Volume 3 Chapter 49: Personal Expedition
Emperor Zhao's final proposal did not cause much opposition.
There are many reasons.
For example, the ministers who lacked military authority were at a loss for words when facing Emperor Zhao on military issues ; for example, Emperor Zhao was not the first time to lead an army in person; for example, there was a reason why the highest commander went to the front line, such as the enemy's situation was unclear at this time, and only by finding out the enemy's situation could a timely and decisive action be taken...
But in fact, the two most important reasons are, first, as shown in the conversation between Qu Da and Emperor Zhao, the front line was divided into two by Wanyan Loushi who occupied Tongguan. In order to ensure that the two sides of the multiple independent troops fought bravely together, nothing could be more effective than Emperor Zhao going to the front line to fight; second, the current situation is different from the past after all. After years of hard work, there are more troops and defensive measures, and Emperor Zhao is going to Luoyang to take charge. Although Luoyang was burned to the ground, it is a secondary capital located in the defense circle after all... It is very safe militarily and will not cause too much waves politically.
Therefore, the ministers discussed it with the six ministers, the Privy Council, and the generals in the capital, and finally agreed in principle to Emperor Zhao's proposal under his watch.
Of course, there was inevitably some persuasion and instructions, probably telling Emperor Zhao not to go to the city of Shanzhou, and at the same time, to be careful to guard against the sudden attack of the Jin cavalry, and then sternly warned Yang Yi Zhong, the commander of the imperial guard, not to put the emperor in danger.
However, even so, Zhao Jiu still encountered an unexpected but reasonable obstacle... That night, Zhao Jiu stayed at Concubine Pan's house, but was awakened by crying sounds at night.
After waking up, in the dark night, Zhao Jiu wanted to get up and comfort her, but after thinking for a long time, he chose to turn over, lie on his side with his eyes wide open, without saying a word, pretending to be ignorant.
By the way, Zhao Jiu certainly understood what Concubine Pan was up to... To be generous, it was a cry of remonstrance from the harem, and to be stingy, it was a romantic scene between young ladies.
Regardless of whether it was the harem crying for advice or the love between the young men and women, what can we say about this matter? At least Zhao Jiu's choice is beyond doubt... Yuan Shao and Cao Cao are watching from heaven!
The current situation is such that one can either learn from Yuan Shao and be sentimental first, which results in the whole family being wiped out and being looked down upon by everyone, or learn from Cao Cao and act like a hero throughout his life, but be sentimental before his death and be looked down upon by Su Dongpo.
Of course, Su Dongpo looked down on everyone... otherwise he wouldn't have been demoted for half his life.
In short, is there any need to say which one to choose between Cao Cao and Yuan Shao?
There is no way Zhao Jiu would not go to the front line just because of a burst of crying behind him.
Back to the present, although Zhao Jiu had made up his mind, he was unable to get up and scold Concubine Pan for being inappropriate under the warm quilt of the mandarin ducks in the harem, feeling the other person's body temperature, smelling the other person's fragrance, and listening to the undisguised sobbing... Because from the perspective of someone who slept in the same bed and had physical intimacy, he understood Concubine Pan's worries and even felt a little pity for her.
Because he knew that this woman regarded him, an official, as her absolute support, and her fear was a natural reaction after experiencing so much displacement.
But facing such a person, Zhao Jiu couldn't say any righteous words.
So, after being awakened, Zhao Jiu simply turned sideways and said nothing, not moving. When Concubine Pan noticed that the person beside her had woken up and turned over, she cried for a long time, but when she saw that the other person didn't say a word, she finally stopped crying.
Not to mention this episode which even a third party was unlikely to know about, everything was settled. The next day, the fifth day of the first lunar month, without any delay, Emperor Zhao raised his Golden Guard banner and, accompanied by thousands of imperial guards on horseback and on foot, marched west out of Tokyo City and headed for Luoyang.
In the peaceful times of the past, the emperor's personal expedition was unthinkable, but now it was as direct and quick as eating and drinking, which made many newly returned soldiers and civilians in and outside Tokyo sigh with emotion.
But no matter what, Emperor Zhao went westward with a dignified manner. At first, he did not have many troops with him, so he entered Zhengzhou in the afternoon of the seventh day in just one and a half days. But from this day on, the various armies of the imperial camp entrenched in the entire Henan region were mobilized along with the news from Tokyo City and the imperial carriage. Tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, with a scale of more than 2,000 to 5,000 in each unit, acted independently under the leadership of their respective commanders. Regardless of the others, only the 35,000 troops in the imperial camp gradually gathered around Emperor Zhao, and were respectively commanded by Wang De and Wang Yan, and under the coordination of Wang Yuan and Qu Duan who were accompanying them, they marched in an orderly manner.
