One Piece of Song Dynasty

On April , the fourth year of Jianyan, there was no wind on the river. Under the cover of thick fog before dawn, countless small boats of the Jin army approached the Song ship silently like ghosts. The Song army scouts on the mast of the Song warship suddenly saw numerous gold ships approaching and hurriedly reported to Han Shizhong that the Jin army had suddenly attacked at a much faster speed than usual.

Han Shizhong ordered to raise the sails and go out to intercept the golden ship. The huge sails of the Song ship were raised with difficulty, but the big flags on the ship were hanging motionless. The scouts on the mast also reported that there was no wind on the river and the ship could not move. Han Shizhong became anxious now: "Where has the damn wind gone?"

Before he finished speaking, there was a sudden whistle, and rockets were released from the golden ship at the same time, and the arrows rained down like rain. The sails of the Song Dynasty ship were hit by arrows and burned, and the generals on the ship were hit by arrows and died one after another. In less than a moment, people screamed, horses neighed, soldiers were burned, and they fell into the river one after another. The entire fleet's sails were all set on fire, and it covered the river like a burning dead dragon.

Seeing that the situation was over, Han Shizhong hurriedly got off the boat to avoid retreat, and left in embarrassment under the protection of all the Beiwei soldiers. The golden soldiers and light boats pursued and attacked with great force, and the sound of golden drums shook the heaven and earth. In the end, with the help of the Zhenjiang temple monks and other rebels, Han Shizhong was defeated all the way back to Zhenjiang.

After Zhao Ding told Li Xin the news of Han Shizhong's defeat, Li Xin had no special reaction. After all, Li Xin had already known the outcome of the Huangtiandang battle. Then Li Xin called Liu Fa: "Yuan Zhen, what are you doing now?" Let’s briefly talk about the situation with Liu Shuai.”

So Zhao Ding told Liu Fa what had just happened. Liu Fa listened while looking at the map and thinking.

After Zhao Ding finished speaking, he suggested: "Your Majesty, Han Shizhong has been defeated, and Wu Shu is now entrenched in Jiankang. I ask Liu Guangshi to besiege Jiankang, and urgently summon Zhang Jun from the northwest to go east along the river to command the generals, and Wu Shu can be captured in one fell swoop."

Liu Fa shook his head and said: "That's not right. Mr. Zhao, please take a look. There are dozens of large and small army thieves in the south of the Yangtze River, and hundreds of thousands of bandits. On the western front, Zhang Jun and the Lou Shi Department of the Jin Army are on the verge of breaking out, and the outcome is unpredictable; on the eastern front, The Wanyanchang troops of the Jin Army have been besieging Chuzhou for more than three months. If Zhang Jun moves on the western front, Sichuan and Shaanxi will be in danger. If Sichuan and Shaanxi are captured by the Jin Army, the south of the Yangtze River will be even more dangerous, so Zhang Jun cannot move."

Li Xin nodded and asked: "Yuan Zhen, how is the rescue situation in Chuzhou? Liu Guangshi can send Wang De to send troops to rescue?"

Zhao Ding shook his head and said: "Not yet. Liu Guangshi has not sent troops yet because the rescue requires time to prepare."

Li Xin sneered: "Liu Guangshi is really bold."

Zhao Ding walked to the map and said: "If Chuzhou is lost, Huainan will be lost. If Huainan is lost, the Jin army will come across the river again and peek south of the Yangtze River. My lord, please see, Zhenjiang is miles away from Jiangzhou, and there is no one along the river." hub. I suggest setting up three pacification envoys on the west, middle and east roads in Jiangzhou, Chizhou and Zhenjiang, each seven hundred miles apart, so that they can support each other in emergencies."

Li Xin thought for a while and said: "Okay, let's do it this way. Transfer Li Guang to be the pacifier of the middle road, and Chen Gongfu to be the pacifier of the west road. As for the pacifier of the east road, let Liu Guangshi be the pacifier. Since Han Shizhong's army has been dispersed, he will recall him." Xing Zai, tell Liu Guangshi that the first thing he will do after taking office is to rescue Chuzhou, and there must be no mistake."

Zhao Ding replied: "Yes, I understand."

