Volume 2 Chapter 39: Continuous
Bad things always seem to happen in groups. In just a few days, Yue Fei experienced a series of things including the defeat of friendly forces, betrayal by colleagues, the destruction of his jurisdiction, and the death of his benefactor. He finally suppressed all the anger in his heart and had just stabilized the defense line at the edge of his jurisdiction. Before reinforcements and instructions arrived, a serious incident occurred within the Yue Army that could definitely be called an internal conflict!
It was definitely an internal conflict, because the conflict occurred between his uncle Yao Wang and his closest younger brother, Zhang Xian, the deputy commander of the central army and the actual leader of the Tabai Army.
As mentioned before, Yue Fei's father died early, and his younger brother Yue Fan was not very old, just a teenager, only a few years older than Yue Yun. In this case, his uncle Yao Wang, who had fled with his mother from Hebei, was actually his only blood relative... Whether they were related or not, he was his mother's family, let alone in the current situation?
In fact, according to the tradition of sharing weal and woe in those days, Yue Fei had already given his uncle the status of a commander early on, but let him lead a reserve force to manage the daily transportation of food and goods within Jeju. It was only when the military situation became serious this time that he was transferred to the front line, but he was still a close official in front of the tent, not a commander.
As for Zhang Xian, there is no need to say more. Together with Wang Gui, Tang Huai, and Yue Fei himself, the four brothers, although young, have been together through thick and thin, through life and death, for many years. They are basically real brothers.
In this situation, Yue Pengju was furious, and of course he wanted to ask for clarification in person... However, he would not know until he asked, and after asking, Yue Fei became even angrier!
It turned out that it was Yue Fei's uncle who had a hooligan habit and allowed his subordinates to rob the property of the gentry who fled from Shanzhou and Yingtianfu. Then he was caught in public by Zhang Xian and was to be punished. However, Yao Wang relied on being Yue Fei's uncle and receiving tribute from those soldiers. How could he allow a junior to bully him like this?
In the end, the two sides openly fought outside the camp, but they both remembered that there was still one person above them, so they immediately stopped after others came forward to persuade them to make peace, and there were not many casualties. The matter was immediately handed over to Yue Fei for personal handling.
Let’s talk about who is Yue Pengju?
This man is a rare person in the world who values military discipline. Moreover, after the battle of Liangshanpo, combined with the simple mentality of saving his hometown in Hebei, he deeply believes that the army must have the heart to defend the country and save the people in order to achieve great things! If the looting is excessive, how is it different from the Jin people?
Otherwise, why would Zhang Xian have the guts to go against Yao Wang, his elder? It was because Yue Fei had been telling him so all day long.
Therefore, the result of the treatment did not surprise Zhang Xian and other close generals, but it was beyond the expectations of Yao Wang and all the new generals... The looted property was forced to return, Yao Wang was publicly reprimanded, beaten with fifteen sticks, and was stripped of his commanding title and demoted to a reserve general in front of the tent, while Zhang Xian was awarded a military merit.
This incident also shocked the newly arrived generals such as Li Kui and Xu Qing. Afterwards, under the leadership of the two, the new generals with messy commander titles petitioned together and took the initiative to request to have their titles demoted to commanders... This is a digression and there is no need to say more, and the matter seemed to have been dropped.
Just like that, for the next few days, Yue Fei sat in an isolated place, watching Kong Yanzhou lead 10,000 people to bypass Jeju, and follow the Jin army's route to march from Jinan along the Jishui River to enter the city of Nanjing, and work together with the main force of the Jin army to control the key points of Nanjing. Yue Pengju, who was completely confused about the situation in the west, was naturally anxious, but he did not dare to act rashly, and he did not even dare to touch Yanzhou behind him, which was bound to be empty at this time. He just asked people to retrieve the few families of Xu Qing and other Hebei refugees in Yanzhou.
Time passed until almost September, when Yue Fei finally received a piece of news that was neither good nor bad - while the messenger had not returned, a troop of nearly 5,000 soldiers went upstream along the Heshui River and headed here from the southeast.
In response to this, Yue Zhenfu naturally sent people to investigate in advance, but the news he obtained made him feel uneasy no matter how he looked at it.
