The report of the Battle of Xiangling soon spread throughout the country, causing a huge shock.

In Ningling City, Huo Yanwei was the first general of the Liang Army to get the news.

Although it was behind enemy lines, because the Wu army left behind did not have many troops, the contact between Ningling and the outside world was not cut off, and news from all over the world could still come in.

After the defeat of Xiangling, many fleeing Liang soldiers fled to Ningling in a panic, bringing news of the battle to Huo Yanwei.

"Kang Yanxiao is on the verge of rebellion? King Wu personally led the army to suddenly appear in the rear of the army and launch a surprise attack at a critical moment? Will Su Yun and the others take the lead and surrender without a fight? In the end, Duan Ning also ordered to surrender? ”

Through the bits and pieces of information found from the mouths of some defeated soldiers, Huo Yanwei quickly pieced together some of the experiences of this battle.

Although he was not very optimistic about the prospects of this battle, Huo Yanwei still did not expect that the final outcome would be like this, the Wu army won a complete victory so easily, and the soldiers lost in the entire battle were only afraid that there were not even 500 soldiers, which made Huo Yanwei deeply shocked.

"General, judging from the course and outcome of this battle, the morale of our army has already collapsed, and the generals of all departments have no fighting spirit, plus the enemy army has mastered the movements of our army in advance, laid an ambush, and buried the secret son of Kang Yanxiao, so it is not surprising that our army was defeated in this battle. I wonder what the general plans to do next? Chun Yuyan asked.

After Duan Ning's army was completely wiped out, he was completely alone here, although Ningling City had been continuously strengthened in the past six months, and a large amount of money and grain had been accumulated in the city, which was enough to hold on for a long time, but in the absence of reinforcements, even the strongest city could not hold out for too long.

What's more, a large part of the reason why the soldiers under Duan Ning were defeated was because of their own low morale; How could Huo Yanwei's subordinates not be like this?

Since last year's campaign, they have been fighting hard for nearly half a year, during which they have not been rested, still less have they won any morale-boosting victories, and even for a period of time, because of various problems, money, food, military salaries, and rewards have not been paid, which has greatly affected the morale of the army.

It can be said that the army under his command seems to have tens of thousands of people, and there is a strong city that can be defended, but it will definitely not be able to hold it for too long if it really wants to fight.

"Sir won't persuade Ben to surrender again, will he? However, before the Liang State was destroyed, Ben would never have surrendered! Huo Yanwei smiled bitterly.

Of course, he understood that the best way for him to do it next was to surrender to the Wu State, but after so many years of serving the Liang State, he still had some affection in his heart, and he didn't want to betray him now.

Chun Yuyan said with a smile: "I don't plan to persuade the general, now that Duan Ning has been destroyed, there are not many defenders from Kaifeng to Luoyang; If it is as expected, King Wu will definitely not delay in Kaifeng next, and will definitely lead the army to Luoyang. Once Luoyang falls, the Liang State will be completely finished, and what can the general do except surrender at that time? ”

Huo Yanwei nodded, he also felt that Wu Jun would choose to attack Luoyang directly, or it would not be long before the Liang State would perish, so it was impossible for him to surrender at this time, and if he wanted to surrender, he would wait until after the Liang State was destroyed, at least he didn't do anything to be sorry for Liang.

At this moment, a guard came in with anticipation and said, "General Qiyu, an envoy from Wu came to ask for a meeting, saying that there is something important to discuss with the general. The messenger also brought a handwritten letter of reprimand, and asked the little one to bring to the general. With that, he respectfully handed over an unopened letter with both hands.

"Duan Ning's letter? Hmph, this person surrendered to the state of Wu, and now he must have come to persuade him to surrender, is he so impatient to serve the new master? Don't read this person's letter! Huo Yanwei sneered, didn't look at the content of the letter, and directly crumpled it into a ball and threw it on the ground.

Huo Yanwei was originally extremely dissatisfied with Duan Ning, a boss who had no ability, let alone qualifications and merits, and completely relied on bribery and flattery to become a solicitor; This time in the Battle of Xiangling, the 60,000 troops of the Liang army were annihilated, which made Huo Yanwei deeply resentful of Duan Ning.

He forgot that under Chun Yuyan's suggestion, he directly let go of Ningling's road and let the Wu army pursue Duan Ning, and he also had to bear some responsibility for the defeat of this battle.

Chun Yuyan walked over unhurriedly and picked up the paper ball on the ground, opened it and read it carefully.

"It is indeed a letter of persuasion, but the content is nothing new, it is nothing more than that the general trend of the Liang State has gone, if the fate is in Wu today, please follow the sky." Chun Yuyan shook his head and briefly said the content of the letter.

