On the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month, it was snowing outside. Wu Jie was eating mutton soup and pancakes in the central army tent north of Taiyuan City, while Zhao Jiu was sitting at the top with an expressionless face, watching Wu Jie eat mutton soup and pancakes.
That's how interesting it is.
This not only means that Emperor Zhao is lamenting that everyone can bring him surprises and unexpected things, but more importantly, he finds that in a complex system, a person who seems to have mastered everything can actually master very limited things... This feeling has begun in the autumn of the first year of Jianyan, and until the upcoming tenth year of Jianyan, it seems that it has never changed.
This has nothing to do with his prestige or his achievements, because there are always strange things at work between people. Changes in the external situation never seem to bring about any unified changes. A big good change always has some bad effects, and some bad things always seem to have acceptable reasons and processes behind them.
While Zhao Jiu's mind was wandering, Wu Jie had already finished three bowls of mutton soup and pancakes, then stood up and respectfully thanked Emperor Zhao... This gratitude should be a very simple and sincere expression, because there is nothing more comfortable than having a full and warm meal after a few days of forced march in the cold winter without having to report or think about other things.
Let alone other things, only Wu Jie's predecessor, the Zhao Song official who was generally compared to Emperor Guangwu, could think of asking someone to serve hot food. In the past, not to mention Qu Duan, any superior, even Wu Jie's father who was old but not old at heart, would not be so attentive.
"How did Wu Qing come so quickly?"
Zhao Jiu came to his senses and raised his hand to stop the other party from bowing. He then went straight to the point with a blank expression, and pointed at the table in front of the other party. "Take it away, and bring me a bowl of soup."
"So that the emperor knows, the main reason is that Wanyan Salihe closed the city and refused to come out." Wu Jie sat back in his original position according to the emperor's signal and responded carefully. "So, after I crossed the river from Wubaozhai and lured the garrison commander of Lishi, the capital of Shizhou, to surrender, I found that the road ahead was smooth, so I divided my troops into 5,000 each, with the commander Guan Shigu as the supervisor, and went to the north of Lanzhou Loufan City and the south of Shipenzhai to resist. Then I only led 5,000 combat troops and 15,000 Dangxiang auxiliary troops to cross the mountain lightly... As for the rest of my subordinates, there is still a main force of 20,000 combat troops, led by Deputy Commander Guo Hao, who set out from the three states outside the river, and entered Shuozhou from Baode Army to suppress the southern route of Datong, while Yelu Yudu and Huerzahusi should leave Yunnei from Yinshan and suppress the northern route of Datong... In addition, my brother Wu Lin supervised the remaining subordinates of Shangyuying's rear army and 30,000 Dangxiang auxiliary troops to take charge of the logistics of the transportation of Shaanxi Road and Ningxia Road outside the river."
These were all planned, except that Wanyan Sali's fear of fighting became a very interesting breakthrough point, allowing Wu Jie to calmly pass through the undefended Jurchen defense zone.
As expected, Zhao Jiu nodded and immediately stopped caring about it. He just continued to ask, "That being said, why did you have to come so quickly? Isn't it too hard?"
At this time, the mutton soup was served again. Wu Jie took the opportunity to bow slightly in front of the table and said, "Serving the country and being loyal to the king is natural for a minister or a general."
Unexpectedly, faced with such a matter-of-fact answer, Emperor Zhao fell silent instead, so that the originally empty tent became quiet for a moment, and the originally proper conversation between the emperor and his subjects also stopped instantly. For a moment, only the noisy movement outside the tent seemed particularly clear.
This also made Wu Jie, who was always good at accommodating, a little panicked... It had been five years since Yaoshan, and now the Northern Expedition had reached the city of Taiyuan. The prestige was undoubtedly growing, to the point that no one in the world was qualified to confront him... No one thought that the young emperor of Jin or Yelu Dashi, or the two remaining ruling princes of Jin were qualified to be on an equal footing with this official. This was not a matter of national strength, but the young emperor of Jin plus the two ruling princes, plus a group of Jurchen households, might be the one who had the final say.
After a long time, Emperor Zhao, who had no one in the world qualified to resist him, finally spoke, but he was the first to sigh: "Wu Qing, am I not scary when I look like this?"
