Chapter 323 Zhang Shuye: We will fight to the death and die for our country!
Chapter 323 Zhang Shuye: We will fight to the death and die for our country!
Early the next morning, Wang Lin led his army to leave Tokyo.
By the time Emperor Zhao Ji and the civil and military ministers of the Manchu Dynasty received the news, Wang Lin had already led a thousand tiger guards cavalry out of the capital a hundred miles away.
Yue Fei's 10,000 cavalry and Yan Qing's 5,000 tiger guards, who set out three days in advance, traveled day and night and have entered Daming Mansion.
Yue Fei and Yan Qing knew very well what the 100,000 war horses managed by Murong Wan'er meant to Qingzhou and the Song Dynasty.
So along the way, in addition to the cavalry changing horses to let the horses rest, the people just took a nap when they were tired and walked on the starry night.
Yan Qing and Wang Lin agreed to join forces at Zhending Mansion.
That is where Zhang Shuye's handsome mansion is located.
In fact, Zhang Shuye learned the news about Wang Lin's army entering Hebei one day ago.
Zhang Shuye's first reaction was that Wang Lin was trying to take advantage of the Liao and Jin wars to lead his army into Yanyun and recover the sixteen states of Yanyun.
But then I felt something was wrong.
If it were to attack Liao, the Qingzhou Army alone would be an impossible task. The imperial court would at least mobilize the Western Army in Hedong and Zhang Shuye's Hebei Army. If the three armies went north, there might still be a chance.
Since it is impossible to attack Liao, then...
Zhang Shuye immediately remembered the grudge between Wang Lin and the Zhong family.
Recently, Zhang Shuye has been paying attention to the movements of the Zhong Family Army in Hedong.
One of the Zhong masters died at the hands of Wang Lin, so it was impossible that there would be no movement among the Zhong family's army.
Fortunately, Zhang Shuye had a deep understanding of Zhongshi Dao. He concluded that Zhongshi Dao might hold a grudge against Wang Lin, but he would never start an army to cause rebellion.
After all, the world is still Zhao Song, and the emperor is still Zhao Ji.
Wang Lin is no longer stationed in the capital. He is still the Qinglai vassal, controlling Qinglai, Shandong and Nanjing.
In this way, there is no reason even if Zongshidao raises troops to clear the emperor's side.
March 19, the second year of Xuanhe in the Song Dynasty.
Wang Lin led a thousand tiger guards to the outskirts of Zhending Mansion and joined forces with Yue Fei and Yan Qing.
Yue Fei saw a beautiful and graceful female general accompanying Wang Lin. Although he glanced at it, he didn't dare to ask any more questions.
On the other hand, Wang Lin generously introduced the two parties: "Yue Fei, Xiao Yi, this is Liang Hongyu, General Liang, the home of generations of military generals. He is very skilled in martial arts. Please stay with me as the commander of the army."
"Hongyu, this is the Yue Fei Gu told you, Gu's student, deputy commander of the Fuhu Army, and general in charge of military affairs. This is Yan Xiaoyi, known as the prodigal son in the world, the commander of the Guhu Divine Guard, and the capital's commander.
The commander of the Imperial City Department."
Liang Hongyu clasped her fists on the horse and saluted: "I have seen Yue Tongzhi, Yan Tongzhi!"
Yue Fei and Yan Qing were not fools. They were the women who allowed Wang Lin to stay by his side as a bodyguard for the general... They looked at each other, did not dare to underestimate Liang Hongyu, and immediately returned the favor.
Wang Lin looked deeply at Zhendingfu City not far away.
One hundred thousand war horses in Liao territory were raised by Murong Wan'er and the Murong family and hidden in the valley in the east of Yingzhou. It was impossible to hide them for too long.
Wang Lin must break into the Liao territory that has not yet been completely occupied by the Jin as soon as possible, and escort the war horses back to the Song Dynasty.
As for the return route, Wang Lin decided to give up entering Yanmen Pass and go directly east from Yingzhou to Lingqiu, and then go south through Damao Pass into Hebei.
Because entering the pass from Yanmen and then entering Hebei from the northeast of Hebei Province, one has to cross the Taihang Mountains of Wei Wei, which is not conducive to the movement of large numbers of war horses.
And if we pass through Taiyuan and then enter Hebei, we will inevitably face the main force of the Western Army.
Not to mention his grudges with the Zhong family, but these 100,000 war horses are enough to make Master Zhong take risks out of desperation.
