Yue Fei kept his promise, and the military camp seemed to have been well prepared. He made a promise to Zhang Jun that afternoon and sent out troops in the rain early the next morning.
The army was divided into two. Among them, Li Kui led an army of 2,000 people and marched directly to Gulou Village... Yes, Yang Guangzhen rebelled for the fourth time; at the same time, in the constant rain, in front of the imperial camp
The commander of the military capital, Yue Fei himself, personally led the main force of Huarong Camp, more than 10,000 men, and several generals, and marched westward in the rain.
Almost only the Jinshi and support staff were left in the entire army.
Zhang Jun was kind of true to his word. He really followed, but he didn't ride a horse. The rain was too heavy and the road was muddy. Riding a horse was just a joke.
In this way, both Zhang Jun, the prime minister, and Yue Fei, the military governor, personally wore bamboo hats, raincoats, and straw sandals, trudging forward on the muddy roads in the south of the Yangtze River, leading their troops to
They advanced westward along Dongting Lake in a counter-clockwise direction, and successfully arrived at Anxiang, Lizhou, which was more than sixty miles away that day. Then, they did not enter the city, but went straight across the Lishui River and arrived at a camp on the other side.
Here is another core camp established by the Song Army on the north side of Dongting Lake. More than 10,000 people led by Deputy Commander Ma Gao and several commanders were waiting here early.
The two armies merged, and the troops here reached 25,000. The main force of Yue Fei's imperial camp had completed its assembly in the rain, but due to the rain, the enemy did not notice it at all.
Considering that at night, Li Kui sent the head of the rebel general who had the same name as Emperor Yang of Sui, then on this first day, the battle results of the imperial camp's front army still exceeded zero, at least forty villages, four states and seven
One village in the county has been eliminated.
Early the next morning, regardless of the fact that yesterday's sixty-mile march in the rain had already caused considerable troop attrition, Yue Fei ordered again to select 20,000 combatable troops from the entire army and set off together, braving the slightly reduced rain and heading westward respectively.
, advancing southward.
Among them, the troops from the original Anxiang camp were directly divided to the west. Wang Shan and Zhang Yong each led 2,000 troops to capture two inland cities such as Qinghua and Aoshan. Ma Gao himself and his wife
Together with Zhang Qing, he supervised five thousand people who attacked the capital of Dingzhou that had fallen before, Wuling County, one of the so-called seven counties.
As for the troops from the original Huarong Camp, they started an arduous march again. They still advanced counterclockwise along Dongting Lake, but in the afternoon when the rain eased, they crossed the Lizhou border and arrived in Dingzhou. Then they came to
Chongxiao Town, and semi-surrounded a large rebel water stronghold located here.
The reason why it is said to be semi-surrounded is that this village has a waterway leading to Dongting Lake and a small port, which the Song army cannot deal with at all.
Of course, it's not necessary... After all, Yue Fei's troops took advantage of the rain to cover up and marched nearly 120 to 30 miles in two days. Although it was far inferior to Li Suxue's night march to Caizhou in all aspects, it was still
This is commendable. But when faced with such a large force's surprise attack, the reaction of the rebels in Chongxiao Water Village was no better than that of the Caizhou defenders.
More than 10,000 soldiers from the imperial camp were like divine soldiers descending from the sky. They suddenly surrounded the Chongxiao stronghold with only 3,000 rebels in the rain. There was almost visible chaos in the stronghold, but Yue Pengju only allowed the entire army to gain a proper foothold.
He also personally led a small number of Chinese infantry to settle on a small slope by the lake on the side of the water village, and did not order an attack... Sure enough, soon an envoy came out tremblingly and asked to see Yue Fei.
"It's Han Xiaoyi. If you come, it will save you a lot of trouble." Seeing the person kneeling directly towards him in the muddy water with a plop, he came to Yue Fei who had just taken off his bamboo hat and stared at the thin rain.
"For more than a month in the past, this person has been traveling to Anxiang and Huarong for various villages in Huxi to make contact."
By the way, although Zhang Jun claimed that he didn't ask too many questions, he was a proud official. How could Yue Fei be so ignorant that he didn't leave a professional commentator for the country's highest military commander? Therefore, Yue Fei had already been a member of the military.
