Lin'an Never Night

Chapter 844 Cutting off the way out

The Jin Dynasty's "Beacon Bureau" was the first to receive the rumor that the Song Dynasty's Prince of Yan had secretly gone to the Jin Dynasty.

To say it is a rumor is actually accurate information transmitted through unofficial channels.

When Deng Yue, the head of the Jin Dynasty's "Beacon Bureau" located on the border of Lianghuai, heard about it, his first reaction was that it was impossible.

Would a prince of the Song Dynasty risk entering the Jin Kingdom for a Shandong peasant army?

There was no way the Song Dynasty court would allow him to do such a ridiculous thing.

Moreover, such a major matter was actually leaked and became known to everyone in the government and the country?
impossible! Absolutely impossible!
However, the strange actions of the 3,000 cavalrymen in the border areas of the Jin Kingdom still aroused his suspicion.

This group of Song Dynasty cavalry infiltrated into Jin territory and performed all kinds of strange actions. There must be a purpose, right?
This group of rangers roamed around with their whereabouts unknown, and they never stayed in one place for more than a day.

Therefore, although the Jin cavalry had several encounters with them, they were unable to stop them.

The local Jin garrisons were not mobile and did not dare to stray too far from the towns where they were stationed, making it impossible for them to pose a sufficient threat to a guerrilla force of the Song army.

Then, news came from the Song Dynasty that Prince of Jin Zhao Jue had offended the emperor, was demoted to a county prince, and was forced to reflect on his mistakes behind closed doors.

For a while, no one linked this incident with the so-called Prince of Yan's invasion of the Jin Kingdom.

Because no one knew why King Zhao Ju of Jin offended the Emperor of Song.

However, the Jin Kingdom was certainly interested in the fact that such a big figure who played an important role in the political arena of the Song Dynasty suddenly encountered such an experience.

The "Beacon Bureau" immediately contacted the secret spies sent to the Song Dynasty, asking them to find out the truth about the Song Dynasty's Prince of Yan entering the Jin Dynasty at all costs.

The Jin State's spies lurking in the Song State have been very active recently.

The sudden intensification of spying caused some Jin secret spies to reveal their identities, and they were successfully counter-espionage by the Song Imperial City Bureau and arrested.

But among them, there are "dead spies" from the Jin Dynasty.

The "dead spy" has entered the game with only one thing to do, which is to confirm whether the King of Yan of the Song Dynasty has really sneaked into the Jin Kingdom.

The Imperial City Administration knew that the Prince of Yan had entered the Jin Kingdom, and was in the process of covering up and dealing with the aftermath of the incident.

However, when it comes to the Jin spies who have already been arrested, people are naturally not so vigilant.

When interrogating the Jin spies, they learned that they had revealed their identities in order to confirm whether the King of Yan of the Song Dynasty had really entered the Jin Kingdom. They were inevitably ridiculed and mocked by the interrogators.

Through these casual words, these "dead spies" confirmed one thing: Prince Yan Yang Yuan had really sneaked into the Jin Kingdom!
They only need to casually make a seemingly ordinary characteristic action or say a specific word on the way to interrogation or imprisonment, in the court, or in any public place, and the contact personnel can easily get feedback.

At the same time, the Jin Dynasty's "Beacon Bureau" had an unexpected gain.

One of their secret spies successfully approached an official of the Eastern Palace and got engaged to the official's widowed sister, becoming a relative of the official.

The Jin Kingdom had already begun infiltrating the former ministers of the Eastern Palace of the Song Dynasty.

It is customary that when the crown prince ascends the throne, he will reuse his team from the Eastern Palace.

Therefore, the infiltration of the Eastern Palace began when Zhao Kai was made the crown prince.

After long-term operation, it has finally paid off.

This secret spy from the Jin Dynasty obtained more detailed intelligence from his cheap brother-in-law.

The Prince of Yan of the Song Dynasty did sneak into the Jin Dynasty, and the 3,000 light cavalry that were harassing the border areas of the Jin Dynasty were allocated to Yang Yuan by the Emperor of the Song Dynasty.

