Dawn of the Empire

Chapter 483 - 90

Since the Liao army invaded the south, the Song army on the east and west sides of the capital had been defending the city without any action. At this time, a surprise force broke through Jiangyin.

The Jingdong Road has always been an important place to guard against horse herding from the north to the south. There were many forbidden troops stationed there, and later they gathered the remnants of the Hebei camp.As far as naval warships are concerned, most of the ships used by the Baoyi Army were the ships of the original pirates, or they bought merchant ships for temporary modification.As far as Zhao Xingde knows, after the Fourth Battalion used artillery warships in the Battle of Liaodong, the Jingdong Heng Navy quickly imitated the installation of iron barrel guns on naval warships, and even bought and hoarded a large number of ships from the Liaodong Han Army. The giant tree was so large that it even aroused the vigilance of the Huguo Mansion.

The news that Han Shizhong led his troops to the south along the coast made the generals overjoyed and began to discuss noisyly.

"Hou Xianggong is really scheming."

"Ginger is still old and spicy, if you don't make it, it will be a blockbuster."

"General Zhao, should we speed up our march?"

"Huihe suppressed the army and crossed the navy, and drove the Liao bandits down the river to feed the fish in one fell swoop!"

The news of Jiangyin's great victory spread, and the soldiers and people on the ship and on the shore cheered loudly.In the past two or three months, the two countries have exchanged troops for a change from the fall of Bianliang last year. Yelu Dashi personally conscripted troops in Xiangyang. It was stopped in Shuzhou by the suppressing army, and now there is a great victory in Jiangyin.At this moment, the open and secret struggle between Chen Dong and Hou Huanyin not long ago seems to be deliberately forgotten.Everyone had smiles on their faces, shouting and laughing to defeat the Liao army again.

This is undoubtedly great news for the Song Army who are fighting fiercely in Shuzhou.The Jiangyin navy was established after the Liao army invaded the south and surrendered the original Song Dynasty navy.The grain ships on the river were all escorted by the navy. Now Han Shizhong suddenly joined the southeast battlefield and captured Jiangyin.

Looking at this scene, Zhao Xingde raised the corners of his mouth slightly, and thought to himself: "Although Hou Huanyin managed the Jingdong Road very solidly, but the Jingdong Road is backed by the sea, the hinterland is not as deep and wide as the southeast, and it is easy to be isolated from other counties. Natural disadvantage. If Hou Huanyin is not willing to be inferior to Chen Dong, he can’t stay in Jingdong to protect himself. Instead, he must send troops to show his strength. Jun's stomach and back are much better."

Among the Liao army on the East Road, the commander-in-chief Yelu Bijie was stationed in Jiangning Mansion, and 2 people followed Timuge against the river to attack Shuzhou.The Battle of Jiangyin severely poked a big hole in the Liao Army's Jianghuai layout, and it also proved Yue Fei's conclusion that the Liao Army was still not firmly established, which was very encouraging.

Today, Zhao Xingde began to understand Yue Fei's desire to fight the Liao army.Since the Liao army invaded the south, although it has won consecutive battles.Spread out a big stall, but also left a big flaw.But after the battle line was widened, the Khitan and other Hu tribes had a small population, and the shortcomings of the original lack of military strength gradually became apparent.In less than a year, neither the surrendered Song army nor the forcibly conscripted signing army could have devoted their lives to the Liao Kingdom.After all, the limited use of troops by the Liao army has reached the extreme. In this situation, if there are a few big victories, it may be possible to drive the Liao army out of the Central Plains in a short period of time and rescue all the people in the fallen Song Dynasty.Yue Fei was originally from Xiangzhou. Over the years, he was fighting abroad, but his parents, wife and children stayed in his hometown.The Liao army moved south too quickly, and the fall of Bianliang was too sudden. For several months, there was no news from the north and the south. So far, Yue Fei has not received any news from his family.These secret things are unknown to others, but generals like Zhao Xingde know about them.

"Henan and Hebei are devastated, and the pain of separation of parents, wives and children, he probably feels more." Zhao Xingde sighed empathetically, "I hope that the northern captives will be expelled as soon as possible. Auspicious people have their own destiny."

The news of Jiangyin's great victory made Ezhou City once again as lively as a festival.The literati wrote poems to praise it one after another, and the common people in the market also talked about it.A sense of joy and optimism even spread from the people to the prime minister's mansion, and the aides gathered together, happily talking about the news that Han Shizhong had captured Jiangyin Shuizhai.It is said that the rebel general Kong Yanzhou gathered tens of thousands of people, but he was defeated in a row, so that the whole army was wiped out, and fell to the point of escaping with a plank.Of course, these are rumors.

Correspondingly, Hou Huanyin's reputation has also risen.As the pacifier of Jingdong Road, according to the court system, Han Shizhong is his subordinate.This strategy and decision-making is indispensable. Before the prime minister's office made a decision, scholars from far and near prefectures and counties wrote letters asking for heavy rewards to Hou Huanyin and Han Shizhong, and at the same time reward meritorious soldiers.The benefits of Hou Huanyin's efforts to buy people's hearts in order to compete for the position of prime minister were fully revealed at this time.If the prime minister's mansion doesn't offer generous rewards, it will appear stingy instead.

"It seems that I underestimated the Marquis of Jingdong in the past." Chen Dong's eyes narrowed slightly, and his eyes fell on the map of the mountains and rivers on the march.Abandoning other thoughts, he said to himself, "If it is beneficial to the country, it is always good to have more heroes."

