According to Su Jue's speculation, after these two plans are implemented, the Jin Kingdom's rule in Yanyun will be almost in place, and it is basically impossible to continue to maintain it.
If things go well by then, Su Yonglin should have defeated the main force of the Jin army and can lead his troops northward for reinforcements.
When the main force of the Liberation Army arrives, all the lands of Yanyun will inevitably surrender. Even if Zhongdu has not been captured by then, it will not mean much.
Now that the main force has arrived, Zhongdu is a dead city with no life left. There is no other way but to surrender.
So by that time, the Jin Kingdom's rule in Yanyun can be declared over.
As for the Liaodong strategy...
We have to wait until Su Yonglin arrives in Zhongdu.
Liaodong is the hometown of the Jurchens, and there are at least tens of thousands of troops that can be mobilized, not to mention the long and difficult journey. Without adequate preparation, it is difficult to succeed.
As for another terrifying possibility, that is the possibility of Su Yonglin's defeat.
In Su Jue's view, that was almost impossible.
With the logistics cut off, how could the main force of the Jin Army defeat Su Yonglin?
At that time, Su Yonglin was able to lead his army to fight against Wanyan Alin's cavalry despite inferior troops and a desperate situation. How much more so in this situation?
Su Jue never doubted that Su Yonglin would be defeated. If he was really defeated, Su Jue felt that it would not matter even if he died in Yanyun.
So in the middle to late first month of the first lunar month, before Wanyan Liang died and the situation of the war was still unclear, Sun Tzu Yi and Su Jue sent troops.
This is the third time that Han troops have entered Yanyun to conduct strategic operations since the defeats of Zhao Guangyi and Zhao Ji, which is of great significance.
At this historical point, both Sun Ziyi and Su Jue felt inexplicable pressure and motivation.
They divided the labor.
Sun Ziyi, who was more prudent in employing troops, attacked and besieged Zhongdu, cutting off transportation inside and outside Zhongdu, besieging the political and military hub of the Jin Kingdom in Yanyun Land, and turning all the surrounding Jin Kingdom's official institutions into headless flies.
Su Jue, who was bold in using troops and good at running attacks, led his troops directly towards Yuguan to seize this important pass, and then slowly moved west to attack Pingzhou, Luanzhou and other places.
Grasping these two points, the official power of the Jin Kingdom in Yanyun Land is like a headless fly, and it is simply unable to properly command the remaining Jin troops in various places to launch a counterattack against the Liberation Army.
The march was actually very smooth, and both Sun Ziyi and Su Jue were surprised by the smoothness.
They did not encounter any elite Jin army who dared to resist or resisted very fiercely.
The Jin Army and the ruling institutions of the Jin Kingdom in the Yanyun area were greatly frightened by the sudden Northern Expedition of the Liberation Army. They all believed that the main force of the Jin Army had been destroyed in Hebei and Shandong, and that the main force of the Liberation Army had already begun the Northern Expedition.
The main force of hundreds of thousands of troops has been defeated, what else can they do?
In despair, many Jurchens ran away to Zhongdu, not daring to surrender for fear of being killed by the Liberation Army, which was strongly targeting the Jurchens.
A large part of the remaining bureaucrats and officers who were not Jurchens also fled. According to subsequent statistics, about four-fifths of them fled, and only about one-fifth did not escape.
The superiors have always been upright and have always been suspicious of the policies promoted by the Liberation Army, so they would rather run with the Jurchens than stay to greet the Liberation Army.
As for the remaining one-fifth, they did not run away. They felt that the Jin Kingdom had no future, and running back to China was just to make wedding clothes for the Jurchens. They felt that the Liberation Army had a bright future and they themselves were sincere enough, so they decided to take a gamble. Take, stay and greet the Liberation Army.
What's more, many low-level Jurchens couldn't escape, so they simply lied about being Han or Khitan, changed their names, changed their faces, and disguised their identities to surrender together, trying to survive.
Sun Tzu Yi's Northern Expedition, which included defeating Xincheng, Fanyang, Wanning, and Liangxiang, crossed the Lugou River, and reached the gates of Zhongdu. It only took eight days in total.
The Jin armies in Xincheng, Wanning, and Liangxiang all surrendered in front of the banner of the Liberation Army, without making any resistance, and obediently handed over the city.
Fan Yang tried to resist because the defender was a Jurchen, but after the Liberation Army besieged the city for two hours, a mutiny broke out in the city.
