Volume 2 Chapter 61 Reasons
Du Chong, who always had an excellent political image, was actually somewhat afraid of fighting, which inevitably surprised Yue Fei.
But on second thought, apart from Zong Ze, which civil official doesn't fear fighting these days? Even Li Gang advocated stabilizing the situation first and then counterattacking. Besides, this person originally escaped from Daming Prefecture, so it's understandable that he's a little timid.
Of course, the most important point is that after Zong Ze fell ill, Yue Pengju almost semi-independently supported half of the situation. He experienced the chaos of war preparations in Tokyo, Wang Yan's willfulness, and the banditry of the Ten Commanders, but he remained calm. It was obvious that he was mentally prepared enough to do his best to stitch up the crumbling Tokyo Liaison Office in an attempt to resist the Jin.
As for Du Chong, with his identity and status, Yue Fei would not be able to say anything as long as he did not surrender to the Jin Dynasty... as long as he did not cause any trouble.
In fact, Du Chong stood there for a while, thinking it over, but he could only give orders, asking Yue Fei and Li Qiong to gather up the troops and the remaining food and supplies, and prepare to go south to meet up with the Ten Commanders.
Since there was indeed no mistake in the action, Yue Fei had nothing to say. He just bowed quickly and then went out to work with Li Qiong.
Without mentioning what Yue Fei and Li Qiong were , it can be said that due to the overall situation, Du Chong had to send troops. However, after sending away the two trusted generals who were from Xiangzhou, he sat in the back hall of the Kaifeng government office and sighed for a while.
At this time, only his son Du Yan, who was in charge of the affairs of the palace, was qualified to come forward and greet them.
In fact, after experiencing the Jingkang Rebellion, Du Yan saw his father again after a long time and was quite confused.
"Daddy."
Du Yan carefully served a cup of tea, then stood up and asked carefully, "The emperor appointed you as the deputy governor, obviously to entrust the 100,000 troops of the Tokyo Garrison and the overall situation of Henan. Why is you unhappy?"
Du Chong was not unhappy at all, but was sad and annoyed, but as a son he couldn't say it directly.
However, in front of his only relative, Du Chong stopped pretending. He swallowed a mouthful of warm tea, his expression unchanged: "What is there to be happy about? The situation is so bad. The officials and officials of Nanyang only know how to talk about war on paper while hiding in the fortified city, but want me to lead the troops to fight. Isn't this putting your father on the fire?"
"But... there are discussions in the Privy Council, and I have heard some of them." Du Yan quickly replied. "If there are no soldiers outside to rescue, then there is no city that must be defended inside... In the past, we were determined to defend Nanyang, Dongjing, and the officials in Wuhe because we had Han Shizhong's troops outside. Han Shizhong was ambushed when he was rescuing Dongjing. Now that Han Shizhong is trapped in Changsha, we must try our best to gather an army to rescue him."
"You can memorize the Art of War, but it's just a theory." Du Chong sneered. "You said that Han Shizhong was defeated by an ambush, and the "salvageable soldiers" in Nanyang's eyes were just so-so. How can the "salvageable soldiers" here be useful?"
"Dad, are you afraid that you can't win?" Du Yan suddenly realized. "That's 80,000 people!"
"It would be strange if we can win!" Du Chong slammed the teacup in his hand heavily on the table in front of him, his face grim. "What do you mean 80,000 people? A bunch of defeated soldiers with their own ulterior motives, plus 20,000 bandits who escaped from the Taihang Mountains. Only some of Yue Fei and Li Qiong's troops can be used... But Talai has 40,000 cavalrymen! What can we use to fight?! How can we fight?! The main forces of the Western Army and the Tokyo Imperial Army were eaten alive by tens of thousands of Jin troops under the city of Taiyuan. How can we fight two against one?! Nanyang is asking me to die!"
Du Yan was so frightened that he dared not say a word. Both the father and son were speechless for a while.
After a long time, seeing his father's breathing gradually stabilize, Du Yan thought for a while, sighed in his heart, and then tried to say: "I understand your difficulties, but in times of national crisis, everyone has difficulties... After all, it was the government that promoted my father to this point. You and I, father and son, should be grateful for the grace of God, right?"
