Volume 3 Chapter 58: Shaanxi People
Zhao Jiu did not lead the army in person immediately after entrusting his son to the care of others at Yiyou Gate. In fact, after ensuring the loyalty and action of the central government by entrusting his son to the care of others, he first convened a comprehensive court meeting, clearly put forward the strategic goal of protecting Guanzhong at all costs, and then required the entire court to exert all its action capabilities to ensure military operations.
Of course, the most important thing is to make certain military arrangements before the emperor leads the army in person.
As a passive defender, how to deploy troops is always a huge problem... After thinking about it, it is almost the same as the last response. Zhang Jun needs to defend the Huai River and Jingdong, and Yue Fei needs to go to Kaifeng Prefecture to confront the Jin army in Daming Prefecture head-on. Otherwise, what will happen if the 40,000 to 50,000 troops of the Eastern Army gathered in Daming Prefecture go south?
The troops that can be dispatched in the short term seem to be the same ones as last time, and the number of these troops and the speed at which they gather in Guanzhong have already been fully known by Wanyan Loushi through the last strategic reconnaissance... This is an open conspiracy, an unavoidable open conspiracy, and the horror of Wanyan Loushi has begun to show.
Of course, neither Zhao Jiu nor the entire Song Dynasty court could sit idly by and wait for death.
Therefore, as Emperor Zhao officially set out on his journey west after the grand court meeting, the order for the rear army of the southeastern imperial camp to march north was immediately issued. At the same time, the court in Guanxi, Central Plains, Lianghuai, and even in Bashu and the southeast region also issued rewards for recruiting "righteous armies" and "civilian armies", offering official ranks, titles, and places in imperial students to encourage the wealthy and powerful to contribute people, effort, and money.
These were the contents of the court reports that Liang Jiaying, a fellow Jinshi who followed the army, read out a few days ago.
As for the first day of April, which came now, Secretary Liang saw the arrival of the Jinwu banner and the emperor and the imperial guards went straight into the camp. He reported his identity and completed the handover. He still received the task of reading the newspaper from his classmate, the Jinshi official Yu Yunwen... In Yu Yunwen's words, the emperor had explained more than once that this was the most important job of the Jinshi who followed the army, and no one was allowed to neglect or misinterpret it... But when Secretary Liang received today's report, he just took a quick look at it and was stunned on the spot, then dizzy and panicked.
However, this time it was not because Guangzhou Jiayingzi was inexperienced. Those serious scholars who accompanied the emperor directly were all frightened. Some shed tears on the spot, some were terrified, some beat their chests and stamped their feet, and some even wanted to break into the emperor's tent, but they were stopped by the imperial guards who were well prepared.
There was no other reason. This time, the official report directly recorded the event of Emperor Zhao entrusting his son to the care of others at Yiyou Gate!
The article was written by the person involved, Yu Yunwen, the attendant, and then submitted to his old friend Hu Quan for editing. Except for the part where he scolded the Emperor Taishang Daojun, all the rest was recorded... Faced with such a serious political event with strong emotional colors that concerned the foundation and destiny of the country, it was normal for these young political elites to have such reactions.
They didn't even know that this supplement had caused chaos in the Imperial College when the students were copying the court reports. Fortunately, Chen Gongfu, the Imperial College's chief priest, had some courage and led the Imperial College's guards to block the gate physically, otherwise these students might have burned down the house of the Emperor's uncle Zhao, knowing that Emperor Zhao had already gone to war the day before!
As for the extremely innocent family of Grand Secretary Zhao Huangshu, they immediately demolished their own front door after receiving the news two or three days earlier. Then, several sons of the family slept in the yard all day and all night in the midst of mosquitoes and dew, and did not dare to return to their rooms.
However, returning to the present, after venting their emotions, everyone was speechless again - with a war approaching and the emperor determined to do this, what could a minister do?
So, after a while of commotion, the group of Jinshi who followed the army had no choice but to take their own attitudes and read the court reports to the officers in the army... The imperial squad was different from other squads, because there were so many civil officials and scholars accompanying the emperor, so it was a real "Jinshi entering the capital", and every soldier had to read it out.
"Sir, forgive me for being blunt, but is this really useful?"