Wu Jie was at a loss for what to do and didn't know how to respond. He could only glance inside the tent, but apart from a few guards, there was not a single close minister in the tent. The newly promoted and active iron-faced guard Shao Chengzhang was not there, and even Yang Yi Zhong was not there.
It also made Wu Dutong even more nervous.
"Actually, I won't hide it from you." Zhao Jiu sighed more and more when he saw this, as if he was apologizing or explaining. "Since the Northern Expedition, I seem to have everything planned out and have done my best, but I am increasingly anxious inside, fearing that I will lose a battle or have insufficient logistics, which will make me a laughing stock in the world... Therefore, my thoughts gradually become complicated, and I am suspicious... When I saw you coming so quickly today, my first reaction was that you, Wu Jinqing, are just like Han Liangchen, Li Shaoyan, Qu Shiyin and others, fearing that you will not get military merit, so you are desperate... This seems a bit suspicious."
Wu Jie was stunned for a moment, but then he felt relieved: "Isn't it unusual for the emperor to have such a thought? You know, everyone in the world knows that this Northern Expedition is to determine the situation in the world, who doesn't want to make an unprecedented contribution? And even if we, the ministers, don't have such thoughts, how can we withstand the pushing and instigation of our subordinates?"
"Yes." Zhao Jiu seemed to be thinking. "Like Qu Duan before, he was forced by his subordinates to come and ask for a fight even though he knew it was impossible. I had no choice but to give him a whip so that he would give an explanation to those people in the Imperial Camp Cavalry."
Wu Jie hesitated for a moment after hearing this, but after looking at the official in front of him, he responded carefully: "If it were someone else, it would be fine, but I know the truth about General Qu... He used to claim to be a genius in the world, but he almost fell into ruin. It was all thanks to your generosity. I shouldn't have disobeyed you again, but the Imperial Cavalry did have some opinions..."
"I know." Zhao Jiu leaned sideways and held his forehead with his hand. "The Imperial Camp Cavalry was formed hastily, and its origins are mixed. Although he is the commander-in-chief and the governor, the deputy commander-in-chief Li Shifu has made great contributions. The loyalty and bravery of his father and son are well known to the world, but he was relegated to the position of deputy commander-in-chief due to his age and background... What's more terrible is that the number of Tangut light cavalry led by him almost accounts for half of the cavalry . In other words, in terms of battlefield experience, Tangut light cavalry is also slightly better than the newly formed heavy cavalry... The remaining half of the newly formed heavy cavalry is divided into two, and there is also Liu Qi with the Tibetan cavalry and Xihe Army who occupy half of the country... It is ridiculous to say that these people do not listen to Qu Duan's command, but it is actually unlikely that Qu Duan can properly subdue them... And those direct descendants he relies on, such as the Zhang brothers, and Xiahou Yuan and others, if they have the intention to make contributions, how can he still endure it? Therefore, he can only bite the bullet and take my whip to give an explanation to his confidants."
Let’s talk about what kind of person Wu Da is?
This man was probably the most tactful among the generals, but that didn't mean he didn't have the determination and courage, otherwise he wouldn't have gritted his teeth and tied up Qu Duan and handed him over to Hu Yin and Wan Qi Xie. Or maybe he was so tactful later because he had been ordered to tie up his superior once, so he was not willing to show his sharp side easily.
However, these are all old stories. The relationship between Wu Da and Emperor Zhao is actually very interesting... Compared with Han Shizhong, Zhang Jun, Zhang Rong, Yue Fei, and even Qu Duan, Wu Da, as one of the chief commanders of the imperial camp, has always lacked some distinctive "good stories" with Emperor Zhao.
That's right, those things like rebelling at night and breaking into the camp, and being whipped in public.
Wu Da himself was recommended by Hu Yin to replace Qu Duan, and he rose to become a general. Then he maintained his status with his talent and ability to deal with people. Finally, he shined in Yaoshan and became known to the world as a general... There was a lack of personal ties between him and Emperor Zhao.
In a sense, Wu Da also wanted to have a heart-to-heart talk with the officials and establish some personal relationships. He was not just being smooth and polite with his colleagues.
