Different from the previous choke point at Tieling Pass, Fenshui River passes through the middle of Queshu Valley, and there is even Lingshi County between Yangliang Nanguan at the south end and Yangliang Beiguan at the north end, which makes this place destined
It's not a simple dangerous valley.
On this day, the early winter morning fog had just dissipated. About a hundred Jin knights without even flying flags arrived at Lingshi City from south to north. The leader of them, the general, reined up his horse in front of the city gate and looked around Lingshi City.
Looking at the surrounding terrain, I couldn't help but shake my head, looking around and sighing:
"When I walk from here, I always feel that the Queshu Valley is blocked from north to south, but today I feel that the valley is too smooth."
The surrounding Jin Army generals also looked bad.
The leading general, the commander of the Jin Army's Taiyuan March Division, Wanyan Lisu, saw this. He knew that everyone's emotions may not be the same as his own, but they were dissatisfied and resentful for fleeing without fighting before...
He sighed slightly in his heart, and then directly urged his horse into the city.
After entering the city, we rested for a while, but within a quarter of an hour, we heard the formation of horse hooves in the north of the city. Sure enough, there were more than a hundred fine horsemen, and they also had no flags. They also stopped at the edge of Lingshi City, looked around for a while, and then started to fight.
Horse enters the city.
And the person coming from north to south was none other than King Wei of Jin Dynasty, commonly known as the Fourth Prince Wanyan Wushu.
"I've met King Wei!"
Ba Lisu stood in front of the gate early, and when he saw the visitor entering the city, he immediately raised his hand and moved forward.
"Meet the Marshal!"
The unshaven Wu Shu got off his horse and handed over his hand, which was extremely polite, and he also used a strange title.
Ba Lisu was startled for a moment, then managed a smile: "King Wei is joking, the Marshal's Mansion has been gone for several years, where is the Marshal?"
"Yes." Wu Shu faced him seriously inside the city gate. "The imperial court has already issued an edict. Your Majesty issued an edict. It was discussed at the Shangshutai, jointly signed by the Jingdu Province and the Privy Council, and announced to the world. I worship you as the Grand Marshal and Governor of the Army of the Kingdom of Jin.
There are military affairs in various places in the east and west of the river, commanding 200,000 people, and then using Gaojingshan in Daming Prefecture and Lu Guan in Datong Prefecture in Xijing as deputy marshals... How can I say that you are a serious marshal of the Kingdom of Jin."
Under the morning sun, Ba Lisu was in a trance for a moment, but it was just a trance, without any superfluous expression, or even any major inner turmoil.
Just nodded slightly.
In other words, this matter should be discussed from three levels.
First of all, both Ba Lisu and Wu Shu knew that having this marshal or not having this marshal might just be a matter of reputation. After Ba Lisu took this marshal, it would be impossible for him to become a powerful minister in the Kingdom of Jin like Nianhan.
The basic base is still the five or six thousand households in the Taiyuan Marching Division. If they want to dispatch the three offices of Datong Prefecture, Longde Prefecture, and Daming Prefecture, that is, to control the so-called 200,000 gold army, they still need the approval of His Highness Wu Shu, the King of Wei.
The actual significance of this move is more to show that the truly powerful Wei Wang Wushu agreed with his overall strategy, and even this, Ba Lisu had guessed in advance from the previous retreat order.
But...even if he understands this, even if he knows all these realities, he is still a marshal, a serious grand marshal of the Jin Kingdom after Nianhan.
So, here we have to come back to the topic, what do people want when they live in this world? Especially for Bali Su, who has spent his childhood in the military, I am afraid that where he can reach in this life is somewhat uncertain in his heart.
Somewhat low.
On that day, when Yin Shu was good, Xi Yin went north and pulled out Li Su. What was the reason for the disagreement with Lou Shi? Wasn't it because he was unhappy and wanted to compete for the dominance of the West Route Army?
But now, no matter what, when the Central Committee of the Jin Kingdom made a gesture and gave him this position, whether it was real or virtual, Ba Lisu had finally reached the pinnacle of his life.
No matter who writes history books in the future, it will be indispensable that he was appointed as the marshal of the Kingdom of Jin in the face of danger.
What do you want from me?
However, the problem is that after he really got the status he had dreamed of for many years, Ba Lisu couldn't feel too much excitement. He only felt pressure - because there were hundreds of thousands of Song army's main force behind him.
They kept pressing from south to north for a while. Wu Shu seemed to understand this. He smiled when he saw it, and then became solemn: "The military situation is urgent. The marshal and I wrote a document before, and I reported it with my approval.
