It is easy to issue His Majesty's edict, but it is not easy to implement it. Gai Yan sighed secretly, looked around the generals present, and asked: "What do you generals think?"
No one at the scene answered the question. The emperor issued an edict, asking his side to adopt the tactic of encircling Wei and rescuing Zhao. However, the risks involved were too great, but they could not say that the emperor's edict was wrong.
Just when the generals were silent, Pang Meng suddenly asked: "General, your Majesty only sent this edict?"
Gai Yan was stunned by Pang Meng's sudden words, and subconsciously said: "Yes! This is the only edict!" Could it be that His Majesty also sent someone to send a secret edict?
Pang Meng frowned and asked, "Your Majesty didn't send an edict to the general?"
Last time, he sent His Majesty a large amount of gold, silver and jewels, as well as so many beauties. His Majesty sent a letter to the Eastern Expeditionary Army. There was no reason not to mention this matter, and there was no reason not to issue an edict to himself!
Hearing his words, Gai Yan almost turned his nose with anger. Pang Meng had said this kind of words in front of him not once or twice. Every time they met, he would ask if the emperor had issued an edict to him.
He is the commander-in-chief of the Eastern Expeditionary Army. If the emperor's edict is not passed on to him, how can he bypass him and pass it directly to Pang Meng? This is simply a joke.
The war was imminent and the situation was so tense. Pang Meng didn't want to think about how to fight and defeat the enemy. He was just wondering about these things. Gai Yan said angrily: "No."
"Your Majesty really didn't issue an edict to the last general?"
"I already said, no!"
Pang Meng's face darkened, and he glared at Gai Yan and said, "General, can you let the last general have a look at the edict?"
Gai Yan suppressed his anger and handed the edict to Pang Meng.
The latter took it and looked at it carefully. The beginning of the edict was, 'The imperial edict is made by General Yan of Huya'.
Pang Meng was General Pingdi. In the Eastern Expeditionary Army, he was the only one who belonged to him except Gai Yan. Under normal circumstances, Liu Xiu's edict should be written as "General Yan of Huya, General Pingdi Meng", but I don't know if it is.
It's not that Liu Xiu was negligent and only wrote Gai Yan but not Pang Meng.
After reading the edict, Pang Meng's face became increasingly ugly. He handed the edict back to Gai Yan, turned back to his seat, lowered his head and said nothing.
It stands to reason that since he sent a large amount of gold, silver, jewelry and beauties seized from Liu Yong's palace to Luoyang, the emperor should issue an edict to commend him for his achievements.
But now, not only has the emperor's edict of commendation never come, but even the edict to the Eastern Expeditionary Army only mentions Gai Yan, but not himself.
There is only one possibility for this to happen. Someone has slandered the emperor and said bad things about himself. And there is probably only one person who can do such a thing, and that is the Huya General Gai Yan in front of me.
Pang Meng has always been very popular with Liu Xiu. Liu Xiu praised Pang Meng in public not once or twice. With Pang Meng's ability and achievements, he will become a successful man in the future.
He originally thought so too, but now, he feels that things have changed.
He recognized that Gai Yan was jealous of the virtuous and capable, and was afraid that his status would surpass him, so he repeatedly made admonitions and slanders in front of the emperor to frame himself. This led to the emperor being dissatisfied with him and neither issuing edicts nor issuing edicts to him.
Do not mention your name in the edict of the Eastern Expeditionary Army.
Pang Meng is actually a good person in every aspect, but he is too sensitive. When something happens, he always feels anxious and suspicious. To put it bluntly, he is too small-minded and lacks the tolerance that a general should have.
Gai Yan rolled his eyes at Pang Meng and said nothing more. He turned to look at the other generals and asked, "Do you all think that your Majesty's strategy of besieging Wei and rescuing Zhao is feasible?"
A general cleared his throat and said: "General, the strategy of surrounding Wei and rescuing Zhao is probably... not feasible!"
Gai Yan asked: "Why?"
