I am Emperor Shizu of Song

Chapter 130 My Great Song Dynasty is merely occupying the territory of the rebels; the territory of Goryeo was occupied by the rebels.

Wu Jialiang's concerns were exactly the same concerns that Song Jiang himself had.

So when this question was raised, everyone perked up their ears, eager to know why Wang Chengxun felt that Zhao Zicheng had the right to fulfill the promises he had just made.

A mere prefect dares to make such a boastful promise, promising to appoint others as prefects as well? Isn't that a joke?
Fortunately, Wang Chengxun's sister has already been taken into Zhao Zicheng's household. Although she has not yet been formally taken as his concubine, the Wang family is considered Zhao Zicheng's absolute confidant and can know some inside information.

Li Jun, who came with Wang Chengxun, had been following Zhao Zicheng for several years. He was quick-witted and knew that his lord had ambitions.

Wang Chengxun then took a deep breath and said solemnly, "Indeed, in terms of official hierarchy, Lord Zhao has no right to promise such a generous reward. But to say something somewhat disrespectful, Hu Yanqing of Pinghai Army and Yang Zhi of Zhenhai Army are now completely obedient to Lord Zhao."

From the East China Sea to the North China Sea, in this Great Song Dynasty, without Lord Zhao's order, not a single plank could go to sea. If he wanted you to live, you would live; if he wanted you to die, you would die. Neither the high-ranking officials nor the Emperor knew anything about what was happening beyond the sea.

All you lack is a formal title bestowed by the imperial court. If you're not in a hurry, you can wait. As long as Lord Zhao remains powerful in the west of the sea, no other Han Chinese can extend their influence to the east. The emperor is far away; who knows what's happening in Goryeo?

Upon hearing this revealing statement, Song Jiang and Wu Jialiang also became somewhat serious.

Wu Jialiang spoke first: "What? Does the Duke of Xiu harbor rebellious intentions?"

Wang Chengxun: "Insolence! What do you mean by disloyalty! You all claim to be acting on behalf of Heaven, so how can Lord Zhao, as a descendant of the imperial family, not be worthy of taking the rise and fall of the nation as his own responsibility?"
At this time of national crisis, the imperial court has even failed to capture Nanjing, a city of Liao, which has suffered repeated defeats. Meanwhile, the Jin dynasty has swiftly and decisively destroyed the other four Liao capitals. Given the Jin's brutality, how perilous is the Han people's rule? The treacherous officials in the court know nothing of military affairs, only of intrigue and power struggles.

At this critical juncture, extraordinary measures are necessary to unite all Han Chinese people and jointly resist foreign aggression. Lord Zhao, a descendant of the imperial family, whose integrity is renowned throughout the land, should uphold righteousness, rescue the people from suffering, alleviate the nation's perilous situation, and save lives from dire straits.

Wang Chengxun was just a businessman; he didn't understand these fancy words. So before he set off, Zhao Zicheng helped him prepare some drafts and memorized some lines so he could use them in appropriate situations.

However, Wang Chengxun's use of the phrase was clearly inappropriate, and it seemed somewhat forced.

Fortunately, Wu Jialiang was also knowledgeable and had already understood Zhao Zicheng's ambition from the subtext.

It seems that no matter how Zhao Zicheng's career develops in the future, he is at least confident that he can control the Song Dynasty's maritime borders from Pinghai Army in the north to Zhenhai Army in the south for a long time. No matter what the central government says, he still has absolute say overseas.

The world is in such chaos now, and everyone knows how brutal and terrifying the Jurchens are. Especially Song Jiang and his group, who may not have had a broad enough perspective and were unfamiliar with the Jurchens when they were in the Central Plains. But after arriving in Goryeo, they traveled through so many prefectures and counties and interacted with the Goryeo people.

Goryeo had fought several battles with the Jin Dynasty, so they could learn about the Jin Dynasty's military strength from the Goryeo people. This was much more insightful than trying to figure things out behind closed doors in the Central Plains.

Therefore, after a brief assessment, Song Jiang and Wu Jialiang had to admit that the future described by Zhao Zicheng's messenger was still very likely to come to pass.

Given the current state of affairs, if one cannot start their own business, they should find a powerful leader to serve.

There is no such thing as wealth without risk in this world. Zhao Zicheng offered such generous terms that I had no choice but to take the gamble. Besides, I was already a traitor, so what room for maneuver could I possibly have?
Finally, after some hesitation and internal discussion, Song Jiang officially accepted the condition.

"We are willing to accept the imperial court's offer of amnesty and be under the command of Duke Xiu. However, we will only be under Duke Xiu's command within the territory of Goryeo and will never return to the Central Plains!" Song Jiang finally promised.

