Volume 2 Chapter 63 Questions and Answers
The Baihe River, which flows southward from the east side of Nanyang City and then turns southeast at the foot of Yu Mountain, is most likely the Yu River from the Three Kingdoms period, or at least is related by blood.
Over the thousands of years, this river and the city of Nanyang have witnessed too many ups and downs and wars.
Therefore, on this day, when an unremarkable military activity once again unfolded around the river, it was too lazy to react and just greeted everything in silence.
When it was still dark, the Song army began to cross the river in the area of three large floating bridges in the south.
It is said that the Baihe River surrounds Nanyang on both sides, and Nanyang is a famous city in the world with a large population, developed handicrafts and agriculture. It is also the main passage from Jingxiang area to the Central Plains. Therefore, there are usually dense crowds of people coming and going here, and it can be said to be a hub for business and travel. Nanyang also has the tradition of seasonal and even permanent floating bridges to the south and east.
This was also an important reliance of Zhao Jiu for leaving the city tonight. He knew that crossing the river would not be a problem before the ice melted. Whether it was the Jin army, Zhang Yu's troops, or Zhang Jing who came to support, there was no reason to dismantle the pontoon bridge . Instead, they would only lay the pontoon bridge as soon as possible during the melting period with the help of the ice.
Back to the present, the Song army began to cross the river in an orderly manner, and Yang Yi Zhong led more than half of the imperial guards to appear in the queue, which made most of the main forces of the Song army except Wang De and Zhang Jing believe that Emperor Zhao was with them.
Even some of the imperial guards who had followed Emperor Zhao out of the city at night were convinced that the emperor was in the army, but they did not see him because of the chaos in the march and the unclear weather.
This is what is called deceiving yourself before deceiving the enemy.
And sure enough, just after the Song army had safely crossed half of the city in the south, about 20 miles east of Nanyang City, in the dark shadows behind Yushan and in front of the old Yushan camp, Emperor Zhao and hundreds of Red Heart cavalrymen who were waiting there heard a rumbling sound that was not loud at first but had a wide vibration, like a deliberately suppressed thunder.
Needless to say, Emperor Zhao and most of the military elites in the city had guessed and bet right - the 10,000 cavalrymen of the Jin army who retreated to the north yesterday were not there to support Talan, but to encircle him! They were even ready to fight at any time, otherwise they would not have come so quickly!
Thousands of cavalry were galloping, but in order to avoid alerting the enemy, they obviously chose to encircle them from a farther distance. As the muffled thunder of horse hooves came from far away, the sound of horses neighing could be heard faintly in the whistling cold wind, which showed the great power of the cavalry.
Moreover, even though they knew that the two sides were separated by a river and were unknown miles away, and that the sun rose very late in the winter morning, and the remaining darkness was enough to conceal the figures of most people, everyone instinctively chose to hold their breath, cease fighting, and quietly wait for the large number of Jin troops to surge from the east.
It was hard to say how nervous others were or what they were thinking about, but Zhao Jiu, wearing armor and carrying a bow and arrow, stood with his back to a rock and his hands behind his back, just like the way he stood under the city during the artillery battle... except that his mood was completely different.
Moreover, at this time, I don’t know whether he was careless or desperate, but Zhao Jiu actually continued to think about the problem that he had not finished thinking about before amid the sound of horse hooves. He kept thinking, and kept thinking, why did it come to this situation?
The current actions of the Jin army did not exceed the imagination and expectations of the military elites of the Song Dynasty at all; although the Jin army's siege force was strong, it was completely defeated by the higher-level city defense skills of the Song Dynasty; even from a global perspective, the overall strategic planning of the Jin army could not be said to be very good, and the Song army's response was very unsuccessful.
However, the situation eventually came to the current state step by step - an emperor placed himself beside tens of thousands of enemy cavalry, desperately trying to find a glimmer of survival!
Is this reasonable?
Is this the same thing as the time when Ruyang left the city?
That time, he met Zhai Chong in a condescending manner, with some kind of perfect attitude. The ministers even despised him for losing face. But this time, he had to survive tens of thousands of Jin cavalry in the fields outside the city, and use the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers as bait.
Others may not know how much he is capable of, but doesn't Zhao Jiu know it himself? He is neither Li Shimin nor Zhao Kuangyin. If the eight hundred cavalrymen are found hiding here by the Jin people, they will be dead.
However, what else can he do at this moment?
Aren't we in a desperate situation now? If we just sit there and do nothing, won't the tens of thousands of people between Han Shizhong and Wuhe be finished? Even the Tokyo garrison will collapse completely, and two-thirds of the country's military power will disappear out of thin air!
