C353 strike

Zhao Deji asked again: "Yue Pengju is arrogant and aggressive, how can I make him retreat?"

"Your Imperial Majesty, why don't we order him to retreat?"

Zhao Deji felt a sense of novelty towards this suggestion, so he asked, "What is the twelve orders?"

"In order to attract his attention, does his majesty have to issue an order every hour? If it goes on like this, does Yue Pengju dare to disobey?"

Zhao Deji was overjoyed, "Let's do it this way."

After that, Qin Gui drafted and personally transcribed 12 edicts. Of course, every single letter was about the same, with a slight difference, his tone was always more severe than the last. Then, the palace arranged for these twelve parts of the edict to be sent out by the Gold.

Once Zhao Deji's Gold was handed over, an old woman opened her blurry old eyes and sighed. She suddenly sat up and looked at Tian Wei and Wan Wan who were standing guard beside her.

This person was the empress dowager. She had already reached the final stage of her life. Because of the cold, she could only lie down and lie down, unable to move this winter.

Tianwei and the others stayed by her side all day long. Seeing her suddenly perk up, they all knew that this was the legendary "coming back from the dead at last". Each and every one of them cried to the point of tears.

Her Majesty asked, "What major events have occurred these past few days?"

Tian Wei and the rest did not dare to tell her about the 12 Gold that the eunuch told them, but seeing her worried face, they could only tell her the truth: "The elder brother of the nine has already sent 12 Gold, and told Yue Xiang Gong to retreat … …"

The bit of spirit on the empress dowager's face disappeared without a trace as he slowly closed her eyes. Two drops of cloudy tears fell from her eyes, "Da Song is hopeless in the end. When I go, I really have no words to say to the ancestors of Da Song!"

Tian Wei and Wan Wan were crying even harder.

The empress dowager stretched out her thin hands and grabbed both of theirs. She sighed, "old body has never had children in her life, it's all because of you two accompanying her in her later years. It's better to serve her carefully than to have children. While I am here, I can still help you a little. Once I am gone, you two will have no one to rely on.

The two of them nodded in agreement before the empress dowager slowly loosened her grip. The two of them looked and saw that she was dead.

The two of them burst into tears, especially Tianwei. In the atmosphere of the increasingly intense peace talks, she knew that the Wei Xian Fei would return, but once she did, what would her fate be? She did not know whether to mourn the Empress or to mourn herself, but she was close to fainting. When Zhao Deji heard the news, he rushed over and shed a few tears of sorrow. He then ordered the empress dowager to prepare a funeral on a large scale.

When Yue Pengju and the others entered the Zhu Xian Town, they found that the distance between them and the open seal was only forty-five kilometers, which was also the last stronghold that Jin Wushu had in the open seal. Other than a few who escaped by luck, the rest of the residents were all killed by the Golden Army, and all the women were reduced to Golden Army's living slaves.

Just as the final battle between Yue Army s was about to begin, Han Chang sent a secret envoy to the Yue Pengju army to offer worship. This person was Golden Man and had braided hair that was slightly bent to the left. He was Han Chang's nephew, Han Ba.

Han Qian knelt down and saluted Yue Pengju according to the etiquette of a Chinese, then said: "My uncle has already gotten tired of war, and seeing how the gold soldier massacred the city many times, she did not want to be driven by the Fourth Prince anymore. She hopes to reconcile with the Yue Xiang Gong."

Yue Pengju had also found out about Han Chang being whipped by him, so he asked: "How many troops does Han Chang have left?"

"Fifty thousand."

Yue Pengju laughed: Fourth Prince is just a hundred thousand troops, how can Han Chang have fifty thousand?

Han Qian didn't dare to continue bragging, so he could only be honest and say that there were still thirteen thousand people. Han Qian said, "My uncle has followed Fourth Prince for many years and could not bear to go against the alliance. He only gave up on Chang Ge County to retreat before the battle and didn't fight with Yue Army. I hope Yue Xiang Gong can grant his wish."

Yue Pengju said with emotion: "Since that's the case, let's help Han Chang out."

The moment Han Qian retreated, indeed, Song Jin had just exchanged blows, and he had withdrawn all the troops from Changge County. Zhang Ge County was empty, and the Zhu Xian Town became an isolated island. Taking down this place was tantamount to taking down the open seal.

On this day, the atmosphere in the military was very warm. Everyone rushed to spread the news, and their morale had already reached the peak. Yue Pengju said with emotion, "Capture the Zhu Xian Town, seize the open seal, we will definitely drink with the other lords."

Hua Rong was extremely happy, starting from the time of the great disaster, the open seal was occupied by the Golden Army, and even the Zhao's temple was destroyed. Now, it was time to take it back, one could imagine how excited everyone was.

But at this time, the Yue Army was also facing great difficulties, even if she was looking forward to the military food, he could not wait any longer. Yue Pengju naturally did not know that he was being held up by Qin Gui, and was only discussing with the rest of his staff. But these grains and grasses were all intercepted and kept by Qin Gui. On the eve of entering the Zhu Xian Town, the army only had enough food to last ten days. Yue Pengju ordered the army to eat less food. There were only two meals a day, and it could only be chestnut porridge at night.

He calmed the soldiers, but when he consulted with his staff, he could no longer conceal his anxiety.

He asked, "How about buying rations along the way?"