Xiao Bijin was with the Prime Minister. When he saw this person, he reported directly in a low voice. "And this person is the confidant of Huang Zuo, the leader of this village. As for Huang Zuo, he is the leader of the Lizhou area among the rebels.
, extremely powerful and prestigious, second only to Zhong Xiang and Yang Yao among the rebels, the leaders of the group were defeated by my commander in the north, and all the land along the lake in Lizhou was lost, so they joined the rest of Lizhou.
The state rebels retreated to Dingzhou stronghold together...and Dingzhou is the hometown of Prime Minister Zhong."
Zhang Jun imitated Yue Fei and took off the bamboo hat, but his face was expressionless and he ignored Bi Jin's explanation.
"Xiao Yi."
Dozens of steps away, just when Han Xiaoyi on the ground was about to speak, Yue Fei raised his hand to interrupt him, and then told him sternly. "Now let me tell you, you can go into the village and speak clearly to Huang Zuo."
But, there’s no need to interrupt.”
Han Xiaoyi immediately kowtowed in the muddy water.
After a while, Yue Pengju followed the method of listing numbers in the newspaper and said a few words calmly:
"First of all, I am sending the army here to fight with Zhong Xiang and Yang Yaoding to determine the outcome of life and death. I will not delay any more, and I will not give him any room for compromise.
Second, tell Huang Zuo that the military position I am using to recruit surrenders is only for one commander. If he surrenders, it will be his.
Third, regardless of whether he surrenders or not, the innocent Lizhou women and children in the village can return to their hometown in Lizhou and settle down. I will use my life and official position as a guarantee to ensure that I will never be held accountable after the war.
Fourth, if he wanted to know about me in the past few months, he should have known about me as a person, the combat power of my subordinates, and my sincerity... Therefore, I will now wait for him for two-quarters of an hour to surrender. If he comes, it will be me.
Officer of the Imperial Camp, if he doesn't come, I will have to send a large army to break up this stronghold, find him, drag him here, and punish him!
Finally, there is a head here, take it and go quickly!"
Han Xiaoyi didn't say a word, just kowtowed heavily in the muddy water, then got up, lowered his head and took a wooden bucket from Wang Gui's hand. He didn't dare to look at it, and ran directly to the village as if he was flying.
Looking at this scene, Zhang Jun, who stood in the ranks of Yue Fei's army despite the slight rain, had no expression on his face at all. However, after all, he was famous in the region at a young age, became a Jinshi at a young age, and became a dignified prime minister at the age of thirty-four.
The elites have already completely awakened in their hearts:
How could he not know? This Huang Zuo should be a big leader among the rebels. He was also the original leader of the Hubei area that was recaptured by the government army. But now he has lost his foundation and is huddled in the west of the lake. Even Wuling City is
If you can't get in, you can see that it feels like being under someone else's fence. This kind of talent is the most suitable target for recruiting, and it should be where Yue Fei's real intentions have been in the past few months. As for Yang Guang of the ancient building village, it is better to say that he is showing sincerity.
In addition, there are chess pieces to deceive the other rebels... Don’t you see, even people like Xi Yi and Ma Shen have been deceived?
With such good intentions, coupled with the sudden spring rain today, just when these people were completely relaxed, the army suddenly launched a large army in the rain and surrounded them, and Yue Fei showed such kindness and power. As long as Huang Zuo was not a
If you are dumbfounded, you should get out quickly.
Sure enough, just when Zhang Jun felt a sudden realization, as Han Xiaoyi sent Yang Guang's head and Yue Fei's words into the village, just a stick of incense later, a man wearing leather armor and half-naked
A big man with two arms and a big spear carried a big spear, and he led dozens of fishermen dressed similarly to leave the village with their heads lowered, and then led directly to Yue Fei under the leadership of Han Xiaoyi, who must be Huang Zuo.
And Huang Zuo led more than a dozen officers in the village, and the personal guards walked dozens of steps away from Yue Fei, then stopped on their own initiative, then threw the big spear in his hand in front of everyone, and then prepared to take off his armor... Obviously, this was
I'm going to turn against you and surrender with courtesy.
But at this moment, Yue Fei, who had been squinting at Huang Zuo and his party, suddenly said loudly from dozens of steps away: "Don't disarm!"
