Guo Xiao's charred body was transported back to the capital. After Guo Boyan saw it, he immediately ordered the coffin to be collected. The rest of the Guo family were not allowed to see it, including the sobbing Mrs. Tai and Princess Duanhui. Survive for the prince who died heroically on the battlefield. Song Jianing was heavy and went to burn incense every few days, but even if he was in the palace, he could hear the cry from the Guo family.
The adults are in a heavy heart, Zhao Zhao is more obedient than usual, quietly staying by her mother's side, and no longer coquettishly pestering her to play with her.
The death of Guo Xiao, Song Jianing sighed with emotion for a few days, as the grief of the Guo family gradually settled, her mind was gradually reoccupied by her own trivial matters. The prince was worried about state affairs in the court, and after returning to the mansion, she had to take care of her body. She had to adjust her emotions as soon as possible, and not cause trouble for the prince, and then her daughter became more and more fond of learning tongues...
"What does Zhaozhao look like?" Song Jianing walked slowly in the yard with her daughter as the sun set. Since she was pregnant, she has been walking around every day.
"Good-looking!" Zhao Zhao answered intelligently.
Song Jianing smiled and then asked, "Is Zhao Zhao fat or is my mother fat?"
Zhaozhao looked at her mother's big belly, and then looked at her own little belly, hehe smiled: "Mother is fat!" Mother's belly is bigger than hers.
The girls just walked to the corridor. Song Jianing looked up and saw the prince leading Eunuch Fu over. The man was wearing a jade crown and a plain robe with white teeth. He was as handsome as the breeze and the bright moon. Song Jianing secretly observed the prince's expression, and seeing his brows stretched out and smiling at their mothers as he walked, Song Jianing was relieved, guessing that today's court affairs were going well.
"Daddy!" Zhaozhao happily ran forward, but he was too short to get on the corridor, and stretched out his little hand to be hugged by the king.
The daughter was white and clean, beautifully like a little fairy child transformed from a begonia flower, Zhao Heng bent down and lifted her daughter up easily.
"What's the point of laughing?" Holding his daughter, Zhao Heng asked the princess in the corridor with interest.
Song Jianing snorted towards his daughter and pretended to snort, "Just now Zhaozhao said I was fat."
Hearing this, Zhao Heng glanced at her plump cheeks involuntarily. The white inside was red and tender, especially after she was pregnant, she was indeed a plump and fat beauty.
"Fat girls are beautiful." Holding his daughter's chubby hand, Zhao Heng taught his daughter in a low voice that he never wanted his little princess to starve for a slim figure in the future.
"Fat Niangmei!" Zhaozhao looked at his mother and said earnestly.
Fat girl... Zhao Heng smiled and looked at the princess opposite. Song Jianing had been teased by her cousins Fat Sister and Fat An'an. This was the first time she was called Fat Niang by her daughter.
Zhao Heng stepped down the corridor, hugged his daughter in one hand and her hand in the other, and walked slowly to the main room.
Neither of the couple mentioned the funeral of the Duke's Mansion. There was a lively and lovely daughter by their side. Song Jianing couldn't think of anyone else. Zhao Heng also forgot about the war with the Liao Kingdom for the time being. Time to spend with my daughter. When night fell, the wet nurse took the little princess away, and Zhao Hengcai concentrated on coaxing the princess.
On the bed, Song Jianing leaned on the head of the bed, Zhao Heng knelt on the side, his head pressed against her bulging belly, listening to the movements of his second child.
Across his mother's belly, the little guy gently kicked his father.
Zhao Heng smiled, his handsome face turned to her, he hadn't shown such a relaxed look for a long time, Song Jianing couldn't help but look at it for a while.
"Good news from the West Route Army, Yingzhou has been captured." Zhao Heng sat beside her and hugged her.
Song Jianing was overjoyed, the West Route Army wanted to recover four states, and Yingzhou was taken down, leaving only one Yunzhou. This is the first good news after the defeat and setback of the East Route Army, no wonder the prince is so happy.
"My lord can get a good night's sleep now." Song Jianing leaned on his shoulder and said with a sigh of relief. Marrying a prince, state affairs are family affairs. Song Jianing sincerely hopes that this Northern Expedition to Liao Kingdom will go smoothly.
Zhao Heng squeezed her hand and relaxed in his heart, but he didn't dare to let go of it completely. The three-way army had to stare on either side.