He was basically forced into this situation!
Lin Chong is in a temple on a snowy mountain, and he is by a white river in the dark night, but they are both cold and murderous when thinking, and cold and sad when talking.
I don’t know whether there is a person named Lin Chong among the thirty-six bandits of Song Jiang, and whether he is really from the imperial guards?
When I think of this, I have nothing else to think about.
After half an hour, the thunder continued, but it had moved from the northeast to the southeast, and it was almost dawn. It was conceivable that after dawn, the Jin army would have a fierce battle with the Song army that had already crossed the river as planned... But at this moment, Emperor Zhao suddenly stood up, walked forward to lead his warhorse, turned around and headed towards the Baihe floating bridge, ignoring the fact that the Jin army had not yet left.
The people around suddenly fell into panic. Some instinctively pulled their horses to follow, some hurried to stop him, and some tried to advise him but did not dare to speak out loud.
"After crossing the river," Zhao Jiu ignored the commotion and looked at Liu Yan and gave him a serious warning. "The frontline of the Jin army must have already engaged in battle. At that time, the entire Red Heart Team does not need to hide too much, but rushes eastward away from the battlefield. If you encounter a small group of Jin troops, you should actively rebuke them and ask them to get out of the way."
The people behind him came to their senses instantly after hearing what he said, but they did not try to persuade him anymore. Instead, they admired Emperor Zhao for being thoughtful in such a hurry. You must know that Liu Yan and the Chixin Team were both from Liaodong, and their accents were exactly the same as those of the cavalry in the Jin Army. This was probably why Yang Yi, who had a higher status and a more reliable identity, went to lure the enemy, but it was Liu Yan who led the Chixin Team to follow him.
In this way, the eight hundred cavalrymen carefully crossed the Baihe River, then mounted their horses, protected Emperor Zhao and several ministers in the center, and rode eastward.
Facts have proved that there is nothing wrong with Zhao Jiu's decision to cross the river before dawn without waiting for the Jin army to pass completely, because all the attention of the Jin army was on the south. Although they encountered a few scattered cavalry units along the way, they were all focused on hurrying on their way and did not notice the Red Heart Team cavalry whose attire was slightly different in the faint morning light.
In the morning, the entire army arrived safely at Qingtai Town, dozens of miles east of Nanyang, and crossed the Bishui River on a stone bridge.
Up to this point, the entire army took a short break, drank water, ate food, took off their armor and fed the horses, and then, without any intention of being stingy with their precious war horses, they set off again in a hurry - this was nothing, because the reason why they treated war horses as treasures on weekdays was for this situation!
But the problem was that Emperor Zhao led the way and actually headed eastward instead of heading south along the Bishui River!
At this time, not to mention the soldiers below, the second-in-command in the team, the Imperial Censor Hu Yin, who followed in a panic, finally realized that Emperor Zhao was not going to Xiangyang! Instead, he was going to the east... Going to the east, it was impossible for him to meet Zhang Jun, nine out of ten times he was going to Yanling!
Of course, at this point, among the few people accompanying him, perhaps only Hu Zhongcheng, who would be an absolute waste once military issues were involved, had just reacted!
But on the other hand, once he no longer has to consider military issues, Hu Mingzhong immediately becomes the extremely smart man who used to control Han Shizhong like a child!
Therefore, once he woke up, Hu Yin, who was following Emperor Zhao in a daze, holding the horse's neck, immediately became happy and worried.
The good news was that the emperor did not give up and did not choose to evade Xiangyang. He was still the emperor Zhao who crossed the Huai River on a snowy night to meet Zhang Jun. The bad news was that, considering his previous disputes with Liu Ziyu, Li Guang and others, Hu Yin began to doubt the reason why the emperor had to take him on this trip... He couldn't be worried that if Hu Mingzhong stayed in Nanyang, it would ruin the military situation, right?
In the eyes of the government, is Hu Mingzhong just someone who can ruin the situation?
Thinking of this, the Chief Censor felt both ashamed and angry, but he could only grit his teeth and remain silent, because there was no point in saying or thinking anything at this time.
In the afternoon, eight hundred cavalrymen arrived at the Zhongyang Mountain area at the easternmost end of the old Tangzhou, now Nanyang Prefecture. The entire army slowed down as they passed through the mountainous area. Then Emperor Zhao ordered a second attempt to divert water and food. After they set off again, he ordered half of the soldiers to abandon their horses and go to Biyang. The remaining four hundred people, each riding two horses, continued to march!