Huang Zuo was slightly startled, but immediately stopped his hand and wanted to come over empty-handed.
"Bring your weapons!" Yue Fei narrowed his eyes again and said.
Huang Zuo was startled again, but he still chose to obey the order. He picked up his spear from the mud and walked forward. When he was seven or eight steps away from Yue Fei, he took the initiative to hold the spear upside down and knelt down to beg for surrender.
"There is no need to kneel down." Yue Fei interrupted the other party for the third time. "Huang Tongzhi, since you have come to surrender, you are the commander of the front army of my imperial camp. How can you remove your armor, abandon your troops, and kneel down? There are people above and below.
No, just sing to me."
Huang Zuo was finally relieved, and he held his spear and made a hand gesture towards Yue Fei, then lowered his head and said: "Captain, I am grateful for your grace and patience for several months, so I came to surrender. I hope that your Majesty will forgive me for everything I have done before."
"
"I have forgotten everything before." Yue Fei squinted his eyes from above and faced each other. "Besides, the important matters of the country are at the forefront, so you and I shouldn't talk about these things... Wang, Deputy Commander-in-Chief!"
Wang Gui immediately came out of the queue and stood side by side with Huang Zuo.
"I will give you five thousand soldiers, and immediately cross the Yuan River to the south and attack Chenyang!" Yue Fei's face remained unchanged and he ordered sternly. "You must take this city with me!"
"Here." Wang Gui responded and left, followed by several generals without stopping at all.
"Huang Tongzhi." Yue Fei continued to give orders from a high position on the hill.
"Here!" Huang Zuo, who couldn't help but steal a glance at Wang Gui, was suddenly startled.
"To the east and southeast of here, there are two villages along the lake. They are Hanwanzi Village and Fushuizhai. Each has only four or five hundred troops. I am giving you a military order now, asking you to immediately take your headquarters and march eastward, regardless of whether it is
Recruit or attack by force, we must capture it before tonight! Otherwise, military orders will be dealt with!" Yue Feizhen gave the order as usual, as if the person in front of him was an old subordinate who had been with him for many years.
Let's talk about the two villages. One was set up by the defeated army of Lizhou, and the other was sent by Zhong Xiang to the Dongting Lake Pass to monitor and guard against the Lizhou people. How could Huang Zuo not know? He was a rebel one moment, and he will be an official at this moment.
When the army went to conquer, how could he adapt?
However, just when Huang Zuo raised his head and opened his mouth to refuse, he saw Yue Fei standing in front of him looking down at him from a high position, with his eyes one big and one small, glaring non-stop in the rain. This man was shocked.
Yu, when the words came to his mouth, they turned over like a ghost, leaving only one word:
"Here!"
"Do we need military subsidies?" Yue Fei kept asking.
"don't want."
"Do you need help from soldiers and horses?"
"No!"
"Then do it quickly."
Huang Zuo saluted with his big spear again, and then turned around and returned to the stronghold... At this time, Wang Gui had already begun to lead the troops south, and an obvious gap in the encirclement had appeared around Chongxiao Dazhai. Soon, Huang Zuo led about two people
Thousands of subordinates were divided into two, and they attacked by land and water. They passed directly through the enemy's army formation just now and followed the waterway all the way east.
In such a situation, both the military personnel in front of the imperial camp and Huang Zuo's headquarters all felt strange, but they had nothing to say.
But no matter what happened, after a while, he watched all the troops leave the stronghold. Only the old and weak family members were left in the stronghold. However, Yue Fei said nothing and directly set up camp outside Chongxiao Stronghold, waiting for news.
In the evening of the same day, Huang Zuo surrendered to Hanwanzi Village, defeated Fushuizhai, and returned with the head of the guard of Fushuizhai. Before that, Ma Gao, Wang Shan, and Zhang Yong also won their own victories, including Qinghua, Aoshan, and even Wuling.
The city was easily defeated by the surprise attack of the imperial army.
On this day, the troops in front of the imperial camp broke through the five villages and captured one county. It was considered a smooth progress.
The next day, when the weather cleared up, Yue Fei once again summoned Huang Zuo and Guo Tai, the leader of Hansen Village, and asked them to continue southward along Dongting Lake to raid, attack, and surrender the water villages along the lake. Then he personally supervised the five thousand troops and followed them.
