Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Du Chong really wanted to serve the king, otherwise he wouldn't have to go to great lengths to recruit troops. Wouldn't it be easier to directly embezzle with that money and food?

He really wanted to defend Yingtian Mansion, otherwise he wouldn't have to wait for Li Bao to fight to the city. Wouldn't it be safer to run away when he heard the news?

However, the news that Jin soldiers were besieging Chen Liu made him afraid to send troops. Li Bao began to assemble flat cannons, which also shattered his determination to defend and he did not dare to stay in the city for a moment.

But until this time, Du Chong's reputation was still very good, and even the people under his rule thought he was a good official.

Later, the reason why he was able to succeed Zong Ze in Kaifeng was because Lu Yihao, Li Gang, and Zhang Jun jointly recommended him. Another person who received such treatment was Yue Fei.

This guy deceived everyone with just one mouth!

In other words, he even lied to himself. He said the words he thought he could do, but it wasn't until he put them into practice that the truth was revealed.

Yue Fei and Du Chong were from the same hometown. When he first came to work under Du Chong, he heard this man's lies and Yue Fei also believed that Du Chong was trustworthy.

But he was soon shocked by his arrogant actions. At that time, Yue Fei bit the bullet and accepted the order to lead his troops to suppress his fellow countrymen and friends. The objects he needs to destroy are all the brothers of his favorite generals. He can just beat them away and be done with them.

Du Chong even dared to issue such military orders to Yue Fei, so it was only a matter of time before the two of them fell out.

But he said that eight thousand soldiers from Yingtian Mansion were still waiting for the governor to return at the head of the city. Du Chong was usually so good at performing that no one expected him to run away. Until the news came from the north gate, the soldiers on other city walls still didn't believe it.

Not only did he not believe that Du Chong would escape, but he also did not believe that the rebels were good people.

Because Du Chong brainwashed them, saying that Zhu Ming's soldiers would kill men when they saw them, rape women when they saw them, and take away all their food and money.

The flat artillery was set up and was already smashing rocks.

More and more rural soldiers shouted: "The governor has escaped, we can't hold on anymore, run away!"

They had regarded Du Chong as their backbone, but now that their backbone was gone, they were instantly scattered, and no one was willing to defend the city.

Li Bao quickly occupied the city and sent troops to maintain public order.

The people in the city did not loot when they saw the rebels, and the city gradually settled down. Only then did they realize that Du Chong was talking nonsense.

The soldiers dispersed, but the food and grass were there, which was an advantage for Li Bao.

Li Bao was surprised because along the way, the state and county treasuries were empty, and he had to ask for food from wealthy households. This was the first time he encountered such a city that stored a large amount of food.

So Li Bao couldn't help asking, and stopped a few people on the roadside to ask questions.

A commoner replied: "Prefect Du is a good official. He doesn't collect taxes heavily, and he often blocks the people from Xicheng who go to the countryside to open their fields. The people in Yingtian Mansion all obey him, but they didn't expect him to be cowardly. They started beating him and were scared away." .”

Of course Li Bao didn't know history. After hearing this, he thought Du Chong was a good official.

It is estimated that Du Chong himself did not expect that he could do such things as indiscriminately killing the old, weak, women and children, and surrendering to the Jin Kingdom as the right minister of the Southern Song Dynasty.

If it had been a peaceful time, such a boastful official might have left a good reputation.

After loading the army supplies and continuing to move forward, Li Bao stopped at Xiangyi (Suixian County) because further ahead was Chen Liu who was besieged by Jin soldiers.

He carefully questioned the people fleeing south and learned that Chenliu had been besieged for six days, and Ju Ming's army was in the direction of Xianping.

Li Bao sent several cavalry to Xianping to report the news, and he personally led the army to attack Chenliu. He never thought of defeating the Jin people with more than 10,000 soldiers, but he could quickly enter Chenliu, occupy the city and wait for Ju Ming to join forces.

