The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 385 The Fall of Shouchun
With Kong Yanzhou gone, Zhang Wei and Fu Songqing finally breathed a sigh of relief.

But they also knew that Kong Yanzhou had only retreated temporarily. This guy was not on the same level as the trash generals of the pseudo-Qi Kingdom they had dealt with before, and he would definitely make a comeback.

The two sat down together, and Zhang Wei said, "It seems I need to keep the scouts further away."

Fu Songqing: "Scouts can only be used 'when fighting.' If we want to find out the enemy's movements before the battle begins, we still have to rely on spies. We should send out spies to infiltrate Suzhou. If Kong Yanzhou recruits laborers and prepares food, our spies can find out and report back several days in advance. We won't have to start mobilizing only when the enemy is at the gates."

Zhang Wei: "Lord Fu is right."

Fu Songqing quickly made arrangements. With a generous reward, there would surely be brave men. Qingyang Town is adjacent to Suzhou, so it wouldn't be too difficult to find a few people who had migrated from Suzhou due to the war. Fu Songqing hired several brave men with local Suzhou accents with a generous reward and asked them to sneak back to Suzhou, return to their old homes, and pay close attention to news about the Suzhou puppet Qi court's grain allocation and labor recruitment.

It took him quite a bit of time to make these arrangements.

Kong Yanzhou did not come again for a short time. The passes built under Zhang Wei's supervision were all completed. Under Fu Songqing's organization, the local farmers formed a battalion of archers with more than a thousand men, as well as a "local army" of three thousand men composed of local gentry and militia. They trained during the off-season and were quite well-organized.

Qingyang Town was defended so well by Zhang Wei and Fu Songqing that it seemed like an impenetrable fortress.

March, 1132 AD...

A messenger arrived from Haozhou with good news for Zhang Wei and Fu Songqing: the Northern Song army had taken control of the entire Haozhou region. However, he also brought bad news: the Battle of Shouchun between the puppet Qi regime and the Southern Song dynasty had ended, with the puppet Qi regime emerging victorious and capturing Shouchun.

This news startled Fu Songqing: "Didn't Zhang Jun send reinforcements to Shouchun? Why has Shouchun still fallen?"

The messenger replied, "Zhang Jun has been circling around the enemy's perimeter, merely stalling them without engaging in direct combat. Wang Yanxian saw through Zhang Jun's weakness and concluded that he was useless, so he ignored Zhang Jun and focused all his efforts on attacking Shouchun. Due to years of war, Shouchun's city walls were in disrepair and riddled with holes, making it difficult to defend, and it was eventually captured."

Fu Songqing was completely stunned after hearing this.

In his heart, Zhang Jun was a cornerstone general of the Southern Song Dynasty. Why? Why would such a great general avoid battle and watch Shouchun fall?

Zhang Wei popped his head out from the side and sighed softly, "Lord Fu, what kind of person is Zhang Jun, whom you heard about in the Southern Song court?"

Fu Songqing said, "According to various battle reports, Zhang Jun is a general of great talent. He protected the emperor when the Jin army marched south, and also made great contributions in the battle against the puppet Qi state. In addition..." He hesitated for a moment and said with a strange expression, "In the Huaidong region, he defeated the Northern Song army several times, which made the Northern Song army dare not go south again after attacking Chuzhou."

Zhang Wei spread his hands: "Lord Fu, really... cough... Young Master Yue has already let you train in our Northern Song army. Think carefully about the fighting strength of our Northern Song army, and think carefully again, can Zhang Jun really defeat us?"

If Fu Songqing had never served in the army and only learned about wars through written battle reports, he would not have been able to understand how strong the Northern Song Dynasty was. However, he was "exiled" to the army as a musketeer for a period of time and personally participated in the recapture of Sizhou City, which gave him a profound understanding of the strength of the Northern Song army.

Upon hearing Zhang Wei's words and thinking about it carefully, his expression changed drastically.

Zhang Wei continued, "To be honest, Zhang Jun has never defeated us. When our army opened the city gates to meet us at the gates of Chuzhou, he turned around and ran away. After that, he never dared to provoke us again. We took the initiative to ask him for peace and not to fight, and he readily agreed. Then he fabricated his achievements through acting and reported them to the Southern Song court."

Fu Songqing: "!!!"

No civil official is stupid; even traditional civil officials are quite clever. It's just that they don't usually go to the battlefield and are unaware of the treacherous ways of war, making them easily deceived by battle reports. But Fu Songqing has been to the grassroots level, so he's not so easily fooled. After carefully considering Zhang Wei's words, he immediately realized that Zhang Wei wasn't lying.

“This…this…Zhang Jun!” Fu Songqing exclaimed in astonishment, “A general of his rank, actually…” Zhang Wei chuckled, “Not only Zhang Jun, Liu Guangshi is the same.”

Fu Songqing: "!!!"

In the blink of an eye, countless thoughts flashed through Fu Songqing's mind. He suddenly realized: "No wonder Young Master Yue immediately went to Haozhou after occupying Sizhou. He knew that Shouchun would be taken by the puppet Qi, so he occupied Haozhou first to open up the road to attack Shouchun. After Shouchun fell into the hands of the Northern Song, Young Master Yue would immediately send troops from Haozhou to attack Shouchun. At that time, Shouchun would already be in the hands of the puppet Qi, so even if Young Master Yue sent troops to attack Shouchun, it would not be considered a violation of the peace agreement between the Northern and Southern Song."

Fu Songqing was furious: "How treacherous! How could Young Master Yue do such a thing? This is simply taking advantage of a loophole to steal the territory of our Southern Song Dynasty."

Zhang Wei said, "Lord Fu, think about it carefully, is it better for Shouchun to be in the hands of the puppet Qi or the Northern Song?"

Fu Songqing: "..."

For a moment, I was speechless!
-
Lin'an!

People in Lin'an are living a very comfortable life lately.

Lin'an was originally short of food, and the people were suffering. However, since the Grand Canal resumed shipping, grain merchants in Lin'an were able to travel to famous cities such as Chuzhou, Suqian, Xuzhou, and Zaozhuang through the Grand Canal to buy grain from the Northern Song Dynasty.

For some reason, the grain yield in the Northern Song Dynasty was so high, and the quality was also exceptionally good.

Most importantly, merchant ships entering the Northern Song Dynasty's shipping lanes were exempt from tolls.

The only issue between Chuzhou, Suqian, Xuzhou, and Zaozhuang is the distance between them; there is no issue of toll fees.

As a result, many grain merchants boldly headed north, trying to reach as far as Zaozhuang as possible. There would be fewer merchants competing with them for goods, and the prices would naturally be lower.

These grains traveled freely along the Northern Song Dynasty's shipping routes without paying a single penny in tolls. However, starting from Yangzhou, they were charged a toll at every town they passed through... Despite paying so many tolls, the grains still made a considerable profit when they were transported to Lin'an and sold.

Merchants made profits, and ordinary people didn't starve.

Lin'an solved the long-standing food shortage problem in one fell swoop, giving the ministers of the Southern Song Dynasty a feeling that the "prosperous era of revival" was about to return.

Not only grain, but also higher quality and cheaper cotton cloth...

Of course, there was also salt! Salt was a controlled commodity, and merchants dared not sell it openly, but smugglers could not be stopped. Large quantities of high-quality Northern Song salt circulated in the shadows in Lin'an.

Even high-ranking officials and nobles are now secretly buying smuggled salt, because smuggled salt is whiter and tastes purer than official salt.

Amidst this prosperous and bustling scene, a rider galloped into the city, shouting all the way: "Shouchun has fallen... Shouchun has fallen..."

(End of this chapter)