It’s not possible to go east to Jingdong, nor to Hebei in the north, so where else can we go?
Wanyan Zonghan felt a little dizzy after hearing what his son said. Now the situation of his army is not good, there are so many sick people, and there are already signs of an epidemic... It is impossible to compete with Zhao Kai further west!
Co-author can’t go anywhere now?
Could it be that his 100,000-strong army will be lost in the Central Plains?
Thinking of this, Zong Han broke out in a cold sweat and even woke up from the drink. He just looked at his son blankly: "Xie Bao, you, where else do you think we can go now?"
"Go south!" Wanyan Xianbao said, "There are floods to the north and east, and Zhao Kai is to the west. We can't go there, so we can only go south!"
"To the south?" Wanyan Zonghan thought for a while, "But there are the Huaihe River and the Yangtze River in the south. It is said that the water is stronger than the Yellow River. Can we survive?"
"There is no need to cross the Yangtze River, as long as we can cross the Huaihe River." Wanyan Xiebao said, "We can go east along the Jishui River, reach the Cai River, then turn back south, and then go south along the Yingshui River after reaching Chenzhou, and then we can reach the Huaihe River North Bank. There are many large boats on the Jishui River, Cai River, and Ying River. We can collect boats along the way, which can transport patients and baggage, and can also be used to cross the Huaihe River. After crossing the Huaihe River, we will then go west along the Huaihe River and bypass the Yellow River. District can then cross Huaibei and return to Jingdong."
Before the Yellow River changed its course to the south, water transportation in the Central Plains, especially around Kaifeng Prefecture, was very developed. Natural rivers and artificially excavated ditches combined to form a huge water network. And Kaifeng Mansion is the center of this water network!
But now, with the war and chaos, and the Yellow River bursting its banks... all of this has become a thing of the past!
"But where are the sailors?" Wanyan Zonghan asked, "A ship is easy to find, but where can a sailor find it?"
Wanyan Xiebao said: "Dad, actually there are some sailors in our army...many Bohai people from Liaodong are good at sailing. Back then they used sea ships to transport grain to Yanjing!"
It turns out that under the rule of the Liao Kingdom, Yanjing also became a metropolis with a dense industrial and commercial population. Although it could not compete with the five capitals of the Song Dynasty (Kaifeng Prefecture, Daming Prefecture, Yingtian Prefecture, Xijing Luoyang, and Jingzhao Prefecture), it relied on The villages around Yanjing are also unable to support Yanjing's food consumption, so hundreds of thousands of stones of wheat are shipped in from Liaodong every year.
The task of transporting grain is the responsibility of the Bohai people in Liaodong. They used sea transportation from the Liaodong Peninsula to the Bohai Bay to transport grain into the boundary river between the Liao and Song Dynasties, and then used small boats to transport it to Yanjing.
It has not been many years since the fall of the Liao Kingdom, and many Bohai people who crossed the sea are still in their prime. It is not surprising to find some in Wanyan Zonghan's army - in history, Wanyan Zongbi could search the mountains and seas to capture Zhao Gou, most of them Related to Bohai Sea sailors.
When Wanyan Zonghan heard that there were sailors, he was overjoyed and said: "Since there are sailors, it will be easy... When the rain subsides, we will march to the southeast, cross the Huaihe River, and approach the Yangtze River to find Zhao Huan’s bad luck!”
"Dad," Wanyan Xiebao heard what his father said and tried to persuade him again, "There's no need to look for trouble with Zhao Huan. You can't push it too hard, just in case Zhao Huan..."
"Shut up! You kid, stop talking nonsense!" Wanyan Zonghan knew what his son wanted to say? It must be something like the two Zhaos joining forces to destroy Dajin's 100,000 troops!
Don't let this crow's mouth talk nonsense!
Wanyan Xiebao was shocked by his father - fortunately he was the "only son" (the only son) in the family, and his status as the heir apparent was as stable as Mount Tai. Otherwise, he really suspected that this father wanted to depose him and then make someone else his heir apparent. !
After training his son, Wanyan Zonghan also felt that he could not force Zhao Huan to be too hasty, lest Zhao Huan's dog would jump over the wall in a hurry - Zong Han was not a tiger now, but a sick cat. Zhao Huan, the family dog, could still bite him to death if he got anxious!
"We have to send someone to talk to Zhao Huan so that he knows that we have no intention of invading the south, but are just using the road to return to Jingdong." Wanyan Zonghan thought for a while and asked, "Who in the army can serve as an envoy?"
Wanyan Xiebao thought for a while and said: "Xiao Zhonggong, who was captured with Yelu Yanxi before, is in the army. He is proficient in Chinese and familiar with the figures of the Southern Dynasties. We can let him go to the south of the Yangtze River and meet Zhao Huan, please tell me."
"Okay!" Wanyan Zonghan nodded, "This man is a gentleman. He will follow Yelu Yanxi until the end, and he will definitely do his best for us."
...
In the north, when even the Yellow River was cut off and Kaifeng Mansion was about to become Kaifeng Island, Yingtian Mansion in Nanjing during the Song Dynasty was a peaceful and prosperous scene.
As a sign of peace and prosperity, in February and March of the second year of Jingkang in the Song Dynasty, Nanjing Yingtian Mansion held an unprecedented imperial examination competition!
Although the territory ruled by Zhao Huan, the emperor of Jinling, now only has two E-Yue states of Lianghuai Road, Liangjiang Road, Liangzhe Road, Liangguang Road, Fujian Road, Jinghu South Road and Jinghu North Road, this does not hinder the Jinling court The second year of Jingkang Science and Technology was held into an unprecedented event.
First of all, according to Zhao Huan's instructions, the number of candidates for this imperial examination competition will exceed 1,000 - this does not include the number of genuine civil and military scholars with special titles.
