Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Chengtian Village is located in Chengtian Mountain to the west of Niangziguan.

The full name of the early Song Dynasty was Chengtian Army City, which had county-level administrative agencies and was affiliated with Zhending Prefecture in Hebei Province. The administrative seat was Niangziguan Town in later generations, but the military fortress was still on Chengtian Mountain.

Later, the county-level establishment was abolished, downgraded to Chengtian Army Stronghold, and renamed to the Hedong (Shanxi) Pingding Army.

A mountain city is easy to defend but difficult to attack.

Zhang Guangdao led his army to attack for more than half a month, but Chengtian Village still remained motionless. There were actually only three hundred Jin soldiers inside, and the rest were all old Liao and Han soldiers. The total number barely exceeded a thousand.

This terrain is too difficult for the attackers, and it's even more difficult since it's snowing.

Going to Jingxing, there were twenty or thirty checkpoints in the past dynasties. By the Song Dynasty, almost all of them were abandoned. Even Chengtian Village was abandoned for a time.

On the contrary, heading east from Yu County, in the northern passage of Jingxing, there are Wangjiagu Village, Xiaozuokou Village, etc., and Wanyan Zonghan handed them over to Han soldiers for garrison.

Zhang Guangdao left 5,000 men to besiege Chengtian Village, and then divided into two groups: north and south. Han troops surrendered one after another along the way, and finally met outside Jingxing County. Guan Sheng and Yue Fei had also captured Pingshan County, and Li Qiong acted as the vanguard and reached the northern suburbs of Jingxing County.

Two Ming armies from Shanxi and Hebei surrounded Jingxing County.

"Meet Zhang Hou!"

Li Qiong came to Zhang Guangdao's camp through the snow.

Zhang Guangdao was very happy and asked hurriedly: "Did the Hebei battlefield win?"

Li Qiong replied: "The prince led the army to defeat the gold thief, and Wanyan Zongwang fled back to Yanshan in embarrassment."

"It's gratifying," Zhang Guangdao said with some pretentiousness. "On the Shanxi side, they only killed tens of thousands of gold soldiers and captured one army, one county and two cities. From the north of Xinzhou, they were still occupied by gold thieves. We can attack again next year.”

Li Qiong marveled: "Zhang Hou was so majestic that he actually killed tens of thousands of gold soldiers!"

While the two were chatting, the soldiers were already building siege equipment. As soon as the moat became more solid, they crossed the ice and captured Jingxing County.

At the same time, Li Qiong sent a messenger back to Pingshan, claiming that there were enough troops to attack Jingxing, so that Guan Sheng, Yue Fei, and Li Shifu did not have to come again, and they could just go northwest to attack Jin Bing's fortress along the way.

Two days later, someone left the city in a hanging basket at night, crossed the river on ice and quietly arrived at the Ming army camp.

He was arrested as soon as he approached the camp and was taken directly to Zhang Guangdao's tent.

"Are you here to contact Xiancheng?" Zhang Guangdao asked with a smile.

The man knelt down and replied: "My husband's name is Zhou Qin. He was a student of the imperial family during the Xuanhe period. He was awarded a Jinshi status after passing the examination, and was forced to become the magistrate of Jingxing County. But my husband did not help Zhou Qin, and the Jin people made the decisions in the county. .The gold general guarding the city is called Lou Su, and he has three hundred gold soldiers under his command. He conscripts and extorts them violently and is cruel and unkind!"

Zhang Guangdao asked: "Besides the three hundred golden soldiers, what other defenders are there?"

The man replied: "Jingxing is very important. In addition to the 300 Jin soldiers, there are also 2,000 Han troops, all of which are recruiting bandits nearby. My husband has convinced the bandit leaders, and they are all willing to sacrifice the city. But due to the Jin people's lust, they are willing to surrender. , dare not take action easily, and the general must send troops to attack the city before the Han troops in these cities dare to defect. At that time, the Han troops who are willing to return will plant five flags at the top of the city, and the general can send troops to attack the place where the flags are planted. "

"You don't dare to fight two thousand against three hundred?" Zhang Guangdao was extremely contemptuous.

The man laughed awkwardly: "They are all bandits who are recruiting for peace, how can they compare with the general's elite?"