In the Huaihe and Huaihe regions, water transportation is developed, and Sizhou is a transportation hub with countless water ships, salt ships, grain ships, and merchant ships.

Li Bao commandeered thousands of large and small ships along the way. Not only were the soldiers and baggage loaded on the ships, but they also carried thousands of civilians. As long as he marches along the river, no matter how powerful the Jin cavalry is, can they fly to the boat?

Before Ju Ming's reinforcements arrived, Li Bao's fleet had arrived at Chenliu.

Wanyan Zongwang was startled by the thousands of fleets, and he didn't even understand whether it was Ju Ming's troops or King Qin's army from the Song Dynasty that had arrived.

"The Song Dynasty is rich and has a large population," Shi Li Aijian said. "Even if a hundred Song people die and one Jin talent dies in the battle, such an exchange is not worth it. We must retreat to the north of the Yellow River to plunder Hebei's goods." The population can be easily withdrawn at any time, but it is too dangerous to stay south of the Yellow River."

Wanyan Zongwang said: "We have to find out what kind of soldiers are coming now."

"No matter whose soldier it is, is there any difference?" Shi Liai said.

Wanyan Zongwang said: "Of course there is a difference. If it is the officers and soldiers of the Song Dynasty, they will not be afraid if they come to a hundred thousand people. If it is the soldiers of the Zhu Thief, they must evacuate immediately if they only come to ten thousand people!"

"Would you know if you try it?" Shi Liai said.

Thousands of ships were too long, so Wanyan Zongwang sent a large number of light cavalry and infantry to stand on the shore and shoot arrows at the ships. The catapults used to attack the city were also slowly dragged in.

Until this time, the Jin people had not mastered the art of returning artillery, mainly because the monarchs and ministers of the Song Dynasty deliberately concealed it from Guo Yaoshi.

In this way, bows and arrows were fired at each other on the shore and on the ship, but neither side gained any advantage. Wanyan Zongwang still could not figure out the identity of the enemy.

"Boom boom boom!"

After a few cannon shots, Wanyan Zongwang understood.

"Those are the soldiers of the Red Thieves, and they are also elites of the Red Thieves!" Wanyan Zongwang exclaimed.

This is an artillery piece made by Kuizhou. In a whole year, eight pig iron cannons were cast and six wrought iron cannons were forged.

Pig iron cannons were large and heavy, and were best transported by ship.

Wrought iron cannons were much lighter, could be miniaturized, and could be used as field guns.

Wanyan Zongwang issued an urgent order: "Recall the cavalry who were scattered immediately. The whole army will withdraw to the Yellow River and return to Hebei to plunder. We can no longer fight in Kaifeng!"

Chen Liu went to the city.

Countless people cheered: "Reinforcements are coming, reinforcements are coming!"

The soldiers and civilians in the city have been holding on for seven days.

The Jin people attacked the city wall twice, but were defeated by them both times. Even the old, weak, women and children have been mobilized to fill the city wall.

Chen Yuyi didn't know how to defend the city at all. He only knew how to stuff people on the city wall, and the more people, the better. Even the passage for transporting troops was extremely narrow. The city wall was lost twice in a row, and the reserve team was blocked by their own people, making it impossible to carry out effective rescue.

Fortunately, there were many people and everyone worked hard, otherwise Chen Liu would have been gone.

"Open the water gate and bring in the reinforcements!" Chen Yuyi gave the order and sat down on the ground tiredly.

He couldn't figure out where the reinforcements came from, anyway, as long as they were not Jin people.

Not to mention a red thief, even a bell thief will do!

"Back off, back off! Chen Jianjiu, the Jin people are back!" A government official shouted.

Chen Yuyi forced a smile: "Thank you for your hard work."

The yamen official said gratefully: "It's not hard for us, thanks to Wine Supervisor Chen taking the lead."

Chen Yuyi stopped talking and lay on the city looking at the sky. He felt that the sky was so blue and beautiful at this time. He also felt very sleepy. He hadn't had a full night's sleep in a few days, and he started snoring soon after he lay down.

