Do you know: I am the crown prince

Chapter 506: Rebellion

Yelu Yixin was silent for a while and said, "Since Zhu Aiqing is so confident, I will order you to be an envoy to Xixia. If you succeed, I will reward you handsomely. If you fail, you can't blame me since you wrote the military order yourself!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty. I will live up to your trust and persuade Western Xia to send troops!" Zhu Ran bowed.

"Your Majesty, the Han people have a saying that distant water cannot quench near thirst. I don't know whether Western Xia will send troops. But even if they do, it will take some time. They suffered a great defeat today and their morale is low. If the Song army wins, they will inevitably be careless. We can try to raid the camp." Yelu He suggested.

"Well, we can give it a try." Yelu Yixin nodded.

The cost of robbing the camp was very low. At this time, the Liao Kingdom was at a disadvantage and urgently needed to restore morale.

Hijacking the camp is a good choice.

Seeing that Yelu Yixin agreed, many generals volunteered to fight.

Seeing this, Yelu Yixin said happily: "My dear ministers, your fighting spirit is high and you have not been affected by today's defeat. I am very pleased. My Great Liao will surely achieve the final victory!"

But Yelu Yixin's happiness did not last long. He had just selected the people to rob the camp when the spy who was monitoring the Song army camp reported that the camp was bustling with activity and they were celebrating their victory.

The defense of the camp was very lax.

"Your Majesty, this is a God-given opportunity." The general who was chosen to rob the camp said happily.

Originally, he was still a little unsure whether he could successfully hijack the camp.

At this time, he heard that the Song army was celebrating their victory and the defense of the camp was relaxed, and he was immediately overjoyed.

Many generals looked at him with envy.

If the hijacking is successful, it will be a great achievement. If the news was known before the candidate was decided, the competition would be even more intense.

"wrong!"

Yelu Yixin showed no joy at all, and said: "I know this Duke Ying of Song a little bit. He is mature and steady. He is unlikely to make such a mistake. This must be a trap. Let's cancel the robbery first."

"Your Majesty is wise!"

A Han official stood up and said, "Today's battle is enough to show the talent of Lord Ying. Not being arrogant when winning and not being discouraged when losing is the basic quality of a general. The Song army camp is so lax, there must be a trick."

While the Liao Kingdom was discussing countermeasures, Zhao Xing also received the good news from the Duke of Ying.

Upon learning that the first battle was a victory, Zhao Xing breathed a sigh of relief and ordered people to send some meat to reward the troops.

Zhao Xing came to the sand table and looked at it carefully.

If we can capture Xijing, we can connect it with Youzhou City.

Even if it is not enough to completely drive the Liao Kingdom back to the grassland, we can build a defense line with Xijing and Youzhou City and maintain a stalemate with the Liao Kingdom.

Zhao Xing even had the idea of ​​moving the capital to Youzhou City.

There is another name behind Youzhou City, which is Beiping.

Zhu Di of the Ming Dynasty moved the capital here.

The Liao Dynasty established five capitals, but the main capital was still Shangjing, and Youzhou City was only a secondary capital.

After the Jin Dynasty conquered the Liao Dynasty, it initially made Shangjing its capital, and later moved the capital to Youzhou City and established it as Zhongdu.

Later, the Yuan Dynasty conquered the Jin Dynasty and it became the capital of the Yuan Dynasty.

The advantage of moving the capital to Youzhou City is that it will be able to better resist the nomadic peoples in the north.

If the capital is located in the south or the Central Plains, it is impossible to store too many troops in the north in order to prevent military generals from becoming self-reliant.

It is different if the capital is located in the north. The troops guarding the capital are enough to defend against the north.

However, after Zhao Xing thought about it carefully, he gave up the idea.

Although establishing the capital in Youzhou City has many advantages, it also has two huge disadvantages.

If the emperor fails to live up to his expectations, he can easily be attacked and sent to the capital.