In Zhuozhou, where the East Route Army was stationed, although it was the lamplight time, the privy envoy Cao Yu and his generals did not sleep, and gathered at Cao Yu's mansion to discuss important matters. The two armies on the west road and the middle road have reported victories again and again, and they have made many military exploits. They are the only ones who have lost several months of food and grass in the defeat. Even if the three armies finally merge to win Youzhou, the credit given to them on the east road may not be worth the previous violations. The crime of the emperor.
"Cao Shuai, if you want me to say, we should continue to fight Youzhou!" A lieutenant slapped the table, raised his neck and said unconvincingly, "Before the Liao army despicably burned our food and grass, we had to go back, and now the food and grass are gone. At this point, the Liao army has divided 20,000 troops to attack the West Route Army, and there are only 80,000 left in Youzhou, so why should we lead an army of 90,000 to attack the city?"
"That's right, Cao Shuai, we can atone for our sins by taking Youzhou alone!" The others echoed.
Cao Yu frowned, rubbed her chin back and forth with her big hand, and touched it. Suddenly, a figure appeared in her mind, Guo Xiao. Guo Xiao is the eldest son of Guo Boyan, the eldest son of Guo Gongfu, and the consort chosen by the emperor himself for Princess Duanhui. If his military achievements are not enough, the emperor will count Guo Xiao's death on his head...
"Go ahead and attack Youzhou again tomorrow morning!" Cao Yu got up and swept his eyes sternly at the surrounding generals, "You can only win this battle, not lose!"
"The end will obey orders!"
With the decision, before dawn the next day, Cao Yu's army on the east route, for the second time, went against the will of Emperor Xuande and headed for Youzhou. Last time, Yeluxiong, the general of the Liao Kingdom, held the city to avoid confrontation with Dazhou. This time, he had 80,000 iron cavalry under his command. As soon as he got the news, Yeluxiong personally led his troops out of the city and waited in formation.
Cao Yu was eager to make a contribution, but the East Route Army had previously abandoned the food and grass and attacked Zhuozhou and Youzhou continuously. After running out of food, they returned to Zhuozhou. They were brought over to attack the city without breathing. Iron cavalry opponent? One day of fighting, outside the city of Youzhou, Dazhou lost 20,000 troops, Cao Yu saw that the situation was not right, and immediately withdrew his troops and returned to Zhuozhou.
Yeluxiong led his troops to pursue them desperately, so the East Route Army had to retreat again, all the way to Yingzhou. Not only did they lose the Liao land that was soon recovered, but also the mountains and rivers in Zhoujing north of Yingzhou were in danger. The 90,000-strong army was only With 30,000 left, this is still the result of the Liao army giving up and continuing to pursue and killing, and suddenly retreating, otherwise the East Route Army may be wiped out.
The difficulty of Youzhou was lifted, and the Empress Dowager Xiao continued to drive her own expedition, leading her troops to support Weizhou on the middle road. At the same time, Yeluxiong also led 30,000 cavalry to Yunzhou on the west road.
The news of the West Route Army's capture of Yunzhou and the East Route Army's disastrous defeat spread to the capital almost at the same time.
Emperor Xuande was furious, fainted on the spot, shocked the court and the public, and the civil and military ministers hurriedly carried the emperor to the side hall for diagnosis and treatment by the imperial physician Xuande. Emperor Xuande was angry and woke up as soon as he pinched him. After waking up, he scolded Cao Yu and scolded Cao Yu, even more nasty than the villagers in the countryside, such as "kill his old mother" and so on.
"Father, let's withdraw our troops, we don't want the Fourteenth State of Youyun anymore. The most urgent task is to not let the Liao Kingdom take our city any more!" The second prince, Prince Rui, persuaded bitterly that his anger could not solve the problem.
Emperor Xuande was about to smash something when he heard this, his arm froze in the air.
"Father, my son agrees." Zhao Heng said solemnly. The Liao State successively dispatched an army of 200,000 troops to face it, and the 200,000-strong army in Dazhou has already lost 70,000.
Emperor Xuande squeezed his forehead, irritated for a moment, suddenly got up, and forced himself to look at the map, temporarily changed the battle strategy, summoned, and ordered the Central Route Army led by Han Da to return to Xiongzhou to reject the first, and the remaining 30,000 of Cao Yu's men. The troops and horses converged to resist the invasion of the Liao soldiers. As for the west road... Emperor Xuande clenched his fists and gritted his teeth: "Send my will and order Pan Xun to lead the people of the four states of Yunzhou to retreat together."
