I am Da Song

Chapter 42 The Necessity of Combat Out of the City

When Yue Fei led his cavalry to the south to rescue Tokyo, Zhao Huan was still asleep.

In fact, Zhao Huan hadn't closed his eyes for two days and two nights from the moment he entered the Jin army's camp to when the conscription law was made.

Coupled with continuous injuries, tension, and excitement, Zhao Huan was very exhausted, and fell asleep when he returned to the palace. He slept from the second half of the night until the afternoon of the next day ([-]:[-] to [-]:[-]).

The sky is short in the first month, and the sun is already slanting at dusk, and it will be dusk.

Zhao Huan opened his eyes, feeling that the sky was dark, and for a while, he felt like he couldn't tell the time and place after a deep sleep.

In particular, a beautiful face filled his eyes, and everything in front of him was like a dream.

"The official family..."

"The official family..."

"Guanjia, are you awake?" After a long time, the clear voice like a quiet spring came to my ears clearly.

Zhao Huan finally remembered that he had traveled to the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, and the city was about to be broken.

"What time is it?"

"It's Shen Shi (three o'clock in the afternoon)." Zhu Lian asked with concern: "Official, what's wrong with you?"

Zhao Huan supported his forehead and said, "It's okay, I just woke up a little dazed. How is the battle going?"

Zhu Lian sat behind Zhao Huan, and stretched out his slender fingers to help Zhao Huan gently massage the acupuncture points on both sides of his head. The cool and soft fingertips touched the skin, bringing clarity.

"The Privy Councilor has been sitting in the Privy Council, so the war is going to be stable. The officials should not be anxious." Zhu Lian said in relief.

Zhao Huan nodded slightly, Zhang Shuye didn't even go to the top of the city to supervise the battle, so the battle shouldn't be particularly intense.Then he ordered: "Call the Prime Minister to come over."

"The official family has not eaten for nearly twelve hours. As far as I know, the Prime Minister seems to be busy with government affairs and has no intention of eating. Why don't I go and get some food, and the official family and the Prime Minister can chat while eating?"

Zhao Huan said with a smile: "The sage is virtuous and virtuous, so let's do as the sage said."

The Privy Council was within the forbidden area, and Zhang Shuye soon arrived in front of Zhao Huan.As soon as the servant met, he knelt down and saluted, saying: "Holy bow, all blessings."

"Excuse me, I will give you a seat." Zhao Huan sat in front of the table and chairs for discussion.

After Zhang Shuye sat down, Zhao Huan immediately asked, "Master Shu, how is the defense of the city going?"

Zhang Shuye looked solemn, and said: "Officials, today the Jin army launched another offensive. They pushed the five caves and fought fiercely for more than three hours. The imperial army killed more than [-] people before repelling the Jin army's offensive."

Zhao Huan said: "I am quite pleased that the imperial army has not collapsed and is sticking to the city wall to fight to the death."

Zhang Shuye replied: "Not all the soldiers of the imperial army are rotten and numb. The soldiers are rewarded generously, and they also get hot food from the imperial palace. Their morale has been boosted, and they can barely maintain their fighting spirit."

After finishing speaking, Zhang Shuye said worriedly: "But yesterday's heavy snowfall caused the defenders to lose a lot of troops. In the early hours of yesterday morning, there were a total of 1 people in the forbidden army. 130 people were sentenced by the Ming Dynasty, and 1000 three people died in battle. There are ten thousand people left, but in one heavy snowfall, 660 soldiers froze to death, and more than 220 people lost their fingers and toes.”

"Now there are only [-] defenders left in the inner city. By tomorrow, there may be only [-] left."

After listening to what Zhang Shuye said, a little smile appeared on Zhao Huan's face and quickly dissipated.

The heavy snow in the second year of Jingkang added 20 soldiers to the Jinren, which is by no means a lie.

Jin people are all covered with plush animal skins, which are extraordinarily cold-resistant.However, the Song army only wore thin battle jackets, and their ability to keep out the cold was completely inferior.

At this time, the queen led a group of maids into the hall with hot meals in their hands, and said: "It's freezing cold, the officials and ministers should eat some hot meals to warm up."

A beautiful palace maid filled the table with food, there were eight hot dishes and two hot soups, steaming hot.

Zhao Huan asked in shock: "Now that the country is in crisis, how can we waste so much food?"

Zhu Lian explained: "Officials, this is the food carefully prepared by the Shangshi Bureau for the soldiers defending the city. Now the city guards are short of all kinds of supplies, but there is no shortage of food, so they can only compensate the soldiers more in terms of food."

Zhao Huan looked at Zhang Shuye and asked, "How much grain is there in the inner city?"

Zhang Shuye frowned and said, "I'm afraid it will be difficult to count the exact amount of grain in a short period of time. But just east of Da Neizhou Bridge, there are Yuanfeng warehouse and Shunshui warehouse in Zuokuzang to store rice and wheat for the imperial palace." , Guangji Warehouse, Wanying Warehouse, Yongfeng Warehouse and more than [-] places."

There are more than fifty storage institutions alone, and each institution has a continuous warehouse. It is difficult to count how many granaries there are.

This also means that there is no need to worry about food in the defense of Tokyo.More than enough to supply the army at least.

The rich wealth of the Song Dynasty provided an extremely powerful material guarantee for the court to recruit troops and reorganize its military equipment.

Zhao Huan said: "The reduction of the imperial army depends on conscription to make up for it. What is the current situation of conscription in the four walls and twelve gates?"

"As of Shenshi, Sibi has recruited more than 3000 soldiers, and it is estimated that [-] soldiers can be recruited before sunset."

Zhao Huan didn't dare to waste time, and asked while stuffing vegetables into his mouth, "How is the new army's military equipment?"

Zhang Shuye said: "There is no shortage of weapons, but the armor is not complete. The accounts of the inner bow, sword, spear, armor and armor are confiscated by the golden men, and the armor is in a mess. It will take time to reorganize."

After the disaster of the Jin people in Jingkang, the heavy cavalry was further developed, and a large number of armors were obtained in Tokyo.

Zhao Huan felt that even if there were some armor left in the arsenal of inner bows, swords, spears and armors, they might only meet the needs of an elite, not enough to arm a large army.

Then he said: "Sooner or later, relying only on the stockpile will not be enough for expenditure. Let the Military Weapons Supervision fully produce, and provide arms and armor for the newly formed Shenwu Youjun."

Zhang Shuye said solemnly: "This is exactly what I want to discuss with Your Majesty. The various workshops of the Military Weapons Supervision are scattered in the city. Among them, the bow and crossbow building yards and the North and South workshops are next to Shang Shuxing, on the west side of the palace city. Inside Xingguofang."

"But the imperial armory is in the outer city, between Piyong and the first bridge (name of the bridge), on the north side of Di Qing's former residence."

"There are more than [-] craftsmen under the jurisdiction of the Imperial Weapons Institute, which have a decisive influence on the war. I plan to send troops out of the city to compete with the Jin people for this place."

Zhao Huan asked: "Can the craftsmen be withdrawn to the inner city?"

"It doesn't make much sense to just withdraw the craftsmen to the inner city. The built-in production equipment, furnaces and production materials also need to be moved."

Zhao Huan nodded, and said, "Then let's go and deploy according to the Prime Minister's plan. I know that being trapped in an isolated city is a dead end, and I am not afraid to send troops out of the city to fight."

Zhang Shuye got up and replied: "I take orders. I'm going to discuss with Sibi Commander about sending troops out of the city."

Zhao Huan put down the bowls and chopsticks, stood up together, and said: "I will go out of the palace with Qing to see the new army camp."

(End of this chapter)