Chapter 28 third quarter

Under the escort of the cavalry of the Liao army, Ma Kuo and his party crossed Baigou and returned to the original place where they set off north twelve days ago.At the beginning, the land along the south bank was still the front line of the Song army, but now it has become the rear of the Liao army.Ma Kuo is the most familiar with the scenery in this area, but after only twelve days of separation, the place has changed greatly.The frontier positions that used to be surrounded by densely guarded posts have now become places where horses roam freely. It can be said that "the scenery is still the same, but the personnel are completely different".What shocked Ma Kuo the most was that many of the farmhouses where he used to work, eat, rest, and live had now become piles of rubble, and many houses and shelters were burned to the ground. , Incomplete limbs.Some, like hedgehogs, receive innumerable arrows concentratedly in a small area.The arrow feathers covered with gray sand have turned gray; the arrowhead has sunk deeply into the earth wall and wooden window, and no one is willing to spend a little effort to pull it out and use it again.Broken weapons and irreparable armor were thrown away in the open space, and some were stained with blood.The corpses of the horses that had not been buried were torn to pieces, giving off a rancid smell.The sparse green grass around it has been flattened, leaving traces of the dying horses and their owners struggling for their country.

A few days have passed since a big battle, and the wreckage of the war is still thrown on the battlefield and has not been completely cleaned up.But the vigorous Liao army has re-established a new base on the ruins of the war.Both the remaining farmhouses and the tents set up temporarily were full of people, and horses were strewn all over the ground.They took advantage of the gap after meals, some were polishing weapons, some were drinking and washing horses on the river beach, and they also took a bath for themselves. Enjoy the shade in the shade.When they saw Ma Kuo and the others passing by, they would exchange a few words of Khitan dialect in surprise, talk about it, or ask the escorting cavalry for information.The cavalry sternly stopped them from asking questions, and they just laughed a few words.Inspired by repeated victories, whatever they do, they are relaxed, happy and full of energy, with a lively and joyful expression on the face of each soldier.The fatigue of the three days of hard work has been offset by the excitement of anticipation, and now the expressions on every face are; not only can they do everything they are doing at hand, but they are still on standby, ready to finish The more difficult task, the victory belongs to them is undoubtedly the same.In the positions of the Liao army that Ma Kuo passed by, this kind of prosperity and high morale appeared everywhere after the victory of the descendants.

After noon, Ma Kuo and his party entered the Song Army's position.That is the defense zone of general Wang Zhi.Ma Kuo knew his generals and was easily admitted.They told Ma Kuo that Wang Wen had gone to the command headquarters to look for an old businessman. The command headquarters was located in Zhangshi, seven or eight miles to the southwest.They said with disdain that the Xuanfu Division withdrew into Xiongzhou City after losing the first battle on the 26th. Many soldiers and generals gathered around to participate in the conversation when they heard them talking. They were happy to tell the details of the battle in front of Ma Kuo, who had never participated in the war, and express their thoughts on the battle situation.

"His grandma's envoy ran back at full speed before even seeing the enemy's shadow. He thought he had already reached Tokyo City." "The fight was so lively that day, and even Dashu, who was watching the battle, broke into a cold sweat for me. Ma Xuanzan didn't catch up with the excitement, and it's a lifetime of regret." "I have never seen such a fierce battle in my life! Only 120 of the 500 soldiers under Commander Yang returned. I heard that the guards on the left and right of Marshal Yang were also killed by Commander Yang. Manager Wang fought well and entangled the enemy. It is a pity that Liu Taiwei refused to send troops to help, and let us fight alone, and suffered some losses."

"The Liu family also listened to Tong Xuanfu's order and stood by. Hurting others is still hurting oneself. He suffered even more from the battle yesterday." "There are so many strange things, but Tong Guan is not good. If everyone in that group followed Li Dutou to the camp, they would have defeated the Liao army long ago, and returned to the court with the victory drum in their hands. How could there be any disaster today?" "I heard that Tong Guan is shameless. After losing the battle on the 26th, he even reported to the court and lied about the victory!"

