"In the official family, I have something to say, but I don't know whether to say it or not..."
Yu Wenxuzhong was wearing a thick and warm fur coat with sleeves in his hands. He bowed and followed Zhao Kai, the emperor of Luoyang in the Song Dynasty, walking step by step in a corner of the ice-covered and snow-covered Shangyang Palace Royal Racecourse. He didn't even look at the female class members who were riding tall Qingtang dragon horses on the snow. They just frowned and looked worried.
He arrived in Luoyang as the "angel" of the Southern Song Dynasty court in the coldest month of the first month of the third year of Hongwu. The purpose was to urge the "Emperor's Crown Prince" Zhao Kai to send troops to the Song Dynasty while the Huangfan area east of Kaifeng Mansion had not yet thawed. Prefecture to force the Jin soldiers who invaded Huaixi to retreat.
The war between the Jin Kingdom and the Southern Song Dynasty broke out along the Huaihe River after the two envoys Liu Yu and Cai Songnian were killed!
Although the group of military officers and civil servants in the Southern Song Dynasty were very courageous, except for Zhao Mingcheng, their fighting skills were a bit sparse.
Their wishful thinking in the Jiangdu court was not worth mentioning in front of a military master like Wanyan Zongbi. They originally thought that Wanyan Zongbi would not be able to cross the river from Huaixi to the south before the yellow flood zone froze in winter, so they had plenty of time to calmly deploy Huaixi defenses.
However, Wanyan Zongbi sent troops just before the Yellow River area was frozen, and unexpectedly marched by water and used wooden boats recruited from the Si River to launch a strong attack on the Song Army's fortress Mopankou at the intersection of Huai and Si on the north bank of the Huai River!
The geographical location of the Mopankou Fortress is very important. It not only blocks the entrance of the Si River into the Huaihe River, but is also a must for the Southern Song Dynasty navy to move upstream from the Huaihe River to the middle reaches of the Huaihe River. It is the intersection of the Huaihe River and the canal. Through the road. Therefore, the Southern Song Dynasty built Mopankou Fortress on the high ground on the north bank of the Huaihe River, and stationed a battalion of new troops. Because part of the Yellow River water flows from Si River to Huaihe River, a large area of land around Mopankou was submerged by the river water, making Mopankou Fortress a natural hazard.
However, this natural danger has become difficult to defend due to the appearance of the explosive pots. It is not that the natural danger is not dangerous, but that the fortress at Mopankou needs to be reinforced, and at the same time, enough explosive pots need to be allocated to the defenders of Mopankou.
However, it took time to renovate the fortress and trial-produce the explosive pot. Wanyan Zongbi made a good time difference and fired the explosive pot from the cannon installed on the cannon, forcing the defenders at Mopankou to abandon the city.
After capturing Mopankou, Wanyan Zongbi immediately deployed large explosive cannons at Mopankou Fortress to block the river and prevent the Song army downstream from passing through the Huaihe River waterway to reinforce the fortresses in the middle and upper reaches. Then Wanyan Zongbi personally led tens of thousands of elite troops, took wooden boats, entered the Huaihe River from the Si River, went upstream, and launched an attack on the Song Army's strongholds in the middle reaches of the Huaihe River.
Because he had the upper hand and caught the Song army off guard, Wanyan Zongbi fought very smoothly in October and successively captured Sizhou City on the north bank of the Huaihe River, Xuyi Town on the south bank of the Huaihe River, Zhaoxin on the south bank of the Huaihe River, and Zhongli on the Huaihe River. to the south and other places, and plundered a large amount of grain and grass.
Subsequently, Wanyan Zongbi sent his army southward and invaded Chuzhou and Zhenzhou, which were empty of troops. He occupied Qingliu, the prefectural city of Chuzhou, and Guabu Town, the Jiangbei ferry in Zhenzhou. In one fell swoop, he reached the place just across the river from Jinling City. .
But just when Wanyan Zongbi wanted to collect ships to cross the river to attack Jinling, the Southern Song Dynasty Jianghai Ship, which had been equipped with explosive pots, appeared on the Yangtze River!
These large boats on the river and sea not only prevented Wanyan Zongbi from venturing across the river, but they also brought 10,000 elite armored soldiers led by Xue Bi.
Subsequently, these 10,000 elite soldiers landed on the beach of the Yangtze River near Guabu Town under Zong Bi's eyes!
Wanyan Zongbi quickly sent generals Li Cheng and Han Chang to lead thousands of people on foot and cavalry to fight, but he was kicked on the steel plate!
The combat effectiveness of these Southern Song Dynasty armored infantry is very powerful! They were equipped with a large number of divine arm bows and their power was astonishing, far exceeding the divine arm bows encountered by the Jin soldiers in the north. These were all substandard products, and the divine arm archers of the Southern Song Dynasty infantry were all equipped with long spears.
When setting up the formation, they could insert the tail of the spear into the ground and load the gun barrel on a special triangular bracket to form a simple horse-repelling spear formation, which could effectively block the impact of enemy cavalry. If the Jin cavalry dismounts and attacks, they can pick up their spears and form a spear formation... One soldier can be used for two purposes, and it's worth every penny!
The swordsmen and axemen who were listed behind the divine arm bow and spear array were also "dual-purpose soldiers". They also served as "pot-throwing soldiers." They threw expensive bombing pots out of their hands as if they were free... Where is this? Is there a war? It’s just throwing money away!
Although Wanyan Zongbi's army also had bombing pots, the number and capabilities of the Southern Song Dynasty army were not comparable to those of the Southern Song Dynasty!
A good fight turned into throwing away money... How could the Jin Dynasty have more money than the Southern Song Dynasty? The "money output" of the Southern Song Dynasty was actually a hundred times more than the copper output of the Jin Kingdom!
