"Okay, the matter of Xiyongzhou has passed, and it's too late to talk about it now! Xiyongzhou is lost, but we must not lose the land of Hanzhong. As for the withdrawal of troops, we will immediately go down and prepare, and wait for the left side division to come and converge, and then we will immediately withdraw our troops to the south. The king of Hanzhong interrupted his subordinates and wanted to continue the discussion on the surrender of the generals of Xiyongzhou, and instead talked about Hanzhong and the withdrawal of troops.

He Zhaowu, a member of the palace army, said in a deep voice: "The king's intention, our next goal is the land of Hanzhong, and we want to prepare for a battle with the Shu army?" ”

The king of Hanzhong said coldly: "Regardless of the opposition of Murong Cheng, the king of Qi, this king transferred the garrisons of Danyang Mansion and Bei'an Mansion to the west of Chunling Mansion occupied by the Zhao army, but the Qi army still had to let the Qi army move westward to supplement the gap in our evacuation and contain the possibility of the Zhao army entering Jingzhou westward. ”

"This incident has let the king know that the more we retreat, the easier it will be for the two of them to take advantage of us, and the easier it will be for them to deceive. The land of Hanzhong is the title of this king, and it is the starting place of my Han army, you say, can we watch this place being annexed by the Shu army? ”

"Since he Situ Che is unrighteous and betrays the alliance, then it is no wonder that we are ruthless. If Hanzhong can't hold it, this king would rather let him fall into the hands of Zhao Jun. Want to use this king as a soft persimmon and a chess piece? This king wants you to look good! Situ Fei said in a gloomy and cold voice, "This king doesn't want anyone to propose another proposal to retreat to the Shu army, how can the princes who don't even obey the covenant be convincing?" ”

Wang Hewen said in a deep voice: "What the king said is right, in the past, we were forced to bow to the king of Shu and ignored the fact that the land of Hanzhong was occupied by him, that is because Xiyongzhou is still in the confrontation between us and the Zhao army. But now, Xiyongzhou has been lost, and we can no longer let the land of Hanzhong be occupied by the Shu army. ”

"In any case, we also want to express our opinions and bottom line to Situ Che, the king of Shu, this land in Hanzhong is the starting place of my Han army, and it is also the origin of the king's title, and it must not be lost."

"Judging from the situation of our transfer of garrisons from Danyang Mansion and Bei'an Mansion in the east of Jingzhou, the King of Qi is unwilling to be captured by the Zhao army in Jingzhou. Therefore, our defense in Jingbei can be partially undertaken by the Qi army, and we are not obliged to be responsible for their northern defense line for the Qi army and the Shu army. ”

"In the same way, the land of Hanzhong is not only our jurisdiction, but also the northern outer defense line of the Shu army, we defend them against foreign enemies, but they are pulling back in the rear, this kind of thing, we must not tolerate it."

Not only did the king of Hanzhong not want the land of Hanzhong to be occupied by the Shu army, but even the generals below, they were equally unwilling. The greater the territory of the kings of Hanzhong, the greater their official talents, and the greater their interests. No one wants to see their masters getting weaker and weaker, and no one wants to see their interests suffered.

"The King...... Oh no! Just as the king of Hanzhong and the others were discussing the situation in the land of Hanzhong, the former camp master hurried in with a panicked look on his face.

"What's the alarm?" King Hanzhong said with an ugly face. He was originally unhappy because of the incident in Xiyongzhou, but now that he saw the performance of his generals, he was naturally even more irritable.

The generals who inspected the front camp naturally felt that the king was dissatisfied, and said urgently: "Back to the king, the partial division that attacked the Lushi City of Hongnong Mansion was raided by the Zhao army, and the entire army was almost wiped out. ”

"What?" Situ Fei immediately stood up and said in disbelief, "Is the news confirmed?" How can it be? ”

The other generals and officials were all shocked, although the partial division was a partial division, but the Zhao army that could suppress the Lu City did not dare to come out lightly, and even the Zhao army was pressed and beaten by their own side, how could they be attacked by the Zhao army now? The first reaction of these people was naturally not to believe it, they did not believe that the situation would suddenly change, and overnight, they fell below, but were suddenly attacked by the Zhao army that was pressed and beaten by themselves, and almost the whole army was wiped out.

