Volume 6 Chapter 6: Obtaining a Deer
On the 16th day of the first lunar month in the tenth year of Jianyan, which was the beginning of spring, the Song army sent a large force to launch a tentative attack in the direction of Jingxing. At the same time, troops from the large army also began to move eastward at a slower pace.
The strategic intention behind this action is self-evident.
Moreover, perhaps from the perspective of the hypocritical Emperor Zhao and the thoughtful civil and military leaders on the Taiyuan front before the war, it was very difficult to make up their minds to take this step...what about the position of Eastern Mongolia, the sudden increase in the combat effectiveness of the Jin cavalry after gathering in the wild, and the possibility that the Jin army's mourning might lead to a quick and unexpected decisive battle, including Emperor Zhao's own considerations after the war, and Prime Minister Lu who rushed from Linfen to Taiyuan to urge him despite his illness... These are all real experiences worth narrating and discussing.
The whole thing is a process of suffering and overcoming.
But in fact, from a macro perspective, from the perspective of the bureaucrats and civilians in the rear, from the middle and lower-level officers and soldiers, from the Jin people on the opposite side, and from the allied reinforcements that had just arrived in Datong, the advance of Emperor Zhao and the main force of the Song army was without hesitation and without gaps, to the point of view that made the onlookers feel suffocated.
The reason is simple.
First of all, it was natural that Emperor Zhao's hesitation and struggle occurred during the necessary interval and preparation period between battles. It was like washing teacups, although it took a lot of effort, but the teacups were washed during the period of boiling water at the beginning, so it did not delay the subsequent important work.
Secondly, and most importantly, the fall of Taiyuan City was too shocking.
Looking back now, after the Queshu Valley was opened up, the speed of advance, the speed of division and encirclement, the speed of breaking the city by Emperor Zhao and the army of Hedong Road, as well as the scale of the troops' advance in all directions and their logistical preparations, even without taking into account the mythical process of breaking the city, still gives people a shocking feeling.
To put it bluntly, when a very small number of people began to quickly consider the decisive battle in the field that was likely to occur after the city was captured, everyone else, including enemies and allies, was still immersed in the two-way city-breaking performance that was destined to go down in history in all aspects.
In fact, if this battle is to be discussed in the future, the capture of Taiyuan City and Yuan City may be considered together as the second stage of the Northern Expedition and the same battle. In this strategically significant battle, the Song army achieved decisive victories in two directions at the same time, causing the Jin army to lose the entire Hedong region and further lose the subsequent strategic options, forcing the Jin army to enter the single strategic track preset by the Song army.
"So, Kublai Khan himself is not against our psychology, but he is simply unable to enforce discipline on the Eastern Mongolian tribes?" That afternoon, in the empty central army tent, Zhao Jiu was thoughtful, and seemed not surprised by the result.
"yes."
After learning about the dispatch of troops, Ren Baozhong, who was asked by Wu Jie to return quickly, ignored his fatigue and immediately explained while holding a cup of warm salt tea and wiping his sweat. "According to the information we have learned during this trip, the tribe with the highest status and the largest number of people in Eastern Mongolia is of course the Borjigin-Taichiwu tribe led by Kublai and his cousin, but the Merkit tribe is also very powerful. The two factions have always been in opposition in Eastern Mongolia, and they were forced to merge together only because of the rise of the Jin Dynasty..."
"So this time it was the Merkit tribe that was secretly colluding with the Jin people, and Hebule had no control over it?"
"No." Ren Baozhong was also somewhat helpless. "According to the investigation and guesswork of Wu Dutong and I, the Tatars should be the ones who secretly colluded with the Jin people... But we are not sure. It is hard to say that there are tribes that secretly colluded with the Jin people. Maybe the Jin army retreated too quickly and the Eastern Mongolian troops could not advance in time. We can only say that the Tatars are the most likely to have colluded with the Jin people."
Zhao Jiu was stunned for a moment, obviously digesting the information, and then asked back: "Isn't the Tatar tribe a border tribe artificially formed by the Jin people to fight against Eastern Mongolia?"
"Yes." Ren Baozhong became more and more helpless. "But the Jin people had previously transferred all the Tatar tribe and its territories to Eastern Mongolia in order to show their goodwill to Kublai Khan."
