Killing prisoners and making enemies? Lu Zheng looked at Meng Shanming in bewilderment, and his heart was shocked again. He slaughtered 600,000 prisoners of the Song Dynasty at one time, how could he not make enemies?
Not only is this a grudge, but it is also a big feud. It will definitely be an unforgettable shame for the entire Song Dynasty. How could the Song Dynasty not avenge this hatred if they had the chance!
This turned out to be intentional. In addition to the grand strategy mentioned to Gong Linche before, it was also necessary to cut off the retreat of the soldiers of the Song Dynasty and force the soldiers to fight bravely!
It turns out that killing prisoners can also be a way to boost morale!
He understood that there were so many reasons behind it, no wonder Meng Shuai persisted in doing so despite the infamy and pressure from the three major factions...
The army left Qunluo Mountain with groups of captives in tow. All the baggage carried by the army was forced on the prisoners to bear, freeing the Yan people from the burden.
Although the ground in this water-soaked area has dried a lot, the road is still muddy as we march, making the trek a bit difficult.
Meng Shanming did not want to waste food on the captives who were bearing the burden, and only gave them some soup and water to eat and drink. It was obvious that they were not strong enough and had a difficult time carrying the load. One can imagine the situation.
Almost all of these prisoners were injured, all were missing an ear, and there were blood stains on each of their cheeks.
The ground was muddy and the army was moving slowly.
…
"Master Dao, Gongsun Bu's letter and the red-faced monkey's letter arrived almost at the same time."
In the mountain, Guan Fangyi took out two letters.
Niu Youdao first looked at Gongsun Bu's message, and nothing else. He just reminded that the Yan army in Qunluo Mountain had set off again.
Later, looking at what Yuan Gang passed, it was in handwriting that only two of them were familiar with. Niu Youdao knew that it was top-secret information.
At first glance, it was Gao Jicheng from Yanjing who had replied.
It is understandable that the news about Gao Jicheng came late. Due to the need for confidentiality, he did not let Guan Fangyi and others around him know that he was in contact with Gao Jicheng. He would forward it to Yuan Gang when he got there. It is normal that the news came late.
Niu Youdao steeled himself to take a closer look at Gao Jiancheng's opinion, which was very pertinent.
Gao Jiancheng first mentioned Yanjing's plan to use 600,000 prisoners as a bargaining chip to let Niu Youdao have an idea.
Afterwards, Gao Jiancheng didn't say whether the 600,000 prisoners could be killed, but only put forward his opinions for Niu Youdao's reference.
After all, there are 600,000 prisoners. Killing these 600,000 people, not to mention others, will have an impact on Meng Shanming's reputation. It is conceivable that at least the reputation of a 'murderer' will not escape.
If you don't kill them, it's obviously unnecessary to keep them and consume them. It's better to use them as a bargaining chip for the court.
If you want to kill, you have to be a bit particular. It is best not to kill too directly. It is more appropriate to use it as a bargaining chip before killing.
This bargaining chip does not refer to the negotiating chip of the imperial court, but to the negotiating chips of Shang Chaozong or Meng Shanming.
What Gao Jiancheng meant was to let Meng Shanming use this to ask for food and grass from the Song army. When the news was sent back to Song Jing, there would be two groups of people arguing in the court hall of Song Jing. One party was willing to give it to the 600,000 elites, and the other party must not be willing to give it.
The premise of this argument is that Yanjing is using 600,000 prisoners as a condition for the withdrawal of the Song army, and also attaches the requirement of food and grass. Song Jing must think that the conditions here are too harsh, and is also worried that Meng Shanming will be even more powerful after getting the food and grass. If he goes back on his words, it will be in danger.
In the Song Dynasty, it was inevitable that there would be disputes between more than two factions in the Song Dynasty.
There are several advantages to doing this.
Once a prisoner was killed and the court held him accountable, Meng Shanming could complain about the lack of food and grass and resist the court's prosecution, but there was not enough supplies here and the court could not provide them.
