Volume 3 Chapter 67: March Forward
Deciding to go to war does not mean that you can go immediately, just like deciding to go to war does not mean that the chance of success is high, or that the person making the decision really believes that they will win.
At least from Zhao Jiu's point of view, the reason he chose to take the initiative was largely because the situation had already been dragged into a mess, so he just made up his mind. Before and after this, the other senior officials also agreed with what they should agree with and opposed what they should oppose... For example, Zhang Jun always believed that they should go to war, and Liu Ziyu also opposed it from beginning to end.
However, since the emperor had made the decision to go to war, Liu Ziyu had no choice but to keep silent, because at this time he had to at least make the officers, soldiers and the common people believe that the war would be a sure victory, and he, Liu Ziyu, had to pretend to be convinced.
But as I said before, going to war does not mean you can go immediately just by saying so.
How to gather a 100,000-man army? Who goes first and who goes last? Which route should each take? With such a large army, how to coordinate logistics? With so many generals, who will listen to whom when they meet?
All these things have to be arranged and resolved one by one. Fortunately, the Privy Council already had a plan.
On this day, after Zhang Jun once again submitted a memorial requesting to send troops and "persuaded" Emperor Zhao, things really began to become complicated and tedious.
From a high-level planning perspective, the first thing that comes to mind is who will stay in Chang'an.
Zhao Jiu had already made arrangements for this. He first hung up a brand new Jinwu banner in Chang'an City and officially moved into the palace of Chang'an City... Although people inside and outside Chang'an had already guessed this, the news that the emperor had moved to Guanzhong still shocked the entire Jingzhao.
However, Zhao Jiu quickly dragged Yuwen Xuzhong into the old palace of Chang'an City and gave him the Jinwu banner.
Obviously, when Luoyang was about to be exposed, he still wanted to play psychological warfare with those people in Loushi, but he let Yuwen Xuzhong stay in Chang'an in his own name.
As for the strategic point of Wei Bridge, it was handed over to Liu Ziyu, and Zhang Jun was still in charge of logistics... and he himself was preparing to go directly to the front camp under the banner of Yuwen Xu Zhong to lead the army in person.
Anyway, it's a bit confusing, as long as it can have a confusing effect.
In fact, this arrangement was more or less expected by high-level civil and military officials. Emperor Zhao's intention to risk everything had been in his mind for a long time. Everyone had basically anticipated this since the day he entrusted his son to the care of his parents.
However, after this high-level plan was quickly decided, when it came to the execution stage of sending troops, something happened that shocked Emperor Zhao - the three armies in Guanxi, which had been hiding behind Jingzhao and were originally preparing to march to the front line , heard that the emperor had come to Chang'an, and under the instigation of someone unknown, they actually asked for rewards for marching to the city.
How to say it?
Although he was shocked, Zhao Jiu was not angry at all. He even felt that this matter was unexpected but reasonable.
This is reasonable, not to say that this is how it should be, but that Zhao Jiu realized almost immediately that this army was originally at this level... This is the real Western Army, it has combat effectiveness, and may even have more combat experience, but in essence it is still an old army with very "Song Dynasty characteristics", the army that directly gave up fighting on the battlefield because of insufficient silver bowls for rewards, and the army that would kill innocent people to take credit from time to time and watch the friendly forces perish.
Moreover, this army had experienced several major defeats and had only received its military pay again for more than half a year. After seeing the equipment and treatment of the imperial camp troops, it seemed understandable that they would ask for an additional reward in order to maintain psychological balance.
However, compared with Zhao Jiu's calmness, Zhang Jun and Yang Yizhong were obviously ashamed and angry because of this incident. The former, as the actual commander of these troops, felt embarrassed facing the decisive actions of the imperial camp troops and the battle record of Wu Jie in the three routes of northern Shaanxi; while the latter was obviously ashamed of his previous speech to Emperor Zhao about "protecting the people and defending the country" and guaranteeing the combat effectiveness of these Western Army.
Of course, no matter what, Zhao Jiu is familiar with this kind of thing.
Emperor Zhao had Zhang Jun give out the reward, or the travel expenses, without hesitation... What else? He raised taxes in the southeast, Jingxiang, and even advanced two years of taxes to Bashu. Dongting Lake had already started to rebel, and there might be other troubles in the future. What was the purpose of doing so recklessly? Wasn't it just to get out of the constraints of money and grain for the time being?
Besides, the Western Army was indeed a little poorer.
At the same time, Zhao Jiu asked Yang Yizhong to select 30 officers below the commander level, all of whom were the most noisy in demanding the march expenses. Then he handed the list to Liu Xi, Liu Qi and Zhao Zhe, and asked them to immediately behead them in their own names as a warning to others.
