Volume 5 Chapter 43: Haste
It is said that Emperor Zhao formally issued an order for the entire army to attack on the evening of September 20th, and then said goodbye to Yue Fei, and led the imperial guards westward according to the original strategy.
Beside him, the Governor-General of Hebei Province, Lu Yihao, was over sixty years old but still in good spirits. He was dressed in a purple robe and followed him calmly without any delay in riding a horse, using a bow and a sword.
The commander-in-chief of the imperial camp, Wang Yanwang Jiedushi, was even more armed and well-armored, wearing high-grade mountain armor that had experienced the bloodshed on Yaoshan Mountain and was covered with traces of swords and axes, and followed in a dignified manner.
Below Prince Lu, there were separate ranks of civil and military officials. The civil officials were dressed in purple, crimson, blue and white, in an orderly manner; the military officials were in clear armor, showing off their might… Such as Yang Yi Zhong’s might, Liu Yan’s composure, Fan Zong Yin’s composure, Ren Bao Zhong’s diligence, Yu Yun Wen’s efficiency, and Mei Li’s prudence. Even the Mongolian princes, Japanese samurai, Tangut nobles, and foreign hostages among the guards were the best of the time.
Such an attitude is naturally high-spirited. In addition, the overall situation has changed. After three years of silence, it suddenly became clear, which made Emperor Zhao feel a kind of passionate revolutionary romanticism.
Even riding a horse feels like it comes with its own BGM.
This feeling became even more obvious as the official gathered along the way the various units under the command of Li Qiong, the right deputy commander of the imperial camp stationed along the northern line of Tokyo City, that is, the various units of the Eight Character Army led by Wang Yan, so that the accompanying troops became increasingly powerful and the excitement of the Eight Character Army about the Northern Expedition could be clearly felt.
However, on September 22, Emperor Zhao had just arrived in Shaoxing and had just met Li Qiong in person and said a few equally passionate words to him. That evening, he immediately received a puzzling memorial from the Prime Minister Zhang Jun, who personally requested to be the governor of Hebei.
Zhao Jiu was stunned for a whole incense stick of time before he realized what was going on - Zhang Jun felt wronged! He was dissatisfied with the Northern Expedition!
Of course, this does not mean that Zhang Shuxiang has become corrupt or betrayed the revolution, but that things happened too suddenly. Emperor Zhao started everything in advance because of Erlido's death, which completely disrupted Zhang Shuxiang's personal plan.
As everyone knows, Zhang Deyuan has always had the ambition of Zhuge Wuhou.
As for Zhuge Wuhou, how can he be considered Zhuge Wuhou if he didn't personally participate in the Northern Expedition, didn't submit a memorial to the emperor, and didn't use the empty city plan with a feather fan and a green scarf?
Zhang Deyuan's real purpose was clearly known to many people in the court, from Emperor Zhao on down. He just wanted to cross the river with Emperor Zhao to march north - either to be with Zhao Jiu on the main attack on the western front and take charge of the overall situation, or to split the east and west with Emperor Zhao and go to the east to supervise Yue Fei.
But, can Zhao Jiu let him go? !
The task assigned to him by Zhao Jiu was to stay behind, maintain the stability of the court, and take charge of the transportation of military supplies in the south.
For a moment, Emperor Zhao was a little angry.
You know, this is not the first time that Zhang Jun has shown this tendency, nor is it the first time that he has made political attempts for personal selfishness. Previously, after Emperor Zhao brought Lu Yihao back to Tokyo, he was quickly expelled within half a month. This was the reason why Zhang Jun started a political struggle regardless of the overall situation.
Under the circumstances at that time, it was one thing for Lu Yihao to be unable to control his temper, but it was another thing for Zhang Jun to not allow anyone else to serve as the Grand Commander of Hebei... Both sides were responsible.
Moreover, do not underestimate Zhang Shuxiang. In terms of foundation, his so-called Mu Party has already taken shape. How can it be compared with Lu Yihao, who is intolerant and has been in the southeast for a long time?
