Lord: Start with a book of Water Margin

Chapter 625 Half success or half failure
In Huzhou, Tong Guan was overjoyed to hear that Dusong Pass and Deqing had been captured, and he sent someone to report the letter of request for merit he had written earlier to Bianjing.

When Huzhou, Dusongguan and Deqing were conquered, Hangzhou was shaken, and Fang La in Muzhou was even more horrified when he heard the news.

Fortunately, the three kings of Suzhou were cautious and had many elite soldiers and generals. Although they lost for a while, Suzhou was still firmly in their hands.

In this battle, although Tan Zhen also pretended to have a change in the army like Tong Guan, he never expected that Fang Mao's eight cavalrymen were divided into three waves, with [General Feiyun] Gou Zheng and [General Feitian] Wu Fu leading the charge, [General Feixiong] Xu Fang and [General Feibao] Guo Shiguang on the left, [General Feishan] Zhen Cheng and [General Feishui] Changsheng on the right. Seeing that the situation was not going well, they covered each other, [General Feilong] Liu Yun and [General Feihu] Zhang Wei rushed out of the city to support them, while Fang Mao and Lu Shinang guarded the city carefully, and thus they managed to defend Suzhou City, with only [General Feiyun] Gou Zheng, who was at the forefront, being killed.

After Tan Zhen won for a while, the camp moved forward and approached the city of Suzhou again.

Right Prime Minister Zu Shiyuan saw this and said to Fang Mao, "Thanks to the caution of the three kings, otherwise we would have fallen into the trap of the traitors in the court."

Fang Mao said: "This strategy can only deceive those who are brave but not wise, how can it deceive me. Not to mention that the king only sent Jin Zhi for marriage, even if there were more women, I am afraid that Liangshan would not be able to raise an army. If I had not been in Suzhou and did not know about this, I would have stopped it long ago. It's a pity for my niece."

Zu Shiyuan heard this and said, "It was Pu Wenying, the astronomical supervisor, who first proposed this. At that time, the celestial phenomena changed abnormally, and Runzhou, Changzhou, and Xuanzhou were successively occupied. The king was naturally anxious."

Fang Mao said: "This guy deserves to be killed. Jin Zhi is such a submissive person, how could he do such a thing. What I am worried about now is Huzhou. Fang Jie is young and energetic, I am afraid he will suffer a loss."

Zu Shiyuan said: "With the assistance of Prime Minister Lou and General Du Wei, we will not be defeated. Moreover, there are two strategic points, Dusong Pass and Deqing."

Within one day, the news that Huzhou, Dusong Pass and Deqing had all been lost was sent to Suzhou. Upon hearing the news, Fang Mao refused to go out of the city even more. He assigned his generals to guard the gates, planted deer horns deep in the city walls, lined the city walls with tread crossbows and hard bows, battering rams and cannon stones, melted gold in the shops, and piled ash bottles against the parapet, preparing to defend the city firmly.

Tan Zhen had naturally also received the news of the great victory in Huzhou. He looked around at the generals and said, "After all, the Prime Minister has used the army wisely. In one battle, Huzhou was pacified, Dusong Pass and Deqing were captured, and the troops can now reach the city of Hangzhou."

"After this incident, I'm afraid Fangmao will never dare to leave the city again. Suzhou's city walls are strong and surrounded by water ports. I'm afraid we won't be able to break through them in a hurry. It's a pity to use this strategy to lure the enemy. I'm afraid there will be another hard battle later."

Liu Yanqing, the governor of Taining and Baoxin armies, said, "Sir, the situation is much better now than before. If the Prime Minister attacks Hangzhou, Suzhou will surely be shaken. Sooner or later, Suzhou will be taken by you."

Tan Zhen nodded and said, "That's right. Liu Jiedu killed an enemy general, so it's just right to write a letter to the emperor to ask for credit. I heard that Liangshan's Zhao Anfu Xianggong not only offered advice, but also presented the [Flying Thunder] pattern, so it's just right to ask the court to send some to attack the city.

Tong Guan and Tan Zhen each sent someone to announce their victory. In the city of Bianjing, the emperor was very happy to hear the news.

He thought to himself: Half of the 25 counties in the eight states of Jiangnan have been recaptured. Tan Zhen is still slightly inferior to Tong Guan. Song Jiang was in a stalemate with Wang Qing of Huaixi. After pacifying Jiangnan, he still wanted Tong Guan to lead the troops to suppress them. Liangshan still had to be temporarily appeased.