"Would you like to see the envoy of Wu State?"

Huo Yanwei was silent, although he didn't want to surrender to Wu State now, he also knew that he would surrender sooner or later, so he didn't want to offend the envoy sent by Wu State.

After a moment of silence, he replied, "Go and meet the envoy yourself, and entertain him well, and do not neglect him." As for Ben, he is gone. If he asks to see the general, you say that the general is busy with important matters and it is inconvenient to see him. ”

"Yes, I see." Chun Yuyan nodded and retired.

……

Soon after Huo Yanwei got the news of Xiangling's defeat, Xuzhou also got the news.

In the city of Xuzhou, Gao Jichang, who had long been anxious about the war, was complaining to his two henchmen with regret on his face at this time: "I knew that the imperial army was so useless, and the marshal should have surrendered a long time ago, but I hate that the marshal was not greedy enough!" ”

Yes, he was not greedy enough.

When the Northern Expedition of the Wu Army had just begun, although the Central Plains War was dominated by the Wu State, the Liang State was not without the power to fight back at that time, and the Liang Army stationed along the Yellow River still had strong strength, as long as they went south to fight the Wu Army, they may not be able to repel the Wu Army.

Not only the main force of the Liang army along the Yellow River, but also the Jin army on the north bank of the Yellow River are also worthy of Gao Jichang's expectations.

In Gao Jichang's view, Li Cunmiao, the king of Jin, has fought in all directions for so many years, although he cannot be said to be invincible and invincible, but he can also be regarded as winning many battles and shocking the Quartet; With the strong strength of the Jin army, it is definitely not difficult to set foot on a single town.

And once Zhenzhou is breached, the Jin army will be able to concentrate its forces to cross the river and go south, and then the Central Plains will inevitably fall into a big melee, and ambitious people like Gao Jichang can take advantage of the chaos, at least have one more choice.

So at that time, Gao Jichang did not rush to surrender in the face of the pressure of the Wu army, but chose to stick to the city and wait for the situation to change.

At first, he only planned to wait and see for a month and a half, and if there was no major change in the battle situation after a month, he would surrender to Wu as soon as possible; As a result, a month and a half later, the tide of the battle did change: the Jin army abandoned the southern city of Desheng, allowing the Liang army to concentrate its forces south to engage the Wu army.

At that time, the three-way army of Wu State was distributed in three directions, and the strength of the army alone was not as strong as the Liang army that went south, so at that time, Gao Jichang seemed to see a turning point and decided to continue to extend the wait-and-see time, and this extension has reached this point.

Who knew that the Liang State was so useless, and more than 100,000 troops along the Yellow River were handed over to Duan Ning, not only did not make the slightest progress in the past few months, but lost many soldiers; Now that Wu has launched a large-scale counterattack, the Liang army has been completely defeated in less than ten days.

Not only did Liang Jun's performance disappoint him, but Jin Jun's performance also surprised him.

Just a town, the Jin army actually attacked for so long and did not take it, and the time to cross the river into the Central Plains is even more far away.

Didn't you say that the elite of the Jin army was invincible in the world? Doesn't it say that the prestige of King Jin is enough to deter the Quartet? Why is it so difficult to fight even a town?

Gao Jichang was resentful in his heart, but there was no regret medicine to take at this time, what he had to do now was how to keep his wealth.

If he still had a trace of ambition before, unwilling to surrender to Wu State, and wanted to take advantage of the chaos to establish a force, then now even if he uses Uncle Liu's experience to encourage himself, he has to admit that he no longer has any chance.

Not only did he have no chance to take advantage of the chaos, but because of his previous hesitation, even if he surrendered to Wu State, it would be difficult for him to keep his wealth and wealth, and even his life would be difficult to protect.

After all, his past performance is really taboo, not to mention the experience when he was the envoy of Jingnan Jiedu, he participated in it when Zhu Youzhen launched a mutiny, and the hesitation and wait-and-see in the past few months will also leave a bad impression on King Wu.

A man in troubled times like him, even if Yang Wu doesn't say it, he is afraid that he will always be on guard in his heart.

As a marshal of one party and a hero who has dominated one party for a long time, Gao Jichang knows that if anyone is always on guard by his king, then the day when this person will lose his head is not far away.

So now Gao Jichang is not thinking about how to keep his wealth and glory, let alone how to take advantage of the chaos, but how to save his head and the lives of his whole family.

In front of him, Liang Zhen and Ni Kefu, two henchmen, were also frowning and pondering, planning for the future.

They also know the predicament Gao Jichang is facing, and they know that now is the time to make a decision, and they can't continue to hesitate.