He was also afraid that if he returned to the Central Plains, they would turn their backs on him and deny everything.

“Of course. If you want to go back, Lord Zhao is worried about you going. There are many gossips in the Central Plains. What if you talk nonsense?” Wang Chengxun immediately agreed to this point, and also dispelled Song Jiang’s worries from the perspective of motivation.

Neither side wanted Song Jiang to return to the Central Plains; on this point, their interests were aligned.

Transaction.

Li Kui, Wu Song, Hua Rong, and other generals around Song Jiang were still somewhat unwilling and confused, but under the reassurance of Song Jiang and Wu Jialiang, they gradually came to a consensus within about half a month.

Li Kui is the most impulsive and has absolutely no patience for working for the imperial court. Wu Song, on the other hand, is more moderate, indifferent to everything.

Hua Rong was originally a military officer of the imperial court, but he was forced to join the rebels. His resistance was relatively lower than that of Li and Wu, but not as strong as that of Huang Xin and Qin Ming, who had already surrendered.

On Song Jiang's side, he reorganized his troops, gathered supplies, and unified internal thinking.

At the same time, following Zhao Zicheng's instructions, Wang Chengxun provided Song Jiang with enough warships to transport troops, and also sent Song Jiang a batch of second-hand weapons and equipment discarded by the Dengzhou and Laizhou government troops.

During his year of farming and governance in Dengzhou and Laizhou, Zhao Zicheng also made some achievements in the military industry, making up for the equipment shortages of the local army and replacing some of the old, rusty equipment that had been in disrepair for many years.

However, Zhao Zi said that he would not throw away or directly recycle the relatively useless old weapons that were phased out, but could continue to make use of them.

Giving Song Jiang the poorly maintained and rusty secondhand military equipment was already quite generous, considering that as a Liangshan bandit, his weapons, equipment, and navy were even worse than the secondhand military equipment of the government troops.

Moreover, after Song Jiang arrived in Goryeo, he also needed to forcibly conscript some local poor people who were dissatisfied with the rule of the Goryeo king into the army. These people did not yet have weapons and equipment. Zhao Zicheng gave them some second-hand, rusty old equipment, which would also make it easier for Song Jiang to expand his army.

At the same time, Zhao Zicheng always kept a good grasp on the pace and intensity of reinforcements and rewards, ensuring that Song Jiang would not become too powerful to be controlled. Moreover, he forced Song Jiang to immediately send troops to fight after receiving food and weapons, and would never allow Song Jiang to slowly stay in his base and slowly develop his territory. As long as Song Jiang disobeyed orders, he would immediately cut off the supply.

As for the grain that Zhao Zicheng supplied to Song Jiang, it certainly couldn't have come from Dengzhou and Laizhou. Dengzhou and Laizhou are mountainous areas, and nowadays they can only grow cash crops such as cotton. It would be good enough if they could be self-sufficient in grain.

Zhao Zicheng said that he only provided Wang Chengxun with cotton cloth, cotton-padded jackets and other consumer industrial products produced in Dengzhou and Laizhou, which were then resold in Goryeo. After the goods were sold, grain was imported directly from Goryeo and transported to Song Jiang to be secretly stored.

So far, Song Jiang has not launched a new large-scale offensive against the Goryeo people. Instead, he has temporarily gone into hiding. Therefore, the Goryeo people are not alert to whether Song Jiang has trade resources supporting him.

The Goryeo people were unaware that Zhao Zicheng was supporting Song Jiang behind the scenes, because based on their previous understanding, the Song government and Song Jiang, this fugitive rebel, were sworn enemies. The Goryeo people thought that doing business with the Song government was a good thing, and that it might even help the Song government join forces to attack Song Jiang.

Therefore, before personally turning against the Goryeo people, Zhao Zicheng secretly stockpiled a large amount of grain. This tactic of "using trade to stockpile military supplies" is quite similar to the covert planning by Zheng Chenggong before his counterattack on Nanjing.

Before Zheng Chenggong's counterattack on Nanjing, only a few data points remained in Fujian, such as Xiamen and Kinmen, and the grain production in his self-controlled areas was negligible. However, Zheng Chenggong was a maritime merchant, so he relied on trade to buy large quantities of goods and grain, secretly storing them in advance on Jinshan Island and Jinshan Temple near Nanjing in Zhenjiang. He used a small island near Nanjing to store grain to avoid detection by the Qing army, and then suddenly launched a large-scale attack.

