Destroy Jin and conquer Song, and carry the Northern Expedition through to the end

Chapter 279: The Chu Voice is Fierce and the Army is Depressed
What Zhang Rong envisioned was indeed good, but eight out of ten people are not satisfied with their lives.

How can the development of the world's affairs make people's wishes come true?

On September 20th, when the Jin navy arrived at Rizhao City, they immediately stopped fighting.

We are not attacking Lin'an, and there will be no profit in taking it. Is it necessary to fight to the death with these stinky and hard stones from the toilet?

After Wanyan Zhengjia and other high-ranking military officers rode their horses around Rizhao City and saw the Dongping flag on Shijiu Mountain again, they were all speechless.

Why the hell is it this kind of terrain again?
It’s not that you can’t fight, but once you start fighting, it will inevitably take a long time.

For example, if siege equipment were built now, it would take more than ten days to be put out. There were many in the navy, but they were all on ships, and they were all used by Zhao Gou, the eunuch. How could they be used in such a place?
Are they worthy?

"What should we do?" Pu Nianheda was also a little dumbfounded. He looked at Wanyan Zhengjia and said, "How about we capture some soldiers first?"

Wanyan Zhengjia first looked at the Rizhao City Wall, then at Shijiu Mountain beside him. He felt a headache coming on. "Forget it! Doesn't catching lots take time? We'd be better off building more ladders if we had that time."

Seeing that Gao Shi was the only one beside him, Pu Nianheda did not hesitate to step forward and whispered, "General, what do you think? Do you want to continue fighting?"

"Oh?"

"Don't misunderstand, General. What I meant was that as fellow Jurchens, the men of the Divine Vanguard Army will naturally not embarrass you. As long as you give the order, I will lead the marching troops, carrying ladders to attack the city." Pu Nianheda whispered, "I was just thinking, after all, our navy isn't designed for this. After all these years of training in water warfare, are we just going to fight the enemy to the death on land? It would be better to have the Privy Council dispatch a few more land troops, at least to get more cavalry. The enemy has more cavalry than we do right now, and I haven't fought this kind of battle in decades."

Wanyan Zhengjia shook his head. "Carrying ladders and attacking the city without any protection would be a waste of our lives. I wouldn't even employ the Wucheng Army in such a way. But attacking Zhang Rong is a serious military order. How can we start to be perfunctory in public?"

After the scolding, Wanyan Zhengjia stopped talking and weighed the options carefully in his mind.

For a senior military officer like him, he has to consider not only military aspects but also political aspects.

To put it nicely, the Jin navy's deployment this time was to risk their lives for the country, but to put it bluntly, it was to act without orders.

Of course, in the feudal era, such matters depended entirely on the emperor's opinion. If the emperor considered you loyal, even if you secretly mobilized troops, it was a sign of concern for the country and the people, and a relief for His Majesty. If the emperor considered you disloyal, even if you looked unhappy, it was a sign of slander and rebellion.

Given the relationship between Su Baoheng and Wanyan Liang, he would naturally not let things degenerate into rebellion.

However, the result of sending troops out without permission is likely to be no reward for meritorious service and punishment for wrongdoing.

This is disgusting.

It would be fine if the Dongping Army was dealt with easily by the Jin Army like the 4,000 people stationed in Caoqiao Town before.

It is obvious that we are going to fight a tough battle now, and it is a tough battle to siege the city. What should we do if there are really thousands of casualties?

However, he had no choice but to obey Su Baoheng's military orders.

Therefore, the Wanyan Zheng family was caught in a dilemma.

After weighing the pros and cons for a moment, Wanyan Zhengjia finally said, "We can't rush the attack. We need to build a camp and build siege equipment. We should surround the city from three sides and leave one side open. After three days, we can try again..."

Punianheda and Gao Shi understood instantly.

The deputy governor didn't want to fight anymore.

He wanted to delay time by setting up a siege camp, preferably until the Privy Council issued a military order, so that the navy could abandon this mess and charge towards the world of Jiangnan.

Come to think of it, this trip was indeed miserable. The only commendable result was the defeat of the vanguard of the Dongping Army, but this achievement was indeed insignificant compared to the civil strife in the Wucheng Army.

