Xu Jun looked forward with a sullen face, pretending that the civil servants did not exist.
Li Dadong guessed that the way he was determined to fight just now was too concerned, which aroused the veteran's vigilance. He was a little resentful at the moment, and it was inconvenient to catch up and disturb him.
Tens of thousands of soldiers and horses marched silently and with solemn momentum. The men and horses stepped on the ground, making a dull sound. The sharp sounds of arrows and whistles continued to be heard from the rear of the queue. It was the teams that were ambushing the Jin army one after another, breaking away from the pursuit and escaping from the wetlands and lakes. As for when he would be able to rejoin the main force, and how many people who went to fight would come back, Xu Jun seemed too lazy to say, and it was inconvenient for the civil servants to ask.
No matter what, there was always a fight. When asked by outsiders, at least he responded decisively and did not lose Huang Song's face.
Zhao Shanxiang comforted himself in this way, and then chatted with the small colonel next to the queue and asked him some trivial military affairs.
His son Zhao Ruzheng was planning to get married to Shi Xiang's daughter, and he himself was Shi Xiang's right-hand man. I guess Shi Xiang would not necessarily give up on his own family, and his mentality was more relaxed than Li Dadong's.
In the early years of Jiading, he was sentenced to be an incompetent army. He served as a transfer judge in Huainan and a prison in Huaixi. He asked about military affairs, but he was still on the idea. After a while, he came back and told Li Dadong that the direction of the march at this moment was to cross Feishui via Xiebu, and then go directly to Luzhou.
The team responsible for escorting the New Year coins was already far behind the team. Now extra capable people have been sent to support them. They are expected to return two days in advance without any hindrance. Moreover, the Jin people do not have enough cavalry, their marching route is close to the river, and they dare not drive far away, so they can rest assured.
"If you don't have enough cavalry, why don't you dare to stay away? The Jin people are fierce. Seeing that we are weak, how can we not pursue them?"
"..."
Zhao Shanxiang was stunned for a moment and wanted to remind Li Dadong that just now everyone was agitated and said that they would chase the North and attack the Jin army. However, it was normal for the officials of the Song Dynasty to talk about orpiment. If you think the pros and cons are too abrupt, the other party will still come up with seven or eight other truths.
】
At the moment, he only explained: "Some soldiers behind the scenes reported that the Jin army was busy cleaning up the battlefield and picking up missing arrows."
"What's the point?"
"Just now, the two armies had a slight contact. Our army rained down arrows. The Jin army also had archers who fired back. However, the arrows they shot were missing. Many of them were polished by themselves with old objects. I guess the gathering of troops in Kaifeng Mansion was in vain. Hundreds of thousands, which looks glamorous and scary on the surface, but is actually very embarrassing. I think it’s not just Xu Dutong who doesn’t want to fight, the Jin people may not be willing to fight..."
After hearing these words, Li Dadong felt depressed and felt that he should have persisted in fighting just now. Then he thought that he no longer had to be on the battlefield and felt much more relaxed.
He smiled reservedly and whispered to Zhao Shanxiang:
"Xu Jun's idea was simply that he was unhappy about paying the annual coins, and that we had just arrived and lacked foundation. Therefore, he deliberately avoided the war and wanted to take advantage of the momentum of the Jin army's march south to give us a show of strength."
After all, he is a Hanlin bachelor, so he is indeed very clever. This angle is very good!
Zhao Shanxiang nodded repeatedly, then frowned: "I see...Xu Jun is a veteran general and is well-known throughout Huaishang. As expected, he is in trouble for us. How will we deal with the next battle?"
Li Dadong said in a deep voice: "The Jin people in Kaifeng and the Zhongdu side, in Shandong, are separated by the red coat army entrenched in Junzhou to the west of Mount Tai and Yishan. The two families do not interfere with each other. This situation has been maintained for more than a year. It is obvious that neither side wants to face each other head-on and have a large-scale war. Therefore, when the Jin people go south to plunder, they may not be willing to cause much commotion in Huainan..."
"If we really want to capture Huainan, we'll have to go around in a circle and face Shandong's Dinghai navy!"
"That's right!"