Because although the general claimed to be the reinforcements sent by Zhang Jun's troops, he was not the officer listed in the Right Army of the Imperial Camp. Or to put it bluntly, this person was one of the military bandits and local tyrants who had previously ruled Yizhou, Hu Cheng, a local tyrant in Yizhou who had just surrendered to General Zhang only a month ago.
Kong Yanzhou's trouble was first, and Hu Cheng's hometown Yizhou was also on the edge of the Song Dynasty's control. If this person caused chaos, it would be too reasonable... I don't know why General Zhang sent this person to help?
But after all, they are legitimate reinforcements and we cannot ignore them.
So, upon hearing that Hu Cheng was about to lead his troops, for the sake of caution, Yue Pengju personally led his own army and the Tabai Army, as well as Wang Gui and Fu Xuan, who had just gathered their family resources to come to the rescue because Yanzhou behind them was empty, a total of 5,000 troops and horses, into Shanzhou, and waited at the junction of Heshui and Henggou.
On the last day of August, the two armies finally met across the river.
By this time, Yue Fei's messenger had returned and brought the news that Hu Cheng was indeed sent by Zhang Jun. Yue Fei had already put his mind at ease by then; when the enemy's army arrived, Yue Fei observed for a while, and seeing that the enemy had no intention of fighting, he put his mind at ease again... So, Yue Fei simply did not wear armor, carry any weapons, or ride a horse. He only led Zhang Xian, who was wearing a sword, and took the initiative to go to the floating bridge that his family had built in advance on Henggou to meet Hu Cheng.
Hu Cheng did not disappoint Yue Fei. He behaved in the same way, wearing casual clothes and accompanied only a trusted general with a sword as his guard, and went to the pontoon bridge for the meeting.
Up to this point, the hostility between the two sides had basically been eliminated by 80% to 90%. After meeting, they exchanged a few pleasantries, then put aside their grievances, shook hands and chatted happily, as if all misunderstandings had been resolved and their guards were gone.
At this time, Yue Fei just found out why the other party was here in his identity.
"You don't know, Governor Yue." Although Hu Cheng, who was about 40 years old, was a local military bandit, he seemed to be well-educated. Although he had a bitter smile on his face, he spoke in a literary manner, which was somewhat consistent with Yue Fei. "My general Zhang was originally stationed in Xiapi, Huaiyang Army. When Nanjing fell, Xiapi was naturally shocked. And my general was greatly favored by the emperor, how dare he neglect it? He immediately sent Liu Bao and General Tian Shizhong to lead 20,000 main forces to Suzhou and Bozhou, trying to get closer to General Han in the west, in order to support the emperor's flank from the south. But Nanjing fell, and there was no news from General Zhang. General Zhang knew that he was one of the two closest to the surrounding areas, and he could not ignore it, so he had to let me, who was originally in Yizhou, come here to deal with it..."
Yue Fei knew it very well. It was obvious that Zhang Jun guessed that Zhang Suo would most likely meet with a bad end. Nanjing was beyond saving and he had no hope for himself, Kong Yanzhou and Zhang Rong. So as soon as he heard the news, he sent a newly surrendered commander of a miscellaneous army to deal with the situation.
However, after thinking for a moment, Yue Pengju actually nodded seriously: "General Zhang actually did a good job."
"Who can say it's wrong?" Hu Cheng smiled bitterly. "But what about Yue Zhenfu and me? I'm a new surrender, and I'm trapped in a desperate situation surrounded on three sides. Yue Zhenfu can't expect to get reinforcements from Zhang Taiwei anymore... Yue Zhenfu just said that Zhang Zhenfu was defeated and can only protect Liangshanpo. Obviously, he can only support Jinan for us. As for Nanjing's more than 10,000 Jin cavalry and 10,000 Kong Yanzhou's infantry, I'm afraid we can only deal with them together."
"We can't deal with it, and we don't need to deal with it." Seeing that the other party was a little hesitant but also honest, and the military situation was urgent, Yue Fei simply shook his hand and told him the truth. "I think the Jin people are determined to defend Nanjing to the death, to support the flank and rear for the war in the west, and have no intention of fighting... More than 10,000 Jurchen cavalry, 10,000 Kong Yanzhou's surrendered soldiers, and a strong city, we have 20,000 people in total, and our combat power is uneven, so we can't defeat them at all."
