It rained heavily at night, and there was lightning and thunder. Dong Han led more than 50 officials and braved the heavy rain to come to the residence of Prince Rui of Yangzhou Prefecture. He shouted loudly: "Veteran Han Dong, together with all the civil servants and military generals, sincerely invites Prince Rui to take the throne of emperor!"
"Boom!" A thunder exploded. The room lit up with light, Liao Heng opened the door, glanced at the people in the pouring rain, and hurriedly greeted: "Sir, why are you like this? There is a thunderstorm outside, please quickly hide under the eaves!"
"If Prince Rui refuses to agree to ascend the throne, we will kneel here and not leave!" Han Dong took the lead in kneeling. Liao Heng rushed out of the eaves to help Han Dong up.
"Mr. Han, today our king has made it clear that he will not accept the throne. You are already old, why should you suffer!" Director Han clasped Liao Heng's arm and asked sonorously: "Your Majesty, the Liang Dynasty is facing the most critical crisis since the founding of the country. At this moment, a century-old foundation is about to collapse, can you just watch the Zhao family fall into the hands of foreigners?"
"Yes, Your Majesty, besides you, who else can follow the people's will and follow the fate of God, please agree!"
"Your Majesty, we will make you the new master of the world!"
"Your Majesty!" Regardless of whether this was true or not, hot tears flowed down his cheeks. Liao Heng raised his head and let the heavy rain wash away. He took a deep breath and agreed resolutely: "Okay, I promise you! But we have agreed in advance that I will only temporarily assume the throne of the emperor. When the capital is restored, the throne will still be returned. To the royal brother!"
"His Majesty the Emperor has a clear warning!"
"See His Majesty the Emperor!"
"Come here! Prepare your carriages, horses and rain gear quickly and send all the ministers back to the post. Then send an order to the Yangzhou military camp. Tomorrow at nine o'clock, I will order troops to swear an oath at the east city gate!"
"Yes!" After all the civil servants and military generals were sent away. Liao Heng looked up at the rainy night, unwilling to leave for a long time. It was no longer clear whether it was hot tears or rain that streaked across his face. He looked up to the sky and shouted: "Mom! Have you ever seen in the spirit of heaven that the child finally did it!"... Jianxing In the spring of the second year, on the ninth day of March, King Rui Zhao Heng proclaimed himself emperor in Yangzhou and changed his reign name to
"Tian Yuan" led the 100,000 rebels in the south of the Yangtze River and led the imperial army to conquer Xuzhou in person. Shouchun Prefecture Yin Han Dong led the Lu'an and Wuwei armies directly to Nanjing and held the last capital.
The rest of the rebel armies used the Qinling Mountains and the Huaihe River as the boundary to guard the northern fortress and resist the Dijon army marching south. This is what Song Che formulated
"Defend in the south and attack in the north" strategy - defend the entire west of Nanjing. To the east of Xuzhou, we were on the defensive waiting to attack, taking advantage of the geographical advantages of the Qinhuai River and Xuzhou to firmly hold Dijon to the north.
On the tenth day of March, the Jiangnan rebels rushed along the canal to aid Xuzhou. On March 15th, the Dijon Central Army that broke through Tokyo turned its spearhead and attacked the Hebei states.
On March 20th, Dijon's army crossed the Bohai Bay and landed in Binzhou, Hebei Province. They immediately attacked Qingzhou, Jingdong. Jingdong's navy and army resisted tenaciously. On March 23rd, Dijon failed in Qingzhou and sent troops across Hebei. , combined with the Central Route Army, a total of 300,000 troops were sent directly to Xuzhou City.
On the same day, 100,000 Jiangnan rebels led by the new emperor Yujia arrived in Xuzhou. Together with the troops previously led by Jiang Yuntian, there were a total of 150,000 troops in Xuzhou city.
150,000 versus 300,000, is there any chance of winning?
"Of course there is a chance of winning, and victory is inevitable!" Facing a group of generals in the Chinese army's tent, Song Che was full of confidence.
Jiang Yuntian said: "Brother Song, you have seen the Dijon army. They are not pirates and Japanese slaves. Their combat effectiveness is several levels higher."
