The Baihe River that flows southward from the east side of Nanyang City and then turns to the southeast at the foot of Yushan Mountain is probably the Feishui River in the Three Kingdoms period. At least it is related by blood.
Over thousands of years, this river and Nanyang City have witnessed too many rises and falls and wars.
Therefore, on this day, when an unremarkable military activity started again around the river, it did not bother to react at all, and just greeted everything with a silent attitude.
When the sky was slightly light, the Song army began to cross the river at the three large pontoon bridges due south.
In other words, Baihe River surrounds Nanyang on both sides, and Nanyang is a famous city in the world with a large population, well-developed handicraft industry, and agriculture. It is also the main channel from Jingxiang area to the Central Plains. Therefore, this place is usually densely populated and can be called the convergence of business travel. Nanyang goes south.
, there are also traditions of seasonal and even permanent floating bridges going east.
This is also an important factor for Zhao Jiu to rely on when leaving the city tonight. He knows that crossing the river itself is unlikely to be a problem before the ice melts. Neither the Jin Army nor Zhang Yu's troops nor Zhang Jing who came to help have any reason to be there.
During the freezing period, the pontoon bridge was specially dismantled. Instead, the pontoon bridge could only be built as soon as possible during the ice melting period, taking advantage of the ice.
Back in front of us, the Song army began to cross the river in an orderly manner, and Yang Yizhong led more than half of the imperial squad to appear in the queue, which almost convinced most of the main forces of the Song army, except Wang De and Zhang Jing, that the Zhao Guan family was with them.
In fact, even some of the Imperial Banzhi who followed Zhao Guan's family out of the city at night firmly believed that the Guan's family was in the army, but they just missed it due to the chaos of the march and the unclear weather.
This is what is called if you want to deceive your enemy, you must first deceive yourself.
And sure enough, just after the Song army safely crossed halfway to the south of the city, about twenty miles away in a straight line due east of Nanyang City, behind Yushan Mountain and in the dark shadow in front of the old Yushan Camp, the Zhao Guan family and his family were waiting here.
Hundreds of Red Heart Cavalrymen heard a rumbling sound that was not very loud at first but had a wide vibration, like a deliberately suppressed muffled thunder.
Needless to say, it goes without saying that the Zhao Guan family and most of the military elites in the city had guessed correctly, and they also correctly bet that Wanqi, who the Jin army had withdrawn to the north yesterday, was not there to support Talan, but to outflank him!
However, in order to avoid alerting the enemy, these Wanqi chose to complete the outflank from a slightly further distance.
And as the muffled thunder composed of the sound of horse hooves moved from far to near, the cold wind howled, and the faint sound of horses was heard.
Besides, even though they knew that the two sides were separated by a river and an unknown number of miles, and that the sun rose very late in the winter morning, and that the remaining darkness was enough to cover most people's figures, everyone still instinctively chose to go.
He held his breath, silenced his flags and drums, and waited quietly for the large force of the Jin Army to surge across due east.
It’s hard to say how nervous others were and what they were thinking about, but Zhao Jiu, who had changed into armor and had a bow and arrow on his back, stood with his hands tied with his back to a rock, just like the posture he stood under the city during the artillery battle.
...but the mood is completely different.
Moreover, at this time, whether it was because of his arrogance or because of his failure, Zhao Jiu actually continued to think about the issues that he had not finished thinking about before in the sound of horse hooves. He kept thinking, kept thinking, why did he end up in this situation?
The current actions of the Jin Army did not exceed the imagination and expectations of the military elites of the Song Dynasty. Although the Jin Army's siege was powerful, it fell into a complete defeat due to the Song Dynasty's higher-level city defense skills; even from an overall perspective
, the overall strategic planning of the Jin Army cannot be said to be that outstanding, and the response of the Song Army failed.
However, the situation finally came to a point where the emperor placed himself next to the enemy's thousands of cavalry and desperately searched for a chance of survival!
Is this reasonable?
Is this the same thing as that time Ruyang left the city?
That time, he went to see Zhai Chong in a condescending manner, with a certain attitude of safety. The ministers even despised him for being a loser, but this time he had to survive tens of thousands of Jin army's cavalry in the fields outside the city, and it required the help of tens of thousands of soldiers.
Life is used as bait.
How many kilograms and taels he has, others don't know, doesn't Zhao Jiu know it himself? It's neither Li Shimin nor Zhao Kuangyin. Eight hundred cavalry are hiding here. Once discovered by the Jin people, they will die.
However, what can he do besides doing this now?