The general frowned and said: "Donghai County is Dong Xian's home base. Dong Xian's power has long been deeply rooted. Our army hastened deep into the army, and there are too many variables. In addition, Donghai County is a barrier that isolates me from the Han Dynasty and Zhang Bu. Zhang Bu
Bu will never let the East China Sea be lost. If our army goes deep into the East China Sea, Zhang Bu will have sent reinforcements before Dong Xian leads his army to rescue him. By then, our army will be trapped by Dong Xian's army and Zhang Bu's army.
In a situation where we are attacked from two sides, our entire army is in danger of being annihilated!"
His words touched the hearts of the generals. They also believed that it was too risky to rush deep into the East China Sea. Dong Xian and Zhang Bu had already formed an alliance, and beyond the East China Sea was Zhang Bu's sphere of influence. Donghai County was under Zhang Bu's control.
In other words, it is a natural barrier. Can Zhang Bu allow his natural barrier to be compromised?
All the generals present nodded and agreed: "That's right! Given the current situation, our army must not rush deep into the East China Sea!"
"I hope the general will make a clear decision!"
Pang Meng, who had been silent all this time, looked around at the generals present and said loudly: "Your Majesty has issued an edict, asking our Eastern Expeditionary Army to act according to the edict. Are you going to resist and disobey it now?"
The general who just spoke frowned and said, "The general will not accept your order! Hasn't General Pang heard this?"
Pang Meng, who was already in a bad mood, became furious when he heard this and said angrily: "Your Majesty is a genius in military warfare. He cannot win a battle but must conquer an enemy. Is it possible that your Majesty's talent is not as good as yours? You can imagine the dangers."
, Could it be that His Majesty would not have thought of it?"
Pang Meng said this, which was tantamount to using the emperor to force everyone, which naturally aroused everyone's dissatisfaction. One general said meaningfully: "The reason why there is a saying that generals will not accept the emperor's orders is because
The emperor is thousands of miles away and does not understand the situation on the battlefield at all. Even if he does know some information, it is outdated information. Therefore, the emperor's orders are often inappropriate."
"So, you have decided that His Majesty's plan to encircle Wei and rescue Zhao is not feasible, and you want to collectively resist the decree and disobey it? Do you think the law does not punish everyone?" Pang Meng asked angrily.
Everyone present looked at each other in shock, lowered their heads, and stopped talking. No one can predict the future. As long as the strategy of surrounding Wei and rescuing Zhao has not been actually implemented, no one can know whether this strategy will fail or succeed.
The only thing people can tell now is that this strategy is too risky. Once Zhang Bu comes to aid Donghai with a large number of troops, one hundred thousand of his own generals will probably be trapped and die in the hinterland of Donghai County.
Gai Yan frowned and thought over and over again. He also believed that Liu Xiu's plan to encircle Wei and rescue Zhao was not feasible. He could not risk the lives of one hundred thousand soldiers to make this huge gamble.
He took a deep breath and said: "At present, although Dong Xian's army is large, the city defense of Lanling is not so easy to break. Our army and Ben Xiu's army should cooperate internally and externally, and it may not be impossible to defeat Dong Xian's army of 200,000."
The generals nodded one after another. In their opinion, it is most feasible to directly resolve the danger of Lanling being trapped. We have one hundred thousand soldiers, Ben Xiu has tens of thousands of soldiers, and together they have more than one hundred thousand soldiers. The enemy's Dong Xian's army is huge.
, but it is only 200,000, so our side is not really unable to win this battle.
To take a step back, even if our side is really defeated, the entire army will not be wiped out and we can still withdraw.
As for Ben Xiu and the tens of thousands of people under his command, they will surrender after all. There is really no need for our side to risk the lives of the entire army for the sake of these tens of thousands of surrendering troops.
As soon as Gai Yan finished speaking, Pang Meng pointed to the edict on the table and said sternly: "General Gai, Gai Yan! His Majesty's edict has been delivered to you. If you want to resist and disobey it, do you know that this is wrong?"
What crime?"
Narrowing his eyes, Gai Yan looked directly at the furious Pang Meng and said in a strong voice: "I know exactly what I am doing! If I fail to follow the edict, I, Gai Yan, as the commander-in-chief of the entire army, will go and explain to His Majesty!"
