Pirate Song

Sure enough, just as Zhao Fang expected, the Jin Kingdom was still determined to destroy the Song Dynasty even now. Just after the New Year, Jin Xuanzong, regardless of the crisis in Shandong and Hebei, actually once again ordered An Zhen to lead his army to attack the Song Dynasty.

And just last year, during the thirteenth year of Jiading, the situation in the Jin Kingdom worsened. The Mongolian army invaded the Jin Kingdom in large numbers from the south, and their iron hooves almost traveled across Hebei and Shandong. Jin Xuanzong also understood the sinister intentions of Shuhu Gaoqi.

He ordered Shu Hu Gao Qi to be killed, but he did not change his mind about attacking Song Dynasty.

In the view of him and some Jin ministers, there is no hope for the northern part of the Jin Kingdom. If the Jin Kingdom is to survive, the only way is to capture the Southern Song Dynasty as soon as possible, and then expand the territory to the south to increase the depth of the Jin Kingdom's defense, or use the Jianghuai River to

Natural danger came to deal with the iron hoof of the Mongolian army.

So when Emperor Xuanzong of the Jin Dynasty Wan Yanxun waited for the situation in the north to calm down a little, he immediately sent Pusan ​​Anzhen south to attack the Song Dynasty. Pusan ​​Anzhen had no choice but to lead his Huamao Army out of Xizhou (today's Xixian County, Henan Province)

South

Next, in February, the Song army was defeated in one fell swoop at Jingjushan Temple, and soon the army captured Huangtuguan under the control of the Song army, once again opening the door to the south, and the troops were directed towards Huangzhou.

Qizhou and two places.

The news immediately spread to Ezhou, and once again caused people's panic in Ezhou, because Huangzhou is on the north bank of the Yangtze River, facing Ezhou across the river, separated by only one water. This time Pusan ​​Anzhen led his army not from Zaoyang area.

Instead of marching into Xiangyang, they diverted to Huangzhou. Once Huangzhou was lost, an important gateway on the Yangtze River would be knocked open by the Jin army, which was almost like inserting a knife into the defense line along the river.

At this time, most of the Song army was concentrated in Xiangyang, Zaoyang, Tangzhou, and Dengzhou. The troops in Huangzhou and Qizhou were insufficient. For the time being, Ezhou's troops were basically empty except for the navy. People were panicked for a while.

, I felt a little overwhelmed.

After all, Zhao Fang can be regarded as a battle-hardened veteran, and is much more stable than ordinary people. After thinking about it, he immediately ordered the Xiangyang army to rush to the direction of Huangzhou for reinforcements. Meng Zong's political department of the Zaoyang Army dispatched the Zhongshun Army to march eastward to attack.

The flanks of the Jin army posed a threat, and at the same time the garrison navy was ordered to strengthen defenses along the river. Even if Huangzhou suffered a loss, the Jin army could not be allowed to cross the river and attack Ezhou.

In addition, in order to strengthen Ezhou's defense, Zhao Fang once again ordered the troops from various prefectures and counties along Jingxi Road to mobilize troops to go to Ezhou for reinforcements.

At the end of February, Zhao Fang's order was issued to Daye County and placed in front of Gao Huaiyuan. In addition, the person who conveyed the order made a special trip to Gao Huaiyuan to bring a message from Zhao Fang, because Zhao Fang knew that among the counties along Jingxi Road, the township

The most courageous person should be Daye County, where Gao Huaiyuan is located. Therefore, the message asked Gao Huaiyuan to recruit as many village warriors as possible from Daye County to go to Ezhou for reinforcements and assist the Ezhou garrison in defense.

Gao Huaiyuan was also a little unprepared for the rapidly changing situation, because he had just started various affairs after the new year. The spring rush of the bow and arrow clubs in each township had just ended and was about to start training in an all-round way. The farming busy in some villages had not yet ended, but at this time he encountered

For such an urgent matter, it is not easy to recruit rural warriors to go on an expedition.

For Liu Zhixian, this matter made him even more at a loss. He was a complete layman in this kind of military matters and mainly relied on Gao Huaiyuan to take care of this kind of affairs for him, so he hurriedly approached Gao Huaiyuan to discuss the matter.

"Gao County Lieutenant, in your opinion, how many rural warriors can this county mobilize to go to Ezhou to help? Will the Jin army attack the Yangtze River this time? If all the rural warriors in this county are used up, once the Jin army crosses the river, this county will

What are you holding on to?" As soon as Liu Zhixian saw Gao Huaiyuan, he couldn't wait to ask.

