Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Outside Chenliu City, there is Cangwangmiao Village.

At the end of the day's battle, the soldiers returned to the camp dejectedly. Guo Changxian knelt down in front of Guo Anguo and cried: "Lang Jun, we can't fight like this anymore, the hard troops are almost exhausted!"

"Uncle, stand up quickly," Guo Anguo hurriedly helped him, "I don't want to fight, but the Jin man is pressing too hard."

Guo Changxian was a fellow villager of Guo Yaoshi. He managed to get close to relatives through various twists and turns. He could barely be regarded as Guo Yaoshi's clan brother. He had been responsible for commanding the "hard army".

The real "hard army" only has 300 people, the top elites among the 8,000 Liaodong elites.

Guo Yaoshi fought against Wanyan Zongwang in Baihe. One hundred and two of the three hundred hard-line soldiers died in the battle. Almost everyone was injured and still rushed forward. Later, they were replenished to 300 men, but their combat strength had declined, and now they were ordered to attack Chenliucheng.

After a while, Zhao Heshou also hurried over and said with a look of resentment: "The Jin people have evil intentions and want all the old soldiers from Liaodong to die under Chenliu City!"

The Zhao Heshou in front of me, Zhen Wuchen in the wounded barracks, Liu Shunren and Zhang Linghui who were killed in Yanjing were all brothers of Guo Pharmacist.

Another general named Zhou Kui said: "It is said that the commander-in-chief defected before the battle and voted for the man named Zhu. With the commander-in-chief's character, if he was not forced into a desperate situation, how could he abandon us brothers and betray the gold. What's more, Lang Jun How could he not even want his son when he is still in the Jin camp? The Jin people must have forced him to die!"

Guo Changxian said: "The Jin soldiers failed to force the commander to death, but they forced him to rebel. Now they are using the commander-in-chief's defection as an excuse to make us guilty and meritorious service. The other Jin soldiers did not contribute much, and we were only allowed to fight every day. They attacked the fortified city fiercely, just to use the hands of the Song people to kill us all here."

"Lang Jun, if you listen to the Jin man's order, all the brothers in Liaodong will die!" Zhao Heshou said.

Guo Anguo cried sadly: "What can I do? If you don't obey, you will be besieged by the Jin people. There is no way to escape. The cavalry has been transferred. Now there are only infantry left. If you run away, you will definitely be chased by the Jin cavalry."

The Ever Victorious Army had its own will as early as when it was still the Resentful Army.

Because the Liao Kingdom did not provide sufficient food and wages, they had rebelled many times while Emperor Tian Zuo was still there. At the beginning, more than 7,000 people rebelled and looted Qianzhou in the Liao Kingdom, and then they were recruited. Two years later, nearly 30,000 people rebelled and besieged Jinzhou in the Liao Kingdom. After recruiting troops, they were almost trapped and killed, but Xiao Qian saved them.

Now that they were bullied like this by the Jin people, they began to plot rebellion again.

Not only the elite of Guo Yaoshi's direct lineage, but also Zhao Heshou's troops.

Zhao Heshou led 2,000 men alone and was also a northern military leader. The total number of his and Guo Anguo's troops was about 7,000.

These 7,000 victorious troops attacked Chenliu for several days, resulting in more than 1,000 casualties.

There was no decent siege equipment at all, so they built a simple ladder to attack. As long as the defenders were united, how could they not suffer heavy casualties?

It was difficult to escape, and it was even more difficult to rebel on the spot, because they had no food and grass, and all military food depended on the Jin people's daily supply. The Jin people let them camp alone, and were extremely defensive, always on guard against rebellion.

Guo Anguo said: "As long as Chenliu is captured, the second prince will trust us."

"Mr. Lang, do you believe this nonsense?" Zhao Heshou sneered, "When I was in Yanjing, I was leading an army of six thousand. The generals under my command were bribed by the Jin people, and most of the soldiers in my hand were transferred to the army. Commander Liu Yanzong. I and the commander-in-chief Xian Yanjing took refuge in the capital and made great contributions. Not only did we not get any rewards, but the army was taken away out of thin air. Let alone Chen Liu, even if Kaifeng was captured, the Jin people would not trust us! Who let us He has rebelled countless times, but he is also brave enough to fight?"

"Escape tonight. As much as you can escape, go to Xianping County and join the commander-in-chief!" Guo Changxian said.

