Chapter 384 This guy is digging a hole
Zeng Yaozu had a military advisor who was the second in command and was known as the Second Master.
This guy is very smart. He learned from others when it comes to making firearms. He even recruited the disciplinary violators who escaped from the Shenwei Army and made iron barrel cannons and pine tree cannons. He also knows how to make simple arrangements for the troops.
Therefore, Zeng Yaozu was full of confidence that he would become famous in one battle and break the myth of the Shenwei Army being invincible. He ordered everyone to hide and launch an ambush as soon as the Shenwei Army discovered him.
He wanted to eat as many of the Divine Mighty Army in front of him as possible.
That's why the war broke out not long after the Shenwei Army deployed their battle formation and searched forward.
Cao Youliang was careless and underestimated the enemy because of his successive victories. This time he did not strengthen his weapons like he did when he marched into Guangnan. Instead, he came lightly as if he was going to take over Yuanzhou. It was inevitable that he would suffer accidents and losses.
Fortunately, his captain adjusted the formation, otherwise he himself would have fallen into the enemy's ambush.
Even so, Zeng Yaozu still managed to get nearly three thousand people into his pocket.
These lightly armed reception soldiers seemed very weak when facing the well-prepared militia.
Zeng Yaozu's militia launched a fierce attack, and the 1,000 soldiers of the Shenwei Army who were at the front immediately showed signs of defeat. They resisted and retreated at the same time . Explosions and shouts of killing soon rang out in the valley.
Cao Youliang rushed to the front and saw arrows and logs falling from the valley. The Shenwei Army suffered heavy casualties. He was so angry that he wanted to rush in to save people. However, he was stopped by the guards. Yu Hou had organized reinforcements and set up mortars to bombard the militia blocking the mountain pass. He broke the gap and rushed in to save people.
After all, the Shenwei Army was a well-trained army. After the initial panic, the brothers surrounded in the valley quickly shrank together in small groups, relying on the terrain to resist and wait for rescue.
The soldiers who rushed in from behind, under the cover of mortars, focused on clearing out the militia's iron barrel cannons and close-range sniper positions, and gradually rescued the besieged brothers.
When the war was over, the Shenwei Army lost nearly two thousand men and withdrew from the battlefield. Zeng Yaozu's militia also quickly retreated into Pingxiang County and held their ground.
Cao Youliang wanted to lead his troops to Pingxiang immediately, but was stopped by his military commander, who suggested to stop the march.
First, they trusted the militia too much when they went out this time and they brought nothing with them. They were not fully prepared and lacked heavy firearms. They did not even consider attacking the city.
Second, the troops had just suffered a defeat and needed to reorganize the team and boost morale before fighting again.
Third, the enemy situation has changed. They are trying to force their way into Jiangnan West Road, so we must report this to the Chengdu Central Court.
When Cao Youliang saw his dead and wounded brothers, he was so angry that blood was dripping from his eyes. He asked sternly: Are we just going to let the enemy in front of us go?
Zeng Yaozu is an unforgivable criminal and must be caught and torn into pieces.
A group of soldiers were roaring in anger.
Yu Hou advised him that even if they wanted to fight, they should wait until the weapons were delivered from behind. It was impossible to ask the brothers to build ladders and climb Pingxiang City without any cover, which would be a waste of sacrifice.
The generals calmed down at this point, and Cao Youliang immediately ordered his second and third corps to march into Pingxiang with all their light and heavy weapons and belongings, determined to break open the Pingxiang county seat.
It was a day later that Chengdu learned that Cao Youliang had been ambushed. Late at night, Lao Cao received an urgent military report from Shunfengsi. Regardless of his personal safety, he ran to Zhao Yulin's house to wake him up and ask what to do.
He had to go to Changsha in person to coordinate and command the pacification of Jiangnan.
Zhao Yulin firmly disagreed.
Lao Cao is already the king. It would be unacceptable if he had to step in for such a trivial matter.
Even if the Ministry of War is gone, it is not the turn of the king to lead the army in person.
After reading the military newspaper carefully, he said that Brother Youliang already realized that it was his own carelessness that made the mistake, and he would not make the same mistake again in the future, so there was no need to worry.
He told Lao Cao not to worry, that the chief officers at all levels of the Shenwei Army had worked their way up from the grassroots level and had rich combat experience. There were also soldiers' committees at all levels, so he believed that they could handle the current danger.
He told Cao: We are not doing nothing. The Ministry of War wants to make Zeng Yaozu's false surrender public to prevent those who are not aware of the situation from blaming us for provoking war and killing our compatriots.
Order Cao Youliang to capture Yuanzhou and catch the culprit to set things right.
After Old Cao left, Zhao Feiyan said that seeing Cao Gong's conflicted expression, he must be worried about his third brother.
Zhao Yulin patted her shoulder and told her to continue sleeping. Brother Youliang is well versed in military affairs and has at least 40,000 troops under his command. How can he not defeat those militias?
As long as they take it seriously, taking over Jiangnan West Road will not be a problem at all.
He asked Feiyan to go find Zhang Xiangyang in person, use newspapers to expose the truth about how the Jiangnan militia deceived the Shenwei Army, and directly call on the people of Jinghu to face it bravely in the newspapers, completely eliminate these bad apples, and restore peace to the people.
At dawn, Zhao Yulin rushed to the government office to report for duty. The officials already knew about the attack on the Shenwei Army in Pingxiang, and they were circulating a more detailed military report: Cao Youliang led 5,000 troops to station in Pingxiang, but it turned out to be a trap set by Zeng Yaozu, which resulted in the loss of nearly 2,000 people in the Shenwei Army and countless injuries.
