Wanyan Wushu finally understood that Zhang Zhongxiong was a mediocre general who could speak well and do well on the surface, so he actually believed him.
He immediately dismissed Zhang Zhongxiong from the post of commander of the new army capital, and ordered his deputy general Du Rong to temporarily lead the troops while he waited for the new general to take office.
Wanyan Wushu led his generals and soldiers back to Bianliang City like a gust of wind.
At the city gate, Wanyan Wushu reined in his horse, pulled out a command arrow and handed it to the soldiers, "Go and summon Li Cheng to see me!"
Li Cheng was also in Bianliang at this time, stationed in Nanda Camp.
Wanyan Wushu returned to the Commander's Mansion with anger on his face and walked quickly into the inner hall. Fan Gongzheng was leading several staff members to place flags on the sand table. The Jurchens were very good at learning. Last year, when they captured Zhang Jun's military camp
After setting up a sand table, they immediately realized the importance of this intuitive map.
The sand table of the Song Army was made by Prime Minister Zhang Jun when he was on an envoy to Jingzhao. After visiting the sand table of the Western Army, he got inspiration and began to learn how to make it. It was quickly deployed in all major armies, but eventually it was transferred from the Song Army to the Jinbing camp.
Fan Gong waved his hand and asked several officers to leave. He cautiously asked, "Your Majesty is not satisfied with inspecting the new army?"
Wanyan Wushu was still angry, but he still tried hard to control his emotions and said gloomily: "I hired the wrong person. Zhang Zhongxiong is too mediocre and I am so disappointed."
Fan Gong smiled slightly and said: "Zhang Zhongxiong may not be good at leading troops in war, but he is very eloquent and good at instigating, so he did a good job in recruiting troops. He recruited more than 100,000 troops in such a short period of time, and everyone else
He is not as good as him, so it is absolutely right for the prince to use him to recruit troops, but in terms of troop training, he may need to send other good generals."
Fan Gong's enlightenment made Wanyan Wushu feel a little more comfortable. He was not completely wrong about the person. He also realized that Zhang Zhongxiong was indeed capable in recruiting troops, but he should not let him train troops.
"I have sent people to find Li Cheng. I have decided to let Li Cheng train the soldiers. However, I am worried that time is running out and Chen Qing is likely to launch an attack soon."
Fan Gong smiled and said: "Your Majesty, don't worry. In fact, Chen Qing has also not completed the deployment."
"How can I see it?"
Fan Gong picked up the wooden pole and pointed at Chenzhou on the sand table, "The Western Army has a big gap here. If a strong army is not stationed here, the Western Army attacking Kaifeng Mansion from the north of Xuchang will easily be defeated by Yingtian Mansion.
The incoming Jin soldiers cut off the retreat. To guard against Ying Tianfu's army, it is necessary to garrison troops in Chenzhou. Yue Fei originally placed Wu Jie's troops here as the East Route Army for this reason."
Wanyan Wushu stared at it for a moment and said: "Chen Qing can definitely gather the troops scattered in the states along the Huaihe River. Together with Li Qiong's army, it will be enough to gather an army of 50,000 to 60,000 troops!"
Fan Gong shook his head, "But if that happens, the back of Chen Qing's army will be handed over to the imperial court. Will he trust the imperial court?"
Wanyan Wushu snorted disdainfully, "That bear egg in the Song Dynasty, even if you give them ten courages, they won't dare to go north!"
"That's not necessarily true. If the prince asked the Song Dynasty to send troops, such as attacking Li Qiong's army, or occupying the states north of the Huaihe River, I believe that the emperor Zhao Gou would be tempted."
Wanyan Wushu nodded, "Sir, as he is a Han, he may understand the thoughts of the Han people better."
"Your Majesty, I know very well the thoughts of the Emperor of the Song Dynasty. His hatred and fear of Chen Qing far exceeds that of the Prince. He would rather the Prince occupy the Central Plains than Chen Qing occupy the Central Plains. If the Prince secretly sends someone to send a message to the Emperor Zhao Gou
, asking him to send troops to go north, I think it is highly likely that he will send troops."
Wanyan Wushu walked a few steps with his hands behind his back and said slowly: "It may be difficult to talk to the Emperor of the Song Dynasty directly. How about using Qin Hui?"
"The humble post suggested a three-pronged approach. Send a letter to Qin Hui, a letter to Zhao Gou, and then ask Saili to write a letter to Empress Wei. Basically it will be done."
Saili is the husband of Empress Dowager Wei in the Kingdom of Jin. His Chinese name is Wanyan Zongxian and he is currently in Bianliang.
Wanyan Wushu nodded, "That's it!"
At this time, a soldier reported in the hall, "Captain Li Cheng wants to see you!"
"Let him in!"
Soon, Li Cheng walked into the lobby, knelt down on one knee and saluted, "I'm sorry to see you, Your Majesty!"
