Chapter 239: Not Making Enough Noise
Kuoduan spread his hands and asked for forgiveness, saying helplessly that he could not disobey military orders and dared not say more, he had no choice.
Kuoduan deliberately played the sympathy card in order to alienate Tacaer and Hubili.
He told Tacaer that Hubli had offered a good prescription, and the Eastern Army would cross the river and march into Lin'an, seize the silver from the Song Dynasty court, and wait for an opportunity to capture the Song Dynasty emperor.
Because the royal court was in great shortage of silver, the Khan ordered all places to cooperate to buy time for Hubli to rob Lin'an.
Tachaer and Hubili had a grudge, and said disdainfully, "How can he catch the Emperor Song with his skills?"
Kuoduan said helplessly that the Khan had heard it, so let's buy him half a month here.
Tachaer was also bored, so he issued an order to stop the troops from leaving and to go up to the city to guard. After a night of turmoil in Nanyang City, it slowly calmed down after dawn.
Zhao Yulin woke up from a nap and saw Xiao Yan dozing off by the bed. He asked her when she came in.
Xiao Yan said that she had just come in. The guard said that the young master slept late, so she was guarding by his bed.
He said she herself was not in good health, so why did she care about him?
Take care of yourself first.
Xiao Yan happily brought him some freshly brewed tea. Zhao Yulin took a sip and went to take a shower. The little girl happily brought him clothes. He washed them in a few seconds and turned around behind the screen, allowing Xiao Yan to see everything.
Zhao Yulin hurriedly covered his lower body with both hands, and both of them blushed.
He put on his clothes and came out to ask Feihu: Why didn't you stop him?
Feihu smiled and said that it was Inspector Xiao who wanted to go in.
He kicked Feihu on the butt and said that he would do everything from now on. He was really being lazy.
At the Lin'an court, the emperor received an urgent report from Yujie in Jiangbei that the Mongolian army was marching south in large numbers.
As expected by Zhao Yulin, this kid is really amazing. The emperor summoned Shi's son and the deputy envoy of the Privy Council Zhao Yanna to discuss military affairs.
Zhao Yan didn't know that the Mongolian army's southward march this time would definitely not be simple. Even Zhao Yulin sent an emergency document, which showed that the Mongolian army was powerful. He said anxiously that he should prepare to move the capital, because the Jiangbei army might not be able to resist the attack of the northern barbarians.
Shi's son was furious. Why was this guy just venting his anger on Zhao Qi'er? He angrily looked at Zhao Yan, who was calling him a coward. Was he scared by the northern barbarians?
The enemy is still across the river, yet they are about to slip away. How can a minister of integrity do this?
He advised the emperor to let Meng Gong lead his troops to rush to the Jiankang front immediately, and ordered Zhao Qier to attack from multiple directions to harass the north and contain the enemy.
The emperor handed the secret report just received by the Imperial City Bureau to the eunuch closest to him and asked him to read it. It showed that the Shenwei Army had already set out three days ago, leaving Tongguan and heading eastward to fight with the Mongolian army for the capture of Hanguguan.
Isn’t this noise big enough?
Zhao Yulin's secret letter also said that he would go north to attack Luoyang, creating a situation for the Shenwei Army to launch a full-scale offensive.
Shi's son saw the opportunity and immediately changed his tone, saying with a smile that Commander Zhao had anticipated the situation and had already taken action, so we don't have to worry. Letting General Meng go east to support Jiankang Prefecture will better ensure the safety of the important areas in the capital.
Zhao Yan said that the Shenwei Army must move eastward to defend Zaoyang, otherwise Xiangyang would be in danger.
Shi's son's goal is to have Zhao Yulin share the pressure of fighting the Mongolian army, so he must ask the Shenwei Army to defend Zaoyang.
He praised Zhao Yulin highly, saying that Commander Zhao had managed the army well in recent years and the team had developed rapidly. He believed that they would be able to defend Xiangyang.
The emperor must have been afraid of death, so he immediately ordered that this be done and quickly mobilized the Jingzhou army and the Song army near Lin'an to march eastward to Jiankang to defend the king.
