The gods began by supporting Guo Jing to become emperor

Chapter 198 The epidemic is coming, prepare to withdraw

Yang Kang knew that Bao Xiruo had no status and had little influence in the palace, not as important as his nominal mother, the queen. But Wanyan Honglie was a romantic man, and his indifference was also a kind of protection for Bao Xiruo. In the deep palace, even the emperor could not control everything. His visit here was actually a plus point in Wanyan Honglie's eyes. It was because he could not forget the old love.

This time he went to Kaifeng in person to preside over the relocation of the capital, and transported countless wealth and hundreds of thousands of people to the south of the Yangtze River, which greatly enriched the treasury and basic base of the Jin Dynasty. His contribution was not small, so Wanyan Honglie specially appointed him as regent and officially let him step into the core of the Jin Dynasty's government.

After a few days, Wanyan Honglie recovered from his illness. He immediately sought out the civil and military officials of the Jin Dynasty to discuss how to deal with the war in the north. Although they had conquered Jiangnan, they had to defend it, otherwise wouldn't their fight have been in vain?

On December 1218, , Wanyan Saibu, the Prime Minister and Grand Marshal of the Jin Dynasty, and his general Wanyan Eketi led an army of to the north, strictly guarding the Huainan line and defending the city.

The Jin Kingdom withdrew all its garrisons from Henan and strictly guarded cities such as Huaibei. As a result, the small city of Huaibei had gathered 150,000 Jin troops. These were the troops they had rebuilt with great difficulty in the past few years. Except for the soldiers who were still resting on the southern expedition, most of the Jin Kingdom's forces were stationed in the north. As for the war in the south, it had stopped long ago.

The war in the south was over, but the war in the north was still going on. After Guo Jing and Mu Huali joined forces, their force reached 300,000. They surrounded Kaifeng City and began to attack the city in an orderly manner.

The catapults threw stones day and night, smashing the houses in the city to pieces. The people within two miles of the city wall had already evacuated and did not dare to stay there at all.

The commander who stayed behind in Kaifeng was Wanyan Chenghui, a member of the Jin imperial family. He was one of the people who opposed the relocation of the capital in the Jin court. When they arrived in Kaifeng, they were still unwilling to move the capital. Wanyan Honglie was irritated and simply left these people to guard Kaifeng.

Aren’t you unwilling to move the capital? Then stay here and defend the city well!

The situation is already very clear. Kaifeng cannot be defended at all. The only thing they can rely on is the natural barrier of the Yangtze River. The Song Dynasty was able to rely on the Yangtze River to block the Jin Kingdom for nearly a hundred years, so the Jin Kingdom must be able to do the same.

The more critical the moment, the more stubborn people there are. If Kaifeng is to be defended, an important person must be left to keep order. Wanyan Chenghui's identity and official position are just right.

……

There was a vast plain outside Kaifeng City, but at one corner there was a hill where the Mongolian army's camp was set up.

Inside the tent, Mu Huali saw the Jin soldiers on the Kaifeng city wall who were beaten so hard that they dared not fight back, and praised them sincerely, "This catapult is really a good thing. Fortunately, we had this thing to help us when we attacked Tangzhou, otherwise we probably wouldn't have crossed the Yellow River."

Guo Jing laughed heartily and said, "If you want, uncle, I will give you dozens of them. You can call craftsmen to make replicas later."

Mu Huali's face showed some interest. This thing was so useful. With it, he would have fewer casualties when attacking cities in the future. He thought for a moment and nodded, "Okay, since you want to give it to me, I'll take it. I won't take it for nothing. One catapult, two thousand sheep, thirty will be enough for me."

Seeing his determined expression, Guo Jing did not refuse anymore.

Once this thing appears on the battlefield, both friendly forces and enemies will take a peek. Instead of hiding it, it is better to share it openly to avoid causing unpleasantness. As long as this thing is in the military, it will be difficult to keep it secret, and leakage is only a matter of time.

Huihui Cannon was a siege weapon that changed the course of the war. Since then, cities in China have gradually become brick and stone structures, especially those important military towns, whose walls were several meters thick and could not be broken by catapults.

A wall like this cannot be broken even with cannon fire.

After two days of attacking with catapults, the Mongolian army officially began to attack the city. The two armies were responsible for two sides of the city wall respectively and were not under the command of each other. The casualties gradually increased, and Guo Jing was mentally prepared.

He did not attack Luoyang by force, but the same could not be said for Kaifeng, as it was the capital of the Jin Dynasty and they would not surrender easily.