"In this case, isn't it just right to sit back and relax?" Hu Cheng was moved when he heard this.
"I mean, please sit down for me, Commander Hu." Yue Fei said bluntly. "I have received great favors from Zhang Zizheng, Zong Liushou, and the government, but I cannot just sit here and wait..."
Hu Cheng's heart moved, and he instantly understood what the other party meant. Then he was slightly moved: "Are you going to entrust Jeju to me, Governor Yue, and lead the troops westward? Governor Yue's loyalty is really admirable, but since we are meeting for the first time, I really don't deserve such trust."
Yue Fei sighed slightly, "The situation is like this, but I am the one who has caused trouble for General Hu... Let me be frank today. I have been sitting in despair for the past few days and have already thought about it. I originally had 13,000 troops, and recently Li Kui led 5,000 troops and Xu Qing led 3,000 troops to join us, totaling about 21,000 troops. Since General Hu is here, I will let my commander Wang Gui lead 6,000 to 7,000 troops to stay, and eliminate some old and weak people, to make up 7,000 to 8,000 to help General Hu defend the city together. In this way, you will have 12,000 to 13,000 troops, and I will lead the remaining 12,000 to 13,000 elite troops through Puzhou to the west of Tokyo to find Zong to stay... What do you think?"
Hu Cheng thought about it, and obviously still felt it was a little unbearable, so he tried to refuse again.
Yue Fei said: "If the military situation changes and Jeju cannot be defended, Commander Hu does not need to worry about it. Just try your best to protect the families of my soldiers and evacuate them to Xuzhou and Yizhou. I will be very grateful."
Hu Cheng had heard that the other party was looking for a fight, and he was already shocked. Now he saw that the other party was so sincere and wanted to entrust everything to him as soon as they met, which made him even more loyal. Therefore, he thought for a moment and simply gritted his teeth and agreed. However, he shook hands with the other party with one hand, turned around and pointed at the man following him with the other hand and said:
" Since the governor is so fearless, how can I refuse? This is my brother Li Zhang, nicknamed Flying Eagle. I am a scholar and do not know military affairs. I was chosen to be the leader only because my family is well-known in my hometown. Marching, fighting and charging are all up to this brother... Let him lead the only 200 cavalrymen in my army to accompany the governor."
Yue Fei had already seen the majestic general behind him, so how could he not be happy to hear such words? He immediately let go of Hu Cheng's hand and stepped forward to shake the hand of the Flying Eagle.
However, as soon as the two sides shook hands, the face of the Flying Eagle changed, and he directly exerted force on his hands, trying to pull Yue Fei down! However, Yue Pengju was born with supernatural power, and his basic lower body skills were even more amazing. In a hurry, he had already stabilized his body and did not move at all. Instead, the Flying Eagle almost fell down.
But at this moment, hearing a very familiar sound of wind coming from behind his ears, Yue Fei suddenly woke up, but it was too late.
In a flash, the sound of an arrow hitting flesh was clearly heard. Yue Fei turned around and saw that his brother Zhang Xian had already been hit by an arrow in the shoulder. It was obvious that he had no time to draw his sword, so he could only hastily use his arm to protect himself.
Yue Fei, who felt relieved, looked back and was rarely out of control, because he saw Wang Gui and others capturing a man from the bank of Henggou, and then stripping off his helmet, revealing the appearance of his own uncle. He was naturally sad.
"I've made a fool of myself by letting Commander Hu see me." Yue Fei looked at that place for a long time before turning back, revealing his first bitter smile since they met on the bridge today. "I'll be back soon..."
Hu Cheng didn't know Yao Wang's identity, so naturally he had nothing to say.
A moment later, Yue Fei and Zhang Xian came back. They first let the military doctor catch Zhang Xian, cut open his clothes and cut off the arrow shaft in public, and used the "Military Health Regulations" passed down by Emperor Zhao to spray the wound with strong liquor and cut out the arrowhead. After seeing that there should be no serious problem, he turned his head to look at his uncle Yao Wang, who was already pale.