An officer whom Ma Kuo didn't recognize stepped in to brag about his bravery.As usual, he described everything that he saw others do in the war, or that he himself wanted to do but failed to do, and described everything in detail that could not be verified or denied. It was attributed to the improper scheduling of the Xuan Fu Division.He knew Ma Xuanzan, and asked Ma Xuanzan to write down his name, and mentioned it in front of the old and small managers when he had time. The previous part of the description of this officer did not resonate with the people. Even if they could not deny him, they did not believe that he could have behaved like that on the battlefield based on his character. At the same time, it was shameful for him to use this method to express his achievements. , They don't believe that any credit will be obliterated under the command of their beloved Director Wang.

However, they agreed on the two conclusions behind him: defeated, and Xuan Fusi should bear all the responsibilities for the defeat. Many military propagandists at home and abroad, ancient and modern, have racked their brains to come up with all kinds of wonderful words to cover up a failed war. One of their masterpieces is to call the retreat "turning in".Among Tong Guan's staff, there are also experts who are good at this kind of word game.In their first report after the 26-day war, they claimed to be the victors, and only when the truth could not be concealed did they put all the responsibility on the teacher.This kind of word game may be effective in the rear far away from the battlefield. It can deceive the court, officials and high-ranking officials, but it cannot deceive the soldiers on the front line. If the position is moved to the rear instead of the front, that is an out-and-out defeat. There is nothing simpler and clearer than this.And defeats are always to be blamed on the highest military authority in front, which is also a matter of course.It was clear in the hearts of the soldiers whether Zhong Shidao or Tong Guan should be responsible for the defeat.

There are still people who want to continue to comment on the battle situation, and Ma Kuo has no time to listen to it.He temporarily settled down Wang Jieru and his party, and handed over his entourage to one of his familiar generals to be in charge of protection.Borrowing a horse by himself, he went to Zhangshi to find Master Zhongdao. While galloping on horseback, Margaret made a general inspection of our army's positions.The setbacks in the past four days have caused all the troops of our army to retreat for 20 to 30 miles, and now they are barely maintaining a position in an irregular diagonal line.Among them, the West Route Army commanded by Xin Xingzong retreated the farthest.In the 26th battle, Xin Xingzong still came to the front line in person and supervised the battle with great effort.After the 27th day, the defeat was out of control, and they have basically retreated to the foot of Xiongzhou City to set up a stronghold.There were also uneven positions in the East Route Army defense area that Ma Kuo passed by, and everything showed signs of temporary haste.There were also hastily erected tents, close by the bushes.This is against basic military common sense.Ma Kuo was very dissatisfied that even this common sense was ignored when he hurriedly set up the village.

Yelu Dashi once analyzed two points to Ma Kuo: First, the temporary positions built by both sides lack solid support, and the fortifications are also hasty, which is beneficial to the offensive side and not conducive to the defensive side.Second, after repeated setbacks, the soldiers of the Song Army were demoralized and unwilling to fight.Both of these points were confirmed by Ma Kuo himself.The officers and soldiers in such a weak position and in such a state of malaise must go through a thorough transformation to greatly change the situation and psychological state of the officers and soldiers if they want to resist the attack of the Liao army.From this, Ma Kuo felt that Yelu Dashi's threat to launch another large-scale attack within three days was indeed based on facts, and it was not an empty threat.

Ma Kuo was once fooled by Yelu Dashi, and he was fooled by Yelu Dashi's suspicious soldiers without further thinking, so that he ignored the possibility of him sending troops to cover up.Now that Yelu Dashi is threatening to attack aggressively again, Ma Kuo is very vigilant not to fall into his trap again.He inspected the position on the spot, and after analyzing the situation and the psychological state of the soldiers, he felt that what Yelu Dashi said was the truth. The rapid change in the past ten days—starting from accepting a vague task, the change turned into a very favorable situation, and success was in sight. At that time, he was full of enthusiasm and confidence.But the chance of success suddenly leaked from his fingers, and the hopeful situation turned into a failure.These rapid changes made Ma Kuo's usually calm mind become hot.He felt painfully that the changes in the situation always exceeded his speculation and judgment.The situation is like a leading opponent in a walking race. He keeps running ahead of him by a few steps. No matter how hard he tries, he always fails to catch up.Due to his lack of understanding of the situation and his miscalculations, he has already made some mistakes.Now returning to his own position, facing an unfavorable situation, it stimulated him to calm down again.What he needs now is calm analysis and calm consideration, which leads to correct conclusions.