Yanjing later heard some of the marshal's strategies from the grand master's slave, and generally agreed with them, but in the end, the marshal still had to make a decision in person as to the specifics."
Ba Lisu sighed, but did not speak directly, but gestured with his hands to invite the other party to come to the city to talk. Seeing this, Wu Shu signaled the Taishi slaves to hold their rank and not allow others to come up, but Wu Shu climbed up first.
When he boarded Lingshi City, he saw the Fen River flowing around the city and the mountains on both sides. Wu Shu couldn't help but suddenly realized, and then blurted out: "Marshal is planning to use Lingshi City to hold back the Song army?"
"It's not Lingshi City." Bali Su, who came up to the city after him, faced him solemnly, raising his finger to point north and south. "The Song army came with overwhelming force, but in front of Fenshui was Zhao Song's official family supervising an army of more than 100,000 people.
Han Shizhong, Li Yanxian, Ma Kuo, Wang Yan, Wang De, Li Qiong and many famous generals gathered together... In such a situation, how can we expect one city or one place to stop the general trend? I am planning to go from Yangliang Nanguan to Taiyuan.
The city is fortified at every level. And even so, we just hope to delay them for a while until we turn back from Hebei."
Wu Shu pondered for a moment and asked seriously: "In this case, how many troops need to be left to block it?"
"At least 30,000 households!" Ba Lisu blurted out. "First, we will use the terrain to intercept the troops in Queshu Valley. If Yangliang North Pass is breached, we will disperse immediately... On the one hand, we must have soldiers and horses dispersed along the way to defend the cities in southern Taiyuan.
, to delay; on the one hand, we need a force of troops to take over the cities in the eastern part of Taiyuan and block Jingxing to protect the passages to Zhending Prefecture and Longde Prefecture... Then, we need to have a serious garrison at the main city of Taiyuan Prefecture."
Wu Shu held the riding whip and continued to ask seriously: "Which three thousand households are the marshal planning to use?"
"Tu Hesu is a fighting general who wants to accompany us to Daming Mansion." Ba Lisu responded seriously. "Of course it's a good deal. Let's break up and let Ma Wu and the others stay behind."
"Which of the three will guard Taiyuan?"
"Wanyan Shehehe is a resilient veteran, and I feel most at ease if I leave it to him."
"Sa Li drinks..."
"Sa Lihe became more and more frustrated and frustrated, and his morale was lost. If it weren't for the fear that killing 10,000 households before the battle would make the central government doubt my loyalty, I would have killed him as a warning to others after my previous defeat."
"..."
"..."
"Where is Salihe used? Should he be used to guard the eastern passage of Taiyuan?"
"This matter is related to the success or failure of the follow-up. How can he be used? Yelv Mawu is loyal and reliable and can take on this responsibility. As for Salihe, he was only asked to divide his troops to guard Jiexiu, Xihe, Pingyao, and Qixian, which are the only roads that the Song army must pass through.
"At this point, he told Li Su Zhengse. "Fourth Prince... If this person dies, he will die. His life and death, his profit and loss, are not worth mentioning in the face of such a big situation! At this time, we cannot let it go.
Just because the five subordinates of Yeluma are Khitans, let them go to the most dangerous places. Nor can we tolerate Salihe again and again because he was raised by Taizu's army...it should be based on merit. If
If the fourth prince really wants to promote him, he should speak to him and let him serve the country loyally and best in the southern part of Taiyuan."
"I understand." Wu Shu was silent for a moment and nodded in agreement. "Since it is the marshal's intention, I will not refute it...anything else?"
"Yes." Ba Lisu said unceremoniously. "We will transfer ten thousand households from Datong to Xinzhou to stand behind Taiyuan in case of emergencies."
Wu Shu tried his best to explain: "When the living girls went to Yanjing, Datong Prefecture only had 40,000 households. Wu Jie hasn't moved yet. You said before that you would take away another 10,000 households. If you send another 10,000 households south, Datong Prefecture will only have 40,000 households."
There are only two thousand households left, one in Shuozhou and one outside Hewai. They are just trying to support themselves, which is too weak..."
"Your Highness, if Taiyuan is lost, it cannot be recovered." Ba Lisu was still serious. "But if Taiyuan is not lost and only Datong is lost, it can be recovered... And the key to this battle is to unite heavy troops in Hebei.
There cannot be any less Bian, otherwise how can we repel Yue Fei? In my opinion, if it really comes to a critical moment, we might as well let the deputy marshal (Tao Lu Guan) abandon Datong and join forces in Taiyuan."
