In the past year, the Jurchens in the north were deeply threatened by the change of dynasty, and the Jurchens in the north were all threatened by the change of dynasty, so they went south in large numbers and defected to the Kaifeng court. On the one hand, this provided the Kaifeng court with a huge source of troops. On the other hand, the placement of these people also quickly depleted the resources and supplies they had gathered in the past two years, so that now they are sitting in a huge city, but they are unable to fight a lasting battle with the enemy. war.
But the lack of money and food is one thing. The amount of wood, stone, etc. that can be used to defend the city in Kaifeng is still huge. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is as big as a mountain.
After all, Kaifeng City was once Bianjing, the capital of the Song Dynasty. It was also managed carefully by Dajin and prepared to be the capital of the world.
With the help of Duke Hunde and King Hailing of the Jin Kingdom, the construction specifications of this city are beyond ordinary people's imagination. In recent years, King Sui has built military camps, school grounds, etc. in Kaifeng. No matter how much demand there is, he can challenge it. Once an area of unused government offices or palaces is demolished, everything is gone.
If we take into account the wood and stone needed to defend the city, so many grand buildings may not be used up even if they are demolished in three to five years.
Last year, Hou Zhi was rejected by the Jurchen nobles and was forced to transfer to the Third Division. At first, he was somewhat ambitious and planned to turn all these abandoned and useless palace buildings into solid cities as a basis for the revival of the Jin Dynasty. However, as the situation changed, the momentum of the entire Kaifeng court was like a raging fire cooking oil. The money and food that had been saved with great difficulty were flowing out. Hou Zhi had fewer and fewer manpower and material resources at his disposal.
In the end, Hou Zhi himself didn't understand. Since the court's money and food were not enough to support a long-term war, what use was the city itself, no matter how strong it was?
The project of rebuilding the inner and outer city walls of Kaifeng was finally ended hastily.
One day, he and Tian Zhuo met in private over wine. He mentioned his official duties as the Third Secretary, and said with a bit of anger:
The Jurchen warriors in the court thought about repaying Yu Nan all day long, but did not consider the country's weakness at all. I was waiting for someone to build a city for half a year, thinking of laying a solid foundation, but in fact all the work was in vain.
Now that the city no longer needs to be repaired, countless remaining timbers are piled up in the outer city, completely useless and can only be used secretly as firewood by the poor people in the outer city. One day when I got angry, I just set a fire and burned all the wood. At least I could see something spectacular and have fun for my family.
Tian Zhuo couldn't think of anything at that time, so he only advised Hou Zhi to be patient for the time being. If King Sui wants to ascend the throne and proclaim himself emperor, he has to win over those Jurchens as facades. Sooner or later, when all the things on the table are done, the Han ministers who trust me and others will rely on us to clean up the situation.
Those words were said at that time. Who would have thought that in just over a month, the Kaifeng court's short-term weakness would be completely taken advantage of by the enemy, and the situation would be turned upside down.
When Ding Haijun defeated Xuzhou and Guide Mansion, and their troops attacked Kaifeng, Tian Zhuo, Hou Zhi and others were once again recalled by the emperor to discuss the response. The two tried every possible means to find a way to break the situation, but no matter how they looked at it, they felt that they were unprepared. .
It wasn't until Wanyan Saibu, who was in charge of the war in the south, that he sent a message on flying cavalry, saying that the Song army on Jingxi Road was marching northward in large numbers, and it seemed that their intention was to join Guo Ning's bandit army at the foot of Kaifeng City... The other ministers felt that the two families were not together. Attack with all your strength, the situation is extremely difficult, just like a noose has been tightened around your neck. Tian Zhuo and Hou Zhi both remembered their drunken words earlier.
And the drunken words turned into reality, which is the situation at this moment.
The flames continued to roar, and the air became hotter and hotter. The firewood that had been poured with oil and filled with firewood continued to burn, making a beeping and crackling sound, which merged with the whine of the air and the choking and miserable sounds of people. Call.
Not far from Hou Zhi, a soldier from the navy, with his head and face covered in blisters, shook off half of California, and rushed straight to the outside of the fire scene while the smoke and fire broke out. He stared at everyone with blood-red eyes. , as if not believing that he was out of danger.
Several soldiers of the Song Dynasty were holding swords, fearing that he would be carried away by the anger and violently injure others, but the Ding navy soldier only turned around and shouted: "Here, go here!"
He shouted at the top of his lungs, but there was no response in the fire. The fire burned from Fengyi Gate restored by Hou Zhi to near Nanxun Gate, covering several miles in an extremely short time. When Hou Zhi discarded the wood, he also deliberately made a mistake and piled the wood in a long and winding way, so that the Fengyimen Avenue suddenly widened and narrowed.
The position where the soldier rushed out was just a small gap between the two sides of the wood. He was lucky enough to escape, but the inside and outside of the fire scene were like a natural chasm!
The soldier shouted a few more times, but when no one responded, he was so anxious that the veins on his forehead jumped, his hands trembled, and a muffled sound came from his throat. A large amount of sweat dripped from his temples, flowed over the burnt skin, and was quickly evaporated by the heat wave. Outsiders felt pain for him when they saw it.
But the next moment, he roared wildly and rushed back into the fire!
"If an ordinary soldier can do this, who can be in such an army?" This thought came to everyone's mind at the same time.
"We have long been worried that it will be difficult to defeat the tiger and wolf divisions of the Ding Navy in the battlefield, so we have drawn up a fire attack plan. Only such a plan will definitely bring huge damage to the Ding Navy, and now that we have A plan that is enough to kill the enemy must be carried out to the extreme."
Facing the surprised looks in Zhao Fang and Xuan Zhen's eyes, Hou Zhi was free to take care of himself at this time.
After the fire burned ragingly, Hou Zhi's nervousness disappeared. He was kneeling on the ground and the humility of paying homage to the officials of the Song Dynasty could not be seen. Instead, he was unusually calm. He even had the intention to squat down, pick up the short staff that Xuan Zhen had just thrown away, and return it to Xuan Zhen's hand.
"At that time, we thought that it would be best to create a situation where Guo Ning could lead his troops directly into the city gate. The space between the inner and outer walls of Kaifeng City was so wide that it was just right for the soldiers and horses to gallop, and we only had to light a fire to kill them. We can wipe out this troublemaker and all his subordinates."
Having said this, Hou Zhi smiled:
"Of course, this is impossible. Guo Ning was born in the army. He is fierce and cunning. He would never be so negligent on the battlefield. Moreover, his status has reached such a level, but his heir Guo Jing is still young. It is said that he has hundreds of thousands of people. His future is not an exaggeration. Therefore, even if he insists on leading the troops to fight, his subordinates will do their best to protect him and not allow him to fall into such a dangerous situation."
"So, you settled for the next best thing, turned your target to a certain unit under Ding Haijun, and created another situation that forced Ding Haijun to rush into Kaifeng City at full speed, but you had no time to pay attention to other things."
"That's generally true, but this is inseparable from the prestige of the Song Dynasty, and we must also thank the two husbands for their assistance." Hou Zhi bowed to Xuanzhen and Zhao Fang.
Xuan Zhen stepped out of the way. Zhao Fang stood proudly and only sneered a few times.