So Wanyan Zongbi has been in a hard fight since the battle of Guabu Town!
However, the combat effectiveness of the Jin Bing is still very strong, and the generals of the Jin Bing are all veteran generals who have experienced battles for a long time. They are much stronger than the group of martial scholars and "military scientists" in the Southern Song Dynasty.
Therefore, Wanyan Zongbi, who invaded Huainan, did not return to Huaibei after the Battle of Guabu Town. Instead, he continued to fight in the Huainan area west of the canal, using his mobility advantage to continuously attack the "clumsy" Southern Song Dynasty Iron Armored Army.
However, although the group of military enthusiasts in the Southern Song Dynasty always suffered defeats, they were able to defeat without being defeated. The characteristics of the new army of the Southern Song Dynasty were strong lethality, strong defense, and high morale when they were rich, but their impact and mobility were relatively weak. .
Therefore, the offensive they launched in the field was not very powerful... Even if they gained the upper hand, the Jin soldiers could withdraw from the battle in time.
But once they form a formation to defend or move in formation, the golden soldiers can't do anything to them.
In addition, although the new army of the Southern Song Dynasty was mainly infantry, it was not that they did not have cavalry. It was just that their cavalry was very "strange". It was a "vegetable horse and armored cavalry", which meant that the "vegetable horse" was covered with heavy vests and then Add an armored cavalryman and perform a breathless canter-style charge.
Of course, Cai Ma's charge cannot deal with the Jin Thief's cavalry, but it poses a great threat to the Jin Thief's infantry and dismounted cavalry... Therefore, the Cai Ma cavalry in the Southern Song Dynasty adopted a combat method of following the infantry, often fighting behind the infantry. When the explosive pot makes the battlefield filled with smoke, it is also very troublesome to use the cover of the smoke to launch a short and rapid impact.
Of course, such an army that relies on iron armor, powerful crossbows, explosive pots, and vegetable horses to fight is still not enough to go to the great plains of the north. Their logistics line will be cut off by the enemy.
But there is no problem in Huainan, where there is a dense water network. They can take the approach of advancing along the river. In this way, their logistics are guaranteed and their defense is supported. If it fails, they can still board the ship and retreat.
However, the battlefields of the current war between the Jin, Song and Southern Song Dynasties are, after all, within the Southern Song Dynasty's ruling area... The ravaged land belongs to the Southern Song Dynasty.
So after fighting for more than a month, the group of military officials and civil servants found it difficult to win, so they sent Yu Wenxuzhong to Luoyang at night and asked Zhao Kai to send troops to attack Songzhou under the rule of the Jin Kingdom.
However, when Yu Wenxu arrived in Luoyang in the first month of the following year, he did not directly ask Zhao Kai to send troops. Instead, he talked about the general trend of the world.
"Just say what you want to say," Zhao Kai stopped and looked back at Yu Wenxuzhong with a smile, "Mr. Long Xi is my buttocks, what can't you say?"
Yu Wenxu said: "The official family, the world now truly stands on three legs... three legs, not two!"
"Three legs?" Zhao Kai raised his eyebrows, "Can my eldest brother be Sun Quan?"
Yu Wenxu shook his head, "Jiangdong is the Jiangdong of scholar-bureaucrats... King Wu pointed out that Zhao Huan abolished the warriors and dedicated Jiangdong scribes. In fact, he was promoting the integration of civil and military forces in Jiangdong.
Without samurai to control, the Jiangdong scribes had to lead the troops themselves! This, on the other hand, freed up the constraints on the generals who led the troops, and also made it impossible for Jiangdong's scribes to shirk their responsibilities... So Jiangdong has a master! "
Now Zhao Huan is only the nominal master of Jiangdong, and the real master of Jiangdong is the group of military officials and civil servants who hold the new army.
"There is a master..." Zhao Kai nodded, "You are right, Jiangdong does have a master! Jiangdong's soldiers have a master, and Jiangdong has a master!"
Troubled times! Of course, power comes with the sword!
Jiangdong's sword handle has an owner, and Jiangdong has an owner!
If there is no owner of Jiangdong's sword, then there is no real owner of Jiangdong... Now it is a group of military and civilian officials who carry the sword of Jiangdong, so they are the real masters of Jiangdong!
"Then Mr. Long Xi thinks I should send troops to help these Jiangdong lords get out of trouble?" Zhao Kai asked, "If I help them, will they accept me as the lord of the world?"
Yu Wenxu said with a smile: "It's hard to say... but in a three-legged confrontation, isn't the two-legged alliance important? There is no cavalry in Jiangdong, and it is difficult to control the Northern Kingdom, so after expelling the golden thieves, we can take advantage of the Central Plains The only one who owns the land is Your Majesty... If Your Majesty gets the Central Plains, are you afraid that you won't be able to take over Jiangdong? Besides, the group of scribes in charge of the army in Jiangdong have no righteousness! And there are more than one scribe in charge of the army. Who wants to replace him? , are all impossible.
Once King Wu dies, as long as your majesty can quickly capture Jinling and get the honor of justice, you can take all Jiangdong... And Huaixi is the place where your majesty can quickly capture Jinling! Is Your Majesty going to sit back and watch Huaixi being ravaged and destroyed by gold thieves? "
Zhao Kai laughed and thought to himself: This Yu Wenxuzhong is probably in the same group as those Jiangdong scribes, and now he is just trying to trick me into sending troops! It seems that the old saying that the butt determines the head is absolutely true!
However, it is still right to expel the Jin soldiers from the Central Plains first. If the two Song dynasties start fighting among themselves now, the Jin thieves will reap the benefits!
