Volume 5 Chapter 47: Cold Words
At dawn, Han Shizhong entered Tieling Pass and Li Yanxian led the people to greet him.
In front of everyone, Li Yanxian's expression was calm, and Han Shizhong was smiling and talking, and neither of them lost their composure... Or, after going through the motions, Prince Han just had someone insert his unparalleled banner behind the gate, and then he directly occupied the highest and most upright room in the middle of the dilapidated pass and went to sleep.
Li Yanxian and others had nothing to say. Not to mention that Han Shizhong's cavalry had the most gains last night... In fact, it was not much. It was dark and Han Shizhong's soldiers were not familiar with the terrain. It was difficult to catch up with the cavalry. In addition, many Jin soldiers fell behind, and not many people actually arrived at the pass and fell into the danger zone... It was only about 700 to 800 people, which was one-third of the actual number of invading enemy troops. Wanyan Zhehe had not yet been captured.
But whether it was the seven or eight hundred or the one or two thousand in the battle in front of the Yellow Crane Tower, Han Shizhong's troops basically achieved all the gains against the main force of the Jin army, Meng'an and Mouke, since the war began.
He alone gained more than the other nine military governors' subordinates combined, and he basically did it all himself.
Rounding it off, if there are another twenty such battles, the Jin army will have no time to fight and will simply be considered a failure in the decisive battle and surrender and the country will be destroyed.
Besides, he was the unique prince and the Marshal of Hedong whose orders were known to the world. Naturally, he was qualified to look down on anyone, especially Li Yanxian who had just suffered heavy losses.
Compared to Prince Han, Ma Kuo and Ma Zichong, another rescue hero who arrived at noon with great difficulty, had a more appropriate attitude. He was even cautious... There was no other way. It was not only because Ma Kuo's status was obviously different from Li Yanxian's, nor was it a problem of Prince Xin. The more important point was that after this battle, Tieling Pass was stabilized and the Taihang Volunteer Army was officially back. He had to strive for enough treatment for the Taihang Volunteer Army and did not dare to offend anyone at this time.
However, Ma Kuo was even more sleepy than Han Shizhong. He barely stayed in the palace and watched Li Yanxian arrange the camp for his army. Then he could not hold on any longer, so he found a room and fell asleep.
But Ma Kuo did not sleep for long. Before evening, he turned over and dared not sleep again. He went out directly, found some cold water and just wiped his face. When he was about to go out, someone was waiting for him at the door. He said that Marshal Han had woken up and was observing the situation at the pass with Li Jiedu. He had given special instructions and was waiting for Ma Zongguan to get up and invite him to go to the pass.
Ma Kuo naturally had nothing to say.
However, although it is called a pass, Tieling Pass is not really a great pass. It is just a chokepoint. It gradually became famous because the Hedong area was particularly important during the Five Dynasties... but it is not a big or good reputation.
But then again, after this battle, I'm afraid he will have some reputation.
Apart from anything else, three of the ten military governors of the Song Dynasty gathered inside the pass at this time. Looking northeast of the pass towards Quwo, less than 20 miles away on the bank of the Huishui River, there was a serious Jin general with two well-known commanders, which was enough to leave behind some famous scenic spots and historical sites.
Without further ado, let's just say that Ma Kuo received the message and had just entered the small courtyard inside the pass. Before he stepped onto the gate, he saw two large banners standing on the gate tower. The 'Unparalleled in the World' banner was standing in the middle unreasonably, pushing the 'Mainstay' banner to one side, making it seem almost cramped, and he secretly thought something was wrong.
When I really climbed up this third-class small gate tower and turned around, I was shocked again... It turned out that there were dozens of people gathered on the platform of just a small gate.
It would be fine if these people were just guards, but the key lies in their attire. If they are not commanders, they are leaders. At the very least, they are academicians or staff members. Under normal circumstances, they are all important figures. But at this moment, they are just standing there next to each other, not daring to say a word.
As he felt more and more uneasy, Ma Zichong couldn't help thinking to himself for some unknown reason, if Balisu could get a heavy artillery carriage and fire a single shot instead of using a gunpowder cannon, the Northern Expedition would probably have to be called off.
