Chapter 288 The emperor ordered generals to defeat several cities
The bombshell thrown by Zhao Ji was his honest confession to his loyal minister Zhongshi Dao.
Zhao Ji saw that there were no outsiders in the Chinese army's tent. Except for the two princes Zhao Kai and Zhao Gou he had brought with him, they were the loyal ministers Zongze and Zhong Shidao.
Zhao Kai, Zhao Gou and Zong Ze already knew this secret when they left the capital.
Zhao Ji looked at Zhong Shidao's old face with several age spots. Based on what he knew when he read history before time travel, Zhong Shidao was definitely a loyal minister and good general of the Song Dynasty.
Zhong Shidao first served as a civil servant, but because of his strategy, he later changed his position to a military position. He made great achievements in resisting Xixia and became a famous general. He was honored as "Lao Zhong".
In the first year of Jingkang in history, the Jin soldiers went south, and Zhong Shidao was appointed as the envoy to the capital and Hebei Province. He advocated the fight against the Jin Dynasty and won the support of the people. The capital was relieved of the siege and was relieved of military power. Not long after, Zhong Shidao died of illness at the age of seventy.
When he was six years old, Emperor Qinzong of the Song Dynasty came to pay homage in person and issued an edict as a posthumous gift to Kaifu Yitong Sansi. The year after Zhongshi Dao died, the capital fell.
With Zhao Ji's thoughts at this point, what else is there to worry about?
Can a loyal minister like Zhong Shidao still reveal our national secrets?
Zhao Ji slowly said:
"I asked the veteran general Guo Cheng to find an excuse to send troops to attack Xia and make Xixia surrender to the Song Dynasty. The ultimate goal is to force the Xixia Kingdom to send troops to assist the Song Dynasty in aiding the Liao Dynasty in the war against the Jin Dynasty..."
"Ah?!" Master Zhong was shocked when he heard this.
The gray-bearded seed master Dao thought deeply and exclaimed:
"Although I have been living in the northwest for a long time, I have also heard about the emerging Jin Kingdom. In no more than three or two years, it occupied more than half of the vast Liao Kingdom.
If the Song Dynasty continues to stand by and watch the Jin conquer the Liao Dynasty, and if the Liao Dynasty is destroyed by the Jin Dynasty, the powerful Jin Dynasty will most likely covet the wealth of the Song Dynasty. It is also very possible that the Jin army will find an excuse to send troops to attack the Song Dynasty.
!
Therefore, I admire the official's plan to send troops to attack Xia first and make Xixia surrender to me, the Song Dynasty. It is best to force Xixia to follow me, the Song Dynasty, to send troops to aid the Liao Dynasty to fight against the Jin Dynasty."
Zhao Ji listened to the veteran Zhong Shi's analysis, and it was clear and logical. He really saw the same thing as a hero.
"When I aid the Liao Dynasty to fight against the Jin Dynasty, I will assess the situation and judge the balance of military strength between the enemy and ourselves. I might not be able to use this battle to achieve great unification!"
"Ah?!" When Zhong Shidao heard this, he was shocked and surprised, and his body trembled slightly involuntarily.
"ah?!"
"Ah?!" King Yun Zhao Kai and King Kang Zhao Gou were also shocked.
Only then did they realize that after his great change of heart, their father did not just want to aid the Liao Dynasty and fight against the Jin Dynasty to protect the peace of the northern Song Dynasty! His father had a grand plan!
"Ah?!" Zongze was also shocked. Although he had sensed through the various efforts of the Zhao Guan family in the past that the Zhao Guan family might have great intentions after the change of heart, but now it is the Zhao Guan family who has personally admitted that they want to unify China.
of ambition.
After several people in the big tent reacted, they all praised:
"My father's plan is far-reaching, and my sons and ministers admire him!"
"…………"
"The plans of Zhao Guan's family are so great! Zongze, a humble minister, is amazed!"
"The Zhao Guan family has the ambition to unify China, which is comparable to the Qin Emperor and the Han Dynasty! The veteran teacher Zhong Dao can also lead troops into battle, and he is willing to work hard to achieve the great cause of unification for the Guan family!"
