Great Song Super Scholar

Chapter 733
In October of the first year of Xihe, four months after Fan Ning left the capital, Jinzhou City fell, and more than half of the [-] defenders were killed or injured.

At the same time, the former army of [-] Song soldiers led by Cao Shi, the general and deputy commander of Zhengbei, encountered [-] elite cavalry of the Liao army led by Yelu Hongji, the emperor of Liao, on the north bank of the Daling River in the east of Liaoxi Prefecture. A life-and-death battle took place on the north bank of the Linghe River. The Song army finally lost to the Liao army and was defeated. The Liao army took advantage of the situation to pursue and kill the Song army.

The loss of [-] troops exceeded [-]%. Cao Shi, the former commander of the army, gathered [-] remnants and retreated to Jinzhou. When he was about [-] miles away from Jinzhou, he met Li Song, a general who had fled from the north. Cao Shi learned that Jinzhou had been captured. The Liao army's sneak attack in Dadingfu cut off his retreat to the south. Cao Shi's army had only enough dry food for four days. When he was at a loss, Li Song suggested that the army could retreat to Dadingfu.

The main force of the Liao army came from Dading Mansion to attack Jinzhou, so Dading Mansion must be defenseless at this time.

Cao Shi adopted Li Song's suggestion and led [-] remnant troops to retreat to Dading Mansion.
After Yelu Hongji found out that Yelu Yixin was secretly communicating with the Song Dynasty, he used countermeasures and ordered Yelu Yixin to fabricate a lie about the civil strife in Shangjing, and created the illusion that Yelu Hongji was retreating northward in a panic, and successfully deceived the Song Dynasty. The Song army was greedy for merit and advanced so badly that it was defeated.

At the same time that Cao Shi was defeated, the Song Dynasty's water army heading north from the waterway also encountered an ambush by 400 Liao troops. The Liao army, which had been fully prepared in advance, used thousands of rafts full of 30 barrels of kerosene, and landed on the Liaohe River. The warships of the Song Army were set on fire, and more than 20 warships of more than [-] shi were besieged by the fire and completely burned. They lost [-] shi of grain and [-] dan of forage. It was the heaviest loss since the establishment of the Song Army Navy.

When the news spread to the capital, the government and the public in the capital were in an uproar. The coach Han Jiang also took the initiative to submit a letter of resignation to the court, willing to bear full responsibility for the defeat, and submitted his resignation to the court.

In the imperial study room, several prime ministers were urgently discussing countermeasures with the emperor Zhao Xu. Seeing that Zhao Xu was worried and under great pressure, Wang Anshi comforted him and said: "Your Majesty, victory or defeat is a common matter in military affairs. It doesn't mean that we are at a disadvantage, our national power still has the upper hand, as long as we deal with it properly, we can still turn the situation around and occupy Liaoyang Mansion."

"What nonsense!"

Fu Bi next to him finally couldn't bear it any longer, stood up and reprimanded Wang Anshi, saying, "It's just a dream to think about occupying Liaoyang Mansion. Now we should first consider how to keep Datong Mansion and Yanshan Mansion, and how to rescue the Song army who was besieged in Dading Mansion." ?”

Wang Anshi was angry in his heart, and retorted Fu Bi: "Which army has been invincible since ancient times? What does it matter if you lose once, just cheer up and fight again. It's not terrible to be defeated. What's terrible is that the will is defeated, like Fu Bi. Like Xianggong, if he loses once, he thinks that the situation is over and starts to think about how to protect himself, this is the performance of a coward."

Fu Bi said coldly: "Who said there is no army of everlasting victories, have you been slandered and driven away by Fan Xianggong once before?"

Fu Bi suddenly mentioned Fan Ning, and all the faces in the imperial study changed drastically. Wen Yanbo looked at Fu Bi anxiously. Isn't it just stabbing the emperor in the back to mention Fan Ning at this time?
There was no sound in the imperial study room. After a while, Zhao Xu sighed and said: "Fan Taishi gave me five precautions before leaving. The first is to strictly guard Jinzhou, and the result is Jinzhou's fall; the second is not to underestimate the enemy of Liao, and in the end we underestimate the enemy. Thirdly, we could not rely on the navy, as we used the navy as the main force, which resulted in a disastrous defeat for the navy; fifthly, we could not trust Yelu Yixin, but we trusted Yelu Yixin's information. After Yelu Hongji's countermeasures, Taishi Fan would never fight the Liao army head-on. As soon as he left, we began to fight hard with the Liao army. This defeat was not an accidental defeat, but was caused by our overall strategic decision-making mistakes. It's my fault!"

It was Wen Yanbo who said slowly: "Your Majesty, you don't have to take all the responsibility on yourself. The Zhizheng Hall is also responsible, and the coach Han Xianggong is also responsible, but the old minister believes that now is not the time to pursue responsibility. Now we should consider how to stabilize the situation in front of us." precarious situation."

Zhao Xu was startled, "Is the situation so serious?"