Aren't we in a desperate situation now? Aren't the tens of thousands of people between Han Shizhong and Five Rivers sitting still all going to finish the game? Even the Tokyo Remaining Department will completely collapse if it fails, and the entire country's military strength will be wiped out.
Two-thirds disappeared!
He was basically forced to go to Liangshan!
Lin Chong is the temple of Fengxue Mountain, and he is the bank of the dry and cold Baihe River, but they are all thinking about the murderous aura that invades people, and the sadness is so cold that the wind penetrates the bones.
I don’t know if Lin Chong is among Song Jiang’s thirty-six bandits, and is he really from the Forbidden Army?
When I think of this, I have nothing to think about.
Less than half an hour later, the muffled thunder continued, but it had moved from the northeast to the southeast, and the sky was already getting dark at this time. It is conceivable that after dawn, the Jin army would definitely fight against the Song Dynasty who had completely crossed the river as planned.
A fierce battle broke out between the troops... But at this moment, Zhao Guanjia suddenly stood up, stepped forward to lead his horse, turned around and headed towards the White River Floating Bridge, regardless of the fact that the Jin Army's brigade was not far away at this time.
The people around suddenly fell into panic. Some people instinctively led their horses to follow, but some people were too busy to stop them. Some people tried to remonstrate, but they did not dare to speak out.
"After crossing the river," Zhao Jiu did not pay attention to the commotion, but looked at Liu Yan and warned him seriously. "The front army of the Jin Army must have already engaged. By then, the whole Red Heart Army will not need to cover up too much, and they will go all the way east away from the battlefield. If they encounter
The small group of Jin troops took the initiative to scold them and asked them to get out of the way."
When several people behind him heard this, they instantly woke up, but did not try to dissuade them any further. Instead, they admired the Zhao Guan family for being thoughtful despite their haste. You must know that Liu Yan and the Red Heart Team were both from Liaodong, and their accents were no different from those of the cavalry in the Jin Army.
And this is probably why Yang Yizhong, who had a higher status and more reliable identity, went to lure the enemy, and only Liu Yan was allowed to accompany him in ancient times.
In this way, the eight hundred cavalry carefully crossed the Baihe River, then got on their horses, protected Zhao Guan's family and several ministers in the center, and then released their horses to the east.
Facts have also proved that Zhao Jiu's decision to cross the river without waiting for the Jin army to completely pass was not problematic, because all the Jin army's thoughts were on the south. Although they bumped into a few scattered cavalry units along the way, they were just on their way.
He didn't notice the slightly different attire of the Red Heart Cavalry in the faint morning light.
In the morning, the entire army arrived at Qingtai Town, dozens of miles away due east of Nanyang, safely and safely, and crossed the Bishui River through a stone bridge here.
At this point, the whole army rested for a while, drank water and food, took off their armor and fed the horses, and then without any intention of sparing the precious horses, they set off in a hurry. This is nothing, because the reason why the horses are treasured in ordinary times is just for this kind of thing.
Condition!
But the problem is that the Zhao Guan family took the lead and actually galloped directly to the east! Instead of going south along the Bishui River!
At this time, not to mention the soldiers below, the number two figure in the team, the censor Zhongcheng Hu Yin, who was following in a panic, finally came to his senses. Zhao Guan's family is not going to Xiangyang! They are going to the east... to the east.
In all likelihood, we are going to Yanling!
Of course, by this time, among the few people accompanying him, only Hu Zhongcheng, who was an absolute loser once military issues were involved, had just come to his senses!
But on the other hand, once there was no need to consider military issues, Hu Mingzhong immediately became the extremely smart man who used to handle Han Shizhong like a child!
Therefore, once he woke up and Hu Yin followed behind Zhao Guanjia in confusion, he couldn't help but feel happy and worried.
Fortunately, the official family did not lose their temper after all, and did not choose to give up the initiative and go to Xiangyang to avoid it. They were still the same Zhao Guan family who crossed the river on a snowy night in Huaishang to meet Zhang Jun; but what was worrying was that combined with the previous marriage between him and Liu Ziyu, Li Guang, etc.
After many disputes among people, Hu Yin began to suspect that officials must bring their own reasons for this trip... Could it be that he was worried that Hu Mingzhong's stay in Nanyang would ruin the military situation?
In the eyes of the officials, is Hu Mingzhong just a person who can ruin the situation?
At this thought, the censor Zhongcheng was ashamed and angry, but he could only grit his teeth and say nothing, because it was meaningless to say anything or think at this time.