Zhang Guangdao said: "You go back to the city. Just say that in two or three days, when the ice on the moat becomes stronger, I will attack Jingxing City with all my strength."

"Young man, please retire!" After the man bowed, he was taken away by the soldiers.

Three days later, Zhang Guangdao and Li Qiong began to attack the city.

The wall where the Jin soldiers were stationed was just a feint attack. The Ming army found five flags, and with the support of the Han soldiers in the city, they quickly climbed onto the city and attacked the Jin soldiers.

The county seat of Jingxing was captured.

Guan Sheng, Yue Fei, and Li Shifu attacked Xilin Village, Bailing Village, and Donglin Village respectively.

They were all small villages without even Jin soldiers, and the Han soldiers inside surrendered one after another.

On the third day after Yue Fei captured Bailing Village, soldiers came to report: "General, more than a thousand martyrs have come to surrender, and someone claims to be the abbot of Taiping Xingguo Temple in Mount Wutai."

"Please come quickly!" Yue Fei has always respected these anti-gold warriors.

Not long after, more than a thousand beggar-looking rebels were brought in. Every one of them was shivering with cold. Many of them were injured, and even some who were unconscious were carried over.

Yue Fei quickly ordered: "Go and boil hot water, cook food, and bring some warm clothes so that the military doctors can treat the wounded."

Monk Zhenbao, the abbot of Taiping Xingguo Temple in Mount Wutai, led everyone to pay homage as a representative and introduced the basic situation of their rebel army.

But Wu Hanying, the Song Dynasty civil servant who was the first to surrender to the Jin Kingdom, took the initiative to shave his hair and change clothes to gain Wanyan Zongwang's trust, and then tricked Wanyan Zongwang into letting him return to Tokyo to persuade him to surrender. After Wuhan Ying returned to Tokyo, he immediately told Zhao Huan about the Jin army's intelligence in detail.

Later, Wuhan Ying was sent to rescue Taiyuan.

But Wuhan Ying had no soldiers at all, and the states and counties along the way did not lend him any troops. Wuhan Ying ran to Mount Wutai, hoping to build a monk army to save the country.

This monk army was formed by Monk Zhenbao on his orders.

Before they left Wutai County, they encountered Wanyan Zonghan's divided troops and attacked. They collapsed at the first touch and fled in defeat.

The monk soldiers, led by Wuhan Ying and Zhenbao, fled south in embarrassment, taking the same valley path where the Jin soldiers fled after being defeated by Zhang Guangdao.

But as soon as they came out of the valley, they heard that the south was also occupied by Jin soldiers, so they had no choice but to go back to the southern mountains of Wutai County to fight guerrillas.

Due to the brutal rule of the Jin people in Wutai County, the Yanshan Temple at the northern foot of Mount Wutai also rebelled. A monk with the common name Lu Shannuo used Yanshan Temple as a stronghold to resist the Jin Dynasty. The deputy monk Zhengzhenxi of Wutai County and a righteous man nicknamed Taishi Du each brought their troops to join forces. At that time, they had more than 20,000 anti-gold troops.

When the Jin soldiers came, the rebels suffered several defeats and had to move to the mountainous area in the northern part of Yu County. The Yanshan Temple and Taiping Xingguo Temple on Mount Wutai were both burned down by the Jin soldiers.

Later, monks Ying and Zhenbao of Wuhan led the remaining troops to join Lu Shannuo, monk Zhenxi, and Taishi Du, and they continued to fight against the Jin in the mountainous area at the junction of Wutai County and Yu County.

Among the five rebel leaders, Monk Zhenxi and Master Du were killed in the battle, leaving only Wuhan Ying, Monk Zhenbao and Lu Shannuo.

Moreover, Wu Hanying was unconscious at this time, and Lu Shannuo was also seriously injured and had to be carried away.

Monk Zhenbao said: "The former Jin people were defeated by Zhang Hou. We took the opportunity to attack Wutai County. However, we were informed by the traitor and ambushed by the Wutai defenders. We were defeated and fled back to the mountains. We waited for the main force of the Jin soldiers to leave. In Xinzhou, we went out to attack Wutai County again, and we had already captured the county seat."

