Chapter 865 We are not invincible!
After listening to Zheng Chuang's answer, Yuan Song said nothing, but a little disappointment appeared in his eyes. Then he continued to pick up the telescope to observe the situation in Jinyang...

Although Yuan Song did not say a word of blame, this silent disappointment made Zheng Chuang feel even more ashamed.

He also didn't expect that Zhao Wenbin was so tough. He tried every possible means but still couldn't pry open his mouth. Until the moment of his death, he still firmly believed that the Luoan court would win the final victory.

Just when Zheng Chuang was feeling extremely guilty, Yuan Song's voice came to his ears again.

"How is the situation in Pingyang?"

Facing Yuan Song's question, Zheng Chuang said without hesitation:
"Commander Xun sent a message a few days ago saying that the Third Division has captured Pingyang and is closely monitoring the movements in Guanzhong!"

Hearing this, Yuan Song nodded slightly and said:

"What's the situation in Shizhou?"

Regarding this question, Zheng Chuang hesitated for a while and said:
"The mission to capture Shizhou has been given to Commander Song Jie of the Eighth Division. He probably hasn't sent back any news yet!"

Zheng Chuang paused for a moment and continued:

“Although Commander Song Jie has sent back news, the problem should not be too big. Commander Song Jie is a fierce general from the First Division. He has a fully staffed battalion of 3,700 people under his command. In order to capture Shizhou, he was specially assigned five red cannons…”

"Before, in order to defend Jinyang, Wang Muzhi pulled out most of the Yunbing troops from Shizhou. Now there are only a thousand Yunbing troops left in Shizhou City, and most of them are old, weak, sick and disabled. I don't think they can stop the troops led by Song Jie with just these people!"

Yuan Song thought for a while and then ordered:

"Send a signalman to contact Song Jie's troops immediately to find out their movements. Also, ask Commander Xun to launch some exploratory attacks on Weiguan to put some pressure on the enemy in Luoan and let those dignitaries know that they are not safe!"

"Yes!"

Upon hearing this, Zheng Chuang immediately took the order and left.

After instructing Zheng Chuang, Yuan Song continued to observe Jinyang City through the telescope. He observed for a whole incense stick of time before putting down the telescope and shaking his head helplessly.
The old man Shangguan Hongyuan appointed Wang Muzhi as the governor of Yunbing. It turned out that Wang Muzhi was quite capable. Although they had just suffered a disastrous defeat and lost tens of thousands of troops, the defenders in the city were still in good order and Wang Muzhi's arrangements were very appropriate.

However, if that were all, Yuan Song would not refuse the requests for battle from his subordinates. He would immediately order an attack on the city, striving to capture Jinyang City within ten to fifteen days and present a gift for Ye Mingsheng's birthday one month later!
But the problem now is that their opponents are not just the Yun Bing army under Wang Muzhi!

Although the Coordination Office and the General Staff Department believed that the reinforcements from the Luoan court arrived so quickly, Yuan Song insisted that the reinforcements from Luoan must have exceeded everyone's expectations...

There is only one reason!
The enemy’s commander is called Yang Chongqing!

Although more than ten years have passed, Yuan Song already clearly remembers Yang Chongqing's fighting style!

He knew that Yang Chongqing's favorite thing to do was to come up with unexpected plans and do things that everyone thought were impossible!
Just like the Cuman barbarians thought that the Great Zhou's imperial army would not fight a decisive battle with them on the grassland, Yang Chongqing led his troops to attack for 300 miles and killed the Cuman barbarians by surprise. If it were not for the three Eagle Divisions of the Cuman Khanate who rushed to their rescue, their most proud Tiger Division would probably have been wiped out!

It was this battle that eliminated the Golden Horde's contempt for the Great Zhou, and made the Golden Horde's generals no longer dare to go south to graze their horses. It was also this battle that forced the Golden Horde and the Great Zhou to sign a peace treaty!

The current situation in Yunbing is more dangerous than when Yongliang was harassed by the Golden Horde. By the time the Fengwu Army completes its layout, Jinyang City will be in their hands. By then, even if Yang Chongqing leads reinforcements to attack, they will be blocked by the Fengwu Army, and it will be difficult for them to reach Jinyang City.