Therefore, although Prime Minister Lu had been showing off his might and killing everyone in Tokyo before, he was actually at a disadvantage when facing Prime Minister Zhang Shu. Or maybe it was precisely because he was at a disadvantage internally that he appeared to be too strong on the surface. And it was precisely because Prime Minister Zhang was in an undefeated position internally that he did not fight on the surface in order to achieve the effect of Duke Zheng defeating Duke Duan in Yan.
Even Prime Minister Zhao Ding, who had stronger political power, probably saw through that Prime Minister Lu's real opponent after entering the court was actually Prime Minister Zhang, and that Prime Minister Lu, who had obtained the status of Grand Commander of Hebei, was also a thorn in Prime Minister Zhang's eyes... That's why he maintained a certain high profile in the previous process.
I can only say that those who play politics are dirty.
But these are all old stories, and it is impossible for everyone to be as selfless as Zhuge Liang. Who can't be selfish? Even Zhao Jiu chose to smooth things over for the sake of the overall situation and directly brought Lu Yihao out. It is conceivable that Zhang Jun would definitely not be reconciled and would definitely try again. Moreover, it seemed that he should have half a year to carry out detailed operations.
But Erlido died.
The Third Prince was a good man. He was commanding the Zhending Prefecture with confidence a few days ago, but suddenly he died in Qinghe.
Then the war suddenly broke out, and Emperor Zhao directly issued an order to mobilize the entire army.
At this time, Zhang Shuxiang, who had always longed to become a Wu Hou, was shocked to find that the sudden outbreak of the war had completely deprived him of his room for maneuver. Instead, Lu Yihao, who had been driven out by him before, took advantage of the situation and took the position of the Grand Commander of Hebei.
Of course he was unwilling, of course he felt wronged, and of course he wanted to try again.
The king and his subjects have been together for eight years!
Zhang Deyuan has always been one of Zhao Jiu's most trusted and most trusted civil servants in the court, or maybe not just one of them. So of course, Emperor Zhao knew all about this guy's thoughts, and even understood his grievances a little bit... But even though he knew it clearly and understood it, when the time came, Zhao Jiu was still very disappointed by this guy's reaction.
Because the selfishness is so heavy that it is obvious in words.
This memorial, together with Wang Gang's previous arrogance and underestimation of the enemy, also added a shadow to Zhao Jiu's heart.
Of course, no matter what, Emperor Zhao still gritted his teeth and endured it. He had endured it for eight years, and he had endured so many things, so this one was not a big deal... He reacted, ordered a cup of tea, and wrote a private letter to Zhang Deyuan in Shaoxing with the tea.
Probably he was telling Zhang Xianggong in a private message that the role of Zhuge Wuhou was to be the governor of logistics, and the current situation was not Zhuge Wuhou's Northern Expedition, but Liu Zhaolie's decisive battle in Hanzhong... Of course Zhuge Wuhou had to stay in Chengdu to prepare logistics, and Fa Zheng would definitely accompany him!
Zhuge Wuhou personally led the Northern Expedition, and it could only be when Liu Chan was in power!
It was half comforting and half warning. After writing it, there was no need to seal it, nor to call Lu Yihao and Fan Zongyin over. Instead, he used the signature of Zhao Jiu from Cangzhou, and then found Liu Yan and Ping Qingmori, and explained the matter to them in person. He asked Ping Qingmori to send the letter in secret, but in fact, he did not alarm anyone and directly delivered the letter to Zhang Xianggong in Tokyo overnight.
After the letter was sent out, Zhao Jiu had not received a reply yet. In the middle of the night, he received a letter of apology from Zhang Jun, in which he asked to withdraw the memorial and apologized to Emperor Zhao. This made Zhao Jiu feel a little better... He just thought that the guy was caught off guard and got emotional.
Just like that, the next morning, Emperor Zhao met Zhang Rong again at Shaoxingjin in Shaoxing. However, because Zhang Rong had to rush to Zilusha to meet Yue Fei, the two sides did not have much communication. They just shook hands and said goodbye, and said some words that were half formal and half sincere, asking him to cooperate well with Yue Fei, and then they parted ways.