"You want it if you don't want it?" Zhao Jiu was completely speechless.
"So that the emperor knows that Hebula is not that stupid." Ren Baozhong felt really dry in the mouth. "But Hebula took advantage of the rise and fall of the Jin Dynasty and the smuggling trade between the Song Dynasty and the Jin Dynasty to expand his tribe in the grasslands. After the expansion, he divided the accounts with his cousin Ambahai according to tradition. Ambahai lived in the south, and his tribe gradually became stronger and renamed the Taichiwu tribe. Its power gradually became not weaker than Hebula's own Borjigin clan... The two families are one, and Ambahai is Hebula's biggest helper, but after all, they have become two families..."
"Let me guess." Zhao Jiu suddenly sneered at the top. "The Tatars are a group of small tribes supported by the Jin Dynasty. Naturally, Ambahai and his Taichiwu tribe have always been responsible for dealing with them on the southeastern border of the grassland. If they move to Eastern Mongolia, they will inevitably become a direct subordinate of Ambahai and the Taichiwu tribe. Ambahai actually has no intention of turning against the Song Dynasty, and he also knows that the Tatars are destined to be inseparable from the Jin people. But anyway, Hebula will support him if the sky falls, so he is happy to shed less blood and expand his own power at the same time, so he directly accepted the Tatars, and Hebula has no way to turn against his cousin for this... Is it true or not?"
"Yes." Ren Baozhong hurriedly bowed his head. "The emperor is wise and sees clearly."
"Bullshit is obvious." Zhao Jiu stopped smiling and felt bad. "What I fear most is this kind of primitive tribe that has no bad intentions but can be called an enemy. They can argue but not do anything, and can cause any kind of trouble..."
Ren Baozhong did not dare to answer for a moment. At this time, there were only Liu Yan and a few guards in the tent, so the tent was silent for a while.
"In any case, there are Tatars among the Eastern Mongols who are accomplices of the Jin people, right or wrong?" Zhao Jiu waited for a moment, and motioned for Ren Baozhong to finish a cup of salt tea before asking again.
" Well... yes." Ren Baozhong obviously hesitated for a moment, but gave an affirmative answer after wiping his mouth.
"How did Wu Jinqing make the decision?" Emperor Zhao continued to ask.
"General Wu said that since the emperor has decided to send troops, he will deal with it quickly and strictly according to previous instructions... Before I came, General Wu had already sent a letter requesting Kubula Khan to deal with all the Tatars in the army within three days." Ren Baozhong did not dare to stop at all.
"What will happen after that?" Zhao Jiu frowned slightly. "Just take the remaining reinforcements from Eastern Mongolia and head south?"
"No." Ren Baozhong finally swallowed his saliva. "No matter how the Eastern Mongolians deal with it, or whether they deal with it at all, he will leave a part to guard Datong and monitor the Eastern Mongolians; leave another part to guard Yanmen Pass as the key; and then take the Khitans, the Western Mongolian tribes, and the troops of the two deputy governors Wang and Guo back to Taiyuan, and never delay the war... This is what Governor Wu wanted me to tell you first."
Zhao Jiu finally nodded, and seemed very satisfied with this solution , but soon he fell into silence for the second time, as if he was thinking about something.
On the other side, Ren Baozhong finished drinking the salt tea and reporting the key points, but he was still a little out of breath and seemed a little nervous.
This is inevitable. You have to know that what happened in Datong this time once again made Ren Baozhong feel sad for his own kind, because he once again felt the panic he felt when Western Xia was destroyed a few years ago.
This kind of panic is not caused by any specific betrayal or punishment, but the fate of many people is determined by the indifference of those in power.
To be fair, the Tatars in the Eastern Mongolian army this time may have colluded with the Jin people, but perhaps they did not. It is very likely that the Jin people retreated too quickly and they were unable to catch up.
But Wu Da didn't care.
Those Tatar troops who followed the army, as many as two to three thousand people, might very likely meet with the fate of being wiped out because of Wu Da's words. Many so-called Tatar tribes on the border would also fall into a catastrophic disaster because of this incident.
