Chapter 475: Take Responsibility

After returning to Fangzhou, the Western Army rested on the spot, but because the expedition was too hasty, and many things were too late to prepare. (Niu Wen ~ Net) and Shaanxi also lacks various measures to deal with the big defeat, such as medicine. Many of the wounded soldiers who escaped were killed and maimed in the thousands because they did not receive effective medical treatment. Morale fell to the bottom, especially the Xihe soldiers led by Yao Pingzhong, who suffered this catastrophe, and people's hearts returned. However, the army was defeated in Dunzhou, and Fangzhou is now in danger, and the Xuanfu Disposal Division sent an urgent order, ordering the Western Army to withdraw to Fangzhou to hold on.

Xu Wei was injured by an arrow and was unconscious, Yao Pingzhong was also injured and difficult to govern, and the heavy responsibility of guarding Fangzhou fell on Xu Si, the commander of the Xuanfu Disposal Division. On the one hand, he asked for ordnance, money and food from Pizhou, and on the other hand, he used all the troops that could be fought to strengthen the defense. Xu Wei's withdrawn troops were less than 5,000 capable of fighting, and more than 10,000 soldiers who fled back from Yao Pingzhong, as well as combat effectiveness, less than half of them, plus the troops brought by Xu Sheng, the entire Fangzhou, there were only more than 10,000 available soldiers. With this amount of troops, it is very difficult to withstand the Jin army. Moreover, among the more than 10,000 soldiers, quite a number of troops do not even have weapons and armor, let alone large equipment......

On the other hand, after Ma Wu returned, he also reported to the victory, and reorganized the army's equipment, preparing to attack Fangzhou. In the battle of Lion's Mouth, the Jin army won a lot, but Ma Wu found a problem, he annihilated 20,000 soldiers and horses of the Hu'er Army, and his own casualties were more than 20,000 You must know that he was fighting an ambush war at the best time and place, and this casualty was inevitably larger. In addition, the Purple Gold Tiger took down the security army and broke several blockades in a row, and the losses caused to the Jin army were also very large. Ma Wu wanted to take advantage of the situation to take the whole of Shaanxi immediately, but this total, only to know that he was a little powerless. So he only focused on seizing Fangyao Erzhou, Jingzhao Yifu, and controlling the entire Guanzhong Plain. When the time is right, we will trace Weishui to the west and plot the whole of Shaanxi. Thinking of this, he was even more annoyed that he failed to completely annihilate the Tiger Army and capture Xu Wei

Qinzhou, Shaanxi Xuanfu Disposal Division.

The news of the defeat at the front line has been known to the whole of the Xuanfu Division. No one expected that this time it would be so badly defeated, and for a while, people were panicked and worried that Shaanxi would not be safe.

In the second hall, civil and military officials came and went endlessly, conveying various orders. Now it's up to you to counterattack something, and see if you can hold the territory controlled by the Song army now.

At the beginning of the news of the defeat, someone in the Xuanfu Disposal Department suggested that this time the corps should be disbanded due to heavy losses and lack of food, and the western army should be ordered to return to its original route. But Xu Shao did not agree, a defeat in Dunzhou, endangering the whole of Shaanxi, if this advance and then disband the corps, then the Jin army will be broken individually, and the fall of the whole territory of Shaanxi is not far away. Therefore, he ordered Yao Pingzhong and others to still garrison Fangzhou, and allocated another 10,000 troops directly under the Xuanfu Disposal Division, and ordered Xu Hongzhen to guard Yaozhou to prevent the attack of the Jin army on the Guanzhong Plain. In addition, he ordered Xu Yuan, who had the largest number of troops in the three-way division, to send troops to Guanzhong again for reinforcements.

Xu Yuan held the soldiers and horses of Jingyuan and Huanqing in his hands, and this time he assembled a counterattack, he only ordered Zhang Jun to bring 20,000 people. At that time, Xu Shao was very dissatisfied with his eldest nephew's self-respect, and now that Yanzhou has lost, Zhang Jun led his troops to surrender, which made Xu Shao even more angry.

