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

Chapter 676 A Letter from an Old Friend in Deshun

The letter was signed "De Shunjun, an old friend".

Although this was merely a cover-up and seemed somewhat pretentious, Wu Lin immediately recognized that it must be a letter from Zhang Zhongyan.

Because Zhang Zhongyan surrendered to the Jin Dynasty after the Battle of Fuping, his position at the time was Zhi Deshun Army.

Wu Lin felt no contempt for this former comrade-in-arms, later traitor, and now the number two figure in the Jin army's western route.

Wu Lin was a participant in the Battle of Fuping, so how could he not know the cause and effect?

Defeat is defeat. There are no invincible armies or undefeated generals in the world. Those who should be demoted should be demoted, and those who should be punished should be punished.

Even if it is necessary to kill someone, the troops should be organized, morale should be appeased, and then the authorities should be allowed to execute them in accordance with the laws of the country.

The key issue is that Zhang Jun was an ambitious but incompetent man. After his defeat at the Battle of Fuping, he did not take any time to recover and immediately began to punish all parties involved in the war on the grounds of losing the army and disgracing the country.

After all that commotion, Zhang Jun, citing the defeat of the army, demoted Liu Xi, Liu Qi's elder brother, and executed Zhao Zhe and his generals Zhang Zhong and Qiao Ze, causing panic among the troops.

Under these circumstances, it is not surprising that Murong Tao, a general of Huanqing Road, defected to Western Xia, and Zhang Zhongfu, Zhang Zhongyan, and Li Yanqi, generals of Jingyuan Road, defected to the Jin army.

Although the brothers Zhang Zhongfu and Zhang Zhongyan later made some erratic moves, the root cause was still the defeat at Fuping.

Putting everything else aside, if we're talking about who is most guilty of the defeat, isn't Zhang Jun, the supreme commander, the one with the greatest responsibility?

Wu Lin felt the same way. Although he fought against Zhang Zhongyan several times afterward, he never harbored any deep hatred for him.

Zhang Zhongyan's letter was ostensibly an invitation for Wu Lin to meet on the battlefield, but both men understood the underlying meaning.

Zhang Zhongyan simply felt that the Jin Dynasty was no longer viable and wanted to switch allegiance. However, since he had already defected once, Zhang Zhongyan was worried that the Song Dynasty would bring up past grievances again, so he came to Wu Lin to test the waters.

At this time, Zhang Zhongyan was leading this Han army stationed in Fengxiang Prefecture. If he could persuade them to surrender, Wu Lin would not need to go to great lengths to conquer the Jinghe River passage. He could simply march along the Wei River into Guanzhong and retake Chang'an.

The Longyou region in this era was not in the same state as before the Song Dynasty.

In order to fight against the Western Xia, the entire Longyou region became the front line. After several defeats in field battles, the Song army decided on the tactic of building fortifications and advancing steadily.

From the founding of the Western Xia by Li Yuanhao to the complete loss of Guanzhong and Longyou by the Song Dynasty in the Battle of Fuping, a total of more than 80 years passed, and the Song Dynasty built fortresses for more than 80 years.

This castle, that military camp, layer upon layer, densely packed, made even the attacking side's scalp tingle.

Why did Wu Lin launch a fierce attack on De Shun's army despite his weakened physical condition?

It's because the Deshun Army has too many fortified positions. If they hadn't taken them down when the Jin army was short of troops, who knows how long it would have taken!
It was truly an unexpected surprise that Zhang Zhongyan now wanted to surrender Fengxiang Prefecture to the Song Dynasty.

However, Wu Lin wasn't a naive young man who believed everything he heard; he instinctively still harbored some doubts.

People always have motives for doing things. Why did Zhang Zhongyan send a letter at this time when he neither wrote earlier nor later?

What happened in this situation?
"Send scouts, disguised, to continue their investigation in Guanzhong. I need all the intelligence."

After giving orders to his personal guards, Wu Lin beckoned to a military advisor.

"Go and contact the spies in Guanzhong. I need all the information, the number of merchants coming and going, and even the prices."

"Here!"

"Xiao Wu, come and write a reply for me. It should be mostly nonsense like 'I haven't seen my old friend for many years, I miss him dearly,' or 'My children are doing well.'"

Finally, add the following sentence: "Once or twice is acceptable, but a third time is not. People's hearts yearn for stability, and the world will be at peace. I hope you will make preparations early to ensure your safety."