Therefore, when Emperor Zhao finished his long and rambling speech, the commander of the imperial camp's rear army immediately realized that this was an opportunity... He believed that the other generals and ministers must be as keenly aware of Emperor Zhao's pre-war tension and suspicion as he was, because this was indeed normal and difficult to hide from those shrewd generals and ministers, or even the close ministers.
But it was obvious that arriving at the right time was better than arriving early, and only Wu Da encountered the opportunity for the official to try to confide in him.
"So that the emperor knows, I heard about Qu Dutong being whipped on the way."
Wu Da was thinking about it, and he didn't delay to answer the Emperor Zhao's question. "But in my opinion, everyone has their own difficulties and ideas. Qu Dutong was being controlled by his subordinates, so he might as well take advantage of the situation and test the waters. But what's the harm? Who doesn't have their own little thoughts? Who dares to say that they are selfless?"
Zhao Jiu was slightly stunned.
"For example, the Prince of Han, he is the best warrior in this dynasty. He is fighting for merit now, just to keep his position as the first in merit. Maybe he wants to fight comfortably, so Hezhong Prefecture made a great effort, but he really doesn't care about his subordinates." Wu Jie seemed not to see the strange look of Emperor Zhao, and talked directly. "But like Li Jiedu, he fought for merit at Tieling Pass before, firstly, he worked hard in Shanzhou for eight years, which was really aggrieved, and secondly, because most of his troops were from Shanluo, and the army was mixed, he wanted to clear the name for his subordinates... As for Ma Zongguan, Ma Zongguan seemed not to fight, and he couldn't fight, but that was because he didn't want to fight for his own merit, but all depended on whether his subordinates could get results after this battle, so he didn't fight for his subordinates."
At this point, Wu Jie saw that Emperor Zhao had no intention of stopping him, so he continued to talk: "However, even these three, as well as General Qu, although they all wanted to gain merit and reputation, when they met the Emperor, they were able to stop and restrain their thoughts, and instead obey orders. Even if they have some selfish motives, what's the harm?"
"Wu Qing." Zhao Jiu finally laughed. "You are trying to comfort me in a roundabout way, saying that I am just like the other four. Although I am also worried about the outcome of the battle and have some anxiety and doubt, I have never done anything out of control. So even if I have some thoughts, what's the harm... right or wrong?"
"Your Majesty is wise." Wu Jie stood up and bowed his head. At this time, the steam from the bowl of soup in front of him was no longer hot.
"Thank you, Mr. Wu." Zhao Jiu shook his head, smiling. "But Mr. Wu, I am really different from them..."
Wu Jie didn't know what he was thinking, but his face was solemn: "I know the difficulties of the emperor, which are a million times more troublesome than those of us ministers... The overall situation of the world, north and south, east and west, all aspects are under the emperor's consideration, while we ministers only need to take care of the present, how can it be the same thing?"
"Logistics are consuming too fast." Zhao Jiu shook his head more and more. "Armor and routine military supplies are sufficient, but for food, horses, and clothing, the court actually prepared roughly according to the annual consumption of 300,000 soldiers and 500,000 civilians, but there are too many variables... The consumption of civilians is much more than expected, and there are suddenly more than 100,000 refugees in Hebei, and Yue Pengju suddenly wants to set up a large camp of dozens of miles in Daming Prefecture, all of which require logistics like water... It's the same in Hedong. In addition to the original number, there are only tens of thousands more people, but the consumption in front and behind has doubled, and Ma Kuo's troops are more than expected. In addition, you come here this time, and there are Dangxiang people, Khitan people, and Mongolian reinforcements behind you, and we have to provide money and food for them. I don't know if we can stop them from taking advantage of the situation to plunder the place... It's really too difficult, and I am really worried."
For the time being, we will not count the number of casualties since the start of the war. We can only say that there are 300,000 soldiers in the imperial camp, 90,000 in Hebei, and 210,000 in Hedong. Now we have to count the 15,000 Khitan reinforcements and 20,000 Western Mongolian reinforcements. The civilian laborers were 500,000 at the beginning, and now according to Emperor Zhao, there are probably no less than 600,000 or 700,000. In addition, there are 50,000 or 60,000 Dangxiang auxiliary soldiers whose consumption is greater than that of civilian laborers and less than that of combat soldiers... Wu Jie didn't need to calculate, he probably knew in his heart that Emperor Zhao's statement was probably not exaggerated at all.
