Chapter 65 Section five

After the East Road Jin Army retreated, Zhao Huan took over a lot of difficult things to deal with. The first is the old man's question. Although Zhao Ji fled southward at first, he ran alone, but soon, the ministers headed by Tong Guan and Cai You did not ask the new emperor for a long vacation, but followed him all the way to Zhenjiang.In Zhenjiang, Zhao Ji began to regret his decision to abdicate at the beginning. Let the north be handed over to his son. In the southeast, he ordered all parts of Jiangsu and Zhejiang with the emperor's edict, and intercepted the food and soldiers in the southeast area, and prohibited the soldiers and horses in the southeast. Going to Tokyo Qinwang means to build a small court in the southeast.

After the Jin army on the East Road returned to the north, according to Zhao Huan's idea, those officials who followed Zhao Ji to the south without authorization should be punished immediately and severely. They eased the conflict with a slight punishment, and welcomed the Supreme Emperor back to settle accounts with them after Qiuhou. Zhao Huan listened to Li Gang's suggestion, and issued an order in mid-February to demote Cai Jing as secretary supervisor and branch office in Nanjing, demote Tong Guan as Zuowei general and live in Chizhou, demote Cai You as Taizhong doctor, and promote Bozhou Mingdao Palace, any residence.

Then Zhao Huan sent Li Gang to Zhenjiang to condolences to the old emperor, expressing his son Zhao Huan's longing for him. Zhenjiang, Zhao Ji couldn't stay any longer, especially after the retreat of the Jin soldiers, the officials in Jiangsu and Zhejiang all followed the orders from Tokyo again, and the idea of ​​setting up a small court came to naught. Although he was very reluctant, he still gave up. Dally back to Tokyo. After Zhao Ji returned to Tokyo, Zhao Huan began to settle accounts after autumn, and Tong Guan and Cai You, who supported the Supreme Emperor, were both executed in demoted land.

The second is to deal with the West Road Golden Army and rescue Taiyuan. The coach of the West Route Army Wanyan Zonghan (Nianhan) was rather depressed. He watched the East Route Army Wanyan Zongwang (Han Libu) go straight to Tokyo, eating meat, drinking and getting money under the city of Tokyo, while his West Route Army was stranded under the city of Taiyuan. But he couldn't chew on the bones of Zhang Xiaochun and Wang Tien. Of course, Zong Han was not completely without gains. Although Taiyuan City was not captured, he successfully blocked the reinforcements from the Northern Song Dynasty to Taiyuan.After Taiyuan was besieged, Sun Xu, a famous general in Hedong, led Shuozhou Zhizhou to observe and lead 20,000 Song troops (two thousand in one case) to aid Taiyuan. , and Sun Xu's team knew that the army's morale was unstable after the rear was lost, and they were quickly defeated in the battle with the Jin army. Sun Xu died in battle outside Taiyuan.

After Sun Xu's defeat, Fuzhou Zhizhou Zhe Keqiu, the army horse envoy Han Quan, Jinzhou Zhizhou Luo Cheng, and Yan'an Fulu reinforcement Liu Guangshi joined forces and came to Taiyuan City to relieve the siege. The army started a big battle, and the two sides fought fiercely for a day, and the outcome was hard to tell.Zong Han later ordered an army to quietly lurk behind Zhe Keqiu's camp and attack suddenly.When Liu Guangshi saw that Zhe Keqiu was taken from the back, he couldn't stand it and began to retreat to the rear. The Song army camp was in chaos. Luo Cheng and Han Quan died in battle, and the entire army was basically wiped out.

After the destruction of the two supporting armies, Taiyuan City became an isolated city, but it was still impregnable under the firm defense of General Zhang Xiaochun, the prefect, and Wang Ting, the deputy governor of the state government. Zong Han saw that the East Route Army was beating Zhao Huan's bamboo stick resoundingly, and he was also very tempted, so he sent people to Tokyo to ask the Song people to pay the West Route Army labor costs.Unfortunately, when the envoy arrived in Tokyo, it was at a time when reinforcements from Tokyo were pouring in and Zhao Huan was full of confidence. Zong Han's idea of ​​ripping off was rejected.

Zong Han was angry, and it seemed that he had to go there himself if he wanted Yinzi, so he ordered his general Yinshu Ke to continue to lead some troops to besiege Taiyuan, and he continued to go south, successively breaking through Weisheng Army (Qin County, Shanxi), Longde Mansion ( Shanxi Changzhi), Gaoping (Shanxi Gaoping). The news of the West Route Army going south alarmed Zhao Huan, who originally agreed to cede the three towns of Taiyuan, Zhongshan, and Hejian to the Jin Army. Zong Han was overjoyed, it took no effort to get here, he took Lu Yundi back to Taiyuan, and let Lu Yundi enter the city to read out the imperial edict.

