Yue Pengju and Hua Rong knelt on the mound, tears streaming down their faces. Yue Pengju said sadly: "The war was difficult, and the remains of the soldiers cannot be returned to their hometowns for burial. It is because of Yue Pengju's incompetence!"
Hua Rong was also very sad, but seeing that her husband had been busy with war these days, and that the great husband in the past was becoming more and more haggard, she forcibly suppressed her grief and silently helped him up.
It was ten days after everyone arrived at Xingshui, and the soldiers rested for two days before deciding to set out on the fourteenth. The march route this time was Zhuxian Town. The goal was to completely drive away the Jin army that had retreated to Kaifeng due to lack of skills. This time in the Northern Expedition, Kaifeng was already The final goal is to drive the Jin people away from here, and the two rivers can be truly recovered, and the humiliation of the Zhao clan's mausoleum can be overturned. The whole army is excited and eagerly looking forward to this moment.
The continuous battles exhausted everyone's physical and mental energy to the maximum. For two days in a row, Yue Pengju and his wife rested except for normal business. On the third day, Yue Pengju got up in the morning to do morning exercises and saw that his wife had prepared food and porridge. This is the first time she has cooked a meal herself since the war started.
He looked at his wife's increasingly haggard face and said softly: "Sister Seventeen, you have worked very hard these days. You don't need to work so hard anymore."
Hua Rong smiled sweetly, gently took his hand and sat down at the table: "Pengju, I'm happy to do these things. Eat more so you have more energy."
Yue Pengju sat down and drank three large bowls of porridge. He had to admit that the food cooked by his wife was indeed more to his liking than the military food.
He was about to say a few sweet words to his wife, but he heard a noise outside, and the soldiers could not stop him. He saw two women running in, knelt down and cried loudly: "Mr. Yue, you have to make the decision for the slave family. .”
It turned out that these two people were Wang Gui's wife and her cousin. Wang Gui's wife and Han Qing's wife were cousins. They came to Xingshui with a small group of military relatives recently. Wang's hair was disheveled and her face was blue. One piece of purple and one piece of purple, naturally it was because of Wang Guixin's concubine, who became more and more arrogant because of Wang Gui's pampering. She cried to her cousin, who naturally felt unfair for her, and they both came to complain to Yue Pengju.
Although Yue Pengju is the head coach, how can he deal with the household affairs of his generals? He was completely helpless and looked at his wife, only to see Hua Rong smiling and walking over to help Wang, saying softly: "Get up first, if you have anything to say..."
Hua Rong naturally thought of Wang's cry last year on the eve of Yue Peng's "taking in concubines", secretly lamenting the suffering of being a woman. When a husband takes a concubine, he cannot interfere or be jealous; his status in the family depends entirely on the husband's preferences. And bias. How can one husband and one wife be truly impartial? From the perspective of outsiders, three wives and four concubines make the whole family happy, but who knows the turmoil involved? Fortunately, I got to meet my beloved, a husband and a wife, loving and harmonious. However, how many such men are there in the world
However, no matter what other people's private affairs were, outsiders could only persuade them, but had no right to interfere. Hua Rong could only summon Wang Gui's wives and concubines to persuade them, and temporarily suppressed the turmoil.
On this day, Wang Gui, Zhang Xian and other generals came to discuss the military. After the military was over, Yue Pengju left him alone and said, "I have been fighting together with Wang Taiwei for more than ten years, and we are like brothers. So I am not afraid to talk today." A word of comfort. When a man is alive, the most difficult thing is drinking, sex and wealth. The famous Sichuan and Shaanxi general Wu Xianggong is such a hero, but when he was middle-aged, he fell in love with the beauties of Chengdu. He spent a lot of money to keep many beautiful concubines and took pills. , so that he died young when he was only in his forties; just like Han Xianggong, who was also a first-class hero, but because he took away the wife of the fierce general Hu Yantong, Hu Yantong committed suicide, and he no longer had any generals to fight with. The wife of chaff cannot be destroyed..."
