Sun Tu was naturally extremely concerned about this issue and had asked some people in the army, including Qin Gan in front of him, in a circumstantial way. However, their answers are always a little vague, making people unable to fully understand what happened, just like reading the battle reports sent to Tokyo before.
The battle report seems to have been written in great detail, but if you read it carefully, it is nothing more than that the Liao army had already conspired to induce the Song army to advance lightly, which caused the battle situation to change from a shaky situation before to a situation where it was difficult to advance even an inch, and the troops were lost and generals were lost. Without even being able to see the Youzhou city wall, they faced off against hundreds of thousands of Liao troops.
As for the details, what kind of conspiracy the Song Army fell into and what the turning point was, at least the battle reports that Sun Tu had access to were unclear. In the speeches of Qin Gan and others a few days ago, they also avoided the important points and did not go into details.
But just looking at the appearance of these two people today, Sun Tu vaguely guessed that they were going to answer this series of questions for him, which made his expression become more solemn and he made a gesture of invitation: "Then please You two have given me some advice, and I am all ears."
Han Hao and Qin Gan looked at each other again, and then the former continued: "Actually, the northern advance of our Song Dynasty soldiers was quite smooth at the beginning. The Liao people were already facing many internal worries, and their unwillingness The elite few were even transferred to the north to deal with the Jin invasion, leaving a large area south of Youzhou empty of defense. In addition, our army had already mastered the details of the Liao army's border defense early on, so the advance was even more unstoppable and invincible. It only took two short days. In three months, we have entered more than 300 miles into the Liao territory and captured seven or eight pass cities." As he spoke, he smiled at Sun Tu again: "Of course, the contribution of the Yue marquis is also among them. Now everyone in the army knows it. , that Liao border defense map was brought back to the imperial court by you, Marquis of Yue, risking your life a few years ago."
Sun Tu smiled modestly, but was not busy talking. He just filled a glass of wine for the other party. Han Hao was not polite at all. He picked up the glass and drank it down in one gulp, and continued: "That was all before last summer. Judging from the situation at that time, even the subordinates were optimistic that we could win the victory before the Chinese New Year. Going down to Youzhou City has accomplished a hundred years of service."
At this point, his expression suddenly changed and his tone became heavy: "But who would have expected that everything would suddenly reverse in June, starting with a storming of Zuojun Fort!" Speaking of Zuojun, Han Hao's cheeks twitched when he heard the name "Fort", as if he had a little fear about it.
Qin Gan followed up and said: "When it comes to this battle, the general is in the right situation. I thought that the garrison in the fort was only two or three thousand, but our army has thirty thousand, so even a strong attack can be carried out overnight." , not to mention that the Liao army at that time was already invincible and it was difficult to improve.
"But the result turned out to be a big mistake. Just when I attacked with the whole army and attacked for half a day, trying to break through the pass, the Liao army actually held on to the pass. What was even more surprising was that that night, a group of people suddenly came out of the fort. The 20,000 elite Liao troops who were ready... Our Song soldiers were completely unprepared for that battle, and were actually defeated in one battle. If not for many brothers blocking them in front, I am afraid that all the last generals would have died. That’s it.”
It seemed that he was in agitated mood and urgently needed to calm down. After Qin Gan finished speaking, he drank three glasses of wine by himself. Only then did he recover from his shortness of breath, but his eyes were still red and his cheeks were still red.
The muscles on my body are still pulsing. Obviously, this defeat had a great impact on him. Even though more than half a year had passed, when he mentioned it again, it was still like yesterday, and he could remember many details that he didn't want to remember.
Sun Tu didn't rush to say anything when he saw this. After Qin Gan drank three glasses of wine in a row, he poured him another glass of wine. As a general in the army, he can naturally understand the feeling of being unable to do anything after a great defeat when his soldiers continue to die in battle.
Seeing that Qin Gan was losing his composure, Han Hao added: "In that battle, our army suffered no less than fifteen thousand casualties, but this was nothing compared to the subsequent battles. You, Marquis of Yue You know, the commander of the Liao army is really insidious. It turns out that the previous consecutive defeats and the easy surrender of many city checkpoints were just a vicious trick by them to lure our army deeper. And the Zuojun fort, which seemed to be the easiest to break, But it was a trap laid by the Liao army for our army. Not only was the strength of the defenders there far greater than we expected, but also, they actually had an ambush ten miles away...
"When the Chinese army received news of the defeat at the front and decisively sent reinforcements to meet them, they fell into their plan and were intercepted and raided by left and right forces on the way, resulting in heavy casualties. It was not until then that the Liao army showed their fangs and The offensive was far more ferocious than before, and the 100,000-strong army in front of us were killed in one breath. They were routed and retreated, almost approaching Tong Shuai's central army. If the remaining soldiers had not fought to the death, I'm afraid..." I thought of the worst that could happen. As a result, he suddenly had a sudden attack.
"It was this battle that turned our army from victory to defeat. We had no choice but to retreat again and again. We were only able to stop the decline by retreating a hundred miles from only fifty miles away from Youzhou. And the number of casualties was even more shocking. , both the Forbidden Army and the Northern Army have been severely injured, and it can be called a disastrous defeat."
