Guo Ning is leading a group of cavalry, marching along the outer city wall of Kaifeng.
Guo Ning no longer noticed the excitement in Kaifeng city. Those Jurchen princes and nobles, or the ceremonial displays of the Kaifeng court, are just pieces of cooked meat. Someone is responsible for cutting it and bringing the plate.
For example, Li Ting, who is running rampant in the city right now, is obviously very interested in this. Guo Ning sent some of his troops inside to help him continue his meritorious service.
Guo Ning himself dispatched his manpower step by step to firmly control the city from the outside to the inside.
The first thing to change hands was naturally the outer city wall of Kaifeng.
The outer city of Kaifeng relied on the construction of the Song Dynasty at that time. The wall base was five feet and six feet wide. The top of the wall was large enough for several heavily armed iron pagoda knights to ride abreast. Guo Ning used the iron cavalry as the leader and forced the landing of the soldiers stationed here along the way. Subsequent troops and horses accompanied them to take over.
The Kaifeng court's military embarrassment became increasingly apparent at this time. Even if they control millions of Jurchens, their troops are scattered across half of the Kingdom of Jin, so where can they find enough? Even among the Kaifeng garrison, more than half are still Han'er.
Strictly speaking, these Han children joined the Kaifeng imperial court earlier than most of the Jurchen soldiers. Some of them were the defense troops and grain-shooting troops that the imperial court had set up on Henan Road in the early years; some were Shandong Han'er soldiers who had been forced to land after the Kaifeng imperial court defeated the Red Coat Army. When King Sui first went south, he had intended to bridge the conflict between the Jurchens and the Han people, so he believed in focusing on the Han army.
But as Guo Ning established his foothold in Zhongdu and showed more and more momentum to replace him, the Kaifeng court had to rely on the Jurchens, and instead continued to split these Han troops and mobilize them out of Kaifeng to farm.
Such an operation was tantamount to a naked expression of suspicion, which further aroused rifts within the army.
In the past year, the Han'er sergeants have continuously seen Jurchens fleeing from the north. Listening to them privately recounting Guo Ning's ferocity and terror, their ears have become calloused. However, since this Zhou Guogong is obviously going for the Jurchens, what does he have to do with Han'er?
Earlier, Otun Orib, Wanyan and Apai led their troops to attack. In order to ensure the loyalty of the soldiers, they excluded all Han'er and temporarily transferred nearly 10,000 Jurchen civilians to fill the city wall. Such an army cannot be used for fighting at all.
As soon as the news of the death of the two captains arrived, all the Jurchen civilians fled.
Seeing the flag of the Ding Navy coming, the Han'er soldiers all cheered loudly and voluntarily surrendered one after another. Even before the Ding Navy sent officers to take over, they killed the Jurchens who led the troops and arranged the troops in order.
As the sky gradually darkened, many Han soldiers opened warehouses along the city wall and took the initiative to distribute pine bright torches. A large number of soldiers followed Guo Ning with torches held high to build momentum.
Thousands of torches illuminate the city wall as bright as day, and like a fire dragon stretching its huge body along the city wall. And this kind of momentum caused more and more people inside and outside the city to respond and surrender.
When the team crossed Hongren Gate and arrived at Guangze Gate in the east and north of the outer city, the Jurchens who had originally tried to escape through this place saw that the situation was not good, and most of them ran frantically in other directions.
The hundreds of soldiers stationed here had put their weapons, armor, stomachs, etc. in one place in advance, and were waiting to be dispatched empty-handed. When Guo Ning stepped onto the tower, there were still several people who were not waiting to greet him. They were still standing behind the crenellations of the pier wall, looking out.
Ni Yigang wanted to shout, but Guo Ning stopped him.
Guo Ning walked a few steps toward the crenel, looked around, and asked, "What are you looking at?"
"There is no way out!" A young Han soldier paid no attention to Guo Ning and said happily: "The Jurchen generals outside include Marshal Wanyan Congtan and Monk Wanyan Chen... They have no way out. Let’s go!”
Guo Ning looked at them for a moment and smiled: "Can you recognize them from such a distance?"
The soldier felt that Guo Ning's accent was different and looked sideways.
Guo Ning was only wearing a gray military uniform at the moment, and there was no honor guard accompanying him. The soldiers were all gathered in the outer circle. The soldiers thought Guo Ning was Pao Ze who came to avoid the chaos, and casually replied:
"In the past, when they were in charge of the army, I saw them a lot. These two were not bad. They were kind to the soldiers and had their own abilities. They were very different from the stupid officials in the city. Although the Jurchens later They come a lot and squeeze hard, but the two of them have no grudge against us guys."
"I see." Guo Ning asked again: "If Duke Zhou sends people to surrender them, do you think it can be done?"
The soldier frowned, thought for a while and said: "If these people wanted to die, they would have died long ago. It's just because they don't want to die... I think it's not difficult to recruit them as long as you give them a reason. I would be happy if a few of them could survive!"
Guo Ning laughed loudly and patted the soldier on the shoulder: "My little brother is quite knowledgeable."
When he retracted his body from the crenel, Wanyan Xilie was already kneeling beside him with excitement on his face: "Thank you, Duke Zhou!"
"Don't thank me, thank the soldiers. Thank your brother for his good reputation."
Guo Ning summoned Ni Yi and ordered: "Go once and give them an excuse! Just say, if you hand over Monk Wanyan Chen, they will be allowed to surrender!"
Ni Yi loudly accepted the order.
