Chapter 69: Tit for the Confrontation

Henan Prefecture, Sima Guang Prefecture.

Sima Guang wrote "Zizhi Tongjian" in the house, holding the pen in his hand, sometimes frowning, sometimes writing quickly, and writing in a dragon and a snake.

"Squeak!"

The door opened, Sima Kang quickly stepped in and said to Sima Guang, "Dad, Mr. Lu is here."

"Grandpa Lu?" Sima Guang raised his eyebrows, put down his pen, and rushed out like a flying one. When Mr. Lu arrived, there must be something big to discuss with him. This is exactly what Sima Guang needs most. When he heard this, how could he not be anxious?

"Dad, please be slower, be careful." Sima Kang was extremely anxious and kept reminding him.

Sima Guang didn't pay any attention to it, and rushed out. As soon as he left the mansion, he saw Mr. Lu get off the carriage. Sima Guang took two steps at a time, met him, laughing and said, "Mr. Lu, you are here."

"Junshi, go in and talk!" Lu Gongzao didn't say anything politely at all, and his brows were frowning very tightly.

"Yeah!" Sima Guang saw it and couldn't help but feel a sudden heart. There must be no good things. He was looking forward to it for good things, so he stopped talking and pulled Mr. Lu into the mansion and went to the lobby.

"Junshi, go to your study and let's talk well." Mr. Lu hurriedly stopped him.

Sima Guang knew that something must be important, so he led Lu Gong to his study. Lu Gong was not even interested in evaluating "Zizhi Tongjian". Sima Guang saw it and felt even more wrong.

Mr. Lu admired Sima Guang very much and agreed with him for writing "Zizhi Tongjian". Every time he came, he had to appreciate it. Like today, he didn't even look at it. It was the first time: "Mr. Lu, why did you come to Henan Prefecture?"

"Come on order!" Lu Gongzhao said even more astonishingly.

"According to the order?" Although Sima Guang was a smart man, he never expected that Mr. Lu came here because of the intention of Emperor Shenzong of Song. His heart was beating wildly. He wanted to ask if he had taken him back to the court to serve as the prime minister. For the sake of stability, he forced himself to not ask.

"There are two things here, one is to tell you good news." Mr. Lu frowned even more: "This time, the 80,000 army of the Song Dynasty went deep into the Liao territory to plunder, and the harvest was extremely abundant. More than 73,000 Liao troops were killed, and countless food, grass, gold and silver were seized."

"Impossible! Impossible! It must be Wang Shao's exaggeration of military merits and using this to invite you to favor." Sima Guang would not believe that this was true even if he was killed.

The Song army had low combat power and could not defeat the Liao army. This is well-known. With 80,000 Song army, they went deep into the Liao territory to plunder. They would not be defeated or burn incense. It would be a great blessing to have a small capture. Sima Guang never dreamed of killing more than 73,000 Liao army.

He would rather believe that the sun came out from the west than that it was true.

"Junshi, I have to believe it!" Mr. Lu took out something from his arms and handed it to Sima Guang: "Junshi, you can take a look at this first!"

Sima Guang took it and opened it. He saw that the list of captures was written on it, one by one, one by one, very detailed. The more Sima Guang looked, the more surprised Sima Guang looked, and in the end he looked in disbelief, his mouth widened, and he couldn't speak for a long time.

"I copied this by order. It is very detailed and cannot be compiled even if I want it. I dare not believe it." Lu Gong stroked his forehead and said very annoyedly: "The official is demonstrating to those of us who oppose the new law! Let us know the greatness!"

"Oh!" Sima Guang sighed. Although he was unwilling to believe it, in the face of the iron-like facts, he had to believe it. The better the fight in the north, the smaller the hope of the opposition, and Sima Guang was very depressed.

"The second thing is about the oath monument." Lu Gong said the scene in front of the oath monument.

Sima Guang's hands were trembling. His greatest reliance was that Song Shenzong kept his words and did not kill those who spoke. Now, Song Shenzong had made up his mind. Whoever blocked his way would die. His greatest reliance was gone, and he would not be afraid.

"Junshi, have you known the Oath Monument for a long time?" Lu Gong stared at Sima Guang, his eyes not for a moment.

"I have heard of it, but I have never seen it." Sima Guang sighed: "The official has made up his mind. If we fight well in front of us, our lives will be difficult."

"Yes! How should we deal with it?" Lu Gong looked at Sima Guang and said, "The official sent me to Henan Prefecture this time to warn us. Next time, the official will not be a warning, but will start directly."

Sima Guang did not answer immediately, but frowned, kept paced and pondered.

For a moment, the room was quiet, only Sima Guang's footsteps. His face changed, sometimes blue and sometimes white.

"Don't be discouraged, we still have a chance." Sima Guang stopped suddenly and said, "Although this battle was very good, killing more than 73,000. However, it also leaked the sky. Yelu Hongji is not a person who is willing to suffer losses. He will definitely fight against the Song Dynasty. The first time, the Song Dynasty caught the Liao Kingdom off guard, and the second time was a head-on decisive battle. The Song Dynasty may not be able to gain the upper hand."

"Yes!" Mr. Lu nodded and said, "Yelu Hongji will definitely be angry this time. All the troops will come out. This fight will inevitably lead to the ups and downs of the world. The war will cause trouble. The Song Dynasty may not be able to win!"