Wu Shu thought for a while, took a long breath, and finally nodded: "What the marshal said is absolutely true... In this case, we will stick to Hedong and Xijing with 60,000 households, and then take 30,000 households to Hebei and gather together
The Eastern Route Army will repel Yue Fei with 13 or 40,000 households, and then return to the division to join forces with Yanyun's new army who can come over by then, and choke the Song Army in front of Taiyuan?"
"Yes." Ba Lisu nodded heavily.
"Marshal, is there anything else you want to explain?" Wu Shu asked sincerely.
"No." Ba Lisu shook his head repeatedly. "As long as King Wei starts to act with me from now on, I can issue orders on any detail at short notice..."
"That's it!" Wu Shu couldn't help but let out a long breath.
The two stood side by side on the city wall, speechless for a moment.
"However." After a long while, Ba Lisu couldn't help but speak without saying anything. "Have you ever thought about it, Your Highness, the Song army came in two groups, Taihang is a natural barrier, we use the geographical advantage to resist, retreat and delay
, and at the same time, using the advantage of the cavalry, they quickly concentrated their forces to defeat them one by one... This strategy is inevitable when the stalemate is impossible... Couldn't the Song army guess it?"
"Isn't this kind of thing just a gamble?" When Wu Shu, who was standing with his hands tied, heard this, he became disapproving. "I bet on the Hebei side, we can take advantage of the frozen terrain in winter to press forward and drive out the Song army! Bet.
They can't overwhelm us here in Hedong! We can't just sit back and wait for death, right?"
"Yes, we just want to take a breather." Ba Lisu thought about it for a while, and finally could only nod. "If His Highness the King of Wei has no other intentions, then let's get started! Make arrangements quickly and assemble to Hebei quickly.
!”
"We're just waiting for the marshal's order." Wu Shu responded.
Ba Lisu was about to speak, but when his eyes glanced at the other party's slightly tired face, his heart suddenly moved slightly, and then he slowed down his tone slightly: "Your Highness... please express your condolences about the third prince. It happened by chance, and luck has it."
in this way."
"It's an accident, but it's not an accident." Wu Shu smiled bitterly when he heard this. "As General Lou Shi said before, those of us who have gone up have suffered too much when we were young. We joined the army when we were young, and our health is not good.
, Third Brother is not the only one who has failed to recover after the age of forty... But it is really unlucky for Third Brother that he fell ill on the front line this time."
Ba Lisu nodded and was about to give up, but then he thought about it and asked again: "Having said that, isn't there nothing to say in Yanjing?"
After hearing this, Wanyan Wushu finally narrowed his eyes, but said seriously: "Marshal, I will fight the enemy with peace of mind. I will take care of the rear affairs for you... Why bother to say more?"
Ba Lisu felt awe-struck in his heart and raised his hands to face each other.
Let's say that the war situation is now, or in this kind of all-front war, both sides are huge countries thousands of miles away, and their military strength, terrain, and weather are all things that are already on the table... Maybe there will still be various dramas in it.
details, but trying to use these subtle, microscopic things to change the general situation seems a bit meaningless.
The strategies that are truly effective, or that are truly effective for the decision-makers on both sides, are only those that are poorly used, simple, and direct.
The Song army had ten years of achievements and three years of savings. Once it came, it was as powerful as a tiger. The Jin army naturally had to avoid its edge.
Then the Taihang Mountains towered majestically, stretching for thousands of miles, naturally dividing the battlefield. Of course, the Kingdom of Jin would want to use the mobility of its cavalry to defeat them one by one.
As for the ice in winter, the battlefield in Hebei is advantageous for the cavalry. The terrain in the battlefield in Hedong is narrow and unable to hinder the heavy advance of the Song army. In addition, the Song army in Hebei is obviously smaller and weaker, so it is natural to take advantage of the weather.
First, they caused great damage to the Song army in Hebei, and even tried to repel Yue Fei in the direction of Hebei. Then they jointly mobilized the new Yanjing army to counterattack in Hedong with sufficient superior strength.
This rough strategy was not only the proposal of Ba Lisu, but also the proposal of Qin Hui, Wanyan Xiyin, and even Wu Shu himself.
In addition, it is probably the proposal of Zhao Song officials, Wang Yan who made the strategic preparatory plan, Wu Jie's proposal, and Yue Fei's proposal.
Because the Song Army could also think that it could take Taiyuan first before the Jin Army defeated Yue Fei, and then start the final general attack on Hebei and the decisive battle with a strategic advantage in hand.
This is the National War, and in the end, it is an extremely simple model.
What promotes this model is the mountainous geography of the main battlefield, and the war strength and war potential of the two countries. What determines the final result is the war strength and war potential of these two countries, and may also include a certain amount of determination.
With a moment of persistence.