The city gate of Guangze Gate is still blocked. Although people have been mobilized to remove the earth and rocks, normal access will not be possible for a short time. Ni Yi was determined to show his authority in front of the crowd. He grabbed the rope that the Jurchens had braided when they escaped with one hand, jumped over the high wall, kicked off the wall twice, and landed safely.
This was a climbing method he learned from Dong Jin a while ago, but he didn't expect to use it now.
A few steps away from the city wall, there were stray horses. As soon as Ni got on his horse, he whipped his whip hard. The horse was in pain, and he stood up for a moment. Then he galloped forward, crossing the shallow part of the moat in an instant, and rushed straight to the place where the Jurchen generals gathered.
The whole set of movements was neat and tidy, and many soldiers at the city gate cheered loudly. Accompanying Guo Ning was Zhao Fang of Song State, and more than ten Song Army generals who accompanied him. Of course they also saw Ni Yi's show off, and Meng Cong immediately snorted, while his father, Meng Zongzheng, Hu Zaixing and other senior generals all watched Ni Yi riding in with respect.
There were still many scattered Jurchens in the city. Seeing his menacing approach, they all fled.
After walking hundreds or dozens of steps, you will reach Jinjun Gaixin.
It turned out that the Jin army was fighting and retreating. By this time, many injured people could not be treated and were lying scattered on the ground. Blood was flowing everywhere. Even several generals were covered in blood and stood staggering.
Ni Yidao also felt a little respect. He immediately reined in his horse and stopped, followed Guo Ning's instructions and shouted.
I have to say that the soldier's vision was really accurate.
Once this step was given, many Jin Army generals looked happy, and everyone shouted: "Monk Wanyan Chen is here!"
He turned around and pushed it out.
Ni Yi was waiting for him to report back, but he never thought that Monk Wanyan Chen suddenly roared and shouted, and blood burst out of his eyes!
"Is this guy crazy? What are you shouting for?"
Monk Wanyan Chen's voice was hoarse. Ni Yi listened carefully and realized that he was shouting: "The only way to defeat the country and the army is to die! I will not surrender! Give me the knife and let me fight to death!"
"Hey!" Ni Yi was shocked on the spot.
A man covered in wounds and half-dead still has such determination?
Duke Zhou indeed agreed to Wanyan Xielie's request, but no one knew at the time that a desperate man would dare to commit suicide in the face of Duke Zhou's lofty favor!
Without waiting for the Jurchen generals around him to panic and persuade him, Ni Yi had already pulled out the short sword from his waist and threw it in front of Monk Wanyan Chen.
Monk Wanyan Chen shouted at the top of his lungs, broke away from the hands holding his arms and shoulders, and raised his eyes to look at Ni Yi. He was shaking all over, and the hand holding up the dagger kept shaking. He opened his mouth, wanting to say something more, but his voice was completely hoarse.
Ni Yi could guess what he meant, and said in a deep voice: "I am Ni Yi, the commander of the personal guards of Duke Zhou! You did not die in the hands of an unknown person!"
A smile appeared on Monk Wanyan Chen's face. He stepped forward and pointed the knife at Ni Yi's chest and abdomen.
When he was full of energy, this thrust would have been extremely powerful, but now he was completely powerless and his movements were unusually slow.
Ni Yi didn't even bother to move his horse to get out of the way, so he turned his hand and drew his axe, swinging it horizontally. After a soft sound, the short knife in Monk Wanyan Chen's hand flew into the air.
The big ax turned around and carried the evil wind straight towards Monk Wanyan Chen.
Monk Wanyan Chen knew that he could not avoid it at all, so he only had time to glare. Unexpectedly, the iron ax suddenly turned, and the broad back of the ax replaced the sharp edge, hitting him squarely on the neck.
Monk Wanyan Chen's vision went dark and he fainted immediately.
Ni Yi leaned over to take a look, and asked hesitantly: "Are you still alive? I have some energy left, so I didn't kill him."
Wanyan Congtan and Yilapua rushed forward at the same time to detect Monk Wanyan Chen's breathing.
"He's fine." After a while, the two men breathed a sigh of relief: "Commander Ni, we beg for surrender."
In the second year of Xingding in the Jin Dynasty and the ninth year of Jiading in the Song Dynasty, the armies of the Jin and Song Dynasties gathered in Kaifeng to fight against the rebels.
The navy was dispatched on its own, and there were no less than ten consecutive fierce battles at Nanjing Road, Hedong Road, Hebei Road and other places. More than 20 enemies above the level of governor, captain, marshal were killed, and no less than 50,000 enemy troops were annihilated.
By the time of the decisive battle at Kaifeng City, King Sui had been operating south for several years. The elite thirteen captains who had gathered from millions of Jurchens were all wiped out. In just one day, the total number of the dead, including the dead who were fighting among themselves in Kaifeng City, was no less than 50,000. . Inside and outside the city, blood flowed like rivers.
In the past two years, nearly a million Jurchens have moved south to Kaifeng, so much so that the Kaifeng imperial court spent hundreds of thousands of dollars and the three armies mobilized, so that one person plowed the land and a hundred people fed it. By the time the Thirteen Captains were separated, there were still 420,000 military households after subtracting redundancy. But among them, no more than one-third are able to fight with bows and have courage.
In the end, most of these courageous people died on the battlefield. The number of people outside Kaifeng who responded to Wanyan Congtan's begging for surrender was only over two thousand.
As a result, this nation that once dominated the world with powerful force and entered the authoritarian realm lost its reliance on force. The spine and bones of the Jurchens in the Central Plains were completely broken.
