"I believe they have gone to Suzhou to deal with Li Ruyi. In addition, they have dispatched many troops to encircle Guo Jing's troops." Taitish answered.
"Seems?" Song Qingshu was slightly dissatisfied. Taitish was currently here in the guise of Tang Kuo Bian. As the highest commander of the army, it was ridiculous for her to be unaware of the movements of her subordinates.
Taitish hurriedly answered, "It is not seems, it is confirmed …" She then unfurled a military map and described the movements of the various troops.
Song Qingshu gradually grew doubtful. "Such an arrangement … Li Ruyi has brought along the main force of the Southern Song army. How can Fu San Zhongyi be so confident in dealing with him so quickly?"
Taitish explained, "Initially, Fu San Zhongyi did not reveal his intentions because he was worried that the secret would be leaked. However, I have asked him privately and he did not hide anything. Recently, there was a lot of rain near Suzhou. He has already built a temporary dam nearby and intends to launch a water attack."
"Water attack?" Song Qingshu took the map and examined the terrain of Suzhou. He could not help but gasp. "If the Song army is unfamiliar with the terrain and is unprepared, they may indeed be completely wiped out."
Taitish sneered. "I have seen Li Ruyi's information when he was in charge of political affairs. He is a mediocre person and will definitely fall for his tricks." Taitish hailed from the Western Regions and did not have much affection for the Song. Moreover, her late husband, Han Qianye, had lost his life due to the Southern Song's northern expedition. Therefore, she was naturally delighted to hear that the Song people would suffer a calamity.
"No wonder Fu San Zhongyi is so confident." Song Qingshu sighed inwardly. As the saying goes, a general's success is built on the bones of ten thousand people. This time, who knows how many soldiers will lose their lives.
Of course, he was no saint. He could only do his best to ensure the safety of those around him. He was unable to care for everyone's lives.
"Have you informed Guo Jing?" Taitish cautiously asked after noticing his somewhat gloomy expression.
Song Qingshu nodded. "I have informed him. However, he is unwilling to give up on the mission. We can only resign ourselves to fate …" He roughly explained his encounter with Guo Jing.
Taitish came to his side and consoled him. "You have done your best. No matter what happens next, there is no need for you to blame yourself."
Song Qingshu laughed bitterly. "This dilemma is really a pain in the ass. Forget it, let's wait for the follow-up news." He decided to take a rest and conserve his energy so that he could react in time. Because he was preoccupied, he didn't do anything with Taitish for the first time. Instead, he simply laid down with her, with various thoughts swirling in his mind.
Just as dawn was about to break, a scout suddenly rushed in to report, "Reporting to the Marshal, we have achieved a great victory in Suzhou! A great victory in Suzhou! "
Song Qingshu was sleeping with his clothes on. Hearing the noise, he jumped out of bed and went outside the tent to ask, "What's the situation?"
That scout could not hide the excitement on his face. "General Pu San first used a water attack to defeat the Song army. Then, he led his army out and nearly annihilated Li Ruyi's army."
The corner of Song Qingshu's eye twitched. "This Li Ruyi is really useless." Although he knew that Li Ruyi would win this war, he did not expect it to be won so quickly!
"Where is General Pu San now?" Song Qingshu suddenly asked.
The scout answered, "Reporting to the Marshal, after General Pu San defeated Li Ruyi's main force, he sent his subordinates to pursue him while he personally led his troops to encircle Guo Jing who was feigning an attack on Xuzhou."
"Guo Jing is in Xuzhou?" During this period of time, Song Qingshu had memorized the surrounding terrain. Xuzhou was northeast of Suzhou. The two cities were at each other's corners. If Guo Jing attacked Xuzhou, it would indeed be easy for him to restrain the nearby Jin army and prevent them from supporting the Suzhou army. Unfortunately, Li Ruyi was truly useless. In less than a day, his entire army was annihilated, rendering his feigned attack meaningless. At the same time, he was in great danger of being encircled and annihilated.
