Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

The person left by Tong Guan to defend the city in Fuzhou was Yang Yingcheng, deputy commander-in-chief of the two Zhejiang horse infantry armies.

One of Yang Yingcheng's siblings was Yang Yingyan who recognized Song Huizong in Quzhou.

As soon as Tong Guan left Fuzhou City, Yang Yingcheng said to his son Yang Shao: "Go to Min'an Town to contact the Ming army and say that I am willing to surrender Fuzhou City."

"Why didn't father take Tong Guan and surrender again?" Yang Shao asked.

Yang Yingcheng shook his head: "He is on guard. I have too few soldiers, and I have to beware of sudden mutinies by the Xiang Army and the New Army."

The military situation in Fujian is extremely complicated. Yang Yingcheng has all Zhejiang soldiers in his hands. At the beginning of the year, he followed Tong Guan to Fujian to suppress bandits.

When these Zhejiang soldiers heard that their hometown had been captured by the Ming army, they all clamored to go back.

Tong Guan was afraid of a mutiny, so he divided the Zhejiang soldiers into three parts.

One is stationed in Tingzhou and the other is stationed in Jianning to guard against the rebels who have fled into the mountains and then come out again. Moreover, Tong Guan also promised that after he returned to Fuzhou to recruit troops, he would bring these two Zhejiang soldiers back to his hometown.

The remaining one was under the command of Xin Xingzong, who had previously followed Shengjie's army to attack Jianzhou.

As the deputy general manager of the two Zhejiang and horse infantry armies, Yang Yingcheng was left with no Zhejiang soldiers. Instead, he commanded 20,000 to 30,000 Fujian Xiang troops and newly recruited rural soldiers.

Tong Guan's current support is five thousand monk soldiers.

He saw that there were temples all over Fujian, so he recruited young monks to join the army. The fewer relatives he had, the more preferential treatment he would receive. Those with no family members could directly become officers.

Yang Yingcheng was unable to control the troops, and Tong Guan was protected by monk soldiers, so he could only allow him to flee Fuzhou overnight.

"General, we caught a spy who claims to be the son of the Fuzhou guard!"

"bring it here."

The first thing Yang Shao said when he saw Li Bao was: "General, please send troops quickly. Tong Guan has fled with the emperor and officials. The defenders in Fuzhou City may cause a big mess if they have money but no food."

"Have money but no food?" Li Bao paid no attention to Tong Guan.

Yang Shao explained: "Tong Guan sent troops to loot the maritime merchants and robbed a large amount of goods. When he supported the new king to ascend the throne, he rewarded the soldiers with these goods and took the opportunity to recruit a large number of new soldiers. However, the soldiers received the money, but there was no money in the city. There is enough food, and now the price of rice has risen to 3,500 yuan per stone!"

Li Bao immediately understood who his enemy was. It was not the escaping Tong Guan, nor the puppet emperor, but tens of thousands of Fujian soldiers who had no food to eat!

Without solving the food problem, Li Bao would never be able to make a living in Fujian, unless he could be like Tong Guan and disregard the lives of the people.

Fujian has many mountains and little land, and its grain output is extremely low. Tong Guan has been suppressing bandits here for more than half a year. He has ordered the collection of military rations several times, and has already collected all the food from the people at the bottom.

Li Bao asked: "Are the grain merchants hoarding?"

Yang Shao shook his head and said: "The local grain merchants have no more grain. Although Tong Guan did not openly rob him, he forced them to sell it at a low price. Those who refuse to sell grain are colluding with thieves... colluding with the Ming Dynasty. Even the gentry around Fuzhou City also Tong Guan led his troops to forcibly requisition food, and if he resisted at all, he would be killed on the pretext of being a traitor."

"Where can I get the nearest food?" Li Bao asked again.

"Quanzhou!"

Yang Shao said without thinking: "There has not yet been a military disaster there, and not only the gentry and merchants have food, but also a large amount of food is piled up in the temples. Kaiyuan Temple, Shaolin Temple and other temples not only annexed countless lands, but also controlled inland river business, and supplied those seas all year round. suppliers.”

"Why didn't Tong Guan rob the temple in Quanzhou?" Li Bao asked.

Yang Shao replied: "I heard that Zhejiang and Zhejiang were captured by the Ming Dynasty. Tong Guan also sent thousands of soldiers to Quanzhou to collect grain, but they were beaten back by monk soldiers jointly formed by various temples."

