One Piece of Song Dynasty

Song Qinzong and the governors felt that the key issue now was not how the court deployed defense, but how the army and each defense area implemented the court's defense decisions. The Yellow River is a natural danger. They believed that if hundreds of thousands of soldiers guarding the river worked together, they would be able to block the Jin people on the north bank of the Yellow River.

On November , Emperor Qinzong of the Song Dynasty issued an order to remove Xing Liang, who had just assumed the post of magistrate of Dingzhou, from his post. Because when Xing Liang was serving as the envoy of the Guan Dynasty, he believed the words of the Jin envoy Zhao Lun and suggested that the court write a secret letter to contact Yelu Yujian to encourage him to return to the country. Song Qinzong now realized that this was a stupid thing to do, which provided an excuse for the Jin people to send troops south. Qinzong of the Song Dynasty believed that the Jin people's invasion of the army would bring disaster to Xingliang and must be severely punished.

That night, a series of meteors suddenly fell in the beautiful Tokyo night sky, as big as a cup. Some people watched the sky at night and speculated that the Jin people might have crossed the Yellow River and tragedy was about to happen. As a result, rumors spread everywhere in the city, and people were panicked. Many citizens left Tokyo overnight and sought refuge in the southeastern Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas.

The next day, Tang Ke, He Li and other prime ministers heard about it and thought that there were hundreds of thousands of troops guarding the natural dangers of the Yellow River day and night, and it was impossible for the Jin army to cross the river so quickly. They immediately gave an order to Kaifeng Prefecture: "The imperial court has ordered generals to guard the river as a defensive plan. However, many small people in Kyoto fled to the southeast, which shook people's hearts and was deeply inconvenient, so Kaifeng Prefecture was ordered to restrain them by law."

After Tao Xuanqian escaped from Pingyang Mansion, he ran all the way back to Huaizhou to see Zheyan for questioning. But Zhe Yanzhi had already left Huaizhou and led his troops to Heyang. Tao Xuangan then rushed to Heyang and finally met Zhe Yanzhi.

Tao Xuanqian said to Zhe Yanzhi: "The Jin sent envoys to make peace, which was indeed a lie. Before the envoys could be returned, they attacked Fenzhou on the tenth day of October and captured Pingyang on the th. Judging from the attack on Pingyang, the momentum was very high. It is arrogant and has the intention to move south in a large scale. It will not be easy to stop its offensive."

Zheyan asked: "What's the plan?"

Tao Xuanqian replied: "Quickly report to the imperial court and ask for the imperial court's support. If the army is not available, recruit militiamen quickly. For example, people from Hedong and Shaanxi want to avenge their parents, brothers and wives, so they can be used. Give each of them a hundred dollars. Money, two liters and half a meter, is still a good reward. The ferry crossings should be used to ferry people quickly. The Heyang Floating Bridge is a must-pass for military and horse traffic, and it is also the only way for people fleeing in the Hedong area. It should be built quickly. I judge that the Jin Army will be sure to attack it within half a month. That’s it.”

Zheyanzhi asked again: "According to your opinion, can the Jin army really get here?"

Tao Xuangan said: "I think they will arrive at the gates of Kyoto. There is no telling."

On the same day, Zhe Yanzhi went to the Beicheng area of ​​Beiyang County to inspect the river control situation. Starting from the ninth day of November, for three consecutive days, customs reports became increasingly urgent. On November , Tao Xuangan learned that Huaizhou had been lost, so he went to Zheyan to say goodbye. Zhe Yanzhi said: "In the past two days, the border reports have been urgent, and it is very laborious to ferry people by boat."

Tao Xuangan asked: "How about the floating bridge?"

Zheyanzhi replied: "Six or seven days have passed, and the pontoon bridge has not been erected yet."

Tao Xuanqian said: "How could a general order the construction of a pontoon bridge? Why not hold the bridge builder accountable and deal with it if it fails to be completed within a few days?"

On the morning of November th, Zheyan saw that the pontoon bridge had not been erected yet and ordered the bridge builder to be punished. There were three officials responsible for building the bridge. One was in charge of the two governors. The governor of the bell was beaten with thirty sticks, and the two governors were each beaten with fifty sticks. At noon that day, the pontoon bridge was completed.

