On the seventh day of November, the "Battle of Weiqiu" had many twists and turns, and finally ended with the victory of the Wei army.
When Su Wang Zhao Hongrun's younger brother, Huan Wang Zhao Hongxuan, personally led the First Army of the North to come to the rescue, Baoyuan, Jin Ao, and Feng Ting, three of the top ten heroes of the Northern Plains, tried to launch a final attack on the 14,000 Su Wang troops here.
attack.
Unfortunately, under the same conditions of exhaustion and support from reinforcements, the Wei soldiers of King Su's army broke out with astonishing fighting power, killing Bao Yuan and others' army and retreating step by step.
After realizing that the situation was over, Bao Yuan had no choice but to retreat with his entire army and lead the remaining troops to evacuate to Tianmen Pass.
Facing the retreating Korean army, King Su's army and the North's First Army pursued them fiercely, as if they were going to annihilate the entire Korean army here.
However, after pursuing the Korean army for about three to five miles, Zhao Hongrun ordered his troops to stop the pursuit.
After all, the condition of the soldiers and generals of King Su's army under his command was really bad. They fought with the Korean army from Zishi to dawn. From the generals to the soldiers, they were already exhausted.
At this time, it is not appropriate to pursue Baoyuan. After all, no one can guarantee whether the Korean army stationed in Tianmen Pass and Gaodu will suddenly attack. If the defeated Korean army Baoyuan is pursued,
If during the pursuit, they encounter the Korean army coming from Tianmen Pass, it will definitely be the Wei army that suffers.
At this time, we should stop as soon as possible and fight steadily. After all, the Wei army's advantage is already very large at the moment. There is no need to take risks for the sake of petty gains.
Some people may think that since they just won the "Battle of Wei Qiu", how did the Wei army gain the advantage?
It is undeniable that the "Battle of Weiqiu" was only a local war within Shangdang territory, but it was of great significance and could be called a key battle that could affect the entire "Battle of Shangdang".
If the Baoyuan Army wins, the 20,000 Wei army that surprises Gaolang will be completely annihilated, and Wei Gongzi Ji Run may also be captured. This will greatly encourage the Korean troops in Tianmen Pass and Mengmen Pass, and make this moment
The morale of the 80,000 King Su troops who had captured the Changzi City might be in turmoil, and they might be annihilated by the Korean army, which would have a bad impact.
However, because Huan Wang Zhao Hongxuan led the Northern First Army to arrive in time to support, the Korean army missed the perfect opportunity to defeat the 20,000 surprise attack force of Wei Gongzi Ji Run. The Korean army not only failed to annihilate the 20,000 Wei army led by Wei Gongzi Ji Run.
, and when Gaolang's general Ma Yin sent troops to help besiege Ji Run's army in Weiqiu, another prince of Wei, Ji Xuan, took the opportunity to lead the Northern First Army to capture Gaolang, who had no defense.
The most terrible thing is that after winning the "Battle of Weiqiu", the Wei army under Zhao Hongrun and the Northern First Army of his younger brother Huan Wang Zhao Hongxuan successfully joined forces. If nothing unexpected happens, these two Wei armies will be stationed in Weiqiu and Gaolang.
Joint defense.
In this case, the Korean army had no chance of capturing Hyunshi City.
If Qu Cheng of the Yanling Army and Wu Ji of the Shang Shui Army have captured Changzi City, then the four strongholds of Changzi City, Xuushi City, Weiqiu, and Gaolang will be connected in a line, and the Korean army will no longer be able to threaten them.
To King Su's army.
What's even more terrible is that, with the rear defense and food routes guaranteed, King Su's army can occupy Xuushi City without any scruples, cutting off the back roads of Tianmen Pass and Mengmen Pass, the two mountainous passes in the southern Taihang Mountains.
The rear defense food roads of the two passes.
In addition, King Su's army can further put pressure on Tianmen Pass and Mengmen Pass, making them suffer from enemies from both sides.
It can be seen from this that the defenders of the Korean passes of Tianmen Pass and Mengmen Pass will not have an easy time.
Of course, for the time being, the defenders at these two passes can still hang on for a while. After all, it is already November, and the weather is getting colder and colder, which is not conducive to sending troops to fight. Therefore, the armies of both Wei and Han will choose to temporarily cease their activities and no longer easily start a war.
Even Zhao Hongrun decided to defend for the time being and spend this winter.
It can be predicted that if the Korean army in Tianmen Pass and Mengmen Pass cannot find a way to recapture the Hyun family and recapture Gaolang, then by the beginning of next spring, these two passes will most likely no longer belong to South Korea.
It's just that Zhao Hongrun won't give them this chance.
