"What? Using Duan Ning as a solicitor? This must not be done! Please also ask Your Majesty to take back your order! ”

"Duan Ning's ability is mediocre, he must not be allowed to lead the army!"

"Wang Yanzhang is not at fault, how can Your Majesty remove him from office without reason?"

……

In the Chongzheng Palace, when Zhu Youzhen announced his resolution, the ministers of the court and the central government were immediately not calm.

Although Wang Yanzhang's performance during this period is not outstanding, it does not mean that his ability is not good.

For example, at the beginning, when the Wu army launched a surprise attack without taking precautions, the Wu army was caught off guard, if it were not for Wang Yanyan's insistence on resistance and Liu Renzhen's decisive decision, the Liang army would have almost won the victory.

When Songzhou was captured by the Wu army, the reinforcements of the Liang army had not yet arrived in Ningling, so naturally they could not shift all the responsibility to Wang Yanzhang.

As for Zhu Youzhen's order to recapture Songzhou later, Wang Yanzhang cannot be blamed.

You must know that at that time, the total strength of the Liang army was 50,000, while the strength of the Wu army was 60,000 infantry, and there were 3,000 cavalry.

Although Wang Yanzhang suffered some setbacks, he was able to keep the main force of the Liang army without much loss, which was already very good, and there was nothing wrong with it.

On the other hand, Duan Ning has always behaved mediocrely, except for being good at flattery, there is nothing outstanding.

Of course, the most important point is that this person's qualifications are too shallow, and he has no military achievements, how can those heroes and generals be convinced?

Therefore, Zhu Youzhen removed Wang Yanzhang from his post for no reason and replaced him with Duan Ning, and this decision was immediately opposed by the ministers.

Zhu Youzhen's face was gloomy and she didn't say a word.

Zhao Yan opened his mouth and said: "Since Wang Yanzhang served as the envoy, he has been losing troops and losing generals, and now he is staying in Ningling and not moving forward, afraid of the enemy and cowardly, isn't it a mistake?" ”

"Yes, the Wu army attacked everywhere, attacking the city, and he, as a recruiting envoy, stationed in Ningling, and sat back and watched the Wu army commit murder, this is the crime of dereliction of duty, how can it be said that he is not guilty?" On the side, Zhang Hanjie echoed.

Li Zhen said angrily: "The Wu army is strong, our army is small, and whoever goes can only do it to the same level as Wang Yanzhang, and now that General Wang is stationed in Ningling, do you know that he is not waiting for fighters?" ”

"The generals of the army are related to the safety of the country, and now that the situation in our dynasty is critical, how can Your Majesty make such a hasty decision?" Jing Xiang exhorted loudly.

Zhang Quanyi, the deputy marshal of the world's soldiers and horses, and the king of Zhao, even stood up and said: "The old minister is the deputy marshal of the world's soldiers and horses, although he is old, but it is enough to resist the Wu army for His Majesty." Duan Ning is just a junior, his reputation is not convincing, and the ministers have a lot of discussions about it, if His Majesty insists on letting this person be a general, I am afraid that it will bring trouble to the country. Please also think twice, Your Majesty. ”

Zhu Youzhen was silent.

Whether Wang Yanzhang has any mistakes or not, of course he knows in his heart, of course he knows that Wang Yanzhang's performance is not much of a problem.

It's just that he still has illusions in his heart, hoping that peerless generals like Bai Qi and Li Mu will appear and turn the tide of the battle in one fell swoop.

Although Wang Yanzhang's performance is good now, he is obviously not the kind of famous general who can turn the tide of the battle.

As for Duan Ning's words, although Zhu Youzhen didn't know if this person could do it, but since Zhang Hanjie and the others strongly recommended it, of course he wanted to give it a try, maybe this person could really turn the tide of the battle?

As for the second reason for the dismissal of Wang Yanzhang, it is purely out of distrust of the veteran.

Since Yang Shihou died of illness, Zhu Youzhen has been wary of those veterans, for fear that there will be another figure like Yang Shihou among them, who will be above the imperial power; Coupled with Zhang Hanjie's constant persuasion, even though he knew that Wang Yanzhang was not at fault, he still decided to remove him.

However, seeing that the ministers strongly opposed the appointment of Duan Ning, Zhu Youzhen also hesitated for a while.

After pondering for a moment, he finally spoke: "Duan Ning has always been meritorious when he served as the deputy envoy for recruitment, he is not as incompetent as you Aiqing said, don't exaggerate it. As for Wang Yanzhang, this person is brave and unstoppable, although he has made a small mistake, but the flaws are not concealed, and he can still be reused. ”

"In this way, I ordered him to serve as the rescue envoy of Yunzhou, and let him lead the troops to rescue Yunzhou together with Dong Zhang."

