On the way from the capital to Sichuan, Wang Yuan chatted a lot with Captain Zhao Qing, and compared with the war information obtained from Yang Guozhong and others, the things Zhao Qing told were more authentic and credible. Wang Yuan also heard the name Sun Youneng from Zhao Qing's mouth for the first time.

Sun Youneng has served in the Jiannan Festival for more than eight years. has been the second-in-command for eight consecutive years, and has changed two festival envoys, but without his share, Sun Youneng must be extremely dissatisfied in his heart.

However, after all, this person has been in the Jiannan Army for eight years, and he is the oldest general among all the generals in the army. This guy's subordinates have co-opted a group of generals to call them brothers and sisters, and they will influence the military and political affairs of Jiannan. The former Jiannan Jiedu envoy Zhang Qiu and Qiong couldn't do anything about him, not to mention Xian Yu Zhongtong, who had no ability to take office soon after taking office.

Because of this, Sun Youneng actually has a lot of control over the command of Jiannan Jiedu's soldiers and horses, and to a certain extent, his words are more effective than Jiedu's words, which is the advantage of the old fritters in the army. Besides, he is not an old fritter, but a tyrant in the army.

The failure of the Jiannan Jiedu soldiers and horses was certainly due to the incompetence of the Jiannan Jiedu envoy Xian Yu Zhongtong, but this Jiannan Jiedu soldiers and horses made Sun Youneng bear unshirkable responsibility for the failure. In fact, the crucial battle to recapture Yaozhou was the recapture of General Sun, which led to the complete collapse of the Battle of Lushui.

At that time, Sun Youneng tried his best to advocate the immediate recovery of Yaozhou to avenge the dead Zhang Qiantuo, and led more than a dozen generals to Xianyu Zhongtong's tent to force Xianyu Zhongtong to agree to send troops to Yaozhou. Xian Yu Zhongtong was also under pressure from Yang Guozhong's order to immediately recover Yaozhou, so he ignored the warning of Sima Song Jiangong and agreed to Sun Youneng's plan.

On the way to the army, the marching Sima Song Jiangong asked to send a small group of soldiers and horses along the way to explore whether there were any Nanzhao ambushes, but Sun Youneng ridiculed him as being frightened by the Nanban, so the army swaggered through the Grand Canyon on the side of Lushui without any reconnaissance measures, and finally suffered an ambush by the Nanzhao ambush, resulting in an extremely tragic defeat. If it weren't for Song Jian's power soldiers to resist the pursuing Nanzhao soldiers and horses, the losses in this battle would have been much heavier. And when Song Jiangong resisted the pursuers, Sun Youneng had already fled without a trace.

After this defeat, the situation took a sharp turn for the worse, and the Jiannan Army was sharply reduced from more than 70,000 soldiers and horses with superior forces to more than 40,000 soldiers and horses, and could only retreat to Quzhou and Netzhou to hold on. The person directly responsible for this battle is this Sun Youneng. But the strange thing is that even so, after the defeat of Lushui, Sun Youneng did not receive any punishment. Sun Youneng himself shamelessly said that 'victory and defeat are a common thing in soldiers' to relieve himself. And Xian Yu Zhongtong actually accepted this statement, which made the generals, including Zhao Qing, indignant.

After Wang Yuan heard all these things about Sun Youneng, he immediately realized that this person was a cancer in the Jiannan army, if this person could not be subdued, it would be impossible for him to lead the Jiannan soldiers and horses to reverse the defeat, because this person could influence many decisions of the Jiannan army and even the transfer of soldiers and horses.

At present, it is impossible for the imperial court to send more soldiers and horses, what can be used is the more than 40,000 soldiers and horses at hand, and if people like Sun Youneng are still influenced by decision-making, forming gangs, and even disobeying orders, then the words of turning the tide of the war are empty talk.

Of course, solving such a problem can be solved through communication and slow probation, but Wang Yuan doesn't have much time, he doesn't have time to slowly tame Sun Youneng, and the quickest way is to cut off this cancer with a knife. Therefore, Wang Yuan had actually made up his mind before he came, and once he caught Sun Youneng's handle, he would hit him mercilessly. And when Wang Yuan and his entourage arrived in Rongzhou, they found that this gentleman had disobeyed the military order to defend Quzhou and withdrew most of the soldiers and horses to Rongzhou. In the past, perhaps Xian Yu Zhongtong would not have bothered with him because of his behavior, but after Wang Yuan arrived, this move was tantamount to stretching his neck under Wang Yuan's raised guillotine. Of course, Wang Yuan would not be polite, and he would be killed with a single click.

Sun Youneng himself and all the generals of the Nanzhao army probably didn't expect that the first knife raised by the new deputy marshal Wang was not to cut at the Nanzhao people, but at his own generals. A face Sun Youneng lost his head in such a daze, and spared the heads of seven or eight generals.