Li Dadong signaled Zhao Shanxiang to keep a lower voice, and then continued: "I think most of their efforts are directed at Jingxi Road, and at most Qingyuan Mansion on Lizhou West Road... Those places have nothing to do with us, they have their own Zhao Shanxiang." Fang and An Bing will have a headache! They are both known as knowing soldiers, how can they not be able to deal with it?"
"Then here in Huainan..."
"With Xu Jun showing such a stinky face, do we really have no one available? We have plenty of available people in Anqing Mansion, Zhenzhou, Chuzhou, and Yangzhou!"
"this……"
Of course Zhao Shanxiang knew which route of troops Li Dadong was talking about. However, there is something special about the identities of these soldiers and horses, and Li Dadong suddenly wanted to use them, which made people hesitate a little.
It turns out that after the Southern Song Dynasty, the original forbidden army system collapsed, so the Song Dynasty attached great importance to the role of local force, often granting local officials the power to raise their own financial resources and recruit troops. The soldiers recruited by these officials were under the control of the Privy Council and the Infantry Division in front of the imperial court. In fact, they were controlled and dispatched exclusively by local civilian officials with titles such as Zhizhi envoy, pacification envoy, and Xuanfu envoy. What about destroying the front army and flying tiger army? , Left-wing Army, are all famous among them.
In the past few years, the situation along the northern border has been complicated, and the Imperial Army, which was originally the backbone and was known as garrisoning troops, performed very unusually during the Kaixi Northern Expedition, which greatly disappointed the Central Committee. Therefore, the civilized officials along the northern border gradually gained authority here.
For example, the Huaidong side began to recruit the remnants of the Red Coat Army who had fled from the north, gradually forming the so-called Loyal and Righteous Army; while the Huaixi side generally worked hard on the mountain villages and tea merchants smuggling forces established by the local people's own financial resources.
However, the cottages in Huaixi are too scattered and have been defeated by the Jin army recently. Many people have become prisoners captured for the Jin army; and the tea merchants' smuggling force is too close to the Kaifeng government. At present, the two countries are at war. Li Dadong cannot To send people to exterminate them is to show mercy.
Therefore, it is natural to rely on the loyal army on the Huaidong side.
However, it has only been a few months since the Zhongyi Army was formally established, and there are still many complicated backgrounds.
For example, the Loyalty Army itself is divided into two groups. There are the troops of Yang You, the "Nine Kings" of the Red Coat Army recently praised by the Prime Minister, and the troops of Liu Quan and Guo Yao'er who were previously sheltered by Ying Chunzhi and Li Jue. It is said that the Fourth Lady Yang Miaozhen is behind her.
The two families compete with each other and have entangled interests and conflicts. At the same time, they often conflicted with the imperial court's local management. The recruitment process of the so-called loyal army actually affected the interests of the two imperial commanders, Jiankang and Zhenjiang. However, in Lin'an, there were always people speaking according to the ancestral laws, always trying to check and balance each other, and instigating. contradiction.
This chaotic situation is naturally inseparable from history.
Shi Xianggong is really not the kind of strongman. He relies on balance and patchwork to survive every day, and he also thinks the same way in military and political affairs. Therefore, even if the subordinates are able to go abroad, they will inevitably undermine each other.
At this moment, Li Dadong and Zhao Shanxiang looked at each other, thinking of Ying Chunzhi and Li Jue, who were originally valued, but now they are about to be unlucky. They thought of how they were just county magistrates last year, but this year they are flying high into the blue clouds. Jia She thought of what Shi Kuanzhi, the son of Shi Xiang, and Jia Sidao, the son of Jia She, had been doing in Zhenzhou and Anqing Prefecture since last year...
These people are all Shi Xiang's people, but some are already unlucky, but they are still holding on to the soldiers in their hands; some are popular, but occupy the territory of Huainan, making Li Dadong and Zhao Shanxiang who are scheduled to show their talents in Huainan unhappy; and some are The family members who thought they were the prime minister despised the authority of the court officials.
Of course, the last item can only be thought about in private and cannot be spoken out.
Now that the Jin army is moving south, if we don't take the opportunity to weaken their strength, how long will it take?
"I will write a report immediately, saying that the war in Huainan is urgent, and we must unite all ministries to face the enemy."
"I'll go to Anqing Mansion and Zhenzhou first!"