At this time, there were to people waiting to cross the river on the river beach. There were family members of military personnel, people fleeing the country, and officials traveling in their cars. They were as dark as ants.

When people saw that the pontoon bridge had been erected, they rushed forward and rushed to cross it first. Many women and soldiers' families were pushed onto the floating sand on the river beach and sank in an instant. There was a woman who fell on the floating sand. She held up the golden ribbon between her arms to show others and screamed for help, but no one dared to come closer. After a while, she sank into the sand and disappeared without a trace.

On November , Lou Shi, the vanguard of the Jin Army, led his troops to the north bank of the Yellow River near Heyang. At this time, Zhe Yanzhi had led his army to withdraw from Heyang and retreated to the south bank of the Yellow River to join the cavalry brought by Li Hui. The Jin army was on the north bank of the Yellow River, and the Song army was on the south bank of the Yellow River. The two armies camped across the river.

Zong Han was in Huaizhou and was very worried about the pioneer army crossing the river. He sent more than a dozen scouts to inquire about the Song army's river defense situation. The scouts reported back one after another: "The soldiers in the south are very strong, and we can't cross lightly."

Zong Han then summoned the generals to Huaizhou for a meeting to discuss the issue of crossing the river. At the meeting, someone suggested resting for a few days before fighting again. Lou Shi disagreed and said: "Although there are many soldiers in the Song Dynasty, it is not enough to be afraid. If we fight with them, the outcome is uncertain. If we don't make false noises, we can take all the war drums in the army and beat them until they reach the peak to see what happens." All the generals said. All in favor.

That night, the Jin Army's war drums continued to sound all night long. The Song army on the south bank of the Yellow River was worried that the Jin army would use the floating bridge to attack, so they set fire to the Heyang floating bridge.

At this time, on the north bank of the Yellow River, there were still two to three hundred officials from the Xuanfu Division, many local officials, many people fleeing, and about war horses, who had not had time to cross the river. Looking at the blazing fire on the Yellow River, there were cries on both sides of the river, and the sky was filled with pain.

In addition, Xuanfu Division also had a lot of gold, silver and silk, which they had not had time to transport to the south bank. There are probably more than one million strings abandoned in the Yellow River beach in Heyang alone.

At dawn the next day, Lou Shi heard that the Song army on the south bank of the Yellow River had disappeared, so he sent Yin Zhubo Jin to lead troops, together with Zhang Kezuo, the former commander of the Wei Sheng Army who had surrendered, and set out from the Qinghe boundary to go Explore the way across the river.

Yinzhu Bojin and Zhang Kezuo came to the edge of the Yellow River and found that the water was not too deep, so they led their troops to wade across the river and quietly camped behind the Song army's camp.

Although Zhe Yanzhi claimed to have soldiers in his hands, most of them were the defeated troops gathered in Taiyuan to relieve the siege, and some were newly recruited militiamen. These people were like frightened birds, and their combat effectiveness can be imagined. Orihiko knows his team well. Seeing the Jin army camped behind him, he thought that all the Jin troops had crossed the river, so he hurriedly led the Chinese army to retreat south. When the other armies saw that their commander had withdrawn, they all collapsed without a fight.

When Li Hui heard that the Jin army had crossed the river, he also hurriedly fled south. When he ran to Xiaoyi Bridge, he left his soldiers to defend the enemy while he fled along the mountain road to Yingchang Mansion. In the face of a powerful enemy, he actually had a banquet with officials in Yingchang Mansion. The accompanying officials and generals were deeply angry and wanted to find an opportunity to kill him.

On the morning of November , the main force of the Jin Army's cavalry arrived on the north bank of Heyang. Black flags, yellow flags and white flags were seen everywhere on the river bank. The Jin Army cavalry drove the residents of Heyang City out of the city and asked them to dig out all kinds of gold and silver silk that had fallen into the river beach.

At this time, Song Qinzong and his governors did not know the situation of the Yellow River's fall.