"What kind of change method?" Guo Ning asked.
"Half an hour ago, the Song Army suddenly dispatched to Kaifeng!"
Guo Ning pondered for a moment, and Yelu Chucai asked: "How long do you think it will take for them to arrive in Kaifeng? Are there any siege equipment in the army?"
"The Song Army's camp is located in the area from Qinglongbei in the north of Zhuxian Town to Kaifeng City. This morning they mobilized more than 10,000 people to stop five miles north of the camp, only thirty miles away from Kaifeng. At this time, the Song Army was all lightly armed and still All the mules and horses in the army were mobilized, and no siege equipment was seen, so the march was very fast. In about half an hour, the Song army will arrive at Kaifeng City!"
"you sure?"
"We have more than ten sentries on our side. We have come close to investigate carefully, and there is no doubt about it."
"...Okay, thank you for your hard work. I'll investigate again and report back."
The sentry rider retreated, Guo Ning raised his eyebrows and chuckled twice: "Song people make up their minds very quickly!"
"Shi Miyuan is a powerful official in the Song Dynasty, and he is indispensable for turning things around. Xuanzhen worked hard to find out the inside story of our side in Tianjin and Shandong. Among his subordinates, two people led the Privy Council Machinery Room. In addition, most of the powerful merchants from the Southern Dynasties came from the Southern Dynasties, and they gave Xuan Zhen a lot of information, which may also help Zhao Fang make up his mind."
"And this determination probably represents the risk of a tense situation with us."
"That's right. Since there is a possibility of confrontation or even fighting with our army, the troops and horses on the east and west routes of Huainan cannot be used because there are too many troops and horses in those two places and Jia She and his son... Ahem, Jia She and Li Yun The Song court could not trust them, and the only ones they could use were soldiers from Jinghu, so Zhao Fang's troops marched long distances here."
"But they don't dare to go against us seriously. Their method is nothing more than an emergency blending with a certain force in Kaifeng City, using our army to fight the enemy fiercely, and first enter Kaifeng; then, with the Kaifeng City and Kaifeng in their hands, The Kaifeng imperial court will come back to influence the situation in this war and even the surrounding situation. At worst, it can also be used as bargaining capital with us."
Having said this, Guo Ning turned sideways and said leisurely to Yelu Chucai: "Jin Qing told me earlier that when Song and Jin formed an alliance at sea and jointly attacked Yanjing, the Liao Kingdom, the Song people kept changing the conditions on the one hand. He tried to deceive Dai Jin, but on the other hand, he was reticent and did not dare to fight hard, so that Yanjing fell into the hands of Dai Jin, which later caused a huge turmoil."
"The war between the Song and Jin Dynasties later was probably due to the disaster planted when the coalition forces destroyed the Liao Dynasty. Perhaps because of the lessons learned from the past, they were much smarter this time."
"That's right, during this coalition operation, the Song Dynasty people never said they were eager to ask for benefits from us, but they suddenly made a move at this moment... The Minister of History was obviously coerced by us and had to cooperate, but he was thousands of miles away. Apart from that, he can still squeeze out some opportunities on the battlefield, mainly in order to turn against his enemies. This scheming is really impressive, and the characters of the Southern Dynasties should not be underestimated."
"yes."
"Kaifeng was once the capital of the Song Dynasty. Once the Song army entered Kaifeng, the situation in Kaifeng would be complicated and abnormal. The Song people were nominally allies of Dai Jin. Twenty thousand Song troops came to assist Dai Jin in exterminating the rebels. We have We cannot easily use weapons. Once time is delayed, more and more variables will become involved, and more and more parties will be involved, making it difficult to sort out... Therefore, we must immediately mobilize troops to compete with the Song army for Kaifeng and immediately clean up Kaifeng. . It is appropriate for Li Erlang to do these two things, right?"
Yelu Chucai pursed his lips and was speechless for a moment.
Guo Ning smiled and asked again: "Some things will inevitably be criticized by the outside world, and not everyone dares to do it. If Li Erlang doesn't do it, I will have to personally come forward. Do you think it is appropriate for me to drive to Kaifeng with two thousand cavalry? ?”
Guo Ning's determination to kill people on a large scale has not changed from the beginning and will not waver. Yelu Chucai sighed, knowing that it would be inappropriate to say any more.
He bowed his hand to Guo Ning and saluted: "It is indeed not as efficient as cutting through the mess with a sharp knife if it is delayed any longer; indeed, it is better for the Duke to make a clear decision than if Li Ting does it himself."