Moreover, Yang Yuan disappeared after joining the Jin Dynasty, and these three thousand light cavalry were just a decoy force deployed by Yang Yuan.

After the "Fengsui Bureau" received the information and confirmed it with each other, they no longer had any doubts.

Deng Yue was overjoyed and immediately reported the news to Zhongdu, and also passed it on to the front-line general Yang Tang and the military supervisor Liang Yan, the eunuch.

Eunuch Liang was the eunuch who fled during the Battle of Lingbi, harmed Yelu Yuanyi's family, and shirked all responsibility.

Yang Tang, on the other hand, is a distant relative of Wugu Lun Yingge.

He was a Han Chinese, but his family had married into the Jin nobles at a very early time, and he served in the Jin court.

In Wanyan Liang's Great Jin Dynasty, all the officials, whether they were Jurchens, Han or Bohai, had relatives in the New Jin Dynasty.

Therefore, Wanyan Liang would not have any suspicion towards his civil and military officials.

The binding of interests is the most important foundation for a stable relationship.

In addition, the Jin army has now recruited a large number of Han soldiers, and the Jurchen soldiers regard themselves as superiors, so the relationship between the two sides is not very friendly.

At this time, Yang Tang, who was of Han Chinese origin, became a very suitable candidate, so he was transferred from the commander-in-chief of the Wuwei Army to the chief commander of the Nanjing Road Army.

Yang Tang was worried about the 3,000 Song Dynasty light cavalry who were darting around like catfishes, but he was overjoyed when he suddenly received this news.

He had a hasty discussion with the military supervisor, Eunuch Liang Yan, and immediately strengthened the defense of the area where Nanjing Road meets the border of the Song Dynasty.

He sent out all the cavalry in the central army, determined to annihilate the Song armed forces of 3,000 light cavalry, or drive them out of the Jin Dynasty completely.

At the same time, he urgently wrote a letter to Wengusundu, the commander-in-chief of the Shandong East Route Army, asking him to pay attention to strengthening the defense along the coastal areas.

Because if Yang Yuan wanted to leave the Kingdom of Jin, there were only two routes, land and water. If both routes were blocked, Yang Yuan would be unable to escape!
……

Yang Yuan went from Laiwu to Zibo, which was only a day's journey away from the war zone.

Before abandoning his carriage and replacing it with horses and entering the war zone, Yang Yuan "went to great lengths" to meet Su Bolunian.

"Su Bo Nian, once I meet those rebels, it will be difficult to get in touch with you.

I will try my best to persuade those rebels in the imperial court to flee south along the route we have planned."

As Yang Yuan spoke, he handed a hand-drawn route map to Su Bolunian.

“There are three routes here, the red line is the first choice, the black line is the second choice, and the green line is the last choice.

However, no matter which route of action is taken, the final destination is Haizhou."

When Su Bolunian heard this, he quickly took the route map with both hands.

Yang Yuan warned: "The rebels are now outnumbered and weak, and must be like a frightened bird, so be very careful.

They are salt smugglers, and they have many eyes and ears among the people, so the imperial court must be very cautious when using troops.”

Su Bo Nian understood and said, “I understand that once the imperial army’s movements are revealed, I’m afraid that even you, my lord, won’t be able to trust those rebels.

I will report this to the imperial court and ask them to use their troops carefully and intercept them wherever they must pass and capture them all in one fell swoop."

"it is good!"

Yang Yuan smiled slightly, looked around cautiously, then walked towards the inn with the paper bag he had picked up on the pretext of going out to buy something.

Su Bonian sent someone to carefully copy two copies of the route map given to him by "White Falcon".

The original was presented to the court at an express speed of 600 miles, a copy was sent to the Shandong East Route Military General Administration, and one copy was kept in his own hands.