而再往上一层，则是无论合不勒和他的堂弟如何处置塔塔尔部，那些塔塔尔人无论是生是死，也都无法改变东蒙古诸部将被隔离在这场大战的现实，他们再怎么挣扎和补救，都无法改变合不勒与东蒙古失去了大宋军事信任这一事实。
The same logic applies to the next level. When we come to the kind official in front of us who did not forget to give us a seat, salt and tea, we are afraid that the fate of the entire Eastern Mongolian tribe will be completely changed after the war because of some potential possibilities, because of a misunderstanding, or because of a slight thought of this official.
Ren Baozhong had seen this kind of thing once. Last time, the official chose to destroy Western Xia easily in order to gain a strategic advantage when attacking Hedong... And after destroying Western Xia on the grounds of excessive land reclamation that destroyed the water and soil, Ningxia actually expanded the irrigation area in order to store military rations for this expedition.
"Renqing...Renqing."
"I'm here." Ren Baozhong came to his senses, broke out in a cold sweat, and quickly stood up and answered.
"Please sit down."
“Yes.”
"What does Simon say?"
"Western Mongolia is fine. Huer Zakhu Si Khan is just a scoundrel. As I said before, the Western Mongolian tribes are located between Western Liao and the Song Dynasty, and are also influenced by the eight tribes of Western Liao. The foundation is still stable... But after the emperor let Toli go back this time, Toli jumped up and down, and seemed to be taking advantage of the power of the tiger. He also won over many of his father's direct subordinates, which seems a little inappropriate."
"Even so, no one can stay here." Zhao Jiu suddenly said, seeming puzzled.
"What the emperor said is..." Ren Baozhong did not stop and quickly agreed.
"What about Khitan?"
"The Khitans were even more appropriate... Although they had allowed Hurzahus Khan to plunder Datong, they were testing him, but Yelu Yudu was a frightened bird. He knew that Yinshan and he would be with the Song Dynasty for the long term, so it was reasonable for him to do this." Ren Baozhong continued. "This matter was handled by Mei Xueshi. He was only in Datong for two or three days, but he had seven banquets with a group of Khitans and wrote eight or nine poems..."
"That doesn't matter." Zhao Jiu sneered, and after confirming that the Khitan man was fine, he quickly interrupted him. "I originally asked him to do this."
"Yes." Ren Baozhong became more cautious.
The central military tent fell silent for the third time at this time... because Ren Baozhong's report had theoretically been completed.
"Renqing, are you feeling well?" After a moment, Zhao Jiu looked at the other person thoughtfully.
"Although I am old, I can still wear armor and ride a horse." Ren Baozhong was shocked and stood up again.
"You don't need to wear armor and ride a horse." Zhao Jiu finally sneered in response, but he didn't mean to let the other party sit down again. "I want to say that you have been by my side for several years, assisting in military affairs and border policy, and have made many contributions. And if this battle can be won, no matter where the northern border is pushed to, there must be a new road set up along the border... I am not talking about the Yanshan Road, but about taking Datong as the core, governing the surrounding states and counties, and participating in Yinshan affairs and Mongolian affairs, which is probably equivalent to the Liao Dynasty before..."
"Xijing Road." Ren Baozhong finally couldn't help but remind.
At this moment, all the previous worries, fears and panics are gone.
"Yes, Xijing Road."
Zhao Jiu seemed to be thinking about something. "Renqing has been with me for many years, and knows that I am not the kind of person who likes to make empty promises. Whether it is Datong Road or Xijing Road, I think your family is the most suitable to be the first governor of this new road... Because you are a close minister, you will definitely understand my intentions and will not do anything wrong."
"Your Majesty..." Ren Baozhong's mind was almost blank.
"Moreover, most of the territories in this route were not established at the beginning, and there were too many and too chaotic tribes. You are experienced in winning over, integrating, and suppressing." Zhao Jiu did not care about the other party's reaction, but continued to analyze. "What's more, Renqing is a Dangxiang tribe, a famous Dangxiang hero who has been famous for decades. Although the court opposes ethnic division, some things are also historical issues. We, the monarch and the ministers, do not need to cover it up. As a role model for the Dangxiang people, you should also have the experience of being an envoy with real power, so that the Dangxiang people will return to their hearts. I even thought that if you can handle the affairs of Datong Road beautifully, it is feasible to come back to serve as a minister... But your age really makes me a little worried."
