Hutuo River is one of the largest rivers in Hebei.
If you don’t count the Yellow River, it is number one!
The two armies each occupied half of this river. The Ming army controlled the middle battlefield section, and the Jin army controlled the east and west battlefield sections.
Zhu Ming led the army to move, relying on the Hutuo River for water transportation.
Of course, soldiers mainly walked, and all kinds of baggage were shipped and transported.
The first place Zhu Ming arrived was Gucheng (Jinzhou City). This city was located on the south bank of the Hutuo River and was not conducive to Jin soldiers' operations, so it was abandoned by Wanyan Zongwang.
As early as half a month ago, the Gucheng County Magistrate of the Puppet Song Dynasty had surrendered to Zongze.
Next is Gaocheng, which is located at the intersection of Hutuo River and Benshui River. It faces water on both sides and is very suitable for holding on. It is the military bridgehead of Zhending Prefecture.
Generals such as Guan Sheng, Yue Fei, and Li Qiong led the Zhaozhou Ming Army to the north and stationed themselves on the east bank of Qianshui River, with their main camp set up in the southwest of Gaocheng.
Ju Ming led the main force to the west and camped in the northeast of Gaocheng.
The two Ming armies were only more than thirty miles apart, sandwiching the enemy forces in Gaocheng.
After Ju Ming set up camp, he immediately contacted Guan Sheng and Yue Fei.
Yue Fei personally brought two hundred horses to see him, and also brought a scholar from Gaocheng named Dong Yu.
"Meet His Highness the Crown Prince!"
Yue Fei stood with his back straight, his left hand pressing the handle of the sword at his waist, and his right hand raised in a military salute.
Judging from the appearance alone, Ju Ming felt a little disappointed.
The famous Yue Wumu is actually only 1.7 meters tall, and his figure is not burly. He is not as good as many of Ju Ming's fierce generals.
Of course, the appearance can be ignored.
Ju Ming even had a little excitement hidden inside, but he didn't show it. He took Yue Fei's hand and said, "I heard that you are very strict in managing the army and you are a good general in the world!"
Yue Fei said: "The people of Hebei have been severely tortured by the Jin people. The king's army should strengthen military discipline. Otherwise, how are they different from those barbarians of the Jin country?"
"Not bad." Zhu Ming smiled and nodded.
Yue Fei pointed to the scholars beside him and said: "This is Dong Yu, the son of the Dong family in Gaocheng. His uncle Dong Ti was the Minister of Rites in the Puppet Song Dynasty."
Dong Yu quickly knelt down and said: "Zi Yu, the great Ming Dynasty scholar, pays homage to His Highness the Crown Prince!"
Zhu Ming helped him personally: "No need to be polite."
The Dong family of Gaocheng moved to Gaocheng during the Five Dynasties. In the Jin and Yuan dynasties, different branches became high-ranking officials.
One is the branch of Dong Shizhong of the Jin Dynasty, whose official rank reached the prime minister of the Jin Dynasty.
The second was Dong Wenbing's branch in the Yuan Dynasty, which had a large number of tens of thousands of households, grand masters, and grand lieutenants. Dong Wenbing himself was responsible for forming a Han bodyguard army for Kublai Khan.
In the previous chapter, Wanyan Zongwang established a puppet emperor, and the city of Guocheng happened to be under the rule of the puppet emperor.
Ma Liu, the Dong family in Guocheng, surrendered to the Jin Dynasty, and Dong Ti, who was a Jinshi in the Song Dynasty, was reused as the central official of the puppet court.
This time when Liu Yu seized power in the court, he did not dare to do anything to Dong Ti. Instead, he promoted him to be the Minister of Rites. Because the location of the city was too important, and the Dong family was the most prominent family in the city.
While Dong Ti was working as a dog for the Kingdom of Jin, he secretly contacted Zong Ze. They didn't care about the interests of the family and the country, they just wanted to keep their own family.
"Your Highness the Crown Prince," Dong Yu quickly explained the situation, "there was chaos a few days ago in the Puppet Dynasty. Liu Yu impeached Huang Qianshan for collaborating with the enemy and imprisoned dozens of people from Huang Qianshan's party. Now the Puppet Dynasty is in panic, and there are many people who are interested in Ming Dynasty.
