Volume 5 Chapter 42: Purpose
On September 18th, the ninth year of Jianyan, it was only eighteen days before Emperor Zhao left Tokyo City again. In the evening of that day, in the Wushan camp in Yanggu County, Dongping Prefecture, Emperor Zhao sat in the first seat, with Lu Yihao and Wang Yan sitting on his left and right, respectively. Below him were countless civil officials, military generals, and attendants, but everyone was solemn and the whole hall was silent.
Everyone was waiting for news from Yue Fei.
Yue Fei did not let these people wait for long. Around sunset, the commander-in-chief of the imperial camp's front army walked directly into the hall and bowed to report.
"So, it is true?" Halfway through listening, Lu Yihao couldn't help but stand up and ask.
"It can't be said to be true," Yue Fei narrowed his eyes, but still maintained a serious attitude. "It's just that the news of the death of the Third Prince of the Jin Kingdom, the King of Jin, Wanyan Erliduo, has spread across the other side of the river. From Damingfu to Liaocheng, everyone in the countryside and the market knows about it. They all say that he had an acute carbuncle and died in Qinghe after two or three days of suffering."
"Are you saying that it is possible that Erliduo is faking his death?" Lu Yihao asked without delay, his words full of sarcasm.
"Ridiculous." Wang Yan also stood up and rebuked Yue Fei. "How can one of the ruling kings of a vast country and a commander on the front line fake his death? Why is it necessary? It's simply not worth it."
"That's right." Yue Fei was not annoyed at all, but responded calmly. "I also think that although it is difficult to tell the truth at the moment, there is no need for this person to fake his death. Moreover, in terms of the overall situation, even if he faked his death, it is no different from a real death."
Wang Yan was stunned for a moment. Lu Yihao, who was about to turn around and say something to Emperor Zhao, suddenly turned back to look at Yue Fei, and then seemed to be thinking about something.
But when Prime Minister Lu withdrew his gaze from Yue Fei and looked at Emperor Zhao, the latter was obviously caught off guard.
Moreover, I believe that the people present, not only Zhao Jiu, Lu Yihao, Wang Yan, and Yue Fei, most of them have actually believed the words of the son of the Liaocheng magistrate... This is not only because the founding generals and famous kings of the Jurchens have been dying non-stop in recent years, but more importantly, as Wang Yan said, Erlido has a special identity. He is one of the three ruling kings of the Great Jin Kingdom and the temporary commander-in-chief of the Jin army on the front line. It is ridiculous for such a person to fake his death for a little conspiracy, and it is not worth the loss!
This is a national war!
It was a national war involving hundreds of thousands of people against hundreds of thousands of people and a battle line thousands of miles long. How crazy would the Jurchens have to be to allow their own ruling king to publicly fake his death?
Why doesn't it pretend to surrender across the country?
However, Yue Fei's meaning went a step further. He simply pointed out that even if such a person faked his death, it was a public fake death, and the news of the fake death would cause serious political and military turmoil, and then give the Song army an opportunity to take advantage.
Yue Pengju was hinting... or telling Emperor Zhao explicitly not to waste the opportunity to fight!
Therefore, Zhao Jiu took several breaths to calm down, and then his eyes swept over the three senior officials in the hall who really had the power to speak.
"His Majesty."
Seeing this, Lu Yihao did not hesitate and directly bowed his hands in response. "When Taizu conquered the world in the past, he had only 100,000 elite soldiers. In the first 20 years, although the Jurchens suddenly rose up and established 20,000 households, they were rampant and caused the Jingkang disaster, but after Jianyan, the government worked hard to govern the country and also raised 300,000 troops in the imperial camp... With 300,000 soldiers, what can't be done? Moreover, the generals of the imperial camp, Han Shizhong, Li Yanxian, Yue Fei, Wang Yan, Zhang Jun , Zhang Rong, Wu Jie, Qu Duan, Wang De, Li Qiong, and Li Bao, have all been petitioning for war since last month. Now the famous king in the north has been punished by heaven. As the saying goes, the soldiers are well-trained and the food is sufficient, and the people are willing to fight. This is a heaven-sent opportunity. If you don't take it, you will regret it. I hope the government will make a wise decision early and decide to go north without hesitation."