After hearing these words, Sun Tu frowned deeply. He originally thought that even if the Song army suffered setbacks in the previous war, it would only be a minor defeat. It was only now that I realized that the real battle situation was much more tragic than I thought. No wonder a year later, they only dared to wander here in Baigou River, but did not dare to go further north. Apparently they were disillusioned after suffering a big loss. Very scared.
Thinking about the current situation of the three countries in the north, Sun Tu became more and more worried. It is said that the Song army could not even defeat the Liao army, which had declined to the extreme at this time. However, when such a Liao army encountered the rising Jin army, it was always beaten to the ground. The cities were lost one after another, and even the defenders could not be seen. The capital city, which is heavily guarded and has high walls and deep pools, will fall into the hands of the Jin people. Therefore, it is reasonable to say that after the Liao Dynasty was destroyed, the Jin army marched smoothly into the Central Plains and easily wiped out the Northern Song Dynasty court.
They are not afraid of not knowing the goods, but they are afraid of comparing goods. Compared with such an opponent, it is really unbearable to see how weak Song Jun is now, and I dare not think about it.
At this time, Han Hao's voice came up again: "The Marquis of Yue knows that in fact, our army would not have been defeated so miserably in this battle. Even if the Liao army went out with all its strength, even if we were killed by surprise, we, the Song Dynasty, would not be defeated so miserably." The army is several times the size of the enemy, so how can it be so invincible?"
Sun Tu quickly calmed down and raised his eyebrows slightly. He knew that the real drama was coming. Sure enough, I heard the other party say in anger: "The reason why we were defeated like this was because the Western Army suddenly stood helpless at that critical moment, which led to the loss of our Chinese Army.
After Fa regained his composure, he could only fight to the end with the loss of troops and generals, and a three-pronged bloody battle with the Liao army. The final result was that although the Liao army finally retreated, our army was also severely damaged. On the other hand, the Western Army only suffered a small defeat and did not suffer any damage to its muscles and bones. What's even more unbearable is that some people are taking advantage of this incident to try to turn against the guest and seize the power of the coach. If Tong Shuai hadn't won the support of soldiers from all walks of life, I'm afraid these hundreds of thousands of troops would have changed their castes by now! "
"Oh? Is this happening?" Sun Tu said with surprise. He really couldn't believe that the Zhong brothers would do such a desperate thing.
Qin Gan followed and hummed: "The general who was at the front was the one who had the most to say at that time. Indeed, from the beginning of the war to the third day, we never saw a single soldier from the Western Army coming to rescue us. This led to my The Chinese army fought alone and suffered heavy casualties. Afterwards, Commander Tong was unable to hold the Western Army accountable because of his scruples. He was even afraid of them because of this and had to compromise... When my subordinates looked at this, they felt really sad in their hearts. Ashamed!”
These two people were talking about Qi Qing's face, which made Sun Tu believe a little more. But he still had doubts in his heart: "How could it be so? We are both from the frontier army of the Song Dynasty, and Commander Tong was mostly in the Western Army in the past. How can we be so separated from them?"
"We have to ask the two husbands of the Zhong family what they are worried about. You, Marquis of Yue, have been generals for many years. You should have known how I, the Song Dynasty, have always suppressed generals, right?" Han Hao suddenly changed the subject and said . Seeing Sun Tu nodding, he added: "But after a hundred years, some things have finally changed. The soldiers and horses elsewhere are better, but because the Western Army must always be on guard against the invasion of Xixia, the situation is different from that of ordinary garrisons. The army, horses and generals have not changed for many years. There are even many generals like the Zhong family who have guarded the western border for generations, and the representative one among them is his Zhong family.
"As time goes on, their power in the army has become more and more powerful, and it has even reached the point where the officers and soldiers in the army only know that there are two kinds of people and do not know that there is a court. We have only heard about this in the past, and we did not know that it was true until today. As the power in their hands increased, the two generals were no longer as respectful to the court as their ancestors. Even if Tong Shuai was in charge, they still had two ambitions. They only wanted to preserve their own strength. As for the victory or defeat of the court, they were not in their calculations.
"In this battle with the Liao army, they exposed this clearly. Seeing that the Liao army was powerful, in order not to damage their own strength, they did not hesitate to die without saving them. They watched our army fall into a bitter battle without sending a single soldier. . It was not until the Liao army retreated in the end that they pretended to come to the rescue, which is really heartbreaking!"
Such accusations were so bloody that even Sun Tu didn't feel affected by them, and his perception of the two was quite different. Because in his opinion, such things cannot be faked after they have happened. Even if they exaggerate, it is always a fact that the Western Army failed to rescue and the entire army was defeated.
This was obviously the most difficult thing for Sun Tu to accept. After all, no matter how conflicted the two sides are, they must always be consistent in dealing with the outside world in the face of a truly powerful enemy.
"The two of us said these words today not to slander the two husbands of the family. They are really stuck in our throats. We must let you, Marquis of Yue, know who they are and not be deceived by their appearances." Han Hao even more said He said earnestly.