Zhang Jing looked at the sky with some despair.
The heavy snow was still blowing crazily, and the snow flakes were gathered into snow balls by the random wind and dispersed, falling on the ground with a rustling sound. If you overcome the coldness in your eyes from the snow flakes, raise your face and look up at the sky, you can see that the dark zenith is almost within reach, and more snow seems to have broken a crack somewhere in the zenith, heading towards Like a downpour.
He looked around and saw that the roads, fields and hills were all white.
In the northeastern hinterland, such heavy snow cannot be said to be that rare. But if you have to trek, march, and fight in heavy snow, it would be too hard!
No, that’s not just hard work, it’s really life-threatening!
Zhang Jing also suffered a lot when he rose from the countryside in his early years. However, as his status has increased in the past two years, it is inevitable that he will have wine, beauty, brocade and mink fur. His original strong muscles and bones are not as strong as before, and he can no longer withstand such harsh conditions. environment.
Since the Da'an period, the Jin Kingdom has continuously loosened its control over local areas. Jinzhou, Zongzhou and other places on the Liaohai Passage have long fallen into the hands of many local tyrants. Among them, brothers Zhang Jing and Zhang Zhi, who were brave and good at fighting, controlled the salt fields and trade routes in Jinzhou and Zongzhou. They were the leaders among them regardless of their strength and reputation.
On that day, Wanyan Chengyu, who was left behind in Beijing, claimed to have hundreds of thousands of soldiers under his command, half of whom were powerful soldiers headed by the Zhang brothers.
When Mu Huali led his troops to break into Beijing Road, Zhang Jing immediately claimed to be the king of Linhai County and gathered more than 100,000 people to respond to the Mongolian army. This single-handedly caused Wanyan Chengyu's death.
The reason why Zhang Jing did this was to follow the example of Yelvliu Ge, King of Liao of the Khitan Tribe, and Alawusi, King of Beiping of the Wanggu Tribe, and others, and use the power of the Mongols to realize his ambitions.
But what made him suspicious was that after Mu Huali settled in Dading Mansion in Beijing, he verbally recognized his status as Linhai County King, but he never gave him an official seal or tiger talisman, and even gave him jurisdiction over Jinzhou and Zongzhou. There is no serious official title to recognize it. On the contrary, the original subordinates Shi Tianying and others received favorable treatment from Mu Huali one after another, and even took away a group of troops recruited by Zhang Jing personally.
For this reason, Zhang Jing was very unhappy. After bidding farewell to Mu Huali, he returned to Jinzhou and stayed away for a long time, focusing on building his own elite force called the "Black Army".
It was not until ten months ago that Genghis Khan himself arrived in Dadingfu, Beijing, that Zhang Jing left Jinzhou to visit him. Genghis Khan was very kind to the Han powerful men on Beijing Road, and asked Zhang Jing if he was interested in serving as a marshal in Dading Prefecture and taking charge of the ten Han armies in charge of Dading Prefecture.
Genghis Khan was polite, but too stingy.
In recent years, the position of marshal has become worthless. Even if you want to win over people with huge salary, you can't just be a marshal? I, Zhang, am already the Prince of Linhai County! It's a prince!
On the same day, Zhang Jing heard that his old subordinate Shi Tianying had been promoted by Genghis Khan to the hereditary position of 100 households, and he also promised to give him a hundred good horses.
The Mongolians had 100 hereditary households, but if they were included in the subordinate army, they would be at least 10,000 households. Isn't Genghis Khan too partial to one?
The next day Zhang Jing politely rejected Genghis Khan's proposal and continued to return to Jinzhou to win over many local figures and manage his own power.
Three days ago, suddenly a Mongolian messenger rushed to Jinzhou to deliver an order, saying that the army sent by the Great Khan to fight in Liaodong was defeated and General Zhebie died, so the Great Khan hurriedly summoned all the army generals to gather troops and supplies on the east side of Beijing Road. Raoqing Town, Yizhou, wanted to send troops to invade Liaodong, wipe out Ding Haijun, and avenge Zhebie.
Zhang Jing was a little surprised by Zhebie's death. After all, such a powerful Mongolian general died in battle, which had never happened in Zhang Jing's memory.
