On February 26th of the first year of the Jingkang era, the day after the emperor received news that the Jin army intended to reinforce its troops, a military review was held outside Longde Prefecture. At this time, the troops from Hedong that originally intended to march south to support the emperor had all gathered under the emperor's army.
There were 8,000 remaining troops of Jie Qian, 5,000 troops of Liu He who had retreated after losing Liaozhou, and Zhang Si'en's troops who were originally not far from Taiyuan City but were later summoned by Zhao Huan to march south.
The emperor led an army of 130,000, claiming to be 200,000, northward toward Liaozhou. The people of every prefecture and county they passed through cheered.
Strategically, Zhong Shidao divided his troops into three routes. The central army, which was the main force of the emperor's army that was about to arrive in Liaozhou, was commanded by Zhe Keqiu, Yao Gu, Yao Pingzhong, and Zhang Hao, each leading an army. Yao Pingzhong and Liu He volunteered to be the vanguard in attacking Liaozhou.
On the morning of the 27th, the Jin army in Liaozhou collapsed without a fight and surrendered.
The left wing of the Song Dynasty was commanded by Zhe Yanzhi and Zhe Yanwen. Zhe Yanwen was the son of Zhe Keqiu. When Zhe Keqiu went south to join the royal army, the 20,000 troops left behind were commanded by Zhe Yanwen, who intercepted Wanyan Pujianu's southward advance. Later, Zhe Yanzhi requested the emperor to send an additional 10,000 troops north to join Zhe Yanwen, thus forming the left wing of the Northern Expeditionary Army.
As for the right flank army, it consisted of 20,000 elite troops led by Zhong Shizhong. Upon arriving in Zhongshan, they joined forces with Zhan Du from within and without to defeat the Jin army's vanguard attacking the city. Zhong Shizhong's troops, together with Zhan Du's, totaled 40,000, and were known as an army of 80,000. They also recruited righteous men in Hebei, and soon their numbers grew to 200,000.
However, the quality of these 200,000 troops was truly worrying, and the situation in Hebei was also showing signs of entering a protracted war. Based on this trend, Zhao Huan also gave Zhong Shizhong a great deal of authority, allowing him to seek out wealthy households in Hebei to raise funds, with all promises to be made by the imperial court.
Besides the three armies that the emperor personally led in this Northern Expedition, there was another force: 100,000 troops gathered by Zong Ze, the prefect of Cizhou. This force was still on the edge of the battlefield and would later become the famous New Army of China. However, at this time, the New Army was still a rabble.
While continuously sending letters of peace to Zhao Huan, Wanyan Zonghan also urgently sought to mobilize troops from Huanglong Prefecture.
If Zhao Huan hadn't been a time traveler, upon seeing these peace negotiation letters, he might very well have been fooled by that bastard Wanyan Zonghan.
Wanyan Zonghan wrote a moving letter, explaining his helplessness in sending troops to attack the Song Dynasty, saying that he was also forced to do so. He also said that he had long admired and worshipped Chinese civilization, and that even his elderly mother, wife and children wore Chinese clothes and knew Chinese characters, and that they used the classics of sages to educate the people. He longed day and night to join the great family of China.
Why don't you give us this one chance, Your Majesty? Let's negotiate a peace and happily study the classics of Confucius. Wouldn't that benefit everyone? Don't you think so?
Holy crap! Zhao Huan burned the eighth peace letter and decided to launch a counterattack.
He ordered someone to write a letter back to that scoundrel Wanyan Zonghan, the gist of which was: Mengde! Since you're so eager to come to my China, fine, first send your wife and daughter over so I can have my way with them! Then, damn it, crawl all the way from Taiyuan to my feet and apologize! If I'm in a good mood, I might give you a chance!
The messenger was already prepared to die. After delivering the letter to Zhao Huan, he planned to give Zhao Huan a good scolding and then get a good beating, since he was going to die anyway.
Unexpectedly, the Song emperor did not kill him, but since he had insulted the emperor, punishment was inevitable. So the immoral emperor ordered someone to castrate the envoy on the spot! Castrated!
