Chapter 403: Offering Counsel

Mid-December, the weather was freezing cold, and the atmosphere inside Liguzhen, at the center of the Jin army's exaggerated encampment, was almost frozen solid.

There was no help for it. The nobles above all had grim faces, which inevitably put pressure on those below, and besides, there was no reason for those below to be happy either... The Yellow River channel had frozen solid on the tenth day of the twelfth month, and then day by day the war of attrition grew more intense. As a result, up until yesterday, the fourteenth, many armored soldiers had been thrown into the fray in one go, but they still hadn't broken through the Song army's defenses, only futilely sending countless sons to their deaths... Under these circumstances, let alone the mid-level Meng'an and Mouke commanders, even the Han supplementary troops' officers had no good expressions.

As for the lower-level common soldiers, including the conscripted militiamen and laborers, there was no need to mention them. They were the direct recipients of the casualties—how could they possibly be happy?

That's right, yesterday evening, the first general offensive that the Jin army had been brewing for three or four days just fizzled out in a muddle.

It wasn't that they hadn't fought, just that the imagined scene—five Wanhu from the west, three Wanhu from the east, two Wanhu in the south, two Wanhu in the north, and Gao Jingshan striking from the center, everyone exerting their strength in a death struggle, the Song army unable to hold, and the entire line collapsing—simply hadn't materialized.

With Wang Bolong killed in action and one Wanhu abruptly vanishing, in the afternoon's battle, the northern force was isolated and unable to act alone, not daring to launch any decent offensive against the Song army's strongest northern defense line. On the eastern side, Wanyan Bendu, Elubu, plus Ali who had been sent on a misplaced rescue, along with Gao Qingyi, Pusuyue, and other generals who had escaped from the city, forced themselves to muster their spirits and, following their military duty, launched a few probing attacks, but then quickly withdrew like a cat retracting its claws.

There was really no help for it. The disappearance of Wang Bolong and his Wanhu couldn't be concealed on the eastern and northern fronts. The several Wanhu on the eastern side, from top to bottom, had their morale and fighting spirit depressed to the extreme; none of them had the will for a decisive battle to the death.

On the western side, however, given the vastness of the battlefield and the lag in information, they managed to muster a bit of residual courage under Balisu's orders and charged forward twice with effort. But such an offensive, without effective diversion from the east and north, was stubbornly held off by the Song army, whose morale was soaring and who were receiving continuous reinforcements.

In the end, as the Song army's second-line units fully supported the front and began to display large quantities of spoils taken from Wang Bolong's unit, the Jin high command, fearing a collapse of morale at the front, had no choice but to sound the gong to withdraw.

In fact, at that time, some even worried that the Song army would hurl the severed heads of Jin soldiers as catapult stones... If they didn't withdraw, what else could they do?

"What's the word?"

Inside a somewhat spacious compound in the town, Gao Qingyi was sitting alone under the eaves, huddled by a stove and drinking fish soup. Beside him was a copy of the latest Song official gazette. Hearing someone enter, he didn't even lift his head and asked directly.

The newcomer was none other than the Bohai-registered Wanhu, Shaohe.

Hearing the question, the man didn't answer directly. Instead, he first had his attendants help him remove his helmet and armor, then fetched a bowl, chopsticks, and a soup spoon for himself, sat down opposite Gao Qingyi, ladled himself a bowl of hot soup, took a few sips, and then let out a gloomy sigh:

"What word can there be? It's a complete mess, not worth talking about!"

"Still, you should talk. Just tell me in detail." Gao Qingyi's expression was calm. "We all experienced what happened yesterday. Could we really be scared again?"