Yang Chongqing would understand this, so he would try his best to lead his troops to Yun and stop the Fengwu Army's layout before the Fengwu Army completes its layout...
What Yuan Song is doing now is to complete the layout as soon as possible and not give Yang Chongqing any opportunity to take advantage!
Shizhou and Pingyang are the key places in the layout. Shizhou is located to the west of Jinyang and Pingyang is located to the south of Jinyang. Both places are connected to Guanzhong. Yang Chongqing can lead his troops through these two places to quickly kill into Yun and relieve Jinyang!

However, compared to Shizhou, Pingyang is closer to Luoan, and most of the Luoan imperial guards are concentrated around Luoan. Therefore, Yang Chongqing can gather troops more quickly and enter Yunbing. Therefore, it is more likely that Yang Chongqing will enter Yunbing from here. Therefore, Yuan Song asked Xun Ke to lead the entire Third Division to capture Pingyang one step ahead of time to block Yang Chongqing's offensive.

Although the possibility of Yang Chongqing breaking into Yunbing from Shizhou is relatively small compared to Pingyang, it does not mean that it is completely impossible. According to the intelligence from the Coordination Office, there are 10,000 Tiger and Swift Imperial Guards stationed in Yanzhou in the north of Guanzhong.

This Tiger Guard was originally used to guard against the Golden Horde, but at this time Yang Chongqing might have ordered them to raid Shizhou and capture the western gate of Yunbing, opening the way for Luoan's reinforcements to rush to Jinyang.

Therefore, Yuan Song also sent troops to take the lead and close Shizhou, the western gate. However, because he had to prepare to besiege Jinyang and capture Pingyang, the Fengwu Army’s manpower in Yunbing was a bit stretched. So after repeated consideration, Yuan Song decided to entrust the task of capturing Shizhou to Song Jie and his 3,700 soldiers...

Song Jie was his old subordinate in the First Division. Later, when the Eighth Division was formed, he was transferred here to serve as the commander. Yuan Song still had great confidence in his abilities.

However, there has been no news from Shizhou yet, so Yuan Song is a little worried about the situation in Shizhou!

Precisely because he was unable to determine the movements of Yang Chongqing's troops, Yuan Song did not dare to order a rash attack on the city. If Yang Chongqing's troops attacked them while they were attacking the city, the situation would most likely become stalemate again!
Although it was already the end of February and spring was about to begin, the weather was still a little cold. Yuan Song felt a little overwhelmed after standing outside for a while, and immediately returned to the tent. Just as Yuan Song was warming himself by the stove, Lieutenant General Zheng Chuang came over with a serious face and said:

"Sir, a messenger just came over and there is news from Commander Song Jie's troops!"

Looking at the serious expression on Zheng Chuang's face, Yuan Song had a bad feeling in his heart, but he still nodded and said:

"Tell me, what's going on?" Zheng Chuang organized his words and said in a deep voice:

“According to the messenger, Commander Song Jie’s troops arrived in Shizhou on the 21st and captured Shizhou on the 23rd. On the 25th, when Commander Song Jie led his troops to wipe out the remaining soldiers near Shizhou, they were ambushed by the Luoan Imperial Guards…”

"Commander Song Jie committed suicide after his troops failed to break out. The 1,700 people who followed him out of the city were all wiped out!"

"On the night that Commander Song Jie was killed, Shizhou was attacked by the Luoan Imperial Army. Sentinel Ye Shengwei took over the command, but because they were outnumbered, Shizhou fell two days later. Sentinel Ye Shengwei died of exhaustion, and Deputy Sentinel Cai Shitou led the remaining 700 people to break through!"

"In addition, according to the messenger, the Luoan Imperial Guards who ambushed them were partly from the Shenwu Army, and they were holding high the Yang character flag and the flag of the Grand Marshal of the Army of the World. Therefore, it is possible that Yang Chongqing personally planned this surprise attack!"

Although he had some psychological expectations, Yuan Song still closed his eyes in pain when he heard the news.

Yang Chongqing is still the same Yang Chongqing. Even though he made his move as early as possible, he still managed to destroy a fully staffed battalion with just one move!
You know, before, when the Fengwu Army successively led Wenshan, Xiaode, and Heyi counties and annihilated nearly 30,000 Yunbing troops, only about 4,000 of their own soldiers were killed. And now, as soon as Yang Chongqing made a move, he killed 3,000 Fengwu soldiers, almost wiping out an entire battalion of Fengwu Army...
Although he felt frustrated, Yuan Song was not swayed by it. He continued to ask Zheng Chuang:

"What's going on in Shizhou now?"