Gao Qiu asked him to solve it himself. There was a personal grudge between the two of them. If he could really deal with Zhao Ze of Liangshan, then he would have to give an explanation to Tong Guan.

At that moment, the emperor summoned Cai Jing into the palace.

First, he asked Cai Jing to decide on the merits of the people and to reward the meritorious soldiers in the future. Second, he wanted Cai Jing to come up with an idea to reward Liangshan and Zhaoze. After the emperor finished speaking, Cai Jing said, "Your Majesty, Jiangnan Tong Shuxiang and Liangzhe Zhizhi Envoy Tan Zhen should be rewarded with gold, silk, gold armor, etc. first, and they will return to Beijing to receive the reward after their achievements."

"As for Liangshan, Zhao Anfu has made great contributions by offering advice and plans. Since Prime Minister Tong Shu has requested precious medicine on his behalf to heal his wounds, Your Majesty should order the Imperial Academy of Physicians to send more secret medicine. If Your Majesty thinks it is not enough, you can order someone to select some more precious things as rewards. It would be even better if the imperial physician could come to visit again."

The emperor listened and nodded, saying, "What the Grand Master said makes sense."

"Lord Gao and Zhao Anfu have many private grudges. They are both important officials in the court. The Grand Tutor should persuade them. After this fight, no matter what the result, they must not seek revenge privately. The Grand Tutor should also mediate on behalf of Lord Tong."

After hearing this, Cai Jing immediately agreed.

In Muzhou city, Fang La heard that Huzhou had fallen, and Prime Minister Lou Minzhong, General Du Wei, and Huzhou garrison commander Gong Wen were all killed in the battle. Of the 50,000 reinforcements, only more than 3,000 people fled back to Hangzhou with the emperor's nephew Fang Jie. Fang La was furious.

As he could not attend the morning court, he sent people to summon the councillor Shen Shou, the assistant secretary Huan Yi, the marshal Tan Gao, the minister Wang Yin, the assistant minister Gao Yu, the palace commander Zheng Biao, the spiritual master Bao Daoyi and others to the palace to discuss matters.

Everyone had heard that Huzhou had fallen, and when Fang La asked for advice, he said, "You all have received official titles, and you all occupy prefectures and cities, and share the wealth. Now you have been swept in by the troops of Tong Guan and Tan Zhen, and your prefectures and cities have been lost one after another. Now Huzhou has been broken into, and Prime Minister Lou Minzhong and General Du Wei have both died in battle. Tong Guan is about to invade Hangzhou. How should we meet the enemy? Do you have any ideas?"

Shangshu Wang Yin was the first to speak: "My Lord, the barrier of Hangzhou has been lost. Fortunately, the eldest prince has three marshals, twenty-four lieutenant generals, and elite soldiers. In addition, the city of Hangzhou is eighty miles in radius. There is a lot of money and food in the city. Even if the city is besieged, it is enough to support it for three years. The city walls are strong, so it is not easy to attack."

"In my opinion, we should send another reinforcement army to occupy Fuyang County as a corner of Hangzhou to prevent Tong Guan from attacking Hangzhou with all his strength."

Fang La heard this and asked, "Who is willing to share my worries?"

Zheng Biao, the Grand Commandant in front of the palace, stepped out and said, "My Lord, I am willing to lead the troops to guard Fuyang."

Wang Yin said: "The Grand Commandant is well versed in Taoism, so we can appoint the Chief Commander Bai Qin and the Deputy Commander Jing De as deputy generals. They are both brave enough to fight against ten thousand men, so they are just right to assist the Grand Commandant in commanding the troops."

At that moment, Fang La issued an order to mobilize 20,000 soldiers and horses, and entrusted them to three people, to go to Fuyang and seek an opportunity to launch a surprise attack on Tong Guan's army.

After the rescue troops were arranged, the Minister Gao Yu stepped out and said, "My Lord, this great defeat was caused by our credulity that the imperial army would cause chaos. This is why we underestimated the enemy and advanced rashly, resulting in the defeat of the army and the killing of the general. Liangshan must have taken some action to cause this. I think we should go to Liangshan again to find out the whole story."

Fang La heard this and asked, "Could it be that Zhao Zhen secretly surrendered to the imperial court?"

Bao Daoyi heard this and said, "My Lord, when we went there, Prime Minister Zhao claimed to be ill and could not come out. This move must be a precaution against the court. If you say that Prime Minister Zhao conspired with us, I don't believe it. Astronomical Supervisor Pu Wenying is still observing the stars in Liangshan, so he should be able to find out something."

(End of this chapter)