Chapter 103: Up to the County Lord
However, all the spoils captured by the Shenwei Army were taken away.
Wanyan and Daduo ran for dozens of miles to Wudang, and found that there were empty cities everywhere. Zhao Yulin started to build a strong defense system in his territory.
Not only that, Zhao Yulin also cleaned up the village thoroughly, so that the common people only had food rations at home and no surplus food for the army.
When he arrived in Gucheng County, urgent news came from the rear that the Jingzhou soldiers were dispatched in large numbers with the intention of attacking Dengzhou .
Wanyan was in a very uncomfortable situation. With no food in front and powerful troops behind him, he was worried about being attacked from both sides, so he immediately ordered his troops to retreat.
Bad news continued to come: the Mongolian army took advantage of his transfer of troops to the south to raid the ferry west of Kaifeng, forced their way across the river, and occupied several county towns.
General Wanyan made a simple judgment: the Song dog was just taking advantage of the fact that they were not able to take care of each other and went out for a walk, biting them randomly and running back home. The capital was more important, so he returned to the north without caring about anything else.
When the Jin soldiers retreated, Zhao Yulin took the opportunity to recover Gucheng, Qiande and Wudang counties.
Meng Gong also went north to capture two counties, and returned to Xiangyang to observe the changes in the situation. In this way, Meng and Zhao united and took the opportunity to open up the transportation channel of Han River.
Half a month later, Zhao Yulin and Meng Gong met again in Gucheng, and they drank happily with Wu Gufeng. They agreed to use Gucheng as the boundary, with the eastern end to be guarded by Jingzhou and the western end to be guarded by the Shenwei Army.
The two sides jointly opened a trade in Gucheng and shared the income equally after collecting a one-time tax.
Zhao Yulin said that he would not make a big investment in Gucheng, but would only carry out maintenance and renovation, sorting and utilization. He would not confiscate the landlords' land for land reform, but would eliminate bandits and tyrants and reduce rent and interest to reduce the burden on farmers.
Meng Gong asked him: Why is it so?
Worried about the Jin people's comeback?
Zhao Yulin shook his head and said that it was not certain that it would be the Jin people, but the Mongolian army would definitely come.
Meng Gong was unhappy and thought that Zhao Yulin underestimated his Jingzhou army.
Zhao Yulin did not comment, but gave some hypocritical compliments and then politely saw General Meng off.
He also returned to Yangzhou after arranging the affairs of the recovered area.
Miao Gui was completely convinced by Zhao Yulin's combat ideas. His quick advance and elusive style of play left the Jin army confused. He took advantage of the Jin army's inability to look around and easily achieved his combat intention.
He told his brothers not to be too optimistic. The Jin people are now in a panic. When they find that they can't stop the Mongolian army at all, they will think of taking territory from us to replenish their blood.
He asked Miao Gui to go to Xihe in a few days to inspect the defense of Tianshui and prevent the Mongolian army from instigating the Tibetan tribes and Wang Shixian to cause trouble.
After a day's rest, Zhao Yulin set out to Qingyeyuan to report on the war, and went to Xingyuan Prefecture to ask Cao Youwen to go with him.
Lao Cao said happily that he was worried about his brother when the war just started, but he didn't expect that he would succeed so easily and even open up the Han River with Meng Gong.
He said that he didn't realize it himself, and the reason he provoked trouble was mainly to create opportunities for the Mongolian army to move south, so that we would be relieved once they started fighting.
Lao Cao asked him: Have you contacted the Mongolian army privately?
Zhao Yulin said he wouldn't dare to do that, but Ogedei was very smart and would definitely cooperate with the action after seeing the Han Shui Morning Post.
Lao Cao told him that Qingyeyuan had received intelligence: the Mongolian army seized the opportunity to cross the Yellow River upstream of Kaifeng Prefecture and successfully opened up a second battlefield.
Zhao Yulin laughed and said that the men from the grassland were indeed smart.
