From Chengdu all the way south, Wang Yuan did not dare to delay on the way, crossed Jiazhou to cross the Dadu River to the south, and arrived in Rongzhou on the evening of the second day of the first lunar month. Originally, the plan was to rest in Rongzhou for one night, arrive early the next morning, and arrive in Quzhou, one hundred and twenty miles southeast of Rongzhou, in the afternoon.

However, after arriving in Rongzhou in the evening, Wang Yuan saw a scene of chaos and chaos, the soldiers and horses of the brigade were entering the city of Rongzhou from the official road in the south, these soldiers entered the city in a hurry, there was no order, and the whole Rongzhou city was in chaos.

Hearing that Wang Yuan, the deputy envoy of Jiedu, had arrived in Rongzhou, the officials of Rongzhou pulled out of the chaos to greet him, and Wang Yuan also saw the figure of Sun Youneng, the soldier and horse envoy of Jiannan Province, who was supposed to hold on to Quzhou. Wang Yuan's first reaction was: Quzhou has been lost.

Wang Yuan immediately summoned Sun Youneng, the envoy of Jiannan Jiedu, and dozens of military and political officials to meet with him in detail about the current situation. The first question is, of course, that Quzhou is still not there.

"General Sun, why are you in Rongzhou, has Quzhou fallen?"

Sun Youneng, who is in his forties, is fat and stout, and his face is full of white meat, but his attitude is also calm.

"Returning to the deputy marshal of the king, at the beginning of the twenty-eighth day of the lunar month, the soldiers and horses of Nanzhao suddenly launched an attack on the Ludian area under the jurisdiction of our Quzhou, and I led the troops to the rescue, and retreated to the city in an ambush halfway. The Nanzhao people followed, and immediately launched an attack on our Quzhou. Until this morning, the battle in Quzhou continued, and the soldiers and horses of Nanzhao were like crazy, and they were repelled by me many times, and they suffered countless casualties. They didn't succeed. ”

Wang Yuan frowned and said, "In this way, Quzhou has not been lost, has it?" ”

Sun Youneng nodded and said, "Of course." ”

Wang Yuan said: "Then what did you do in Rongzhou?" You should stick to the enemy in Quzhou. A large group of soldiers and horses are withdrawing into the city, is this your initiative to order the abandonment of Quzhou? ”

Sun Youneng smiled and said, "This ...... It was indeed the lowly who ordered the evacuation of Quzhou, because the lowly official felt that it was not a good idea to hold on to Quzhou. It is more effective to withdraw the troops and horses to Rongzhou early and defend it according to Lushui than to hold on to Quzhou. ”

Wang Yuan said coldly: "You mean to give Quzhou to the Nanzhao people." ”

Sun Youneng smiled and said: "Vice Marshal Wang, the humble position has made it very clear, the humble position feels that Quzhou is difficult to protect, rather than fighting the enemy in Quzhou, it is better to retreat to Rongzhou and stick to the Lushui defense line." ”

"However, what is the situation in Quzhou now? Whether you lost it or not, please give a clear statement. Wang Yuan's voice became sharp.

"This ...... The lowly post is not very clear, Quzhou was still there when the humiliation evacuated Quzhou, and the 8,000 people of the Jiannan Jiedu marching Sima Song Jian's power department were not evacuated, and they were still holding on to Quzhou. ”

Wang Yuan slowly got up from behind the case, came to Sun Youneng and stared at him and said, "General Sun, are you going to tell me that General Song led his troops to hold Quzhou, but you withdrew with your troops and horses?" Quzhou has a total of 30,000 soldiers and horses to defend the city, and you took more than 20,000 with you, leaving only 8,000 of General Song's men? ”

Sun Youneng muttered: "Vice Marshal Wang, you don't know the situation, the soldiers and horses of Nanzhao are attacking like crazy, and the southern wall of the city has been broken through several times. The city wall of Quzhou is not high, which is not conducive to holding, so I ordered to abandon Quzhou. I discussed with General Song to retreat to Rongzhou, but he did not agree, and in desperation, I had to withdraw with my own troops and horses. I didn't let him stay there and die, what could I do if he didn't listen to me? ”

Wang Yuan smiled and said, "It's General Song who doesn't know how to lift." General Sun, I only want to ask you one thing, have you received an order from Xian Yu Dashuai? ”

"Roger."

"What does the order say?"

"This ...... Let the humble post stick to Quzhou, and wait for Vice Marshal Wang to arrive in Quzhou to take over the defense of the city. ”

Wang Yuan nodded and said, "Okay, you remember very clearly, so how did you do it?" You disobeyed the military order, gave up Quzhou without permission, and withdrew the soldiers and horses to Rongzhou, is this considered disobedience to the military order? ”

Sun Youneng hurriedly said: "Vice Marshal Wang, I have already said the reason for the humble position just now, Quzhou really can't stick to it, and the humble position is also for long-term considerations." ”

Wang Yuan ignored him, turned to scan the dozens of generals and officials in the hall, and asked in a deep voice, "Do any of you know what the crime of disobeying military orders should be?" What is the crime of escaping on the battlefield? ”

There was silence in the hall, everyone looked at me, I looked at you, and no one spoke. Wang Yuan shouted: "Who knows, say!" ”

Everyone shuddered, and a young officer mustered up the courage to stand up and said: "Those who disobey military orders and escape from the battle will be killed immediately." ”

Wang Yuan nodded and said, "Very good, what is your name and what is your title?" ”

The young man said: "Humble Chen Zilin, Zhaowu Captain rank." ”

Wang Yuan nodded and said, "Okay, from now on, you will be promoted to a guerrilla general, without him, just because you answered Shangguan's question." Obeyed the orders of the superiors. ”

The young man's face was happy, and he was promoted to a higher level with a word, and this promotion was too easy. Originally, it was very difficult for a lieutenant to be promoted to a general, and many people were so crowded that their heads were bleeding, but they didn't expect to get what they wanted with one sentence today.