The Lin'an court quickly issued a series of imperial edicts.
However, the battlefield was changing rapidly. Tacaer, who had been hiding in Nanyang, made a desperate move and suddenly sent troops to Tangzhou, intending to capture Tangzhou and contain the Song army's advance northward.
After receiving the report, Yang Xingyun immediately came to find Zhao Yulin. Zhao Yulin concentrated for a moment and said that the enemy would not take the bait, but did the opposite. It was interesting.
He judged that Tacaer would have another trick up his sleeve. If he didn't attack Neixiang, he would go south to attack Dengzhou. He ordered the two places to first withdraw their troops and relocate the people.
Sure enough, the military report came the next afternoon, and the Tacaer army burned, killed and looted all the way to Dengzhou.
Yang Xingyun immediately felt the pressure doubled.
Zhao Yulin was not panicked at all. He ordered his troops to abandon Tangzhou and retreat to Zaoyang under General Meng's rule, and ordered Jiang Hai to lead his troops north to counterattack the Mongolian army.
Dengzhou must be defended to the death, otherwise the Mongolian army will directly threaten Laohekou.
Yang Xingyun immediately went to mobilize troops.
Just as the arrangements were made, the Imperial City Department delivered the imperial edict from the court and a secret letter from General Meng, stating that his Jingzhou Army had already set out to rush to Jiankang's aid, and ordered the Shenwei Army to immediately enter Zaoyang to fill the defensive gap left by the Jingzhou Army's departure.
This made Zhao Yulin alert.
Although Meng Gong's military strength was not very good, he was good at fighting, daring to take action, and good at clever battles. Ta Chaer was afraid of him.
Now that he is going to lead the Jingzhou army eastward, Tacaer will definitely go south to rob.
Yang Xingyun said that the nearest garrison was that of Xiangyang, so he had to transfer Guo Jing to lead troops to Zaoyang to support the army and civilians of Tangzhou who were heading south to avoid the war.
Zhao Yulin nodded and ordered the defenders of Tangzhou to act accordingly. If the enemy came too quickly, they should hold their ground and wait for reinforcements, and hold the city until the opportunity to fight.
He was worried that Tangzhou would not be able to retreat in time and would suffer heavy losses if chased and attacked by the Mongolian light cavalry.
Zhao Yulin pondered in the yard, what was the purpose of the Mongolian army doing this? They ignored the safety of Luoyang and their own insufficient troops and forced their way south?
Do you think the Shenwei Army is vulnerable?
Or did you learn that Meng Gong would be transferred away from the Jinghu war zone?
Zhao Yulin felt a little scared. If Tacaer knew that Meng Gong was leaving before him, it must be that a senior official in the court had defected to the enemy and sent information to the Mongolian army in advance.
Zhao Yulin had no choice but to prepare for the worst.
He asked Yang Xingyun to adjust the deployment immediately. Since the enemy's main attack direction was in the south, let the brothers in the south hold on.
He told Liu Qiangguang to disregard all odds and simply capture Hangu Pass to join forces with the Third Column and advance into Shanzhou.
In Xiangyang city, Guo Jing received an order to immediately go east to garrison Zaoyang and set out with his troops. The female leader and Master Qu Zhengxiang saw them off outside the city. Watching the team go away, Master Qu told the female leader that there were no troops in the city at the moment, and the young master meant to ask the disciples of the Beggar Gang to maintain law and order in the city.
The female leader was still thinking about her brother Jing in her heart. When she heard Master Qu talking, she immediately turned around to look at him. The master said that the prefect should mobilize the Beggars' Sect disciples to defend the city.
At this point, the female gang leader has handed over the gang affairs to Elder Jian, and all that's left is a succession ceremony, and Elder Jian will take over as gang leader.
She immediately ordered Elder Jian to mobilize two thousand of his most trusted brothers and the Shunfeng Division to defend the city together. This was a critical moment, and nothing could go wrong.
The gang leader took her dog-beating stick in his hand again and looked around.