"It's just bickering..." Shaohe picked up his bowl, took a few more sips, then let out a long breath and gave a rough account. "Seven or eight Wanhu who weren't on the eastern front were still dazed until today. They just couldn't believe that an entire Wanhu had been wiped out so quickly, and Wang Bolong's Wanhu at that. It wasn't until Elubu had Wang Bolong's frozen-stiff corpse thrown into the courtyard that everyone dared to believe it. Then they started shifting blame, saying it was the eastern front's Wanhu who had refused to come to the rescue. Later, Pusuyue stepped up and recounted what he had seen on the city wall, and only then did the matter pass. Then they all blamed Wang Bolong, calling him a man who had misled the state in every way, and then went on to say that Elubu and Ali's rescue efforts were ineffective. That bastard Wanyan Bendu even blamed the whole thing on Commander Gao in the city, which led to me arguing with him for half the day."

Gao Qingyi's expression didn't change, as if he didn't care about this matter: "Is that all? What did Prince Wei and the Marshal say? Didn't they discuss future strategy?"

"That's exactly what I'm getting to." Shaohe said in a muffled voice. "We made a racket for a long time, but the Fourth Prince just wouldn't say a word. Maybe he was so angry at Wang Bolong that it triggered an old injury. Anyway, I don't know what he was thinking. Balisu didn't even show up until noon, saying he had been inspecting the barracks and distributing some rewards to the troops..."

"That was the right thing to do."

"Of course it was the right thing... Once Balisu arrived, the situation roughly stabilized." Shaohe picked up his soup bowl, took a couple of sips, and continued. "After things settled down, that fellow put on his Marshal's airs and said a few decent words... First, he pointed out that Wang Bolong's arrogance had misled the state, caused the loss of his troops and his own disgrace, and that no one else was to blame. Second, he promoted Pusuyue to acting Wanhu, combining the twenty or thirty Mouke he had brought out of the city with the remnants of Wang Bolong's infantry and routed soldiers, adding a few conscripts, and barely scraping together a Wanhu..."

"What else could be done?" Gao Qingyi finally showed some expression, but it was a bitter smile. "A Wanhu just vanished into thin air... Even if it's a patch job, the Wanhu's organizational structure has to be preserved. Otherwise, what's left of military morale?"

"It's better than nothing, I suppose. As for morale, that's been gone since yesterday." Shaohe put down his bowl, looked at the attendants feeding the horses in the courtyard, and showed a hint of dejection. "Actually, I know perfectly well. All these Wanhu, every one of them either a seasoned general or a noble scion. The reason they're making such a racket and causing chaos is that they're afraid at heart and using this to cover it up. Even my fierce argument with Bendu was the same at its core... In the end, some were already shouting for a retreat, all the way back to Yanjing. Others said we might as well leave a few tens of thousands here to hold the line, and take the rest of the army south across the frozen Yellow River to lay siege to Dongjing, pulling some kind of... 'besieging Wei to rescue Zhao'."

"That's not necessary." Gao Qingyi paused for a long moment before responding softly. "It's not necessary. We still have over a hundred thousand troops. We only lost a few thousand men... How could it come to that?"

"Commissioner Gao, those words are a bit too glib." Shaohe shook his head repeatedly. "Yesterday's battle wasn't simply a defeat with a loss of a few thousand men... If we're really talking about troop numbers, looking closely at Wang Bolong's affair, we lost forty Mouke in the camp, and on the east bank of the Yellow River, another one or two thousand were routed and trampled by Song cavalry. Together, that's a loss of five or six thousand men and one Wanhu commander. As for the Song army, they also suffered losses from their decoy force, and I heard that on the western side, a unit was sent out to fight to the death to cover things up, so they weren't unscathed either... But no matter how you look at it, an entire Wanhu was wiped out just like that! This isn't something you can calculate by troop numbers!"

Gao Qingyi remained silent. How could he not understand?

Wang Bolong's defeat yesterday wasn't just a matter of losing a few thousand men. It was a matter of a Wanhu—an elite, fully-manned Wanhu—being wiped out in a flash, vanishing as an organized unit.

It was truly gone, the whole thing.