Although Zheng Chenggong's counterattack on Nanjing was unsuccessful, his pre-battle logistical preparations were not flawed. It was entirely reasonable for Zhao Zicheng to adopt these methods.

After the initial two weeks of close cooperation and rapid stockpiling of grain, Song Jiang soon discovered another problem: he wanted to continue to bide his time, but there were no longer enough hidden places to store grain.

By the time Wang Chengxun delivered the third batch of grain to him, he had nowhere left to hide it.

He told Wang Chengxun and Li Jun about this difficulty, and Li Jun promptly gave him a suggestion and came up with Zhao Fujun's plan.

"If we want to stockpile grain on a large scale before the decisive battle, it would be best to find a nearby island as a base. Baengnyeong Island was too small (a small island near the Ongjin Peninsula) and too close to the Goryeo royal domain, so it was not concealed enough."

The Prefect orders you to advance south as quickly as possible, first landing and capturing Tamna Island, then using it as a base to stockpile provisions and troops, before advancing further south to land again.

Song Jiang immediately accepted the order, and then Li Jun's navy transported him south to Tamna Island, which is the later Jeju Island.

Song Jiang joined Zhao Zicheng in May of the fourth year of the Xuanhe era. By the end of May, he had begun his first large-scale formal battle after joining Zhao.

Li Jun's warships, disguised as Song Jiang's army ships and flying the banner of Zhang Shun, a naval commander under Song Jiang, surrounded Tamna Island from the sea, blocking news and preventing the Goryeo warships from sending messages.

Then Song Jiang appointed Li Kui as the vanguard for landing, leading several thousand men to storm the island.

There were only a few hundred Korean soldiers on the island, and even if you include the local militia that were hastily gathered, the number was only a few hundred.

Moreover, there were no cities or fortified towns on the island, only villages and stockades. Li Kui, wielding two broadswords, led the charge and quickly captured all the main strongholds on the island.

After capturing Tamna Island, Wang Chenghun's merchant fleet continued to expand trade and stockpile grain there, buying up as much as possible the military provisions needed for Song Jiang's subsequent campaigns in major Goryeo territories. This was to prevent the Goryeo from refusing to sell grain to the Song people once a full-scale war broke out. Meanwhile, Song Jiang temporarily withdrew from Haizhou and other areas he had previously occupied, even creating the illusion for the Goryeo army that a successful counterattack had been achieved, thus lowering their guard against the northern border. Song Jiang retained only small territories in western Goryeo, namely Baengnyeong Island and the Ongjin Peninsula. This created the illusion that Song Jiang's army was running out of manpower and had to retreat, while simultaneously concealing the fact that Song Jiang's main force had shifted elsewhere.

Because the Goryeo navy was incompetent and was suppressed by Hu Yanqing, Li Jun, and Zhang Shun, who had much better navigation skills, the Goryeo people failed to discover the problem in time.

On the other hand, it was also because the main force of the Goryeo army was in Baozhou in the north, currently engaged in a fierce battle with the Jin army. With tens of thousands of elite Goryeo troops facing the imminent threat of annihilation by the Jin army, how could they possibly have the resources to thoroughly investigate the true movements of Song Jiang's army?

After operating in this manner for about half a month, in mid-June, Song Jiang, whose forces had been expanded, led his troops to land in Naju, opposite Tamna Island, according to Zhao Zicheng's orders. He then advanced into Jeonju and then eastward into the Busan Basin.

The entire process took only one or two months. Song Jiang occupied a large area of ​​territory that was relatively desolate at the time, but which in later generations was equivalent to Jeolla Province and Gyeongsang Province. He also conquered more than a dozen prefectures and counties in Goryeo.

However, because these places were far from the capital and not as important as the battlefields in the north against the Jin Dynasty, the Goryeo people could only respond with a flanking force. When facing Song Jiang, they could only defend the area and were powerless to fight back.

……

As July of the fourth year of Xuanhe arrived, the Goryeo battlefield was once again witnessing a major wave of changes.

The Boju region in northern Goryeo had been completely occupied by the Jin army. The Jin army had pushed its occupied territory from south of the Yalu River to the Cheongcheon River. However, the entire Jeolla Province and Gyeongsang Province, two of the eight provinces of later Joseon, in southern Goryeo were also in Song Jiang's hands.

Among them, Tamna Island, which Song Jiang occupied, and Jinzhou, where Busan Port is located in later generations, were also handed over to the officials sent by Zhao Zicheng for administration, as agreed by Song Jiang, and thus became the direct territory of the Song Dynasty.

To maintain secrecy, Zhao Zicheng decided to avoid involving two officials and directly and illegally appointed Li Jun as the magistrate of Tamna County and Wang Chengxun, a merchant, as the magistrate of Busan County.

