Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

There are two throats going south from Yanshan Mountain, one is Gubeikou and the other is Xifengkou (Xifengkou).

After the snow melted in the spring of this year, Yue Fei led his troops to approach the former, Wang Yan led his troops to approach the latter, and Li Bao stationed himself in Yanjing to take charge of all the armies.

Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty once built a city at Gubeikou. Later, the battle line moved northward, and the Han Dynasty built the Great Wall in the mountainous areas further north.

During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the Great Wall was built at Gubeikou for the first time.

During the Sui and Tang dynasties, the Great Wall continued to be built. Since the north of the Great Wall is where the Xi people live, Gubeikou is also called "Xiguan".

The Khitan raided Houliang and went south from Gubeikou many times.

Today, the Jin Kingdom controls the dilapidated Great Wall of the Sui and Tang Dynasties. Those Great Walls are full of gaps, which small armies can easily pass through, but are not conducive to large-scale marches.

The Jin soldiers were mainly stationed at the Shouchu City ruins of the Tang Dynasty, which had been renovated and reinforced in the past two years. It was located high up, easy to defend and difficult to attack.

Yue Fei led 5,000 troops and recruited 10,000 civilians to build a wall 25 miles south of Gubeikou.

As long as this place is blocked, the Jin soldiers will not be able to move south on a large scale.

However, small groups of troops can still circumvent it. Jin soldiers can go into groups of several hundred people and climb over low mountains to plunder the Miyun area. If you add up a little, you can get thousands of them, but you can't carry much food. If you can't get food within half a month, you will starve to death.

The villagers all fled from the mountains. They came out of the mountains fearfully and farmed freely for three years. The Ming government never collected taxes, nor did they force them to establish households and integrate the people. Instead, small merchants brought cloth and salt.

The imperial court showed such sincerity that the few scholars among the fugitives gradually came to believe that the Ming Dynasty was worth relying on.

Therefore, this year the government came to compile households, and these scholars took the initiative to cooperate.

The imperial court continued to show goodwill by granting three years of tax exemption to newly registered refugees, and only collecting half of the taxes in the fourth and fifth years. However, they had to help build the walled city. During the labor period, the court took care of the food and gave them a small amount of food as wages.

The refugees were so frightened that Yue Fei directly distributed food in advance, finally convincing these people.

They have experienced too many wars and famines, and they will run away at the slightest sign of trouble. You must be sincere to gain trust. Even if the golden soldiers come to kill you, they will help defend the city!

…

Gubeikou was a city guarding the city in the Tang Dynasty.

Jin general Atuhan led hundreds of cavalry southward, and soon collided with the Ming sentry cavalry.

The two sides did not take action immediately, but distanced themselves to confront each other. After all, the two countries are now in a state of truce.

After a while, Atuhan stepped forward and shouted: "I am Atuhan, the guard at Gubeikou in Dajin. Call your general to speak quickly!"

The Ming Dynasty's Sentinel Cavalry had already sent out manpower to report the news.

Yue Fei quickly came on horseback: "I am the general of the Ming Dynasty here. South of the Gubeikou Great Wall is the boundary of the Ming Dynasty. Why do you want to lead your troops across the border? Do you want to start a war with the Ming Dynasty?"

Atuhan asked back: "Why are you building a city so close to each other?"

Yue Fei said: "This is the border of the Ming Dynasty. Why can't we build a city? Instead, you led the troops across the border for no reason. If you don't return quickly, it will be like starting a war with the Ming Dynasty!"

Atuhan was speechless because what Yue Fei said made sense.

Moreover, in order to prepare for the Ming Dynasty, the Jin Kingdom took the lead in repairing and consolidating Gubeikou. The Jin Kingdom could build cities, and so could the Ming Dynasty.

But the Ming Dynasty built a city in the face of the Jin Kingdom, and the city wall had been built right under Atuhan's nose. Don't you care about anything?

Yue Fei shouted confidently: "Retreat quickly!"

After saying that, Yue Fei took off his bow and arrows, and his cavalry also drew their bows.

