One Piece of Song Dynasty

Tang Ke, Geng Nanzhong and other ruling ministers met with Wang Rui. Wang Rui said to them: "Dajin has a vast territory and it is not necessary to secure three towns. But since the court has promised it, it is not appropriate to break the agreement. If the Southern Dynasty can bribe Dajin with three towns , Dajin will not accept it, and will make peace with it. Those who are trustworthy are the treasures of neighboring countries, how can they go away? If the Southern Dynasty refuses to cede the land, and the Jin people blame the Southern Dynasty for breaking their trust, and come back with troops, how can they control it?"

What Wang Ru said can be described as a combination of coaxing and deceiving, and full of tricks. His purpose was nothing more than to complete his mission of ceding the land, so he swore an oath to heaven and earth and spoke whatever he wanted.

Tang Ke, Geng Nanzhong and others believed that Wang Rui's words made sense. They advocated directly ceding the towns of Hejian and Zhongshan to the Jin people, so that the two countries could completely resolve the dispute and stop fighting to make peace.

However, Song Qinzong was very worried about the corruption of Taiyuan, and he cherished these two towns in Hebei. He felt that these two towns were barriers to ensure the security of the Kyoto area. It was best not to lose them, but to fight for them if they could. Therefore, Song Qinzong decided to continue to communicate with Zongwang, hoping that Zongwang would agree to redeem the two towns with gold and silk treasures. Emperor Qinzong of the Song Dynasty then ordered the general to be the young eunuch king and the country's messenger to send Wang Rui back with gifts.

In fact, at the beginning, Zong Wang agreed to solve the three-town problem by exchanging taxes for land. Wang Yun came back to convey this opinion, but Wu Min vetoed it. However, Zong Han was opposed to this method and Zong Han insisted on getting the land of the three towns. Zong Wang focused on wealth, while Zong Han ignored gold and silver and focused on the three towns. It can be seen that the two military giants Zong Wang and Zong Han had serious differences in their policies towards the Song Dynasty. Now, Taiyuan in Hedong has been occupied by Zong Han. Zhongshan and Hejian towns are both in Hebei and within Zong Wang's target mission range. Therefore, Zong Wang sent his special envoy Wang Rui to explain the situation.

At present, for the Jin people, the diplomatic and political goal of the Song Dynasty is to cede the two towns; if the Song Dynasty does not cede them, then they will take the opportunity to send troops to occupy them by force. The Jin people have understood that the Song Dynasty's military is not good, and they are absolutely sure to seize these two towns by force. For the Song Dynasty, there were only two choices: either cede the two towns to the Jin people in exchange for peace and preserve credibility; or refuse to cede, organize military forces to fight against the Jin people, defeat the Jin people militarily, and let the Jin people have a taste of Taste the power of the Central Plains army.

However, Song Qinzong and his ministers chose neither to cede land nor to fight a war, but chose the old method of exchanging money for land to solve the problem. This method will only work if the military strength of the two countries is comparable. Now that the military strength is obviously unequal, how can we not fail? The cession of the three towns is an overall issue and the same method should be implemented. Taiyuan has been occupied by the Jin people. It is obviously impossible for Hejian and Zhongshan to use taxes in exchange for land alone, and Zong Wang has sent someone to clearly inform them. The monarchs and ministers of the Song Dynasty lacked proper understanding of this, which shows their low level of governance.

Song Qinzong and his ruling ministers had many tricks to deal with internal political enemies, but they were often helpless against external enemies, as if they were mentally retarded, and were often ridiculed by external enemies. At this time, the Song Dynasty was not only inferior to the Jin people in military strength, but its high-level decision-making level and ability were much worse than that of the Jin people.

Zongwang sent troops to Baozhou on August th, three days later than Zonghan. He dispatched his generals to attack separately. He first sent Yeluduo to defeat the Song army in Xiongzhou, and then sent Naye and others to attack Zhongshan Mansion.

Zhongshan Mansion was an important military town and warehouse in the Hebei region of the Song Dynasty. The city was tall and solid, with three gates all being urns, and the moat was wide and deep. Moreover, the weapons and equipment on the city are also relatively advanced, including rolling logs and rocks, as well as crossbows and artillery. It can be said that it is easy to defend but difficult to attack, and is as solid as a rock.