On the road again, Zhao Jiu had lost his previous high spirits because of Zhang Jun's mischief, but his mood was still positive overall. By the afternoon of that day, the official was in high spirits again because he had seen the mobilization of the laborers along the river.
South of the Yellow River, countless laborers have begun to be recruited. Among them, the Linhe laborers that Zhao Jiu saw with his own eyes were mostly from military settlements and civilian settlements that had been resettled previously. Most of these people were those who had lost their homes during the chaos in the Central Plains and the displacement in Hebei, as well as old soldiers who retired from the army in the past five or six years.
They would receive simple weapons, restore a certain degree of military organization according to the garrisons, and then undertake the corvée labor of transporting military rations to Hebei. When necessary, they would serve as auxiliary troops and even become the necessary military force to defend the Yellow River defense line.
However, they did not receive any military pay, only the necessary food, and only those who crossed the river to serve as auxiliary troops received a small amount of financial subsidies.
There is nothing we can do about it, just like the South has to increase taxes and levies, there is nothing we can do about it.
But even so, this scene of the rich contributing money, the strong contributing manpower, and the whole country working together to move north still made Zhao Jiu feel a little excited and a little extra confidence, because he deeply understood the power of this force.
Moreover, Zhao Jiu already had some plans for post-war compensation in his mind, but it was too early to talk about it now.
All in all, this is how Emperor Zhao is. His mood is up and down all day long, but he quickly becomes happy again. And when the emperor is happy, everyone is naturally happy too.
But that evening, Emperor Zhao, who had arrived in Zaocheng, received another piece of news that made him furious - a huge military loophole had occurred in the Yuetai camp.
It turned out that the imperial edict was issued from Zilusha in the evening of September 20th. The knights of the Red Heart Team followed the military stations that had been set up along the Yellow River, changing horses and men along the way, and it took only one day and one night to deliver the imperial edict to Tokyo City, more than 300 miles away. After receiving the imperial edict, the imperial cavalry of the Yuetai camp hastily assembled under the leadership of Qu Duan, marched westward first, and the entire army was mobilized directly on September 22nd.
It's incredibly fast.
However, Li Shifu, deputy commander-in-chief of the Imperial Cavalry, actually forgot about the Poxi Army, which was just assigned to him last year and was so-called newly formed and stationed in the open area in the south of the city!
Poor commander of the Poxi Army, Weiming Yunge, had always been conscientious and had not dared to slack off for a moment over the years, wholeheartedly helping the Song Dynasty court to restore the establishment of the Poxi Army. After receiving the imperial edict this time, he immediately prepared 300 camel cannons of his own army at his base, as well as three times the number of spare camels and twice the number of small crossbow cannons to replace components... As a result, after hastily preparing them, he still did not receive any direct military orders until he found out that almost all of his 30,000 imperial cavalry had left, then he hurriedly went to find the Ministry of War and the Privy Council.
The Privy Council and the Ministry of War were also stunned. Finally, it was the Minister of Works Hu Yin, who was in charge of military supplies on the front line, who made a prompt decision and assigned the Poxi Army directly to Emperor Zhao's imperial carriage, asking him to wait temporarily and prepare to act with the imperial guards. Only then was the matter resolved.
It was under such circumstances that Emperor Zhao received the memorial.
To be honest, these two incidents, plus Wang Gang's previous defeat, have made Emperor Zhao completely alert. He is keenly aware that since ancient times, there has been no contingency plan for such a large-scale war.
In other words, the preparations for such a large-scale war would have been a disaster for everyone in the feudal era.
There are probably the same or even more civilians for 300,000 combat soldiers. Even if the number on the other side of the river is much smaller, it is of the same order of magnitude. A war of this scale is probably one of the most common in the entire history of Chinese feudalism.
The reason why he didn't dare to say it was unprecedented was because Zhao Jiu knew that the scale of the mobilization of the five routes to attack Xia during the reign of Emperor Shenzong was very large... However, that time, the Song army was directly collapsed by its own poor logistics.
