Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

On the Hebei battlefield, the Ming army was divided into three groups.

The West Route Army was in Zhaozhou, led by generals such as Guan Sheng, Yue Fei, and Li Qiong, and Zongze was responsible for providing logistics for them. Shaanxi reinforcements were about to arrive, but Yang Zhi, who was stationed in Lanzhou, did not come. It was Li Jinyi who led the reinforcements.

The Central Route Army was in Shenzhou, under the personal command of Ju Ming.

The Eastern Route Army was in Nanpi, led by Deng Chun, Han Shizhong, Li Cheng and other generals.

The main force of the Jin army is here at Ju Ming!

Yongning Army Tongpan and Boye County Magistrate provided internal support for the Ming Dynasty, and now they have all died. Before they died, they sent a message that Wanyan Zongwang personally led his troops to hide in the mountains, and only waited for Ju Ming to lead his troops across the river before he came out.

The Jin sent the Han army across the river to feign an attack and suffered two defeats in a row, eager to lure Ju Ming into pursuit.

The enemy was so anxious, but Ju Ming did not panic.

He camped on the south bank of the Tang River. Facing the not-wide Tang River, he refused to go over and attack Yongning Military City, which was twenty miles away.

You Wanyan Zongwang is on the opposite side, why do you have to let me go?

If you want to fight, just come here by yourself. Anyway, I have more military rations than you!

…

Zhaozhou.

Li Jinyi came with Shaanxi reinforcements. Counting regular logistics personnel, there were more than 11,000 Hanzhong veterans.

There is also a Western Army with only more than 2,000 people, led by Li Yongqi.

This man was originally a general under Liu Yanqing, and his position was the magistrate of Qingjian City (Qingjian County).

Last year, Xixia was defeated and Liu Yanqing sent troops to regain the lost territory. Li Yongqi took the opportunity to defect to the court with his whole family and army.

This incident put Liu Yanqing in an extremely embarrassing situation. After he learned the news, he did not dare to send troops to pursue him, otherwise it would be an open rebellion!

"Dad, do we have a chance to make some merit this time?"

Ahead was Zhaozhou City. Li Shifu looked at his well-armed friendly troops (Hanzhong veterans) and at the group of beggar soldiers under his command. He was envious and looked forward to killing the enemy and making meritorious deeds.

Li Yongqi shook his head and said: "We are not elites under Liu Yanqing, and we are even more shabby when we come here. Most of them are friendly troops who go out to fight. My father and son are ordered to defend the city, so we just have to work hard to defend the city."

Li Shifu was a little unwilling. He was capable enough to be proud of the three armies, but he didn't want to waste time in the city.

Li Shifu also has another name in the history books-Li Xianzhong.

He was forced to pay money, plotted to return to the Song Dynasty, his whole family was killed, defected to Xixia, borrowed troops to seek revenge, rebelled against Xia and returned to the Song Dynasty, made many military exploits, was demoted and dismissed, recovered Huaixi, and was given the posthumous title Zhongxiang.

Life is wonderful enough.

Outside the city, Zongze and Guan Sheng led Zhaozhou civil and military officials out of the city to meet Li Jinyi who came with troops to help.

Li Yongqi was considered a general and was called to speak outside the city.

Li Shifu was not qualified to participate. He watched his father go away, and he could only watch from a distance.

Soon another civil servant came over and guided them around the city to camp in the northern suburbs of Zhaozhou City.

As soon as the camp was set up, another general came over and asked, "Who is in charge here?"

Li Shifu hurriedly rushed to meet him: "Li Shifu, the last general, pays homage to the general!"

The general said: "My name is Li Qiong. Your soldiers are not all equipped with armor. Please bring someone with me to lead them."

"Thank you, General Li!" Li Shifu was overjoyed.

Li Qiong was the one who partnered with Wang De and was forced by Wang Yaksha to rebel against Song Dynasty and invest in gold.

He and Yue Fei are from the same hometown of Xiangzhou, and they are also students of Xiangzhou. When the Jin soldiers attacked the Song Dynasty, Li Qiong joined the army and recruited 800 local soldiers to fight against the Jin Dynasty, and became a military general under Zongze.