Lu Yundi came from Taiyuan to announce the imperial edict, but Zhang Xiaochun and Wang Tian refused to accept it.Wang Ting took Lu Yundi to the tower of Taiyuan city to let him see the soldiers and civilians in Taiyuan city, saying that every bone of the men in Taiyuan city is hard, you go and tell the Jurchen that if you want the city, you can just come and fight, if you want to surrender, there is no way for us It's a pure man from Shanxi. The surrender failed, and Zong Han had no choice for a while, so he had to order the general Yinshu to continue to besiege the city, and lead his troops back to Yunzhong to rest.

Coincidentally, on the way back to the army, the Eastern Route Army also took the edict of the Northern Song Dynasty government to surrender to Zhongshan and Hejian, which they had not conquered, saying that your boss agreed to give us the city, so you should surrender. Choosing to reject the imperial edict, the East Route Army had no choice but to mobilize troops to attack the city, but failed. After hearing the news that the three towns would not surrender, and Li Gang and Zhong Shidao repeatedly emphasized the importance of the three towns to Zhao Huan, Zhao Huan issued an edict to stick to the three towns and sent troops to help them.

In May of the first year of Jingkang (AD 1126), Zhao Huan sent Qin Feng Jinglue envoy Zhong Shizhong to enter Hedong from Jingxing, and Xihe Jinglu envoy Yao Gu You Delong and Zhang Hao to go north from Fenzhou. The three troops jointly rescued Taiyuan. Among the masters of the species is Xiaozhong's manager who is often mentioned in "Water Margin". He is the younger brother of the master. Envoy, Feng Ning Jun Chengxuan envoy. When the Jin army invaded, Qin Feng's envoy led 20,000 Qin Feng troops to King Qin of Kaifeng at that time. Before arriving in Kaifeng, the Jin army had already retreated, so he had to lead his army to garrison in Huazhou.

