As time goes by, things inevitably unfold in a dynamic manner, especially in complex battles.
On the fourth day of February, the Song army relied on surprise attack and used artillery to counter artillery in the battle of Xiacai City, achieving a visible victory in the long stalemate. In the evening of the same day, news of the great victory in Liangshanpo also arrived in Huaishang.
On the fifth day of February, when Han Shizhong sent Tian Shizhong up the mountain, he specifically reminded Emperor Zhao that the battle was far from over.
On the sixth day of February, unexpectedly, the Jin army decisively divided its troops and moved northward, seemingly withdrawing in an orderly manner.
On the same evening, Emperor Zhao found Han Shizhong, who judged that the Jin army might make a feint to the east and attack in the west, and proposed a plan to eliminate the Jin army camp according to Emperor Zhao's request, and got Zhao Jiu's approval.
Early in the morning of the seventh day of February, Emperor Zhao, who had made up his mind, summoned the two ministers of the East and West Palaces, Lu Haowen and Wang Boyan, and unilaterally informed them of the general military plan. With the assistance of several close ministers, he nominally approved the discussion in the Council of State Affairs, making this action officially a legal military action at the national level.
In the morning, the Jin army began to pack up again. With Zhao Jiu personally in charge of the water fort, Han Shizhong also began to replace the scattered troops in Xiacai City with the elite troops from the Baguashan camp in Henan according to the plan.
At noon, the second group of 7,000 Jin troops officially set out as expected.
In the afternoon, Zhao Jiu, the imperial guards, and several close ministers followed Hu Yantong's troops across the river and returned to Xiacai from Neidu. However, in order to guard against the spread of the news, they only stayed in the government office and did not show up.
Not long after Zhao Jiu entered the city, in the evening, Han Shizhong, wearing ordinary iron armor and without any flags, suddenly came from the direction of the Jin camp with only a few cavalrymen. After an almost acrobatic chase, he calmly entered the city, but proposed to Emperor Zhao to change the time of the attack.
"It's not good to attack at night, why don't we change it to a surprise attack tomorrow morning?"
Zhao Jiu paused for a moment after hearing this, then nodded immediately. "Just follow what Liang Chen said."
Han Shizhong originally wanted to explain, but failed. Moreover, not only did the emperor agree immediately, but even the civil and military officials accompanying him were speechless and simply took their leave.
As soon as the person left, Zhang Jun, the Taiwei who had been watching coldly, spoke up: "Good instructor, I know that Commander Han is afraid!"
"Is that so?" The Emperor Zhao sat still without changing his expression, but pointed at the brand new red robe on his body. "I thought Han Qing wanted the soldiers who came out of the city to attack the camp to see my new clothes clearly on the top of the city wall."
Zhang Jun was slightly startled. He wanted to hold it back, but he couldn't help it: "Your Majesty! This is simply because Han Wu made a boast before and insisted on arranging a night attack. As a result, he personally went to investigate today and found that the Jin army was well guarded. His old plan of night attack was completely unworkable, so he changed it to a surprise attack in the early morning!"
"General Zhang, what you said is not right," Zhang Jun, the Chief Censor and half-namesake of General Zhang, suddenly stepped out and refuted in public. "General Han's adjustment may have underestimated the defense of the Jin army, but it also overestimated our army's night fighting ability... The night attack failed. Is it because he realized today that the Jin army is too strong or that our army is too weak? I'm afraid it's hard to say."
When Zhang Jun saw that it was the Chief Censor, he was frightened and his momentum stagnated. When he was about to gather his strength to refute, someone sneered and confronted the Chief Censor before he could. Commander Zhang raised his eyes and saw that it was Zhao Ding, Zhao Damu, who had shared the same joys and sorrows with him in the past few days!
"Zhang Xiantai!" As soon as Zhao Dingfu opened his mouth, his words showed his alienation and anger, as if he didn't care about their past friendship at all. "Let Zhang Xiantai know that we are facing the enemy in Huaibei day and night, and we know the strengths and weaknesses of the Jin army. If you, the senior officials in the rear, don't know the strengths and weaknesses of the Jin army, just ask us, why are you playing tricks here?"
"Yes," Zhang Jun came to his senses and quickly responded. "If Han Wu had asked us about Huaibei before, why would he have changed his strategy at the last minute? The key is that he put you in a dangerous situation. I'll teach you that I have been dealing with the Jin army here for a long time and I know that the Jin army camp is well-prepared, spacious and well-organized. They are on duty at night and even have hawks and dogs on guard day and night..."
"Hawk dog?" Zhao Jiu, who had been listening expressionlessly for half a day, was suddenly shocked. "Falcon and military dog?"
"No, that's right." Zhang Jun was also shocked by Emperor Zhao's reaction, but he could only bite the bullet and explain. "It is the Saker Falcon and the military dog. The Jin people are good at fishing and hunting, and most of their marching and fighting methods are derived from hunting methods. Naturally, they carry some for defense!"
"Hadongqing is flying so high, can't he see the inside of the city clearly?" Zhao Jiu asked hurriedly. "Wouldn't Haidongqing also be able to see our deployment this time?"
"Your Majesty, you are overthinking." Zhang Jun finally understood what the Majesty meant, and he heaved a sigh of relief. "The Saker Falcon is just a hunting falcon. I have seen a lot of things in Guanxi... No matter how smart this thing is, it is just a bird. It can understand the movement of a large group of people in the grassland, desert and snow. In the heart of the Central Plains, there are people everywhere. It is difficult for it to distinguish between soldiers and civilians in the wilderness, so how can it understand what is going on in the city? If it is really so magical, the Jurchens should have known about it when my artillery first started!"
Zhao Jiu knew that he had made a fool of himself, so he nodded slowly: "In other words, when this Saker Falcon arrived in the Central Plains, it was just using its invincibility in the sky to deliver military secrets. Is it more of a messenger?"
"That's right." Zhang Taiwei nodded repeatedly. "Good instructor, you know, in fact, in terms of the defense of the camp, the eagle is not necessarily as good as the dog, the dog is not necessarily as good as the camp, and the camp is not necessarily as good as the people... In short, if Han Shizhong had dared to ask me a question before proposing this strategy, he would never have done such a ridiculous thing as changing the date at the last minute!"
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