In the end, Yang Xiong agreed to Yue Fei's request. Although he longed for war, he was not an ignorant person.
Updated the fastest He knew that staying in Dali was the best choice, and he had decided to lead the army west to the southern Fujian area after completely pacifying Dali, and then enter Jiangnan from southern Fujian to participate in the Central Plains War! Of course, during this period, he and
Yang Zhi and Yue Fei led the army to march thousands of miles to Dali City. He did not know that the Central Plains had undergone earth-shaking changes, and he might not have the chance to participate in the Central Plains war.
It was also New Year's Eve, and in the Chengdu mansion of Bashu, there was no atmosphere of celebration at this moment.
There is a large palace in the center of Chengdu Mansion. It was originally the palace of Shu among the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. The Song Dynasty destroyed Shu. This palace was sealed for more than a hundred years. Now it finally welcomes its new owner-Song Huizong Zhao Ji.
!
But Zhao Ji is no longer the emperor at this time, he is now the Supreme Emperor of the Song Dynasty! News from the Central Plains has reached Bashu. He knew that his son had surrendered, and his son also persuaded him to surrender, but he did not agree! If not
He would not surrender until the last moment. He was afraid of bearing the responsibility of being the king who subjugated his country.
At this moment, he was sitting in the palace, frowning.
"Your Majesty, it's getting late! You should take a rest early!" Yang Jian said.
"Go and call the Grand Master, the Grand Lieutenant and all the other lords!" Zhao Ji said.
"Your Majesty, it's almost time, isn't it a little too late?" Yang Jian hesitated.
"Today is New Year's Eve! At this time in previous years, we would all have a banquet with the officials in the palace in Bianliang! Although we are in Chengdu today, we should also celebrate well!" Zhao Ji said.
Yang Jian nodded, turned and left.
After about half an hour, Taishi Cai Jing, Taiwei Gao Qiu, Zhong Shidao, Liang Shicheng, Qu Duan, Wu Jie, Wu Lin and other generals of the Western Army arrived one after another! These people sat down according to their official ranks.
After coming down, not long after, countless wine and meat were brought up, and everyone began to feast!
The palace was brightly lit, with dozens of eunuchs and maids standing aside to serve these ministers. If you just looked at the scene in the palace, you would never have imagined that this was an empire that was almost at the end of its rope!
"Today is New Year's Eve. I have called you here, firstly to welcome the New Year, and secondly to discuss future strategies." Zhao Ji said slowly.
When Zhao Ji spoke, everyone stopped eating and drinking. They were all silent. No one knew what would happen to the Song Dynasty in the future.
"Tell me, can we defend Bashu?" Zhao Ji said.
"This..." Cai Jing wanted to speak, but finally stopped. The rest, Gao Qiu, Liang Shicheng, Yang Jian and others also hesitated and finally did not speak.
"Qing Zhong Ai, you are the leader of the Western Army. The Zhong Family Army under your command is brave and good at fighting. Please tell me about it first!" Zhao Ji said.
"This...I really don't dare to speak nonsense!" Zhong Shidao said with a bitter smile.
Zhao Ji frowned and kept looking down. At this moment, Qu Duan suddenly stood up and said: "Your Majesty, we will definitely be able to defend Bashu!"
"Oh?" Hearing this, Zhao Ji showed an excited expression on his face. Zhao Ji said, "It turns out to be Qu Aiqing. Tell me, why can we defend Bashu?"
Qu Duandao said: "Bashu has been an easy-to-defend but difficult-to-attack place since ancient times. As long as we guard Jianmen Pass and guard the Jinniu Road and Micang Road from Hanzhong to Bashu, the Liangshan bandits will never be able to enter Bashu! They can't enter Bashu, how can they be destroyed?
I am the Great Song Dynasty."
"Okay! Aiqing said well! Come, I will reward Qu Aiqing with one thousand taels of gold!" Zhao Ji actually said such words at this moment.
It turns out that Zhao Ji was frightened during this period, and what he wanted most was to be comforted by others! Now Qu Duan's words made him happy, and he actually did such an incredible thing!
When the ministers below heard that Qu Duan received a thousand taels of gold just for saying such a sentence, they were stunned for a moment, and then they all spoke.
"Your Majesty, Li Bai has a poem that says, 'The road to Shu is difficult, it is difficult to reach the blue sky.' The road to Shu is difficult, and it will be difficult for bandits to enter Bashu." Gao Qiu said.
"Your Majesty, the Western Army plus the Bashu garrison still has more than 500,000 troops! It is said that the Liangshan bandits only have one million troops. We are defending everywhere and occupying favorable locations, and we are not afraid of them at all!" Cai Jing said.
"I heard that the navy in Liangshan is very powerful. What if they go up the Yangtze River?" Zhao Ji said suddenly.
Hearing Zhao Ji's words, Cai Jing, Gao Qiu and others were stunned. They had not thought about this issue yet.
"Your Majesty, Mr. Zhongshi Daozhong has set up checkpoints on the water in Fuzhou, Luzhou and Rongzhou. We are not afraid of them going north!" At this time, Qu Duan said again.
