Lord: Start with a book of Water Margin

Chapter 710 Taizhou
Unlike the Taizhou soldiers who were cheering, Wanyan Chang and Ali Gua were worried.

The one-month deadline was about to come. Although the Jin Kingdom had been advancing triumphantly all the way and had directly fought to the Huai River, because they were a foreign race, there were constant wars in front and rebellions in the back. The warriors of the Jin Kingdom were exhausted, especially after advancing to the Huai River. The Jin Kingdom cavalry was already exhausted from dealing with the terrain full of water.

Take Wanyan Chang's army for example. He was first defeated in a naval battle, and then there were constant rebellions in Yingtian Prefecture and Huaiyang Army in Jingdong Road, and Haizhou, Lianshui Army, Chuzhou, Sizhou, Bozhou, and Suzhou in Huainan East Road.

It's not just the East Road, it's the same everywhere else.

Now, the commander of the Eastern Army, Wanyan Zongmou, has adopted the advice of the Song people and wants to hand over the captured areas to Liu Yu who has surrendered to the Jin Kingdom.

Supporting Liu Yu was to let the Song people rule the Song people, which would stabilize the large area north of the Huai River and stop the resistance. The Jin Kingdom could also get a lot of money from Liu Yu every year. On the other hand, it was also to let Liu Yu mobilize the Song people, consume Zhao Gou's power, and lay the foundation for the next invasion.

As a result, the Jin army handed over the occupied territories to the surrendered generals of the Song State, and Liu Yu's Qi State was established. He recruited the mountain bandits, pirates, and rebel forces in the jurisdiction and gave them official titles.

Here in Huainan East Road, Kong Yanzhou, a surrendered general of Song State and now the commander-in-chief of Huainan East Road troops of Qi State, has begun to take over the territory of Huainan East Road.

Hearing the cheers of the Song army, the spies also learned that Song troops were coming. Wanyan Chang and Aligua thought that they were Song reinforcements coming to fight.

Because Wanyan Zongmou gave the order, Wanyan Chang and the other two had just been defeated and naturally had no intention of fighting.

Although the Jin army was defeated, its strength was still there. Now, the looted money and women in the camp were countless. The Jin army soldiers were naturally not as strong as when they first invaded.

Hearing the cheers from the south, Wanyan Chang and Aligua had a discussion and, while the Song army was still unaware of the changes in the Jin Kingdom, they ordered the soldiers to pack up the camp and return north.

In Xinghua County, Zhang Rong met Lu Zhishen and Wu Song, who came with the introduction of Jia Hu.

Xinghua County belongs to Gaoyou Army, and is now garrisoned by Zhang Rong and Jia Hu, while Xue Qing's troops are stationed in Gaoyou County. The two troops form a stronghold to resist the invasion of the Jin army.

They captured Taizhou without losing a single soldier. Lu Zhishen and Wu Song were naturally delighted that Zhang Rong had defected to the Liang State.

After the greeting, Lu Zhishen and Wu Song naturally comforted Zhang Rong and asked him about the war. Zhang Rong replied, "I defeated Wanyan Chang with my naval forces, captured all his warships, and killed his naval soldiers. Now he has retreated back to Chuzhou."

Wu Song heard this and asked, "How many soldiers does Wanyan Chang have?"

Zhang Rong said: "The Jin army has 5,000 cavalry, the Liao surrendered army has 10,000, and the Han people have 10,000."

After hearing this, Lu Zhishen said, "There are 25,000 soldiers. I only have 3,000 soldiers here, plus the 10,000 soldiers under your command, which is only half of theirs."

"Besides, we are all infantrymen, and we suffered a lot in the wilderness. Let's just hold on to the main camp. General [Jade Unicorn] Lu Junyi is leading a large army to come. We will fight him when the time comes."

Zhang Rong listened, nodded, hesitated for a moment, and said: "Commander Lu, now I have formed an alliance with Xue Qing, the garrison commander of Gaoyou Army, to fight against the Jin Army together. This..."

After hearing this, Lu Zhishen patted his forehead and said, "This guy is indeed a good man."