Li Xin asked again: "How is the training of the soldiers in various places?"

Zhao Ding said: "It is reported that the soldiers in the four counties of Fujian, Guangdong, Guangnan and Hunan are almost fully trained. The three counties including Chengdu Prefecture still need a month."

Li Xin nodded and said: "Okay, let's start with these four groups. Let the four groups of propaganda envoys mobilize the troops from each county to the designated positions according to the mobilization plan on this paper. The other three groups will also mobilize the troops. Here it is, I’ll send it out in half a month.” After saying that, Li Xin handed the two pieces of paper to Zhao Ding.

Zhao Ding took the paper, looked at it and frowned: "Your Majesty, this is"

Li Xin said: "Yuan Zhen doesn't need to ask. Just let the xuanfu envoys from various places do as they please. I have my own intentions. You will understand when the matter is over."

Zhao Ding bowed and said, "I obey your order."

Li Xin asked again: "Liu Shuai, how is the training of the recruits going?"

Liu Fa replied: "It will be completed in another month."

Li Xin nodded and said: "Okay, complete it as soon as possible so that we can go north to Zhejiang as soon as possible."

Liu Fa cupped his fists and said, "Yes, I will complete the recruit training as soon as possible."

Zhao Ding and Liu Fa left the government office. Zhao Ding asked: "Liu Shuai, what does the prince's transfer plan mean?"

Liu Fa shook his head and said: "I don't know this very well. Mr. Zhao, our prince is a very independent person. I have been with the prince for ten years. Many of the prince's actions are planned before taking action. Since the prince has done this There must be a reason, we just watch."

Zhao Ding nodded and said: "Okay, I understand."

After Zhao Ding and Liu Fa left, Li Xin sent someone to call Gao Ping and said: "I have already arranged the mobilization plan for the troops in each county. When they are mobilized, you ask our personnel in each county to cooperate with them to eliminate the large and small armies in various places. Bandit bullies, after this is over, I will take down all the landlords and local officials who colluded with these people. They will confiscate their homes and behead their heads when they should." The method Li Xin used to suppress bandits was the cross-regional law enforcement commonly used in later generations.

Gao Ping nodded and said: "Yes, my subordinates have all noted it down."

Li Xin asked again: "How is the matter with the Zhao family clan?"

Gao Ping replied: "So far we have killed men from the Zhao clan, and there are not many left."

Li Xin nodded and said: "Okay, hurry up and complete this matter before the end of this war."

Gao Ping cupped his fists and said, "I understand."

Beginning in late April of the fourth year of Jianyan, Wu Shu continued to take the materials and Jiankang people plundered from the south to Xuanhua Town in Jiangbei County. On the tenth day of the fifth lunar month, Wushu burned Jiankang to the ground and crossed the river to retreat north. Yue Fei, who had just been selected as the leader of the Huaixi Right Army, led his troops to follow and harass all the way, and won small victories in Qingshui Pavilion and other places in Jing'an. Then he entered the Jiankang City Gate where the smoke had not cleared, and saw that the city was filled with rubble, corpses lay everywhere, and blood flowed. Everywhere along the road, as far as the eye can see, there is a mess.

There were people in Jiankang at that time. Yue Fei ordered his troops to bury the corpses. There were as many as hundreds of thousands of mutilated corpses. This shows that Jiankang was almost completely massacred by the Jin army. However, in such a tragic situation, Yue Fei's uncle Yao Da was still taking the opportunity to make a fortune from the national crisis. He and his men removed a lot of gold jewelry, jade bracelets, etc. from the piled corpses and hid them in their pockets, but Yue Fei discovered them. Yue Fei immediately stopped him and warned him that if he didn't look at his mother, he would be beaten with a military stick today. Yao Da resented Yue Fei, and the two formed a feud from then on.

Yue Fei gained a lot from this military expedition. He reported to the court and asked to go and present the prisoners in person, and then escorted the prisoners and returned home laden with trophies. On the night when the team marched to Liyang, Wang Gui, who was left behind in the military camp, rode up to Yue Fei and warned Yue Fei that Liu Jing, the commander of the rear army, seeing Yue Fei's power, wanted to integrate Yue Fei's Huaixi Right Army and harm Yue Fei.