MTL - Poor Family-v2 Chapter 919 Recover the east of the river

  Chapter 919 Recovering the River East

The raging fire engulfed the entire valley. The fire took advantage of the wind, and the wind took advantage of the power of the fire. The flames rose to a height of thirty feet, and ignited the vines on the cliffs on both sides. The fire spread extremely quickly. In just a quarter of an hour, ten Panxiu Valley, which was more than a mile long, turned into a sea of ​​fire.

Li Yanqing led nearly 20,000 soldiers to look at the flames all over the sky twenty miles away, feeling the heat waves rushing towards them. There were no trees within two miles in front of them. Yes, with a palpitating smell of fireworks.

   In front of them, a mud bag wall about two feet wide was built to prevent the golden soldiers from rushing through the sea of ​​fire to break through. At this moment, there was a rapid sound of horseshoes ahead.

  Li Yanqing immediately realized that there was a golden soldier breaking through, and he shouted, "The crossbowmen are ready!"

  ‘Woo—’

The low-pitched horn blew, and five thousand god-armed crossbowmen lined up in two rows raised their crossbows and aimed at the east side of the canyon. At this time, more than two thousand cavalry rushed from the east like ghosts. All of them were blackened by the smoke, and the leading general wearing silver armor and gold helmet was the deputy commander Wan Yanchang. His golden helmet was still clearly visible in the night.

  Li Yanqing stretched out his hand, "Bring me my bronze bow!"

A soldier handed the bronze bow to Li Yanqing, and at the same time handed him an iron arrow. Li Yanqing nocked the arrow, pulled the bronze bow abruptly, narrowed his eyes slightly, and aimed his arrow at the face under the golden helmet. As soon as he let go of the door, the iron arrow shot towards the leader Wan Yanchang like lightning.

  Wan Yanchang had just escaped from the sea of ​​fire, his eyes were sore, he only saw a black dot, before he had time to react, he felt a sharp pain on his forehead, his eyes went dark, and he didn't know anything.

Wan Yanchang let out a scream, turned over and fell off his horse, and was killed on the spot. Li Yanqing's arrows were an order. Five thousand crossbowmen fired at the same time, and the arrows were like a rain of arrows, shooting at the golden soldiers who were a hundred steps away. Maybe looking back, the remaining hundreds of soldiers roared loudly and drew their swords to kill the Song Army. The Song Army soldiers still fired arrows calmly. The hot wind blew in, and there was no more golden soldier alive in the valley, only more than a thousand war horses were restlessly hiding under the cliff.

   "Go clean up the battlefield and leave no one alive!"

  Li Yanqing issued an order, and the two commanders each led 500 soldiers to the battlefield, killed the seriously wounded Jin soldiers who were still alive, collected the horses, and buried the bodies.

The fire burned for two full days and two nights before it was extinguished by the arrival of heavy rain. The fire prevented 15,000 Jin soldiers from escaping and died tragically. Although the other 5,000 people escaped from the fire, they could not escape Song Dynasty The interception and killing of the army also died under the chaotic arrows of the Song army. The entire army of 20,000 Jin soldiers was wiped out, and even Wan Yanchang died tragically under Li Yanqing's bronze bow and iron arrows. the highest ranking general.

   When Xiao Bosong, who was stationed in Linfen, got the news, he made a decisive decision and immediately led his army southward, crossing the Yellow River from Mengjin on a raft.

In just one month after the end of the Battle of Taiyuan, Li Yanqing launched a campaign against the south of the East Road, and wiped out Yan Chang's 30,000 Jin soldiers in a lightning-fast manner, except for Xiao Bosong's 10,000 Yanshan Han troops. In addition to quickly escaping, there was no more golden soldiers on the entire Hedong Road from the south of Yanmen Pass.

Wan Yanxie was also helpless, so he had to write to the Emperor of the Kingdom of Jin to plead guilty. This time it originated from the Southern Expedition that started in November last year. Although he won victories in the Central Plains and Shandong, he suffered disastrous defeats on Shaanxi Road and Hedong Road, and the Jin soldiers lost 130,000 troops, including 60,000 Jurchen soldiers, deputy commander Wan Yanchang was killed, another deputy commander Wanyan Loushi was captured, and even the third prince of the Kingdom of Jin, Wanyan Zongya, fell into the hands of the Song army. Such a loss Compared with seizing the Central Plains and Shandong, it is really too heavy.

  Wan Yanxie also knew that his contribution was not worth it, so he formally resigned from the court of the Kingdom of Jin as Marshal of the southern capital. Wanyanxie also suggested that the Kingdom of Jin suspend the southern expedition and consolidate the occupied areas.

At this time, the northern part of Liaodong and Shangjing of the Kingdom of Jin were also hit by a snowstorm that had not happened in a hundred years. The cattle and sheep suffered heavy losses, and the national power was empty, and they were unable to launch the southern expedition. Emperor Wanyan Sheng of the Kingdom of Jin and other important officials of the Kingdom of Jin unanimously agreed to Wanyan Xieye He suggested that Wanyan Xiyin and Xiao Zhonggong be sent as special envoys to Lin'an to discuss peace.

