"withdraw?"
Xie Lie, the military commander of the East and West Routes of Shandong, sneered twice.
"Those in Kaifeng thought that it was like the situation back then. Once you hit the Song people, you would get a benefit. Even if you can't get it on the battlefield, after you retreat, you can still get benefits from the Song people's court? The situation is different now!"
He took two steps back and forth on the tower and asked another subordinate: "What's the new news from the north?"
The subordinate shook his head, and just as he was about to open his mouth, Xie Lie Mingding suddenly waved his hand again: "It's so early in the morning, there's no news even if I think about it."
He turned back and sat down, his heavy body making the wooden chair creak: "I want to get benefits from the Song Dynasty, but I only know how to fight, and I am unable to prevent the Song Dynasty from having close contacts with the rebellion. This made both the north and the south tense, and Zhongdu If there is a fart noise over there, you will feel like you are facing a formidable enemy from Xijing to Damingfu!"
His voice of complaint gradually became lower, because the situation was like this and there was nothing anyone could do about it.
Earlier, Wanyan Congtan, Hou Zhi, Tian Zhuo and others accompanied King Sui to go south, leaving Zhongdu to fight against the Mongols while his family slowly operated in Henan and opened up a new world for the Jurchens.
But what I didn't expect was that both the Mongols and the Zhongdu court were unreliable, and the traitor Guo Ning seized the power of Dajin in one fell swoop by using force. Seeing that Guo Ning's actions in Zhongdu were so close to each other, Kaifeng had to passively keep up, and King Sui became the emperor.
King Sui and Guo Ning are different. Guo Ning has the army as its foundation, but what he lacks is money and food to appease the local area and reorganize government affairs. After King Sui became emperor, he had to support such a huge situation. Not only was he short of money and food, but he also exposed the weakness of the entire regime in terms of force and prestige.
So we had to fight to break the situation.
However, the Southern Dynasty always looks like such an old cowhide...
At present, Xie Lie Mingding did not expect the imperial court to gain much benefit from the Song Dynasty. He only hoped that the hundreds of elites he sent to support would not lose too much and could return to Xuzhou safely.
He once wrote to the court that instead of fighting the Song people, it would be better to devote his energy to the east and try to capture Dongpingfu, Jeju, Yanzhou, Tengzhou and other places, and force the remaining red coat army back into the mountains to occupy the plains. At least I can squeeze out some oil and water. But Kaifeng was worried that this would force the Red Coat Army to surrender to Zhongdu, so they never allowed it.
Therefore, although the Kaifeng imperial court had the structure of the Shandong East and West Road General Administration Office, it actually controlled very little territory in Shandong. Sometimes Xielie Mingding doesn't understand what he got in exchange for fighting to the death with Yang An'er two years ago.
In the past few days, he felt vaguely uneasy in his heart. He always felt that something would happen in Shandong.
Outsiders think that Xie Lie Ming Ding is a powerful general who has experienced hundreds of battles, and a powerful general must be as bold as a fighter. But he himself knew how the name "Meng Jiang" came from.
Since the founding of the Jin Kingdom, the Jurchens' killing of Han children was no more difficult than cutting grass, and the number of Han children they killed was greater than the weeds in the mountains.
As long as you have the strength of your arms, wear strong armor, ride a big horse into the enemy's formation, and chop at the thin, yellow-faced peasants holding sickles and bamboo poles, it is actually not dangerous. Killing a hundred is just a bit more tiring than killing one. Going through hundreds of battles can only represent hard work, not anything else.
But as the situation changes, Daikin's enemies are no longer ordinary Han farmers. And the Kaifeng court was ruled by Han people. The court only relied on hundreds of thousands of Jurchens who fled south to control millions of Han people. It was like a group of sailors in a small boat, drifting in the boiling sea, which could capsize at any time. danger.
If you think more carefully, the Red Coat Army is a Han'er, and Guo Ning of Zhongdu is also a Han'er. The court always feels that these two families have fought fierce battles, and they must be on guard against each other, with no room for relaxation. However, if these men join hands, what will happen to the entire sea controlled by the Kaifeng court? Xielie Mingding is impossible to guess.
Thinking of this, Xielie Mingding became more and more nervous.
Even though he was surrounded by a group of subordinates, Xie Lie Mingding still felt that there was some danger approaching. This inexplicable tension made him more and more irritable these days, and he cursed frequently. His subordinates all thought that he would not be able to make meritorious service by going south, so they were irritable, but they did not know that he was just afraid.
As the Kaifeng court continued to fill Huainan with troops, Xuzhou became increasingly empty.
Logically speaking, the poor men in the red coat army who are entrenched in the mountains have neither the ability nor the courage to do anything. But Xilie Mingding really felt that something was wrong. He is a rough man, he does not have the ability to analyze things in detail, and he has never been able to reason clearly with the Kaifeng court.
But in the past few days, he felt more and more that if there was fighting in the south and confrontation in the north, but only the east was calm, then there would be problems in the east.
"In the past few days, we must not relax in searching for sentries along the river, and we must also go to Pizhou and Tengzhou for scouts! Do the sentries in these places report back twice a day?"
"yes!"
"Not enough!" Xielie Mingding shouted, slapping the table gum: "Send more people! Four times a day, no, six times a day to report back!"
Surabaya and Nanqing River are all covered with silt left by the flooding of the Yellow River. It is very difficult for knights to travel there. The remnants of the red-coated troops in Pizhou and Tengzhou were rampant, and the road was so difficult to walk.