The commander was dead, his corpse laid out there; his banner was broken and trampled; out of over fifty Mouke, a full forty were completely surrounded inside the Song army's camp. Whether they died or surrendered, those forty Mouke were lost entirely. Then, outside the ambush circle, they were pursued and trampled by Song cavalry, suffering another one or two thousand casualties... Did they have to point at the remaining supplementary infantry and a few hundred surviving cavalry and claim they were still there?

Even though Pusuyue became Wanhu, everyone knew in their hearts that it was more like inheriting the Wanhu that Gao Jingshan had in the city—a transfer of military power within the Bohai people's circle—and had nothing to do with Wang Bolong in essence.

So, Wang Bolong's Wanhu was truly and completely gone.

So how many such Wanhu did the Jin army have?

Twenty?

Actually, not that many.

On the surface, there were twenty, but in reality, Wanhu like Wang Bolong's—the core, the foundational Wanhu from the founding of the state, the ones with fine equipment, crack troops, and an unbroken lineage—there were no longer twenty of them. Starting from Yanyang, peaking at Yaoshan, scattered here and there, the Jin army had already lost three or four Wanhu, not to mention Huonü's mess in northern Shaanxi.

In fact, the importance of such organized military forces could also be seen from Yanyang and Yaoshan... At the Battle of Yanyang, they only lost a little over ten Meng'an, and not even as entire units, but it still caused the complete collapse of the Jin army's offensive. Wanyan Talan was reduced from a once-famous commander to a useless man who dared not speak of war. As for Yaoshan, there was no need to mention it. In one battle, with a loss of only twenty or thirty thousand, everyone in the world knew that the Jurchens could no longer advance on the grand strategic scale. Neither the Central Plains nor the Guanzhong region were places they could touch anymore. It was precisely because of this that this battle directly affected the grand situation of the world, reversing the overall trend.

Why were Wushu and his brothers setting up a new army in Yanjing?

Besides balancing power, the essence was that these old foundations were withering away, and they had to seek a way to maintain a reassuring military force.

And when it came to reassurance, Wang Bolong's defeat wasn't just a matter of losing an organized force. He had, with his own seniority and the foundational nature of his unit, posed a question to all Jin troops—if even Wang Bolong's Wanhu could be so easily erased on this battlefield in such a short time, did that mean that all Wanhu had lost the security of acting independently?

This might be a bit of an exaggeration.

But now, setting aside the far-reaching implications, one problem the Jin army had to face was, after restoring morale, what should they do next?

Clearly, the loss of this one Wanhu, and the subsequent failure of the first general offensive, had already shaken the confidence of the Jin high command in annihilating Yue Fei's forces and relieving Yuancheng.

It had even affected their judgment of long-term strategy.

"Shaohe."

After sitting silently under the eaves for a long time, watching the other man drink two bowls of soup and eat half a fish, Gao Qingyi finally spoke. "I must ask you to do me a favor."

"What?" Shaohe looked up in surprise.

"I want to see Prince Wei." Gao Qingyi said seriously.

Shaohe immediately frowned: "You are the Supreme Marshal's confidant, a so-called remnant of a disgraced minister. With that identity, if you go to see Prince Wei, how can he trust you? If you have something to say, you'd better go see Balisu. In my opinion, this Marshal of his seems to have some sense of responsibility."

"Balisu has a sense of responsibility, yes, but when it comes to the big picture, the one who truly makes the decisions is still Prince Wei. So I still need to see Prince Wei." Gao Qingyi explained calmly. "As for being a remnant of a disgraced minister... If he doesn't trust me, then I will have done my utmost."

"Done your utmost for whom?" Shaohe frowned and pressed further.

Gao Qingyi remained silent.

"Fine!" Shaohe stood up with a stern face. "I've drunk two bowls of your fish soup, so I suppose I should repay the favor. I'll go put in a word for you, just say that Commander Gao has some message for you to convey. Whether Prince Wei is willing to see you or not, that's none of my business."

Gao Qingyi still said nothing.

