The sudden appearance of a spring thunderstorm not only asserted his authority, but also turned what was supposed to be a large-scale melee between the two armies into a botched battle.

Not to mention that night, for the next three consecutive days, the spring rain continued to pour, making the plains muddy.

For a time, both armies were miserable, but each was wary, and neither side dared to retreat easily.

Among them, the Song army quickly captured Huolu County, and then established a large-scale stronghold along the county seat. The civilians and soldiers braved the rain to cut wood from the mountains behind, dismantled the old camp, transferred materials, and built a new stronghold. They worked hard to prepare... and the Jin army did not neglect it.

Duo Rang, in order to prevent losing tactical control over the highland, they also began to move their camps forward in a large scale. The camps that were originally evenly erected around Shiyi were dismantled, and a large number of sign troops from the rear also worked in the rain, moving them

The camps were laid out from Shiyi all the way to Huolu County.

And because of the objective fact of the huge military strength of both sides, coupled with the necessary auxiliary troops and civilians, the camps of the two armies on both sides of the Taiping River presented a terrifyingly vast area.

The Song Army's camp, not to mention the scattered horns and rearguard troops, is just the latest core camp, and it has reached the point where it is almost ten times the size of the original Huolu County. The Jin Army's camp, because it is convenient for cavalry to attack and support, plus additional

The movement of entering the Taiping River showed a strange herringbone shape that stretched for twenty or thirty miles... The head was only a few miles away from the Taiping River, and one of the two feet stepped on the stone, and the other stretched out

A few miles in front of the Hutuo River, facing the Zhending City Logistics Base Camp on the other side of the river.

However, it is not just the grassroots civilians who are working hard. These days, sergeants also have to patrol the rivers in the rain to prepare for it. Officers also have to rush to ensure battle preparations. And the top brass above the commander have to prepare for a full-scale battle that may break out at any time.

And conduct military planning, and even include some non-military discussions.

As Wu Jie said, both sides have no room for maneuver. At present, the hundreds of thousands of troops are relying on the Taiping River that does not need to be drawn on the map and the rain for their final escape, and the rain may stop at any time... Full-scale pressing

Under this situation, no one can stay out of the situation, and no one can escape responsibility and pressure.

Not only that, as the rain continued to pour, and then the two armies set up their strongholds and approached each other step by step, some other things were also confirmed.

The first is the battle damage that day.

There is actually nothing to say about this. It was a bad battle, and the fighting time was not long. Neither side was able to effectively kill people. Thousands of casualties were scattered among the various tribes, which was not even as much as the casualties caused by the rain in the past few days... because

It was necessary to set up the camp in the rain, and many people got cold, and there were also many casualties due to slips and falls.

Secondly, there is the issue of disposal of Huyantong.

This time, there is no doubt that Huyantong violated the rough order to set up a stronghold by the river and crossed the river to attack without authorization... So it stands to reason that military discipline was the most stringent before the war and should have been dealt with seriously... But in fact, it was not only Han Shizhong who defended himself

His subordinates, including Wu Jie, Li Yanxian, and even Wang Yan, almost unanimously agreed that Hu Yantong should be given the opportunity to make meritorious deeds.

There are many reasons, and the reason given by Wu Jie, who is in charge of the daily general affairs of the camp, is that Zhao Guanjia had an order in the past that anyone who dared to fight in the camp would be pardoned even if he was defeated. Moreover, Huyantong did not cause huge damage to the headquarters yesterday.

loss.

This is very intriguing.

The Zhao Guan family, who were worried, did not find any reason to feel unhappy about this matter together with several commanders... Therefore, the final result was that Hu Yantong was demoted to the fourth level, fined for one year, and still performed the duties of control.

Taking into account the two most important privileges of the commander, one is to lead troops independently and the other is to report secret letters, and neither of them is deprived, then in fact Hu Yantong's treatment is basically equivalent to being raised high and dropped gently.

However, it didn't matter, because on the third day of the continuous spring rain, which was early in the first day of February in the tenth year of Jianyan, Qu Duan and Liu Qi led the remaining imperial cavalry and the Zhang Xian and Zhang Zigai arrived at Huolu County.

At this point, everyone in the Song Army was surprised and delighted.

Fortunately, Qu Duan finally brought 16,000 to 16,700 reinforcements, and whether it was the 10,000 imperial cavalry or the two Wei troops, they were considered the top combat power of the Song army. The timely arrival of this time naturally boosted the morale of the army. But the worry is that because the entire western part of Hebei Province had encountered rain before, and in order to prevent being raided by the Jin army and arrive properly, Qu Duan chose to march on the eastern foot of Taihang Mountain, which actually made This support force had encountered various types of waterlogging and flash floods in the past few days, so that by the time such an elite team arrived at Huolu, they were exhausted to the extreme, and suffered heavy losses along the way.

