Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

The camp of the Zhe family army is on the east bank, and the camp of the Zhong family army is on the west bank.

Hearing that the Zhong family army had been raided and suffered heavy losses, Zhe Keqiu was even a little happy, because it would give him an excuse to withdraw his troops.

The two families are different. Zheshi is a real warlord.

They have been running Fugu since the Five Dynasties. In order to guard against foreigners, the Song Dynasty always put the Zhe family on the front line. The Zhe family not only consolidated their territory from generation to generation, but also married their daughters to other generals. For example, Mrs. She in "The Yang Family" should actually be called "Old Mrs. Zhe".

Where there is territory, there is ambition. Historically, after a low price, he even wanted to compete for the position of the pseudo-Qi emperor.

Zhe Keqiu took a boat across the river and visited the Zhong family's military camp for a while. Seeing that everyone here was in danger, Zhe Keqiu sighed: "How can we fight if the soldiers are so scared? Didn't a lot of them escape last night?"

Zhong Shidao said: "There is only one way to escape, most likely to the grain station further north. I have sent people to recall the defeated troops."

Zhe Keqiu said nothing. He found it difficult to understand the stupid loyalty of the Zhong family.

The Zhong family has been like this for generations. The Zhong family's children have died in battle one after another. Dozens of people have been stained with blood on the battlefield for more than a hundred years. Now, the number of males in the family has been reduced.

After discussing how to deal with it, we might as well take a boat back to the east coast.

Not long after, rebels came by boat and shot books at the military camps on both sides of the strait.

After Zhe Keqiu read it, he said to his younger brother Zhe Kecun: "This is not a letter to persuade you to surrender. You can read it yourself."

Zhe Kecun took it and read it: "This is a disaster. If the court finds out, my family will be afraid."

"As long as the prefecture is still in the hands of the Zhe family, the Zhe family has military power. What can the court do if they are afraid of it?" Zhe Keqiu sneered.

Zhe Kecun said: "This is obviously a divorce plan!"

Zhe Keqiu shook his head: "It's not that simple. The purpose of the surname Zhu is quite deep. He is already preparing to seize the world."

The content of the letter from Zhu Mingshe was very simple. He first expressed his respect for the Zhe family and enumerated the illustrious military exploits of the Zhe family's ancestors. Then he said that after the war was over, he planned to negotiate peace with the court, and when the time came, he would ask the emperor for a marriage. Ju Ming planned to marry the daughter of the Zhe family.

The first is estrangement. If the content of the letter spreads, there will definitely be rumors that the Zhe family is colluding with bandits.

The second is to appease, to express goodwill towards the Zhe family and allow the Zhe family army to give up resistance and flee for their lives early.

The third is to win over, hoping that the Zhe family will double their bets and send their daughter to be the future imperial concubine of the new dynasty.

The fourth is the layout. After marrying the daughter of a general of the Western Army, we will be a family from now on, and we will no longer worry about the threat from Shaanxi. Once there are changes in the north, these generals can take advantage of the situation and join Ju Ming.

Zhe Keqiu was already moved. The red thieves were very powerful. The separatist rule of Sichuan was a foregone conclusion. He might even be able to become emperor in the future.

He marries his granddaughter, and as long as the red thief remains alive, the court will not dare to do anything to the family.

The bigger the ruckus caused by the red thieves, the more the court wanted to appease the Zhe family!

Zhong Shidao also received a letter from Ju Ming.

"This Zhu Ming is so resourceful." Although Zhong Shidao was angry, he was so angry that he had no temper. Instead, he began to admire Ju Ming's resourcefulness.

Zhong Hao said: "Zhu Thief sent over hundreds of letters, and the literate officers also opened some and read some. Now someone has spread in the army that our Zhong family wants to marry their daughter to Zhu Thief. What else can they say about the two families? As a family, we don’t have to fight desperately anymore.”

Zhong Shidao lamented: "I am afraid that it will spread to the ears of the imperial court, and the rumors of Zhong family colluding with bandits will be further confirmed."