After that, he still led his men to keep an eye on the actions of Yang Yuan and others, until Yang Yuan pulled the reins and rode his horse, taking Yang Shou, Wu Youyao, Chunwu Xiaonai, and more than a dozen guards who had turned from darkness to light, and galloped towards the border of Qingzhou.

"He's bringing a woman with him. He's really dying under the peony flowers... This white falcon is really lustful."

Su Bolunian shook his head and did not follow any further.

The territory of Qingzhou is already in a state of decay. A gentleman does not stand under a dangerous wall. He is a gentleman engaged in espionage, not a soldier suppressing bandits. Why should he take the risk?
……

It's November now. The weather is fine during the day, but it's getting noticeably cooler at night. Qingzhou is one of the ancient nine states, and was once the political, economic, military, and cultural center of Qi and Lu.

During the Northern Song Dynasty, Qingzhou was the seat of the Jingdong East Road of the Song Dynasty.

Now it has been returned to the Jin Dynasty and is the seat of the Yidu General Administration Office in the eastern Shandong Route.

The official name of Qingzhou at this time was Yidu.

The chief military officer of the Yidu General Administration's office was named Sadayasenli, and the deputy chief military officer was named Zhang Ao.

This pair of brothers have had a hard time lately, because the main force of the rebels of the "Six Thousand Society" are now gathered in the mountains not far from Yidu City.

The mountains there are undulating and the terrain is dangerous.

Especially the main peaks, which are hundreds of feet high, steep and easy to defend but difficult to attack.

Moreover, this mountain leads to all directions. Once you come down the mountain, you can go to Qingzhou City, Zhucheng, Anqiu, Juzhou, Shouguang and other places.

How many soldiers and horses are needed to surround this mountain?
They couldn't surround them, and it would be very easy for this group of rebels to escape.

Moreover, these rebels who started out as salt traders have too many eyes and ears among the people.

Therefore, the rebels can find out in advance where the defenses are weak and even the number of troops, which makes them even more elusive.

However, as winter is approaching, this is a good opportunity.

Before, the people in villages, towns and cities were worried about their harvests.

If you want to move them away, he will ask you to promise to exempt them from taxes and grain for the whole year.

How could the Yidu General Administration Office give them this guarantee?

Now that the autumn harvest season has passed, this resistance or excuse no longer exists.

Now they have the conditions to implement the strategy of "fortifying the walls and clearing the fields".

Anyone who dares to delay at this time will have every reason to be charged with collusion with bandits.

As long as all the villagers who have no ability to protect themselves are moved into the city, after the mountains are blocked by heavy snow, the rebels will have no rice or winter clothes, and they will not be able to get supplies when they go out of the mountains, so it will be much easier to wipe them out.

The rebels on the mountain had obviously taken this into consideration.

Jijizhai is the highest peak here.

This mountain is extremely dangerous. From the bottom of the cliff, you can't see the top. From the top of the mountain, the houses below are only the size of a fist.

There are only two winding paths to climb the mountain, which are extremely dangerous.

This dangerous area with mountains is more than enough to accommodate tens of thousands of rebel troops.

There are four garrisons on the mountain, and the main camp of Nanshan is located on the highest peak, Jijizhai.

Before, when the rebel army just started the uprising, they caught the Jin court off guard, conquered the east and the west, and became famous. They were so high-spirited at that time.

But now they can only limit themselves to this, relying on the terrain to resist the Jin Dynasty, and their morale is inevitably low.

In a large, crude wooden shed on the top of the mountain, the sound of burning wood crackled.

This is because the trees being cut down are large, growing trees, and the wood contains moisture, which often makes a crackling sound when burned.

The leaders of the Shandong rebel army were gathered here to discuss their next move.

These leaders included the core salt smugglers of the "Six Thousand Society" and the common people who took the initiative to join after the uprising. Because of their bravery in fighting, they gradually became leaders.

Xin Qiji, Jia Rui, Yang Ze, Deng Xun, Zhang Anguo, Shao Jin...