"Father, before the war, the eldest brother repeatedly dissuaded him, saying that a hasty counterattack would inevitably outweigh the losses. As a last resort, only 20,000 people were sent, and a considerable part of them were the old departments of Quduan. Now, let him transfer troops again, I'm afraid it will be ......," Xu Liang sat down, looked at his father who closed his eyes and pondered after looking at the public case.

Xu Shao leaned back in his chair, his back was facing the sky, his eyes were closed, and he didn't speak for a long time. As soon as he heard this, his color changed: "If he dares to obstruct again, I will do it again"

Xu Liang was speechless for a while, although Yu Gong's father was the Xuanfu envoy of Shaanxi, and he grasped the military and political power; Yu Private is now the only elder of the Xu family. But it may not be easy to run the eldest brother, since the uncle was alive, he has already gone through the original road. The eldest brother has a very deep foundation in Jingyuan, and he is strong and strong, and he can't move easily.

"Alas, I never expected to suffer such a big defeat. The 120,000 troops, nearly 70,000 people were killed, captured, missing, and surrendered, and the vitality of the Western Army was greatly damaged. Now he can't do anything but write a book to deal with sin. Xu Shao couldn't help but sigh. When they decided to counterattack, Xu Yuan, Xu Wei and others all strongly opposed, although they finally agreed under pressure, but unfortunately they were right. At the beginning, I thought that even if the assembly was hastily assembled and prepared in a hurry, even if the lost territory could not be regained, at least it would be able to deter the Jin army and relieve the pressure in the Jianghuai theater.

Now it is good, not only did it fail to deter the Jin army, but it lost its troops and suffered a crushing defeat. As the highest military and political governor in Shaanxi, he cannot escape this general responsibility......

Xu Liang knew his father's thoughts, thought about it, and whispered: "This defeat, my father, as the supreme commander of Shaanxi, naturally has to take responsibility. However, Xuanxiang is only responsible for strategizing, and does not command operations on the front line......"

As soon as he said this, he suddenly found that his father was looking at him with strange eyes, so he had to swallow back the words that followed. Xu Shao did not reprimand him as before.

Seeing this, Xu Liang continued: "Lao Jiu is not easy, the assembly is in a hurry, and the preparation is in a hurry. It's just that...... He only had a partial division in his hands, but he went south from the security army to rescue Yao Zhang, and he inevitably underestimated the enemy. When the battle is approaching, there is also the responsibility of negligence. He has fought with the Jin army for many years, and this time, there is indeed a mistake in his command. ”

Xu Shao said lightly: "If he doesn't save him, he can certainly save himself, but Yao Pingzhong will definitely be wiped out." For Shaanxi, the impact is even worse. ”

Xu Liang nodded: "Well, after this incident, Yao Pingzhong must be grateful to him, and the Xihe soldiers will also regard him as a favor." ”

Xu Shao squinted his eyes and looked over: "What do you want to say?" ”

"My son is just talking about things, and he doesn't mean anything else." Xu Liang bowed his head and said.

Xu Shao did not delve into it, but was worried that the situation would deteriorate sharply, and he was deeply afraid that the Jin army would take advantage of the situation to attack on a large scale and Shaanxi would not be protected. After thinking for a while, he said: "Xu Liu, in your opinion, will the front-line soldiers be able to block the attack of the Jin army?" ”

"With all due respect, it's probably not easy. As soon as Yanzhou was defeated, there were not many troops left in the South Road and West Road Recruitment Division, and the ninth brother was seriously injured, Yao Pingzhong was also injured, and the fourth brother was not Ma Wu's opponent. The fifth brother guards Yaozhou, the terrain is flat, there is no danger to defend, if the Jin army comes to attack in a big way, the victory or defeat is unknown. Xu Liang said bluntly.

