Nine hundred and sixtieth chapters take the opportunity to send troops
The first to attack was the Great Situ Fu Zhan. He carried the wat board and said to Liu Xiu: "Your Majesty, General Zhengxi burned Lingqiu, causing the city of Lingqiu to turn into ashes overnight. I hope your Majesty will make a clear decision!"
Song Hong, the Grand Sikong, also followed up and said: "Lingqiu was destroyed and the people were killed. Your Majesty should recall General Zhengxi to hold him accountable!"
Liu Xiu, who was sitting on the throne, leaned forward slightly and asked: "Did all the people in Lingqiu die at the hands of General Zhengxi?"
"This..." Song Hong hesitated for a moment and said seriously: "Although the people of Lingqiu were killed by Lu Fang, the Xiongnu, and the Wuhuan people, as long as the city remains, Lingqiu will be restored in the future. Now the city has been destroyed
If you want to restore Lingqiu, you need to rebuild Lingqiu first, which will cost the imperial court how much money."
Fu Zhan nodded repeatedly and said to Liu Xiu: "Your Majesty, Sikong's words are reasonable. Please give your Majesty a clear lesson!"
Liu Xiu looked at Fu Zhan, then at Song Hong, and asked meaningfully: "What do Situ and Sikong think is more important, the lives of the people or money?"
After a pause, he picked up Feng Yi's memorial and said: "The situation in Lingqiu has been clearly stated in the memorial by General Zhengxi. The corpses of the people in Lingqiu were all abandoned by the Lu Fang Army, the Xiongnu Army, and the Wuhuan Army.
In the city, corpses are rotting, pests and rats are rampant, and there is a hidden danger of an outbreak of disease."
"Your Majesty, I think it is not difficult to clean up the corpses in the city!" Fu Zhan and Song Hong said almost in unison.
On the other side, Da Sima Wu Han frowned displeased and said loudly: "Da Situ, Da Sikong said it easily, but don't forget that the enemy has hidden a large amount of kerosene in the city. Once a large number of soldiers are sent out,
If you enter the city, you are likely to be attacked by fire from the enemy, and all the soldiers who enter the city will be perished in the sea of fire."
"We can't send a large number of soldiers into the city, but only a small group of soldiers to clean up the city, can't we?"
"Soldiers are very quick! Only a small group of soldiers are sent into the city to clean up. How long will it take to clean up? Should we continue to fight this battle?" Wu Han asked loudly.
Fu Zhan and Song Hong were still talking, and Wu Han said in a deep voice: "If the war can be solved by just talking on paper, then the imperial court does not need to send troops to fight. With just a mouth, you can win the war sitting in Luoyang!"
The implication is that you, Fu Zhan and Song Hong, are not generals in the army and neither know how to fight, but they are equally capable of finding faults. When you point fingers at the soldiers rushing to the front line, you don't even piss on them.
, do you have the ability to guide the country, strategize, and win thousands of miles away?
Wu Han's words were so serious that Fu Zhan, Song Hong and many ministers looked ugly. Liu Xiu turned to look at Wu Han and whispered: "Zi Yan!"
Hearing Liu Xiu's warning, Wu Han hurriedly bowed his hands and saluted, saying: "Wei Chen made a mistake and his words were a bit harsh. However, Wei Chen thought that his words were rough and unreasonable. General Zhengxi ordered the burning of Lingqiu. It was true."
This is a helpless move, but I hope your Majesty will understand it clearly!"
Geng Yan followed up and said: "Based on the situation at that time, dealing with Lingqiu was too risky, and it would greatly delay our army's march north, allowing the enemy to make adequate preparations, which would be very detrimental to our army, but if not
When dealing with Lingqiu, there will definitely be an outbreak of disease in Lingqiu, and Youzhou and even Jizhou will be affected. I don’t know how many soldiers and people will be killed or injured by then. I think that the general who conquers the west is decisive in dealing with the situation and has no fault!"
The fire in Lingqiu was started by Geng Yan's younger brother Geng Shu himself. If Feng Yi was at fault, could Geng Shu be able to escape? Whether in public or private matters, Geng Yan would stand by Feng Yi.
