On a blood-stained simple wooden frame, half of Zhao Hu's face was rotten, and half of his face was white and fleshy. The plate armor on his body had been trampled and deformed, and his clothes were covered in blood.

Xu Erniang knelt on the ground, crying as if she was digging out her heart and lungs.

The soldier next to him said hesitantly: "Usually such a corpse looks miserable, but he didn't suffer many crimes, and he became like this when he died...... There were many men and horses on the battle array, and if they fell to the ground, they would inevitably be trampled by the horses and horses. ”

Xu Erniang was speechless, first she cried, she was tired and sobbed there, and then she just knelt there in a daze. It's been too long, her legs are numb, and she doesn't walk, let alone where to go, just wasted here in a daze.

The military man persuaded him several times, but he couldn't persuade him. Later, I didn't know when it was time to leave.

In Xu Erniang's heart, the short reunion has made her moved, and Zhao Hu's appearance and personality make her feel like a good man; And such a good man is really good to her...... Unexpectedly, it was suddenly gone, and Xu Erniang's heart was suddenly hollowed out.

After a long time, some people came up to carry Zhao Hu's body to clean up, and asked Xu Erniang a few words, but she didn't say anything, and they still went to work. Xu Erniang got up from the ground, almost didn't stand firm, and limped after the man who carried the corpse. She didn't know what to do with it, and she didn't know what to do.

Later, a civil official came over and asked Xu Erniang with good words: "Who are you Zhao Hu?" ”

Xu Erniang opened her mouth, but she couldn't make a sound, she felt a little physically and mentally exhausted now.

The civil official was not angry, looked at Xu Erniang's demeanor, and still said kindly: "Zhao Hu is a soldier of the forbidden army, he served the country and fought bloodily to recover the rivers and mountains, and the official family and the court will not forget the merits of the strong man." Zhao Hu's family will definitely have a generous pension. ”

Xu Erniang stood there. Whether it is the country or the rivers and mountains, no matter how tall the thing is, it is not as good as Zhao Hu in her heart, she only knows that Zhao Hu is dead.

She doesn't care about the benefits and benefits, if Zhao Hu is there...... She suddenly remembered that when she saw Zhao Hu before, Zhao Hu gave her the military pay tickets and tokens stored in the Tokyo bank.

Xu Erniang suddenly burst into tears for a while. The people around her looked at her at a loss, not knowing where to provoke her.

The civilian officer whispered to the sergeant next to him: "Why did the family members of the forbidden army come to the army?" In which battalion is she, the civilian force recruited by the healing camp? ”

He immediately said: "How do you think the lady handles this matter like this?" Go back where you are, and then go home and wait for the deceased to take care of the aftermath; The fallen soldiers of the forbidden army will be sent back by the military government, and the imperial court will also allocate funeral expenses and bereavement expenses. ”

After a while, someone finally found it, it was someone sent by Lu Lan, who persuaded Xu Erniang to go back first.

Lu Lan persuaded and comforted, and asked Xu Erniang again, Zhao Hu was dead, and she wanted to return to her hometown.

Xu Erniang only cared about being sad, and she didn't know where to go for a while. Going home like this, she couldn't imagine how she would spend her days when she got home...... Lost everything, desperate.

In fact, after being snatched away by the Khitans, she had no hope. But if there is no hope, there will be no despair.

Xu Erniang suddenly felt helpless and lonely. She didn't want to go home to face it, she just wanted to run away. I want to hide in a corner where no one knows her, I don't want to face accusations, and I don't want to be comforted...... It's not her man who died, what's the use of comfort?

……

In the camp of the Chinese army, Guo Shao, who was sitting on the top position, was haggard.

At this time, a civil official walked in quickly, saluted first, held a letter in both hands, and said, "Your Majesty, General Han is in a hurry." ”

Guo Shao raised his head and waited for Lu Chengyong to pick him up. When I held it in my hand, it was written with the words "Good News".

Han Tong got the news from the left and came with a whole army. When encountering the Liao army that wanted to escape from the victory pass (Xishan) route, the two armies fought a big battle, and the Liao army was defeated after a major battle and a chaotic military formation.

The Han Tong army had fewer soldiers and horses than the Liao army, but it won a complete victory; However, because of the small number of people, it was impossible to encircle and suppress the Liao army, although it won a lot, but the main force of the Liao army broke up and fled on horseback in the direction of Xishan.

At this time, Li Chuyun and other troops did not have time to enter the Xishan battlefield.

It was not until the evening that the Chinese army battalion received a report from Li Chuyun. Won the Battle of Wenyu River...... First, Li Chuyun's troops fought with the Liao army and had a slight upper hand. After the Ma army of Luo Yanhuan approached in the north, the main force of the Liao army fled to the east with light equipment, and was covered by Li Chuyun's army, and suffered a lot of losses.

Wang Pu saw the report and hurriedly said loudly in public: "In this battle, the victor is still the Great Zhou Army. ”

Guo Shao knew he was trying to boost morale.

Wang Pu saw that everyone's reaction was not very enthusiastic, and elaborated: "Three major battles. The infantry battle in Youzhou City, the Liao army raid, the battle of Xishan, and the battle of Wenyu River were all defeated and retreated by the Liao army! ”

Wang Pu said the truth, but Guo Shao still couldn't be happy.

It doesn't make sense to talk only about the odds of winning battles. The victory of the defensive battle failed to annihilate the main force of the Liao army and did not play a decisive role...... The truth is that the Zhou army was passive everywhere, and the attack disturbed the siege morale; The most important defeat is the loss of the sworn brother of the general and the emperor!