The muscles on Xu Shao's face twitched, obviously extremely distressed. In fact, as a former martial artist, he also knows in his heart that the defeat of Yanzhou will not only lose the generals, but also the loss of land and cities. The reason why the front-line troops were ordered to hold out was simply to buy some time for the evacuation and retreat of the rear.

Seeing that his father was silent, Xu Liang said: "Xuanxiang, the matter has come to this point, let's make calculations early." ”

When Xu Shao heard this, he nodded: "Let's go, convey the officials and the Division, and the Xuanfu Disposal Division is ready to withdraw to Chengzhou." Jingzhao Province prepares for evacuation. After Xu Da's soldiers and horses come, he will order the front line to retreat. ”

"Yes, I'm going to give orders." Xu Liang said, bowed, and went outside.

But I heard my father sigh behind me: "The work of several years will be ruined in one fell swoop." ”

The withdrawal of the Xuanfu Disposal Division from Qinzhou also proves the deterioration of the situation in Shaanxi from the side, most of the 120,000 troops have been lost, the front line has been unable to resist, and retreat is inevitable.

On the front line in Fangzhou, Xu Si, as a sincere gentleman, is carrying out the orders of the third uncle to the letter, and is trying his best to strengthen the defense. But it is difficult for a Qiao woman to cook without rice, more than 10,000 troops, lack of food, no equipment, and the morale of the whole army is low, how to defend it?

"Handsome?"

Xu Wei opened his eyes, first looked at the military tent above his head, vaguely heard someone calling, turned his head with difficulty, and saw that it was his own personal soldier. His lips moved, but he didn't say anything, but fortunately, the soldier was still clever, so he quickly took water, picked up the head of the handsome, and slowly fed him to drink.

It wasn't until he drank half of the bowl of water and lay down again that Xu Wei exhaled heavily and asked softly, "How many brothers have come back?" ”

How dare the soldier answer? Many commanders have repeatedly told him that if the commander wakes up, don't tell him the truth. I have to let him recuperate in peace and heal his injuries. Therefore, he squeaked: "After breaking through, Xu Shengxu was able to control and respond, and our army was able to return to Fangzhou." ”

Although Xu Wei was in a coma for nearly two days, he was not confused, and raised his voice slightly: "Don't trick me, how much will you come back?"

"This ......" the military man didn't know how to answer.

Xu Wei was anxious when he hesitated, because it could be seen that there were heavy casualties this time. struggling to get up, he said, "Let Yang Yan, Zhang Xian, and Xu Cheng come to see me." ”

The soldiers did not dare to disobey the order, and hurriedly went out of the tent. When the generals heard that the marshal had awakened, they were all overjoyed, and hurried to the military tent to visit.

Yang Yan was also not lightly injured, and there were as many as six battles on his body, but fortunately, with the protection of strong armor, he did not hurt his muscles and bones. When he entered the tent, he saw that Xu Wei had half sat up, and suddenly his face was happy, and he said loudly: "Dashuai can be regarded as awake" Zhang Xian and Xu Chengdu, who came in later, stepped forward to salute and greet.

Xu Wei didn't have time to be polite, closed his eyes and sorted out his thoughts, and then asked, "Say, how much will you come back?" ”

Xu Cheng looked at Zhang Xian, Zhang Xian looked at Yang Yan, Yang Yan lowered his head, sighed and said, "More than six thousand." ”

Although he was mentally prepared, when he heard the exact number, Xu Wei felt a pain in his heart, that is to say, in the ambush battle at the lion's mouth, I folded 20,000 brothers and 20,000

"However, due to the rescue of our army in the south, Yao Zhao of the West Road took the opportunity to break through, and the Xihe soldiers escaped more than 10,000 people." Zhang Xian hopes that this news can ease Xu Wei's heart.