Gai Yan came out of the queue, raised his hands and said: "We thought that the one who destroyed Lingqiu was not General Zhengxi at all, but Lu Fang. The ambush set by Lu Fang was a dead end. Even if the Zhengxi Army tried its best, it would be a dead end.
We can't save Lingqiu, so setting fire to the city is really a helpless and unavoidable act."
He and Feng Yi were both the earliest senators to follow Liu Xiu, and they had a deep relationship with each other. Now that Feng Yi was impeached by the ministers, Gai Yan could not refuse to argue.
Grand Sima Wu Han, General Jianwei Geng Yan, and General Huya Gai Yan all stood on Feng Yi's side and spoke for Feng Yi, which made the civil servants on the other side look unhappy.
Fu Zhan said with emotion: "Your Majesty, that's a city! No matter how many reasons and excuses there are, they can't cover up the fault of General Zhengxi for burning the city!"
Song Hong then said: "Your Majesty, General Zhengxi's burning of Lingqiu is an unforgivable crime. I believe that your Majesty should immediately send an order to the Western Army and order him to escort General Zhengxi back to Beijing!"
"Wei Chen seconded the proposal!" Wang Yuan came out and bowed his hands in salute.
"Wei Chen seconded the proposal!" Two other civil servants came out and saluted. Immediately afterwards, all the civil servants came out one after another, agreeing with Song Hong's opinion and asking Liu Xiu to escort Feng Yi back to the capital for questioning.
Wu Han and others on the other side gave up and stepped out one after another, raising their hands and saying, "What crime did General Zhengxi commit?" "Lingqiu City was destroyed by the enemy, so what does General Zhengxi have to do with it?
"
Liu Xiu looked at the quarreling people below, couldn't help but frown, and coughed dryly. The hall fell silent instantly, and all the civil and military officials were speechless.
Looking around at the ministers in the hall, Liu Xiu said meaningfully: "General Zhengxi ordered the burning of Lingqiu. It was indeed a helpless move. I think that although the losses caused to the court were great, they were far less than those caused by the outbreak of the epidemic.
The loss is huge." At this point, Liu Xiu glanced around again and said quietly: "The city is destroyed and can be rebuilt. The only loss is money. But if a person dies, how can he come back to life? How can the loss be measured in money?"
"His Majesty……"
Fu Zhan, Song Hong and others were still talking, Liu Xiu waved to them and said with a smile: "Situ, what Sikong said is reasonable. It is indeed a big mistake to burn the city deliberately, but it is really a last resort to burn the city."
, I think that the general who conquered the west did not make any mistakes this time, and not only was he right, he also made great achievements, and the court should reward him."
When Fu Zhan and Song Hong heard this, they both shook their heads to express their dissatisfaction.
Regardless of whether they were convinced or not, Liu Xiu no longer wanted to discuss the matter. He directly ordered Zhang Kun to draft an edict to conquer the Western Army, praising Feng Yi for his decisive actions and commending the soldiers of the Western Conquest Army for their victory after entering Dai County.
At the end of the edict, Liu Xiu also specifically encouraged the soldiers to continue their efforts and achieve greater victory, expel the enemy troops from Daijun as soon as possible, and restore peace and prosperity to the people of Daijun.
Liu Xiu's temperament is soft, but he will be tough when it's time to be tough.
Whether a general in the army can display his talents and ambitions is of course related to his own ability, but also to what kind of monarch he follows.
Like Yue Fei, he did not have a good monarch to protect him, and in the end he only ended up being killed unjustly.
Feng Yi is very lucky. His monarch can give him 120% trust, no suspicion, no fear, and when he is under pressure, the monarch can help him bear the pressure without hesitation and remain steadfast.
gave him the strongest support, which allowed Feng Yi to have no worries at all when leading the army outside, and could focus on flexing his muscles, facing off against the enemy, and fighting on the battlefield.
For an excellent general, what a blessing it is to have such a monarch!
Liu Xiu trusted Feng Yi. Even if Feng Yi burned down a city, he still trusted him in every possible way.
Feng Yi also trusted Liu Xiu. It was out of this trust in the monarch that he dared to order the burning of Lingqiu without hesitation and adopted the strategy that was most beneficial to his own side without overly considering the consequences.
