In Luoyang City, the atmosphere was very tense, and the streets were full of errand officers and soldiers patrolling back and forth, and an aura of slaughter permeated the hearts of everyone in the city.

Wu Army's Northern Expedition, after this shocking news came here two days ago, the soldiers and civilians in the city have been in a panic, and even many people still want to take the opportunity to make trouble; Fortunately, although the people were in a panic, there was no major turmoil in the imperial court, and under the strong measures of various ministries, the situation in Luoyang was finally eased.

However, everyone knows that as long as Wu's Northern Expedition cannot be stopped, then Luoyang will still fall into turmoil sooner or later.

At this time, in the Chongzheng Yuan, after arguing for two or three days, the court still did not come up with a feasible measure, and the opinions of all parties were arguing with each other, and there was no agreement.

As the emperor, Zhu Youzhen's face was even more gloomy and ugly, and he was upset when he looked at the quarrel of the ministers below.

"The Northern Expedition of the Wu Army was menacing, and now Dengzhou, Qinzhou, Caizhou, Yingzhou and other places in the south surrendered without a fight, and Bozhou was captured by the enemy at the beginning; Now the situation is precarious, the enemy army is besieging Songzhou on a large scale, and the last general thinks that at this time, he should send a general to lead the army of the northern front to the south and quickly rescue Songzhou! ”

This was the reason for advocating sending a large army along the Yellow River south to resist the Wu army.

"The army on the northern front must stay to guard against the Jin army, even if Li Cunqiao mobilizes part of his forces to attack Zhang Wenli, the remaining army is still very strong, and our army must stay to defend against it. If the army of the northern front is mobilized to the south, and the Jin army will take advantage of the situation at that time, wouldn't it be a major event! ”

This was the reason given by the Minister of the opposition to the southward march of the Northern Front.

In addition, some ministers advocated the cession of part of the territory to the state of Wu, and the two sides began peace talks.

There are also some people who advocate sending people to negotiate peace with Li Cunqing, the king of Jin, in order to concentrate their forces to go south to deal with the Wu army first.

Of course, there are still some people who advocate directly abandoning the Central Plains and withdrawing the large army along the Yellow River directly to Luoyang, allowing the Jin army to go south to fight the Wu army, while the Liang army will reap the benefits.

All kinds of opinions were chaotic and noisy, which made Zhu Youzhen confused, and she didn't know who to listen to.

At this time, even Zhang Hanjie, who has returned to Luoyang, has the same different opinion from that of another confidant, Zhao Yan, and the opinions of Li Zhen and Jing Xiang and others are also different.

The entire court is completely chaotic, which is why the news of the Wu army's Northern Expedition has been coming for two or three days, but the court still can't come up with a decision.

Looking at the chaos of the ministers, Zhu Youzhen couldn't help but sigh in his heart: "If the first emperor is still here, maybe he won't have so much hesitation at all, and he will directly lead the army south to conquer in person!" ”

But then he thought that if Zhu Wen was still here, maybe Liang Guo would not have fallen into the current situation at all.

He reached out and stroked his forehead, rubbing it gently.

Not far away, Li Zhen, the envoy of the Chongzheng Yuan, saw this situation and hurriedly said loudly: "Everyone, be quiet, in front of the Son of Heaven, what does it look like to be so noisy?" ”

Only then did the ministers stop the noise and look at Zhu Youzhen above.

"Your Majesty, at this extraordinary time, you should practice extraordinary laws. The Northern Expedition of the Wu Kingdom, this is a major event related to the fortunes of our dynasty, how can we let those ministers who do not know the so-called nonsense and disturb the program of the dynasty? The minister thought that now His Majesty was dictatorial and concentrated, and there was no need to ask too many opinions. Li Zhen said loudly.

"Yes, Your Majesty, at this time, you should be arbitrary, and you don't need to ask the opinions of the ministers! If it continues to be so noisy, I am afraid that it will not be long before Songzhou will fall. On the side, Zhao Yan and others also hurriedly echoed.

Zhu Youzhen nodded when he heard this, now is indeed not the time to argue, and the opinions of all parties are mixed, and the reasons given seem to be sufficient, he really doesn't dare to make a decision easily.

Even if Zhao Yan, Zhang Hanjie and others were his henchmen, he didn't dare to trust the two too much at this time.

However, Li Zhen's words still made him hear in his heart, now is not the time for all parties to give reasons, the supporters of all sides have been arguing for two or three days, and they must have said whatever reason they have, and there will be no new insights if they continue to argue, it is just a waste of time.

What is to do now is to make decisions, not to listen to the opinions of all parties.

But the question of which two or three people to listen to is a question.

Among the ministers, there are three main views today, the first is to mobilize part of the troops from the army on the northern front, and a general will lead the troops south to try to relieve the siege of Songzhou; If the Wu army can be defeated, the morale of the Liang army will inevitably be greatly boosted at that time, and maybe it will be able to continue to move south, recover the lost territory, and keep the Central Plains.