The Ming Dynasty was able to produce a Yu Qian who could turn the tide, but the Song Dynasty might not be able to do so.

Another disadvantage is that it is too far away from the South and the Central Plains, which reduces its control over the North and the Central Plains.

There has been endless debate in later generations about Zhu Di's move of the capital.

Some people think the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, while others think the disadvantages outweigh the advantages.

Every statement has its own reasons.

But in Zhao Xu's opinion, everything has its pros and cons, and this is inevitable.

Moving the capital to the north requires transporting supplies from the south to the north, which is extremely costly.

However, if the capital was not moved to the north, given the situation in the north at the time, it would be difficult to recover quickly, and the north would not be able to withstand the attacks of nomadic peoples.

The Ming Dynasty might not last that long. The best outcome would be the loss of the north and, like the Southern Song Dynasty, a small but precarious situation.

Although Zhao Xing agreed with Zhu Di's decision to move the capital, he thought he was right.

But the current situation in the Song Dynasty is different from that in the Ming Dynasty.

During the Ming Dynasty, the north was severely damaged by the Yuan Dynasty.

Although the Song Dynasty lost the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, the north was not completely lost.

Moreover, unlike the Yuan Dynasty, the Liao Dynasty had actually been slowly assimilated and was also developing agriculture, and the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun were not destroyed.

But the Yuan Dynasty was different. It wanted to assimilate the Han people. It is not appropriate to say this. Slavery would be more appropriate.

The Yuan Dynasty completely turned the north into pasture, resulting in large amounts of wasteland and a sparse population.

Zhu Di moved the capital to the north, not only to resist nomadic peoples, but also to restore the economy of the north.

The Song Dynasty did not have this kind of trouble. It was not worth it to set the capital in Youzhou City just to defend against the nomadic peoples in the north.

Zhao Xing shook his head and decided to follow his original plan and move the capital to Luoyang in the future.

"Your Majesty, urgent news from Bianjing!"

Sanshui walked into the house hurriedly, interrupting Zhao Xing's thoughts.

Zhao Xing took the urgent report, opened it and started reading.

When Zhao Xing saw the content, his face darkened and he said angrily: "These people should be killed!"

The urgent report was written by my father himself, saying that the wizards were in the Central Plains and were inciting the people to rebel.

Zhongyuan is where the capital is located. The Wizarding Cult rarely operates here and its influence is very small.

But the Wizard Cult suddenly broke through several counties, and then took a large number of people with them, and for a time it was very powerful.

During this Northern Expedition, Zhao Xing not only mobilized a large number of imperial guards, leaving Bianliang with a shortage of troops, but he also mobilized many garrison troops from various states in the Central Plains, resulting in a shortage of troops in the entire Central Plains.

The wizard cult was like a swarm of locusts, dragging the people along with them and converging towards Bian Jing. The capital was shaken and the people were in panic.

For a time, some people in the court even suggested that my father leave Bianliang and seek refuge.

My father did not adopt the idea and dispatched troops to quell the rebellion.

However, the Central Plains is short of military force, and the Wizard Cult has taken over a large number of civilians, so troops need to be transferred from other places.

The emperor was worried that the Jiangnan wing troops were not strong enough and that it would take too long to quell the rebellion, so he asked him to transfer some troops back to Bianliang.

Otherwise, if it is delayed for too long, not only will other unexpected events arise, but most importantly, it will lead to the inability to transport food and grass.

With nearly 600,000 troops marching north, it would be difficult to supply the troops even if the Central Plains were included, let alone the north.

All food and fodder had to be transported from the south. Now that something like this had happened in the Central Plains, it was impossible to transport food and fodder from the south.

Although nothing else was mentioned in the urgent report, Zhao Xing knew without thinking that the Wizard Cult must have someone in the court supporting them in this rebellion.

Otherwise, the power of the Wizarding Cult would not be enough to cause such a big rebellion.

Zhao Xing now wished he could return to Bian Jing, find out who was involved, and kill all those people, but he still tried to calm himself down.