Li Yanqing led the Jingzhao Army to win big victories in Taiyuan and Linfen, and news spread to Lin'an that the entire territory of the East Road had been recovered. The news spread quickly, and the entire Lin'an Mansion was elated.

The people in the capital sang and danced to celebrate this hard-won victory. The emperor Zhao Gou was very excited. He knew what it meant to recover the East Road, which meant that the Song Army had the strategic capital to attack and retreat in the north and west. .

Overjoyed, Zhao Gou immediately decreed that Li Yanqing was conferred the title of King of Jin, he was promoted to Taifu, and he was rewarded with ten thousand taels of gold. Fifty acres, those who have made great achievements will be rewarded separately.

Just a few days after the news came, the prisoner-of-war ship from the Yangtze River also arrived in Lin'an, bringing Wanyan Loushi and Wanyan Zongya, and not long after, Li Yanqing sent another three Jurchen members The Meng'an Wan Fu long.

The three were Wanyanchang's son-in-law, Puchagubalu, and his two sons, Wanyan Wodai and Wanyan Wudapu. The three were captured by Wang Gui when they broke out from the east of Panxiu Valley. Wang Gui knew the three of them well. It was important, so they were not killed, but captured alive and handed over to Li Yanqing, who immediately sent people to take them to Lin'an.

   Soon, the Song court got the news that the Kingdom of Jin had decided to negotiate a peace, and the special envoy of the Kingdom of Jin was on his way to Lin'an.

The debate in the early court of this day was extremely fierce. According to the practice of the Kingdom of Jin, the five Jurchen noble prisoners of war including Wanyan Loushi could exchange land, population, or corresponding nobles of the Song Dynasty with the Kingdom of Jin. However, in terms of specific exchanges, the court There were clear differences.

In the Daqing Palace, Qin Huizheng, who had just been promoted to Minister of Rites, was impassioned and strongly demanded that the five prisoners of war be exchanged for the people of the Song Dynasty who had been tortured in the Kingdom of Jin. Hard work, wearing thin clothes in the bitter cold, walking barefoot in the snow, not eating as much as a dog, being tired better than a weak donkey, and women also suffer shame. In addition to physical torture, there is also physical and mental torture. Being denounced as slaves of the Song Dynasty, hundreds of thousands of people are always eager for the king to go north and save them back to their hometown. The five Jurchen nobles are all the heads of ten thousand husbands, and they can return 50,000 people to their hometowns. For this, we should first sympathize with the suffering of the common people!"

  Although Qin Hui's words were fierce and his feelings were deep, his call did not get many ministers' response. Nearly 70% of the ministers in the court all had the same appeal, asking for the replacement of the two emperors.

Fan Zhixu, right chancellor, came out and said: "Your Majesty, the people of the Great Song Dynasty are filial piety, and the principles and five ethics are the foundation of the society. Heaven and earth are kings, relatives and teachers. We stand between heaven and earth. We should respect the king, relatives, and teachers. The two emperors are not only the king of the Song Dynasty, but also the father and brother of His Majesty. Unfortunately, they were captured by the enemy country and devastated. They shamed the soldiers of the Song Dynasty and shamed the officials of the ruling and opposition parties. Why should we hesitate to redeem them when we have the opportunity? Your Majesty , declare the decree!"

   Dozens of courtiers responded one after another, "Your Majesty, Fan Xiangguo's words of loyalty come from the heart of the ministers and others. It is the responsibility of our monarchs and ministers to welcome the second emperor back. Please make an order!"

  In addition to 70% of the ministers who asked to welcome the second emperor, and a few ministers such as Qin Hui who asked to return the common people, there were also some ministers headed by Gao Shen who proposed to return the five states of Huaibei to relieve the strategic pressure on the front line of the Huaihe River.

  Zhao Gou was really in a dilemma, and finally he winked at Sun Qi, the young supervisor in the palace. Sun Qi immediately knocked on the cloud panel and shouted loudly: "Please pay attention to the order of the court meeting, and don't disturb the etiquette of the monarch and his ministers!"

The sound of cloud boards sounded, and the hall gradually quieted down. Zhao Gou said slowly: "I can understand the feelings of all my lovers. Of course, I can't wait to welcome my father and brother back immediately, but negotiations have their own rules. We Not only to welcome back the Second Emperor, but also to strive for more benefits, so please be patient for the time being, don't be in a hurry."

   There was no voice of opposition in the main hall, Zhao Gou said again: "Today's morning court is over, please discuss the candidates for the chief and deputy envoys of the Zhizheng Hall, report to me as soon as possible, and leave the court!"

  The bell of the Sanchao rang, and all the officials respectfully sent the emperor away from the side passage, and everyone left the hall in twos and threes.

  (end of this chapter)