There are the most people who hold this view, including Zhu Youzhen herself.

After all, although the Liang State is weak now, it is not without the strength to fight, if it directly gives up the south and retreats to Luoyang, this makes Zhu Youzhen a little unwilling in his heart.

Moreover, the Jin army transferred part of its troops to attack Zhenzhou, which also reduced the pressure on the Liang army on the northern front a lot, and it had the ability to transfer some troops to the south.

Therefore, among the ministers, including Li Zhen and Zhao Yan, they all have this view.

The second opinion is to abandon the Yellow River defense line, retreat directly to Luoyang, put the Jin army in, let the Jin army and the Wu army fight, and the Liang army will reap the benefits.

This view is mainly held by a small number of people represented by the old minister Jing Xiang, but because Jing Xiang's prestige in the court is high, and Liang Guo had a plan to retreat to Guanzhong and Luoyang before, so this view is also more convincing.

However, what people didn't expect was that Zhang Hanjie, another confidant of Zhu Youzhen, had the same opinion as Jing Xiang, and also advocated directly retreating to Luoyang, which made Zhu Youzhen very surprised.

And the third opinion is to cut the land and seek peace, of course, not to the Jin State, but to the Wu State.

After all, Wu and Liang had lived peacefully for many years before, and there was the possibility of peace talks; However, the Jin side has been fighting with the Liang State for many years, and the two sides have too deep grievances, and it is difficult to ask for peace.

The ministers who held this view believed that as long as the overall situation of the Jin and Wu states in the north and south of the Liang state did not change, then it would be a matter of time before the Liang state lost the Central Plains.

If the Liang army of the northern front is sent south to resist the Wu army now, even if the Wu army is successfully blocked this time, it will be difficult to block it in the next Wu army's northern expedition; And if it fails, then the few remaining elite troops of the Liang army will also be exhausted, and it will be difficult to even retreat to Luoyang at that time.

This part of the ministers believes that the current overall strategy of the Liang State is to retreat to Luoyang and Guanzhong, but because the Northern Expedition of the Wu army came too suddenly, many preparations were not made, such as relocating the population, hoarding money and grain, etc., these things were still just put on the agenda, and the Wu army came over.

So now is the time to make peace with Wu and buy time for preparations.

These three opinions are the three most important opinions in the court at present, and as for the other opinions, Zhu Youzhen vetoed them in his heart without even thinking about it.

From the point of view of his heart, Zhu Youzhen naturally agrees with the first opinion the most, now Liang State is not without the strength of a war, if he retreats to Luoyang without a battle, or sends someone to negotiate peace with Wu State to admit defeat, then he will feel unwilling in his heart.

But as Jing Xiang said, if he sent troops south to fight the Wu army, it was likely that the last elite army of the Liang army would also be buried, and this risk Zhu Youzhen had to consider.

As for the plan for peace talks, the reasons they gave were very sufficient, and even Zhu Youzhen could hardly refute the benefits of sending peace talks.

But the biggest problem with this solution is that it is difficult to implement.

Wu State has been preparing for so many years before it suddenly went on a northern expedition, mobilizing hundreds of thousands of troops, and even Yang Wu, the king of Wu, personally led the troops, and now it is even more powerful, and has seized a large territory without any resistance along the way, how can it be possible to accept the request for peace talks in the current situation?

Even if Liang Guo proposed to cede the land, it was useless, because Wu Guo could obtain those territories on his own, and he didn't need to pay much price, which could not be used as a bargaining chip for Liang State at all.

Therefore, in the eyes of Zhu Youzhen and others, the so-called move of seeking peace is just self-inflicted humiliation, but it will greatly affect the morale of the Liang army and further boost the arrogance of the Wu army.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youzhen suddenly extinguished the idea of peace talks in her heart.

"Is it to fight or to retreat directly?" He groaned in his heart.

Seeing that Zhu Youzhen was deep in thought, the ministers below did not bother, and stood solemnly one by one, either bowing their heads and contemplating, or closing their eyes to recuperate, or quietly waiting for the result.

They all knew that it was useless to argue now, unless someone could suddenly come up with some decisive reason to convince the others in one fell swoop, but it was clear that such a reason could not exist.

After a long time, Zhu Youzhen finally made a decision, saying: "I have made up my mind, the Wu army is menacing, if we retreat to Luoyang without a battle, then our army's morale will inevitably be greatly reduced, even if we stick to Luoyang, it will be difficult to do it; In addition, now that the plan to retreat to Luoyang and Guanzhong has just begun, the relocation of the population, money and food have not been prepared, and it will take time. ”

"So I decided to transfer 40,000 troops from the northern front, plus 10,000 troops from the Luoyang Forbidden Army, to go south to rescue Songzhou!" Zhu Youzhen announced loudly.

