Xianxia version of Water Margin

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Zhao Gou was not ambitious, which made the war faction of the Southern Song Dynasty anxious.

Especially when Zong Ze and others heard that the Yuan Empire was not only at war with the Jin Kingdom and the Western Xia in the north, but also with the Goryeo Dynasty.

In the eyes of the war faction such as Zong Ze, this was a godsend opportunity for them to recover their lost territory.

Later, the Jin Kingdom, the Western Xia and Wang Qing sent envoys to Yangzhou.

Wanyan Wuqimai, the representative of the Jin envoy, said that after they joined forces to destroy the Yuan Empire, Hebei, Hedong, Yandi and Pingzhou would belong to the Jin Kingdom, and the Jin Kingdom and the Southern Song Dynasty would rule by the Yellow River.

Li Qianshun, the representative of the Western Xia envoy, said that the six routes of Shaanxi and the nine states of Yundi would belong to the Western Xia.

Wang Qing, the representative of the Chu envoy, said that the Southern Song Dynasty would recognize the territory currently occupied by the Chu Kingdom and give Xijing to the Chu Kingdom.

Zhao Gou and some of the officials of the Song Dynasty considered that the places that Jin, Xixia and Chu wanted were all occupied by the Yuan Empire, not the occupied areas of their Southern Song Dynasty court, so they would not feel bad if their sons sold their fathers' land.

The key point is that if they do not agree, Jin, Xixia and Chu will not help the Southern Song Dynasty court to contain the Yuan Empire.

More realistically, if Jin, Xixia and Chu do not take action, the Yuan army will inevitably destroy the Southern Song Dynasty court in one fell swoop.

In this case, Zhao Gou and his officials ignored the opposition of Zong Ze and others and agreed to the conditions of Jin, Xixia and Chu to form an alliance with them.

After the four countries formed an alliance, they quickly formed an oath, and the Southern Song Dynasty court also sent envoys to Jin, Xixia and Chu with Zhao Gou's imperial pen, state letter and oath in a short time.

Unexpectedly, not long after the four countries formed an alliance, the Yuan army severely damaged the Jin army.

Moreover, neither Xixia nor Chu had a clear advantage.

Let's talk about the Southern Song Dynasty court.

Since the restoration of the Song regime, there has been a fierce struggle within its highest ruling group between the war faction headed by Zong Ze and the peace faction headed by Zhao Gou, Huang Qianshan, and Wang Boyan.

When Zong Ze repeatedly petitioned Zhao Gou to return the capital to Yingtian, the contradiction between the two factions became more intensified.

Zhao Gou was terribly afraid of the invincible Yuan army, but he had seen many people rioting, and he was much more afraid of the people's armed forces than the Yuan army.

In Zhao Gou's view, if the loyal militia grew stronger in the process of fighting the Yuan army, it would inevitably pose a more serious threat to the Zhao family's ruling power, so he was even more afraid.

However, Zong Ze and others emphasized the important role of the loyal militia, and even wanted to recruit the armed forces of some of the peasants who had rebelled against the Zhao Song regime and use them in the struggle against the Yuan Empire.

This was absolutely unacceptable to Zhao Gou, Huang, Wang and others.

The war faction opposed moving the capital, especially to Jiankang or other places in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Because, that was to flee in the name of moving the capital, which would not only lead to the Yuan army's pursuit, but also destroy their morale. Therefore, they believed that returning the capital to Yingtianfu was the best strategy.

However, Yingtianfu was too close to the Central Plains controlled by the Yuan Empire. Zhao Gou, Huang, and Wang would never dare to think of using Yingtianfu as the capital.

They wanted to escape to Jiankang, hoping to stay there, so that they could avoid the Yuan army and enjoy the prosperous scenery of the southeast region.

Therefore, Zhao Gou, Huang, and Wang moved the newly established Song regime to Yangzhou despite the opposition of the pro-war faction such as Zong Ze.