It is said that those who defeated Zhebie's troops were the Dinghai navy from Shandong. Before this victory, they had defeated the Mongolian army twice, and even captured princes and killed thousands of households.
It seems that the Mongolian army is not as powerful as they boasted? Is it possible... In the early years, every time the imperial troops encountered the Mongols, they would be defeated miserably? Maybe it was because of the laxity of the imperial troops, rather than the strength of the Mongolian army?
Zhang Jing felt a little ridiculous at the same time.
In the past few days, the snow has fallen heavily. How can we still march and fight?
Even if Genghis Khan was furious, he would still score points
The cloth people and horses could eat for the winter, or they could go south to Zhongdu Road and Hebei Road to beat the autumn wind of the imperial court and grab a few granaries for envoys. Going to Liaodong at this time is not seeking death, right? Genghis Khan was really affectionate towards his subordinates. When a general died, he became angry?
With this idea in mind, Zhang Jing did not mobilize all his old base, the 12,000 people who dared to die, nor did he order the many powerful men in the two states. He took his brother Zhang Zhi and more than a few hundred personal guards, and meandered to meet up.
Those who went to Dading Prefecture with this idea, in addition to the Zhang brothers, also included powerful figures who supported troops in Xingzhong Prefecture, Zezhou, Yizhou, Jianzhou and other places. Zhang Jing met them one after another on the road and found that the generals led by them had no more than a hundred people, and only twenty or thirty attendants.
Then everyone looked at each other and smiled, feeling that they were in harmony. Everyone feels that the military power of the Mongols seems to be unreliable recently, so they are all just pretending.
I didn’t expect Genghis Khan to be serious.
Everyone's persuasion was of no use. We were really forced by him to march to Liaodong in the ice and snow!
On the border of Jinzhou, Zhang Jing could still force the local government to take care of him. The army left Yizhou and headed east, which was Yelvliu Ge's territory earlier. Now the Khitan people have been completely dispersed, and the surrounding area is so desolate that no living person can be seen.
After only half a day of marching, Zhang Jing was almost driven crazy by this ridiculous approach.
It’s too hard, it really doesn’t work! Gotta find a way!
Zhang Jing was making crazy calculations when his younger brother Zhang Zhi summoned the quartermaster: "How are the soldiers doing?"
The quartermaster trembled and said, "General, it has only been half a day, and already the men and horses cannot hold up and are about to freeze to death! There are also more than 20 soldiers with frostbite in their legs and feet, unable to move!"
Zhang Zhi thought for a while and reluctantly said: "Twenty people got frostbite in a long time? Not bad!"
He turned to his brother and said, "If we calculate it this way, we can rush to Liaoyang in one go and join forces with the Prince Consort Bitu, and we will still have 500 men under our command!"
You fart!
Is this how the account is calculated?
If this continues, let alone the soldiers who have finally gathered together, my majestic Prince Linhai himself will not be able to hold on even halfway! Not to mention going to Gaizhou to fight, that would be no different than dying! No, no, it may not mean death, because all the soldiers on the way will flee!
Zhang Jing almost wanted to curse, but he really had no energy, so he just waved his hand repeatedly to tell the quartermaster to retreat.
The group of people walked for a long time in the wind and snow, and suddenly heard the heavy sound of an army marching not far away.
He turned around and saw the Mongolians marching with their horses in the distance.
These Mongolians were wearing dirty leather jackets, and all of them had dark faces due to exposure to wind and sun all year round.
On the road covered with heavy snow, they moved forward with concentration. On both sides of the road, in the undulating snowy fields blocked by rocks and thorns, they pulled the reins, occasionally dragging each other, and still moved forward with concentration. No one complained, no one hesitated, their expressions were like rocks.
Looking at them, Zhang Jing felt in a daze that they did not look like humans, but more like wild horses, wild deer, or wolves. They themselves are part of the harsh environment and can be compared with the white disaster, gray disaster and black disaster on the grassland!
The army composed of these people has an indifferent murderous aura... Maybe they can really rush to Gaizhou?
He turned around, suddenly startled.
In front of his horse, at some point stood a Mongolian in black helmet and black armor. The Mongolian said angrily: "Prince Zhang, the Great Khan has invited you!"
