After the territory was extended, King Huan temporarily suppressed the withdrawal of troops, and then a letter was sent to Sun Qi again, agreeing to his suggestion to continue to advance westward.
After receiving the letter, the latter was overjoyed, but he did not know that his unauthorized use of troops would lead to future reckoning.
It's just that King Huan still needs him now.
With King Huan's explicit consent, Sun Qi fought against Liang, no longer timid, and began a full-scale invasion!
The 100,000 Liang troops in the east had been retreating steadily during the more than two months of fighting against Sun Qi, and their strength was severely reduced. At this time, they were even more unable to resist.
Urgent letters from the eastern border were sent back to Liangdu one by one.
At this time, in Youzhou, due to the shock of the entire defense line, the main city also began to waver.
Both sides of the situation are unfavorable to our side, especially the Huan army, which cannot be stopped at all. If the Liang army ignores it and only deals with the Qin army, it won't take long for Sun Qi to have hundreds of thousands of troops approaching the capital!
Under this situation, one can imagine the situation in Liang's court.
On the king's chair directly above him, Prince Liang's expression was terrifyingly gloomy.
He pinched the battle report that had just been sent from the Eastern Territory, and almost gritted his teeth and said: "Old man King Huan! You bullied me too much! I thought that it would be enough if he won Dingzhou and Ruyang! But I didn't expect that he would still go to Fight in the heart of our country!”
In the eyes of King Liang, King Huan was undoubtedly more hateful than King Qin!
Qin's attack on Liang was a frontal battle. Both kings wanted to dominate. There was nothing to say about the different positions of the two sides.
But when Huan Guo attacked Liang, he was weak at the beginning, but then he added insult to injury.
This forced King Liang to scold King Huan.
After he vented his anger, Prime Minister Liang stood up and said, "Your Majesty, the most urgent thing now is to arrange a defensive battle. I thought that the Huan Army would not go deep, but now it seems that our country's situation has become more and more critical. ”
"How to defend?" King Liang asked.
Prime Minister Liang Guo pondered: "Now there are a large number of our troops on the Youzhou defense line. If we still only target the Qin army and ignore the Huan army, then the Huan army will advance all the way. It is better to divide the troops in the east and defend on two lines." ."
King Liang thought about it. In his heart, the courage of the Qin army and the pressure it caused were not comparable to the Huan army. But the bad thing was that Sun Qi suddenly appeared on the Huan army.
This changed Huan Jun's appearance, which King Liang looked down upon before.
While he was hesitating, Cai Yan stood up and said, "Although the Prime Minister's suggestion is feasible, it has a big hidden danger."
Prince Liang looked at him: "Master Cai, please clarify."
Cai Yan said: "If we divide our troops on the eastern border, Youzhou will be lost! And if we don't defend the eastern border, our country will have no room for maneuver."
What he said is right. Once the troops are divided and Youzhou is insufficiently defended, and both fronts are defeated, the Liang Kingdom will directly perish.
King Liang also understood this truth, which was why he had just considered it.
"But if we don't divide our troops, will we just watch Huan Jun approaching all the way?" Prince Liang said.
Cai Yan thought for a while: "I have a plan, but I need to give up something. I'm afraid the king won't accept it."
At this time, how could King Liang care about anything else: "Let's talk about it, I don't care about the surrounding counties now. As long as Liang Country can survive this crisis, it doesn't matter whether it's ceding land or paying money!"
"Judging from the determination of the King of Qin to attack Liang, the Qin army can no longer retreat by ceding territory and paying money."
Cai Yan said: "The only way is to abandon Youzhou and retreat to Yanzhou."
Yanzhou is the last barrier of Liangdu. Geographically speaking, if the Qin Army and the Huan Army want to attack the capital, this place will be the common place for both armies to pass through.
Cai Yan's idea was very clear. He wanted to abandon the outside counties and concentrate all his troops in Yanzhou.
The Qin and Huan armies, crossing each other on the left and right, will face all the forces of the Liang army here.
In this way, one city can be used to defend the two armies, without having to consider which side cannot be defended.
Of course, this strategy also has drawbacks, that is, Yanzhou will become the throat of the Liang Kingdom. Once it is lost, everything will collapse.
After hearing what he said, King Liang couldn't help but take a deep breath, how could he dare to make such an easy decision.
Hearing this, other ministers also began to discuss in low voices.
The Prime Minister of Liang State thought about it for a while and said: "I believe that Mr. Cai's plan is feasible. Our army currently has more than 300,000 troops. If we insist on defending Yanzhou City, Qin Huan's march route will be blocked, and there will be more troops in the rear. The supply is convenient and can last for a year and a half at least."
"And King Qin will never dare to fight for a year and a half!"
"At most three months, if Yanzhou is not broken, the Qin army will retreat!"
The Prime Minister of Liang Kingdom is already very old. The reason why he is still in this position is because he is a veteran of two dynasties and has high morals and high respect.
Seeing that he agreed now, King Liang hesitated for a moment, then with a sharp look in his eyes, he clenched his fist and said:
"Okay! Just follow what Mr. Cai said! Immediately send an order to Xue Wu, and the whole army will retreat to Yanzhou. Don't sacrifice your troops in vain on the eastern border!"
Cai Yan's grasp of the battle situation is somewhat unique.
Because if the current Liang army does not retreat to Yanzhou, the troops outside will be overwhelmed and slowly be eaten up.
Rather than waiting for all the troops to be exhausted and the city to be lost, it is better to retreat early, conserve strength, and guard the throat.
This was also done as a last resort based on Liang Guo's current war situation. Who would be willing to give in if there was any chance of winning.
Wang Ling soon spread to Youzhou.
After receiving this letter, Xue Wu fell silent and did not speak for a long time.
He was actually very unwilling to let him give up Youzhou, but after careful consideration, he also understood that Wang Ting's decision was not wrong, and it might be better to retreat.
Therefore, after closing his eyes deeply and sighing, he waved helplessly and said: "Send the order to retreat to Youzhou City across the board, order the baggage troops to escort the grain and grass, and retreat first."
"What!?"
Hearing this, all the generals were shocked.
"Xue Shuai! It's so good, why are you retreating! The Qin army is attacking Youzhou's defense line! The war is getting tense!"
"This is the king's order, the entire army withdraws to Yanzhou." Xue Wu said weakly.
"But Xue Shuai!" Tang Yue became anxious.
"Withdraw." Xue Wu waved his hand again, his voice indescribably tired.
The Liang army decided to abandon Youzhou and the order was quickly issued.
Xue Wu's military ability was very good. When he retreated, he did not panic at all. He first let the slow-moving baggage troops evacuate, and then in order to prevent Xiao Yuan from pursuing him, he set up ambushes to intercept him along the way.
The rapid retraction of Youzhou's defense line made the Qin army confused.
Although the Liang army has been in a passive defensive state, it is not possible to say that they are defeated now.
The generals were puzzled, and after the news came back, Xiao Yuan's brows wrinkled slightly.
