Outside the west city of Jinan, there is the Mongolian army camp.
Zhang Hongfan inspected the battlefield and rode his horse back to the camp. Hearing the report from his personal guard, "The husband of the Li family is here and is waiting in the tent." He then hurried to the big tent.
As soon as the curtain was lifted, a young man stood up.
"Kuro."
"Brother Deqing." Zhang Hongfan stepped forward and said, "You captured Zichuan? How is it? Is your family safe?"
"We have conquered Zichuan and rescued my family." Li Heng responded with a smile, "Zichuan has been secured and reinforcements have arrived. There are only a few hundred troops. Others look down upon them and want to set up camp here in Jiulang."
He is twenty-six or seven years old, has a handsome face, noble manners, and is dressed in the uniform of the Mongolian army. He is considered to have the most elegant appearance among the Mongolian generals.
Li Heng is a descendant of the Xixia royal family.
Although the Western Xia was the most tragic country, with all the royal family slaughtered, all the palaces destroyed, and the royal tombs dug up three feet into the ground...but there was also a fish that slipped through the net.
As early as when Xia Shenzong was in power, Xixia was being plundered by Mongolia, but at the same time it was still attached to Mongolia and used force to help Mongolia attack the Jin Kingdom.
When Xia Shenzong ordered the prince Li Deren to lead the army to attack the Jin Kingdom, Li Deren insisted on joining the Jin Dynasty and refused to lead the army. Xia Shenzong was angry and deposed Li Deren as the prince in one fell swoop and imprisoned him in Lingzhou.
Later, when the Mongolian army captured Lingzhou, Li Deren refused to give in and died. His son Li Weizhong was only seven years old at the time and wanted to follow his father and die for the country.
The Mongolian clan king and Temujin's younger brother Hesar met and adopted Li Weizhong.
After Hesar's death, the second son Yixiang Ge became the most prominent. Li Weizhong also followed Yixiang Ge and made contributions, and was named Daru Huachi of Zichuan.
Li Heng is the second son of Li Weizhong. He stayed as a hostage in the palace of Prince Yixiang since he was a child, and was raised by the princess as her own son.
When he was older, he returned to Shandong. Last year, he discovered that Li Fen was preparing to raise a flag to rebel. He abandoned his home and fled with Li Weizhong, and went to Yanjing to file a complaint. This time he showed his loyalty and made meritorious service.
Li Fen was angry at the behavior of the Li family and his son, so he imprisoned all of them in Zichuan Prison. This time Li Heng led the troops to rescue the family members and then besieged Jinan.
At this time, after Li Heng finished talking about these experiences, Zhang Hongfan also sighed.
"Brother Deqing is loyal to state affairs, and your Majesty will not treat you lightly."
"Don't talk about me anymore." Li Heng waved his hand, turned the topic to the Zhang family, and said, "I heard that your sixth brother defeated the Song army and took back Bozhou and the cities in Henan? I'm happy to congratulate you."
"Yes." Zhang Hongfan said with a smile, "Sixth brother has always been very capable and obeys his father's words."
He had been rummaging around in the tent for a while but couldn't find any wine, so he called his bodyguard to fetch a jar elsewhere.
"Where's Jiulang? It's been several months since we attacked the city, but have we killed the generals and captured the flag?"
"No." Zhang Hongfan shook his head, spread his hands, and said, "Not a drop of blood has been touched yet."
Li Heng pointed at him, smiled and cursed: "There is no wine in the tent, I see you haven't slacked off."
"There's wine, there's wine, look, here it is."
Zhang Hongfan laughed, took the wine brought by his guards, sat down, poured a glass for Li Heng, and said: "Brother Deqing was in Zichuan a while ago. I'm afraid you don't know the war situation in Jinan. Let me tell you about it."
.”
"Thank you."
"After Shi Shuai arrived in Jinan, he discussed with King Hebi Chizong and believed that Li Fen had too many tricks and had excellent soldiers and horses. It was not suitable to attack Jinan City by force and besiege Li Fen to death. The so-called 'kill him with time', this is
A sure-fire way to win.”
Li Heng understands.
Defeating Li Fen is different from defeating Ali Bu Ge. There is no need to lose troops and generals. Therefore, all princes want to preserve their strength. This is why Shi Tianze is needed to unify the command.
Only by ensuring the interests of everyone can you gain the support of everyone, Shi Tianze understands this truth.
"It's a sure win." Li Heng said with a smile: "The more important thing is... let's see who can get the credit?"
"Yes, it just depends on who can get the credit."
The two of them smiled knowingly and clinked their wine glasses.