This was the prime minister who came forward and publicly proposed a formal Northern Expedition, but Zhao Jiu remained silent and looked at Wang Yan again.
Wang Yan understood and immediately stood up and walked behind Lu Yihao, bowing and answering: "Your Majesty, the Imperial Camp, the Privy Council, and the Martial Arts School have already made various plans, so we have also prepared for the march at this time. Moreover, fundamentally, the Yellow River has not yet reached the dry season and the ice age has not yet arrived, so there is actually no major military threat. Even if there is, it is not as good as this God-given opportunity. Your Majesty... According to the regulations, the third and fourth princes of the Jin Kingdom are clearly in charge of Hedong and Hebei respectively. Now that Erliduo died in Qinghe, we may know the news as quickly as Yanjing, and take advantage of this opportunity to march. Although only one person died, it is enough to unbalance the Jurchens' east-west strategy! Don't hesitate!"
"So, I will still go to Shaanxi and Luoyang according to the original plan, command all the routes from Guanxi to go out of Hedong, and lead the front army and the right army of the imperial camp to go out of Damingfu?" Zhao Jiu directly spoke out the military secret that was not a secret.
"Yes." Wang Yan said firmly.
Zhao Jiu felt dry in the mouth and looked at Yue Fei again. It was obvious that he still needed a military reassurance, or a basis for military judgment.
Yue Fei narrowed his eyes and took the initiative to stand behind Lu Yihao, but he also bowed and said: "Don't worry, Your Majesty, I have a plan that can test whether the Third Prince of the Jin Kingdom is really dead or fake, or to test whether Hebei is shaken and panicked."
"What do you mean?" Zhao Jiu perked up.
"Send two commanders to lead 5,000 soldiers across the river, and attack Liaocheng according to the intention of the Liaocheng County Magistrate. Judging from the current situation, no matter whether the Third Prince is really dead or not, we will be able to succeed quickly." Yue Fei was not in a hurry. "After taking Liaocheng, we will delay the advance of troops and just lead the army to stay in Henan to see how Daming Prefecture reacts. If Daming Prefecture reacts quickly and immediately sends the elite troops of the Jin Kingdom to quickly encircle Liaocheng, the emperor should not hesitate and immediately allow me to send the front army of the imperial camp, the right army, and the navy to Hebei. If Daming Prefecture is caught off guard and the support is slow and chaotic, then there may be a reason for this matter, and the emperor may be able to slow down the advance."
Zhao Jiu was stunned for a moment.
Not only that, many of the accompanying ministers and local officers of the imperial camp were already ready to take action, but they were stunned when they heard this. Many of them who knew nothing about military affairs almost thought that Yue Fei was saying the opposite.
However, there were some smart and sharp people among them who immediately realized the situation after a little thought.
"Let's do it!" Zhao Jiu gritted his teeth and issued an order without waiting for the ministers to discuss. "Pengju will make military preparations on his own, Wang Yan will prepare the overall plan, and Lu Xianggong, Fan Xueshi and others will quickly prepare the order and wait for the result from the north!"
After the decree was issued, Prime Minister Lu also clearly supported it. Everyone dispersed with a loud bang and then got busy.
That evening, almost all the troops in Wushan camp went out, except for some who stayed behind. The camp was divided into two parts. One part with 5,000 people was led by Ma Yu and Wang Gang, the commanders of the front army of the imperial camp. They crossed the river at night and headed towards Liaocheng opposite.
The remaining troops of the front and central armies of the imperial camp, which had gathered in Wushan before , plus the imperial guards, totaling 20,000 people, lit torches at night and marched upstream along the Yellow River embankment.
