Winter in Heluo is always bone-chilling.

The wind was howling, and pedestrians on the street involuntarily wrapped their warm clothes to resist the pervasive cold wind.

There should be no such problem in the luxurious and exquisite Zhuo Garden, but in the flower hall paved with earth dragons, Qing Yu Huaijin did not feel the slightest warmth.

The Yan army on Dongyang Road was defeated in successive battles, several dangerous passes on the border were lost one after another, and the only mobile force in the hands of the general Li Shouzhen was also wiped out in the Battle of Wanting, and the situation had become quite critical.

The Huaizhou army of Southern Qi was menacing, and if they could not suppress their momentum, the worst result would be the loss of the entire territory of Dongyang Road, which would then threaten the defense of the eastern front of Heluo City.

If Qingyu Huaijin was just an ordinary magnate of the Jing Dynasty, she would not have to be so troubled by the clumsy performance of the Yan army, and it was a big deal to wait for the Jing army to completely pacify the Zhao State and stabilize the rear, and then mobilize heavy troops to go south to clean up the Qi army.

But as the eldest daughter of the Qingyu family, the lord of Yongping County, Emperor Jing's own title, she has a lot of resources, if she can't even keep Heluo City, how can she go back to see her father?

You must know that Emperor Jingdi Chrysostom said that after pacifying the world in the future, he would reward Heluo City and the vast territory in the south as fiefs to the Qingyu clan. In other words, this vast territory is destined to be the property of the Qing Yu family, how can Qing Yu Huaijin sit back and watch Nanqi covet it again and again?

Qing Yu Huaijin's eyes were slightly cold, and he turned his head and asked, "Huge man, what do you think of the war in the south?" ”

The privy envoy Pang Shigu was originally the commander of the first army of the Jing River defense line of the Qi Dynasty, but after Yang Guangyuan died unjustly, he did not insist on resistance like others, and reached some unknown tacit understanding with Jing Jun. Later, when Emperor Jing supported the Yan State, he successfully entered the upper echelons of the Yan army, and took over as a privy envoy after Liu Cheng returned to his hometown.

Although his qualifications are sufficient to travel widely, his military ability is not outstanding, so he said slowly: "Your Highness, the momentum of the Qi army is very strong now, but they may not be able to hold on. As the battle line lengthens, their forces will gradually disperse, and it will be difficult to organize a larger offensive. With just one Dongyang Road, they need at least 150,000 troops to control the entire territory. ”

The sarcasm in Qing Yu Huaijin's eyes flashed, and he said, "So according to the assumption of the huge people, we should give up Dongyang Road in exchange for the Qi army to stop?" ”

Pang Shigu smiled slightly embarrassedly, shook his head and said, "Your Highness has misunderstood. I want to say that even if Dongyang Road can't be defended, the Qi army will not have the ability to threaten Heluo. ”

Qing Yu Huaijin asked, "Why are huge people so determined?" ”

Pang Shigu was slightly stunned, thinking to himself that I had already said the reason?

Qing Yu Huaijin pressed step by step: "What if the Qi army doesn't want to capture the entire territory of Dongyang Road?" Now that they occupy Gushu City, they can go north to threaten Ruyin at any time, or they can go west to capture Ningling, and then the army will go northwest to Heluo, how should we deal with it at that time? ”

Pang Shigu was stunned, and after a while, he said with difficulty: "Your Highness, if the Qi army did not capture Ruyin City, how could they dare to come directly to Heluo City?" The Qi army's long-distance journey is difficult to sustain, if Li Shouzhen gathers forces to intercept the back road of the Qi army, wouldn't they be turtles in the urn? ”

"But you can't rule out this possibility, and I don't think Li Shouzhen still has the courage to fight a decisive battle with the Qi army in the field."

Qing Yu Huaijin's face was cold.

Pang Shigu sighed: "Please also ask Your Highness to make it clear." ”

Qingyu Huaijin said quietly: "The female general Lu Huan led 8,000 foot soldiers and 2,000 cavalry to help Dongyang Road, and Li Shouzhen sent six urgent reports, asking the female general Lu Huan to lead the troops to Ruyin City, because he was frightened by the result of the battle of Wanting, lest the Qi army go straight to Ruyin City. I have already vetoed Li Shouzhen's request and let the female general Lu Huan lead the troops to stay in the area of Lei Ze, I don't know what to do with the huge people's wishes? ”

Pang Shigu quickly calculated in his heart, and soon understood Qing Yu Huaijin's intentions.

Lei Ze is located between Pingli City and Ningling City, so it can not only prevent the Qi army from continuing to threaten Heluo in the northwest after conquering Ningling, but also prevent the Qi army in Panlong Pass from going north.

But this leads to a new problem, Jingjun stayed in Leize, which means that there are no reinforcements inside Dongyang Road, and Li Shouzhen can only rely on himself.

A thought suddenly popped up in Pang Shigu's mind, and he looked at Qing Yu Huaijin and said, "Your Highness's intention is to let the defenders of the northern line of Fengqiu go south to support?" ”

Qing Yu Huaijin bowed his head and said, "That's right. ”

Pang Shigu muttered: "This can solve the problem of insufficient troops in Li Shouzhen's hands, but the Seven Star Army in Baotai Mountain is not good, although they have accepted the imperial court's recruitment, but this group of green forest bandits has no integrity at all." Once the defenders near Fengqiu move south, it is very likely that the Seven Star Army will emerge from the mountains and attack the back of Dongyang Road. ”

"I want them to do it."

