Wan Yanliang did not express any opinion on Wen Dun Sizhong's death.
When he learned the news of Wen Dun Sizhong's death, he was discussing the latest intelligence and strategies and tactics with Privy Council officials. When he learned that Wen Dun Sizhong had passed away, Wan Yanliang was stunned for a while, and then continued to discuss military affairs with the ministers as if nothing had happened.
After discussing the military affairs, Wan Yanliang ordered the people in the palace to mourn Wen Dun Sizhong and handle the funeral affairs according to the fixed procedures, and did not follow the usual practice of resigning from the court for the death of such an important minister.
In the face of major military and national affairs, everything must be put aside. The death of Wen Dunsizhong cannot make any difference. That would delay things too much.
Wen Dun Sizhong's funeral ended hastily in the context of Wan Yanliang's southern expedition, and his family was asked to take Wen Dun Sizhong's coffin back to his hometown in Liaodong for burial only a few days later, and then never come back.
The entire Wen Dun Sizhong family was driven out of Zhongdu and the political center of the Jin Kingdom by Wan Yanliang, and became a marginal family from then on.
This situation also made many officials who were promoted and cared for by Wen Dunsizhong feel sad.
However, Wan Yanliang didn't care. All his energy was focused on the upcoming southern expedition.
According to the latest military intelligence, Wan Yanliang learned that the Liberation Army had a tendency to shrink its forces and retreat. In several states along the six-state defense line, the Liberation Army seemed to be retreating.
The rangers who went south to investigate intelligence found that only a few soldiers and rangers remained in these areas. There were no large troops, and even the people had been moved south.
As the Rangers continued to go south, they encountered obstruction and attacks from the Rangers of the Liberation Army. It was difficult for them to go deeper into the south and they were forced to retreat and report the matter to the Central Committee of the Jin Kingdom.
From this, the Jin Dynasty court judged that the Liberation Army was shrinking its troops, adopting the strategy of strengthening the wall and clearing the country, creating strategic depth, trying to avoid a head-on collision with the Jin army, and threatening the Jin Dynasty's logistics and transportation.
The Liberation Army's defense strategy in Hebei must be centered on Hejian Prefecture and Zhending Prefecture, building two powerful military defense areas, and using these two important towns that the Jin Army must capture no matter what, as a bet to fight the Jin Army to the death.
To be honest, it was not until this moment that Wan Yanliang noticed how easily his ancestors dealt with the Northern Song Dynasty and how much advantage they had.
Going south from Zhongdu, there is almost a flat plain. A journey of several hundred miles can be completed in a few days by galloping horses. The Song army was also defenseless at that time and had almost no power to fight back against the Jin army's surprise attack. , They didn't dare to fight in the field at all, and even defended the city with trepidation.
Now Wan Yanliang is leading the army to march south. Although the army moves relatively slowly, this cannot stop the advantage of the Jin Army's cavalry.
He felt that there was no difference between the original Song Army and the current Liberation Army. As long as she led the army south to launch an offensive, in the face of absolute superiority, the Liberation Army would probably end up like the Northern Song Dynasty.
The only thing that annoyed him was that the harassment by the Liberation Army's navy continued as usual, with no tendency to stop. This made Wan Yanliang unable to mobilize an elite force to defend against the navy.
So the number of soldiers he could go south was reduced again, and he had to leave an army to guard his hometown to prevent Su Yonglin from taking it away from the sea.
In this way, the Jin Army will be able to contain the Liberation Army's attacks on their rear to a certain extent and limit the advantages of the Liberation Army's navy.
The Liberation Army did not have enough cavalry, but the Jin Army could mobilize about 80,000 cavalry. These cavalry would gallop across the Hebei Plains and attack everywhere, making the field troops of the Liberation Army exhausted and unable to fight against them.
Wan Yanliang seized on this advantage of the Jin Kingdom and made a special speech, describing the Liberation Army as the Northern Song Dynasty army under the rule of Song Huizong, and the Jin Army was still the powerful army that defeated all the invincible enemies in the world.
He said that he would bring Su Yonglin's whole family to Zhongdu and let him perform the "sheep-leading ceremony" again.
Wan Yanliang was very confident, believing that under the sharp cavalry attack of the Jin Army, the Liberation Army's defense depth in Hebei would collapse at an extremely fast speed, and their defense in Hebei was almost non-existent.
Although Shandong has been in business longer, except for Mount Tai, there is nothing else that can stop the cavalry.
So no matter from which aspect, the 80,000 cavalry of the Jin Army will be a sharp blade in the hands of the Jin Empire and a nightmare for the Liberation Army.
We have nothing to fear!
We will surely win!
Wan Yanliang shouted these meaningless and boring slogans, leaving his ministers speechless.
It was as if Wanyan Alin had taken advantage at that time.
But no matter what, this was a matter of life and death for them, so the courtiers still put in a lot of effort this time.