It is said that the reason why Yang Yizhong did this was not because his Imperial City Division was still so useful in Guanxi, but because his grandfather Yang Zongmin was the general who was stationed in Chang'an during the Jing Kang period and was responsible for the defense of the entire Guanzhong area. Later, he died for his country when Chang'an was conquered by Lou Shi. He had connections and prestige in the local area, so he was able to do things at his convenience.
After killing the man, Zhao Jiufu, as the Son of Heaven, officially issued a notice, promising to grant land to local soldiers for their military merits, and to reward ten acres of land for each Jin soldier's head. The Imperial Camp also had a similar rule, but it directly promised to take out the previous military settlements in Henan, turn public land into private land, and use it as a reward.
As for the people from Guanxi among the imperial army, those who wanted to buy property in Guanxi were also allowed to participate in military merits.
Frankly speaking, Zhao Jiu's words were a typical empty promise, because the imperial camp was fine, after all, there were military settlements in Henan to back him up, but he had only been in Guanzhong for a few days, so how could he know how many idle fields were left after the Jin army swept through Guanzhong? And how could he know whether these idle fields were taken over by these military leaders, officials, and landlords?
But there was no other way, he had to do this at this time!
He conferred titles and made promises to the upper-level military leaders, which he started doing as soon as he arrived. Currently, five or six generals, five or six military commanders, one governor-general and one commander have been directly conferred. He also rewarded the middle and lower-level officers with money, which he just gave out. He also promised land to the lower-level soldiers...Since ancient times, is there any other way to motivate the army?
Besides, if he wins the battle, even if the farmland in Guanzhong is occupied, he can make those people give up the land. But if he loses the battle and loses Guanzhong, what should he do then?
In short, as the Zhao Song emperor in Chang'an gritted his teeth and risked everything, the huge war machine was hastily launched no matter what... and while these messy things were hastily dealt with, the rest of the armies in Guanxi had already acted according to the various instructions issued by Chang'an City.
Qu Duan, Wu Lin, and Li Yongqi were ordered to move south as quickly as possible;
Under the command of Wang De and Wang Yan, the central army of the imperial camp joined forces on both sides and advanced rapidly towards the four cities of Pucheng, Meiyuan, Xiagui and Fuping... That was the border of Huazhou and Yaozhou, and it was also the area opposite the junction of the Weibei Plain and the northern hilly plateau where Wanyan Loushi was at this time;
On the tenth day of May, the troops from Xihe Road, Lizhou Road, and Qinfeng Road, which had been rewarded with money and promised land for military merit and of course had some heads chopped off as a demonstration, finally set out. Led by their respective generals, they crossed the Weishui River and headed northeast towards the main force of the Loushi Army.
At this point, the war between Song and Jin suddenly entered a new stage.
Of course, if Mr. Kobayashi's estimate of Yue Fei's side was not wrong, what really brought the war into a new stage was of course the crossing of the imperial camp vanguard of Yue Pengju to the north during the Dragon Boat Festival.
But Zhao Jiu didn't care about Yue Fei's success or failure, or even the gains and losses in Luoyang. He wrote a private letter to Li Yanxian, asking him to intercept all military intelligence from Guandong and ensure that the Jin army in Luoyang could not harass Guanxi. By doing this, he became the first-class meritorious minister in this battle.
Li Yanxian is certainly powerful and trustworthy.
In fact, Zhao Jiu's only military response to Luoyang was one thing, which was that he sent Zhai Jin's eldest son Zhai Cong and his two hundred elite soldiers back to Luoyang from the Nanluo River trail.
That's all.
On May 12, in the height of summer, Zhao Jiu also left Chang'an, and on May 14 he arrived at Suyi Town behind Fuping and Xiagui, which was the Weibei logistics base camp reserved by the Privy Council's Zhifang Division and was garrisoned by Zhang Jun. Zhao Jiu did not stop here, but left the "trump card" that everyone had always regarded as his, that is, the three or four thousand soldiers who had the same status and the same way as Zhai Cong, here, and continued to march northeast.
On the morning of May 15th, after a summer rainstorm that came suddenly last night but left quickly, Zhao Jiu personally led the imperial guards and two Beiwei troops to a location between the four cities of Pucheng, Fuping, Meiyang and Xiagui, about ten miles northwest of Jingyao Town.
This is the front-line camp set up by the 30,000-strong Western Three Route Army, presided over by Liu Xi, the commander-in-chief of Xihe Route, who has the highest rank, the most seniority, and the strongest subordinates among the Western Three Route Army... This place is only seventy or eighty miles away from the camp on the south bank of Baishui where Loushi is located.