At the same time, countless messengers and scouts were traveling back and forth on the river and the shore.
On that day, it was not yet mid-late autumn. Although the moon was not round, it was bright enough to illuminate people, not to mention that such a movement could not be concealed at all… Therefore, the scouts and guards of the Jin army on the opposite side actually saw with their own eyes a huge fire dragon moving along the river, with boats in the river constantly responding. They even clearly saw the dragon banner of the Zhao Song official and the four-character banner of Yue Fei, the commander-in-chief of the front army of the imperial camp, connected in front and back. They were also among them, but they had already been on high alert, with the same scouts and beacons constantly firing.
This was not a trick to confuse the enemy, but an upright march. Zhao Jiu, Yue Fei, Lü Yihao and Wang Yan were all in the army. The army continued to march forward and arrived at Zilusha, the Imperial Camp Navy Military Port at the junction of Dongping Prefecture and Puzhou, on the morning of the next day.
At this time, more of the Imperial Camp's vanguard troops who had received the imperial decree and military orders, plus part of the Imperial Camp's navy, also gathered here, forming an obvious military assembly point. However, more of the Imperial Camp's vanguard troops and navy troops were still on their way to various designated locations after receiving military orders.
That morning, news came from the river that Ma Yu and Wang Gang won Liaocheng.
The initial battle was a victory. Although there was internal support, everyone was still quite excited.
However, after hearing the news from the front line, no one at the real decision-making level showed any joy... As I said, in this kind of large-scale war, the gains and losses of a city or a place, the victory or defeat of a battle or a fight, basically do not have much significance.
As for the most concerned issue, that is, the sudden death of the third prince of the Jin Dynasty, it will certainly give the Song army a huge opportunity, but this opportunity will only be reflected in the strategic incoordination of the traditional two armies of the Jin Dynasty in the east and west, and it will not be reflected in the gains and losses of a military town under the jurisdiction of Daming Prefecture.
Even as Yue Fei wanted to express, if the Third Prince Erlido had died on September 15th in Qinghe, not far from Daming Prefecture, then the Jin Kingdom's Daming Prefecture Military Division would have entered a state of full combat readiness ahead of time because of his death, and would have reacted quickly and decisively when facing the sneak attack of the Song army... Especially since Gao Jingshan of the Daming Prefecture Military Division was no mediocre person, and there was no shortage of experienced generals and elite troops among the tens of thousands of Jin troops assembled around Daming Prefecture.
And if he was faking his death, then he must be trying to lure the enemy deep into his territory and annihilate a large number of his manpower, which would make him appear to be slow to react.
Therefore, the top leaders of the Song army were still waiting, waiting for news of a defeat and being trapped on the front line.
This kind of waiting was torturous. During this period, Zhao Jiu and other senior executives hesitated for a while, wondering whether they should continue to move upstream, meet up with Zhang Rong, and continue to put pressure on Daming Mansion opposite.
But soon, before the evening of that day, a piece of news that was definitely bad tactically but definitely good strategically came - during the day on September 20th, facing the Jin army that was urgently dispatched for reinforcement, the commander Wang Gang disobeyed military orders, abandoned the ferry position under the city, and took the initiative to meet the enemy in the wilderness. As a result, he encountered a series of attacks by the elite cavalry of the Jin Kingdom that was far beyond his imagination, and was defeated on the spot.
Then, Wang Gang led his troops to flee back to Liaocheng in a panic. Some of the defeated soldiers were caught off guard and could only board the naval vessels that were responsible for picking them up at the ferry. The naval reconnaissance troops also found out later that at least 10,000 Jin cavalrymen surrounded Liaocheng, and the flag of the Jin veteran general and veteran Wanhu Ali was among them.
In this battle, although Wang Gang disobeyed orders and suffered heavy casualties for the sake of merit, this did not prevent the final situation from basically verifying Yue Fei's prediction.
I'm afraid Erlido really did die of an acute illness.