"Don't say that victory is a blessing if you don't lose a crushing defeat!" Sima Guang said with a relaxed brow: "Besides, Xixia and Liao Kingdom have always been in a straitor, and they will inevitably send troops in Shanzhou. The Song Dynasty will face the enemy on both sides, and the chance of victory will be even smaller. Once the Song Dynasty loses, our chance will come."

"It's reasonable! It's reasonable!" Mr. Lu couldn't stop nodding, and agreed with this analysis.

"Besides, the one in the palace has not spoken. It's not that she ignores her, but that the time is not yet ripe." Sima Guang smiled and said, "If she loses this time, she will definitely come forward. By then, Wang Anshi, Wang Shao, Wu Ji and others will become people who harm the country and the people, and will definitely be punished. If the family is destroyed and the people are killed, they can save their lives. It is a great kindness."

Lu Gongzhu was deeply afraid of the person in the palace. He raised his eyebrows again and again, and was very frightened.

"If we go further..." Sima Guang's eyes flashed with a ruthless look and said, "Now, we only have one word, wait! Wait for the opportunity!"

Xiongzhou, Wang Shao's general's mansion, all the generals stood. Wang Shao stood in front, holding the imperial edict in his hand, and looked at the generals and said, "Look, this is the will of the official family. I will read it now, listen to it! If you miss it, you will be unlucky."

"Haha!" He said a lot of jokes, and the generals let out a cheerful laugh.

Wang Shao launched the imperial edict and read it out. At the beginning, it was a long passage of praise, praising the generals for being loyal to national affairs, daring to fight and fighting, and almost perfectly praised the generals.

Then, it was the matter of reward. This plundering was generally very good and was fought very well. However, it was a few happy families who were sad. Of course, the generals and officers who could fight and dared to fight were fighting. They fought with great success and achieved great military achievements.

What we are worried about is that the generals and officers who cannot fight war have lost a lot of manpower, but in the end they still did not improve much, and it is difficult for them to save their seats.

This plundering was to let the Song army go through the test of actual combat, and to let the generals and officers master this tactic. Overall, after experiencing the early disagreements, most generals and officers fought well. For these people, most of them were not promoted and just stayed in their original positions based on the principle of counterproductive merits and demerits.

Although they have not been promoted, as long as they master this new tactic, it is only a matter of time before they can be promoted.

For those generals who have never improved, officers are dismissed and punished. Five generals have been removed, and there are more officers, no less than a hundred.

When these people retreated, they naturally took over from generals who fought very well. Lin Hong fought well and was promoted to commander commander of the place, and stood alone. Huangfu Song and Qi Dabao were also promoted to commander commander, and the deputy commander commander of the Congxin Army was taken over by Li Mingchu, and Du Yuhou was taken over by Shang Yuan.

When Li Mingchu heard the imperial edict, he looked shocked. It was hard for him to believe that he had been promoted. Thinking about the fact that when Wu Ji took over the Guixin Army, he was so poor that he had no pants to wear, and even having children became a problem. Now, he has been promoted to deputy commander-in-chief and became Wu Ji's assistant, just like he was dreaming.

"The imperial edict has been read out, and those who are promoted will continue to fight, and you must fight better! If you are not promoted, you don't have to be discouraged. As long as you know how to fight, there are opportunities!" Wang Shao encouraged.

"It's true that the official family has won such a big victory, but the official family has not sent an imperial envoy." This imperial envoy was sent by the court, and it was beyond everyone's expectations, so I couldn't help but complain.

"Don't talk nonsense!" Wang Shao raised his eyebrows and scolded: "The official family has its own principles when doing this! You all go down and wait, Brother Wu and I say something."

"Oh, why didn't the commander Wu Du succeed?" The generals realized that the abnormality was not mentioned by the imperial edict. Wu Ji was the initiator of this victory. In the imagination of the generals, Wu Ji should have been promoted to a great success. What surprised them was that Song Shenzong did not mention it.

"Will you not be promoted if you don't mention it? From today on, Brother Wu will help me deal with the military affairs in the north. This is the imperial edict of the official." Wang Shao waved his hand and the generals bowed and said he retreated.

Wang Shao went up, closed the door, pricked up his ears and listened carefully for a while, but there was no movement. Then he came back and said to Wu Ji: "Brother Wu, the situation is not good."

His words were amazing. He had obviously won a huge victory, so why was it not good again? Wu Ji was confused by him and asked in confusion: "Why did you say this?"

"Look at this imperial edict, you will understand." Wang Shao took out an imperial edict from his arms and handed it to Wu Ji. The general idea was to ask Wu Ji to assist Wang Shao in handling military affairs. Then he asked Wang Shao and Wu Ji how many Western soldiers they had to be transferred, and there was nothing else.

"This..." Wu Ji couldn't see it clearly.

"Brother Wu, you have never been in Shanzhou and don't know much about the situation in Xixia. Besides, you have not been to Bianjing yet, and you don't know much about the situation in the court. Let me tell you in detail." Wang Shao sat down with a solemn look on his face: "Although we won this time, it also gave the new army of the Song Dynasty a direction, but it also leaked the sky. If something is not good, it will turn the world up. Maybe even the government can't even protect the government!"
Chapter completed!