Outlaws of the Marsh

Chapter 586 The First Year of Jingkang (Please Subscribe!)
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At the end of December, the Jin army on the East Road broke through the city of Xinde.

Wanyan Zongwang and other generals of the Jin army boarded the tower, and hypocritically ordered the residents to be appeased.

In fact, at the beginning of breaking down the city, Wanyan Zongwang and other Jin army generals had quietly issued a secret order, clearly dividing the scope of robbery for each department.

The final result is that the Jurchens plundered the areas and killed countless people, while the Han'er, Khitan and other clans robbed the areas and only robbed some property.

The Jurchen's greedy and bloodthirsty bandit nature is undoubtedly exposed.

The army led by Guo Yaoshi has been outside the city of Xinde Mansion and never entered the city to rob, so he never killed a single person.

Someone asked Guo Yaoshi why, and Guo Yaoshi said: "I came to Beijing in my generation, and I have never had any evil intentions. I will return to the court when I come back."

Someone actually believed the nonsense that Guo Yaoshi said, and wanted to join Guo Yaoshi to withdraw money and protect Song Dynasty.

Said that what Guo Yaoshi said was nonsense, absolutely did not wrong Guo Yaoshi.

It can be said that without Guo Yaoshi, the East Road Golden Army would not have advanced here.

Wanyan Zongwang and others did not expect Zhao Ji to give the Zen throne to Zhao Huan. In addition, the Hejian and Zhongshan prefectures were not broken, and the rear road was in danger. Wanyan Zongwang and others discussed whether to retreat and return to the army?
At this time, Guo Yaoshi suggested: "The Southern Dynasty may not be prepared." Then, Guo Yaoshi further encouraged Wanyan Zongwang and others to say: "The prosperity of Bianjing and the affairs of the palace ban are not comparable to Yanshan Mountain. Today, Prince Lang Jun's soldiers are moving fast, and you can take advantage of them." This trend of broken bamboo is rushing towards the river, and the soldiers will be courageous, and they can return without fighting. Gou Wen is prepared, and he will show his troops in Hebei, and watch the Southern Dynasty with tigers, to demonstrate the country's prestige, and it is not too late to return."

Wanyan Zongwang was persuaded by Guo Yaoshi, finally accepted Guo Yaoshi's suggestion, and decided to continue the southward invasion.

Wanyan Zongwang sent Guo Yaoshi as the vanguard, but only gave Guo Yaoshi a thousand cavalry.

Guo Yaoshi repeatedly asked for more troops for him.

Wanyan Zongwang added another thousand cavalry to Guo Yaoshi.

Apparently, the Jinren didn't believe in Guo Yaoshi, a rebel.

Guo Yaoshi also knew that his reputation was completely rotten, but he was not willing to end his official career, so he tried his best to express himself.

Guo Yaoshi personally led two thousand light cavalry from Xinde Mansion and galloped southward. It didn't take long before he arrived at the bank of the Yellow River...

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In the first year of Jingkang, the first day of the first month.

Zhao Ji formally proposed to Song Qinzong Zhao Huan that he wanted to go to Bozhou Mengcheng to burn incense before Zhengyuan Festival, worship Zhuang Zhou, and pray that the Taoist ancestor Lao Zhuang would bless the country and the people.

At this time, the power of the military and the country is still in the hands of Zhao Ji, how dare Zhao Huan not agree?
Tai Shi made some calculations through divination, and suggested that Zhao Ji choose to set off on the fourth day of the first lunar month.

But on the third night of the first lunar month, Zhao Ji heard that the Jin soldiers had crossed the Yellow River, and felt that the situation was urgent, so he could not wait until the fourth day of the first lunar month, when the night leaked two drums (that is, between nine o'clock and eleven o'clock at night) ), Zhao Ji quietly left Longde Palace, drove east to Tongjin Gate, went down the river and took a boat.

At this time, Zhao Ji had only Cai You and a few servants around him.

Tongjin Gate is a land gate, and the south side is Bianhe River Gate.

The Bian River is the most important water traffic artery in Tokyo. It enters the city from the west water gate of the outer city, flows into the inner city water gate, crosses the state bridge and Xiangguo temple bridge in front of the imperial palace, then flows out of the inner city water gate, and then passes through the outer city east water gate. Flow out of the city towards the southeast.