Later, at the same time, he also ordered Ma Gao and other generals to immediately go south to the Yuan River to soak up the water, and then march overland towards the Hunan area and the Xiang River area to capture cities and territories.
On this day, Huang Zuo and others once again surrendered two villages and defeated them. Among them, Yang Qin, the leader of another Dazhai village, was caught off guard and chose to surrender. At the same time, Wang Gui also defeated Chenyang.
On the fourth day, Yue Fei, who had crossed the Yuanjiang River, did not go to Chenyang City. Instead, he ordered the entire army to mix with Huang Zuo, Yang Qin, Guo Tai and others to attack the Yuanjiang River at the same time.
He led the eight water villages, and once again led Wang Gui in the lead, marching towards Yiyang County on the banks of the water, while he continued to supervise the army behind and continued to advance.
At this time, the Song army was able to ride horses, and Prime Minister Zhang was able to fulfill his promise, sit on his horse, and march with Yue Fei's army.
It should be said that the prime minister had relaxed a lot at this time, but as news of the success of the water forts came from various places, Yue Fei once again spoke wildly:
"From this point of view, it doesn't take ten days, but seven or eight days to succeed. Tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, we can fight decisively and defeat Prime Minister Zhong."
Zhang Jun had agreed not to take the initiative to speak, so he just frowned upon hearing this.
Of course, Yue Fei had to take care of the leader's mood, so he took the initiative to go hand in hand and gave Zhang Deyuan a brief explanation: "Zhong Xiang was originally from Dingzhou. At this time, he was in the Yuanjiang River (the name of the county, where the old Yuanjiang estuary is located, between Dongting Lake and Chiting Lake).
On the peninsula (not referring to the river), the people moved slowly. If he could not detect the actions the day before yesterday, but he should have noticed the actions yesterday, but there was no movement at all. This is something the general did not expect. Therefore, if he can sweep away eight people today
If the stronghold is successful, Prime Minister Zhong will fall into death, and we can defeat him tomorrow!"
Zhang Jun finally showed his joy: "If I can win the Prime Minister, this battle will be won!"
Yue Fei shook his head and corrected seriously:
"The prime minister doesn't know something. Even if he compares himself with the bandit leader, he will only win half the battle. It still depends on Yang Yao's movements."
Zhang Jun didn't understand anymore and couldn't open his mouth to ask, so he turned back to look at Bi Jin behind him.
Bi Jin did not dare to neglect and immediately stepped forward to be the commentator.
It turned out that Zhong Xiang was an ancestral shaman from Dingzhou, known as the Great Sage. He also established a society near Dongting Lake to collect money and food in good years and help the poor in bad years. He had a great influence and was a natural rebel leader.
The kind that can be shaken.
But to be honest, it is essentially impossible for such a person to escape from the situational mentality of a wealthy gentry and a shamanistic family... Therefore, when the rebels were at their peak, their influence once spread to more than a dozen state armies in Hunan and Hubei, but under those circumstances, he
Not wanting to make progress, he only handed over all frontline affairs to Yang Yao. Instead, he hurriedly proclaimed himself king in his hometown of Dingzhou, built a palace in Yuanjiang County, and selected a princess for his son Zhong Zhiyi, in order to find a special horoscope.
Women are used to carry on the family line, so that the inheritance of the King of Chu can be passed down from generation to generation.
Therefore, the Dongting Lake Rebellion actually had two actual leaders, one was Zhong Xiang and the other was Yang Yao.
"The Prime Minister doesn't know that we heard a joke when we first came to Hubei." Bi Jin was young after all, and he became more and more familiar with Zhang Jun. After roughly explaining Yang Yao's special leadership status, he said immediately
It goes on and on. "It is said that Prime Minister Zhong's family has a large population. After he becomes king, he must enjoy the blessings of the whole family together. The bed where the family sleeps must be inlaid with gold and jade. However, even if he conquered more than a dozen counties, he could not get it together. So,
He always asked people to search for the rebels everywhere... In the end, the rebels in the Xiangyin area were so harassed by him that they had to recruit craftsmen to collect gold and jade and build a batch of gold-inlaid jade beds for the King of Chu.
That’s all."
