The new era of chaos begins in the Song Dynasty

Chapter 311 Zhao’an! Must be ordered to peace!

In front of gold, no one can say no!

At least not most of the heroic leaders in the Zhennan Rebel Army.

Even a few noble people who regard money as dirt are still bound by brotherhood and cannot refuse to go to the ghost to rescue the abducted woman.

Therefore, the leaders of the Zhennan Rebel Army completely unified their ideological cognition in almost a short period of time. Of course, they were willing to hide the slogan "grab gold" for the time being.

So, the only way to defeat the ghost is to save my sister-in-law!

This became the unified voice of the rebels’ external propaganda.

But the biggest problem facing the Zhennan rebels now is that it is not easy, or should be said to be very difficult, for them to go to the Qishan gateway that connects Guifang Kingdom.

Qishan is located in Fengxiang Mansion on Qinfeng Road in the northwest. It is a remnant of the Qianshan Mountains on the eastern branch of Liupan Mountain. It is more than 2,000 miles away from Hongzhou in a straight line. Along the way, it has to cross the Yangtze River and the Yellow River, as well as countless mountains and rivers. Blocked way.

The geographical difficulties alone are not enough.

The key is that the most capable troops of the Song Dynasty are currently on Qinfeng Road and several Fu Roads further west. The unstoppable Northwestern Army of the Song Dynasty is definitely not something they and other nearly ragtag rebels can resist.

Therefore, it is absolutely unrealistic for the tens of thousands of rebel troops to go to Qishan and fight all the way there.

The only feasible way is to be dispatched to Qinfeng Road as an official guest army of the Song Dynasty.

The premise of all this is that they must first obtain the status of the official army of the Song Dynasty.

Such an unavoidable question is placed in front of everyone.

That is Zhao'an.

It is not difficult for the rebels to be ordered to peace. It is easy to say but not easy either.

There are several essential prerequisites here.

First, the rebels must show enough strength to let the court and the army understand that it is not cost-effective to annihilate them directly.

All in all, we have to thank He Zhizhong, the commander-in-chief of Pingnan, who sent almost all the mobile troops from all over the Yangtze River to the rebels, directly supporting the rebels' combat power.

If you want to rely on force to quell the Zhennan Rebel Army, unless you mobilize troops from the northwest, or the court can send a real commander, otherwise it will be difficult to rely only on mediocre people and local troops, and it may even lead to Jiangnan Road is completely in ruins.

But this was a price that the Song Dynasty court could not bear. Jiangnan taxation was as important to the Song Dynasty as half of the world.

And this is the most important objective condition for the Zhennan Rebels to be qualified to be ordered to peace by the Song Dynasty.

The second prerequisite for Zhao'an is that the rebels must have connections who can speak out in the court, and important ministers with enough weight to be willing to stand up for them.

In this regard, Wang Huan and Yang Wen do have some options, but they are not very safe.

As for the third condition, it is that the imperial court has needs and needs an additional military force to be deployed somewhere. Of course, this is not absolute.

While the leaders were discussing how to obtain the imperial edict, Ergou went south to look for his nephew Chen Congshan.

The purpose of Ergou's meeting with Chen Congshan was very simple, which was to help deliver Zhang Ruchun's letters and tokens.

At this time, Chen Congshan was already the acting commander of Nanxiong Prefecture, commanding 8,000 soldiers from Nanxiong, Nan'an and other four prefectures. They were stationed in Wan'an County of Jizhou to deal with the Zhennan Rebel Army's attack on Lingnan and Lingbei prefectures. of suppression.

Of course, Chen Congshan was not the only general to challenge on the battlefield in Jiangnan. Another army led by Liu Zhongwu was composed of 6,000 soldiers and horses as the backbone and local soldiers in Jiangnan as wings, stationed in Luling.

Liu Zhongwu can be said to be a model of "knowing shame and then being brave" among the generals of the Song army. On that day, Yunzhoutan suffered a disastrous defeat. Liu Zhongwu almost destroyed the main force of the Song army from the north of the Yangtze River to counter the rebellion. Only his own troops were barely saved.