Zhao Ji and others hurriedly boarded the boat and left the city overnight along the Bian River.

The water flows in the night, and the boat moves on the water.

At this time, it was the cold winter season, and the water level of the Bian River was relatively shallow, so the speed of the boat was slightly slow.

Zhao Ji felt that it was too slow to travel like this, so he abandoned the boat and went ashore, and took a Jianyu (that is, a sedan chair) instead.

But after sitting on the boat for a while, Zhao Ji felt that the boat was not as fast as the boat, so he went back to the river bank and asked for a boat to transport bricks and tiles.

The attendants didn't even have time to prepare the food because they left in such a hurry.

After these bumps and fatigue, Zhao Ji began to feel hungry.

Cai You hurriedly sent his servants to look for food on board.

Later, the servant from the boat got a piece of cake, and Zhao Ji and others shared it and ate it.

Overnight, Zhao Ji and the others fled for hundreds of miles, and arrived in Nandu (that is, Yingtianfu, which is later known as Shangqiu in Henan Province) at dawn.

At this point, Zhao Ji breathed a sigh of relief.

After dawn, it is the fourth day of the first lunar month.

The Empress Dowager, Concubine Tai Huang, and Prince Diji also left Bianliang City according to the previously formulated plan, and went to chase Zhao Ji.

Zhao Huan ordered the Jiedu envoy of the Pingliang army and Fan Ne, the envoy of Zhongtai Yigong, to lead the retinue of the Shengjie army.

On this day, many court officials heard that Zhao Ji had left the capital and escaped from Bianliang City one after another.

Zhao Ji didn't stay in Nandu for long. After they bought a mule, they hurriedly rode on and continued to head south.

On the way, I passed a village.

Zhao Ji was tired from walking and wanted to rest his feet. When he saw a bamboo door half-closed, he knocked on the door and entered.

There is only one old woman in this family, so Zhao Ji started a routine with her.

The old woman asked Zhao Ji's surname.

Zhao Ji replied: "The surname is Zhao, who lives in Tokyo and has retired. I recommend the eldest son to replace him."

After Zhao Ji rode a mule to Fuli (the collection of Fuli in the north of Su County, Anhui later), he changed to a large boat and continued southward.

When the boat sailed to Sizhou (the northwest of Xuyi, Jiangsu Province in later generations), Zhao Ji abandoned the boat and went ashore to buy fish at the riverside market.

Zhao Ji is very good at shopping. He bargained with the fish seller and finally won.

When he came back from buying fish, Zhao Ji was quite touched, so he wrote a short poem "Linjiang Immortal": crossing the water and crossing the mountains to go, and recite more than a thousand poems.Huaibo is cold, heavy and rainy.There are herons on Yanlong Beach, and people sell fish on boats.The ancient temple has the right to live in a secluded room, and sleeps in the monk's residence late at night.Menghun was startled and whimpered.Worry and worry, and write back with tears.

After arriving in Sizhou, Zhao Ji stopped his hurried steps to rest for a while.

Sizhou City is located in the lower reaches of the Huaihe River, where the Huaihe River connects with the Bianhe River. This is the hub of north-south transportation, and its strategic position is very important.

At this time, Yu Wen Cuizhong, the deputy envoy of the palace, Tong Guan, Gao Qiu and other ministers all chased up from behind one after another.

Tong Guan was originally appointed by Zhao Huan as the left-behind guard in Tokyo, but Tong Guan heard that Zhao Ji was lucky in the south, so he privately led the victory of the Jie army and sent out all his own soldiers to chase Zhao Ji, euphemistically called "Guardian".

Tong Guan was indeed very courageous. He dared to refuse Zhao Huan's appointment. This was one of the ten crimes that Tong Guan was later convicted of and executed, namely: not waiting for the order, and going to the southeast; .

There are actually many officials like Tong Guan who left the capital without authorization and went to the southeast region.

Not to mention the nobles, the common people and those officials with lower status, there were 56 high-ranking officials who fled from Shangshu, such as Zhang Quan, Wei Zhongda, He Dagui and so on.

As a result, there are only half of the people who go to court, and many seats are vacant.