Compared with Zhongdu, Kaifeng's defenses were more complete. The Jin army had enough troops stationed here, and together with the civilians in the city, it was a tough battle. Kaifeng was not a city that could be easily captured.

At the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, if Emperor Qinzong had not listened to slander and extorted money from the people in the city to pay tribute to the Jin people, how could the Jin people have taken Kaifeng? It was he who destroyed the city walls and made all kinds of stupid moves that led to the gradual collapse of the situation.

After the siege began, Mu Huali came to the high platform and looked at the city wall in the distance. A trace of shock flashed in his eyes, "Alas, with such a city, I really don't know how the Song Dynasty was defeated by the Jin people."

Guo Jing showed a hint of sarcasm on his face. "No matter how strong a city is, it still needs people to defend it. The people of the Song Dynasty were not united, which led to the fall of the country. In my opinion, the morale of the Jin army in the city is high. If we want to capture this city, we must make long-term preparations."

Mu Huali smiled nonchalantly, "It doesn't matter. We have plenty of people under our command. I also have nearly 200,000 Jin surrendered soldiers. We will send them up after a while. It's useless to keep them anyway."

After the two armies reunited, Guo Jing and Mu Huali completed the exchange of Jin surrendered soldiers with Han soldiers. He had more than 130,000 Jin troops under his command, all of whom were exchanged for Han people. Although these Han soldiers were not all young and strong, and some were old and weak, they were all men. As long as they had a piece of land and a few years of stability, they would create a steady supply of food and supplies.

Population is a resource, especially men.

Time passed slowly, and a month had passed. The walls of Kaifeng were covered with mottled marks, rubble and traces of fire could be seen everywhere. The moat under the city had been filled up, with corpses lying on it, and the air was filled with a foul smell.

Guo Jing sat in the central army camp to handle government affairs. During this period, his focus had shifted from siege to internal affairs. Some officials from the shogunate followed him to the battlefield. Even though they were thousands of miles away, he still handled many reports from the rear every day.

"Your Excellency, General Wang requests to see you."

"Let him in!"

"See Mr. Marquis."

"No gift."

Guo Jing admired the general in a scholar's robe in front of him very much. If he had not been in the army for such a short time, he would have promoted him to be the chief general of the army.

Wang Shan said what he had prepared long ago, and said in a deep voice, "Your Excellency, spring will come in a month, and there are good fields outside Kaifeng. I want to dispatch a group of laborers to plant outside the city in the spring to prevent the fields from being left uncultivated."

Farming in Kaifeng?
Guo Jing nodded secretly, but he did not agree on the spot. "This matter is of great importance. I will give you an answer tomorrow."

There is not only his army here, but also Mu Huali. He must be informed about this. This is an excellent grain-producing area. It would be a pity to let the fields go barren. Even if they are planted, they have to wait until autumn to harvest. No matter who is in charge of Kaifeng at that time, they have to owe him a favor.

Then, he found Mu Huali and explained the matter to him. Mu Huali agreed on the spot. He was now determined to take over Kaifeng, so how could he not agree to these small things? Recently, the defenders of Kaifeng had developed two new weapons, one called the Thunderbolt and the other called the Flying Fire Gun. He had never seen these strange things before, but they were very lethal, which gave him a headache.

Mu Huali pulled him to the military camp and pointed at a long tunnel not far away. "Guo Jing, the Jin thieves have created two weapons that are too lethal. We have to strengthen our defenses and disperse our troops to prevent these weapons. This will slow down our offensive. According to my estimate, the defenders in the city are probably between 50,000 and 100,000. This number is not small."

Then, there was a loud explosion in the distance, and the decorative scarecrows were blown away.

How could Guo Jing not know about this kind of thing? He even asked his craftsmen to imitate it.

Ever since he learned that the Jin people used new weapons, he ordered his soldiers to try their best to find the real objects and bring them back for imitation. The effect here is just the effect produced by the explosion of gunpowder.

It is normal that Mongolians have never seen fireworks and don't know what they are.

Guo Jing smiled bitterly, "Uncle, it's only been a month. We must be patient to take Kaifeng. Even if the Jin Kingdom moves its capital, it won't just give us a place like Kaifeng. Even if we have this new weapon, it will probably be difficult to take it in a short time."

A trace of disappointment flashed across Mu Huali's eyes, but he immediately returned to normal, "You're right, I was impatient. Let's take our time and make sure we take this place down. I want to see how many times they can run away."

……

The siege begins again!

"kill!"

Countless soldiers were running on the city wall. As arrows rained down from the sky, the running figures suddenly turned into corpses. The Jin army defending the city held up their shields and grabbed the stones nearby and smashed them down.

