The breeze in May blew through the lotus pond and stirred the water droplets on the lotus leaves. The weather was perfect.
There were three women playing Cuju by the lake, and laughter could be heard from time to time.
"Hey, go ahead." "You're so stupid."
After a while of commotion, one of the women in a purple shirt ran away from the ball, slapped her slightly red but not sweaty cheeks with her sleeve, and said with a smile: "You guys can play, I'm leaving.
.”
A woman in a green shirt ran forward, stretched out her instep to hook the ball, stood on her tiptoes a few times gently and skillfully, and said in her mouth: "Why? How long have we been playing?"
"Brother Li is coming back today."
"Ah? My brother-in-law is back now?" Another woman wearing an apricot shirt also ran forward and asked, "They won't capture Yanjing so soon, right?"
"I don't know that."
"Then is my sister back?"
"We all come back together. We agree to go for a few days, or I will go too."
"You want to meet them? Let's go together." "Okay, let's go."
"Hey, you guys." The woman in green shirt raised her foot to pick up the ball, caught it in her hand, and said dissatisfiedly: "You agreed to play Cuju with me today."
"Let's go see what my brother-in-law brought back first, and we can play later."
"You guys are so troublesome." "Then are you going?" "Oh, okay."
But they first went to the kitchen to get some pastries and ate them, then climbed up to a small pavilion and looked at the front yard.
After a while, I saw that the front was really busy. Many civil and military officials hurried to the lobby, and the attendants were running back and forth. Only then did I see the rather simple Emperor Yi drive in.
Among them, the royal chariot turned to the front hall, and the phoenix chariot turned to the backyard. "Brother-in-law has just come back and is very busy."
"Brother Li has always been like this."
The woman in yellow shirt stuffed the last piece of pastry into her mouth, clapped her hands and said, "Let's go find my sister."
"OK."
Only the woman in green shirt was dissatisfied and said: "You are so annoying, you still have to come here even though you know this."
「
When I rushed to the back hall, I was listening to Zhang Wenjing explaining things to Yan'er and Feng'er.
"It's better to keep what should be collected. After all, Luoyang is no better than Baozhou."
"Huh?" Zhang Wenwan said in surprise: "Sister, are you going to Luoyang?"
"You just ran in like this without showing any etiquette. Also, you should do some serious things and don't play around all day long." Zhang Wenjing first gently taught her a lesson, then nodded and said: "Well, it's up to you, Your Majesty.
Let’s go there and come back later in the year.”
"Why?" Zhang Wenwan asked, "Has Yanjing been captured?"
"How can it be that fast? You don't understand even if I tell you, it's a state matter after all."
Han Qiaoer then asked: "Sister Wen Jing, shall I go too?"
"Your Majesty, how could you not bear to take your cleverness with you? Just pack your luggage." Zhang Wenjing said, turned to Zhao Jin and nodded politely.
Zhao Jin guessed that Li Xia's troops were not strong enough to attack Yanjing, so he asked the north to face off first, and instead took Kaifeng first.
Since she came out with Han Qiaoer, of course she also wanted to visit Bianliang, the old capital of the Zhao family.
So when Han Qiaoer chatted with Zhang Wenjing for a while and went to pack her luggage, she followed him out. Before leaving, she turned back and made a face at Zhang Wenwan.
Zhang Wenwan responded with a frown to show dissatisfaction.
Only the Zhang family was left in the back hall, and she became more casual and asked excitedly: "Sister, now that you are all gone, can I go with you?"
Zhang Wenjing was looking at Zhao Jin's back in a daze, with thoughtful eyes. She waited for a while before responding: "You stay at home."
"I don't want it." Zhang Wenwan put her hands on her waist and said, "If my sister doesn't take me there, I will follow you secretly. My father is not here, and my second brother is still in jail, so no one can control me."
Yan'er joked: "Second sister, you have to stay at home. Alang said that I have to find a match for you when you have free time.
right?"
Feng'er couldn't help but laugh, nodded and said, "Yes, we have been chatting about this for a long time."
"Ah? Which one are you talking about?"
"We don't know what Alang said to the imperial concubine alone." "Sister?"
Zhang Wenjing fell into deep thought again. "Hmm? Sister?"
"I'm too lazy to be your master." Zhang Wenjing said, "I can't control you, just go if you want."
"Really?" Zhang Wenwan was overjoyed.
"But I can tell you that this time when you return to Luoyang, Your Majesty will have to visit the cities along the way. It will take at least a month or two on the way. You are no better than at home when you are away, so don't complain."
"Haha, it's better to go out and play for a long time!" Zhang Wenwan said excitedly. She turned around to pack her luggage. Before leaving, she ran over and flicked Yan'er's head, "I told you to scare me."
~~Kaifeng.
After being managed by Shi Tianze and Zhao Bi, this city had already regained some of its vitality, but now it was once again in a mess due to the Yuan army's garrison and the Tang army's siege.
Many houses in the city were demolished, and wood and stone were used to defend the city. The people were recruited as militiamen to cooperate on the city top.
He helped the Yuan army defend the city. The land in the city became a horse feeding ground, and there was horse manure everywhere.
This is already the result of Boyan trying his best to restrain the Yuan army. Boyan himself is a Mongolian who is deeply indoctrinated in Sinology. He is no longer the brutal man like Genghis Khan and Wokuotai who frequently massacred cities. He was just defeated one after another, and many things happened.
It's no longer up to him. You can't be lenient just by wanting to be lenient.
On May 17th, Boyan received several messages and summoned his generals for discussion.
He was tall and looked very majestic when he stood at the top. He didn't even hide his words.