Zhu Fei shook his head: "After being trapped for such a long time, the soldiers and horses do not have much food left. Even if they were to take them, they will not be able to last long. Right now, the war is in chaos, the two rivers are at a standstill, how can we make it in time? "

Yu Peng said angrily: "Now that Qin Gui is able to cover the sky with one hand, everyone says that he is the Fourth Prince's spy.

Li Ruoxu muttered to himself for a while and then said in a low voice, "Since ancient times, meritorious officials have been out on the streets. Even though he was wearing a yellow robe, he still didn't dare to say these words out loud. He understood what the emperor was thinking when he returned to Linan to deal with him.

After the aides left, Hua Rong brought in a bowl of warm chestnut rice porridge and softly said, "Pengju, you haven't eaten dinner today. You won't be able to take it for a long time."

Yue Pengju shook his head, seeing how his wife's eyes were sunken in, he sighed: "Sister Shi Qi, follow me, you have suffered for your entire life!"

Hua Rong's heart trembled. In her entire life, Pengju actually said that! She put down the rice porridge and walked behind him. She reached out her hand to massage his shoulder and smiled sweetly. "Pengju, I'm very happy when I'm with you. How could I endure such hardships?"

With a backhand move, he gently embraced his wife's waist from behind, and said with an extremely sorrowful voice, "Big Sister Shi Qi, I have been in the army for more than ten years, from an ordinary soldier to a high position, and I have never felt any regret in my life. I can't let my wife have a peaceful life for you! Sister Shi Qi, we must win the final battle in advance. I promise you that I will be with you from now on. "Even if it's just farming, we won't let you and your son suffer any more …"

Hua Rong's eyes reddened, hot tears were about to roll out of them. His husband's words had already revealed a terrifying dejection to his future, he did not dare say anything to his aides, only to himself. Fortunately, Yue Pengju couldn't see her expression, but she was still smiling. He gently buried her head in his neck, intimately rubbing against him for a while before slowly saying, "Pengju, it will be fine, it will definitely be fine."

Yue Pengju held her hand tightly and did not say another word.

At the same time, Jin Wushu was also extremely anxious, he could not even finish drinking the alcohol, his temper becoming more and more violent, and everyday he forced the soldiers to come up with a plan to defeat the enemy. Although he had sufficient estimates of his loyalty to Qin Gui and his cowardice, he was also worried that Yue Pengju would not be able to defy his orders and push him further. With his understanding of Yue Pengju, it wasn't as if Yue Pengju couldn't do it. At this last moment, would Yue Pengju refuse?

That morning, the Yue Army had a hearty meal and gathered together in a large open area to make the final pre-battle order. The moment Yue Pengju opened his mouth, a message came out from the palace. It was the first Gold that Zhao Deji had requested to retreat.

Yue Pengju bowed respectfully and received the Gold. As if he had been ruthlessly cut in the heart, his face became ashen. Yu Peng, Zhu Fei, Li Ruoxu, Zhang Ya Fu, Zhang Xian, Wang Gui and the others all surrounded him. Even though his aides were usually capable of planning things out, they were unable to do anything about it up to this point.

Hua Rong stood in a corner and didn't go up. She didn't even dare to look at her husband's face.

Half of his life's work had been destroyed.

Twelve Gold s came one after another. On this day, Yue Pengju continuously received Gold s, and every hour, he would pay his respects in Lin An's direction. He simply could not do anything else as he read Zhao Deji's repulsive order.

When he finished receiving the last Gold, he received a message that the imperial government had stopped supplying the Yue Army with food.

This urgent message was originally sent by Qin Gui, but Qin Gui forced himself to send the order to stop them from stashing the food there, and then made a meticulous plan. After Zhao Deji gave the order, he publicly announced this news to Yue Pengju.

Under the twin strikes, Yue Pengju's entire body was practically crumbling apart. Her legs were numb, and even with the support of two gold soldier s he was unable to stand up. Hua Rong quietly walked over from the corner to support him, but her hands were powerless as well. Her hands rested on his waist, it was soft, and she was on the verge of collapsing.

The aides and important generals were gathered in a large mud hut. In the middle, the Desk was lit by an extremely dim oil lamp.

and the rest could not help but rise and scold Qin Gui.

However, other than cursing at Qin Gui, no one dared to say anything about the real mastermind behind all of this, the current Emperor.

Zhang Xian said: "With the situation at this point, no matter what, we cannot retreat. It would be better for us to continue …"

Xu Qing also said: "If we cannot take down the open seal this time, wouldn't our northern assault be destroyed?"

Among them, the one with the most violent temper, Niu Gao, was so angry that he almost jumped: "I must catch Fourth Prince …"

Dong Xian also scolded loudly.

Only Wang Gui did not say anything and just sat quietly at the side.

Following the bravery of the army, Zhang Xian, Wang Gui, Xu Qing, Xu Qing, Dong Xian, and the other three were publicly acknowledged as the Five Tiger Generals, and were also the absolute backbone of the Yue Army. At this time, when Zhu Fei and the others saw that they were arguing loudly, they all insisted on sending their troops over, and said: "Wait for the lower official to draft a report, I hope that Your Majesty can delay the withdrawal of the army."

Zhang Jiefeng shook his head. "Once this memorial is up, no matter how fast it is, it will take us twenty days to go back and forth. Without food and fodder, we simply cannot hold on for that long. Moreover, it is still unknown whether His Majesty will agree … " He looked at the twelve Gold s on the Desk, as if Zhao Deji had rejected them with such force that it was like a mountain iron proof.

Yue Pengju and his wife sat in the middle of the room, not saying a word since the start.