"Everyone, the spies we sent out reported that the Yidu General Administration Office has posted notices to all villages and towns, requiring the people from all directions to migrate to nearby large cities such as Yidu, Zhucheng, and Anqiu to spend the winter. The court wants to fortify the city and clear the fields, and take advantage of the cold winter to starve us to death in the mountains."

Xin Qiji started the conversation and everyone began to express their opinions.

Yang Ze said: "Although the mountain here is dangerous, the place is actually not that big. Tens of thousands of troops cannot move around.

Once the Jin thieves clear the countryside, we won't be able to survive the winter here. I suggest we fight back the way we came."

Zhang Anguo heard this and said disdainfully: "Fight back? Zibo Prefecture and Jinan Prefecture are both important towns.

We attacked them from the inside out and caught them off guard. Now if we go back, aren't we picking a hard bone to chew?"

Zhang Anguo looked down on Yang Ze a little.

Zhang Anguo was born into a wealthy family and was considered a veteran of the "Six Thousand Society".

Yang Ze joined them after the uprising. Because of his fierce spearmanship and bravery in combat, he was recognized as a hero by the leader Xin Qiji and was promoted to an important position.

This Yang Ze is not only an outsider, but also very young, only twenty-six or twenty-seven years old. However, his prestige is growing day by day, and he is gradually becoming equal to Zhang Anguo in the rebel army. This is something Zhang Anguo cannot accept.

So once there is an opportunity, it is natural to pour a bucket of cold water on it.

Yang Ze was not annoyed. He smiled and explained, "The Jin thieves became timid in the places we conquered. And our purpose of going back this time is not to attack the city."

Xin Qiji's eyes flashed, and he probably grasped Yang Ze's intention, and asked hurriedly: "Brother Yang, what do you mean?"

Yang Ze said: "We just go around the city, so even if the defenders in the city are numerous, they won't have time to respond.

By the time they reacted, they had already gone far away, and they would certainly not dare to abandon the city and take the risk of chasing them.

So this place, although it seems dangerous, is actually safe.”

Xin Qiji closed his eyes and thought for a while, then suddenly opened his eyes and said, "You mean, we should go along the Yellow River and settle in Liangshan?"

Yang Ze spread his hands helplessly: "Now we are alone and helpless. If we want to survive, there are only three ways.

Either surrender to the Jin bandits and flee to Song territory, or find a free place to occupy the mountain and become the king. "

Shao Jin frowned and said, "If you want to cross the river to the south, it will be very difficult to overcome all the obstacles along the way."

Deng Xun said: "Surrender to the Jin thieves? Then why should we rebel? When we were selling salt, we had a good life and enjoyed endless wealth and glory."

Jia Rui said: "So, Brother Yang's plan is still feasible. We can only choose a vacant place to stay for the time being."

Although this mountain garrison is dangerous, it is much smaller than Liangshan Marsh.

Water Margin Liangshan means that there is Liangshan within the Water Margin, not that there is Water Margin within Liangshan.

That body of water is very large. The novelist said it is eight hundred miles in radius. Although this is an exaggeration, it is just a general word and is actually just used to describe its size.

In a place like that, there is plenty of room to maneuver, and it would not be easy for the imperial court to encircle and suppress them.

Moreover, it is close to Nanjing Road. Once there is an opportunity, one can exit Shandong East Road and enter Nanjing Road at any time, so there may be a chance to escape south to the Song Dynasty.

Xin Qiji was already somewhat tempted.

However, the leaders under him either came to surrender with their own army or were former big salt lords from various places. Each of them had their own small forces and mountain strongholds. It was not easy for him to make a dictatorial decision on such a matter of life and death.

Therefore, Xin Qiji looked at everyone with a sharp gaze and said, "Brother Yang suggests abandoning Jiji Village and going to Liangshan to seek a living. What do you brothers think?"

While everyone was thinking about it, a volunteer soldier suddenly rushed into the hut excitedly, his face flushed and said: "Great leader, leaders, a man has come down the mountain, saying that he was sent by the Song Dynasty to welcome us to the south!"

(End of this chapter)