"Thank you for nothing?" Du Chong had picked up the teacup and was about to drink again. When he heard this, he simply sneered and threw the teacup away. "Let me ask you, you have been in this Tokyo wasteland for many days. Tell me, what is the Tokyo Resident Office?"
Du Yan hesitated to speak, and before his son could say anything, Du Chong answered:
"The Tokyo Resident General's Office is basically the former Tang Dynasty's vassal town plus the beggar army during the Northern and Southern Dynasties. The reason why it is neither a vassal town nor a beggar army is that there is a resident with a legitimate family to keep the court in check. Now Resident Zong has suddenly fallen ill. After him, the court will naturally need someone with a legitimate family to feel at ease. And those military thieves and bandits will also need someone who is from Hebei and has experience here. Who else can be used besides your father? Quan Bangyan? Quan Bangyan is okay, but isn't Huazhou locked up?"
Du Yan was in a trance for a moment.
"Even if Quan Bangyan was not trapped, according to his resume, he is from Hebei, was born as a governor, abandoned the city and fled to Tokyo, what is the difference between him and me?" Du Chong continued to speak indignantly. "Then I dare to ask, with the same resume, his qualifications, age, and official rank are not as good as mine, can this Tokyo garrison be pushed onto him?! So the grace of heaven is all false, your father was originally a pot-mender arranged by the court, and Quan Bangyan is the subsequent pot-mender for your father... The officials of the court know it well! Whether that official understands or not, how can it be considered a grace from heaven?"
Du Yan shook his head again and again: "Since we are talking about Deputy Governor Quan (Quan Bangyan), I am sorry to say that he is in a very difficult situation in Huazhou, but he has never been frustrated and avoided fighting. What I mean is that no matter what..."
"I've already told you, you know nothing." Du Chong suddenly showed signs of exhaustion. "Are defending a city and fighting in the field the same thing? In the former, you just sit back and wait for success or failure, why waste your energy? In the latter, you have to go out into the field to make decisions and die!"
Du Yan was completely speechless, yet extremely anxious: "Daddy... is there really no way?"
"Field battle is impossible." Du Chong shook his head and sighed, as if he had no confidence at all. "In fact, if I had been in control of the situation earlier, I could have taken advantage of the autumn flood and the Jin soldiers had not yet crossed the river to break the Yellow River levee, and perhaps I could have eliminated the Jin cavalry. But now the main force of the Jin army is already in Henan, and the Yellow River is frozen, so what chance do I have?"
"The dam broke?" Du Yan was stunned. "What about the flood..."
"What about the flood?" Du Chong sneered. "All those rebel armies were cruel to the people. Just because they were recruited, they became government troops and were promoted to higher positions. As long as they could defeat the Jin people, the death of ordinary people was nothing. Besides, how can floods be compared to man-made disasters? If the Jin army could not move south, a million people would be saved! Besides, Henan was originally a wasteland."
Du Yan certainly didn't know anything about hydrology, and didn't know that the Yellow River in the lower reaches was just a watershed, and didn't have its own large river system. So once the river bank was damaged in the direction of Henan, it would invade the Huaihe River system, causing the Yellow River to take over the Huaihe River and flow into the sea, completely changing the downstream hydrology. Therefore, when he heard his father's remarks and thought of the tragic massacre he saw on the road, he was speechless for a while, and even thought it made sense.
In fact, even from the perspective of later generations, the breach of the dike by Du Chong in another time and space did lead to the Yellow River gradually taking over the Huai River and entering the sea, but this person was only partially responsible. Because according to hydrological research, the real cause of the Yellow River's complete taking over the Huai River and entering the sea was the late Jin Dynasty, when the Jin Dynasty allowed the Yellow River to flood and burst at Yangwu. That was when the Yellow River completely took over the Huai River and entered the main channel of the Huai River, and from then on, it was out of control, so that from then on, the concept of the Yellow River flooding area was completely formed.
However, even when Jin Zhangzong breached the Yangwu Dam, he could only be held four-tenths responsible for the entire hydrological change.