"Here!"

The soldiers and officers busied themselves, but Wu Ting frowned: "Father, should we change the plan?"

Wu Lin hesitated for a moment, then slowly said, "At this time, it is better to remain still than to act. I do not know what Zhang Zhongyan is thinking or why he has taken such measures, but my military strategy cannot be changed by one person's words."

This means that the Song army continued to focus its main forces on Yuanzhou, with the primary objective being to open up the Jing River passage.

Wu Ting could only nod in agreement.

The father and son fell silent, gazing at the scenery outside the city, each pondering the war and their future.

The words are divided into two parts.

Zhang Zhongyan was not using a tactic to lure the enemy; he was genuinely on the verge of collapse.

In actual history, Zhang Zhongyan did not want to fight to the death with the Song state, so after he and Tudan Hexi broke through Dasanguan Pass, he remained on the sidelines and watched from the sidelines.

Later, Wanyan Yong unified the Jin Dynasty and sent reinforcements. Zhang Zhongyan was happy to be relieved. After persuading the Guanzhong generals who were loyal to Wanyan Liang to surrender on behalf of Wanyan Yong, he was granted the title of Duke of Zongguo and continued to lead the army in Guanzhong as the general reserve force.

Although Wanyan Yong was generally satisfied with Zhang Zhongyan, he was still wary of the man's popularity in Guanzhong and Longyou and dared not let him continue to lead troops to make merits. After the war, he transferred Zhang Zhongyan to serve as an official in the Central Plains and other places.

But now, both Wanyan Liang and Wanyan Yong seem to have forgotten about Guanzhong. These two brothers each have a mess of troubles to deal with, and they have no troops or generals to support Guanzhong.

This resulted in the overall situation in Kansai being maintained entirely by Tudan Hexi and Zhang Zhongyan.

As a conqueror of a foreign tribe, Tudan Hexi naturally acted as he pleased, showing no mercy to the people of Guanzhong and exploiting them however he pleased in order to achieve victory.

But Zhang Zhongyan is not suitable.

He came from a traditional Western Army military family. Western Army military families were bound together with the people of Kansai; the people of Kansai recognized them, and they had to protect the people of Kansai.

For example, when Wu Jie was guarding Xianren Pass, Guanzhong had already been occupied by the Jin Dynasty, but the people of Guanzhong insisted on transporting grain and fodder from the enemy-occupied area to support Wu Jie's struggle against the Jin.

For example, when Zhang Zhongyan's elder brother Zhang Zhongfu was in charge of the Guanzhong region, the puppet Qi regime wanted to impose heavy taxes, but Zhang Zhongfu directly rejected the idea.

If Zhang Zhongyan dared to betray the elders of Guanzhong, he would be immediately abandoned by the local soldiers, like a rootless duckweed, and his death would be imminent.

However, it was a fact that the Jin army was short of troops to defend Guanzhong. Tudan Hexi repeatedly asked Zhang Zhongyan to conscript soldiers and forcibly collect money and grain, but Zhang Zhongyan kept making excuses.

However, now that Wu Lin is about to launch a full-scale offensive, Tu Danhexi is also getting anxious and has issued an ultimatum to Zhang Zhongyan.

If Zhang Zhongyan is still unwilling to work, then Tudan Hexi will send Wuyan Wulibu to do the dirty work. At that time, no matter if Guanxi is devastated or only one in ten survives, Zhang Zhongyan, don't blame me!

Faced with this situation, Zhang Zhongyan only had this one path to take.

Wu Lin, Wu Erlang, out of consideration for being fellow soldiers in the Western Army, helped his brother out.

"Uncle, how is it? Has Grand Commandant Wu replied?"

General Zhang Congjin of the Mighty Army asked anxiously.

Zhang Zhongyan looked at his eldest nephew with some helplessness: "Ajin, my brother is such a calm and steady person, how did he end up with such a hot temper like you?"

Zhang Congjin was Zhang Zhongfu's son.

Zhang Zhongyan was less than ten years older than Zhang Congjin, and they had known each other since childhood. So, although they addressed each other as uncle and nephew, they were not very polite with each other.

"Okay, okay, I have a bad temper, I was wrong." After giving a few perfunctory replies, Zhang Congjin asked again, "Now, Uncle, can you tell me if there's any news?"

