Early the next morning, the admonishment officer Xu Yun formally filed a letter of impeachment, impeaching Han Shizhong for sending troops north without the approval of the court and the commander-in-chief, and asked the court to remove Han Shizhong from his military power.
This impeachment was extremely timely, especially since the impeacher, Xu Yun, was neither a member of Qin Hui's party, nor the Queen Mother's group, nor a member of Xu Xiantu's family. He belonged to Zhang Jun's faction. After Zhang Jun was dismissed as prime minister again, Qin Hui continued to suppress him.
It was such an isolated admonisher who impeached Han Shizhong, which caused thousands of waves and immediately attracted the attention of the whole court.
But the emperor Zhao Gou was very calm. After he received the impeachment letter, he immediately summoned Xu Xiantu. Zhao Gou had made up his mind. For him, how to force Han Shizhong to hand over power and how to arrange Han Shizhong's issues, Xu Xiantu was the key, and Xu Xiantu was the key.
Han Shizhong is an ally in North Korea and China, and his attitude is crucial.
"I am here to see Your Majesty!"
Zhao Gou said in a gentle tone: "This is the remonstrator's report on the impeachment of Han Shizhong. Xu Aiqing should take a look first!"
Xu Xiantu took the impeachment report, read it hastily, and said thoughtfully: "I feel that this report is in the right direction, but the wording is too harsh and the conclusions are biased."
Xu Xiantu's opposition was expected by Zhao Gou, but he was more concerned about the aspect that Xu Xiantu agreed with, "Which direction does Xu Aiqing agree with?"
"Weichen also believes that Han Shizhong should not agree with the title of Han Jiajun, nor should he regard the imperial army as his own army. On this point, Weichen agrees with the impeachment report."
Zhao Gou nodded and asked: "What about the accusation of sending troops without authorization?"
Xu Xiantu sighed and said: "Your Majesty, Han Shizhong is the Huaidong Xuanfu Envoy and has the power to send troops. He is also the deputy marshal of the Northern Expedition. When the commander is not in front of the enemy, he can exercise the power of the commander-in-chief.
On the tenth day of the first lunar month, Zhu Shengfei was still in Lin'an, and if a fighter opportunity appeared at this time, Han Shizhong could decide to send troops to seize the opportunity. As the saying goes, the opportunity cannot be missed, and the time will never come again. Facts also proved that his sneak attack was correct, sweeping across Suzhou, Pizhou and Haizhou.
Xuzhou, annihilated 13,000 enemies and advanced directly to Xuzhou City. Your Majesty, this is a great achievement. He should be rewarded instead of accusing him of sending troops without permission."
Zhao Gou was silent for a moment and said: "Xu Aiqing, we have reached a consensus before that Han Shizhong must withdraw."
"Your Majesty, Wei Chen agrees with Han Shizhong's withdrawal, but it is not to punish him and remove him as per the impeachment report. Wei Chen said it more seriously. This may force him to rebel. Wei Chen's suggestion is best to commend his merits.
He was promoted and dismissed."
Zhao Gou had no objection to commending the troops and withdrawing them. After all, Han Shizhong had made great contributions in putting down Liu Miao's uprising. Zhao Gou was worried about withdrawing troops during the war and there was no good excuse.
Zhao Gou took a few steps with his hands behind his back and said: "But he is on the battlefield now. He must be withdrawn before we can withdraw. Could it be that I ordered Han Shizhong's army to retreat? There is no reason!"
"Your Majesty, there is a reason!"
Zhao Gou immediately asked: "What's the reason?"
Xu Xiantu took out the formal protest letter given to him by Hu Yun and presented it to Zhao Gou, "This is the protest letter submitted to the Privy Council by Hu Yun, the special envoy of King Yong, to protest against Han Shizhong's brazen attack on the Western Army regardless of the overall situation!"
Zhao Gou was startled and hurriedly took the protest letter and sat down to read it carefully. After reading it once, he slapped the table and said angrily: "How come this Han Shizhong doesn't understand the overall situation so much? I have repeatedly warned them that they can only attack Li Qiong's army, not
During the battle with the Western Army, he not only refused to listen, but also took the initiative to provoke me. Did he turn a deaf ear to my words?"
Xu Xiantu sighed and said: "Your Majesty, this is the difference between civilians leading troops and military generals leading troops. Civilian officials will consider the overall situation and try to weigh the pros and cons, but military generals often find it difficult to grasp this degree. If they feel there is a threat, they will immediately send troops.
This cannot be completely blamed on General Han."
