Looking at Wei Jun's appearance, stationing Guazhou with him will definitely be a dead end!

There are only two forbidden armies of the infantry division stationed in Guazhoudu, except for Wei Jun, there is only Wang Fang left.

Wei Jun is like this, and it is estimated that Wang Fang is not much better.

Seeing that the enemy army was approaching and had entered the territory of Yangzhou, if he was still with them, it would be a self-defeating way, and Yang Congyi had to draw a line with them and find another way out.

However, there are only two ways out, one is to transfer away from Guazhoudu and not to assist in the defense here, and the other is to attack the enemy to the river, board a ship into the river, and escape from the battle.

But once they escape from the position, even if they can escape with their lives, the imperial court will definitely investigate it, and they will be dismissed from their posts at least and directly punished with death, which is definitely not an alternative for Yang Congyi and the entire Jingwu army, because they are here to seek military merits, not to seek guilt.

Yang Congyi, who was very worried, had just returned to the camp, and before he had time to convene the generals to discuss countermeasures, he received an order from Liu Qi, the envoy of the Lianghuai and Western Zhejiang, to gather generals, and urgently summoned the commanders of all armies to go to the Marshal Camp in Guazhou Town, ten miles away, to discuss matters.

The camp in Guazhou Town was in chaos at this time, except for a part of the camp tent of the Chinese army, the other armies were like headless flies, and seemed to be swaying between building a camp and not building a camp.

Seeing such a situation, Yang Congyi suddenly felt bad.

Could it be that something is wrong with the old handsome Liu Qi?

Otherwise, it would never be this kind of chaos.

The retreat of the army into such a form is a sign of defeat!

The military situation was urgent, and he was not allowed to think too much, so he followed the footsteps of the military order, and soon walked into a large mansion and came to the door of a hall.

The herald came to the door one step ahead of Yang Congyi, and reported loudly: "Jingwu Army, Yang is in command!" ”

Hearing the announcement, only a few people in the hall turned their heads to look at the door, and then turned their heads away, and most of them didn't pay attention to who else came.

Yang Congyi glanced at the generals in the hall, and saw that more than a dozen people had gathered in the hall, but all of them were demoralized and depressed.

Seeing this, Yang Congyi silently walked into the hall, sat in the corner near the door, and looked coldly at the silent people in the hall.

The two seats in the middle of the hall are still empty, that should be the position of Liu Shuai and the deputy marshal, and the commanders of the various armies have not arrived, so they should not come out in advance.

In the following quarter of an hour, five more commanders came one after another, including Wei Jun, who was full of alcohol.

A few moments later, shortly after the three Commanders entered the hall, a clad veteran appeared in the hall.

The old general was tall, but his face was very bad, his pace was slow, and he coughed from time to time.

"Dashuai!"

When the generals heard the coughing, they got up one after another, and saluted the old man with their fists, and Yang Congyi naturally did not dare to lag behind.

This person is the commander of the Great Song Dynasty who is as famous as Yue Fei, Han Shizhong, Zhang Jun, and Liu Guangshi, Liu Qi!

A smile barely squeezed out of his face, gesturing to the left and right.

As he struggled to his seat in the middle of the hall, a general in his forties who followed him reached out several times to help him, but he raised his hand to block him.

Liu Qi was supported by the general, and after taking down the chair on the left, he gently raised his hand and motioned for the generals to sit down.

After everyone sat down, Liu Qi seemed to use a lot of strength before he said: "The old man is incompetent, so the generals are tired of following me, are I sorry!" ”

The hall was very quiet, and none of the more than 20 people spoke, all of them quietly looked at the seriously ill old general in front of them.

Liu Qi rested for a while, and then said: "This rush to the north to fight against the Jin people is reasonable, and it is reasonable to fail, but it is really beyond my expectations to let the enemy fight Yangzhou in less than two months." There are many reasons for this defeat, and I will confess to the court and ask for responsibility. As for you, as long as you hold Yangzhou and Guazhou Town for a month, and give the imperial court some time to set up defenses in Zhenjiang and Jiankang, you will not be guilty. ”

"Liu Shuai, what does this defeat have to do with us? And what are your culpines? It's not because the royal power is sluggish, and he doesn't go to Shouchun and Anfeng for a long time, so that the enemy can cross the Huai River without the slightest effort. And he is good, grinding and walking ten miles a day, and when he reaches Luzhou, his ass is not yet hot, and when he hears that the enemy has crossed the Huai River, he turns around and runs, a hundred miles a day, faster than a rabbit runs, and gives up Luzhou, the center of Huaixi, to the enemy. They all thought that he would flee all the way to Zhaoguan and would organize a defense on the spot to resist the enemy, but who would have thought that after he heard that the enemy occupied Luzhou, he abandoned Zhaoguan overnight and fled to Hezhou. And where is the state? Ten miles away is the Yangtze River, and twelve miles away is the south of the Yangtze River! Who would have thought that Hezhou, who had hoarded so much grain and grass and had such an important status, would not hesitate to throw Hezhou away without hesitation after he heard that the enemy had chased him to Zhaoguan and fled back to Jiankang by boat! Who would have thought that? He has 60,000 troops in his hands, whether it is in Shouchun or Luzhou, or Hezhou, as long as he wants to defend it, is it difficult to hold it for two or three months? As soon as Hezhou was lost, the enemy drove straight in, and directly copied the back road of Zhenzhou and Yangzhou, what is the use of fighting desperately and bloodily with the enemy in Xuyi and Huaiyin? If we hadn't retreated in time and waited for the enemy to flank the north and south, we would have lost our lives in vain and annihilated our entire army! No matter who judges, the royal power must be held responsible for this fiasco! As soon as Liu Qi's words fell, a commander immediately retorted.