Coming back to the present, after a little psychological preparation, Zhao Jiu immediately adjusted his mentality, then called Li Qiong and asked him to continue marching properly, but decided to lead the entourage and the imperial guards to speed up and return to Tokyo... Because Tokyo is where the army is the most densely populated, the bureaucracy is also the most densely populated, and the political effect must be the most obvious... The mistakes made must also be the most ridiculous.
Li Qiong certainly had nothing to say , and although some of the accompanying civil and military officials felt that Emperor Zhao was a little neurotic, they would certainly not make any suggestions on such matters.
So, early in the morning of September 24, the Imperial Guard once again broke away from the main team, hurriedly accelerated, and escorted Emperor Zhao to Tokyo.
I don’t know whether to say “as expected” or “but”. Along the way, Emperor Zhao didn’t hear any good news!
The Imperial City Department and the Military Control Department kept delivering all sorts of messy, but bad news that we had to admit should have been expected a long time ago...
What happened? Zhengzhou military station was blocked, and the stragglers of the Imperial Camp Cavalry occupied the military station and clashed with Wang De's troops who were advancing behind.
As soon as the order to start the war was issued, some officials took the opportunity to collect the Northern Expedition national debt in order to achieve political achievements;
There are also officials who, after the decree was issued, took the opportunity to expand the situation when dealing with the hoarding according to the original plan in order to make money;
It is not just officials. Some big merchants, after finding that they could not raise prices in Tokyo, simply decided to avoid Tokyo. In the future, Tokyo is likely to face a certain shortage of supplies.
In addition, some merchants and monks took the opportunity to lend money, and some powerful people who had lost their power took the opportunity to spread rumors.
Even though he had been mentally prepared for these troubles, they still made Zhao Jiu anxious and angry when they happened one after another. He walked so fast that many of the civil and military officials who were accompanying him gradually became tired.
In the end, seeing that Lu Yihao could no longer hold on, the official gave up his plan to return to Beijing that night and moved into Chenqiao Town, north of Tokyo City, that evening.
However, not long after they entered Chenqiao Town, the official and his accompanying civil and military officials, as well as the imperial guards, were stunned... because as night fell and the distance shortened, they clearly saw the fire in the southwest direction!
Is Tokyo the southwest?
It was pitch dark and the only thing that was certain was that it was definitely not the Jin army that was attacking.
However, even the Red Heart Knights who had just come from Tokyo today to deliver the memorial could not say anything, because they were fine in Tokyo during the day!
Oh, such a big city like Tokyo was fine during the day, but it was on fire at night. Or did it just enter the critical period of the war?
Zhao Jiu couldn't stand it anymore.
He was ready to immediately abandon the somewhat exhausted old ministers such as Lu Yihao, and lead some of the cavalry on guard duty back to the capital to find out what was going on.
However, someone quickly stopped him.
"What do you mean, Meiqing?"
Zhao Jiu, who was holding the warhorse, responded coldly. He would not be so polite to a servant, especially when his Tokyo City was burning.
"Your Majesty." Under the dense torches, Mei Li bowed his head, obviously a little nervous and afraid. "I think it is not appropriate for Your Majesty to leave lightly at this time..."
"Why?"
"Your Majesty." Mei Li suppressed his uneasiness and tried to explain. "With this kind of scene, it is impossible that the Jin army is coming, nor is it possible that the Imperial Camp army mutinied before leaving... Because the Imperial Camp Cavalry Commander Qu Dutong has already been dispatched, and the Imperial Camp Central Army Commander Wang Dutong has also been dispatched today... The entire army should have left the Yuetai Camp by now... Your Majesty has already known all this through the messengers during the day."
"Then tell me something I don't know!" Zhao Jiu was furious. He held the reins at his side with one hand and the whip with the other and scolded harshly.
"Your Majesty, what I want to say is that no matter if it was the Jurchen spies who took the opportunity to set the fire, or some other incident, or even an accidental fire in the city, this matter could not be worse..."
