Xuan Zhen arrived at Haizhou from Tianjin.
Ten days ago, at the banquet held by Yelu Chucai, he learned that Ding Haijun had been crying for poverty for a whole year, but in the end he gave away a mountain of wealth, and the Song Dynasty was completely exploited. At that time, the panic and anger in his heart were like a stormy sea, but he actually suppressed it. Not only did he not show his anger, he even praised Duke Zhou's benevolence and righteousness. When he got emotional, he even wrote a poem on the spot.
After returning to the official residence, Xuan Zhen couldn't control his emotions and broke several cups in succession. The lights in the bedroom remained on all night.
The next day, he asked to see Yelu Chucai again, hoping to accompany the army.
Yelu Chucai still smiled and agreed.
This Dinghai navy's offensive against the Kaifeng imperial court was divided into three lines, which were launched one after another.
Monk Luo, Guo Zhongyuan's troops and Liu Erzu's troops in Taishan, under the leadership of Guo Ning, had already attacked Kaifeng from Pizhou, Shandong. Li Ting's troops set off directly from Hebei East Road, which he owns, and head west, targeting Wanyan Heda and Mo Ni Jinzhong.
The ones who moved a little slower were Zhao Jue and others who were the successors of the first line of troops. Zhao Jue, Han Xuan and Shi Tianni commanded 35,000 men. They set out from Xuande, Dadingfu and Gaizhou respectively. Each relied on sea transportation to go south, gathered at Haizhou, and then marched westward.
This poses a great challenge to the carrying capacity of Haizhou Qushan Port and the local reserves of grain and supplies, and it is extremely dependent on the coordination ability of government officials.
The Shandong Privy Council had already made preparations, not only expanding the port to the maximum extent, but also at the beginning of the launch of the Ding Navy, 20% of the first fleet that followed Guo Zhongyuan to the south carried not soldiers and horses, but Laizhou, Port residents in Dengzhou and other places?
These people have received several times the benefits, so they are naturally willing to contribute. What's more, many ports in Shandong were expanded under the unified planning of the Dinghai Navy. The geographical environment may be different, but the management regulations and command are no different. So people quickly took advantage of it.
Even so, Yelu Chucai still couldn't completely rest assured that major events would be left in the hands of his subordinates, so he entrusted the central capital to Xu Ding. He also brought a large number of subordinates to Haizhou to directly dispatch the huge amount of troops and supplies. transport.
As soon as he arrived in Haizhou, many processes were sorted out quickly, but some omissions in the process were also discovered, and even officials were found to be derelict in their duties.
Just the day before yesterday, I heard that the grain and fodder figures sent from Gaizhou did not match up. The official in charge tried his best to explain in front of Yelu Chucai, but the reasons he gave did not make sense. Immediately, some people suspected that there was something wrong with the warehouse in Haizhou, and that someone was harming the public and enriching himself but could not turn back.
This kind of thing can never be avoided. According to common sense, people from the Recording Department should be sent to investigate and then punish the person. But not at this time, no one is free, and there is no way to wait.
The always good-tempered Yelu Chucai took the golden sword awarded by Guo Ning and directly ordered the beheading of the responsible officials. In addition, he sent a team of people to Gaizhou by boat at night to behead all the people in this line.
What was sent back to Haizhou together with a dozen heads were the perfectly matched books and the sufficient amount of food and supplies that were being shipped one after another.
Xuan Zhen watched the whole process and could only express his admiration.
However, Xuan Zhen was a guest from the Southern Dynasty, so he could just watch and didn't need to do anything. Now that the overall situation has been decided, no one feels the need to restrict his actions.
So when Xuanzhen had free time to observe the military affairs, he took a few followers to look for secluded places.
At this moment, he arrived at Kongwang Mountain.
Legend has it that this mountain is where Confucius climbed to look at the sea. There are Guiyun Cave, Guiyuan Temple and Buddhist cliff statues on the mountain, but Xuan Zhen's spirit is not actually in these scenes.
He stood on the top of the mountain and looked eastward, where he could see the huge harbor in the sea.
The scale of Haizhou Port is naturally not comparable to Dinghai Port in Qingyuan Prefecture. But now a large number of ships are pouring in, and the busy scene is quite different. Within the field of vision, the fleet slowly moved from north to south, almost connected end to end. Countless small boats shuttled back and forth between the big ships, some were tow boats, and some were clippers responsible for conveying orders.
Under normal circumstances, surrounding the big ship, there would also be small boats under the names of local merchants selling snacks and supplies needed for ocean voyages, and even flower boats from local prostitutes. However, these small boats were severely isolated at this time, and they may have been ordered not to sail in advance.
Therefore, the waterway appears to be very spacious. Military ships are moored on the trestle in turn, and groups of soldiers are constantly coming down.
At this time, the rising sun was rising in the east, shining brightly, the sea surface was shining with golden light, and the rows of sails were also illuminated. Under the sun, red flags were fluttering, the soldiers were filing in, and war horses disembarked from the ship. They couldn't help but raise their heads and neigh, galloping wantonly.