As summer approaches, the sky darkens more and more slowly. At the central army tent, the Privy Councilor Liu Ziyu, who was accompanying the army, looked through the open tent door for a long time. As soon as he turned back, he couldn't help but speak to Emperor Zhao, who was standing in the dark and also watching the situation outside with his hands behind his back. "The matter of entrusting an orphan to someone else is related to the foundation of the country. If this kind of thing is put in the court newspaper and let the officials, scholars, and students know about it, it will be a bit scary. As for ordinary soldiers... sufficient military pay, clear rewards and punishments, and a combination of kindness and severity will be enough. Telling them these things, they may not understand what righteousness is!"
Qu Duan, who was in the tent with him, sneered instinctively and was about to mock, but when he saw the official nearby stopped watching after hearing the sound, he forced himself to hold it back.
"What Liu Qing said is absolutely right."
Unexpectedly, Zhao Jiu turned back to his seat with his hands behind his back and did not directly refute the other party. "If you want soldiers to obey you, the most fundamental things are the supply of military pay, rewards and punishments, and grace and authority. Without these, it is ridiculous to use empty words to influence the soldiers... But since the establishment of the Imperial Camp, the court can be said to have devoted all its efforts to support the soldiers and guarantee military pay. Although there are still many drawbacks and chaos, it is really impossible to do more in this regard for the time being. It is also a helpless move to boost morale before the battle."
Seeing the official turn around, several guards in the tent immediately lit candles. Liu Ziyu also lowered the wide tent door with his own hands and then turned around.
"As for whether the soldiers understand the righteousness?" Zhao Jiu continued to smile as he spread out the map. "Do they understand? It's best if they can, but it doesn't matter if they don't. Everyone is fighting for their lives, and we can't let the scholars who accompany the army sit idle. As long as there is one person who can understand it out of a hundred, it will be worth the effort of these scholars to talk for a few days."
Liu Ziyu became more speechless, but could only nod.
At the same time, as the lights in the tent were lit one by one, they reflected the bonfire outside the tent and also illuminated the faces of many important officials accompanying the emperor. Among them was the Prime Minister Wang Boyan... and below the Prime Minister, there were the military officers and editors of the Privy Council, the Hanlin scholars, secretaries, and attendants who had the duty of accompanying the emperor, and the generals of the imperial camp and the imperial guards. There were no less than twenty or thirty people, and they had crowded the central military tent early on.
It was in such a situation that Zhao Jiu began to ask the attendant Hu Hong to lay out the map.
"Sir, it would be better to enter the pass..." The guard of Sishui Pass who came out of the pass to greet him turned out to be a scholar, and a descendant of a famous family. He was a new commander of the Eight Character Army, named Fan Yihong. Seeing this, he could not help but be cautious. "Once you enter the pass, you will have a big house, and you can eat more freely."
"I have already entrusted my son to my care, so why would I want a big house?"
Zhao Jiu didn't even raise his head, stroking the crude map and speaking. "Let's not talk about this matter. Today, we got military intelligence that Wanyan Loushi sent his son Wanyan Huonu to split up his army and attack Danzhou (southeast of Yan'an, next to the Yellow River, now Yichuan). Wu Jie hastily left Luochuan to support them, but was defeated by Loushi and his son again. Danzhou had no help and surrendered directly. After Danzhou was lost, Fuzhou (southwest of Yan'an, where the main road to the North Luo River leading to the Guanzhong Plain is located, now the area of Fu County) was attacked from both sides. In addition, Wu Jie suffered heavy losses in troops. How do you think we should deal with it? Should we defend or retreat?"
"Let's not talk about this for now!" Qu Duan was about to speak, but Liu Ziyu stepped forward again and confronted him sternly. "Your Majesty, although the military situation in other places is unclear except for the Loushi army, and even General Han is probably still on the way, but since the emperor is about to enter Luoyang, and the military situation in other places is within the scope of speculation, I think we should decide on the general plan for this journey to the west as soon as possible, so as to avoid the unpredictable military situation ahead and we cannot be prepared!"
"What kind of plan?"
Zhao Jiu looked at him sternly. "Does the Privy Council have any comment?"
"Yes." Liu Ziyu replied loudly. "The current situation is becoming clearer. The Jin army is attacking from the west and attracting troops from the east. The two armies in the east and west have nearly 200,000 troops... More than 50,000 troops have joined forces with the pseudo-Qi troops, trying to use Damingfu as a node to connect to Jingdong to contain the front and right armies of the Imperial Camp; while 150,000 troops are working together to the west, intending to annex Guanxi..."
"This is nonsense!" Qu Duan finally couldn't help but interrupt and scold. "The Privy Council is in charge of the country's confidential military affairs. These things have been known to everyone for months, but now they are telling the emperor about it as if it were some important military intelligence... Is this how the Privy Council works?"