Zhou Kuifa said harshly: "It's better to attack Jinying at night first, and then take advantage of the chaos to escape."

Zhao Heshou said: "The Jin people are forcing us like this just to wait for us to rebel. How can a night attack succeed?"

Guo Anguo was more timid: "The cavalry were all taken away by my father. We don't have any cavalry. How can we stop the Jin from chasing us?"

"Why are we still looking ahead and looking behind?" Zhao Heshou said anxiously, "If we continue to attack for a few more days, even if we capture Chen Liu, most of our soldiers will be killed or wounded. If we don't escape now, we will be slowly killed by the Jin!"

"But after days of siege, the soldiers are exhausted. This is dozens of miles away from Xianping, and they will definitely be overtaken by the Jin's cavalry." Guo Anguo still refused to make a decision.

In this case, even if Medicine Master Guo is here, he can only follow the soldiers. Guo Anguo is nothing!

Zhao Heshou asked directly: "Who wants to follow me?"

Guo Changxian said: "I am willing to go with the general!"

"I am coming too!"

"Let's go together!"

All the generals agreed one after another, and Guo Anguo was immediately dumbfounded. He seemed to have become a polished commander.

This is the ever-victorious army. Not to mention dissatisfied with the management of the Jin people, even their own generals can't suppress it.

"Then...then I'll go too." Guo Anguo could only follow the generals.

In the evening, the whole army had eaten and rested. In the middle of the night, they took no baggage and began to escape wearing armor, ready to fight against the pursuers at any time.

They were discovered shortly after leaving the camp. Wanyan Zongwang sent thousands of cavalry to pursue them, and even the remaining two thousand escort troops were dispatched en masse.

These ever-victorious armies were actually able to retreat while fighting. The pursuers did not directly rush to kill them, but repeatedly shot arrows to consume them. By the time they withdrew into a village to defend themselves, they had already killed more than a thousand people and were surrounded by thousands of cavalry.

After daybreak, Wanyan Zongbi sent someone to shout: "Second Prince Renyi, only kill Guo Anguo, Zhao Heshou and other chief culprits. The rest of the soldiers can survive. Kill the generals quickly and surrender!"

Wanyan Zongwang also coveted these elites and did not plan to kill them all. After killing the generals, he planned to disperse the middle and low-level officers and soldiers into other units.

He also thought about trapping and killing, but the generals of the victorious army were very smart and refused to leave their own soldiers.

Anyway, the Ever Victorious Army must be dealt with because Guo Yaoshi defected. If they are not dealt with in time, once they fight Ju Ming, these guys are very likely to switch sides!

…

Outside Xianping City, Ju Ming's camp was located.

Xue Guan knelt on the ground and cried: "Generalissimo, quickly send troops to rescue Chen Liu, otherwise we will be gone!"

"Get up and speak." Ju Ming said.

However, Xue Guan kowtowed frantically: "If the Generalissimo doesn't send troops, I will kneel and die here. Every man is responsible for the rise and fall of the world. I have no other ability, so I can only break out and ask the Marshal to send reinforcements."

"I just promise to send troops," Ju Ming said.

The "Essay on Pursuing Gold" was issued, and Ju Ming had a great cause and also a responsibility.

Chenliu is close to Tokyo, this city must be saved!

But Ju Ming actually did not want to fight the Jin because he only had more than 30,000 soldiers. We must wait for Li Bao to go north. By then there will be nearly 50,000 soldiers.

Kaifeng's water system is developed, and Ju Ming can continuously transport grain and grass through the Huimin River and Cai River. The civilians only need to carry the two land routes from Nanyang to Yexian and Xiangcheng to Yingchang, and the rest can be solved by grain ships.

Chen Liu was on the bank of the Bian River, which was the only way for Li Bao to go north.

If Ju Ming sent troops to rescue him, the dozens of miles of grain roads would have to be carried by civilians, and he would be extremely vulnerable to attacks by the Jin cavalry.

Moreover, it will also expose your true military strength!

Before that, Ju Ming had been bluffing. He made many flags and erected them inside and outside the city, and asked civilians to disguise themselves as soldiers, pretending that he had an army of 100,000, so that Wanyan Zongwang did not dare to act rashly.

"Marshal, let me guard Xianping City." Wang Zhenmao then recommended himself.

Ju Ming asked: "What does the old general plan to do?"