He synthesized the various impressions he gained from activities between the enemy and us, and summarized several urgent opinions: 1. The most basic estimate is that the situation is still in my favor.The Liao government was fragmented, internally and externally troubled.Empress Xiao hesitated for several days, but was finally forced to meet and accept the surrender. This is the most powerful evidence. Second, Yelu Dashi launched a cover-up attack out of a desperate and risky action as a last resort.Although he won by luck, due to the limited reserve force, it is impossible to fundamentally reverse the perilous situation of the Liao government.Therefore, Yelu Dashi must take advantage of the temporary advantage and launch another attack to consolidate his strategic position before proceeding to solve internal problems. 3. The High Command insisted on building a position outside the city, and did not withdraw the entire army into Xiongzhou City. This is the correct measure.It is related to whether our army has the strength to carry out a counterattack, or to accept defeat obediently.However, the morale of our army is currently low, and we must rectify it in a timely manner on the spot. We must withstand another onslaught from the Liao army and gain a firm foothold in order to change the current offensive and defensive positions of the two sides. Fourth, the crude position also needs to be improved, but the purpose is to withstand the attack of the Liao army, so as to switch from defense to counterattack, not to be in a stalemate with the Liao army here for a long time. So it's not worth spending too much power either. While galloping forward, Ma Kuo further considered the above points.Suddenly they heard the sound of hooves, and a group of people turned around a small hill and returned with confidence.The leading one was Wang Teng, Zhong Shidao himself, Yang Keshi, Yao Pingzhong and other senior generals and some staff officers also followed.Their expressions are deep, which shows that after inspecting the position, they have the impression that the situation is serious.But they saw Ma Kuo by accident, and everyone exclaimed excitedly. "I heard that nephew Xian has gone to Yanjing," Zhong Shidao tightened the reins in his hand, took the lead, and asked with concern, "Why do we come back here today to meet each other?" "Nephew Yu was on a mission for more than ten days. He met Yelu Chun and Concubine Xiao when he was in Yanjing, and met Yelu Dashi in the Xincheng Hotel yesterday. When he returns today, he is going to report everything to the commander in chief, and at the same time make a brief contribution to the current situation of the battle. Qin Yi, I don't want to meet the coach here, what a coincidence!" "Coincident, coincidence!" Zhong Shidao said with the ambivalence that he wanted to talk to Ma Kuo to relieve boredom, but was afraid of touching the core of the problem and touching his troubles, "this is not a place for conversation, my nephew Let me go back to the military headquarters and talk about it." But Ma Kuo couldn't wait to return to Zhangshi. On the way home, he rode side by side with Zhong Shidao, so he hastily reported the mission to him, and frankly expressed some of the opinions he had just considered.Zhong Shidao was somewhat hard of hearing, and it was even more difficult to listen to the sound of horseshoes.But Ma Kuo found that what made him absent-minded was not hard listening, but that he himself was in a very depressed mood after several defeats, and he had lost confidence in the future of the battle. After Ma Kuo expressed his opinion, he asked Zhong Shidao to give a clear answer. "Everything that my nephew said is a secret, and it is an urgent matter for the moment." Zhong Shidao was sad for a long time, and replied, "This is what I have been thinking about. But the Xuanfu Division Zhuri sent People come to make noise, and the supervisor is more than me." Because of his age, he was even more impatient, and he was a little out of breath, and when he mentioned the Xuanfu Division, he said angrily, "This morning, Liu The staff officer came again to spread the order of Xuanfu, asking my whole army to withdraw to Xiongzhou; otherwise, there will be another setback, but I am asking. How can I bear the charge of violating the order? I am unwilling to withdraw my troops, my nephew. See how I deal with this situation?" "It's only natural that the Xuanfu Division can't do good things," Ma Kuo said in surprise, "But Staff Officer Liu has been in the army for a long time, and he is known as a soldier who knows how to fight. The big stone is looking for a