"Li Xia is about to attack Yanjing."
With one sentence, all the generals immediately burst into an uproar and shouted, "What?"
"It can't be so fast"
Boyan raised his hand and said: "However, the Great Khan's troops and horses did not suffer any losses. Do you know what this means?" "It's time for us to counterattack Zhang Jue!"
The first person to stand up and respond was Ali Hague.
Ali Hague was the general guarding Bozhou, but now, all the Yuan troops south of Kaifeng had been summoned by Boyan.
"The Tang army only has so many troops and artillery. Since they have all attacked Yanjing, Zhang Jue in Henan must be bluffing. He doesn't have that many troops and artillery at all. No wonder the offensive in the past few months has been weak.
of!"
"Yes! We should defeat the weak Zhang Jue hard!"
「
After the generals discussed and understood the overall strategic intention, Boyan raised his hand again and said how to fight this battle.
He walked to the map and drew a circle east of Kaifeng. That was the area where the Yellow River flooded.
During the war between the Jin, Song, and Mongolia, all parties dug the Yellow River, but did not manage it afterwards. This resulted in the Yellow River and the Huaihe River raging in Shandong and the Huaihe River for decades.
Coupled with the impact of these years of war, the land in that area is barren, the cities are dilapidated, the population, food and grass are insufficient, and the strategic value is even less.
For example, during Li Fen's Rebellion, the Mongolian army allowed Xia Gui to approach Kaifeng City before going around and cutting off Xia Gui's food supplies. This was because they could not obtain supplies by occupying these cities, but had to divide their troops to defend them.
Therefore, Boyan and Zhang Jue have been facing each other in Kaifeng for a while, and neither wants to go deep eastward.
"Let's retreat this way." Boyan said, "Let Zhang Jue know that we have received news that Li Xia is about to attack Yanjing. We can only abandon Kaifeng and go to Shandong to return to Yanjing."
"Then Zhang Jue will chase us?" Ali Hague said, "So we will attack Zhengzhou? We will respond with Lu Wenhuan's Song army."
"Lu Wenhuan?" Boyan said, "Song people are cowardly and don't really want to send troops, but he will figure it out when we build up our momentum."
"But what if Zhang Jue doesn't chase us?"
Boyan stroked his beard and said: "Then we will really go from Shandong to his back to cut off the connection between Li Xia's main force and Henan.
System, you can attack anywhere."
His fingers have moved from the Huangfan area to the Tang army's front lines in Henan and Hebei.
If this area is the "waist and abdomen" of the Tang Army's front, then it is indeed a thin waist.
Ali Hague was still the first among the generals to understand Boyan's tactical intentions. He laughed and said: "The Prime Minister is brilliant! We march faster, but Zhang Jue, with his infantry and artillery, can only follow behind us and be beaten!"
After all, Boyan knew very well in his heart that the essence of these strategies was to abandon the cities in Henan in exchange for more flexible tactics. To put it simply, it was to change from officers and soldiers to bandits so that they could advance and retreat freely.
It seems that the war was easy to fight, but what was lost was the foundation of the Yuan Dynasty.
It's nothing more than being forced to this point. The fish is dead and the net is broken. Even if you lose 800 to yourself, you will also hurt the enemy to 1,000.
~~May 20th.
There is a small town called Zhongmou between Zhengzhou and Kaifeng.
It was raining that day. In a house in the city that had been temporarily converted into a granary, several peasants braved the rain and worked hard to repair the roof. They carefully confirmed that it would not leak and then rushed to their resting place.
I saw that the young man in the team had already started telling stories.
"In the tenth year of the Song Dynasty in Shaoxing, Grandpa Yue once defeated the Jin soldiers here. It can be seen that it is not that we who are weak in farming cannot defeat those hunting Hulu. It is because emperors like Zhao Gou are too useless and are not ordinary people.
A waste. If Emperor Zhao was just an ordinary waste, the world would not be like this!" Although many people in the Tang army said this, Hao Gouer's eyes widened with anger once again when he said it.
Mainly Luoyang, Zhengzhou, and Kaifeng, which we are about to go to. These places can evoke people's memories of the shame of Jingkang.
"Yes! The young man is right. As long as the imperial court is willing to make the Northern Expedition, we will succeed immediately."
Amidst everyone's response, Hao Gou'er was already caught up in his emotions. He couldn't help but clenched his fists, turned to Hao Erfu and said, "Dad, I want to join the army!"
"No!"
Hao Erfu glared and cursed, slapped the shoe he was cleaning on his son, and said, "Didn't you listen to Mr. Lu? You can serve the country even if you don't join the army. He also said that when this batch of food and grass is delivered,
We can get another large field."
"Dad, I just want to join the army!"
"Guard Fan, look at him." Hao Erfu ignored his son and shouted directly to Fan Xueyi, the baggage officer who was resting in the distance, "He is my only son."
"I am not an only son, my stepmother" "I am an only son."
Fan Xueyi turned around and was about to help persuade him when he suddenly heard a very sharp sound coming from the top of the city.
Not long after, the horn sounded.
The general responsible for escorting their baggage team was already standing on the half-remaining city tower, shouting loudly: "The enemy soldiers are coming! Defend!"
"Take care of all the food!"
The small ruined city suddenly became bustling.
However, Hao Gou'er ran out in a few steps without letting Hao Erfu catch him.
He looked up at the sky and murmured to himself: "On a rainy day, there is no smoke. The Yuan army did it on purpose. They have a plan."
Hao Erfu refused to let him join the army, but he never forgot to learn to fight.