Wanyan Wushu was very dissatisfied with Li Cheng because he failed to defend Yingchang Prefecture, and especially gave up Xuchang City in order to save 20,000 troops. Wanyan Wushu was very dissatisfied with him and treated him a little coldly during this period.
But seeing the hundreds of thousands of ragtag troops trained by Zhang Zhongxiong, Wanyan Wushu thought of Li Cheng's elite soldiers. At this moment, he understood Li Cheng's mood. It was not easy to train elite soldiers, and they were fighting for a city that could no longer be defended.
Sacrifice in vain is really not worth it.
"Has General Lee seen the new recruits being trained?"
"Reporting to the prince, I went to see you yesterday."
"How does it feel?"
Li Cheng hesitated and did not dare to answer. He had just come from the south city gate and did not know what happened in the new barracks.
Wanyan Wushu glanced at him and said, "Just tell the truth!"
"Reporting to the prince, I am not very satisfied with the new recruits."
"I'm not satisfied either, just tell me in detail!"
Li Cheng pondered for a moment and said: "On the surface, it seems that the soldiers' drills are very neat, but if you look closely, you will find that all soldiers have a common weakness, weakness, weak lower body, inability to wield swords or thrust spears, both hands
The arms are all soft, indicating that Zhang Dutong's training only focused on the superficial formation and neglected the strength training and physical training of the soldiers themselves.
If this really happened on the battlefield, it would be fatal. A single attack by the Western cavalry would break the formation. This is actually what the Song army looked like during the Xuanhe period."
Li Cheng's description spoke to Wanyan Wushu's heart. He felt the same way. He lacked strength and physical fitness. This was the crux of the problem.
"If I ask you to train, how long will it take to train to the same level as your 20,000 elite soldiers?"
"About one to two years!"
It took too long. Wanyan Wushu shook his head and said, "If I only give you a month, how far can you train?"
"Reporting to the prince, at most I can barely go to the battlefield."
Wanyan Wushu took the Wolf Head Order and handed it to him, "From now on, I will appoint you as the commander of the new recruits. I will give you one month, and I will guarantee money and food. You will try your best to train me to be as pleasing to the eye as possible."
"I humbly obey my orders!"
Li Cheng took the wolf's order and left, and Wanyan Wushu immediately wrote three secret letters, asking the messenger to dress up as a businessman and go to Lin'an.
Zhang Jun received a secret order from Emperor Zhao Gou in Shouchun, ordering him to concurrently serve as the Xuanfu envoy on Jinghu North Road, annex Yue Fei's army, and then hand over the army to the imperial court. Once the deed is accomplished, he will be rewarded heavily.
Zhang Jun was not very happy to receive this secret order. Instead, he looked worried and paced back and forth in the study with his hands behind his hands.
The eldest son Zhang Ziqi asked cautiously: "Father, has something happened to the court?"
Zhang Jun sighed and said: "Nothing happened to the court, but something happened to Yue Fei. He was dismissed from all official positions and put under house arrest."
"Didn't my father always have a bad relationship with Yue Fei? He should be happy that he was dismissed from office."
Zhang Jun glanced at his son, shook his head and said: "Do you know what it means to be sad when a rabbit dies and a fox is sad? When something happened to Yue Fei, it was the emperor who attacked the feudal town. Yue Fei was the first, and the next one was either me or Han Shizhong, who started to take away our military power."
Zhang Ziqi scratched his head and said: "My child always thought that Yue Fei was asked to attack Jinghu South Road, but Yue Fei refused to obey, which made the emperor angry!"
"Hmph! You think too simply and have no knowledge. Chen Qing's occupation of the five states on Jinghu South Road was an agreement reached between him and the emperor. It was written in black and white. If the agreement was torn up in less than a year, he was not afraid of Chen Qing's support of the late emperor.
Reset the throne?
My heart is like a bright mirror. The emperor doesn't care about the gains and losses on Jinghu South Road. What he cares about is the late emperor in Chen Qing's hands. Did you see that Chen Qing added troops on Jinghu South Road? There was no movement at all. Chen Qing was just waiting.
The emperor tore up the agreement so that he could help the late emperor ascend the throne in Bianliang."
"So attacking Jinghu South Road is just an excuse?"
Zhang Jun nodded, "This is called building plank roads openly and attacking Chencang secretly. Attacking Jinghu South Road is a lie, but recruiting Yue Fei's army is real. Yue Fei ran to Lin'an without knowing it. He should be in such trouble. Now the emperor wants me to accept Yue Fei's army."
, and then hand it over to the imperial court, maybe Yue Fei’s army will rebel!"
Zhang Jun let out a long sigh. He actually didn't care whether Yue Fei's army rebelled or not. What he cared about was that the emperor would seize his military power next.
Zhang Jun was confused for a moment, and he ordered his eldest son: "Go and invite Mr. Jingxiu!"