Chapter 221 Returning Home
In late February, Lou Shi's entry into Yanjing triggered a three-way competition that was about to decide the winner. In the end, Wanyan Nianhan, the commander-in-chief who was called "Prime Minister" by the people of Song Dynasty, successfully directed a palace coup by relying on his strong strength and political control.
After this incident, Nianhan's authority grew, while the prestige of King Wuqimai's faction plummeted. At the same time, several of Aguda's own sons, who had always been unruly, simply fell into the position of Nianhan's vassals... Whether it was Wuqimai's faction or the other nobles in Yanjing City, or the officers of the Western Route Army to which Aguda's own direct line belonged, it was difficult to imagine that those "princes" who were led over by Nianhan's hands were Nianhan's equal allies rather than vassals.
And when everyone thinks so, then you too.
In fact, Wuqimai's sons, who reacted the next day, had already clashed with their cousins on several occasions, and Aguda's sons also fought back resolutely... Otherwise, is there any explanation?
In contrast, the king's other confidants, such as Talai, who were "forced" to be awakened by Yin Shuke at night, were forgiven by Wuqimai and his son. Especially Talai, who was the first minister to take the initiative to enter the palace to apologize, and it is said that he shook hands with Wuqimai and cried together... I don't know if it's true or not.
All in all, it was a chaotic night. Apart from Nianhan who was the undoubted winner, it was hard to say who the real loser was, especially since this was originally an interesting three-player ranking game.
Not to mention the chaos of the past two days, at the end of February, Wanyan Loushi once again proposed a battle plan to Nianhan, who had already fully grasped the political power in Yanjing.
But it's not that simple.
The plan was proposed again, and Nianhan and the king Wuqimai agreed with Lou Shi's warning in principle. However, when things entered the specific military planning stage, Lou Shi encountered some unexpected but reasonable difficulties.
For example, as Lou Shi's military plan was put on the table, some people soon questioned that since the two routes were combined into one, why not cross the river from the Jingdong area under the protection of the Pseudo-Qi, and then penetrate the two Huai regions in one breath, and then turn around to sweep the Central Plains?
Then some people questioned why they should march from Shaanxi, where there are many gullies and plateaus, and the terrain is not suitable for cavalry field battles at all? Why couldn't they replicate the Jingkang Incident of that day, find an opportunity to cross the river, and directly sweep across the Central Plains with cavalry to surround and attack the reinforcements? After all, although the Song army's navy won a great victory, its number was not large, and it was difficult to cover the entire section of the Yellow River.
Then someone else suggested that it was already the end of February, and even if they mobilized quickly, summer would soon arrive. The Jurchen cavalry were not afraid of hard battles but were afraid of the heat. Instead of fighting a decisive battle in the summer, why couldn't they wait a few months and fight in the autumn?
At the beginning, Lou Shi patiently explained, talking about geography, people's hearts, and military deployment, but as the reasons these people put forward became more and more absurd, he gradually came to his senses... It is possible to combine the troops, but the gap between the Eastern and Western armies has been formed for decades, and it is simply a fantasy to expect everyone to ignore factional interests.
What about going to Lianghuai, what about going to Pingyuan, what about waiting until autumn, it's all nonsense. The Eastern Army just doesn't want to take advantage of the fire for the Western Army.
Guanzhong is the real strategic location, don't these people know? What the hell is Lianghuai? Don't they know that the water network of the Huaihe River is a must for cavalry?
As for the plains, the Zhao Song imperial camp in the Central Plains had 200,000 troops, both on land and sea, and the whole country's strength was there, so why would they go to the plains? It was as if the cavalry on the Guanxi Plateau couldn't charge!
Moreover, he had already said it directly, that he, Wanyan Loushi, was about to die, and he came here just because he was afraid that he would not be able to wait until the autumn. How could these people not know? Why didn't they say next year?
But at this time, Nianhan didn't know whether it was because he had just "subdued" Aguda's direct line politically, so he didn't want to oppress the Eastern Army, which was the foundation of Aguda's direct line, too much; or because he had just achieved such great political results and didn't want to make large-scale military gambles... but he was ambiguous for a while.
But then again, how could Lou Shi give up?
Given his physical condition, this was his only chance... If he succeeded, he could leave his son with a lifetime of merit, help the Western Route Army gain a nearly perfect territory like Guanzhong, and help the Jin Dynasty increase its national fortune by another point... For both public and private reasons, and given his own character, how could he possibly give up?
So, in order not to waste time, after a little thought, Lou Shi formally proposed to let the eldest prince Wanyan Wuben, or the third prince Wanyan Erlido be the commander-in-chief, and even the specific troops could be divided into the east and the west, as long as they could ensure timely convergence and let him command in the final decisive battle.
As soon as this proposal was made, the resistance was immediately reduced by half. After thinking it over again and again, Nianhan finally decided to trust this general under his command who had never let him down - as long as Lou Shi won on the front line, his position would be more stable in the future.
Just like that, once the highest power center of the Jin Dynasty completed the negotiations, it finally began to prepare to send troops according to Lou Shi’s plan, and at the same time began to carry out some messy things to respond.
And without mentioning what those messed up things were, let's just talk about one fact that has to be acknowledged, that is, although the internal political structure of the Jin Dynasty was so chaotic that even they themselves could not stand it, and although their culture was so backward that a cultural generation gap had emerged among the top leaders in just twenty years, the military system still maintained a very high efficiency, and their military technology was by no means inferior to any country in the world at that time.
This is not sophistry, it is a fact.
My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It’s even more exciting later!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
