Volume 1 Chapter 57: Outbreak
It is said that Zhang Jun always thought that he was the one who suffered, but Han Shizhong took away the prestige, ate the meat, and won the military merit. But in fact, although there was a lot of noise that day, neither side had a definite result, and no one really got to eat the meat!
That's right, not only did the fighting on the river come to an abrupt halt due to Han Shizhong's arrival, resulting in the Jin army not suffering much loss except for a pontoon bridge, but even the Meng'an who was lured over that night, that is, the thousand-man army under the Jin general Shu Lie, was not immediately eliminated... In fact, after getting over the excitement of blocking the Jin army from crossing the river, no one was surprised.
After all, in field battles, the Jin army is still much stronger than the Song army!
The Song army was still in a mess. Each unit was fighting on its own, with were strong at the beginning but weak at the second. They had to resort to tricks just to send a letter to report military intelligence, which led to dozens of impeachments against each other. As a result, the Taiwei, who should have been reinstated immediately, was gone... Compared with the Jin army, which could charge dozens of times without losing momentum and refused to surrender even when trapped in a desperate situation, they were lagging behind in all aspects.
But that was all. Shu Lie's troops were not gods after all. They were an isolated army of a thousand men, with no supplies inside and no reinforcements outside. They were blocked in a valley in Xishi Mountain by Wang De, Fu Qing, Huyan Tong and Yang Yi Zhong. It was impossible for them to break out. After their dry food was eaten up, they were doomed to be destroyed.
It's just like the remnant of another army that was surrounded on the island in the middle of the river by Han Shizhong's navy... Although they are a fishing and hunting nation, it's impossible for them to survive by just fishing and hunting, right?
However, Shulie's persistence and the existence of the remnant soldiers on the island downstream gave Jin Wushu a reason to be stubborn. As Ali had guessed, he refused to adjust his strategy these days. He turned back to filling ditches, setting up ladders, firing cannons and smashing the city. He was still trying to find a way to destroy Han Shizhong's ships in person.
You know what, as the saying goes, there must be fragrant grass within ten steps. Jin Wushu really found a way to deal with it - when he joined the army, Wen Bin was an insightful man. The latter had been the magistrate of Yuncheng, which faces Liangshan Lake, the largest lake in the Central Plains today. Liangshan Lake has always been full of water bandits, and it is also a transportation hub in the Central Plains. Therefore, the Zhao Song court had used troops many times, but they knew some differences on the boats.
According to Shi Wenbin, it was not that no one suggested sending large sailing ships along the Jishui River to Liangshan Lake to suppress the bandits, but the idea was rejected early on. Although sailing ships could be regarded as giants on the water, they were not as agile as human-powered "steamships". Once the wind stopped, they could not move. At this time, they could be easily destroyed by leading small boats forward and shooting at the sails with rockets!
Jin Wushu was naturally overjoyed , but he personally whipped Wen Bin again... It was good to know how to defeat the enemy, but in this situation, where could he find a small boat? You must know that at this time, even the boats that were collected with great difficulty upstream and downstream were just destroyed by him.
It is said that this was the first time that Jin Wushu suffered a setback since he joined the army. He was worried that Wanyan Talan and people from the direction of Yanjing would urge him, and he was reluctant to leave Zhao Jiu who was right in front of him. After all, he was young and energetic. He could not accept that he had led tens of thousands of invincible troops here in vain... If it were a competition of combat power, the Song army together would not be enough to withstand the 20,000 Jin army. But they were blocked by a big river, a strong city, a fleet, and a Jinwu banner!
Even Jin Wushu himself began to doubt whether he had really fallen into the trap set by the Song people and led a detachment of troops to the battlefield set up by the enemy... But when they thought about what Liu Guangshi had done, even Ali and Elubu could not say such a thing.
All in all, the fourth prince of the Jin Dynasty was obviously mentally unbalanced and at a loss as to what to do. He was moody and delayed for several days without making a decision... He was even angry with Ali and Olubu every day, and could only vent his anger by whipping Shi Wenbin and the Khitan, Xi, and Han officers in the army.
However, regardless of how Jin Wushu came up with a new response strategy, during this period of stalemate, as Zhao Jiu's previous edicts and documents were sent to various places, countless waves were indeed caused.