There was a dead silence in the yamen hall, and everyone was stunned and speechless, although the people who had been dissatisfied with Sun Youneng's hegemony in the army had a trace of relief in their hearts, but it was a shock to everyone. The new deputy envoy of Jiedu is a ruthless character who kills people without blinking, and these bloody heads in front of him are the best proof of this.

Wang Yuan was very satisfied with everyone's expressions, not only killing the army poison tumor but also using it to establish his authority, that was the best thing. Of course, Wang Yuan also knew that he had killed the four rank members and seven or eight generals of the imperial court in this way, and it would be difficult to explain this matter to the imperial court. But Wang Yuan didn't plan to explain it himself, he knew that Yang Guozhong would settle these things for himself, and he didn't need to worry about it at all.

Wang Yuan realized what it means to be willful and what it means to have the pleasure of being fearless.

……

In the south of Quzhou City, torches illuminate a large area of hillside in the south of Quzhou City. The terrain under the jurisdiction of Quzhou is high in the south and low in the north, and under the shade of many mountains in the south, Quzhou City is like a small checkpoint guarding the passage to the north, which is as thin as a cicada's wings and weak and can't help the wind.

The hillside outside the city are all soldiers and horses of the Nanzhao Kingdom, after the Battle of Yaozhou, the first time that Ge Luofeng's army attacked the city of the Tang Dynasty so blatantly, which was simply unimaginable before. For decades, the Nanzhao Kingdom was attached to the Tang Dynasty, seeking a foothold in the gap between the Tang Dynasty and Tubo, trying not to annoy the two fierce beasts, where it was thought that there would be a day of large-scale attack.

It is precisely because of this that when I saw that the Tang Army was not as powerful as I imagined, the combat effectiveness that had been suppressed for a long time was even more amazing, and the Tang Army was just a paper tiger, just scary to watch. That's why there is what the dead Sun Youneng said, "The soldiers and horses of the Nanzhao Kingdom attacked like crazy, day and night." "That's the case.

Yes, the soldiers and horses of Nanzhao did seem to be crazy, starting from the first attack on Ludian County on the 28th of the lunar month and ambushing the Tang army who rescued them, until the second day of the first lunar month tonight, in just four days, the barbarian soldiers of Nanzhao attacked no less than a dozen times, like clockwork rushing to the thin city wall of Quzhou.

Before each charge, the Tang soldiers standing on the walls of Quzhou could hear the barbarians beating strange drums around the fire, and they could all see them dancing strange dances and praying to the gods before the battle. These are all inexplicable fears that make the soldiers of the Tang Army, because all the Tang soldiers who retreated to Quzhou have witnessed and passed through the strange methods of the soldiers and horses of Nanzhao, and have seen the strange image of a soldier and horse suddenly stiffening and being slaughtered, and the soldiers of the Tang Army who were released back after being poisoned killed people frantically, and finally broke their stomachs.

Therefore, in this atmosphere, although there were more than 30,000 Tang troops in the city, and only 30,000 or 40,000 soldiers and horses of Nanzhao attacked, they were still attacked by them several times and opened the city gate. If it weren't for Song Jiangong's desperate command of his troops and horses to counterattack, drive them off the city wall, and with the assistance of the people, use sand, gravel and soil to block the city gate hole, the city would have been broken.

However, the repulsion of the opponent again and again did not make the city commander Sun Youneng feel encouraged, this morning, he actually ordered the whole army to withdraw from Quzhou and retreat to Rongzhou. This was a huge blow to the soldiers and people who defended the city for three days and three nights.

Although Song Jiangong tried his best to persuade, he could not prevent Sun Youneng from giving this order, in desperation, Song Jiangong chose to stay, he wanted to lead his 8,000 soldiers to stay and stick to Quzhou, because he understood the importance of Quzhou's strategic location, and he must not lose Quzhou, otherwise he would be completely passive.

Sun Youneng left desperately, leaving behind Song Jiangong and 8,000 soldiers, as well as tens of thousands of panicked people in the city. But fortunately, soon Quzhou Taishou organized thousands of young and strong people to assist, after which the Nanzhao soldiers immediately carried out a fierce attack in the afternoon, and were repulsed with difficulty, and only half of the 8,000 soldiers and horses defending the city were left. Many of the soldiers were killed with the brutes after they stormed the walls. Song Jiangong knew in his heart that Quzhou was afraid that he would not be able to withstand the next attack.

After nightfall, everything was calm, and the barbarians on the hillside outside the city sat still with torches and rested, ready for the next attack. And Song Jiangong and his tired subordinates also seized the time to rest and recover their strength. Time passed slowly, Song Jiangong, who had not closed his eyes for a long time, fell asleep by the city wall, the night wind was very cold, so cold that he curled up in a ball, and slept until the middle of the night, he was awakened by the cold, got up and looked down at the city, and suddenly his whole heart was ten times colder than his body.

The soldiers and horses of the southern Zhao under the city gathered in a group on the hillside, beat the drums, danced strange dances, and let out the roar of ghosts and wolves. Song Jiangong and all the soldiers defending the city understood that the next offensive was about to begin.