"Your Majesty." Ren Baozhong waited until the other party finished speaking, but he knelt down in the tent and burst into tears. "I am willing to share your worries, even if I die, I am not afraid. What's the point of my old age? For your Majesty, I can work for another ten years!"
Zhao Jiu nodded: "If you are willing, Renqing... take a break. After I discuss with Lu Xianggong, I will give you the official order and you can go back to Datong directly."
Ren Baozhong was stunned for a moment, and then suddenly realized in his heart - he finally knew why Wu Jie sent an old man like him back to report the news! This was a huge favor!
However, although he had come to his senses, Ren Baozhong did not show it on his face. He just became more serious and said, "Since the emperor has chosen me as the governor of Datong Road, I will do my best to repay the emperor's trust."
"The situation is like this, and we need a envoy who is different from the envoys from the mainland, and you are right here." Zhao Jiu sighed. "So, it can be said that the times and the country have chosen you, and I hope you will not let them down."
Ren Baozhong just kowtowed and had no idea what Emperor Zhao was saying.
Just like that, after hastily determining the layout in the direction of Datong, the last bit of concern of the Song army disappeared. In the next few days, under the command of the command department, one after another, the main imperial camp troops began to advance eastward on a large scale.
At the beginning, of course, it was the Dong Xian and Zhang Qi groups that set out first on the 16th day of the first lunar month.
In the afternoon of that day, four commanders, Niu Gao, Zhai Jin, Zhai Chong and Shao Yun, with a total of more than 10,000 troops, divided into two routes, one in the south and one in the north, flanked Xiong Ridge and marched eastward to serve as reinforcement.
On the morning of the 17th day of the first lunar month, Generals Dong Xian and Zhang Qi arrived at the eastern part of Shouyang County, which was almost the easternmost part of Taiyuan Prefecture. They came to the famous Mianman River and engaged in battle with a small group of Jin troops.
The so-called Mianman River is a tributary of the Hutuo River, and it is also the famous river that passes through Jingxing and experienced a decisive battle.
At the same time, Han Shizhong, the commander-in-chief of the Left Army of the Imperial Camp and the Prince of Yan'an, personally led the Left Army of the Imperial Camp, with seven commanders headed by Jie Yuan, nearly 25,000 combat soldiers of the Imperial Camp, plus more than 10,000 civilians and auxiliary soldiers, and marched along the road on the north side of Shaxiong Ridge.
By the afternoon of that day, when Ren Baozhong hurried back to Taiyuan, the four commanders led by Niu Gao who followed him also arrived in Yu County and Shouyang County, the easternmost part of Taiyuan Prefecture, respectively, in the north and south.
On the 18th day of the first lunar month, Ren Baozhong returned north early in the morning with his appointment.
In the morning, Emperor Zhao personally led the dragon flag and left Taiyuan City under the escort of two squad leaders, Yang Yizhong and Liu Yan... Accompanying them were Wang Yan, the general commander of the Imperial Camp, Li Shifu, the deputy commander of the Imperial Camp Cavalry, and Wu Lin, the deputy commander of the Imperial Camp Rear Army, who had just arrived from the rear to join the army. Below the three of them, there were 15 more commanders, and the troops they led were the 30,000 Imperial Camp Rear Army, which had almost no casualties in this Northern Expedition and could be regarded as the fresh force, and the Dangxiang light cavalry from the 15,000 Imperial Camp Cavalry.
With such a large number of people, plus the 4,000 imperial guards, the 60,000 Tangut auxiliary soldiers who have rich combat experience, and the miscellaneous people such as Japanese samurai, Poxi troops, and those for consultation, the total number must be 110,000.
Of course, with such a large number of people, they could only march thirty miles a day, but they followed the main road on the south side of Shaxiong Ridge, passing through Yuci and slowly heading eastward.
The grand scale of this military expedition basically overshadowed all other information… Whether it was the two vanguard generals Dong Xian and Zhang Qi who cooperated well and successfully captured Pingding City, the capital of the Pingding Army, which had few garrisons on the banks of the Mianman River and approached the Jingxing Pass in a narrow sense; or Li Qiong's 10,000 troops who moved from the Shangdang Basin to Liaozhou (the area around Zuoquan County in later generations); or Wang De who led his troops back from Datong Prefecture and crossed the Yanmen Pass, no one cared.