On that day, after winning the "Battle of Weiqiu", Zhao Hongrun did not bother to let the army clear the battlefield, so he ordered the surprise attack force of King Su's army to return to the Weiqiu barracks.
Zhao Hongxuan was a little puzzled by this and asked in confusion: "Brother, don't you order the battlefield to be cleared?"
Zhao Hongrun shook his head and said sternly: "It doesn't matter if we clear the battlefield one day earlier or one day later. The top priority now is to let the soldiers and generals in the army take a good rest and recover their strength as soon as possible. You may not know that our soldiers
The generals have been killed since childhood until now.
Exhausted, if the soldiers are forced to clean up the battlefield after the war, it may be in danger... You have to know that Gaodu behind Tianmen Pass is also stationed with heavy Korean troops, and Gaodu is not far from Wei Qiu.
If the road is open, it only takes one day of rapid march to reach it, and the cavalry is faster."
Zhao Hongxuan suddenly realized this and secretly admired his brother for considering Zhou Xiang. He was worthy of being a commander who had led his troops on many expeditions and had never been defeated.
At this moment, someone beside Zhao Hongxuan smiled and said, "Your Highness, King Huan, you have many things to learn."
Hearing this voice, Zhao Hongrun subconsciously turned his head to look at the entourage of his younger brother Zhao Hongxuan, and then discovered that there was a face among them that surprised him - Zhou Min.
"Zhou Min? Why is he next to Xiao Xuan?"
Zhao Hongrun frowned slightly and looked at Zhou Min secretly.
Because Zhou Min was wearing armor today, he had not noticed that there was such a strategist among the entourage around his younger brother Zhao Hongxuan, and he only mistook him for a guard.
He knew the details of Zhou Min very well. Although this person was ostensibly the chief aide of Zhao Hongli, the former Prince of the East Palace, in fact, Zhou Min was a member of King Yong Hongyu. He had been planning to overthrow the former Prince Zhao Hongli of the East Palace two years ago.
Stratagem played the most important role in this matter.
It can be said that without Zhou Min, Zhao Hongli, the former crown prince of the East Palace, would not be in this situation.
Perhaps because he noticed Zhao Hongrun staring at him intently, Zhou Min cupped his hands and said with a smile: "His Royal Highness, you are well."
Zhao Hongrun took a deep look at Zhou Min and saw that Zong Wei was surrounded by his two brothers on both sides and there were no outsiders, so he asked with some vigilance: "Why is Mr. Zhou by Xiao Xuan's side?"
Perhaps sensing the vigilance in Zhao Hongrun's eyes, Zhou Min smiled slightly but did not explain.
Seeing this, Zhao Hongxuan pointedly introduced: "Brother, Mr. Zhou is now the military advisor and staff general of our Northern First Army."
"..." Zhao Hongrun couldn't help but be a little surprised and confused when he heard this. After all, even Zhao Hongrun was not very clear about some of the things that happened to Zhou Min.
But from his brother Zhao Hongxuan's seemingly profound tone, Zhao Hongrun still vaguely guessed: "Oh? What's going on?"
After hearing this, Zhou Min sighed slightly and said with some pleading: "This matter is a long story, why don't we go back to His Highness Prince Su's military camp first and discuss it in detail later?"
"Okay." Zhao Hongrun nodded.
As a result, King Su's army retreated to the Weiqiu barracks, while the Northern First Army under King Huan Zhao Hongxuan, led by Zhao Hongxuan's Zongwei Zhang Ao, Li Meng, Fang Shuo, Gong Liangyi and others, withdrew to the Gaolang area and returned to its original position.
On the ruins of the Korean army's camp, a new camp was built to guard the Tan Valley near Gaolang for King Su's army.
As for King Huan Zhao Hongxuan and Zhou Min, they followed Zhao Hongrun to the Weiqiu military camp.
When the two armies separated, according to Zhao Hongxuan's order, the soldiers of the Northern First Army handed over all the dry food they carried to King Su's army. After all, King Su's army had almost no food.
Of course, this amount of food alone is not enough to sustain King Su's army in Weiqiu for a few days. However, according to Zhao Hongxuan, the Wei army's food transport troops are on the way and will arrive in Gaolang and Weiqiu in the near future. Therefore, these dry food are purely
It's a transition.
After returning to the military camp at the foot of the southwest mountain of Wei Qiu, the soldiers and generals of King Su's army all rested separately, while Zhao Hongrun, Zhao Hongxuan, and Zhou Min were sitting by the bonfire outside the headquarters, warming themselves by the fire and roasting tiger meat.