Bi Jin's words seemed to express his disdain for Zhong Xiang. However, when Zhang Jun heard this, he was not only unhappy but also frowned, causing the former to sneer at him for a while.
In this way, the imperial camp's front army marched forward into Yuanjiang County. Good news came almost continuously along the way. First, Huang Zuo and others were sent to the front, and the imperial camp's front army was behind. Under the mixed attack, all the people along the lake in Dingzhou were attacked.
The rebel water strongholds were unable to support each other. Three of them surrendered and the fifth was destroyed. As expected, only Yuanjiang Zhongxiang's lone army remained in Dingzhou. The lonely city and lonely stronghold remained. Yue Fei's military progress fully met expectations.
But that's not all. As Yue Fei's headquarters entered Yuanjiang County, in the afternoon, more exciting news suddenly came from Wang Gui:
The former deputy commander of the imperial camp was on the way to attack Yiyang when he suddenly discovered that the main force of the rebels in the Xiang River Basin led by Yang Yao was crossing the Zhanshui from the lower reaches, as if they were coming to aid Dingzhou and Yuanjiang. But Wang Gui pretended not to know, but clearly
He had already controlled one of the city gates, but continued to pretend that he was attacking the city. After Yang Yao crossed the river, he hurriedly led seven or eight thousand troops to aid Yiyang, but he turned around to meet him. A fierce battle broke out between the two sides in the field, and Yang Yao could only hold on.
In half an hour, the army was defeated like a mountain, and Wang Gui drove him towards Yuanjiang River.
Just now they were saying that we need Prime Minister Zhong and Yang Yao to win together to end this rebellion, but now Yang Yao has thrown himself into the trap... Naturally, everyone was excited for a moment.
On the other hand, Zhang Jun heard that the battle ahead was beyond his expectation. Not only was he not happy, but his expression became even worse, as if he had other ideas in his mind.
And soon, as Yue Fei did not take any emergency measures and only sent out a herald to ensure that the troops from all over the place were properly gathered and encircled, and no unauthorized entry was allowed, the prime minister who had not taken the initiative to speak during the whole process finally couldn't bear it any longer.
The grass was growing and the orioles were flying, the waves of Dongting Lake were swaying slightly, and on the side of an unknown acres of wide reed marsh, Zhang Deyuan suddenly reined in his horse and stopped, and then called out to the other party on the spot:
"Yue Dutong!"
"The end is here." Yue Fei seemed to have expected it, so he simply reined in his horse and turned around to hand over his hand.
"Do you know what I want to ask?" Zhang Jun's face was already ashen.
"You can probably guess."
"Tell me and listen." Zhang Jun's breath gradually became unsteady.
"There are many doubts in the Prime Minister's mind, but for now, Xiao Chu probably wants to ask why he didn't seize Yuanjiang County, but instead deliberately indulged and allowed Yang Yao to move freely within Yuanjiang territory? Da Chu, he is also the Prime Minister.
The thing that I have been enduring is that the rebels are so vulnerable and can obviously destroy everything, but why do the front troops of the imperial camp keep standing still? Why don't they put down the chaos from the beginning, instead of trying to recruit them in vain? And from the perspective of the final general
, these two..."
"Do you know that too?!"
Before the other party finished speaking, Zhang Jun was completely furious. "I have already seen it now. It doesn't matter if it's ten days, five days, or one month. What about one month? The key is that the rebels are so vulnerable, how can they be appeased?"
Necessary? Under such devastation, just ask for a pardon document when the time comes. Why do you have to submit a special memorial instead of appeasement? If you had directly entered Huxi and Hunan at that time, the chaos a year ago would have been over! The officials will treat you with great kindness.
Is this what you did to make you, a criminal soldier, a Jiedushi envoy in the past few years? I tell you, if you don’t give me a reason to convince me today, return to the center, no matter how you Yue Fei uses his power
If you win and shut up the mouths of the people in the world, no matter how the officials favor you, I, Zhang Jun, will not give up the position of prime minister, and I will drive you out of the army for playing enemies!"
The surrounding soldiers were all panic-stricken, but Yue Fei was silent for a moment, but continued to face each other, and said frankly: "Prime Minister, I have never played tricks on the enemy. As for the reason for stopping in Hubei before... In fact,
The official army cannot defeat the rebels! And with all due respect, I am afraid that not only the front army of the imperial camp, but also the other units of the imperial camp can defeat the rebels on the lake."