"OK."
Guo Ning summoned Ni Yi, took out the golden sword from his waist, and said in a deep voice: "Li Ting's troops set out from Fengqiu, and they are not far from Kaifeng now. You take my golden sword and gallop away. Give it to Li Erlang... He understands what I mean!"
Ni Yizhi rode away, and Yelu Chucai had an idea and said quickly: "My lord, the Song army has made strange movements. It is most likely that they colluded with people in the Kaifeng court, but this must be top secret, and ordinary Jin army officers do not know. Please state The duke immediately sent his troops everywhere and shouted, saying that the Song army and our army have joined forces to attack Kaifeng, the Jin army's retreat has been cut off, and this battle will be lost!"
"The sooner we defeat the enemy in front of us, the shorter the time left for the Song people. In addition, with the outcome clear, more Jurchens will be able to see the situation clearly and take the initiative to join us! This is a good idea!"
Guo Ning laughed loudly, knowing that Yelu Chucai was always soft-hearted, but it was not for his own sake.
He immediately sent people to act according to the plan.
Just as one of the messengers left, he called another person: "Tell Zhang Lin that we can secure the surrounding area of the vehicle camp, and ask him to set up the vehicle and continue firing! No need to hold back!"
In an instant, a roar like a tsunami suddenly started, from dozens to hundreds to thousands of people shouting at the same time: "The Song army is in the south, the official army is in the north, the two-pronged attack is closed! Jin Dynasty is closed!" The dogs have no way out and are going to be defeated!"
The huge roar was like muffled thunder, spreading in all directions.
Monk Wanyan Chen, who was in the fierce battlefield, had abandoned his horse and was fighting on foot.
Someone swung a battle ax across the armor and stomach on his chest. The ax blade and the iron leaves of the armor touched the flames, making a tooth-piercing metal friction sound.
This sound is actually not loud, but hearing it too much can affect your hearing. So when he found shouts everywhere, he tried his best to get rid of the Ding navy soldiers in front, and then listened carefully, but heard nothing clearly.
However, an officer came up from behind, pulled his shoulder and shouted: "The rebel army is shouting, the Song Army and the rebel army are attacking from both sides! We have no way out!"
"There are tens of thousands of soldiers and generals in Kaifeng. They are defending the city and it is none of our business!"
Monk Wanyan Chen cursed impatiently and suddenly threw the short spear in his hand, hitting the Dinghai navy soldier who was wielding the sharp axe. The soldier paused, dropped his sharp ax, and tried to pull out the short spear from his chest. After pulling it out twice, his whole body began to spin involuntarily, and then he fell to his knees.
At this time, suddenly two more cavalry teams rushed towards each other and passed by.
A war horse was frightened by the sharp blade in front of him and suddenly fell down, bringing the knight to the ground with him. The man who landed on the ground rolled over and over again, making the unique sound of broken bones, but the war horse was fine and struggled to get up again.
Monk Wanyan Chen ran over without hesitation and got on his horse. He waited and watched for a moment, then found a direction where the enemies were sparse, and shouted loudly: "Follow me!"
The fighting continues until now, and the entire battlefield is in chaos. Monk Wanyan Chen initially wanted to break through the enemy's obstacles and destroy the vehicles, but since the fight, he seems to be getting further and further away from the vehicles. In addition to his companions who are killing each other in a chaotic manner, there are also groups of Dinghai navy coming and going. The soldiers seemed to be an impenetrable wall.
He charged through the gaps in Ding Haijun's array several more times. During the last charge, I probably looked in the wrong direction and inexplicably retreated to the edge of the battlefield, where I actually had time to rest for a while.
At this time, most of his arms, thighs, etc. had new injuries, dripping with blood. Fortunately, they did not hurt any vital parts, and the impact on his power movements was not too great.
His armor and stomach were severely damaged. After the two armor straps on his chest were cut off, most of the thick armor fell off. He had to keep holding his shield to cover it, but the shield was densely shot by bows and arrows, and was again It had been slashed many times with heavy weapons and was obviously loose.
Seeing that he was not in a hurry to kill, many scattered Jin Army soldiers gathered towards him. Some looked at him with admiration, and some came up to bandage his injuries.
At the same time as they were being bandaged, in the center of the Ding Navy queue, the whining sound of a vehicle being launched sounded again. Several pieces of iron fire arced in the air, fell somewhere, and then burst out with flames and loud noises.
