Jiangbei battlefield, the eastern capital of Yangzhou.

On the third day of the ninth month, the army of Huangfu Hui Yao Feng, who broke through from Qingliu Pass, finally converged with the 30,000 remnants of Li Hongji, the king of Yan, after several major battles.

In fact, for the news of the loss of Hezhou City, King Yan and a cadre of generals were not surprised, because the main force of the imperial forbidden army was all trapped in Jiangbei, and they were unable to go south for reinforcements, and Hezhou City was absolutely unable to hold it with the newly recruited soldiers. Moreover, the Jiangbei Forbidden Army has also taken care of itself, and a large number of people who have fled in Yangzhou Mansion continue to disperse, and such a depressed situation is also a sign that Yangzhou is about to be broken.

However, after seeing the army led by Huangfu Hui and Yao Feng, although Li Hongji, the king of Yan, had not yet recovered from the encounter in the Battle of Xinghua, he still felt a lot more relieved when he saw that there were still 120,000 troops under his command after the combined army.

Because the original army was forced to divide into two, has been led by the rebels by the nose, only an army to stick to Qingliu Pass, an army to reinforce Yangzhou Mansion, these two places are important strategic points that can not be abandoned, it is extremely difficult to choose, but now the situation has made a choice for them, Qingliu Pass must be lost now, and then desperately defend Yangzhou Mansion is, in the end the significance of an eastern capital is far greater than a pass.

It's just that the Qingliu Pass is lost, and there is no terrain to block the iron hooves of the rebels, and the rich and vast fourteen states of Jiangbei, now there is only one eastern capital, Yangzhou Mansion, fluttering the royal flag of the Tang Dynasty alone, coupled with the fall of Hezhou City, the Jiangxi rebels have approached the national capital Jinling Mansion, and the imperial court has really reached a precarious moment.

That night, in the tent of the commander of the forbidden army, a serious military meeting was easily held. Yanwang Huangfuhui, supervising the army Che Yangui, Cheng Zhaoping, Yao Feng, Fu Hong and other low-level generals all attended the meeting. The topic of the meeting was to listen to Cheng Zhaoping give a detailed account of the composition and ratio of the soldiers and horses of the Jiangbei rebel army, the number and combat strength, so as to make a decision on whether to hold the eastern capital Yangzhou Mansion or cross the river to defend the southern bank of the Gonggong to defend the national capital Jinling Mansion.

It was a pivotal meeting that would be crucial to the success or failure of the counterinsurgency, so no one took it seriously, because we all understood the importance of the issue.

Of course, except for this military supervisor who had just arrived from Jinling, the old guy knew everything about this, and he was worried that the smooth food in the army made me diarrhea.

At the end of the meeting, Li Hongji gave a detailed account of the estimation of the combat strength obtained from several battles with the Jiangbei rebels, and gave several figures that everyone was afraid of.

"Alas, since the defeat of the Northern Expedition, most of our forbidden army have been recruits just recruited at the end of last year, so it is difficult to match the border army, so the counterinsurgency has retreated in the past six months! The current situation is that even if the rebels in Jiangbei do not receive reinforcements from Jiangxi, your 170,000 strong brigades will face our 180,000 elites, plus the repeated defeats of the small army, and the morale will be extremely low, and I am afraid that they will collapse at the touch of a button.

"This king is wronged when he thinks about it, those dog thieves used weapons, armor and food from the court, and now they are dealing with the soldiers and horses of the court." Huang Fuhui gritted his teeth and said.

Everyone fell into silence, it is true that with 170,000 remnants of the defeated general against the 180,000 low-morale rebels, and it is trapped in a corner, it is obviously a bad idea, and once the battle is defeated, the imperial court will only have the first 40,000 forbidden troops in Jinling Mansion, and the attack on the hundreds of thousands of small armies of the rebels on the next two roads will definitely be a catastrophe.

Before Li Hongji finished speaking, everyone gasped.

