In November, Du Chongwei led an army of 300,000 to march into Yingzhou, and the Ma army made Liang Hanzhang's light army rush forward, and was ambushed by the Khitans, and the whole army was annihilated.

The Khitan Emperor Yelu Deguang took advantage of the battle of Yingzhou to annihilate more than 2,000 elite cavalry of the Jin army, and took the opportunity of killing Liang Hanzhang, the general of the Jin State, to lead 100,000 iron cavalry to the south, take Yizhou, and go straight to Dingzhou.

At this time, the 300,000 troops led by Du Chongwei had withdrawn to Wuqiang, hundreds of miles away from Dingzhou, and the guerrilla battalion was supposed to rescue Dingzhou, but before the guerrilla battalion arrived in Dingzhou, the defenders were defeated in battle, and Dingzhou easily fell into the hands of the Khitans.

The guerrilla battalion again returned in vain, and the morale of the generals in the battalion jumped to their feet.

It was just a matter of losing Yizhou, the Khitans sent troops suddenly, and the guerrilla battalion only got the news two days after the loss of Yizhou.

But Dingzhou should not be lost, how to say that there are nearly 10,000 soldiers and horses around Dingzhou, and there is a strong army of guerrilla battalions rushing to Dingzhou in the starry night, as long as the soldiers and horses of Dingzhou hold on a little longer, the guerrilla battalion enters Dingzhou, with the city defense of Dingzhou, with the guerrilla battalion as the backbone, and nearly 10,000 soldiers and horses around it as the support, the Khitans do not leave tens of thousands of corpses, and it is difficult to take Dingzhou no matter what.

How many people are there in the Khitan army, and how many tens of thousands are there to lose?

At this time, if Du Chongwei can come to the rescue in time, maybe he will be able to defeat the Khitan army in one fell swoop under the city of Dingzhou.

However, time will not be reversed, and in order to prevent falling into the encirclement of the Khitans, the guerrilla battalion returned to Wolf Mountain again.

Hearing that the Khitan army had captured Dingzhou, and the troops were directed at Zhenzhou, Du Chongwei thought that if the army rushed to Zhenzhou and fought with the Khitan in Zhenzhou, his supply line would be too long, which was not conducive to his own side, and he was ready to continue to withdraw to Beizhou and Jizhou to deploy defenses.

Xue Huairang (Note 1), the commander of the vanguard, shouted loudly: "Great marshal, the emperor ordered me to wait for the commander to have an army of 300,000 to recover the sixteen states of Yanyun and crusade against the Khitans.

Now the Khitan Tartars have come over and captured Yizhou and Dingzhou, Zhenzhou is also in danger, and the marshal said that he would withdraw to Beizhou and Jizhou. If Yelu Deguang occupies Zhenzhou, he still refuses to give up, continues to invade the south, and comes to Beizhou, the marshal, please make it clear, where should the general retreat?

Is it my Great Jin in the Northern Expedition to the Khitan, or is the Khitan in the Southern Expedition to the Central Plains?"

Xue Huairang took the lead, and the generals in the tent suddenly became noisy.

These days, Du Chongwei led the army back and forth, and Liang Hanzhang lost the first battle, which made the originally high-spirited army very depressed. Recently, there have been rumors in the army, saying that Du Chongwei led his troops to fight in vain, and he had no real ability, and only knew how to passively avoid war and preserve his strength.

At the beginning, the battle between Yangcheng and Baiwei Tuan Village actually relied on Li Fengyun and Huangfu to fight desperately on the periphery, and the surprise soldiers recaptured Yangcheng, and then attacked Yelu Deguang from behind, so they won. If it weren't for Li Fengyun, the 200,000 Jin army at that time would have been taken to the Yama Hall by Du Chongwei.

The victory in Zhenzhou was even more because the rescuers led by Guo Wei and Li Fengyun arrived in time and killed Yang Guangyuan by surprise. Otherwise, Zhenzhou may not be able to keep it.

There are even rumors that Du Chongwei is quietly contacting the Khitan, intending to surrender to the Khitan.

......

All these things are said with a nose and eyes, as if you have seen it with your own eyes.