Zhao Jiu was startled for a moment. Under the torchlight, many other close ministers who had been traveling all day also reacted. Even Lu Yihao, who had recovered his breath, couldn't help but glance at this little attendant who was said to be a direct descendant of Zhang Deyuan's faction.
Mei Sheren looked up at Emperor Zhao and saw that he had calmed down and clearly understood. He was relieved and continued, "Your Majesty, I think that even if there is a disturbance now, the officials who stayed behind can handle it. If you go over now, will it help put out the fire faster? Or what else can you do?"
"But if I don't go, won't I just be standing there in vain?" Zhao Jiu sneered in response, his hand still on the reins.
Mei Sheren saw this and quickly explained his true intention: "But the emperor's rush back overnight this time is enough to make everyone think that the emperor is in a panic... I'm sorry, the death of the third prince of the Jin Dynasty, Erliduo, was sudden, which is indeed a great benefit, but our Song Dynasty was caught off guard by the sudden start. Moreover, such a major military and national event has never happened since ancient times, and chaos is natural..."
"nature?"
"Yes, I think this kind of chaos is natural. The emperor should not be so anxious about it that he should not put the cart before the horse, nor should he go beyond his authority to deal with these things." Mei Li tried to respond. "At this time, the emperor cannot take care of all aspects. The only thing he can do, or should do, is to remain calm and show his calmness to reassure the people, because the ministers will only be more chaotic than the emperor... Only when the emperor himself acts calmly and confidently, can the civil and military officials below feel at ease and start to deal with the incident. If the emperor is impatient, it will only make the people below panic... Excuse me, why don't you stay in Chenqiao calmly, send the Imperial City Department and the Military Control Department to investigate, and then return to the capital calmly tomorrow morning to find out the cause of the matter?"
The night wind was cold. Under the light of fire in the distance and torches nearby, Zhao Jiu remained silent for a while, and Mei Li had nothing to say either. He could only bow his head and wait.
"I second the motion." Suddenly, Lu Yihao bowed and stepped forward.
Zhao Jiu glanced at Lu Yihao, thought for a moment, and then nodded: "Good."
After saying this, the official glanced at Yang Yizhong and Yu Yunwen again.
The latter two understood, bowed and walked away immediately to arrange manpower.
Seeing this, Emperor Zhao sighed and was about to go to Chenqiao Posthouse to rest. At this time, Lu Yihao spoke up again from behind: "I request that the Secretary of the Central Secretariat Mei Li be promoted to the position of Imperial Academy Scholar... to show that rewards and punishments are clearly distinguished."
"Good." Zhao Jiu went into the government inn to rest without even turning his head.
There was silence all night. The next morning, Emperor Zhao led his people to Tokyo. However, he learned on the way that the fire was not in the city last night, but a fire occurred around Yuetai.
Moreover, it was not an accident, nor was it a Jurchen spy. It was something that no one had expected, but later had to admit that it was an incident caused by their own negligence in organization - and this incident was indeed directly caused by the Northern Expedition.
The army set out suddenly, first the Imperial Camp Cavalry, then Wang De's Central Army of the Imperial Camp, with a total of 50,000 to 60,000 troops, who set out continuously and emptied the Yuetai camp. However, this large-scale deployment, and the sudden departure, directly caused some commotion around Yuetai.
The cause of the riot was very simple. You have to know that the Song Dynasty's army at that time adopted a typical recruitment system, and family members were generally allowed to accompany the army. Otherwise, it would not cost a hundred strings of cash a year to support a soldier in the imperial camp.
Therefore, as the imperial edict was issued, the cavalry of the imperial camp set off in a hurry. On the one hand, the military families rushed to buy earmuffs, masks, amulets, and medicine packages, and even stockpiled rice for their own families. On the other hand, many soldiers of the imperial camp who set out late took the opportunity to borrow money and make trouble before leaving. On the other hand, some unscrupulous businessmen took the opportunity to raise prices, and some unethical monks and Taoists took the opportunity to make money.
For a time, emotions were conflicting among many parties. In the previous few days, several vicious incidents had already broken out around Yuetai Camp.
