Chapter 25 Unreliable Du Chong

Zhao Gou didn't expect that the surrender would fail, but caused trouble instead. However, with so many experiences, Zhao Gou has a more discerning mind.He has learned the lesson of the fall of Yangzhou, and has already deployed troops and generals, carefully fortified, and prepared for the defense of his nest. But there are big problems with his approach. First of all, he entrusted the important task of blocking the golden cavalry on the paddy fields in the south of the Yangtze River. Regardless of the life and death of the crops, he blindly ordered the army to store a large amount of water in the fields of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Huainan in an attempt to defuse the offensive of the golden cavalry. plan.

Secondly, he sent Zhang Jun, who was dedicated to fighting the gold, to Shaanxi to oversee the army, and promoted Du Chong, who was fearful of the enemy like a tiger, to the right minister, and served as the Xuanfu envoy of Jiang and Huaihe, and was fully responsible for commanding the army to garrison Jianghuai, sowing the bitter fruit in the future. A curse. What about Du Chong?Alas, I was so frightened by the golden man.Now he is hiding in Jiankang mansion, drinking and drinking to suppress the alarm. However, it seems that Zhao Gou cannot be blamed for this. The Northwest powerhouse in the Northern Song Dynasty was completely lost when Taiyuan fell, and the Imperial Army Division in the Southern Song Dynasty was also greatly reduced in strength during the Miao-Liu Change. Now only Du Chong can be relied on.You know, the army that Du Chong is holding in his hands is the elite army built by Zong Ze back then.

In order to please Du Chong, Zhao Gou flattered Du Chong shamelessly in front of all the ministers, saying that he was "sacrificing (sacrificing) the country and forgetting his family, winning the courage of his husband; He praised him for "comparing the two capitals and preparing for hundreds of battles", so that "Yi and Xia are famous and exhausted, and the soldiers and people are united in one mind".At the same time, he was promoted to be a member of the Privy Council of Tongzhi. Zhao Gou thought that he was so nasty, praised him so hard, and promoted him to the prime minister, which can be described as a great grace of the emperor. Du Chong would definitely be grateful, and he would go all out to fight the golden man.

However, he was wrong. Du Chong quit, thinking that his official position was too small.He kept scolding Zhao Gou in his heart, "Boss, did you make a mistake? Now I, Du Chong, hold a heavy army and control the life and death of the country. I know that the Privy Council is just a deputy. Let me be a deputy. Are you kidding me?" In order to express his dissatisfaction, Du Chong claimed that he had a "stroke" and refused to do the work of the Privy Council of Tongzhi—"Hey, I'm sorry, Your Majesty, I have a stroke and I can't move." In the face of the national crisis and the disaster in Shenzhou, Zhao Gou had no choice but to promote him to the right minister again in order to coax him well.

Now, a miracle happened. The stroke patient who was "paralyzed" on the bed immediately sat up, "started to see things", immediately looked radiant, and took office. In order to ensure that Jiankang is safe, Zhao Gou allocated all the armies under Liu Guangshi, Han Shizhong and others to Du Chong, and Du Chong unified control. Du Chong's army was harsh and notorious. Liu Guangshi and Han Shizhong refused to be handed over to the army. These two people made great efforts in the change of Miao and Liu, and Zhao Gou didn't blame them very much. After negotiating several times, a compromise was reached, and Han Shizhong was reassigned as the envoy of Zhejiang Western System and stationed in Zhenjiang; Liu Guangshi was reassigned as Jiangdong. Xuanfu envoy, guarding Taiping Prefecture (now Dangtu, Anhui).

At this time, Zhao Gou would not have thought that it was his "forcedness" that saved the two armies, and that Song's capital was not squandered by Du Chong and lost all at once. You know, handing over the entire army to Du Chong's deployment is equivalent to putting all the eggs in Du Chong's basket. Once the basket falls to the ground, all the eggs will have to be played.Are there eggs under the overturned nest? Soon, Zhao Gou fled from Jiankang back to Hangzhou under the guard of Zhang Jun, promoted Hangzhou to Lin'an Prefecture, and hid in it without showing his head again.

Du Chong, who was promoted to rank, assembled more than 100,000 troops, and rushed to station along the Yangtze River excitedly. The natural moat of the Yangtze River is easy to defend but difficult to attack.Jin people are not familiar with water warfare, so as long as they deploy a water army along the river, they can defend against the enemy on the north of the river. However, Du Chong is a big idiot, and he doesn't even have the most basic military knowledge. During the period of Jiankang's military administration, he did not take any effective protective measures, and hid at home every day to play "killing games"-really killing people, killing soldiers, To kill people, as long as you see something that is not pleasing to the eye, pull it out, "click".

This is not alarmist talk, as recorded in the history: "(Du Chong) specializes in killing people, killing people for nothing." Some people want to ask, why did Du Chong "kill the day"?Is it just for fun? The author believes that he is more to cover up his fear and cowardice.Du Chong felt that every time he killed someone, he would not only embolden himself, but also deter his subordinates. Italian thinker Machiavelli's "The Prince" specifically discusses how the ruling class "should" use power tactics, and vigorously advocates that in order to maintain their absolute authority, rulers must use whatever means to rule high. "It is safer to be feared than to be loved." ".

