Chapter 1203: The King of Qi leads the army in person

Chapter 1203: The King of Qi leads the army in person

Outside Jinyang Palace, many young people gathered here. Each of these people were wearing armor and holding horses, with angry expressions on their faces. They kept shouting loudly. The topic they discussed was nothing more than the Turkic prisoners' gestures that were the most disturbing at the moment.

"These wild dogs outside the Great Wall are as hateful as jackals. They came to invade our country while the war was already underway. Do they really think that our country is weak and can be bullied?"

When talking about the Turkic invasion, many people were excited and indignant, and couldn't help but curse: "These bastard dogs, relying on their human power, think they can invade our country by living close to the Qiang people. As soon as the Supreme Lord gave the order, a certain group of people went straight to the Beishan Great Wall. , kill the Hugou!"

Most of these young people were young men among the nobles of Jinyang, and the Turks' attack made them feel more embarrassed and annoyed. Although the Turks have long replaced Rouran's dominant position on the grasslands, their deterrent effect on the southern regime has not yet reached its peak. Putting aside the previous battle with the Western Wei Dynasty in the Yinshan Mountains, the war with the Northern Qi alone, the Turks On the other hand, they also lose more and win less. The biggest impression given to people is that they are big but not strong.

The previous unfavorable battle with the Western Wei Dynasty had made these young men of the Northern Qi Dynasty feel deeply unwilling. Now when facing the Turks' attack, they felt a sense of sadness and indignation of a tiger falling in Pingyang and being bullied by dogs. Therefore, they each prepared armor and horses and gathered in Shanxi. Outside the Yang Palace, they asked the emperor to attack the Turks.

Not to mention the angry and eager mood of the young men outside Jinyang Palace, the mood of Lord Qi Gaoyan in Jinyang Palace was also uneasy. Although he was sitting in the palace reviewing official documents, he would raise his head every once in a while and look at it. The waiter asked: "Has there been any news from the south?"

When he received a negative answer, Gao Yan's face immediately showed a look of disappointment, and then he buried his head in the papers angrily.

Time passed minute by minute, and finally it was afternoon. As several galloping horses galloped into Jinyang Palace, not long after, an imperial attendant hurriedly came to the palace to report: "Your Majesty, there is news from the King of Pingyuan in the south. !”

After completing the peace treaty agreement with the Western Wei Dynasty, Pingyuan King Duan Shao resigned from his post as governor of Bingzhou and became the governor of the racecourse as Sizhou Mu. He went south to oversee the construction of the Yenan Great Wall and a series of defense matters. This can be regarded as the front line of the current confrontation between the two countries. and the most dangerous places. In addition to Duan Shao, Gao Yan was also worried about entrusting such an important task to others.

After hearing the waiter's report, Gao Yan couldn't hide the eager look on his face. He patted the table and said, "Send it over quickly. How about the report from the King of Pingyuan on the enemy's situation?"

The reason why he was so impatient was because he wanted to confirm one thing, that is, did the Western Wei Dynasty fulfill its previous covenant and obediently withdraw its troops? They still used peace talks as a cover to paralyze Northern Qi, but in fact they secretly colluded with the Turks to attack Northern Qi from the north and the south.

This matter is not only related to the safety of Northern Qi, but also related to the majesty of the king Gao Yan. It should be noted that the peace negotiations with the Western Wei Dynasty were conducted under his auspices, and in order to achieve this oath, he was forced to make great concessions and agreed to many of the Western Wei Dynasty's excessive demands. If it turned out that this matter was nothing more than The tricks played by the Western Wei Dynasty would be fatal to his majesty, and would also make the security situation of the Northern Qi Dynasty unprecedentedly severe.

When the waiter handed over the letter sent by Duan Shao, Gao Yan quickly opened the letter, but because he was too nervous, his hands trembled uncontrollably.

"There is nothing unusual about Wei Jun and Wei Jun... There is no sign of colluding with the Turks! That's great. This is really true. Li Boshan finally has some..."

After the letter was unfolded, Gao Yan quickly browsed it and found that what he was most worried about did not happen. He breathed a long sigh of relief and even couldn't help but praise Li Boshan for keeping his word and not directly going back on his words. But when the words came to his mouth, he felt a little strange, so he simply shut up.

After a moment of silence, he raised his eyebrows again and said quickly: "Summon the kings into the palace quickly, I want to conquer the Turks myself!"

Previously, the Northern Qi Dynasty did not know the attitude of the Western Wei Dynasty and was worried that it would be difficult to take care of the head and tail, so they did not dare to easily dispatch their troops. Now that it has been determined that the Western Wei Dynasty has no signs of starting a major war, it is naturally not worth being too afraid of just one Turk.

Although Gao Yan was not as good as his brother in meritorious service, he was definitely not a weak-hearted person. He had no choice but to tolerate the Western Wei Dynasty before, and therefore suppressed a lot of anger in his heart. Now that he was bullied by the Turks, after ensuring that he had no worries, he naturally couldn't bear it anymore and prepared to personally lead the army north to fight and teach the Turks a lesson.

Soon the news spread that the emperor was going to personally conquer the Turks. Before the noble generals had time to enter the palace to see him, his confidant Wang Xi hurriedly came in and kowtowed: "I heard there are rumors that your Majesty is going to personally control the army. The brigade set out to conquer the Turks..."