Li Bao was surprised and said: "Tong Guan's soldiers were defeated by the monk soldiers?"

Yang Shao explained: "There are countless large and small temples in Quanzhou, and the largest ones alone have tens of thousands of monks and soldiers! In fact, there are more temples in Fuzhou, but Tong Guan's army is here. They did not dare to resist and took the initiative to provide some food. Tong Guan stopped robbing and plundering."

Li Bao asked about Yang Shao's situation again and ordered: "Ask your father to appease the soldiers in the city and tell them that military rations will be arriving in the near future. Anyone who dares to rebel will not only be punished by death, but also their family members will not be able to buy food. Also, Yes, immediately search for river boats, and I will lead troops to pursue Tong Guan!"

Yang Shao was a little embarrassed: "Xin Xingzong took some of the ships outside Fuzhou City when he sent out troops, and the rest were all taken away by Tong Guan."

"As much as we can collect!" Li Bao said.

Half an hour later, Li Bao led a thousand people into the city, and follow-up troops were arriving one after another.

Yang Yingcheng admired this very much. He would never dare to enter the city directly. What if the defenders set up an ambush?

The reason why Li Bao was so bold was because he made Song Huizong disappear.

How could Tong Guan be able to control the army in a small and peaceful court that had lost its emperor? So far, there has been no mutiny. It can only be said that Tong Guan has two brushes.

Li Bao asked directly: "How many ships did you get?"

Yang Yingcheng said: "There are only twenty or thirty small boats left, and each boat can hold at most a dozen people."

Li Bao asked again: "How many soldiers are there in the city?"

Yang Yingcheng said: "More than thirty-seven thousand, all of them are Xiang troops and newly recruited rural soldiers. Even the bandits cannot defeat them if they are taken out of the city."

Li Bao asked again: "How many temples are there in Fuzhou?"

Yang Yingcheng said: "Three to four hundred seats."

Of course, there are more than three to four hundred, and there are 539 formal temples (excluding Taoist temples and obscene rituals). When the male peasants reach adulthood, they all run to become monks. Some officials say that one-half of them become monks, while others say that one-third become monks.

Even when Tong Guan formed an army in Fuzhou, he also recruited a large number of monk soldiers. As long as he did not loot temples, the abbot was willing to take the initiative to send monks to join the army.

Li Bao said: "Give me some locals as guides, and I will immediately lead troops to pursue Tong Guan!"

Yang Yingcheng reminded: "Tong Guan left by boat, and I only collected twenty or thirty small boats."

"That's enough. There are still some river boats in Min'an Town." Li Bao said.

In Yang Yingcheng's surprised eyes, Li Bao led the troops on board the ship with torches.

Because there were too few ships, Li Bao only led more than 700 soldiers and only brought a small amount of dry food. He rowed a small boat to chase Tong Guan?

Moreover, he took off all his armor and coat, wearing only a single coat in the winter.

Yang Shao had an expression of admiration on his face: "General Li is such a brave general!"

Yang Yingcheng muttered to himself: "Madman."

In fact, Yang Yingcheng was also quite crazy. Historically, he offered advice to Zhao Gou and wanted to send troops to land in Goryeo on sea ships and go straight into the hinterland of the Jin Kingdom to rescue the Second Huiqin Sect.

…

On Tongguan's side, there were the emperor and officials, as well as five thousand monks and soldiers, carrying a large amount of goods and grain. The fleet stretched for three or four miles on the Min River.

It's dark at night and very slow.

By dawn, the ship at the forefront had not even arrived at Baisha Town.

Thousands of monks and soldiers were whispering on the ship. Although most of them had no family members or had long lost contact with their families, this did not mean that they were willing to leave their hometown.

Moreover, the Song Dynasty was about to fall, so why should they be buried with the imperial court?

The reason why there was no immediate mutiny was because the leading monk officers had been bribed by Tong Guan's crazy rewards.

Tong Guan even promised that as long as they arrived in Nanjianzhou, the entire army could plunder for three days.

The sky gradually turns white, and the scenery on both sides of the Minjiang River becomes clearer.

The little puppet emperor behind Tong Guan was held in the arms of a woman. The mother and son sat there shivering.

It was not a clan at all. Tong Guan randomly got a child named Zhao to fill in the number.