Manager Xie Lie gave an order to report back six times a day. Where would three times the manpower come from?
The officer in charge of the sentry was unhappy, but he did not dare to talk back to Xie Lie Mingding.
While bowing in agreement, he secretly glanced at his colleagues around him, trying to see where the county lieutenant in charge of local security was.
This county captain was a native of Pengcheng. He once led hundreds of his neighbors to flee the army and was promoted as the leader of the village. Most of this man's subordinates are also proficient in geography. If he can send a few teams of people to help, he can gather all the sentinels.
Um?
The county captain didn't come to answer Mao today?
The officer looked around again, and it seemed that there were more than one person who didn't come to answer. Why didn't several Qianhu and Mouke, who were originally from Xuzhou and were promoted one after another in the past two years, not come? Nowadays, military positions such as Qianhu and Mouke are everywhere. These people are not important figures, but they are bold if they don't do it well. Aren't they afraid of being scolded by the manager?
When he was about to ask about this, several soldiers climbed in from outside the meeting hall: "General manager, it's not good! There is an enemy attack!"
Half a moment later, Xie Lie Mingding and his men hurriedly climbed onto the tower. When he looked up, his face turned dark immediately.
He saw the boiling sea.
Guo Ning walked ashore in the mud, taking only a few dozen steps, one step deeper and one step shallower.
The Yellow River had not been properly managed in the hands of the Jin Kingdom. In the fifth year of the Ming Dynasty, the entire Yellow River burst at the old Yangwu embankment in Nanjing, swallowing Fengqiu County, and then swept through millions of people in 29 counties along the Si River, and finally took the Huai River and entered the sea. That horrific scene was only twenty years ago.
The Yellow River flows eastward from Caozhou and Shanzhou, leaving behind large areas of yellow sand and silt wherever it goes. At this moment, Guo Ning and others were walking along. It looked like a flat natural embankment, but it was actually a tidal flat. As soon as they stepped down, the dry soil shell on the surface cracked, and the mud was submerged up to the knees.
When the entire army crossed the tidal flat horizontally, the tidal flat was turned into a mud flow by tens of thousands of feet and horse hooves, flowing freely. Every soldier had to struggle inside before he could come out. Almost all of them turned into clay figures, as if endless ghosts and ghosts had risen out of thin air in the water of the Yellow River.
At this time, if the defenders cover the city with arrows, they will definitely cause huge casualties. But Xuzhou City remained silent in the early morning. Even though the low footsteps of the Red Coat Army were like thunder as they trekked, the defenders on guard on the city wall did not react in any way.
Liu Erzu said that he had an internal agent in Xuzhou City. This was true. The position of the internal response is very critical, the status is high, and there are many comrades, they are ready!
Guo Ning paused and looked around at the generals: "Everyone, are you tired?"
Yesterday we marched all day long in concealment, and this morning we made food at the third watch, and sent out troops at the fifth watch. We were still walking on this yellow muddy beach, how could we not be tired? This kind of trek on the tidal flats makes one mile more tiring than the usual ten miles. Many soldiers had their shoes and socks swallowed by mud and sand just halfway through the journey, and they were barefoot for the next twenty miles. However, they really couldn't hold on during the march, leaving There were more than 500 red-coated soldiers resting in place.
But those who are following Guo Ning at this moment are indeed the tough and brave ones in the Red Coat Army. They are willing to follow Guo Ning, but that doesn't mean they have lost the rebelliousness in their hearts, and they don't want to lose their prestige in front of Guo Ning. At that moment, everyone said: "I'm not tired!"
"As long as you're not tired!"
Guo Ning issued an order in a deep voice: "Send the order, divide the troops and surround them on all sides, and attack immediately. Within half an hour, I will gather them in the city and seize them!"
The soldiers who followed Guo Ning rumbled and beat the leather drums. The roar of the big drum can be heard for tens of miles. The sound of drums was also a signal agreed upon in advance. When the drums sounded, the entire arc-shaped city wall on the north side of Xuzhou City was noisy, and the north gate and the Pengzu Tower in the northeast corner were set on fire at the same time.
Looking to the south, there are also fires rising, and a thick smoke reaches tens of feet high. It turns out that the Xiang Yu Liangma Terrace outside the south gate is on fire... That is the largest military camp of the defenders!
"Siege the city! Siege the city!"
Countless red-coated soldiers and horses roared and killed them, like a roiling yellow flood. Peng Yibin, wielding a big sword, rushed forward first.
Xie Lie Mingding was looking out from the north gate and shouted to the defenders. However, the elite troops of Ding Haijun immediately pressed close to the city wall. Their arrows were like locusts covering the sky and covered the sky, and the defenders on the city were immediately stunned.
There was a clever Jin Army officer who bowed away with his men and used the female wall to avoid missing arrows. They ran towards the city gate, brandishing their knives and shouting: "Close the door! Close the door!"
After two shouts, dozens of sights from the defenders near the city gate all gathered.
The officer yelled angrily: "See what I'm doing? Close the door!"
Before he finished speaking, no fewer than seven or eight long knives and swords stabbed him out, turning him into a water bag with blood spurting out from all sides.
The next moment, the city gates on both sides were completely opened, and Peng Yibin rushed in with dozens of people, killing the officer's men like chopping melons and vegetables.
The torrent poured in from the north gate, then poured in from the east gate; another large stream rolled to the south, swallowing up the Nanshan Mountain, and then returned and poured into the south gate.
Arrows were flying, spears and spears were raised, horse hooves roared, and the sound of fighting echoed throughout the city.
