Wanyan Wushu and Han Chang abandoned their baggage and crossed Longmen at night. It was dawn when they crossed the river. That day was May 27th, the fourth year of Jianyan in the Song Dynasty and the eighth year of Tianhui in the Jin Dynasty.
At noon that day, not to mention how Wuzhu led 20,000 people to travel 100 miles a day and 200 miles for two consecutive days, the news of his crossing the river had already been continuously transmitted by scouts and sent along the banks of the Yellow River to the commander-in-chief of this expedition, Wanyan Erlido of Hezhong Prefecture.
The weather was hot. Erlido, who had been living in a temple somewhere in the city, was discussing Buddhist issues with a monk under the shade of a tree. When he saw the Jin officer coming towards him seriously with a sword in hand, the monk took the initiative to stand up and salute, and said goodbye to avoid suspicion.
"Cross the river?" Erlido, who was dressed in cloth, stood up absentmindedly to see the monk off, turned around and said something.
"Yes." The officer was caught off guard and could only nod his head. "That's all the scout said."
“Just cross the river, just cross the river!” For some reason, even though he knew that the decisive battle was about to begin, Erlido felt his whole body relax. He then sat down on a stone bench under the shade of a tree, sighing for a moment.
In the final analysis, this battle was truly difficult...or rather, this battle truly made the Jin army feel anew the kind of hardship they had not experienced for a long time.
Moreover, since the Jingkang Incident, the Zhao Song Dynasty was like a beheaded country, almost on the verge of national destruction, and the Jin army completely regarded the Song army as nothing.
At that time, they abandoned the Central Plains and Guanzhong which they had already conquered and turned back. It was not because they did not want to take over this colorful world, but because they were already too full and had not yet swallowed up the fertile land of Hebei. There must be a first come first served, right?
However, who would have thought that after more than half a year, it was true that Hebei was easily swallowed up, but the Zhao Song Dynasty had revived, and there were resistance forces everywhere. Huazhou was difficult to cross, Shaanxi was lost again, and Huai was blocked. A group of refugees, defeated soldiers, and fugitive officials brought the Zhao Song Dynasty back to life.
Therefore, a year later, the Jin Kingdom learned its lesson and only wanted to destroy the Zhao Song central government and then support its vassal states along the Yellow River. Knowing that their appetite was limited, they took it slow and took their time. However, this time they suffered an unimaginable defeat on the front battlefield. Talan fled in embarrassment and the eastern and western armies failed.
More than a year passed, and this time, due to Lou Shi's instigation, the Jin army concentrated its forces and came again in a fierce manner, but the Song army was no longer the same as before... For four years, the emperor was recognized by both inside and outside the country as sleeping on straw and tasting gall, and the ministers dared not talk about peace. The political structure was maintained as stable as possible. Then, with these and the money and food from the southeast, Lianghuai, Jingxiang, and Bashu, he exchanged for the resurgence of 200,000 imperial camp troops and tens of thousands of Western troops.
From the East China Sea to Longshang, the battle line stretched for thousands of miles. The two sides fought back and forth across the Yellow River, advancing and retreating against each other... The Jin army had not fought such a formal war for a long time.
Although all the high-ranking officers of the Jin army knew that the quality of the soldiers and armor of the opposing Song army was inferior to theirs, and the number of cavalry was ridiculously small, and everyone had confidence in Loushi and the Western Army, this huge battle situation and the momentum of mutual exchanges still made Wanyan Erlido, who originally thought he was just here to receive credit, feel tremendous pressure.
In fact, from the beginning of this military expedition, from the very beginning of mobilization, Erlido and his brother Wuzhu talked about many things in the army... They talked about the political situation in Huining Prefecture and Yanjing, the situation in Song and Jin, the great migration of people in Shanxi, the conflict between Meng'an and Mouke in Hebei and the local Han people, and the young Zhao Song official in the south.
After the war broke out in Hezhong Prefecture, they talked about Han Shizhong, Li Yanxian, Lou Shi and Yin Shuke. As they talked, they learned that the raid on Luoyang was successful, but what happened next was difficult for Erlido to understand.
Luoyang City was broken, and under the dragon flag there was only an empty city and a prime minister left behind. This was nothing. The key was that this successful surprise attack did not cause huge ripples in the war situation. Sishui Pass could not be taken for a long time, and the ancient road of Xiaomian was blocked tightly... It seemed that the fall of Luoyang City was just the fall of Luoyang City, and the previous situation of the whole line being broken due to the break of one point had completely disappeared.
Then, there was the information that Yue Fei led 40,000 Song troops to appear in Hebei.
At this time, Erliduo didn't know whether the calmness of the Song army on the south bank was fake, but he was sure that the East Route Army was really panicking! Every Meng'an, every Mouke, and every Puliyan was worried about their family's property, men and women, and houses. Even though Damingfu still had tens of thousands of troops led by Talai, Gao Jingshan and others, they were still worried.
With no other options, Erlido could only agree to the collective petition of these officers and send 40,000 troops back north to force back the Song army through Huguan... This move was almost equivalent to giving up the plan of forcing a crossing from Shanzhou or Tongzhou.
Yue Pengju's actual strategic goal of crossing the north this time was achieved from the very beginning.
However, from the moment he responded, the Third Prince directly agreed in his heart with many of his fourth brother Wanyan Wushu's views, and also approved the latter's plan to lead 20,000 troops to Longmen Ferry for support... Because Erlido was fully aware that no matter what, the relationship between Song and Jin was no longer the simple relationship of crushing each other as before.
Even if they win this time and take Guanzhong, it will still be the same... unless the Zhao Song official, who is regarded by his fourth brother as the root of the Song army's attitude, is eliminated in this battle along with the main force of the Song army.
"Third Prince..."
Seeing the commander in chief was distracted, the officer who came to report was a little hesitant. "Since the Fourth Prince has crossed the river, should we do something here?"
Erliduo suddenly came to his senses and nodded immediately. He also felt that it was a bit too much to push all the things and responsibilities to the fourth prince alone. However, although the third prince felt that he had to do something, he had little experience in battle... After all, since the time of Aguda, the four older princes had their own division of labor. The eldest, Wanyan Wuben, was often Aguda's personal guard; the second, Wulibu, was often the commander-in-chief; the fourth was young at that time and was often the vanguard; and the third, Erliduo, was often stationed in the camp.
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