Because, another fact that cannot be ignored is that before Du Chong and Jin Zhangzong, the Yellow River had burst its dikes, but they were all repaired and cleared in time. However, between Du Chong and Jin Zhangzong, the Song and Jin countries used the Huai River as the boundary, and there were years of war and instability, which led to the gradual disuse of water conservancy projects along the Yellow River and Huai River.
This is also a realistic reason that we have to face.
Moreover, if they really wanted to exonerate themselves, both Du Chong and Jin Zhangzong could have been done so, because it was impossible for these two people to have such sufficient knowledge of water conservancy, and it was impossible for them to predict that the bursting of the Yellow River would cause such serious hydrological changes.
Then, using this as an excuse, if the case goes to an international court, one can also plead ignorance and reduce the sentence by a few years on the grounds of intermittent mental problems.
Then, we have to condemn these two people from a moral level. One took the initiative, and the other was lamentable. Both of them disregarded the lives of the people between the Yellow River and the Huai River. The only thing to lament is that during this period of time, the lives of the so-called people were probably the least valuable things in the world.
However, if you think about it this way, after another eight or nine hundred years, when the dam burst, I really don’t know what happened. You can’t say that person had no historical experience, right?
Coming back to the present, Du Chong lamented that his excellent strategy had missed the right time and the right opportunity, and then he continued to sigh:
"Actually, I am not disobeying the emperor's order. If I had, why would I have asked Generals Yue and Li to prepare for the dispatch of troops? I am just angry at the emperor and the officials in Nanyang. Since the Jin army has crossed the river and headed south, we should just defend the city. Why are they sitting in the city and trying to pressure me with moral principles? Today, in front of you, I have nothing to hide. In my opinion, the Song Dynasty is hopeless! We can only take one step at a time!"
Du Yan stood there in silence.
As for Du Chong, he wanted to continue venting, but when he looked back at his son's attitude, he knew that the other party had not been in his presence for many years and did not completely believe him. He suddenly became discouraged and simply got up and left.
As soon as Du Chong left, Du Yan felt relieved, as if he had escaped from something.
Just like this, no matter what, Du Chong, who was full of pessimism, ended up making things worse. He originally wanted to use the Eight Character Army to delay the dispatch of troops, but unexpectedly, Wang Yan received the document and it arrived so quickly, and he was completely helpless and had to send troops.
In fact, at this time, almost everyone on both the Song and Jin sides was caught off guard by the sudden southward march of the 20,000 Eight Character Army, but they also looked down on it. Then they didn't notice that these 20,000 troops who had been fighting with the Jin Army for years had in fact played a subtle role in the strategic balance in Henan Province.
On the 19th day of the twelfth lunar month, after Yue Fei had arranged for Generals Tang Huai, Zhang Xian and Xu Qing to each lead an army totaling 10,000 to guard the city of Dongjing, Du Chong was helpless. He first joined forces with Wang Yan's 20,000 Eight-Character Army, and then directly led more than 40,000 troops southward.
However, the troops of Yue Fei, Li Qiong and Wang Yan were well disciplined and marched very quickly without stopping. Yelu Ma Wu from Zhongmu came to spy on them but did not dare to take any action, which really disappointed Deputy Governor Du. Therefore, within two days, the troops arrived at Weishi, an important town in the southwest of Kaifeng City.
Besides, Yushi is a big city, and it is only eighty miles away from Tokyo, one hundred miles away from Changsha, thirty miles away from Zhujiaqu Town where Han Shizhong was defeated that day, fifty miles away from Yanling, the frontline city controlled by the Song army, and fifty miles away from Fugu area where the ten commanders gathered... It is really a good and reliable place.
Therefore, Deputy Governor Du did not dare to delay. On the one hand, he gave up the original ten commanders, and sternly asked the ten commanders to gather here. On the other hand, he hurriedly sent a document to Nanyang by express horse, saying that he was going to go south to Yanling immediately after gathering the ten commanders. In fact, he was planning to stop at this good place.