However, in order to realize the smooth march of 100,000 war horses south, the 30,000 cavalry commanded by Wanyan Zongwang, the main force of the Jin army who had just entered the Datong line, was a serious threat.
So... Wang Lin came up with Zhang Shuye's idea.
Wang Lin touched the troop deployment document issued by the Privy Council in Huaizhong and smiled at the corner of his mouth.
…
Zhending Mansion.
The towering Fucheng is majestic. Because it is close to the border of Song and Liao Dynasties, the city defenses of Zhending, Dingzhou, Bazhou, Xiongzhou and other Hebei fortresses are particularly strong.
The gate of Fucheng was opened, and Zhang Shuye led the generals under the Hebei Army to welcome him out of the city.
The 15,000 cavalry troops were in neat appearance and wore military flags.
On the big scroll in the middle, there is the word "王" written in Douda.
Zhang Shuye stared at the horse for a long time and couldn't help but gasp.
He really didn't expect that in less than a few years, Wang Lin would actually train a cavalry force of nearly 20,000 people. Looking at the army's majestic appearance and imposing manner, it already had the appearance of a warrior who could fight a hundred battles.
And his Hebei armies only had four to five thousand cavalry.
The Western Army, known as the elite of the Song Dynasty's Forbidden Army, under the command of Zhong Shidao, only had 30,000 cavalry.
Wang Lin urged his horse to come out.
Silver spear and white horse, wearing a purple gold crown, not angry but proud.
Yue Fei marched forward, and Liang Hongyu and Yan Qing followed closely behind.
Wang Lin raised his hands from afar on the horse and laughed loudly: "Captain Zhang! Are you okay?"
Zhang Shuye turned over and dismounted from his horse, bowed and said: "I pay my respects to His Highness the King of Qi! I haven't seen you for a long time. I hope you are well, Your Majesty!"
After Zhang Shuye saluted, he saw that Wang Lin had not dismounted his horse and had no intention of entering the city. He frowned slightly and said, "Your Majesty led an army to Hebei. I don't know why he came?"
"Zhang Taiwei, the Jin Dynasty launched a large-scale attack on the Liao Dynasty, and the Liao Emperor was killed. Now the war is raging in the Liao Dynasty. The Xijing of Liao Dynasty was destroyed by the Jin people. Following the official order, he led his army to break into the Liao Dynasty to rescue our Song Dynasty soldiers who were trapped in Xijing.
Sending the Liao Envoy..."
Xijing is Datong.
Wang Lin said calmly.
What he said was half true and half false.
Zhang Shuye's mood obviously did not change much, which meant that he had already learned the news of Emperor Liao's murder.
However, he did not believe Wang Lin's words that he would lead his troops into the Liao camp to rescue the Liao envoys.
Zhang Shuye cupped his hands and said: "Your Majesty's army went deep into the Liao territory alone. The lower officials thought it was inappropriate. If we were trapped by the main force of the Jin people, we might be in trouble."
Wang Lin smiled and said: "That's why I asked Taiwei Zhang to take up the main force in Hebei, pass through Yizhou, and pretend to attack Youzhou, pretending that we, the Song Dynasty, would take the opportunity to regain the sixteen states of Yanyun. To attract Wanyan Zongwang to return reinforcements and coordinate with me
The army has accomplished its mission."
Zhang Shuye raised his eyebrows fiercely, unable to hide a hint of joy.
The territory of Liao was destroyed by Jin, and now it is a mess.
Zhang Shuye had thought about it many times during these days. He wanted to take advantage of the unstable foothold of the Jin people, lead his army to break into Youyan, take the sixteen states of Yanyun, and complete the century-old dream of the Song Dynasty people.
But without the permission of the imperial court, he could not easily send troops.
Wang Lin slowly took out the troop deployment document signed by the Privy Council from his arms and ordered Yan Qing to hand it to Zhang Shuye.
He added: "Captain Zhang, this is just a feint attack, a bluff, and a strategy to divert the tiger away from the mountain. As for the land of Youyan, we will not take it for the time being."
Zhang Shuye fell silent for a long time and then said: "Your Majesty, in fact, while the Jin people are not on a stable footing, our troops from the three armies of the Song Dynasty will come out together, and the recovery of the Sixteenth Prefecture of Yanyun will be just around the corner."
"Zhang Taiwei, the land of Yanyun has been in the hands of the Liao people for hundreds of years. The land of Yanyun is full of barbarians, and Han people do not account for the majority. And even the Han people in the north do not want to return to the Song Dynasty. At this moment, even if our army
Even if we take advantage of the chaos to capture Youyan, we will definitely not be able to defend it."
