Lin'an Never Night

Chapter 913 The Second Battlefield
Ultimately, the leaders of the rebellious Western Xia tribes chose to accept Yang Yuan's offer of amnesty.

On the one hand, Yang Yuan was not the one who sent the officials to the capital.

Yang Yuan was also being persecuted at the time, which made it impossible for them to blame him for the incident.

They were even... brothers in misfortune.

On the other hand, Yang Yuan's composure after their uprising made them somewhat unsure of what to do.

The current Western Xia is far less powerful than when it was still a single state.

They were no match for Yang Yuan back then, so why should they be now?

Furthermore, the fact that the Song army was overwhelming the Jin army on the Central Plains battlefield made them uneasy.

Moreover, the fact that the Ren and Wang families had already established a de facto marriage alliance with Yang Yuan gave some of them even more confidence in Yang Yuan's assurances.

The Western Xia tribes who accepted the surrender offer, while sending their surrender documents to the court, also volunteered to fight and requested to participate in the Song Dynasty's battle against Shaanxi.

When the news reached Lin'an, the new Jin delegation was preparing to return to the Northeast.

They and the State of Song have already drafted a treaty for joint military action, with clauses spanning over a hundred pages, enough to make one's head spin.

Upon receiving news of the surrender of the Western Xia tribes, Yang Yuan smiled and said to Shangguan Luo and the other newly appointed Jin envoys:

"The various tribes of Western Xia have accepted the court's offer of amnesty and are about to send troops to cooperate with our court's army in attacking Shaanxi."

If Xinjin is any slower, they won't be able to snag any bargains.

Yang hasn't kept this from you; how you proceed is up to you.

Li Yuanzhi and Wanyan Qingfeng were inevitably reluctant to part.

It was fine when I hadn't seen him yet, but now that I have, Yang Yuan's Hidden Dragon Skill has become increasingly profound.

Even if you don't like someone of the opposite sex initially, you might gradually develop feelings for them after spending more time with them.

A woman who already harbors feelings for him will find it even harder to control herself.

They didn't know when they would see each other again after this parting.

They are already sixteen or seventeen-year-old young women. How many more years of their youth can they afford to waste?

Yang Yuan looked at them, hesitated for a moment, and said, "Whether the Great Song or the New Jin takes Yanjing, we can all meet again in Yanjing."

You'll all be there then!

Upon hearing this, Wanyan Qingfeng and Li Yuanzhi were overjoyed.

The Western Xia army was deployed to the Shaanxi battlefield, while the new Jin dynasty launched an offensive from the north, in conjunction with the Song army in the Central Plains...

So, eliminating the Jin dynasty should be a matter of a year or two, right?

Wouldn't that mean that by this time next year at the latest, I would be able to see my teacher again in Yanjing City?
Wanyan Qingfeng pursed her lips and nodded slightly, but in her heart she was thinking:

Once the Jin dynasty is destroyed, the Song dynasty and the new Jin dynasty will become neighbors.

If neighboring countries want to live in harmony, isn't it reasonable for them to form a marriage alliance?
They were willing to make the sacrifice.

Hmm... it seems there's room for maneuver in this matter.

But how can we avoid that little vixen, Wanyan Ping?

If she finds out, she'll definitely try to take it from me.

Or... when I get back I'll trick her into getting married?

After seeing off the Jin delegation, Yang Yuan began to work on matters concerning the Shaanxi battlefield.

The Central Plains battlefield adopted the strategy devised by Yang Yuan, advancing steadily and cautiously step by step.

Whenever the Song army occupied a place, they would first consolidate the occupied territory.

They appeased officials and gentry in the occupied territories, and unless they were extremely heinous, they tried to win them over as much as possible and still appointed them to high positions.

This quickly eroded the will to resist in the Jurchen-controlled areas.

These Jurchen officials, the oldest of them, entered the Central Plains when they were young.

Not to mention the core members of the current ruling class.

Moreover, the Jurchens revered Han culture, and the higher the rank, the more they preferred to align everything with Han culture.

