Chapter 296 Duan Da’s Dilemma

Duan Da, the general of Zuoyiwei, has been in a low mood recently and is very depressed. It is not because the bad weather has hindered the suppression of the thieves, but because the people in Hebei are increasingly restraining and suppressing the rebellion. Some people are even unscrupulous and have a tendency to break up publicly. This makes Duan Da, who is tough, realize that the Yongjiqu crisis has not only not been alleviated, but has become increasingly serious.

The Holy Lord sent him to Hebei to suppress the thieves not to worsen the situation, but to stabilize the situation to ensure the unobstructed Yongji Canal. Suppressing the rebellion and suppressing the thieves is not the goal, but just a means to force Hebei people to make political compromises. However, judging the situation in Hebei, Duan Da did not implement the intentions of the Holy Lord well. He confused the purpose and means, so that he was getting farther and farther away from the goal. If he was not remedy in time, it would inevitably affect the smooth progress of the Second Eastern Expedition.

Duan Da tried to "communicate" with Hebei people, but the various nobles on both sides of Yongji Canal, led by the Cui clan of Qinghe, were not defeated by all the nobles on both sides of Yongji Canal, which was a rising Hexi who rose with military merits. Many famous scholars regarded him as a barbarian, and despised him as a barbarian, and spoke in great disdain. The result is conceivable. Not to mention "communication", the two sides had few opportunities to sit together, and even if they sat together, they would part in dissatisfaction.

Duan Da was in a dilemma. He continued to suppress the thieves, but the thieves fled. The Hebei thieves did not give him a chance to surround and kill them. Continuing to attack local forces in the name of suppressing the thieves directly angered the Hebei aristocratic group. The angry Hebei aristocrats broke up and used the sharp knife of the "Hebei thieves" to further deteriorate the situation. He was known to be the one who was still punished, and directly pushed Duan Da to the edge of the cliff.

What should Duan Da do? The martial ones are not good, and the literary ones are not good. Hebei people are not good at soft and hard. Duan Da can only watch the situation deteriorate day by day and helpless.

Just as Duan Da sighed and was frowning, Wu Ben Lang General Zhao Shizhu hurried over and reported a bad news to Duan Da. The thief An of Linqing was advancing rapidly towards Qinghe City along the south bank of Yongji Canal.

Duan Da’s first thought was that this was a “trap” for Hebei people.

Among the thieves in Hebei, Linqing thieves, was just an inconspicuous "little character". They usually followed Zhang Jincheng's thief Zhang Jincheng, who was Zhang Jincheng's small follower. Now Zhang Jincheng has been hiding by the river, but he let Wang An, who had been hiding before, jump out and provoke the official army. This is obviously bait, and it is the Hebei thief's trick to lure the enemy. However, what surprised Duan Da was that it was snowing and it was the late winter. The New Year was about to be celebrated soon. Do Hebei thieves still have to concentrate their main force and fight head-on with the official army? Where did the Hebei thieves get the confidence and courage? Or, the "black hands" behind the Hebei thieves have to play with the mysterious thing to launch a fierce counterattack against the political opponents in Dongdu?

Duan Da thought for a long time and couldn't find the answer, so he looked up at Zhao Shizhu and asked, "Have the scouts discovered how many people have come to Linqing thieves?"

Zhao Shizhu is also a new high in Hexi. He is in his prime and is at the age of being ambitious for his career. Last year's Eastern Expedition was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Unfortunately, his fate was in a bad state. Not only did he not make any achievements, he almost died in the city of Liaodong. Fortunately, he did not participate in the expedition to Pyongyang due to his injury. Otherwise, even if he did not die in Sashui, he would not be able to escape the prison disaster, which would be considered a blessing in disguise.

Zhao Shizhu stood in front of the map with his arms in his arms, curled his lips disdainfully, "The scout reported that the Linqing thieves have brought tens of thousands of civilians and hundreds of large trucks loaded with goods, and they are coming in a hurry. They look quite loud and seem to be attacking Qinghe." Zhao Shizhu turned his head and looked at Duan Da, and sneered, "Attack Qinghe? The Linqing thieves are overestimating their abilities to this extent?"

Duan Dashen nodded with the same feeling, "Why did the Linqing thief seek death? Who forced Wang An to fall into the trap? What is the purpose?"

Zhao Shizhu sneered and shook his head, without any thoughts of deep thought. Since he came to die, he would help him to send him on his way. Why do you have to think so many? The generals came to block the water and soil, and with three thousand elite troops from Youzhou, are you still afraid of the group of mobs in Hebei? How many come to kill?

"What new news is Dongduke?" Zhao Shizhu changed the topic, "Has the Holy Lord and the Central Committee decided to launch the Second Eastern Expedition?"

For Zhao Shizhu, a relatively pure soldier, the Second Eastern Expedition is very important. It not only needs to clear the previous shame and rebuild the noble reputation of the Guardian Army, but also expand the territory and make achievements. Although this year's Eastern Expedition failed and the Goguryeo won, the Goguryeo's small country was enough to completely destroy its national strength in a year. Goguryeo no longer had the ability to continue to compete with Middle-earth and continue to carry out the war. Therefore, the Second Eastern Expedition was definitely a devastating and unstoppable force for the Central Turkish army. Therefore, not to mention that Zhao Shizhu and other commanders of the Guardian Palace actively demanded the Second Eastern Expedition, the Holy Lord and the Central were also impatient. The failure of the First Eastern Expedition can only be said to be a "miracle", but miracles cannot happen again and again, so the victory of the Second Eastern Expedition was a foregone conclusion, and of course countless people flocked to it.