Qing Yu Huaijin's face softened slightly, his eyes turned to Mou Lianghu, who was sitting on the other side, and said gently: "General, this matter will be entrusted to you." ”

Mou Lianghu grinned, a cold light burst out in his eyes, and nodded: "Your Highness, rest assured, as long as that green forest army dares to come out of the mountains, I will let them die without a place to be buried." ”

Pang Shi Gudeng understood that Qing Yu Huaijin was taking advantage of the trend, and it was the general trend for Dongyang Road's troops to concentrate in the south, if the Seven Star Army thought that this was an opportunity for them to go south, they would inevitably fall into the trap of the main force of the Jing Army.

He couldn't help but praise: "Your Highness is very thoughtful. ”

Qing Yu Huaijin bowed slightly, and asked again: "How is the situation on Moyang Road?" ”

Pang Shigu sighed lightly: "It's not optimistic. ”

After the Huaizhou Army of Southern Qi launched the Northern Expedition, the Jingzhou Army also made corresponding moves.

Including the Xunyang Army and the Jianghua Army under the jurisdiction of the Huaizhou Governor's Office, Li Tianrun can mobilize more than 160,000 troops, while the new general Niu Cunjie of Moyang Road has only about 80,000 soldiers and horses.

Although Moyang Road has already firmly promoted the clear of the strong walls on the border, and the defenders occupy the advantage of the city wall pass, Li Tianrun has always taken his troops by surprise, and so far Niu Cunjie has still not figured out the opponent's main attack route, and the troops are naturally stretched.

Overall, Niu Cunjie's problems were similar to those of Li Shouzhen, who needed more troops to fill the void in his defensive line on the long border.

After introducing the general situation, Pang Shigu said with a solemn expression: "Your Highness, there are no big problems on Moyang Road now, but we may have to be ready to send reinforcements." ”

Qing Yu Huaijin was silent.

There are more than 50,000 Jing troops in Heluo City, and now they are sending 10,000 to help Dongyang Road, and Baotai Mountain will also place ambush soldiers in advance, if there is another problem on Moyang Road, it means that the troops in her hands will be less and less, regardless of whether the Qi army is likely to threaten Heluo, the undercurrent in the city alone will make her spend a lot of energy.

"I know, please pay attention to keep in close contact with Niu Cunjie, and let me know if there is any situation."

Qing Yu Huaijin can only take one step at a time, because at this special time node, she is the passive defensive side, and she has no ability to turn passive into active.

At this moment, Wang Shidao, who was covered with weather, walked into the hall, and after saluting everyone, he said to Qing Yu Huaijin: "Your Highness, the south side is generally arranged, and the right time will be chosen in the near future." ”

After hearing this, Qingyu Huaijin secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and said with his head bowed: "There is Lord Laowang." ”

"Don't dare, this is the duty of the lower officials."

Wang Shidao's expression was calm, and he said: "Judging from the situation of our people exploring the border, after the battle of Wanting, Lu Shen disappeared from the front line of the Huaizhou Army. Now we can't be sure whether he stayed by Xiao Wangzhi's side, we can only confirm that he is not in the front-line army. ”

Qingyu Huaijin frowned slightly: "Can you find out that he is in Huaizhou?" ”

Wang Shidao shook his head and said, "It's difficult. Now Qingtian City, Yongquan Pass, Panlong Pass and Shuangfeng Ancient Road are all under the strict control of the Qi army, even if our people find out the information, they can't take a shortcut and send it over, so they can only cross the river from Huaizhou to the south, go around a big circle in the south of the Southern Qi River, and then send the information from the upper reaches of the Hengjiang River. ”

"Then let's wait, the most important thing at the moment is to wait for some changes to happen in the capital of Southern Qi, maybe we can relieve the pressure on the border."

Qingyu Huaijin is not an unreasonable person, and she still has to rely on Wang Shidao in the future, so she is not too demanding.

After the discussion, everyone said goodbye one after another, Qingyu Huaijin walked to the window and stood still, looked at the border topographic map on the big case, his eyes stayed on the area bordering Dongyang Road and Southern Qi Huaizhou, and muttered: "What the hell are you talking about?" ”

Maybe she didn't even pay attention to herself, but the "you" in her mouth at this moment was not Xiao Wangzhi or Li Tianrun, but the young Lu Shen.

After a long time, she walked slowly to the bottom of the porch, looked at the gloomy sky in the south, and whispered to herself: "Whatever you want to do, this time I will let you understand that victory or defeat on the battlefield will never depend on how you can fight well, but on whether you have a solid rear. ”

……

For the people in the city of Yongjia in Great Qi, this winter does not seem to be so cold.

With the support of the Son of Heaven, the border army launched the Northern Expedition, and the progress of the war was quite smooth.

For the vast majority of ordinary people, they don't pay much attention to the truth that the northerners return to the north and the southerners return to the south, and they only know that the Great Qi army swept away the malaise more than ten years ago, and the Yan army fled in embarrassment, and the blood in their chests spontaneously appeared.

As for the Tai students of Guozijian, they even talked and sang in the wine shop Qinglou, hating to be incarnated as a general on the battlefield and commanding thousands of troops to clean up the old mountains and rivers.

In an atmosphere of celebration for the whole country, Li Daoyan, the left minister of the court, stood by the railing, listened to the whispered report of a henchman behind him, and couldn't help but sigh: "Why is this so." ”

At this moment, the old man's gaze was obscure, and he seemed to be in the midst of a battle between heaven and man.

(End of chapter)