A Tuhan hesitated for a few breaths, then said angrily: "Go back!"

After galloping for more than ten steps, Atuhan stopped and looked back.

If there is a war in the future, he must capture the city in front, otherwise it will be extremely dangerous to go south directly. Youzhou doesn't have a large population. The Ming Dynasty can easily fortify its walls and clear the country. The Jin soldiers fighting purely by grabbing food is nothing more than a dream.

Yue Fei also returned with his cavalry, and he and Wang Yan were under great pressure.

Once the war breaks out again, the main force of the Jin soldiers will definitely come from Gubeikou and Xifengkou. In order to open up the main road, the Jin people might be besieged by tens of thousands of people, and the temporary walled city would be difficult to withstand.

Don't talk about cement. In the absence of road transportation, that stuff can only be fired nearby.

The land here is vast and sparsely populated. How can there be spare manpower to dig for soil and burn cement?

"General Yue, there are a thousand divine machine battalions coming to help with food supplies. I heard that there will be eighteen artillery pieces later!" A Qingqi came galloping over.

Yue Fei was overjoyed when he heard this and rode towards the construction site of the walled city.

The Shenji Battalion has replaced its flintlock guns and expanded to 12,000 men. This year it was officially renamed the Shenji Army, and part of it was trained in Yanjing.

Yue Fei also participated in the training last year, mainly to familiarize himself with the new car formation.

He communicated and discussed with Wu Jie and other generals, and through continuous deduction and practice, they finally created a "Mother-Son Plum Blossom Formation".

In fact, it is a hollow car formation composed of large and small combinations.

With sufficient long-range firepower, the redundant parts of the old vehicle array can be discarded.

The Chinese army set up a large hollow formation and four small hollow formations at the four corners. Each side of the hollow formation is connected by chariots, and troops from far and near fight with the help of chariots.

Civilians and supplies can be moved to the hollow array for protection.

The cavalry troops are also in the hollow formation and can attack at any time.

No matter which direction the enemy attacks, the five hollow formations can resist it. If the enemy wants to attack the Chinese army, they will be subject to crossfire.

Each formation can also support each other.

The infantry and cavalry can coordinately change formations and can also transform into other attack formations. However, the requirements for the general's command ability and the training of the soldiers are relatively high.

If you are a mediocre general and fight with ordinary soldiers, you can just put up a plum blossom formation honestly.

…

On the south bank of the Yalu River, Baozhou.

Zhe Yanzhi personally took a boat to observe along the river. The river ship he was riding was built in Baozhou last year and the year before last. The wood came from the mountainous area on the south bank of the Yalu River.

Baozhou Shipyard was established four years ago.

Currently, only inland river boats can be built to sail in the Yalu River. It will be expanded next, with the ultimate goal of building a sea-going ship.

Shipyard craftsmen all came from the Yangtze River coast and Zhejiang, and land was distributed according to craftsman level.

The most advanced craftsmen can get 120 acres of fertile land in Baozhou. If you bring a family member over, you will be allocated an additional twenty acres of land, even a child can be allocated land.

The last time the Jin soldiers plundered Goryeo, they moved all the Bohai people away, resulting in Baozhou being a vast area and sparsely populated. There is not only a shortage of people but also a shortage of land. The real headache is the lack of tenants to cultivate the land after it is allocated.

Fortunately, people from the Bohai tribe kept coming.

These new Bohai people can also get land. However, the number of acres is limited, and there are also tenant farming tasks, so the soldiers and craftsmen must farm the land.

The fleet quickly approached Posu Road City. Through the telescope, Zhe Yanzhi could even see clearly the expression of the guard at the top of the city.

The enemy general was very angry, but he did not dare to order the arrows to be fired.

Firstly, it is useless to shoot arrows from too far away, and secondly, the enemy will not dare to provoke a war.

The angrier the Jin man becomes, the happier Zheyanzhi becomes.

The Ming fleet continued to sail upstream, and the Jin soldiers stationed in Jiangxinzhou followed along the shore and watched the Ming fleet sail further east.

After passing the bifurcation of Jiangxinzhou and Kueihe, the mountains on the north bank of the Yalu River suddenly became steep.