"As the saying goes, know yourself and the enemy and win every battle. The characteristic of the Dijon army is that it is fast, accurate and ruthless. It launches attacks with heavy cavalry, which can be said to sweep everything and be invincible. This tactic can be used on the plains, but once it encounters hills, rivers, etc. If there is a dangerous pass, it will be completely useless; apart from the Yellow River, where else could there be a dangerous pass in the original Bianjing? This is also the main reason why after Dijon broke through the pass, it was pushed to the foot of the capital in less than two months; but we in Xuzhou The location is different. Although it is in a plain area, it is surrounded by mountains on three sides, including the Yishui River, the Surabaya River, and the canal. It can be said that it is a city chosen by heaven. It is for this reason that I will let Brother Jiang stay in Dijon. When the pass is broken, send troops to occupy Xuzhou; the dangers of mountains and rivers are like a high threshold. No matter how fast the Dijon cavalry runs or how high they jump, they can never cross this threshold; if Xuzhou is occupied, the supplies from the south can be They are constantly coming to occupy Xuzhou, and they can be both offensive and defensive; but there is one thing to note. Our military strength is currently far weaker than Dijon. We can only hold on to this city and cannot go out to meet the enemy. We will win if we defend, and we will lose if we attack."
"If we only defend without attacking, when can we drive Dijon out of the Central Plains?" Liao Heng asked eagerly. Song Che sighed: "I don't lack soldiers in Daliang. What I lack is just horses. Without horses, we lose our impact. If we fight on the Dijon Plains, we will definitely suffer heavy losses." He added: "Therefore, next we have to What we are doing is to use the danger of Xuzhou to fight a war of attrition with Dijon. The geographical conditions in the north are limited and we will definitely not be able to herd horses. If Dijon fails to attack Xuzhou for a long time, we will withdraw our troops. Then we can take a breath and recruit more troops. , to accumulate counterattack force." He looked at Liao Heng again and added: "Your Majesty has just ascended the throne, it is equally important to stabilize the court. There is no need to be too anxious about expelling the Tatar slaves." Liao Heng understood Song Che's meaning and frowned. No more words.
"What's the movement of the Dijon army?" Song Che asked again. Jiang Yuntian said: "According to reports from the scouts, they are already west of Xuzhou City. The farthest base camp is forty miles away, and the nearest cavalry camp is only fifteen miles away. They may attack the city at any time."
"How many cannons do we have?" Song Che asked. Jiang Yuntian said: "Eighty." Song Che nodded. Eighty cannons, a high city wall, and 150,000 passionate men are enough to protect the country.
"Well, it's getting late today—"
"Report!" The soldier rushed into the tent: "Your Majesty, general, Dijon has sent envoys. They have arrived outside the city!" Song Che frowned, what kind of operation is this?
Are you here for peace talks?
"How many envoys and how many followers?" he asked. The soldier said: "There are quite a lot of people, and there are several carriages." This is even more strange. Will Dijon come to negotiate in a carriage?
"What else is there to say? If they invade my land and harm my people, I will fight with them until death, and just blow them away with random arrows!" Liao Heng scolded.
"Wait a minute." Song Che said: "This time the Dijon envoy came unexpectedly. Why don't we go to the city gate and explore their tone first. If they are rude in their demands, it will not be too late to kill them with random arrows." Liao Heng nodded and sighed, Agree.
The group went up to the city wall. I saw two carriages parked under the city gate. In front of the carriage was a middle-aged man dressed as Dijon. He held a torch and shouted provocatively: "What? Is the Liang Dynasty so courageous? I didn't bring a single guard." ah!"
"Whoosh!" A flying arrow hit his horse in the crotch. The horse neighed and the middle-aged man fell to the ground.
The middle-aged man got up and was about to curse,
"Whoosh!" Another arrow was set at his feet! He backed away,
"Whoosh" Another arrow landed on his heel. He suppressed his blush and did not dare to make any more moves. Jiang Yuntian then put away his hard skills and yelled condescendingly: "Tatar, if I want to shoot you in the mouth, I won't shoot you in the nose. Since you are here for diplomacy, you should show some decent etiquette!" The Dijon envoy bit Gritting his teeth, he shouted into the carriage: "Get out of here!" The two carriages opened their doors one after another, and about eight or nine officials in Daliang official uniforms tremblingly stepped out of the carriage. The leader among them was over six years old. Ten days ago, with a long beard like a halberd, it was none other than Taishi Jia!