"King, it's not the defenders of Lu City who are raiding, but the reinforcements of the Zhao army have appeared outside Lu City, attacking our army's camp at night, and the Zhao army in the city has also taken advantage of the situation to rush out. Our army was outnumbered, and the whole army was defeated in a battle. At present, many of the defeated troops in the division have fled to the west of us. ”

"This ...... How is this possible? How could they be so fast? Wang Hewen muttered to himself with a shocked face. They also knew about the return of Zhao Jun's reinforcements, but they didn't expect that Zhao Jun's reinforcements had already appeared in front of them.

"Panic what!" Situ Fei snorted coldly, then looked at the captain who reported the information, and asked with a blue face, "Only to see our army rout?" Did you see Zhao Jun chasing soldiers? ”

Hearing the king's inquiry, the other generals and officials were stunned for a moment, and then they understood that whether the reinforcements of the Zhao army appeared here was the most critical thing.

"Returning to the king, I have not found the Zhao army's pursuers. According to the rout, the Zhao pursuers only pursued him from outside the city of Lu for thirty miles and then stopped the pursuit. ”

"How did you arrange these routs?"

"They have been arranged in one place separately, and they have not been allowed to enter the camp to meet with the soldiers!"

"Good, you're doing a good job! Bring the highest official among them! Situ Fei said coldly.

A moment later, a ragged lieutenant was brought in. Seeing the other party's beggar-like appearance, Situ Fei and the generals in the handsome tent couldn't help frowning secretly.

"You are the highest official in the army outside the Lu Clan?" Situ Fei frowned and said coldly.

"Back to the king, those who can come back smoothly now, the small ones are the ones with the highest positions, and the others have either been killed and captured by the Zhao army, or they have already fled to other places." The captain reported with a bitter face.

"How many of the Zhao army reinforcements have raided you? Tell me more about the circumstances of your attack. ”

"It should be five thousand people, according to the establishment of the Zhao army, it should be the cavalry capital of the Zhao army. Because General Qin Jiang received the order of the Great King and prepared to withdraw his troops. Who knows, the cavalry of the Zhao army raided the rear of our army's camp in the second half of the night, and the cavalry rushed forward and burned our army's grain and grass. Caught off guard, all the grain and grass of our army were destroyed, and the battalion was also burned by the cavalry of the Zhao army. General Qin led the army to resist, but at this moment, the Zhao army in the city of Lu also took advantage of the situation to enter, our army was defeated, and the whole army was defeated. ”

"What about Qin Jiang? He died? Situ Fei frowned.

"General Qin Jiang...... General Qin Jiang was defeated by the Zhao army, captured and surrendered! The captain carefully told the battle situation in detail, and told everyone about Qinjiang's surrender one by one.

"Bastard!" Situ Fei slapped his palm on the case, and scolded angrily with a blue face, "Bastard, it is in vain that the king is so new to him, and he also made him the commander of the army all the way, and he dares to betray me." ”

Wang Hewen said in a deep voice: "King, now is not the time to think about these things, the top priority is to withdraw the army immediately." Although only one cavalry capital appeared in the reinforcements of the Zhao army outside the Lu family, it is not certain that only one cavalry of the Zhao army went south. If the reinforcements of the Zhao army arrive, then we will be attacked on both sides. ”

He Zhaowu, who joined the army, shook his head and said: "The minister thinks that the reinforcements of the Zhao army to the south are only this cavalry. The cavalry was fast, so he was able to appear outside the Lu City beyond our expectations. If the army arrived, the Zhao army would not just raid our army's camp outside the Lu clan, but we were afraid that we would also be attacked by the Zhao army, not until we waited until the defeated army outside the Lu clan appeared here and did not act. ”

The king of Hanzhong nodded and said, "What you said makes sense, Zhao Jun just caught us off guard." Damn, this king thought of everything, but ignored the swiftness of the Zhao army's cavalry. ”

He Zhaowu continued: "However, Your Majesty agrees with Lord Wang's opinion, and it is better for us to withdraw our troops immediately. The Zhao army's raid on our army outside the city of Lu was already yesterday. Then, the Zhao army in the Lu clan city can now join forces with the cavalry of the Zhao army and move towards us. In this way, although there is no southward movement of the 10th Town Army of the Zhao Army, however, our pressure has also increased a lot, especially the presence of the cavalry of the Zhao Army, if they converge with the cavalry of the 9th Town of the Zhao Army active behind us, then we will have the danger of cutting off the food and grass and cutting off the back road. ”

"Even if they can't let us suffer any more, as long as they can hold us back, they can wait until the Tenth Town army goes south. In that case, we'll ......."

