A thousand-year-old family that began with the Battle of Makino

Chapter 969: The court disputed Zhu Shacai, and the three armies of Yong confronted each other in Dengfeng

"Your Majesty, you can't hesitate any longer. Yangdi has already been lost. If Dengfeng is lost again, Luoyang will be falsely accused of being defensible, and the Song army of 200,000 will march straight in, and the country will be in danger."

"Yes, Your Majesty, you must not listen to the instigation of treacherous people anymore. The safety of the country is at stake, and there is no room for falsehood."

"I heard that the Ying King's army of tens of thousands was defeated by Song General Luo Hongxin at Tuokou. Now the Song army has taken Yuzhou, and the Ying King has retreated to Caizhou for defense."

"Not only that, Song General Liu Guangrui took advantage of Chenzhou Governor Le Fuyi's unpreparedness to capture Wanqiu and retreat to Xiangcheng to defend it alone. Surrounded by Song troops on all sides, he only had a few thousand men, and the situation was critical."

"When Luo Hongxin takes Caizhou and then goes north to join Baijian, the Song army will have 300,000 troops. How can we stop them?"

"How about we retreat to Chang'an?"

"It's not impossible. Didn't the emperor of the Tang Dynasty move to Chengdu many times before? It's not bad to have such a good example."

Zhu Wen listened to the ministers talking more and more outrageously. He knew that Daliang was at the end of its road and his face became darker and darker.

"Bang! Crash!" The sound of objects breaking and a large number of brushes scattering rang out in the court.

The court, which was originally as chaotic as a vegetable market, was suddenly shocked. All the ministers knelt down on their knees in panic, with their foreheads resting on the cold floor of the hall, and they felt a chill rushing to their heads.

As a minister of Zhu Wen's dynasty, one must know that this saint is not a good-tempered person. Regardless of his moral character, he is capable of killing a minister to cheer him up according to his temperament.

Therefore, the ministers serving here have all developed the ability to observe people's words and expressions and to adapt to changing circumstances.

Zhu Wen supported himself on the throne with one hand, stood up suddenly, pointed with his other hand at the ministers who were prostrating themselves on the steps below, and cursed loudly, like a street thug, without any regard for the bearing of an emperor.

After cursing for a quarter of an hour, Zhu Wen finally felt relieved and sat down again.

The ministers below sang out in a tactful manner: "We are guilty of capital punishment. We hope Your Majesty will take good care of your health."

"Hmph, not to mention whether Baijian has 300,000 troops. Even if it does, given the terrain of Dengfeng, it is impossible to take it easily."

"Besides, I have already explained to you the necessity of seizing Mingzhou. I will not say anything more."

"Since Bai Jian wants to clash with me, let's see who is the real dragon."

"Send an order, order Zhu Youwen to stay in Kyoto and supervise the country for me. In seven days, I will lead the army in person, and our target is Dengfeng."

Some ministers wanted to make some suggestions, but when they looked up, they saw Zhu Wen's murderous eyes and quickly lowered their heads.

"Since no one objects, this is settled. The officials should prepare the military expenses immediately. Do it quickly. Don't wait until Baijian breaks through Dengfeng before you complete the preparations."

"If you are not ready by then, don't blame me for using a knife."

"Your Highness, I will obey your command."

As Zhu Wen forced through the imperial edict to ascend the throne, the war machine in Luoyang began to move quickly.

The ministers forced by Zhu Wen had to put in their utmost efforts to raise food and fodder, recruit soldiers, and expand the already small Luoyang army to the maximum extent.

It’s not their fault for not being careful, because Zhu Wen really wanted to kill people.

September 8, the fifth year of Tang Tianyou

On the second day after the edict was issued, Zhu Wen ordered the execution of Zhong Chuandong, the assistant minister of the Ministry of War, Yan Jun, the doctor of the Ministry of Rites, and Cui Youguang, the minister of the Ministry of Revenue, for "embezzling military rations, failing to arrive on time, and colluding with foreign enemies."

In fact, it was because the three of them failed to raise the money, food, and soldiers that Zhu Wen was satisfied with that they were singled out as an example to others.