Du Chongwei's face was flushed with anger, and he shouted loudly: "General Xue, what do you mean by this, is this commander the boss, or are you the boss?"

Xue Huairang pouted and said: "The boss is naturally a big handsome, and the last general also wants to ask everyone to understand clearly, so as not to die unclear and unclear like General Liang in the future."

The last general is the one who leads the troops, and what he does is the work of licking the blood from the knife edge, dying on the battlefield, shrouding the body of the horse leather, fortunately, he died in battle. But the last general doesn't want to be exhausted to death like a dead dog, and then it's not worth dying that way.

Therefore, the last general wants to ask the marshal to make it clear, when will he take everyone to fight happily with the Khitan Tatars?"

It seems that there are no fools in the world, and Du Chongwei's use of the hands of the Khitans to get rid of Liang Hanzhang can't resist the scrutiny of people with intentions. However, this time, Du Chongwei really thinks that it is time to retreat to the front line of Beizhou and Jizhou.

The cooperation between him and the Khitan has not yet been negotiated, and the 300,000 army is his confidence, if he really confronts the Khitans in the Zhenzhou area, then the supply line of the Great Jin is too long, and it is almost impossible to ensure the safety of such a long supply line.

You must know that the Khitans have twice conquered the Central Plains in the south, and Hebei has already been very seriously damaged, and the people of Hebei have fled, died, and taken captive, and a large number of people have fallen into bandits.

Liu Zhiyuan of Hedong refused to provide grain and grass to Du Chongwei's 300,000 army in the name of the disaster of military rebellion, all of which was transported from Henan and Shandong.

The Khitans came with cavalry, coming and going like the wind, and could attack his troops transporting grain and grass at any location.

If the grain and grass were cut off by the Khitans, the 300,000 army would collapse without a fight. Without this 300,000 army, what would he use to negotiate with the Khitans?

At the beginning, he supported the Northern Expedition because he wanted to grasp the 300,000 horses, but now that the war is really starting, how can he risk his capital?

If the army is withdrawn to the line of Beizhou, Jizhou, or even Bozhou, with the Yellow River at its back, it will be much easier to replenish supplies, and it will not be easy to be cut off. On the contrary, the Khitan supply line was much longer. The Khitan people have always raised grain on the spot when they fight, but looking at the current situation in Hebei, they have sent people to eat people, and can they still grab food?

In this way, he Du Chongwei can completely replicate another victory in Yangcheng, whether it is fighting with the Khitans or cooperating with the Khitans, he is at ease.

Du Chongwei looked up at Li Shouzhen, hoping that he would come out to help say a few words.

Who knew that Li Shouzhen's head was tilted to the side, and he didn't look in his direction at all. Du Chongwei understood that Li Shouzhen was only afraid that he would also contact the Khitans in private, and obviously, he already knew about Du Chongwei's contact with the Khitans.

Originally, the Du and Li alliance was dominated by Li Shouzhen, who called the Yonggu Palace Lord to support Li Shouzhen instead of him Du Chongwei, but now the situation is just the opposite, and it has become Du Chongwei as the main and Li Shouzhen as the auxiliary. Now I heard that Du Chongwei had private contact with the Khitan, and the Khitan seemed to be quite biased towards Du Chongwei, which taught Li Shouzhen how to accept it.

Therefore, Li Shouzhen also has the intention of embarrassing Du Chongwei.

It seems that Li Shouzhen is determined not to speak for him, Du Chongwei moved his eyes to his confidant Fu Yanqing again, and he is the only one who can speak in this big tent.

Fu Yanqing frowned and looked down at his feet.

"Anyone else, you picked it up by the old man himself, and you didn't say a word?" Du Chongwei was furious in his heart, and called his name: "General Fu Yanqing, what do you think?"

There was a sudden silence in the tent.

Fu Yanqing raised his head and looked around, hesitated for a moment, and replied: "The last general is also thinking about this, it stands to reason that retreating to Beizhou can indeed reduce the pressure on a lot of our army's logistics and grass, and it is a foolproof strategy." However, the Khitans were menacing, and the soldiers were eager to fight, so if they withdrew to Beizhou like this, it would be a big blow to the morale of the army.

