The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 380 Kong Yanzhou is here

In January of 1132 AD, the Northern Song army, led by Gong Erniangzi and Yue Wenxuan, continued its advance towards Haozhou with 4,000 troops.

At this time, Haozhou was also in chaos, with most of the land in a state of "anarchy." The Northern Song army had no rivals on this land, sweeping across the land like autumn leaves, invincible.

Because the battle was too easy, Haozhou did not become Yue Wenxuan's focus.

His greater concern was, however, the battle between the pseudo-Qi state and the Southern Song state in Shouchun to the west.

Last year, in early 1131 AD, Wang Heng, the prefect of Luzhou in the Southern Song Dynasty, suddenly launched a military campaign and recaptured Shouchun from the puppet Qi state. This made Liu Yu resentful, and he wanted to retake Shouchun to expand the puppet Qi's sphere of influence.

In December 1131, Liu Yu dispatched Wang Yanxian to besiege Shouchun Prefecture. Due to years of continuous warfare, the city of Shouchun had been repeatedly damaged, and its defensive facilities were incomplete, making it difficult to resist the puppet Qi army.

In the original history, this city was eventually captured by the puppet Qi state in February 1132.

But in this historical context, the situation has subtly changed.

Because Yue Wenxuan helped the Southern Song Dynasty deal with Li Cheng and was stationed in Chuzhou and Sizhou to negotiate peace with the Southern Song, he effectively relieved the Southern Song of the pressure from the Huaidong region. This allowed the Southern Song to transfer its two "great generals," Zhang Jun and Liu Guangshi, to reinforce Shouchun.

The result will probably be a little different, I think...

The scouts kept reporting back on the battle situation in Shouchun.

Indeed, this Battle of Shouchun differed subtly from the original historical account.

Zhang Jun and Liu Guangshi's reinforcements rushed towards Shouchun, but on the way, they encountered Ding Shun of the puppet Qi state. Liu Guangshi and Ding Shun were "old friends". Back then, the two fought a very lively battle in Haozhou, where they were known for their "ghostly blades" and "unseen movements".

So Liu Guangshi said to Zhang Jun, "You go and save Shouchun, I'll deal with Ding Shun."

Liu Guangshi led his troops towards Ding Shun. Upon meeting, the two exchanged knowing smiles, simultaneously drawing their Ghost Blades and maneuvering...

Zhang Jun continued onward, heading towards Shouchun.

But Zhang Jun wasn't stupid. If Liu Guangshi knew how to position himself, surely Zhang Jun did too?

He reinforced the area near Shouchun, but instead of attacking the puppet Qi army, he positioned himself neither too far nor too close to them, maneuvering and maneuvering...

They called it "Searching for fighter jets!"

Although this behavior was quite cowardly, the pseudo-Qi state could not completely ignore him. What if he really attacked if they did not pay any attention to him?
The pseudo-Qi state dared not launch a full-scale attack on the city, and had to set aside a portion of its troops to be ready to deal with Zhang Jun at any time. As a result, the pseudo-Qi, Zhang Jun, and Shouchun City formed an irregular triangle, and a three-way push-hands game was being played!
When Yue Wenxuan received this information, he couldn't help but look in the mirror and saw a "Holy shit!" expression on his face for the first time.
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at the same time!

Sizhou, Qingyang Town.

Fu Songqing, the newly appointed prefect of Sizhou, moved the entire prefectural government office to Qingyang Town.

To his surprise, the person Yue Wenxuan transferred to guard Sizhou with him was a young general who was not yet twenty years old, Zhang Wazi.

Zhang Wazi's original name was Zhang Er, but he was called "Zhang Erwa" by his neighbors since he was a child. Over time, the "Er" was dropped, and he became Zhang Wazi. Now that he is a general with status and position, he naturally cannot use this name anymore.

Therefore, when Zhang Wazi arrived in Qingyang Town and met Fu Songqing, he introduced himself as "Zhang Wei".

Fu Songqing was surprised to see how young he was: "You're only a few years old, yet you can lead a thousand men?"

Zhang Wei was young and ambitious, quite proud, and bold: "Don't underestimate me because I'm young. I'm a veteran in the Northern Song army. I started as a cook and rose all the way to the rank of regimental commander. I'm capable."

Hearing him say that, Fu Songqing recalled the trials he had undergone after arriving in the Northern Song Dynasty. Now that he thought about it, the so-called military service was clearly Yue Wenxuan's way of deliberately sending him down to the grassroots level to train him. He started as a musketeer to understand the combat capabilities of the Northern Song army, and then transferred him to a low-level civil service position. After several months of this, he was appointed as a prefect.

He no longer dared to underestimate Zhang Wei, and nodded, saying, "Young General, let's work together."

As a traditional scholar, Fu Songqing had always looked down on soldiers, but after being "exiled" to the army, he served as a musketeer for a while. After eating and sleeping with the soldiers he used to despise, he received a lot of care and his prejudice against soldiers disappeared. He is now able to get along with soldiers with an objective attitude.

He took out a map and pointed to several locations west of Qingyang Town: "The terrain around Qingyang Town is mainly hilly. We need to build passes in several locations to prevent a sudden attack from the pseudo-Qi Kingdom... I plan to build several passes here... here... and here... Please send troops to protect the farmers as they build the fortifications."

Zhang Wei nodded in agreement and went to arrange the soldiers, while Fu Songqing arranged the laborers.

Working together, the two quickly began constructing wooden passes, building watchtowers, and stationing soldiers at several locations on the hills northwest of Qingyang Town.
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Just as the two were building their fortifications, a strange army was stirring.

The general leading this army was named Kong Yanzhou.

Kong Yanzhou was originally a rogue. In the first year of the Jingkang era (1126 AD), he joined the Song army in response to recruitment. With his military talent, he gradually rose to the rank of military commander of Jingdong West Circuit. However, when the Jin army invaded Shandong, he led his men south, burning, killing, and looting along the way, committing all sorts of atrocities.

This guy should have been killed, but the Southern Song Dynasty didn't suppress him. Instead, they followed their long-standing tradition and granted him amnesty, giving him a high-ranking official position as the Pacification Commissioner along the Yangtze River.

In the fourth year of the Jianyan era (1130), he participated in the battle against the pseudo-Chu state and carried out large-scale burning and killing in Hunan.

When this guy killed, he didn't care whether the victims were from the pseudo-Chu state or the Southern Song state. He killed anyone he saw and anyone he caught. He murdered many innocent people in Hunan. How perverted was this man? He abused his wife, forced his own daughter to tell outsiders that she wasn't his biological daughter, and then forcibly took her as a concubine.

Such wicked acts were naturally intolerable to the Southern Song Dynasty.

You burn, kill, and plunder the people, and the officials pretend not to see it. But if you forcibly take your own daughter as a concubine, that won't do. I'll beat you to a pulp.

Thus, in early 1132 AD, Kong Yanzhou was finally rendered unable to stand firm by the criticism.

Fearing punishment from the Southern Song court, he led his men from Hunan northward to join the puppet Qi regime.

Then the pseudo-Qi state figured out that newcomers were usually eager to make merit and were more capable in battle!
Okay, go and attack Sizhou.

So Kong Yanzhou headed towards Qingyang Town.

"Report! We're approaching the territory of Sizhou." A scout reported, "The Northern Song army is building passes in the hilly area ahead."

(End of this chapter)