Across the Water Margin: Officials of Ximen

The new emperor Zhao Huan couldn't find a single general capable of recruiting and fighting, but there was no shortage of incompetent generals on the front line.

The mighty army Jiedushi, the servant Liang Fangping is an eunuch who can't fight, but is entrusted with important tasks.After he led the troops into Liyang City, he didn't take any measures to actively deal with the enemy, he just drank and had fun with his men all day long.

On the [-]nd of the first month, Liang Fangping received a report saying that the Jin soldiers went down to Cizhou and Xiangzhou and wiped out thousands of Song troops in Xiangzhou, and they were about to approach the city.

Liang Fangping never expected the Jin army to come so fast, he was so frightened that his liver and gallbladder were torn apart, he left his generals and left the city in a hurry to flee south with his own soldiers.

After Liang Fangping escaped across the Yellow River, in order to prevent the Jin army from pursuing, he ordered the Henan bridge guards to set fire to the river bridge.

The defenders of Liyang City saw that even the commander-in-chief had run away, so they had no intention of defending the city, so they all rushed to abandon the city and fled south.

But because the bridge on the Yellow River was burned, the Song army in Hebei could only swarm down the river, hoping to swim to the other side.

But at this time, when the weather was cold and the water was cold, and the cavalry of the Jin army were chasing after them, thousands of Song soldiers were frozen to death, drowned, and killed on the north bank of the Yellow River.

In this battle, the [-] elite cavalry of the imperial army led by Liang Fangping lost all of them, while the Changsheng army who served as the vanguard of the Jin army only killed three people, creating a miraculous record that the Jin army could not believe.

8 Chapter Ninety

The defeat of Liang Fangping's army made Wanyan Zongwang and his generals of the Jin army realize that Guo Yaoshi was telling the truth.

The troops of the Song Army on the border still had some combat effectiveness, but the troops and generals in the interior were completely corrupted.

The closer it was to Bianliang City in Tokyo, the capital of the Song Dynasty, the lower the combat effectiveness of the Song Army.

Now, Wanyan Zongwang no longer had any doubts about leading the army to the city of Bianliang in Tokyo, and ordered the Jin army occupying Liyang to cross the south of the river immediately.

Huazhou on the south bank of the Yellow River still has [-] troops stationed by He Guan, but this army is mainly infantry, and its combat effectiveness is not as good as Liang Fangping's [-] cavalry.

Seeing that Liang Fangping escaped alone, and the [-] elite forbidden troops were wiped out, He Guan was also frightened, and hurriedly retreated to Bianliang City, Tokyo with his troops.

At this time, He Guan was over 60 years old. He had been pampered and pampered in Bianliang City, Tokyo for many years, and he had already lost the spirit of fighting the Liao army alone in the Volcanic Army.

On the way to retreat, He Guan sent someone to report to the imperial court the battle situation between Liyang and Huazhou, and attributed all the reasons for the defeat to Liang Fangping who fled without fighting.

He Guan also informed the imperial court that the Jin army, with Guo Yaoshi as the vanguard, had already crossed the Yellow River and was about to attack Bianliang City in Tokyo.

And He Guan claimed to lead the troops back to Bianliang City, Tokyo, in order to intercept the Jin army and defend the capital.

The day after Liang Fangping's defeat, that is, on the third day of the first month of Jingkang, the newly enthroned emperor Zhao Huan, instigated by Li Gang and other ministers of the main combat faction, issued an edict to the world in order to turn the tide and boost the morale of the army, saying: Prepare yourself for the imperial conquest.

But as soon as the edict was issued, the imperial court received intelligence from the front, saying that Liang Fangping's entire army had been destroyed, and that the Jin army had crossed the Yellow River and was continuing to march south.

Only then did Emperor Zhao Huan know what kind of goods the forbidden army in Tokyo city was like, and leading them to march in person is tantamount to a sheep entering a tiger's mouth.

Zhao Huan's face turned pale with fright, and the blood and courage he had just ascended the throne were all gone.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Jiang You, Minister of the Criminal Ministry, led all the officials to persuade Zhao Huan to leave Bianliang City, Tokyo as soon as possible, and flee to the south for refuge.

Zhao Huan also didn't want to stay in the capital to take advantage of his father, and agreed to go south with the Supreme Emperor, ordering the guards in the palace to pack up and prepare to escape.

Some people want the emperor to escape, and naturally some people hope that the emperor will stick to Bianliang City in Tokyo and defend his family's property.

These people hid in the dark and pushed Li Gang, the stubborn minister of the war faction, to the foreground.

Li Gang belongs to the kind of stubborn and stubborn person.He firmly opposed the emperor's escape.

After discovering that the palace was packing up luggage and driving, and Emperor Zhao Huan was about to escape, Li Gang stopped Zhao Huan and urged him to stay in Tokyo and persist in fighting against the gold.

Li Gang knew that the new emperor Zhao Huan was timid and had no idea, so he threatened him that the Jin army had already crossed the Yellow River, and the vanguard would come to the city in a few days.If you leave at this time, you will be overtaken by the cavalry of the Golden Army soon after leaving the city, which is more dangerous than staying in the city.

