On the day before New Year, Lin Xuexue's home suddenly became lively. Deputy Commander Pan Lu personally led the army, and together with Zhang Qi, many military tents were set up around the courtyard. Next to the bamboo forest, a stove was set up and ingredients were brought.
At Lin Xueguo's house, Pan Lu personally commanded three soldiers and kept everything clean inside and outside. Not only the vacant house, but also the house where Lin Xueguo lived was also cleaned.
Seeing that Pan Lu was idle, Lin Xuexuan hurriedly stepped forward and said, "Captain, please take a break and drink a cup of tea."
Pan Lu said: "How dare you disturb academics? The rules in our army are that when you stay in people's homes temporarily, you have to help people clean the house and do necessary odd jobs. For example, the water in the water tank must be full, repairs can be made, and many other things .If there is anything inappropriate, just let me know.”
"How dare you, how dare you!" Lin Xuexuan waved his hand hurriedly. "It is my blessing that you discuss things in my house!"
Pan Lu said: "There is no need to be polite to academics. This is the rule in the army and must be done. To be honest, many of the soldiers in our army have not been in the army for a long time and do not understand why they do this. But as officials, we must Understand. We are the army of Dengzhou, which is different from other places. The governor often said that the people are water and we are fish. This is called the fish-water situation between the army and the people."
Lin Xueguo laughed after hearing this. I have never heard of this before, and I don’t know who came up with this idea. I don’t know what its use is, and I don’t believe it can really be done. But one thing is certain, this is a team that can resist gold, and that's enough.
At noon, people attending the meeting gradually arrived.
The Hadong Rebels were divided into three parts. One is the rebel army centered on Lingshi led by Li Songchen and Li Shi, the other is the rebel army centered on Zezhou led by Liang Xing and Zhao Yun, and there are also rebel armies that are not within these two systems.
Lingshi guarded the road from Taiyuan Prefecture to Hezhong Prefecture, and blocked the main road from Hedong to Shaanxi. Zezhou guards the road from Taiyuan to Luoyang, which is the key point where Hedong enters the Central Plains. These two teams guarded the two gates on Hedong Road, which was the most important. The rest are of lesser importance.
After meeting Pan Lu, the three teams gathered together and chatted.
It wasn't until noon that day that a scout came to report, and Wang Ruohai and his party arrived soon.
Pan Lu led the rebel leaders to welcome him out of the valley entrance early. I saw more than a dozen riding horses. Xue Cheng and Shao Yun were accompanied by a scholar in the front, and most of the cavalry in the back were unfamiliar faces, presumably from the Zhenfu Envoy Division.
Everything was done as expected, and everyone gathered around Wang Ruohai outside Lin Xuexue's courtyard.
Seeing such a huge battle, Xuexue Lin had been waiting outside the courtyard gate to see who was coming. I saw that the man in the middle was about thirty years old, with a medium build. Although he was smiling, he had a kind of majesty.
After getting off his horse outside the courtyard gate, Zhang Qi whispered to Wang Ruohai: "The person standing outside the courtyard gate is Lin Xuexue."
Wang Ruohai nodded. He stepped forward and handed over to Lin Xuexue and said, "I'm sorry for the inconvenience caused by borrowing Xuexue's courtyard for the past two days."
After saying that, a soldier came up from behind and held a gift box in both hands. Wang Ruohai took the gift box and handed it to Lin Xueqiu: "We have prepared some small gifts here. Don't dislike Xue Xue. I heard from Zhang Qi that Xue Xue loves more tea, so I specially brought a pack here."
Xuexue Lin took the gift box and tea and hurriedly thanked them. Seeing a bunch of people standing there, knowing that Wang Ruohai was busy with something, he hurriedly left.
In the yard, temporary sheds were set up on both sides of the central corridor. Several braziers were lit around the shed as a place for discussion.
When they arrived at the shed, Wang Ruohai stood in the middle. Looking at everyone, he said in a deep voice: "It's already noon. Let's have some soup and rice. We will start discussing things soon. The reason for coming to Mianchi this time is because the battle in Mianchi is of great importance and there cannot be any mistakes. Zhenfu and Jinglue I have something important going on and I cannot leave Guozhou, so I have been asked to make it clear to you. Okay, we will talk about it later."
Everyone in the valley sat down one after another. Pan Lu ordered the soldiers to get the cooked rice.
Rice is a habit among Wang Xiao's hunting army. At this time, it's a bowl of noodles with a poached egg in it and a few slices of vegetables. Lin Xueguo planted a small patch of spinach in a sunny place. Pan Lu bought it and put a few spinach in each bowl.
The taste of the noodles is a little bland. But it tasted very good and everyone ate it up quickly.
The soldiers collected the noodle bowls and served tea. This year it is popular in the army to drink jasmine tea. It is packed in a large enamel jar, washed with boiling water, covered tightly, and placed in front of everyone.
Broadly speaking, enamel includes enamel, which has been developed in China since the Tang Dynasty. However, Wang Xiao's hunting army used cast iron enamel, which was fired in Ruzhou. Ruzhou was one of the centers of porcelain production at this time. With cast iron blanks, firing was not difficult. In this era, iron was still very expensive, and because of the new technology, it was much more expensive than ordinary porcelain, but much cheaper than copper. Wang Xiaolie's main purpose in developing enamel was to replace copperware in daily necessities and reduce the price of copper. The limited copper is either used directly as currency or as an industrial raw material. It is too luxurious to make daily necessities.
Jiang Min, together with several people, quickly hung up a simple situation diagram behind Wang Ruohai and put up a blackboard.