"Deputy Commander Qu!" Liu Ziyu was also known to have a bad temper. How could he tolerate Qu Duan? He immediately scolded him back. "Today is the first day of April. How many days ago was the month ago? Besides, there was the matter of Yiyou Gate and the grand court meeting, and then the march to here! Besides, the military situation is serious, some news always needs to be confirmed again and again..."
"If you were so sure, you would have ruined the government long ago!" Qu Duan was fearless and skipped over 'Moon ago' and sneered. "Don't think I don't know that you have a personal grudge against Ma Kuo, the chief steward of Taihang Mountain. You always judge the information he conveyed with your own interests, so that you sacrificed public interests for personal interests last time in Nanyang! I just want to ask you, what does it matter if you confirm it again and again? Did Ma Kuo deceive you? He was thrown into prison by you and your son, and the Jin people released him, but he abandoned his family to fight against the Jin people. Why would such a loyal and righteous man deceive you? Just because he has a grudge against you? Even if he has a grudge against you, he must not have a grudge against the government, the people of Lianghe, Guanxi, and the Central Plains! In my opinion, you, a young master born in a civil service, are just pretending even if you wield swords and guns and learn some superficial military skills. The Jingkang Incident was because the national affairs were controlled by people like you and your son..."
Liu Ziyu had been holding back before, but when he heard the other party mention his father who died for his country, he became completely fearless, and suddenly sneered, then recited word by word with his hands behind his back in the tent:
"Instead of going to Guanzhong to build a business, I come to the river to fish."
There was silence in the tent for a moment, and Qu Duan's face turned red from holding it in.
At this moment, Zhao Jiu, who had been quietly listening to the two people's quarrel, suddenly laughed: "Yang Yizhong."
"I'm here." Yang Yizhong walked forward following the voice.
"Roll up the tent door again." Zhao Jiu ordered calmly. "Let the officers and soldiers outside, as well as the clerks who are accompanying the army, see what's going on here clearly, so they don't get curious."
Yang Yizhong was stunned for a moment, but still walked past the embarrassed Qu Duan and Liu Ziyu and went forward to roll up the curtain himself.
"Go on." After the tent door was reopened, Zhao Jiu casually pointed at Liu Ziyu.
“Yes!”
Liu Ziyu took several deep breaths, suppressed his anger, and continued to report to the emperor. "Good sir, you know, the Privy Council believes that whether we want to defend or fight, if we want to win this battle, the most important thing is isolation."
"What do you mean?" Zhao Jiu perked up a little.
"It means to do everything we can to prevent the various Jin troops from gathering in Guanzhong." Liu Ziyu's breath gradually calmed down. "The Jin army was divided into three parts, but in the end, we have to fight with all our strength only against the troops that entered Guanzhong, so..."
"Therefore, the most urgent task is to try to stop the reinforcements from the enemy in Taiyuan to Loushi." Zhao Jiu suddenly realized it and said it directly. "But Danzhou has been lost. What if the Jin army crosses the river from Yan'an and Danzhou to provide support?"
"No." Qu Duan explained before Liu Ziyu. "Your Majesty doesn't know that the upper reaches of the Yellow River, starting from Longmen, are mountainous and narrow. If the Jin people want to gather from northern Shaanxi, they can only use the Yanhe River in Yan'an Prefecture as a grain route between the east and west of the river, and then they have to go around Yan'an Prefecture and go south... This route, even if the Jin people already have Yan'an Prefecture, Jinning Army and the three states outside the river to collect grain nearby, supplying 50,000 to 60,000 people is already the limit, it can't be too much! The five routes to attack Xia were defeated because they ignored logistics. Lou Shi must be three points stronger than the civil officials of this dynasty."
Zhao Jiu nodded slowly: "I understand what you mean... It's not that Lou Shi didn't want to gather a large army at the beginning, but the troops in northern Shaanxi are limited, and he still has to rely on the support of the Jin army in Hedong from Hezhong Prefecture. So you want me to deploy heavy troops between Shanzhou and Tongzhou, try to cut off Puzhen and Fenglingdu, and stop most of the enemy in Hedong?"
"That's exactly what I mean." Qu Duan still answered first.
Zhao Jiu nodded slowly, but shook his head for a moment: "Can Li Yanxian's troops in Shanzhou defend two states?"
"Not enough!" Qu Duan responded. "The enemy has 100,000 troops. Even if we defend across the river, we still need 60,000 to 70,000 troops. We still need elite troops to fight..."