Then he spurred his horse and set off.
The two came to the central army tent, and Zhao Yanna hurriedly asked them to sit down and drink. He thanked Zhao Yulin's Mianzhou military station for providing a thousand kilograms of Chengyi Jade Liquid to the camp.
Zhao Yulin was not polite either. He raised his glass to Zhao Yan and then reported the battle situation while eating.
Zhao Yanna had been promoted to the position of governor, and was very happy, and no longer bothered Zhao Yulin, because the emperor had criticized him indirectly for taking credit, the low combat effectiveness of the border troops, and the serious situation of eating up the empty salary.
Now the 50,000 soldiers reported by Qingyeyuan have actually dropped to less than 30,000. The 80,000 soldiers reported by Zhao Yulin to him are the real number, no more and no less.
He revealed his concerns when he was drinking with his close friends in the Office of Control. If Zhao Yulin were to rebel and declare himself king someday, no one in Hanzhong would be able to defeat him, so it would be better for everyone to live in harmony.
Therefore, Brother Zhao's attitude towards Zhao Yulin made a 180-degree turn, and he began to cooperate with and care about the Shenwei Army.
Look, Zhao Yanna announced publicly: The food, supplies, and military pay required for the 50,000-strong Shenwei Army will be supplied by the Military Affairs Office.
This represented the court's acknowledgement that the Shenwei Army had 50,000 soldiers. Zhao Yulin was naturally happy. He stood up and toasted all the generals in the big tent, and then invited Brother Zhao to have a drink alone.
After finishing their business, Zhao Yulin and Lao Cao headed back home, passing Fengzhou and heading to Nanzheng. Lao Cao said with emotion that the plank road was patched up and used as is, and he was afraid that the Mongolian army would come again, so he didn't dare to make major repairs.
He said: It's hard to say. Right now the Mongolian army and the Jin army are fighting fiercely, so they may not come down.
But the Mongolian army's looting mentality cannot be changed in a short time. If you lose something, they will come to rob. If they feel like it, they will come on horseback to rob. It is better to be cautious.
Zhao Yulin parted ways with Lao Cao and rode his horse straight to Yangzhou. As soon as he got home, he fell into bed and fell asleep.
The emperor of Lin'an was very happy when he received the secret report from the Imperial City Division that the Jin Kingdom had won great victories in Jinzhou and Jingzhou and recovered lost territory.
Seeing the generals at the border leading the way, he felt unhappy because he was still a puppet emperor and could not make decisions on his own. The prime minister was about to die, but he and the queen mother controlled the court together, treating him, the legitimate emperor, as a puppet and showing off.
Any emperor would definitely feel unhappy.
The eunuch from Changshou Palace came to carefully ask him how to reward the fourth young lady of the Zhao family who Dali was going to marry.
The emperor was hesitant and said to confer the title of Princess on her and let her marry him.
The eunuch quickly said that that was only available in the families of princes and nobles, and the King of Zhennan in Dali was just a prince of a vassal state, and it would be enough for his son to be granted the title of a county lady when he got married.
The emperor glared at the eunuch and said, "If that's the case, why are you asking me?"
Then, the emperor threw the Dehua tea bowl that had just been presented as tribute to the emperor to the ground with a bang, and got up to go to his bedroom.
The eunuch realized that the emperor was acting foolishly again and quickly left.
It's really like the gods are fighting and mortals are suffering. The eunuchs in charge are often criticized for no reason, and they want to curse in their hearts.
It’s all Mag’s fault. You two mothers are fighting and making me suffer. Why?
Isn't it just that he was born with the imperial seal in his mouth?
If I was born with the imperial seal in my mouth, wouldn't that bastard across from me kowtow to me just the same? The eunuch muttered in his heart, not daring to show any expression on his face, and hurried back to the Changshou Palace with his space steps.
Zhao Yulin was discussing the military situation in Jizhou and Tianshui with Lu Youpeng when he sneezed twice in succession. He had no idea that this eunuch would suffer so much because of his sister's affairs.
