Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

The elite Hanzhong troops led by Yang Zhi went to Zhaozhou to join Guan Sheng, Zongze, Yue Fei and others.

As for Li Bao's elite troops in Kuizhou, a small number were taken to Denglai by him, while most of them went to Shenzhou and returned to Ju Ming's command.

In addition, the firearms troops that Yang Zhi used to fight Xixia had returned to the capital at the beginning of the year. Together with the capital's firearms troops and heavily armored guards, they were dispatched to Shenzhou to join Ju Ming's command.

At present, Ju Ming has 3,000 heavy armored infantry, 6,314 musketeers, 210 iron cannons of various types, 9,000 Kuizhou elites, 7,200 Hebei Eight-Character Army, and 6,000 temporarily recruited rural soldiers (the rural soldiers are mainly used to defend the city). .

These are just combat soldiers, not counting the logistics auxiliaries (all regular logistics personnel, who also receive military pay in peacetime).

All the musketeers are here, and Ju Ming expected there to be five thousand. Ordnance factories everywhere were rushing to work, and under the premise of ensuring quality, they produced more than a thousand fire guns than expected.

Don't think that the manufacturing speed of muskets is too slow. We are still building cannons at the same time. Moreover, priority was given to building cannons, and both the navy and navy were equipped with many iron cannons.

Although the muskets were brand new, the musketeers had been practicing for half a year.

Soldiers are recruited first, and two or three people use one gun and take turns to conduct shooting training while waiting for new guns to be delivered for equipment.

Some muskets were fired too many times and were even eliminated early.

In addition, since Zhong Xiang has been destroyed, 30,000 Huainan new troops and 10,000 Zhejiang new troops have been dispatched to the north. They are currently heading north along the canal.

Cao Cheng, Yang Zaixing and other rebel leaders, as well as Yang Hua, Chen Xin, Li Herong and other pseudo-Chu surrender generals. They were allowed to select three hundred soldiers each, and be incorporated into the Huainan and Zhejiang troops as generals, and rush to Hebei to fight without stopping. To put it bluntly, it was to transfer them away from their hometowns so that the court could digest the Hunan territory more quickly.

The original generals they replaced were converted into Hunan local military attachés to strengthen the court's control over Hunan.

"The Jin people have increased their troops again, and the general in charge is Wanyan Yanmu." Wang Yan held out the intelligence he had just received with both hands.

Ju Ming took it over, looked at it, and said with a smile, "Excellent."

As the Ming Dynasty's troops in Shenzhou continued to increase, and they were unabashedly arrogant, the Jin Kingdom also increased the Yongning Army's troops accordingly, and even Wanyan Yan's mother came with the Jurchens for reinforcements.

It is unclear whether this battle was a southern invasion by the Jin Kingdom or a northern expedition by the Ming Dynasty.

The Ming Dynasty's military strength was obviously greater than that of the Jin Kingdom, and it was actively attacking in more than one place.

"Your Highness, there is an urgent message from the Marshal's Mansion!" Bai Sheng came over with the messenger.

After Zhu Ming read it, he said to Fu Zhirou: "That's right. I'll sign and seal it."

But it was a month ago that Yao Pingzhong led troops to reinforce Zhang Guangdao. Zhang Guangdao, who received additional troops, decided to change Ju Ming's plan, requested to actively fight in Shanxi, and explained his reasons.

When the general is out, military orders are not obeyed.

Ju Ming understood this, as long as the frontline generals reported it in time.

Compared with Li Bao's jump, Zhang Guangdao is still very calm, and Ju Ming is not worried about the situation in Shanxi.

After all, in addition to the Sichuan elite and Yao Pingzhong's soldiers, Zhang Guangdao also had Guo Yaoshi under his command. The main cavalry of the Ming Dynasty is also with Zhang Guangdao. The heavy armored cavalry has been expanded to one thousand, and the armored cavalry has also been expanded to five thousand.

Why is the Ming Dynasty’s treasury empty?

One is that the country and people's livelihood inherited from the Song Dynasty are in decline, and the other is that they have expanded their troops too much and are constantly fighting. The few thousand cavalrymen in Shanxi are a waste of money, and a large number of additional firearms troops are needed.