The Han soldiers thought that the Jin Kingdom was doomed and were unwilling to die for the Jin Kingdom, so they united and killed the Jurchen guards, killed the Han chiefs who were unwilling to surrender together, opened the city gates, and welcomed the Liberation Army into the city.
After Sun Tzu Yi entered the city, he killed all the Jurchens and main officers in the city, and continued to raise his troops to move north.
The troops of the Liberation Army were sharp and powerful. The Jurchens and Han Khitan officials along the way were even more afraid to resist. They abandoned their positions, defended their territory and chose to escape. No one dared to resist anymore.
They've all run away, who will stick around?
Wanning and Liangxiang decided to surrender before the Liberation Army arrived. The Han people, Khitan people and other people in the city organized to welcome the Liberation Army, and took great measures to welcome the king's army.
Wherever the troops of the Liberation Army went, there was almost no resistance. The army marched all the way forward and just relying on seizures was enough to provide military supplies, even logistics was saved.
On the 27th of the first lunar month, Sun Tzu Yi encountered resistance from the Jin army in Wanping. The number was about 20,000, including both infantry and cavalry. They looked menacing. The Jin generals who led the army formed formations and tried to fight in the field.
Sun Tzu Yi sent Jiang Liangping to lead troops to fight against him, and the two sides faced off.
But when the Liberation Army launched an attack, Sun Tzu Yi discovered that this Jin army was just a silver pewter spearhead.
Jiang Liangping fought bravely, commanding the infantry formation to confront the Jin Army's formation head-on. He also led a small number of cavalry to personally attack the Jin Army's cavalry formation, advancing step by step.
The Jin army retreated step by step.
The two sides fought in the field for only half an hour before the Jin army collapsed and was defeated by the Liberation Army. More than a thousand people were killed in the battle and fifteen to six thousand were captured. Only two or three thousand people fled back to Zhongdu City in embarrassment. Wanping was breached.
The last barrier in front of Zhongdu was taken down by the Liberation Army.
Is the Jin Army already weak to this point?
Sun Ziyi, the commander-in-chief of the army, took a deep breath and waved his hand, and the 40,000 Liberation Army marched towards Zhongdu City.
On the 28th of the first lunar month, Sun Tzu Yi surrounded the city of Zhongdu and began to besiege the city. The defenders of Zhongdu put up a relatively tenacious resistance, and the Liberation Army could not take Zhongdu for a while.
Of course, Sun Tzu Yi never thought that he could capture Zhongdu City right away. This was the imperial capital of the Jin Kingdom. If it could be captured so easily, what else?
But doing so was an unparalleled political gesture, marking that the Liberation Army had the power to defeat the Jin Kingdom and replace it, which was of great significance.
So after the siege, Sun Ziyi expressed his excitement to Jiang Liangping with great emotion.
"Before the expedition, Yuting told me that if I could take the initiative to attack Yanyun, gain an advantage, advance towards Zhongdu, and fight the Jin army under the city of Zhongdu, I would have accomplished what Zhao Guangyi did back then. If I could By conquering Zhongdu, I will have accomplished something that even Zhao Guangyi cannot do."
Jiang Liangping nodded, also feeling very emotional.
"I have heard the instructors in the army talk about the past of Yanyun. This was the territory that was ceded to the Khitan people by Shi Jingtang when the Song Dynasty was not yet established. Because of the sixteen states of Yanyun, the Khitan people were able to cross Crossing the Great Wall directly threatens the Central Plains.
However, the Central Plains was a flat land with no danger to defend and could not stop the northern cavalry, so the Song Dynasty went to war several times for the Yanyun Sixteenth Prefecture, but failed. After Zhao Guangyi, Zhao Ji also wanted to expedition to the north of Yanyun, but... he They couldn't even defeat the Khitans who were about to be destroyed.
In the end, not only did they fail to capture Yanyun, they even lost half of the country. It can be said to be extremely embarrassing and extremely incompetent. Therefore, it has been more than 200 years since Shi Jingtang ceded Yanyun to the land of Yi and Di. "
"If we succeed, we can avenge our past humiliation, regain Yanyun, and achieve something that no one has been able to do in two hundred years. If we can't do it, we won't be any better than Zhao Guangyi."
Sun Ziyi smiled and said: "But I think we can do it. Yuting is different from Zhao Guangyi, and even more different from Zhao Ji. With Yuting, the Liberation Army will definitely be able to dominate the Central Plains."
"I never doubted it."
Jiang Liangping turned his attention to the south: "Ever since Alang led us to defeat the Golden Thief Cavalry face to face in Zhending City, I have never doubted whether Alang can defeat the Golden Thief. It's just a matter of time."