When Zong Wang went south for the first time, he attacked Zhongshan Prefecture, but encountered strong resistance from Zhan Du, the pacifier of Zhongshan Prefecture at that time. At that time, the Jin army captured more than prefectures and counties in a row, and wanted to take advantage of the momentum to capture Zhongshan. Zongwang organized many attacks, but it was always difficult to break through. He also lost General Fenche and thousands of gold soldiers. In the end, Zong Wang had no choice but to lead his troops around the city.

Zhan Du was later transferred to the capital, and now, Chen Tuo is guarding Zhongshan Mansion. He served as the magistrate of Hejian Prefecture. When Zong Wang went south to attack Hejian for the first time, he resisted with all his strength and saved the city. He was commended by Emperor Qinzong of the Song Dynasty and was awarded the title of Bachelor of Zizheng Palace and Doctor of Guanglu.

Zong Wang saw that the city of Zhongshan Prefecture was still standing tall and well-defended, and that his old rival Chen Yu was guarding the city. He felt that it would be difficult to break through the city in a short time. The Jin soldiers tried several times to attack the city, but they all ended in failure. Zong Wang then led his troops southward around the city again and captured Xinle County.

After the West Route Army occupied Taiyuan, Zong Wang was worried that Zong Han's achievements would exceed his own, so on the one hand he sent Wang Ru as an envoy to the Song Dynasty for negotiations, and on the other hand he accelerated the pace of military operations.

Zong Wang targeted Zhending Mansion as his next target. The strategic position of Zhending Mansion was comparable to that of Taiyuan Mansion. It controls the dangers of Taihang and the key points of Hebei. If it goes west, Taiyuan will be shaken, and if it goes north, Fan Yang will be shocked. Therefore, Song Qi said: "Heshuo is the foundation of the world, and Zhending is the foundation of Heshuo." By seizing Zhending Mansion, Zong Wang can go west and join forces with the Jin army in Taiyuan.

Zong Wang learned through reconnaissance that more than Song troops were gathered in the Jingxing area southwest of Zhending Mansion. Zong Wang decided to eliminate this part of the Song army before attacking Zhending Mansion. Therefore, the main force of the Jin Army on the East Route bypassed Zhending Mansion and headed straight for Jingxing.

Jingxingzhi's headquarters was called Tianweijun, located at the eastern foot of Taihang Mountain. From here, you can pass through the Taihang Mountains, connecting Hebei and Hedong. In other words, crossing the Taihang Mountains to connect Hedong and Hebei must pass through this place. Therefore, Jingxing has always been a battleground for military strategists.

The Song general guarding Jingxing was Zhong Shimin, Zhong Shidao's cousin. When he learned that the Jin soldiers were invading, he immediately moved the people in the city and Guanzhai to the depths of Tiantai Mountain to avoid the disaster of war. At the same time, volunteers were vigorously recruited to strengthen city defense and defend the pass. Seal master Min Qin led his troops to ambush in Jingxing Valley, hoping to fight the Jin soldiers to the death.

Soon, Zong Wang led his army into the valley and was ambushed by the Song army. However, because the Song army was mostly volunteers and temporarily organized militia teams, they lacked military training and their combat effectiveness was obviously not as good as that of the Jin army. Coupled with the disparity in military strength, after a fierce battle, the Song army gradually became unable to resist the Jin army's counterattack. Seeing this, Zhongshi Min had no choice but to lead his army to retreat and retreat to Tianwei Army City. The Jin army followed closely and soon surrounded the Tianwei army.

At this time, there were only a few thousand Song troops retreating into the city. Facing the successive attacks of tens of thousands of golden soldiers, Zhongshi Min and his soldiers were not afraid and fought desperately. With their tenacious fighting will, they persisted in fighting for seven days and seven nights. In the end, they all died heroically because they were outnumbered.

After capturing Tianwei's army, Zong Wang ordered his troops to march eastward and turn around to attack Huolu.

Li Miao, the prefect of Zhending Prefecture, and the soldiers and horses were all in charge of Liu Xu. They learned that the Jin soldiers were numerous and fierce, so they hurriedly held a meeting to study countermeasures. They felt that Huolu City was too small and might be difficult to defend. So he ordered the two thousand Song troops who were guarding Huolu to withdraw to Zhending, where they planned to stick to Zhending and wait for reinforcements.