On the 19th day of the first lunar month, the weather was calm and the troops continued to advance.
On the 20th day of the first lunar month, the anxious Wang De returned from Datong first and led an army of 20,000 into the Taiyuan Basin. Upon hearing the news, the military minister Lu Yihao also set off immediately. He led only a few thousand troops and 20,000 carefully selected civilians, a large amount of baggage, and most of the civil servants who followed the army, and marched eastward.
That afternoon, Generals Dong and Zhang, who had officially entered the Jingxing area, suddenly encountered the main force of the Jin army in Baijingzhai. The Song army was caught off guard and could not defeat them for a while, so they had to retreat ten miles and set up camp.
On the 21st day of the first lunar month, after three days of leisurely marching, the main force led by Emperor Zhao arrived in Shouyang County, while Wu Jie, with 10,000 Khitan Yinshan reinforcements, 15,000 Western Mongolian reinforcements, plus the remaining 10,000 imperial camp troops, also crossed Xinzhou and reached the Taiyuan Basin.
Immediately, Li Yanxian led the remaining Shanluo troops, about 10,000 people, plus Wang De's 20,000 people, a total of 30,000 soldiers, and set off together. They caught up with Lu Yihao within a day.
On the same day, Niu Gao, Shao Yun, Zhai Jin, Zhai Chong and Generals Dong Xian and Zhang Qi met up in Jingxing. Six commanding officers took turns to fight all night long and captured Baijingzhai in one fell swoop, seizing the key point in the front section of Jingxing. In the second half of the night, they sent envoys to report the victory to Emperor Zhao behind them.
On the 22nd day of the first lunar month, seven days after Generals Dong and Zhang set out, Wu Jie finally assembled his army from Taiyuan and headed eastward. After leaving 10,000 garrisons in Taiyuan and Xihe, he led a force mainly composed of light cavalry reinforcements from Khitan, Mongolia, Dangxiang, Xi and others, and set off eastward.
Up to this point, the number of Song army troops dispatched eastward from Taiyuan alone reached as high as 140,000!
Moreover, when the war started, the 300,000-man Song army was divided into two parts. The front army, right army, navy and navy of the imperial camp in Hebei were about 90,000 soldiers. The main force of the imperial camp gathered in Hedong was self-evident, which was a full 210,000 soldiers! Counting the 25,000 reinforcements from Yinshan and Western Mongolia, there should be 230,000 to 240,000 soldiers.
However, after several months of fighting, there will inevitably be consumption and strange casualties. In addition, after occupying almost the entire Hedong area, the Song army had to leave garrisons in key places just in case and participate in maintaining logistics... For example, Taiyuan, Datong, Yanmen Pass, Xihe, and Longde Prefecture, all left behind organized garrisons.
So, when Li Yanxian saw Wu Jie appear in the Taiyuan Basin, he led his troops eastward without waiting for him to come back. In fact, the underlying reason was that he wanted the rear army of the Imperial Camp to take on the defense of the Taiyuan Basin, while letting his remaining troops participate in the eastward war... and Wu Jie could only suffer this loss and had to disperse all the 20,000 troops led by Guo Hao in the Datong Basin and the Taiyuan Basin.
Poor Guo Hao, he was trapped in the fortress by Qu Duan when he was in Yaoshan, and this time he was trapped in Taiyuan by Li Yanxian.
Wang Sheng was also tricked, but Wang Sheng was too clever for his own good and could not blame anyone else - he was defeated in Pingxingzhai, lost his baggage and was unable to advance. The logistics had just been supplied, so he could only continue to advance from Puyinxing as a "surprise force" to harass Zhending Prefecture from behind.
But everyone knows that Jingxing is the most direct passage from Taiyuan to Hebei, and the most convenient passage among the Eight Xings of Taihang Mountains. Even the itinerary of Zhending Prefecture and the importance of Taiyuan Prefecture are largely due to their relationship with Jingxing... In this case, it seems a little difficult for Wang Sheng to catch up with some things.
In addition, there are the main forces of more than 10,000 people led by General Xiao Fan of Li Qiong's Eight Character Army who were abandoned at the beginning. It goes without saying that they will definitely follow Qu Duan's Imperial Cavalry into Longde Prefecture and become the defenders of Longde Prefecture. Only the main forces of more than 10,000 people of the Eight Character Army led by Li Qiong himself were able to turn back from Liaozhou, and they should be able to meet up with the main forces of Emperor Zhao in time.