As a result, many Jurchens now possess a higher level of understanding and appreciation of Han culture and etiquette than many Han Chinese people in the areas they ruled.

They no longer harbored any resentment towards the Song state as different ethnic groups.

So there are only two things left that affect their mindset.

First, there was loyalty to the Jin dynasty; second, there was fear of national subjugation.

Now they know that as long as they submit to the Song Dynasty, their personal interests will not be harmed in the slightest.

Emperor Wanyan Liang, as always, was not very popular.

How much of the will to resist could the Jurchens still have left?

Therefore, Wanyan Liang, who had hastily fled to Bianliang and devised a defensive strategy, had to return to Yanjing and had no choice but to send his trusted confidants to supervise the battle.

In particular, the members of the Blood Floating Pagoda were split up and sent to various places to serve as adjutants to local officials.

In reality, they were supervisors, and if they discovered that local officials had rebellious intentions or were passive in their resistance, they would immediately take action to kill them.

Under these circumstances, it was quite necessary for Yang Yuan to open a second front in Shaanxi.

Once the war breaks out in Shaanxi, it will not only relieve the pressure on the Song army in the Central Plains, but also create a sense of oppression for the Jin people, making them feel like they are surrounded by enemies.

Yang Yuan quickly accepted the surrender of the Western Xia generals and reiterated his promise to protect their interests.

Yang Yuan then requested the Emperor to issue an edict granting titles and rewards to all the Western Xia generals who had been the first to surrender.

The leaders of several major tribes were all granted the title of marquis.

The Western Army, which had been eagerly requesting to fight, received a formal reply from Yang Yuan: they were ready to launch the campaign to recapture Shaanxi.

When the military order was issued, spies from the Privy Council and the Tongzhou Society had already infiltrated Shaanxi.

Their goal was to ascertain the current situation of Jin troops and supply lines in areas such as Jingzhao Prefecture and Fengxiang Prefecture.

Sending secret agents is only effective in this situation.

Once the war officially begins, only the army's scouts will be able to obtain firsthand intelligence from the front lines.

Logistics was also something Yang Yuan valued highly. Deploying troops wasn't something you could do simply by having a large army and wanting to send them out.

If logistical support can't keep up, it often means "sending food" (i.e., providing supplies to someone in need).

After years of war, especially the previous devastation in Shaanxi and the financial crisis, the people and resources in the Sichuan-Gorge region were already somewhat exhausted.

Yang Yuan needed money, but he didn't want to expend too much of the people's resources.

Otherwise, if local authorities impose increasingly stringent measures, it's hard to guarantee that the people won't rebel and cause trouble again.

Therefore, Yang Yuan asked Qiao Zhen and Qian Ce to come up with a solution and put forward some of his own ideas.

Qian Ce was also an outstanding member of the Qian family of Qiantang, though he was only slightly inferior to Qian Duanli.

After discussing it with Qiao Zhen, he came up with a complete plan for raising military funds.

One was the issuance of paper money and paper money.

However, if too much is issued, it will lead to inflation and credit devaluation, so only a reliable upper limit for issuance can be set.

What about the insufficient part?

First, they implemented the mortgage of science and technology distribution rights and exclusive sales rights in areas such as Liangzhe East Road, Liangzhe West Road, Jiangnan East Road, Jiangnan West Road, Guangnan East Road, and Guangnan West Road, borrowing money from wealthy households.

The front lines of the war were always the Huaidong, Huaixi, Jinghu, and Lizhou routes.

These areas also saw the highest number of deaths, and the local people's lives and livelihoods were most severely affected.

The regions that implement the use of science and technology allocation and monopoly rights as collateral for loans are located in the rear.

They were almost unaffected by the war, and although they contributed more taxes, their sacrifices were ultimately less than those of the war zones.

Now, all we can do is ask them to pay a higher price.

Moreover, these regions are well-off, and this level of financial drain is unlikely to cause public resentment and lead to a mutiny.

In addition, Yang Yuan also issued "public bonds" of varying amounts to the above-mentioned areas, including other non-war zones, according to their local economic development levels.

