Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

The three thousand elites who quietly returned from Guoxian County have never shown their faces and are hiding behind Ju Ming's camp.

The place where soldiers are hidden is called Wuzhangyuan!

The long and narrow remnants of the Qinling Mountains extending to the north, together with Xieshui, form a semi-enclosed terrain, and can also be effectively connected to Xiegu Pass. This was a natural place for garrisoning troops. If Ju Ming had not wanted to block the Wei River, he would have set up his camp in the safer Wuzhangyuan.

As long as the defenders of Xi County dare to leave the city for a decisive battle, and Ju Ming relies on the camp to hold on for a while, the three thousand elite soldiers hiding in Wuzhangyuan will quickly cross the river and appear on the side of the battlefield.

Unfortunately, Zhong Shizhong, Liu Xi, and Liu Qi were too cautious and were never willing to lead their troops in a decisive battle.

In other words, they have too many worries and have to choose to act cautiously.

The three of them were all complaining about Gao Qiu. What did Fengxiang have to defend? The commander's mansion must be located there.

If Gao Qiu moves to Yi County, the Western Army will become more proactive in an instant. Especially the two thousand heavily armored Forbidden Forces, which can be called a deadly weapon on the battlefield, instead of being brought to the front line to fight, they hide in the rear and eat dust.

A fast horse rushed from the north, bringing news that Captain Gao was going to Chang'an to recruit troops.

Master Zhong, Liu Xi, and Liu Qi were stunned for a moment, so why did Fengxiang Fucheng disappear inexplicably?

There are two thousand heavily armored imperial troops there. The bandits are attacked from both sides and they dare not send too many troops to attack the city. How can this damn thing be defeated quickly?

The three guards all sat silently.

Liu Guangzu, the guard general of Luogu Pass who was released after being released, couldn't help but murmured in a low voice: "Captain Gao has run away, so it is useless to guard Xi County. It is better to move to garrison in Chang'an to prevent bandits from wreaking havoc in the pass."

Liu Qi was suddenly reminded and said quickly: "Chang'an must be defended. If the Western Army on the Tangluo Road surrenders, the Yangzhou bandits will definitely occupy Xuxi. Once Xuxi is lost, our army will be attacked on three sides. The thieves can still divide their troops to go to Guanzhong, and Guanzhong is basically there. There are only a few soldiers, maybe the bandits will kill Tongguan and approach Luoyang to shock the capital!"

Liu Xi asked: "What should we do with Yao Gu's army? Should we just ignore him?"

Liu Qi said: "How can we care about the bandits? We only need to defend Guo County. Yao Gu can't get through, and we can't get through either. The battlefield has long been divided by the bandits. We can send a messenger to ask him to defend Dashanguan and Baoji. If If the bandits advance eastward, they can follow them and look for opportunities for a decisive battle."

Master Zhong thought carefully: "If you want to go to Chang'an, you must leave tonight, otherwise you will not be able to leave."

That night, more than 8,000 Western troops came out from the north gate and marched eastward along the south bank of the Wei River. They took away as much food as they could ship.

What can't be taken away will be burned.

The Western Army, who was responsible for burning grain, was afraid that he would be too slow to run away, so he threw torches into many piles of grain and left.

The young and strong men who were temporarily recruited to defend the city waited for the Western Army to leave and rushed madly to put out the fire and grab food. Only dozens of kilograms of food were burned, and the rest was taken home by the people of Xi County.

When Ju Ming heard the commotion, he immediately sent sentries out to check. After learning that the defenders had indeed escaped, he ordered the entire army to enter the city and take control of Yi County.

The next day, three thousand miscellaneous troops were left to defend the city, and three thousand elite troops went to Guo County again (Zhang Boring might have a decisive battle with Yao Gu, and the more troops there, the better).

Zhu Ming led more than 3,000 elite troops to Yuxi.

The county magistrate ran away with the officials.

After occupying Yuxi, Zhu Ming quickly went to Luogu Pass and personally recruited Liu Yanqing and Yang Weizhong who had not made any move.

Wang Yuan and Han Shizhong were kidnapped by Liu Yanqing and sent to the wall.

The two baskets were lowered, but Wang Yuan did not want to enter them, so the soldiers forced them into them.