Even if you can't see the figures clearly from so far away, you can still feel the high-spirited spirit.
"This army is the soldiers and horses of Han Xuan, the military commander of the Liao Navy under the command of Duke Zhou. It is said that they were so powerful in the northeastern hinterland that they suppressed hundreds of Jurchen tribes and bowed down, which was the basis for the rise of the Jurchens. The old place is now full of Ding Haijun's lackeys... It can be seen that these are teams of bears, tigers and leopards!"
Xuan Zhen said with emotion.
A follower next to him came to Haizhou from Tianjin and finally had the freedom to have fun. When there was no one around to keep an eye on him, he immediately shook his head: "That Guo Ning killed his lord and usurped the throne and went militarily. He was following the same path as those of the Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties. Even if the general's methods succeed for a while, sooner or later there will be backlash."
According to the philosophy of the Song Dynasty people in the Southern Dynasties, the greatest political incorrectness was probably the military leader ruling the country. When these words came out, several people around him nodded.
"Killing the master and usurping the throne? Going militarily?" Xuan Zhen read a few sentences softly and laughed a few times.
The government was in turmoil because of the regicide and rebellion, and the territory was divided into two parts. The people were in poverty because of the aggressive military tactics, and money and food were exhausted. This was the initial impression that Zhou Guogong's regime left on the Song Dynasty. Xuan Zhen himself boarded the ship to go to the When they were both, they thought so too, and the Song Dynasty indeed designated policies for these two points, trying to gain the upper hand in the diplomacy between Song and Jin.
But Xuan Zhen realized once he went to Tianjin Mansion that the so-called crime of regicide and treason was of no use to Ding Haijun, and it was meaningless even to the officials of the Imperial Court of the Kingdom of Jin.
Since the third year of Da'an, the Kingdom of Jin has gradually been at a disadvantage in the war with Mongolia. In the following years, millions of soldiers and millions of people died in the war, and hundreds of cities were destroyed. It is not an exaggeration to say that the situation was like hell.
Even Daxing Prefecture, the central capital of the Jin Kingdom, was besieged twice by the Mongols and captured once. There were two coups and riots in the city itself, with more than half of the population of Daxing Prefecture at its peak killed and injured.
If a dynasty is in such a state of embarrassment, it will almost lose the ability to save itself. The only hope lies in whether there are heroes who will rise up to repair the cracks in the world amid the earth-shaking changes.
The Song Dynasty experienced such a tragic situation a hundred years ago. Fortunately, the Song Dynasty was orthodox after all and was kind to the people, so it established a foothold in the south, and it lasted another hundred years.
But the people of the Great Jin Kingdom do not have such a deep relationship with the Great Jin Kingdom. Most of them have lost confidence in the imperial court, and even the Jurchens, the foundation of the Jin Kingdom, are tired of it.
Half a year ago, the emperor of the Kingdom of Jin was kidnapped and attacked the Marshal's Mansion, and then fell to his death. After this happened, people who were still a little obsessed with the Jurchen regime fled to Kaifeng one after another. The people who stayed in Zhongdu, whether they were Han, Khitan, Jurchen or Bohai people, no longer cared about what happened to the court.
Xuan Zhen had vaguely tested him several times, and this was true for everyone he tested, whether they were officials, merchants, or even ordinary soldiers.
In other words, such things as regicide and usurpation do not exist at all. If Guo Ning wanted to do something, within the scope of the Great Jin Kingdom, it would be at least as popular as Emperor Taizu of the Great Song Dynasty.
I'm afraid he may be more popular than Emperor Taizu, but it's unknown. After all, Emperor Taizu did not defeat the Khitan at that time, but Guo Ning could actually solve the imminent threat from the Mongols.
As for the militancy...
Xuan Zhen turned around and looked to the west of Kongwang Mountain.
Haizhou is part of Shandong East Road and fell into Guo Ning's hands not long ago. However, because it is close to the three prefectures of Denghai, Lai, and Ninghai where the Dinghai Navy first operated, and was once used as the base of the Red Coat Army, the foundation is very good.
At this time, looking west of the city, all I could see were excavated canals, smooth roads, villages rebuilt from the ruins, and towns that were slowly changing from temporary to long-term.
This vibrant land was built by Guo Ning and his men in two or three years.
The Dinghai Navy relied on a large-scale military and household system as its political foundation, and also relied on maritime trade and commerce as a lubrication and supplement. In addition to expanding their own scale, the interests of maritime trade and commerce are partly consumed in bridges, roads, water conservancy, and disaster prevention and relief; part of them is supplemented by minerals and military industry; and the other part is invested in the improvement of the governance system, such as the expansion of scale. Come to large ordinary schools and military academies.
The reason why Guo Ning was able to suddenly launch such an attack was because he had already accumulated enough strength to obtain huge amounts of supplies from the Song Dynasty, which was also his ability.
If we have to say that it was the Song Dynasty that allowed sea trade to create all this, we cannot be wrong.
But in the final analysis, the order in which the navy was built created these.
This is certainly not a sign of militarism, but what it should be like when an ambitious regime first rises.