While staying in Yingtian, Zong Ze built a large number of defensive fortifications and recruited a large number of soldiers. He wrote to Zhao Gou one after another, asking him to "return" to Yingtianfu and not to plan to move the capital to the southeast.

Although Zhao Gou ignored him and eventually moved the Song court from Guide to Yangzhou, and prepared to cross the river from Yangzhou and move south, Zong Ze still sent one memorial after another to Yangzhou, insisting that Zhao Gou "return to the throne" in Yingtian Prefecture.

In just over a year, Zong Ze sent a total of 24 memorials to Zhao Gou to "return to the throne".

Unexpectedly, the result was counterproductive. Zhao Gou, Huang, and Wang used false words such as preparing to return to the throne to perfunctorily appease him at first, but later, they simply ignored him.

Zong Ze was almost 70 years old. After shouting until he was hoarse and still seeing no improvement, his enthusiasm for serving the country turned into depression and worry about the country. He became ill due to worry and anger, and a carbuncle broke out on his back. When he knew that his life was about to end, he summoned his generals and asked them to persevere in the great cause of restoring the old things. He also recited Du Fu's poem praising Zhuge Liang, "He died before he could accomplish his mission, which makes heroes shed tears," to show that he died with his ambitions unfulfilled.

On January 1, the third year of Hongwu in the Yuan Dynasty, Zong Ze ended his fighting years. However, with his last breath, he repeatedly shouted the slogan "Cross the river!" without saying a word about personal matters.

After Zong Ze's death, Du Chong succeeded him as the governor of Kaifeng.

Du Chong was an irritable, harsh, headstrong man who liked to kill. There was almost nothing in common between him and Zongze. Just in terms of their styles and actions during their stay in Yingtian, the difference between the two is huge: Zongze has high prestige and great appeal, and can gather all kinds of armed forces scattered in various places into Yingtian Mansion. They were organized and trained to resist the Yuan army and defend the small imperial court of the Southern Song Dynasty. As for Du Chong, he lacked prestige, had no sense of loyalty, courage, and was not resourceful enough in times of trouble. After he took office, he became less and less popular. At this time, most of the troops gathered by Zongze fled. Those who did not come to Yingtian Mansion, but voluntarily accepted Zongze's orders and control, such as Yang Jin, who was not on the front line, took control of the territory. Li Cheng, who resisted the Yuan army, surrendered directly to the Yuan Empire.

Seeing that the most troublesome Zongze was dead, Xu Guanzhong immediately organized his troops to go south to capture the Jianghuai area after asking Jiang Hongfei for instructions.

Du Chong, who was in charge of Yingtian's stay, saw that the Yuan army was coming and saw that his generals were falling apart like this. His strength was obviously weakening, and he had no courage to sustain himself in such a dangerous situation.

Therefore, Du Chong used the excuse of going to Yangzhou to join Qin Wang's rebel army and handed over the responsibility of staying in Yingtian to Cheng Changyu without authorization, and led hundreds of thousands of Song troops to cross Huainan.

Not long after, Yingtian Mansion was captured by the Dayuan Army.

The Yuan army continued to move south.

When the troops of the small court of the Southern Song Dynasty in the Jianghuai area saw this, they ran away and surrendered.

Yangzhou City, chosen by Zhao Gou as his capital, soon came under serious threat from the Yuan army.

Because Zhao Gou stayed in Yangzhou, a large number of dignitaries, wealthy officials and noble families who were unwilling to surrender to the Yuan Empire poured into Yangzhou city.

After hearing the news that the Dayuan Army had broken through Nanjing City and moved south, the residents of Yangzhou City immediately became panicked.

Zhang Jun, the censor Zhongcheng, suggested to Zhao Gou that he should cross the Yangtze River and go south as soon as possible.

However, Huang Qianshan and Wang Boyan were nostalgic for the prosperity and liveliness of Yangzhou and were reluctant to leave immediately. They also imagined that the Yuan army might not come by luck, so they suggested to Zhao Gou that they should stop in Yangzhou for a while and wait for the battle report to be heard before making a decision. Officials and civilians were also strictly prohibited from talking about the situation on the front line, and officials and civilians were strictly prohibited from moving to seek refuge.