Even Qu Duan's Imperial Cavalry had no idea how many soldiers they had available after Zhang Zhongfu's disastrous defeat. Moreover, they were now supposed to be carrying out the mission of following the main force of the Jin army northward to the east of Taihang Mountains, so the situation was completely unclear.
And the Eastern Mongolian tribes, who no one cared about, were even more excluded from all calculations... Even though Hebula sent Anbahai to Datong to explain as soon as he received Wu Jie's request, even though Anbahai immediately turned around after discovering that all the troops from Datong were heading south, and took the initiative to persuade Hebula to give up his excuses and deal with the Tatars.
More than 10,000 Eastern Mongolian tribesmen, from the leader down, were almost all in panic and confusion, and had no idea where to go.
But again, no one cares anymore.
Even so, even if all these minor issues are put aside, everyone can calculate a possible and terrifying final number of participants in the war.
"At least 150,000 or 160,000, at most 200,000, and in the end, the actual number might be 170,000 or 180,000..."
Across the Taihang Mountains, less than a hundred miles away from the Song army's vanguard, north of Daluze, in Gaoyi County, Zhaozhou, in the hall of the county government in the city, after collecting intelligence from all sides, Gao Qingyi, who was sitting with bloodshot eyes, gave a more accurate number than the Zhao official's side, because they knew very well how many cavalry groups would be gathered by Qu Duan, Liu Qi, Zhang Zhongfu, Zhang Zhongyan, Zhang Xian and others who were far behind them. "It mainly depends on whether Wang Sheng in Puyinxing and Hebule in the north will gather here. As for Qu Duan and Zhang Xian, it is impossible to deal with them before the main force of the Song army leaves Jingxing."
"Including Erluguan and his men who are already in Zhending, we have 13 thousand households here, but we have no time to replenish the losses from various battles. In fact, we still have more than 100,000 soldiers and cavalry." The hall was empty except for a table covered with a map. Wuzhu, who was also exhausted, closed his eyes and spoke at the side of the table, repeating the numbers that he had already memorized. "Huo Nu and Wulin Da Taiyu have already arrived in Baozhou (Baoding in later generations). My eldest brother also handed over the four Hezhameng'ans in Yanjing to Wanyan Poshu according to my letter, and they will arrive in Baozhou soon... These three people will definitely make it in time! But what about the south? Is it undefended? What if Yue Fei catches up and gets involved?"
"So we must launch the attack as soon as possible." Gao Qingyi repeated the words he had repeated many times. "Before Yue Fei goes downstream and reaches Hejian, and before the Zhao Song government leaves Jingxing and reaches Zhending... It would be best if Wang Sheng in the north doesn't have time to join us, so that we can have 120,000 or 30,000 troops against 170,000 or 180,000!"
"What do you think, Marshal?" Wuzhu, who was dry-mouthed and exhausted, closed his eyes and called out to another person in the hall... In fact, there were only three people around the table with the map in the hall. They also arrived here in a hurry and hastily convened a small-scale military meeting.
Retreat was not so easy, especially when Qu Duan went out of Fukouxing and joined Yue Fei's "cavalry" and followed closely behind. Helplessly, countless soldiers were abandoned, and many supplies were also scattered. Only a small number of families, valuables, and military supplies were saved... Fortunately, the soldiers could be replenished along the way, and Zhending still had some storage.
But after this was said, there was no response for a long time.
Wuzhu opened his eyes in surprise, only to find that Balisu, who was sitting diagonally opposite him and staring at the map with bloodshot eyes like Gao Qingyi, had just looked up and glanced at him: "This is the number. We have calculated it so many times along the way. Why does the King of Wei need to calculate it again?"
Wushu did not comment, but asked in return: "What was the Marshal thinking about just now?"
"I'm thinking about the Zhao Song emperor's advance." Balisu stroked the simple map in front of him and shook his head. "King Wei, do you think that the Zhao emperor's advance to Taiyuan before was as fast as the wind? Is it as slow as the forest when he marched from Taiyuan to Jingxing this time? Will he invade like a fire next time?"