Secondly, under the arrangements of Yu Wenxuzhong and Qin Hui, the number of candidates participating in the Jinling Competition was also the largest since the beginning of the imperial examination. Although the emperor of Jinling only had ten provinces and two states left in his territory, he could solve the problem by increasing the number of candidates from various places. quota method to increase the number of candidates admitted to Beijing.
Third, this imperial examination competition particularly highlighted the equal emphasis on civil and military affairs! Not only scribes must be recruited in large numbers, but also warriors must be recruited in large numbers. Moreover, after passing the examination of the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of War, the civil and military examination candidates must also take the palace examination together. Zhao Huan, the emperor of Jinling, will personally set the questions for the examination. Regardless of whether they are scribes or warriors, they must be inside and outside the main hall (if they can’t stay inside, they will Build a shed outside) and do the same strategy test question.
Zhao Huan will later select the number one scholar in civil and military affairs, the second in civil and military affairs, and the third flower in civil and military affairs in as many as 1,000 splendid articles...
Finally, after the palace examination, the civil and military scholars will parade together through the Donghua Gate of Jinling Palace to show their honor.
This is really a peaceful, peaceful and stable atmosphere!
...
"In this competition, 1,008 scholars were selected, including 605 Chinese scholars and 403 martial arts scholars. They are all scholars with real talents and practical knowledge. In time, they will become the pillars of the country. I would like to congratulate the official family and congratulate the official family!"
This morning, at the Chongzheng Hall meeting in the old city of Jinling, Yu Wenxuzhong, the Minister of Rites, who was in charge of the Wen Jinshi examination, was the first to stand up and congratulate Zhao Huan. "What is particularly congratulatory is that the number of martial arts scholars and their martial arts and talents are far higher than before. If the officials had not issued an edict before the competition, declaring that both civil and military affairs should be given equal emphasis, and calling on the world's scholars to write and join the army, how could there have been so many scholars? Wu Jinshi?"
"What Yuwen Shangshu said is absolutely true."
Qin Hui, the minister of the Ministry of Rites, also followed closely and stood up to speak, "The imperial court attaches equal importance to civilized and military scholars in order to practice the art of scholars and command troops, and to use scholars with both civil and military skills as generals to form a new army to compete with the north and the entire southeast." ! If the officials can truly implement the method of scholars commanding troops, there will be hope for the revival of the Song Dynasty!"
It turns out that Zhao Huan also has great ideas!
Although he is cowardly, it is not that he does not know the shortcomings of the Song Dynasty's emphasis on literature and military affairs... It is precisely because he knows that he is cowardly!
Now that he knew this shortcoming, Zhao Huan had to find a way to solve it!
And his solution sounds good, which is called "paying equal attention to civil and military affairs, and letting scholars control the army." The so-called equal emphasis on civil and military affairs, of course, does not mean that the warriors leading the troops should be as "important" as the dignified civil servants, but that the civil and military scholars should be equally "important".
His purpose of attaching great importance to Wu Jinshi was to use Wu Jinshi as a mid-level and high-level officer to form a new army controlled by scholars to maintain his rule as the emperor of Jinling.
Of course, Zhao Huan's thoughts are reasonable - it turns out that the performance of the Song Dynasty's armies with warrior generals in the war against the Jin Dynasty was too disappointing!
Neither able to fight, nor loyal enough... Especially the so-called elite Western Army, which almost collectively defected to Zhao Kai. Only a few Western Army generals such as the Zhong brothers and Liu Guangshi led their troops to stand on Zhao Huan's side.
Moreover, the number of these troops was not large, only thirty to forty thousand in total, which was not enough to defend the Song Dynasty.
It is of course imperative to form a new army.
Compared with the "poor madman" Zhao Kai, Zhao Huan also has his advantages in forming a new army... He is rich!
Don't look at the fact that he has to give 3 million to Zhao Kai and 3 million to the gold thief a year, which seems like a lot. But if you search the ten and two states in the southeast, you can get tens of millions in income! After spending 6 million to buy Ping An, there was still a lot left.
Moreover, the army that needed money from Zhao Huan, including the troops of several warlords, plus the "four soldiers" recruited by Li Gang, Zhang Shuye, He Li, and Wang Boyan, totaled only more than 80,000 people. The cost of food and salary is only four to five million.
Even including the expenses of officials and court, Zhao Huan's Jinling court only spent more than 10 million a year.
Therefore, Zhao Huan has a large financial surplus at his disposal!
With money, of course he doesn't have to recruit soldiers like Zhao Kai, he can just spend money to recruit soldiers!
However, Zhao Huan did not want to hand over the soldiers he had raised to unreliable generals, but wanted to hand them over to reliable scholars.
Therefore, Wu Jinshi of the Song Dynasty, who had rarely joined the army, was pushed by Zhao Huan to the position of "scholar in charge of the army". These scholars are more reliable than warriors no matter what. With the new army in their hands, only Zhao Huan's official family can be secure!
Because of this, this imperial examination competition will elevate the martial arts examination to the same status as the civil examination examination.
Now there are 403 Wu Jinshi who can serve as officers, and there is plenty of money to recruit soldiers. There is no shortage of strong men in the southeastern half of the wall. Recruiting one or two hundred thousand men will not be a problem... So we established The matter of the new army should not be difficult, right?
Thinking of this, Zhao Huan asked the newly appointed Privy Councilor Xu Churen, the Minister of War Nie Shan and the Minister of War Zhao Mingcheng: "Xu Yuanshu, Nie Shangshu, Zhao Minister, how to establish the new army of the imperial camp? What official positions can be assigned to the 403 Wu Jinshi ?Have the Xifu and the Ministry of War discussed this?"
