Chapter 524
The news of the victory of Mayi City and the fall of Shenxiongguan came one after another. Less than five days apart, the emperor and his ministers suffered a heavy blow before the joy of the emperor and his ministers had passed.
Jincheng is much closer to Mayi City. The battle report of Shenxiongguan first arrived in the capital and then Jincheng. Although it was three days late, it meant that Shenxiongguan was defeated earlier than Mayi City.
The Minister of War, Lai Bingwen, couldn't believe his ears. After confirming that it was correct, he immediately came to the emperor to plead guilty.
The table in front of the emperor was clean, and there were no piles of memorials, not even the common pen, ink, paper and inkstone.
Han Ruzi said flatly, "What's wrong with Shi Lang Lai?"
Lai Bingwen raised his head in surprise, "It was the minister who drew up a strategy, thinking that the immortal gates were solid, and the enemy army would inevitably turn to attack the east, and urged His Majesty to guard the city of Mayi, but... the result is this, the minister's misunderstanding caused such a catastrophe, Sins are unforgivable."
"For the servants, speak freely and tell your true thoughts is the responsibility. The one who makes the final decision is me. I choose Lai Shilang's strategy among many suggestions. Even if I make a mistake, it is my mistake. I feel wrong."
Lai Bingwen was both ashamed and grateful, and kowtowed one after another. Zhang Youcai, who was on the side, received the emperor's signal and took two steps forward, "Your Majesty grants Lai Shilang a flat body."
Lai Bingwen kowtowed again, got up slowly, and couldn't help but said: "The enemy first attacked the east with a sound, but this time it was with a sound of the east and attacked the west. The main force of the Chu army was transferred to Mayi City, but it was still fooled."
"Really deceived?"
Lai Bingwen was stunned for a moment and looked at the emperor blankly, not understanding the meaning.
From the moment Han Ruzi received the news of Shenxiongguan's fall, he was thinking about a question: How did the enemy forces fight on two fronts? A lot of news from Mayi City showed that what the Chu army encountered was a huge army, not a simple lure. fee.
However, the more he read the official documents, the more confused Han Ruzi felt. The offensive of the ghost Da Chanyu was unbelievably strong, so he asked Zhang Youcai to remove all the official documents, leaving nothing on the table, and sat there quietly thinking. .
Yang Feng said that too much news is worse than no news.
The problem suddenly became simpler.
"Lai Shilang's strategy is not wrong." Han Ruzi said, his tone becoming more and more calm, "The enemy has no so-called strategy of this or that, it's just that there are too many soldiers, Da Chu has no other choice, even if he had expected the Shenxiongguan meeting. If we fall, we will still choose to defend Mayi City. The Guanzhong area is narrow, the North Pass is lost, and there is a place to defend on the southward road. Once Mayi City is occupied by the enemy, all the counties and states in the Kanto region will need to be defended, which will be even more unfavorable to the Great Chu.”
"But there is a capital in the Guan." Lai Bingwen reminded.
"Yeah, there is a capital." Han Ruzi understood the importance of the capital. "Anyway, things have already happened. You don't need to worry about what was right or wrong in the past. Let's think about how to deal with it in the future."
"There are two routes from Shenxiong Pass to Kanto. The northern route is narrow, and the way is full of mountainous areas. The minister has ordered all places to close the city and guard it. The southern route is also not wide, but only Hangu Pass can be defended. The minister also ordered the defense, but only I don't know if it will come or not."
Lai Bingwen was the minister of military affairs and acted as the minister, so he could only make some small decisions. As for the large-scale deployment of troops, it was up to the emperor to decide.
"The capital can't be easily given up. All the checkpoints and cities in the north must be defended as much as possible. You can't let the enemy army go south, and Mancang City - if you can't hold it, you must burn it, and you can't use it for the enemy's food and grass."
"Yes, the minister will make a decree immediately."
"Then gather the ministers, and be sure to discuss the countermeasures today."
"Yes, Your Majesty." Lai Bingwen felt that the burden on his shoulders was heavy, but his heart was not as indifferent as at the beginning. The calmness of the emperor gave him a lot of confidence.
It was getting dark, so Zhang Youcai ordered candles and oil lamps to be lit in the hall, and the lights were brightly lit. There were people watching around the lights to avoid accidents. He wanted to ask the emperor if he wanted to have dinner. swallowed back.
All the emperor's thoughts were elsewhere.
The imperial decree prepared by the Ministry of War was sent quickly. Han Ruzi read it, stamped it with a seal, and issued it immediately to send an expedited military letter to the capital.
The officials from the Ministry of War and the General’s Mansion arrived quickly, and the atmosphere was a little tense at first, thinking that the emperor would get angry first and investigate the responsibility for the fall of Shenxiongguan, but the atmosphere soon eased. Suggestions and suggestions.
"Immediately transfer all the troops outside the Great Wall back to Guanzhong, only to guard the Great Wall, and then mobilize all the troops from all over the world to go to Guanzhong to fight the enemy to the death!"
"The enemy has already seized the opportunity, and it is too late to go to support the capital. It is better to retreat to Hangu Pass, seal the enemy in the pass, and wait for the opportunity to fight again."
"It's better to order General Chai to pursue the enemy while he wins, so that he might be able to defeat the enemy from the rear."
"What you said is not a top priority. The question now is what to do with the court and the palace? Is it to withdraw or stay? Is it to stay or go?"
...
Since there was the emperor's acquiescence, everyone expressed their thoughts, but no one could get the emperor's obvious approval.