When the two sides were strangling, there was no longer the dense queue as before, and the accuracy of the navy's car was obviously problematic. But there were still more than a dozen Jin soldiers who were inevitably affected by the power of the iron fire. The most miserable ones were instantly changed beyond recognition, their bodies covered with large and small horrific wounds, and then they fell to the ground twitching and covered in blood.
The surrounding Jin Army soldiers, no matter how brave or outstanding their skills were, subconsciously dispersed suddenly.
When the war reaches this level, it doesn't matter how many people die. What matters is who can maintain the morale of the army and the orderly command of the army.
From a rough look, the Dinghai navy's array has not wavered from beginning to end, and the maneuvers are clear. On the contrary, it is our own side... relying on the brave general to fight in person, the courage he brought to everyone will fade sooner or later, and Wanyan will never On the Tantan side, the troops that can still be commanded are probably less than half of what they were when they set off.
Through the smoke and dust, Monk Wanyan Chen could vaguely see that behind Wanyan Congtan's general flag, there were thousands of Jin Army soldiers running desperately towards Kaifeng.
Maybe they thought Kaifeng would be safer? Or, if you enter the city before the Song army arrives, will the court reward you?
This kind of thinking is of course dizzy. Monk Wanyan Chen knew that people would be like this when their emotions break down; those soldiers couldn't hold on anymore, so they subconsciously ran to places that brought a sense of security.
Monk Wanyan Chen was not angry at their performance.
It is not the fault of these soldiers that the Kingdom of Jin fell to this level. They were all the elites who had gone south to fight against the Song Dynasty. They had already fought as hard as they could. What else do you want them to do now?
Now the Ding Navy is once again using car bombardment, further accelerating the collapse of our own morale, and more and more people will escape.
But in Wanyan Congtan's main formation, the drums urging the attack were still ringing and never stopped from beginning to end.
Monk Wanyan Chen had a premonition. He felt that letting everyone fight to the death here was Wanyan Congtan's purpose, and it was also the intention of some people in Kaifeng City.
At this moment, the key to the war is no longer Lincaiguan, but Kaifeng.
As soon as the Song army moves, the city of Kaifeng will respond, and once Kaifeng responds, the Dinghai Navy Li Ting's troops in the north of the city will follow sooner or later. Something will definitely happen around Kaifeng City and between these two armies. In this process, the only role of Monk Wanyan Chen and all his companions was to continue to stick to the main force of Ding Haijun, waiting for something to happen.
What could that be?
When he was in Zhongdu, Monk Wanyan Chen would probably suspect that those high-ranking officials were planning to force the soldiers to die so that he could surrender safely. But he knew very well that there was a group of capable ministers in the Kaifeng court, and they were really doing their best to maintain the existence of the Great Jin Kingdom.
While Monk Wanyan Chen was making guesses, Tian Zhuo and Hou Zhi were in the tall Baozhen Pavilion. They saw tens of thousands of Song troops approaching from the south of Kaifeng City, and also saw Ding Haijun rushing from the north of the city. Li Ting's department. The number of Li Ting's troops was smaller than that of the Song army, but a rough estimate put it at seven or eight thousand, of which half were infantry and cavalry, and almost all were wearing armor.
"Pity!"
Hou Zhi slapped the city bricks with his palm, causing small bricks to fly. His palm was scratched in many places, blood was flowing freely, and his face was as black as the bottom of a pot.
Tian Zhuo looked solemn and sighed.
"After all, it's not that accurate." He said: "Who would have thought that Wanyan Congtan and others, with their bravery and desperate efforts, actually entangled the main force of Ding Haijun, so that Guo Ning's own family could no longer take care of Kaifeng?"
"It may not be Wanyan Congtan's fault! It may not be that Guo Ning cannot mobilize his own troops!"
Hou Zhi gritted his teeth and said: "The Li Ting who is here now is famous for his bloodthirsty! Guo Ning asked him to come, and his intentions are extremely vicious! He must have been given instructions to massacre him in Kaifeng after entering the city!"
"So... the result is not bad! This time the bandits attacked in two groups. Guo Ning was in the east and Li Ting was in the north. This shows his status. He still killed Marshal Wanyan Heda. , and now I have brought seven or eight thousand people here...it's worth it!"
Tian Zhuo murmured something and started to go downstairs.
Hou Zhi took a few steps forward and stopped him: "It's better for me to go. This scene is all arranged by me, so don't fight for it."
