Xielie Mingding, the commander-in-chief of the East and West Military Command of Shandong and the military commander of Xuzhou Wuning Army, sneered twice.
"Those in Kaifeng thought that it was like that back then. Once you hit the Song people, you would get a benefit. Even if you can't get anything on the battlefield, you can still get benefits from the Song people's court after you retreat. The situation is different now!"
He took two steps back and forth on the tower and asked another subordinate: "What's the new news from the north?"
The subordinate shook his head, and just as he was about to open his mouth, Xie Lie Mingding suddenly waved his hand again: "It's so early in the morning, there's no news even if I think about it."
He turned back and sat down, his heavy body making the wooden chair creak: "I want to get benefits from the Song Dynasty, but I only know how to fight, and I am unable to prevent the Song Dynasty from having close contacts with the rebellion. This made both the north and the south tense, and Zhongdu
If there is a fart noise over there, from Xijing to Damingfu, you will feel like you are facing a formidable enemy!"
His voice of complaint gradually became lower, because the situation was like this and there was nothing anyone could do about it.
Earlier, Wanyan Congtan, Hou Zhi, Tian Zhuo and others accompanied King Sui to go south, leaving Zhongdu to fight against the Mongols, while his family slowly operated in Henan and opened up a new world for the Jurchens.
But what I didn't expect was that both the Mongols and the Zhongdu court were unreliable, and the traitor Guo Ning seized the power of Dajin in one fell swoop by relying on force. Seeing that Guo Ning's actions in Zhongdu are closely following each other,
, Kaifeng had no choice but to follow passively, and King Sui became the emperor.
King Sui was different from Guo Ning. Guo Ning had an army as his foundation, and all he lacked was money and food to appease the local area and reorganize government affairs. But after King Sui became emperor, he had to support such a big situation. He not only lacked money and food, but also
It exposed the weakness of the entire regime in terms of force and prestige.
So we have to fight to break the situation.
However, the Southern Dynasty always looks like an old cowhide that cannot be broken...
At the moment, Xie Lie Mingding doesn't expect much benefit from the imperial court at all from the Song Dynasty. He only hopes that the hundreds of elites he dispatched to support will not lose too much and can return to Xuzhou safely.
He once wrote to the court that instead of fighting the Song people, it would be better to devote his energy to the east and try to capture Dongpingfu, Jeju, Yanzhou, Tengzhou and other places, and force the remaining red coat army back into the mountains to occupy the plains.
At least it could squeeze some oil and water. But the people in Kaifeng were worried that this would force the Red Coat Army to defect to Zhongdu, so they never allowed it.
Therefore, although the Kaifeng imperial court had the structure of the Shandong East and West Road General Administration Office, it actually controlled very little territory in Shandong. Sometimes Xie Lie Mingding did not understand what he had gained in exchange for fighting to the death with Yang An'er two years ago.
In the past few days, he felt vaguely uneasy in his heart. He always felt that something would happen in Shandong direction.
Outsiders thought that Xie Lie was a powerful general who had experienced hundreds of battles, and that a general must be as brave as a fighter. But he himself knew how he got his reputation as a powerful general.
Since the founding of the Jin Kingdom, the Jurchens' massacre of Han children was no more difficult than cutting grass, and the number of Han children they killed was greater than the weeds in the mountains.
As long as you have the strength of your arms, wear strong armor, ride a big horse into the enemy's formation, and chop at the sallow-looking peasants holding sickles and bamboo poles, it is actually not dangerous. Killing a hundred is just more tiring than killing ten.
Point, going through hundreds of battles can only represent hard work, nothing else.
But as the situation changed, Dai Jin's enemies were no longer ordinary Han farmers. And the Kaifeng imperial court was ruled by Han people. The imperial court only relied on hundreds of thousands of Jurchens who fled south to control millions of people.
Han'er is like a group of sailors in a small boat, drifting in the boiling sea, in danger of capsizing at any time.
If you think more carefully, the Red Coat Army is a Han, and Guo Ning of Zhongdu is also a Han. The court always feels that these two families have fought fierce battles, and they must be on guard against each other, with no room for relaxation. However, what if these Han
If we join hands together, what will happen to the entire sea controlled by the Kaifeng imperial court? Xielie Mingding has no way of guessing.
Thinking of this, Xielie Mingding became more and more nervous.
Even though he was surrounded by a group of subordinates, Xie Lie Mingding still felt that there was some danger approaching. This inexplicable tension made him more and more irritable in the past few days, and he often cursed. The subordinates all thought that he was fishing for money.
He didn't want to go south to perform meritorious service, so he was irritable, but little did he know that he was just afraid.
As the Kaifeng court continued to fill Huainan with troops, Xuzhou became increasingly empty.
Logically speaking, those poor men in red coats who were entrenched in the mountains had neither the ability nor the courage to do anything. But Xie Lie Mingding really felt that something was wrong. He was a rough man and did not have the ability to peel off cocoons and analyze.
The Kaifeng court couldn't explain the truth clearly.
But in the past few days, he felt more and more that if there was fighting in the south and confrontation in the north, but only the east was calm, then there would be problems if the east was not guaranteed.
"In the past few days, we must not relax in searching for sentries along the river, and we must also go to Pizhou and Tengzhou for scouts! Do the sentries in these places report back twice a day?"
"yes!"
"Not enough!" Xie Lie Mingding shouted, slapping the table gum: "Send more people! Four times a day, no, six times a day to report back!"
The Sishui and Nanqing Rivers are all covered with silt left by the Yellow River's overflow, making it difficult for knights to travel there. The remaining red-coated troops in Pizhou and Tengzhou are rampant, and the road is difficult to walk.