Although the significance of the Jiangyin victory is not trivial.However, Henghai's reward will be comparable to the battle between Fangzhou and Shuzhou.This is the initial plan of the Ministry of War, so as not to favor one over another.But the most important thing right now is Shuzhou.How to consolidate the victory, it is best to eat this Liao army and achieve an unprecedented victory.The key to the Battle of Shuzhou lies in coordinating the generals.Zhao Xingde can take care of the overall situation, but if he thinks that Heng Haijun will obey the orders of the suppressing governor Jiedushi, it is obviously a bookworm's idea.Therefore, Chen Dong wanted to follow the ancestral system of the dynasty's generals to rule from the middle, and asked the Ministry of War to make a strategy, and the privy envoy Yue Fei would take charge of the suppression of the army, the horizontal navy, and the Baoyi army to attack jointly.Let Zhao Xingde coordinate with the second general of Juzhong Yuehan.However, he was still very hesitant and felt unsure.The Baoyi Army is the weakest of the three Song armies, does Zhao Xingde have this ability?

"Brother Temu's tens of thousands of hedgehogs are gathered in the east of Shuzhou, and all the food and grass are transported by the river. Now that Jiangyin and the navy are destroyed, General Han will take advantage of the momentum to attack the waterway, and the Liao army's grain route will be changed from land. The difficulty is not difficult. It's the same."

The eyes of Cao Liangshi, Minister of the Ministry of War, were bloodshot, and the responsibility of formulating the strategy suddenly fell on him. The pressure was as heavy as Mount Tai, but he still endured it.Hebei and Henan were repeatedly defeated, and the large number of forbidden troops trained by the imperial court all the year round no longer existed, and most of the remaining battalion troops were in the hands of the "treacherous" party.The three Song Dynasty armies gathered in the upper and lower reaches of Shuzhou are the hope of the southeastern half of the prefectures and counties.Ezhou couldn't afford to lose, so Cao Liangshi thought hard and discussed with the staff of the Ministry of War a prudent strategy.

"According to the detailed report, most of the Liao army's grain and grass were stored in the two prefectures of Jiangning and Hangzhou. In order to rush westward to Jingxiang, Temuge's troops did not carry much grain and grass, and they had to be transported by water from time to time. Now that General Han is broken Jiangyin. Shuizhai just took advantage of the momentum to cut off the grain road on the water. The roads in the south of the Yangtze River are muddy, and it is even more difficult to transport grain and grass by land. The two generals Yue and Zhao need to hold Shuzhou firmly and wait for work. In July and August, the northern captives can't stand the heat, the muddy roads are not conducive to cavalry, and the food and grass in front of the Shuzhou army is exhausted, so the enemy army will collapse without fighting. At that time, the three armies of Zhenguo, Baoyi, and Henghai will send troops together, and the troops can be collected. All done."

Cao Liangshi explained the strategy of the Ministry of War. Chen Dong pondered for a long time. After the ministers discussed it, he printed the strategy and sent it to the front of the Shuzhou army on a flying horse.

The news of Jiangyin's defeat also caused an uproar in the Liao army's imperial camp.

"Are the soldiers of the Southern Dynasty all useless?" Hearing someone ask in a strange way, Tie Lu Tie, the Privy Councilor of the Northern Court, also felt ashamed.It turned out that the Liao Kingdom had almost completely canceled the Han barracks.It was he who advocated the surrender of the soldiers from the Southern Dynasty, and the recruitment of strong and brave people from the countryside to form the Southern Dynasty soldiers attached to the Liao Kingdom. Unexpectedly, since Bianliang went south, the march of troops was extremely unsatisfactory, and they lost one battle after another, and the performance of the Southern Dynasty soldiers was particularly unbearable.Fortunately for Brother Yelu Tie, Yelu Dashi didn't take his anger out on him, but his contempt for the southerners deepened.

"It seems that the 'drill' practice of the Lumen Navy will be accelerated." Yelu Dashi ordered, "Another [-] Jurchen battalions will be conscripted to the Jiangning Navy."

Jin Wang Yelukuang and Southern Jurchen King Wanyan Zongbi agreed in unison.The navy, mainly Jurchen, established a stronghold in Jiajiang, Lumen, Yelukuang was the deputy commander of the navy, and Wanyan Zongbi was the deputy commander of the navy.For Wanyan Zongbi and other Jurchen surrendered generals, Yelu Dashi has been with him all the time, and now he is almost tamed.Since the Southern Expedition, these Jurchen generals and the wild cavalry under Brother Temu have made great efforts.Therefore, in this southward invasion, there were more than 3 people in the Jurchen battalion in the Liao army that attacked Xiangyang, and now all of them have been allocated to the navy battalion.Yelu Dashi did not allow the Jurchens to serve as cavalry, and the navy was only useful in the south, and it did not pose much threat to the Khitan people.

Yelu Dashi nodded in satisfaction. "Just let these barbarians and Song people consume each other." Yelu Dashi's mouth showed an inscrutable smile, and he turned to Yelu Tie brother, comforting, "Our army has not been in the Jianghuai for a long time. Instability is normal." Seeing the expression of gratitude in Brother Yelu Tie's eyes, he nodded, "After the capture of Bianliang, even I despise these wandering soldiers. The whole army is also a little proud Underestimating the enemy, the few small setbacks now just remind us that the soldiers of the North Academy must cheer up."

"The Song army wanted to attack Brother Timu in a delusion. Do you want Yelu Bijie to send troops to reinforce first, and before the Song army has gathered, break through the Shuzhou town first, and then attack the Baoyi army and Henghai?" Yelu Tie said. Brother suggested.What he fears the most is the Hengjun Navy that has just won. This army comes from the sea and can sail to sea at any time, which is really a headache.