It is located south of Luoyang and at the northern foot of Funiu Mountain. It is named after it belongs to the origin of Songshan Mountain.
Lu Wenhuan is now stationed on the banks of the Yishui River south of Songzhou.
As long as you climb up Santu Mountain, which is not far from the Song Army's camp, you can see Songzhou City.
On May 25th, Weng Yinglong climbed to the top of the mountain early in the morning. After returning to camp, he started chattering again.
Although Weng Yinglong was Jia Sidao's staff, he actually had a very high official position in the court. Especially this time when he came to supervise Lu Wenhuan on behalf of Jia Sidao, his attitude was a bit tough.
"Marshal Lu has been guarding Xiangyang for many years and has devoted his service to the country. Why is it that now that it's time to regain the lost territory, he seems timid?"
"My lord," Lu Wenhuan sighed, "tell me the truth, if we use troops against Li Xia now, even if we really capture Luoyang and Mengjin Crossing, can we really hold it? Is it really to regain the lost territory?"
"Why not?" Weng Yinglong said: "Ping Zhanggong has led his army into Sichuan and Sichuan, and your cooperation in Henan can not only delay the time for the rebels to return for reinforcements, but also weaken the strength of the rebels, in order to regain the lost territory.
"
"I'm afraid that in the end, all the hard work will only help the foreigners."
"So, Marshal Lu deliberately refused to send troops?"
"How could it be? I have already led my troops here." Lu Wenhuan quickly raised his hand to the south to show his loyalty to the court, and said: "Songzhou City has a lot of elite soldiers, so it is not appropriate to attack the city rashly. It needs to be carefully considered."
Weng Yinglong flicked his sleeves and said: "I have clearly seen today that there are very few Tang troops in Songzhou City!"
After the excuse was exposed, Lu Wenhuan fell silent.
Weng Yinglong looked anxious but helpless. He took a deep look at Lu Wenhuan, sat down in the tent, and sighed: "Marshal Lu, now I am in the Lu family's army. If you want to kill me, it will only be a matter of one blow."
Lu Wenhuan was greatly surprised and said: "Mr. Weng, why do you say this?"
"If you want to surrender to Li Xia, why don't you kill me and surrender? Then drive your troops south, attack Lin'an, and cut off the Zhao family's 300-year history. I can only think that the late emperor was blind and trusted you, the Lu family, in vain
.”
"I will never do such a rebellious thing!"
This sentence was said very loudly, and Lu Wenhuan looked determined and upright.
Weng Yinglong looked around and could see that he was indeed sincere at this time, and then he felt a little relieved and said: "Let me speak to Marshal Lu from the bottom of my heart. If these words are hard to hear, please don't blame Marshal Lu."
Lu Wenhuan nodded and sat down.
"Li Xia is indeed a hero. If possible, I would surrender to him, but it's a pity." Weng Yinglong shook his head and said, "My sons are incompetent, uneducated and have some misdeeds in the countryside.
Pingzhanggong promoted Caiyinguan to become an official, and gave him a Jinshi background. When Pingzhanggong talked about Li Xia's character, he said, "When the water is clear, there will be no fish. He is a person who can't get rid of the sand in his eyes."
This was not said clearly, but Lu Wenhuan understood it.
It's like Song Dynasty was a sick man with rotten flesh all over his body. If someone wanted to regenerate Song Dynasty, they would not want the rotten flesh, they would just cut it off.
Weng Yinglong's words were cryptic, but he admitted that he was a piece of rotten flesh.
"The Lu family's situation is a little different." Weng Yinglong paused for a moment and then said, "The Lu family is so rich that their treasures are all over the house and their products are spread all over the Yangtze River and Huaihe River. I dare to make a bet with Marshal Lu."
"What?"
"If Marshal Lu surrenders to Li Xia today, Li Xia will treat him like an honored guest. When the time comes, he will pack up the Mongols and drive his troops south. It may really be possible to cover the whole world. However, when the success is achieved, the Lu family's property and land will be confiscated, and even worse, the family will be destroyed.
The family is not a problem. By then it will be too late for Marshal Lu to regret it, and he wants to save his life but cannot get it."
Lu Wenhuan opened his mouth but was speechless for a moment.