In the afternoon, 800 cavalry arrived in the Zhongyang Mountain area of Old Tangzhou, now the westernmost part of Nanyang Prefecture. The whole army slowed down and marched through the mountainous area. Then Zhao Guanjia ordered to divert water and food for the second time. After getting up again, they ordered half of the sergeants to
Abandoning the horses on the spot and heading towards Biyang, the remaining 400 people, one man and two horses, continued to march without stopping!
Let's say that just when Zhao Guan's family rushed to Yanling desperately, the winner had already been decided in Nanyang. And facts proved that facing a large group of Jin Army cavalry in the field, the Song Army basically had no power to fight back.
Even though the three generals Wang De, Yang Yizhong and Zhang Jing had already warned them that they could immediately return to the city once they succeeded in luring the enemy, so they immediately turned back north when they noticed the Jin army's attack at dawn; even if the three generals consciously slowed down
Crossing the river, they deliberately left the heavy baggage on the inside of the Baihe River, so they could move easily; even though they had deployed a defense line against the cavalry on the east side of the Baihe River early... But in the face of Wanyan Balisu personally leading the execution of 10,000 cavalry
Despite the massive flank attack, the Song Army still seemed so vulnerable!
In just half an hour, the entire Song army had entered a rout mode. The three generals had no choice but to take the troops they could control and try their best to guide some of the troops back north.
But the Song Army's misfortune was not over yet. After the Song Army crossed the river in the early morning, in addition to Wanyanba's attack on the outside of Baihe River, which had been prepared for a very fast attack, Wanyan Wushu did not give up his obstruction on the inside of Baihe River after learning the news.
In the morning, Han Chang led an equally large number of cavalry to attack in a swarm, trying to attack Wanyan Balisu across the river together!
At this time, there is no point in fighting, and the entire army can basically move one by one.
On the top of Nanyang City, countless officials who were caught in chaos and disputes because of the official's sudden move south to Xiangyang looked at such a tragic scene and basically lost the desire to argue. This scene was too similar to those who were arrested outside Tokyo in Jingkang that day.
King Qin's troops were defeated.
Moreover, most of them, including the important officials who knew that the official family was leaving the city, fell into despair because no one knew the safety of the official Zhao family after such a tragic defeat.
Fortunately, the two Xianggong Lu showed great calmness and execution ability at this time. Under the lenient and strict handling of the two men, a certain order was maintained in the city, the artillery positions were activated in time, and the troops in the city immediately left the city. The layout of the sheep and horse wall effectively curbed the movement of Jin cavalry outside the city, and also allowed a large number of defeated Song troops to escape.
However, this large number is only compared to the tragic scene during the day. After checking the defeated troops at night, it was found that Wang De's tribe, Yang Yi's middle section, and Zhang Jing's tribe totaled ten thousand people, and only four thousand entered the city. Dazhai in the east of the city was also recaptured by the Jin army. .The three generals all came back alive, but except for Wang De, the blood on his body belonged to someone else, and the other two were injured.
But at this time, it really doesn't matter. I'm lucky to be able to come back alive.
Of course, when everyone in the city heard the news that the officials were "using tens of thousands of troops as bait to bypass Xiangyang", although they were shocked, they felt more and more that someone was being cold-blooded. At least they realized that the Song Dynasty was not dead yet, and the city could still be defended. The order in the city gradually returned to normal...but it was impossible for morale to return to its previous state.
In fact, something happened that night. Officers from Fu Qing's tribe thought that Zhao Guan's family had a cold nature and allowed tens of thousands of people to use him as bait to escape. They wanted to take advantage of the chaos and lead his troops to abandon the city and surrender to the Jin people.
Yang Yizhong, who was injured but continued to work, found out and captured these people in the military workshop. For this reason, Fu Qing went to Lu Yihao to plead guilty and intercede.
In response, Prime Minister Lu Yihao not only agreed to plead for mercy, but also publicly accused Yang Yizhong of disregarding the overall situation and convicting innocent soldiers with rumors.
There was a follow-up to this matter. On the second day, these people really escaped when they were rotating into the city. Fu Qing came to stop him in person, but he only killed half of them. How many people escaped? Fu Qing came again. After pleading guilty, Lu Yihao greatly praised Fu Qing, and appointed Fu Qing and Zhang Jing, who had fled back to the city to recuperate in bed, as deputy defense envoys for the four walls of Nanyang Mansion; as for the few rebels who escaped, they did not end well... Without finding the Zhao Song official family, the Jin army learned from the people who escaped that the Zhao Guan family secretly visited Chen Cang and may have fled to Xiangyang, but they were filled with resentment!
Wanyan Wushu personally ordered these people to be beheaded alive in front of the tent, but then he was in a dilemma... He didn't know whether to immediately send a force south to surround Xiangyang!