Facing Yuan Song's question, Zheng Chuang continued to introduce:

"According to the messenger, after the enemy captured Shizhou, they did not continue to attack the imperial troops in the direction of Jinyang, but continued to consolidate Shizhou. In the future, more Luoan imperial troops may pass through Shizhou and enter Yunbing!"

Upon hearing this news, Yuan Song nodded slightly. Seeing this, Lieutenant General Zheng Chuang hesitated for a moment and asked in a low voice:
"Sir, should the news of Shizhou's defeat be suppressed in the army?"

Yuan Song refused without any hesitation:
"You don't have to block the news. You have to spread the news to the entire army, so that every soldier in the army knows that our army has suffered a defeat in Shizhou!"

Zheng Chuang was surprised when he heard this. He didn't understand why Yuan Song did this. Logically speaking, in order to maintain morale, he should have blocked the news!

Seeing Zheng Chuang's puzzled expression, Yuan Song explained earnestly:
"The previous victory came too easily, causing the entire army to underestimate the enemy. The news of Shizhou's defeat was like a bucket of cold water that calmed everyone down!"

“Failure will make us realize that our Fengwu Army is not invincible. We will also suffer failure and be annihilated…”

"Now our real opponent has arrived! If we are not careful, we will lose everything, so we must go all out to win this war!

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Youyan, Jingmen County
Late at night, a carriage escorted by seven guards slowly drove towards the port.

At the same time in the carriage, a little boy about seven years old gently pulled Liu Yun's sleeve and asked:
"Dad, where are we going?"

Facing his youngest son's question, Liu Yun said impatiently:
"You'll know when you get there!"

After saying that, Liu Yun lifted a corner of the curtain and looked at the darkness outside the window with some nostalgia. As a native of Youyan, Liu Yun had never thought that one day he would abandon his family and career and leave his hometown, but unfortunately, this thing really happened!

At present, all signs indicate that the Coordination Office is secretly investigating Daxinchang Bank. Their fraudulent accounting and misappropriation of silver for loan sharking may have been exposed. Therefore, there is no place for him to stay in Fengwu Army. In order to survive, Liu Yun can only choose to run away!
Because this escape was so hasty, there were only two days from the decision to the implementation, so Liu Yun had no time to arrange everything.

So all he could do was to take with him his two sons, his wife, concubines, four relatives, some loose change, gold bars and the like, and of course the most important, his seven most trusted guards.

Liu Yun knew very well that the world was not peaceful now. Without any guards, he would be a fat sheep at the mercy of others. Only swords could protect him and his family...

In addition, Liu Yun had to reluctantly give up most of the family business he had founded and the dozens of concubines he had carefully selected.

He didn't know who these beauties and wealth would belong to next, but he was destined to have none of them!

The escape route Liu Yun prepared for himself was to take a boat from Jingmen Port and go to Jiangnan by sea. He planned to use the gold and silver he brought with him to buy a house and some good farmland in the countryside of Jiangnan, and live in anonymity to become a wealthy man. This was the best ending Liu Yun could think of for himself!
Just when Liu Yun was reluctant to leave his hometown, the carriage suddenly stopped, and then the voices of his men were heard outside the carriage.

"Master, the road is blocked by rocks!"

Liu Yun was shocked when he heard this, but before he could say anything, there were several muffled sounds of muskets firing outside the carriage.

The next second, screams of the guards were heard outside the carriage. Just when Liu Yun was frightened, he heard a hearty laugh in his ears.

"Old Liu, get off the carriage!"

Liu Yun was completely desperate after hearing this voice, but at this moment he was at the mercy of others, so he could only get out of the carriage obediently.

At this time, Gu Dejiang and a dozen killers were standing outside the carriage, and at their feet were the bodies of Liu Yun’s men...
Looking at Liu Huai, the housekeeper beside Gu Dejiang, Liu Yun immediately understood why Gu Dejiang knew his whereabouts, and angrily cursed with gnashing teeth:
"Liu Huai, you bastard, you must die!"

(End of this chapter)