"Wulang, uncle was confused for a moment!" After such a long time, Yao Wang had already calmed down. When he saw Yue Fei coming, if Wang Gui and others hadn't held him down, he would have immediately kowtowed and begged for mercy without any etiquette. "Please let uncle go this time, let him go back to Jeju City and be a coachman for your mother, and don't join the army to think about wealth and honor..."
"Uncle is really confused." Yue Fei narrowed his eyes and looked at his uncle, slowly facing him. "If you had said earlier that you wanted to join the army for wealth and honor, how could I let you join the army? But uncle insisted on saying 'for a while', but I, Wu Lang, cannot believe it... Your behavior today, isn't it because I punished you in public last time, dismissed you from your post, and then you are still brooding over it? Your behavior today, isn't it because you got the idea from Xu Qing's story, thinking of killing me and then taking advantage of the chaos to push the blame on Hu Cheng, causing a large army to fight, and then taking advantage of the situation to support Yue Yun or Liu Lang (Yue translation) with my uncle's identity, or even taking advantage of the situation to establish your own regime?"
Yao Wang opened his mouth to speak, but he didn't know how to refute. In the end, he could only grit his teeth and say, "I have done something stupid. How are you going to deal with me, Wu Lang?"
"From your perspective as a soldier, today you are a subordinate assassinating the commander; from your perspective as an uncle, you want to kill your nephew and steal his inheritance; from your perspective as a Song person, you are a complete Song traitor for ignoring the presence of the Jin army and provoking a fight between the two allied armies..."
"I just wanted to vent my anger!" Yao Wang was so serious that he immediately tried to explain. "I don't have such evil intentions! Think about it, when other people become generals, the army is their own private property, and the soldiers can build houses for their families and do business! When they become pacification envoys or military governors, they all regard the entire military state as their private property. Why is it different for you, Wulang? Gold, silver, money, silk, and food flowed through your hands like water, but they all went into the army. Your mother doesn't even have a few servants to serve her! I..."
"No need to say more." Yue Fei stood there and listened quietly for a few words at first, but he became impatient after listening to them. "The country is in such a crisis. Thousands of Hebei people died. Zhang Zizheng in Nanjing died for his country. Even Xin Daozong, a nobleman, did not lose his dignity. You came from Hebei and saw those tragic things with your own eyes, but you only say these things here? It's my fault. I should have explained the rules of our army to you at the beginning... Wang Gui, Fu Xuan, you two commanders, hold down his hands!"
Wang Gui was already holding Yao Wang, and he instinctively pressed forward when he heard the words. Fu Xuan, who had been dodging, also instinctively stepped forward to replace Tang Huai when he heard the words. However, when both of them were halfway through their actions, they both looked up in dismay.
"I'll take care of it for you, brother!" Zhang Xian, who had just finished bandaging the wound, jumped up and stepped forward with his saber. "Brother, don't ruin your reputation!"
Tang Huai said nothing, but looked up in surprise.
"Brother." Wang Gui also held Yao Wang down, and with sweat on his forehead, he raised his head to persuade him. "Yao Wang is absolutely worthy of death for his crime today, but you don't need to do it yourself and take on such a bad reputation!"
"What reputation? How can it be wrong? If it is wrong, the emperor should not have killed Liu Guangshi personally. But if the emperor did not kill Liu Guangshi personally, the Song Dynasty would have perished last year!" Yue Fei pushed Zhang Xian away and pulled out the knife from the other's waist that he had not had time to pull out on the bridge. Then he went around behind his uncle and stared at Fu Xuan and Tang Huai.
Fu Xuan and Tang Huai were both helpless and could only bite the bullet and change positions. The former then exerted his strength to hold down Yao Wang.
"Wu Lang, you dare to kill me?" Until this moment, Yao Wang still couldn't believe it. "How can you and your mother..."
Then, before he could finish his words, Yue Fei did not hesitate and stabbed his own uncle's neck with one blow in front of the two armies.
The two armies were in commotion across the river, but after a moment, as Yue Fei turned over, picked up his sword and mounted his horse, the Yue Army on the north bank of the Henggou suddenly became solemn, and thousands of soldiers lost their voices, which in turn affected the Hu Cheng Yizhou troops on the other side of the river.