You know, according to Qu Duan's statement, when he separated from Yue Fei from Daming Mansion, he discussed with Yue Fei, Zhang Rong, and Tian Shizhong, and they all felt that the infantry brigade of the Hebei Front Army might not have time to catch up with the decisive battle. So Yue Fei attacked the three horsemen The troops following the Jin Army were temporarily replenished... For example, the imperial right army's long-axe heavy-stepping Wei army was fully composed of 4,000 people. They fought hard in Daming Prefecture several times and suffered many deaths and injuries. At one time, only the remaining There were three thousand men who could fight, but in order to ensure that Zhao Guan's family could have enough support this time when they went north, Yue Fei directly transferred his headquarters and gathered up four thousand men again, and then sent them in the form of mounted infantry.

However, there were rains three days ago and flooding along the way. A small group of troops lost their way, the camp collapsed at night, and there were injuries and illnesses. When they arrived at Huolu, there were only 3,000 people left under Zhang Zigai's command. Moreover, due to the loading of equipment, A large number of livestock were lost, and less than half of the people became unarmed warriors.

The remaining more than 10,000 people are roughly like this.

It is precisely because of this that as soon as Qu Duan arrived, he, Liu Qi, and Zhang Zigai made it clear in front of the emperor that the troops must be well rested before starting the battle.

But there is no doubt that the proposal of the three of them encountered unanimous opposition from Han Shizhong, Li Yanxian, Wu Jie, Wang Yan, Wang De, Li Qiong and others... These six people agreed, and they publicly proposed that as soon as the rain stops, Let the war begin.

In this regard, Zhao Guanjia seemed to be noncommittal.

Even after the dispute lasted for a while, at noon, he exited the Huolu County Government Hall and disappeared without a trace.

However, the quarrel was still resolved, because in addition to Zhao Guan's family, there was another person in Huolu City whose status was obviously higher than that of the commanders, who could easily silence everyone.

On the second day after Zhao Guan's family moved to the town to harvest the deer, Lu Yihao, the governor of Hebei, hurriedly led the imperial officials to arrive despite the rain and the cold weather again.

Not long after Zhao Guan's family left, the prime minister and the governor arrived at the hall with the support of Academician Mei. He just scolded Han Shizhong and others and retreated... There was no way, the basic law was there, the Song Dynasty's Xianggong is Xianggong. Even if it is said that "when the world is safe, pay attention to the prime minister, but when the world is in danger, pay attention to generals", the status of military men has increased sharply in the ten years of Jianyan, but the political tradition is there, Xianggong is still Xianggong.

The most obvious manifestation is that only when a military commander reaches a position like Han Shizhong can he get a prince, and it is the only one in the world. However, as long as the princes retire safely, they will usually have princes, and even ministers and prime ministers.

He is a one-word king at the level of a prince.

Of course, Han Shizhong and Li Yanxian are definitely not people who are afraid of trouble. They kept silent at this time, perhaps for other reasons.

"Mr. Lu!"

The two generals, Han and Li, left directly. Qu Duan was so exhausted that he left in a panic. Wang Yan, Wang De and others really didn't know how to deal with such a famous husband, so they left in a hurry.

, only Wu Jie waited for everyone to disperse, and then hurriedly chased him out alone. "Stop, I will finally have something to say from the bottom of my heart."

The rain was dripping, dripping from the eaves of the corridor. Lu Yihao, who was at the end of the corridor of the county government office, turned back to look at each other, holding on to his cane and stopping for a moment. The plum oak tree on the side also quickly took an umbrella and hid in the rain next to it.

"Mr. Lu." Upon seeing this, Wu Jie immediately stepped forward, then bowed sincerely to him. "Let me listen to what the last general has to say."

"Tell me." Although Lu Yihao fell into the water before and caught the wind and cold again, making his face pale, he seemed to be in good spirits.

"Can you ask your husband to go and persuade the officials again?" Wu Jie straightened up and responded sincerely.

"What are you persuading?" Lu Yihao asked seriously. "Why are you persuading?"

"The general is worried that the officials will not be able to decide to go to war because of the rain." Wu Jie became more sincere. "When we were in Taiyuan before, the officials were a little hesitant, and now this rain is even more obvious... The Taiping River is swollen.

The bows and crossbows cannot be fired, logistics is difficult, and the situation of Qu Dutong and his troops is indeed not good..."

Lu Yihao nodded slightly, but just leaned on his cane and did not make a sound. He didn't know whether he agreed with the other party's worry or the other party's description.

