Lin'an Never Night

Chapter 838: Dashun's trick

The Song army had been fighting in Shaanxi for more than two months, and the loss rate of firearms was extremely high.

For one thing, the owners of these firearms don’t know much about maintenance.

Moreover, this time the Song Dynasty made the same old mistake again when it sent troops. The logistical supply could not keep up because of the cumbersome bureaucratic system.

When Yang Yuan was in power, he not only made logistical preparations for several years, but also held both military and political power.

However, Zhao Kai split up all aspects of Sichuan, Shaanxi and Longyou.

Not only that, in order to allow his "princelings" to complete the gilding process as quickly as possible, he appointed a number of officials from the Eastern Palace as generals for this attack on Shaanxi.

Naturally, there was disunity between these people and the old generals who had already shown signs of being marginalized.

As June begins, rain starts to become more frequent in Shaanxi.

This not only affected the Song army's weapons such as muskets and tiger squat cannons, but also made the roads muddy and difficult to travel.

The Song army's battle line was already too long, like four long snakes sticking out their bodies, and their body flexibility was affected.

The Jin army, intending to lure the enemy deep into their territory, directly used their cavalry advantage to penetrate, cut off and encircle the enemy.

The Tatars are coming again.

The New Jin Empire agreed to Zhao Kai's request, but they obviously did not contain the Tatars.

The most important production seasons for the Tatars are spring and autumn, so now they have time.

The Tatars, who came with hatred, made up for the Jin army's current lack of mobility.

The nineteen cities lost by the Jin Dynasty began to be recovered one by one.

The four armies of the Song State were divided, intercepted, and outflanked.

When the baggage and logistics were completely cut off, the Song army was completely pinned down.

When the Song Dynasty launched five expeditions against the Xia Dynasty, a total of 350,000 troops were mobilized.

Now when Zhao Kai attacked Shaanxi, he did not mobilize so many troops.

The four armies that attacked Shaanxi totaled more than 180,000 troops.

After the Jin general Tushan Shousu of Fengxiang suddenly counterattacked the Song army that was attacking the city, and took advantage of the heavy rain to defeat the Song army while they were well rested, he launched a surprise attack on Jianxu Pass in the rain.

After great sacrifices, this important pass changed hands and the Song army's retreat was cut off.

The Baoji defenders attacked Jianxun Ridge, determined to retake this life-and-death pass for the Song army at all costs, while at the same time reporting the bad news to Lin'an.

On the Jin side, Tushan Shousu sent his trusted generals to guard Jianxu Ridge while relying on Fengxiang to expand the results of the battle.

At the same time, he also picked out the most intact samples from the captured Song army's muskets and tiger-crouching cannons, and sent them to the secondary capital Kaifeng Prefecture day and night.

Zhao Kai has been very proud recently because of his previous series of victories.

After all, he was young and energetic, and having suddenly achieved such a brilliant result, his confidence was unprecedentedly great.

Unexpectedly, the battle report that the gold medalist delivered once again after traveling all the way through wind and rain turned out to be bad news.

Zhao Kai was panicked, and for a moment he didn't want to find Zhao Yu and Yang Yuan to discuss state affairs.

He had intentionally isolated these two people from the formulation of the plan to attack Shaanxi. Now asking them to clean up the mess, isn't that a slap in his own face?

However, he could not imagine how disastrous the consequences would be if the 180,000-strong army was lost in Shaanxi.

The good situation that the Song Dynasty had been enjoying since his father ascended the throne might be completely lost.

Zhao Kai urgently summoned important civil and military officials to hold a meeting in front of the emperor, and finally made three hasty decisions.

1. Promote the title of Champion General to Xia Hekuimu, the Defense Envoy of Qinzhou, and order him to lead his troops out of Tianshui and join forces with the Song army of Baoji to clear a way for the trapped 180,000 Song troops to return to the south.

However, even if the road was opened, these Song troops might not be able to return.

Therefore, it is necessary to contain the Jin Kingdom. Even if we cannot force the Jin Kingdom to withdraw troops from Shaanxi, we cannot allow the Jin Kingdom to send more troops to Shaanxi.

Therefore, the second decision was: the Song army in Lianghuai would launch an all-out attack on the Jin Kingdom.

As for Ezhou, since Li Dao had just been "promoted" to the deputy chief of Jinghu North Road, and Li Dao had been operating in Ezhou for many years and had deep roots, it was impossible to eliminate his influence in the army in such a short period of time.

So after much hesitation, Zhao Kai decided not to let Ezhou take any action for the time being.

