The Prodigal Son

Shuozhou!

Upon hearing those two words, both Zhao Luan and Qin Yu felt a pang of anxiety.

Could it be that the Northern Qi really attacked Shuozhou in the dead of winter?

Shangguan Youyi quickly stepped forward, took the urgent report from Yun Ying, opened it, and then presented it to Zhao Luan.

Upon reading the contents of the urgent report, Zhao Luan's expression suddenly turned grim.

The next moment, an enraged Zhao Luan suddenly kicked Lü Si.

Bang!

Lu Si was kicked to the ground, but he didn't dare to breathe. He endured the pain, got up, and knelt on the ground again, wailing in his heart.

Why the hell am I so unlucky?!

Urgent report from Shuozhou!

Judging from His Majesty's expression, something big must have happened in Shuozhou.

And it's definitely not a good thing!

Isn't this just adding fuel to the fire?

What a coincidence that all these bad things seem to be happening at once!

It's over, it's over!

This is definitely going to be a disaster!

Lu Si was terrified. He quietly raised his head slightly and cast a pleading look at Qin Yu again.

Qin Yu, disregarding Lü Si, hurriedly asked, "Your Majesty, what has happened?"

Zhao Luan's face was extremely grim. He said in a deep voice, "Summon them immediately..."

However, she stopped abruptly as soon as she opened her mouth.

After a moment's thought, Zhao Luan kicked Lü Si to the ground again with a "thud," roaring murderously, "Get out there and wait!"

Her kick, delivered in anger, was naturally quite forceful.

Lu Si winced in pain, but felt as if he had been granted a pardon. He didn't dare to say a word and hurriedly left.

Right now, the safest thing to do is to stay away from His Majesty, who is in a fit of rage!

After Lü Si left, Zhao Luan handed the urgent report to Qin Yu: "Take a look!"

Qin Yu quickly took it and examined it carefully.

Zhubei City has fallen!

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, Shuozhou was blanketed in heavy snow.

On the night of the first day of the Lunar New Year, the Northern Qi army, under the cover of wind and snow, launched another surprise attack on Zhubei City.

Although Xue Chengdao and Qian Zhui had been on guard, the soldiers were somewhat lax during the New Year holiday.

Moreover, Bei Qi mobilized two grandmasters at once, including Tuoba Liuyun, who is widely recognized as the number one in the world.

After a battle, Da Ning suffered nearly 20,000 casualties and retreated from Zhubei City.

Xue Chengdao and Qian Zhui were both wounded.

In addition, Shuozhou has been hit by continuous heavy snow in recent days, and many people's houses have collapsed under the weight of the snow. The heavy snow has caused snow disasters in many parts of Shuozhou.

Now that Zhubei City has fallen, the gateway to Shuozhou is wide open, and the Northern Qi army can soon march straight in.

Xue Chengdao suggested that, taking advantage of the heavy snow hindering the advance of the Northern Qi, they should abandon Shuozhou and retreat to the Zhenzhou line to preserve their strength and hold Zhenzhou.

Ugh!

As expected, Xue Chengdao and his group guessed correctly.

Unfortunately, even though they guessed it, they still couldn't stop the advance of the Northern Qi army once again.

War and snow disaster combined!

Now, it really is just as Cui Xu's poem described.

The refugees in the mountains have nowhere to shelter, enduring the wind and snow in the cold!

While Qin Yu was checking the urgent report, Zhao Luan also tried her best to compose herself.

After Qin Yu finished reading, Zhao Luan suppressed her anger slightly and said with a dark face, "Tell me your opinion first!"

Qin Yu paused for a moment, then said, "Your Majesty may not like to hear my opinion."

"Just say it!"

Zhao Luan said in a deep voice, "Even if I'm angry, I'll vent it on Lü Si, not on you!"

Qin Yu paused for a moment before speaking, "I believe that although our dynasty has been defeated, it may not necessarily be a bad thing!"

It might not be a bad thing?

Zhao Luan narrowed her eyes, then suddenly remembered something and stared sharply at Qin Yu: "Are you planning to take this opportunity to abandon Shuo and Zhen prefectures?"