Zhao Jiu was silent for a moment, because he immediately understood what Qu Duan meant. When he went to see Liu Ziyu again, the Privy Councilor who had just argued with Qu Duan as if it was a revenge for the murder of his father accepted the order but said nothing.
Now, Zhao Jiu knew that there was no other way to deal with this matter: "Does Han Shizhong have to go to Tongzhou?"
"It has to be General Han."
Liu Ziyu also spoke seriously again. "Your Majesty...Tongzhou is located to the north of the already lost Danzhou, to the west and south of the Luo River, and to the east of the Yellow River. Although the Pujin floating bridge on the Yellow River has been burned down, the ferry is still there, which is the only place where the Jin army crossed the river from Hedong."
"This place is surrounded by water on three sides and mountains on one side." Wang Yuan, the commander of the Imperial Camp who had been silent, also interrupted. "This terrain can be defended with tens of thousands of generals and elite soldiers, and it may be effective. But on the other hand, if we spare our troops here, once the enemy takes advantage of us, we will be strangled to death... Your Majesty, we cannot hesitate at this time, and we must not be stingy with our elite soldiers or generals! After all, we are at a disadvantage, so we should do our best to exchange our troops!"
Zhao Jiu nodded heavily and looked at the military prime minister Wang Boyan who had remained silent. Wang Boyan also bowed his head immediately. Seeing this, the official looked at Scholar Kobayashi who was standing beside him.
Scholar Kobayashi understood and began to write the imperial edict with the assistance of the attendant Hu Hong.
"But if Han Shizhong, Yue Fei, Li Yanxian, Zhang Jun and Zhang Rong cannot move easily, can I only use the troops in the imperial camp and the troops from Guanxi to fight against Loushi?" Even though he knew that he had issued an absolutely rational and correct order, Zhao Jiu's face still looked ugly.
"Your Majesty, please forgive me for speaking frankly. This was originally the reason why Loushi attacked from Yan'an... That place is in the northwest of the country, and it is difficult for the imperial camp army to go there. If we can finally unite the entire imperial camp army and the six routes of Shaanxi to resist Loushi, it will be a great blessing." Liu Ziyu answered proudly. "However, where the war will go, no one knows!"
Zhao Jiu nodded repeatedly...Isn't that the truth?
Wanyan Loushi has been here for years, but he has not hesitated to send tens of thousands of troops south for strategic reconnaissance. Isn't it to find out the strength, support speed and support range of each force?
It would be ridiculous if there were no calculations this time.
But at the moment, this arrangement is the most rational and correct.
but……
"What did we talk about at the beginning?" Zhao Jiu came back to his senses, actually a little dazed for a moment.
"Danzhou has been lost, Wu Jie was defeated for the second time, and now there are not many soldiers in Fuzhou. Should we defend it or abandon it?" Qu Duan stepped forward and reminded carefully.
"Should I defend or abandon?" Zhao Jiu stared at Qu Duan and asked.
"Both defend and abandon!" Dusk was approaching outside the tent, and the soldiers had already gone to eat. Under the light, Qu Duan stared at the expressionless Zhao Guanjia with his eyes burning.
In response, Zhao Jiu said nothing and looked at Liu Ziyu, Hu Hongxiu and others again.
Liu Ziyu first glanced at Qu Duan's serious expression, then stepped forward and said sternly: "The Privy Council also thinks that we should both defend and abandon!"
"What do you mean?" Zhao Jiu's expression remained unchanged, he just raised his head to indicate.
"Your Majesty, this is exactly what I was going to say on behalf of my colleagues in the Privy Council..." Liu Ziyu seemed to have an idea in mind. "If we want to hold Guanzhong, we must first isolate the Hedong army as much as possible to prevent the Jin army in Guanzhong from becoming too powerful; second, we must rely on the terrain of the hills and mountains in northern Shaanxi to resist them layer by layer, but we don't need to fight them to the death or a decisive battle. Instead, we must try to consume and tire out the elite cavalry in the mountains of northern Shaanxi, and at the same time, we have to divide our troops to guard various places, and wait until the summer heat comes and they are exhausted, then we can release them, either to fight in the mountains, or to lure them into a strong city..."
Zhao Jiu nodded slowly and looked at Qu Duan again.
"That's what I think too." Qu Duan answered quickly. "Northern Shaanxi is the key to this battle. If we can defend it, we should defend it. If we can't defend it, we should abandon it. But we must resist and harass, and we must preserve the useful troops. When the enemy is exhausted and our army is gradually strengthened, we can fight or defend according to the situation."
