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

Chapter 486: The Mongol-Khitan Involvement

Liu Huai's method is actually very simple.

Use one faction to fight against another.

Holding Ye Yiwen, the nominal commander-in-chief of the Lianghuai military, and Liu Qi, the actual commander-in-chief of the Lianghuai military, who was still unconscious at this time, with these two people standing in Chao County, the generals of Jiankang had no chance.

Do they still dare to take the initiative to attack?

That would mean Zhang Zigai and his group were disobeying orders.

Not to mention how confused the Jiankang generals were when they received Ye Yiwen's military orders.

Linhuang Prefecture of the Jin Dynasty.

Wanyan Fushou, who had just rested for a few days, set out again to carry out another plan of using one faction to fight another.

To be precise, it was to contact the Mongols.

Moreover, although in historical novels or vernacular novels, the late Fourth Prince of the Jin Dynasty, Wanyan Wushu, is regarded as a famous general, that is, only those who can beat him are considered famous generals, and those who cannot beat him are scum.

But in history, Wanyan Wushu can be regarded as one of the few figures in the Jin Dynasty who combines politician and military strategist.

Don’t look at the faction that this guy killed the peace faction in the tenth year of Shaoxing, and then invaded the Song Dynasty in the south. After being defeated by Yue Fei, he became a peace faction again, like a lunatic.

But Wanyan Wushu's actions have an underlying logic.

To be precise, Wanyan Wushu realized that the strength of the Jin Dynasty had declined and its army could no longer fight, so he wanted to take advantage of the last chance to fight a big battle with the Song Dynasty and gain enough advantages.

Even when he was beaten badly by Yue Fei in Yancheng and all his elite troops were lost, Wanyan Wushu was keenly aware of the turmoil in the political arena of the Song Dynasty. In the second year, he forced his way south and attacked Huaixi of the Song Dynasty. After another defeat, he remained undeterred and finally won a great victory in Haozhou.

After gaining a strategic advantage, Wanyan Wushu quickly forced the Song Dynasty to negotiate peace.

In fact, at this point, the Song State still had some advantages, because the Jin State really had no elite troops.

However, Wanyan Wushu's dominance, coupled with Qin Hui's treasonous behavior and Zhao Gou's cowardice, eventually led to the bizarre events of Yue Fei's unjust killing and the Shaoxing Peace Conference.

Afterwards, Wanyan Wuzhu stabilized the government and made the Jin Dynasty's government more stable. The three generations of Jin Dynasty emperors Wanyan Dan, Wanyan Liang, and Wanyan Yong all had a good impression of him, so that his reputation became more and more famous after his death.

Wanyan Wushu was never just a warrior, and his approach to settling the Khitans was truly brilliant.

The Liao Dynasty established by the Khitans was divided into the South Court and the North Court. To put it simply, the South followed the Han system, and the North followed the tribal system.

The Jin Dynasty rose to power by opposing the Liao Dynasty, and it had no intention of exterminating the tribalized Khitans, but simply dispersed and resettled them.

Naturally, these Khitans, who were experiencing a huge psychological gap, began sporadic rebellions. Especially after the news came that Yelu Dashi had successfully marched west and established the Liao Dynasty, the Khitans became even more restless.

The Jin court was also very patient in this regard, and in the end it was Wanyan Wushu who came up with a solution.

Let the Khitans stay on the edge of the grassland and fight to the death with the rising Mongols.

Every now and then, the Jin army would take the Khitan tribes to the grasslands to plunder for food, in order to obtain cattle and sheep, and to create a feud between the Khitans and the Mongols.

In fact, the effects of Wanyan Wushu's policies were not only good, but a bit too good.

The northern border of the Jin Dynasty was truly safe.

Therefore, Wanyan Liang felt that it was not good for the Khitans to sit idle like this, so he should mobilize the entire army and follow the Emperor to fight to the death with the Song Dynasty!
But the key point is that the northern border of the Jin Dynasty was safe because the Khitan tribe was blocking the outermost edge.

The Khitans themselves also knew that if all the soldiers went to Lianghuai, then the elderly and children at home would definitely not be able to be protected.

It would be a miracle if the Mongols don’t come and do something ruthless by then!
After being conscripted several times, the Khitan tribe finally could no longer bear it and launched a massive uprising under the leadership of Yelu Saba.

This is the deep-seated reason for the Khitan uprising.

