Li Ben himself was from Hebei. During the Jingkang Rebellion, he went south from Hebei, then made a detour along the Huai River. Finally, forced by the circumstances, he settled in Jingdong and established a base in Jingdong. Therefore, his army can be roughly divided into two major factions: the exiled brothers from Hebei and the local tycoons from Jingdong.
In fact, to be fair, Li Cheng claimed to be a hero, and he had his own way of commanding the army and employing people. As for his soldiers, he would not eat if the soldiers did not eat, and he would not sleep if the soldiers did not sleep. If it rained during the march and there was not enough rain gear, he would be the first one to get wet in the rain. He was never afraid to lead the army in battle himself. When dealing with these leaders, he would usually give them clothes and food, and he would clearly distinguish between rewards and punishments and use them fairly.
The Song Dynasty and the Jin Dynasty are really two bastards that are unwilling to give this person a chance. Otherwise, with this person's level, he might really be able to gather a force and become a figure like Taizu. But it is difficult for a certain official hiding in Tokyo City to even think about the whole thing, right?
But on the other hand, since heroes depend on the times, and now the times are not good, Li Cheng is naturally helpless... The Jin Dynasty has strong soldiers and horses, and the Song Dynasty has a large territory and a large population. Let alone this person, if Liu Bang really parachuted in at this time, he would have to be the head of a local loyalty society in Huaibei.
By the same token, although Li Cheng is a powerful man, the current situation does not allow him to act recklessly.
Within a few months, rumors of peace talks arose again. From that time on, the generals and troops from Jingdong began to pretend to obey the order but actually disobeyed it. Later, the peace talks could no longer be concealed. The Jin people were quite honest and directly offered to allow Li Cheng to lead some elite troops back north. At that time, Li Cheng would be officially granted the hereditary status of Meng'an, the badge of a marching Wanhu, and the conditions of being stationed in Dezhou and Dizhou... As a result, even the people of Hebei province in the team became somewhat demoralized.
The world has been in chaos for several years. It seems that nothing big can be accomplished. Instead, there is a situation of coexistence of the north and the south. What's wrong with going home and becoming an official?
Frankly speaking, at that time, even Li Ben was almost in despair under the general situation. In the previous two months, he had been constantly negotiating conditions with the Jin people, hoping to maintain more independence, keep more troops, divide more territories and so on.
However, how could the Jin people give him so much face? After all, it was impossible for him to surpass the example of Wang Bolong, a Han Chinese general who was born a thief and a founding general of the Jin Dynasty.
The situation in Yanjing and the army in Damingfu was basically deadlocked. A force of 10,000 people was incorporated into the system of the Damingfu Army Division, and they became ordinary hereditary Meng'an and Marching Wanhu.
Therefore, Li Cheng went to Jinan at the call of Liu Yu, who was even more frightened. The two desperate people wanted to fight to the death, and took advantage of Yue Fei's absence from the Jeju defense zone to take the initiative to start a war and make a big news.
However, the Jin people were not pushovers when it came to military matters. How could they be allowed to do anything? Nianhan was dead, but a bunch of the founding Wanhu were still alive. Gao Jingshan, after receiving a reminder from Wulin Dazanmo, directly sent Wanhu Elubu, who had been waiting in Dezhou, to cross the river with light cavalry. He almost captured Liu Yu in a coup d'état and also controlled Li Cheng, who happened to be caught in the act.
This brings us back to the old topic, and we have to mention again the sadness of people like Li Cheng and Liu Yu:
In terms of strength, they are not without strength.
In terms of level, Li Cheng's military level was recognized by both Jin and Song countries. When it came to raising soldiers, he was comparable to Yue Fei on the opposite side. His personal morality was better than ten Zhang Juns and Zhang Boyings. It was said that Liu Yu was equally conscientious when he was an emperor. He always flattered the nobles of Jin and supported scholars when he extorted money. He himself was always like the officials of Zhao Song who endured hardships and slept on straw and tasted gall. The officials of Zhao Song still wore luxurious cotton cloth, ate ice cream and drank Lanqiao Fengyue, but Liu Yu often only wore linen and learned from the monks of Lingjiu Temple to eat vegetarian food.
But the problem was that the Zhao Song emperor had such a resolute attitude that he would never tolerate them, and Liu Yu's dead son was a clear proof of this. Therefore, no matter how helpless and regretful they were, they would not dare to go against the Jin people unless they had no other choice. Otherwise, although the world was vast, they would have no place to stand.
But to put it the other way around, didn't Zhang Jun suddenly launch a surprise attack?
Although Elubu did not receive the exact words from Daming Mansion, as a veteran general of the founding of the country who had never suffered a defeat in the previous wars, this Jin Dynasty Wanhu who had the power to make decisions over Jinan but was not happy about peace talks was persuaded by Li Cheng to return and fight.
Not only that, Elubu even took the initiative to send out a reorganized Meng'an, plus two thousand cavalrymen from Liu Yu's Jinan Prefecture, who were also dressed up as Jin people and came together.
Things turned around again. The local heroes from Jingdong in the army did show signs of returning to the army and were enthusiastic again. However, the old brothers who originally thought they could return to their hometown seemed to be more perfunctory.
Back in front of him, Li Cheng reined in his horse and walked forward slowly. He looked at Guo Dadao, who had been following him for a long time but was from Huainan, and Xu Dadao, who was from Jingdong but arrived later. He thought for a long time and knew that he could not delay any longer. But he gritted his teeth and pointed at one of them:
"Xu Dadao!"
"I'm here!" Xu Wen rode over on horseback, holding a long-handled broadsword covered with a brocade sheath.
"You lead two hundred armored soldiers with long swords, and the Jinan Prefecture will give you another one thousand cavalrymen. Go to the gap between the left wing and the central army. Do you know what to do?" Li Cheng's face was grim.
"I know!" Xu Wen answered proudly. "After the fight begins, block a line and kill those who retreat! If necessary, lead the troops to charge forward and win in one fell swoop! And if the left wing loses in front, take over the left wing and continue the battle first!"
"go!"
“Yes!”
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