Zhu Youzhen's final decision was still to remove Wang Yanzhang and take Duan Ning as the envoy; At the same time, in order to appease the ministers and Wang Yanzhang, he appointed Wang Yanzhang as the rescue envoy of Yunzhou, which was regarded as giving the ministers a face.

Jing Xiang and the others were naturally dissatisfied with this result, and he wanted to stand up and object, but Zhu Youzhen said with a resolute expression: "Enough, this is my final decision, you Aiqing don't need to say anything!" ”

Jing Xiang and the others had no choice but to give up and remain silent one by one.

After retreating from the dynasty, Jing Xiang looked at Li Zhen, who also had gray hair and a worried face, and said: "It seems that it won't be long before the Wu army will fight to Luoyang, where can I flee to in the future?" ”

"Your Majesty listens to the words of traitorous ministers, and is deeply suspicious of our old ministers, even if we have the heart to serve the country, why don't Your Majesty listen, what's the use?" Li Zhen also sighed.

On the side, Zhang Quanyi listened to the words of the two, but he just sighed, and hurried back to his house.

As soon as he returned home, he hurriedly instructed the attendants around him: "Go, call Jizuo to the study, and say that the old man has something to look for him." With that, he walked quickly to the study.

"Yes."

After a while, his eldest son Zhang Jizuo came to the study.

"Father, are you looking for me?"

"Well, here? Have a seat. Zhang Quanyi's expression was calm.

Zhang Jizuo hurriedly sat down respectfully at the starting point.

After he sat down, Zhang Quanyi was stunned and lowered his head in a daze, and he didn't speak for a long time.

Zhang Jizuo couldn't help but ask: "Father is looking for a child, I don't know what is going on?" ”

Zhang Quanyi sighed at this time: "The beam is coming to an end, and we have to find another way." ”

"What? The girder is coming to an end? Didn't you say that you want to retreat to Guanzhong, sit and watch Jin and Wu fight, and wait for the comeback in the future? Zhang Jizuo was shocked.

The plan made by the Liang court to retreat to Guanzhong and Luoyang may be known to few people at the bottom of the government, but Zhang Quanyi, as the deputy marshal of the world's soldiers and horses, and the title of King Zhao, naturally understands this plan, and his eldest son Zhang Jizuo also knows this plan.

If Liang is willing to retreat to Guanzhong, Guanzhong is easy to defend and difficult to attack, as long as Tongguan is held, it can ensure that the rear is worry-free, so that Liang can not only avoid being attacked by the Wu army and the Jin army on both sides, but also recuperate, and at the same time let Wu and Jin fight for the Central Plains and lose both, which can be said to be the best policy.

Zhang Quanyi also strongly agreed with this plan at the beginning, thinking that if Liang Guo could retreat according to the plan, maybe Liang Guo would rise again one day in the future.

But now, Zhang Quanyi is deeply disappointed and is no longer optimistic about the future of Liang Guo.

"Retreat to the pass? Do you think Your Majesty looks like he is going to retreat to Guanzhong now? Zhang Quanyi sneered: "If Your Majesty really wants to retreat to Guanzhong, then he should take advantage of the fact that the Wu army is still dividing troops to attack various places, and transfer the money and grain from all over the country to Guanzhong as much as possible." ”

"But what about now? Your Majesty has no intention of this at all, and the money and grain from all over the country have no intention of concentrating at all, but is concentrating troops to fight a decisive battle with the Wu army, where is this retreat? This is completely gambling on the fortunes of the country! ”

"This ......" Zhang Jizuo was dumbfounded, and hesitated: "Your Majesty may mean to repel the Wu army first, and then calmly transfer the money and grain." ”

"Repel the Wu army? How can Your Majesty be so confident that he can win? In case of failure, the elite of our army will be lost, how can we talk about sticking to Luoyang, how can we talk about sticking to Guanzhong? This is just nonsense, sooner or later the country will die! Zhang Quanyi was so angry that he scolded loudly.

Zhang Jizuo smiled bitterly: "How did my father know that our army would be defeated? You must know that with the retreat of the main force of the Jin army, our army can now concentrate 120,000 troops, which is twice as much as the Wu army in Songzhou, is it impossible for our army to achieve victory? ”

"Win? How can it be? Zhang Quanyi stood up, shook his head and said: "It is true that the Wu army in Songzhou only has more than 60,000 people, but they have the fortified city of Songzhou, how easy is it for our army to defeat them?" ”

"And you can't just look at Songzhou, their eastern route army is far away and don't say it, but the Wu army on the west route is no less than 100,000 people, and now they have surrounded Xuzhou, and they can go north to support Songzhou at any time."

"In addition, Wu Wang Yang Wu has been stationed in Songzhou for the past few months and has not left easily, why do you think this is?"

"This, the child doesn't know, why does the father think it is?" Zhang Jizuo asked curiously.