Li Heng took a sip of wine, glanced outside the tent, and commented: "The place you defended is good. Li Fen will probably be able to break out of the encirclement from now on, and your contribution is indispensable."
"Shuai Shi treats me well. Among all the armies, only Shi Ge's line of defense is better than mine."
"Where's Scott?"
"Southwest, guard the line of Mount Li."
Li Heng nodded and said: "It is indeed the direction Li Fen is most likely to take."
"Shi Shuai's biological son."
Zhang Hongfan leaned forward slightly and said: "Only when I arrived in Jinan did I realize that my father was really scheming... Before I went to war, he warned me to find a 'dangerous place' to camp."
"Haha, having an old man in the family is like having a treasure." Li Heng laughed.
Where is the danger?
This is not a war, it is a banquet to share the benefits, and an opportunity for princes to bring out their younger generation to show off.
Zhang Hongfan changed the topic and said: "Li Fen has begun to break through in the past two months. However, he has not attacked my defense line once."
"Oh? Li Fen is afraid of Jiulang's name?"
Zhang Hongfan laughed, quite arrogantly.
However, there was no smile in his eyes. He smiled for a while and then stopped and said solemnly: "Let's stop making trouble. I won't fall for such a simple arrogance trick. Li Fen deceived me when I was young and thought I was If I don't know how to lead troops, I think that if I don't attack, my soldiers will definitely become slack."
Li Hengdao: "I'll suffer a big loss waiting for him."
While we were talking, heavy rain began to fall, and the ground inside the tent was also covered with rainwater.
Zhang Hongfan hurriedly braved the rain to make emergency repairs.
At night, they heard from the soldiers that the fortifications built by Shige along the river were destroyed and all the wooden fences were washed away.
Zhang Hongfan said to himself, "Here we come," and then asked Li Heng, "Has Brother Deqing gone to camp at Shijia Dalang's place?"
"No, I only have a few troops, and they are the same everywhere. It's rare to be able to fight side by side with Jiulang. It's good that Jiulang doesn't mind me sharing your credit."
"I don't think so. Let's see Shi Ge take the lead tonight."
That night, the two of them fell asleep next to each other. In the middle of the night, they were suddenly awakened by the silence.
"Report! Li Fen attacked General Shi's camp in the south at night..."
"Let's play chess."
Li Hengdao: "Wait for the battle report and see how Shi Ge responds."
Zhang Hongfan yawned and said casually: "Look, Shi Ge must have some anecdotes to make him appear brave."
The third game of chess was played, and sure enough, Tan Ma came to report that it was Shi Ge himself who had counterattacked. He went to Li Fen's big banner and threw a torch as a signal, defeating the enemy in one fell swoop.
"What do you think, Brother Deqing?"
"This story... can barely be recorded in the battle report and make His Majesty smile."
"Nice appearance..."
The sky was slightly bright, and Wang Xun stood on the top of Jinan City, watching the last remnant soldiers retreat into the city, his eyes full of helplessness.
I am extremely disappointed with Li Fen.
Li Fen was his brother-in-law. In the past, Wang Xun always thought that his brother-in-law was a hero of the world, with great ambitions and unparalleled martial prowess. Although he knew that Li Fen was not good at strategy, he did not expect that he was so bad at strategy...
In retrospect, when Wang Xun rushed to Jinan, Shi Tianze had not yet led his army to arrive. At that time, he persuaded Li Fen to abandon Jinan, pull the defense line to the Jianghuai line, and jointly defend with Zhao and Song Dynasty.
This was what Han Qi'an asked Wang Xin to tell him. It was both Li Xia's intention and Wang Xin's intention.
The situation is very clear. With Wang Wentong dead, it is impossible for Li Fen to attack Yanjing again, so he can only retreat.
It should be noted that Kublai Khan also had a strong enemy like Ali Bu Ge. As long as he relied on Jianghuai and Zhao Song, and went north to harass him from time to time, he would still have a chance in the future.
But Li Fen refused, and the reason was very good.
"How can Zhao Song be trusted? If Zhao Song could be trusted, my father would not have died at the hands of Zhao Fang and Zhao Kui. I will never make the same mistake again! I contacted Zhao Song just to get Zhao Song's support. Did I really have any intention of defecting?
Even so, do you really dare to accept me as a monarch of Zhao Song Dynasty?!"
Wang Xun was also at a loss for words for a moment. He could only think of what Zhao and Song Dynasty said, "Aren't you afraid of repeating the mistake of Emperor Wu of Liang who accepted Hou Jing?"