But at this time, the imperial court, which had been preoccupied with military and national affairs, had completely ignored this phenomenon. Even the Kaifeng Prefecture was busy dealing with those who hoarded goods in the city according to the original plan.
Come to think of it, Zhang Shuxiang felt that he was wronged. Even such a large army like Poxi could be brought down. Who would care about a few criminal and civil cases involving low-level soldiers and their families?
The result of this neglect was that as Wang De's troops in the Imperial Camp also set out yesterday, the Yuetai Camp was suddenly empty and without the suppression of the army, a mass incident occurred directly and thoroughly. At first, it was said that a family whose female relatives were harassed by the soldiers of the Imperial Camp before leaving came to seek an explanation from the soldiers' family members, but they encountered the younger generation of the soldiers in the Imperial Camp who had lost the supervision of their fathers, and the two sides engaged in a group fight.
Then, for some unknown reason, a rumor spread that someone was waiting to humiliate the families of the soldiers as soon as the army left, which immediately attracted hundreds of people to gather, and then dragged everyone into it.
Finally, riots broke out in the three towns and two cities around Yuetai. Dozens of houses were burned, several shops were looted, nearly ten people were killed, and countless others were injured.
After the incident broke out, the huge bureaucratic system in the city realized it belatedly. The first two people to react were the Deputy Privy Councilor and Ambassador of Kaifeng's Defense Chen Gui, who immediately dispatched Guo Zhongxun's reserve troops to Yuetai overnight. The Kaifeng prefect Yan Xiaozhong also personally led the yamen runners to the west of the city and did not enter the city all night to deal with the aftermath.
Then, the provincial capital also issued a direct document requiring all departments to immediately form a joint investigation team, headed by Zhang Jiucheng, the right vice minister of the Ministry of Works. All the officials from the cabinet, the Ministry of Justice, the Censorate, the Military Equipment Bureau, etc. were assigned to station in Yuetai in order to cut the Gordian knot and resolve the matter quickly.
However, how can such a thing be resolved quickly and easily? How can it be resolved easily by just cleaning up the mess?
What's more, during this period, there were inevitably countless bureaucrats who competed for credit and shifted blame for themselves and their departments... For a time, it was simply a mess and chaos.
At this time, Emperor Zhao returned to the capital calmly with a group of close ministers and the imperial guards. He still did not enter the city, but directly stationed in the Yuetai Camp and chose to ignore the matter... Zhang Jiuchen, Yan Xiaozhong and others hurried to see the emperor, but they could only follow the emperor who remained calm to Yuetai next to the Yuetai Camp and worship the tablets again.
This made everyone feel relieved and at a loss at the same time. Emperor Zhao did not reprimand them harshly, but this reaction made them even more flustered - specifically, this emotion was called shame.
The matter was not over yet. On that day, September 25th, Prime Minister Zhao Ding, even Minister Lu Haowen, heard that the emperor had suddenly returned to the capital. Almost all the senior officials in Beijing went out of the city to Yuetai to pay homage to Emperor Zhao. No less than dozens of people came together to report and apologize for the various incidents that had occurred before.
Then he was comforted in person by Emperor Zhao.
That's right. This official, who was so anxious and impatient yesterday that he almost exhausted Prime Minister Lu to death on his horse, and who almost whipped Scholar Mei with a horsewhip at night, was calmer than anyone else today... He admitted that it was indeed because he acted in a hurry and caused trouble to everyone, but the opportunity for battle must not be missed, and even if there are some obstacles, everyone should work together to overcome them.
That was not all. The official also listened to the reports from the Imperial City Department and the Military Control Department in public, and relayed several hastily delivered secret memorials to everyone.
It was only at this time that people from top to bottom realized that the Zhengzhou military station was blocked, officials took the opportunity to levy Northern Expedition national debts and expanded the situation when dealing with hoarding, some big merchants tried to avoid Tokyo, some merchants and monks took the opportunity to lend money, and some fallen dignitaries took the opportunity to spread rumors.