Usually a lot of military expenditures were embezzled a little less this time. They all warned their subordinates to be more restrained this time and to let the emperor invest all the military expenditures into the army to boost the morale of the army. As long as the war is won, the benefits will be great. .
Don't give up your life to Su Thief just for a little greed.
They thought that by doing so, they were very worthy of Wan Yanliang and Jin Empire, but they never expected that Wan Yanliang would actually attack them anyway.
Wan Yanliang used the excuse that a lot of grain was destroyed by Su Yonglin, and the grain reserves to support the army's continued operations were insufficient, so he needed support, money and grain support.
The common people have been squeezed dry by him, and there is nothing left. In some places, taxes have been extended for five or six years. If he squeezes more, the second uprising will break out. He can't stand it, so he can only ask the powerful and rich They stretched out their hands for money and food.
Wan Yanliang publicly expressed his financial difficulties at the court meeting, saying that he needed the support of money and food. He also said that if the courtiers did not support it, then once the war reached a stalemate and the court lacked money and food, the result would be disastrous.
He would not let this situation happen, so he could only use the last resort - selling his official title and selling his official title.
"At this time, I won't talk in circles with you. We all know how much food you have in your hands. You can't use it yourself or eat it all. In this case, why don't you use it to help the army?
You must know that only with the Great Jin Kingdom can you live a good life. If the Great Jin Kingdom's army is defeated by the Su thieves and the Great Jin Kingdom is destroyed, what will happen to you no matter how much property you have? In the end, didn't Su Thief still get the advantage? "
Wan Yanliang glanced at the ministers with sharp eyes and spoke very harshly: "Su thief and I are different. I will discuss with you in a harmonious manner and will not force you, but Su thief is different. Su thief will directly Kill your whole family!"
The ministers were both frightened and annoyed.
What he was afraid of was that Su Yonglin had made it clear that he was sworn in with the ruling class of the Jin Kingdom by expelling the barbarians and regaining China. He would really kill their whole family. Surrendering might not be easy.
What was annoying was that Wan Yanliang actually threatened them with such things at this time, blackmailed them, and asked for money and food. Such behavior was really not like a monarch.
Despite this, facing the emperor's naked threat, the courtiers still didn't have many options. They discussed among themselves and decided to give a part of the food stored at home to Wan Yanliang according to their official position, so as to buy peace with money.
Wan Yanliang raised a large amount of grain in a very short period of time and immediately transported it in batches to the war front.
At the same time, the main force of the Jin Army also went to the war front line to make final preparations for the attack at the scheduled starting point of the war.
After excluding the actions of the Jin Army in Hedong and the Jin Army in Kaifeng, Wan Yanliang divided his main army into two groups, one heading south from Bazhou and the other heading south from Xiongzhou.
Wan Yanliang divided the soldiers under his command into more than a dozen armies. Each army was assigned a general manager and a deputy general manager to lead the army. Above the army, there were also left and right leading military governors to command the army respectively.
The commander-in-chief of the left-leading army was veteran general Wanyan Benjian, and the deputy commander-in-chief of the left-leading army was Li Tong, a close confidant.
The commander-in-chief of the right-leading army is the privy envoy Heshi Lieliangbi, and the deputy commander-in-chief of the right-leading army is the senior general Yi Lacheng.
Then each of the two departments appointed a member of the supervisory army, Shan Yongnian, the right supervisor, and Xu Lin, the left supervisor.
Wan Yanliang himself acted with the strongest Zuo Army. The Zuo Army was the absolute main force of the entire Southern Expeditionary Army, with 40,000 cavalry and 40,000 infantry, totaling 80,000 troops.
This force gathered the Jin Kingdom's strongest elite troops and the most abundant logistical support. They marched south from Bazhou and aimed directly at Hejian Mansion.
Wan Yanliang's first stage goal is to take down Hejian, the rumored residence of Su Yonglin.
The remaining 40,000 soldiers and horses of the right army were handed over to the commander-in-chief of the right army and the privy envoy He Shi Lieliangbi, as the second main force.
This army went south from Xiongzhou. The first stage goal was to capture Lizhou, Qizhou, and Shenzhou, cut off the connection between Hejian and Zhending, create conditions for the Jin army in Hedong to attack Zhending Prefecture, and avoid Hejian Prefecture. Support each other with the Liberation Army of Zhending Mansion.
There are 40,000 Jin troops in Hedong, including 10,000 cavalry and 30,000 infantry. They are led by Wanyan Yiying, the commander-in-chief of both armies and horses. Their goal is to capture Zhendingfu, echoing Wanyan Liang's main force, and control the important towns of Zhendingfu and Zhendingfu in Hebei. Hejian Mansion was conquered together, overthrowing Su Yonglin's rule in Hebei.
Then the three armies of Wan Yanliang, He Shi Lieliangbi and Wanyan Yiying went south together, made a rapid assault, completely destroyed the fragile defenses of the Liberation Army in Hebei, and strived to end the war in Hebei within two months and fully break into Shandong.