However, Deputy Governor Du originally thought that the Ten Commanders would make trouble because of his change of mind, but unexpectedly, the messenger had probably not arrived in Nanyang yet. When the Ten Commanders received the urgent letter, they all said that since it was the military order from Du Dayin, they dared not disobey it. Then, under the leadership of Ma Gao, they gathered the remaining troops and took the initiative to march towards Weishi.
On the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, the fourth day after the expedition, not long after Nanyang received Du Chong's letter, Wei Shi had successfully joined forces and gathered a solid 80,000 troops at once!
Moreover, in order to give a good impression to Du Chong, the future governor, the commanders of the Tokyo Garrison Office, after some discussion, actually ordered Madam Yizhang Qingma to personally escort the grain and goods collected from Fugu to Weishi as a sign of obedience.
Du Chong never thought that he would have such prestige... The troops had arrived, and even the food, fodder, and money had been replenished. Documents had just been sent from Nanyang... Du Chong had no choice but to set off with his troops again the next day and headed for Yanling.
On the 25th day of the twelfth lunar month, the remaining troops of the Tokyo Garrison and the troops of Yue Fei and Wang Yan all crossed the Wei River and gathered in Yanling. The troops set up camps for more than 20 miles with their backs to the frozen Wei River.
Yanling and Xuchang are forty miles apart, but there is no river blocking the two cities. In addition, the camps of both sides are naturally extended, so the actual distance is far less than the figure of forty miles. Scouts are often sent out early in the morning and march along the old road between the two cities to the front of the other camp, and return to the camp at noon, which is the last safe distance.
For a moment, the entire Henan battlefield was shaken, and almost everyone turned their attention here.
The Jin army had naturally deployed its troops and gathered as many troops as possible. However, after seeing the scale of the Song army camp, Wanyan Talan changed his strategy and took the initiative to send a letter to Wanyan Wushu for help, asking him to provide appropriate support of 10,000 households, which was obviously as if he was facing a great enemy.
On the other hand, as the huge army gathered and advanced, the Song army was also shocked and its morale gradually rose.
However, no one expected that Deputy Governor Du Chong had already made up his mind that he would not move no matter what, because he did not want to die in vain.
Of course, correspondingly, he still sent a note to Nanyang, saying that although the troops were nominally large, their morale was low, and there were very few armored men. They were already insufficient in combat effectiveness, and they had to divide their troops to block the enemy from Nanjing behind them to prevent being attacked from both sides, which was really difficult.
On the 27th day of the twelfth lunar month, Nanyang had just received the message and had no time to respond. The troops under Zhang Jun's command that were previously sent to the west to support were split into two. Tian Shizhong guarded Bozhou to respond to the enemy in Nanjing, while Liu Bao led a force of seven or eight thousand to Fugu, and then immediately sent letters to Yanling and Nanyang, taking on the task of isolating the enemy in Nanjing.
After receiving the document, Du Chong was overwhelmed and could only write a second letter, saying that the enemy situation was unclear and he was contacting the remaining soldiers in Ruzhou behind enemy lines to ensure safety.
But on the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month, a troop of four to five thousand soldiers suddenly came from the west. They were none other than the commander of the Tokyo Liaison Office, Bing Guansuo Li Bao, who had escaped from Wuyang before, and a local commander from Ruzhou named Niu Gao... They had seen unusual movements of the Jin army on the western front, and after careful investigation, they learned that the government on the eastern front had sent a Du Dayin as the marshal, and had mobilized the entire Tokyo Liaison Office army to prepare to rescue General Han .
After confirming the military situation several times, Li Bao and Niu Gao, who were in Ruzhou and were preparing to work together to support Lu Xing in Xiangcheng, discussed and decided that saving Lu Xing might not save Han Shizhong, but saving Han Shizhong would definitely shake the overall situation and Lu Xing would be safe. So they took advantage of the Jin army's deployment of troops, the warmer weather in the past few days, the thinner river ice, and the opportunity to avoid cavalry in certain sections of the river, and ventured through the gaps in the enemy army and came to Yanling.
In addition to participating in the battle, the two generals also reported the deployment and troop strength of the Jin army that they saw along the way.
