The next day, just after noon, soldiers came to report that Zhai Xing had arrived outside Luanchuan City.
Wang Xiaolie and Wang Ruohai led people to welcome them out of the city, followed by Zhai Xing and his party. After the two parties exchanged greetings, they went to the county government office and sat down.
Asked about the hardships on the road. Zhai Xing said: "I received a letter from the governor, saying that the army had arrived in Luanchuan. I did not dare to neglect and rushed over in a hurry. The official army was defeated in the battle of Fuping, and the Jin people took Guanzhong, which was no better than before. We, the generals who guard the place, were defeated. We should unite as one to avoid being taken advantage of by the golden man."
Wang Xiaolie said: "Dengzhou is far away from this road. I don't know what the current situation is. Zhenfu is close to this road, so I should know better. Can you tell me about some important events?"
Zhai Xing said: "This is what it should mean."
After saying that, he picked up a small wooden stick nearby, drew a few circles on the ground, and said: "After the Battle of Fuping, this area is naturally centered on Luoyang and Shaanzhou. The Jin army came south this time, with Wu Mainly Shu's 16,000 fine cavalry, there are also 18,000 people led by Wei Yi who dropped gold in Guanzhong, and 9,000 people led by Gao Qiong, the old general of the dynasty who dropped gold, for a total of about 40,000 people to attack Guo. Prefecture. Li Yanxian's troops were about 10,000 people in Guozhou, 2,000 people were stationed in Shangzhou, led by Shao Xing, and 1,500 people were stationed in Lu, led by Geng Sizong. In Henan Prefecture, after Liu Yu established the Puppet Qi, the original Henan The six counties in the west of Fufu were patrolling to inspect Meng Bangxiong's surrender of the enemy, and were appointed to stay in the puppet Xijing. It is said that he had more than 8,000 soldiers."
Wang Xiaolie said: "It turns out that Meng Bangxiong surrendered to the enemy, but I haven't heard about it yet. There is still Ding Jin in the Songshan area. I don't know what to do?"
Zhai Xing said: "Ding Jin still has some backbone. Liu Yu sent people to recruit him, but he drove him back."
Wang Ruohai said: "In this way, Li Yanxian in Guozhou is facing 16,000 gold troops and nearly 30,000 puppet troops. In addition, there are more than 8,000 men from Meng Bangxiong in the direction of Xijing, who may come west at any time."
Zhai Xing said: "It's not just that. In addition to Meng Bangxiong's more than 8,000 people in the direction of Luoyang, there are other large and small groups of bandits who surrendered to Qi, with a total strength of more than 5,000. If Meng Bangxiong cannot integrate these people, the total strength will be nearly 20,000. Dong Xian has five thousand troops stationed in the four counties of Shouan, Fuchang, Yongning and Changshui on both sides of Luoyang. When Meng Bangxiong comes west, he must first face Dong Xian."
A rough estimate shows that the Jin army plus the vassal puppet troops totaled 60,000 to 70,000 people in this area. These are regular soldiers, plus those who transport grain and grass, do various chores, and raise horses, the number more than doubles. The war was in full swing, and the scale was even greater than when Shaanzhou was rescued at the beginning of the year.
Sighing, Wang Xiaolie said: "Every time the Jin army wins, there are many more servant armies. This is really a headache. These servant armies are not strong, but they cannot be ignored. If they are accidentally killed, One bite, but it hurts a lot!”
Wang Ruohai said angrily: "These people are only greedy for wealth and honor, and have no regard for family and country. They help the tyrants to do harm and act as the acolytes of tigers. Everyone will punish them!"
Wang Xiaolie said: "Swearing is of little use. We must beat them severely to let them know the disadvantages of treason. The court is incompetent, cannot defeat the invaders, and cannot defend their homeland. Such people will naturally appear."
Since the Wu Huan rebellion in China, the Chinese people have seen many such people who rebel against the country and surrender to the enemy. The Jin army defeated the Kaifeng Prefecture, the Yuan army destroyed the Song Dynasty, and the Qing army destroyed the Ming Dynasty. A large number of Han troops were the vanguard of the foreign regime. Even during the Anti-Japanese War, there were still a large number of puppet troops.
Those who commit treason and surrender to the enemy should naturally be condemned and even punished. But for the court, this is not the most important thing. The most important thing is to defeat the enemy on the battlefield. The more the main force of the imperial court gained the upper hand on the battlefield, the fewer people rebelled against the country and surrendered to the enemy, and the situation became better and better.
