Meishan Su family, Su Yun is the most virtuous

Chapter 298: Yanzhou is lost and the building collapses!
Su Yun formulated a plan which was not strict but had a high tolerance rate. Su Yun was quite confident in it. As long as the Hedong Army, Huanqing Army and Qinfeng Army cooperated a little, the Western Xia army would be badly damaged even if it didn't die.

Just when Su Yun was about to announce the plan, Qi Keyong suddenly came in a hurry and said something earth-shattering: "Jinglüe! Yanzhou City has been broken!"

Su Yun looked at Qi Keyong in disbelief.

In the following decades, Su Yun thought about it for tens of thousands of days and nights but still couldn't understand why the Huanqing Army couldn't even defend a city?
Of course, there was investigation feedback later, which said that in order to grab credit, Li Changzuo mobilized a large number of troops to attack Hongzhou, so that there were too few troops in Yanzhou City, so that the Dangxiang people in Yanzhou City cooperated from inside and outside and secretly opened the city gate.

Su Yun found it difficult to understand this explanation, but a long time had passed and much evidence could not be found.

But for now, the situation has completely changed.

The Western Xia army received a large amount of food replenishment from Yanzhou City and no longer had to worry about food shortages. The key point was that the 300,000-strong army had reconnected with Xingqing Prefecture.

On the other hand, the Hedong Army of the Song Dynasty had already been severely damaged. The Huanqing Army had lost Yanzhou and was caught in a dilemma of being attacked from both sides by the Western Xia Army. They had to either retreat directly to the Bao'an Army or be defeated.

Su Yun knew that the Huanqing Army would definitely retreat. If they did, the Fuyan Army would also have to retreat, otherwise their flank would be attacked by the Western Xia army.

The Western Xia army no longer has any worries and will definitely switch from defense to offense. The situation has collapsed to an unimaginable degree!

Sure enough, the Western Xia army immediately launched a counterattack, chasing the Huanqing Road Army relentlessly. The Huanqing Road Army retreated again and again, and lost Nangtuokou, Qinggangxia, Xiamazhai, Dawu Shenliudui, and Helanyuan that they had previously occupied one by one, and even exposed the Baoan Army to the attack of the Western Xia army!
Su Yun gritted his teeth and ordered the Bao'an Army to hold on and not expose the flank of Fuyan Road. He then led 8,000 Jingsai Army to attack the flank of the Western Xia Army. Under the threat of the Jingsai Army, the Western Xia Army temporarily suspended its offensive, and the Bao'an Army was able to stabilize its footing.

Su Yun could only protect the Fuyan Road line from collapsing, while they had to rely on themselves on the other two sides of Huanqing Road and Hedong Road.

Afterwards, the Jingsai Army of Western Xia sent troops to Huanqing Road to attack Huanzhou of Huanqing Road. The troops of Huanqing Road could only retreat into the city of Huanzhou.

The Huanqing Army's retreat immediately exposed its own Dingbian Army on Huanqing Road, causing the Western Xia Army to pursue it relentlessly.

On the Hedong Road side, the Hedong Army lost all the areas around Dejing Town, Shendui Posthouse, Mituo Cave, and Mingtangchuan that they had previously occupied, and retreated all the way. Then they were attacked by the Zuoxiang Shenyong Army, and were immediately defeated. The Zuoxiang Shenyong Army directly chased the Jinning Army in Hedong, and the Jinning Army was defeated. Then the Zuoxiang Shenyong Army went down the Yellow River and captured the Hedong Army's Lishi City, directly deterring the Suide Army's flank across the river!
The Western Xia army in Yinzhou City thought that the Song army had been completely defeated, so they went out of the city directly to attack Luowu City, wanting to recapture this extremely important city.

Su Yun deployed troops in Suide Army to defend Lishi City, and then ordered Luowu City to hold its ground. Afterwards, he led Jingsai Army straight to Luowu City, and fought a battle with Yinzhou Army under Luowu City, defeating 20,000 Yinzhou Army soldiers. This stopped the decline.

However, the Huanqing Army launched another big attack afterwards, and the Dingbian Army failed to hold on. Dingbian City was broken, and the left-wing security army of Fuyan Road was immediately exposed to the attack of the Western Xia army!

The current situation is that because the Hedong Road Army and the Huanqing Road Army were both defeated and lost a large number of cities and fortresses, Fuyan Road suddenly became a protruding territory, and both the left and right wings were exposed to the attack of the Western Xia army!

Su Yun gritted his teeth at this situation, but he did not despair.

But when people in Bianjing heard the news, they felt like the sky was falling!

After the loss of Yanzhou, the Hedong Army and the Huanqing Army suffered defeat after defeat. Not only did they lose the occupied territories they had previously conquered, but now the Western Xia army is advancing like a hot knife through butter in the Song territory. Some old officials in the court are familiar with this situation. Isn't this a repeat of the war during the Qingli period?

When Zhao Xu heard this, he burst into tears in the court and then fainted, which frightened many ministers.

The ministers hurriedly called the imperial physician, but Zhao Xu was unconscious. The imperial physician quickly transferred Zhao Xu to the bedroom for treatment, and the remaining ministers looked at each other in confusion.

However, the important officials of the Song Dynasty were still quite capable. They immediately convened a meeting at the prime minister level and made arrangements.

First, he arranged for ministers to guard the palace, and then he began to discuss how to deal with the war in the northwest.

But when they were discussing how to respond, they fell into an argument.

Cai Que and Zhang Dun believed that the Fuyan Road was the backbone of the army and that Su Yun was in good command. They should let the armies of Huanqing Road and Hedong Road be under the unified command of Su Yun. In this way, they could work together to defeat the Western Xia army and recover the lost territory.