However, as the sun sank steadily westward, the stove fire gradually died, the soup pot grew cold, and Gao Qingyi, sitting silently under the eaves, finally waited for the personal guards sent by Prince Wei, Wanyan Wushu. Then, after being searched, this Commissioner Gao was brought before sunset to the compound in the town where Wushu was staying.

Specifically, it was the bedroom in the rear residence.

Wushu was lying on the kang, a hot towel covering his face, while Shaohe stood to one side. But as Gao Qingyi respectfully bowed to the man on the kang and then stood with his hands clasped, Shaohe turned and left without a word.

For a moment, the bedroom held only Wushu lying on his back on the kang, Gao Qingyi standing with clasped hands inside the door, and two or three guards standing in the corners of the room to keep watch.

"So you are Gao Qingyi?" Wushu heard the commotion but didn't move at all, not even removing the hot towel covering his eyes. "Nianhan's trusted interpreter... I heard that back when Nianhan saw Xiyin's political reform documents, he was prepared to make you Xiyin's deputy, serving as Vice Chancellor?"

"The guilty subject is Gao Qingyi." Gao Qingyi bowed his head slightly. "And that matter did indeed occur."

"What virtue and ability do you have to serve as Vice Chancellor?" Wushu's tone was cold and sinister.

"Perhaps it was only because he was close to the Grand Marshal that such a jest was made?" Gao Qingyi replied earnestly, cupping his hands.

"Then you and Nian... you and the Grand Marshal, just how close were you?" Wushu still lay there without moving.

"When the Grand Marshal died at the Department of State Affairs, Sheyema (Nianhan's eldest son) heard the government troops surrounding the mansion from within the residence. While weeping, he grabbed this criminal's hand and said he regretted that they, father and son, had not listened to this criminal's words earlier, leading to today's calamity..." Gao Qingyi answered calmly. "That is probably the extent of the closeness, wouldn't you say?"

Whether because the cloth had cooled, Wushu finally pulled the thing from his face, revealing a pair of bloodshot eyes that glared at the man.

And Gao Qingyi merely stood solemnly with his hands cupped.

Thus, the two stalemated for a moment, until the Great Jin's ruling prince spoke again, his tone turning somewhat strange: "According to Shaohe, Commander Gao inside the city had some private words meant only for you, to be conveyed privately?"

"It was merely an excuse this criminal used to request an introduction from General Shaohe." At this point, Gao Qingyi paused briefly, then sighed. "As for Commander Gao, he only asked this criminal to tell His Highness the Prince of Wei that, having received twenty years of grace and recognition from the Great Jin, he would never disgrace the Jin... Such words hardly count as private speech."

Hearing this, Wushu instead grew somber, letting out a long sigh from the couch, then said ruefully: "Gao Jingshan is at least better than Wang Bolong..."

"This criminal has a word to say." Gao Qingyi suddenly interjected, and Wushu cast a cold glance at the man but made no reaction. Seeing this, the former continued: "Wang Bolong's crimes are unforgivable—he harmed the state and ruined affairs, that is certain. But as things have reached this point, in this criminal's view, Commander Gao also bears an inescapable responsibility... As Commander-in-Chief of the Great Ming Prefecture Marching Headquarters, he held his position but could not establish his authority or restrain his men. From the very start of this campaign, he was unable to control Wang Bolong, which was a major reason for Wang Bolong's harm to the state. Moreover, throughout this campaign, Commander Gao's conservative conduct was also a major reason Yue Fei was able to succeed. Forgive this criminal's bluntness, but Commander Gao bears significant responsibility as well."

Hearing these words, Wushu took several deep breaths on the kang and actually seemed somewhat relieved.

You see, Gao Qingyi's words were precisely the thought that had been festering in Wushu's heart from yesterday until now.

Wang Bolong had certainly harmed the state, but he was already dead. Cursing him ten thousand times could never vent the hatred.

Setting aside Gao Jingshan's accidental burning of the balloons yesterday—that truly couldn't be blamed on him—his conservative military strategy since the start of this campaign now appeared to be a major cause of the current situation.