"Officials, please wait and see."
After the rain, the sun was shining brightly, and the weather was rare and refreshing. Commander Liu Xi invited the newly arrived Emperor Zhao to climb the plateau and look out over the camp. "I did not set up the camp in Jingyao Town, but behind this swamp ten miles away from Jingyao Town. First, it can avoid the heat, and second, it can also use the muddy water to delay the Jin army cavalry..."
Zhao Jiu looked where he was directed, and saw that the unique plateau terrain of the northwest had already appeared here… The so-called plateau means a terrace with steep sides and a flat middle. This is because of soil erosion, which has caused gullies to pass through the plateau, just like lines drawn on the ground, thus forming this irregular chessboard-like terrain.
Similar terms include "墚" and "峁". "墚" refers to a piece of land with a ridge in the middle, and "峁" refers to a piece of land with a hill in the middle. It can be considered a deformed plateau.
The camp set up by Liu Xi was next to a plateau with a small hill, which was called Mao. It was right under Zhao Jiu's feet, but he did not occupy this high ground. Instead, he chose to set up the camp in a lower position because there was a large green water in front of the open land.
Loess, swamps, tablelands and plains all meet here, but the plain is not very flat, the gullies around the tablelands are not very steep, the swamps are not very deep, and the loess is not completely without vegetation cover... According to locals, this complex terrain will continue to Baishui City ahead, where Loushi is located.
In fact, according to the intelligence, Lou Shi also took the initiative to cross the Baishui River and set up a village next to a swamp.
Back to the present, when Liu Xi's mouth was dry and he had been talking for a long time, the official finally spoke: "You sent a message before that you wanted to build a camp here. Did you take a fancy to this piece of water?"
"That's right, Your Majesty." Liu Xi hurriedly explained. "Although there are arguments for using gullies on high ground and plateaus, water and marshes are still the most effective in delaying cavalry."
Zhao Jiu certainly didn't understand this, so he nodded and asked again: "Are the troops deployed too widely?"
"No, the four surrounding cities are not far from each other, and the Jin army is eighty miles away from here. Once they are deployed, they will be enough to join forces with the four cities..."
"What if they take advantage of the situation and occupy the city?"
"We want them to occupy the city... Once they occupy the city, they will lose the advantage of the cavalry and it will be difficult to escape. It will be like being trapped in a trap."
Zhao Jiu frowned slightly: "Will the Jin army really act as we expected?"
"Of course not." Liu Xi immediately replied. "Sir, this is just the best course of action for our army right now. We should set up camp here and integrate with the four surrounding cities to block the Jin army from entering Weibei. If the Jin army has other responses, we will have other responses..."
Zhao Jiu looked at the surrounding terrain again and nodded slightly... He roughly understood what Liu Xi meant. Although they said they would march north to meet Lou Shi, it was impossible for them to directly agree on a date and then deploy their troops to fight together. Instead, they had to seize advantageous terrain, deploy their troops, and then, like playing chess, test, move and force each other, and finally, based on changes in the situation, launch or lure the other side into a decisive battle .
This is an ongoing dynamic process.
The current situation is that the Song army has just made the first move according to their own ideas. The Jin army's subsequent response or non-response will change the situation...and it all depends on what Lou Shi thinks and does.
"When you arrived the day before yesterday, didn't the Jin army send cavalry to harass your camp?" With this thought in mind, Zhao Jiu continued to ask.
"The day before yesterday, when the army was marching, a few Jin cavalrymen crossed the front Pucheng and fought with our front scouts. Yesterday, there was a battle with more than a hundred cavalrymen near Changle Town where the Beiluoshui Bridge is located. However, because the other side of the river, Han Taiwei, sent troops to help, the battle did not last long and they withdrew. There has been no report today, but there is no smoke in Pucheng and Meiyuan ahead." Liu Xi answered fluently. "In general, the Jin army did not really fight."
This time, Zhao Jiu was completely speechless. To be honest, he was a layman in deploying troops, and listening to the report only helped him understand the situation better.
However, Zhao Jiu remained silent, but Liu Xi still had his own problems.
"Your Majesty." Liu Xi hesitated and asked tentatively. "Where will the emperor be stationed?"
"I will use Prime Minister Yuwen's banner as the commander, the Imperial Guard and the Imperial Camp Right Army Front Army as the central army, and the Imperial Camp Commander Wang Yuan as the general manager of the central army camp. I will set up camp behind you." Zhao Jiu answered simply. "If you have any military intelligence, just come to me directly."