The armed forces Zhao Gou, Huang, Wang and others relied on at this time were Liu Guangshi's troops. They sent Liu Guangshi to lead more than 10,000 troops to the Huai River to intercept the enemy.

However, Liu Guangshi did not have the courage to kill the enemy and make him angry, and did not dare to take the lead. This greatly affected the morale of his entire army.

As a result, before they reached the south bank of the Huai River and before they saw the shadow of the Yuan Army, the entire army collapsed.

As a result, the Dayuan army was able to successfully cross the Huai River, capture Tianchang, and be within easy reach of Yangzhou.

Soon, the military situation at the front became extremely tight. The eunuch went to Zhao Gou for help in the middle of the night. Zhao Gou was panicked and had no time to convene ministers for discussion, so he immediately put on his military uniform, rode out of the city, and fled for his life. Following him were only five or six people including Wang Yuan, the commander of the imperial camp, and Kang Lu, the eunuch, and only a few guards. They all ran as fast as they could on their horses.

Huang Qianshan and Wang Boyan did not hear the news of the Yuan army approaching Yangzhou in time, and they used "don't worry" to evade those who came to inquire about the war.

Suddenly, someone said, "The emperor has run away." The two men hurriedly chased after him on horseback.

The behavior of the residents in Yangzhou City was originally only followed by Zhao Gou. When he found out that Zhao Gou had fled in panic, the whole city immediately fell into chaos. Everyone rushed out of the city to escape, and people fell from their backs. The streets were filled with people who were trampled to death. There were corpses, and posters looking for people were plastered all over the walls and trees. There are still more than 100,000 people crowded on the north bank of the river, vying to cross south but unable to find a boat. Thousands of people died in running and trampling, and died in the struggle to cross the river.

Most of the documents and documents of the small imperial court in exile, the gold, silver and silk accumulated in the treasury, and the gold, silver, treasures and soft goods of officials, gentry, wealthy households and wealthy merchants have been properly sealed and loaded into thousands of ships. It is anchored in the canal from Yangzhou to Guazhou, which stretches for forty or fifty miles, and is ready to go down the river in an emergency. Unexpectedly, just when it was urgent to move, the water volume was very small, the tide did not respond to the locks, and public and private ships were stuck in the mud. Except for those that were reduced to ashes due to fire in the chaos, they all became the spoils of the Yuan army.

What's more, these fleeing ministers of the small court of the Southern Song Dynasty and soldiers of the Song army not only did not protect the people first, but instead killed the crowded people with swords and sticks in order to clear the road and escape first.

The people were furious and increasingly disappointed with Zhao Gou and the small imperial court of the Southern Song Dynasty.

It is worth mentioning that because Zhao Gou and all the senior officials of the Southern Song Dynasty's small court ran away, the Song army completely lost its command system and became even more vulnerable, and then collapsed thousands of miles away.

Lin Chong, Shi Jin, Tang Bin, Yang Zhi, Hua Rong, Luan Tingyu, Sun Li, Suo Chao, Guan Sheng, Xu Ning, Qin Ming, Zhang Qing and other generals would not let go of the small court of the Southern Song Dynasty, and Zhao Gou The monarch and his ministers pressed forward step by step and pursued them relentlessly. It could be said that there was no way for Zhao Gou and the others to survive.

Zhao Gou was afraid. On the way to escape, he kept writing letters to Jiang Hongfei begging for peace. No, it should be said that he was begging for mercy.

Seeing that his life was in danger, Zhao Gou couldn't care less about his face.

In the letter begging for mercy to Jiang Hongfei, Zhao Gou no longer dared to call himself the emperor of the Zhao and Song dynasties. Instead, he called himself King Kang of Song, and at the same time addressed Jiang Hongfei as His Majesty the Emperor of the Yuan Dynasty. The letter was also written very sincerely.