And to speak a heart-piercing truth, was Gao Jingshan truly unable to restrain Wang Bolong? Did he perhaps intend to use that bastard Wang Bolong as a target to win over Shaohe, Ali, and the others?

It was very likely, because Gao Jingshan himself was no noble character.

Going further, after Wang Bolong's defeat and the army's demoralization, what kind of maneuver was it to seize the opportunity to send the elite troops in the city—especially the Bohai-registered troops—out of the city? On a small scale, it preserved effective strength, but on a large scale, did it mean he didn't want to defend the city? A Commander-in-Chief, at such a time, still considering his own clan's escape route, wearing his dejection on his face, not thinking about defending the city or maintaining the overall situation for the state—was that proper?

But the problem was, wasn't Gao Jingshan still holding out in the city? Even if Wushu had ten thousand grievances, he couldn't voice them; he could only remain silent. Or rather, he knew full well that after yesterday's battle, all the responsibility would have to be borne by him, the Prince of Wei!

Even Bolisu could not share the burden.

Not only that, but Bolisu and those others would only resent Wushu for failing to restrain Wang Bolong, and would use this as a reason to demand that Wanyan Bendu and other direct-line chiliarchs unconditionally obey the Marshal's command.

Of course, thinking was one thing, relief another. After a moment, Wushu turned over and sat up, staring into the other's eyes as he spoke coldly:

"Gao Qingyi, Commander Gao saved your life. Don't stir up trouble. As for Wang Bolong's arrogance and insubordination, at root it was because Yanjing didn't want Great Ming Prefecture to hold too much military power, so they deliberately indulged him. And there's also the matter of the Bohai and Liaodi Han Chinese... Gao Qingyi, I'll tell you plainly: if someone besides Wang Bolong must be held responsible for this matter, it can only be me, the Prince of Wei... Understand?"

"Understood." Gao Qingyi replied swiftly.

"Speak, then. What did you come to see me about?" Seeing the other respond, Wushu couldn't be bothered to quibble further and simply urged him on.

"Your Highness." Gao Qingyi immediately spoke earnestly. "I heard that yesterday Wang Bolong died in battle, and then the general assault failed, shaking the army's morale and making people think of defection... Some even suggested taking advantage of the Yellow River freezing over to march south and attack Dongjing, implementing the strategy of besieging Wei to rescue Zhao... Is that so or not?"

"That did come up... Do you wish to offer advice?"

"How would this criminal dare offer advice?" Gao Qingyi replied softly. "But there are a few matters and a few doubts. If I cannot speak them face to face with the Prince of Wei and ask about them, I will feel uneasy in my heart..."

Wushu let out a scornful laugh, feigning disdain, but did not stop him from speaking.

"First matter... Marching south to Dongjing, setting aside the risks of battle, just consider that the Zhao Song emperor is in Hedong. Given that man's temperament and Yue Fei's decisiveness in using troops, can we truly besiege Wei to rescue Zhao and draw out the sixty to seventy thousand Song troops below Yuancheng?" Seeing this, Gao Qingyi wasted no words but plunged straight into the heart of the issue. "And if we cannot draw Yue Fei away, then assembling a large cavalry force in the field to intercept him... What would the southward march achieve? To make things hard for the Song even if we ourselves suffer? Is that a child's tantrum, or a state military strategy?"

Wushu glanced at the other. Though he still didn't speak, his expression had softened slightly.

"Second matter." Gao Qingyi couldn't help but sigh. "Our Great Jin, though led by the Jurchens and dominated by the Wanyan clan, has had mixed origins since the uprising. Besides Jurchens, the army includes Bohai, Korean, Liaodong Han, Yanyun Han, Xi, Khitan, and recently we've been courting the Mongols... Among them, the Bohai have deep ties with the Jurchens and have always been intermingled, making them quite useful... But now, Datanbuye has died in battle, Da... has fallen in battle, and I, a criminal, have lost all future prospects, leaving only Commander Gao and Shaohe... If even Commander Gao is abandoned..."