As soon as the commander finished speaking, someone responded and said: "Liu Shuai was sick, and personally went north to sit in Huaiyin, and fought with the enemy north of the Huai River, his royal power is good, from Hezhou to Luzhou, two hundred miles, he walked for a month, the enemy did not see the face, so he fled when he heard the wind, and within ten days, he even lost Luzhou, Zhaoguan and Hezhou, and ran back to Jiankang directly across the river. If the court does not punish him, whoever wants to fight this battle will fight, anyway, Lao Tzu will not fight! Do you think that's the reason? ”

"The royal power must be severely punished and an explanation must be given to the brother who died unjustly!"

"Punish the king!"

"Punish the king!"

"Punish the king!"

.............

In an instant, the crowd in the hall was excited, and they poured all their grievances and grievances on Wang Quan, the deputy marshal of the Eastern Route Army.

"Everyone, be quiet, listen to me!"

In the chaos, no one heard Liu Qi's words at all, but Yang Congyi, who looked at all this calmly, saw his open mouth and the sadness and anxiety in his eyes.

"Silence! Listen to the manager! ”

The general who accompanied Liu Qi to the hall stood up and shouted loudly to everyone.

After a drink, the hall quickly fell silent.

I only heard Liu Qi say again: "The court will investigate the responsibility of the royal power, but the matter has come to this point, and it is useless to say more." We still work together to protect Yangzhou first, hold Guazhoudu, don't let the enemy cross the river easily, and buy time for the defense on the south bank! ”

After taking a breath of relief, he said to the general who accompanied him in: "Liu Yan, you tell everyone about the military situation in detail." ”

"Yes!"

Liu Yan got up and clenched his fists to receive the order, and then turned to face the generals and said loudly: "The latest military situation, the enemy's West Route Army is personally led by the gold lord Wan Yanliang, with a strength of no less than 500,000, and the front has entered Hezhou City, is collecting and building ships, preparing to cross the river to the south, and the follow-up large army has also arrived near Hanshan County, and it is expected that all of them will reach the bank of the Yangtze River within five days." The enemy army that had defeated Shao Hongyuan in Zhenzhou not long ago had joined forces with the enemy army that had gone south from Xuyi, and was temporarily resting in Liuji Town, twenty miles north of Yangzhou City, and was expected to launch an offensive against Yangzhou City soon. The enemy troops pursuing from Huaiyin are not far from Yangzhou City, and they have arrived at Shaobo Town, 30 miles northeast of Yangzhou City, last night, and are collecting boats to prepare to cross the river, and it is expected that they will arrive outside Yangzhou City at noon tomorrow. The enemy's combined strength in Liuji Town and Shao Bozhen was 30,000 people, but only more than 10,000 of them were real elites, and the others were not to be feared. And we have 20,000 troops inside Yangzhou City, and 30,000 troops stationed outside the city, if the enemy has no reinforcements, it will be more than enough to block the offensive of these two groups of enemies. There is plenty of food and grass in Yangzhou City, and if you hold Yangzhou City, you can hold the ferry, they come from afar, and they can't fight for a long time, so you still have to have confidence and don't be intimidated by the enemy's illusion! That's the latest enemy information I have. ”

"The enemy's 500,000 troops have arrived in Hezhou, and it is not far from Yangzhou, can we hold Yangzhou City with our 60,000 or 70,000 troops? Even if we can hold Yangzhou City, Guazhou Ferry is in no danger to defend, and the enemy will take the ferry directly, how can we deal with it? ”

As soon as Liu Yan finished speaking, the commander immediately questioned it.

Liu Yan was about to refute, only to hear a light cough, he quickly retreated to the side and sat down.

Liu Jian said: "I have said before that if Huaixi is lost, Huaidong will not be able to fight for a long time, and Yangzhou City and Guazhou Ferry will be lost sooner or later, but when it is lost, it is particularly important to deploy defense on the south bank." If Yangzhou City and Guazhou Ferry are lost today and occupied by the enemy, there is no time to mobilize troops and arrange defenses on the south bank, the Yangtze River will be in vain, and the enemy army will drive straight into Lin'an. Therefore, before evacuating to the south bank, we must fight the enemy under the city of Yangzhou and at the Guazhou ferry, and try to buy time for the imperial court to deploy defenses on the south bank. Even if it is a battle to the death, we will have to buy at least half a month for the south bank! ”

The generals who had their own plans in their hearts were mixed after hearing this.

Happily, from Liu Kuan's words, they heard that if the defense on the south bank was successful, they would be able to evacuate in advance, but if the enemy attacked on a large scale, they were afraid that they would all die by the Yangtze River.

"Our next deployment is mainly to assist in the defense of Yangzhou City, followed by guarding against the enemy forces coming from the direction of Zhenzhou. Liu Yan, you come to announce how the various armies will be deployed. ”

After Liu Jian said these words, his complexion changed a little worse.

"Report! Yangzhou emergency military situation! ”

Liu Yan got up, just unfolded a roll of paper, and before he could speak, he pressed his words back with an urgent report.