Zhao Huan was frightened by Li Gang's words, gave up the idea of ​​fleeing, and announced that he would continue to stay in the capital to fight against the Jin army.

Although Zhao Huan decided to stay in the capital temporarily, the Supreme Emperor Zhao Ji had already made up his mind to flee south.

Emperor Taishang Zhao Ji issued an edict saying that he was going to go to Taiqing Palace in Haozhou on Huainan East Road to offer incense.

Zhao Ji's reason was that he suffered a stroke when he abdicated the throne a few days ago, and now he has recovered, so he went to burn incense to thank God for his blessing.

After the edict was issued, Taishi, who was in charge of the etiquette in the palace, immediately cooperated with the Supreme Emperor in acting, saying that the second day, the fourth day of the first lunar month, was a suitable day to travel.

So Emperor Taishang Zhao Ji took a royal boat out of the city from the Tongjin Gate of the Bianhe Water Gate in the northeast of Bianliang City in Tokyo before dawn on the fourth day, and rushed southeast along the Bian River to Haozhou.

There was a huge team on this trip, and the Supreme Empress, Imperial Concubine, Zhao Kai and other princes also fled Tokyo Bianliang City together with the Supreme Emperor Zhao Ji.

In addition, ministers such as Tong Guan, Cai You, and Gao Qiu personally led the imperial guards to accompany the holy driver.

With the departure of the Supreme Emperor Zhao Ji, all the officials in the city were panicked, and many officials fled the capital to avoid disasters.

In order to cover up his crime of fleeing and losing the defense line of the Yellow River, He Guan exaggerated the truth when he reported to the court urgently, causing the court in Tokyo to mistakenly believe that the Jin army had crossed the Yellow River in a large scale.

In fact, on the third day of the first lunar month, the Jin Army's East Route Army had only just begun to cross the river.

Because the bridge on the river was burned, the Jin army searched up and down the river bank, and managed to find more than ten small boats. Each small boat can only carry six or seven Jin soldiers across the river.

Later, the Jin army found several large boats and began to arrange cavalry to cross the river.

The Jin army used boats to transport troops day and night, and it took until the sixth day to transport all the troops to the south bank of the Yellow River.

During this period, no soldiers of the Song Army came to intercept the south bank of the Yellow River.The soldiers and horses of the states in Hebei behind the Jin army only wanted to protect themselves, and did not dare to pursue the Jin army.

After the Jin army crossed the river, they quickly captured the unguarded Huazhou.

The generals of the Jin army said to Shen Guan, the envoy of the Song Dynasty who accompanied the army, that there is really no one in your Song Dynasty.If you send 2000 people to patrol and blockade along the coast, how can it be possible to cross the river with our ship-by-ship troop transport?

Facing Jin Jun's contempt and ridicule, Shen Guan, Lu Yihao, Yang Xingong and others who followed Jin Jun across the river were all blushing and speechless.

Wanyan Zong hoped to capture Liyang like a broken bamboo, cross the Yellow River without hindrance, occupy Huazhou, and Bianliang City in Tokyo is just around the corner.

At this time, Wanyan Zongwang remembered that Guo Yaoshi gave him a good advice, which strengthened his confidence in going south.Along the way, the Song army collapsed without a fight, and Guo Yaoshi expected them all.

Since then, Wanyan Zongwang has looked at Guo Yaoshi with admiration, and no longer doubts his loyalty to Jin Guo.

Wanyan Zongwang regarded Guo Yaoshi, who was familiar with the inside information of the Song Dynasty, as an important staff officer, so he consulted him on the way to Bianliang City in Tokyo, asking himself what action he should take next to obtain the greatest benefit.

Guo Yaoshi suggested that Wanyan Zongwang take advantage of the favorable situation to negotiate with the Song Dynasty, draw a new border between the two countries with the Yellow River as the boundary, and ask for gold and silver as war compensation.

The Jin army's attack on the Song Dynasty this time was originally a punitive war, and the Jin Kingdom did not plan to destroy the Song Dynasty.Therefore, Wanyan Zongwang believed that Guo Yaoshi's suggestion was very reasonable, and determined to adopt his strategy to force the Song Dynasty to cede land and pay compensation.

When the Jin army was still crossing the Yellow River by boat, the Supreme Emperor Zhao Ji didn't know that the Jin army was still on the bank of the Yellow River.He took his concubines and princes with him and fled in a boat. He passed Chenliu and Yongqiu along the Bianhe River, and only stopped to rest in Xiangyi County.

Xiangyi County is small and small, how can it entertain this huge team of tens of thousands.The Supreme Emperor Zhao Ji did not disembark, and slept on the imperial boat that night.

Tong Guan and Gao Qiu respectively brought their own troops and stationed guards on both sides of the Bian River to protect the safety of the Supreme Emperor and his party.

What Zhao Ji, Tong Guan, Cai You, Gao Qiu and others didn't expect was that at midnight, a cavalry force suddenly came from Dongming County and Kaocheng County in the north, approaching the fleet of the Supreme Emperor.

Hearing the commotion from the north, Taiwei Gao Qiu dispatched the imperial guards to lead the "Golden Gunner" Xu Ning to intercept, but Xu Ning was defeated after a while.