"How is it abandonment?" Wushu suddenly interrupted. "If we march south, isn't it also to rescue Commander Gao? Wang Bolong's defeat—his death was not worth regretting—but it also made the siege difficult to restore... The freezing period lasts only these few days; no one knows how many more days we can fight. If the army's spirit fails at the first attempt, each subsequent attempt will only be worse. If we stay here and press the attack, isn't that the same as sitting by and watching Yuancheng be besieged? In my view, it's better to march south and implement the strategy of besieging Wei to rescue Zhao—that would be true rescue!"

"Perhaps it would be rescue." Gao Qingyi replied calmly. "But the problem is, would the Han soldiers in Yuancheng believe that the Prince of Wei is trying to rescue them? The day Yue Fei approached the city, the Han soldiers immediately revolted. Now that Commander Gao has sent many of the city's mouke out, the remaining forces can barely suppress the Han troops and laborers inside. When Commander Gao decides to die for the state, will the others in the city still think of dying for the state? Is the Prince of Wei not afraid that the moment he leaves, Yuancheng will revolt and surrender the city? Then Yue Fei, occupying Yuancheng with no further constraints, are you not afraid he will turn around and devour the surveillance forces? Then cut off our retreat and supply lines? Causing our army's swift defeat?"

Wushu could not answer for a moment.

"Furthermore." Gao Qingyi continued earnestly. "The Bohai-registered meng'an and mouke in the army have always been loyal to Commander Gao, especially those he risked everything to send out. Almost every one of them is deeply grateful. Would they believe that the Prince of Wei's southward march is to rescue Commander Gao? As for the soldiers of other ethnicities, what do they understand of grand strategy? Seeing the Prince of Wei abandon Yuancheng and march south, they will likely all think the Prince of Wei is abandoning Commander Gao! When word reaches Hedong, what will General Yelu Ma Wu think? They have the precedents of Yelu Yudu and Yelu Nuge before them... At this critical juncture, is the Prince of Wei not afraid of a backlash from the people's hearts?"

Wushu instinctively glanced at Taishinu standing behind Gao Qingyi, then looked back at Gao Qingyi, his face and eyes full of exhaustion: "I hear you now. You're not here to seek a position from me as Shaohe claimed. You're grateful to Gao Jingshan and want to persuade me to stay and try to rescue him... Is that it or not?"

"Yes." Gao Qingyi knelt directly on the ground inside the door and kowtowed, then confessed frankly: "The thing this criminal hates most in life is that he could not save the Grand Marshal. Since the Grand Marshal's entire family has perished, and Commander Gao has shown this criminal such a life-saving grace and recognition, I absolutely cannot betray him again... But Prince of Wei, that has nothing to do with whether what this criminal said is reasonable!"

Wushu shook his head in rebuttal: "Then let's stick to the facts... According to what you said earlier, the Han soldiers are about to rebel, the Khitans cannot be trusted, and you Bohai are clearly becoming dissatisfied... Hasn't the Great Jin long been riddled with holes, unable to do anything?"

"That is precisely the key point this criminal wishes to make today." Gao Qingyi spoke earnestly from the ground. "Prince of Wei... the times have changed! Before, the state's power was rising daily, uniting a vast nation of ten thousand li in over a decade. In those days, acting was like a brave warrior galloping across a plain—one could do as one pleased. But now, the state is on the defensive. The Zhao Song has mobilized its entire army to attack. If we are defeated, we face the danger of total annihilation. At such a time, acting is like carrying a heavy load up a steep slope—one must be cautious and careful... Your Highness, this criminal is not exaggerating."

Wushu remained silent.