Wang Ruohai stood in front of the situation map, looked at everyone, and said: "A few days ago, everyone was anxious to encircle Wushu, and several official documents were sent to Guozhou a day. The governor thought about it repeatedly and carefully considered it, and felt that now is not the time to eliminate Wushu. time. But this opportunity is too good. If I don’t speak clearly, I’m afraid you won’t be able to bear it. Even if I hold it back for a moment, I’m still not convinced. So I’m sent here and I request that I make it clear to you why Wu Shu cannot be eradicated. , How will the battle in Mianchi be fought?"
After speaking, Wang Ruohai pointed to the situation map and said: "Jinlu's southern invasion is divided into east and west lines. The coach of the east road was originally Yi Libu, but after his death, he was replaced by Yinli Duo. The coach of the west road was Nian Han. , the original administration of Shaanxi was based on Lou Su. After Lou Su’s death, his son Wan Yan and Huo Nu ruled the country.”
The leaders nodded after hearing this. This is the situation of the Jin Kingdom, and everyone who leads the troops should be aware of it. actually not. Not only the rebels in Hedong, but also many officials and generals of the Song Dynasty, whose names could not even be named clearly. Even who the emperor of the Jin Dynasty was, who was in power, and what the relationship between these people was, many people were confused. Even the name of the Jin general is controversial and has many translations.
Wang Ruohai said: "Although Nianhan also has the surname Wanyan, he is not a member of the Jin Kingdom's clan, but the eldest son of his former prime minister Sa Gai. When the Liao Dynasty was destroyed, Nianhan made great achievements and was a powerful force in the Jin Kingdom. Breaking through In Kaifeng Mansion, Nianhan contributed a lot and his power increased greatly. During the invasion of the South, the Jin people established the Yunzhong Privy Council in Yunzhong, with Shi Liai presiding over the affairs of the court. In Yanjing, they also established the Yanjing Privy Council, with Liu Yanzong Preside over the affairs of the court. These two privy councils are called the Eastern and Western Privy Councils by the Jin people. For a long time, the Yunzhong Privy Council was very powerful. When the envoys of this dynasty went to the Jin Kingdom to discuss matters, they always came to Yunzhong first and met Nianhan. Only then did we go north. Most of the time, Nianhan made the decision with one word, and there was no follow-up."
After hearing this, the leaders felt a sense of enlightenment. After fighting for so long, I didn’t know there were so many stories behind it.
Wang Ruohai said: "Nianhan is a force of its own. The Zhenfu called the Jin generals who belonged to Nianhan the Nianhan clan, and they were the West Route Army. At first, the East Route Army was led by the second prince of the Jin Kingdom, Wanli Bu. Later, the third prince Yin Liduo was appointed as the commander-in-chief, and the governor called the East Route Army the prince's line."
At this time, Emperor Wu Qimai of the Jin Kingdom was the brother of Taizu Aguda. He did not establish a prince, and had plans to pass the throne to Taizu later. Therefore, the Prince of Jin is the son of Aguda. He is not the Prince of Jin in the true sense, but is just a customary title.
Wang Ruohai said: "We cannot think that the Jin Kingdom is monolithic and there are no conflicts among the generals. The biggest and most obvious contradiction now is the conflict between the Nianhan clan and the Prince clan. After breaking through the Fengfu, West Road Nian Rare used Wanyan Yinshu to invade the south and once conquered Xiangyang Prefecture. He also used Lou Su to invade the west and conquered Jingzhao Prefecture. On the east road, he used He Libu as the commander, occupying the east and west roads of Jingdong, and invaded the two Huaihe Rivers in the south. The current situation on Jingxi Road is that the Zhenfu and Luoyang Zhai Zhenfu troops occupy the south road, while the north road is still occupied by the Jin Army. The Shaanxi Road is different. After many places were conquered by Lousu, they were quickly recovered by the dynasty. .Compared with the East Road, half of the Jingxi Road was recovered during the current dynasty, and most of the Shaanxi Road was recovered. On the other hand, we cannot restore the Jingdong Road occupied by the Jin people, and there is even a disaster of searching mountains and seas this year. The donor Taking this as an excuse, he ordered the army from the east to come west and attack Shaanxi with Nian Liduo as commander. After the battle of Fuping, the morale of the prince's family was at a high level at this time."
Below, Li Songchen and Liang Xing couldn't help but nod together, feeling like they had a sudden realization. In the past, we only knew that the Jin people came from the south, and if they encountered them, they would fight to the death. It is not clear who came and what the purpose was. Listening to Wang Ruohai's lecture now, it's as if the clouds are clearing and the sun appears.
Wang Ruohai said: "Wushu was the fourth prince of the Jin Kingdom, and he was in the East Route Army. Needless to say, he was part of the prince line. It is obvious that in a few years, the prince line grew into a force that stood side by side with Nianhan, and gained the upper hand. We cannot do without the support of the gold master. Wushu's position in the Jin Kingdom is more important than we thought. If we destroy Wushu's forces in this battle, or even kill Wushu, we will probably face the overwhelming army of the Jin Kingdom. !”
Having said this, Wang Ruohai looked at everyone and said in a deep voice: "Zhenfu believes that our current power is really not able to withstand such an attack. The great situation in Dengzhou, Xiangyang, will be ruined if we are not careful!"
At this point, not only the rebel generals, but also Xue Cheng and Shao Yun understood why this time was so grand. There was even some regret in my heart, because I had been too hasty in the past few days.
This time the Jin State launched a large-scale attack on Shaanxi, not only because of Lousu's ineffectiveness, but also because of the repeated occupation of many Song Dynasty prefectures and counties. More importantly, the benefactor Wu Qimai intends to support the Prince's family and suppress the Nianhan family. If Wu Shu is killed in Mianchi, the Jin Crown Prince's line will face a major setback, and it will also be a major setback for Wu Qibi. What we face from this is no ordinary pressure.