According to historical development, the Khitan tribe, after fighting several fierce battles with the Jin Dynasty, felt that overthrowing the Jin Dynasty was an impossible task and fled deep into the grassland.

However, conflicts arose within the Khitan rebel army afterwards.

To put it simply, the leader Yelu Saba felt that being caught between the Jin Dynasty and the Mongols would mean death, so he might as well take this opportunity to migrate westward and join Yelu Dashi.

The Western Liao Dynasty established by Yelu Dashi must have lacked the Khitan people, and they were given high-ranking officials and noble titles after arriving.

The second-in-command Yilawowo thought you were probably crazy. The Liao Dynasty established by Dashilinya was even further west than Western Xia, and there were so many Mongolian tribes in between. It would be wiped out before it even reached Western Xia.

Things are different now than when Yelu Dashi went on the Western Expedition. At that time, some of the Mongolian tribes on the grassland still obeyed the orders of the Liao Kingdom, and there were also Liao Kingdom garrisons and residual forces on the grassland. What's going on now?

It’s better to go back to my hometown in Linhuang Prefecture.

Amidst endless disputes and escalating conflicts, the second-in-command Yilawowo killed Yelu Saba, then led the Khitan tribe back to Linhuang Prefecture. Taking advantage of the ascension of Wanyan Yong and others to the throne, he also proclaimed himself emperor and expanded extensively, but was eventually defeated by Pushan Zhongyi and others.

But now, things have taken a slight turn.

Because the ruling prime minister Hesheli Liangbi arrived in Liaodong and then fought against Wanyan Yong's small rebel group, in order to prevent the generals from interfering and causing trouble, Hesheli Liangbi ordered these people to guard their garrisons strictly.

Therefore, the various armies that were supposed to gather in Linhuang Prefecture did not set out, and Linhuang Prefecture was extremely empty compared to the original history.

After Hesheli Liangbi dealt with Wanyan Yong and brought him into the army, he took a look at the battle situation and immediately made an accurate judgment.

Pushan Shigong's previous strategy of concentrating the army to attack was completely ineffective.

The Khitans were also a semi-nomadic tribe. They did not run away when they could not win, but when they thought they could not win, they would run away when they were 200 miles away. How could the Jin army chase them then?
If the Khitan tribes were allowed to roam the grasslands, they would have no peace for seven or eight years. Therefore, we only had one chance. Even if we couldn't achieve our goal in one fell swoop, we had to at least cripple the Khitan rebels!
To achieve this, what is needed is not a large army, but an elite cavalry unit.

Therefore, Hesheli Liangbi carefully selected 10,000 elite cavalry and stationed them in Linhuang Prefecture, adhering to the idea that the quality of the soldiers is more important than the quantity.

For the Khitan rebels, having more than 10,000 soldiers in the huge Linhuang Prefecture was like peeing in the Pacific Ocean. Linhuang Prefecture was still empty and could be occupied.

Therefore, although there were disputes within the Khitan rebel army, Yelu Saba did not stick to his own opinion. In the end, he was persuaded by Yilawowo and others. The army turned back and marched towards Linhuang Prefecture, intending to use the Khitan's birthplace as a foundation to establish a new dynasty and achieve hegemony.

Although Wanyan Yong was theoretically a partner of Hesheli Liangbi, he was actually dancing in shackles and had no military power. Wanyan Mouyan and others were also under close scrutiny. If they wanted to change the situation, they had no way to take military action. They could only resort to some strange tactics.

In the end, Wanyan Yong actually thought of a solution.

They contacted the Mongolian tribes, more precisely the Tatar tribe near Hulun Lake and Buir Lake, and attacked the Khitan tribe together with the Jin army from the front and back.

This plan was indeed unexpected, because no matter how active the Khitan tribe was at this time, they were still the lackeys who had fought for the Jin Dynasty for many years. Moreover, the Khitan uprising was caused by Wanyan Liang's stupid actions, and there were still many Khitan ministers in the court.

But the Mongols were a real foreign enemy.

Even though the Tatars were close to the Jin Dynasty, they were still a foreign vassal. When the Jin Dynasty cooperated with the Tatars, it also devoted 50% to 60% of its energy to defense.

If these people are introduced into the civil war, the situation will suddenly become extremely complicated.