In November, the Jin army began to move in full swing. The Song army made strides and cautiously moved forward in the Linfen Basin in the east of Hedong. At the same time, Yanjing had begun to freeze.
In the evening, Qin Hui returned from the chancellery after a hard day's work. As soon as he returned home, Wang sent his servants to greet him early and told Hong Ya and Zheng Xiunian that they were waiting in the back hall.
The golden prime minister hesitated for a moment, then slowly walked into the back hall of his house after washing up.
When the three of them met, they didn't exchange greetings. They just sat down and drank some ginger soup to warm the porridge. Then they started talking, but they seemed unusually direct.
"Brother-in-law, there was a suicide note from a Korean merchant at my place yesterday. It seems that there was talk in the south." Zheng Xiunian put down the soup bowl and looked at it carefully. "We need to work hard to cooperate."
"While asking us to risk our lives to cooperate, we are listed as war criminals, attached to the memorandum, and published in the newspaper...Does this mean treating people with sincerity?" Qin Hui also put down the soup bowl, but he was righteous.
He spoke coldly to each other. "I'm afraid, in the eyes of that official in the south, we and others are just rags... One day the north and the south will be unified, and those handsome ministers in the south can still drink and release their military power.
You want to enjoy the wealth and honor, but you and I have to be killed to cover up the success!"
Zheng Xiunian was immediately panicked and hurried to see Hong Ya. Unexpectedly, Hong Ya was holding a bowl of ginger porridge and was drinking it in a hurry without even looking at it, which made Zheng Xiunian even more panicked.
After thinking about it, the Minister Zheng could only lower his voice and continue to persuade: "Brother-in-law... what the Korean merchant said last month... don't you care?"
Qin Hui's face froze, but he finally lowered his voice and responded: "Your cousin and I haven't had any children for many years. How come we had a relationship with a female envoy in just a few months? And it's such a coincidence that we raised someone like Lin Shangshu.
At the home of an important minister? I’m afraid the south is trying to scare me..."
Zheng Xiunian hurriedly wanted to say something more, but Qin Huizhi rushed to continue: "Cunqing (Zheng Xiunian's courtesy name), you can compare the two. The Song Dynasty abandoned me like a pair of shoes, but the Jin Dynasty treated you and me sincerely.
I am an important minister entrusting you with the affairs of the state... If you treat yourself like a petty worker just for a few words, wouldn't you be looking down on yourself and being disloyal and unjust?"
Zheng Xiunian was stunned for a moment.
When Qin Huizhi saw this, he stopped talking. He just stood up with a flick of his sleeves and walked out.
Zheng Xiunian had no choice but to visit Hong Ya again.
As for Hong Chengzhi and Hong Shilang, he just finished drinking ginger porridge all night before he smiled and asked: "Why is Shilang Zheng acting like this?"
Zheng Xiunian felt as if he had received an amnesty and hurriedly stamped his feet in the audience: "My brother-in-law doesn't pay any attention to me. How should I explain to the South?"
"What's there to explain?" Hong Ya shook his head. "The South doesn't really want you and me to do anything... It's just a dead horse being treated as a living horse doctor... As for your brother-in-law, you don't have to worry, I have already
We can see that he is a sanctimonious person who is rare in history and knows his calculations better than anyone else! We just follow him and we will never suffer any loss."
Zheng Xiunian was slightly startled, then he hurriedly raised his hands and asked for advice.
And Hong Ya didn't bother to show off, and directly sneered: "Although the Song Dynasty is now fierce, the Jin Dynasty has passed the most difficult time of being caught off guard, and managed to mobilize. His Highness the King of Wei is preparing to join the army to defeat Yue Fei, so he still
The outcome is unpredictable. In this case, with your brother-in-law’s selfish temperament, he must sincerely help Dai Jin win... because only in this way can he continue to be his husband-in-law!
In order to be this father-in-law, Nanfang's son is no longer a son. However, if one day, Nanfang really wins a battle, he will definitely stand in front of you and me with his hands tied. Chen Ken lamented that he had not had an heir for decades.
, for the sake of the bloodline, I would like you to take the initiative to express his sincerity to the south."
Zheng Xiunian was in a daze for a moment.
Outside the back hall, in the twilight, Qin Huizhi, who was not far away at all, stood there with an expressionless face. With the dim light of the lamp under the eaves, he looked up at the snowflakes that had fallen down at an unknown time, but he seemed to not listen at all.
It was as if Hong Ya mocked him in the hall.
Following his gaze, the fine snowflakes swayed lightly, although very slowly, they eventually scattered towards the south.
October has passed, November has arrived, and the weather is inevitably getting colder. It seems that the best opportunity for the top brass of the Jin Kingdom to seize is coming.