Liu Yanqing's soldiers also wanted to attack Han Shizhong, but Han Shizhong shouted: "I have legs myself!"

The two of them sat on baskets and staggered up the wall.

Soon they saw a handsome young man standing on the wall smiling at them.

Ju Ming took two steps forward and personally untied Wang Yuan.

Wang Yuan wanted to spit it out, but felt that this was a bit bad. When people treat me so politely, even if I am a bandit, I should still maintain my grace.

"Wang Ji Dao?" Zhu Ming asked.

Wang Yuan replied: "Exactly."

Ju Ming cupped his hands and smiled: "I have admired your name for a long time, and I will rely on you more in the future."

Wang Yuan said: "If you want to kill or behead, you have to do whatever you want. It is absolutely impossible to be a thief."

Zhu Ming smiled and said: "Believe it or not, when I put Liu Yanqing back, he will definitely lie and claim that you surrendered to the enemy and caused the defeat. Of course, you will not be allowed to bear the responsibility alone, because you simply cannot afford it. Liu Yanqing They also impeached the way of cultivating teachers, the way of cultivating teachers, and the ways of making sacrifices and saving. It was these people who were defeated and lost the way of praise, which led to the Liu Jiajun's retreat being blocked."

Wang Yuan remained silent because he knew very well that Liu Yanqing was capable of such a thing.

Ju Ming sighed: "Well, from the moment your Excellency was tied up, there was no place for you in the Song Dynasty. When I was negotiating peace with the court, I would not say that you were kidnapped by Liu Yanqing. I would only let The imperial court has sent your family members. What do you think the emperor and his ministers will think? They must think that they are defecting before the war."

Han Shizhong couldn't help but complain: "As expected of someone who has worn a turban, you have a really vicious heart."

Zhu Ming untied Han Shizhong again and said as he untied the rope: "I have worked hard to win two people. Your reputation as Han Wu has been well known to me for a long time. I even dream of drinking a few bowls of wine with you."

Han Shizhong said in surprise: "I, Han Wu, really have such a resounding reputation?"

"Otherwise, why are you here?" Zhu Ming pointed to the south, "I can let Liu Yanqing and Yang Weizhong's tens of thousands of troops go home, but you two must stay. In my eyes, tens of thousands of troops plus When you stand up, it’s not worth a single hair on your head.”

Although he knew that these were polite words when recruiting people to surrender, Wang Yuan still felt happy when he said them in Ju Ming's mouth.

Han Shizhong heard it even more pleasantly. He joined the army at the age of eighteen and was already in his thirties this year. He had wasted more than ten years in the army and made countless achievements, but he was still only a small commander.

But in front of him, the rebel leader who occupied Sichuan praised himself so highly. Han Shizhong felt like he had met a confidant.

Ju Ming said: "If you two are worried, how about you stop leading troops and stay with me as personal guards?"

Han Shizhong looked at Wang Yuan, who nodded helplessly.

Ju Ming gave each of them a pair of captured infantry armor and weapons, and asked them to stand guard for him that night.

Zhu Chenggong, who was insidious and cunning, was also a little scared. After all, Han Shizhong was quite fierce.

The craftsman made a short blunderbuss for him. He filled it with ammunition and put it beside his pillow at night, and the fire stick was always smoldering.

Anyone who dares to enter the house will immediately collapse!

Han Shizhong stood outside the door in full force, yawning and jokingly said, "How about we rush in and kill this bandit leader?"

Wang Yuan said angrily: "Do you think he really has no defense? If this man is assassinated and killed, all the tens of thousands of Western troops in Luogu Pass will have to be buried with him. The soldiers will run out of food and starve to death in Luogu. These thieves Without the control of the commander, the soldiers will inevitably rush into Guanzhong and plunder everywhere. By then, I am afraid there will be hundreds of thousands of people who will die because of you and me!"

Han Shizhong thought seriously and nodded: "That's true."

Wang Yuan said: "He is buying people's hearts and wants us to sacrifice our lives for him."

"I'm not stupid? Of course you can see that," Han Shizhong pointed in the direction of Tokyo, "but I'm very happy in my heart. Serving as a soldier for the imperial court, not to mention who comes to win people's hearts, even the merits I have made are worth it." Take it away. He can value winning over so much and put his life in my hands. So what if I betray the court and follow him?"