gap in our army. Yesterday he threatened in front of his stupid nephew that he would attack on a large scale within three days. Send a message to the commander, be careful and fight him. If our army moves easily, he just takes advantage of it If he enters and chases after him, the situation will be really dire at that time. How could Staff Liu be so ignorant?" Then, he tightened his mount so that he could get closer to Zhong Shidao, and urgently advised, "The commander-in-chief is the most important part of the whole army. Now everyone's eyes are on the banner. If there is a slight movement, the three armies will be invincible. At that time, the national prestige will fall to the ground, and the Jin and Liao states will invade alternately. The future is unimaginable." At this point, he couldn't help warning Master Zhong seriously, "In the future, the history will be written, and the good and the good will be criticized. Tong Guanzhi will definitely be despised, and I am afraid that I will not be able to absolve myself of the blame." Ma Kuo said this very solemnly, and Zhong Shidao couldn't help but turn pale when he heard it. He defended himself complainingly: "I'm afraid I won't save this! Literati use their pens to distinguish right from wrong. How many grievances in history books can they explain clearly?" Then he said angrily, "At the beginning of the war, I and Tong Guan made it clear first, and we will discuss things in the future. , I don't accept the blame, but today's misfortune is fair, so should I also be responsible?" Ma Kuo realized that the words just now carried too much weight and hurt Zhong's self-esteem as a teacher, so he tried his best to soften his tone now: "The top priority is to defend the enemy with all our strength, turn the tide, and turn the tide. What is personal responsibility? The future will come from a place of discernment." Then he raised his whip and pointed to the forest in front of him, and asked, "Build a stronghold in the forest on the other side. Whose army is it?" "Yang Tongzhi Yang Weizhong is stationed there." "To build a stronghold, you must choose a place with high sun to facilitate attack and defense. Today, the camp controlled by Yang is surrounded by forests on the east, west, and north sides, fearing that the enemy will take advantage of the wind and fire to attack. What's more, our army looks around day and night, and our eyes and ears are covered. Here He is right at the front line, and if he loses, it will affect the overall situation, why not order him to change?" Ma Kuo's comments were very pertinent.This morning, Zhong Shidao has passed by here twice, and in a hurry, he couldn't help but feel very sorry for not seeing this obvious common-sense mistake. "Nephew's words are reasonable," he turned back, nodded and said yes, "I was wrong at the moment, and I didn't make corrections in time. After I went back, I asked Yang Weizhong to move to the camp." "It's not certain when Yelu Dashi will come to cover up the attack again. Our army needs to move quickly, and there must be no mistakes." Ma Kuo was relieved when he saw Yao Pingzhong gallop to Yang Weizhong to order him to investigate with a command arrow of a kind of teacher's way.Then he asked again: "When nephew Yu was in Xincheng, he sent his entourage Zhao Jie and other two members to sneak back to our army's position and report to Chen Diqian. I wonder if my father ever talked about this with the commander?" "I met Ma Dujian in the morning, but I didn't talk about it. Ma Dujian and Duan Ru are both in Zhangshi at this time, and my nephew met immediately, so I can ask you about it." "Liao envoy Wang Jieru and his party are still in the front line. Nephew Yu is eager to go back to settle them down, return to Tong Xuanfu, and try his best to resist the proposal of withdrawing troops. We can't wait to meet Uncle Duan and my father again." He reminded again, "Withdrawing troops is a matter of the overall situation. After my nephew Yu sees Tong Guan, he should fight with his life and death. The frontline matters must be resisted with all his might. That's all my nephew Yu said, and it all depends on the efforts of the commander." "Zhangshi is close at hand," Zhong Shidao raised his whip and pointed, "since it's an important business, so I don't have time to pass it off, my nephew, let's go. I will do my best for the affairs here." He sighed, " In short, I can do whatever I can, and I can only resign myself to fate.” This is a disturbing and ambiguous sentence, but at this time Ma Kuo has no time to say more to Mr. Zhong. He bid farewell to Mr. Zhong and everyone. Great burden.