Zhao Gou thought for a moment and said: "That's good, I have reason to order him to withdraw from Xuzhou, and at the same time give an explanation to King Yong's envoy."
"Your Majesty, please write a letter to Han Shizhong, and I can vouch for him to ensure that his ministry will not be demoted or dismissed, and he will still hold his original position."
Zhao Gou also knew that this was the sequelae left by the removal of Yue Fei, and he disbanded Yue Fei's army, and many generals were dismissed from office, so it is completely understandable that Han Shizhong had ideas.
He nodded and said: "Ms. Xu wrote to him and told him that I will not disband his army and his generals will still be reused. This is my promise to him."
Xu Xiantu was overjoyed, "With your Majesty's words, Han Shizhong will have no worries."
Chen Qing led 50,000 cavalry into Xuzhou. Behind him, dozens of miles away, there was an army of 30,000 led by Yang Zaixing, guarding a logistics fleet.
Chen Qing has been paying attention to the battle situation in Xuzhou these days, and he is also paying attention to the movements of the Jin soldiers. The 110,000 imperial troops in Xuzhou have been besieging the city but not attacking.
This made Chen Qing suspect that the other party wanted to besiege the city for reinforcements. Ever since Han Shizhong launched a half-crossing attack on the Western Army, Chen Qing had lost all illusions about the imperial army. I am afraid that these military leaders have long wanted to fight with him, but they just couldn't find the opportunity.
.
It doesn't matter if he has a fierce battle with the imperial court. Chen Qing also wants to teach these bastards a lesson, but he has to consider the Jin Bing. The Jin Bing is like a hungry tiger, watching and hiding aside, waiting for himself and the imperial army to fight and lose both sides. The so-called
This is what it means when a crane and a clam fight, and the fisherman benefits.
Chen Qing has received news from the scouts that Wanyan Wushu is leading 30,000 Jurchen cavalry, about thirty miles north of the Yellow River in Xiao County.
Xiao County is where the last fierce battle between Han Shizhong's army and the Western Army was located. This location is very sensitive, just at the edge of the safe distance of Xuzhou City, so it is easy for fierce battles with the imperial army to occur here.
Chen Qing stopped moving thirty miles away from Xiao County. Half an hour later, a war fleet appeared on the Yellow River. This war fleet consisted of fifty thousand-stone war ships. Their function was to block the Yellow River.
The water surface prevents the Jin soldiers from crossing the Yellow River to sneak attack. This is a good strategy to deal with the Jin soldiers. Directly use warships to block the Yellow River, so that the Jin soldiers have no chance to build a pontoon bridge.
More than a dozen cavalry scouts rushed over. The leading scout clasped his fists and said, "Your Highness, Han Shizhong's main force is found in front of us. There are about 50,000 people."
Chen Qing couldn't help but sneered. Han Shizhong was so confident that he would lead an army of 50,000 to fight if he had 50,000 cavalry. Did he think he could defeat him?
"Let's explore behind the enemy's main force and see if there are any reinforcements?"
"Follow the order!" the scout leader agreed, and then rushed away with a dozen of his subordinates.
"Dong-dong-dong-"
In the vast wilderness south of Xiaoxian County, the low drum beat slowly and rhythmically, and 50,000 cavalry were arranged in five large formations, led by Liu Qiong, Tang Qian, Yue Yun, Zhang Xian and Chen Qing himself.
, each leading a large formation.
At this time, a black line appeared in the distance seven or eight miles away, and Han Shizhong's army appeared.
In fact, Chen Qing is also quite contradictory. On the one hand, he does not want to fight Han Shizhong and hopes to use counterintuitive tactics to transfer Han Shizhong back to the court. But on the other hand, he is also eager to fight Han Shizhong in his heart. Meet the man who was second only to Yue Fei in the Southern Song Dynasty.
famous general.
Chen Qing did not want to underestimate the enemy. He suspected that the opponent had more than 50,000 troops, and he himself had to be prepared.
"Send an order to General Yang Zaixing to keep his army ten miles away from me!"
After ordering the cavalry to gallop away, Chen Qing stared intently at the approaching army. He raised his hand and the sound of the war drums stopped.
The sky was overcast, it was early spring in February, and there was still a bit of chill in the wind blowing from the fields, but there was more murderous intent in the air, and both sides were filled with murderous intent.
Han Shizhong's army stopped three miles away. It consisted of 30,000 infantry and 20,000 cavalry, with 30,000 infantry as the main force and cavalry on both wings.
Han Shizhong silently watched the main force of the Western Army three miles away and fought against the Western Army. He had been looking forward to this day for a long time. Even if he was scolded by the court and the emperor, he would never regret it.