In Shen Yi's study, Ling Su opened the door carefully and walked in, lowered his head and clasped his fists.
"Mr. Shen, are you looking for me?"
Shen Yi nodded, first asked him to sit down, then handed him the information sent by the Di Reporting Department, and said: "The border troops of Northern Qi are coming."
"Currently, they are in Shanxi, but they are coming all the way to the southeast. If they go all out, they will be able to reach the frontline battlefield in five or six days. Even if they conserve their strength and walk slowly, they will arrive within ten days."
Mr. Shen squinted his eyes and spoke while thinking: "It's winter now, and the weather is getting colder day by day. Our army is all from the south, and they are not good at fighting in winter. My opinion is that before the spring of next year, it is best to Stay on the defensive."
Ling Su quickly read the information. He lowered his head and thought for a moment before saying, "Mr. Shen, a large part of these Northern Qi border troops are cavalry. They fight within the pass and are not as powerful as imagined. But even so , based on their military strength, even if we are to defend, it is best to rely on the big city to defend."
Shen Yi looked at Ling Su and frowned slightly: "What does General Ling mean?"
"Fighting and retreating at the same time, the eastern front eventually retreated to Jinan, and the western front retreated to Kaifeng."
"With these two provincial cities here, no matter how fierce the Qi people are, we can easily hold on for a long time."
Shen Yi looked at the map. After thinking for a while, he shook his head slightly: "Too much retreat."
Ling Su insisted on his opinion: "Mr. Shen, you also said that if you save people and lose land, everyone and land will survive; if you save land and lose people, everyone will lose!"
"This is a time and that is a time."
Shen Yi said softly: "When I said this in the past, Shandong and Henan were still in the hands of the Qi people, and we never fully occupied it. At that time, in order to be flexible, we could naturally fight like this."
"But now, not to mention Henan, the six prefectures of Shandong have all surrendered, and the people there are already the people of Dachen. Master Zhu Li is going south again. If we retreat, they will suffer greatly immediately."
Ling Su frowned.
Shen Yi knocked on the table with his knuckles and said slowly: "Of course, this is not absolute. If the front is indeed unable to hold up, and staying and holding on is just a unnecessary sacrifice, then of course you have to retreat when it's time to retreat."
"But I don't think we've reached that time yet."
"We always have to fight the Qi people first, and then consider whether to retreat or not."
Master Shen pointed his finger at the map and said, "We will use Zhangde Prefecture, Guangping Prefecture, Dongchang Prefecture, and Jinan Prefecture to form the east-west defense line."
"Let's take a look first."
Shen Yi lowered his head and made an estimate, then continued: "Xue Wei has already gone north and should arrive in Shanxi soon. At that time, some of the Qi people's attention will definitely be diverted. After that, the reinforcements from the imperial court and Pei Jun's West Route Army will , will rush to the battlefield to support."
Mr. Shen remained expressionless and continued: "Coupled with Shandong and Henan, the overall people's support is available, and even temporary recruitment of soldiers will be able to cope with the situation."
"After all, we are no less numerous than Qi people."
"Moreover, Qi people are more anxious now, and we are not in a hurry."
He looked at Ling Su, thought for a while, gave Ling Su a smile, and said: "General Ling, the battle is about to begin. First of all, you, the general, must not panic. Fight as you should."
"Winter is not conducive to fighting. It won't be difficult for us to persist for a few months."
"By the time next spring comes, these Qi people will have exhausted all their energy, and the outcome will be uncertain."
Ling Su looked respectful, lowered his head and saluted, "General, I will obey your orders!"
"General Mo will make arrangements now!"
Mr. Shen nodded first, and then said: "By the way, the latest pension list must be sent to me as soon as possible."
He said silently: "Before the new year, I will complete all these pensions and distribute the money."
Ling Su hesitated for a moment and asked: "Master Shen wants to return to Jiankang?"
Shen Yi shook his head.
"The war is going on, where can I go back?"