Based on his understanding of Li Xia, he knew that Weng Yinglong was right.
"As for Meng Yuan." Weng Yinglong added, "After all, they are just foreigners."
Lu Wenhuan understood the meaning of these words. In addition to saying that Meng Yuan was less of a threat than Li Xia, he also meant that Meng Yuan's attitude towards the Lu family must be different from Li Xia's.
No matter what kind of carrion or fresh meat, Meng Yuan would always swallow it whole without even taking a bite.
.This can be seen from the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty’s lenient attitude towards the princes of the North.
But few people realize that the Lu family has become the largest prince in the world.
To be honest, from the standpoint of the Lu family, surrendering to Li Xia would be worse than surrendering to Meng Yuan...if the righteousness is not considered.
But if one considers justice, no one dares to surrender.
Lu Wenhuan recalled what Wang Xun said at that time, and suddenly realized that Wang Xun had never persuaded the Lu family to surrender. This shows that Li Xia had not expressed to Wang Xun that he was willing to accept the Lu family.
For a moment, Lu Wenhuan felt that he was so useless and his ears were so soft that he could be shaken by anyone who came to persuade him.
He wishes he could be as strong as his brother, but he can't.
"Marshal Lu." Weng Yinglong stood up and took a few steps closer. He lowered his voice and said, "I'm not trying to persuade you for Ping Zhanggong's sake. I'm planning for you from the perspective of the Lu family."
"What do you think I should do?"
"Today, as a minister of the Song Dynasty, I will try my best to be loyal to the Song Dynasty. In this way, if something changes in the future, no one can blame Marshal Lu." Weng Yinglong said: "If you don't attack Luoyang, you won't offend Li Xia? That's ridiculous.
.”
Lu Wenhuan suddenly became enlightened and nodded.
He finally began to consider actually sending troops to attack Li Xia.
Weng Yinglong walked out of Lu Wenhuan's tent and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
They, the lobbyists, know in their hearts that they can say whatever they want. They can open their lips and speak both truth and irony. Should the Lu family demote Li Xia? What's the use of saying it?
The key is to look at the situation.
Just like the prince in the north surrendering Li Xia, is it really for righteousness? It's not because the army is pressing in front of him. Now Lu Wenhuan just thinks that the situation has not reached that point yet, and it can still be saved.
He, Weng Yinglong, is here to save her.
On the next day, Huang Gongshao arrived at Lu Wenhuan's camp.
He rushed back to Nanyang first, and then followed the fast horse. The journey was dusty, and his beautiful beard was messy and tangled, losing his original elegant appearance.
Weng Yinglong was surprised when he saw his appearance: "Huang Gong, what is this?"
"I am working hard for my country and I don't care about this anymore." Huang Gongshao waved his hands and said, "I have important news to report to Marshal Lu."
"Go in and talk."
If Weng Yinglong persuaded Lu Wenhuan from the perspective of profit and loss, Huang Gongshao started from the analysis of the battle situation.
As soon as he entered the tent, he asked Lu Wenhuan to bring out the map.
"Marshal, please see, when I left the Yuan army camp, its commander Boyan was already stationed in Zhongmou City."
"It's very close to Zhengzhou."
"Yes, counting the time, the Yuan army has arrived at Zhengzhou City and is attacking the city with all its strength." Huang Gongshao said, "And the Tang army has no generals to guard Zhengzhou City. The most senior official is Lu Xiufu, who is in charge of the baggage, with a strength of 10,000 people.
Below, the rest are all civilians."
"Where's Zhang Jue?"
"I was lured to Shandong territory by Boyan's false shot, and now I'm afraid I'm still attacking Kaifeng."
Lu Wenhuan had some doubts in his heart and asked: "Zhengzhou City has accumulated a lot of grain and grass?"
"A lot of the grain and grass that supplies Zhang Jue's troops are stored in Zhengzhou." Huang Gongshao said, "But does the marshal know where there is more?" He clicked on Luoyang on the map.
"All the food and grass supplied to the Tang Army on the North Road came to Luoyang by water, and then went north via Mengjin. And as Boyan attacked Zhengzhou, many Tang troops went from Luoyang to support Zhengzhou."