After all, no one had ever tried to prepare for a war on this scale... The previous five-way attack on Xia was one example, but that time, the logistics collapsed halfway through the battle. Wu Da was actually quite familiar with this.
Thinking of this, Wu Jie also became completely serious: "May I ask your Majesty, if that's the case, how much food and grass do we have left?"
"I cannot give an exact number for the moment, but the previous consumption was 50% more than originally estimated. Once the rear troops of your imperial camp and the reinforcements from the north move, the number will almost double." Zhao Jiu gave a very terrifying and intuitive result.
"That is to say, the original one year is now estimated to be just over half a year." Wu Jie did some calculations in his mind and almost blurted out, "The war has been going on for almost three months... Must we stop fighting before the Cold Food Festival next year?"
"That's about right!" Zhao Jiu sighed. "At that time, even if we still had soldiers and some money and food, we had to stop fighting and save our strength... Otherwise, even if we didn't use the Jurchens, the Mongols and the Koreans would cause us a lot of trouble. Sometimes I really don't understand why the Jurchens and the Mongols could hold on?"
Because they are not the royal army, because they signed the contract to be used and thrown away, because they are fighting on the inside, because they carry livestock with them and drink goat's milk and cow's milk, how can they be the same?
Wu Jie was speechless, and did not say anything. Instead, he skipped the question and continued to ask: "Then may I ask the emperor... Is this why the emperor wants to quickly capture Taiyuan City?"
"Yes." Zhao Jiu nodded in response. "If we can quickly capture Taiyuan City, we might be able to take advantage of the spring sun to fight a decisive battle in Hebei and achieve complete success."
"But there is one thing I have to say now that I am here... I have been to Taiyuan before. This city may look small, but it has almost no military flaws... Especially since the Fen River is about to thaw." Wu Jie bowed sincerely. "Your Majesty, haste makes waste."
"I know." Zhao Jiu nodded again, but suddenly changed the subject. "Jin Qing... you just talked about the selfishness of other generals for a long time, and you half-heartedly admitted that you had selfishness, but you never said what it was... You came so quickly this time, maybe you heard some rumors that I was going to go to Yaoshan and asked you to give you the general strategy of the Hedong war, so you couldn't wait to come?"
Wu Jie seemed a little embarrassed, but he knew that it was pointless to hide anything in front of this official.
Then, the man paused for a moment, then bowed his head and admitted, "I am ashamed."
"It's okay." Zhao Jiu sighed again, then finally stood up and walked out with his hands behind his back. "I do have this intention. I have also let Han Liangchen and Li Yanxian know more or less. Wu Qing can also make some preparations... But before that, I have a letter with Yue Pengju to try to break the city together tomorrow... So, you have to make two preparations, the overall preparation after breaking the city, or the overall preparation without breaking the city, because no matter which one, after tomorrow, I will hand over the overall situation here to you, just like the story of Yaoshan, you will be in charge of the overall planning, and I will also relax appropriately."
Wu Jie was stunned for a moment, not knowing whether to express gratitude, lose his composure, or even be at a loss.
After saying this, Emperor Zhao directly lifted the big curtain, and saw that it was actually quite bright outside. It turned out that while the emperor and his minister were talking in the tent, the snow outside the tent, although not big, had been falling one after another, and before they knew it, the ninth year of Jianyan had turned slightly white.
On the twenty-ninth day of the twelfth lunar month, the sky was about to get dark. Taira no Kiyomori, who had worked hard all day to arrange the rear troops in the imperial camp, and other knights of the Red Heart Team returned to the camp in groups of three or five through the snow.
After hesitating for a moment, or perhaps thinking of Jin Baozhong's old age, and today as a close minister of the emperor, he took the initiative to go to the Dangxiang auxiliary soldiers to inquire about their well-being and try to coordinate various matters. At the same time, he did not forget to encourage these people to fight loyally for the officials. The leaders of the Dangxiang auxiliary soldiers, whether they had military positions or not, all regarded Jin Baozhong as their leader and were respectful to him like children. After that, Taira no Kiyomori decided to visit his wounded compatriots again.