He only asked the Fuzhou garrison to delay for some time so that he could escape smoothly. It would be best if the whole city is in chaos, and the Ming generals need to devote their energy to suppressing the rebels.

Tong Guan did not dare to defend Fuzhou at all, because the Xiang army was already showing signs of mutiny. Once the Ming army began to attack, those Fujian Xiang troops were very likely to defect.

Tong Guan said to the soldiers: "I'm going to deliver the order again. When we get to Nanjianzhou, the whole army will be plundered for three days. Except for the food that must be handed over, the rest of the wealth can be kept by the women."

The soldier immediately rowed the boat and shouted to the boats along the way: "The Grand Master has an order. When we arrive at Nanjianzhou, the entire army will plunder for three days..."

After hearing this order reiterated, thousands of soldiers were finally safe. Even if some wanted to return to Fuzhou, they planned to rob and then return.

The officials who were taken away by Tong Guan naturally heard this.

The executioner Xie Ruyi looked angry: "This eunuch, in order to survive for himself, does not care about the lives of thousands of people."

"Well, he has soldiers in his hands, what can we do?" Mao Kui, the transfer envoy, sighed, "We are forced to participate in supporting the new king, and our retreat has been cut off by Tong Guan. Even if we join the new dynasty, we will be punished."

Zhao Qi, the deputy transport envoy, said: "We must find a way to escape. We can find a loophole to escape to the mountains while plundering Nanjianzhou."

Judge Cao Zai said: "Our family members are all on another boat. If we come to Nanjianzhou, we will be detained by Tong Guan's troops. We may be able to escape, but don't we care about our family's life and death?"

All the officials were silent for a moment.

"Dong-dong-dong-dong!"

Suddenly a dull drum sound came from behind.

Xie Ruyi stood up suddenly: "Could it be that the pursuers are coming?"

"Not so fast?" Cao Zai muttered.

"kill!"

"Run away!"

In the early morning light of Xiwei, Li Bao led more than 700 soldiers. They didn't even wear armor. They were sitting in small boats and beating drums to kill them.

Tong Guan robbed all the river boats in Fuzhou. The fleet stretched for three or four miles, had more soldiers than Li Bao, and the hulls were taller than Li Bao's boats.

However, no one dares to resist!

When Tong Guan was at the tail of the fleet, he heard the beating of drums and shouts of death. No matter how many pursuers came, they were so frightened that they all tried to escape into the mountains. Some even jumped into the Minjiang River in fear.

Tong Guan was in the front position in the middle of the fleet. He only knew that the pursuers were coming, but he couldn't figure out what was going on.

He urged the boatman to speed up, but the ships in front of him docked one after another. From time to time, a ship blocked Tong Guan's boat as it sailed to the shore.

Hearing the shouts of killing getting closer and closer, the fleet behind them became a mess. Tong Guan was so frightened that he shouted: "Get to the shore, hurry up to the shore!"

The group of civil servants were gathered together on a boat and their faces were all pale with fear.

Only the executioner Xie Ruyi shouted to the soldiers guarding him: "Do you want to live? If you want to live, just listen to me!"

The monks and soldiers looked at each other in shock, and suddenly one of them knelt down and said, "Please help me, sir!"

Xie Ruyi said: "Shout to the nearby ships and tell them that I have received orders from Emperor Zhu of the Ming Dynasty. Anyone who is willing to defect should tear off his left sleeve and follow me to capture the traitor Tong Guan. As long as you defect, you will be exempted. If you perform meritorious service, , there are many rewards!”

Zhao Kui reminded: "It's too long, I can't remember it. Just shout eight words: Capture Tong Guan, you will be rewarded!"

"Yes, if you catch Tong Guan, you will be rewarded!" Xie Ruyi nodded quickly.

"Capture Tong Guan and you will be rewarded!"

"Capture Tong Guan and you will be rewarded!"

"..."

Shouts arose one after another on the Min River. The soldiers who had planned to go to Nanjianzhou to plunder for three days started shouting and regarded Tong Guan as a tool for their promotion and wealth.

Some soldiers who were thinking of escaping to the shore did not run away in a hurry when they heard the shouting. Instead, they shouted slogans and rushed towards Tongguan in a boat.

The river surface became more chaotic, and Li Bao's soldiers were blocked.

But Li Bao was not troubled. He was good at disrupting chaotic battles and was happy to play drums and cheer for the soldiers who defected.