During this period, Zhao Hongxuan told Zhao Hongrun exactly what happened when he and Luo Yao designed Zhou Min together, including the truth about the "Ying Xiao Incident" of the Northern First Army, but Zhao Hongrun was silent.
In fact, Zhao Hongrun also had doubts about the "Ying Xiao Incident" of the Northern First Army. Although the public opinion in Daliang at the time said that the "Ying Xiao Incident" was self-directed and staged by the Donggong Party, with the purpose of swallowing up the war profits, but if you think about it carefully,
This conclusion is actually untenable - at that time, Zhao Hongli, the former crown prince of the East Palace, had personally promised to dedicate the war profits to the imperial court. Who dared to swallow them up?
However, Zhao Hongrun was angry at that time and hated the prince of the East Palace, Zhao Hongli, for using the military power of the Northern Army to seduce his younger brother Zhao Hongxuan, so he helped King Yong Hongyu, and the four princes joined forces to impeach the prince.
"It's Zhang Qigong."
After taking a long breath, Zhou Min said rather depressedly: "This person instigated King Yong and asked Cui Xie, the general of King Yong's line in the Northern First Army at that time, to launch a camp rebellion..."
"Cui Xie?" Zhao Hongrun frowned and said strangely: "Cui Xie died in the Camp Xiao incident. What's the explanation?"
Zhou Min glanced at Zhao Hongrun, chuckled and said: "Simple, Cui Xie was tricked by someone he thought he could trust, but in fact he was not trustworthy enough... Who does His Highness Prince Su think it could be?"
Zhao Hongrun thought for a moment, frowned and said, "Zhao Hongjing?"
"Yes! King Xiang Hongjing!" Zhou Min squinted his eyes and whispered: "With the scale of Yingxiao at that time, Cui Xie and other soldiers of King Yong's line could not do it alone. Obviously, Cui Xie asked King Xiang
A line of generals, Liu Yi, sought help, but unexpectedly, Liu Yi turned against him and killed people..."
"Why did Liu Yi want to kill Cui Xie? Did he catch something against King Yong?" Zhao Hongrun said thoughtfully.
"My guess is that Cui Xie showed Liu Yi the letter from King Yong ordering him to launch the Yingxiao, which caused Liu Yi to turn against him and kill someone in order to seize the letter... This is just my guess. What the truth is has nothing to do with me."
After hearing this, Zhao Hongrun asked tentatively: "From what Mr. Zhou said, it seems that he doesn't intend to return to King Yong again?"
"Ha." Zhou Min gave a bitter laugh, shook his head and said, "I can't go back. At least, Zhang Qigong doesn't want to go back next time... This bastard, I, Zhou Min, worked hard for two years, but in the end he picked the peach.
Yet he actually wants to kill me." After saying that, he took a long breath, looked at Zhao Hongrun and said calmly: "Your Highness, Prince Su, don't worry, I have no ill intentions towards His Highness, Prince Huan, nor do I have the intention to take advantage of you."
After hearing this, Zhao Hongrun looked deeply at Zhou Min without saying a word.
Seeing that his brother's eyes were still suspicious of Zhou Min, Zhao Hongxuan then helped: "Brother, thanks to Mr. Zhou's guidance along the way, I was able to lead the army to arrive in time...especially the sneak attack on Gao Lang.
Mr. Zhou made suggestions."
"..." Upon hearing this, Zhao Hongrun glanced at Zhao Hongxuan and then at Zhou Min.
I have to say that he was actually a little surprised that Gaolang was actually captured by the Northern Army led by his younger brother Zhao Hongxuan. However, if Zhao Hongxuan had a thoughtful person like Zhou Min beside him to make suggestions, then this matter would not be impossible.
.
Perhaps noticing that Zhao Hongrun's eyes had softened a bit, Zhao Hongrun praised Zhou Min as if he were striking the iron while it was hot: "Brother, do you know that when you dispatched soldiers stationed in Pilao, the Yanling soldiers in Duan's area didn't even know that your army was trapped?
Under such circumstances, when Mr. Zhou heard that the King of Nanliang was defeated at Tianmen Pass, he concluded that you might be trapped in the party..."
"Oh?" Zhao Hongrun raised his eyebrows and said with great interest: "Is there such a thing? Let's talk about it."
Seeing Zhao Hongxuan begin to tell the story enthusiastically, Zhou Min smiled bitterly and shook his head.
In his opinion, how could the dignified King Su in front of him, who had fought in several battles in the north and south, not be able to see through the connection between the two events?
But Zhou Min didn't interrupt.
Because he knew that His Highness Prince Su in front of him was not at all curious about how he guessed this matter. He just wanted to use this matter to have a chat with his younger brother and ease the tension caused by the quarrel between the two brothers.