Wang Yuan turned his head to look at Sun Youneng and said, "General Sun, did you hear that?" Military law is like a mountain, as a soldier and horse envoy, you take the lead in disobeying military orders, what do you think I should do with you? ”

Sun Youneng's face changed, and he frowned: "Vice Marshal Wang, do you really want to find my own stubble?" As I said, this withdrawal of troops is a matter of judging the situation and handing over the troops and horses to my command, and I have the right to decide the advance and retreat of the troops and horses. ”

Wang Yuan sneered: "Joke, Xian Yu handed over the soldiers and horses to you to command, so that you could stick to Quzhou, not give you the power to advance and retreat at will." It's about the overall strategic situation, do you have the power? Your move to give up Quzhou seems to me to be greedy for life and afraid of death. Say lightly, give up Quzhou? What about the 40,000 people in Quzhou? Fall into the hands of barbarians? ”

Sun Youneng shouted: "I only think that once the city of Quzhou is broken, if the defense of Rongzhou is not done as soon as possible, the commander of the Nanzhao soldiers and horses will drive straight in, and no one will be able to stop it at that time." ”

"Sophistry!" Wang Yuan shouted: "Quzhou is an important place, once Quzhou loses its door, the north can attack Rongzhou, the west can attack Wangzhou, and the east can attack Juzhou, what is the use of you holding Rongzhou?" ”

Sun Youneng was speechless, so he had to hang his head and remain silent. Wang Yuan said sharply: "The commander and general are so greedy for life and afraid of death and ignore military orders like this, no wonder there will be a big defeat in the past." I was ordered to reverse this trend. If my Jiannan soldiers and horses can't have strict military discipline, and if the generals can't give up their lives and forget about death, how can they turn the tide of the war? ”

Dozens of generals in the hall nodded secretly, this is all the shortcomings of Jiannan Jiedu soldiers and horses, many generals know the crux of the problem, but they are just powerless to change.

"Someone. Jiannan Jiedu soldiers and horses made Sun Youneng disobey the military order, greedy for life and afraid of death, and escaped from the battle. Wang Yuan shouted in a deep voice.

"What?" Everyone in the hall is stupid, this new young deputy marshal is afraid that he is crazy, and he cut down the soldiers and horses with one face? Jiedu soldiers and horses are the big members of the four grades, before Wang Yuan came, he was the number two person in Jiannan Road, and even Xian Yu Dashuai saluted him for three points, isn't this Wang Deputy Marshal crazy?

"Who are you scaring about?" Sun Youneng sneered: "Deputy Envoy Wang, don't you think that you can be powerful and prosperous if you come to our Jiannan Dao with a relationship." Give you ten guts, and you won't dare to touch a single hair of me. You are not qualified to kill me, even if I am guilty, it is not your turn to kill me, there is a handsome man, who dares to touch me if he doesn't speak? And I am a member of the fourth rank of the imperial court, even if I am guilty, I have my own military department and criminal department to talk about me, when will it be your turn? Hum. I only came to see you to talk to you when I gave you face, and now, I don't need to give you this face. It's my grandson Youneng brothers, all step down with me, don't listen to this stinky boy pointing fingers here. ”

Sun Youneng glanced at all the generals in the hall, snorted and walked out, and seven or eight of his cronies and generals immediately followed behind him to give him a strong momentum, and followed him to the outside of the yamen. The remaining dozen generals hesitated, not knowing whether to leave or not.

Wang Yuan waved his hand, and Liu Jun, who was standing on the side, shouted: "Come on, take them all." ”

But seeing dozens of tower-like guards rushing in at the entrance of the yamen, one by one with a mouthful of white teeth, it was the black slaves of the Kunlun camp under Liu Jun. blocked the way of Sun Youneng and the others, and approached step by step.

Sun Youneng pulled out his sword and roared in his mouth: "Is it the other way around? What a bold man. Seven or eight other generals also drew their swords.

Wang Yuan sneered: "There is one more crime, gathering a crowd to make trouble." Those generals, I had no reason to take advantage of you, but now you are making trouble for yourself, and you can't blame me. Don't take it yet? ”

"Take it." Liu Jun gave an order, and the big black slaves stepped forward and smashed the ping-pong for a while, Sun Youneng and the others were powerless to resist, and they were soon caught like an eagle catching a chicken.

Sun Youneng was still scolding and struggling and shouting, and Wang Yuan shouted coldly: "Killed." ”

"Rub rub!" The sound of beheading was terrifying, and Wang Yuan didn't even let people push them out of the yamen, but beheaded Sun Youneng and the seven or eight generals in front of more than a dozen generals in the army. Everyone was silent, glad that they hadn't taken that step just now, otherwise their heads would have moved.

"Give their heads orders to the whole army. Their positions are replaced by deputies on a temporary basis, and they are corrected according to their performance. All of you listen carefully to me, everyone immediately go back to reorganize the army, and all the soldiers and horses withdrawn from Quzhou after an hour will set off overnight to return to Quzhou for rescue. From now on, my Jiannan Jiedu soldiers and horses will never allow a step back, and they will all remember this sentence for me. Wang Yuan said loudly.