There are some things that cannot be blamed for the Lin'an court's slow response.
Because the war progressed too fast and the speed of news transmission was too slow, the news received by Lin'an was too late.
When the Lin'an court learned that the peasant army had launched an attack on the Jiujiang army, the peasant army had already wiped out the Jiujiang army and the Ezhou army.
When the Lin'an court learned that the peasant army had launched an attack on the Ezhou army, the peasant army had already taken further action, captured Jingmen and blocked the retreat route of the Xiangfan Song army.
When the Lin'an court determined that the Ezhou army and the Jiujiang army had been destroyed, the Ming army had already gone south and began to surround the Xiangfan Song army with the peasant army from the north to the south and launch an attack.
When the Lin'an court finally received news of the Song army's request for help from Xiangfan, the Ming army had destroyed all the military obstacles and military strongholds around Xiangyang and Fancheng, and formally surrounded Xiangyang and Fancheng across the moats of the two cities.
Moreover, Fancheng had already lost more than a thousand Song soldiers and injured more than 3,000 people due to the Ming army's artillery attack. The people in the city were in panic. Xiangyang City also experienced the power of artillery because it was bombarded by the Ming army. There were more than a hundred casualties and casualties. More than a thousand people were injured. .
The interiors of both cities were damaged due to the Ming army's bombardment. Ordnance and food were hit to varying degrees, and each suffered losses.
All in all, when the Lin'an court received the news asking for help, Xiangyang could still say that his condition was good and he could persist, but Fancheng could not say that his condition was very good in any case.
Because of the lag in news, the Lin'an court's response was very funny.
When the peasant army completely destroyed the Jiujiang army and the Ezhou army, Zhao Min ordered the Privy Council to dispatch the Ezhou army to rush for emergency reinforcements. It was necessary to ensure that Jiujiang was not lost. If the Ezhou army dared to hesitate, he would be severely punished.
Privy Councilor Chen Kangbo ordered the Ezhou army to rush to the rescue of the Jiujiang army, and then sent a letter to Zhao Xun, saying that "the rebels are so bold that they took the initiative to attack the king's army. Their crime is unpardonable and must be punished and destroyed", and then asked Zhao Xun to order an immediate launch of the second war. Four wars against banditry.
Now that the rebel army has drawn its sword, we, the King of the Song Dynasty, must also draw our sword. The Jiujiang army and the Ezhou army should launch a full-scale counterattack, and the Xiangyang army as a reserve force must also be prepared. The bandit army will destroy itself, so we cannot allow them to continue to be rampant !
Zhao Min deeply appreciated Chen Kangbo's suggestion, so he issued a decree and ordered the war. The Privy Council was fully responsible for the battle, and the war command was handed over to the Privy Council. He learned from Song Taizong, and only discussed any military issues with the Privy Council, bypassing the civilian government.
The civilian government was quite critical of this. Ye Yiwen, the left prime minister, and Shen Gai, the right prime minister, were dissatisfied. However, under the mediation of Zhou Linzhi, the political advisor, they chose to keep silent.
What Zhou Linzhi meant was that the affairs of the Privy Council were too sensitive and they would not get involved if possible.
[Don’t you see Zhang Jun and Shi Haohu? 】
Zhou Lin's words completely eliminated the dissatisfaction of Ye Yiwen and Shen Gai.
It is true that under Zhao Gou they can still talk openly and openly, but under Zhao Min... it is better to take it easy.
So Zhao Anan and the Privy Council made a lot of military plans for the Jiangnan West Road War, including how the Jiujiang army should defend and counterattack, how the Ezhou army should attack, how the Xiangyang army and the Imperial Guards should rush to support, etc. Detailed planning was made.
But their actions were too slow, or the peasant army moved too fast.
The plan had just taken shape and before it had time to be promulgated and implemented, news that the Ezhou army had also been attacked reached Lin'an.
The news showed that at the same time that the Jiujiang army was attacked, the Ezhou army was also raided by the Jiangnan West Route bandits, resulting in heavy losses.
Ezhou City has been lost, the whereabouts of senior military officers and civilian officials are unknown, their condition is unknown, the number of Ming troops is unknown, and their origin is unknown.
The misty news shocked the Lin'an court.
Did the bandit army take the initiative to attack and split into two groups?
A sudden attack on Ezhou?
Apart from waterways, could it be said?
Yu Yunwen was shocked when he heard the news. He immediately lay down on the map to look at the local terrain, and pointed at the Jiangxia Mountains in front of Zhao Hao at the imperial combat meeting.
"Judging from the time, the rebel army must attack in two directions, one by attacking Jiujiang by water, and the other by land, crossing mountains and ridges to raid Ezhou! It is even possible that attacking Jiujiang is a cover-up for the rebel army to raid Ezhou!"
Yu Yunwen's analysis is certainly reasonable, but hindsight can't change anything.
Zhao Yan said angrily: "Immediately think of countermeasures! In this situation, both armies are under attack! The rebel army actually dares to attack the King of Song Dynasty! I don't know what the situation is now! How can the battle be like this?!"
Zhao Xin felt a little angry.
Another privy deputy, Hu Quan, was calmer and immediately proposed a response plan.
"Your Majesty, the only plan now is, firstly, to immediately dispatch part of the Xiangyang army to assist Ezhou. We must stabilize the war situation in Ezhou no matter what. We cannot allow the rebels to occupy Ezhou and Jiujiang at the same time. If this happens, the Yangtze River waterway will be blocked by the rebels. , cannot look at each other from beginning to end, the problem is serious!
Second, it is necessary to immediately prepare the capital's forbidden troops to rush to the area. I am afraid that the Jiujiang army and the Ezhou army are in an unfavorable situation and will suffer heavy losses. The Xiangyang army will be unable to support it alone. Now it is necessary to rush to the Jinghu area! Without delay! "
Hu Quan's suggestion was supported by most officials of the Privy Council, and Zhao Min nodded with gritted teeth.
"Reorganize the army immediately. At least 20,000 to 30,000 people will be reorganized at the moment. We will continue to send troops later! I will level the entire Jiangnan West Road! Level it!!"
Zhao Xun was extremely angry and kept uttering vulgar words, and even said that he wanted to kill all the local thieves and annihilate the nine tribes.
In his opinion, it is quite merciful to do anything such as cutting a stone or changing a person's species. If you don't do this, you will not be able to show the majesty of God!
Zhao Xun gritted his teeth and said such vicious words. One can imagine how angry he was.
The ministers in the Privy Council were trembling with fear and were frightened by the emperor's murderous intent, but no matter what they thought in their hearts, they would not get into trouble when Zhao Min was angry.
So they immediately reorganized the Lin'an Forbidden Army in accordance with Zhao Yu's request and prepared to gather the Lin'an Forbidden Army to assist the Jinghu War Zone.
However, just a few days after this order was conveyed, the Lin'an Forbidden Army, which had just been rebuilt, was in a hurry to prepare for the expedition, and the Privy Council officials were busy allocating supplies. News that the Jiujiang Army and the Ezhou Army had been completely annihilated successively reached Lin'an City.
What brought the news was the defeat of the Jiujiang army and the Ezhou army. They reported the news of the army's defeat and annihilation in a panic, which made Zhao Min stunned on the spot and speechless for a long time.
The entire Privy Council and the civil government were too frightened to react.
The entire army was wiped out again?
The Jiujiang Army and the Ezhou Army had just been formed. How long had it been since they were formed, and then they were completely wiped out?
A 60,000-strong army, if you say the entire army is annihilated, then the entire army will be annihilated?