Colleagues from several other county government offices also looked at Gao Huaiyuan with wide eyes. They were all a little uneasy now, fearing that once the Jin army crossed the river and captured Ezhou, Daye County would be the brunt of the Jin army.

The target of attack and plunder, so at this moment

They are all conflicted. They don't know whether they should send a large number of rural warriors to Ezhou for reinforcements. From a selfish point of view, they hope to dispatch fewer rural warriors. Once the Jin army crosses the river, Daye County can still have something to rely on, at least to retain

Some villages were sent to defend the county seat bravely.

Gao Huaiyuan somewhat despised their idea, but he didn't show anything on his face. After lowering his head to think about it, he raised his head and replied loudly: "My lords, don't worry too much. From the following point of view, Jin Jun is basically

No crossing

It is possible to go south of the Yangtze River! Although the Jin army was led by famous generals of the Jin Dynasty, it was true that the Jin army was not strong. Moreover, they lacked naval ships and were not good at water warfare. Even if they captured Huangzhou, Qizhou and other places

, I can only look at the water and sigh!

What's more, the Song army in Jiangbei is not weak. The number of Jin soldiers sent this time is limited. Even if they capture Huangzhou, they will not dare to cross the river rashly. Once our Song army in Jiangbei rushes to the Huangzhou area with reinforcements, we will cut them off from behind.

If there is no way to retreat, the Jin army may be in danger of being wiped out.

Therefore, the leader of the Jin army, San Anzhen, will definitely not do such a stupid thing. Moreover, the city of Ezhou is strong and easy to defend with mountains on its back and difficult to attack by water. Even if the Jin army can cross the river, they will not have artillery and carriages to attack the city. Therefore, you can

Don’t worry too much about this!

As for the recruitment of rural people to rush to Ezhou for rescue, thinking about it next time, it will not have much impact on this county. Now that the spring rush has basically ended, the off-farm season is about to enter, and this trip to Ezhou to aid is far less dangerous than the previous trip to Xiangyang.

Gao, maybe they are just setting up defenses in the Ezhou area for a period of time. Once the Jin soldiers retreat, they will come back!

To take a step back, once the Jin army crosses the river, Ezhou currently has insufficient troops. Once the Jin army captures Ezhou, it will open up the hinterland of our south of the Yangtze River. My lords, please think about it, there are intact eggs under the overturned nest? What if?

If even the Ezhou garrison couldn't stop the Jin army, could this county stop the Jin army from going south just by relying on these rural warriors?

Therefore, this time we should respond to Mr. Zhao’s order and dispatch as many village warriors as possible to Ezhou to help. Only if Ezhou is not lost, can we in Daye County ensure that nothing is lost! What do you think, sir?"

After listening to Gao Huaiyuan's analysis, Liu Zhixian and others breathed a long sigh of relief. They usually only care about local affairs, and for a long time, the Song and Jin Dynasties were fighting lively in Jiangbei, but in the Jiangnan area,

It was not affected, so they paid less attention to the war, and it was impossible for them to predict the development trend of the war situation like Gao Huaiyuan. Now when they heard what Gao Huaiyuan said, they felt that his analysis was sound and logical, so they were relieved.

many.

Liu Zhixian felt that what Gao Huaiyuan said was right. Ezhou is currently short of soldiers and horses, and Daye County is also the closest to Ezhou. If he refuses to cooperate with the expedition to help Ezhou, I am afraid that Zhao Fang will send a paper of impeachment to the capital, and his

The position of county magistrate was probably the last one to sit on, so when he thought of this, he no longer hesitated and nodded immediately:

"What Gao County Lieutenant said is absolutely correct. This matter should be handled according to what Gao County Lieutenant said. You all should go down immediately and go to the villages separately to mobilize village braves to gather outside the county town and hand them over to Gao County Lieutenant Commander for three days.

, we will attack Ezhou City in three days! This is a time of national crisis. As officials of the Song Dynasty, how can we care about small profits and ignore the overall situation? I hope you will work together to fight the national crisis!..."

After Gao Huaiyuan heard Liu Zhixian's impassioned speech, he felt very contemptuous. When Liu Zhixian heard that the Jin army would not cross south, he immediately changed his face. It was really disgusting!

However, others did not see it that way, and immediately stood up and said yes. Then Liu Zhixian assigned tasks, using almost all the county government's manpower, and sent them to the villages to start recruiting township warriors, while Gao Huaiyuan was responsible for Gaojiazhuang and other three townships.

Xiangyong, after saying this, they went down and started to prepare.

