"Great joy, Your Majesty! The Ming army retreated! The Ming army retreated! ”

"What do you say? Say it again? ”

Li Fangyuan turned his head sharply and looked at Jin Zongrui, who had just rushed through the door, with an excited and cold expression.

"It's true! Your Majesty, the Ming army has retreated! ”

Yin Feng, who came in behind Jin Zongrui, bowed down and saluted: "Your Majesty, the Ming army has indeed retreated, and the last general has seen it with his own eyes!" ”

"Good! Good! That's great! This king has finally come out of the way! Li Fangyuan danced with his hands, and his excitement was overwhelming.

......

After a long while, Li Fangyuan calmed down and ordered: "Yin Feng, you send someone out with you, see where the Ming army has retreated, and report at any time!" ”

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

"Zong Rui, you pass on the order of this king, summon the soldiers Cao Juju Qiu Jingzhong, the general of the Inner Forbidden Guard Du Mingju, and the judge of the Righteous Forbidden Mansion Jiang Yiyan to come to discuss the matter!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

"Go ahead!"

While waiting for everyone, Li Fangyuan continued to look at the map, his territory was much larger, Gyeongju, Sangju, Chungju, Cheongju, but it was a pity that Shuizhou failed, this Xu Bao was really determined to be a dog of the Ming people, but it didn't matter, there was a day when he regretted it.

Jiang Yiyan, the judge of the Righteous Forbidden Mansion, was the first to come, he was of medium stature, slightly obese, and always had a smile on his face, no one would have thought that this was the terrifying judge of the Righteous Forbidden Mansion, and the Righteous Forbidden Mansion specialized in dealing with matters that endangered the community, a bit like the Jinyi Wei of the Ming Dynasty.

Qiu Jingzhong is a soldier Cao Jushu, originally a man in his forties, but now he is haggard as if he is ten years old, during this time Silla only left a corner of Gyeongju, surrounded by enemies, and Gyeongju is narrow and poor, and human resources are extremely lacking, Qiu Jingzhong not only has to organize strong patrols to prevent the Ming army from sneaking attacks or infiltration, but also to collect soldiers to supplement the front line, and at the same time, in order to feed so many soldiers, it is also necessary to use soldiers to go to the people to search for food, during this time the people scolded him miserably, but he has no other way but to insist, I hope to hold on to the turning point that the king said.

The general of the Inner Guard, Du Mingju, was a veteran who followed Li Chenggui in the southern expedition to the north, and later followed Li Fangyuan, but was not reused, this time he was defeated in a disastrous battle with the Ming army, Li Fangyuan's cronies were either killed in battle, or surrendered, after arriving in Gyeongju, in order to stabilize the army's heart, Du Mingju was enabled to preside over the defense of Gyeongju, and Du Mingju also lived up to expectations, guarding Gyeongju without leakage, which won Li Fangyuan time to breathe.

During this time, good news was frequent, and today the news of the retreat of the Ming army was obtained, and everyone was very excited, and they couldn't help but talk about it, some people advocated that Chungcheong-do and Gyeongsang-do go all out to attack and break the Shengyong army in Jeolla Province, and then turn back to defeat the Qu Neng army, and then restore Hangyeong; There are also people who advocate first breaking Qu Neng, restoring Hanjing, and then turning back to break Sheng Yong, in short, there is everything to say, it seems that everyone has become Zhuge Liang, and the Ming army has become a local chicken and a dog, which can be broken overnight.

Li Fangyuan listened to everyone's discussions, but did not respond immediately, after the last battle with the Ming army, he knew that he was not good at fighting, it was easy to talk on paper, but when it really started, it was too much worse, so he turned his gaze to Du Mingju, who had not spoken: "Old general, what do you think about the current situation?" ”

Du Mingju had been looking at the map just now, and did not participate in the debate, now the king asked, he retracted his gaze, and arched his hand towards Li Fangyuan: "Your Majesty, although the situation has improved greatly, but we should be more cautious, now Sheng Yong's department has retreated to the west bank of the Luodong River, defending by the river, with the current strength of our army, it is not easy to force the Luodong River, Sheng Yong's department is said to have 60,000 people, including 10,000 cavalry, and our army is less than 40,000 people, and more than half of them have not received strict training, the defense is acceptable, and the attack is not enough." ”

"At the same time, although Chungcheong-do and Sangju have been recovered, they have not yet stabilized, the remnants of the Ming army are still active, and there are still some traitors who are willing to be used by the Ming army and harass our army behind their backs, these are all unfavorable factors."

"Based on these circumstances, the last general thinks that a hasty decisive battle is not the best policy, otherwise once defeated, our army will have no chance."