In the Huai River and Huai River areas alone, countless rebel armies swarmed up, some with three to five hundred, some with one to two thousand. They were all wealthy families who brought their own dry food and recruited young and strong men, and gathered in Shouzhou... But to be honest, those soldiers and horses that came from Huainan were all fine, and most of them were able to arrive safely in Shouchun and Baguashan areas troops. Often, several rebel armies would gather together, with great momentum, and just after they elected a leader and received a prestigious certificate from the surrounding government offices, they would be smashed to pieces by five or six hundred Jin cavalry who came after hearing the news, and then turned into defeated soldiers or even bandits.
On this day, when the Lantern Festival came, Zhao Jiu's imperial edicts and documents finally reached Tokyo, which had long lost its former prosperity, and fell into the hands of Zong Ze, the governor of Tokyo, the Privy Councilor, and the deputy marshal.
"Even though there are only three households in Chu, Chu will be the one to destroy Qin. How can China be without people? If sacrifice is needed, I should be the first..."
"Stop reading! You only know how to talk big, but you haven't done anything!"
Staying in the mansion, Zong Ze sat cross-legged on the couch, barefoot and wearing a fur robe, flipping through the documents while listening to his son Zong Ying standing in front of the couch reading the official notices. Suddenly, he became impatient. "According to his idea, just have someone copy it and post it..."
"Son knows!" Zong Ying answered carefully, but was puzzled for a moment. "But father, the emperor has changed so much, fighting against the Jin, employing Li Xianggong, and treating you so well. Isn't this what you have been asking for? Why are you not happy?"
Zong Ze, who was nearly 70 years old, was wearing a fur robe, but he still looked thin, and his hair was gray, which made him look very old. But when he raised his head, his eyes were bright and energetic, and under the lamplight, he looked a little sarcastic:
"Who said I'm not happy? If these documents can hold up, I'm afraid I'll happily extend my life by two years! But my son, what kind of person do you think the Zhao official is?"
"Please give me some advice, Daddy!" Zong Ying looked back and saw that there was no one around, so he lowered his head to ask for advice.
"What's there to be shy about?" Zong Ze became increasingly impatient. "I'm an old man who's about to die, and I've also been credited with supporting the throne, and I'm the governor of Tokyo. If he takes my skin off, what can he do to me?"
"Daddy, stop talking about life and death..."
"Listen carefully." Zong Ze threw down the pen in his hand, raised his head and said with disdain. "I saw it clearly in Hebei. This official Zhao is as bad as his father and brother... But he is very good at pretending. He speaks one thing to people and another thing to ghosts. On the surface, he is respectable, but on the inside he is weak and cowardly. He changes his attitude according to the wind and goes with the flow. If he were in the officialdom, he would be like Cai Que, a so-called fickle person... In my opinion, he was already scared by the Jin people in the Jin camp. How could he dare to fight against them? Even when he went south this time, didn't he take advantage of Li Xianggong's serious illness and suddenly changed his route to Yangzhou? That's why he was chased by the Jin people to Shouzhou!"
"Then what about these imperial edicts and documents?" Zong Ying was stunned for a moment.
"I'm afraid he sent these imperial edicts to show them to the Jin people and Zhang Jun in Huaibei , so that he could escape!" Zong Ze couldn't help but get angry when he said this, and he took several breaths before he calmed down. "Didn't he abandon millions of Lianghe people in Hebei that day?"
"At that time, the emperor was not yet the emperor..." Zong Ying still found it hard to accept. "Now, the emperor is already the emperor, it shouldn't be like this!"
"You bullshit emperor!" Zong Ze responded coldly. "The emperor is not a human being? The two saints were also legitimate emperors in Tokyo City. Don't you know how they went back on their words and acted like a fool? I have finally understood that it is a great misfortune for the country to have these three emperors!"
Even when father and son were alone together, Zong Ying did not dare to respond.
"But the arrival of this decree is also a good opportunity! And this official is responsible for the safety of the whole country, so even if it is possible, we can't just ignore it!" Zong Ze said again with a slightly restrained expression. "Take these decrees and go find Yue Fei who just returned to the city, kill the Jin envoy first, and then bring Ma Kuo to see me!"
"At this moment?" Zong Ying looked up at the dusk outside the window and was stunned for a moment. "And he is an envoy..."
"Isn't everyone fighting for their own territory? Isn't it forbidden to negotiate peace? Why do we have to choose the right time to kill a Jin envoy?" Zong Ze slapped the tables in front of his couch, his hair and beard fluttering. "Kill those Song traitors who serve the Jin people now, and your father may live three more months! I will write another letter to invite Emperor Zhao to return to Tokyo and lead the six armies to the north to recover Yanyun. If you still can't bring back the heads after I finish writing, you can go to the army to serve!"
Zong Ying ran away in embarrassment.