The Zhe family has a fixed territory, so of course they are not afraid of the court's manipulation.

The Zhong family did not have such a deep foundation. Although they had always suppressed the Zhe family due to their positions, the court could deal with them at will.

The content of the letter spread, and coupled with the continuous defeat, Zhongshi Dao and Zhongshi Zhong will no longer be able to lead the army.

On the south bank of the Shahe River, the rebels were gathering more and more, and it was obvious that they were going to attack the Zhong Family Army, while the Fang Zhe Family Army only defended from the plank road.

Zhong Shidao issued an order to Zhe Keqiu, asking half of the Zhe family's army to come over and jointly defend the camp on the north bank of the Shah River.

However, Zhe Keqiu sent someone to reply: "The Zhejia army must also stick to the east bank. The morale of the Zhejia army is low and the morale of the army is unstable. It is difficult to send troops to the west bank to support the friendly forces. The enemy navy is powerful. If the Zhejia army crosses the river to support them, they may be killed in the river. The thieves were defeated."

He was just making an excuse. If he was afraid of the rebel navy, he could just cross the river quietly further upstream.

Such a reply made Zhong Shidao furious: "Zhe Keqiu, this person, doesn't obey military orders and is so ambitious!"

Zhe Keqiu wanted to withdraw his troops early, just to preserve his strength.

The letter sent by Ju Ming strengthened his plan and even made Zhe Keqiu have a fantasy.

At this point, the Western Army in front of them finally split. The Zhe Family Army, which had more strength, no longer joined the battle, and only the Zhong Family Army, which had suffered a heavy loss in strength, still wanted to hold on.

Ju Ming stood on the river bank, observing the enemy's movements with a telescope, and saw only sporadic small boats coming and going.

He also sent several warships to patrol upstream every day, but the Zhejia army showed no signs of crossing the river.

"Seed and break two generals, the separation was successful." Ju Ming said with a smile.

Shi Yuangong flattered him and said, "The general's clever plan, I never thought of asking to marry the general's daughter."

Zhang Bor suddenly said: "The more I think about it, the more ridiculous it becomes. We are rebels. After winning the battle, we neither plan to proclaim ourselves emperor nor minister. We still have to negotiate peace with the court, and we also ask to marry princesses and generals' daughters." Can the court agree?"

Zhu Ming said: "The Hunjun will agree. Even if I help my father ask for a concubine, Zhao Ji will obediently send his beloved concubine. The prerequisite is that he leads the troops to kill Tongguan!"

It's a pity that the Concubine Liu Guixiang who Zhu Guoxiang liked died of illness two years ago.

A total of six pig iron cannons weighing more than 2,000 kilograms were gradually transported to the south bank of Shahe River by boat.

The artillery positions were set up and the artillery was lined up.

"Boom boom boom!"

The six artillery pieces did not fire in a salvo, but fired in rotation, trying to ensure continuous bombardment, targeting the Western Army camp in the distance.

Thirty squatting tiger guns were also firing in rotation, targeting the nearby Western Army fortifications.

In front of the artillery position, an earthen wall was built, with only the gap of the gun barrel exposed, to prevent the Western Army from counterattacking with a crossbow.

The damage caused is actually not big, because it is all blind shooting.

But the pressure on the Western Army was too great. The shells from the six artillery pieces fell directly into the Western Army's camp, hitting two or three people from time to time.

Due to the terrain, Zhongshidao could not retreat because there was a lack of place to set up camp. If you want to retreat at this time, you have to retreat more than ten miles and give up the mouth of Shahekou in vain.

Moreover, if they are pursued by the rebels during the retreat, the whole army will easily collapse!

The shelling continued intermittently for half a day, taking a break when the barrel was hot.

The soldiers of the Zhong family were living uneasily in their own camp. They sat or lay down on the hillside one after another, and no one even dared to stand casually in the camp.

Zhong Shidao ordered the civilians to dig trenches, hoping that the soldiers would hide in the trenches.

However, there are many rocks on the shore, and it is extremely difficult to dig trenches. It is much more difficult than Ju Ming to build the earthen wall of the artillery position.