Du Chong's psychology may also be related to this. His wanton killing is not due to madness, nor is it purely a prank for fun, but a contempt for other people's lives, creating a terrifying atmosphere that makes him awe-inspiring. Indeed, under the atmosphere of death, most of the subordinates worked honestly and tremblingly. For this reason, Du Chong was very happy and never tired of it, leaving behind the important matter of Jianghuai's military defense. Note that the above said that "the vast majority of subordinates" are honest, not "all". Some people have long been disgusted with Du Chong's approach, but they just kept holding back.

This person is Yue Fei. In the winter and October of this year, the Jin people successively conquered Yingtianfu, Shouchun (now Shouxian County, Lu'an City, Anhui Province), Huangzhou (now Huangzhou City, Anhui Province), Suzhou (now Suzhou City, Anhui Province), and the Jianghuai Giant The bandit Li Cheng colluded and raided Wujiang County. Li Cheng, a native of Xiongzhou, Hebei (now Xiongxian County, Baoding, Hebei), was originally an archer in Xiongzhou. He made two long knives, each weighing seven catties. He made military exploits and became a brave general.When Jin soldiers invaded Hebei, he formed his own army, broke away from control, and made a living by robbery in Zizhou, Shandong (now Zibo City, Shandong).After being recruited, he served under Zongze together with Wang Shan, Zhang Yong and others.

After the Nanxunmen incident, he broke up with Zhang and Wang, led the army to plunder to Sizhou (now Xuyi, Jiangsu), and proposed to reattach to the Southern Song Dynasty court. Zhao Gou appointed him as the magistrate of Sizhou. In Sizhou, this man believed Tao Zisi, a demon Taoist, and believed that he "had the appearance of a separate regime" and rebelled as a bandit. He brazenly raised troops to attack Chuzhou and killed all the state and county officials in Chuzhou. In addition, Wang Shan, Zhang Yong and others surrendered to the Jin army one after another, and the situation south of the Huaihe River was not optimistic. Du Chong was terrified, closed the door, lay on the bed, and pretended to be sick. Yue Fei couldn't bear it anymore, broke into his dormitory, and accused him: "Hulu is near Huainan, peeking at the Yangtze River. The war is about to break out. You just hide at home and don't come out. What's the matter? You have to go out and prepare for the battle quickly, otherwise Jinling is lost, and the general situation is gone." ("The great enemy of the captives is close to Huainan, looking down on the Yangtze River, hiding a lot. The situation of lying on the salary is not worse than this time, and the gentleman is living in banquets all day long, unconscious. Wan. An enemy peeped at my slack, and raised his troops to take advantage of it. Since Xianggong does not work together, can he protect the life of the generals? If the generals do not use their lives, and Jinling is lost, can Xianggong rest on this ground? Although Fei is serving alone, It will not help the country either!") Such words, said by the second person, have already been pulled out for bloodletting, but from Yue Fei's mouth, there seems to be an irrefutable majesty. Du Chong immediately became shorter in momentum, and Yue Fei was the only one he could Relying on a powerful general, it is not easy to have a seizure, so he can only perfunctory: "Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow is it okay? Tomorrow I will go to the riverside to build military facilities." Turning around, Du Chong gave his servant a hard meal and ordered Strengthen the security of your own mansion, and strictly prohibit ordinary people from entering and leaving. The next day he assigned the little fellow who dared to break into his dormitory to the tent of the commander Wang Xie, and arranged for him and Wang Xie to go to Chuzhou (now Chuzhou City, Anhui Province) to attack Li Cheng.After that, there is no more text. Wang Xie had heard of Li Cheng's ferocious name for a long time, so he lingered all the way, barely reached Waliang Road, and hesitated. On the contrary, Yue Fei marched swiftly, crossing the river from Xuanhua Town (now the Northeast Riverside of Nanjing), drove straight in, and defeated Li Cheng in Liuhe County, Zhenzhou (now Liuhe County, Jiangsu), Pancheng, and Changlu, and successfully recovered Chuzhou. This is the first time Yue Fei and Li Cheng have fought, and there will be a second and third time in the future... This time, none of Li Chengbai's 500 cavalrymen survived, and Yue Fei captured all 500 war horses and looted goods.With these horses, Yue Fei initially equipped a cavalry regiment, and had a little capital to face the Jinren cavalry in the Majiadu battle in the future. On November 11, the Jin people sent troops to attack Jiankang. Du Chong was shocked, continued to pretend to be sick, and stayed behind closed doors. Jin Bing is not Zhao Gou, it's useless for you to pretend to be sick, what should come will still come.On the 18th, the Jin people crossed the river from Majia in the southwest of Jiankang Prefecture. It would be meaningless to pretend to be sick any longer. Du Chong pulled the quilt, sat up, and ordered Chen Que to lead Yue Fei, Qi Fang, Liu Li, Lu Shang, Liu Gang and other seventeen generals, commanding 30,000 troops. play. The dog jumped the wall when he was in a hurry, not to mention that this time is a decisive moment of life and death! It's a pity that the country is easy to change and the nature is hard to change. If you count on Du Chong to protect your family and the country, you may have to wait for the sun to come out from the west. This is a later story.