Zhang Zhongyan handed over the letter on the desk: "Take a look for yourself."

Zhang Congjin took the letter, read it quickly, and then frowned, asking, "What does the last sentence mean?"

Zhang Zhongyan scoffed: "What else could it mean? It's nothing more than telling us to hold firm to our position and find something to use as a stepping stone for advancement. After all, I've been through too much trouble over the years, and the Song Dynasty might not trust me anymore."

“Uh…” Zhang Congjin was also speechless.

The life experiences of Zhang Zhongyan and his deceased elder brother Zhang Zhongfu were incredibly complex, far beyond what could be summarized as "servants of three masters."

After the Battle of Fuping, the two surrendered to the Jin Dynasty. However, given the Jin Dynasty's administrative capabilities at the time, it was already somewhat overwhelmed by the conquest of Youyan, Hebei, and Jin, and was simply unable to effectively control the vast Central Plains region.

Therefore, the Jin state established the Qi state, with Liu Yu as emperor, and incorporated Shandong, the Central Plains, Nanyang, and Guanzhong into it all at once.

The State of Qi was both a junior partner and a strategic buffer against the State of Song.

The Zhang brothers, Zhongyan and Zhongyan, became generals of the State of Qi in a rather haphazard way.

But that wasn't the end of it. After Wanyan Talan took power in the Jin Dynasty, he promoted peace talks between the Song and Jin Dynasties. The two sides finally succeeded in the peace talks in the eighth year of Shaoxing, which is known in history as the Tianjuan Peace Talks.

From then on, the State of Song submitted to the State of Jin, and the State of Jin abolished the State of Qi and granted Henan and Shaanxi to the State of Song.

Zhang Zhongfu, who served as the military governor of Shaanxi and the prefect of Jingzhao, was the de facto ruler of Shaanxi and thus naturally returned to the Song Dynasty.

The Song state was naturally not comfortable with the Zhang brothers staying in Shaanxi, so they sent them to the capital, and they became Song subjects again.

However, the treaty of peace agreed upon by Heaven was undoubtedly unsatisfactory to everyone.

In the ninth year of the Shaoxing era, Wanyan Wuzhu launched a coup and killed Wanyan Talan.

In the tenth year of the Shaoxing era, Wanyan Wuzhu broke the Tianjuan Peace Treaty and invaded the Song Dynasty from the south.

What followed was the familiar story of Wanyan Wuzhu being brutally beaten by Yue Fei, and Zhao Gou and Qin Hui betraying their country.

During the subsequent Shaoxing Peace Treaty, Wanyan Wushu specifically requested that the brothers Zhang Zhongyan and Zhang Zhongfu be allowed to return to the Jin Dynasty, which Zhao Gou readily agreed to.

This explains why Zhang Zhongyan was still serving as an official in the Jin Dynasty at this time.

Having gone through the cycle of Song, Jin, pseudo-Qi, Song, and Jin again, it would be utterly ridiculous to expect the Song state to still unconditionally trust Zhang Zhongyan.

After discussing countermeasures, the uncle and nephew sighed, "If we want the Song Dynasty to not suspect us, at the very least we have to hand over Fengxiang Prefecture and open up Chencang Road. But if we do that, we will be besieged by the Jin army first."

Zhang Congjin said in a low voice, "Uncle, there's no other way. If we want to change our allegiance, we have to go through this process no matter what. Besides, the people of Guanzhong will support us."

Zhang Zhongyan glanced at Zhang Congjin: "Your uncle is incompetent, it's not because my brother is so great... Alas, if my brother were still alive, the situation would be very different."

Just then, someone outside the door called out names.

After receiving permission, the guard led a military envoy into the house.

"Greetings, Commander Zhang." The military envoy was a Jurchen. After seeing Zhang Zhongyan, he cupped his hands and said, "I have come on the orders of my commander-in-chief. Please go to Yuanzhou for the military meeting."

Zhang Zhongyan was somewhat surprised: "During a major battle, how can I, as a general, abandon my post?"

The military envoy was not annoyed by this: "My commander said that in this sweltering weather, the Jurchen soldiers are suffering, but do you think the Song army is having a good time? As long as Commander Zhang sends his trusted men to guard Chencang, Fengxiang Prefecture will be fine."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Zhongyan knew that Tu Danhexi was determined to send him to Yuanzhou, and his heart sank.

(End of this chapter)