Such a general who lost his army and suffered a defeat should have been punished and executed according to the laws of the Song Dynasty. However, in many cases, laws always need to be different from person to person.

In terms of identity, Liu Zhongwu is a man of provenance and has a profound background.

In terms of strength and status, Liu Zhongwu holds an elite force of more than 2,000 people from the northwest headquarters, and is currently the most reliable and capable general in the Jiangnan region. Killing him will only make the rebel army laugh out loud.

After all, it is a bit inappropriate to think that a strong general who was able to lead his remaining troops to "charge" out of the Jedi at Yunzhoutan did not die in the hands of the traitor army, but was executed by the imperial court itself.

At least He Zhizhong, the commander-in-chief of Pingnan, would never do such a stupid thing to destroy the city wall.

Therefore, although he ordered the military supervisor to examine Liu Zhongwu's crimes, he did not deprive him of his military power, but asked him to perform meritorious service for his crimes.

But Liu Zhongwu lived up to He Zhizhong's trust. After uniting thousands of local soldiers and replenishing weapons and food, he sent his army northward, conquering several counties such as Wan'an, Longquan, Taihe, etc., and then in Yonghe. The town was defeated by a band of thieves, and three of their leaders were beheaded, along with thousands of soldiers.

Finally, Liu Zhongwu sent out a surprise attack to Luling, the capital of Jizhou, and defeated the rebel general Jing Zhong.

If the rebel general Zhang Kai led the elite rebel army to come to the rescue and temporarily forced Liu Zhongwu's troops to retreat, Liu Zhongwu might even have fought his way through Jizhou, invaded the Linjiang Army, and then attacked the headquarters camp of the traitor army.

Now the rebel army's fierce generals are stationed in Qingjiang Mansion, guarding the southern route of the Zhennan rebel army, and isolating the Song army from the south from Hongzhou.

In fact, Luling and Qingjiang Prefecture are separated by Jishui, Xiajiang, Xingan and other counties.

Liu Zhongwu had already demonstrated his ability and value, and did not dare to push too far in case he was attacked by the rebels. Especially since Zhang Kai was not only highly skilled in martial arts, but also unique in using troops. He was good at attacking and defending, and was especially good at making surprise attacks.

Liu Zhongwu already knew a little about the origin of Zhang Kai, and he was very puzzled as to how those students in He Zhizhong were so confused that they forced such a famous general to rebel.

Even though there were dozens of leaders of the Zhennan Rebel Army, including many generals or famous disciples like Wang Huan, Yang Wen, and Han Cunbao, in Liu Zhongwu's opinion, only one of them had the talent of a famous general.

It was precisely out of fear of Zhang Kai that Liu Zhongwu separated at least three counties from the other party and faced off from afar.

The prefectures and counties between the two sides have become a more deadly trap.

Earlier, He Zhizhong was a little confused as to why Liu Zhongwu was holding back in Luling, so he sent his own student troops out of Yongfeng to capture Jishui. As a result, the few scholars with Jinshi backgrounds were arrogant and believed that the rebel army was vulnerable, so they marched north with their troops. , and then went down to Xiajiang and Xingan counties.

It wasn't until he waited for the soldiers to cross Baizhang Mountain that they were pushed down from a height by Zhang Zhang's ambushes. Two of He Zhizhong's students died and three were captured.

Then Zhang Kai pushed back all the way to Jishui in Jizhou, and confronted Liu Zhongwu who came after hearing the inquiry at the bottom of the city.

Do you think this is over?

Actually not.

At that time, Mei Zhan, his friends Wang Wende, Xiang Yuanzhen and three others led their own elite troops of 10,000 people. They secretly sent troops from Yongxin in Jizhou and unexpectedly attacked Taihe County. When Wang Wende's troops attacked Wan'an County, they were unexpectedly defeated. They were repelled by Chen Congshan and his troops who had just arrived in Wanan.

Chen Congshan then led thousands of elite troops down the Gan River and raided Taihe County.

At this time, Mei Zhan happened to lead most of his troops north to Luling, intending to attack Liu Zhongwu's rear and support him.