But since he was going to visit, and there were so many wounded soldiers, if he wanted to show kindness like Ren Sheren, he couldn't go empty-handed. At that time, he was serving in the army with the emperor, and all his wealth was in the public residence in Tokyo, so he didn't have much money on him.
However, although Taira no Kiyomori was young, he had gained some knowledge and understanding from following the Emperor Zhao. How could he be stumped? So he simply took the Persian emerald that he had received discussed with his colleagues. He put the stone in the hands of a wealthy officer and easily asked his colleagues to collect a lot of money and silk.
Having the hard currency in hand was not enough, Taira no Kiyomori went to Liu Yan and Jin Baozhong to explain the whole story. Liu Yan was honest and serious, and he had no intention of not agreeing. Jin Baozhong also knew that Taira no Kiyomori was a foreign hostage who could be used by the emperor, so how could he not give him face and directly helped to issue the logistics documents.
Therefore, Taira no Kiyomori took the documents and went to the logistics camp to find his acquaintances, bought a lot of medicinal herbs, dried meat, and winter clothes at a reasonable price, and spent a lot of money to ask a few civilians to help take them in a cart. Only then did he go to see the injured Japanese samurai.
Let's talk about what these remaining injured warriors experienced in Japan, and what they experienced in the Song Dynasty? They had been treated with grace, power and respect since they landed, and their slightly self-righteous mentality was beaten to the Western Liao in the battle a few days ago. Now they have long thrown away those strange thoughts and are only in awe.
In this situation, when Taira no Kiyomori came to visit them, they could only be grateful.
As for Minamoto no Tameyoshi, whose arm was hit by a bone, although he had always been jealous of Taira no Kiyomori's father, there was no fundamental conflict between the two families at this time, and they still had to maintain their usual friendship. What's more, they were in a foreign land at this time, so he was completely unguarded against Taira no Kiyomori. He grabbed the other party with one hand and started a private conversation with him in front of the couch in his tent.
From how many soldiers the Song Dynasty had, to what the regulations of the Jin Dynasty were, to the diplomatic relations with surrounding countries, many questions accumulated along the way were all thrown out... Yuan Weiyi had asked others these questions before, but his Chinese was very reluctant and the information he got was very perfunctory. This time he finally got a real opportunity to communicate.
After a conversation, Yuan Weiyi learned that of the 400 military prefectures of the Song Dynasty, 300 were still in its hands at this time. The actual number of combat troops in this campaign was 300,000, with countless auxiliary troops and protective forces, and an annual income of tens of millions of strings of cash. Naturally, he was shocked.
And when he learned that the Jin Kingdom was also a vast country, and that its powerful Jurchen armored cavalry had 200,000 men, and that another 100,000 new troops were still being formed, he could not help but sigh with emotion.
Finally, the two of them couldn't help but talk about the current war.
"If what you said is true, then the Jin Dynasty is also capable of fighting. Doesn't that mean we can still fight this war?" Minamoto no Tameyoshi crossed his arms, sat on the couch, and asked seriously in Japanese under the lamp.
"There will definitely be some fighting." Taira no Kiyomori, who was standing in front of the couch, did not deny it. "When two great powers fight each other, the gains and losses of dozens of states and counties are nothing... On the east side of Hedong is Taiyuan Prefecture, on the east side of Hebei Road is Daming Prefecture, and on the west side of Hebei Road there is Zhending Prefecture. These three cities must be taken before we can touch Yanjing City. And the cities don't count. No matter where it is, there will always be a big battle, hundreds of thousands against hundreds of thousands, at least hundreds of thousands against hundreds of thousands, and all of them must be heavily armored warriors."
Yuan Weiyi hesitated for a moment, then lowered his voice and asked seriously, "Can the Song Dynasty really win?"
"We will definitely win." Taira no Kiyomori said without hesitation.
"Why are you so sure?" Yuan Weiyi couldn't help asking. "Is it because the Song Dynasty's government is good at fighting? Or is it because the Song Dynasty's soldiers are stronger and their generals are braver?"
"All of them, especially since the emperor himself is a recognized world-famous general, far superior to the commander-in-chief of the Jin Kingdom, Prince Wushu." Taira no longer hesitated. "There are even rumors that the emperor is a Taoist master of military tactics, but it is more than that. He is a divine ruler who is both civil and military, and knows everything."