This troop dispatch is different from previous ones. The number of village warriors to be mobilized is far greater than before. Each township has a quota of 100 people, with the bow and arrow club as the main force. Each township is taking the lead in arranging the recruitment, and the county government is supervising very strictly.

So the progress is quite fast.

Gao Huaiyuan himself went to Gaojiazhuang and mobilized fifty villagers from Gaojiazhuang. Wohuzhuang naturally also dispatched fifty villagers to join Gaojiazhuang's villagers. In two days, they all

Villagers from three townships were brought outside the county town.

Since there were a large number of soldiers in this expedition, in order to avoid chaos, Gao Huaiyuan set up an officer corps with people from Wohu Village as the backbone. Each of the thirteen townships sent a person who had served in the army as the leader.

The head of the bow and arrow club in each township is the deputy chief, and the deputy head serves as the team leader, which facilitates his unified dispatch.

Moreover, this time he added Guo Liang and other archers who had followed him in the army into the rural army, each serving as flag bearer and other duties. Even Dong Qiang took credit for the battle against bandits and went to work as an errand in the county, becoming a

The deputy captain of the Archers was also taken along by Gao Huaiyuan this time and headed to Ezhou together.

Under the strict order of the county government, when the three-day period expired, the villagers from each township finally arrived outside the county on time. Each township was a capital and stationed at the school grounds outside the county. Gao Huaiyuan was not polite and immediately summoned

The head of the bow and arrow club in each township discussed the matter, sent his pre-arranged capital to each township to lead the team, gathered the village warriors, and announced military discipline.

This time Daye County can be said to have all the best among the local braves, and after a year of training, although they are still ordinary people, they are no longer the messy mess they used to be. At least after lining up, the team looks organized.

It's all in order, there's no mess.

The thirteen capital troops were divided into three battalions by Gao Huaiyuan. Each of the two battalions had soldiers from the five capitals, and each was organized into 500 rural soldiers. The rural warriors from Gaojiazhuang and Wohu Village were used as Gao Huaiyuan's personal troops.

Act as his personal soldiers and messengers

It was also an assault force in his hands, and its combat effectiveness was considered the most powerful. The remaining two men and horses were used by Gao Huaiyuan as a baggage camp, responsible for the transportation of grain, arrows, and other baggage materials by mules and horses.

No one in the countryside dared to have any objections to Gao Huaiyuan's arrangement. Moreover, after Gao Huaiyuan's integration, the scattered rural soldiers were kneaded together overnight and became a rather powerful force.

The size of the army was so large that even Liu Zhixian was fascinated by it.

Nodding, I felt that Gao Huaiyuan was really a good general. Not serving as a soldier in the army was really a sign of humiliation. Although the other leaders of the society did not become the chiefs, they did not dare to put forward any opinions. They were honest.

The soldiers who were stationed in their rural army all got busy.

In the early morning of the fourth day, as a blast of horns sounded outside the city, groups of villagers filed off and set foot on the road to Ezhou. The weapons of the village soldiers were also prepared in advance.

There are twenty spearmen, twenty sword and shield bearers, and sixty archers in Ding, forming a relatively complete collaboration.

It is a pity that the rural warriors lack armor and other protective equipment. If they can be equipped with armor, the combat effectiveness of more than a thousand people cannot be underestimated.

Gao Huaiyuan, who had experience in leading troops, was no longer the fledgling boy he had been a few years ago. He drove the rural army to march effortlessly and strictly ordered everyone to control their men. Although the team was not moving fast, it was still

It's so orderly that it attracts many passers-by's attention.

Gao Huaiyuan led the team and walked in front of the team. He still had his yellow gelding under his crotch. He was wearing a suit of Zha armor brought back from the army, with a leaf helmet on his head and a Yanyue knife in his hand. He looked majestic and majestic, which made the country soldiers following him look majestic.

Everyone applauded secretly.

Although they were going to Ezhou for reinforcements this time, the rural soldiers were still a little nervous. Many of them were uneasy and uneasy. They didn't know what they would encounter after arriving in Ezhou. However, their commanders all had experience in fighting.

On the way, I constantly encouraged them and instilled in them many concepts of obeying military discipline. Gradually, under the encouragement of this group of people, the rural soldiers who went out for the first time gradually felt at ease.

The road from Daye County to Ezhou is only about 80 miles. Under the supervision of Gao Huanyuan, Xiangyong was asked to march quickly to Ezhou City without any rest on the way. Although it was harder to walk this way, it would save the time on the road.

The trouble of garrisoning and the delay in setting up and setting up camps in the province.

Therefore, Daye Xiangyong finally arrived outside Ezhou City in the middle of the night. A group of men and horses blocked their way from a distance. A large number of torches were lined up on the road, and a fast horse galloped towards them.