Tian Zhuo struggled for a moment but failed to break away. He raised his head and stared at Hou Zhi, his eyes a little angry and a little ashamed.
Hou Zhi laughed instead. He patted Tian Zhuo's shoulder, rolled up his robe sleeves, and walked down the stairs.
Baozhen Pavilion is located in the southeast corner of Kaifeng City Palace, not far from the Drum Tower to the east of Longde Hall.
Hou Zhi went down from the attic, passed directly through Jiafu Tower in the east veranda of Daqing Hall, and exited the Shengping Gate, Chengtian Gate and Danfeng Gate on the left. Here we met the servants waiting on their horses. We got on their horses and headed south, passing through Fengyi Gate and heading to Nanxun Gate.
In the past few months, he had been responsible for the construction of Kaifeng New City. Fengyi Gate is the south gate of his newly built inner city wall, while Nanxun Gate is the south gate of the outer city wall. There are three miles between the two gates.
Although Kaifeng City under the rule of the Jin Dynasty has a household registration of more than one million, it cannot be compared with Bianliang, the capital of the Song Dynasty at its peak. Therefore, there are many open spaces in the outer city and the population is quite withered.
In the past year, a large number of Jurchens gathered southward in Kaifeng and occupied many palaces and temples as temporary residences for their families. As a result, when Hou Zhi was building the city wall, he demolished all the palaces and temples and planned to use these building materials to build the towers and oars on the outer city wall.
Because the Ding Navy suddenly attacked, this huge project could not continue. Countless materials such as wood, bamboo, reed mats, ropes, paint, etc. were piled directly on both sides of the road at this moment, just like a piece of messy mound ruins stretching into one another. at.
This situation was very ugly, and the face of the Great Jin Kingdom was completely lost. After a while, people from the Song Dynasty came in and laughed at him.
Hou Zhi walked along these materials, occasionally stopping to take a look before continuing forward. Beside him and behind him, subordinates with solemn faces appeared from time to time, whispered a few words to him, saluted deeply, and stepped away hastily.
It took more than two moments for him to stand on the inside of Nanxun Gate.
The city gate is quite tall, but the city wall left by the Song people is extremely dilapidated. Across the city gate, he could hear people outside the city shouting. That was the Song army arriving as promised and about to take over Kaifeng.
"Open the door."
Hou Zhi ordered in a deep voice, and then knelt down in the middle of the road. After the officials responsible for opening the city gate creaked open, they all ran back and knelt down behind him.
As the city gate opened, the noisy words of the Song army poured in. Because of the different accents, Hou Zhi couldn't understand them well. He could only vaguely make out that some people seemed to be talking happily about entering the city to plunder; some officers were shouting, saying that they must wait for Grandpa Zhao to give the order; and some were crying, saying that they had washed away the hatred of the country's enemies and the family.
Then, there was the sound of heavy footsteps.
But Hou Zhi did not look at the person who came, he just leaned down and shouted with all his strength: "You Cheng, the Minister of the lower country, leads the three ministers Hou Zhi to greet the heavenly soldiers of the upper country!"
When he shouted, the originally noisy crowd suddenly fell silent. In the doorway directly in front of him, many people gasped and sighed with satisfaction, as if a wind had suddenly blown by.
At this time, more than two miles away from Nanxunmen, Li Ting rode in the lead. Thousands of people behind him formed a long queue and rushed around the city.
In the long queue, everyone is running or urging their horses. They come all the way, and the smoke is billowing. Officers on horseback shouted back and forth along the edge of the road to boost morale and adjust the queue.
This army is Li Ting's headquarters. After defeating Wanyan Heda, they continued southward, destroying the Kaifeng imperial court's defense lines in the north like a torrent, and finally successfully crossed the river and went south, strangulating the Kaifeng imperial court's throat.
At this time, all the soldiers knew that their commander had received an order from Duke Zhou to rob Kaifeng from the Song people. This is no ordinary glory! The soldiers were all excited, feeling that the fatigue of long-distance marches and battles had been swept away.
"Get out of the way! Get out of the way! Don't block Grandpa Li's way!"
Seeing that the Nanxun Gate was wide open in front, and many Song soldiers were coming from the south road, and were about to squeeze in and block the city gate, Li Ting whipped the horse's butt hard.
The war horse was in pain, and after squealing a few times, it sped up.
The cavalry following Li Ting also urged their horses, and some had swords in their hands and waved them in the air to threaten him.