On the tenth day, Emperor Zhao entered Henan Prefecture where Luoyang was located, and on the twelfth day he moved into the old city of Luoyang. Together with the three tribes of Da Zhai, Xiao Zhai and Niu Gao that were already stationed around Luoyang, Zhao Jiu already had more than 40,000 combat soldiers and more than 10,000 auxiliary soldiers or civilian laborers by his side.
At the same time, Li Yanxian, who had returned to Shanzhou, also delivered good news:
It turned out that on New Year's Day, Li Yanxian learned that the Jin army was heading south, but did not rush back to Shanzhou. Instead, he continued to let Pinglu garrison commander Shao Yun take charge of the situation, while he personally led thousands of troops who were originally scheduled to withdraw to Henan, and rushed to the foot of Zhongtiao Mountain, launching a nighttime counter-attack against the Jin army's detachment of only 5,000 troops, namely Wanyan Saba.
Wanyan Saba never expected Li Yanxian to be so bold, and was caught off guard. In addition, he had not yet established a firm foothold, so he fought hastily. Although he managed to defend Jijin, Li Yanxian and his men burned half of their baggage and robbed seven or eight hundred war horses.
After crushing the Jin army's fighting spirit and crippling half of its detachment, Li Yanxian withdrew to Pinglu, from where he calmly crossed the river to return to Shanzhou. Moreover, according to his report, he also took the opportunity to leave a favorite general named Zhao Cheng in the Zhongtiao Mountain stronghold, leading two thousand soldiers... to serve as a surprise force when necessary.
In response to this, Zhao Jiu naturally wrote an edict to encourage and praise him, and re-informed the other party of the specific circumstances in which Han Shizhong had bypassed Wuguan to support Chang'an, and that he was currently leading the entire army of the imperial camp to come to the rescue.
The two sides, one in Shanzhou and the other in Luoyang, were very close to each other and the roads were unobstructed, so soon Li Yanxian sent another reply, asking Emperor Zhao to send troops to Shaanxi immediately.
His reasoning is simple:
First of all, although Wanyan Loushi had not been idle for more than ten days, the Jin people had successfully captured many important towns around Tongguan, such as Huayin on the left, Hucheng on the right, Chaoyi in the north, and Taihua in the south. But overall, the Jin people were only consolidating their retreat and providing necessary strategic support, while the main force brought by Wanyan Loushi this time to the south was still roughly entrenched near Tongguan, and its strategic direction was unclear.
Secondly, although Wanyan Loushi's actions seemed a bit slow, it did not mean that he could not act quickly. Once he was determined to attack Shanzhou, he would most likely rush directly to the city of Shanzhou.
At the same time, the area between Shanzhou City and Luoyang City, that is, the area on the south side of Sanmenxia, has been a single road sandwiched between valleys since ancient times. The so-called Xia and Mian ancient roads are narrow and full of checkpoints, making it difficult for the army to pass through at full speed in a hurry.
Therefore, Emperor Zhao should first send half of the reinforcements from the imperial camp to cross this road and come to Shanzhou to obey Li Yanxian's orders, while the remaining half should stay in the Luoyang Plain to protect Emperor Zhao and serve as a backup.
Otherwise, once Wanyan Loushi suddenly advanced, he would probably use a small group of elite troops to block the Chao and Mian roads, leaving tens of thousands of troops in Luoyang idle.
"Your Majesty! Li Yanxian is so arrogant!"
In Luoyang, which was much cleaner than Tokyo, Qu Duan was furious and impeached Li Yanxian on the spot. "Not to mention that there was no battle ahead, and the Jin army hadn't even decided on the main attack direction, how could the governor come up and ask for nearly half of the emperor's personal troops to serve him? And he had to clearly point it out and let him command it?"
Wang Yuan couldn't stand it either, and immediately agreed: "Your Majesty, Li Yanxian has overstepped the line... He is a general of the imperial court, and he was ordered to garrison Shanzhou. He has never lacked military equipment and supplies. How can he ask the emperor for troops directly under the central government before a battle? How is this different from when there is a fire in the city, and the firefighters lock the wellhead and ask for benefits from the people?"
In the overly empty abandoned palace in Luoyang, Zhao Jiu's expression remained unchanged. He just looked at the messenger and said, "Master Li, what do you think?"