The setting sun shines brightly on the river.
Zhao Jiu, wearing a cotton military uniform but no armor, stood on the dike of Zilu Sha, raised his head and held his sword, and took a long breath towards the north bank of the Yellow River.
He knew that he could not hesitate any longer... In military matters, the chance of winning was 60%, so he could just send his entire army down and plan for a decisive battle. Moreover, whether Erlido was really dead or faking his death, the effect of his death had already been manifested. The military and public opinion had already developed along the line that he was dead. There was no need to delve into whether it was true or not.
In other words, it's time to make a decision.
"deliver an imperial order."
After a while, Emperor Zhao, who had recovered his breath, suddenly turned around, but his face was calm and serious, and he gave orders directly to the densely packed civil and military officials and close ministers and soldiers on the river bank behind him. "Order the Imperial Camp Front Army Commander Yue Fei, the Imperial Camp Right Army Commander Zhang Jun, the Imperial Camp Navy Commander Zhang Rong, and the Imperial Camp Navy Deputy Commander Li Bao to combine the four armies of 90,000 people to form the Hebei Front Army, and add the Imperial Camp Front Army Commander Yue Fei as the Grand Guardian and Hebei Marshal to control the front line east of Luoyang and march to Hebei together."
This was the original plan, but when Emperor Zhao said it calmly, everyone around him became awe-inspiring. Even Yue Fei hesitated for a moment and was about to step forward to bow and express his gratitude, ready to obey the emperor's orders.
But Emperor Zhao, who was standing on the riverbank, felt relieved after hearing what he had said. He did not wait for the people present to react and continued to issue orders:
"Imperial edict to the Left Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Camp Central Army, Wang De, the Right Deputy Commander-in-Chief, Li Qiong, and the Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Camp Cavalry, Qu Duan. Once the order arrives, immediately send all 80,000 troops of this headquarters to march westward in order. Qu Duan will march first, followed by Wang De, and Li Qiong will follow. They will march to Shanluo... Tell them that speed is of the essence. I will follow the army and catch up immediately."
"The emperor ordered Han Shizhong, commander of the left army of the imperial camp, Li Yanxian, commander of the central army of the imperial camp, and Wu Jie, commander of the rear army of the imperial camp, to unite the three armies of 130,000 men to form the Hedong Front Army, with Han Shizhong, the Prince of Yan'an, as the Grand Tutor and Marshal of Hedong, and to march to Hedong in unison."
"Order Li Yanxian, the commander of the Imperial Camp Central Army, to leave Zhongtiao Mountain. Once the order arrives, immediately encircle Hezhong Prefecture and contact the Taihang Volunteer Army to join forces with Ma Kuo."
"Order the commander of the left army of the imperial camp, Han Shizhong, to immediately send all 40,000 troops across the river and march to Hedong. Be sure to take Hezhong first."
"Order the rear army commander Wu Jie to temporarily station troops in northern Shaanxi, divide them into groups to attack Luliang and press outside the Yellow River, contact the Khitan and Mongolian tribes, and gather strength for the battle in Hedong."
"Order the governors of Shaanxi, Hu Shijiang, Ningxia, Hu Hongxiu, and Qinfeng to supply military supplies to Guanxi and recruit civilians to ensure smooth military operations at the front. Order the three to send 50,000 Tangut auxiliary troops according to the previous plan, and send the Qinghai tribes to gather at the front and submit to Wu Jie's unified command."
"The emperor ordered the minister Lü Haowen, the governor of the capital, Zhao Ding, the vice minister, Liu Ji, the privy councilor, Zhang Jun, and the vice privy councilor, Chen Gui, to follow the same system and unite the secret cabinet and the public cabinet to take charge of the government affairs."
"Order Privy Councilor Zhang Jun to take charge of the area south of Tokyo and dispatch and transport military supplies across the country."
"Deputy Privy Councilor Chen Gui is the ambassador for the defense of the four walls of Tokyo, focusing on the defense of the capital."