One unit was responsible for coordinating patrols and blockades along the southern coast of the Korean Peninsula. The other was responsible for the coordination of supplies and logistical transportation between the various departments.

Zhao Zicheng also promised to give Wang Chengxun a real position as the Deputy Transport Commissioner of Goryeo Road in the future, but it would not be possible to go through the formal procedures of the imperial court for the time being.

Clearly, in Zhao Zicheng's eyes, the Goryeo region would soon become a route of the Song Dynasty.

Given the current situation, if both the Jin and Song armies continue their offensive, both countries could potentially gain more land from Goryeo.

It was only because the royal domain of the Korean Peninsula during the Goryeo period was still in Gaeseong, which was further north, while Seogyeong was in Pyeongseong in later times, that the Jin Dynasty posed a greater threat to Goryeo, and Goryeo's last main force was fighting desperately on the northern front.

After the Jin army broke through the area around Baozhou and advanced to the Cheongcheon River line, Goryeo had nowhere left to retreat. If they broke through the Cheongcheon River and pushed to the Daedong River, Goryeo's Seogyeong (Western Capital) would fall to the Jin army.

At that time, the southern part of the Korean Peninsula was not so important. The later Hanyang was still called "Yangzhou"—note that it is not the Yangzhou in the Central Plains, but the Yang of poplar tree, and it was still a relatively unimportant place.

The area surrounding Seoul didn't rise to prominence until the Joseon Dynasty several hundred years later, so the territory in the southern part of the peninsula isn't particularly prominent now.

At this critical juncture, two major events occurred, which not only slowed down the Jin army's offensive and ultimately forced it to be temporarily shelved, but also created an opportunity for Zhao Zicheng.

The first thing was that as July approached, Wanyan Daguda finally heard that last month, Tong Guan's two armies had suffered a crushing defeat on the battlefields around Nanjing in Liao territory! Of course, the Liao soldiers also suffered considerable losses and were already at their last gasp.

The entire disastrous defeat was divided into two phases: the eastern and western routes of the Song army that launched the northern expedition suffered defeats in late May and early to mid-June, respectively. However, due to the difficulty of communication—the Jin people lacked sea vessels to contact the Song, and the Liao dynasty also maintained a secrecy, not wanting the Jin to know of their weakness—the Jin did not learn of these events until July.

Tong Guan himself sent the message, his purpose being to cover up the scandal by spending millions of strings of cash to reward the army and ask the Jin state for help in capturing Yanjing, thus achieving the complete annihilation of Liao.

Many readers in later generations may think that Tong Guan fought these two battles in a completely cowardly manner, but in fact, although Tong Guan failed to seize much land, he still caused considerable casualties to the last remaining forces of the Liao people.

The Liao people were also opportunistic, leaving their last elite troops, the Da Shi Lin Ya (comprising Yelü Dashi), in Nanjing, while the Liao army fighting the Jin in the north was less elite than Yelü Dashi's forces. Tong Guan fought several battles with Yelü Dashi, and Yelü Dashi's last troops suffered heavy casualties and were no longer able to fight.

After a thorough investigation, the Jin people were able to confirm that the Liao and Song people had basically suffered heavy losses. Although the Song people could not take Yanjing, as long as the elite Jin army went to take advantage of the situation, they would definitely be able to complete the great task of "taking all five capitals of Liao" and completely destroying the Liao people.

In comparison, while gaining more territory in Goryeo would be good, it pales in comparison to the complete annihilation of the Liao Dynasty.

Moreover, in Wanyan Aguda's view, the Goryeo people were there and wouldn't run away, so it was still possible to deal with Goryeo after completely destroying the Liao Dynasty.

Moreover, I've heard that Song Jiang is still causing trouble in the south of Goryeo. I should take advantage of the situation and seize a few prefectures first, then let Song Jiang wreak havoc on Goryeo and weaken it further. Then the Jin army can come and reap the rewards and take everything that's left.

Wanyan Aguda never considered the possibility that "a bandit like Song Jiang could possibly destroy Goryeo in a short time." Besides, even if Song Jiang did succeed, given the might of the Jin dynasty, they could simply "take advantage of their weakness," kill Song Jiang, and then reclaim him, wouldn't that solve the problem?
Da Jin doesn't care about the timing at all!
Therefore, Wanyan Aguda finally made a decision: to immediately withdraw his troops from the Goryeo direction! In any case, the previous military campaign against Goryeo was only because "we had nothing else to do," but now that there were more important things to do, he naturally had to attend to the important matters first.