Moreover, if the Khitan army is cavalry, if it does not take Zhenzhou, but goes straight to our army in the starry night, and our army is mostly foot soldiers, how sure is our army that it will be able to withdraw to the front line of Beizhou and Jizhou before the Khitans? After all, Zhenzhou is a strong city, and there is a strong city to defend, and our army's chances of victory are much greater. ”

It turned out that Fu Yanqing actually supported Xue Huairang.

Xue Huairang shouted: "Well said, General Fu, you scholars have a lot of knowledge in their stomachs, and the words that my old Xue can't say in his stomach will be said by you!"

The generals responded one after another, and there was another noisy voice.

Du Chongwei's face turned blue with anger, trembling all over, and he secretly said in his heart: "Okay, you are a Fu Yanqing, the old man has mistaken you!"

Fu Yanqing was originally a righteous man and said what he thought in his heart, but he was unexpectedly regarded by Du Chongwei as a betrayal of Chi Guoguo. Of course, Fu Yanqing understood in his heart, sighed secretly, and said in his heart: "I still haven't said anything, is it possible that hiding in the front line of Beizhou and Jizhou will definitely consume the Khitans?

This time, the Khitans invaded the south, and they were bound to win, and they would not withdraw their troops easily. There is no grain and grass, human flesh is grain and grass, not to mention that the Khitans still have so many horses.

What is the most important thing in our army, is morale, if there is no morale, the soldiers have lost their courage in blood, how can they be expected to fight against the wolf-like Khitans?

Sitting on the front line of Beizhou and Jizhou, there is only one way to defeat.

I will be to the bright moon, but the bright moon shines on the ditch. (Note 2)"

When the atmosphere in the marshal's tent was delicate, a personal soldier suddenly reported: "Report to the marshal, the Changyi army has made General Zhang Yanze lead the army to arrive outside the camp, please ask the marshal if he is allowed to lead the army into the camp and station?"

Du Chongwei's eyes lit up, and he shouted loudly: "Accurate! Quickly invite General Zhang to come to the tent!"

Zhang Yanze is Du Chongwei's most trusted confidant and favorite general, and he is by no means like Fu Yanqing, a guy with a sweet belly and a sword, two sides and three swords.

After a short time, Zhang Yanze strode into the tent, intervened and saluted: "The last general was ordered by the marshal to bring troops to rendezvous, and the Changyi army has been brought, come and hand over the order!"

Du Chongwei nodded and said, "Okay, General Zhang has worked hard!" Just about to mention the argument in the account, who expected Xue Huairang to preemptively say: "General Zhang, you came just in time, the marshal is in a dilemma, whether it is better to go to Zhenzhou and fight a decisive battle with the Khitans on the front line of Zhenzhou, or to retreat to the front line of Beizhou and Jizhou." ”

Zhang Yanze was stunned for a moment, and he didn't want to blurt out: "Of course, it's good to go to the front line of Zhenzhou! One blow of strength, then decline, three and exhaustion. He did his best to make money, so he restrained it. (Note 3) Now that the Khitans have been defeated by our army twice, and the morale of our army is high, we should take this opportunity to conquer the enemy army in one fell swoop.

The generals in the tent secretly scolded, this Xue Huai let it be damaged enough!

Note 1: Xue Huairang (892-960), a famous general in the Five Dynasties, was an ethnic minority in Northwest China, and later moved to Taiyuan. When Li Cunmian of the Later Tang Dynasty Zhuangzong guarded Taiyuan, he threw himself into the tent, fought bravely and aggressively, and was deeply appreciated by Shi Jingjiao, the ancestor of the Later Jin Dynasty. Resisted the Khitan invasion and made many achievements. He successively served in Jiangzhou, Shenzhou, Yizhou, Liaozhou, Quanzhou, Mizhou, and Huaizhou.

Note 2: From the Yuan Dynasty Gao Ming's "Pipa Chronicles", ah~ah~ Don't bite me!

Note 3: From "Cao Di's Polemic" in Zuo Qiu Ming's "Zuo Chuan: The Ten Years of Zhuang Gong".