The eunuch envoy returned to the Jin army camp in tears. Wanyan Zonghan was shocked. "Damn it! The envoy I sent out actually came back alive! Has the Song emperor changed his mind? Is he going to negotiate peace? Heh heh! This emperor is indeed easily swayed; a few more letters and he'll be willing to negotiate peace!"
We're not going to negotiate with you. We have plenty of supplies, and our army is still being reinforced. If you're so tough, then don't run away. We'll crush you in a minute!
Wanyan Zonghan happily accepted the letter from the eunuch messenger, but upon opening it, his face instantly turned ashen, and veins bulged on his forehead! He drew his sword and beheaded the eunuch messenger on the spot.
Zhao Huan originally thought that Wanyan Zonghan would give up after he replied with a letter, but to his surprise, another envoy came the next day, still with a letter of peace. This time, the letter of peace started by talking about the customs and culture of the Song Dynasty, and went on to talk about the brilliant culture and developed commerce of the Song Dynasty, saying that his admiration for the Song Dynasty was as endless as the Yellow River!
Damn it! Does Wanyan Zonghan have no shame?! He's supposed to be a marshal of the Jin Dynasty!
Zhao Huan, who also adhered to the principle of absolute shamelessness, turned around and wrote a letter back.
Zhao Huan's reply began with Wanyan Zonghan's concubine, and went on to mention his wife, sister, cousin, sister-in-law, and a series of other young female relatives. The gist of his message was that his soldiers were suffering from hunger and thirst, especially late at night, and their hearts were filled with sorrow that could not be filled with loneliness. He asked if the Marshal would mind sending some female relatives over to show his concern for the soldiers of the Great Song Dynasty, thus demonstrating his great virtue.
If we're talking about shamelessness, who can compare to Zhao Huan, this time traveler?
Compared to the ancients, the moral integrity of later generations has long been devoured by dogs. Moreover, Zhao Huan was a shameless person by nature, arrogant, stubborn, and domineering, which is the main reason why he could only be a small employee in a company.
Zhao Huan's several replies infuriated Wanyan Zonghan, who wished he could rush to Liaozhou Prefecture right then and there and tear Zhao Huan to pieces.
The top commanders of the two armies communicated with each other, while the other commanders were puzzled and confused, especially the generals of the Jin army, who saw that the marshal had already beheaded several envoys who had returned alive.
Around March 1st in Jingkang, the temperature, which was just about to rise, was hit by another cold snap, pulling the temperature back down, and then heavy snow fell again.
This time, the entire army had just finished breakfast and quickly lined up with their respective commanders to pack up camp.
Zhong Shidao reiterated the strategic deployment in the Xuanfu Division's military camp: Zhe Keqiu would lead 30,000 Zhejia troops northward, joining forces with Zhe Yanzhi and Zhe Yanwen to defeat Wanyan Pujianu within three days, remove the obstacles on the left flank, and clear the way for the central army to approach Taiyuan City.
Yao Pingzhong and his son Yao Gu were appointed as the vanguard of the central army to cut off the scattered Jin troops in front and reach Taiyuan City within two days to confront the Jin army. They were not allowed to go into battle without authorization, or they would be executed!
Since Emperor Taizong, the Song Dynasty had never seen such a large-scale war.
Back then, after the "Yongxi Northern Expedition" turned the "strong Song" into the "weak Song", the Song's strategy towards the north shifted from offense to defense. This lasted for more than a hundred years, and the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun remained in the hands of the enemy.
Since then, the Song Dynasty has been terrified and has been forced to defend itself for a century.
This time, judging from the current situation, the emperor not only wants to drive out all the Jin army, but also wants to head north to take back the Yan-Yun region.
When news of the great victory at Licheng reached Bianjing, the court officials who had been waiting to see Zhao Huan make a fool of himself fell silent, resulting in an unprecedented surge in morale across the Song Dynasty in the fight against the Jin.
From the emperor to the common people, everyone said they would rebuild China with their own flesh and blood, and spare no effort to mobilize the entire nation's army to drive out the enemy and restore the land.
Later historical records also gave high praise to this battle, praising Zhao Huan's talent and strategy as surpassing that of Emperor Taizu. It was after this battle that the true empire began to rise strongly!
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