Li Fen not only married Wang Wentong's daughter, but also Tacha'er's sister. He knew the situation in Mongolia very well and knew that Taiyuan Road, Pingyang Road, and Jiuyuan City in the Hetao area were all Mongolians who supported Alibaba.
The fiefs of the clan Shuchi and Chagatai.
He wanted to make the noise louder, so that people all over the world would feel that Kublai Khan was in danger and rally in response.
When Wang Xun came to persuade him, Li Xia was still dragging Shi Tianze in Nanyang. Li Fen also had his own opinions on this.
"The reason why Li Xia was able to hold off Shi Tianze was actually because Shi Tianze had no intention of attacking Shandong and just took the opportunity to wait and see. At this time, countless eyes in the world are watching, how can I withdraw from Jinan?! I should stick to it and wait for the group to rise.
response……"
"Brother-in-law, if anyone responds, they would have responded thirty years ago."
"How could there be such a great opportunity thirty years ago? It's different now. If Li Xia can delay Shi Tianze for a while, even Shi Tianze can switch sides."
"It can't be delayed any longer. The Mongolian army has not only attacked Long all the way, why should he delay it any longer for his brother-in-law?"
"Why can't we delay? I am defending Jinan and can endure all the hardships. He is just fighting against the enemy's Shi Tianze who wants to fight but refuses to fight."
"I'm not like my brother-in-law and you don't care. I want to be strategic..."
"Send the message to him. We only need this last step to expel the Mongolians. We have nine people on the mountain and we can't fall short of the success. What's wrong with me and him sharing the world equally?"
"Brother-in-law!"
"Don't say any more. What is your purpose in persuading me like this?!"
"..."
Wang Xun then understood that Li Fen did not trust him.
Because he and Wang Wentong, father and son, had indeed considered taking refuge with Kublai Khan. It was only now that Wang Wentong was dead that he decided to fight against the Mongols again. It was normal not to be trusted.
Since he could not persuade Li Fen, Wang Zhen had no choice but to persuade his nephew Li Nanshan to prepare for defeat early.
Li Nanshan was moved and made preparations...
Li Fen had a navy.
Shandong is surrounded by the sea on three sides, and the Li family attaches great importance to naval warfare. As early as Li Quan's time, he knew that Zhao Song was beneficial to the boatmen, so he planned to learn naval warfare. He spent a lot of money to recruit carpenters and craftsmen to build large ships.
Li Fen renovated Old Haicheng as a naval base.
Raising the flag this time, Li Fen originally planned to advance by land and water to attack Yanjing, but he was blocked just after he attacked Jinan. Now the navy is still in the old sea city.
Therefore, before Shi Tianze arrived with his troops, Li Nanshan sent his confidants to transport his family members and supplies to Old Haicheng. When the situation changed, they planned to forcefully take Li Fen to flee by sea...
As a result, by September 18th, Wang Xun had given up the idea of leaving with Li Fen.
He found Li Nanshan again.
…
Li Nanshan was injured during the breakout last night and was wrapping up his wounds. When he saw Wang Xun coming over, he sighed: "I regret listening to my uncle's words earlier. Now I can't break out."
"What do you think, brother-in-law?"
"Uncle, why don't you go ask your father yourself."
"He doesn't believe me." Wang Xun grinned with a smile that was both bitter and helpless.
Li Nanshan sighed and said, "My father still wants to return to Yidu and revive his career, but he doesn't know if Yidu has fallen."
"listen to me."
Wang Xun came forward and whispered: "It has been delayed for too long. Now it is impossible for the soldiers and horses to break out. You and I can take advantage of the chaos and escape with our family..."
"What do you mean?" Li Nanshan was shocked, "Uncle, do you want me to abandon my father and brother and live in an ignoble way?"
"Where there is life, there is hope……"
"No." Li Nanshan said firmly, "I will never abandon my father."
Wang Xun patted his forehead and shook his head.
"Uncle, you don't have to worry too much." Li Nanshan had no choice but to persuade him, saying: "It may not be impossible to break through. Father has a way."
"Really?" Wang Xun responded casually.
He knew in his heart what Li Fen's so-called method was.
It was nothing more than bullying Zhang Hongfan's youth and planning to break through Zhang Hongfan's defense line.
Wang Xin has no expectations for this.
But he still had a token given by Zhang Wulang in his hand, just to see if he could take advantage of the chaos to take away some people.
As for Li Fen, he must have given up...
－－－－－－Digression－－－－－
Today I am half a day late, and I have missed another chapter. The leader of the alliance has not updated it yet. I will see how to make up for it...