarchs and ministers are very hopeful that they will nod their heads and agree.

At that time, the two armies will cease, although our army is estimated to have to withdraw from Beiling, but it can keep the 400,000 army, the vitality of the Great Zhou will not be injured, and one or two years later, it will still be able to make a comeback. ”

"How can you guarantee that the Jin army will agree to an armistice, knowing that they have the upper hand now, and Di Yi will give up the great opportunity to annihilate us now? The Yueqing (Emperor Liyang) of the Northern Jin Dynasty is not a faint monarch. ”

Ning Dewu smiled slightly: "If you want to talk about marching and fighting, Ning thinks that he is invincible to the general, but if you want to talk about the confrontation between the two countries outside the military, you can be inferior to me, just a few letters, Ning can make the Northern Jin Dynasty obediently negotiate with our army." ”

When Ji Linbing saw the proud Ning Dewu, his heart moved: "You want to use Southern Chu to put pressure on the Northern Jin Dynasty." ”

Ning Dewu was not surprised that Ji Linbing could find out his intentions so quickly, how to say that Ji Linbing was also the leader of the Western Zhou Royalist Party. The sense of smell is not as good as his own, but it will not be much worse, and with a little mention, it is not difficult to see that the key to this matter is not difficult.

…………

Ning Dewu did not deny Ji Linbing's speculation, which naturally proved that he really wanted to fight against Jin in Chu.

The Zhou generals here are not easy people, even if they are hot-tempered Lu Ba, they also know a certain amount of politics. Soon, they figured out Ning Dewu's thoughts.

It is true that now the Jin army has a great chance of winning, once Xiao Guan is taken by Yan Kui, the 400,000 people of the Zhou army are likely to become Di Yi's meal, and the Western Zhou will also be greatly injured because of this, and it is estimated that it may not be able to recover in the next ten years.

This result is naturally pleasing to the Northern Jin Dynasty, but it is different for the Southern Chu.

The state of Chu is already weak, and has been surviving in the gap between the two countries of Jinzhou, the reason why he can be straight and safe is all because of the confrontation between the Jin and Zhou states, so he can meet the source left and right, so the last thing that Southern Chu wants is that the situation of two strong and one weak is broken.

Once the 400,000 troops of the Zhou army were wiped out, the vitality of the Western Zhou Dynasty was greatly damaged, and it was no longer the opponent of the Northern Jin Dynasty, so it would undoubtedly be a disaster for Southern Chu.

Because of this, Southern Chu would never sit idly by and watch the Western Zhou army be destroyed, as long as the Western Zhou went to ask for help, Southern Chu would definitely raise troops to put pressure on the Northern Jin Dynasty.

The Northern Jin Dynasty was defeated before, 200,000 border troops were destroyed, and now the main force is on the front line to compete with the Zhou army.

Of course, there are still many debatable points in this, such as whether the Beiling Zhou army can support the Southern Chu to send troops, or whether the Southern Chu can give the Northern Jin enough pressure to transfer troops from the front line, and even if the Northern Jin Dynasty emperor Tou Tie would rather be beaten by the Southern Chu than eat the Beiling Zhou army, then what should be done.

Everything can cause accidents and even ruin the future of the army.

Therefore, Ji Linbing, Lu Ba and others did not dare to make a decision until the first day of February, when the news that Yan Kui had taken Xiao Guan came from the rear, and helped Ji Linbing and several people make a decision.

In the fifteenth year of Liyang, the second day of the second month of February

The Beiling Zhou army sent a messenger to release the willingness to make peace to Di Yi, but Di Yi sneered and beat him with a stick.

At the same time, several fast horses also quietly detoured to Xiaoguan and rushed to the direction of Mingjing in the Western Zhou Dynasty............