Zhao Ji laughed happily when he heard that these close friends in the Chinese army's tent all agreed with his strategy of unifying China.
"Hahaha..." Zhao Ji's laughter also gives confidence to those who hear this secret. I am confident that I can laugh out loud like this.
After Zhao Ji laughed several times, he changed the subject and said:
“Empty talk will harm the country, but hard work will make it prosperous!”
Zhong Shidao, Zongze, Zhao Kai and Zhao Gou all nodded in agreement.
They felt that what Zhao Guanjia said casually was just a few simple words, and seemed to be a wise saying.
Zhao Ji asked seriously: "How many men and horses do Zhong Aiqing's troops have now? How many elite soldiers can be mobilized to go to Liao to fight against Jin?"
Zhong Shidao's expression immediately became serious when he heard this. He knew that what Zhao Guanjia said before was just foreshadowing, and now is the important military and national event.
Master Zhongdao echoed:
"My department can recruit 30,000 elite soldiers..."
Of course, according to Zhongshidao's explanation, in order to defend the northwestern defense line of the Song Dynasty, it was impossible to mobilize all the hundreds of thousands of troops under Zhongshidao's command.
What Zhao Ji wants is elite soldiers. Like the Song and Jin Dynasties in history who united to destroy the Liao Dynasty, they lost hundreds of thousands of mobs and attacked Yanjing twice, but failed to defeat it. After being defeated by the Liao army, they still had to spend a huge amount of money.
Please ask the Jin army to attack the land of Yanyun...
Time traveler Zhao Ji will never let history repeat itself like this.
The teacher's way of teaching begins:
"Although I am already seventy years old, I know that my body is still strong, just like 'an honest man can still make a living'.
The old minister said, please allow the officials to support the Liao Dynasty in the war against the Jin Dynasty, so that the old minister can also contribute to the Song Dynasty?!"
Zhao Ji smiled slightly and said: "Easy to say, easy to say! I will definitely think of planting my old beloved."
Zhao Ji knew the way of cultivating teachers in history, and he actually led troops into the land of Liao Kingdom, that is, the battle of the Song Dynasty to conquer Liao Kingdom.
Historically, Tong Guan led the alliance with the Jin Dynasty to conquer the Liao Dynasty, and specifically asked the court to recruit the army of the famous general Zhong Shidao.
During the campaign against the Liao Dynasty, Zhong Shidao was worshiped as the commander of the capital and the governor of the Baojing Army. Tong Guan asked Zhong Shidao to cover the generals in their attack on the Liao Dynasty.
Master Zhongdao admonished: "What we did today is like a robber breaking into a neighbor's house. We couldn't save him. Instead, we took advantage of the situation and divided the stolen goods with the robber. How can we do that?"
Tong Guan didn't listen.
After the Song army arrived at Baigou, the Liao soldiers marched forward with a clamor, and the Song army suffered many casualties. Fortunately, Zhongshi Daoxianling each held a giant stick to defend himself. The Liao soldiers' armor could not withstand blunt force blows, so the Song army was not defeated.
The Liao Kingdom sent envoys to Tong Guan's military camp to plead: "The Jurchens betrayed the Liao Kingdom. The Song Dynasty must also hate Xixia's rebellion against the Song Dynasty, right?!"
Now, in order to gain temporary benefits, your country is willing to abandon a hundred years of good things, become a neighbor with wolves, and cause disaster in the future. Is this wise? Relieving disasters and caring for neighbors is a common meaning in ancient and modern times. I hope big countries will think about it!"
Tong Guan was speechless...
Seeing this opportunity, Zhong Shidao remonstrated that the Liao envoys should be allowed to withdraw their troops, but Tong Guan still refused to listen and secretly wrote a letter to impeach Zhong Shidao for helping the thieves...
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Wang Fu in the capital was angry and ordered Zhong Shidao to retire as a right-guard general and replace him with Liu Yanqing.
After Liu Yanqing succeeded Zhong Shidao, he only listened to his wife, Tong Guan, and the imperial court launched the second expedition against Liao...
