Just when the relevant people in the Song and Jin countries were shocked by the news of Suzhou's victory, Feng Zhou and the Northern Expedition did not stop, but kept moving forward.
On June 20th, Feng Zhou led an army to conquer Xuzhou, killed more than 10,000 Jurchens, and captured tens of thousands of troops. They were all disorganized, the best were selected and eliminated, and incorporated into the Northern Expeditionary Army.
At this time, the imperial court of the Song Dynasty issued an order to confer Li Xianzhong as the envoy to the capital, and Wang Chongyang as the envoy to the east. Other ministers with meritorious services were given rewards.
"This arrangement is interesting." Feng Zhou smiled and didn't care.
He knew that someone in the court was giving him eye drops, but the people who gave him eye drops only knew about official battles, but did not know that the battlefield was changing and that military generals had their own way of survival.
At this time, Li Xianzhong had long been frightened by Feng Zhou's divine power. He completely surrendered to Feng Zhou and would not fight with him at all. What's more, all his generals had been subdued by Feng Zhou and there was no longer any fight.
of capital.
In just over a month, the entire Northern Expeditionary Army of 150,000 people had already become Feng Zhou's voice.
Because only victory and promotion and wealth can convince the soldiers, and Fengzhou is the best at these two things. The civil servants in Lin'an happen to be the least good at these two things.
July 15th.
The Northern Expedition of the Song Dynasty was divided into two groups. Li Xianzhong, the envoy from the capital, led an 80,000-strong army to attack Guide Mansion in Nanjing. After ten days of repairs, he led his army northward and captured Suizhou Mansion. Then he went all out to defeat the Jin soldiers on August 1.
Fifteen thousand people captured Nanjing Prefecture of the Jin Dynasty and Kaifeng Bianliang, the old capital of the Song Dynasty!
After conquering Bianliang, Li Xianzhong cleaned up the city, respectfully welcomed Pingzhang's army for state affairs, and the Northern Expedition commander Feng Zhou entered the city.
After Feng Zhou entered the city, he immediately sent a group of troops to march westward and occupied Tongguan. Then he sent people to the Taibao of the Song Dynasty who was far away in Longxi, and led Wu, the military commander stationed in Xingzhou, to tell him that Feng Zhou, the commander of the Northern Expedition of the Song Dynasty, had arrived.
By occupying the Central Plains and blocking Tongguan, he could choose the opportunity to send his army northward and regain his territory.
Wu was greatly shaken after receiving the news, and immediately ordered Wang Sheng, the general of Jiangdu, who was the vanguard of the Western Route Army of the Northern Expedition, to lead his army northward.
And Jingdong’s recruitment envoy Wang Chongyang was not idle either.
On July 18, Wang Chongyang, the envoy from Jingdong, led his army to conquer Yanzhou, and a few days later captured Tai'an. After a few days of reorganization, the army divided into two groups, conquered Jinan and Dezhou Prefecture, occupied a strategically important place, and swept across Shandong.
After the time entered August, everything south of the Yellow River was owned by the Song Dynasty, and Fengzhou also realized the first half of the Northern Expedition strategy: taking Shandong and removing the Jin Dynasty's barrier; entering Henan, cutting off its wings, capturing Tongguan, and occupying
its threshold.
Now, the Jin Dynasty's control area has withdrawn from the south of the Yellow River. Wanyanyong has stationed troops in Hejian Mansion, unable to advance or retreat. However, if the boat is blocked to cross the Yellow River, Wanyanyong can only fight. Otherwise, I am afraid that there will be no way to the Central Plains.
Owned by the Great Jin Dynasty, the Jurchen nobles of the Great Jin Dynasty could only retreat to the white mountains and black waters to be with the bitter cold.
Feng Zhou was based in Bianliang, the old capital of the Song Dynasty, and began to command the army to be broken into pieces. In the name of suppressing bandits, he attacked the powerful and seized strategic materials. On the other hand, he began to reward and train the soldiers who performed well in the Northern Expedition.
.
It lasted two months.
For two full months, the troops dispatched by Feng Zhou went on a killing spree in Shandong, Henan and other places, hunting down the local tyrants and evil gentry, officials and businessmen with Jin backgrounds. Feng Zhou even personally took action, eradicating seventeen families in one go.
Taoist temples were destroyed, twenty temples were destroyed, and countless dens of bandits were destroyed along the way.
For two whole months, the entire south of the Yellow River has been in turmoil, with countless forces and everyone in danger.
At this time, no matter how arrogant and arrogant they are, they dare not face Feng Zhou and the Northern Expeditionary Army. Even the Jurchens who have been entrenched in the Central Plains for decades have been killed and run away. Which force dares to compete with Feng Zhou? No more.
People have the courage and ability.
…
But in Lin'an, it was a different kind of turmoil.
In Daoming Temple, several Confucian masters were talking loudly, while Taiwei Zhang Jun was communicating with an official in a quiet corner.
"Lieutenant, your Majesty's determined Northern Expedition is really a waste of money and people, and has shaken the foundation of the Song Dynasty!"
A war minister said in front of Zhang Jun.
Normally, this minister would never say anything like this.
Because with the successive victories of the Northern Expedition, those warring ministers discovered that although their names were in the credit book, it was very different from what they expected.
Zhang Jun remained silent.
He understood what these people meant, and felt sad in his heart.
He finally understood the good intentions of Tang Situi, Wan Qi and others.
If the Northern Expedition goes too smoothly, warriors will easily rise and repeat the mistakes of the Five Dynasties when warriors came to power. This is something that the literati and officials of the Song Dynasty would not allow.