"Call here Duke of Wei Cao An!" Zhao Xing said coldly.

"Yes!" Sanshui responded and quickly gave the order.

Not long after, Cao An hurried over.

Without waiting for him to salute, Zhao Xing waved his hand, explained the situation in Bianjing, and said, "You take 20,000 imperial guards and rush back to Bianjing to quell the rebellion immediately!"

At this time, all the troops were deployed on the battlefield, and he could not withdraw any troops, so he could only send the imperial guards from the Palace Front Department back.

Although there are only 20,000 of them, they are all cavalry.

In the Central Plains, 20,000 cavalrymen should have no problem dealing with some rebel forces that have coerced the civilians.

"Your Majesty, the Emperor has ordered me to protect and comfort Your Majesty. How can I..."

"enough!"

Zhao Xing interrupted Cao An and said coldly, "Now that all the troops have been deployed to the battlefield, it is a critical moment and we cannot withdraw them. The capital is in danger, but we cannot ignore it. Moreover, if the rebellion is not quelled quickly, not only will the military food and grass not be delivered on time, but even the morale of the army will be affected. I say it again, you must immediately gather 20,000 imperial guards and rush back to Bianjing to quell the rebellion!"

Most of the soldiers in the army are from the Central Plains. If they knew that the Central Plains was in chaos and worried about the safety of their families, the morale of the army would be affected. This is what Zhao Xing was most worried about.

"Yes!"

Upon hearing this, Cao An dared not say more and left in a hurry.

Although Zhao Xing's orders conflicted with those of the retired emperor, the situation was special at the time. If he dared to talk nonsense again, Zhao Xing would really kill him.

He was also a general and knew that Zhao Xing's arrangement was the best approach at this time.

It’s not that the troops on the front line cannot be withdrawn, but that a single move will affect the entire body.

Emergency withdrawal of troops would not only affect the original deployment, but could also lead to being schemed against by the Liao Kingdom and suffering a major defeat.

If we retreat across the board, all previous victories will be in vain.

After Cao An left, Zhao Xing ordered someone to draft an imperial edict and send it to Duke Ying, telling him about the rebellion in the Central Plains.

Let him decide whether to continue the decisive battle with the Liao Kingdom or to cease fire first based on the situation.

The news cannot be concealed and will come out in a few days. By then, the morale of the army will definitely be affected.

Zhao Xing was worried that the Liao Kingdom would find out about his weakness, but he also knew that if he rashly interfered with the command, the impact would be even greater, so he let the Duke of Ying make the decision based on the situation.

…………

The Liao army suffered a great defeat and the next day they simply hung up a sign of not wanting to fight and stayed in the camp without going out.

Upon seeing this, the Duke of England simply sent his generals to challenge the enemy.

Zeng Gongliang was very worried about this. The Song Dynasty had the upper hand at the moment, and it was obviously not worthwhile to fight against the enemy.

The victory had little effect on boosting the morale of the Song army.

But if we lose, our morale will suffer a blow.

But he was eventually persuaded by the Duke of England.

Because the one sent out by the UK was Zuo Qiang.

Zuo Qiang was one of the two top scorers in the martial arts examination, and Zeng Gongliang was the chief examiner, who had witnessed Zuo Qiang's martial arts skills with his own eyes.

In the martial arts competition of the military examination, Zuo Qiang was not only hard to beat, but he could also win in just over ten rounds, and his victory was very easy.

During this Northern Expedition, Zhao Xing recruited all the people selected through the military examination into the army to participate in the Northern Expedition.

Many of those who were chosen based on their martial arts skills died in battle, but some performed very well.

Among them was Zuo Qiang.

Zuo Qiang participated in several sieges, and was the first to rush to the top of the city each time. He killed over a hundred enemies without suffering any damage himself.

Not only did he come into the sight of the Duke of England, but he was also promoted to commander-in-chief due to his merits, in charge of 500 soldiers.