Lu Youpeng received many reports that the various tribes in Jizhou were in a state of unrest and showed signs of ganging up to rebel. Gongchang Prefecture came east to contact the old Jin troops, and the Mongolian army also gave Tianshui of the Jin Kingdom to Gongchang Prefecture.
Tianshui was a large county during the Northern Song Dynasty. After the Jin people occupied it, they took away the fertile land in the north. The current Tianshui is called Jun, but it is actually less than half of its original size, and a large part of it is mountainous.
Zhao Yulin knew that bribery and discord were common tactics used by the Mongolian army. He could not rule out the possibility that they were up to something strange, so he had to be careful.
He asked: How is the review of the generals to be promoted going? We need to keep a close eye on the process. This time, a large number of grassroots officers and soldiers will be promoted to Gucheng, Jizhou and Tianshui.
Lao Lu said that Shunfeng had learned from Han Yongchao's lesson and was more careful this time. He asked Zhao Yulin if Li Dagui was promoted too quickly, as he had only been in Jinzhou for a short time.
Zhao Yulin said that this was setting an example for the nobles in Hanzhong. Da Kui was promoted a little too quickly, but from the perspective of combat, he was brave, resourceful, and responsible. He also took the initiative to lead the team and not form his own faction. He thought it was okay and could be the deputy captain to perform the duties of the supervisor, and then observe him for a period of time.
Lao Lu thought it was a good idea. This way, he could avoid any opinions from the brothers who came out of Yibin together, which was more appropriate.
He hesitated for a moment and asked Lao Lu if there was any news about Yuqi and her son.
Lu Youpeng hesitated for a moment and said that his wife was not feeling well and was unwilling to come back for the time being.
Zhao Yulin said: He remembered that there was a kind of elixir in Qingcheng Mountain that could cure the restlessness of the heart, so he sent someone to find Yu Yangzi to think of a solution.
Zhao Yulin was writing a letter as he spoke. When he finished and looked up, he saw Zhang Qi standing in front of the table.
"Master, I'll go." Zhang Qi said.
Zhao Yulin was very happy to see him recover and come back. He said, "That's good. Why are you running around? Let's wait for Master Lu to make arrangements."
Lu Youpeng was very satisfied with Zhang Qi's handling of Han Yongchao and praised him for his good work. He smiled and said that since Master Lu liked it, how about letting Zhang Qi work at Shunfeng?
Lu Youpeng even said that people around him, how could he just leave? Zhang Qi also said that he would not leave.
He said that no matter how long the banquet was, it would end sooner or later, and he could not tie down the brothers around him, so he gave them a chance to develop. He asked Lu Youpeng to arrange for all the old brothers in the guard to be sent back to the army, saying that they had learned a lot from following him for so long, and it was time for them to go out and show their skills.
Lu Youpeng understood what he meant. He knew that he wanted to turn his place into a training camp, so he agreed immediately.
Zhao Yulin came out from the favorable wind and went to the academy. The students had learned the rules of football and were playing football on the sports field.
On a whim, he went down to the field and became a player. The football rolled left and right under his feet, and he soon scored a goal.
The student cheerleaders outside the stadium kept screaming and cheering.
After playing half the game, Zhao Yulin went to his second brother's place to rest and have tea.
He suggested to Zhao Yujiang that they discuss the issue of national unity in the newspaper. Now the territory where the Shenwei Army is stationed is no longer just for the Han people, but for multiple ethnic groups living together. We should talk about equality, freedom, equal treatment, civility, brotherhood, and hold each other tightly like pomegranate fruits.
He said that our Shenwei Army never divides people into different levels, but just has different divisions of labor.
As Zhao Yulin continued to explain, Zhao Yujiang gradually understood and nodded. He told him that the paper consumption for the newspaper was increasing and that it was not enough to just transport it from Yibin.