Zhang Jun was stunned for a moment. He didn't know if he didn't hear clearly, or if he was extremely angry, but he held the reins of his horse and said in a daze: "What did you say, say it again."
"We can't defeat the rebels." Yue Fei reined in his horse and stood, motionless. His voice was clear and unmistakable, and he said it twice. "Prime Minister, the general just said that we can't defeat the rebels!"
Zhang Jun was so angry that he simply waved his horsewhip and rebuked: "Wuling City fell in one battle, Chenyang City fell in one battle, Yiyang City fell in one battle, and the seventeen villages in Huxi were wiped out in three days. Yang Yao's main force was 8,000 people.
They were defeated head-on by your 5,000-strong siege force that was halfway through the siege. In addition, you went south from Xiangyang and won consecutive battles in various parts of Hubei... But now you tell me that the official army cannot defeat the rebels, so you
I changed my military attack to appeasement... Do you think I am blind?!"
"Prime Minister, please don't get angry." Yue Fei responded calmly, showing no fear. "Prime Minister, please think carefully. In these battles, were all the water villages near the lake really defeated by the army?"
Zhang Jun opened his mouth to reprimand, but suddenly he trembled, then pulled the horse's head and circled in a circle. After standing still, the thunderous fury just now was gone.
When Yue Fei saw that the other party had come to his senses, he also sighed, and then spoke sincerely: "Prime Minister, you can see clearly with the army that this battle went smoothly because all the land battles were fought by government troops, while all the Linhu and water villages were fought by local Dongting Lake rebels.
He conquered it... water battles and land battles are completely different. In land battles, whether Shangguan's army storms a stronghold or wins a decisive victory in the field, General Shu Mo will say that it is a matter of success;
The last general is incompetent. Since arriving at the lake last year, no matter how hard he thinks, he is not sure of victory. Even if he can break the stronghold temporarily, he cannot completely wipe out the water thieves among them. Let him come and go as he pleases from the lake, and then set up a water trap.
The stronghold is endless. Therefore, if you can't defeat it, you can't defeat it! But in the middle of the court, there are too many people who don't know how to fight. I only saw how easy it was for the last general to capture the lost territory in Hubei, so I took it for granted that fighting near the lake would be that easy.
As everyone knows, if you want to defeat the water stronghold along the lake, you have to use the water stronghold to attack the water stronghold, and use the lake people to fight the lake people. There is no other way!"
Zhang Jun didn't say a word, but after a few turns in his mind, he already believed 100% of what he said.
Because there are too many intuitive examples.
The Jin army's cavalry was invincible on the plains, but was helpless by fishermen and merchant ships in the Liangshan Po Lake and the Huaihe River. The Western army was beaten like chickens by the Jin army on the wild plateau, and turned around to hold on in the mountains of northern Shaanxi.
But he can defeat the golden man greatly.
In the past few days, he personally followed Yue Fei along the lake and saw with his own eyes that Dongting Lake was hundreds of miles away. As the water rose and fell, there were as many forks, swamps and ditches as there were, but they were just the right places where it was difficult to use troops. It's just that.
I was marching non-stop in the first two days, and I was too tired to think about it. In the last two days, the battle went so smoothly that it was dizzying, but I ignored these things.
"So, you deliberately didn't go to take Yuanjiang City, but you were hoping that Yang Yao could get in. Once he got to the city, it would be easier for you to surround him and eat him?" After thinking about it, Zhang
Jun coughed dryly and asked tentatively again.
"Yes." Yue Fei answered sincerely. "If he can enter the city, it is best not to leave even Zhong Xiang, then it will be God's help to the officers and soldiers."
"Although there were many battles in the past few days, the only critical one was whether Huang Zuo could be forced to surrender that day, and then let him lead the Lizhou rebels to attack the Dingzhou rebels? Regardless of the previous march in the rain,
Or did you linger for a few months, or did you drive all the Lizhou rebels to the Huxi area? In fact, it was all done intentionally by you so that you could work on him?" Zhang Jun continued to 'awaken', or act like he was awakening.