While gathering troops, Wanyan Aguda also sent envoys to Tong Guan to discuss the conditions for sending troops, further extorting Tong Guan for an even higher price.

Finally, the Jin army began to withdraw its troops in late July, regrouped its forces in August, and moved westward. Throughout September, it prepared for an attack on Liao, and in early October, it officially launched a full-scale offensive in the final battle against Liao.

From Goryeo's withdrawal of troops in late July to the full-scale offensive against Liao in early October, it seems that it took more than two months of preparation and deployment, which may seem slow. However, large-scale military operations always require that much preparation time. Any change of course will have a very strong inertia, and it is not something that can be stopped at will.

Even if Wanyan Aguda discovers a change in the situation halfway through his operation, unless it's a drastic and sudden change, he can only continue along the path of inertia.

Tong Guan's defeat and the final battle of the Liao-Jin war were not matters for Zhao Zicheng to concern himself with. He had neither the ability to inquire about them nor was it his place to concern himself with them.

In short, after Tong Guan's defeat in June, he withdrew south of Xingzhou in July. The defeat was extremely devastating; the Song army suffered a crushing defeat with countless dead soldiers, their corpses stretching from what would later become Baoding all the way to Xingtai. Even the elite Western Army was severely damaged.

After Tong Guan withdrew, he dared not let the emperor know about the defeat at the front. He only told the court that the situation was still stalemate, with both sides winning and losing, and that there was still hope of recovering Yanjing. In reality, he was just waiting for the Jin soldiers to pay him to do their bidding so that he could redeem them.

As for the Jin state, its final battle against the Liao state lasted for more than three months, spanning the entire winter of the fourth year of the Xuanhe era.

The Jin army launched its attack in early October and continued until early December, when it broke through Juyong Pass, breached the inner Yanshan defense line, and captured Yanjing City at the end of December.

Actually, it wasn't entirely conquered by force, because the Liao people were completely terrified after the Jin army broke through Juyong Pass, knowing that they had no chance of survival under the combined attack of the Song and Jin.

The Jin army's fierce attack on Yanjing City lasted for less than half a month. Yelü Chun, the new emperor who was established by the Liao people in the Yanjing area, died of illness due to worry and fear. Yu Zhongwen and other Han Chinese civil officials of the Liao Dynasty opened the city gates and surrendered.

(Note: Emperor Tianzuo of Liao was still alive at the time, but because he abandoned Yanjing and fled west, the Liao officials who remained in Yanjing established another member of the imperial clan as emperor, namely Yelü Chun.)
After Wanyan Aguda captured Yanjing, it was already the fifth year of the Xuanhe era. The Jin army looted and plundered all the easily portable valuables in Yanjing, and also abducted a large number of people, especially the skilled craftsmen of Liao, who were all taken away without exception, leaving only the old, weak and disabled who had no use for them.

While plundering and abducting people, Wanyan Aguda also sent people to negotiate a price with Tong Guan. After extorting several million strings of cash, he finally decided to sell the empty city of Yanjing back to the Song Dynasty.

Anyway, the Jin Kingdom has no shortage of land, but it lacks people, wealth, and skilled craftsmen. After moving the valuables away, the empty city can still be sold for a good price, so why not?

However, this series of looting and negotiations ultimately wasted a lot of time for the Jin Dynasty.

By the time the Jin Dynasty had completely dealt with the affairs in the west and was able to properly address the military legacy issues on the eastern front, it would have been at least after the busy spring planting season of the fifth year of the Xuanhe era.

The Jin army was absent from the Goryeo battlefield on the eastern front for at least half a year, and during this period, the entire Goryeo region had undergone a complete transformation.

When the Jin soldiers turned their attention back to the eastern front, they were shocked to find that they no longer recognized the situation on the entire eastern front.

The Jin dynasty's high-ranking officials and military officers were completely baffled as to how such a vast country as Goryeo could have weakened to the point of almost disappearing during the short six months of absence.
After the Jin army left, wouldn't the Goryeo people have to face more than just bandits like Song Jiang?

They can't even beat this? There are actually useless people in the world whose country was destroyed by bandits?!
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P.S.: This is already 6,000 words, so I'll just say a few words. I've quickly covered the aspects that the protagonist can't influence and the historical processes between the NPCs, for the sake of appropriate detail.

Anyway, before the Jingkang Incident, the protagonist's sensitive identity would arouse suspicion, making it impossible for him to do anything that could affect the central government. Therefore, the timeline in the following chapters will be pushed forward to the outbreak of the Song-Jin War as soon as possible. The middle one or two years will be briefly described as a diary-like account, at most reporting on the progress of farming.

(End of this chapter)