After a short rest, Zhang Yuejing ordered the three armies of the trapped army, the enemy-breaking army and the Youyi army to move quickly.
In a short period of time, the three armies had arrived at the attack site in Shanzhou and were ready to launch an attack.
Su Yonglin increased the number of troops to these three armies to 20,000 each, and launched an attack of 60,000. It is not difficult to capture Kaifeng and Nanjing Road with such a force. Judging from the current situation, the entire Jin Army on Nanjing Road is The number of people is less than this number.
Unless they urgently expand the army and recruit a large group of Meng'an Mou Kehu who have no fighting ability into the army, it will indeed bring some trouble to Zhang Yuejing.
But it's just some trouble.
Drawing on the experience and lessons learned from Zhao Kaishan's previous attack on Kaifeng, where the Jin Army's cavalry took away the retreat from his hometown, the Liberation Army's actions this time were to be steady and steady.
Su Yonglin also sent troops to Xuzhou and Pizhou to monitor the movements of the Jin army in the direction of Suzhou further south, so that the Jin soldiers in the direction of Suzhou and Sizhou could not act randomly.
Moreover, this battle also had a particularly good assistant - the Southern Song Dynasty who trained troops and prepared for war.
Because of the training and preparation of troops in the Southern Song Dynasty, Kong Yanzhou had been having a very difficult time.
Kong Yanzhou is not worried about Wan Yanliang's southern expedition. In Kong Yanzhou's view, although the Liberation Army is more capable and different from ordinary rebels, facing Wan Yanliang's southern expedition of nearly 500,000 troops, it is not at all Something.
The Liberation Army will inevitably be destroyed.
But it's hard to say whether the Southern Song Dynasty would suddenly attack Kaifeng while Wan Yanliang was fighting fiercely with the Liberation Army.
In the past ten years or so, I heard that the Southern Song Dynasty had never prepared for war in the border area. He had always been a filial son and grandson of the Kingdom of Jin. As far as Kong Yanzhou himself took office, the Southern Song Dynasty had never conducted any military operations in this area.
Everyone has been happily competing against each other.
But this time was different. This time the Southern Song Dynasty really began to prepare for war.
Along Nanjing Road, Haozhou, Anfeng Army, Guangzhou, Xinyang Army, Zaoyang Army, Guanghua Army and other places have really begun to prepare for war. The Song Army everywhere is practicing and preparing for war. Ready, it looks like he's about to fight.
And at the end of the first month, the exact news came.
It is said that Wan Yanliang's army went south to conquer the Liberation Army, which caused great unrest in the Southern Song Dynasty. On the one hand, the decision-makers of the Southern Song Dynasty inspected the armaments of various places and forced the armies to drill. The soul figure Zhang Jun recalled Lin'an.
This caused Kong Yanzhou great tension.
Zhang Jun, an old guy, could be called the toughest civil servant in the Southern Song Dynasty. He led troops to fight against the peak Jin army many times without fear.
Although he suffered repeated defeats, he really dared to fight and was very strong-headed. The group of Wanyan who defeated him still spoke highly of Zhang Jun and respectfully called him [Privy Master Zhang].
The Southern Song Dynasty was originally a big country. Although it was vassal to the Jin Kingdom, it was still a big country. It still had the foundation and strength of a big country. If it really wanted to mobilize, hundreds of thousands of troops would not be impossible to use.
Under the leadership of Zhang Jun, a smelly and hard old man, maybe the entire Nanjing Road, which lacks enough troops, will really be poked into a sieve.
Although Zhao Kaishan's previous battle did not damage the vitality of the Nanjing Road Jin Army, it did consume a lot of war reserves. And because the expansion and renovation of Kaifeng Mansion is still in progress, Kong Yanzhou's resources are very limited.
Not talking about resources, just talking about the army, most of the troops he had were used to guard the borders of Jin and Song Dynasties to monitor the movements of the Song army, so that the mobile troops he could mobilize were very limited.
Now that the Song army was so powerful, Kong Yanzhou was really too nervous, for fear that the Song army would send troops north before Wan Yanliang defeated the Liberation Army, fight together with the Liberation Army and annex Nanjing Road.
At that time, the troops he had at hand would not be enough to withstand the attacks of the Song Army and the Liberation Army at the same time, and the Nanjing Road would definitely not be protected.
So he sent people to request reinforcements from Wanyan Liang and the Zhongdu court many times, but he didn't get any meaningful reply. The court was still at war with him, and Wanyan Liang simply didn't reply to him.