The Western Expeditionary Army was transferred from Chang'an to Dai County by the Luoyang court to fight against Lu Fang. Naturally, the news had already reached Chengdu. When Gongsun Shu learned about this, he was overjoyed at first, and then couldn't help but shake his head.
It stands to reason that the Western Expedition Army has been transferred away and Chang'an is empty, which is the best time for him to attack the Third Assistant. But now, Gongsun Shu's attack on the Third Assistant has really left a psychological shadow.
He failed once, failed twice, failed every time, and lost countless troops. Now there was a good opportunity for him to send troops to attack the third auxiliary again, but he was really unsure.
Not only did Gongsun Shu feel unsure, but the ministers in the Chengdu court also felt unsure.
If it were in the past, after hearing the news that the third assistant was empty, there would definitely be ministers who would advise Gongsun Shu, and even take the initiative to ask for troops to send troops to the third assistant.
But this time, no one in the civil and military circles of the court said a word. No one suggested sending troops to the Third Assistant, and no one volunteered to lead troops to attack the Third Assistant. The silence in the huge court hall was terrifying.
Gongsun Shu looked around at everyone present and asked: "Luoyang has transferred all the troops from the Sanfu area to Dai County. For such a big matter, don't you have anything to say?"
Grand Sima Gongsun Guang said: "Your Majesty, I think it is not difficult to send troops now to capture the third auxiliary. The difficulty lies in how our army can defend the third auxiliary after defeating the third auxiliary!"
The ministers present nodded their heads, indicating that Gongsun Guang was right.
Gongsun Guang was Gongsun Shu's younger brother. Gongsun Shu, like many local powerful men, placed great emphasis on his own relatives and did not trust foreign ministers very much.
Now the Chengdu court is more like a family business. The three princes of the Chengdu court, except Li Xiong, Grand Situ, Sun Guang, Grand Sima Gong, and Sun Hui, Grand Sikong, are all Gongsun Shu's biological brothers.
On this point, there is an essential difference between Gongsun Shu and Liu Xiu.
Liu Xiu's attitude towards his relatives was, I can give you glory, wealth, fiefdom, title, and status, but I won't give you power.
None of the ministers he trusted were his relatives. If they were, they were Deng Chen and Li Tong.
Deng Chen was his brother-in-law, serving as a court captain and only one of the nine ministers. Li Tong was his brother-in-law, who originally served as a guard but later became a former general and was not even considered a nine minister.
As for the Liu family members, those with high official positions could only serve as prefects.
Through this comparison, it can be clearly seen that whether it is Gongsun Shu, Zhang Bu, Liu Yong and other separatist warlords, compared with Liu Xiu, they are all like family businesses, and the Luoyang Imperial Court established by Liu Xiu
, it is a formal large group with clear talent selection and meritocracy.
Gongsun Shu looked at Gongsun Guang and asked, "Da Sima, you think we can't send troops and three assistants?"
Gongsun Guang said: "Your Majesty, we have no foundation in Sanfu. Even if we capture Sanfu now, we still won't be able to hold it when Luoyang's soldiers and horses attack. Compared with Sanfu, I think it is better to attack Nanjun. In the past,
Feng Yi is stationed in the third auxiliary, so we dare not attack Nanjun with all our strength, for fear that Feng Yi will take advantage of it. Now that Feng Yi has gone to Daijun, our chance to capture Nanjun has finally come. Nanjun is the king of Yijiang (Tian Rong)
Territory, King Yijiang's foundation in Nanjun is still there. As long as our army can capture Nanjun, it will be even more difficult for the Han army to counterattack and come back!"
His intention was very clear. Taking advantage of the opportunity of the Western Expeditionary Army to leave Sanfu, the Shu army did not attack Sanfu. Instead, they increased their strength and attacked Nanjun, trying to drive out Cen Peng who was stationed in Nanjun and occupy the entire Nanjun.
Although Nanjun is not as important to our side as the third auxiliary, it is not much worse.
By capturing Nanjun, we will have a springboard for a large-scale attack on Jingzhou. If we can capture Jingzhou, Yangzhou and Jiaozhou, they will all become our own. By then, we can occupy half of the country and compete with Liu Xiu.