"Manager Ma is here." One of them turned around and looked at him, his eyes flashing like lightning, but he was the first to give up his seat and stand up to greet him.
Ma Kuo saw from a distance that this person was sitting in the middle of the table, and that he had a majestic bearing. Moreover, although he was only wearing a light and soft cotton garment, he wore an extravagant jade belt. He knew that this person was Han Shizhong, whom he had met once in Hebei before, so he immediately bowed and greeted him, not daring to be negligent at all:
"Prince! Marshal! I haven't seen you for ten years, and the Prince is still so free and easy!"
When Han Shizhong saw that Ma Kuo was so considerate and mentioned their past relationship, he burst into laughter and took the initiative to step forward and hold his hand.
The two sides exchanged a few pleasantries. Ma Kuo saw that Li Yanxian had a calm face and stood aside with his hands behind his back. However, he did not dare to neglect him: "Li Jiedu, we were in a hurry at noon and were unable to talk about old friends in the village..."
It turned out that the two men were actually from the same hometown in neighboring counties, one from Longxi and the other from Didao.
When Li Yanxian heard the other party bring up this relationship, he felt it was inappropriate to use Qiao as an excuse, so he quickly came up to shake hands and greet him.
After some more greetings, the three of them sat down on the three chairs side by side that had been prepared by Guan Shang long ago. Sure enough, Han Shizhong sat in the middle, Li Yanxian sat on the left, and Ma Kuo sat on the right, without any mistake at all.
The three of them sat down and chatted a little while pointing at the camp that was being built at the foot of the pass. Li Yanxian then thanked the two for their support last night, and the atmosphere became quiet.
As for Ma Kuo, he had long noticed that the atmosphere was not right, and he knew that the others had no room to interrupt, so he quickly made jokes and flattered the two of them.
However, when talking about the joke that if Han Shizhong fought another twenty such battles, the Jin army would be defeated and wiped out, Han Shizhong's reaction was a bit too much.
"What Manager Ma said... makes it seem as if I, Han Shizhong, am not a human being." As soon as Han Shizhong said this, he threw his head back and laughed. His laughter was so loud that it even echoed in the mountains and gullies on both sides, and it continued without stopping, showing the power of Prince Han.
Seeing this smile, Li Yanxian and Ma Kuo had no choice but to laugh dryly twice to apologize, but they soon stopped because they had realized that what was coming would definitely come.
As expected, Han Shizhong laughed for a long time and then stopped. He did not say anything to Ma Kuo who told the joke, but turned his head to Li Yanxian:
"Li Jiedu... Tell me, am I a human being?"
Li Yanxian's expression remained unchanged: "I have only heard that Prince Han has been writing in Chang'an these years and has written some great poems. I have never heard that Prince Han went to Mount Zhongnan and became an immortal."
"Yes." Han Shizhong looked at the still chaotic scene below the pass and smiled with emotion. "I am also a mortal... When I was young, I wandered around Yan'an Prefecture and was unaware of everything. When I grew up, I was confused about the frontier and thought that everything was possible. But in fact, I met a wise master in the middle of Jianyan, and then I became successful and got a jade belt... Until today, I have read a little bit, and have some other achievements and knowledge. I began to think about the affairs of the king and the world, and win a reputation before and after my death, but I didn't expect that it was all in vain." Having said this, without waiting for the people around him to speak, Han Liangchen pointed his finger directly at Wang Shixiong behind him. "Do you know that this guy started to give in to me when he practiced martial arts with me a year ago? It shows that I am indeed a mortal, not a god."
Not to mention Li Yanxian and Ma Kuo, just look at the dozens of commanding officers, rebel leaders, and military staff standing behind the three of them, almost all of them looked at Wang Shixiong in surprise... This is a man who is more capable than Prince Han!
But the majestic Wang Shixiong stood there with his sword in his hand, feeling guilty.
In this kind of situation, everyone knew that Prince Han would lose his temper and go to Li Jiedu to decide who was superior and who was inferior, but was it their place to interfere between the two? Moreover, they were the focus of everyone's attention.
In fact, it was true. After everyone came to their senses, no one dared to speak.