In early February, Kong Yanzhou once again received definite news that Zhang Jun had returned to Lin'an and was summoned by Song Emperor Zhao Gou to discuss the northern war with him.
At present, he still doesn't know Zhang Jun's attitude towards this, but as Zhang Jun entered Lin'an City, the call for war in the entire Southern Song Dynasty was very high, and the war mood was also raised, and the border military drills became higher and higher.
Regardless of whether they are really going to invade, the momentum is still real and quite good. It is also very effective as a deterrent. The Golden Army on the border is indeed very nervous.
It seemed that the Southern Song Dynasty was really going to send troops northward.
Kong Yanzhou was also extremely nervous. He focused all his energy on the southern border and inquired about relevant information carefully, not intending to miss any information.
On the one hand, he really planned to stick to it and fight with the Southern Song Dynasty. In any case, he could not rashly give up Nanjing Road without doing anything. In that case, he would be really sorry for Wan Yanliang's instructions.
On the other hand, he was prepared to withdraw north as soon as the war situation became irreversible - it was impossible for an army to fight against a country's Northern Expedition.
Therefore, he alone and an army were defeated by the Northern Expeditionary Army of the Southern Song Dynasty. It could not be considered a capital crime in any case.
This is especially true if the opponent is Zhang Jun. There is a high probability that nothing will happen to him, and at most he will be demoted and fined.
After calculating the stakes, Kong Yanzhou was not worried about his retreat, so he ordered the border states to enter a first-level combat readiness state. If there was any trouble, they could act accordingly without reporting to him in advance.
Of course, if the fight was really going to start, he must be told as soon as possible - his escape schedule could not be delayed.
However, God's calculations are not as good as those of man. Kong Yanzhou focused almost all his energy on the Southern Song Dynasty. So when tens of thousands of troops of the Liberation Army crossed the Yellow River and entered Guide Mansion, Kong Yanzhou had not yet reacted.
The well-prepared military operations of the Liberation Army were not taken seriously by Kong Yanzhou at all, and the control area bordering the Liberation Army did not arrange sufficient defense forces. As a result, the army was quickly defeated and the Liberation Army drove straight into it.
When the Liberation Army divided into two groups and marched into Juzhou, Kong Yanzhou had just received the news that the Liberation Army had approached Kaifeng Prefecture, which scared Kong Yanzhou.
He didn't understand why the Liberation Army suddenly launched an attack and attacked so quickly in just a few days.
Zhang Yuejing sent troops in two groups this time, one with him as the main general, and the other with Zhou Zhi leading You Yi's army as the main combat force. Zhang Yuejing was responsible for the main attack, while Zhou Zhi was responsible for quickly approaching Kaifeng and surrounding Kaifeng. Don't let Kong Yanzhou go.
Therefore, Zhang Yuejing also handed over almost all the cavalry available to Zhou Zhi, asking Zhou Zhi to take an easier path, in order to achieve the effect of raiding Kaifeng Mansion as soon as possible.
Zhang Yuejing, on the other hand, led the main force to take the main road and conquered the four counties of Yucheng, Songcheng, Ningling, and Xiangyi. The officials and defenders of the four counties were either unprepared and defeated by a surprise attack, or they were unable to hold on and were captured, or they were defeated in advance. After getting the news, they quickly fled. In short, there was no effective obstacle to the offensive of the Liberation Army.
While fighting, the Liberation Army also continued to spread the news of Wanyan Liang's death and the annihilation of the Jin Army's southern expedition, in order to shock and shake the fighting will and determination of the Jin Army on the Nanjing Road, in order to defeat them faster and expel them.
This approach was very effective. Anyway, Zhang Yuejing did not encounter any real strong obstacles during his westward expedition. After conquering the prefectures and counties, he asked the locals and learned that the Jurchen officials and troops all fled in confusion when they heard about the Restoration Army, leaving only Local Han Chinese.
They had no confidence to hold on at all. When they heard that the Liberation Army was coming, they immediately gave up resistance and chose to escape. Their posture was exactly the same as that of the Song Army back then.
This moment is so similar to that time. History has come around in a big circle and is back again.
Of course, the Liberation Army would not harm the local Han people. They lived in peace with the local Han people, so the local governance changed hands smoothly. The king's flag was changed on the city wall and voted for the Liberation Army.
It doesn't matter, not at all.
What's important is whether Zhou Zhi can reach the siege city of Kaifeng as quickly as possible and besiege all the Jin Army centers on Nanjing Road in the city, including that damn bastard Kong Yanzhou.