"Is he a thief after all?" Wang Yuan said.

Han Shizhong asked: "Who among the people who can still eat meat today is not a thief? Even the soldiers of the Western Army, who is not a thief? The court does not pay enough food and wages, so marching across states and counties can only rely on robbery. In the plundered areas In the eyes of the people, you and I are all thieves!"

Wang Yuan could not refute.

The next day, the prisoners were received in a peaceful and friendly manner.

Regardless of whether they were soldiers or civilians, a team of ten people came over slowly, and the rest of the Western Army had to wait two or three miles away.

Groups of prisoners were discarded outside the gate, and after officers were screened out, ordinary soldiers could enter the gate. Then, he went out from the north gate of Luogu Pass, received the food and left immediately.

There are more and more soldiers outside the north gate of Luogu Pass. About twenty or thirty fellow villagers will gather and leave together with food.

Without officers taking the lead, ordinary soldiers would no longer join the army and just wanted to go back to reunite with their families as soon as possible.

After three full days, all the prisoners were finally released, leaving only the generals and mid-level and senior officers. These guys will have to be detained for a month before they can be released.

Yang Zhi came to join with more than 10,000 troops, and more than 30,000 Western Army equipment was taken by Ju Ming.

He replaced the captured good equipment with Yang Zhi's troops. Then use the rotten equipment replaced by the rebels to arm the civilians to defend the city.

Immediately occupy Wugong and Fufeng, and let the civilian men who have obtained the armor be stationed. After stabilizing the place, they will lead the troops to attack Xianyang.

There were troops in Xianyang. Three thousand troops were stationed in the division, and a large number of young men were recruited to help defend the city.

Brothers Liu Xi and Liu Qi led five thousand soldiers to protect Captain Gao in Chang'an.

Zhu Ming led thousands of rebels and armed civilians to surround Xianyang.

Yang Zhi led an army of 10,000 people, and ignored Chang'an and Xianyang at all, and went to Weinan with great arrogance.

During the march, Wang Xiong led three thousand troops as the vanguard and suddenly accelerated towards Tongguan.

Tongguan was in disrepair for a long time, and Gao Qiu even fled to Chang'an. There was no defense there, with only a hundred patrol soldiers stationed there.

In fact, Gao Qiu had ordered the defense of Tongguan, but local officials had no money or food, and they are still trying to persuade powerful people to join the army.

Tongguan was occupied by the rebels...

There was a great earthquake in Luoyang. Countless wealthy families there took the initiative to recruit soldiers and let the temporarily recruited rural soldiers defend Shaanzhou (Sanmenxia).

…

Tokyo.

A fast ship came from Luoyang and rushed 800 miles straight to the Privy Council.

Two days later, two fast horses came from Nanyang, bringing back the news of Tong Guan's defeat on the southwestern road of Beijing.

Zhang Guangdao has occupied the Nanyang Basin!

Song Huizong finally panicked and said to Wang Fu: "Quickly issue an order and order all troops to go to Beijing to serve the king!"

"According to the order!" Wang Fu also panicked.

Zhu Meng suddenly said: "Your Majesty, the world is in ruins because Wang Fu is unfit to serve as prime minister and assistant. The Duke of Lu (Cai Jing) is highly respected in the country. If he is reinstated, he will be able to wipe out the Zhu thieves!"

Wang Fu was furious: "It is Cai Jing who has exhausted all his wealth and the court is short of soldiers and food. He is blind and can't even read documents. How can he destroy the Zhu thieves? Will he let the Zhu thieves laugh themselves to death?"

Song Huizong asked: "The Duke of Lu really has a plan to destroy the thieves?"

Wang Fu became anxious: "Your Majesty, don't listen to this guy's nonsense. Cai Jing has never led an army in a war!"

Song Huizong said: "Please be patient and don't be impatient. I just summoned the Duke of Lu to inquire about countermeasures."

Cai You immediately assisted: "My father is blind and deaf, so he is really not suitable for reappearance."

"The matter of reinstatement will be discussed separately. We will first invite the Duke of Lu into the palace to question him." Song Huizong still had illusions about Cai Jing.

"Official family, official family, there is a letter from the red thief!"

Eunuch Li Yan shouted and crawled in.