Li Yanxian was stunned for a moment, but he remained calm: "I still remember the early years of Jianyan, when the imperial camp was first established, Prince Han came to Nanjing and looked at the generals accompanying the emperor. He boasted that he should be the first in the world. Why has he lost his spirit now?"
"It's not that I've lost my edge, but I have to speak in accordance with the official's 'seek truth from facts'." Han Shizhong adjusted the jade belt around his waist and responded casually. "Since I am a human being, not a god, I will grow old, get sick and die. On the battlefield, I will be shot to death by arrows, stabbed to death by iron spears, and smashed to death by hammers and axes without armor... Li Jiedu, do you think it's right or wrong?"
This kind of talk is very taboo in the military, and the atmosphere is already very bad when it is said at this time.
Li Yanxian's face was as gloomy as water, and he simply shut up.
But Han Shizhong would never let him off like this: "Besides, what's wrong with my words today and my claiming to be the best in the world? Am I, Han Shizhong, no longer unrivaled in the world today? Among the 300,000 heroes in the imperial camp, who dares to say that he is better than me? Not to mention Qu Da, Wu Da, Lao Zhang, those useless guys in the Western Army who were crushed to death by me, Yue Fei is also a marshal at a young age, and his martial arts are not bad. But even he dares to say that he is invulnerable to swords and spears in battle, and cannot be stabbed to death by the Jin people with one spear or one knife? "
Li Yanxian remained silent.
"It's you, Li Jiedu, the backbone, what a great title! You defended Shanzhou for eight years, divided the east and the west, and prevented the Jin people from working together. This contribution is extraordinary... But even so, you, Li Jiedu, are not a human being?" Han Shizhong continued to look at him jokingly.
After these words were spoken, the faces of many officers from Li Yanxian's Shaanxi-Luoyang army at the pass changed, and Ma Kuo also became completely nervous.
After a long pause, Li Yanxian, who was pushed to the point of being in a panic, finally spoke, but he remained calm in front of the public : "Prince Han is joking. Even if I am confused, I know that the contribution of Shanzhou is actually something neither awkward nor high. How can it compare to Prince Han's service to the emperor since before Jianyan? The greatest contribution is to save the master..."
"If you say so, you still don't accept it." Han Shizhong interrupted him with a sneer. "You still think you are a natural talent. If you were not tied to Shanzhou, you would have done something as powerful as Guan Yu. It was because of this that you were wanted by Minister Li..."
"Is Li Gang right or am I right?" Li Yanxian's expression finally changed.
"You two..." Ma Kuo saw that things were not going well and quickly interrupted.
Unexpectedly, the two men ignored him. Han Shizhong just laughed and shook his head again: "I am not here to talk about old things today... Li Jiedu, I just want to ask you one thing. You are a hero in the world, Guan Yu who has been wronged, but your 30,000 or 40,000 soldiers in the Shaanxi-Luoyang Imperial Camp are also heroes in the world like you? If so, why couldn't you move after being attacked last night, and could only wait for me and Ma Zongguan to come to rescue? Didn't we just capture two cities and run 145 miles? How did it collapse?"
When Li Yanxian heard this, he secretly exerted force on the armrest of the chair with his left hand, but his face remained calm: "Marshal, are you going to investigate yesterday's battle and enforce military law here?"
"What the hell is military law!" Han Shizhong sneered. "You are not like Qu Da who wrote anti-government poems and beat up Minister Hu. Can I whip you to pieces? Even yesterday's military affairs are not something I, a marshal, can ask about... Did the golden messenger who rang the bell just arrive today and say that Li Qiong is here too? It's just that the river in Shanzhou is a little narrow, so he came a little late?"
Li Yanxian moved his lips , waited for a moment, and then lowered his voice to reply:
"I will apologize to the government for what happened last night."
"Why do you need to come and apologize?" Han Shizhong continued to sneer, but he turned around again in his chair and pointed at the generals behind him. "There are more than a dozen boxes of secret letters in and out of the pass, and there are also more than a dozen documents from the Imperial City Department and the Military Control Department... I'm afraid that the three of us may not know as much as the officials on the other side of the Yellow River about the messy accounts yesterday and last night."
Li Yanxian finally lost his composure: "So, the Prince of Han came here just to ridicule me today?"