Wang Gui, Zhang Xu and others thought that this incident was caused by Su Yun. If Su Yun had not provoked Xixia and caused Xixia to counterattack, this would not have happened. They should contact the Xixia envoys and discuss how to stop the war. Xixia wanted to sell salt, so let them sell it. They could sell it before, so why can't they sell it now?
Xixia’s demands are nothing more than this. As long as their demands are met, the war will naturally stop.

Zhang Dun ridiculed Wang Gui and others for not knowing the Xixia people's evil ambitions. If they negotiated peace on this matter, it would be impossible for the Xixia to get back the land they had occupied. Not only would the previously agreed abolition of the annual tribute be abandoned, but the Xixia would certainly have to double its demand for the annual tribute. Would you sign such a humiliating agreement that would lose your rights and humiliate your country?

As soon as these words were spoken, Wang Gui immediately retorted, saying that this was because your son-in-law was behaving recklessly. If Xixia made such a request, Su Yun would naturally have to sign it. Now and then, the governor of Fuyan Road must be replaced immediately and a mature and steady minister must be allowed to take charge. He should not continue to behave recklessly like this. And so on.

The prime ministers quarreled with each other and no one could convince anyone else. There were also many quarrels in the court, and the main focus of the quarrels was on whether to fight or make peace.

As the argument went on, the topic shifted to Su Yun's mischief towards the country, and many people criticized Su Yun, saying that if Su Yun hadn't taken the initiative to start border affairs, such a big thing would never have happened!

The two countries have obviously negotiated peace, so why bother to provoke Western Xia? Now, the Western Xia army has even broken through the northwest defense line. If they can't resist it next, they may march straight to Bian Jing. By then, it may not be a matter of losing power and humiliating the country, but the destruction of the country!
So the conclusion is: Su Yun deserves to die!

Some ministers even directly suggested that an imperial envoy be sent immediately to arrest Su Yun and bring him back to Beijing for trial.

Of course, there were also people who supported Su Yun. These people pointed out that the young scholar Su Yun made a detour of thousands of miles, seized the Xingqing Prefecture, and then occupied Yanzhou, cutting off the food supply route of the Western Xia army. This was already an unprecedented strategic advantage.

The ones who deserved death were Lu Huiqing and Li Changzuo, one was defeated in Mingtangchuan and the other lost Yanzhou, which caused the war to deteriorate to such an extent!

Scholar Su was absolutely right. If it weren't for the incompetence of Lu Huiqing and Li Changzuo, the 300,000-strong Western Xia army might have been annihilated by Scholar Su in the Five States of Dingnan. If things had continued in this way, in just a few years, Western Xia would surely have returned to the Song Dynasty!
Therefore, even if someone is to be held accountable, it is the responsibility of Lu Huiqing and Li Changzuo. Young scholar Su is not only innocent, but also has made great contributions!
Under the current situation, we should let Scholar Xiao Su directly command the three armies. With Scholar Xiao Su's command, we will surely be able to clean up this corrupt situation!
The Song Dynasty court was in chaos from top to bottom.

However, the situation on Zhao Xu's side was not optimistic. Over the past few days, Zhao Xu was awake less often and unconscious more often. When he woke up, he could no longer recognize people or speak.

Zhao Xu was so seriously ill that all the ministers in the court had a bad feeling in their hearts.

Under such circumstances, the war in the northwest became a secondary matter.

On the first day of August, Zhao Xu temporarily regained consciousness. Upon hearing about this, Wang Gui led the ministers to hurriedly see Zhao Xu. After meeting him, they found that although Zhao Xu was conscious, he could not speak.

Wang Gui and others quickly asked Zhao Xu to establish a crown prince. Zhao Xu was speechless and looked a little anxious, but he had to nod in agreement.

Wang Gui and others quickly invited Empress Dowager Gao to come and request that she temporarily help with government affairs.

Zhao Xu also nodded in affirmation.

As for the matter of appointing a crown prince, since Zhao Xu was unable to speak, no one dared to propose it for the time being. The only thing they could do was to wait until Zhao Xu was able to speak again before making a decision.

So Empress Dowager Gao took over the government affairs temporarily. She knew that the situation was very serious at this time. The first thing she did was to issue an imperial decree to recall Wen Yanbo, an 81-year-old veteran of four dynasties, to be the minister of military and national affairs. Wen Yanbo returned to the capital, and then proposed to the empress dowager to recall Sima Guang, who was editing books in Luoyang, the Western Capital.

As soon as Sima Guang arrived in Beijing, he immediately wrote a letter requesting the opening of channels for speech, suggesting "widening the channels for speech."

On the 15th, he submitted a memorial titled "Petition to Abolish New Laws That Harm the People and the Country", once again calling for not adding any more burdens to poor farmers, and advocating that the new laws must be abolished and that "benevolent policies" be implemented for farmers.

On the 20th, he submitted another petition, "Petition to Abolish the Baojia System" and "Petition to Abolish the Military Officers".

On the 25th, he submitted a note entitled "Essentials of Improving the Mind and Governing the Country", in which he reiterated his theory that "a ruler should possess three virtues", focusing on the issue of employing people and rewarding and punishing them. He proposed that the baojia system, the exemption system, and the system of commanding soldiers were "harmful to the people and the country, and would do more harm than good."

On the 30th, Sima Guang submitted a petition titled "Petition to Stop the War with Western Xia". Sima Guang called for an immediate end to the war with Western Xia. The war had started in the fourth year of Yuanfeng and had lasted for nearly four years. The country had long been exhausted and the people were suffering. If the war was not stopped, the country would be in danger.

Sima Guang strongly criticized Su Yun, saying that the young man was warlike and was willing to risk the fate of the country for his own wealth and honor, and that Su Yun must be recalled and punished.

(End of this chapter)