Zhao Yulin was drinking tea in the yard. It was already late autumn. The falling yellow leaves made him feel that Tachaer had changed his tactics and his purpose in fighting him to the death was to delay the Song army in Jinghu.
He looked at the map in deep thought, and felt that the Mongolian army did not seem to be trying to capture a certain city, but rather seemed to be mobilizing troops from the southern group.
After comparing the distances from Nanyang to Tangzhou, Dengzhou and Neixiang, Zhao Yulin decided to take a risky move.
He asked Feihu to invite Yang Xingyun over. After analyzing the map, the two of them set their sights on Xinye, a small county town between Tangzhou and Dengzhou.
They both felt that it was the node where the Mongolian army would gather troops southward. The city wall was not high and not solid, so it would be easy for the enemy to attack. However, the entrance and exit passages there were also conducive to ambushes by the Song army.
Yang Xingyun felt that since the Mongolian army had caused such a big commotion, they would definitely take advantage of the situation before they would stop.
It will be easy once the goal is determined, Yang Xingyun can do it himself.
Zhao Yulin said that he had another plan, which was to risk his life by showing up himself, going to Neixiang to threaten Nanyang and force the Mongolian army to return for support.
Yang Xingyun said that if this happened, his situation would be very dangerous. If the Mongolian army launched a surprise attack, the light cavalry would arrive in the blink of an eye.
Zhao Yulin said that since he had thought of this , there must be a way to counter it.
In short, once the battle begins, don't worry about anything else but fight the enemy to death. After the two men made their plans, they took action immediately.
Zhao Yulin immediately moved his headquarters forward to Neixiang, and 5,000 infantrymen continued to advance eastward to attack Zhenping.
The main force of the Mongolian army, Tachaer, fired a feint under the city of Dengzhou and headed straight for Xinye. Yang Jia, who was guarding Dengzhou, was unwilling to give up and went out of the city to pursue them, but was ambushed by a sniper-style attack from the Mongolian army. Although the loss was not great, he still suffered a defeat. He felt a little embarrassed when he saw Yang Xingyun.
Yang Xingyun said that victory and defeat are common in the military, so it’s okay. The third young master judged that the enemy wanted to surround Xinye to avenge the last defeat, so we have to act in this way.
He then sent a messenger to Xinye to order them to defend the city to the death.
The Xinye garrison had less than 2,000 soldiers, but the people in the city fought together with the soldiers, sharing the same hatred and resisting a wave of attacks from the Mongolian army. When Yang Xingyun's messenger shot the secret letter into the city with an arrow, the garrison commander Ma Yi's confidence was greatly boosted, and he incorporated young and strong men into the army to guard each gate.
After receiving the military order, Yang Jia immediately led his troops to hold on to the Mongolian army and beat them hard. After being delayed, the Mongolian army slowly retreated towards Xinye.
After Zhao Yulin entered Neixiang, he immediately ordered Feihu and defending general Zhang Shun to survey the terrain to prevent a surprise attack by the Mongolian light cavalry.
Because he had a hunch that it was not a good thing for Kuoduan and Tachaer to get together. They had both suffered at the hands of Zhao Yulin, which meant they were familiar with Zhao Yulin's style of doing things.
Then, his strategy would be easily discovered by these two wolves.
At night, Zhang Shun came to report to him: There are two roads from Nanyang, one from the east and the other from the north, both of which can be quickly passed. He felt that Neixiang was too close to Nanyang, and if the enemy wanted to launch a surprise attack, the light cavalry could rush here in an hour, which was really dangerous.
Zhang Shun advised him to evacuate Neixiang and go to Zhejiang and Sichuan as soon as possible.
Zhao Yulin smiled and asked him where he heard the third young master mention the word "fear".
Zhang Shun immediately said that he had blocked the official road from Nanyang, and set up extensive chevaux de frise traps and trenches within a length of ten miles to block the Mongolian army's invading path.
Xiaolu also sent out special forces to work with hunters to bury mines, bear traps, and set up traps along the road, vowing to protect the third young master.