By the time Emperor Zhao was desperately rushing to Yanling, the outcome of the battle in Nanyang had already been decided. And the facts proved that the Song army had basically no ability to fight back against the large group of Jin cavalry in the wild.
Even though Wang De, Yang Yi Zhong, and Zhang Jing had been warned that they could return to the city immediately once they had successfully lured the enemy, they turned back north as soon as they sensed the Jin army's attack at dawn; even though the three generals consciously crossed the river slowly and left the heavy baggage on the inside of the Baihe River so that they could move lightly ; even though they had already set up a line of defense against cavalry on the east side of the Baihe River...but facing the flank attack led by Wanyan Balixu who personally led 10,000 cavalry, the Song army still seemed so vulnerable!
After only half an hour of fighting, the entire Song army was in rout mode. The three generals had no choice but to lead the troops they could control and try to guide some of them back north.
But the Song army's bad luck was not over yet. After dawn, in addition to Wanyan Balisu's quick attack on the outside of Baihe River, Wanyan Wushu did not give up blocking and encircling the inside of Baihe River after learning the news. In the morning, Han Chang led an equally large number of cavalry to swarm in and quickly join the battle. It was obvious that he wanted to attack Wanyan Balisu across the river together! Completely defeat this army they had been waiting for for a long time!
At this time, fighting had no meaning for the Song army, and the entire army basically fled as soon as possible.
On the city wall of Nanyang, countless officials who were thrown into chaos and disputes because the emperor suddenly went south to Xiangyang, looked at such a tragic scene and basically lost the desire to argue - this scene was too similar to the defeated troops outside Dongjing City during the Jing Kang period.
It can even be said that the current situation seems to be worse than during the Jing Kang period, because no one knows the safety of Emperor Zhao after such a devastating defeat. Once Emperor Zhao dies, all will be well.
Fortunately, the two Lu ministers showed great calmness and execution at this time. With their lenient and strict approach, a certain order was maintained in the city, the artillery positions were activated in time, and the troops inside the city immediately went out of the city and deployed along the sheep and horse wall, which effectively curbed the actions of the Jin cavalry outside the city and allowed a large number of defeated Song soldiers to escape.
However, this large number was only relative to the tragic scene during the day. When the defeated soldiers were checked at night, it was found that Wang De's troops, Yang Yizhong's troops, and Zhang Jing's troops, totaling 10,000 people, only 4,000 entered the city, and the big stronghold in the east of the city was recaptured by the Jin army. The three generals came back alive, but except for Wang De, the other two were injured.
But at this moment, it really doesn’t matter. I’m lucky to be able to come back alive.
Of course, after everyone in the city learned the news that the government was "using thousands of troops as bait to bypass Xiangyang", although they were shocked and felt that someone was being callous, they at least realized that the Song Dynasty had not yet fallen and the city could still be defended, and order in the city was gradually restored...but it was impossible for morale to return to its previous high.
In fact, something happened that night - an officer of Fu Qing's army believed that Emperor Zhao was cold-hearted by nature and had used tens of thousands of people as bait to escape, so he wanted to take advantage of the chaos to lead his troops to abandon the city and surrender to the Jin people.
The incident was discovered by Yang Yizhong, who insisted on working despite being injured, and these people were directly captured in the military quarters. For this reason, Fu Qing went to find Lu Yihao to apologize and plead for mercy.
In response, Prime Minister Lu Yihao not only agreed to the plea, but also publicly reprimanded Yang Yizhong for disregarding the overall situation and convicting innocent soldiers based on rumors.
There was a follow-up to this incident. On the second day, these people really escaped when they were taking turns to go up to the city. Fu Qing came to stop them in person, but he only killed half of them. In the end, a few people escaped. After Fu Qing came to apologize again, Lu Yihao praised Fu Qing's position and temporarily promoted Fu Qing to the deputy envoy of the four walls defense of Nanyang Prefecture on the spot. As for the few rebel soldiers who escaped, they did not have a good end either... The Jin army learned from these escaped people that Emperor Zhao had secretly crossed the Chencang Pass and might have fled to Xiangyang without finding the whereabouts of Emperor Zhao Song. It was inevitable that they were furious!
Wanyan Wushu, who was emotionally excited, personally ordered that these people be skinned alive in front of the tent, and then fell into the dilemma that many officials in Nanyang City had expected... He didn't know whether to immediately send a troop to the south to besiege Xiangyang! Or, leave a troop to guard Nanyang, and send the main force to Xiangyang? Chase... It is definitely impossible to catch up?