On the other hand, Meng Shanming could say that the Song State was not sincere and killed them in anger, which could offset some of the negative effects of killing prisoners and shift some of the responsibility to the Song State. Accusing that the Song State did not want to save these prisoners could weaken the morale of the Song soldiers.
and morale.
The last advantage is that once the prisoners are killed, those in the Song Dynasty court who advocate food supply will inevitably blame those who do not agree to provide food. Those people are responsible for the murder of 600,000 elites, which can cause strife in the Song Dynasty court.
In the final analysis, what Gao Jiancheng means is that if you do bad things, you must have a reason to argue that you are not a bad person, and you must try your best to take the opportunity to cause some trouble for your opponent.
After reading Gao Jicheng's opinion, Niu Youdao was amused and realized that people who have been immersed in the court for a long time are people who have been immersed in the court for a long time. They are full of bad ideas. They are really good at this.
Niu Youdao still had the same attitude. He didn't want to interfere too much with the battlefield affairs unless necessary. He left the specialized matters to professionals to do it freely, so he sent a message to Meng Shanming about Gao Jicheng's opinions.
Of course, no trace of Gao Jiancheng will be revealed, and everything will be transformed into his own meaning.
The two sides were not too far apart, and Gongsun Bu quickly received his letter. After translating the secret letter, he handed it to Meng Shanming as soon as possible.
The road was muddy. Meng Shanming was sitting in a slow-moving carriage when he saw the letter. The letter was handed in by Gongsun Bu from the window and delivered to Luo Daan. Lu Zheng was acting as the driver and driving the carriage.
After reading the letter, Meng Shanming stroked his beard and shook his head, and sighed softly, "The Taoist is the Taoist, and he even makes good plans in the temple."
He admired him from the bottom of his heart. Although he was very good at fighting, he was not very good at matters in the court, such as the evaluation of outsiders.
To be precise, it's not that he is stupid, but that he doesn't pay much attention to it and is unwilling to invest energy in thinking about it. People's energy is limited, and if they are too scattered, they will not be good at one thing. When King Ning was alive, he only focused on studying war.
However, he didn't have any wrong thoughts about anything in the court, and Prince Ning was blocking him. Now he had no need to care about what he thought in the court.
Niu Youdao, on the other hand, did not bind him in any way during the war and only provided useful help, which also made him feel very comfortable, unlike the three major factions who liked to interfere.
He feels that it is a blessing to have a capable person who has been hiding behind the scenes to pay attention to the crisis and help resolve it in time.
For example, during the previous suppression of the rebellion, no one in Nanzhou noticed the approaching crisis. Only Niu Youdao noticed that the imperial court was going to attack the Shang Chaozong. Niu Youdao immediately transferred the 100,000 cavalrymen from Nanzhou who were about to fall into a catastrophe.
, allowing him, Meng Shanming, to lead one hundred thousand cavalry out of danger in time.
It was unacceptable for Meng Shanming and others to let Shang Chaozong be in danger alone. Meng Shanming wanted to lead his people to go to the rescue, but Niu Youdao sent someone to stop him.
Now that I look back and think about it, to a certain extent, as long as Meng Shanming and Nanzhou are still strong, the imperial court will not dare to do anything to the Shang Chaozong.
From another perspective, Shang Chaozong suffered the consequences by staying behind, but the killing of Shi Sheng has gradually faded away.
Looking back at the situation again, Niu Youdao was the most rational and calm person. Considering the situation of Shang Chaozong at that time, it can even be said that he was terrifyingly rational.
If it weren't for Niu Youdao, you can imagine the consequences of the matter. They were the ones who called for sending troops to save the Yan Kingdom, but it was Niu Youdao who cleared the obstacles for them to send troops and prevent risks. If it weren't for Niu Youdao, he was hiding behind the scenes.