Zhu Ming led his army to camp on the south bank of the Tang River, facing Wanyan's mother's army across the river.

He stationed his troops here and was not in a hurry to cross the river because he still had to wait for Li Yanxian's cavalry to arrive.

If you don't have enough cavalry, you can only defeat the enemy, but you won't be able to annihilate a large number of the enemy's effective forces.

In late September, a decisive battle was about to break out in Shanxi, and Li Yanxian finally brought five thousand cavalry.

They are all brave cavalry, all with green and green horses.

The composition of the soldiers was relatively complex, with more than 3,000 Han Chinese from Shaanxi, the rest from the Tubo and Uighur ethnic groups in the Hehuang area, and even more than 200 soldiers from Xixia.

Their armor weighed about forty pounds, and their war horses also had simple leather armors.

The Shaanxi cavalry who came from afar had rested for three days. Ju Ming was waiting to cross the river to besiege the city. The reconnaissance sentries who had previously crossed the river rushed back.

He also brought back a bloody messenger. The messenger said angrily: "Wanyan Zongwang is here... Yan Tongpan, County Magistrate Li... and many officials were killed..."

Ju Ming said expressionlessly: "Take him down for treatment."

Opening the letter and reading it, it was a letter written by Li Chi, the magistrate of Boye County.

In the first half, it is said that there is a traitor who has informed the police, and Wanyan Yan's mother is tracking down the informant. In the second half, it was said that Yan Zongwang personally led reinforcements, and the elite Jin soldiers were ambushing in the mountainous area on the border between Qizhou and Yongning armies.

It seems that the Jin people are massacring Yongning military officers and officials. Not only are the righteous men who contacted the Ming Dynasty in danger, but they may also prefer to kill many innocent people by mistake.

There was no anger on Ju Ming's face, and he only said to Bai Sheng: "Send a message to Zhaozhou, asking them to stop defending the city and try to send troops to attack the puppet capital of the Song Dynasty. Wanyan Zongwang may be on my side, but he can do it at any time. Maybe go back and let them use their troops boldly and be careful."

After saying that, he issued another order: "Send a message to the main force in Shandong, asking them to cross the Yellow River immediately and attack various cities in Hejian Prefecture."

…

Zhending Mansion, the capital of the pseudo-Song Dynasty.

The two prime ministers Huang Qianshan and Zhang Bangchang were discussing secretly.

They seemed to have tested each other a long time ago and now spoke without any scruples.

After making sure that no one was eavesdropping nearby, Huang Qianshan sighed: "This Wanyan Zongwang is still a barbarian, no matter how much he reads Confucianism. He issued an order to shave off hair and make people easy to obey. We tried hard to persuade him, but we had to force countless people to rebel." Only the people are willing to give up. Nowadays, in order to fight the war, we have excessively raised taxes, and even the country gentry wants to betray their wealth. How can these practices last long?"

Zhang Bangchang said: "I have said before that the official family of the Song Dynasty is still there, how can we establish a new court? If you don't listen, you will create a Song Dynasty in this Zhending Mansion."

"You are blaming me now?" Huang Qianshan said angrily, "His Majesty was captured at that time, and the Supreme Emperor was in the southeast. What else can we do if we don't establish a new king? Is there a place for us in the new Ming Dynasty? The Prime Minister of the Ming Dynasty, Shangshu, Most of them have grudges against you and me!"

Zhang Bangchang said: "I am going to Hangzhou to join the Emperor. You must persuade me to stay in Zhending!"

"What's the use of surrendering to the Supreme Emperor? The Southeast Small Court disappeared last year." Huang Qianshan replied.

"It's all nonsense to say that now," Zhang Bangchang said anxiously, "Wanyan Zongwang left with his elite troops, and only Liu Yanzong was left to lead the troops in Zhending Mansion. His subordinates were all Han soldiers, Xi soldiers, and Bohai soldiers, and they were definitely not as good as the Jurchen soldiers. In a war, if the Ming army comes to attack, can it be defended?"

Huang Qianshan muttered: "If we don't go out to fight, Zhending City is impregnable and we should still be able to hold on. I'm afraid that Liu Yanzong will be arrogant and go out to fight with the Ming army. If he loses, he will be in danger of breaking the city."