Wang Chen said: "I don't want a civilian man or a soldier. I just organize people to defend the city on the spot in Xianping. The Jin people sent cavalry to investigate, but they certainly couldn't find out the truth. They thought our army still had heavy troops in Xianping City. The Jin people will always be wary of our army's strength in Xianping."

"Okay." Ju Ming agreed.

Zhang Bor then said: "Marshal, I don't know when Li Bao will be able to go north, so I can't wait for him to come. I plan to go back to Puzhou to recruit troops. I will go to Puzhou with one man and one horse. When I come back, there will be three to five thousand rebels."

Zhu Ming shook his head: "Li Bao can definitely arrive on time, or even arrive early. You can go back to Puzhou if you want, but after recruiting troops, you don't have to go back to Kaifeng and just capture Puzhou directly. It would be even better if you can capture Xingren Mansion!" "

"Yes!" Zhang Bor accepted the order with his hands raised.

Ju Ming ordered his troops and horses to march slowly towards Chen Liu.

What is Li Bao doing?

Li Bao commanded more than 10,000 troops and set out by boat from eastern Sichuan. Now the number has increased to 30,000.

He asked the accompanying civilian officials to lead the newly recruited rebel troops, try to maintain military discipline, and occupy various prefectures and counties in Huainan.

The military discipline of these newly recruited rebels is definitely not good, and they will inevitably engage in disturbing behavior. There were even cases where people were robbed and killed, especially wealthy families.

However, Li Bao believed that this kind of thing was acceptable as long as there was no large-scale rebellion. The top priority was to occupy Huainan as soon as possible.

He ordered the more than 10,000 soldiers from eastern Sichuan to assemble in Sizhou as quickly as possible. He did not even take care of the food brought from Sichuan, and threw half of it to the temporarily recruited rebels. Then he led more than 10,000 soldiers and horses and headed straight for Kaifeng along the Bianhe River. On the way, he made IOUs to force wealthy households to provide food and grass. He used the notorious people to establish his authority and directly killed them and confiscated their money and food.

When Chen Liu sent someone to ask for help, Li Bao had already arrived at Yingtian Mansion in Nanjing (near Shangqiu, which can be understood as Shangqiu).

This place is still two hundred miles away from Chenliu, and the waterway is moving very quickly. It is estimated that it will arrive before Ju Ming.

However, Li Bao was blocked in Shangqiu!

Du Chong, the prefect of Yingtian, recruited eight thousand troops and was about to go to Kaifeng King Qin, but Li Bao came to kill him at this time.

Although Du Chong was a civil servant, he was cruel and murderous. During the Jingkang period, he was transferred to the prefecture of Cangzhou. Because there were too many Liao people moving from the Yanyun area, he was afraid that someone would act as an internal agent for the Jin soldiers, so he ordered all the Liao people who moved south to be killed, even the old, weak, women and children.

When the Jin soldiers did not come to kill him, he claimed that he would take the lead.

As soon as the Jin soldiers arrived, the guy ran away and ordered the Yellow River embankment to be pulled up. Not a few Jin soldiers were drowned, but hundreds of thousands of people were drowned, and even more people died from fleeing and plague. It also caused the Yellow River to divert the Huaihe River and flow into the sea. The prosperous Huaihe River area became depressed and was tortured by the Yellow River until the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China.

"Draw out the flat cannon and attack the city immediately!"

Seeing that Yingtianfu City refused to surrender and did not take any rest, Li Bao ordered a forcible attack on the city. Ju Ming was still waiting for him.

Du Chong raised eight thousand troops and threatened to attack the king. When he learned that the Jin soldiers were attacking Chenliu, he found various reasons to hold his troops back.

Li Bao led his troops to kill, and Du Chong also said to his officials: "The city of Nanjing is high and deep, and it is no less generous than Tokyo. The thieves cannot attack it. Although I am a commander-in-chief, I will not be able to strategize. If the thieves attack the city, I will personally risk the arrows and stones to kill the thieves!"

Just after he finished speaking, a soldier shouted: "Prefect, the thieves are about to attack the city!"

Du Chong was shocked and immediately said: "You guys stay here, I will go back to the government office to settle down with my family, and I will come to lead the troops to fight in a while!"

The man galloped back to the mansion on horseback, took the goods he had packed long ago, took his family and servants out of the north gate, and ran away, abandoning the city and the army.