"Your Ministers obey!" The ministers hurriedly replied loudly.

At this time, even though Zhu Youzhen's decision made many people dissatisfied, everyone still chose to follow his will, and even Jing Xiang and others did not refute it again.

But then, on the selection of the commander of the army to the south, the ministers began a new debate.

"The minister thinks that General Duan Ning, the deputy envoy from the north, should be responsible for leading the troops south!" Zhang Hanjie flashed and first stood up and proposed his candidate.

Duan Ning originally did not show his ability in the Liang army, and he was not a meritorious veteran of the Zhu Wen era.

At the beginning, this person was just the chief bookkeeper of Mianchi County, and because he was good at greeting, he was reused by Zhu Wen; Later, because his sister was included in the palace by Zhu Wen, she became Zhu Wen's confidant, and was promoted all the way to become the assassin of Huaizhou.

However, in the end, this person did not have much talent, and he did not have any outstanding performance in the years after Zhu Wen's death; But this person has always been good at greeting, and he has relied on Zhang Hanjie in the past few years, so Zhang Hanjie will recommend him.

Zhao Yan on the side also hurriedly stood up and said: "Your Majesty, the minister also recommends General Duan Ning, General Duan has always been loyal to his duties, and he has served as the deputy envoy to the north for many years, if he leads the army south, he will definitely be able to win!" ”

Zhao Yan and Zhang Hanjie were originally accomplices, and although the two occasionally disagreed, their views were generally the same; Moreover, in addition to bribing Zhang Hanjie, Duan Ning naturally had to bribe Zhao Yan, so of course he had to come out to support Duan Ning.

However, Li Zhen and Jing Xiang's faces were dark, how could they not know who Duan Ning was, he was just a mediocre talent who was good at greeting and had no actual ability.

Now that the Wu army is menacing, how dangerous the situation is, if a mediocre talent like Duan Ning is allowed to lead the troops south, I am afraid that the army going south will really be buried.

Li Zhen hurriedly stood up and said with an eager face: "Your Majesty, you must not, Duan Ning's ability is mediocre, he is not a general, and he has not actually led troops over the years, but as a supervisor, he has no combat experience." If Your Majesty takes this person as a general, the army will be in danger! ”

Jing Xiang said directly: "Your Majesty, if Duan Ning is the general, the minister dares to assert that the army will be defeated!" ”

Zhu Youzhen listened noncommittally and said, "Really? So in the opinion of the two of them, who should I take as the general? ”

Jing Xiang said: "The minister recommended the deputy envoy General Wang Yanzhang to the north, General Wang is loyal and capable, and brave and good at fighting, if he is a general, he will be able to greatly boost the morale of the army and relieve the siege of Songzhou!" ”

"Yes, General Wang has won the hearts of the army, and his ability to use troops was praised by the first emperor back then. Now that the situation is dangerous, there must be a veteran general like General Wang to lead the army to ensure worry-free! On the side, Li Zhen admonished in unison.

"Wang Yanzhang?" Zhu Youzhen suddenly became interested.

Indeed, Wang Yanzhang has been fighting on the northern front all these years, fighting with the Jin army, often taking the lead, and winning the hearts of the army, even Zhu Youzhen knows that this is a fierce general, and the ability to command troops is also very strong.

And Zhang Hanjie recommended Duan Ning is not very famous, although he has served as the deputy envoy of the north over the years, but more often than not, he has served as a supervisor of the army, and has not played the role of leading the troops.

Whether it is the ability to command the troops or the experience of commanding the troops, they are far from being comparable with Wang Yanzhang.

Therefore, after hearing the candidates recommended by Jing Xiang and Li Zhen, his heart immediately favored Wang Yanzhang.

At this time, Zhao Yan and Zhang Hanjie were in a hurry, the reason why they recommended Duan Ning was because Duan Ning gave them benefits, and the other was that they didn't want Wang Yanzhang to command the army.

Needless to say, Zhang Hanjie and Wang Yanzhang have fallen out publicly, and Zhao Yan has also heard what Wang Yanzhang said, what "these two thieves will be eliminated after returning to Luoyang", who are these "two thieves"? Isn't that what he and Zhang Hanjie are talking about?

Now Wang Yanzhang is a veteran with profound qualifications and outstanding achievements, even if Zhang Hanjie and the others want to deal with him, it will take a lot of energy; But if Wang Yanzhang is really allowed to lead the army to defeat the Wu army and lift the siege of Luoyang, and when Wang Yanzhang leads the victorious army back to Luoyang, the two of them will really be eliminated as "two thieves".

So when they saw that Zhu Youzhen's expression was already biased towards Wang Yanzhang, the two of them hurriedly stood up together and said, "Your Majesty, no!" ”