"It's very simple, King Wu still has a reserve army in his hands, which is in his own hands; Once the situation on any battlefield changes, he can lead troops to support him at any time. Your Majesty only saw that there were not many Wu troops in Songzhou, but he forgot that the Wu army was not a fool, how could he sit back and watch our army besiege Songzhou with superior forces? ”

"At that time, the strong city of Songzhou will not be able to be captured, and the Wu army from all over the country will gather, and it will be strange for our army to return without defeat."

Zhang Quanyi was also an envoy of the Jiedu back then, and Zhu Wen was a figure of the same era, and he was also familiar with leading troops to fight.

Zhang Jizuo was stunned and said: "Then our army doesn't have a little hope of winning?" ”

"Yes, of course! If Your Majesty takes Wang Yanzhang as a general, our army still has a glimmer of hope for victory, but now Your Majesty has Duan Ning as a general, and with this person's ability, I am afraid that it will not be long before the news of our army's defeat comes. Zhang Quanyi sighed.

At present, Wang Yanzhang has less than 50,000 people in his hands, and his morale is low, while the Wu army has more than 60,000 people, plus 3,000 cavalry, in this case, Wang Yanzhang did not let the Wu army take advantage, which is enough to show his ability.

If all the 120,000 troops concentrated this time were handed over to Wang Yanzhang to command, there might be a glimmer of hope to defeat the Wu army in Song Prefecture before the Wu reinforcements arrived.

Of course, this hope is not great, it is only possible; At least Zhang Quanyi doesn't think it's very likely to win.

However, no matter how little hope there is, it is also hope, and even if Wang Yanzhang leads the troops to defeat, Zhang Quanyi believes that he will not be defeated too badly, at least he can keep the elite of the Liang army, and there will be a chance to retire from Guanzhong at that time.

With the dangerous terrain of Tongguan, send elite soldiers to defend it, and perhaps it is still possible to divide the pass.

But now with Duan Ning as the general, Zhang Quanyi feels that the Liang army will not only be defeated, but also very likely to be wiped out, and when the time comes, the elite will be lost, and the plan to retreat to Luoyang and Guanzhong will naturally become a joke.

At this time, Zhang Jizuo also understood, and he was a little puzzled: "Didn't Your Majesty agree to retreat to Guanzhong?" Why do you think of a decisive battle with Wu Jun again? ”

"What else? Luck! Zhang Quanyi sneered: "If the main force of the Jin army does not retreat, Desheng Nancheng does not give up, and the main force of our army is pinned down on the front line of the Yellow River, Your Majesty sees that the Wu army is strong, and our army is difficult to compete, maybe he will stick to the original plan." ”

"But now that the Jin army has taken the initiative to abandon Desheng Nancheng, this makes His Majesty see the hope of concentrating forces to defeat the Wu army, so he has a fluke mentality in his heart. What's so strange about this. Zhang Quanyi shook his head.

No matter how hard they persuaded these old ministers, they were powerless to dissuade Zhu Youzhen from what they had already decided, so they could only sit back and watch the situation erode step by step.

After discussing it for a long time, both father and son did not give up hope for the situation in Liang.

Zhang Jizuochi asked: "Father, I don't know what our Zhang family should do now?" ”

"What else can I do?" Zhang Quanyi glanced at his son and said, "You go find a few trustworthy people now, and try to get in touch with that side." ”

"Ahh Zhang Jizuo was taken aback and said, "Father is saying that he is in contact with Wu Guo?" ”

"What are you doing so loudly? Are you afraid that you won't be heard? Zhang Quanyi glared angrily.

Zhang Jizuo was deeply surprised by his attitude.

At the beginning, although Zhang Quanyi was the envoy of the secession party, and even participated in the struggle for hegemony for the world for a time, but after surrendering to Zhu Wen, he only thought about how to keep his wealth and nobility.

So even though Zhu Wen stayed in the Zhang family and harmed the daughters of the Zhang family all over the place, Zhang Jizuo was so angry that he almost rebelled, but Zhang Quanyi always held back.

In recent years, the situation in Liang has been declining day by day, and Zhang Jizuo once proposed to secretly send someone to contact Wu, but Zhang Quanyi felt that it might cause trouble, so he never gave permission.

Now he took the initiative to contact Wu Guo, which really made Zhang Jizuo not expect.

After a while, Zhang Jizuo reacted and hurriedly said: "Yes, father, the child will go and handle this matter, and we must leave a way for our Zhang family to retreat." ”

Zhang Quanyi nodded, and then asked, "How do you plan to contact the people of Wu Guo?" ”

"What does Father mean?"

"Remember, if the people of Wu want to get any news, we will tell them everything we know; If they want gold, silver, treasures, etc., whatever we have, we can promise it. In short, whatever they want, we can all meet them. ”

"But there's one thing you have to remember, we must not say yes."

"Dare to ask what my father is talking about?"