It should be noted that the three important requirements for the establishment of the Jin Dynasty were to ensure the suppression of the Han people, the Khitans, and the Mongols.

To make an inappropriate analogy, Wanyan Yong's move was equivalent to Empress Dowager Cixi joining forces with the Eight-Nation Alliance to strangle the Boxer Rebellion.

It is better to give it to foreign enemies than to domestic slaves.

But there was nothing he could do.

Although Hesheli Liangbi had promised that Wanyan Yong would be released after Wanyan Liang's southern expedition was over, who knew what the situation would be like by then?
Wanyan Liang had great ambitions but little talent, so there was an 80% chance that he would be doomed, but wasn't there still a 20% chance that he would return with a great victory?
By then, with the prestige that Wanyan Liang had accumulated, he would not need to send a large army to attack. He could just order his attendants to come with swords.

Therefore, Wanyan Yong had to start saving himself.

He had to gain prestige and start by controlling the more than 10,000 elite soldiers of Linhuang Prefecture to complete the counterattack.

Moreover, Wanyan Yong had a natural advantage over Hesheli Liangbi. He was a close relative of the royal family and had the right to inherit the throne. As long as he could demonstrate his ability and accumulate prestige, even if he was still not as good as Hesheli Liangbi, he could still suppress the other party.

In fact, Wanyan Yong had already established contact with the Tatar tribe at this time. This was the second and most formal meeting, the purpose of which was to agree on the date of the attack.

This glorious and arduous task fell on Wanyan Fushou.

There's no way, who made this guy have the greenest face and the strongest ability?

Wanyan Fushou naturally knew that the greater the ability, the greater the responsibility and the greater the reward, so he immediately set off and headed north.

The plan was perfect, but unfortunately something went wrong at the first step.

Wanyan Fushou and more than ten personal soldiers had just left the control area of the Jin Dynasty when they encountered dozens of Khitan cavalry. Their identities were quickly recognized and the two sides started fighting on the spot.

Wanyan Fushou was also convinced. Since leaving Hesuguan Road and being recruited by Wanyan Liang to Shandong, he had not had a smooth journey.

What the hell did he offend?

Of course, he still didn't dare to engage in a chaotic fight on the Khitan territory. After several rounds of conflict, he fled.

However, in the Khitan sphere of influence, how could it be so easy to escape?
Soon, Wanyan Fushou was surrounded by more than 300 cavalrymen.

This fellow was quite a bachelor, and he threw down his weapon. "Where is your Khitan leader? I am here to announce the decree by the order of Duke Cao of the Great Jin!"

The leading Khitan knight snorted coldly: "We have nothing to say to the Jin thieves. Kill them!"

Wanyan Fushou was shocked, but he remained calm and said loudly, "Wait a minute. When two countries are at war, they don't kill the envoys. What do you think that means? It's not about the life and death of the envoy, but if the envoy is killed, there will be no peace talks.

Even if you Khitans want to fight to the bitter end, is it your turn to make this decision? Quickly bring me to the person in charge! Then I will die without regrets! "

The Khitan knight hesitated for a moment, then turned to look at his trusted associates.

Before the Khitan knight could make a decision, another Khitan knight rode into the encirclement from the outside and said to the former, "Liu Jin, I am here under the orders of the Sixth Court Jiedushi to take charge of these matters. Leave it to me to resolve. Don't get involved."

The knight named Xiao Liujin nodded, but still pointed at Wanyan Fushou and the others and said, "But I can't give up my spoils!"

The Khitan Knight nodded helplessly: "All with you."

After that, some Khitans stepped forward, pushed Wanyan Fushou and the others off their horses, and then stripped off their armor and clothes, leaving them without even a loincloth, leaving Wanyan Fushou and the others shivering in the cold wind.

Xiao Liujin was finally satisfied: "Chen family, these people are all yours."

After saying this, Xiao Liujin led his troops away.

The knight called Yelu Chen shook his head and said to his guards, "Give each of them a piece of ragged leather. Hey, this job I've done has only cost me a fortune."

Wanyan Fushou took the torn leather that still emitted a foul and rotten smell and quickly wrapped it around himself. While bowing to express his gratitude, he sighed again in his heart.

What the hell is going on here?

Yelu Chenjia looked at the dozen or so Jin soldiers wrapped in tattered leather and shook his head: "Let's go, I'll take you to see the Sixth Court Jiedushi."

(End of this chapter)