"Once the Jin soldiers reacted and attacked in a large scale, and the Liao people made trouble, our Song soldiers and horses went deep into danger, and in the end we could only lose troops and generals, and the gain was not worth the loss."
"I know that what the prince said is true, but..."
Zhang Shuye had gray hair on his head and said tremblingly: "Your Majesty, if you don't take the land of Youyan, after the Jin people finish repairing it in the future, they will attack our Song Dynasty from the clouds and Hebei. This land in Hebei
, a smooth river cannot be defended in the end."
As the head coach of Hebei, Zhang Shuye knows the situation of the Hebei army best.
Negligence in military preparations results in weak military strength and uneasy military morale.
Relying on the Hebei army to stop the invading Jin soldiers is almost a fantasy.
Therefore, he has been thinking about whether to retreat instead of advancing, and move the war forward to the land of Yanyun to delay the invasion of the Jin people.
Wang Lin nodded slowly. Zhang Shuye was a rare understanding person in the Song Dynasty.
Unlike other courtiers, he still clings to the illusion of being in alliance with Jin and becoming a brotherly nation.
But without Liao as a barrier, Hebei cannot hold it.
Even if the main force of the Western Army is transferred to Hebei, it will not help.
The Jin army was all cavalry. After more than a hundred large and small battles to destroy the Liao Dynasty, it was as powerful as a rainbow. The Song army, which was mainly infantry, was at a disadvantage.
This is the weakness in the womb.
Zhang Shuye added with emotion: "In order to prevent the Jin army from marching straight into the capital, I have already made a suicide note and a blood oath with the generals of the Hebei army. I pledged myself to the country, regardless of life or death. I will fight until the last soldier is killed."
Give up an inch of land!
They fought to the death and died for their country! If the Jin people want to pass, they must step over our corpses!"
After Zhang Shuye's death, the generals in Hebei looked generous.
Since the news of the Jin people's large-scale annihilation of Liao reached Hebei, the Hebei defenders knew that the time for the Jin people's large-scale invasion was imminent.
War is inevitable.
As frontier generals, they knew that with the weak strength of the Hebei Army and the lack of dangerous terrain in Hebei, confronting the Jin cavalry was equivalent to trying to use a mantis as a chariot, and they would be doomed sooner or later.
But it is common for soldiers to wrap their bodies in horse leather. It is also the fate of frontier soldiers to die fighting for their country while eating their country's salary.
These generals were prepared to die.
Wang Lin felt hot in his heart.
He got off his horse and bowed to Zhang Shuye and other Hebei generals.
This group of iron-blooded generals deserves to be worshiped by oneself.
The Hebei Army could not withstand the Jin people's march south.
It was only a matter of time before Hebei fell.
He could only hope that Zhang Shuye could lead the Hebei Army to deal with the Jin Army as much as possible to buy him more time.
…
Taiyuan Prefecture.
The envoy of Xuanfu in Hedong, the general manager of the army and horses, and the military chief of the Zhong family, Zhong Shi Daoguan Yamen.
Zhang Xiaochun, the prefect of Taiyuan Prefecture, and his son Zhang Hao hurried in. In the main hall, all the generals of the Zhong Family Army and General Yao Gu of the Western Army were present.
Now Zhongshi Dao is an old man over seventy years old, but his hair is white and his head is gray, but his spirit is still strong.
As the third-generation general of the Zhong family army, he was born and raised in the army all his life, guarding the border and fighting against Xixia, and made great achievements in battle.
Since Quzai was promoted from Qin Feng Road Defense Envoy to Taiyuan, he has built the ancient city of Taiyuan into an impregnable one.
Zhang Xiaochun cupped his hands and said: "My lord, I will be rewarded for my lowered rank. That Qi King Wang Lin led his army into Zhending, Hebei Province, and there seems to be signs of breaking into the Liao border."
As soon as these words came out, Zhong Hao, the Taoist master, and Sun Zhongwei, the Zhong master, immediately walked out side by side and said angrily: "Commander father, the traitor Wang Lin plotted to kill the crown prince of the Song Dynasty and killed my loyal general of the Song Dynasty. His sin is heinous. Please return it to me."
Commander-in-Chief Father ordered that a certain Yuan and Zhongwei raise 20,000 troops to raid Hebei to kill this thief and avenge his uncle!"