"Yes!" Yue Fei answered with his hands raised. "In fact, after Huang Zuo led his troops to attack other water villages that day, the general knew that the battle was already done, and the next step was nothing more than one day early and one day late.
The only thing I worry about is whether Yang Yao will escape to Yedao in the lake and resurface in the future."
Zhang Jun nodded repeatedly, then sighed, and opened his mouth to speak again, but continued to cover up his embarrassed look: "That's why Pengju delayed it again and again, from winter to spring, and then to now, in order to deliberately show the enemy
Weak, and at the same time to prevent disturbing Huang Zuo?"
Yue Fei nodded, then shook his head: "It is necessary to show weakness to the enemy, and it is also necessary to prevent Huang Zuo from being disturbed, but the reason why the general has not been provoked until today is more so that the spring plowing will not be delayed..."
"What?" Zhang Jun was stunned and ridiculous again.
But this time, when he felt that the other party's words were absurd to a certain extreme, he also felt a hint of guilt and shortness of breath.
It is said that Zhang Jun left Beijing this time because many local officials impeached Yue Fei, which triggered a political uproar. Among these reasons for impeachment and opposition, in essence, the biggest problem was that Yue Fei delayed the deployment of troops, which delayed spring plowing.
...This is an extremely fatal issue for both public and private purposes, and it is also the moral basis for Zhang Jun to be so confident and confident in front of Yue Fei, and to scold a handsome minister three times in a row.
Just now, Zhang Jun already knew that Yue Feigai did not advance as quickly as possible because there were indeed huge military risks, so he had no complaints in his heart. Until now, he simply had nothing to say to save himself from being too embarrassed.
However, now the other party actually told him that in addition to military needs, the reason for his delay in marching was also because he did not want to delay spring plowing.
what is this?
"Don't hide it from the Prime Minister."
The weather was sunny, the grass on the lakeside was growing, orioles were flying, and the blue waves were refreshing. Yue Fei glanced at the spring scenery before continuing to explain. "On Huang Zuo's side, the general was already sure at the beginning of this year. From a military point of view,
We could have used troops immediately to end this war at the beginning of the year. But spring came very quickly in the south of the Yangtze River. At that time, starting from various parts of Hunan, spring plowing began one after another around Dongting Lake. Spring plowing began in the areas under the government's jurisdiction.
Spring plowing is also taking place in various places, and because the rebels divide the fields between the rich and the poor, the scale and area of spring plowing in Hunan and Huxi seem to be somewhat more prosperous than those under the jurisdiction of the government... This is a rare sight in chaos."
Zhang Jun stood on his horse and turned back from the lake. At this time, the imperial prime minister noticed for the first time that the crops were luxuriant and the paddy fields were stacked as far as the eye could see. Although no one came out to take care of them because of the large army, but after the spring rain, it was
A natural scene.
And when I took a closer look, I saw that the military personnel in front of the imperial camp were obviously marching carefully. Everyone was marching along the lakeside and on the ridge of the fields. No one dared to step on the green seedlings, which made them even more shocked.
"Actually, how could the general not know the difficulties of the surrounding officials? The rebellion has lasted for half a year, the population has fled, desertion has been serious, and tens of thousands of troops are entrenched here, which has made the local supply difficult. It is normal for the local governors to have grievances
. Only the last general believed that the people in the areas under the government's jurisdiction in Hubei were ordinary people, and the people in the areas under the rebels' jurisdiction in Hunan and west would sooner or later be the people of the Song Dynasty. The spring plowing in the areas under the government's jurisdiction in the north should not be delayed, and the spring plowing in the areas under the rebels' territory in the south should not be delayed.
hold up."
Yue Fei talked non-stop today, which was better than the words he had spoken to Zhang Jun in the past few days combined. This shows that he is still a little depressed about the impeachments and accusations in his heart.
"If the general uses troops at that time, probably the central and local officials, as well as the people of Hubei, will be happy, but what about the people in Hunan and Huxi? Do they really dare to come out to plant rice when the two armies are fighting? Then the general will drop it here and take it.
If they leave with military merit, who will care whether they will become hired laborers or even continue to be lake bandits in the future? Therefore, the general delayed it for a while and decided to wait until after spring plowing and transplanting rice seedlings, and then get ahead of the spring floods to achieve results.