Wang Gui's face turned red and white, and he naturally knew what the coach meant. Although he did not dare to refute, he disagreed with it in his heart. When a man is alive, he must love beautiful women and wealth, otherwise, he will have to fight through life and death to become his wife. What's the fun? He didn't agree with the coach's single wife and simple life, and he was even more disgusted after hearing Yue Pengju's words.
Yue Pengju knew what he was thinking, everyone had their own ambitions, and family matters could not be discussed on the table, so he said no more, sighed secretly, and asked Wang Gui to step back.
In the evening of that day, Li Ruoxu rushed back to the army.
He took out Zhao Deji's handwritten edict, which was naturally still ambiguous and mentioned two things. One was that the troops must withdraw before the 20th, and the other was that Yue Pengju and others should return to Lin'an for an audience.
Zhu Fu, Yu Peng, Zhang Jiefu and other staff have already read this edict. Although everyone has guessed this result, they are also deeply disappointed. It is only a few days away from the 20th, how can we win Kaifeng
Seeing the disappointment on everyone's faces, Li Ruoxu said with emotion: "The achievements of the Northern Expedition should not be destroyed in one day. The lower officials voluntarily bear the crime of perverting the imperial edict."
Yue Pengju was greatly grateful and moved. He bowed deeply and said, "In this case, the Yue family army will set off immediately. They will not be able to celebrate this great achievement until they behead the fourth prince."
After giving the order, the Yue family army immediately set off and marched towards Zhuxian Town.
Along the way, Yue Pengju saw that his wife was worried, but he had no time to ask her. It was not until they camped at night that the couple had time to talk. Hua Rong served her husband dinner and went to bed. Yue Pengju asked her: "Sister Seventeen, why are you so worried all day long?" ?”
Hua Rong said in a low voice: "The emperor has long been suspicious. Now that Qin Hui is in power, I don't know how many slanders have been made. Although Li Ruoxu volunteered to bear the crime of false edicts this time, how should the emperor deal with it in the future?"
Yue Pengju had already made up his mind to sink the ship, and said: "The morale is strong and cannot be defeated. We have the conditions and confidence to defeat the Fourth Prince this time. Therefore, even if we correct the imperial edict, we must expel the captives. Moreover, I have decided, After regaining Kaifeng, he resigned and went into seclusion."
Hua Rong had nothing to say. He just thought that what the emperor was afraid of was nothing more than the general's superiority and ability. If Pengju no longer had any soldiers and became a farmer, he should put down his suspicion and butcher knife, right
But I still felt uneasy, and I tossed and turned all night and couldn't sleep.
Besides, Jin Wushu retreated to Kaifeng and still returned to Longde Palace. It rained for several days in a row, which made him extremely depressed. He got drunk every day and felt deeply frustrated.
On this day, he sobered up, got up early, and summoned Tu Hesu, Saili, Zhang Tonggu, Li Qiong and others for discussion. Everyone was helpless about military issues and said nothing. Jin Wushu said angrily: "Quickly. If you have any good ideas, I will reward you generously."
Zhang Tonggucai slowly said: "I heard that the nine kings' court generals are at odds with each other. The nine kings are fatuous and lustful, and Qin Hui is the leader. The fourth prince Mo Ruo writes personally again, asking Qin Hui to negotiate for peace and relax the terms of the peace negotiation, but the Song Dynasty will kill him Yue Pengju."
Jin Wushu remembered that in the past, all the letters he sent to Qin Hui were secret letters, and there was never any official document. Today, he might as well change his strategy and issue an official order from Dai Jin. In this way, he would probably be more able to intimidate Zhao Deji, so he nodded: "Okay, let's go with this." count."
Immediately, Zhang Tonggu wrote and Jin Wushu dictated, "The Taibao of the Jin Dynasty, the Marshal of the Capital, and the King of Yue addressed the Nine Kings of Jiangnan" - at this time, he still called the Song Kingdom "Jiangnan" and the Emperor of the Song Dynasty as the "Nine Kings". Between the lines, the arrogance of the Celestial Kingdom was fully demonstrated. Then, this letter sent Zhang Tonggu as an envoy and officially sent it to Lin'an.