"But... But Wanyan Zonghan came back with his troops. We were unable to defeat the gold thieves, so we had to abandon the city and flee into the mountains. After several battles, only about 2,000 of the more than 30,000 rebels were left. We were short of food and clothing, and we were freezing to death. Many people have died of starvation, and now there are only more than a thousand. When we heard that the heavenly soldiers had recaptured Bailing Village, we hurriedly came to seek refuge."

After hearing this, Yue Fei was deeply moved, clasped his hands and said, "I admire Master Bodhisattva's heart and Vajra's skills very much."

Lu Shannuo, a monk from Yanshan Temple who has returned to secular life, was lying on a stretcher and said: "I still have brothers in the mountains of Wutai County. If the heavenly soldiers attack Wutai County next year, I can go back and gather the rebels even while I am lying down. The people of Wutai are because of this." When we fight against the Jin, we are often implicated and exploited and killed by the Jin people. Every household is willing to fight against the Jin and help in the war!"

Yue Fei said: "When the snow melts in spring next year, the heavenly soldiers will definitely regain Wutai County!"

Monk Zhenbao said: "Please give me some food from the general, and the poor monk can take people back to Wutai to help the other rebels still hiding in the mountains. Otherwise, they may not be able to survive this cold winter."

"This is what it should be. I will adjust the food and clothing immediately." Yue Fei said.

…

Ju Ming left part of his army to garrison the city on the border, while he led his army back to Zhendingfu City.

After receiving the message from Yue Fei, Ju Ming sighed: "This is the real eminent monk. I destroyed temples in other places, but these monks from Mount Wutai want to be rewarded. When Wutai County is recovered, we will build a temple in Mount Wutai." In Ichigokokuji Temple, all the martyrs who died against the gold are engraved on stone tablets for worship."

Fu Zhirou said: "The people are waiting eagerly for Master Wang. Next year we will definitely be able to conquer all of Shanxi."

While Zhu Ming was chatting about the anti-gold monks in Mount Wutai, Bai Sheng suddenly came over and said, "Your Highness, the Dong family, the Lu family, and the Li family in Gaocheng are asking for an audience. They request that Zhang Di and Kong Yanzhou be severely punished."

"What's going on?" Zhu Ming asked.

Bai Sheng said: "These wealthy people in Gaocheng said that Zhang Di and Kong Yanzhou often set off troops to plunder the people. During the siege of Gaocheng, they looted the stores of Dong, Lu and Li in the city and killed all the men in the store. The three tribes women occupying the store."

Zhang Di made a surprise attack on Wanyan Zongwang and helped the Ming army capture the city. He was also injured in many places and was highly appreciated by Ju Ming and other generals.

When the Ming army went north to pursue the Jin soldiers, they handed the draft city to Zhang Di and ordered him to lead the remaining troops to defend the city.

Kong Yanzhou was captured in combat and is still in a prisoner of war camp.

Bai Sheng took out another letter: "This is sent by someone from Zhang Di. I guess they found out that the three tribes are coming to complain."

Ju Ming opened the letter and read it. There were probably three contents:

First, Zhang Di admitted that he sent troops to extort money because the puppet court could not pay food and wages. Moreover, the people are all poor, and the people he blackmails are all rich and powerful families. Therefore, robbery is not considered as "borrowing" some money and food. When facing the soldiers, the rich and wealthy households "honestly" gave them money and food. He did not kill anyone or loot, and he did not dare to raise his butcher knife against the wealthy people.

Second, he robbed Dong's gold shop, killed the men in the shop, and took possession of the women in the shop. This was what the gold man forced him to do. It was the Jin people who forced him to submit a certificate of surrender. He didn't insult the woman, he was showing it to the Jin people.

Third, Zhang Di asked the prince to betroth Li to him.

This Li is the daughter of the Li family in Gaocheng, and it is now widely rumored that she was slept with by Zhang Di. Even though Zhang Di released her safely, the Dong family insisted on divorcing his wife and expelling her, while the Li family forced their daughter to become a nun.

After reading the letter, Ju Ming said to Bai Sheng: "Bring in the people from the three tribes. Send a few more people to the manuscript city to inquire and find out what the truth is."

"Yes!" Bai Sheng took the order and left.