Zhao Jiu was stunned for a moment.
Not only that, many of the accompanying ministers and local officers of the imperial camp were already ready to take action, but they were stunned when they heard this. Many of them who knew nothing about military affairs almost thought that Yue Fei was saying the opposite.
However, there were some smart and sharp people among them who immediately realized the situation after a little thought.
"Let's do it!" Zhao Jiu gritted his teeth and issued an order without waiting for the ministers to discuss. "Pengju will make military preparations on his own, Wang Yan will prepare the overall plan, and Lu Xianggong, Fan Xueshi and others will quickly prepare the order and wait for the result from the north!"
After the decree was issued, Prime Minister Lu also clearly supported it. Everyone dispersed with a loud bang and then got busy.
That evening, almost all the troops in Wushan camp went out, except for some who stayed behind. The camp was divided into two parts. One part with 5,000 people was led by Ma Yu and Wang Gang, the commanders of the front army of the imperial camp. They crossed the river at night and headed towards Liaocheng opposite.
The remaining troops of the front and central armies of the imperial camp, which had gathered in Wushan before, plus the imperial guards, totaling 20,000 people, lit torches at night and marched upstream along the Yellow River embankment.
At the same time, countless messengers and scouts were traveling back and forth on the river and the shore.
On that day, it was not yet mid-late autumn. Although the moon was not round, it was bright enough to illuminate people, not to mention that such a movement could not be concealed at all… Therefore, the scouts and guards of the Jin army on the opposite side actually saw with their own eyes a huge fire dragon moving along the river, with boats in the river constantly responding. They even clearly saw the dragon banner of the Zhao Song official and the four-character banner of Yue Fei, the commander-in-chief of the front army of the imperial camp, connected in front and back. They were also among them, but they had already been on high alert, with the same scouts and beacons constantly firing.
This was not a trick to confuse the enemy, but an upright march. Zhao Jiu, Yue Fei, Lü Yihao and Wang Yan were all in the army. The army continued to march forward and arrived at Zilusha, the Imperial Camp Navy Military Port at the junction of Dongping Prefecture and Puzhou, on the morning of the next day.
At this time, more of the Imperial Camp's vanguard troops who had received the imperial decree and military orders, plus part of the Imperial Camp's navy, also gathered here, forming an obvious military assembly point. However, more of the Imperial Camp's vanguard troops and navy troops were still on their way to various designated locations after receiving military orders.
That morning, news came from the river that Ma Yu and Wang Gang won Liaocheng.
The initial battle was a victory. Although there was internal support, everyone was still quite excited.
However, after hearing the news from the front line, no one at the real decision-making level showed any joy... As I said, in this kind of large-scale war, the gains and losses of a city or a place, the victory or defeat of a battle or a fight, basically do not have much significance.
As for the most concerned issue, that is, the sudden death of the third prince of the Jin Dynasty, it will certainly give the Song army a huge opportunity, but this opportunity will only be reflected in the strategic incoordination of the traditional two armies of the Jin Dynasty in the east and west, and it will not be reflected in the gains and losses of a military town under the jurisdiction of Daming Prefecture.
Even as Yue Fei wanted to express, if the Third Prince Erlido had died on September 15th in Qinghe, not far from Daming Prefecture, then the Jin Kingdom's Daming Prefecture Military Division would have entered a state of full combat readiness ahead of time because of his death, and would have reacted quickly and decisively when facing the sneak attack of the Song army... Especially since Gao Jingshan of the Daming Prefecture Military Division was no mediocre person, and there was no shortage of experienced generals and elite troops among the tens of thousands of Jin troops assembled around Daming Prefecture.
And if he was faking his death, then he must be trying to lure the enemy deep into his territory and annihilate a large number of his manpower, which would make him appear to be slow to react.
Therefore, the top leaders of the Song army were still waiting, waiting for news of a defeat and being trapped on the front line.
This kind of waiting was torturous. During this period, Zhao Jiu and other senior executives hesitated for a while, wondering whether they should continue to move upstream, meet up with Zhang Rong, and continue to put pressure on Daming Mansion on the opposite side.
But soon, before the evening of that day, a piece of news that was definitely bad tactically, but definitely good strategically, came - during the day on September 20th, facing the Jin army that was urgently dispatched for reinforcement, the commander Wang Gang disobeyed military orders, abandoned the ferry position under the city, and took the initiative to fight in the wilderness. As a result, he encountered a series of attacks by the elite cavalry of the Jin Kingdom that was far more than he had imagined, and was defeated on the spot.
Then, Wang Gang led his troops to flee back to Liaocheng in a panic. Some of the defeated soldiers were caught off guard and could only board the naval vessels that were responsible for picking them up at the ferry. The naval reconnaissance troops also found out later that at least 10,000 Jin cavalrymen surrounded Liaocheng, and the flag of the Jin veteran general and veteran Wanhu Ali was among them.
In this battle, although Wang Gang disobeyed orders and suffered heavy casualties for the sake of merit, this did not prevent the final situation from basically verifying Yue Fei's prediction.
I'm afraid Erlido really did die of an acute illness.
The setting sun shines brightly on the river.
Zhao Jiu, wearing a cotton military uniform but no armor, stood on the dike of Zilu Sha, raised his head and held his sword, and took a long breath towards the north bank of the Yellow River.
He knew that he could not hesitate any longer... In military matters, the chance of winning was 60%, so he could just send his entire army down and plan for a decisive battle. Moreover, whether Erlido was really dead or faking his death, the effect of his death had already been manifested. The military and public opinion had already developed along the line that he was dead. There was no need to delve into whether it was true or not.
In other words, it's time to make a decision.
"deliver an imperial order."
After a while, Emperor Zhao, who had recovered his breath, suddenly turned around, but his face was calm and serious, and he gave orders directly to the densely packed civil and military officials and close ministers and soldiers on the river bank behind him. "Order the Imperial Camp Front Army Commander Yue Fei, the Imperial Camp Right Army Commander Zhang Jun, the Imperial Camp Navy Commander Zhang Rong, and the Imperial Camp Navy Deputy Commander Li Bao to combine the four armies of 90,000 people to form the Hebei Front Army, and add the Imperial Camp Front Army Commander Yue Fei as the Grand Guardian and Hebei Marshal to control the front line east of Luoyang and march to Hebei together."
This was the original plan, but when Emperor Zhao said it calmly, everyone around him became awe-inspiring. Even Yue Fei hesitated for a moment and was about to step forward to bow and express his gratitude, ready to obey the emperor's orders.
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