Liu Xi was silent for a moment, but finally spoke out through gritted teeth: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty is the ruler of all people, the emperor of the Song Dynasty, and your status is precious. I'm afraid it's not good for you to get involved in war yourself... and now that General Liu is not here, there are nearly 80,000 royal troops within dozens of miles around here, but the king's general and I are here, and Pucheng and Meiyuan each have a deputy king's general..."
"No need to say more, I have made up my mind." Zhao Jiu interrupted him as if he didn't understand what he meant. "I will live and die with the army, so you don't need to persuade me."
Liu Xi was silent for a moment, but he didn't dare to say much. He could only nod reluctantly, then he followed Emperor Zhao and reined in his horse, turned around, went down the hilly land on the plateau, and returned to the water.
When the imperial camp was just being established and the "Yuwen" flag was hastily hoisted, Liu Xi, Zhao Zhe, and Liu Qi returned to their respective camps, but halfway through, he could not help but complain to his own brother:
"When we set up the camp the day before yesterday, we received a message saying that Qu Duan entrusted his troops to Zhang Zhongfu and his brother, and rode alone on the Iron Elephant to go south. I knew it was not good, but who would have thought that after so many years of fighting, this position of commander was still taken away by Qu Da. It can be seen that no matter how hard you work on the border, it is not as good as showing more face in front of the emperor, and it is even worse than passing the imperial examination!"
Zhao Zhe pretended not to hear anything. Liu Qi was helpless and could only give a few words of advice, but did not say much.
Besides, everyone knows that Emperor Zhao cannot lead the troops himself, and this emperor has always advocated that those who do not know how to fight are not qualified to be commanders. Therefore, no matter how many identities and flags the emperor has, there must be someone who will be the military commander-in-chief of this army of more than 100,000!
With the army in the imperial camp split into two and Wang De and Wang Yan having difficulty commanding each other, it is very likely that Liu Xi and Wang Yuan were competing for the position of commander. In fact, they had already started fighting overtly and covertly in Chang'an. When Liu Xi went out on this expedition, he was ordered to act at his own convenience and almost thought he would take the position of commander.
Who would have thought that the government's attitude was ambiguous and Qu Duan went south at a very fast speed, which made Liu Xi completely lose hope.
After all, Qu Duan was the number one general in Guanzhong and the actual military leader of the three northern routes. In the Western Army, which emphasizes seniority, Liu Xi was really helpless when he jumped out to snatch the position of commander-in-chief.
In fact, even Liu Xi's complaint this time seemed to be a sign of admitting defeat.
But in the evening of that day, before it got dark, several riders rushed directly from the north to the hastily built central army camp to see the emperor. As Liu Xi was the commander-in-chief, his scouts saw it and reported it hastily. According to the scouts who saw the scene from afar, they could not see the faces and flags, but everyone recognized the famous iron elephant in Guanxi, which showed that Qu Da had really returned.
At this point, Liu Xi gave up his last hope and just waited for the government to gather everyone tomorrow and appoint the commander-in-chief in public.
"Are you Wu Jinqing?"
Zhao Jiu was halfway through his archery when he saw a yellow-faced general led by Wang Yuan and Yang Yizhong entering the shooting range behind the central army tent. He collected his arrows and turned around to greet them with a smile. "Is it okay for me to let Qu Duan guard Fangzhou for you?"
"I am terrified." Wu Jie, who had been running all day, was sweating profusely. He knew that the young man in front of him, who was wearing cotton clothes that were more expensive than silk, must be a Zhao Song official. He was really a little terrified, but the military situation was urgent, so he knelt down hurriedly to salute, while trying to look up and ask. "I am also an old subordinate of Qu Jinglie, so it's no problem. I just don't know what instructions your majesty has for calling me here alone? Please let your majesty know. "
"It's like this." Zhao Jiu, who didn't sweat much, probably because this place was next to the water, simply threw down his bow and arrow, stepped forward to support the other party, and smiled slowly. "Jin Qing should know that the country will have a war. Here in Guanxi, Han Liangchen should be the one to issue orders and command the military for me, but although he is in Tongzhou on the other side of the Beiluo River, he has another important task, so I want to entrust the only 100,000 troops in Guanzhong to you, and ask you to help me destroy Loushi... But I don't know if Jin Qing is willing?"
Wu Jie was stunned... And the first thing he thought of was not to express his gratitude, but the reluctance on Qu Da's face when he came to Fangzhou to borrow his iron elephant so that he could go south to visit the emperor.
It seemed as if he didn't owe a horse, but owed Qu Da a military governor.