"In ancient times, those who had a country and were forced to perish could only guard and run away... Nowadays, if you keep your country, there will be no one, but if you run, you will have no land."

"So the former has repeatedly submitted letters, willing to remove the old name... The world is all the country of the Great Yuan, and there is no second superior, so why bother to travel far and wide to be happy?"

"I hope that His Majesty the Emperor will have a grand plan and think of the isolated and vulnerable country. He will return to the army and give us more years."

"..."

It is no exaggeration to say that in order to survive, Zhao Gou is really flexible.

Surprisingly, after driving the small Southern Song Dynasty court to the south of the Yangtze River, Jiang Hongfei was really considering whether to let Zhao Gou go first?

Don't get me wrong.

Jiang Hongfei had the idea of ​​letting Zhao Gou go, of course, not because Zhao Gou begged for mercy, nor because Zhao Gou's mother served Jiang Hongfei diligently and pleaded for Zhao Gou.

Let's put it this way.

Jiang Hongfei would not give up the great unification just because Zhao Gou said a few soft words, or because a woman said something.

If Jiang Hongfei was really so stupid, the ministers of the Great Yuan Empire would not agree.

There are other reasons why Jiang Hongfei and his ministers want to temporarily let Zhao Gou go, no, to temporarily let go of the remnant Song forces:

First, Zhao Gou is a cowardly person, not enterprising, and only wants to be content with his own country. He does not want to recover his homeland. Before the Southern Song Dynasty defeats Fang La's Yongle Dynasty, he should not come to provoke the Yuan Empire.

Second, recently the Jin Kingdom, the Western Xia, and the Chu Kingdom have all been at war with the Yuan Empire. The Yuan Empire is also fighting a war of annihilation in Jidi, and is even preparing to destroy the Japanese Dynasty. It can be said that it has made enemies everywhere. This is not a good thing. Some wars must be ended as soon as possible, and the easiest war to end among them is here in the Southern Song Dynasty.

Third, in the Jiangnan region, there are not only the Song army, but also the millions of troops of Fang La's Yongle Dynasty. Even the Song army is divided into the Grand Marshal's Army headed by Zhao Gou and the Pingnan Army under Tong Guan. If the Yuan Empire's army in the southeast is counted, there are three military forces there. In such a complex place, the Southern Song Dynasty will definitely not be able to become a climate in a short time.

Fourth, after the Song army in the Jianghuai region was defeated, a large number of Song soldiers became bandits, some gathered in the mountains and forests, some occupied a water area, robbed houses, intercepted passing caravans, and even attacked cities and plundered land. The people in the Jianghuai region suffered from them and had to be eliminated.

In addition, the Huaihe River region has suffered from natural disasters and man-made disasters for years, and the people living here are miserable. Even the people in the Central Plains have just come out of the war. It can be said that the people are exhausted and need to recuperate.

The most important thing is that after discussing with Jiang Hongfei and his ministers, they feel that it is better to cut off one finger than to hurt ten fingers.

At present, the Jin Kingdom, Xixia, and Chu are all harassing the Yuan Empire.

Jiang Hongfei and his ministers considered that they must kill one of them.

In this way, the pressure on the Yuan Empire can be reduced.

Jiang Hongfei and his ministers considered that the Jin Kingdom was on the northeast plain and was powerful, so it was not so easy to eliminate it; Xixia was blocked by Hengshan, and the whole people were soldiers, so it was not so easy to eliminate it either. Only the Chu State, although it also called itself a country and occupied a large area, was actually a separatist regime. Moreover, because Wang Qing was arrogant and extravagant, and levied heavy taxes, the people under his rule complained, and it was actually strong on the outside but weak on the inside. In addition, the Chu State threatened the six routes of Shaanxi and the Luoyang area, which was a great threat. The key is to stabilize the country before resisting foreign aggression.

Therefore, Jiang Hongfei and his ministers decided on the strategic plan of "first attack Wang Qing, then attack the small court of the Southern Song Dynasty"...

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