Although my uncle is the Minister of Rites of the puppet dynasty, he always wants to return to the Ming Dynasty. I, the Dong family in the city, are willing to fight to the death for the Ming Dynasty!"
Ju Ming looked touched and sighed: "There is Gu Zhong in Hebei, and he is talking about the Dong family."
Dong Yu became even more excited after hearing this.
With Prince Zhu's words, the Dong family in Guocheng will not be liquidated.
Ju Ming asked: "In addition to serving as a civil servant in the puppet dynasty, what other generals did Dong have?"
Dong Yu said: "My cousin Dong Huan was originally the guard general of Shun'an Army, with three thousand soldiers under his command. Last month he was transferred to Hejian Prefecture to assist the Jin soldiers there to defend the city. My uncle Dong Jian
, was originally a general of the Ansu Army, with 500 soldiers under his command, and was transferred to Yongning Military City last month."
Ju Ming said: "You write to them immediately, and I will have someone wait for an opportunity to contact Juyi."
Dong Yu was a little embarrassed and said, "You don't have to worry about it, Prince. I can send a servant to contact you. Otherwise, the news will be easily leaked in advance."
Ju Ming suddenly frowned: "Is it possible that until now, the Dong family is still thinking about the head and the rat?"
"Don't you dare!" Dong Yu was so frightened that he quickly knelt down.
"Then just write a letter." Zhu Ming smiled kindly again.
Dong Yu could only bite the bullet and write letters to his cousins and clan uncles, asking them to look for opportunities to defect before the battle.
Bai Sheng put away the two letters and left with Dong Yu.
After this guy left, Ju Ming asked: "Pengju, what do you think of the Dong family?"
Yue Fei replied: "We are all greedy for life and afraid of death. They will help whoever gains power. But the manuscript city is extremely important, and we must rely on the power of the Dong family."
"Where are the other wealthy families in Guocheng?" Zhu Ming asked again.
Yue Fei said: "It's almost the same. On the one hand, he took refuge with the Jin people and on the other hand, he contacted the Ming Dynasty. Gaocheng is close to Zhaozhou. The real righteous men there have long fled south with their families. Among the last generals, there are soldiers from Gaocheng."
Regardless of whether they were greedy for life or fearful of death, the gentry who stayed behind did indeed have their hearts set on the Ming Dynasty, because the rule of the Jin people was too cruel.
Generally speaking, when encountering enemy troops approaching, rural gentry would hide in the city or flee with their families to a safe place.
When the gentry in the countryside around Gaocheng learned that Prince Zhu was coming with his troops, they neither hid in the city nor fled north. On the day Zhu Ming arrived, gentry came one after another to pay their respects and even brought wine and food to reward the army.
This is what the history books say: the people ate pots of slurry to welcome the king's master.
There are even some gentry who have half-long hairstyle hidden under their hats. Last year, they were afraid of the golden people, so they actually shaved their hair to change their appearance. From then on, they must wear hats to cover up their ugliness when going out.
Ju Ming did not blame them, he personally met them all, spoke kindly to them, and praised them for their loyalty.
The gentry were so moved that they shed tears on the spot. He was indeed the crown prince of the Zhengshuo of the Celestial Dynasty. His extraordinary bearing made people feel like a spring breeze. How could the barbarians of the Jin Kingdom compare with him?
…
The outskirts of Guocheng.
Li Yanxian led thousands of Shaanxi cavalry, together with the cavalry troops formed by Yue Fei and Li Qiong, to cover the entire battlefield.
Salihe, a fierce general of the Jin Kingdom, only had 2,000 cavalry in his hands and was suppressed to the point where he could not leave the city.
"Go to the Yongning army and ask the marshal for reinforcements!" Salihe felt extremely aggrieved.
This guy is the nephew of Po Luhuo. Po Luhuo led the troops to Wanyan Zonghan, but Salihe led the troops to Wanyan Zongwang.
Because Salihe belongs to the aristocracy of the Shizu lineage, he is the adopted son of Jinshizu Gailibo!
This person later gained great power and became the Zuo Prime Minister and Zuo Marshal of the Jin Kingdom, but he was eventually killed by Wan Yanliang, the "famous general of the Southern Song Dynasty".
"The enemy is shooting books into the city!"