Unexpectedly, the Purple Gold Tiger was even more heartbroken before more than 10,000 came out? In other words, the 95,000 troops we fought against were 70,000 people, which was no longer a major defeat, but a crushing defeat that was close to the total annihilation

No, it is impossible to lose so many soldiers. Our army attracted the main force of the Jin army at Lion's Mouth, and the troops in the hands of Yao Pingzhong and Zhang Jun still had a chance of winning the siege, how could it be reduced to 70,000 people?

When he asked this, Yang Yan hated itchy: "Zhang Jun of Donkey Day led his troops to surrender to the troops recruited by Xu on the Jurchen North Road, and all of them were broken."

Xu Wei's teeth were almost crushed, he hated others or not, hated himself first, and it was a risky thing to lead the division south to rescue. The greater the danger, the more cautious he became, but he was lucky, and went all the way south, and insisted on going around to the south of Shima Mountain, and marched at night, and was finally ambushed at the mouth of the lion.

The fiasco of the lion's mouth is caused by my own command mistakes, and I can't complain about others, I think that I have dozens of battles with the Jin army, and I am rarely defeated, so I have the heart of underestimating the enemy, and I thought that I was invincible all over Shaanxi, but I didn't expect that the arrogant army would be defeated, and there would be this disaster in the end

"I don't blame you for this defeat, it's the commander's command error, I'm ashamed of the heroic spirit who died" Xu Wei was emotional, his eyes red.

Yang Yan was afraid that he would affect the wound, so he hurriedly stepped forward and said: "Although our army suffered heavy casualties, we finally rescued Yao Zhaojiao and more than 10,000 Xihe soldiers, so as not to let the West Road Fight Si become an empty shelf." Moreover, according to humble estimates, although the Jin army was victorious, its casualties must be not small......"

"You don't have to comfort me, even if the Jin army has more casualties than me, but after Ma Wu defeats this battle, the situation in Shaanxi will inevitably deteriorate, and the situation that we have spent several years on will be ruined" Xu Wei was still sober, and he had already realized the seriousness of the problem, and he blamed himself deeply. Before losing an order, the army broke and died, and he thought he knew the meaning of this sentence, but now he knows the importance of this

Zhang Xian and the others were silent, since the formation of the Hu'er Army, they had never suffered such a fiasco. Da Shuai said that he caused all this, but why don't we feel it? Who has to let this fight be? If we are not mistaken, the commander was strongly opposed at the beginning, and bitterly stated the stakes, but the boss did not listen

When the tent was silent, the footsteps were heard again, and Xu Sheng and Yao Pingzhong entered the account one after another. The brothers of the same mother, the feelings are not as good as ordinary people, Xu Si hurriedly stepped forward, pressed Xu Jiu's shoulder and said, "You just woke up, don't talk too much, don't worry about it, raise it first." Look, do you need to go back to Chang'an first? ”

Xu Wei was confused at this time, and shook his head habitually.

Yao Pingzhong went to his bed, threw the wooden staff in his hand, snapped, clenched his hands into fists, and then lowered his head, bent his right leg, and knelt down

This kneeling startled the generals in the tent. When Xu Wei saw it, he hurriedly said to Yang Yan: "Help me up" "Brother Xiyan, what are you doing?"

Yang Yan was about to reach out to help, Yao Pingzhong suddenly stretched out his right hand to block him, and said: "Xu Zhao, this visit to the prime minister must accept that it is not Yao someone, but also more than 10,000 Xihe soldiers and Han soldiers Thank you this time, if it were not for Xu Zhao's Gao Yi and leading the troops to rescue, not only Pingzhong died and martyred, but my Xihe soldiers are also a dead end."

Xu Wei didn't know how to answer for a while, but he was determined to rescue him from the overall situation. Unexpectedly, he folded 20,000 comrades and only rescued more than 10,000 friendly soldiers.

After a while, he said to Yang Yan and the other generals, "You guys go first." ”

Yang Yan, Zhang Xian and the others knew that the handsome had something to discuss with Yao Zhao, so they all quit the account, and Xu Sheng told his younger brother to recuperate, and then quit the account.