In addition, Wang Wende who went south to Wan'an County was unexpectedly defeated and had no time to return to defense. As a result, Xiang Yuanzhen, who was guarding Taihe County, was caught off guard and was raided and captured alive by Chen Congshan. At this time, the Song army from Jinghu South Road came from Chaling and captured Yongxin County, the back road of Mei Zhan's headquarters. As a result, the morale of Mei Zhan's troops was shaken. Most of the 10,000 elite troops were defeated, leaving only three or four thousand. People, let alone opening up the support, it would be good if they could ensure that they would not be surrounded and annihilated by Liu Zhongwu and Chen Congshan who were following them.

But at this time, Zhang Kai opened an unparalleled attack on the battlefield and almost severely damaged Liu Zhongwu's troops, forcing Liu Zhongwu to get out of the way and let the remaining troops of Mei Zhan return north.

In the end, the Song army and the rebel army fought a bad battle under Jishui City, and both sides suffered losses.

However, after Liu Zhongwu discussed with Chen Congshan who arrived at the battlefield, he exchanged Xiang Yuanzhen's secrets for the three captured students of He Zhizhong.

From this, Chen Congshan became famous and became a recognized general in the Song army.

Originally, in He Zhizhong's vision, Chen Congshan should have been dispatched to Linchuan in Fuzhou to serve as a general, responsible for leading a group of troops to siege Hongzhou.

But Liu Zhongwu should not be held responsible because he was guilty.

However, Chen Congshan had a backing, because he was persuaded by Zeng Zhao to firm up his position and completely fell into the arms of Zeng.

As mentioned before, Zeng Zhao was the younger brother of Zeng Bu, and Zeng Bu was the prime minister of the dynasty, and he was a competitor with He Zhizhong.

Moreover, Zeng's hometown is in Nanfeng County of Jianchangjun, which is adjacent to Fuzhou, and his family has great influence in the local area.

He Zhizhong wanted to mobilize Chen Congshan, but he had to ask Zeng first if he agreed.

Zeng Zhao certainly did not want Chen Congshan to become a pawn of He Zhizhong's achievements, so after some unknown secret games, Chen Congshan became the acting commander stationed in Wan'an County, acting as the back-up for Liu Zhongwu's troops.

He Zhizhong's idea is that since you, the son of the Zeng family and the Chen family, are not of use to me, then you should not think about doing any more meritorious deeds to bring glory to the Zeng family, and just stay in the rear.

Of course, both He Zhizhong and other discerning people clearly understand that this war to exterminate the traitors is somewhat unwinnable, unless the new monarch and the important ministers in the court can take the courage to abandon the northwest battlefield and then destroy the entire At the cost of defeating Jiangnan, the northwest frontier troops were mobilized south to quell the rebellion.

Just like what happened when Fang La rebelled in Jiangnan in the future.

But during the Fang La uprising, it was Fang La who sought death on his own. Before he could succeed, he eagerly ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor. Little did he know that this was forcing the Song Dynasty monarchs and ministers to send the Western Army who wanted to go north to rob Yanyun's land. He was transferred to Jiangnan to put down the rebellion.

Build walls high, accumulate grain, and slowly become king.

This sentence is not only Zhu Hongwu's secret to conquering the world, but also the only way for rebels in the past to achieve success, including in the future.

Fortunately, Wang Huan and others had no problem with their minds and did not commit any taboos.

And Zhao Guan, who had just ascended the throne, was not a talented person, and the officials in the court could not bear the responsibility of corrupting the south of the Yangtze River and destroying the northwest.

Ever since, the Zhao'an rebel army has become a consensus strategy agreed upon by all courtiers with brains.

The key to the problem is who will negotiate with the rebels, what kind of treatment will be given to the rebels, and who will get the credit for Zhaoan?

Originally, He Zhizhong, as the commander-in-chief of Pingnan, was the one who had the most say when he personally visited the front lines of Jiangnan.

However, his performance in Jiangnan was somewhat unsatisfactory. A large part of the reason why the bandit army grew bigger was due to He Zhizhong's improper hiring and unclear handling of affairs.

