Chapter 1152: Carrying on the Past and Opening up the Future (Forty-Two)

Qu Wan stared at the central army flag for a long time, and finally realized that Zhang Hongyu was dead. This made him feel lost. His previously high emotions were like being poured with a basin of ice water. Zhang Hongyu was dead. Who could he show off his victory to? He suddenly felt that he was standing here like a clown.

Because he was also a soldier.

He vaguely understood how Zhang Hongyu died. He would rather die than be humiliated! Is this a soldier of the Han Dynasty? He looked at the flag getting closer and closer to him with a dull look. Suddenly, he turned around, walked to his warhorse, jumped on the horse, and actually galloped towards the flag in the distance.

Bi Xuan behind him was horrified. While jumping on the horse, he said to Liu An: "You go back and reorganize the army immediately. If there is any. Pig. Pig. Island. Novel w.hha.om, come to respond quickly."

"Understood!" Liu An looked at Qu Wan and Bi Xuan running towards the distant Han army team one after another with some confusion.

On the road, the advancing team stopped, because on the avenue, two Chu army generals stopped their horses, and behind them were dozens of Chu army soldiers with slightly nervous faces.

"It's Qu Wan!" Dong Zhuang's hand grasped the hilt of the knife, and his eyes flashed with angry flames, "What does he want to do, laugh at us?"

"Master Dong, stop it, no matter what the other party does, you are not allowed to do it." Wu Qi shouted, "You stay here and don't go anywhere."

Wu Qi rode forward, and the Han army team in front of him separated to both sides like a tide, making way for Wu Qi.

"General Qu." Wu Qi bowed, "General Qu suddenly blocked the road, I wonder what you mean?"

Qu Wan only brought dozens of guards, naturally he was not here to cause trouble. Wu Qi knew this in his heart, or the other party just wanted to show off his victory. If that was the case, then this Qu Wan was a shallow guy, not worth paying too much attention to him.

Qu Wan's eyes passed Wu Qi. Landing under the flag of the Central Army, "General Zhang Hongyu, is he gone?"

Wu Qi was stunned, and finally nodded: "General Zhang worked hard day and night, was too worried, and his old illness suddenly broke out, and he has passed away."

Qu Wan nodded. This was naturally the other party's cover-up. The other party would naturally not tell him the real cause of Zhang Hongyu's death, but he could guess it.

"Wu Yizheng. Can I go to pay tribute to General Zhang?" Qu Wan said.

Wu Qi didn't react for a while,

"Pay tribute to General Zhang?" He asked back.

Qu Wan nodded, "General Zhang and I can be said to have known each other through fighting. In the past two years, I have been entangled with him. We have won and lost. Previously, he beat me and fled in a panic, losing thousands of miles of land, but this time I also won back. He is a guy I admire. Since he is gone, I want to pay tribute to him. I wonder if Yizheng will allow it?"

Wu Qi pondered for a moment. Nodding: "General Qu Wan, please!"

Qu Wan turned over and dismounted, striding forward, and walked forward through the passage formed by the Han army soldiers on both sides. He didn't care about the anger in the eyes of these soldiers. Behind him, Bi Xuan followed carefully.

Zhang Hongyu's coffin was very simple, and was made temporarily by the logistics staff. Standing in front of this thin coffin, Qu Wan clasped his hands and bowed deeply to the ground.

"The victory or defeat on the battlefield is considered a draw. I was looking forward to fighting with you again, but I didn't expect you to leave like this!" Qu Wan stood up, looked at the coffin, shook his head and sighed. "What a pity, what a pity."

"Mr. Qu, how is General Zhang, it's not your turn to judge!" A thunderous voice came from his ears. Qu Wan looked up and saw a face flushed with anger. It was Dong Zhuang, the commander of the 3rd Division of the New First Army.

Qu Wan smiled calmly, ignored Dong Zhuang, bowed to Zhang Hongyu's coffin again, turned around and left proudly. Bi Xuan stepped forward and bowed to the coffin, then stood up and looked at Dong Zhuang, "Looking forward to another battle with General Dong." After saying this, Bi Xuan turned around and followed Qu Wan step by step.

Wu Qi looked at the two people's backs calmly and shouted loudly: "Return the greeting!" He bowed first, and the soldiers around the coffin followed Wu Qi to bow to the two figures who were leaving. Even the angry Dong Zhuang had to bow at this time. No matter if they were enemies or not, they could not be without their own etiquette when others came to pay tribute.

In Jicheng, in the government hall, the minutes of Wu Qi's negotiations with the Chu people were spread out on Jiang Jiaquan's desk. The land of more than a thousand miles on one side of Daba Mountain was abandoned, and neither side was allowed to station troops on the land of 100 miles from Sanchuan to Tucheng. The fruits of the great victory of the Qilu Corps and the New First Army last year were lost, and his only gain was to bring back the remaining 30,000 people of the New First Army in a decent manner.

"If this negotiation minutes appears in the Great Council, I'm afraid the parliamentarians will make a big fuss, and Wu Qi will not be able to escape the big hat of a traitor." Jiang Jiaquan smiled bitterly and looked at Gao Yuan, who was bending over to admire the bonsai in the corner of the room.