"Oh, Qu Aiqing, tell me what levels these are?" Zhao Ji said hurriedly.
"In Fuzhou, we have sealed the entire Yangtze River with iron locks, and there are countless wooden fences around the iron locks! There are mountains on both sides of the river, and we have arranged countless trebuchets on the mountains. They are condescending. If
When the bandit navy arrives, there is only one way to die! If you want to climb those mountains, you will have no choice but to climb them.
It’s very difficult! We climbed up from the Bashu area, and they couldn’t climb up from the other side! Except for Fuzhou, Luzhou, Rongzhou and other places, the defenses are not worse than this, so we are not afraid of the arrival of the Liangshan bandits! Besides,
The current in the Yangtze River is very fast, so it is difficult for them to enter," Qu Duan said.
"Okay! That's great! Qu Aiqing is truly a loyal minister of the country! Only Qu Aiqing can lay down such layers of defense to resist the Liangshan bandits!" Zhao Ji said excitedly.
"Your Majesty, this is not my idea, these are arranged by Master Zhongshi Daozhong!" Qu Duan said hurriedly.
"Qing Zhong, why don't you speak?" Zhao Ji said.
"Although we have deployed layers of defenses, we should be able to stop the bandits! But since ancient times, there has never been a situation where the Central Plains were unified and Bashu became independent! No matter how easy it is to defend and difficult to attack, I am afraid that Bashu cannot compete with the entire Central Plains.
!Once the Central Plains army breaks through Jianmen Pass, Bashu will fall immediately, and the 500,000 Western troops will not be able to do anything!" Zhong Shidao sighed.
When the Song Dynasty unified the Central Plains, the Song army broke through Jianmen Pass, and the entire Hou Shu fell immediately. At that time, no one dared to fight, and all of the more than 100,000 elite soldiers in Hou Shu surrendered! Queen Huarui of Hou Shu once wrote a poem to describe this incident.
"One hundred and forty thousand
"Everyone is disarmed, and not one of them is a man!" It can be said that Jianmen Pass is not only the gateway to Bashu, but also the confidence of the Bashu defenders. Once Jianmen Pass is broken, all the defenders will immediately lose confidence, and they will never again
No courage to fight.
Hearing what Zhong Shidao said, Zhao Ji felt his whole body trembling again.
At this moment, Gao Qiu sneered and said: "Master Zhong is really alarmist! How can Jianmen Pass be broken so easily? There are hundreds of thousands of troops guarding there! Moreover, the hearts of the people today are still in our Song Dynasty! Although the Liangshan bandits are temporarily
Occupied the Central Plains, but I believe that the current Central Plains must have rebels, and these rebels will help us overthrow the Liangshan bandits!"
Master Zhong said calmly: "I hope so!"
Gao Qiu added: "Now King Kang is calling on the local officers and soldiers in southern Fujian to be diligent! I think it won't take a few days for the officers and soldiers from southern Fujian to enter Jiangnan, and then they will recover Jiangnan and the Central Plains! At that time, the Supreme Emperor can return to Bianliang
, regain the throne!”
Zhao Ji nodded and said: "That's what Gao Aiqing said! Our Song Dynasty has lasted for almost two hundred years, and our Song Dynasty will definitely stand firm in the future! Come and drink this glass of wine for our Song Dynasty tomorrow!"
At that moment, the ministers in the palace stood up and drank the wine in their glasses!
"Your Majesty, I want to go to Jianmen Pass in person and command the battle!" Zhong Shidao was dissatisfied and suddenly stood up and said.
"Okay! Aiqing will go to Jianmen Pass tomorrow morning!" Zhao Ji was stunned for a moment, then said coldly.
What Zhong Shidao said made him feel uncomfortable, and he wished Zhong Shidao would leave here immediately.
Early the next morning, Zhongshidao and Qu Duan headed towards Jianmenguan! On the first day of the new year, a cold wave hit, and the weather was a bit cold! Zhongshidao, who was more than seventy years old, felt as if he was riding on the horse.
His body is shaking a little! After all, he is old and can no longer stand such back and forth!
"Sir, you'd better take a carriage to Jianmen Pass." Qu Duan said distressedly.
"Taking a carriage is too slow! Liangshan always sends troops by surprise. In the first month, they are very likely to send troops, so I must get to Jianmen Pass in the shortest possible time!" Master Zhong said.
"Sir, do you really think we can't stop the Liangshan army?" Qu Duan said.
"It's really unstoppable!" Zhong Shidao sighed.
"Since you think we can't stop the Liangshan army, why don't we surrender to Liangshan?" Qu Duan said.
"We are ministers of the Song Dynasty. We will live as people of the Song Dynasty and die as ghosts of the Song Dynasty! I will never surrender!" Zhong Shidao shook his head.
"In Bianliang City, His Majesty has surrendered to Liangshan. He ordered officials from various places to surrender. Even if we surrender, future generations cannot say that we have no moral integrity." Qu Duan said.
"Your Majesty can surrender, but I, Zhongshi Dao, will never surrender." Zhongshi Dao said flatly.
On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the two of them came to Jianmen Pass. There were military camps everywhere, and 300,000 of the 500,000 Western troops were stationed here.