"This is not a rumor, it is indeed true! The Turkic thieves are so bold that they think that our country's new defeat can be a slight insult. If this matter is not strictly punished, how will the country's prestige survive? I personally look forward to killing the intruders. , Killing the brave thieves will make the surrounding thieves dare not easily invade our territory again!"

After Gao Yan heard this, he said in a deep voice, and then looked at Wang Xi and said: "Your temperament is elegant and slow, but now that you are in charge of the drama, you should be careful. On the day of my expedition, you need to stay behind and be diligent. Don’t slack off when it comes to government affairs!”

"The ancient sage kings did not take conquest as merit. The original intention of seeking peace with the Wei State was to put an end to the war and provide for the peace of the people. However, now your Majesty is personally in charge of the military affairs. I am afraid that the world will be disappointed..."

After Wang Xi heard this, he lowered his head and admonished him.

After hearing this, Gao Yan frowned and said in a deep voice: "I have not achieved great virtue, and I dare not compare myself to the ancient saints. If the Turks invade our territory, we should kill them! Now the young and brave people in our country gather outside the palace walls, asking for battle day and night, and their loyalty and bravery are touching. If I don't go out, I will lose the trust of the world! Don't make such cowardly remarks, disturbing my ambition to fight the enemy!"

Wang Xi was about to make further remonstrances, but Gao Yan waved his hand impatiently to dismiss him. At the same time, Heba Ren and other meritorious generals had already come to the outside of the palace to wait for an audience. Wang Xi's dissuasion failed, so he could only leave.

Gao Yan's desire to personally conquer the Turks this time was not a whim. He had wanted to establish martial arts a long time ago, but he had never had the opportunity before. Now that the Turks took advantage of the fire to invade, not only did he feel ashamed, but also made the people in Jinyang City angry. On the one hand, the situation was critical, and on the other hand, the army's morale was available. Gao Yan was naturally fearless and eager to fight.

Apart from the troops that were previously dispatched elsewhere, there are still nearly 60,000 troops around Jinyang City. Gao Yan plans to lead 50,000 divisions to Shuozhou himself, and dispatch troops from Dingzhou, Jizhou and other places from Youzhou to encircle the Turks through Huaihuang Town, and to give the invading troops a head-on blow.

However, although this plan is quite grand, it faces a more difficult problem from the beginning, that is, insufficient food and grass. The East-West War has just ended, and the Northern Qi treasury is already empty. There was a little savings before, and it was also invested in building the Yenan defense line. Now it is very difficult to gather tens of thousands of troops to go on the expedition.

In order to ensure that the first imperial expedition since his accession to the throne can proceed smoothly, Gao Yan simply ordered a group of Jinyang nobles to explain the benefits and disadvantages to them, hoping that they can take the initiative to donate money and property to maintain the expenses of the army. Otherwise, when the Turks invade near Jinyang, the losses will be difficult to measure!

Although the nobles of Jinyang were greedy, they did not stingy at the critical moment when facing the safety of their family business. With the emperor's order, each family donated materials and finally managed to gather the military supplies for the army. Of course, with the use of real money, these nobles could not help but complain privately that this wave was really a waste of money and life!

But in any case, the Jinyang troops finally set out smoothly under the leadership of the emperor and headed straight for the Beishan Great Wall.

At this time, the Turkic troops had already invaded the Great Wall and looted the southern foot of Beishan. Because Shengle City had not been breached, it was difficult for the Turkish army to advance all the way.

When the Turkish army learned that the Northern Qi army was advancing north again to reinforce, they dared not be careless after the previous lesson. The main force gathered near Shuozhou City to wait for the opportunity.

Although the Turks were invincible on the grassland, they were still slightly inferior to the elite Jinyang soldiers of the Northern Qi. As the two sides set up their formations and fought, the Turkish army was eventually defeated and retreated outside the Great Wall.

After the Northern Qi army recaptured the Great Wall defense line, it took advantage of the situation to bring back Hulugu's troops from Shengle City. Seeing that the main force of the Turks had not suffered much damage and regrouped outside the Great Wall, the Qi army did not dare to be careless. In addition, they did not dare to leave the Great Wall easily to fight after learning from Hulugu's previous lessons. The two sides confronted each other along the Great Wall defense line.

After a short stalemate in the war, the logistical pressure on the Northern Qi side increased sharply, and the supplies donated by the Jinyang nobles were quickly consumed. Tens of thousands of troops on the front line were crying for food, but outside the Great Wall, there were Turkish troops cruising back and forth, gathering but not dispersing, which made Gao Yan, who had just experienced military battles, feel more pressured.

When he asked experienced generals such as Heba Ren for advice, the suggestions he received were similar. The emperor led the main force to withdraw to the country first, and then sent generals to lead a small elite force to guard the rear. Or wait for the divisions in Dingzhou and other places to attack from behind, and then the internal and external divisions will attack from the front and back, and the strong enemy can be defeated.

Faced with this situation, Gao Yan didn't know what to choose for a while. During the previous battle in Shuozhou, he noticed that the combat effectiveness of the Turkic army was not very strong and lacked resilience. They would scatter at the slightest setback, which also made him want to fight. From the bottom of his heart, of course, he hoped that his first expedition could come to a successful conclusion, but the poor logistics supply situation made him dare not fight.

So he sent people to urge Dingzhou and other troops to speed up their actions, and at the same time ordered the country to raise supplies for the army as soon as possible, ready to wait until the situation here could no longer be sustained and there was no chance of turning around before making a decision.