The situation in the world has been changing rapidly in the past few months, one drastic change after another, making it difficult for people in the midst of changes to distinguish between east, west and north.
In the Central Plains, the Northern Song Dynasty first regained Yanjing, sweeping away the hatred of the country's loss for two hundred years. For a time, the wise people all over the world thought that Zhao Kai was the true master who would end the troubled times and restore peace.
But what happened next made the general situation of the world become hazy again.
Zhao Kai, who had just recaptured Yanjing, turned into a rebellious tyrant!
Now he has no idea at all about implementing benevolent policies, winning people's hearts, and appeasing the gentry and common people in Yandi, Hebei and other places who have been trapped under the iron heel of the golden thieves for many years.
Instead, they plundered people's property, occupied land, and killed scholars in Yandi and Hebei. In just a few months, people's resentment boiled over and chaos broke out. In Cangzhou, where the chaos was most serious, the rebels numbered tens of thousands and once surrounded Qingchi, the first county of Cangzhou, frightening the local officials appointed by Zhao Kai from leaving the city. Zhao Kai had to send general Dong Jingang and 20,000 troops to suppress it. They fought for more than a month before suppressing the Cangzhou Uprising.
Although the Cangzhou Uprising failed, it also greatly "shaken" Zhao Kai's rule in Yandi and Hebei, and also allowed the world's knowledgeable people who originally had illusions about Zhao Kai to see his true face.
At the same time, a shocking change occurred in the direction of Jingdong (called Shandong in the Jin Kingdom) - the Song Dynasty actually opened a third branch, and the ninth son of Emperor Zhuangzong of the Song Dynasty, King Kang Zhaogou, was imprisoned by the Jin Dynasty. After eight years of camp and endured the humiliation, they finally ushered in a "belated counterattack". He wore a yellow robe at Chenqiaoguan outside Pizhou City, ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor. Then he announced the opening of new schools to recruit scholars, claiming that he would restore the old system of the Song Dynasty and truly compete with the Song Dynasty. Scholars and officials share the world!
Zhao Gou's policy immediately won the support of most of the state capitals in the occupied areas of Jingdong, and soon he took over the land of three prefectures and seventeen states, gaining enough territory to fight against the Northern and Southern Song Dynasties.
In the Central Plains, a magical scene of the Three Song Dynasties actually appeared.
The Kingdom of Jin, which had evacuated the city of Yanjing, did not completely leave the Central Plains. Instead, it entrenched itself in the eastern part of Yanshan Mountain, occupying various mountain passes at the eastern foot of Yanshan Mountain. It also occupied the gateways to and from Yan from Liaodong - Yuguan and Ping and Luan. The land of two states.
Once Zhao Kai's army leaves Yan, the Jin soldiers can use Ping and Luanzhou as their bases to attack Yan and Hebei on a large scale. Even if they do not retake those lands, they can still plunder and return them.
And if Zhao Kai's army is stationed in Yandi, they can watch the open door of the east gate. However, the main force of Zhao Kai's army is the government soldiers, who cannot serve for a long time. Moreover, the annual "free period" is only four months, after which you will receive military pay.
However, Zhao Kai's court did not have enough financial resources to provide sufficient military pay to a standing army of hundreds of thousands of people.
Moreover, if Zhao Kai has been concentrating his main force in Yandi, where will he have any spare power to march to Jingdong and Jiangnan?
Does the world still want to be unified?
Should the Three Song Dynasties be reunited?
Therefore, there is only one option before Zhao Kai, which is to launch the Eastern Expedition as soon as possible while his army is still in good condition, capture Ping and Luanzhou, blockade the entrances of Yanshan, and block the Kingdom of Jin to the north and east of Yanshan. , and then go back to deal with Jingdong Zhao Gou.
But Zhao Kai seems to be, no, has missed the opportunity to quickly defeat the Jin army and seize Ping and Luanzhou!
...
"Zhao Kai is almost finished. The fortress at Shanhaikou has been erected, and hundreds of small tubes have been built. Zhao Gou has raised his flag in Shandong again. Now the weather, location, people and people are no longer on his side. Why should he fight with us? Fighting against the Kingdom of Jin?"
The person who made this comment was the left deputy marshal of the Kingdom of Jin Dynasty and King Wanyan Zongqian of Liang Dynasty.
The place where he made this comment was at a mouth connecting mountains and sea, more than seventy miles east of Yuguan.
This mouth where mountains and seas connect is bordered by Yanshan Mountain in the north and Bohai Sea in the south. There is also a large stone river originating from Yanshan Mountain in the east with abundant water and a wide channel.
Yes, this is the location of Shanhaiguan, known as the first pass of the Great Wall in history!
Compared with Yuguan, which is seventy miles away to the west, the terrain of Shanhaiguan is much more dangerous. If a city fortress and defenses were built along the Dashi River, the length of the city gate would only be more than twenty miles long. Moreover, it has the sea on its left, Yanshan Mountain on its right, and a large stone river in front of it. This kind of terrain can really only be described as "naturally dangerous".
Therefore, when Wanyan Zongqian, who had withdrawn from Yanjing, passed through this place, he immediately decided to deploy troops and fortifications at Shanhaikou to occupy this strategic location and fight to the death with the Song army.
Of course, it is impossible for the Kingdom of Jin to build a Shanhaiguan in just three or two months. So now there is only the Shanhaikou Walled City, not the Shanhaiguan Imperial City.
This Shanhaikou Walled City was built along the Dashi River. Wood was erected as a fence and earth was piled as a wall. A solid rammed earth tube platform was built every hundred steps behind the wooden fence. A total of 8,864 towers were built. The tube platform.