Previously, when there was a stalemate with the Liao Kingdom, Duke Ying also asked someone to compete with Zuo Qiang, but no one was his match.

Zeng Gongliang was a scholar after all. He only knew the advantages and disadvantages of Zuo Qiang, but did not know where his power lay.

But the Duke of England himself practiced martial arts and could see that Zuo Qiang was born with supernatural powers.

He was born with supernatural powers, and he had excellent martial arts skills learned since childhood. Although he was not invincible in the Liao Kingdom, he had no problem escaping unscathed.

The Duke of Ying also knew that fighting generals would bring more benefits than disadvantages to the Song Dynasty.

However, if he wanted to force the Liao army to raid the camp, he had to deal a severe blow to the morale of the Liao army.

Only in this way would the Liao army choose to take a gamble without being completely sure.

However, he also realized that Zuo Qiang was self-righteous and brave but lacked strategy, and was only suitable to be a warrior who charged into battle.

Worried that he might get too excited and fight to the death even if he was defeated, he called him over and gave him some instructions.

When Zuo Qiang learned that the Duke of Yingguo asked him to challenge the Liao army generals, he was very excited and made promises repeatedly.

Then he excitedly led a small team of cavalry to the Liao army camp to challenge the enemy.

Yelu Yixin avoided fighting because of the great defeat he suffered yesterday.

But now the Song army has sent people to challenge him to a duel. If he refuses, he will really lose face.

Besides, the Liao people are physically strong and have always looked down on the Han people.

Seeing someone coming to challenge them, not only the generals in the army wanted to accept the challenge, but even the ordinary soldiers also asked to fight.

If this is rejected, it will be a huge blow to morale.

However, Yelu Yixin was not careless. He first selected a few low-ranking officers to fight in order to test Zuo Qiang's martial arts.

As a result, the first person sent out was careless and was stabbed to death by Zuo Qiang. Even though the following people were careful and cautious, none of them could be a match for Zuo Qiang in three rounds.

"Haha, everyone says that the Liao army is brave, are they all this kind of stuff?" Zuo Qiang laughed as he rode his horse a few hundred steps away from the Liao army camp.

The cavalrymen who were patrolling behind them also started shouting excitedly when they saw this.

Yelu Yixin had a gloomy face and chose a general to go into battle.

This time they were not defeated quickly, and the Liao army cheered them on.

As a result, in less than twenty rounds, he was defeated by Zuo Qiang again.

"Who is willing to fight?" Yelu Yixin said with a gloomy face when he saw the low morale.

Upon hearing this, the Liao generals present all lowered their heads slightly and no one spoke.

They all knew the general who had just gone into battle.

There were many people present who could beat him, but none of them could beat him so quickly.

Not only would it be embarrassing to be defeated in a battle, but there was also the possibility of losing one's life, so naturally no one wanted to go.

Yelu Yixin said gloomily: "Didn't you all shout that you wanted to go to war just now? Why are you silent now?"

Facing Yelu Yixin's gaze, everyone lowered their heads even lower.

Just as Yelu Yixin was preparing to call out his troops, the Song Dynasty sounded the call to withdraw its troops.

While Yelu Yixin breathed a sigh of relief, his heart was filled with doubts.

Zuo Qiang won battle after battle, but the Song Dynasty suddenly recalled his men, which seemed strange no matter how you looked at it.

Not to mention Yelu Yixin, even Zuo Qiang was very confused.

If his elder brother had not told him before the expedition that the army must obey orders, he might not have obeyed the order to withdraw his troops.

When I returned to the tent, I wanted to see the Duke of England to ask the reason, but I was told that the Duke of England had important matters to deal with.

Inside the Song army’s central camp.

Zeng Gongliang read the decree sent by Zhao Xing and said, "Duke Ying, we should retreat back to the city now. Otherwise, when the news comes, the soldiers will worry about their families and their morale will drop greatly."

(End of this chapter)