Yao Pingzhong struggled to stand up, and Xu Wei pointed to the bench for him to sit down. The two bosses were speechless for each other, and the fiasco of Yanzhou was very injured by these two representatives of the young Zhuang faction in the Song army.

"What the hell is going on? You and Zhang Jun led 60,000 troops to detain Dunzhou, how could you be driven by Ma Wu to Shima Mountain? This is what Xu Wei has always wondered. Whether it is Yao Pingzhong or Zhang Jun, they are both battle-hardened generals, even if Ma Wuzang's soldiers are Ganquan, are they not aware of it at all, and they are not prepared at all? Will he be caught off guard after Ma Wu is speeding south?

Yao Pingzhong is also a lover, thinking of the desperate situation of those brothers who failed to escape when he broke through, his speechless eyes turned red: "Ziang, miserable, I, Yao Pingzhong, have been in battle for many years, and I have never encountered such a fiasco."

Isn't Xu Wei miserable? But now is not the time to cry your nose, you have to figure out the reason, the failure of this counteroffensive cannot be a foolish account

"On the same day, I was ordered to attack Juzhou, with 40,000 Xihe soldiers as the main attack force, Zhang Jun led the troops of the North Road Division to clear the perimeter, and then stationed in Beima to prevent the Jin army from going south for reinforcements."

When Xu Wei heard this, he nodded and said, "That's how it should be, so what ......happened later?"

Yao Pingzhong suddenly looked full of resentment: "I hate that Zhang Baiying's 20,000 soldiers and horses are stationed in the north of Yanzhou, when the Jin army goes south along Luoshui, he will be defeated at the touch of a touch, and he will scatter, and the soldiers recruited by the north road will be wrapped in my Xihe soldiers and the formation is also in chaos At this time, the Jin army guards in the city also took advantage of the situation to kill, although I tried my best to stabilize the situation, but I was unable to return to the sky." The troops retreated all the way to the boundary of Shima Mountain, but were caught up by the Jin army, and had no choice but to enter the mountain ......"

At this, the little lieutenant closed his eyes in pain. A few days and nights in the mountains may be a lingering nightmare for the Xihe soldiers

"All the grain, grass and baggage were lost, and many soldiers abandoned their weapons and armor. After arriving at Shimashan, he had no clothes, no food, and no water, and fell into a desperate situation. The troops killed mules and horses for good, but they couldn't support the whole army to endure hunger and thirst for two days, and several times they organized a breakthrough, but they were all killed by the Jin army and returned to Pingzhong, who was already ready to die. After Ping Zhong noticed it, he led the army to break through, and finally left some seeds for the Xihe soldiers. ”

Xu Wei listened to it and said in a deep voice: "This time, the Jin army is fully prepared, and our army hastened to attack, precisely because of my shortcomings and the strength of attacking the enemy. ”

"On this expedition, Ping Zhong led 40,000 elites, and now he only brings back more than 10,000 disabled people, and he is ashamed of his brothers and his superiors, and he is really ashamed of himself. I just want to stick to Fangzhou, win the five and two battles of his horse, and talk about redemption. Yao Pingzhong sighed.

When Xu Wei first heard it, he didn't realize that it was wrong. After thinking for a moment, he suddenly lost his voice and said, "What? Stick to Fangzhou? You say stick to Fangzhou? ”

Yao Pingzhong nodded: "Yes, the Xuanfu Disposal Division has issued an order, let us hold Fangzhou." ”

Xu Wei was shocked that the troops suffered such heavy casualties, and now Fangzhou must be disabled and demoralized, how can they fight? If Ma Wu raises a large army to attack, how can he resist it? Why did the Xuan Wu Disposal Division issue such an order? Isn't this going to drain us all on the front lines?

"Is it really an order from the Xuanfu Disposal Division?" Xu Wei confirmed again.