The third decision Zhao Kai made was to order the "Six Thousand Society" rebel organization lurking in the Jin Kingdom to start an uprising immediately through the Jisufang Chanzifang, and make the momentum as big as possible in the heart of the Jin Kingdom.

Jinan is very close to Yanjing. The sudden emergence of a powerful rebel army in Jinan would surely make Wanyan Liang panic.

As long as Wanyan Liang transferred troops from Shaanxi to defend the Central Plains, the trapped Song army would have a chance to break out.

……

Jin Dynasty, Shandong East Road, Jinan Prefecture, Daming Lake.

On Daming Lake, cruise ships are coming and going and the sky is clear.

There were more than twenty people sitting on a large ship. Most of them were middle-aged, and some even had gray hair.

But the person standing in the front and speaking to them was a young man.

The young man was in his early twenties, tall and strong, exactly the powerful and aggressive Xin Tanfu.

Compared to the last time Yang Yuan saw him, Xin Qiji was taller and more robust than his peers, but he was still a little fat like a teenager.

But now, he is full of muscular body. Even though he is wearing a round-necked robe, the slightest movement of his body and the flexed muscle curves exude a sense of power.

After Xin Qiji had the ceremony of coming of age, he took a name, which was Tanfu.

Later he changed his courtesy name to You'an, and in middle age he was known as Jiaxuan because of his talent.

This Tanfu was not used for a long time, so it is not very familiar to later generations.

At this time, his grandfather had passed away and he had no ties to the Jin Dynasty.

"Everyone, the Song Dynasty court has sent someone to deliver the news that the Song Dynasty has launched a full-scale war to recover its homeland.

The Song Dynasty court asked us, the "Six Thousand Associations", to start an uprising immediately so that we could serve as the internal support of the Song army.

Everyone, we have been planning for many years, and now the opportunity to achieve success and recover our Han homeland is right in front of us." Xin Qiji excitedly began to mobilize before the war.

All those present here are leaders of the "Six Thousand Society" branches scattered across the country, and their public identities are all private salt dealers.

Smuggling salt is a way of competing with the imperial court for tax revenue, and has always been a target of severe crackdowns by the imperial court.

So which private salt dealer doesn’t have a group of desperate criminals under his command?
Xin Qiji was determined to expel the Tartars, restore the Han Dynasty, and expand his influence.

Later, he received various supports from Yang Yuan from the Song Dynasty, so his power expanded more and more fiercely.

There were no other cruise ships around this large ship, so he didn't have to worry about making any noise on board.

Xin Qiji said: "After you go back, make your own preparations immediately. Three days later, that is, on July 5, all places will start the uprising at the same time.

They launched surprise attacks on various prefectures and counties, looted government offices and wealthy families, took away what was easy to carry, distributed what was not easy to carry to the people, and burned what could not be taken away.

After the matter is accomplished, you will immediately gather in Jinan Prefecture. We will join forces and attack Dezhou first, then Cangzhou, and see if there is a chance to attack Yanjing as well."

A salt smuggler asked doubtfully, "Boss, with our troops and weapons, we can't take down Yanjing City, right?"

Xin Qiji laughed and said, "Of course we can't do it. We are responsible for making trouble in the stomachs of the Jin thieves. As long as we can make the Jin thieves have stomach pains and tremble in their hands and feet, it will be easier for the Song soldiers to march straight in."

The leaders of the "Six Thousand Associations" immediately understood.

Three days later, members of the "Six Thousand Society" in Laiwu, Tai'an, Zibo, Liaocheng, Yucheng and other places launched an uprising at the same time.

They captured county and state government offices, opened warehouses to release grain, burned down government offices, and, with the core members of the "Six Thousand Society" as their backbone, called on the general public to participate.

After recruiting many more people and horses, they headed towards Jinan Prefecture.

The headquarters of the "Six Thousand Society" was in Jinan Prefecture, and the uprising here was personally led by Xin Qiji.

Xin Qiji was as fierce as a tiger and his horse was as powerful as a dragon. He charged at the front and killed five generals of the Jin army in a row among the thousands of horses, thus completely controlling Jinan Prefecture.

Afterwards, he joined forces with the various rebel forces of the "Six Thousand Society" and marched towards Yanjing in a mighty force.

In recent years, the Jin Kingdom has been oppressing the people even more severely, especially after Yang Yuan cleverly captured Tianshui and then Baoji. In order to raise military funds, the Jin Kingdom has imposed increasingly heavy taxes and levies.

As a result, once Xin Qiji raised the banner of rebellion, many people who were starving to death enthusiastically joined, and the number of people and horses grew rapidly.