Hearing this, Lu Wenhuan forgot about what he wanted to know just now and asked instead: "Is the news reliable?"
"Bo Yan's detective horse found out. The marshal only needs to send the detective horse to Luoyang to find out."
Lu Wenhuan originally did not plan to attack the city, so he did not know how many defenders there were in Luoyang. But everyone in the tent knew very well that the number of Tang army defenders would not be large.
Two days later, the expedition horse returned and reported the general situation near Luoyang. Lu Wenhuan thought about it for a long time and finally decided to send troops.
His first step was to capture Songzhou, and then based on Songzhou, he would attack Luoyang.
And be quick, lest Boyan defeat Lu Xiufu and Tang Zhengzhou
The army retreated to Luoyang.
Outside Zhengzhou, the fighting has been going on for three days.
Lu Xiufu had already taken care of the soldiers, horses and civilians returning from Zhongmu, but he was surrounded by the Yuan army on the way back to Zhengzhou City. However, the terrain outside Zhengzhou City did give him a lot of help.
Retreating northwest from Yu Lake, they encountered Longzi Lake first and then Long Lake, and were surrounded by swamps. In this way, the Tang army marched along the water, fighting and retreating.
When we arrived at Longhu, we were already in the north of Zhengzhou City.
This area is also called Putianze, one of the nine swamps in the world in the pre-Qin Dynasty. The poem "The Book of Songs·Zheng Feng" says "There are creeping grasses in the wild, and the dew is scattered. There is a beautiful person, clear and graceful" is written here.
The Yuan army was unable to defeat them for a while, so they blocked the road from Longhu to Zhengzhou City... Looking at this situation, Fan Xueyi felt deeply ashamed and worried.
He believed that Xianggong Lu was blocked outside the city of Zhengzhou in order to assist him. Since there were no generals stationed in the city, it would be difficult to defend.
But when he told Lu Xiufu about his worries, Lu Xiufu just shook his head. "It doesn't matter, I'm not good at commanding battles, and the terrain is good."
"Teacher, the students don't understand very well."
"Think for yourself."
Lu Xiufu didn't look as solemn as usual in front of the students. He waved his hand tiredly and walked aside alone to look at the campfire in the distance.
It was at night, and they had just finished fighting for a whole day. They were so tired that they wished they could fall down in the mud and sleep. Lu Xiufu knew that he was going to the limit.
He even wanted to persuade Boyan in his heart, "If you retreat, you can still return to the grassland, but we Han people will never abandon the Central Plains... Just admit defeat."
They endured another day and night like this, and in the next morning, the Yuan army who was attacking them suddenly cheered.
"Zhengzhou has been captured!" "Zhengzhou has been captured..."
Lu Xiufu was startled, his eyes widened and he stood there stunned. "Ms. Lu?"
"Ms. Lu!"
"Quickly, help Mr. Lu to the back..."
"Zhengzhou has been captured!"
Amid the cheers of the Yuan army, Boyan closed his eyes helplessly.
He had already received news of the expedition, and Zhang Jue's soldiers and horses had surrounded him from all directions. But Boyan still planned to see if he could defeat Lu Xiufu before retreating.
While he was preparing to attack Zhang Jue, he ordered Ali Hague to spread false news and destroy Lu Xiufu's military morale.
"Prime Minister!"
Suddenly, another cavalryman rushed over and announced loudly: "The Tang army is coming!" The ground was already shaking faintly.
Later, the news of Ali's victory in Hague had not yet arrived, but Zhang Jue's banner had already appeared at the junction of heaven and earth.
"Fight!" Boyan ordered.
The trumpets sounded loudly in the Yuan army, and the cavalry originally lined up at the rear had already turned around and faced the approaching Tang army. Boyan also got off the watch car and climbed on his horse himself.
From seeing how quickly Zhang Jue arrived, he could guess that he was being tricked by the other party.
After all, he was Boyan. If he dared to attack Zhengzhou, he considered the possibility of Zhang Jue returning to the defense in time and had already prepared a retreat. But if he retreated, Dayuan would lose his last chance to counterattack.
All strategies have been exhausted. Whether you can fight for national affairs again now can only rely on your last strength and courage...