Wanyan Zongwang led his troops to withdraw, completely giving up on attacking Kaifeng.

If you can't even defeat Chen Liu, how can you win by attacking Kaifeng?

Facts have proved that the Jin people did not have the strength to conquer the fortified city.

Let’s not talk about Wanyan Zonghan being blocked in Taiyuan. Let’s talk about the Jingkang period when the Jin soldiers attacked Kaifeng for the second time. They once attacked the city wall, but were blocked by Tokyo soldiers and civilians. Not only could they not attack, they could not get down from the city wall.

The fall of Tokyo was not only due to the arrogant actions of the emperor and his ministers, but also the collapse of the urban system.

The city has been besieged for too long. Hundreds of thousands of people in the city have no food to eat. Even middle- and low-level officials are hungry!

…

In the villages between Chenliu and Xianping, all the villagers who could escape fled.

Guo Anguo, Zhao Heshou and others demolished houses and built barriers, relying on village fortresses to guard the village for one day and two nights.

There was not much food in the village, they were all hungry, and still no one was willing to surrender. Of the seven thousand soldiers, all were wounded, and fewer than three thousand were able to continue fighting.

Logically speaking, this casualty rate should have collapsed long ago.

But they are all veterans of many battles, and they know that if they run for their lives, they will definitely die. Because there are cavalry outside, it is better to stay in the village and fight instead of running away.

There have been too many similar encounters over the years. They have been in desperate situations several times and have only managed to escape by fighting desperately.

"Fourth Prince, the pile of debris is too much to be flushed out, so let the escort army dismount and fight on foot." A general of the escort army suggested.

There were only two thousand escort troops left by the Jin soldiers on the East Road, and Wanyan Zongbi was really reluctant to use them because the rebels inside were too capable of fighting.

Just as he was hesitating, the scout cavalry came from the southwest: "Fourth Prince, the Zhu Thief army is already ten miles away, and there are probably thirty or forty thousand people coming! The Zhu Thief cavalry went ahead and has already engaged our scout cavalry. There were some casualties.”

Wanyan Zongbi first entered the battlefield four years ago, and the battle ended without any serious fighting. When he went to the battlefield three years ago, he only experienced small-scale battles and defeated 300 Liao soldiers with a hundred men.

Then this time, if Wanyan Zongjun had not died, he would not have had the chance to lead so many troops.

At this time, Wanyan Zongbi was very immature, and he was not yet the powerful Jin Wushu that shocked the world!

Hearing that Zhu Ming was leading an army, and thinking of Wanyan Zongjun's death in battle and the annihilation of a thousand escort troops, Wanyan Zongbi was a little hard to make a decision.

After thinking for a long time, Wanyan Zongbi ordered: "The escort army dismounts and fights on foot, and destroy these rebels as soon as possible!"

At the same time, he sent Qingqi to report to Chen Liu's main force.

Seeing the escort troops participating in the close combat, Zhao Heshou almost felt desperate, his eyes were red and he shouted: "It's a dead end anyway, I have made enough money over the years, so you must cheer up and work hard with me!"

Although Guo Anguo didn't have the ability to lead troops, he still had basic martial arts skills. At this moment, he was infected by the atmosphere and didn't give up anymore. He held a spear and prepared to fight to the death.

"Da da da da..."

Several horses came running at the same time, and a cavalryman shouted: "The fourth prince, the second prince ordered the withdrawal, another elite group of red thieves has arrived in Chenliu!"

"There are also elite Zhu Thieves over there?" Wanyan Zongbi was greatly surprised.

These Jin cavalry retreated one after another. Zhao Heshou said in disbelief: "Why did the Jin retreat?"

Guo Anguo was still frightened: "Don't leave the village, it may be a trick of the Jin people to lure the enemy. If we go to the wild, our entire army will definitely be wiped out!"