And Gao Qingyi continued speaking with conviction from the ground:

"Your Highness, our Great Jin arose from a remote land beyond the passes and suddenly became a vast nation of ten thousand li. The foundation is, of course, the Jurchen iron cavalry. But the saying 'Jurchens number less than ten thousand, yet ten thousand are invincible'—while a compliment—also points out that our core ethnic group is small, does it not? Therefore, to accomplish great deeds and unite the overall situation, having more Han soldiers day by day, or recruiting other ethnic groups into the army, are both unavoidable matters. And among these, the mixing of various ethnic groups with different cultures, each harboring their own schemes, has always been a common occurrence and an unavoidable one... It is not something that exists only because this criminal speaks of it today, nor would it disappear if this criminal remained silent today... Today, this criminal merely advises the Prince of Wei to pay attention to the people's hearts. Is that wrong?"

Wushu listened calmly until the other finished, then seemed to muster some courage and shook his head decisively on the kang: "What you say has some reason, but the Great Jin has not yet reached that point. A vast nation of ten thousand li, with hundreds of thousands of troops—how could losing a single wanhu cause the army to lose its spirit?"

"A vast nation of ten thousand li, with hundreds of thousands of troops—how could losing a single wanhu cause one to abandon loyal ministers and famous cities and flee?" Gao Qingyi retorted on the spot, then kowtowed again. "Your Highness, this criminal has two more words to say. Please, allow me to speak them."

"Speak, then."

"Your Highness... the Wang Bolong affair also demonstrates one thing: our previous assumption that one iron cavalryman could match two, and one supplementary soldier could match one, meaning twenty wanhu could equal three hundred thousand Imperial Camp Song troops... was wrong! In future battles, we cannot calculate this way!" Gao Qingyi raised his head, staring at Wushu, his words urgent. "For the Great Jin to have a chance of victory in a decisive battle, we can only seek a field battle with a large concentration of cavalry, using the field advantage of large cavalry forces to win!"

Wushu could not refute again.

"Finally, this criminal also wishes to say that whether the army next marches to Dongjing to besiege Wei and rescue Zhao, or continues here to try to rescue Yuancheng, it actually does not depend on Dongjing or Yuancheng, nor on any strategy of besieging Wei to rescue Zhao or rallying remaining courage... It depends on another matter..."

"What matter?"

"This criminal wishes to ask the Prince of Wei one question: If things go wrong and a decisive battle becomes necessary... does the Prince of Wei, with these ten-plus wanhu and the new Yanyun army, intend to fight the decisive battle in Henan, or in Hebei?! At Great Ming Prefecture in southern Hebei, or at Zhending Prefecture and Hejian Prefecture in northern Hebei?" Gao Qingyi raised his head, his tone intense. "At this moment, is the Prince of Wei still only thinking about how to win, and not about what to do if defeated? Prince of Wei, planning for victory is proper, but you should also prepare to stake the entire nation!"

Wushu was startled, leaping directly from the kang and standing barefoot on the ground.

And Gao Qingyi kowtowed again: "Therefore, this criminal implores the Prince of Wei not to march south... Strive to rescue Yuancheng, rescue Commander Gao... In this way, even if things truly go awry, we can retreat steadily, either go to assist in defending Taiyuan, or in the Hejian and Zhending region, with our backs to Yanyun, fight a decisive battle in the field! Rather than throwing the army into Henan, where if something goes wrong, we won't even know where to cast these hundreds of thousands of troops! We might not even be able to unite with the gradually assembling new Yanyun army! Wouldn't that directly bury the state?"

Having said this, Gao Qingyi lowered his head and fell silent, and the bedroom remained quiet for a long time.

PS: Thanks to the new alliance leader Qitu Wanli Ru Hu, thanks to the big shot Shui Changdong for another sponsorship... and thanks to all the other big shots for their tips.

Finally, an explanation: I don't know what's been going on these past few days, but I've been having major sleep problems... I've been especially drowsy, for several days in a row, suddenly getting sleepy, and then lying down for over ten hours. When I wake up, I'm not refreshed but have a headache.

All muddled.

I hope you'll understand.