As for Wang Gui, Fu Xuan and others who were present, they were completely terrified and out of control.
"Today's incident was said to be a sneak attack by my uncle, but in fact, the root cause was his unauthorized looting that day." Yue Fei looked at the soldiers in front of him, raised his bloody knife and spoke loudly. "In order to prevent any of you from misunderstanding and making the same mistake again, I will tell you again in public today... I, Yue Fei, have joined the army four times. The first time was to make a living! The second time I joined the army to make a living, I also wanted to get promoted and gain fame! But from the third time on, I experienced the Battle of Taiyuan and saw with my own eyes that the entire Hebei and Hedong regions fell, and the Jin people killed and looted without limit, slaughtered cities and plundered at will. From then on, I wanted to drive out the Jin dogs and restore the two rivers with all my heart! I no longer have the idea of getting promoted and making money! As for you, as for you, if you want to get promoted and make money, go somewhere else, just don't join my Yue Fei's army!!"
Yue Peng's last words were just like thunder echoing the whistling autumn wind.
Not only was the entire army horrified when they heard this, even Hu Cheng and Li Zhang, who were looking around curiously on the bridge, looked at each other in shock when they heard these words. In addition to their previous good impressions, they were also filled with awe.
After Yue Fei finished speaking, he looked at Zhang Xian beside him and pointed his sword at him: "Come here!"
Zhang Xian hurriedly dragged his bandaged arm forward, ready to take the knife, but Yue Fei was in no hurry to give it to him. Instead, he immediately responded with a serious look: "There must be a reward if there is a punishment... Last time you stopped this man from robbing the people, and this time you saved my life and prevented a disaster. I will promote you to be the commander of the front army!"
"Yes..." Zhang Xian responded quickly and took the knife.
"There is one more thing." Yue Pengju looked at his younger brother and continued, but lowered his voice. "I thought you were the youngest and the most ignorant among us brothers, but recently I see that you have shown a tendency to become a great man... As a pacifier, I will naturally promote you, but as an elder brother, I cannot help but show my appreciation... I will change your name based on this incident!"
"Whatever you say, brother." Zhang Xian's mind was still a little confused, and of course he had nothing to say.
"Zhang Zizheng self-immolated. I don't know if his son Zhang Xian has returned to Nanyang . Zhang Xian happens to be similar to your name... I'm not asking you to be adopted or anything like that. I just said that the word Xian is better than Xian, because Xian means law. When you were investigating Yao Wang, you enforced the law like a mountain, so I wanted to change your name to Zhang Xian." Yue Fei said slowly. "I hope you can remember what happened in the past few days. If you do everything according to the law, you will become a great man!"
Zhang Xian... that is, Zhang Xian. He was supposed to be the one who made the decisions in everything. Besides, he just changed his name to a homonymous one. He hoped to use this to encourage himself? He immediately knelt down on his horse to accept it.
Yue Fei also quickly dismounted, helped Zhang Xian up, and asked the medical officer to come forward and bandage the wound again.
Just like that, a few days later, on the third day of September, Yue Fei, the Jeju pacification envoy who had received a small number of reinforcements, left Wang Gui, Hu Cheng and others to guard Jeju, and hurriedly led a carefully selected group of 12,000 people, including Fu Xuan, Zhang Xian, Tang Huai, Li Kui, Li Zhang, Xu Qing and other generals, and countless envoys of all sizes, and hurriedly crossed the Jishui River from the north of Liangshan Lake, trying to pass through Puzhou to support Tokyo.
As soon as Yue Fei's army arrived in Puzhou, they encountered a local hero, Li Bao, who led 3,000 sailors ashore and tried to capture Puzhou occupied by the Jin people. The two sides joined forces and easily captured the empty Puzhou. Yue Fei then learned that another Wanhu Elubu had crossed the river from Puyang in the west and went south through here. He also learned from Li Bao that Wanyan Nianhan, the Marshal of the Jin army, was currently stationed in Damingfu behind Puyang, and that countless armies were constantly joining there. Li Bao came here because he could not gain a foothold upstream.