With Du Mingju's analysis, Li Fangyuan's eyes wandered on the map, and after Du Mingju finished speaking, Li Fangyuan raised his head and said: "What the old general said is indeed very reasonable, but this king thinks that the current situation, if you don't advance, you will retreat, and now Gyeonggi Province and Jeolla Province are in the hands of the Ming army, and the land in these places is fertile and is the granary of North Korea, if the Ming army gains a firm foothold in these places, it will be too difficult to drive them away." ”

"Yes, what the king said is very true," Wan Hu Yin Feng, the commander in charge of the front line, nodded and said: "At present, Qu Neng has moved south along the west coast and is about to enter Chungcheong Province, my army may have to fight, if our army continues to retreat, it will lose Cheongju, and it will also allow Qu Neng and Sheng Yong to converge, and our army may have fewer chances." ”

"Moreover, Cheongju has the Jinjiang River as its backing, the land is fertile, and it is a place for soldiers to come into play, and there is no reason to abandon before fighting."

"Well, what does the old general think?"

Seeing Li Fangyuan's expectant gaze, Du Mingju secretly shook his head in his heart, but his expression remained unchanged, and said: "King, the last general thinks that our army should feint to attack the Luodong River and contain Sheng Yong, and at the same time Chungcheongdo joins forces to contain Qu Neng, and then the king leads the army north along Shangju and Chengcheng, raids Gyeonggi Province from Gangwon Province, occupies Hanjing in one fell swoop, and then turns around and attacks Qu Neng, Qu Neng is broken, Sheng Yong is lonely, and he can't wait for a long time, so it can be done." ”

Du Mingju couldn't help but make people's eyes shine, he jumped out of the situation in front of him, and set his eyes on Hanjing City, if he can occupy Hanjing, it is indeed the best plan to change the crisis, but there are still some problems to solve.

It was still Yin Feng, he immediately saw the problem with Du Mingju's plan: "General Dulao, there are three problems in the end, first, it will take at least a month from Gyeongju to Hangyeong, how can we ensure that the situation in Chungcheong-do and Gyeongsang-do will not deteriorate in such a long time?" Second, I heard that there are more than 10,000 people stationed in the Han Jingming army, so our army needs at least 30,000 or 40,000 people to be sure of victory. Third, with so many troops heading north, can the remaining troops in Gyeongju be able to contain Sheng Yong? Can you even hold Gyeongju? ”

Hearing Yin Feng's questioning, Du Mingju smiled slightly, arched his hand towards Li Fangyuan, and said: "The last general thinks that if Hanjing can be restored, even if he gives up Gyeongju, he will not hesitate to give up Gyeongju, the land of Gyeongju, the Ming army is useless, and it is just chicken ribs for them." ”

"But," Li Fangyuan pondered for a while, "but what if you give up Gyeongju but don't take Hankyung?" ”

"Your Majesty, please forgive the last general, the situation is sinister now, there is no foolproof way, you can only take a risk, otherwise it will be difficult to have a chance to win in the face of the Ming army." Finding that Li Fangyuan was a little hesitant, Du Mingju was a little anxious, and immediately stood up and said loudly: "The last general is willing to lead the troops to attack Hanjing, if you can't take it, the last general is willing to accept the guilt." ”

"This matter must not be, the old general is old and frail, and he attacked Hanjing by surprise, it is important to be fast, for the safety of the old general, the last general is willing to do it for him!" As soon as Du Mingju's words fell, Yin Feng immediately stood up and objected.

In all fairness, Li Fangyuan was not at ease about handing over the army of 30,000 or 40,000 to Du Mingju, because these troops were his last belongings, and the armies of Chungcheongdo and Shangzhou had not yet completed the final reorganization, and to what extent they could carry out their orders, Li Fangyuan was not sure, and if he didn't have an army in his hands, would anyone listen to him? Li Fangyuan knows this.

“...... Okay," Du Mingju glared at Yin Feng for a long time, and finally sat down and said, "But according to the king's orders." ”

"Then the old general stays in Qingzhou, how about this king and General Yin going north together?" Li Fangyuan saw Du Mingju's appearance, a little unbearable, and asked tentatively.

"Your Majesty, Weichen thinks it's impossible!" Before Du Mingju could answer, Jin Zongrui, who had been silent, suddenly said.

"Why?"

Jin Zongrui's interjection made Li Fangyuan a little unhappy, but he still asked patiently.

"If the king goes north, then Gyeongju will be very empty, and Gyeongju not only has thousands of people, but also the king and the king, once Gyeongju is lost, the consequences will be unimaginable."

"Oh," Li Fangyuan's face changed suddenly, but it quickly returned to normal, if he didn't stare at Li Fangyuan's face, he wouldn't notice Li Fangyuan's mood change at all, Jin Zongrui reminded him that he still had the King and the King by his side, if they had other thoughts, or simply surrendered to the Ming army, it would be troublesome.

At this moment, everyone realized this problem, and Du Mingju was even more angry, his face turned blue, and he looked out the window and said nothing.

......

In the end, three plans were formed, one was to fight with Sheng Yong and drag Qu Neng; One is to fight Qu Neng in a decisive battle and drag Sheng Yong; The other is to drag Qu Neng and Sheng Yong and attack Hanjing.

The surprise attack on Hanjing looks good, but will there be any deviations in execution? Li Fangyuan couldn't sleep all night and couldn't make a choice.

Looking at the white belly of the fish outside the window, Li Fangyuan knew that he had to make a decision.