Looking at the main force of the rebel army, most of them are northern generals who were originally transferred to Jiangnan to put down the rebellion. Even the leader of the rebel army is Wang Huan, the grandson of the famous general Wang Shao, who was the former Luoyang garrison commander.

If you want to say that Wang Huan was not loyal to the Song Dynasty, that is absolutely impossible!

Wang Shao was a famous general of his generation and had many old friends in the army. Wang Huan became rich and Wang Hou was now in the northwest border, fighting with the Xixia people in darkness.

Wang Huan himself was a fierce general who fought desperately from the northwest battlefield and made countless achievements. He should have a higher status.

But this guy is short of breath and has a long love for his children. For some reason, he was chosen to be a garrison in Luoyang. He has a tender and affectionate relationship with the daughters of the priests, which is well known to all the romantic celebrities.

The reason for Wang Huan's rebellion was widely publicized, including in Tokyo.

Straight bitch! Your student He Zhizhong relies on his background and love to steal women from Wang Huan. It would be strange if he doesn't rebel!

If you, He Zhizhong, are asked to take charge of Zhaoan Wang Huan, Wang Huan is not stupid, how can he not worry about you taking the opportunity to take revenge?

I'm afraid that not only will the imperial edict be unsuccessful, but the entire situation in Jiangnan will be completely corrupted!

Take a break! What a handsome man!

Of course, He Zhizhong was also quite unhappy.

Straight bitch! They are all idiots who misled me! But the good overall situation was ruined in one day!

He is also talented. If he can't win the battle in Zhao'an this time, I'm afraid he won't be able to go further and sit in the position of prime minister in the future.

Of course, those who are truly qualified to take the lead in Zhao'an are naturally the Zeng brothers.

Among them, Zeng Bu sat in the capital court as prime minister, and Zeng Zhao was the magistrate of Nanxiong. At this time, he also served as the military envoy of Nan'an. His general Chen Congshan had considerable military exploits. Such a trinity of court, local government, and army can be said to be The power is heavy.

Of course, it is not easy to start Zhao'an negotiations. It is impossible for both parties to clearly state the conditions for negotiation. They need to use an intermediary to secretly exchange opinions and then reach a consensus.

This requires an intermediate bridge recognized by both the official and Zhennan rebels.

Originally, Chen Congshan was quite qualified to serve as this intermediary. He had a good relationship with Yang Wen and was half a disciple of the Zeng family. However, he fought so well in the Jizhou battle that Zeng Zhao was a little reluctant to let him take the risk.

If we follow the original timeline, Chen Congshan eventually took on the role of the intermediary not long after, and successfully ordered Wang Huan and others to peace. After that, the Song Dynasty had ten more military envoys, and Chen Congshan also relied on this merit. Jane is in the emperor's heart and will eventually be promoted to the post of Taiwei in the future.

But at this time Ergou appeared.

When he stood in front of Chen Congshan, revealed his identity, and presented Zhang Ruchun's letters and tokens, Chen Congshan only felt dizzy as if thunder struck his head.

Of course, Chen Congshan has always been thinking of Zhang Ruchun. Although recently, the Zeng family had planned to marry a girl from the Zeng family to him, but Chen Congshan did not refuse outright.

That's fine, the key is Ergou's identity.

Before his death, Chen Congshan's grandfather Chen Tongyi had specifically told him to maintain a relationship with Old Chen, and even revealed to him some of Old Chen's unique identity in a semi-cryptic manner.

After Chen Congshan established his family in Dingmen, he visited old man Chen who stayed in the capital many times, and treated him with great courtesy.

As the saying goes, it's not strange to be polite to many people. Although Old Chen never had much words for Chen Congshan, he did tell him: "But if you encounter some disaster, you can go to Xiangzhou to seek help from Chen Ergou! You may be able to get some relief." "

At that time, Chen Congshan only thought that the old man Chen was saying some polite words. Who would have thought that after all this going around, Uncle Ergou would actually appear in front of him, bringing with him a personal letter and personal accessories from his kidnapped wife.

Straight bitch! If I had known, I should have sought Uncle Ergou for help three years ago! Otherwise, why did it take so long to hear some news about my wife today?

(End of this chapter)