September

Emperor Zhu Wen of Daliang swore an oath to march to war in Luoyang, leading 7,000 imperial guards including the Konghe Army, 10,000 new soldiers from Chang'an, and 20,000 newly recruited soldiers, announcing to the outside world that he had an army of 100,000.

In fact, there were only 37,000 capable fighters, and the rest were just soldiers sent to help with the transportation of food and fodder.

Zhu Wen went to Dengfeng City via Yingyang.

Upon seeing Zhu Wen's arrival in person, the Song army, which was attacking Zhukou, the only way to Dengfeng, immediately sounded the call to withdraw.

Zhu Youzhen, who had less than 3,000 men and was struggling to resist by taking advantage of the narrow terrain of Zhukou, breathed a sigh of relief.

In order to prevent the Song army from launching a surprise attack on Yingyang from Yinshigou along the Yingshui River, Zhu Wen stationed 20,000 soldiers outside Yinshigou and took the remaining troops to Dengfeng.

Bai Jian looked at the terrain of Dengfeng and estimated that the Liang army had sufficient manpower. He knew that further attack would be a waste of soldiers' lives, so he ordered his troops to retreat and set up camp near the observatory.

From then on, Bai Jian and Zhu Wen confronted each other across Luojiao Mountain.

Seeing that Zhu Wen personally led his troops to stop him, he refused to withdraw his army from Mingzhou.

Bai Jian also understood that Mingzhou was most likely no longer defensible.

So he urgently sent an envoy to Weizhou, asking Bai Ming to deliver the message to Mingzhou city at all costs, so that Kang Huaiying would not have to defend the city any longer and could find the right time to break out as soon as possible.

October rd
Bai Ming, the governor of Weizhou in the State of Song, sent his general, who was also his grandson, Bai Zisheng, who was only 25 years old, with more than 20 cavalrymen to break through the siege of more than 100,000 Liang troops in Mingzhou and enter the city of Mingzhou.

Liang army commander Pang Shigu looked at the young hero with admiration in his eyes and said: "It's no wonder that the Bai family has not prospered for a thousand years. With heroes and talents emerging from generation to generation, how could it not prosper?"

At this time, as Bai Jian guessed, Mingzhou City had only one month's worth of food left, and the number of defenders had been reduced from more than 30,000 to 18,000, with more than half of them dead or wounded.

If most of these people were not serving in the army in other places, with their families mostly in the territory of Song State south of the Yellow River, and the Song army system was not as oppressive as foreign armies,

The Bai family has always enjoyed a very high prestige in the army, and many of the Bai family's descendants serve as generals in the army.

I'm afraid that Mingzhou, which was surrounded by more than 100,000 Liang troops, surrendered a year ago.

It was also because of this that Kang Huaiying, a surrendered general, was able to hold out for a year and a half, half a year longer than Li Sizhao of Luzhou.

With the highest military order brought by Bai Zisheng, Kang Huaiying began to prepare for the breakout.

October
Kang Huaiying ordered Bai Zisheng to lead 3,000 men out of the south of the city to attack the southeast camp of the Liang army, creating the illusion that the Song army was trying to break out in the direction of Weizhou.

As early as after Bai Zisheng rushed into Mingzhou City, Pang Shigu discovered the Song army's intention to retreat.

He then ordered all the camps to defend themselves tightly and not let any Song army escape.

Because according to his calculations, there should not be much food left in Mingzhou City.

If Kang Huaiying's 10,000 men could be kept in Mingzhou City, the Song army would definitely suffer heavy losses.

You have to know that among the 30,000 soldiers Kang Huaiying had at the time, 80% were semi-armored soldiers.

Not to mention that after a year and a half of training, when he returns to Song territory, he will definitely be recruited by Bai Jian into the Royal Guards, or even the Imperial Guards, and used as a fully armored soldier.

On this side, Bai Zisheng was worthy of being a fierce general who rushed into Mingzhou City with his bravery. Three thousand people were like tens of thousands in his hands, and he directly destroyed an entire camp.

The Liang general in charge of the southeast direction repeatedly asked Pang Shigu for help, saying that this must be the main force of the Song army.

When Pang Shigu learned about it, he remained indifferent and just ordered his troops to hold the position to the death.

Because he knew that this was Kang Huaiying's strategy of making a feint to the east and attacking in the west.

(End of this chapter)