From the 8th year of Hongde's reign when he went out to work in Jiankang to the current 16th year of Hongde's reign, Shen Yi basically returned to Jiankang or went to Jiangdu to celebrate the New Year every year.
In fact, the main reason was not to go back to celebrate the New Year, but that Emperor Hongde needed him to go back to "report on his duties" and make a plan for the emperor for the next year.
But now, it is already November and almost December.
The battle on the front line may break out at any time. Under such circumstances, Shen Yi will never be able to return to Jiankang to celebrate the New Year this year.
In fact, he really wanted to go back and see what the young son Ye Chan had just given birth to looked like.
But circumstances don’t allow it, so we can only wait until next year.
He sat back in his seat and said: "Before the New Year, if the money is distributed, the family will be sad until the end of the year. When the New Year is over, the difficulties in my heart may be over."
"Save me a whole year of sadness."
Chinese New Year is a magical thing.
After the New Year is over, the hearts of Chinese people assume that another year has passed, and many things seem to have passed away.
In addition, there are generally many children in this era, which can somewhat cover up some of the sadness.
Ling Su lowered his head silently: "General, I understand. I will ask the clerks to send the pension list to Mr. Shen as soon as possible."
Shen Yi nodded and said with a smile: "In previous years, I have to go back to Jiankang to meet the Holy Spirit. This year it is rare to spend the New Year with my brothers. When the New Year comes, General Ling will bring my two eldest nephews and come over to celebrate the New Year together. "
Ling Su bowed his head again.
"I will obey my orders!"
………………
On the seventh day of the twelfth lunar month, in the city of Hejian Prefecture.
A strong man, welcomed by everyone, arrived at the general's mansion in Fucheng.
Zhou Shizhong and his son set up a large banquet to greet the strong man. In order to show respect, Zhou Shizhong invited him to sit on the main seat.
This man was not polite and sat down on the main seat. Even Lang Deruo, the eldest son and eldest grandson of the Lang family, didn't take him seriously.
After sitting down, the strong man drank a glass of wine with Lang Deruo and Zhou's father and son. After putting down the wine glass, he glanced at the three people present and said lightly: "Everyone, our army has been ordered by the emperor. Some of them have already arrived at Zhending Mansion, and the other part can reach Hejian tomorrow."
"This time, we are all on the emperor's mission to suppress the bandits. I hope we can cooperate sincerely to drive out the southern bandits completely and not let down the emperor's high expectations."
Lang Deruo lowered his head to drink. After drinking a glass of wine, he called for a good drink. Then he looked up at the strong man and said lazily: "Nuoyong, the emperor has put all his hopes on you this time. How can you
Don't let the emperor down."
The strong man named Nuoyong smiled at Lang Deruo and did not answer.
Although he now has a heavy army, Lang Deruo is the emperor's eldest cousin after all, and the Lang family is now the number one family in Zhu Lizhen's hometown. Of course, he does not dare to offend the eldest son and grandson of the Lang family.
After saying a few words to Lang Deruo, he looked at Zhou Shizhong and raised his neck slightly, exposing his nostrils.
"General Zhou, according to the emperor's order, your army must fully cooperate with our border army in this war."
Zhou Shizhong was not angry. He lowered his head slightly and said with a smile: "Of course we will fully cooperate with General Nuo."
"Well."
Nuo Yong grinned, showing his big yellow teeth.
"In large-scale operations, the most important thing is cooperation. What is important is that there is a clear understanding of the heart and that nothing can go wrong."
"Nowadays, the southern military has been defeated again and again, and we must not continue to fight like this."
"Therefore, I feel that General Zhou can hand over all the command authority to me."
"If we cooperate like this, nothing will go wrong."
As he spoke, he looked at Zhou Shizhong with an angry look.
"What do you think, General?"
Zhou Shizhong did not speak, but looked at Zhou Yuanlang aside.
Just as Zhou Yuanlang was about to speak, Nuo Yong looked at Zhou Shizhong aggressively.
"As an important minister of the imperial court, the general has a large number of troops. Do you want the younger generation to decide such important military matters?"