Come.

"Stop those who come, tell me your identity!" A Song Army officer wearing a helmet and holding a big gun pointed at them from a distance and shouted loudly.

"Don't misunderstand me! We are Daye Township braves, and we have been specially ordered to come to Ezhou to help defend the city! My officer is Daye County Lieutenant Gao Huaiyuan!" Gao Huaiyuan also rode up to greet him, and answered loudly.

After listening to Gao Huaiyuan's words, the atmosphere relaxed. The Song general who was blocking the road put away his big gun, walked in and looked at Gao Huaiyuan by the light of the torch. After confirming that there was nothing wrong with them, he turned over and dismounted.

He said: "I am on military duty, so I have offended you so much. I hope you will forgive me! Can you please let me check your ultimatum?"

Gao Huaiyuan also saw clearly that this man was a low-level officer in the Song Army. Compared with his status, he was much higher than him. Although the other party's request was a bit excessive and he actually wanted to check his road certificate, he thought at this time

He was in a state of nervousness, so it was not difficult for him to do anything. He stretched out his hand and handed the ultimatum to the Song general on his horse.

After reading it, the man confirmed that it was correct and quickly apologized again, handed the certificate back to Gao Huaiyuan, and then asked cautiously: "I wonder how many local heroes you have brought to help this time?"

"Three thousand people! I wonder if the garrison camp has already arranged a camp for us?" Gao Huaiyuan replied loudly.

This number really surprised the patrolling Song troops. They did not expect that Daye County would dispatch more than a thousand soldiers to aid Ezhou, and they did not dare to neglect, so the officer quickly replied:

"Don't worry, sir. The garrison camp has already received orders from Lord Zhao, and camps have been prepared for warriors from all over the country. Please follow me here!"

After a lot of troubles, the exhausted Xiangyong finally settled down, but the sky was gradually turning white. Gao Huaiyuan ordered the Xiangyong to make food and rest on the spot, and then set off for the handsome camp in the camp.

Account report.

But this time because of the seriousness of the situation, Zhao Fang actually took care of the garrison affairs in the garrison camp despite being ill. When he woke up early in the morning, he heard that some warriors from the countryside had arrived in Ezhou. After asking, he learned that it was from Daye County.

Zhao Fang immediately sent people to find Gao Huaiyuan, and happened to encounter Gao Huaiyuan who was enthroning himself at the signing place outside the tent, so he summoned Gao Huaiyuan to Zhao Fang's tent.

"Boy, you really didn't disappoint me. You were the first one to rush here. But I don't know how many local warriors you brought to Ezhou this time. Can the local warriors fight?" Zhao Fang was dressed as a civil servant and sat in the tent.

After winning the handsome case, he saw Gao Huaiyuan and asked with a smile on his face.

"Your Majesty met with Ambassador Zhao. Your Majesty has brought 1,300 Xiangyong from Daye County for your deployment. Many of these Xiangyong have been trained to a certain extent, but they are not yet elites and will be used as the main force.

It's not possible, but as an auxiliary army to assist in the defense of Ezhou, I think that as long as the dispatch is good, there should be no problem! Please show me!" Gao Huaiyuan was not modest, and told the truth about the situation of the soldiers he led.

Zhao Fang.

Zhao Fang nodded slightly: "Boy, it's good that you are not arrogant or impetuous. Now is the time to employ people here. You guys came very timely. I won't hide it from you. This time, the Jin Army's general and servant San Anzhen

After dispatching the troops, the God of War enters and the troops advance straight

It refers to the two prefectures of Huangqi and Huangqi. They are trying to break through the natural chasm of the Yangtze River in one fell swoop. It can be said that they are coming with great force! However, Ezhou's current military strength is very empty, with less than 4,000 troops and horses. The two prefectures of Huangqi in the north of the Yangtze River have even less troops and horses. The situation is quite serious.

Something is not good!

Although the armies in the Xiangyang area have begun to advance towards Huangzhou, the distant water cannot quench the thirst of the nearby. Especially when the Jin army sent troops, they simultaneously sent troops to attack the two states of Tang and Deng. Meng Zongzheng and Hu Zaixing, as well as Liu Shiguang's Shenjin Army, Zhongshun Army, etc.

The army was restrained in the Tang and Deng areas and could not come to aid Huangzhou, so the situation was quite urgent!

Since you arrived so timely, I want to send you across the river to Huangzhou in the north of the Yangtze River to help Huangzhou defend against the enemy. I wonder if you have the courage, kid?"