"So what if I laugh at you?" Han Shizhong finally became serious. "Li Jiedu, we are all veterans... No matter how strange the incident last night was, it has nothing to do with the others. It's just your greed for merit and recklessness! If you hadn't rushed here with your entire army to fight for merit, and even exhausted the soldiers, how could the Wanyan cavalry with only a few thousand scattered cavalrymen have rushed to the camp of nearly 20,000 people? Besides, it would be fine if you were just fighting for merit, after all, you have the Tieling Pass to explain it, but let me ask you, why did you only report to the emperor this time and not to me?"
Li Yanxian's face was as gloomy as water, but he was unable to refute.
In fact, he realized his underestimation of the enemy and fatal mistake after arriving at the pass yesterday evening, before the Jin army raided the camp... Because at that time he found that the so-called main force of his own army, which had rushed a long distance and captured four cities, Xiaxian, Wenxi, Caozhang and Dongzhen, was already exhausted and lost the basic organizational and combat capabilities.
At that time, they could only maintain the marching inertia and external momentum, but they were already vulnerable inside.
Therefore, he did not choose to attack Tieling Pass as soon as possible yesterday, because he was afraid that a direct attack would fail and would expose this fact.
In sharp contrast, his subordinate vanguard Lu Heshang's troops, with only a few hundred people, arrived at the pass in the morning and chose to seize the pass without hesitation.
Therefore, not to mention that he was unable to guard against the subsequent surprise attack by the Jin army, nor did he have the ability to guard against it. He was even lucky enough to capture Tieling Pass.
"And there's Guanbei... What do you think of the battle during the day and the bombing at night?!" Han Shizhong was still trying to control Li Jiedu. "It's your credit that we captured Tieling Pass, but so many people died. Is it a victory or a defeat?"
Hearing this, Ma Kuo, who had been cautious all the time, also changed his attitude a little - although Li Yanxian had always been the one in contact with Taihang Mountain, and they had some friendship, the problem was that the two sides were on the same level after all. Before he arrived, the army suffered heavy casualties at the hands of Li Yanxian, and in the end some of the blame had to be put on this mainstay.
"What does Prince Han want to say?" Li Yanxian finally lost his patience.
"Simple." Han Shizhong was too lazy to say anything more. "I just want to tell Li Jiedu... this war is a national war. Hedong is the main attacker, the emperor is the commander-in-chief, but I am not. I, Han Shizhong, and the left army of the imperial camp are actually the vanguard! What vanguard are you fighting for?! Did you fight for the vanguard?"
Li Yanxian tried very hard not to bite her fingernails.
Because he knew that there was no point in refutation or loss of composure here... It was one thing that Li Yanxian's political status and military qualifications were not as good as Han Shizhong's; it was another thing that he was defeated last night and owed a favor to others; the most crucial thing was, as Han Shizhong reminded him, the real decision maker was Emperor Zhao, and everything here could not be hidden from Emperor Zhao, who had already controlled the commander-in-chief in Heyin.
Han Shizhong's behavior was half true and half false, and he was just speaking to Emperor Zhao.
It's even hard to say whether there's some deliberate acting involved here, so he's deliberately breaking up with me to reduce suspicion.
There was a moment of silence that made the generals behind him feel guilty, and what broke the silence was not the general manager Ma who suddenly realized something, but the rumbling sound of horse hooves and a five-colored flag holding the sun.
Balisu arrived, and brought with him a large number of Jurchen cavalry, which caused the Guanbei troops, who had just established some camp regulations, to fall into panic again.
There was no need for anyone to remind him, as Shao Long, the commander of the imperial army, had already hurried down to the pass to take control of the camp in front of the pass.
Han Shizhong sat upright on the chair, motionless, just looking at the smoke and dust under the flag with a half-smile. When the smoke and dust gradually settled, he turned his head and gave orders for the third time, but his smile was like a spring breeze: "Wang Shixiong, go down and ask Balisu for me..."
"How, how do you ask?" Wang Shixiong was a little nervous for a moment.
"Ask him if he can see my big banner clearly. If he can, get out of here and go back to Liaodong, and I will spare his life." Han Liangchen, Prince of Yan'an, pinched the jade belt around his waist and responded with a smile.