A mountain fortress was built on the mountain next to Shanhaikou Walled City, which blocked the right flank of Shanhaikou. An old dragon head coastal defense fort was built on the left side of the Shanhaikou Walled City to guard the left wing of Shanhaikou.
To the east of the Shanhaikou Walled City, there is a large area of company camps, one large camp after another, extending down to the company camp for twenty miles!
Between the companies and camps, there is a small county town, Haiyang County, where the Du Marshal's Mansion is temporarily stationed.
From the west of Shanhaikou Walled City to Yuguan, which is about seventy miles away, there is a walled city every few miles. Counting Yuguan, there are a total of twelve fortresses that can stand independently and support the army.
In addition to the above, Wanyan Zongqian also has a great geographical advantage, that is, there is a seaport to the east of the old Longtou coastal defense fort. It was originally a small port, but after two or three months of expansion, it has become a large port that can handle a large amount of supplies, and can also allow a large number of troops to land or board ships to leave.
With this geographical advantage, Daijin could bully the Northern Song Dynasty, which had just owned a small stretch of coastline.
Now Wanyan Zongqian is standing on the old Longtou sea defense fort, looking at the sea to the south, Liaoxi to the east, Yandi to the west, and the mountains to the north. The more he looks at it, the more stable he feels!
In addition to the stable location, Wanyan Xiebao, the commander-in-chief of the left-behind troops and horses in Beijing Road who is responsible for making small tubes, just reported to him the progress of making small tubes - the number of "eight taels of copper" available now has reached 500!
Moreover, Xiebao also collected 1,000 camels to carry these eight-liang barrels, which weighed almost 100 kilograms, and the matching gunpowder boxes. They also specially designed a wooden saddle that could hold the eight-liang barrels - this kind of wooden saddle. The saddle can be tied to the back of a camel. During a battle, just let the camel kneel on the ground and it can fire eight or two barrels!
With the eight-liang barrels that can be carried by camels, the Song Army's lightweight barrels are of course not worth mentioning.
Didn't Zhao Kai rely on sharp firearms to achieve Tianshi before? Without the advantage of firearms, can he still keep his talent?
And now the Song Dynasty has three points, and Zhao Kai is only one of them!
As for Renhe... haha, just look at the beacon fires all over Yandi and Hebei and the eyes of Yanzhao scholar-bureaucrats looking south to Lin'an, you will know that Renhe is not on Zhao Kai's side either.
Without the right time, location, people and people...can Zhao Kai continue to win?
"What the uncle said is absolutely true. Zhao Kai is almost finished now! He has no time, location, and people, but he has to fight, and he has to take the initiative to attack us. Because if he doesn't fight, he won't be able to follow us. Yan Di can escape... If he cannot escape, he will not be able to go south to deal with Zhao Gou. And Zhao Gou has the support of us and the scholar-officials of the Central Plains, which means he has won the peace. If Zhao Kai is tied to Yan Di, then the weather will not be the same. It's at Zhao Gou's place. As long as given time, Zhao Gou will definitely grow stronger and stab Zhao Kai in the back!"
Wanyan Xiebao followed Wanyan Zongqian's words and analyzed them, and what he said was clear and logical.
To be honest, Zhao Gou now indeed poses a great threat to Zhao Kai!
Because what Zhao Gou gave is a route that is the favorite of literati and officials all over the world - to return to the state before the Xuanhe disaster!
The three points of the Song Dynasty represent three different development routes. Zhao Kai's route was to retreat to the Han and Tang Dynasties or even to overthrow the Qin Dynasty, transforming the Song Dynasty into a land-based feudal military state...that is, to conquer the Central Plains. The men unite and conquer the world together, becoming the local masters!
This route is fierce, but it will seriously damage the interests of the scribes and officials, a vested interest group. Although the scribes and officials in Zhao Kai's territory are now severely suppressed, they have not been eliminated. They just dare to be angry and speak out but dare not fight, and they cannot be beaten.
Zhao Huan originally wanted to be a scholar and official, but for some reason, his country embarked on a "financially oriented" route. Of course, it is beneficial to those scholar-bureaucrats in the Southeast who are deeply involved in industry and commerce... But the businessmen are too sophisticated and unwilling to do business at a loss, so they stay in the Southeast and refuse to go north, preferring to go overseas. Grab some easily profitable trade transit points.
This path is a bit like England in history. The large territories on the European continent are no longer needed. Let’s go to the New World and India to make up for them!
It's a pity that the Southern Song Dynasty is not an island country, and the Yangtze River is not the English Channel, so their approach is short-sighted... so they cannot threaten Zhao Kai and the Jin Kingdom in the north.
But Zhao Gou is different. While serving scholars who are truly land-based, he can also provide a route of "spending money to buy peace."
Now that the Kingdom of Jin has been beaten to disgrace by Zhao Kai, even if they can win back a victory at Shanhaikou, they can no longer seek to destroy the Song Dynasty.
Therefore, the goal of the Jin Kingdom is to take back the sixteen states of Yanyun, and then become a situation like the Liao Kingdom, and maintain the situation with the Northern and Southern Dynasties of the Song Dynasty.
Therefore, Zhao Kai's "military line" and Zhao Huan's "meeting line" have lost their appeal to the literati in the Central Plains, and Zhao Gou is the favorite of the literati in the Central Plains!
Therefore, once Zhao Kai was defeated at Shanhaikou, the literati and officials who had been holding back before would gather together to respond to Zhao Gou and push the Song Dynasty back to its original route...