Cao Youliang stayed there and waited for the imperial edict from Chengdu.
Everyone began to complain, worried that it would cause dissatisfaction among the people south of the Yangtze River, which would lead to Zhao Bing using it as an excuse to start a fight between the people, resulting in great loss of lives and disaster for the people.
Zhao Yulin said that once the arrow is shot, it cannot be retrieved. He repeated his request for the Ministry of Rites to use newspapers and letters to reveal the truth. Only by making the truth known can innocent people be prevented from being deceived.
Li Zhongmian said worriedly that he had never expected that the Lin'an court would use such a shady trick. It seemed that there would be no choice but to fight to unify Jiangdong.
Zhao Yulin smiled and said that this was a change of dynasty, so how could it not involve fighting?
Lao Cao said that he had ordered the Shenwei Army to capture Pingxiang and arrest the main culprit Zeng Yaozu.
Zhao Yulin told everyone that they must fight a good propaganda war, and the newspapers should also reiterate our strategy of only killing the main culprits and not harming innocent people, so as to divide and disintegrate the stubborn camp of the Lin'an small court as much as possible.
He asked for leave from the officials and went to Changsha to take command and dispatch various military forces to stabilize the Jiangnan West Road. At present, the Minister of War Miao Gui was still in Xingyuan Prefecture. The Jiangnan West Road was a struggle within the Song Dynasty army, and the Central Council had to send someone to take command.
Last night, he thought about it carefully. Youliang is Lao Cao's brother, so naturally he didn't want to see Youliang get into trouble.
In addition, when he came back from Han River, he encouraged Youliang to take action in Guangnan. He was taking advantage of Youliang's straightforward and daring character. If he ignored Youliang now, Lao Cao would definitely feel uncomfortable.
Therefore, Zhao Yulin decided to go to Changsha to command the situation and also to issue a warning to the diehards in Jiangdong.
However, Lao Cao did not agree with him taking action, and everyone was unanimously opposed.
Only Zhao Feiyan supported him to go east to Changsha, and said that although the Pingxiang incident was small, it would affect our unification of the entire Jiangdong in the future. If Yulin went to Changsha, people all over the world would see our determination to unify the country.
The officials then agreed with reservations, telling him not to go to the front line no matter what. The Shenwei Army has grown to hundreds of thousands of troops, and Commander Zhao is the pillar of the country, so there is no need to guarantee safety.
After expressing his gratitude, Zhao Yulin went back, packed his bags and set off immediately.
When Cao Youwen returned home, he was scolded by his wife. Mrs. Cao said that he was making a big deal out of nothing. With a bitter look on her face, she forced Yulin Ge'er to go to Changsha. She hoped that the trip was safe. If something went wrong, how would he explain to all of Ge'er's wives?
When Lao Cao listened, his face became even uglier. He was depressed and left his wife to go out and find someone to drink with.
The small court in Lin'an was too close to the south of the Yangtze River. Zhao Bing learned the news half a day earlier than Chengdu that Zeng Yaozu had resisted the enemy at the border and won a great victory over the Shenwei Army. He was delighted. It seemed that there were still people who were optimistic about the court that was about to collapse, haha.
Zhao Bing immediately asked the eunuchs to convey his order, requiring all officials above the third rank to come to the palace for a banquet to celebrate and boost morale.
In fact, whether it is Zeng Yaozu or any other militia general, they all belong to a local wealthy family and are supported by these wealthy families. They have their own interests in mind when it comes to who they will allegiance to and rely on.
These powerful and wealthy families are either big landlords or merchant aristocrats. They are also considering their own future. Should they rise up and claim the throne?
Or should we follow the largest and most promising force?
The Zeng family was gambling. They were betting that although the Song Dynasty was in ruins, it was still the orthodox one. He wanted to join this camp to gain the greatest benefits for the family and add luster to the family's glory.
The dog-headed military advisor, called the Second Master, knew that they were deeply loyal to the emperor, and told them that although Lin'an was in a precarious situation, it also showed that there was a lack of capable people in the Lin'an court. As the saying goes, heroes emerge in troubled times. The two bosses were close to the emperor, and if they won two battles to resist the Shenwei Army, they would surely be reused by the emperor.
In this way, one can enter the Lin'an court and gain higher prestige and more benefits in Yuanzhou.
These militias are not like Zhao Yulin's Shenwei Army, which is an army united by organization. They have been transformed into the army of the country and the people.
Although they admired Zhao Yulin, the founder of the army, they no longer considered themselves Zhao Yulin's private soldiers and knew who they were fighting for.
As it happened, Cao Youliang had already received a military order from Chengdu, asking him to command the troops rushing to Jiangnan to unify their actions, defeat the enemy and capture Zeng Yaozu alive. He immediately took action.
On the Mobei grassland, the Khan of the grassland royal court was in worsening health. He ate less and moved less. When he saw the beauties dancing in the palace, he could only associate them with his imagination.
The old prime minister Yelu Chucai reported to him: The small court in Lin'an and the Shenwei Army started fighting in the south of the Yangtze River. Although Lin'an is bound to be defeated, it will objectively hit the morale of the Shenwei Army, which is beneficial to our Great Mongol Empire.
The Khan drank the fresh deer blood, smiled with red mouth and said, "Young man Zhao Bing did something that made me happy, but it's just a mantis trying to stop a chariot, so it doesn't make much sense anymore."
He sighed and told Yelu Chucai to just watch and see, because in the end it would still depend on his men from the grassland to defeat the Shenwei Army and kill Zhao Qier.
The Khan said sternly that he wanted Hubli to make careful plans for him and take action in the autumn.