Han Ruzi just listened, nodding occasionally. In fact, he was trying to figure out the god and ghost Dadanyu, and he suffered unexpected defeats one after another. Finally, Han Ruzi understood what the problem was: everyone just looked at the map and the number of enemy troops and came to the conclusion These are all normal conclusions. The god and ghost Da Chanyu is by no means a normal person. He can unify a vast field in just over a dozen years and send an unimaginably huge army to the Great Chu. place.
If you can't guess the leader of the enemy army, you can't guess the movement of the enemy army.
The night was getting darker, and the candles in the hall were all changed. The emperor ordered everyone to rest for half an hour, eat some supper, and then proceed to discuss matters. Tonight, it is necessary to come up with a suitable overall strategy.
Han Ruzi also ate some food himself, called Zhao Ruosu, and asked while eating, "If you are a distant official under the rule of the god and ghost, you have never seen him, but he has dispatched troops and listened to him. After all the rumors, what kind of person do you think he is?"
Zhao Ruosu didn't expect to be asked about this kind of thing. After thinking about it for a while, he answered honestly: "Weichen should think about it for a while."
"Give me an answer before dawn."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Just as Han Ruzi put down his chopsticks, a eunuch came in and said a few words to Zhang Youcai. Zhang Youcai turned around and came to the emperor, "Mayi City sent someone to send a group of prisoners."
This was Han Ruzi's earlier order, when Shenxiongguan was not known to fall.
He hummed and didn't care too much. Now this is something that needs special attention.
Zhang Youcai added, "It was sent back by Cui Teng."
Han Ruzi laughed, "Chai Yue is a good man."
Chai Yue is a son of an aristocratic family, and he knows a lot of "rules", allowing Cui Teng to participate in the battle of Mayi City to make contributions, and after the war he finds an excuse to send him to the emperor's side.
"Let him in." Han Ruzi didn't want to disappoint Cui Teng too much.
Cui Teng arrived soon, covered in dust, he knelt down as soon as he entered the room, "I finally live to see Your Majesty."
"Pingshen." Han Ruzi said coldly, and he must not be too enthusiastic about Cui Teng.
Cui Teng got up and looked at the emperor carefully, "Your Majesty has lost some weight."
"I'm quite busy here. If you have nothing to do, go to rest first, and talk about Mayi City tomorrow."
"I'm not tired." Cui Teng patted his body, the dust was flying, Zhang Youcai, who was standing not far from him, coughed, "And I have something important to say to Your Majesty."
"Let's talk." Han Ruzi still had a little time, so he thought it was time to rest.
"I heard that Shenxiongguan has fallen?"
"Um."
"It's really unfortunate. After finally winning the victory in Mayi City, there was a problem in the west, but I'm not surprised, these enemy troops are a group of locusts that are desperate, as long as they see a little flaw, they will immediately fly over. It’s far away, what I want to say is that if Shenxiongguan falls, the capital will be in danger. What should the Queen, the Queen Mother and others do? It’s impossible for His Majesty to return to Beijing immediately. Send me back. If I don’t sleep on the way, I will definitely arrive before the enemy army. One step, pick up the people from the palace and send them to His Majesty, lest..."
Han Ruzi listened half-heartedly, and suddenly thought of one thing, "Stop, what did you just say?"
"Ah? Which sentence?"
"Say that the enemy is like a locust."
"Yeah, I've seen it in Mayi City. They dress up strangely, and their weapons are different from those of the Chu people, but they are really desperate on the battlefield. There is no retreat. I saw them step on the corpse and rush forward. , more terrifying than locusts."
"But the Chu army still defeated them."
"That's when your majesty's plan came into effect. When the news of the interception of the grain road came, the enemy army did not disperse, but attacked even more fiercely. General Chai took the plan and pretended to evacuate Mayi City. The arrows were fired, that battle—tsk tsk, it was really exciting, and I will never forget it for the rest of my life. Your Majesty, allow me to dare to tell the truth, I have also fought many battles with Your Majesty, and none of them have such a big scene. The corpses piled up. Higher than the city wall, the Chu army shot several million arrows in one day! In the end, the quiver was empty, but the enemy army finally retreated. If you will hack your own people, you will fight for a path." Cui Teng's eyes lit up.
"It's really strange. It wasn't long before the gods and ghosts unified the West. Why did the soldiers under his command work so hard for him?"
Cui Teng said with a smile: "It's not surprising, General Chai tried the prisoners, and I was listening. It turns out that the enemy army is not a whole army. In the front, I am afraid there are dozens or hundreds of troops, the rear supervises the front, and so on, only advancing, not retreating."
"Drive the wolf with the tiger."
"That's right, General Chai said the same thing. The prisoners also said that what they were afraid of was not the cut off of the food route, because they didn't bring much food and grass, and they all hoped to invade Chu land as soon as possible and get food on the spot. Their usual style of play. But when the rear is intercepted, the tiger can't drive the wolf, and they lose their backbone all of a sudden, so there will be chaos."
"What else did General Chai say?"
Cui Teng slapped his forehead, "Look at my memory." He immediately took out a letter from his pocket, handed it to Zhang Youcai, and then forwarded it to the emperor's desk.
Han Ruzi opened the letter, and the content inside was very simple. Chai Yue hoped that the emperor would give more troops, detour from outside the fortress, and smash the iron city.
When Chai Yue wrote this letter, she did not know that Shenxiongguan had also fallen.
Han Ruzi said to Zhang Youcai, "Call the ministers together."
He has already made a decision, and there is no need for negotiation or arguing. The road is already there, and it depends on whether he dares to walk.