This must be clear to those who lead troops in battle. For the puppet troops, of course we must strike hard and give them a severe blow. But we must not forget that our main task is to defeat the enemy on the battlefield. While retreating steadily, while scolding some people for surrendering to the enemy, there is no future.
After analyzing the situation nearby, Wang Xiaolie said: "Guozhou is on the bank of the Yellow River, outside the mountains, and it is not easy to rescue. At the beginning of the year, when Lousu besieged Shaanzhou, I concentrated all my money and food and made a desperate move. With Li Yanxian's cooperation in the city, we were able to save him. Defeated the Jin army. Now the main force of our army is in Ruzhou. It takes a lot of time to concentrate and it is difficult to do it. We can only let Li Yanxian temporarily withdraw to Lu to resist the Jin army there. Three hundred people from Lu to Guozhou Lishan Road is difficult for us, but it is even more difficult for the Jin army. We can defend the Lu family, and when the Jin army runs out of food and grass, they will naturally withdraw. At that time, it will be much easier to counterattack Guozhou."
Zhai Xing pondered for a while and said: "It can be said that Li Yanxian spent all his energy defending Shaanxi Province. If he is asked to withdraw from Guozhou, I am afraid he will not want to."
Wang Xiaolie said: "The situation is like this, there is really no way. To transport grain and grass to Guozhou, I must at least gather all the men and women in Dengzhou. To be honest, the impact on Dengzhou is too great. Twice a year, the people are tossing Sorry."
Wang Ruohai said: "We can only let Li Yanxian withdraw from Guozhou, and cannot sit there to guard the isolated city. At the beginning of the year, we had to rely on Privy Zhang's army in Jingzhao to defend Shaanzhou. What can we rely on to defend Guozhou now?"
Wang Xiaolie thought for a while and said: "I have sent an official document to Li Yanxian, suggesting that he immediately abandon Guozhou and retreat to Lu. An army of 60,000 to 70,000 people is coming to attack, and all of us are threatened. It is best to be in Lu, let’s get together and discuss what to do.”
Zhai Xing said: "A few days ago, I ordered Dong to go to Yiyang to discuss matters, but there has been no news. I don't know-"
Wang Xiaolie's heart tightened, and he had an ominous premonition. Dong Xian was a very complicated person, and Wang Xiaolie was a little unsure.
Dong was first from Luoyang. He raised troops during the war in Jingkang and later became the commander of Zhai Xing's former army. He is a brave man and always strives to be the first in every battle. He is a rare warrior. In the past two years, Dong Xian has been stationed along the Luo River, not with Zhai Xing. Dong Xian's current military strength has exceeded that of Zhai Xing, and he actually doesn't listen to Zhai Xing's military orders very much. It's just that Zhai Xing is from a wealthy family in Luoyang, so he didn't break his skin.
Dong Xian was able to fight, loved money, longed for fame and wealth, and was unwilling to live in a ravine. But unlike Meng Bangxiong and others, he has the most basic bottom line and does not want to surrender to the enemy and betray the country. But the temptation is big enough, and the bottom line may be breached. In the final analysis, for Dong Xian, his loyalty to Zhao Song was not enough to make him sacrifice his life. But given the opportunity, he would not betray the country.
In this day and age, there are actually many such people. As long as the Song Dynasty is a little more decent on the battlefield, not to mention having the upper hand, even if it is slightly behind, it doesn't matter. As long as it is not defeated thousands of miles away, a large number of people in the north will rise up and respond. Historically, during Yue Fei's Northern Expedition, after winning several games in a row, Qianli responded. As far north as Taihang, there were rebels using military banners to fight against the Jin army.
The problem of the Song Dynasty was that it was defeated from Kaifeng Mansion and then lost consecutive battles. Moreover, Zhao Gou was as fearful of the Jin army as a tiger and could not boost the morale of the soldiers and civilians. Without the support of the imperial court, a large number of rebels were defeated by the Jin army and the puppet Qi army. The rebel army is gone, and the last ones left are those who are determined to surrender to the enemy. Those who were not firm towards the imperial court and did not want to surrender to the enemy gradually surrendered to the enemy.
During the war, the imperial court, or the government, was the mainstream. The prevailing attitude is very important. If you resolutely resist the enemy, even if your strength is temporarily insufficient, a large number of forces will follow. Once the official government is not determined to resist the enemy, how can we expect the people to do so?
At this time, the Jin army was very powerful. Once a place was conquered, a large number of puppet troops would join. If you cannot defeat the Jin Army on the frontal battlefield, it will be difficult to change this situation. Before entering Guanzhong, Wushu was no more than 30,000 fine knights. After the Battle of Fuping, he had more than 100,000 soldiers under his command.