Then Emperor Zhao sat in the Yuetai camp and reported these matters to the Privy Council, the Capital Province, and the Censorate one by one, without even directly assigning the matters to the Six Ministries and Kaifeng Prefecture.
Now that the matters had been divided, the official shook hands with the ministers again and said goodbye. Then, as the saying goes, he passed by his home without entering it, and left Yuetai directly in the afternoon of the same day, turning northwest. He met Li Qiong in Wansheng Town the next day, and then headed west together.
This performance really moved everyone in Tokyo, so much so that on his way back, the Right Vice Minister of Works Zhang Jiuchen could not help but praise Emperor Zhao in public, saying that "there is a heart as powerful as a mountain collapse and the earth split, and the might of thousands of thunders, but his face does not look like an autumn wind rippling a pool of clear water, but instead he brings forth the grace of a spring breeze and rain."
This caused countless colleagues to nod their heads and prepare to go back and write it down in their notes, until the editor Hu Quan next to them spoke up and said that this should be published in the next issue of the official gazette, and then they gave up.
On the first day of October, autumn leaves fell and early winter had arrived, but the water level of the Yellow River did not decrease. On this day, Emperor Zhao crossed Zhengzhou and arrived at Sishui Pass, where he gathered Fan Yihong, the last commander of Li Qiong's (formerly the Eight Character Army) who was stationed in a scattered area.
By this point, a full ten days had passed, and all the troops in the imperial camp had been mobilized.
On the same day, the main force of Yue Fei's Imperial Camp, which had gathered first, officially crossed the river at Zilu Sha under the escort of the Imperial Camp navy.
On the other side of the river, although Ali won the field battle, Liaocheng was an important riverside military formation that the Jin army had worked hard to build. It was suddenly captured by the Song army and suffered no damage at all. Ali could not capture this big city with three or four thousand troops still defending it within ten days, and he had already become discouraged.
But Gao Jingshan, the commander-in-chief of the Jin Dynasty's Damingfu Military Command, simply did not have the power and courage to make the decision to fight on the spot... Or, Yue Fei saw that after the Jurchens lost Erlido, it would be impossible for them to have another truly powerful commander within ten days, so he gathered his troops calmly and started the river crossing... In short, facing the almost overwhelming crossing of the river by the main force of the Song army, Ali directly chose to retreat northward and gave up Liaocheng.
Before crossing the river, Yue Fei sat in the military camp and tried to compose a poem to a high monk from Lingjiu Temple whom he met in Jinan. However, for some reason, he could not finish writing the poem after writing half of it. Instead, he put down his pen and put on his armor and crossed the river with Zhang Rong who came to urge him.
Only half of the poem was left in the Henan camp, and no one picked it up.
As the saying goes:
"How many autumns have passed in Pinghu and Liangshan? The great river flows eastward with many twists and turns.
The man is determined to support the royal family, and the holy ruler will conquer and destroy the local chieftains.
The achievements should be engraved on Yanshi, and then I will return..."
The handwriting stops abruptly, and no one knows what is said next. It can be regarded as a rare poem with an unfinished ending.
On the same day, Emperor Zhao at Sishui Pass did not know this story... At this time, he had already known that Li Yanxian had quickly sent troops after receiving the imperial edict, and that Wang De and Qu Duan had arrived in Luoyang, but he did not issue any additional military orders. Instead, he wrote a private letter to Han Shizhong, who was unaware of the situation, and sent it away on express horseback.
After the letter was sent, Emperor Zhao went out in the middle of the night, looked up at the sky and sighed, as if he also wanted to compose a poem, but after thinking it over and over again, he couldn't come up with a single line of poetry. Instead, he inexplicably remembered the rather childish but somewhat philosophical words he had heard when he was a teenager.
As the saying goes:
"Why do wars burn? Why do autumn leaves fall?"
Faced with this almost absurd and stupid question, Emperor Zhao actually thought about it a little foolishly, which then caused many senior officers in the Eight Character Army to sigh from afar - Emperor Zhao was sighing day and night, and he truly cared about the world.
