In mid-August, Yu Yunwen's order was conveyed to the three capital departments of Jiankang, Zhenjiang and Chizhou.
At this moment, only Wang Fang is still in charge of the first three capital commanders, and the other two have been replaced.
After receiving the order, Wang Fang felt that the order was very questionable, so he immediately submitted a report to the Privy Council, explaining the significance of Zhenjiang Mansion's defense relative to the Yangtze River defense, and the significance of the Yangtze River defense to the entire Southern Song Dynasty.
Then he also said that he had been running the river defense system in Zhenjiang for more than three years, and had also greatly strengthened the defense power of Zhenjiang City. The defense power of Zhenjiang City had been greatly enhanced, and it would definitely be able to fight against the Ming army, and it did not necessarily have to be withdrawn.
After receiving Wang Fang's performance, Yu Yunwen was furious and scolded Wang Fang, telling him not to show off his pitiful military knowledge. A three-year-old child knew this knowledge, but at present, he must focus on the overall situation and must shrink his defense line and use only his military knowledge. It would be foolish to spread the remaining forces in three places.
What's more, the Ming army also has powerful artillery that can break through Fancheng and Xiangyang City!
Who are you in front of these weapons?
Yu Yunwen also reprimanded Wang Fang, saying that as a military general, he should not arbitrarily discuss court decisions or disobey the orders of the Privy Council, otherwise he would be replaced, and he would be punished to prevent him from thinking that he could act arrogantly in times of national crisis.
The more critical the situation, the more cautious one must be in words and deeds. Don’t think that everyone is Yao Zhong!
Generals, you must obey orders! Disobeying orders and discussing government affairs arbitrarily triggered the ancestral law of the Song Dynasty! The Song Dynasty cannot tolerate you!
After being reprimanded by Yu Yunwen, Wang Fang looked frightened and felt very dissatisfied.
When Chen Kangbo was the privy envoy, he was polite to him because of his brave behavior of defending Yangzhou without surrendering or retreating. He was also willing to obey Chen Kangbo's command, but Yu Yunwen scolded him as soon as he came to power.
What's wrong with me being a military commander?
I defended Yangzhou and did not retreat, and the Ming army did not conquer Yangzhou until the end. This is my credit. How can you ignore my credit?
Having said that, he was indeed powerless in the face of Yu Yunwen's rebuke. Not to mention that he was unable to compete with the Privy Council. Now Yu Yunwen was even in charge of Pingzhang's military and state affairs, holding military and political power. If he was told to change him, he would be replaced. He had no ability to resist at all. .
Therefore, he could only swallow his anger, accept the order, and reluctantly gave up the Zhenjiang Jiang defense system that had been operating for several years and was quite a deterrent.
Since the end of the first war between the Ming and Song dynasties more than three years ago, Wang Fang has served as the governor of Zhenjiang Prefecture. While in office, he worked hard to train troops and build a complete river defense system, and was always vigilant against his life-or-death enemy on the north bank of the river. , You Yijun is about to attack Zhou Zhi.
He has not forgotten how his old superior Liu Qi died, nor how the city of Yangzhou they were defending so stubbornly was taken away by the Ming army in an almost humiliating way.
He spent more than three years upgrading and building Zhenjiang's river defense and Zhenjiang city defense, spending a lot of effort and military expenditures, and he personally followed up on the construction of many things.
For example, the bed crossbows along the river, the gunpowder weapons layout along the river, the beacon towers along the river, the navy and the three lines of defense along the river, etc.
He also made a lot of improvements in Zhenjiang city defense, heightening and strengthening the city walls, widening the moat, storing a large amount of city defense items, building more urns, training soldiers to master more city defense skills, etc. Anyway, he really paid a lot Effort.
Therefore, the 10,000 Zhenjiang Dutongsi troops who had been taken away by Li Xianzhong were still very good at fighting and persisted in fighting, but they could not withstand the Ming army's artillery and muskets.
This is normal. Others may not be able to bear it. With a weapon that transcends the times in front of you, overcoming the fear of it is a hurdle, let alone other things.
Wang Fang knew that the Ming army had sophisticated weapons and also knew about the fall of Fancheng in Xiangyang, but he was very confident in his years of hard work and was unwilling to give up the city defense that he had managed for a long time in vain.