The king of Hanzhong nodded with a dark face, and said in a deep voice: "Order the army outside Yongning City, we will withdraw immediately." ”

"By the way, since we will focus on the land of Hanzhong in the west, then, the defense of Jingbei and Jingnan, we can't take care of it, this king wants to cede the defense of the two places to the king of Luoyang, what do you think?"

Wang Hewen said in a deep voice: "It is beneficial for us that the king wants to cede the defense of the two places to the king of Luoyang, but in this way, the king of Luoyang will be burdened with two-line defense, but I am afraid that the king of Luoyang will not be happy." Last time, he took advantage of the internal fighting of the alliance of princes to get rid of Jingbei Defense and Jingnan Defense, and he did not have the intention of preserving his strength, but now give it to him, how can the King of Luoyang do it? ”

Jun Sima Tianyu sneered: "He doesn't want to? Now he can't help but be unwilling, the defense of this Jingzhou land is not only about us, but also as important to him as King Luoyang. If we don't care, will he be the king of Luoyang watching the Zhao army go south? Bearing the defense of Jingzhou is already his responsibility. ”

Sima Weiping, another army, said with a wry smile: "Lao Tian, what you said is right, it is indeed the common responsibility and obligation of both sides, but the problem is that not only the Luo army has to garrison the defense of the two places, but even we also need to arrange manpower here." But if we want to solve the problem of Hanzhong as soon as possible, we can't arrange too many people in these two places. Especially in this northern offensive operation, we have suffered great losses, but I am afraid that the defense of Jingbei and Jingnan will still be entrusted to the king of Luoyang. ”

Situ Fei, the king of Hanzhong, was silent for a while, and said in a deep voice: "This king has now lost Xiyongzhou, just like he lost Dongyongzhou, we are the weakest two with the Luo army, and this king let Jingzhou's finance and taxes, and give up a part of the Luo army, which can be regarded as compensation for his defense of the two places." ”

Tian Yu said in a sullen voice: "King, in addition to returning to him what should have been the income of the King of Luoyang, you also have to divide a part?" ”

In the past, the combined forces of the Luo army and the Han army took Jingzhou, and the two sides divided Jingzhou equally at first. But later, because of the need to control the Zhao army in the north, the Qi army in the east, and the Shu army in the southwest. So, the two sides were not divided in detail, but merged together. Jingzhou finance and taxation, the two share equally. However, since then, after the king of Luoyang lost Dongyongzhou and his strength was greatly reduced, the king of Luoyang took the initiative to cede part of the finance and taxes to the king of Hanzhong. And the king of Hanzhong didn't think too much, and his courtiers all suggested accepting it to expand his strength, so Situ Fei also accepted the king of Luoyang.

Now, the king of Hanzhong has lost Xiyongzhou, and the land of Hanzhong is also very dangerous. Therefore, the status and strength of the current King of Hanzhong and the King of Luoyang are almost the same, and even, in terms of strength, the Luo Army is stronger than the Han Army. After all, the Han army had just experienced a major war, while the Luo army had been recuperating.

In the past, the strength of the king of Luoyang weakened, and the power of wealth and the king of Hanzhong were conceded. Now that the strength of the king of Hanzhong is also weakened, how can he continue to dominate? However, now the king of Hanzhong needs to solve the problem of Hanzhong and cannot take care of Jingzhou. Then, it is naturally far from enough to simply return and replace the former Luoyang King.