Wu Song said, "When I came here, I heard from Brother Jia Hu that there was a rumor that the Song Dynasty was going to flee south, and no reinforcements were seen crossing the river to help. What's so good about serving a court like this? Brother, you have some friendship with Xue Qing, so why don't you write a letter to persuade him to surrender to Liang State?"

"This..." "Brother, don't worry. Even if we don't attack Gaoyou Army, I'm afraid Xue Qing's army alone can't defeat the Jin Army heading south. By then, Gaoyou Army will inevitably fall into the hands of Jin. If we surrender to Liang, we are all Han people after all."

After hearing what Wu Song said, Zhang Rong said, "That's right. It's better to surrender to Liang State than to let the Golden Dog take it away. There's no need to write a letter. To show my sincerity, I will go there in person."

Jia Hu quickly stopped him, saying, "Brother, why do you have to take risks? If Xue Qing is just being loyal..."

Zhang Rong interrupted, "We are fighting the Jin dogs together. As long as we can kill Wanyan Chang and Aligua, it is worth taking some risks. How can I show my sincerity if I don't go there in person? Besides, Xue Qing is just a self-appointed governor of Gaoyou."

After saying this, he ignored Jia Hu's obstruction, took only 200 of his trusted aides, handed over military affairs, and rode quickly to Gaoyou County.

Riding at full speed, Zhang Rong entered Gaoyou County in just one hour.

Xue Qing personally welcomed Zhang Rong into the county government office. Before they could greet each other, Zhang Rong spoke up, "Commander Xue, you gathered people to rebel against the Golden Dog because the court was in chaos and the officials abandoned the city and the people. Now there is no reinforcement from the court, and the Golden Dog is very powerful. If we continue to resist, we will all die here."

Xue Qing was furious when he heard this. He pointed at Zhang Rong and asked, "You want to surrender to the Jin?"

Zhang Rong heard this and slammed the table, shouting, "My family members all died in the Jin dog, how can we surrender to the Jin?"

Xue Qing heard this and quickly smiled and said, "I don't know what you mean, brother?"

Zhang Rong said, "Brother, have you ever heard of Liang State?"

Xue Qing nodded and said, "The governor of Qing and Xu towns, Zhao Zhen, who rose from Liangshan, is a little Mengchang. How could I not know him? Isn't the Fujian Road in the south the territory of Liang State?"

"Yes, now my brother Jia Hu and I have decided to surrender Taizhou to Liang State. I am here to show you a clear way forward," said Zhang Rong.

Xue Qing hesitated and said, "I heard that Liang is now an enemy of Song. If we join Liang, won't we have to attack Song?"

Zhang Rong smiled coldly, "Brother, although you are a Song Dynasty person, I am afraid that the court and the emperor do not know it. Others may not know it, but you still do. The Song Dynasty is hopeless. When encountering the Jin people, how many officers and soldiers dare to fight?"

Xue Qing said: "Brother, not all the people in the Song court are afraid of fighting. I have received a letter from the Privy Councilor Zhang Jun, who wants to recruit my troops as the imperial guards to garrison Gaoyou."

"Oh? In addition to my husband's letter, do you have half a reinforcement and a set of weapons and armor?" Zhang Rong asked.

"this···"

"Brother, why do you have to deceive yourself? Let's not talk about whether the Privy Councilor is sincere or not. Now that the Golden Dog is strong, Liang has also promised to attack the Golden Dog. In order to relieve the worries, we must send troops to Gaoyou County. The relatives are sad and the enemies are happy. How can brothers bear it?"

"You and I are both commoners. We don't accept the Golden Dog's control, so we gathered together to resist. The Song court doesn't even dare to cross the river now. Do you still expect to conquer your homeland in the future? The ruler of Liang State doesn't care about family background, but military achievements, and he is not afraid of the Golden Dog. If we go to him, we can return to our homeland one day. We will also have a chance to succeed."

"If you don't want to surrender to Liang, please tie me up and go south to Yangzhou to present me to Guo Zhongwei, the governor of Zhen and Yangzhou, to ask for merit. This will also allow you to be promoted to a higher position and lead the army to fight the Golden Dog."

(End of this chapter)