If we take action, the consequences of the Shang Dynasty's killing of Shi Sheng would be unimaginable, and how could we have the current situation.
A bird appeared in the sky in the distance, and Zhang Hu's voice soon came from the car window, "Commander, someone from Song Jing is here to verify the number of prisoners."
Meng Shanming closed the secret letter in his hand and said calmly: "Inform the ministries to be careful and let them verify. In addition, inform the people of Song State that they want the prisoners to bring food..."
…
The negotiations between Song and Yan have reached results, but they did not stop the Song army. The Song army's 500,000 vanguard troops finally came to the city and surrounded Yanjing!
The city gates of Yanjing were tightly closed, and the guards stood on top of the city as if they were facing a formidable enemy. All kinds of defensive facilities were ready, and millions of civilians organized in the city were busy cooperating with the army to defend the city. It can be seen from this that as long as there are precautions,
Determined, the resistance force in Yanjing City is definitely not limited to the 200,000 defenders.
Despite this, the people in the city were still panic-stricken.
Outside the city, a monk sent Song envoy Qian Liansheng out and asked him to meet with the Song army generals.
Under Qian Liansheng's persuasion, and with Luo Zhao's military orders, the Song Army could only besiege but not attack for the time being, waiting for the results of the negotiations to be implemented. Once the implementation was unfavorable, the Song Army would immediately attack the city!
The Song army was shouting and threatening outside the city, beating drums and blowing trumpets from time to time to create pressure on the people in the city!
There is a corner of the palace that no one dares to approach anymore, because some of the corpses in the palace are gathered here and burned.
No one dared to mention the cause of death of the palace concubines. Even though he knew that it could not be concealed, the chief steward Tian Yu still issued a ban. Anyone who made unreasonable opinions would die!
Shang Jianxiong did not dare to go back to the harem for the time being, and even his sleeping quarters were temporarily moved to a small room in the royal study. People around him knew what he was afraid of, but no one dared to tell him.
The enemy troops clamored outside the city. In the palace inside the city, Tong Mo took the negotiation results and discussed the implementation steps with Shang Jianxiong and others.
There is no way to negotiate this. We must implement the results of the negotiation and take care of Shang Chaozong's emotions. The current situation has no choice but to let Shang Jianxiong ignore Shang Chaozong and forcefully issue the command. Shang Chaozong holds military power in his hands!
Military power is what civilian officials hate the most about military attaches, and it is also what civilian officials fear the most. Therefore, whenever there is an opportunity, civilian officials are eager to add layers of restrictions to the military power in the hands of military attaches.
Dare to make Shang Chaozong angry at this time, and the negotiations will yield no results.
Previously, Shang Jianxiong was looking forward to Shang Chaozong's 100,000 cavalry attacking the Song army. Now, he was really afraid that Shang Chaozong would be impulsive and ruin his affairs.
From Shang Jianxiong's perspective, Shang Chaozong had every reason to do this.
Meng Xuan came and barged in directly, ignoring the guards outside.
Shang Jianxiong stood up from behind the case and asked eagerly: "Master Meng, have all the three major factions made arrangements for frontline matters?"
Meng Xuan hesitated for a moment. He was also embarrassed by this matter and found it difficult to speak. After all, he had made a promise before.
But there is no way, the news sent back by Gong Linche does make sense. The most important thing is that Meng Shanming and others are self-respecting and relying on their ability to control the situation, they don't listen to the three major factions at all. At this time, the three major factions
As long as you still care about your own interests, you don't dare to do anything to Meng Shanming, otherwise the consequences will be disastrous!
Seeing his reaction, Shang Jianxiong and others became nervous and did not dare to breathe.
Meng Xuan finally said slowly: "Your Majesty, it is estimated that the Song army will launch an attack soon. Let the army be ready to defend and be prepared to live or die with Yanjing!"
ＰＳ: Another person on Haohan Slope is standing upright with a sword, thanks to the new leader "chenrh1974" for his support!