The general of the battle will lose the spirit of the army...... This is also the reason why Shi Yanchao was besieged that year, and the first emperor wanted to strictly order the Jinyang North Route Army to rescue. If the first fierce general of the Great Zhou dies in battle, he will be "taken away"; The general reason is that it will have a psychological impact on the morale of the military.

This time is the same, the emperor's sworn brothers, one death, one serious injury and life and death are uncertain, which has a great impact on the morale of the army.

Guo Shao neither said that he would reward Li Chuyun, nor did he blame him.

Wang Pujin said: "The Liao army's reinforcements have been defeated, and it is difficult to threaten Youzhou for a while. The minister thought that the cavalry could go back to the camp to rest first; Early tomorrow morning, the besieging forces will continue to attack the city according to the deployment. ”

Guo Shao opened his mouth and said: "Just follow the king's envoy's play." ”

The prestige of the privy envoy Wang Pu was recognized by the soldiers of the forbidden army, and he had always been relied on by the emperor, and when he was sick, the emperor had to seek medical advice in person, and his status could be imagined. Guo Shao must maintain Wang Pu's prestige at such a time.

…… Previously, as soon as Guo Shao saw Yang Biaoluo Mengzi, he had already woken up at that time.

In this battle, the scene was chaotic, and there was still its essence in the chaos: the Zhou army besieging the city was attacked and disturbed by the Liao army.

The essence of the Liao army's reinforcements was a large-scale attack, and it was difficult to truly defeat the elite of the Zhou army under Guo Shao in terms of the size of the troops. Guo Shao's mistake was the loss of the general.

Guo Shao was depressed and racked his brains to sum up the lesson.

First of all, the Great Zhou Forbidden Army, which lost the initiative and won a hundred battles, was not very suitable for the war mode with the Liao State. The Liao army did not hope for a decisive battle like other countries, and did not even seem to care about victory or defeat. Raiding and running is their strategy.

Secondly, he could not let go of the casualties of the two generals and brothers, and considered it his responsibility...... There are still gaps in the layout.

Guo Shao kept looking at the map and the report, carefully deducing the battle situation from beginning to end, and his mood was very anxious.

In the past, he had fought many big battles, and although he had worked hard, the whole layout was very smooth...... The pace of war is under control, and there is a kind of casual and decisive self-confidence, even if it is very risky many times, self-confidence can make him unrestrained and enterprising.

For example, during the battle to destroy the Southern Tang Dynasty, it was still very risky to let Li Chuyun's lone army go deep under an accidental fighter; But it is also a strange trick and daring.

And now, the miss has made him lose his rhythm, and he has a kind of shackling.

Guo Shao flipped through the thick handwriting of the Battle of Youzhou and returned to the original strategic goal: to capture Youzhou City.

Now, he questioned whether he could still capture Youzhou City.

After the Great Zhou army arrived at Youzhou City in advance, it took half a month to repair the siege fortifications, and then the siege was not smooth...... The artillery was not able to effectively suppress the defenders' interference, resulting in the moat not being filled quickly; Dig a tunnel and want to bury **, but water seeps.

It must be buried in the ground and reinforced and sealed to produce enough explosive power, after all, black is the principle of rapid combustion, because the air pressure suddenly increases in a confined space, and the pressure is not released before it explodes. This Guo Shao knew very well that Zhao Kuangyin supported the "Er Li" to rebel against the siege of Jinzhou, and dug tunnels but the airtightness was not good, and the result was useless.

At this moment, Wang Pu begged to see and enter.

Wang Pu motioned to the attendants around Guo Shao to retreat, and said with a guilty face: "The old minister has failed His Majesty's trust. ”

Guo Shao said: "I am the one who makes the decision. ”

Wang Pu sighed, was silent for a moment, and said, "The Liao army's reinforcements were defeated, but the troops did not receive a fatal blow. Although they need time to regroup, sooner or later they will pose a threat of harassment. ”

Guo Shao nodded, unable to deny this possibility.

Wang Pu said: "If the Zhou army and the horse army shrink and gather too much towards Youzhou City, the Liao army will control the peripheral activity area, and it is very likely to attack the grain road behind the Great Zhou army. Therefore, the old minister thought that the Ma army still had to deploy in front and gain depth.

The battalions of the Youzhou infantry army must re-strengthen the fortifications and build a camp ditch wall outside the siege fortifications to prevent the accident from happening again......"

Guo Shao dropped the brush and suddenly said: "Wang Yuanjun thinks that according to the current situation, before the main force of the Liao State goes south, we can really capture Youzhou City?" ”

Wang Pu's face changed slightly after hearing this, and he didn't answer immediately.

After being silent for a long time, Wang Pucai said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty has always won all battles, and many people even believe that you are the reincarnation of a god. Before the attack on Youzhou, both inside and outside the imperial court believed that the Great Zhou would definitely be able to recover the lost territory, and if the general returned in vain due to the loss, I am afraid that public opinion would be unfavorable......"

Not only the people of the world, Wang Pu also looked a little unacceptable: "It will take time for Liao to gather the main force, the undercover soldiers of Cao Si, the Privy Council, and the secret outposts of the forbidden army are all deployed in the enemy territory, and our main force has not been damaged at this time, and there is still time and opportunity." ”

Guo Shao said: "If you judge that you can't capture Youzhou City quickly, delaying it will increase the risk." What's more, we have a large number of infantry in the siege of the city, and we can't run away temporarily, so we can't help but take precautions. ”

Wang Pu was silent.

Guo Shao said: "The momentum is no longer on our side, the difficulty of attacking the city has increased, and the morale has been affected, and I have an intuition that the fighter has been lost." ”

Thinking of Luo Mengzi, who turned into a dead corpse, Yang Biao, who was unconscious, and thousands of soldiers who were killed and wounded, he said softly with difficulty: "The most difficult thing in the world is to afford to lose......"