"But His Majesty fully supports the Northern Expedition, and even directly bypasses the Political Hall and the Privy Council to issue orders to the front line. We can't stop the officials' orders at all, and the commander-in-chief of the front line is Feng Zhou. Although he is not a scholar, his official position is not as good as any other.
He is a small person, and we, the group of people, cannot influence him at all! Even Zhao Kui and Yu Yunwen can't."
Zhang Jun sighed.
"Lieutenant, I heard that Tang Jinzhi (Tang Si Tui) did not leave the capital after being demoted, and he was always dissatisfied with the officials." The man changed his tone and talked about Tang Si Tui, the leader of the Zhuhe faction.
Zhang Jun's heart trembled.
Tang Si Tui, Wan Qi and others were the leaders of the Peace Faction. Before they were relegated, they were also ministers of the political affairs hall. Their status and authority were not lower than those of Zhang Jun, Chen Kangbo and others. Now that they have never left the capital, could they be thinking of a comeback?
If so, this should be a great time, and most of the officials in the DPRK will support it.
Throughout the history of the Song Dynasty, there have always been extremely fierce civil and military disputes. Civil servants and officials have been in an overwhelming advantage for a long time, and in order to maintain this overwhelming advantage, they have never hesitated at any cost. For example, during wars, power will automatically
In favor of the generals. In this way, in order to maintain the absolute say of civil servants in the court, the so-called capitulation faction and the main war faction will often unite and attack the military generals by any means. On the one hand, they will deliberately command randomly and ruin their country's military strength.
, on the one hand, they actively cooperate with the enemy and have no regard for the life and death of the country.
The civil servants and bureaucrats of the Song Dynasty almost naturally hated war, not because they loved peace, but because war would inevitably lead to the rise of the status of warriors and affect their absolute right to speak. For this reason, once a foreign enemy invaded, the first reaction of the scholar-bureaucrats in the Song Dynasty was to settle the matter.
, spend money to buy peace, and would rather grovel and give beautiful women and money to the invaders than let the warriors of the country become powerful. Unless the enemy is very open and the terms cannot be negotiated, these scholar-officials will bite the bullet and fight -
Generally speaking, you will most likely lose.
Now, Fengzhou's Northern Expedition is going unusually smoothly, which has led all the warring factions and peace-promoting ministers to unite, with the purpose of sabotaging the Northern Expedition and suppressing the status of the warriors.
Therefore, at this moment, Zhang Junxinzhonghua knew very well that if he could not stop the Northern Expedition in time and could not find a way to stop His Majesty's determination, he would be afraid that his position would not be guaranteed under the fierce influence of hundreds of officials.
Wait, why do you say they are dissatisfied with His Majesty?
Just listen to the man whisper: "I heard that the Northern Expedition led to a series of victories. Your Majesty is very interested. He often returns to the old capital to worship his ancestors. He is so happy that he often goes boating in Taichi recently. If Tang Jinzhi knows this
The official is worried that the dragon boat is in danger of capsizing..."
"Crash!" Zhang Jun suddenly stood up, his eyes widened, and he looked at the minister with a look of surprise on his face.
This guy is clearly hinting at regicide!
And he wanted to bring trouble to Tang Situi!
wrong!
This is threatening him.
If he does not support the opinions of the officials, then the culprit may be himself.
Thinking of this, Zhang Jun felt a chill in his heart.
He sat down slowly, paused, and said, "How is Guoben?"
"Prince Gong is ten years old this year. He is smart and kind, worthy of a great position."
The man whispered.
Prince Gong is Zhao Chun, the third son of the current official Zhao family. Because his two brothers died in childhood, he was named the military commander of the Tao Army at a young age.
Theoretically, he can already be regarded as the crown prince.
"But I don't know what Xiang Chen thinks?" Zhang Jun still did not dare to express his opinion.
Because of the Northern Expedition, he served as Privy Councilor, but in fact it was to prepare for retirement and to make way for the imperial master Shi Hao.
Therefore, the most powerful ministers in the court were Chen Kangbo and Shi Hao.
Shi Hao is the emperor's master, and Zhao is the guarantee for him to occupy a high position, so he will fully support Zhao.
If Chen Kangbo disagrees, this matter cannot be pushed forward.
"Prime Minister Chen also felt that the Northern Expedition wasted money and food and caused hardship to the people, so he should take advantage of the victory to make peace with the Jin people. It's just that His Majesty is seriously ill and needs to be put to rest in peace!"
Zhao Zheng is jumping up and down, but Chen Kangbo thinks that His Majesty is seriously ill?
Zhang Jun felt even more frightened.
He understood that the former war minister in front of him came to him just in case.
The other party has quickly formed a huge alliance.
"In this case, there is only one last question left! It is also the most critical question." Zhang Jun asked: "Feng Zhou is not Yue Pengju. If he gets angry, who of you can control him? You must know the lessons learned by the late emperor!"
According to everyone's speculation, Zhao Gou, the tenth emperor of the Song Dynasty, whose temple name was Gaozong, might have been killed by Feng Zhou.
If the death of the current emperor and the halt of the Northern Expedition have angered the God of Plague, who in Lin'an can stop him?
"Lieutenant, don't worry. Someone has already invited a master of magic. He may not be Feng Zhou's opponent, but he can worship the true god and invite a ghost with great supernatural powers, which is enough to make Feng Zhou fall into hell."
, I will never be able to stand up again." The man said firmly.
Zhang Jun shook his head and said: "The Fengzhou magical power is so amazing. The strange people and strangers I have defeated are as numerous as the crucian carp crossing the river. What kind of magic master can invite the gods to take over?"
"The Lieutenant may not know that this master is Shan Honglie, the leader of the mysterious sect Black Witch Sect in the north. The true god he worships is called Black Rakshasa."