"My lord... At this time, if the officials, because of the words of Qu Dutong and others, decide to take advantage of the water to recover for a while before starting the war, or even wait for Marshal Yue to go down the river and attack from both sides, then they will miss the opportunity.

"Speaking of this, Wu Jie couldn't help but take a long breath.

Lu Yihao also became slightly interested: "How do you say it?"

"Think about it, Xianggong Lu," Wu Jie answered seriously. "It rained and the crossbows were not stretched. Our army lost its powerful crossbows, so it was indeed a loss. But didn't the Jin army also lose its hard bows? Moreover, the plains were soft and muddy.

It is disadvantageous for the cavalry. The Jin army has slightly more cavalry, so it will suffer even more disadvantages here."

Lu Yihao immediately nodded again.

"As for saying that it is because of the rain that Marshal Yue is waiting for him, it is even more inappropriate. Because of the rain, Marshal Yue has sent the elite of the army to help, and the remaining infantry brigade will only come slower. On the contrary, the more it rains, the worse it will be.

We must abandon the mentality of waiting for large reinforcements." Wu Jie continued to explain.

Lu Yihao also continued to nod.

"However, these are not the key. The key is that our army cannot lose momentum because of the rain." Wu Jie quickly pointed out the key points.

"Oh?" Lu Yihao said again.

"Please think about it...Don't think about us as the decision-makers, nor the decision-makers of the Jin Army, only think about it as the soldiers below...Since the war started, have we won consecutive battles and won't we be able to advance?"

Stop, without any setback? Judging from the soldiers of the Jin Army, are they frustrated one after another and overwhelmed, so that they are defeated in a big way?" At this point, Wu Jie paused for a moment before continuing to explain. "At this time,

If we stop marching due to rain and do not launch an attack on the Jin Army that is right in front of us, it will be the first time since the war that our army has obviously flinched from the ceasefire... The so-called rest and reorganization theory only applies to Qu Dutong and the reinforcements he brought.

It is beneficial, but for the 150,000 main force brought by Hedong, it will not suffer a setback, and may even stimulate the morale of the Jin army... A period in which 150,000 people were sacrificed for the sake of a combat power of more than 10,000 people, this is

It will do more harm than good.”

"This old man knows a little bit about how to make a big effort and then fail." Lu Yihao seemed to be completely convinced by the other party, but he used a crutch with one hand and twisted his beard with the other. "Wu Jiedu, what you said makes perfect sense."

Wu Jie was relieved for a moment.

"But Wu Dutong..." Lu Yihao put down his twirling hand and sighed slightly. "Why don't you explain these truths directly to the officials? Instead, let me convey them to you?"

Wu Jie was speechless for a moment.

"Are you afraid that speaking out will cause displeasure to the officials, or are you afraid that saying this in public will offend Qu Duan to death? And then you will bring up old things and say you are a ungrateful person?" Lu Yihao couldn't ask further.

Wu Jie could only look around... It can only be said that fortunately Mei Qu knew the opportunity and retreated far away.

"Wu Jiedu!" Lu Yihao supported the crutches with both hands and his tone became more serious. "Let me ask you something again."

"My lord, please speak." When Wu Jie heard that the tone was wrong, he immediately bowed his head and did not dare to neglect.

"Do Han Shizhong, Li Yanxian, Wang Yan, Qu Duan... know these principles you mentioned?" Lu Yihao asked slowly, raising his head.

The tall Wu Jie thought for a while and responded seriously: "So that I can let my husband know, and the general will make a rough guess... Qu Dutong's march was hard, and his troops suffered heavy losses. I'm afraid it's too late to think about it at this time... and

I will say something inappropriate at the end, but Qu Dutong's nature is there. Although he is talented, he can't escape from his own system. Even if he understands it later, he may still be entangled."

Lu Yihao was noncommittal: "What about Wang Yan?"

"President Wang... President Wang has just been given the task of commanding the elite of the entire army and is feeling proud. Although he probably understands this truth in his heart, he may not be willing to think it through so thoroughly and will inevitably fall into rhetoric." Wu Jie responded fluently.

"Let's not talk about Wang De, Li Qiong, Liu Qi, etc. for now." Lu Yihao remained calm. "But what about Han and Li? Don't these two understand?"

Wu Jie finally fell silent.

"Are you trying to say that they both understand clearly, but they act in a flattering manner and are unwilling to openly contradict the officials?" Lu Yihao suddenly turned his head and looked at the rain outside the corridor and laughed. "Is that what you mean?"

Wu Jie quickly shook his head: "The general is only entrusted by the officials to lead the entire army. Since he bears this responsibility, he does not dare to take any chances."

"Of course it's great that Wu Jiedu has this intention." Lu Yihao finally turned around and said solemnly. "But you made a fundamental mistake..."

"Please give me some advice."
To be continued...