Previously, when she was discussing the war to destroy Yan with the Qin family grandfather and grandson at the Qin residence, Qin Yu had mentioned to her that if necessary, they could abandon the two states of Shuo and Zhen!

"No! We don't need to give up Zhenzhou now!"

Qin Yu shook his head. "We only need to follow Lord Xue's advice, abandon Shuozhou to preserve our strength, and defend Zhenzhou!"

Zhao Luan took a deep breath and said in a deep voice, "From a military perspective, I agree with Lord Xue's opinion! But have you considered how many people will be displaced and freeze to death on the roadside if the court abandons Shuozhou, given the war and snow disaster?"

Although Shuozhou is sparsely populated, it still has a population of over one million!

How can you give up so easily?

Qin Yu said solemnly, "This is what I'm about to say."

"Oh?"

Zhao Luan raised her eyes, slowly walked to the imperial desk and sat down. "Then speak plainly, without any reservations! Whether you are right or wrong, I will not blame you!"

Qin Yu gathered his thoughts and said seriously, "After Bei Qi occupies Zhubei City, it will inevitably seek to occupy the entire Shuozhou..."

Da Ning's current strategy is to withdraw from Shuozhou and deploy defenses in Zhenzhou, focusing all efforts on defending Zhenzhou first.

If Bei Qi fails to capture Zhenzhou this winter, after spring arrives, Bei Qi will be busy with herding and farming, and their strategic goal will likely change to first defend Shuozhou and then attack Zhenzhou in the autumn.

At this point, Da Ning could mobilize troops to gather in Zhenzhou, making it appear as if it were retaking Shuozhou, thus forcing Bei Qi to send reinforcements to Shuozhou.

At the same time, some actions can also be taken from the Wuguan direction.

In any case, their goal was to concentrate the Northern Qi forces towards Wuguan and Shuozhou without arousing suspicion from the Northern Qi.

Thus, when the war to destroy Yan begins, Bei Qi will certainly not have time to spare too many troops to fight for Yan's territory.

The biggest problem now is how to evacuate as many troops and civilians as possible from Shuozhou.

If possible, we could use that half of the Nine Dragons Pendant to negotiate with Bei Qi, or fight and retreat to buy more time.

It is estimated that it will be difficult for the people on the front lines of Shuozhou to evacuate, but some of the people in the rear will still have the opportunity to evacuate.

At this point, Qin Yu rubbed his forehead and said, "I still have a naive idea, I wonder if it's possible."

"What are your thoughts?"

Zhao Luan pressed for an answer.

Qin Yu replied, "Shuozhou is suffering from both war and widespread snow disaster. To Bei Qi, many of the people in Shuozhou are likely a burden! If they don't want to slaughter all these people, they might deliberately force us to evacuate some of them to deplete our food supplies, force us to provide disaster relief, and thus distract us, leaving us unable to launch a counterattack against Shuozhou in the short term!"

"That's certainly possible, but unlikely!"

Shangguan Youyi chimed in, "The most likely scenario is that they'll keep the able-bodied and drive the old, weak, and disabled towards us!"

Beiqi has done this before, and Da Ning has done it too!

For any country, young and middle-aged people are a very important resource.

If you want to deplete their food supplies and distract them, just use the old, weak, sick, and disabled; there's no need to use the able-bodied.

"That's true!"

Qin Yu nodded in agreement. "Therefore, I believe that our dynasty currently has only two goals!"

"First, we must defend Zhenzhou with all our might; we absolutely cannot allow Zhenzhou to fall into the hands of Beiqi again!"

"Secondly, delay the Northern Qi's advance as much as possible, preventing them from quickly occupying the entire territory of Shuozhou!"

"Ideally, we should prevent the Northern Qi from attacking Zhenzhou before spring, thus minimizing our losses!"

Hearing Qin Yu's words, Zhao Luan lowered her head and fell into deep thought.

After a moment, Zhao Luan raised his head and asked somewhat unwillingly, "Tell me, as a general, is there any hope for our dynasty to launch a counterattack against Bei Qi and recapture Zhu Bei City?"