Ni Kefu suggested in a low voice: "Jie Shuai, Mr. Liang, if we immediately raise troops, join forces with the Wu army outside the city, attack inside and outside, and completely wipe out Lu Siduo, can we win the favor of King Wu with this merit?" ”

"No, I'm afraid it will backfire!" Liang Zhen shook his head immediately when he heard this.

"King Wu's temperament has been carefully studied by the old man, and he seems to be broad-minded, magnanimous, and tolerant, but all this is based on the fact that the other party has no ambition; In fact, this person's suspicion is very heavy, no better than that of Cao Cao back then. ”

"For example, Zhu Jin, the privy envoy of Wu State, was the envoy of the Taining Army, and he once fought with Zhu Wen for the Central Plains, and finally lost after ten years of war."

"This person can be said to be unscrupulous for his own power, in order to get the position of the Taining Jiedu envoy, he pretended to marry the daughter of the former Jiedu envoy Qi Kerang, but took advantage of the opportunity of the wedding to launch a mutiny to expel Qi Kerang and set himself up as the Taining Jiedu envoy."

Later, Zhu Jin was defeated, and Zhu Wen captured his brother Zhu Xuan and asked Zhu Xuan to come to persuade him to surrender; But Zhu Jin not only did not surrender, but in order to stabilize the morale of the army, he personally killed Zhu Xuan. ”

"Such a person who can do anything for his power, although he has repeatedly made military exploits after defecting to Huainan and is deeply trusted by King Wuzhong of Wu State, it has attracted the suspicion of the current King of Wu."

"So since the current King of Wu has taken power, Zhu Jin has never been able to take charge of the army; Although it seems that every time King Wu fights, he will take him with him to staff the military plane, but this is not a kind of precaution? ”

Later, Li Shenfu died of illness, and it stands to reason that Zhu Jin, the deputy privy councillor, should take over as the privy envoy, but King Wu finally chose to promote Li Chengsi to take over. These are enough to show that King Wu is on guard against this person. Liang Zhen introduced in detail.

Gao Jichang nodded again and again after hearing this, and asked, "What does the senior mean, let Ben Shuai learn from Zhu Jin?" ”

"Yes, Zhu Jin is extremely smart, he knows that he is deeply feared by King Wu, but he is not in a hurry to show himself, let alone panic because of this, but uses his performance to change his impression in King Wu's heart little by little."

Since King Wu took over the throne, Zhu Jin has always maintained neutrality, not forming a party, not dictatorship, and not touching military power, and has meticulously completed the tasks assigned by King Wu, without exceeding his own duties. Therefore, after more than ten years, he was finally recognized by King Wu, and now he is the privy envoy of Wu and has become a dignitary in the Wu dynasty. ”

"Therefore, if you want to keep your wealth, you must learn from Zhu Jin, and from now on, you must keep your duty."

"Of course, Lu Siduo is the enemy of Wu State, but for Jieshuai, he is leading the troops to rescue Jieshuai, which is a kind of kindness to Jieshuai; If the marshal secretly joined forces with Wu Guo and harmed Lu Siduo in order to keep his wealth, I am afraid that after King Wu learns about it, even if he will praise the marshal on the surface, he is afraid that he will be even more displeased in his heart. Liang Zhen persuaded.

"What the predecessors said is right, such an unscrupulous person, some heroes may like to see it, but King Wu will definitely not be happy." Gao Jichang breathed a sigh of relief with some fear.

If it hadn't been for Liang Zhen's persuasion just now, I was afraid that he would have to follow Ni Kefu's advice and make a move on Lu Siduo.

Indeed, Yang Wu, the king of Wu, likes generals who keep their duties, and dislikes those troubled warriors who can do whatever it takes for their own fame; For example, Kang Yanxiao, who defected from the battle, although this person is currently reused by Yang Wu, Yang Wu is only afraid that he is not as important as Wang Yanqiu.

Wang Yanqiu took the initiative to pitch, this is because he understands current affairs and makes a rational choice after analyzing the current situation; But Kang Yanxiao betrayed his allies purely for his own promotion and fortune, and defected to the battle.

Now that he can betray the Liang State for the sake of interests, do you know that he will not betray the Wu State in the future?

Therefore, reuse is reused, but it is difficult for a general like Kang Yanxiao to become Yang Wu's henchman, once there is a storm in the future, Yang Wu is the first person to watch out for is a person like him.

Gao Jichang asked again: "I don't know what the predecessors think, what should Ben Shuai do now to gradually dispel King Wu's suspicions and change King Wu's impression of Ben Shuai?" ”