Compared to Yue Fei, Zongze prefers Li Qiong. After all, the latter is a scholar from a wealthy family.

The two entered the city quickly. Li Qiong pointed to the armory and said, "Go to the armory and choose for yourself. Wait for inspection when you have made your selection."

Li Shifu, who was crazy about poverty, led his troops into the armory, his eyes glowing green as he watched.

The weapons and armor inside were all brought to the front line from various places.

There is no heavy armor, not even much medium armor, but there is a large amount of light armor stacked up, and most of the weapons are long spears and waist knives.

Li Shifu was the first to snatch up all the Zhongjia. It felt wrong to carry it. It was too light. If you look closely, you can see that the nails are even thicker, and there are even nails on the chest that are bigger than a palm.

"What kind of junk are they?" Li Shifu said to his soldiers, "Put all this armor back!"

Li Qiong walked in with a smile: "Brother Li is ignorant of good and evil."

Li Shifu pointed at the armor and said: "The armor pieces are too big, brittle and easy to crack, and cannot be used on the battlefield."

Li Qiong said: "These armor pieces have been forged repeatedly. Not only are they as strong as the previous thin armor pieces, but the entire armor is also lighter. If you don't believe me, take a closer look."

Li Shifu squatted down, drew his knife and scratched the side of a nail blade, and soon he said with a cheerful smile: "Good stuff!"

Li Qiong said: "These are made with water-powered forging hammers. I heard that they will be replaced one after another in recent years, and priority will be given to Sichuan Elite. You are lucky this time."

Li Shifu smiled even more happily. After picking out the equipment, he handed it over to the officials brought by Li Qiong to count the quantities.

Taking advantage of having nothing to do, Li Shifu asked, "General Li often fights with the Jin soldiers?"

Li Qiong said: "The Jin people did not have many troops left in the puppet dynasty in Hebei last year, but there were a large number of old Liao and Han troops, and they also recruited some Han troops in Hebei. Yue Fei and I often led troops north to ambush those Han troops, and occasionally we could The Jin soldiers were ambushed. Those Han soldiers were vulnerable, and they lost their armor when they were ambushed."

"How does the combat power of the Jin soldiers compare with the Xixia soldiers?" Li Shifu asked.

Li Qiong shook his head: "I have never fought with Xixia. I used to be a scholar in the state academy."

"Disrespect, disrespect!" Li Shifu was immediately in awe, and even had a vague sense of inferiority that a warrior would feel when facing a scholar.

Li Qiong asked: "Have you ever fought with Xixia?"

Li Shifu said: "My family has guarded Qingjian City for generations. It is a walled city not far to the south of Suide Military City. Every time Xixia invades, my father and I have to send troops. Unfortunately, there are not many soldiers and not enough armor. Most of the food and salary provided by the court were swallowed up by Liu Yanqing. The Xixia soldiers are just like that. If I have enough food and armor, I can defeat tens of thousands of Xixia soldiers by training five thousand soldiers."

"Hahaha, you're quite breathless." Li Qiong laughed.

When Li Shifu rebelled against Xia and returned to Song Dynasty, he only brought 800 soldiers with him and was chased and intercepted by tens of thousands of Xixia soldiers. In the end, he was able to lead his soldiers and their families thousands of miles to return to the Southern Song Dynasty.

Moreover, the number of troops grew more and more along the way.

When the people of Shaanxi learned that he was going to join the Song Dynasty, they dragged their families to join the army. Some historical records record that he took 40,000 people with him.

Of the two men in front of me, one was forced to defect to the Jin, rebelled against the Jin and defected to the Xia, and finally rebelled against the Xia and defected to the Song Dynasty. The other joined the army, raised troops to fight against the Jin, and finally rebelled against the Song Dynasty and joined the Jin Dynasty.

The choices in life are often difficult to describe.

After chatting about the Hebei battlefield for a while, Li Qiong said sternly: "Our army will move north in the near future, and your troops will stay to defend the city. Remember to restrain the soldiers and not harass the people. If you violate it, you will be punished by military law!"

"yes!"