Duan Da frowned and sighed worriedly, "It was difficult for the Holy Lord to decide on the Eastern Expedition to be held. There was a lot of opposition in the court. Now that the Eastern Expedition was defeated, the population was deemed to be given, there were more opponents and more justified people. What's more serious is that so many commanders of the Military Administration were suddenly imprisoned for crimes, which not only severely damaged the morale of the military, affected the morale of the military, chaotic the army, but also further deteriorated the relationship between the Holy Lord and the Military Administration. The conflict between the two sides became deeper and there was no possibility of ease. In this bad situation, the Second Eastern Expedition is not worth looking forward to."

Zhao Shizhu slowly turned around, looking at Duan Da with deep eyes, wanting to speak but stopping, but hesitating for a moment, and finally swallowed the words on his lips.

Duan Da expressed his meaning very clearly. He was not optimistic about the Second Eastern Expedition. Whether it was the fierce game in the Eastern Capital around this decision or the second time the Guardian Army embarked on the expedition to Goguryeo for the second time, Zhao Shizhu wanted to refute it, but suddenly thought of the Holy Lord's reward and punishment of the injustice. The Holy Lord rewarded Lai Huer and the navy commanded by him, but severely punished Yu Zhongwen and the land expedition forces commanded by him. The result was disastrous, especially Yu Zhongwen died of grief and anger, which had a serious impact on the inside and outside the court and the people, which aggravated the consequences of the disaster to a certain extent.

Why did the Holy Lord reward Lai Huer and the Navy? Why did he turn black and white into a disastrous victory in Pyongyang as a tragic victory? Why did he ignore the facts and insist on turning the blame into success? Are the government and the people blind? Do they both know the truth inside and outside the Wei Mansion?

Zhao Shizhu couldn't figure it out. Even if Lai Hu'er attacked Pyongyang alone, he was secretly ordered by the Holy Lord, even if Lai Hu'er and the Navy were absolutely loyal to the Holy Lord, even if Lai Hu'er puts loyalty to the Holy Lord above the country's fortune, army and personal interests, even if the Holy Lord protects him, he has to maintain his loyalty to his own strength, there is no need to do it on the surface, do it so poorly, and do it so badly that it is so angry that the heavens and the people are resentful? With the wisdom of the Holy Lord and the superb and skillful political skills, why did he use this trick? Why did he have to harm others?

It is a matter of harming the country and the army, and there is no benefit at all? The Holy Lord can do it more "tlemnly", first punishing him to protect the navy and the navy, then find an opportunity to find an excuse to make him come back. Even if everyone in the world knows that the Holy Lord is doing fake, this "fake" must be done to maintain fairness and dignity of laws and regulations, and to safeguard the moral sacred temple in everyone's mind, so that even if there is any damage, the damage can be minimized. Such a simple and simple truth, what children know, why does the Holy Lord not know?

Zhao Shizhu wanted to know the answer, but he and Duan Da went out of Hexi with him, and had a good relationship. Duan Da was a confidant and beloved general of the Holy Lord. He should know some secrets of the Holy Lord, but this matter was too sensitive. Whether those who knew the answer or did not know the answer, they avoided talking, were secretive, and deliberately stayed away.

In fact, the answer is very simple. The military opposition slapped the Holy Lord with a great defeat in the east, slapped him hard, and his nose was blue and swollen, and his authority was lost. How could the Holy Lord bear this torment? So he slapped him back, causing the military opposition to fall to the ground, and all the casualties were killed and injured. The entire army of the military opposition was wiped out, which was equivalent to giving the Holy Lord the opportunity to completely control the Guard Mansion and control the military.

Concentrating military power is the goal of the Holy Lord. The great defeat in the Eastern Expedition not only gave the Holy Lord the opportunity to concentrate military power, but also gave him the reason to concentrate military power. If he still cannot concentrate military power, what can he use to guarantee the victory of the second Eastern Expedition? This is a process of killing each other, the price is the death of 200,000 soldiers from the expedition. Therefore, this answer is cruel, bloody, shocking. Zhao Shizhu could not accept it and was unwilling to accept it. The Holy Lord was greedy and cruel, despicable and shameless, and the military opposition was the same? The Holy Lord ignored the facts, ignored the laws, rewarded and punished injustice, and wanted to trample on fairness and justice, and mercilessly destroyed the bottom line of law, morality and conscience. Isn’t that the military bosses like this?

Those who work hard to govern people, and those who work hard to govern people. This is an eternal natural rule. What maintains this rule is morality, which is the law. Whether those who work hard to do it or those who work hard to follow morality and abide by laws. Once they abandon morality, override the law, and act arbitrarily, the rules will be lost. Those who work hard to govern people, and those who work hard to manage are unwilling to be governed, and the world will inevitably be in chaos.

Today, the increasingly severe chaos in the north and south of Henan is a prelude to the chaos in the world? Is it a sign of the collapse of the country? Zhao Shizhu dared not think about it. The more he thought about it, the more he felt the ominous thoughts in his heart, the stronger he changed the subject, so he once again changed the topic, "How to kill the thieves in Linqing?"

"Watch the changes." Duan Da sighed, "This time our target of suppressing the rebellion is not to kill people or kill innocent people indiscriminately, but Yongjiqu. However, the people of Hebei still have no intention of compromise, and things are becoming increasingly difficult to deal with.

"Don't kill?" Zhao Shizhu sneered, "If you don't kill, blood flows into a river, how can Hebei people compromise?"

Duan Da shook his hand and signaled him to be calm, "Look at the development of the situation before making a decision."
Chapter completed!