Wanyan Zhengjia seemed to have thought of this as well. He turned and asked his guards, "By the way, have you sent scouts to find out where Huyan Nanxian fled to?" "He crossed Jiuxian Mountain and headed towards Ju County," the guards said respectfully. "They captured a few of our brothers, but they didn't bother them. They gave them a meal and released them."

Pu Nianheda also felt a little regretful at this time.

The army is full of warriors with hot tempers and quick minds, and they can easily get into arguments.

This is a common occurrence, but who would have thought that just a few words of criticism against Xu Wen during the military meeting would lead to such serious consequences.

If I had known that day earlier, I would have learned the art of silence.

"General, send someone to persuade them." Pu Nianheda bowed and replied, "After all, we are all brothers in arms. We are not fighting each other. Why make it like this?"

Wanyan Zhengjia understood that Wu Chengjun's predicament stemmed not from military matters but from national policy. However, he couldn't bring himself to speak publicly, and for a moment, he could only sigh and wave his hands. "Heda, you don't understand. Wu Chengjun's situation isn't that simple. However, the commander-in-chief and I agree on one point: bring Wu Chengjun to Jiangnan. Then, we can all stand behind enemy lines and fight side by side. Within a few days, we'll be united once again."

"hope so."

Pu Nianheda could only nod in agreement.

Since the senior commanders of the Jin navy had reached a consensus, the Jin army immediately deployed their troops under Rizhao City, built camps, and planned a long-term siege.

This time, in order to grasp the movements of the Dongping Army as soon as possible, the Jin Army's only cavalry of 1,000 people was divided into small groups, and almost all of them became scouts, dispersing around Rizhao County to gather intelligence.

The combat effectiveness of the navy's cavalry units can be imagined, but although they are no match for the regular cavalry, they are good at harming the common people.

A dozen cavalrymen gathered together and could often drive dozens of families into flight. If a hundred cavalrymen gathered together, large manors could still protect themselves, but small villages would almost always be slaughtered.

This is what Dong Cheng fears the most.

The same is true.

Even though the Dongping Army remained as stable as a rock under the fierce attack of the Jin navy, its morale dropped at a visible rate after holding Rizhao City for several days.

At this time, there was sufficient food in Rizhao City, and the Dongping Army had clear rewards and punishments. Even though the Jin Army had only launched two tentative attacks on the city, the Dongping Army already felt that it could not hold on.

On September 24, Wanyan Zhengjia, feeling that he had hit the jackpot by accident, simply issued an order that the Jin cavalry should be rewarded for their hard work and the timely information collected by the scouts, so the Jin cavalry could keep the spoils for themselves and did not have to hand them over.

The Jin navy was also a regular army, and there were regulations for the distribution of captured spoils. It was divided roughly into three parts: one part was kept for themselves, one part was used for public purposes, and one part was distributed by superiors and then rewarded to the entire army.

This is also to ensure the interests of the entire army. Otherwise, if everyone goes to grab money, the war will not be able to be fought.

But the military order issued by Wanyan Zheng's family at this time was undoubtedly telling those scouts to grab it now, everything you grab is yours, if you miss this opportunity, you will miss it forever!
This naturally became a carnival for the Jin army.

Every day, there were scouts coming and going to the Jin army camp to transport money, goods and food, and of course, the most valuable, young and beautiful women.

Once the business opens, things will no longer be under the control of the Wanyan Zheng family.

Although the military order was that the scouts could take the spoils themselves, in reality, the cavalry were not unruly, so how could they not share the spoils with others?
Soon, many officers at the level of marching meng'an and commanders joined in. They expanded the looting unscrupulously and sent their confidants to attack large settlements such as manors in order to gain more benefits.

This situation was out of control. On October 1st, the day when Emperor Zhao Gou of the Song Dynasty finally responded and officially declared war on the Jin Dynasty, the Dongping Army in Rizhao City finally began to become restless, and even the left army of the Loyal Army became somewhat unstable.

This time, neither Zhang Rong nor Dong Chengdu could endure it any longer.

The Jin thieves' move was indeed unethical, but it could not be said to be a move to cut off the source of the problem, forcing the Dongping army to fight head-on.

(End of this chapter)