Yuan Weiyi became more and more curious.
However, Taira no Kiyomori was young after all, and he could not hold back for a moment, so he wanted to show off: "Prince Yi, let me ask you, do you know how many concubines our emperor has now?"
Minamoto Tameyoshi certainly didn't know, but he knew what Taira no Kiyomori meant anyway, so when the other party held up two fingers, he instinctively lowered his guess and blurted out, "Only twenty?"
"Only two." Taira no Kiyomori sneered. "One noble concubine and one virtuous concubine. After the death of the previous queen, there was no queen... Moreover, this is definitely not a pretense, because the several princesses and princes born in the ten years after the emperor ascended the throne were all born to these two..."
Yuan Weiyi was shocked for a moment.
"That's not all." Taira no Kiyomori sneered even more when he saw this. "The emperor's palace was originally half the size of Heian-kyo, but after the war with the Jin people, the palace was either given to meritorious officials as residences, or given to samurai to study military tactics, or dedicated to the empress dowager. Even the imperial garden where the emperor lived was planted with mulberry trees and fish ponds... The most noble person in the world has been working so hard for almost ten years... Lord Yi, how can such an emperor not win?"
Yuan Weiyi seemed to be hesitant to speak, and was obviously hesitant for a moment.
But Taira no Kiyomori seemed to have expected this, and continued with a smile: "King Weiyi, you don't believe it? I didn't believe it when I first came... My father and you are both from the Northern Samurai. Not to mention the current Emperor, just say that when you two were with the former Emperor Shirakawa, I'm afraid you know more about the dirty things between the Emperor and Taikenmon-in than anyone else. You are used to seeing the scandals of the royal family and the public officials in Japan, so naturally you don't believe that someone with more power and wealth than the Emperor would do this... But I have been a Northern Samurai of the government for several years, so I also know whether this government official is true or false."
Yuan Weiyi became more and more confused.
Furthermore, although Minamoto no Tameyoshi and Taira no Kiyomori did not know what the end of the Heian period was, the corruption of the Japanese aristocracy at that time is needless to say. For example, there was a huge scandal between Minamoto no Tameyoshi and Taira no Kiyomori's biological father Taira no Tadamori, the two powerful emperors served by Taira no Kiyomori... The former Shirakawa Emperor is the grandfather of the current Emperor Toba, and the former Shirakawa Emperor had an adopted daughter, the Taikenmon-in, who married his grandson, and the Emperor Toba, who was still the Emperor at the time, became the Empress.
Why marry your goddaughter to your grandson?
Because when Emperor Shirakawa wanted to marry his goddaughter to the son of the noble Fujiwara family, the Fujiwara family firmly refused... The Fujiwara family felt that they could not afford to lose face with that person... So Emperor Shirakawa could only let his grandson suffer, and by the way, pray for a good future for his goddaughter.
That’s right, the former Emperor Shirakawa had an affair with his adopted daughter and granddaughter-in-law from the very beginning. This was almost an open secret among the Japanese top leaders.
At that time, the Japanese aristocracy had become corrupt to this extent.
So in this case, how can you make Minamoto no Yoshiyoshi, who has been working among the Japanese nobles for decades, believe that the Zhao Song officials would endure so much hardship and forbearance? You told him about Wanyan Aguda's simplicity, but he didn't believe it, okay?
Of course, Taira no Kiyomori was too lazy to prove anything, and just said calmly: "Lord Weiyi, the situation is like this anyway. Although the Song Dynasty was unable to defeat the Jin Dynasty in the early years and caused the scandal of most of the royal family being captured, it is just like the story of Wu and Yue in ancient books. Now, 3,000 Yue soldiers can conquer Wu, not to mention that our official has 300,000 Song soldiers!"
After saying this, Taira no Kiyomori did not say much, and was too lazy to explain what the "Wu Yue Story" was, nor did he say whose words "Three thousand Yue soldiers can conquer Wu" were plagiarized from. He then bowed and took his leave with Song etiquette.
Minamoto no Tameyoshi came to his senses and realized that although Taira no Kiyomori was young, he was already a "Northern Samurai" of the Song Dynasty government and his status was no lower than his own. He wanted to return the greeting, but he pulled his wound when he raised his arm, so he could only reluctantly stand up and nod.