During the withdrawal of the Eastern Route Army, Wan Yan Zongwang (Han Libu) failed to take down Zhongshan and Hejian, so he stayed behind to besiege him. Zhongzhong led Qin Feng's soldiers to break the siege of Zhongshan and Hejian first. cloud. Afterwards, Zhao Huan ordered the Zhongzhong division to send troops from Jingxing Road, and together with Yao Gu, they rescued Taiyuan.The planting division stationed in the Pingding Army to take advantage of the victory to recover Shouyang, Yuci and other places. However, because Yao Gu and Zhang Hao's troops had not followed up in time, Qin Feng's troops were alone, and the planting division returned to Zhending. At this time in Tokyo, Xu Han, a member of the Privy Council, received military information, saying that the Song Army's three-way army was approaching, and the West Route Army was preparing to retreat from Taiyuan City. do not enter. After receiving the order from the Privy Council, Zhongzhong sighed, saying that staying cowardly is a serious crime for a general. I have been in the army in the west since I was young, and now I am old. How can I accept this crime, so I asked Yao Gu and Zhang Hao Parting ways, he left his luggage and rushed towards Taiyuan quickly. The troops in the Zhongzhong Division fell into the siege of the Jin Army, and went all the way to the stone bridge 20 kilometers away from Taiyuan. In Shaxiong Ridge, the plantation division was surrounded by the Jin army, led his own army to fight to the death with the Jin army, and finally died for the country. Yao Gu's army also reported good news at the beginning, regaining Weisheng, Longde Mansion and other places, but when the Zhongzhong Division asked him to attack Taiyuan together, he received a lie from his subordinate Jiao Anjie about the military situation, and after talking about Yan Zonghan's The main force stationed troops in Taiyuan, which caused him to fail to arrive after the deadline, putting Zhongshizhong in a desperate situation.After being eaten by the seed division, the Jurchens turned their heads to deal with Yao Gu, and had an encounter with Yao Gu in Pantuo (now east of Qixian County, Shanxi). Yao Gu retreated and lost to Longde Mansion. Then the Jurchen defeated Zhang Hao's tribe in Jiaocheng, and the plan of the three empires to rescue Taiyuan concurrently fell through, and took the life of Xiaozhong's manager. The three troops that rescued Taiyuan this time amounted to nearly 100,000 people, all of whom were the elite of the Northwest Army. Although they fought bravely, they lacked a commander who commanded the overall situation. Failure, lost the best opportunity to understand the siege of Taiyuan. After the rescue of Taiyuan failed, the voice of the Zhuhe faction became louder again, and Li Gang tried his best to oppose it. At this time, after Zhong Shidao heard the sad news that his younger brother Zhong Shi was killed in the battlefield, his already weak body finally couldn't hold on. He died of illness in September of the first year of Jingkang. The Lord Peace faction then had a brilliant idea, didn't you, Li Gang, shout every day to rescue Taiyuan?Then you go out with your troops. So they suggested that Li Gang replace Zhong Shidao as Xuanfu envoy of Hedong and Hebei, and lead troops to break the siege of Taiyuan. Li Gang was very helpless, saying that I was just a literati, and it was an extraordinary act in an extraordinary period to stand up and defend Kaifeng. How could it be possible to lead troops every day? Leading troops is a matter for generals. Zhao Huan was dissatisfied with his answer, because the top literati in the eyes of the empire entered the study room and went to the battlefield. have to do. Li Gang had no choice but to serve as the commander-in-chief of the military for the second siege of Taiyuan. Qin Wang's troops were mobilized in Tokyo to prevent the Jurchens from going south again after autumn. Zhao Huan and others didn't listen to Li Gang's suggestion. They only thought that he was an excuse to avoid his own expedition, and forced Li Gang to send troops to break the siege of Taiyuan many times. Li Gang had no choice but to leave Kaifeng in August of the first year of Jingkang, go to Longde Mansion to set up Xuanfu Mansion, summon four soldiers and horses, and set up deputy envoy Xie Qian to station troops in Weisheng Army. Qiong stationed troops in Nanbeiguan, and Liu Kai stationed troops in Liaozhou. This time, when he rescued Taiyuan, Zhao Huanyi was heartbroken and hemorrhaged. The four-way army was nearly 200,000 horses, which was several times that of the Jin army under the city of Taiyuan. The result can only be described as a mess. Facts have proved that it is not enough to let Confucius wield a big sword. Li Gang really cannot effectively command these troops. , and was quickly defeated by the Jurchens one by one.First, Liu Kai was defeated by the Jin Army in Liaozhou; then the Jieqian Department and the Jin Army met in Nanbeiguan and was defeated; The Zhe Kecun Department was also defeated in Zixia Mountain, and the famous Northwest general who wiped out the Song Jiang Uprising also fell into the hands of the Jurchen. Since then, the three great aristocratic families (Zong Family Army, Zhe Family Army, and Yao Family Army) who were once invincible on the Northwest battlefield have all been defeated by the Jin Army.However, the most elite Northwest Army of the Northern Song Empire was basically lost after the three major battles of the Southern Expedition to Fangla, the Northern Expedition to Youyun, and the rescue of Taiyuan. When Wanyan Zonghan (Nianhan) attacked Taiyuan, he did not expect that he would encounter such tenacious resistance under the city of Taiyuan, which made him lose face in front of the East Route Army coach.Of course, he also did not expect that the tenacious Taiyuan would give him another chance to devour the reinforcements from the Northern Song Dynasty again and again, and deal fatal blows to the military of the Northern Song Empire. The offensive and defensive battles under the city of Taiyuan have resulted in repeated cases of unconscious siege and aid by the Jin army. For the empire, being killed by the Eastern Route Army to Kaifeng seemed thrilling, but the real struggle and contest with the Jurchens was actually on the Western Route, surrounding Taiyuan, the city the Zhao brothers least liked. On the one hand, a small city with small soldiers and weak soldiers is so indestructible, and on the other hand, the empire's hundreds of thousands of troops are so vulnerable. The contrast between the two is too great for people to understand. No matter how strong the castle is, it cannot match the cruelty of reality.In September of the first year of Jingkang, Taiyuan City was finally broken after holding on for October. Wang Tengzhi led his troops to resist to the end. After the city was broken, he led his troops to fight in the streets, and was shot dozens of times, and finally threw himself into the Fen River to die for his country. Zhang Xiaochun was captured, surrendered gold to serve as the puppet prime minister of Qi, and soon retired to the field. Although he was not guaranteed at the end of the year, compared with the scholar-bureaucrats of the same era, his bones were much tougher. Because of Li Gang's defeat in the Taiyuan siege campaign, he was dismissed from his post as Xuanfu envoy and went to know Yangzhou.In fact, from the day he left Kaifeng, he knew that this was a trap dug for him by his political enemies, but he had no choice but to dig into it. He will never go back to Kaifeng. The city of Taiyuan was broken, and the Jurchens no longer had any scruples. In September of the first year of Jingkang, the eastern and western armies moved south again, completing the strategic concept of attacking Kaifeng together. At this time in Tokyo, there is no Li Gang, no way of being a teacher, let alone the heroic Northwest Army of the past. The end of the empire is at hand.