General Manager Xie Lie gave an order to report back six times a day. Where would three times the manpower come from?
The officer in charge of the sentry was unhappy, but he did not dare to talk back to Xie Lie Mingding.
While bowing in response, he secretly glanced at his colleagues around him, trying to see where the county lieutenant in charge of local security was.
This county lieutenant is a native of Pengcheng. He once led hundreds of villagers to flee the army and was promoted as the leader of the village. Most of his subordinates are also proficient in geography. If he can send a few teams of people to help, the sentinels can
Got it together.
Um?
The county captain didn't come to answer Mao today?
The officer looked around again, and it seemed that there was more than one person who had not come to answer the question. Several Qianhu and Mouke, who were originally from Xuzhou and had been promoted one after another in the past two years, why didn't they come? Now Qianhu, Mouke, etc.
There are many similar military positions all over the place. These few people are not important people, but they are bold if they don't do it well. Aren't they afraid of being scolded by the steward?
When he was about to ask about this, several soldiers climbed in from outside the meeting hall: "General manager, it's not good! There is an enemy attack!"
Half a moment later, Xie Lie Mingding and his men hurriedly climbed onto the tower. When he looked up, his face turned dark immediately.
He saw the boiling sea.
Guo Ning walked ashore in the mud, taking only a few dozen steps, one step deeper and one step shallower.
The Yellow River had never been properly managed in the hands of the Jin Kingdom. In the fifth year of the Ming Dynasty, the entire Yellow River burst at the old embankment of Yangwu in Nanjing, swallowing up Fengqiu County, and then swept away millions of people in 29 counties along the Surabaya River.
The people of Li finally seized the Huai River and entered the sea. That horrific scene was only twenty years ago.
The Yellow River comes all the way east from Caozhou and Shanzhou, leaving behind large areas of yellow sand and silt wherever it goes. Just like this, Guo Ning and others are walking all the way. It clearly looks like a flat natural embankment, but it is actually a tidal flat.
, the dry soil crust on the surface cracked, and the mud was submerged up to the knees.
When the entire army crossed the tidal flat horizontally, the tidal flat was turned into a muddy flow by tens of thousands of feet and horse hooves, flowing freely. Every soldier had to struggle in it to get out. Almost everyone turned into a clay figure, like the Yellow River.
Boundless ghosts and monsters rose out of thin air in the water.
At this time, if the defenders covered the city with arrows, they would definitely cause huge casualties. But Xuzhou City remained silent in the early morning. Even though the low footsteps of the red-coated troops were like thunder as they trekked, the defenders on the city wall did not do anything.
any reaction.
Liu Erzu said that we have an internal agent in Xuzhou City. This is true. The internal agent's position is very critical, his status is high, and he has many accomplices. They are ready!
Guo Ning paused and looked around at the generals: "Everyone, are you tired?"
Yesterday we marched all day long in concealment, and this morning we made food at the third watch, and sent out troops at the fifth watch. We were still walking on this yellow mudflat, how can we not be tired? Walking one mile on this kind of mudflat is more tiring than walking ten miles on ordinary days.
Many soldiers had just walked halfway, and their shoes and socks were swallowed by the mud and sand, and they were barefoot for the next twenty miles. However, they could not hold on during the march, and more than 500 red-coated soldiers stayed in place to rest.
But those who are following Guo Ning at the moment are indeed a group of tough and daring people in the Red Coat Army. They are willing to follow Guo Ning, but it does not mean that they have lost the rebelliousness in their hearts, let alone that they are unwilling to do anything in front of Guo Ning.
He lost his prestige. At that moment, everyone said: "I'm not tired!"
“As long as you’re not tired!”
Guo Ning issued an order in a deep voice: "Send the order, divide the troops and surround them on all sides, and attack immediately. Within half an hour, I will gather them in the city and seize them!"
The soldiers who followed Guo Ning rumbled and beat the leather drum. The big drum roared, and the sound spread for ten miles. The sound of the drum was also a signal agreed in advance. When the drum sounded, the entire arc-shaped city wall on the north side of Xuzhou City
There was a lot of noise, and the north gate and the Peng Zu Tower in the northeast corner were on fire at the same time.
Looking to the south, there are also fires rising, and a thick smoke reaches a height of tens of feet. It turns out that Xiang Yu Liangma Terrace outside the south gate is on fire... that is the largest military camp of the defenders!
"Siege the city! Siege the city!"
Countless red-coated soldiers and horses rushed past with noisy noise, like a roiling yellow flood. Peng Yibin, wielding a sword in hand, rushed forward first.
Xie Lie Mingding was looking out from the north gate, and he shouted to the defenders repeatedly. However, the elite troops of Ding Haijun pressed close to the city wall, and their arrows were like locusts covering the sky, and the defenders on the city were immediately stunned.
A rather clever Jin Army officer led his men to duck away, using the female wall to avoid the arrows. They ran towards the city gate, brandishing their swords and shouting: "Close the door! Close the door!"
After two shouts, dozens of defenders near the city gate gathered their gazes.
The officer angrily yelled: "Look what I'm going to do? Close the door!"
Before he finished speaking, no fewer than seven or eight long knives and swords stabbed him out, turning him into a water bag with blood spurting out from all sides.
The next moment, the city gates on both sides were completely opened, and Peng Yibin rushed in with dozens of people first, killing the officer's subordinates like chopping melons and vegetables.
The torrent poured in from the north gate, then poured in from the east gate; another large stream rolled to the south, swallowing up the Nanshan Mountain, and then returned and poured into the south gate.
Arrows were flying, spears and spears were raised, horses' hooves roared, and the sound of fighting echoed throughout the city in an instant.