"Fire artillery along the river!" Zheyan ordered.

"Bang bang bang bang!"

Every two or three miles the fleet sailed, a cannon was fired.

Of course it was not for Jin Bing.

Soon, people were seen coming out one after another among the high mountains.

They are all Bohai people who live among the Jurchens in the mountains. Their ancestors could not bear the exploitation of the Liao Dynasty and fled into the mountains to stay warm with the Jurchens. They also brought farming and textile technology to the Jurchens.

Now that the Jin Kingdom is short of food, these Bohai people have become targets of exploitation.

"Ashore!"

"Be careful."

Several ships sailed to both sides of the strait to pick up the people who wanted to surrender.

Not the North Shore, but both sides.

Korea only occupied a small amount of territory at the mouth of the Yalu River, and it was donated by the Jin Kingdom. In the rest of the country, both sides of the Yalu River are all Jin Kingdom land.

Strictly speaking, the fleet led by Orihiko was considered an armed invasion.

Because the river belongs to the Kingdom of Jin, the mountains on both sides still belong to the Kingdom of Jin.

Zhe Yanzhi has received an order from the court. Don't worry about so many things, just have a hard time in the Yalu River.

It took most of a day for the Ming Dynasty fleet to receive more than 400 people, and then returned to Baozhou in a swaggering manner.

After landing by boat, Zhe Yanzhi laughed at the city wall: "Send people out quickly so that the people can be resettled!"

A young official named Li Yu rode out of the city to greet him: "General Zhe, in the mountains to the east, more than 300 people surrendered yesterday. The Bohai operation we sent worked, and an entire village was brought out."

Zhe Yanzhi said with a smile: "The land by the river is fertile, and the Ming Dynasty also divided the fields. The land in the mountains is barren, and it is exploited by the Jin people. As long as their brains are not stupid, they will naturally know where to go."

The entire Baozhou is being rapidly digested by Ming Dynasty.

This place used to be the land of the Liao Kingdom, and later it became the land of the Jin Kingdom, and it was assigned to Goryeo less than ten years ago.

Moreover, the population is dominated by the Bohai ethnic group, and the common language is Northern Chinese. Even the Koreans here can speak a few words of Chinese. Now there are a large number of Han soldiers and craftsmen, and they continue to recruit Bohai people who fled the Jin Kingdom.

To the people of Baozhou, what is Goryeo?

They only recognize the Ming Dynasty!

Yelu Yujian was also in Baozhou, but his son was sent to Kaifeng Military Academy.

"My Ming Dynasty ships have repeatedly sailed into the Kingdom of Jin. I don't know how long these Jin people can endure it." Yelu Yujian came to the port.

Zheyanzhi smiled and said: "No matter how long they endure, beacon towers everywhere will keep an eye on them. The population here is increasing, and it is enough to recruit civilians during wars."

Yelu Yujian said: "I heard that General Zhao Li was in Pyongyang, using military rations to buy Korean slaves, and then giving the Korean slaves names and fields. The population there is increasing rapidly. Do you want us to buy some too? Just transport them over by sea ship. .”

Zheyanzhi said: "You can buy some Korean women. There are too many men in Baozhou and few women. Over time, there will be trouble."

"Women are more expensive than men." Yeluyu said.

Zheyanzhi said: "There is no shortage of food now."

The King of Goryeo was still under house arrest, and the dignitaries gave him several concubines.

The king had become a fertility machine, and by the time his sons came of age, it would not matter whether he lived or died.

The nobles who controlled the power of Goryeo were addicted to the silks, fine wines and delicacies shipped from the Ming Dynasty, and they did not hesitate to capture low-level civilians and sell them as slaves.

Of course, the dignitaries also did some things, such as begging the Ming Emperor to stop paying for military rations for the Ming garrison.

Ju Ming has officially agreed not to ask for food from Goryeo. In exchange for this, the Minister of Korea should shut up and stop asking for Pyongyang and the land to the north all day long. He must acquiesce in Ming Dynasty's occupation of those territories.