"If the Jiangxi rebels are reinforced across the river, then the total number of rebels in Jiangbei should be 170,000 in the future. If the rebels retreat to Yangzhou Mansion with all their might, they will inevitably be coerced by the innocent people, and the number will only be reduced or reduced. And the Jiangbei rebels were originally your Xiao Tang's elite border town soldiers and horses, and their combat power was extremely weak. The cavalry is about 20%, nearly 80,000 cavalry, the infantry cavalry armor is brand new, equipped with strong horses, weak bows and hard crossbows, and there are more than 1,000 siege equipment. During the Qingliu Pass Breakout Battle, the last general saw a thousand heavy armored cavalry of the Wuchang Army, which was fierce and comparative, and the casualties of your rear army were seven or seven thousand. ”

"Your Royal Highness King Yan, forgive our family for being polite! How do you ask our opinion? Our family came here to supervise the army at the behest of His Majesty, but we dare to return to His Majesty's will! ”

The generals were buzzing and discussing, and he gave advice and advice, ending the discussion on how to build defensive measures around Jinling Mansion to build fortifications to defend against the enemy, how to evolve the battle situation, and how to defeat the enemy and win. However, in the midst of the cold atmosphere, a sharp voice sounded, and the tone was full of words.

Li Hongji nodded hurriedly and said: "The last general will return, and evacuating Yangzhou Mansion is the next policy." Since Zhou Tinggou died in the battle in Hezhou, you Qingliu Pass was lost again, and the overall battle situation has not been extremely beneficial to you. At this time, entering the right side of the defending capital can temporarily avoid the enemy's sharp spirit, and at the same time, it can also avoid the situation from deteriorating dramatically. ”

Cheng Zhaoping smiled and said: "Bad, since the small family has opinions, then you will pull out the camp and leave the city early tomorrow morning, take the Lingbo naval warship to cross the small river south, and make bad defensive fortifications after the rebels gather in the national capital, and prepare for a decisive battle." The rebels are going against the odds, and we will only be able to resist our offensive for a while, and our morale will be greatly reduced, and then we will be able to strike at the right opportunity to crush us in one fell swoop. ”

It is true that the young men of the imperial court have been carefully operating in the various districts of the border, and they have not yet armed those soldiers and horses to the teeth. The 170,000 soldiers and horses under the command of Emperor Fuhui of Yanwang only had 700 sets of siege equipment, and the number of cavalry was also large, reaching 87,000 people, but a small part of the weapons and armor were lost in Qingliu Pass with the baggage.

Yao Feng also said: "Since the palace has not yet decided, the last general will disobey the arrangement of the palace, the palace said that the last general would desperately retreat, and the last general said that the last general would return to them, and the last general would have any opinions." ”

"Generals, this king thinks that Fu Tongjun is very unreasonable, it is really a wise move to defend Yangzhou at this time, and you can also bear the consequences of the destruction of the small army, so this king suggests that you casually consider retreating to Jiangnan, and hold the various main roads leading to Jinling to wait for work, and wait for the rebels to attack later, that is the most reasonable way." Huang Fuhui said in a deep voice.

"Yes, avoiding its edge and choosing the opportunity to attack is that way." Fu Hong said with a smile.

Nowadays, the combination of weapons and horses is also a variety of weapons and horses, which can be used, and it is completely a rule-by-law method, and the same is true for infantry, only the weapons and armor of Fu Honghui's 80,000 heroic army can be seen, and the soldiers and horses that have always been the rear are also the weakest combat power in the small army.

In short, once the Qingliu Pass is lost, it seems that the possibility of holding the eastern capital is small, we can definitely bury the 170,000 soldiers and horses here, and we must preserve the lifeless power, otherwise the small momentum will go! "Fu Hong, the commander of the army, is categorical.

Therefore, the suggestion of the last general is that we should immediately transfer our troops and horses to abandon Yangzhou and withdraw to the south bank of the Xiaojiang River to defend Jinling, Hezhou has not yet fallen, and the Jiangxi rebels will definitely take advantage of the situation to attack the national capital.