The envoy this time was Li Ruopu who had previously gone to Shanzhou with the gold medal. He looked a little embarrassed at this moment: "Although I am an official envoy, I am not familiar with military affairs. Otherwise, Li Taiwei would not have sent me back soon after returning to Shanzhou."
Zhao Jiu nodded, but calmly looked at Wang De and Wang Yan standing in the hall and said, "Are you two willing to go to support Shanzhou and obey the orders of Li Taiwei?"
Wang Yan, who was of a higher status, bowed helplessly and said, "If the emperor wants me to go, I will go, but although Li Yanxian is the commander-in-chief of the imperial army, he is quite rude. I am afraid I can't hide my anger."
Wang De didn't say he didn't want to listen or go, nor did he say he was willing to listen or go. He just sneered and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, I will obey your orders."
Zhao Jiu also laughed, then passed the two kings, first looked at Yang Yizhong for a moment, and finally looked at the dozen commanders standing in the ruined hall: "Are any of you willing to cross Mianchi and go to the city of Shanzhou to listen to the military order of Li Taiwei?"
Seeing the emperor's resolute attitude, those who had spoken before were embarrassed for a moment, and the many commanding officials in front of the hall looked at each other, feeling overwhelmed for a moment. However, four people stood up directly, namely Niu Gao, Zhai Xing (Big Zhai), Zhai Jin (Small Zhai), and Li Qiong.
After hesitating for a moment, Zhang Jing, who came from the Western Army, also stood up... After Zhang Jing came out, the other commanding officers also came out one after another, and no one cared about their superiors' face anymore.
Zhao Jiu nodded, knowing it well... Niu Gao and the two Zhais were originally stationed in Luoyang and were under the jurisdiction of Li Yanxian, so it was natural for them to stand up. As for Zhang Jing, he was a commander of the old-established imperial camp in the so-called Nanyang era, and his reputation and merits were second only to Wang De. It was obvious that he stood up later in order to obtain a semi-independent command power.
In fact, Wang De was a little panicked when Zhang Jing came out, let alone when all the commanding officers came out later?
However, Emperor Zhao was too lazy to pay attention to these little thoughts, and just pointed directly at Li Qiong: "Li Qing, why are you willing to support?"
"Your Majesty, I think that General Li was indeed rude, but what he said in his letter does make sense... If we go too late, I'm afraid the old roads of Xia and Mian will be blocked!" Li Qiong bowed.
Zhao Jiu nodded repeatedly, and then looked at Qu Duan, who had stepped out at the beginning and was now quite nervous because of the emperor's obvious attitude: "Qu Da... you made great contributions in Tokyo before, and your contribution should be remembered!"
Qu Duan was puzzled, and so were the others.
"If it weren't for your words, how could I have seen such a ridiculous thing." Zhao Jiu, who was dressed in military uniform, pointed at the steps and laughed. "Look... the deputy commander of the Imperial Camp, Qu Duan, has been in charge of the military power of the Imperial Camp for more than ten days, and he is reluctant to let go; and my commanders of the Imperial Camp actually have to consider their superiors' face before going to war... If I hadn't listened to your advice and came to Luoyang to take charge, I would have almost done as you said, allowing these bastards to have factional conflicts, which would have caused a disaster."
Everyone in the hall was in a panic, and Qu Duan was stunned, not knowing how to respond.
But Zhao Jiu suddenly became serious and gave an order directly: "Since all the generals and deputy generals are depressed, let Li Qiong lead the troops, lead Niu Gao, Zhai Xing, Zhai Jin, Xin Yongzong and Jiao Wentong's troops in the Eight Character Army, a total of 20,000 people, quickly pass through Xiao and Miangu Road to Shanzhou. After passing, all will obey Li Yanxian's command and must not make any mistakes!"
The hall was immediately filled with awe, and upon hearing the decree, all of them came out to salute and listen to the order. However, several high-ranking generals and half of the remaining commanders were all in a state of panic, so much so that they looked at each other, exchanged glances, and prepared to collectively apologize.
Even Hanlin scholar Li Ruopu was a little flustered.
But Zhao Jiu was too lazy to even look at these Song generals who deserved a beating. He just looked at Li Ruopu again and said, "Mr. Li, draft an edict yourself to rebuke Li Yanxian for his disrespect to you. Then bring it back to him yourself! By the way, tell him exactly what I said today! Tell him to speak his mind, stop testing, avoid getting angry, and take care of yourself!"
Li Ruopu felt relieved and quickly bowed.