"The emperor ordered the Minister of Works Hu Yin and the Vice Minister of War Liu Hongdao to be in charge of the dispatch, distribution, and transportation of military supplies to the front lines, as well as the recruitment of civilian laborers from various places."
After speaking all this in one breath, Zhao Jiu, looking down from above, calmly asked the crowded courtiers below: "Is there anything missing?"
"Wanqi Xie..." Wang Yan reminded immediately. "According to the record, Jingdong West Road is the main logistics transportation for the East Road, and Wanqi Xiantai must be in charge of the logistics transportation of the two routes of Jingdong."
"I have ordered Wanqi Xie, the governor of the east and west routes of Beijing, to coordinate the logistics of the two routes in Jingdong and ensure the logistics of the march in the east route... Is there anyone else?"
"Your Majesty..." Lu Yihao took a step forward.
"Prince Lu will follow me to Luoyang, as will Commander Wang, and all the imperial guards will follow me." Zhao Jiu interrupted calmly. "Anything else?"
"Korea, Eastern Mongolia..." Liu Yan bowed his head and made a rare suggestion. "We should send a special envoy as soon as possible."
"Eastern Mongolia is the most important. Let Ningxia Governor Hu Hongxiu and Shaanxi Governor Hu Shijiang make overall arrangements. As for Goryeo, send a decree to severely reprimand Kim Bu-sik. Tell him that starting from today, September 20th, the ninth year of Jianyan, if he sends troops one day later, Goryeo will have to pay a huge military fund!" Zhao Jiu looked at him solemnly. "Anything else?"
Everyone looked at each other in silence.
"Since you all have nothing to say, I still have something to say."
Under the setting sun, Zhao Jiu responded slowly, but he reached out to hold Yue Fei, who was already quite close to him, and then tried to pull him to the river bank.
Of course Yue Fei would not be dragged by Emperor Zhao like this, but how could he not stand still in this situation? He hurriedly went up to the river bank, bowed and waited for orders.
"Pengju, I will travel west to Luoyang, and the whole Hebei province east of Luoyang will be handed over to you." After the other party stood in front of him, Zhao Jiu still held the other party's arm with one hand, and spoke calmly, his expression unchanged.
"I am grateful for the trust and grace from the emperor. I will go through fire and water and even die for you." Yue Fei bowed his head and replied.
The people below did not react extra, because this explanation was extremely common and natural.
"It's not this sentence." Zhao Jiu still spoke calmly. "It's another sentence... I will go west, and you will cross the river. Even if you have a thousand words, it's better to keep silent... But by then we will be thousands of miles apart. Although there are military plans, the changes in the war situation cannot be predicted , a general is not subject to the orders of the king when he is away from home. What's more, your military strategy is ten times better than mine. So, as long as you make a decision, you don't need to report everything. You can do it yourself."
"I understand!" Yue Fei was excited for a moment.
The civil and military officials under the river bank also looked a little stern.
"You don't understand..." Zhao Jiu paused, then continued to hold the man's arm and spoke slowly. "What I mean is that after crossing the river, you can still decide for yourself whether to advance or retreat, and you can ignore the imperial edict even if there is one... If there is any highest level of explanation, there is only one... Since you have sent out the army, you should avenge the Jingkang humiliation for me and the Song Dynasty."
After saying this, Emperor Zhao put down his hand without waiting for the other party to say anything, and walked down the river bank. The ministers under the river bank, led by Lü Yihao and Wang Yan, Fan Zongyin, Yang Yizhong, Liu Yan, Ren Baozhong, Yu Yunwen, and countless other ministers were caught off guard and hurriedly followed. However, they actually followed the emperor to mount his horse, and then, regardless of the fact that it was getting dark, they surrounded the dragon flag and headed west.
After walking about ten miles, when the moon was above the treetops, Emperor Zhao had completely forgotten about the battlefield on the eastern front and no longer paid any attention to it.