"Withdraw the troops tonight, I don't care about your life." Zhong Shidao finally took the risk. It doesn't matter if he is dismissed from office, and it doesn't matter if the Zhong family's children are suppressed. This remaining Western Army must be brought back.

If Zhe Keqiu works together to kill the thief, Zhongshi Dao may still persist.

But the Zhe family army was obviously watching the show, so how could Zhongshi Dao have any chance of winning?

After a whole day of shelling, Ju Ming felt that the enemy's morale had almost dropped, and he ordered: "The whole army should rest and attack at night."

After nightfall, the Zhong family army began to retreat in an orderly manner, without even saying hello to Zhe Keqiu in advance.

"Boom boom boom!"

The Zhong family's army withdrew only more than a thousand people, and suddenly the sound of artillery started again.

The Zhong family troops who had gathered together waiting to evacuate were suddenly hit by a cannonball in the crowd. In the darkness, it was unclear how many people were killed and wounded by the ricochet of the cannonball.

Cries continued to be heard, and the soldiers dispersed in panic.

They haven't escaped at this time because there is no place to escape. The passage ahead is very narrow and is completely blocked by the evacuating troops.

The Crouching Tiger Artillery was also firing towards the north bank of the Shah River, which was covering the rebels' crossing of the river.

When the rebels were on the south bank of the Shah River further upstream and were ready to cross the river, they immediately beat drums to convey the message.

All the Tiger Crouching Artillery stopped firing, and the rebels floated down from the upper reaches of the Shah River in small boats. Another group of rebels came up from the Baoshui River in large boats, aiming at the riverside position of the Zhongjia Army that had just been shelled.

And the six cannons were still firing towards the Zhong family military camp in the distance.

"Dong dong dong dong!"

The dull sound of drums was like a reminder. The Zhong family army responsible for defending the river bank had just been attacked by several rounds of squatting tiger artillery. Now facing the rebels who crossed the river and landed on the bank, they were so frightened that they all collapsed and ran away.

The Zhongjia army was retreating in an orderly manner and was bombarded, causing some chaos, but Zhongshidao was still able to manage it.

But the rebel army crossed the river and chased the defeated troops, and the main force of the Zhong family army finally collapsed.

Some people squeezed desperately onto the narrow passage, and some lost their minds and climbed the cliff. Some people remember that the rebels did not kill the prisoners, but threw away their weapons and lay in the corner waiting to surrender.

Even the soldiers responsible for burning the food and grass threw away their torches and ran away. The smarter ones stayed beside the grain and grass, hoping to dedicate the grain and grass to the rebels to claim credit.

The father and son of the Zhong family were also blocked and had no way of escaping.

Many Zhongjia soldiers were pushing each other in the narrow passage, and there were constant sounds of falling water. The soldiers fell into the water like dumplings.

"You go to the front to enforce discipline and let the soldiers line up to retreat. I will lead the troops to break up the rear!" Zhong Shidao said to his son and nephews.

At this time, not caring about nonsense, the sons and nephews of the Zhong family all obeyed the order and carried out the execution with their own soldiers.

The camp of the Zhong family army was in chaos, and the generals could only barely restrain their own soldiers, and were unable to command ordinary soldiers at all.

The shelling finally stopped completely, but soon the rebels came again.

Zhong Shidao led his personal soldiers to break up the rear, but was defeated as soon as they met, even before the battle started. The personal soldiers took Zhong Shidao and ran away quickly.

One after another, the Zhong Family troops knelt down and surrendered. Ju Ming's effect of not killing the prisoners showed that these Zhong Family troops surrendered without any worries. I just want to surrender quickly and be returned to my hometown in Shaanxi by General Zhu.

"Run quickly, don't burn the food and grass, take as much as you can, and leave the rest as a favor to the rebels!"

Zhe Keqiu heard the movement on the other side and knew that the Zhong family army was definitely doomed. He immediately ordered the entire army to flee, and even deliberately left food and fodder for the rebels.