However, under Yu Yunwen's forced order, he had no choice but to accept the order.
"The city defense of Zhenjiang is so complete that even if it is eventually breached, I can break off the two front teeth of the Ming army. But why is the imperial court so timid? It doesn't even have the guts to confront the Ming army head-on? If things go on like this, the general will not be the country. It’s really better to just surrender!”
Wang Fang muttered angrily to his subordinates, and then ordered the withdrawal of the army, moving from Zhenjiang Prefecture to Dusong Pass for defense.
His new task was to hold Dusong Pass and resolutely stop the Ming army from attacking from the north to the south.
And he heard that other armies were going to continue south and set up defenses near Lin'an City, building Lin'an City into a very powerful military barrier to resist the Ming army's attack.
In addition, we must strengthen the walls and clear the country, which means basically not allowing the Ming army to obtain military supplies from the land where the Southern Song army evacuated.
This covers a relatively wide area. It can relocate people, destroy food, water sources and other necessary things, and destroy roads and bridges, thereby reducing the Ming army's forward speed and increasing the Ming army's logistical burden. some type of.
There is a lot to do anyway.
Wang Fang originally didn't want to do this, but Yu Yunwen forced him to do so. He had no choice but to order to destroy the rice grains that the farmers had planted that could be harvested in more than half a month, and then forcibly relocated the population and destroyed the traffic. route.
With this order, the Zhenjiang Prefecture army, which had been in good military discipline under the constraints of the king, revealed its barbaric and cruel side, and the people of Zhenjiang Prefecture suffered.
The Song army spread out and began to destroy farmland, roads, and houses. The farmers did not want the food they had worked so hard to grow to be destroyed, nor did they want their wealth and children to be taken away by the Song army who took advantage of the situation, so they tried their best to stop them and resisted the Song army with farm tools. As a result, they were brutally suppressed by the Song army and many people were killed.
But Wang Fang doesn't care, he only cares about the overall situation.
"Although this will be beneficial to the overall situation, it will make life difficult next year. Even if the Ming army is defeated, what should we do if the people everywhere are starving?"
He complained so much about the cronies around him.
But he is not qualified to participate in political discussions, he is only qualified to execute.
It is impossible that the Ming army on the north bank of the Yangtze River did not know about such a big movement from the Zhenjiang Prefecture army. The day after they did this, the You Yi army on the north bank of the river knew the news. By the way, they also learned that the Southern Song Dynasty had decided to reject the peace terms proposed by the Ming Dynasty. .
Zhou Zhi learned these things from the mouth of Jiang Nan'an's informant, and also learned about the so-called "Strengthening the Wall and Clearing the Wilderness" operation being carried out by the Song Army. He was greatly shocked and at the same time very dissatisfied.
"The idea of building a strong wall and clearing the country is clearly an act of banditry! Hateful and shameful!"
Zhou Zhi was very angry. At the same time, he thought of the order Su Yonglin gave him more than half a month ago.
This order contains not only matters about reorganizing armaments, but also a special order.
When Su Yonglin considered the possibility that the Southern Song Dynasty might reject the peace terms, he thought that the Song army in the south of the Yangtze River was likely to engage in some kind of action to clear the country. Therefore, once You Yijun found out that the Song army was going to clear the country in the south of the Yangtze River, he should immediately dispatch troops to attack Zhenjiang and Jian on the south bank of the Yangtze River. Kang.
The Song army must not be allowed to complete the so-called clearing the country, and the Song army must not be allowed to destroy the livelihood of the people in the south of the Yangtze River. They should immediately go south, take advantage of the chaos to defeat the Song army, occupy Jiankang Prefecture and Zhenjiang Prefecture, and then push directly southward to Dusong Pass. area.
Of course it would be best if Dusong Pass could be breached, which would greatly deter the Song Army and deter Lin'an. It doesn't matter if it cannot be breached for a while. This would also be a warning and intimidation to the Song Army.
If this is the case, then as long as he informs Zhongdu and Zhang Yuejing before sending troops, he can send troops south. There is no need to consult the general staff headquarters before sending troops. Soldiers are valuable and can be sent directly.
