In 1127 AD, the Northern Song Dynasty fell. Immediately, the ninth imperial prince, Zhao Gou, ascended the throne in Shangqiu amidst widespread anticipation, inheriting the Song imperial line and r...
In short, after the winter, the situation had become completely bad for the Song army. At this time, Emperor Zhao and all the other Privy Council members who made plans could no longer dream of letting Han Shizhong shut himself in at the northeastern pass of Nanyang... The plan of the Zhifangsi could be burned. In desperation, Zhao Jiu had to personally write an order, asking Han Shizhong to take the initiative to go north to rescue Tokyo regardless of the consequences.
At this moment, the reality is to take one step at a time.
Han Shizhong's loyalty and bravery are beyond doubt. After receiving the imperial edict, he immediately led his entire army from Yancheng and headed north again even though he knew that his combat strength was insufficient.
On October 11, Han Shizhong himself stationed in Changsha, the capital of Yingchang Prefecture (the area of Xuchang in later generations), which was only 150 miles away from Zhongmu.
On October 13, Han Shizhong left several thousand soldiers in Changsha as backup, and also left his wife Liang there to settle down, but continued to lead 20,000 troops to Changge at the northeast end of Yingchang Prefecture, which was only a hundred miles away from Zhongmu.
On October 14, Han Shizhong led 20,000 troops, crossed the Wei River eastward, entered the territory of Kaifeng Prefecture, and marched quickly to Zhujiaqu Town that night.
In the dead of night, after settling everything and just lying down, General Han, who was still missing his wife and wondering why several scouts had not returned, was suddenly startled by the sound of horse hooves, and then he hurriedly put on his armor with his upper body naked!
"General!"
Han Shizhong hurried out of the bedroom while putting on his armor, and ran into several frightened Beiwei army subordinates in the courtyard. The leader was Cheng Min, who had become the commander of the Beiwei army. "Is this the Jin army attacking?"
"What do you think?"
Feeling the earthquake-like movement on the ground, Han Shizhong's face turned pale. How could he not know that Wanyan Wushu had never "ignored" him at this point? The previous ten days of hesitation must have been preparations for this battle, and the capture of Zhongmu was a strategy to lure the enemy against him. "The Jin people have calculated me, Han, to the core! What a bullshit Fourth Prince, he is just holding a grudge against Huaishang!"
Cheng Min became more and more anxious: "General, how many soldiers are there to hear the sound of horse hooves..."
"Thirty or forty thousand is not bad!" As he spoke, Jie Yuan, the commander of the Destroying Army and the deputy commander of the Imperial Camp Left Army, hurried to the house that served as the central army camp without even putting on his armor. "Fifth brother... make a decision quickly!"
"What else is there to decide?! Should we defend or fight now?!" Han Shizhong put on his helmet, but he was not in a hurry to put on the copper mask. Instead, he walked out with a ferocious look on his face. "Pass on my military order... All units of the army should follow the commander-in-chief, and quickly break out in the dark. Everyone who can escape is a success! Go east, go south, but don't go west back to Changge. It's best to go from the south. There are bridges in Songlou and Xutian in the south, and you can go back to Changsha from there!"
Jie Yuan and Black Dragon Wang Sheng and other generals who had just arrived outside the courtyard were all stunned for a moment, but they exhaled a breath of white air and turned away without looking back.
In the dark night, with the rumbling of horses' hooves, the main force of the Jin cavalry rushed over at night. Han Shizhong was caught off guard and could only break out in a panic... He was really leaving it to fate. As for the overall situation of the Song army, this battle was doomed to be a great defeat from the beginning, which was really adding insult to injury.
Not to mention how Han Shizhong bravely broke through in the dark night. When the battlefield turned into chaos as soon as the fighting started, on a gentle slope a few miles north of Zhujiaqu Town, under the light of several torches, one could see from afar that the people in Zhujiaqu Town reacted quickly and the fighting was chaotic. The instigator Wanyan Wushu, who was sitting on a tall horse, could not help but frown slightly.
"Don't worry, Fourth Prince."
Seeing Wanyan Wushu's expression unchanged, a middle-aged scholar who had just surrendered to the Jin people and passed the palace examination and was appointed as a county magistrate carefully stepped forward and flattered him earnestly. "In my opinion, the fourth prince's feint to the east and attack in the west, and the so-called repairing the plank road in the open while secretly marching through Chencang, is the essence of the art of war, and can be called a brilliant strategy... Han Shizhong is surrounded by our Jin cavalry, and he will definitely die here."
"What kind of ingenious plan is this?"
Wanyan Wushu frowned and looked at the scholar, wanting to get angry, but for some reason, he squeezed his buttocks and suppressed his anger, and spoke frankly. "Han Shizhong was able to fall for my previous strategy of luring the enemy, but it was only because the overall situation collapsed that I had no choice. If I were in Han Shizhong's position, would I not come to save Tokyo? As for what happened tonight, it was just relying on the advantage of cavalry. If Han Shizhong had 20,000 cavalry, how could I surround him?"
The scholar was stunned for a moment and didn't know how to answer.
The fourth prince looked at the chaotic battlefield ahead and sighed more and more:
"As for the current battle situation, to be honest, Han Shizhong's reaction has exceeded my expectations. If I had stayed in that town, I would have been waiting to die. How could he have decided to break out so quickly? Just based on his reaction, he can be called a famous general. If you are a scholar and don't understand military strategy, then you should say less and just work as a clerk for me. When our Great Jin Kingdom establishes a new emperor in Henan in the future, your future will be indispensable."
"Yes." The scholar quickly restrained his expression.
The surroundings returned to silence, and Wanyan Wushu was able to continue to observe the battlefield calmly, but as time passed and the shouts and screams clearly shifted to the south, the Jin army commander who had just planned a perfect surprise attack kept frowning, and his frown became more and more severe... After all, as he just said, with the general situation and deliberate planning, and the advantage of flatland cavalry, this battle should have been a thorough and complete annihilation war!
And once the most combat-effective unit of the Song army, the Left Army of the Imperial Camp, was annihilated in an organized manner on the Henan Plain, and once Han Shizhong, the most courageous general of the Song Dynasty who was regarded as the backbone of the Zhao Song officials, died in this town, then in Wanyan Wushu's view, this southern expedition was basically a sure thing.
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