"We started a wrong war at the wrong time, and it is reasonable to be punished." Gao Yuan straightened up and pointed to the bonsai box casually: "This bonsai is good, Mr. Jiang, I will take it back later, you won't be reluctant to part with it, right?"

Looking at Gao Yuan's reaction, Jiang Jiaquan was a little stunned: "Your Majesty, that is a land of more than a thousand miles in radius."

"What I regret more than the land is the casualties of the 20,000 soldiers of the New First Army!" Gao Yuan waved his hand, "The primary responsibility for this battle lies with me. We did not see through the ins and outs of this accident and did not expect a kidnapping. For the conspiracy that followed, people had already dug a trap and were waiting for us to jump. But we couldn’t wait to jump in, and we can’t blame others.”

Walking up to Jiang Jiaquan, Gao Yuan picked up a pen and was about to sign his name on the minutes. Jiang Jiaquan dragged his hand and pulled the file away, "Your Majesty, you cannot sign this word."

Gao Yuan picked up his pen and said, "The primary responsibility lies with me. Of course I should sign it and then tell the world."

"If we talk about responsibility, I'm afraid Zhang Hongyu still has to bear it first. As the commander-in-chief of the front line, he was unable to assess the situation. He did not know the enemy well and was arrogant and underestimated the enemy. This is the real cause of defeat. These days, the staff of the Ministry of War I have been analyzing this war and summarizing the gains and losses of this war. I also went to listen to several of them. The staff officers’ analysis was very reasonable. During the war, Zhang Hongyu had several opportunities to stop his losses." Jiang Jiaquan said: "No. The second person who is responsible is the Ministry of War, Ye Chong, who approved Zhang Hongyu’s battle plan, the third person who is responsible is our political affairs hall, and the only one who does not need to be responsible for this is you, the king."

"What do you think this is? Are you afraid that I will lose my prestige because of this?" Gao Yuan shook his head and said, "The people of the Han Dynasty will not think that I am not good because of a defeat in a war, will they no longer believe in me?"

"No, the Han Dynasty needs an undefeated god of war and a king who can win every battle." Jiang Jiaquan looked at Gao Yuan with bright eyes: "The alliance between Qin and Chu has become strong. In terms of overall strength, we are at a disadvantage, so We need a flag even more to keep the military and civilians’ morale high.”

Jiang Jiaquan picked up a pen and signed his name on the negotiation minutes. Yan Shenghao walked over silently, took the pen from Jiang Jiaquan and signed his name, as did Wu Kai and Li Can.

"This is the decision of the Political Affairs Hall and has nothing to do with the king. Tomorrow we will submit this minutes to the king, and then inform the parliament and various yamen." Jiang Jiaquan said.

Gao Yuan was silent for a moment and finally nodded, "But if this happens, Zhang Hongyu will probably be held accountable."

"This is the responsibility that he should bear." Jiang Jiaquan said solemnly. "In the final analysis, this defeat can be summed up in four words: pride and underestimation of the enemy."

Gao Yuan smiled bitterly, "Speaking of being proud and underestimating the enemy, why is it just Zhang Hongyu? From me, the king, to an ordinary soldier in the army, no one is full of confidence nowadays."

"So Your Majesty, the army needs to move." Jiang Jiaquan approached Gao Yuan. "Over the years, we have won too many battles. We started from the small Fufeng Army and have grown up to now, especially last year when we defeated Qin Dynasty. After Li Xin conquered the country, the self-confidence of all the generals skyrocketed, making me the best in the world, which in itself is not a good thing."

After a pause, he continued: "Moreover, the four front armies, plus the New First Army and the Qilu Army, each have the distinct personal colors of their respective army commanders. This is not a big deal for the long-term peace and stability of the Han Dynasty." Good thing."

Gao Yuan pondered for a moment: "I have been thinking about what the gentleman said. Now is the time to reorganize the army. This failure is just a ready opportunity. I already have some ideas and are gradually improving them." After the New First Army withdraws, I will be ready to start doing this."

"Your Majesty is most concerned that this is a rare window period. In a short period of time, large-scale wars will not break out between Han, Chu, and Qin. At this time, the army should be reorganized to accumulate strength for the coming war."

"I still have to have a good chat with Ye Zhong about this matter and listen to his opinion." Gao Yuan nodded, "Okay, since you are going to take the blame for me, I will accept it. After Zhang Hongyu comes back, , let him suffer for a while first. Sir, please think of a place for him to go. He can't take the New First Army with him."

"Let him return to Jishicheng Military University as the vice president first. After this hurdle, the king will consider how to use him. He is still a very capable general and one of the few Confucian generals in our Han army. !" Jiang Jiaquan said.

"That's good. Zhang Hongyu originally graduated from Jishi City Military University. Let him go somewhere to avoid the limelight first." Gao Yuan said: "Okay, I won't disturb you anymore. Ye Zhong has already reported the gains and losses of this battle. Come up, I'm going to review it and send it to all armies. Our generals must sum up the gains and losses from this battle. Never forget the past, and future generations will never make such mistakes again." (To be continued.) ...)