Although among such a large group of people, the ones who can really fight are still the core backbone of the "Six Thousand Society", they are no match for the large number of volunteers.

The whole mountain and plain were crowded with them.

Moreover, most people in the Qi and Lu regions are fond of martial arts, and there are people who have practiced martial arts since childhood in every village.

Therefore, although they had no rules in fighting, their individual fighting power was quite strong.

A large group of rebels attacked like locusts, and really made the Jin army panic.

Wanyan Liang originally wanted to transfer troops from the Central Plains to Qin territory to swallow up the trapped Song army in one go. In this way, the situation between the host and the guest would change.

However, he did not expect that an army of such magnitude would emerge right under his nose.

Knowing that this is a perfect opportunity to swallow the main force of the Song army, but the rebel army is about to attack the city of Yanjing, should we bet with the rebel army that they will never be able to capture Yanjing city?
Once Yanjing is lost, the Jin Kingdom will be completely finished. News from the New Jin Kingdom is that they are quietly sending more troops to the border between the two countries, obviously hoping to reap the benefits.

Under such circumstances, even if Wanyan Liang wanted to take the risk, the civil and military officials in the court would not agree.

Therefore, Wanyan Liang had to reluctantly give up the idea of ​​sending reinforcements to Shaanxi and instead withdraw troops to support the king.

On August 21, the Qinzhou soldiers arrived at Jianxu Ridge, joined the Song army in Baoji, and took turns attacking Jianxu Pass.

On August 29th, the allied forces of Qin and Bao captured Jianxun Ridge amidst the corpses scattered all over the ground, and Shousu, a soldier alone, retreated to Fengxiang City.

Starting from September 7, the Song troops that broke out in different routes moved south one after another, and with the support of the Qin and Bao allied forces, they passed Jianxun Ridge one after another.

On September 22, the Jin army disguised themselves as defeated Song soldiers and marched south with them. They suddenly launched an attack and recaptured Jianxun Ridge.

The Jin soldiers pursued closely and took advantage of the chaos to recapture Baoji City. Most of the Song army retreated to Dasan Pass, while Xia Hekuimu led the remaining troops to escape back to Tianshui.

At this point, the campaign against the Jin Dynasty in the first year of Jianwu ended.

The territory of the Jin Dynasty in Shaanxi, except for Tianshui, which is isolated among the mountains, has completely returned to the state before Yang Yuan's expedition to Shaanxi.

During this period, the Song army in Lianghuai forcibly changed from defense to offense. Fortunately, their attack was a feint and the losses were not great. They also successfully tied down a large number of Jin troops, creating an opportunity for the Song army to break out into Shaanxi.

In this battle, more than half of the 180,000 Song troops were lost. The worst thing was that all heavy weapons, whether artillery or crossbows, were left on the battlefield in Shaanxi.

However, at least half of the Song army entering Shaanxi was rescued, and the army did not end up being completely wiped out.

This is the greatest blessing among misfortunes.

However, the Song Dynasty court forgot about the Shandong rebel army.

The time when this civilian armed force lurking in the heart of the Jin Kingdom could play its best role was when the Song Army officially entered the Central Plains.

However, this time, in order to contain the Jin army and rescue the Song army in Shaanxi, the Song court ordered them to launch the attack ahead of schedule.

After the Song army that entered Shaanxi was rescued, the Song army in Lianghuai stopped its actions.

Only the rebel army that played an important role was thrown into the Central Plains like a rag, and no one cared about it.

After listening to Zhao Yu's advice, Yang Yuan decided to live in Nanshan and become a leisurely king.

He said it and he did it.

He concealed some of his strength as a precautionary measure to protect himself.

His "Tongzhou Club" is still active, but it is mainly used to monitor whether anything unfavorable happens.

He was not aware of Zhao Qi's series of strategic plans, including his strategy for Shaanxi, and he had no idea about the situation on the enemy front.

It's not just because his informants' current monitoring focus is not on this, but there is also a very important reason: it really cannot be done.

If one has the ability to frequently enter and exit the war zone and transmit intelligence from the front, it is impossible not to be discovered by military generals if it happens too often.

Yang Yuan is being feared now. As long as he reveals any clues about the military situation at the front, he will be unable to explain himself.

Therefore, all the military secrets he knew came from the imperial court, and he received the information later than the imperial court.

However, when the Song Dynasty court had begun to review the losses and the generals were ready to shirk their responsibilities,
Only Yang Yuan noticed that there was still an isolated army in the heartland of the Jin Kingdom. How could no one be in charge of this?

(End of this chapter)