"Is this still to be asked? Naturally, we will give up our share to the Luo army. Otherwise, do you think they will agree to this Jingzhou defense mission? We are hostile to the Shu army, and at the same time, we are now at odds with the Qi army. If you want to not look at the faces of others, you need to unite with the equally weak King of Luoyang. Only in this way can we stand up and talk to the Shu army and the Qi army. ”

Seeing everyone's sullen expressions, Situ Fei said coldly: "What? Not reconciled? In the past, the Luo army lost Dongyongzhou, and they also handed over their own taxes and taxes, but now it's our turn, can't you accept it? Besides, the problem lies with us. If you hadn't insisted on asking this king to accept the king of Luoyang, why would we be here now? ”

"Alright, now we're going to withdraw our troops and head south. At the same time, scouts were sent to investigate the situation of Zhao Jun. In addition, Wang Hewen, you send someone to discuss this matter with the king of Luoyang in detail. It's better for you to talk about it yourself. ”

After a pause, Situ Fei continued: "Not only to talk about the defense of Jingzhou, but also to show that we are weak with their Luo army and want to join forces." ”

After speaking, Situ Fei sighed and said: "In the past, this king and you sneered at the Luo army for losing Dongyongzhou, and the generals sneered at the Luo army for being useless. Now, finally, it's our turn. It's still my eldest brother who is smart, and after the loss of Dongyongzhou, he directly ignored the opinions of the outside world and developed with his head bored. Not only did the old and weak in the army be dismissed and training was stepped up, but also the actions of the Luo army in Jingzhou people's livelihood. Now, their reputation in Jingzhou is better than ours. In order to attack Dongyongzhou in the north, in order to force the Zhao army to evacuate Xiyongzhou, but in the land of Jingzhou, we fell into a lot of infamy. ”

Situ Fei's exclamation made everyone in the handsome tent speechless. Situ Fei sighed like this, didn't it seem that they were incompetent?

"The king, the minister has a means to make the Zhao army of Henan Mansion suffer a lot of losses. However, this will ruin our reputation! Jun Sima Tianyu suddenly said in a muffled voice.

"Oh? Tell me about it! Situ Fei said sideways.

Tian Yu said in a sullen voice: "It's the end of May now, and the wheat in the field is almost ripe, so we can send someone to destroy the field." If we destroy the fields here, the local government of Zhao Jun will inevitably bear the lives of these hundreds of thousands of people. In this way, the Zhao army must first solve the problem of the common people before the army goes south, so that it can relieve the pressure on our Jingbei. ”

"However, in this way, it is also possible to provoke the Zhao army, which will make the Zhao army return to the south and attack the land of Jingbei against me. After all, after the Zhao army resolved the war in Xiyongzhou, they were able to mobilize more troops. In addition, if we do this, the people here will be very angry with us, and will even support the Zhao army's southern expedition. Therefore, after the destruction of the fields, it is difficult to say clearly whether the Zhao army will shrink Dongyongzhou and solve the local people's livelihood, or immediately wave the army south. ”

When Tian Yu said this, everyone in the handsome tent was silent. This is something that cannot be determined, and they don't dare to admonish it easily, who knows if they will miscalculate?

The king of Hanzhong pondered for a moment, shook his head and said, "That's it, let's withdraw the army, don't do the act of destroying the fertile land." Our reputation in Jingzhou is already very bad, and if we continue like this, the consequences will be extremely bad. In addition, our goal now is the land of Hanzhong, where we can no longer provoke the Zhao army. Otherwise, I'm afraid that it will be impossible for us to shift our focus! ”

"At that time, if the Zhao army targets us, we will use our behavior here as an excuse, but I am afraid that other princes will not be willing to support us to meet the Zhao army. Withdraw your troops right now! Situ Fei said bitterly.

Soon after the retreat of the Han army, the defenders of Lushi City would gather the cavalry of the tenth town to come to support. Of course, they didn't want to leave all the kings of Hanzhong behind, but to force back the army of the kings of Hanzhong.

After all, the main force where the king of Hanzhong is located is not comparable to the partial division where Qin Jiang is located. The king of Hanzhong stormed the two cities here, gathering 50,000 or 60,000 troops, 40,000 or 50,000 people, and thousands of carriages, and it was by no means more than 10,000 reinforcements plus the defenders of the two cities that could break the enemy. Especially the king of Hanzhong personally pressed the formation, and these Han soldiers would not retreat easily, but would fight them to the death. Such a situation is not what Zhao Jun wants.

Of course, the Han army under this main force has more elite soldiers, and there are also sufficient armor, equipment, grain and grass materials. Of course, their exploration of the surroundings is far stronger than that of Qin Jiang's subordinate divisions.

The reason why the defenders of Lu City and the cavalry of the Zhao army let those routed troops leave was only to let the king of Hanzhong see the facts clearly and leave by himself. Obviously, their goal was achieved, and the king of Hanzhong withdrew his troops faster than they wanted.