As soon as these words came out, the courtiers in the hall looked at each other in dismay, Zhao Heng frowned and looked at Prime Minister Li He first.
Li He pondered: "Your Majesty, if the army brings the common people, the marching speed will definitely slow down. Once the Liao soldiers catch up..."
Emperor Xuande looked at him coldly: "My crusade against the Liao Kingdom is to save the people of Youyun from water and fire. Now Cao Yu has disobeyed my order and ruined my plan. I have to retreat, but I must not leave the people of Youyun to suffer again The Liao Kingdom has been bullied. Pan Xun, Wang Sheng, and Li Jizong are all veterans in the battlefield, and they will not fail my trust."
Li He listened with his head down, and understood, the Northern Expedition had been defeated, and the emperor brought some people back, and his face looked a little better.
"The emperor loves the people like a son, which is the blessing of the people in Youyun." Li He bowed his body and praised with sincerity, and Prince Rui immediately agreed.
The corners of Emperor Xuande's lips pursed tightly. At this moment, apart from the sudden fiasco of the Liao Kingdom, no flattery could make him happy.
The will of the palace spread quickly.
The West Route Army, the generals received the will to retreat, although they were not willing to give up the few cities they captured, but the situation was pressing, and there was no way to do it. The coach Pan Xun and the supervisor Wang Sheng immediately arranged to go, and the soldiers were well-trained and assembled quickly, but some people in the four states were reluctant to leave, and it was a waste of time to drive away the people.
After retreating to Shuozhou, the Liao Army caught up, only half a day's journey away from the West Route Army and the common people.
Supervisor Wang Sheng ordered veteran Li Jizong to lead 30,000 elite soldiers to meet the enemy head-on, and they continued to retreat with the people.
Li Jizong was over fifty years old and experienced hundreds of battles. He bluntly denied Wang Sheng's strategy. He pointed to Chenjiagu on the sand table and said: "The Liao army has won several cities in a row, and it is not suitable for them to confront them. Three thousand archers lay in ambush here, and the cavalry will support them in the middle, so that although the enemy cannot retreat, it can protect the people of the four states from retreating to Daizhou."
King Gong nods, the old man has a good idea.
Wang Sheng sneered: "The general is our famous god of war in the Great Zhou Dynasty. He is the undefeated general who made the Liao army fearful in the mouths of the people. This time, we have 60,000 elites, but the general is timid and dare not face the enemy. If you want to lose, you don’t want to have too much trouble with the Liao Kingdom, so that you can leave a way out?”
"Wang Sheng, don't spit your blood!" King Gong stepped forward abruptly and grabbed Wang Sheng's shirt.
Wang Sheng almost resisted, thinking that Prince Gong was the prince, Wang Sheng clenched his hands, held back, and slanted Li Jizong and said: "The lord doesn't know something, he was originally down..."
He actually dared to be disrespectful to the old man, Prince Gong raised his hand, but just before his fist fell, someone suddenly grabbed it.
King Gong stared back.
The grandson-in-law of Li Jizong shook his head, put down Prince Gong's hand, and the veteran general who was over fifty years old looked directly at Wang Sheng and said, "The general has been overthinking it, since the general ordered me to send troops, I will listen to the general's dispatch, but the general must follow what I just said, Leave 3,000 archers to ambush in Chenjiagu, and then send cavalry to respond, so there is still a good chance of winning."
Wang Sheng hesitated, the Liao army did not come from one side, Li Jizong had already taken away most of the elites, and then sent someone to him, in case...
"Why, you still don't want to?" King Gong asked coldly.
He favored the Li family, and Wang Sheng didn't dare to directly smear the prince's face, so he had to respond first.
"Grandfather, I'll go with you." Li Mulan whispered.
Li Jizong knew that his granddaughter was worried about him, so he thought about it and said with a smile, "Mulan and the archer should meet me in Chenjiagu together."
If the granddaughter is not allowed to go, the granddaughter will definitely not agree, but this trip is dangerous, and Li Jizong never wants his granddaughter to be in danger.
"I'm with Mulan." Prince Gong said immediately, his eyes fixed on the princess, his black eyes were so bright that Li Mulan was inexplicably throbbing.