And the two days passed by in this chaotic situation.
One more thing must be said here. The Yanling-Changshe battlefield is in the northeast of Nanyang, just outside the northeast exit of the Nanyang Basin. The straight-line distance from Nanyang to Yanling is about three hundred miles. The road is extremely flat. When the capable cavalry is used as a messenger, , one person and two horses, if there is no fighting and entanglement, and they keep changing horses, they can arrive in a day and a half at a gallop.
But that road was too dangerous. Once the eight hundred cavalry hit the Jin army, they would be dead ends, so the road Zhao Jiu chose was the road Du Yan came from, that is, he first went east through Zhongyang Mountain and out of the Nanyang Basin. , then use Xiping as the pivot point, bypass the battlefield where the Jin Army may be present, and then walk north toward Yanling.
After walking like this, the actual distance expanded to more than 400 miles.
More than four hundred miles, combined Hanli is about five hundred miles. Xia Houyuan said, five hundred miles in three days, but that refers to the extreme attack under the condition of maintaining the organization and combat effectiveness of the army. In fact, Du Yan, a civil servant, regardless of
I came here on horseback and my consciousness was blurred, but it only took me two and a half days to complete this road.
Zhao Jiu followed this road. In the afternoon of the first day, he drove away half of the sergeants and replaced them with one man and two horses. In the early morning of the second day, he bypassed Xiping and walked onto the main road. He left some of the soldiers behind again and selected horses.
But it is inevitably a little faster than Xia Houyuan and Du Yan.
Of course, it's not much faster.
On the morning of the twelfth day of the first lunar month, Zhao Guanjia, whose thighs were reborn, brought a pair of worn-out thighs, a few unconscious entourage, and less than two hundred knights who had fallen behind, and arrived in front of the Song Army's barracks at the foot of Yanling City.
It has already been two and a half days.
Moreover, Zhao Jiu did not rush to the camp. Instead, he ordered the entire army to dismount and rest in the open space south of the camp, using the last bit of dry food and water from the stream that was loaded directly on the road.
This move made some of the accompanying knights a little puzzled. It was clear that the Song Army's own camp was in front of them, but why didn't they enter the camp and enjoy hot water and hot meals?
Not only that, this strange behavior also attracted the attention of the surrounding scattered troops and some officers in the camp. Soon, a mixed cavalry and infantry force of four to five hundred people took the initiative to emerge from the southernmost camp of the camp to investigate.
.
More than a hundred cavalry moved far to the west side, and the infantry moved away in front of them. Then they reined in their horses and looked forward, obviously in a posture to prepare for a siege.
In the past, the soldiers of the Red Heart Corps, who were actually included in the imperial banzhi system, would have been unbearable, but now they are so exhausted that they don't even have the energy to yell and scold.
After a while, the white-faced general at the head probably noticed the fatigue of the many cavalry of the Red Heart Corps, so he relaxed a little, stepped forward and shouted:
"Which family's soldiers are you from? Where did you come all the way from?"
"We are the Imperial Banzhi, coming from Nanyang City."
Zhao Jiu swallowed a sip of water and put away the dry fried noodles in his throat, but he managed to raise his voice under the gazes of Liu Yan and others... Running for two consecutive days and nights, even though he tried hard to hide his fatigue, Zhao Jiu
But it was difficult to hide the fact that his voice was slightly hoarse. "I am Fan Zongyin, a member of the Royal Academy's Secretariat. I am flanked by Feng Daguan, the Imperial Attendant and Provincial Supervisor. I have come to Yanling to announce the decree."
When the general heard this, he first noticed Lan Gui beside Zhao Jiu, and then saw the treatment of this troop with more than one man and many horses, as well as the sophisticated armors and weapons carried on the horses, and the few who, although exhausted, could not hide their superiority.
The scribes who knew the breath immediately believed 60%.
It's just that this person has always been meticulous, but he can't help but ask again: "Since you are an angel of the court, why don't you directly declare your seal to enter the camp, and cultivate yourself before entering Yanling City, but instead eat solid food here?"
In response to this, Zhao Jiu gave a half-truth and half-false answer: "I have been traveling for days and nights, and I am covered in dust. I want to take a rest, put on my official robe, and then go inside, so as not to lose the prestige of the Tianjia."
When the general heard this, he was 80% convinced. He dismounted and moved forward, bowed his hands in salute, and first addressed Zhao Jiu as a servant, and then addressed Lan Gui as a high official. When he was about to continue speaking, Zhao Jiu interrupted him and asked:
"Who are you, and what is your position in the administration? Who do you serve?"