Yang Yuan demanded that officials in these regions complete the issuance of these government bonds.

This type of public debt is not a modern national debt or government bond. It already existed in the Song Dynasty, but it was mainly the behavior of local government.

In years of great disaster or in the face of war, local governments would issue loan certificates to local people, especially wealthy households, and these certificates were often apportioned.

The reason Yang Yuan did not distribute his work nationwide in the manner of the Song Dynasty court, from top to bottom, was because...

The people don't really trust the credibility of the Song Dynasty now...

This doesn't mean that the Song Dynasty's economy is going bankrupt.

Rather, rumors are circulating widely among the people that the Song emperor is to be replaced.

What if you buy "national bonds" of the Song Dynasty today, but the Song Dynasty is no longer around tomorrow?
However, the issuance of local government bonds is different now.

Local governments received handwritten orders from Prime Minister Yang Yuan to issue local government "bonds" in accordance with the required amounts.

Local gentry still had the courage to demand repayment from local officials.

More importantly, since it was Prime Minister Yang who issued the imperial edict to issue government bonds, then the world had truly changed...

This imperial edict will likely have more credibility in the future than current court decrees, won't it?

This was the idea of ​​the local gentry.

As for the local officials, they were eager to impress Prime Minister Yang, but they couldn't find an opportunity.

Therefore, this issuance of government bonds must be completed more quickly and efficiently!
With the funding issue resolved, war preparations for the Shaanxi battlefield were also complete.

The Western Xia army will march into Shaanxi through the mountain valleys of Longshan and Liupanshan.

Their main offensive direction was northern Shaanxi, while also defending against the Tatars.

Their food supplies were transported from Xingqing Prefecture along the Yellow River.

In addition to shipping, a large number of camels were also allocated for land transport by boat.

Using war to sustain war is not impossible, but the problem is that to obtain food, one must capture large cities and towns.

However, the duration of the siege was uncertain as to how long it would take to capture the major cities of Dafu.

Therefore, the supply of one's own army must keep up.

Meanwhile, three generals, Wu Gong, Chen Zhuoguang, and Li Dao, commanded the troops in Lizhou and Jingxiang, waiting for an opportunity to march north.

Li Xianzong remained stationed in the Hexi Corridor.

This is the armed force stationed on Xixia Road.

The supply of military provisions such as grain and gunpowder to Lizhou Road was handled by Chengdufu Road.

Of course, Yang Yuan didn't put his father-in-law, Qian Duanli, in too much of a difficult position.

The government bonds he issued will be allocated in large sums to the four routes of Sichuan and the Three Gorges to develop the local economy.

The main logistics base for the Jinghu region was located in Xiangyang.

And so, in the scorching heat of July, the Western Xia army set out.

At the same time, Xia Hekui, the military governor of Qinzhou in the Tianshui direction, also sent troops to contain the Jin army's forces in Longyou.

At the same time, two generals from Lizhou Road led troops to Dasanguan and attacked the upper reaches of the Wei River: Wu Gong, the Tiger of Wu, and Chen Zhuoguang, the One-Armed Hero.

Sitting on Tongchuan Road, Shi Han, who had missed his chance, was very envious of the two of them.

Li Dao, who was stationed in Jingxiang, also went north to Shangluo, making it appear as if he was about to attack Tongguan, forcing the Jin army to hold the eastern part.

The first phase of the Shaanxi Campaign, characterized by a three-pronged attack to divide and encircle the enemy, officially began.

PS: After Yang Yuan became the prime minister, he could no longer do many things personally.

Therefore, if many battles were described in detail, he would not be able to appear in many parts of the story.

Moreover, the war scenes are quite dry, so the parts where Yang Yuan is not present will be simplified.

Also: Recently, I've been frequently typing Yang Yuan as Yang Hao.

I only typed out the word "Yang Hao" because I've been using it frequently lately.

So guess why I've been using the name Yang Hao so frequently lately? ^_^
I'll tell you all in a few days.

(End of this chapter)