After listening to the report, the four generals Yue Fei, Wang Yan, Ma Gao and Li Qiong, who were in charge of daily military camp work, all felt that Li Bao and Niu Gao were trustworthy, had a clear understanding of the military situation, and could fight... At the very least, they could advance, or capture some weak points, and form a partial relief posture.
Therefore, the four generals made a rare joint petition to Du Chong, requesting that they be allowed to go into battle at an appropriate time.
This request was naturally rejected by Du Chong. Not only that, after this meeting, Du Chong felt that everyone in the world was against him, so he stopped pretending and simply hid in Yanling City, drinking wine and tea all day in the name of celebrating the New Year, and no longer met with the generals inside and outside the city. The only time he showed up was on the first day of the New Year, when he personally received Wanyan Talan's envoy, accepted the other party's gifts, and gave a return gift.
But to be honest, even until this time, people from top to bottom could still understand it. After all, it was the New Year, they were civil officials, and it was the ancestral family rules.
In fact, there were many civil servants who were more extreme than Du Chong during the Jingkang Incident. For example, during the second siege by the Jin army that directly led to the Jingkang Incident, according to the rules, a civil servant was assigned to "supervise" the four city walls. Li Zhuo, a close minister of Emperor Yuansheng and the Secretary of the Central Secretariat, was in charge of the South City, but he spent all day drinking and holding poetry meetings on the city walls, and actually watched the Jin army fill up the mile-long moat outside the Xuanhua Gate. In the end, Emperor Yuansheng (Song Qinzong) himself went up to the city walls and was stunned to discover this fact.
Compared to those people, Du Chong's current actions are nothing. Even his behavior of handing over the daily military affairs of the camp to Yue Fei, Wang Yan, and Ma Gao, and handing over the military affairs of Yanling City to Li Qiong, makes him seem very reliable.
As I said, not everyone is Zong Ze, and no one expects everyone to be Zong Ze.
But, so I say but.
After the Chinese New Year, for three days in a row, Deputy Governor Du did not change at all, and still stayed indoors, but strictly ordered everyone not to go out to fight. At this time, the whole army was in a panic... At this time, the whole army suddenly woke up. They all knew that Deputy Governor Du was a little afraid of fighting, but no one expected that he was afraid of fighting and stubborn to this extent.
On the fifth day of the first lunar month in the third year of Jianyan, Yue Fei, together with Wang Yan, Ma Gao, and Li Qiong, with the help of Du Yan, broke into the city of Yanling where Du Chong lived. They knelt down and wept, begging to go to war, but to no avail.
On the seventh day of the first lunar month, Nanyang, who had obviously been impatient for a long time, also sent a fast horse to deliver the imperial edict, specifically asking Du Chong for the reason. Du, the deputy governor, immediately wrote a letter in reply, saying that the three generals under his command, Yue Fei, Wang Yan, and Ma Gao, had a grudge against each other, so that the three armies were not in harmony, the three generals blamed each other, and the three armies also attacked and fought each other constantly, almost treating friendly forces as enemies. He was forced to hide in Yanling City to prevent fighting.
At the same time, he also emphasized that at this time, it is not impossible to force a war, but if you throw it rashly, the last batch of available royal troops in the world will repeat the story of Taiyuan and be completely destroyed. Please be cautious in Nanyang.
On the ninth day of the first lunar month in the third year of Jianyan, the news was delivered to Nanyang by express horse, shocking everyone... because, except for one person, almost everyone in Nanyang chose to believe Du Chong unconditionally.
If you don’t trust Du Chong, who else can you trust?
We can't trust those three warriors, right? Besides, Wang Yan and Yue Fei had a grudge, and everyone in the world knew about it. Can we expect these warriors to tolerate each other for the sake of the country and the overall situation?
In fact, even Emperor Zhao, who had some doubts about Du Chong, was a little panicked at this time, because even if he was willing to believe Yue Fei, and even firmly believed that Yue Fei would put the overall situation first and would never make trouble at this time, no one could guarantee that Wang Yan and Ma Gao would tolerate each other for the country, right?
What if these two people cannot be restrained and their attack on Yue Fei leads to a counterattack?
It's hundreds of miles away, who knows what the situation is over there?