Zhao Jiu nodded heavily and was about to speak, but then kept silent.
At this moment, Qu Duan knelt down in the tent and kowtowed, "Your Majesty! If you still use Wu Jie to guard Fuzhou, I'm afraid he is not enough!"
Unexpectedly, facing Qu Da's behavior, except for Fan Yihong from Sishui Pass who was stunned for a moment, no one in the tent had any extra reaction, as if everyone knew he would do this.
"What do you mean?"
Zhao Jiu also remained calm, but just looked curious. "I heard that Qu Da is good at both literature and martial arts, and Wu Da is brave and resourceful... Wu Da is as famous as you, and although he lost two battles, it was only because of disadvantages in the field battles. How could he not be able to defend Fuzhou?"
"Your Majesty," Qu Duan on the ground said frankly and eagerly. "Brave and resourceful, that's just to make up the words so that he can compare with me... If Wu Da was brave and resourceful, why would he fail like this?"
Zhao Jiu finally sneered.
"Your Majesty, that's not what I meant." Qu Duan explained quickly. "In fact, if it's just to defend one state, any one of the Wu brothers can do it. If they fight bravely in the field, even I am not as good as Wu Da. But the problem is that, as it stands now, Fuzhou will definitely fall. After Fuzhou falls, we should gather our troops and retreat in an orderly manner, and then continue to resist with the support of Jingyuan Road and Huanqing Road... How to dispatch troops from three states? How to lure the Jin army to the west? How to harass the Jin army from multiple directions? Wu Jie is a little inadequate, because he has always been a subordinate of mine and has no such prestige!"
"Then who has this prestige?" Zhao Jiu responded coldly without hesitation.
Qu Duan opened his mouth to speak, but he could not utter a word several times under the flickering candlelight and the gaze of Emperor Zhao behind the desk...After nearly a year, the opportunity to return to his long-dreamed-of hometown, regain military power and participate in the war was right in front of him, but he dared not utter a word under the gaze of this official.
People were dining outside the tent. This was the busiest time in the military camp before it got completely dark, but the big tent under the dragon flag had already been completely silent.
Everyone was looking at Qu Duan.
Qu Duan was also thinking:
Instead of going to Guanzhong to build a career, he came to the river to fish.
Now that I think about it, based on this poem, Emperor Zhao, whose personal authority was at least unshakable, could have killed him long ago, or he could have rejected his request... Even if he was not bragging this time, the soldiers and officers of Huanqing Road, Jingyuan Road, and Yanfu Road all obeyed him, because after all, it was he who saved the various routes in northern Shaanxi during the previous invasions of the Jin army.
But then again, why didn't they kill him?
Why did this official just keep looking at me instead of directly denying it?
There is only one answer.
"Your Majesty!" It was unknown how long it had been before Qu Duan spoke, using all his strength. Once he spoke, he could no longer hold back his tears. "I was wrong! Please give me a military mission, and I will do my best for the country!"
Behind the candlelight, Zhao Jiu first nodded slowly, then shook his head slightly, sighed again, and remained silent for a long time.
When Qu Duan saw this, he felt uneasy, but gradually became disappointed, and even desperate.
But unexpectedly, after waiting for a while, Emperor Zhao, who was still in armor, stood up without saying a word, and went to the corner of the tent behind him, took out a bow and arrow, turned around and put it on the table, and then said to Qu Duan:
"Qu Da... This bow and arrow is what I am used to. Take it... If you disobey orders from above, punish subordinates privately, or fail to rescue friendly troops again, you can either shoot me with this bow, or find an acquaintance among your former comrades and have him strangle you to death with this bow... There is no third way for us, the king and his subjects!"
At this point, Yang Yizhong stepped forward and handed the bow and arrow to Qu Da on the ground. At the same time, Zhao Jiu turned to Xiao Lin, a scholar on the side, and said, "Let Hu Yin take charge of the military and political affairs of the three routes in northern Shaanxi as the governor of Yanfu Road, and increase Wu Jie's position as the governor of Jingyuan Road, and increase Wu Lin's position as the military commander of Yanfu Road. The deputy commander of the imperial camp, Qu Duan, will leave his post and be transferred to the governor of Huanqing Road... The military situation is urgent, give him the imperial edict and the gold medal, and let him set off immediately overnight!"
When Qu Da heard this, he was overjoyed. He took the bow and felt relieved.
As the saying goes, after twenty years of military service, I am back home today, and all the heavy burdens I have carried are gone in an instant.