Zhang Bangchang said: "It's better... it's better to contact Zongze secretly and say that I am willing to serve as an internal response. Then secretly contact some officials. If Zhending Mansion cannot be defended, we will use fire as a signal to help the Ming army attack the city."

Huang Qianshan shook his head and said: "It's too dangerous. You can't connect indiscriminately. If the news leaks out, you and I will die. What's more, even if it helps the Ming army break the city, I'm afraid there won't be a good end for you and me. Just this Zhending Fucheng, I don’t know how many people are looking forward to killing you and me.”

Zhang Bangchang gritted his teeth and said fiercely: "When the city is defeated, we can persuade the Imperial City guards to capture the young emperor and sacrifice it to the Ming Dynasty! Sacrifice the false emperor, this great achievement is enough to save his life."

"You must also be prepared," Huang Qianshan said. "If there is a chance to escape, protect the little emperor and escape. Whether you escape to Yanshan Mansion or to the hinterland of the Jin Kingdom, as long as the Jin Kingdom is immortal, you and I will still have it. Exploit value.”

The two of them had a simple idea, just to save their lives.

To put it bluntly, I am afraid of death. Living is more important than anything else. I can put my family, country and world aside.

Moreover, they all despised the barbarians of the Jin Kingdom and were willing to dissuade them from outrageous political orders, such as preventing them from shaving their hair and changing clothes. But it was just a casual advice, and I didn't dare to say anything, for fear of offending the Jin man and putting his life in danger.

Generally speaking, they spend most of their time just lying around and getting by just by making a little money.

The real traitor was Liu Yu. Historically, this man lured Guan Sheng to surrender to the Jin Kingdom, and later became the puppet emperor of Qi.

In this time and space, because Ju Ming besieged Tokyo and Shandong was full of bandits, Liu Yu was trapped in Hebei and did not abandon his official position and escape. He was the punishment envoy of Hebei at that time. When the Jin people supported the puppet emperor, he surrendered to the Jin Kingdom without any psychological burden. He currently serves as the Privy Council envoy of the puppet Song Dynasty.

In order to please the Kingdom of Jin, Liu Yu actively promoted various political decrees.

The Jin people asked him to shave his hair and change clothes, so Liu Yu took the initiative to shave his own hair and asked his officials to set an example by shaving their hair and changing clothes.

The Jin people requested to recruit soldiers and grain, so Liu Yu ordered the local officials of the Song Dynasty to recruit rural soldiers and collect grain and grass within a limited time.

He also married his daughter to a Jin man as a concubine, and asked a Jin woman to be his wife.

Today, both father and son are officials in the Puppet Song Dynasty, and their actual power has exceeded that of Huang Qianshan and Zhang Bangchang.

"Father, can this golden soldier win?"

Ever since Wanyan Zongwang left with the main force, Liu Lin had become restless.

The main reason was that the Ming Dynasty's fighting power was too strong. First, it forced Wanyan Zongwang to retreat, and then he invaded Kaifeng and established a new dynasty. Half a year later, they defeated Xixia and destroyed Song Huizong one after another. These were far beyond the expectations of both father and son.

Until now, they still don't know that Zhong Xiang is gone.

According to the assumptions of Liu Yu and Liu Lin, it would take at least three to five years for the Ming Dynasty to pacify the south. The Jin soldiers are powerful and can go south at any time. The Ming Dynasty is bound to be defeated if it is attacked on three sides.

When the time comes, Liu Yu, as a die-hard traitor, will be able to kill Huang Qianshan and Zhang Bangchang, and secure his position as prime minister of the puppet Song Dynasty.

Liu Yu was not sure at all, so he comforted his son and said, "Don't panic. The Jin soldiers are invincible in the world. This time they are marching southward with the whole country. They will defeat Prince Zhu very soon. When the time comes, we will return to Zhending and go south to conquer Zhaozhou." , all the counties north of the Yellow River."

Liu Lin hesitated to speak. With what his father and son had done, they would definitely die if caught by the Ming Dynasty.

Huang Qianshan and Zhang Bangchang may both survive, but they and his son are not lucky enough. If they actively promote shaving their hair and changing clothes, they will die a hundred times.