When Taira no Kiyomori was about to leave, he walked to the front of the tent door and thought of something. He turned back and smiled, "Weiyigong, if we were to tell the story of our official family, it would take more than a month, and I don't want to say more... Let me just tell you about someone else's story. Do you remember the rough-robed monk who dug the pit himself and prayed for the dead samurai that day?"
"Of course I remember." Yuan Weiyi thought for a moment and immediately understood who the other party was referring to. "He came to see us yesterday and helped us apply medicine... He seems to be very respected in the camp?"
"Of course he is respected. That monk is the direct descendant of the Linji Sect, the most prestigious purple-robed master in the Buddhist community of the Song Dynasty, and the great Zen master bestowed by the emperor." Ping Qingsheng continued to sneer. "In the Song Dynasty, there are more than just the emperor who is so sincere and frugal. Today, let's not talk about the marshal who is reluctant to eat a chicken. Even the monks are so behaved. How can we not win this battle?"
Yuan Weiyi was so shocked that he didn't even care that the other person left.
After a long while, he finally came to his senses, but suddenly realized who the other person was laughing at with that sneer on his face, and he felt frightened again... but he was just frightened, and there was no room for rebuttal.
At midnight, the snowflakes slightly stained the land of Hedong with a layer of white, and then slowly stopped falling. At the same time, thousands of miles away in Damingfu, Hebei, there was no snow, but a biting cold wind instead.
For several days, the cold wind howled non-stop.
Yue Fei pulled out a tooth from a tiger's mouth and ate Wang Bolong on the 14th day of the twelfth lunar month, defeating the first large-scale attack of the Jin army. On the 15th day of the twelfth lunar month, Gao Qingyi used political and military accounts to persuade Wushu, the ruling prince of the Jin Dynasty, who was caught in a dilemma, to fight again and not give up Yuancheng.
On the same day, Zhao Jiu, who was far away in Hedong, learned that Niu Gao had broken through the northern gate of Yangliang and opened up Queshu Valley, and immediately issued an order for a full-scale assault that night. It took eight days to advance to the city of Taiyuan, and then without stopping for a moment, he carried out full-line siege operations under the city of Taiyuan.
Back to Daming Prefecture, if the Jin Kingdom wants to continue organizing the offensive, it must boost morale, so it must reward those who have fought bravely before.
Among them, the Haner supplementary army was given a promotion channel, and some of the most outstanding ones were directly awarded the status of marching mouke, marching meng'an, or even hereditary mouke and hereditary meng'an. The original meng'an mouke were directly promised to restore many of their privileges.
Of course, it was also necessary to levy the treasury of the surrounding governments and give out generous rewards of wealth, gold and silver.
At the same time, they did not forget to plunder and recruit conscripts from surrounding areas... They used to be stick men, but now they are conscripts with a roster. The difference is that one is from the territory of the Song State, and the other is from the Hebei area, which is regarded as the territory of the Jin State.
These actions were essentially in conflict with the previous sinicization reforms. It could even be said that if they continued in this way, the efforts of the previous three to five years would have been in vain. But now, after Wang Bolong's death and Gao Qingyi's reminder, Wuzhu had keenly realized that although the decisive battle had not yet taken place, the power of both sides had already undergone a fundamental reversal, and he could no longer worry about any pots and pans.
Right now, I want to survive.
However, even these extraordinary actions took time. It took six or seven days before the troops gradually recovered their momentum and new supplies were gathered.
Then, the cold wind came, and what followed was an even more brutal war of attrition in the cold wind - because the biting cold wind brought huge trouble to both sides.
For the Song army, with their logistics supply lines being cut off on a large scale, all the supplies were stored before the freezing of the ice. Before the thaw, they had to live day by day, which was a typical case of eating up all the supplies.
Among them, fuel and food consumption increased dramatically with the arrival of the cold wind, which was beyond everyone's expectations. After all, Yue Fei and his staff were not gods, and they had never experienced a long-term winter camp for an army of this size, and they had to continue fighting... They could not understand why the people were still the same, and many of them had even died in the war, but the consumption changed dramatically just because it was a little colder. This was completely different from winter camps in peacetime.