Unexpectedly, the Prime Minister has already gone south... I hope the Prime Minister will understand this matter."
Zhang Jun blushed on the horse and thought several times about stopping to hold the man's hands and praising him as "the pillar of the country". "Having such a handsome minister is really a blessing to the emperor and a blessing to the country." However, he thought of Ma Shen and Xi Yier before.
The words of a person are so eloquent. Thinking of how many times he has sternly criticized the person in front of him, he just wants to find a crack in the ground and crawl into it. How can he do such a gesture?
The troops kept advancing. That night, the former army came to report that someone had escaped from Yuanjiang City. They said that Yang Yao had entered Yuanjiang County and asked Zhong Xiang and his son to take a boat with him into the lake to take shelter.
reject.
However, this information no longer mattered, because at this time, even if Yang Yao and Zhong Xiang and his son left the city, they would only be intercepted by the Song army who desperately pursued them and isolated the city from Dongting Lake.
Moreover, Yue Fei knew from the beginning that the water stronghold next to the lake and the city not next to the lake were the two paths of life and death for the rebels. The water stronghold leading to the big lake was what the officers and soldiers feared most, and the city was the most feared thing by the army.
On the contrary, it is something that the army can take away at any time; and he also knows that the two groups of leaders, Yang Yao and Zhong Xiang and his son, are life and death for the rebels, and Yang Yao is the real one who stands out in the rebellion.
Leader, the latter is just a spiritual leader.
However, this counter-rebellion commander who knew everything kept pretending not to know anything and just drove the rebels to their death.
In fact, it is not that the rebels have no way out. After Yang Yaobai was defeated, he just dived into the lake without caring about Zhong Xiang, his father and his son, or any other city. Even the gods could not catch him, and if they could not catch him, it was the end of the rebellion.
If things go well, in the future this person's prestige and ability will surely be able to rely on the strong foundation of witchcraft to revive the local people's hearts.
But the problem is that the rebels themselves don't know it. They always thought that the city was strong and the water village was weak... Even Yang Yao himself, after being defeated by Yue Fei in Hubei, thought that the Great Sage was the most important.
This is very helpless.
Back to the present, on the fifth day of Yue Fei's dispatch of troops, not to mention the peripheral sweeps and the removal of water fortresses in Hunan, Yang Yao and Zhong Xiang were surrounded in Yuanjiang County.
The soldiers and horses outside the city are half the imperial army and the other half the rebels who have just surrendered. Up to this point, Zhong Xiang and Yang Yao have not figured out why they suddenly ended up in this scene... Of course, the King of Chu
His Highness has always been an official match to the embattled man on all sides, and Grandpa Grand Sage probably knew that.
In the morning, Yue Fei politely declined the request of the surrendered troops to fight, and asked for various requests from lobbyists. He only allowed these people to watch the battle with peace of mind on the grounds that they had been working hard for days. In the afternoon, the commander-in-chief sent out all his officers and troops to use the utmost force.
Equipped with simple wooden blocks, ladders, ropes, and a few gunpowder bags wrapped in oilcloth, they launched a comprehensive siege.
The rebels in the city were all close associates of the "King of Chu" Zhong Xiang, and 80% of them had never been on the battlefield. The city wall, which was not very tall, had many building materials taken away when Zhong Xiang built a palace in the city.
Therefore, more than 10,000 soldiers in front of the imperial camp swarmed forward, filled ditches with soil, suppressed them with bows and crossbows, and climbed the walls first. Yuanjiang County was almost destroyed in one go. The surrendered rebels who were watching around could only marvel at the power of the official army and sigh with emotion.
Fortunately, I chose to surrender.
After all, if such a city is just a river, how can your own dilapidated water fortress be able to withstand such a powerful army?
The difference between strength and weakness is clear at a glance.
ps: Huang Zuo should be the prototype of Wang Zuo in Yueli.
"It's difficult for the king's army to attack the water invaders, but it's easier for the water invaders to attack the water invaders" are Yue Fei's original words in history when he explained to Zhang Jun.
Except for the flying meme, most people think it is from Yang Yao on Dongting Lake. In fact, it is an allusion from the Wuling Rebellion, and it should have nothing to do with Yang Yao... But Yue Yue and many literati's notes mixed many allusions together, which is surprising.