Wen Yanbo nodded, "Your Majesty, this failure is not as easy as Wang Xianggong said, but a strategic failure as His Majesty said. First of all, if the Song Army in Dading Mansion is not rescued, the entire army will be wiped out. It is estimated that the Datong Mansion in Xijing may not be able to keep it, the top priority of the Song Army is to defend Youzhou, as for counterattacking the Liaoyang Mansion, it is purely a dream."

Wang Anshi's face turned red and then pale, but he couldn't refute Wen Yanbo's words.

Zhao Xu was a little anxious, and quickly said: "If you stick to Youzhou, what about the Song Army in Dading Mansion?"

Fu Bi also said: "This is the problem. The Song Army in Dading Mansion is like a bleeding hole for us. We must go to rescue, but once we rescue, we will inevitably have a fierce battle with the Liao Army. Can we defeat the elite of the Liao Army? Cavalry? If we can’t defeat the opponent, then we will be defeated again, and our wounds will continue to tear and the blood will continue to flow. Wang Xianggong, what do you think we should do?”

Fu Bi took aim at Wang Anshi again.

Wang Anshi was speechless for a moment.

At this time, a eunuch shouted loudly at the door: "The Empress Dowager is here!"

Everyone stood up one after another. Zhao Xu was most afraid of seeing the emperor's grandmother at this moment. When the emperor's grandmother came, he must ask himself a crime. How should he answer?

He had no choice but to bite the bullet and get up to welcome the arrival of Queen Mother Cao.

Empress Dowager Cao walked into the imperial study room, and all the ministers saluted together, she nodded, "It turns out that all the ministers in the Zhizheng Hall are here, it seems that Ai's family came at the right time."

Zhao Xu hurriedly asked the emperor's grandmother to sit down, and the Empress Dowager Cao waved her hand, "Ai's family makes a statement, but Ai's family is not here to interfere in politics, but as a member of the Song Dynasty's subjects, Ai's family wants to make a suggestion to the officials."

"Grandma, please tell me!"

Empress Dowager Cao glanced at Zhong Xiangguo, and asked indifferently: "Everyone should know what the Ai family wants to propose!"

There were wry smiles on everyone's faces. Of course they knew what the Queen Mother wanted to propose, but is it appropriate to propose it at this time?
Of course, Empress Dowager Cao also knew that the proposal to recall Fan Ning at this time would be a big blow to the emperor and would make him lose face, but this opportunity finally came up, how could Empress Dowager Cao let it go?

She pondered for a while, and said to the crowd: "Everyone, step down first! Let the Ai family and the officials talk alone."

Everyone saluted and retreated. Soon, only the Empress Dowager Cao and Zhao Xu were left in the imperial study. The Empress Dowager Cao said to Zhao Xu, "If I suggest that the officials recall Fan Ning, will the officials agree?"

Zhao Xu's face was a bit ugly, and he said for a while: "Of course my grandson dare not disobey the emperor's grandmother's decree."

"It's not a decree, it's just a suggestion!"

Zhao Xu sighed, "If I do this, how will people in the world talk about me?"

Empress Dowager Cao said indifferently: "If you don't do this, will the world praise His Majesty's wisdom and martial arts? No, you can tell by reading the newspapers these two days. A disastrous defeat, if His Majesty can recall him, people all over the world will only praise His Majesty for being open-minded and capable of correcting mistakes."

Even though he said that, after all, Zhao Xu couldn't let go of his face.

Empress Dowager Cao said again: "The Ai family would like to ask Your Majesty, is the country of the Great Song Dynasty more important, or His Majesty's life?"

"Of course the country is important. In order to keep the country, I will not spare my life."

"Very good, Aijia also knows that His Majesty will say this, so Aijia will ask again, is His Majesty's face or His Majesty's life more important?"

Zhao Xu didn't answer, Empress Dowager Cao smiled and said, "Needless to say, life must be important, and ants live by stealth, let alone people."

"The emperor's grandmother is right!"

"Then the question comes again, is the country of Song Dynasty important, or His Majesty's face?"

The words of Empress Dowager Cao hit the nail on the head, and Zhao Xu suddenly realized, yes!For the sake of the country of Song Dynasty, what is my own face?
He immediately bowed deeply, "Adhering to the teachings of the emperor's grandmother, my grandson orders Fanning to be recalled."

Empress Dowager Cao nodded with satisfaction, "He is still the King of Chu in the Song Dynasty, he is still the Taishi, a scholar of Longtuge University, and he is in peace with Zhongshumen, and he is a subject of His Majesty. There is nothing wrong with calling him back to discuss military and state affairs. "

Zhao Xu had no resistance at all, and saluted deeply again, "Thanks to the emperor's grandmother for teaching, my grandson fully understands!"

Zhao Xu immediately issued an order to quickly call Taishi Fan Ning back to Beijing to discuss military and state affairs.

In order for Fan Ning to return to Beijing as soon as possible, his decree is divided into two parts. One is to use the method of flying pigeons to summon Fan Ning to return to Beijing by hand. The second part is the official edict. Wait for Fanning.

(End of this chapter)