The white-faced general did not dare to neglect, and immediately bowed his head and answered: "Li Kui of Jingdong is now the commander-in-chief under Fu Yuezhen."
Zhao Jiu was slightly startled: "I do remember your name... I vaguely remember that you should be from Yishui and served as a military thief in Mizhou? Are you under Yue Fei now?"
"Exactly." When the man heard this, he no longer had any doubts, and immediately bowed his head to confront him. "Mizhou was captured by Li Cheng. I lost my roots and was unwilling to invest in gold, so I went to Zhangzhen to appease..."
"Let's not talk about this anymore." Hearing that it was Yue Fei's subordinate and someone he had paid attention to because of his name, Zhao Jiu no longer hesitated, but immediately got up and interrupted him. "I will rest in your camp, you go immediately
Look for Yue Fei, he has a share of the will!"
When Li Kui heard this, he wished he could be like this... You must know that if he is the real Angel of Nanyang and knows his name, then entering his camp would be a waste of money. But just in case something goes wrong, two hundred cavalry enter his camp.
However, there was no waste in the camp... but he immediately refused to agree. He didn't even need to check the documents and seals, and directly escorted Zhao Jiu and his party into the southernmost camp.
Let's say that after a while, Li Kui gave up his army tent, made some arrangements and instructions, and went to call for people. Zhao Jiu and others immediately put on their armor, washed their faces, and changed their clothes in the camp.
clothing.
After waiting for a while, Liu Yan and others finished putting on their armor, Hu Yin, Lin Jingmo and others also washed up properly, and Zhao Guanjia even put on the red robe and gold belt that Lan Gui had brought so hard along the way, and the hard-winged futou.
After sitting at the table, he opened the tent door wide, but did not let Wan Qixi hang the Jinwu 纛瀛 outside the tent... It can only be said that it was rare that the hard-winged futou was not broken during the bumpy journey, otherwise it would have to be bare.
I came to meet the visitor with my head high.
At noon, with the sound of horse hooves stopping outside the camp gate, a general ushered in dozens of bodyguard knights and quickly stepped inside. When they arrived in front of the Chinese army tent, they first stared at Liu Yanmeng, who was standing silently by the tent with his sword in hand.
The ground was startled.
When he entered, he only glanced at the person behind the case and bowed his head. He was so surprised that Li Kui and others also hurriedly bowed down.
After a long time, Zhao Jiu, who was a little unprepared after the case, finally realized: "Did Yue Qing meet me when he was in Nanjing?"
"Reporting to the officials, that's exactly what happened." The general below responded immediately without raising his head.
After hearing this conversation, Li Kui next to him was almost frightened to death. He instinctively wanted to raise his head, but instead he buried himself deeper.
"Get up and raise your head." Zhao Jiu took a deep breath.
Upon hearing this, Yue Fei immediately led everyone to stand up and face the people behind the case, raising his head and standing with his hands folded.
Unexpectedly, when the other party stood up, Zhao Jiu calmed down, but remained silent for a moment... Moreover, after meeting the real person, Zhao Jiu suddenly realized that the person he had been jealous of before was not the person in front of him at all, because he
The object of jealousy for a long time, or rather the strange obstacle that has always existed in his heart, is not a human being at all!
The man in front of him, who was completely different from the statue and could be called a plain-looking man, was a living person, a general he could rely on just like Han Shizhong. He had no reason to be jealous of him. On the contrary, the only thing he could do now was to cooperate sincerely with this man.
Talent can turn the tide.
"Peng Ju recognizes me best." After a sudden realization in his heart, Zhao Jiu said to him in a language that was so plain that he himself found it unbelievable. "I just came to ask you a few things... How is Du Chong these days?
?Have you ever looked for Du Yan?"
"Four days ago, Deputy Du left behind and sent people out of the city to look for Du Jiyi in various camps. Two days before and after, he stopped looking for anyone after two days and found nothing. Instead, he completely shut himself up and saw no one..."
"Can you enter the city?"
"……able!"
"How many soldiers and horses can you hold in your hands?"
"Twenty thousand!"
"How many troops are there in the entire army?"
"More than eighty thousand!"
“How long can food and grass last?”
"One ten days..."
"I want to win this battle, is it possible?"
Yue Fei was startled for a moment, then squinted his eyes and paused for a moment before he responded solemnly: "Yes!"
"Lead the troops and send me into the city!" Zhao Jiu simply stood up without any hesitation.
ps: Thanks to the 58th cuteness of the bald monk and the cuteness of An Miao girl... I am so ashamed of myself.