However, Liu Yanqing's troops were defeated in Lugou...
In the first war against Liao, no matter how the Song army retreated, Zhong Shidao still tried his best to save the defeat.
In the second war against the Liao Dynasty, Liu Yanqing completely ignored the safety of the army, feared the enemy like a tiger, and ran away whenever he wanted. As a result, the losses in this war were even more severe and the defeat was more complete, so that the Song Dynasty completely gave up its power.
They wanted to conquer Yanjing militarily, but would rather be shameless and "buy" Yanjing back from the Jin at a huge cost...
In this way, it happened that the Jin people discovered that the Song Army, which had hundreds of thousands of troops, could not even defeat the defeated Liao Army under our Jin Army! This made everyone in the Jin Dynasty realize that it turned out that
The Song army's combat effectiveness was so poor, the Song Dynasty was just a paper tiger.
This also increased the confidence of the Jin Kingdom to go south to grab a wave of wealthy lands in the Song Dynasty after the Jin Kingdom destroyed the Liao Kingdom, thus staged the historical shame of the Song Dynasty Jingkang...
…
Zhao Ji thought about what really happened in history, and he was glad that he traveled through time to the Song Dynasty in this world a few years before the Jingkang Incident.
Traitors such as Cai Jing and Wang Fu have been eliminated by this time traveler;
Tong Guan, who had failed to succeed but failed more than once, was determined to regain the sixteen states of Yanyun and become the king. He had already been put on a treasure-hunting ship with a near-death experience...
Zhao Ji believed that after these obstacles were removed, a large number of Yue Fei and other martial scholars who had mastered new gunpowder weapons, and the famous generals Zhongshi Dao and Zongze, who were loyal ministers, planned well, the battle to aid Liao and resist Jin would be successful.
.
At this time, Zhong Shidao saw Zhao Guanjia bowing his head and keeping silent, as if he was worried. He opened his mouth and said:
"The officials and ministers will be able to sort out the roster of 30,000 elite soldiers and generals that our department can deploy overnight to aid the Liao and resist the Jin..."
Zhao Ji held Master Zhong's calloused hand and said happily:
"That's great! Thank you for your hard work, I dearly love you. You are truly my loyal minister!"
Master Zhong was so moved that tears filled his eyes, and he said in a trembling voice:
"I thank the official family for their love..."
After the monarch and his ministers exchanged a few polite words, Zhao Ji warned:
"Today, the monarch and his ministers are having a secret conversation. No matter whether it is to your wives or to your subordinates and close associates, not a word of it is allowed to be spread outside.
After all, the current strategy of aiding the Liao Dynasty to fight against the Jin Dynasty is still the top secret of our Song Dynasty."
Zhong Shidao, Zongze, Zhao Kai, Zhao Gou and others all said that they would never dare to leak such military and state secrets...
Zhao Ji nodded with a smile and asked again: "Zhong Lao Aiqing has been guarding the northwest for decades. I would like to hear Zhong Lao Aiqing's analysis of the talents of the other Western Army commanders and the combat capabilities of their troops."
"Wei ministers obey the order." Zhong Shidao told Zhao Ji some basic information about Yao Gu's troops, Zhe's army, Liu Yanqing's, Guo Cheng's, and Han Shizhong's, who was newly promoted and re-employed by Zhao Guanjia last year...
Zhong Shi's teachings were quite satisfactory. He only objectively analyzed the past achievements of various Western armies that he knew, without any personal feelings mixed in.
Zhao Ji did not delve into it. After all, he knew that this kind of explanation of Zhongshi Dao could not only help him, the official Zhao family, but also not offend other generals of the Western Army...
After listening to the explanation of Zhongshi Dao, Zhao Ji casually asked:
"I heard that Liu Yanqing's military discipline is lax and his training is lax. Is this possible?"
Zhong Shidao replied: "Wei Chen has also heard about it! However, because Liu Yanqing's department is far away from my department, Wei Chen and Liu Yanqing have never worked together, and Wei Chen has never seen his department with his own eyes. Here Wei Chen
I don’t dare to say how good the military discipline and training of Liu Yanqing’s troops are!”