After Zhang Tonggu left, he was still restless. Kaifeng was now the last stronghold of the southern invasion. He led the Jin Kingdom's 120,000-strong army in the southern expedition. Although almost all political enemies in the DPRK and China had been eliminated, for the sake of his future political career, This time, if it fails completely, what will it look like when we go back
He had a strong nature and strong self-esteem, and could not tolerate being driven back to the Song Dynasty in despair by Yue Peng, so he forcibly ordered the deployment to discuss the strategy of defeating the enemy for days and nights. No matter what, he must fight back with all his strength.
Zhang Tonggu rushed to Lin'an day and night. Thirty miles outside Lin'an City, he was attacked by an army. It turned out that Han Zhongliang from Huaixi was ordered to report his work at the palace. He found out that Zhang Tonggu had come to Lin'an to deliver a peace negotiation letter. So he sent people to intercept and kill. Han Zhongliang was stationed in Huaixi and had outstanding military exploits. Naturally, he was unwilling to negotiate for peace. He hoped that after entering the capital, he could persuade the emperor and ask for a joint army with Yue Pengju to completely drive out the captives. He sent his own soldiers to rush into the post house and Just as he was about to capture Zhang Tonggu, he was stopped by the Song army sent by the prime minister. After a fierce fight, Han Zhongliang finally did not dare to openly oppose the court, so he could only fall short.
Zhang Tonggu escaped from death and was grateful to Qin Hui, so he immediately went with him to see Zhao Deji.
Zhao Deji was overjoyed when he saw this letter written by the fourth prince, and did not care about the scornful name for himself. What really pleased him was that Jin Wushu agreed to three conditions in the letter: return Song Huizong's Zi Palace, return Wei Xianfei, and return the two The river combined to reduce the annual tribute and coins of the Song Dynasty.
The first two conditions are commonplace, but the third condition is like pie in the sky. Zhao Deji was overjoyed, but also dubious: "Since the Fourth Prince wants to return the two rivers, why can't he occupy them and leave?"
Qin Hui immediately said: "The Fourth Prince is fierce but courageous. Yue Peng was able to defeat him with 20,000 troops. This shows that the power of the Jin Kingdom is declining and there is simply not enough power to pose a major threat to the Song Dynasty. He is now forced to Retreating to Kaifeng, the two rivers will naturally be unable to be defended. After Wang's army has won consecutive victories, it is better to show benevolence and generosity. This can shake the morale of the soldiers. Since ancient times, the destiny of the country has not depended on war, but on peace. Today, Yue Peng is proud and brave. , actually sent troops against the order... "
After successive great victories in Shunchang, Yancheng, Xingshui and other places, Zhao Deji was already convinced that half of his country was safe. Along with this, he became even more angry and frightened about Yue Pengju's disobedience of sending troops: "Li Ruoxu actually committed suicide." You are responsible for the crime of correcting the imperial edict and have failed to fulfill my entrustment..."
"Yue Pengju has always shown himself to be honest and honest, and made friends with scribes at all costs. If a warrior colludes with scribes, it will definitely lead to disaster."
Qin Hui had spoken very openly at this time, but it played into Zhao Deji's hands. Even a famous "loyal person" like Li Ruoxu was willing to issue a corrective edict for Yue Peng and bear the blame himself. Moreover, he could not publicly punish him, otherwise, how could he Can you block the mouth of the world? The soul of Li Ruoshui who died for his country is still there!
His anger towards Yue Pengju deepened, and he asked Qin Hui, "What should we do if we want to prevent Yue Pengju from retreating?"
At this time, Qin Hui completely understood the emperor's intention and said: "If he wants to retreat, the best way is to cut off his food and grass first."
Zhao Deji said: "The movement of food and grass can be slowed down, but the Yue family's army has won consecutive battles, so his army cannot be deprived of food."
Qin Hui was overjoyed. Of course he would not say that he had secretly intercepted the Yue family's army's food and grass, but he had justifiably got rid of the crime of correcting the imperial edict.