Li Shifu straightened his back and accepted the order, but he was very disappointed. As expected, his soldiers could only defend the city.

After returning to the camp with the equipment, not long after waiting, my father Li Yongqi also came back.

Li Shifu asked curiously: "Dad, when the two armies met, didn't the commander invite you to drink?"

Li Yongqi said in a low voice: "Here in Zhaozhou, Zongze is the leader in literature, and Guan Sheng is the leader in military affairs. Generals such as Yue Fei and Li Qiong were all promoted by Zongze. Zongze is very strict in running the army, and the sergeants are really If you are greedy, you will only spend two days a month and drink in batches. If you drink on the other days, you will be given a military stick or beheaded."

"Military discipline is so strict?" Li Shifu was quite surprised.

Li Yongqi said: "I heard that Yue Fei was more strict in governing the army. Some soldiers who went to the city to eat without being paid were actually ordered to beheaded by Yue Fei in public. He also shouted something like 'if you freeze to death without demolishing the house, and if you starve to death without looting', he went to the Pseudo Song Dynasty." We will not harass the people in the enemy territory. Now in Zhending Mansion, although there are Jin people to support the puppet emperor, a large number of officials and people voluntarily serve as spies for Yue Fei."

Li Shifu was even more shocked: "Then what are you waiting for? There are internal agents inside and outside the city. If you lead your army to kill them, you can easily capture Zhending Mansion."

"There are thousands of gold soldiers stationed in the city. The city is high and the pond is deep, so it is not easy to fight." Li Yongqi said.

…

Zhendingfu city.

In prison, Liu Yu, a die-hard traitor, was personally interrogating an official named Cui Dan.

This Cui Dan was originally the magistrate of Lingshou County. Because his family was captured by the Jin soldiers, he had to serve as an official in the puppet Song Dynasty court, and he had been promoted to a member of the Ministry of War.

Liu Yu's face was cold at this moment. He looked at Cui Dan who was covered with bruises. He picked up a letter and said, "The war is about to begin. How dare you send someone to deliver a letter to the south, or write a secret letter to Zongze! I have long thought that your words and deeds are suspicious. , sent people to squat outside your house for many days, and finally found evidence of your collaboration with the enemy!"

Cui Dan was dying and said: "It's unjust. There must be a dog thief who framed me."

Liu Yu sneered: "How dare you speak so harshly. The servant you sent to the city to deliver the letter has confessed that you sent him to deliver four letters, each time to Deng's Rice Store in Gaocheng (Gaocheng). I have sent troops. Go to Gaocheng to arrest the merchant named Deng, and he will definitely confess when the time comes. If you confess your accomplice now, you can still be punished and meritorious service. Say it quickly!"

Cui Dan knew that he would not be spared, so he began to bite randomly: "I am acting on the orders of Mr. Huang."

"Which Mr. Huang?" Liu Yu's eyes twitched.

Cui Dan said: "Dazai Huang Qianshan."

Liu Yu was furious: "That's nonsense. He is the prime minister, how can he collaborate with the enemy?"

Cui Dan said: "Huang Gongxiang longed for the Southern Dynasty and wanted to make meritorious deeds, so he secretly contacted Zongze. He was afraid of being discovered, so he asked me to pass the message on his behalf. He also said that the puppet dynasty... and that he would be the first to contribute to the annihilation of this dynasty. I am a minor meritorious person. When the time comes, I can go to the Ming Dynasty...to the Pseudo-Ming Dynasty, and I can still be a high official in the court."

"That's nonsense!" Liu Yu scolded.

Cui Dan said: "It's absolutely true. This person is as timid as a mouse, but he wants to do big things. Even if you catch him, he will push him away."

Liu Yu was actually moved. Although he was dubious, he was inclined to believe it.

Because you can use this to kill Huang Qianshan and free up the prime minister's position, you will definitely make contributions and rise to the top.

You may not be able to become a Dazai, but it is still very easy to be promoted to a Shao Zai.

"Let me untie you and write down the confession in my own hand!" Liu Yu said with a smile.

Huang Qianshan, a guy who defected to the Jin Kingdom and helped support the puppet emperor, unexpectedly turned into an anti-jin righteous man...