Zhao Ji listened to Zhong Shidao's words, and he felt that this might be what Zhong Shidao said because he didn't want to offend his colleagues. However, what Lao Zhong said was reasonable. He didn't have the right to speak without new eyes.
Zhao Ji is just asking now. During this trip to the northwest, he will have to visit all the departments of the Northwest Army mentioned above.
"Haha!" Zhao Ji smiled slightly and said:
"I love you dearly, so I must promote virtuous people and never avoid relatives!"
Why did you forget to introduce Qinzhou Zhizhou Seed Master to me?"
Master Zhongdao blushed and said embarrassedly:
"Weichen did not introduce his brother Shizhong to the officials. In fact, Weichen felt that his brother Shizhong had served as the prefecture or magistrate in the northwest for decades, commanding the Xiang army and guarding the northwest frontier of the Song Dynasty for a long time. He did a decent job.
There is no great fault even if you have made great achievements!
Now, it has been four years since my brother Shizhong took office as the magistrate of Qinzhou."
Zhao Ji smiled slightly and said: "Qinzhou, as early as the prosperous Tang Dynasty, was an important town in the west leading to Chang'an. It was known as the "gathering place of Qianqiu", so it became famous for a while.
Nowadays, Qinzhou in our Song Dynasty connects Xizhou and Hezhou, and borders Qingtang and Qiang land. It is a land that has produced fine horses since ancient times.
During the Song Dynasty, tea was exchanged for horses in Qinzhou, and the Tea Horse Division was established in Qinzhou. All the war horses of the Song Dynasty were obtained from this road."
Master Zhong nodded: "What the officials said is absolutely true!"
Zhao Ji continued: "I know that the seed master knows about Qinzhou. He has been in Qinzhou for more than four years to protect the territory and the people. Only then can the tribes of Fan and Qiang be willing to come to Qinzhou to exchange horses for tea and silk from the Song Dynasty."
ah!
Although Zhong's achievements in the division are not as great as Zhong Lao Aiqing's battle outside Xiwei City against the Xixia Army, the enemy chieftain was defeated and the Song Army captured tens of thousands of camels, cattle and horses, it was an immediate success;
It is not as good as when Zhong Lao Aiqing commanded the Shaanxi and Hedong Seventh Route Army troops to attack Zangdi City in Xixia. The court stipulated that it must be conquered in ten days, but Zhong Lao Aiqing killed a tired and lazy Lieutenant Commander in the army.
After showing the public at the military gate, he ordered that all those who did not attack the city bravely be killed. Their morale was greatly boosted, and it took only eight days to conquer Zangdi City.
However, in my opinion, Lao Zhong and Xiao Zhong are all people who made indispensable contributions to the Song Dynasty!"
Hearing this, Zhong Shidao knelt down gratefully and said:
"Weak ministers kowtow to thank the officials for their praise..."
Zhao Ji personally supported the veteran Zhongshi Dao. He knew that both Zhongshi Dao and his brother Zhongshi were loyal ministers who sacrificed their lives for righteousness.
In history, the Jin soldiers invaded the Song Dynasty and Kaifeng City in Tokyo was besieged. Zhong Shidao and Zhong Shizhong each led their troops into King Jingqin.
Zhong Shizhong was ordered to lead his troops to rescue Taiyuan. Because the friendly forces failed to arrive as promised and fell into a tight siege, Zhong Shizhong died fighting hard...
That night, Zhao Ji and his entourage stayed in the military camp of the Zhongshi Taoist Department...
…………
The city gates of Zhejianghui, a hundred miles away, were closed tightly, and temporary strict military control was implemented in the entire city.
The chief general of the Song Army, Guo Cheng, was in the big tent, discussing the next military action with his generals, as well as Wu Jie, Wu Lin, Yang Zaixing and others...
The result of the discussion among the generals was that they should strike while the iron is hot and carry out blitz attacks on several Xixia cities not far from Zhenhui in order to expand the results of the war, shock the Xixia court, and make the Xixia leader Li Qianshun panic and fear, so as to achieve Zhao Guan's strategic purpose...