Of the more than a thousand families of Cai Jing, Cai You, and Song Huan, none of them were in the capital.

As for Cai Jing and Cai You's subordinates, seven or eight out of ten people abandoned their official positions and fled.

Both Tong Guan and Gao Lian were important ministers who held military power, and they both came here as leaders—Tong Guan led three thousand victorious soldiers, and Gao Lian led three thousand imperial guards.

In name, both Tong Guan and Gao Qiu came to escort Zhao Ji, and they both wanted to protect Zhao Ji from crossing the Huaihe River to Yangzhou.

But in fact, both Tong Guan and Gao Qiu came to follow Zhao Ji to save their lives.

Once the emperor and the courtiers, and their buttocks were not clean, they had a premonition that if they stayed in Bianliang City, it would be very likely to be a disaster.

Tong Guan arrived in Sizhou one step earlier than Gao Qi, so Zhao Ji was snatched by Tong Guan and protected.

Tong Guan falsely passed on Zhao Ji's order to order Gao Qiu to guard the pontoon bridge and not come south.

Gao Qiu was suspicious of this order and insisted on meeting Zhao Ji.

But Tong Guan just stopped Gao Qiu from seeing him.

On the seventh day of the first lunar month, the Jin Army of the East Road approached the city of Bianliang and began to attack the city violently.

Upon hearing the news, Zhao Ji hurriedly left Sizhou and went to Yangzhou.

At this time, Gao Qiu refused to carry out Tong Guan's order, and led the imperial guards to follow Zhao Ji to the south.

Tong Guan was furious, so he ordered the Shengjie army to shoot and kill the imperial guards.

Many sergeants of the Imperial Guard were killed by arrows, and more than 100 people fell from the bridge into the river and drowned.

The Shengjie army is a strong army of the Western Army, and Tong Guan's personal soldiers are even the elite. How can the Imperial Guard be its opponent?

Unable to beat Tong Guan, Gao Li had no choice but to order the imperial guards to stop advancing.

Gao Qiu's father, son and brothers were all standing by the side of the road waiting, hoping to see Zhao Ji again.

Soon, Zhao Ji came in a shoulder car.

After Zhao Ji and Gao Qiu met, the monarchs and ministers looked at each other and wept.

Zhao Ji wanted to say something, but perhaps because Cai You, Yu Wen Cuizhong, Tong Guan and other ministers were by his side, Zhao Ji didn't say a word in the end.

Seeing this situation, the people on the road burst into tears.

Gao Qiu then stayed in Sizhou and controlled Huaijin to prevent the Jin army from chasing him.

After Zhao Ji arrived in Yangzhou, he still felt unsafe and insisted on crossing the south of the Yangtze River.

The local elders strongly advised not to drive across the river.

But Zhao Ji didn't listen.

On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, on the Lantern Festival, Zhao Ji crossed the Yangtze River by boat and arrived at Zhenjiang on the south bank.

Empress Zheng had chased to Yangzhou at this time, but she did not cross the river with Zhao Ji, and finally stayed in Yangzhou.

The princes and concubines who followed Zhao Jinan were now scattered in the prefectures and counties along the road.

Zhenjiang is the destination of Zhao Ji's trip.

In the third year of Shaosheng, Zhao Ji was named Duanwang by Song Zhezong as the military governor of Pingjiang and Zhenjiang. He was only 14 years old that year.

In the third year of Zhenghe, Zhao Ji upgraded Zhenjiang from a state to a mansion. This was the first city in the Liangzhe area to be upgraded from a state to a mansion.

This shows that Zhenjiang has a relatively high status in Zhao Ji's heart.

The point is that there is a natural danger of the Yangtze River in the north of Zhenjiang, which can prevent the Jin army from going south.

Moreover, the political situation in Zhenjiang is also more favorable to Zhao Ji - Cai Yu, the prefect of Zhenjiang, is Cai You's younger brother, Song Huan, the Jianghuai, Jingzhe and other road system dispatchers, is Cai You's wife and younger brother, and Cai You is Zhao Ji's most trusted person .

Therefore, only when he came to Zhenjiang did Zhao Ji feel a little safe.

So far, Zhao Ji has lived in Zhenjiang...

……

(End of this chapter)