And two days passed in this chaotic situation... No one knew where Zhao Guan's family was, and no one knew whether Zhao Guan's family was safe.
I must add one more thing here. The Yanling-Changshe battlefield is located in the northeast of Nanyang, just outside the northeast exit of the Nanyang Basin. The straight-line distance from Nanyang to Yanling is about 300 miles. The road is extremely flat. When elite cavalrymen act as messengers, one person rides two horses. If there is no fighting and entanglement, they keep changing horses and can reach the destination in a day and a half.
But that road was too dangerous. If the 800 cavalrymen encountered the Jin army, they would be dead. So Zhao Jiu chose the road that Du Yan came from, which was to first go east through Zhongyang Mountain, walk out of the Nanyang Basin, and then use Xiping as the axis point to bypass the battlefield where the Jin army might exist, and finally go north to bypass Yancheng and go to Yanling.
After this detour, the actual distance expanded to more than four hundred miles.
More than 400 li, combined with Hanli, is about 500 li. Xiahou Yuan once said that he could cover 500 li in three days, but that refers to the extreme rush under the condition of maintaining the organization and combat effectiveness of the army. In fact, Du Yan, a civil servant, rode here regardless of everything, but he only took two and a half days to complete this journey.
Zhao Jiu followed this route. In the afternoon of the first day, he drove away half of the soldiers and rode two horses at a time. In the early morning of the second day, he bypassed Xiping and took the main road. He again left some soldiers behind and selected selected horses. However, he was inevitably a little faster than Xiahou Yuan and Du Yan.
Of course, not much faster.
On the morning of the twelfth day of the first lunar month, Emperor Zhao, with his thigh muscles regenerated and a pair of rubbed thighs, led a few confused entourage and less than two hundred knights who had fallen behind, and arrived in front of the Song army camp under the city of Yanling. It had indeed been two and a half days.
But when they got to this point, the situation ahead was unclear, and Zhao Jiu did not rush to the camp. Instead, he ordered the entire army to dismount and rest in the open space south of the camp, using the last bit of dry food and the stream water directly picked up on the road for replenishment.
This action made some of the accompanying knights a little puzzled. The Song army’s camp was right in front of them, so why didn’t they go into the camp to enjoy hot water and hot meals?
Not only that, this strange action also attracted the attention of the scattered troops around and some officers in the camp. Soon, a mixed force of 400 to 500 cavalry and infantry took the initiative to rush out from the camp at the southernmost end of the camp to investigate.
More than a hundred cavalrymen circled far to the west, and the infantry deployed in front of them. Then a general reined in his horse and looked forward, obviously in a posture of guarding against siege.
In the past, the soldiers of the Loyalists, who were actually part of the imperial guard system, would have been unbearable, but now they were exhausted and didn't even have the energy to shout or scold.
After a while, the white-faced general who was leading the team probably noticed the fatigue of the Red Heart Cavalry, so he felt relieved, put his spear in hand, and stepped forward and asked:
"Whose army are you from? Where have you come from?"
"We are the imperial guards, and we come from Nanyang City."
Zhao Jiu swallowed a mouthful of water and sent away the dry fried noodles in his throat, but he tried to raise his voice to answer Liu Yan and others who were looking back at him... After running for two consecutive days and nights, even if he tried hard to hide his fatigue, it was difficult for Zhao Jiu to hide the fact that his voice was a little hoarse. "I am Fan Zongyin, the secretary of the Imperial Secretariat, and beside me is Feng, the chief of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. I have been ordered to Yanling to announce the imperial decree."
Upon hearing this, the general first noticed Lan Gui beside Zhao Jiu, then saw the treatment of this troop with multiple horses for each man and the excellent armor and weapons carried by the horses, and then looked at the scholars who were exhausted but could not hide the aura of superiority, and he immediately believed it 60%.
However, this person was always meticulous, so he couldn't help but ask again: "Since you are an angel of the court, why don't you just declare your seal and enter the camp, and recuperate before entering Yanling City, but eat dry food here instead?"
Zhao Jiu gave a half-truthful and straightforward answer: "I have been traveling day and night, and I am covered in dust. I want to rest up, change into my official robes, and then go in, so as not to bring disgrace to the royal family."
After hearing this, the general was already 80% convinced, so he dismounted and stepped forward, bowing and greeting Zhao Jiu, first addressing him as a servant, then addressing Lan Gui as a senior official. Just as he was about to continue, Zhao Jiu interrupted him and asked:
"Who are you? What's your position? Who do you serve under?"