"You...you are so brave!" Pang Meng raised her finger and pointed at Gai Yan, trembling with anger.
Gai Yan also became angry and shouted loudly: "If General Pang is afraid of being implicated, he can leave now, or he can return to Luoyang and report Gai Yan's condition to His Majesty!"
Pang Meng's face turned red with anger, and the fingers he pointed at Gai Yan were trembling. He nodded repeatedly and said, "Okay, okay, okay! General Gai is so capable. In this case, I, Pang Meng, won't accompany you anymore.
I'll see how you explain it to His Majesty!" After saying this, Pang Meng flicked his sleeves, turned around and walked out of the central military tent.
Seeing this, Gai Yan slammed the table and gasped in anger.
All the generals present looked at each other, not knowing what to say.
Regarding the differences between Gai Yan and Pang Meng, it is difficult to say who is right and who is wrong. One person believes that the imperial edict should be ignored, while the other believes that the edict should be followed. Each has its own reasons.
The direct consequence of this dispute between Gai Yan and Pang Meng was that the relationship between the two completely broke off. Pang Meng led his men, totaling 30,000 people, to leave Lanling and retreat to Chu County.
Pang Meng's angry departure was a big blow to the Eastern Expeditionary Army. Firstly, it dispersed the strength of the troops. Secondly, and most importantly, it dealt a heavy blow to the morale of the Han army.
With this division of troops, even the lowest-level soldiers realized that serious differences had arisen among their own high-level generals. A war was imminent and the generals were at odds. Isn't this too fatal?
Pang Meng led his troops withdrew to Chu County and stationed themselves in Pengcheng, the county seat of Chu County.
Gai Yan didn't take Pang Meng's departure too seriously. In Gai Yan's mind, one more Pang Meng wouldn't be too much, and one less Pang Meng wouldn't be too much. Now that Pang Meng has led his troops away, it's not a bad thing.
Make trouble for yourself.
Even though there are only 70,000 soldiers and horses left under his command, in his opinion, he still has a dozen in this battle.
Gai Yan and most of the generals believed that Liu Xiu's strategy of besieging Wei and rescuing Zhao was too risky, so they decided not to act in accordance with the edict and forcefully attacked Dong Xian's army besieging Lanling City.
The Han army led by Gai Yan launched an all-out attack on Dong Xian's army.
Currently, the coach of Dong Xianjun is Dong Xian himself.
Dong Xian was no ordinary person. He was able to occupy the East China Sea and become the king and hegemon in the East China Sea. Liu Yong was so afraid that he had to win him over by making him a king. This shows how powerful Dong Xian is.
Knowing that Gai Yan personally commanded the main force of the Han army to attack, Dong Xian did not panic. He smiled slightly and said to his generals: "Since Gai Yan is eager to enter the city and wants to join forces with Ben Xiu, then let him go."
Let’s go to town!”
"Your Majesty, this... this is absolutely impossible!" When the generals below heard this, their expressions changed and they all tried to dissuade him.
Dong Xian waved his hands to everyone and said with a smile but not a smile: "Younger Gai Yan, you are brave but not wise. In front of me, you are just as brave as an ordinary man!"
He overcame all opinions and ordered his soldiers to avoid the sharp edge of the Han army, make way for Gai Yan, and let him lead the Han army into Lanling City to join Ben Xiu.
Dong Xian is the commander-in-chief of the entire army. Even if the generals below feel that something is wrong, they have no choice but to follow the general's orders.
The menacing Gai Yanjun, who wanted to fight to the death with Dong Xianjun, did not encounter the stubborn resistance of Dong Xianjun. Dong Xianjun, who was unable to resist the attack, retreated to the east and west. A gap opened in the encirclement outside Lanling City, and Gai Yanjun deliberately let Gai Yanjun go.
Enter the city.
In this way, Gai Yanjun was like a clenched fist, punching with all his strength, completely hitting a ball of cotton.
Dong Xianjun's avoidance of the battle allowed Gai Yanjun's army to successfully approach Lanling City and join Ben Xiu's army without encountering any obstruction.
However, it is easy for Gai Yan's army to enter the city, but it is difficult to get out of the city.