Wuzhu was stunned for a moment, unable to refute for a moment, but soon he came to his senses and looked at Gao Qingyi again: "Gao Tongshi, let me ask you again, putting aside the issue of military strength, let's take a break now, is there anything important that needs to be dealt with in the army?"
"First, should Jingxing be defended?" Gao Qingyi answered without hesitation. "Second, where should we choose as the battlefield? These two are interrelated."
Wushu thought for a moment and asked, "Is that all?"
"There are many more." Gao Qingyi almost sneered. "For example, is Yanjing stable? Will a cavalry army march out of Duxing and attack Yanjing? Are the new soldiers of the Yanjing New Army usable? Who should be the commander? How many military supplies does Zhending Prefecture have? How many signed troops has Chen Wang (Eluguan) prepared for us in Zhending to assist? Our army has worked so hard, how many people have fallen behind? When can we gather together properly? If you think about it, there are things everywhere..."
"But none of them are urgent, nor are they the overall situation." Wushu sighed, and then he forced himself to look at the simple map. "Right now, regardless of everything, we have to decide whether Yelu Mawu should withdraw from Jingxing and join us, and then choose where to fight the decisive battle?"
"Retreat!"
Balisu suddenly spoke. "Jingxing is wide inside. Han Xin fought a battle with 100,000 men in the past and didn't think it was narrow... Ma Wu and his men are definitely not able to stop the Song army. It's better to withdraw and preserve our strength. Besides, you kept saying along the way that we must fight as soon as possible, as soon as possible, before Yue Fei catches up... Counting on layers of resistance to delay will be disadvantageous to us."
"Can we have a decisive battle inside Jingxing?" Wuzhu suddenly interrupted, apparently agreeing directly with the idea of letting Yelu Mawu retreat.
"After all, it's a channel terrain, not suitable for a cavalry brigade." Balisu shook his head in response.
Wuzhu looked at Gao Qingyi again, and Gao Qingyi also shook his head.
"So that's it." The fourth prince nodded first, then looked at the map and muttered to himself. "Today we have to find a good terrain to fight east of Jingxing and west of Zhending? Should we defend the Hutuo River or the Mianman River?"
"Is the King of Wei confused?" Balisu suddenly became impatient. "I've already said that we can't delay any longer... The sooner we fight the Song army, the more we can fight. If we delay until Yue Fei goes north to Hejian, we will be trapped from both sides, and the situation will only get worse! And if we want to fight the Song army quickly, what's the point of guarding these rivers? Letting them cross the rivers is the right thing to do!"
Wuzhu was suddenly startled and looked at the map again, but his gaze shifted to the area east of the Mianman River, which turned almost due north after entering the Hebei Plain.
At this time, Gao Qingyi also spoke slowly: "That being said, we cannot let the Song army cross the Hutuo River, because Zhending City is behind the Hutuo River. If the Song army tries to break into the city again, the whole army will be terrified and dare not fight. What if we just sit there and watch the Song army take Zhending?"
"We can't set up camp next to the Hutuo River either." Balisu added. "Otherwise, we will be in a desperate situation... Once... Once we are defeated, even though we are cavalry, we can't just scatter. We are in danger of being annihilated and surrounded."
After hearing this, Wuzhu finally smiled bitterly while touching the map: "In this case, we can only find a place between the east of Mianman River (north-south direction after leaving Jingxing) and the southwest of Hutuo River (northwest-southeast direction near Zhending), and then lead the Song army across the Mianman River to capture me... But there is only one county in this area, and it is estimated that hundreds of thousands of troops will almost fill it up."
"Get the deer!"
The next moment, after a brief pause, Balisu and Gao Qingyi, who had not even looked at the map, shouted out the name of the county almost at the same time.
"One hundred and twenty miles from here." Gao Qingyi added. "To our northwest."
"Huolu...what a good name."
At the Mianman River, which is only 150 miles away from Gaoyi, Zhaozhou, Zhao Jiu looked at the map and gave another evaluation of this place. "What a good name."
Han Shizhong was about to agree when Zhao Jiu suddenly looked up and asked again, "Look at the map, it's northeast of us...how far is it?"
"One hundred and twenty miles." Han Shizhong was slightly startled, then became serious. "It's just a Jingxing Passage and a Mianman River."