Puyang is a famous city in the world with a strong city wall. Due to the special geographical conditions of the Yellow River at that time (the lower reaches are divided into four or five paths), it is connected to Daming Prefecture. If the Jin people occupied these two places, they could firmly control the main roads of the Yellow River. In this case, the gains and losses of Puzhou, which is next to the Yellow River, are actually meaningless.
Therefore, Yue Fei urged Li Bao to abandon Puzhou with him and take advantage of the situation to go west to support Huazhou and Dongjing where the enemy situation was unclear. Li Bao was a local hero of Jingdong who made a living on the Yellow River. He hated the Jin people very much, and seeing that Yue Fei had a strong army, he also followed him willingly.
Yue Fei led his army westwards, but he didn't know much about the battle situation west of Puyang, so he risked his life. However, Emperor Zhao, who was far away in Nanyang, finally got a general idea of the situation from intelligence gathered from various sources after the initial confusion.
"So, the Jin army split into five groups and crossed the river to launch a surprise attack together?"
In the Yushan camp, Zhao Jiu looked at the rough map for a long time, then tentatively felt around on the map and asked Liu Ziyu.
"In the two eastern routes, Ali sneaked across Jinan, and Olu reinforced his crossing to Puzhou. They all succeeded and raided Nanjing (Shangqiu). Zhang Zizheng died for his country. Not only did the two routes to Jingdong fall again, but they were actually cut off by Yingtianfu (Shangqiu); in the two middle routes, Yelu Mawu raided from Huazhou and Wanyan Balisu raided from Sishui Pass west of Zhengzhou, trying to encircle Dongjing, but were blocked respectively; in the westernmost route, Wanyan Saba tried to raid Li Yanxian, but was discovered by the Hedong Red Turban Army first, and instead joined forces with the big and small Zhai to lure the enemy deep into Jiezhou, set an ambush successfully, and directly defeated the enemy?"
"That should be it." Liu Ziyu was silent for a moment, then spoke frankly. "In fact, the situation was roughly as expected by the Privy Council. The position of Zhang Zizheng in Jingdong was the weakest, while the position of Dongjing Zong was the strongest... Only Zhang Zizheng was attacked and died in a hurry, which was a big loss; while Li Jinglüe was able to force the enemy to retreat, which was a pleasant surprise. The key now is where are Wanyan Nianhan, Wanyan Loushi, Wanyan Wushu, and Wanyan Talan? Will they cross the river? When and where will they cross the river? We must investigate it carefully!"
"Yes, this is the most important matter! Besides this, the two chancellors must quickly discuss the military merits of Li Yanxian, including the big and small Zhai, as well as the three Shaos (Shaoyun, Shaoxing, and Shaolong) under Li Yanxian. At this time, they must be given extra rewards. Then send a note to Lu Xianggong in the city, asking him to discuss matters such as posthumous honors for Zhang Zizheng, and to give preferential treatment to his family members who stayed in Nanyang. Actually..." Zhao Jiu responded seriously, but at the end, he couldn't help but pause, and then continued to sigh. "In fact, I should have told Zhang Zizheng not to care about the palace. I really forgot about this."
"Yes!" Liu Ziyu responded solemnly, and then returned to his serious tone. "Your Majesty, please don't dwell on the Nanjing incident. Zhang Zizheng is a minister and he is loyal to his country. He did it voluntarily. We should encourage him, not feel sad about it."
"I think so too." Lu Yihao stepped forward, and it was rare for him to agree with Liu Ziyu. "Zhang Zizheng is a model minister. His behavior is to tell the world that there are also governors who died for their country in the Song Dynasty! Just like Li Xueshi's (Li Ruopu) brother (Li Ruoshui) and Liu Canjun's father (Liu Qian) in the Jingkang period, they are all such heroes. When the emperor is about to fight, if these people know about this, they may think it is not worth it!"
Hearing this, Li Ruopu and Liu Ziyu bowed solemnly again.
"I know." Zhao Jiu looked down at the map, guessing the position of the main force of the Jin army, while waving his hands repeatedly. "I am not so ignorant of the importance of the matter. I just paused because I have not met Zhang Zizheng many times, and I couldn't remember his appearance for a while, so I couldn't help feeling sad."
Everyone in the barracks, including Lu Yihao, almost paused at the same time, just like Emperor Zhao just now, because they couldn't remember much.