There were a few more miserable howls on the ladders, blood flowed over the parapet, a soldier climbed up the ladder, and was then stabbed down by a gun. Under the scorching sun, a brutal siege battle continued on the city wall.

Arrows flew to the top of the city wall, pierced into shields, penetrated people's bodies, and nailed into the wood of the city tower. The sky was filled with a rain of arrows and accompanied by whistling stones. The Jin army huddled against the parapets, curled up motionless, with pairs of numb eyes on their gray faces.

The corners of the walls were filled with corpses. Even though they were dead, they were still useful. Although there was enough food in the city, there was a lack of heating materials. Coincidentally, corpses could also be ignited by fire.

These bodies would have been buried or burned, otherwise epidemics would have occurred.

History has proven this countless times. Guo Jing reminded Mu Huali early on that after more than a month of attack and defense by both sides, nearly 100,000 corpses had been left in front of their city.

At certain times, the Mongolian army would allow the Jin army to clean up the battlefield and collect the bodies, and the Jin army would do the same. This was something that both sides knew. Sometimes wars are fought with all possible means, but sometimes they are fought with morality. This is the cunningness of the world.

After the enemy's rain of arrows disappeared, behind the parapet, the Jin archers, under the cover of their shields, drew their bows downwards and plunged into the mud among the figures running towards them. Occasionally, a shieldman who was unable to cover himself was shot by arrows in the gap and fell to the ground. Then the position was filled, and the black figures followed one after another like ants.

"Throw rocks, pour gold juice, quick!"

The flames burned on the corpses, the oil sizzled, and scarlet spread in the dim firelight. The arrows shot from the sky had stopped, and occasionally one or two would be shot over, but after a moment, they would no longer appear.

Amid the flickering fires on the battlefield that stretched for miles, the ground was covered with countless corpses.

Spring is here and flowers are blooming, but the weather is dry.

The thing we least wanted to happen still happened: the epidemic came!
In the military camp, Guo Jing looked at the report in his hand, his face livid. Despite all the precautions, such a thing still happened. He quickly ordered the military doctor to come and prepare for defense, so as to prevent the epidemic from spreading in the camp.

However, it's still a step too late!
Hundreds of thousands of troops gathered together, eating, drinking, defecating and urinating every day. With so many people gathered together, how could an epidemic be prevented? What's more, there was the Yellow River next to them, which was where they got water.

The epidemic was not brought by the two attacking parties, but came from Tangzhou and other places.

It turned out that after Mu Huali captured the city, the corpses fell into the water. It was fine in the winter, but in the spring, the ice and snow melted, the temperature rose, the corpses rotted, and the people drank the water that had soaked the corpses and were infected with the disease.

Epidemics have occurred in Tangzhou, Xuzhou, Weizhou and other places, and a large number of people have died. The remaining people have fled from towns and villages. The wilderness is much safer than the city.

The wind blew across the fields and towns. The once bustling and prosperous city was now dead silent inside and out. The ragged corpses were rotting rapidly in the sun, and flies were crawling on the flesh and blood oozing with pus. Occasionally, a staggering and swaying figure would walk by, startling a large number of dense black shadows that flew into the air.

No one dared to collect the bodies, and the remaining people all fled.

There were buzzing sounds all around. A plague was sweeping across the area and slowly spreading to more distant places. Corpses covered with maggots could be seen everywhere on the roads and in the mountains. The heat wave brought with it the stench of corpses. Hundreds of people died every day in villages and towns due to the ravages of the plague.

As the epidemic broke out, Guo Jing's mind was completely focused on it. He ordered his men to send a message to Mu Huali, "I want to suspend the siege and rest for a month. I will make a decision after the epidemic is under control!"

A military defeat is a small matter. If all the people are dead, what’s the point of taking the city!

Therefore, Guo Jing began to order his soldiers to evacuate in batches. Soldiers showing signs of the epidemic were isolated separately, and doctors from various surrounding areas were invited here to treat the epidemic.

At the same time, he issued strict orders to Guanzhong and the Three Jins to lock their gates and not let the victims pass through. If the land was to rot, only a piece of land in Henan would rot. If the whole land rotted, it would take who knows how many years to recover.

In the Mongolian camp, Mu Huali received Guo Jing's message and fell silent. He knew what it meant: Guo Jing was going to withdraw his troops.

He walked out of the camp, looked at the Kaifeng City under the sun, and cursed angrily, "How hateful!" He had painstakingly planned this siege, but it ended in such a hasty manner. It was really unacceptable.

(End of this chapter)