"No one is allowed to open and read them. Collect them all and burn them... Wait, show them to me before burning them."
Groups of Ming cavalry, led by Yue Fei, Li Qiong, and Li Yanxian, fired letters into the manuscript city.
Jin soldiers rode horses back and forth in the city and looked around on the city walls. When they found letters, they immediately confiscated them and shot anyone who opened and read them privately.
A Bohai scribe was reading a letter to Salihe at the moment: "These letters say that the Dong family, the Lu family, the Li family, the Zhang family, the Pang family... all of Gaocheng have defected to the Ming Dynasty. They also said many bad things about me, Dajin.
, let the Han people in the city rebel against the Jin as an internal response. Also let the Han troops stationed in Gao City switch sides and surrender. If there are officers and soldiers who switch sides, forgive them for their past mistakes, and they will be rewarded heavily in the future when their merits are judged."
Salihe called his herald: "Call the troops that the Hebei Han troops are not allowed to approach the city gates, archery towers, grain depots and other important military areas. They are only allowed to defend the city walls. The Hebei Han troops at each city wall must be arranged on both sides.
I, Jin Guoerlang, supervise the soldiers patrolling the city at night. If they find someone violating the curfew, those who serve as soldiers will sit in a row, and those who serve the people will sit in ten households in a row, and all of them will be beheaded for execution!"
The war has just begun, and the city is already in turmoil.
The curfew time has been advanced to a quarter past two o'clock, that is, people in the city are not allowed to leave their homes before six o'clock in the evening.
The Han army in Hebei was obviously a city defense force, but it was closely monitored by troops sent by Salihe.
The war has reached this point, and the Han army in Hebei has become a burden!
Salihe still felt unstable, so he sent troops to guard the prominent people in the city and detained them in the county government. He also told their families that once there was a fire or other accident in the city, the Jin soldiers would not carefully trace who did it.
They will kill all those who are locked up in the county government office.
All kinds of measures are extremely severe, but some people still open and read the letters privately.
After Ju Ming set up camp, he sent troops to cover the civilians in filling in the moat. While filling in the moat, he continued to shoot books into the city. There were always a few letters that were not confiscated by the Jin soldiers.
More siege equipment was dismantled into parts and shipped continuously from Xinhe Town.
Zongze was responsible for the logistics of the West Route Army, including the construction of siege equipment. Xinhe Town gathered a large number of craftsmen and was also an important grain transfer station.
Within the manuscript city.
Before the curfew, the defense was changed, and a Hebei Han army left the city wall and silently returned to the military camp in the city.
The leader of this Han army was named Zhang Di, who was historically a Hebei giant bandit. He gathered hundreds of thousands of people in Mingzhou to rebel, and was finally suppressed by Liu Guangshi's troops.
Because Zhu Ming raised troops in Sichuan, he restrained the Song Dynasty's military strength. Although Zhang Di was also suppressed by the court in this time and space, he did not face Liu Guangshi. He faked his death and fled into the Taihang Mountains with his remaining troops.
They first started to fight against the Song Dynasty, and then against the Jin Dynasty. When they couldn't fight anymore, they were recruited by the puppet court.
"Brother, where is the letter I saw during the day?" General Zhang Hao asked in a low voice.
Zhang Di said: "I've eaten it."
"That's good, we won't be found out by the Jin soldiers," Zhang Hao asked, "What's in the letter?"
Zhang Di said: "Let us turn against the Jin Dynasty, and our past crimes will not be investigated, and we can still get heavy rewards for our meritorious service."
Zhang Hao said: "After hiding in the Taihang Mountains for two years and being recruited by the Zhending imperial court for more than a year, the brothers all want to return to their hometown in Mingzhou. Why not look for an opportunity to rebel against the Jin Dynasty? I heard that a new imperial court in the south has been restored.
Life was good. Yue Fei was also very benevolent and righteous, and he treated the common people without any wrongdoing."
"I also want to go home," Zhang Di said, "These Jin soldiers don't regard us as human beings. They want us to defend the city day and night. I think we will be defeated sooner or later. But the old brother is dead."
Many, we can no longer act recklessly, we must find a good opportunity to kill those golden soldiers!"
Zhang Hao said: "We all listen to my elder brother. My brothers have long wanted to rebel!"
This chapter has been completed!