The white-faced general did not dare to neglect and immediately bowed his head and answered: "Li Kui from Jingdong, currently serving as the commander under Yue Zhenfu."
Zhao Jiu was slightly startled: "I do remember your name... I vaguely remember that you were born in Yishui and worked as a bandit in Mizhou? Are you now under Yue Fei's command?"
"That's right." Hearing this, the man no longer had any doubts and immediately bowed his head. "Let the servants and the officials know that Mizhou was taken by Li Cheng, and I lost my foundation. I don't want to surrender to the Jin people, so I will go to Zhang Zhen to pacify it first..."
"Let's not talk about this anymore." Hearing that it was Yue Fei's subordinate, and that he had noticed this person because of his name, Zhao Jiu no longer hesitated, but immediately stood up to interrupt him. "I will go to your camp to rest, and you go find Yue Fei immediately, there is a decree for him!"
Upon hearing this, Li Kui wished it would happen… You have to know that if it was really the angel from Nanyang and he knew his name, then he could just enter his camp and sell himself for free; and even if something went wrong, the two hundred cavalrymen would not be able to cause any trouble after entering his camp… So he agreed immediately, and without even checking the documents and seals, he directly escorted Zhao Jiu and his party into the southernmost camp.
After a while, Li Kui gave up his central military tent, made some arrangements and instructions, and went to call people. Zhao Jiu and others immediately put on armor, washed their faces, and changed clothes in the camp.
After waiting for a while, Liu Yan and others finished putting on their armor, Hu Yin, Lin Jingmo and others also washed up, and Emperor Zhao put on the red robe and golden belt that Lan Gui had brought along with great effort, and put on a hard-winged fu hat. Then he sat behind the desk and opened the tent door wide. He just didn't let Wanqi Xie hang the Jinwu flag outside the tent... It can only be said that it was a blessing that the hard-winged fu hat was not broken after the bumpy journey, otherwise he would have to meet the person who was about to appear with a bare head.
At noon, with the sound of horse hooves stopping outside the camp gate, a general led dozens of personal guards and quickly walked in. When they arrived in front of the central army tent, they were suddenly startled by Liu Yan, who was standing silently at the side of the tent door with a sword in his hand.
When he entered, he only took a look at the person behind the desk, then bowed his head without hesitation, calling out "Your Majesty". Li Kui and others who were following him were so frightened that they also bowed hastily.
After a long time, Zhao Jiu, who was a little unprepared after the case, finally realized: "Did Yue Qing see me in Nanjing?"
"That's right, Your Majesty ." The leading general answered immediately without even raising his head.
After hearing this conversation, Li Kui and others who had completely awakened were almost terrified to death. They instinctively wanted to look up to see what was going on, but instead they buried themselves deeper.
"Stand up and raise your head." But at this moment, who still cared about Li Kui? Zhao Jiu took a deep breath and spoke directly.
Upon hearing this, Yue Fei said nothing more. He immediately led everyone under the tent to stand up and bow. Then he faced the person behind the table and stood with his head raised and his hands folded.
Unexpectedly, when the other person stood up, Zhao Jiu calmed down, but remained silent for a moment... After seeing the real person and taking a look at him, Zhao Jiu suddenly realized that the object of his jealousy was not the person in front of him, because the object of his jealousy for a long time, or the strange demon in his heart, was not a person at all! It was a statue that was destined to never appear again in this time and space!
But the man in front of him, who was completely different from the statue and could be described as ordinary-looking, was actually a living person, a top general in the world whom he could rely on, just like Han Shizhong. He had no reason to be jealous of him. On the contrary, only by cooperating sincerely with this man could he turn the tide.
"Pengju recognizes me best." After a sudden heartbeat, Zhao Jiu, who was sitting at the desk, said calmly in a tone that even he himself found unbelievable. "I just came to ask you a few questions... How is Du Chong these days? Have you looked for Du Yan?"
"Four days ago, Deputy Governor Du sent people out of the city to search for Du Jiyi in the various camps. After two days of searching without success, he stopped looking for anyone and instead completely shut himself in and refused to see anyone..."
"Can you enter the city?"
"……able!"
"How many troops do you have direct control over?"
"Twenty thousand!"
"How many soldiers are there in the whole army?"
"More than 80,000!"
"How long can the food and fodder last?"
"Ten days..."
"I want to win this battle, is it possible?" Zhao Jiu continued to sit still, his tone as usual.
Yue Fei was stunned for a moment, then narrowed his eyes and paused for a moment before he replied solemnly: "Yes!"
"Lead the troops and follow me into the city!" Zhao Jiu stood up without any hesitation.