Returning to his tent, Song Qingshu's expression was solemn. He said to Taitish, "Come, let's go to Xuzhou!" He somewhat hated himself. Obviously, he was not a good person, but he still insisted on some ridiculous principles. He could not completely become a bad person. He could not eliminate Guo Jing, nor could he stand idly by.
As he planned to secretly rescue Guo Jing later, Song Qingshu still let Taitish disguise herself as Tang Kuo Bian, while he changed his appearance and disguised himself as her bodyguard. Together, they hurried to the scattered Loyal Army.
At Lingbi City, General Chen Xiaoqing's face was extremely gloomy as he watched Li Ruyi's soldiers return from the front line. Especially when he learned that a Jin army was pursuing them, his face twitched violently. He wanted to turn around, but he had some misgivings.
Suddenly, a soldier ran over and said, "The Palace Marshal has sent an order!" He then handed him a secret letter. Chen Xiaoqing hurriedly opened it and read it. His tightly furrowed brows gradually relaxed. Then he said to the messenger, "Pass down the order: the entire army is to retreat to Xuyi."
Several deputy generals beside him were shocked. "Aren't we supposed to stay here to cover the retreat? How can we suddenly retreat? "
"That's right. Lieutenant Guo is still in Xuyi. If we retreat, won't we be leaving him to die?"
…
Listening to the discussion, a trace of sorrow flashed across Chen Xiaoqing's face. "The defeat in Suzhou is unprecedented. This northern expedition is destined to fail. Only by returning to Xuyi as soon as possible can we preserve the strength of the Imperial Court. If we exhaust the strength of the Imperial Court for Guo Jing, we will be the eternal evildoers."
"But …" Although the Southern Song Dynasty was weak, there was no lack of upright people in the army. Someone still raised an objection, but he was interrupted by Chen Xiaoqing.
"This is the Palace Marshal's order. As the saying goes, military orders must be obeyed!" Chen Xiaoqing took out the military order he had just received and showed it to the deputy generals.
"This …" The deputy generals looked at each other. This time, Wang Ziteng was the commander of this northern expedition. Who dared to disobey his orders?
"Ah, I hope no one will say that we are Pan Mei in the future." Someone murmured, which cast a haze over everyone's hearts. When Emperor Taizong of the Northern Song Dynasty attacked Khitan, Pan Mei did nothing to save Yang Ye when he was besieged. Not only did he lose his prestige in the army, but he was also infamous for thousands of years.
"What nonsense are you talking about? We are just following orders." Chen Xiaoqing snorted with a sullen face. He turned around and began to organize the evacuation of his soldiers. He had been immersed in officialdom for a long time. He knew that Wang Ziteng was backed by the Wang family and the Jia, Shi, and Xue families. How could anything go wrong? What's more, Wang Ziteng could use the reason of preserving the strength of the country, which made many people speechless.
At this time, in the Jia's Mansion in Lin 'an City, thousands of miles away, Jia Shidao was playing chess with Liao Yingzhong. He had a mysterious smile on his face.
"My lord, you are smiling. You must have won," Liao Yingzhong said tentatively.
Jia Shidao put down a chess piece and said, "Han Jiefu has been very proud of himself for the past two years. It's time for him to pay his debts."
Liao Yingzhong smiled and said, "Han Jiefu is no match for my lord. My lord, you can win from thousands of miles away. Now it's time to pull in the net."
Jia Shidao smiled and didn't say anything. He put down a chess piece and said, "Yingzhong, you will lose if you are distracted when playing chess."
"Yingzhong's chess skills are far inferior to my lord's." Liao Yingzhong didn't care. He suddenly thought of something and asked, "By the way, what should we do with Guo Jing?"
"You don't have to worry about that. I have already made arrangements," Jia Shidao said calmly. "Those who betray me will not have a good ending."
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