…
The next day, the third day of August in the third year of Xuanhe, it was early in the morning.
General Guo Cheng ordered that 5,000 Song troops be left to garrison Zhejianghui, and 5,000 soldiers followed the army to escort grain and grass. Guo Cheng personally led 50,000 Western troops, escorting hundreds of Xixia soldiers and prisoners with tattoos on their faces, and marched towards Xixia
Moe enters...
At dusk that night, Guo Cheng's troops arrived at Mengjing.
The 10,000 Xixia troops at the Mengjing Defense Line did not know that Zhejianghui had been lost.
They saw twenty Xixia soldiers with tattoos on their faces who had been released first by the Song army, and ran desperately to the front of the Mengjing formation.
General Mengjing saw that they were his own people, and they had no weapons in their hands. Now the Song soldiers were still two miles away, so they released these Xixia soldiers prisoners who had been released by Guo Cheng into the city...
In Mengjing City, the few Xixia military primary schools that were literate saw those Xixia soldiers who had been released by the Song army. Each of them had a few lines of small characters written in Chinese and party scripts that had been branded or directly tattooed on their faces.
:
[The Xia army betrayed the alliance and robbed the Song merchants; the Song army attacked them and released the prisoners in a righteous manner!]
…
After further questioning, they found out that the prisoners released by the Song army brought back some very bad news.
"Xi Feng Man Niu, the leader of the Zhejiang Society, robbed the gold and silver belongings of Song merchants because of his greed for money..."
"I didn't know that it was most likely a treacherous plot by the Song Army..."
"Then, the Song Army's 'Yin Tian Lei' smashed the Jianghui City Gate, broke through the city wall, and entered the city..."
"Xifeng Manniu, one of the four great warriors of the Xixia Kingdom, was defeated and died tragically under the spear of a young general of the Song Army..."
"The Zhejiang Society has been lost!"
"The Song Army's tens of thousands of troops are already not far outside Mengjing City!"
"The Song Army is about to attack Mengjing City!"
"The evil magic that Song Jun learned from somewhere will cause the 'sky thunder' to hit the city. Run away!"
"…………"
These prisoners who were released by Guo Cheng made Mengjing soldiers shocked that Zhejianghui had been lost so quickly. At the same time, they also doubted the authenticity of the words of these returned Xixia soldiers.
How could the Song army attract thunder from the sky?
Just when the Xixia defenders in Mengjing were skeptical,
They saw the dark army of the Song Dynasty marching neatly to a mile outside the city. They lined up there and were not in a hurry to attack the city.
Guo Cheng commanded the formation of the Chinese army,
Wu Jie, Wu Lin, and Yang Zaixing organized the artillerymen and pushed ten artillery carts to the front of the formation...
………………
At this time, all the gates of Mengjing City had been closed and the suspension bridge was hoisted. At the head of the city and on the battlements, thousands of Xixia defenders stretched out their heads and looked down. They had already bent their bows and set arrows, waiting for the Song army.
After reaching their shooting range, shoot arrows to kill...
However, they saw that the Song army was not as eager to attack the city as it was during the Song-Xia war three years ago.
On the contrary, the Song Army at this time was adjusting giant objects that looked like long iron tubes...
General Mengjing also didn't understand why the Song army was not in a hurry to attack the city.
He ordered that several prisoners who had been released by the Song army be brought to the battlements. He asked them to look down and reported the reasons why the Song army did so.
"No, no, it's not good."
"Quick, quick, run!"
"Hmph!" Lord Mengjing roared angrily:
"You, the captured people, have brought disgrace to our party! Anyone who dares to disturb the morale of our army will be killed without mercy!"
"General, merge, merge, it's not us who are disturbing our military morale!"
"Yes, General. When I was waiting on Zhejianghui City, I also saw the soldiers of the Song Dynasty using such thick and long iron tubes to attract 'sky thunder' and blast open the strong city of Zhejianghui!
"
"Humph!" Lord Mengjing was furious and shouted:
"You still dare to attack the morale of our army? Come here, push them down the city and kill them all!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the Song Army had already fired!