I am Emperor Shizu of Song

Chapter 162 A Great Victory in the Counterattack: A Model for the Imperial Clan, Admired by All Under Heaven (A Long Chapter of 7,000 Words)

Wanyan Zongbi suffered a great loss at the gates of Xuzhou, and was so angry that he almost fell off his horse.

If he could have remained calm and rational, he would have known that capturing Xuzhou was impossible. Yue Fei already had large landmines with ten-pound explosive charges to defend the city; what future did Wanyan Zongbi have?
However, precisely because Yue Fei had previously launched a preemptive strike that killed one of his fierce generals, Wanyan Alubu, and later lured the enemy into a counterattack and won a great victory, Wanyan Zongbi suffered two defeats in two battles, falling victim to every trick in the book, utterly losing face.

He had to consider his future in the Jin Dynasty, so he was like a gambler who had lost everything, completely desperate to turn things around and win back his losses.

A direct retreat was out of the question; doing so would completely ruin his career. Wanyan Zongbi could only continue the siege, racking his brains to find a way to break through the city, while simultaneously trying to find a way to salvage the situation elsewhere.

In the following days, Yue Fei saw that Wanyan Zongbi continued to besiege the city and would occasionally launch a probing attack or send troops to exchange fire with the city walls. Yue Fei knew that Wanyan Zongbi had not given up.

Therefore, Yue Fei cooperated and quickly came up with a plan to further amplify Wanyan Zongbi's losses.

In this life, Yue Fei was already well-versed in military strategy at a young age and had rich practical experience. He had participated in the conquest of Goryeo and the landing operations on the outer islands of Japan, and had witnessed many different forms of warfare.

After several more battles with the Jin people, coupled with his solid theoretical foundation and comprehensive understanding, Yue Fei, now twenty-four years old, is no longer to be underestimated in terms of strategy.

The first thing Yue Fei thought of was a plan to lure the enemy—he knew that what Wanyan Zongbi feared most was the bombs he had, so Yue Fei deliberately used some deceptive intelligence to mislead Wanyan Zongbi into believing that "this new type of weapon is difficult to manufacture and has a limited stock. The first battle was to scare away the Jin army, so we threw them at all costs. Who knew that it didn't scare away the Jin soldiers, so we should use them sparingly in the future, otherwise it will be troublesome once they are exhausted."

As for the specific methods of inducing, it's simply about controlling the pace of using new types of bombs during actual combat, sometimes being stingy and sometimes being extravagant, keeping the enemy guessing.

With this alternating pressure and relaxation, Wanyan Zongbi, as expected, couldn't bear to part with the bait of "encircling Yue Fei here," and became increasingly entangled. By the time he finally realized he couldn't break through, he had already suffered significant additional losses in troops and supplies.

Unable to capture Xuzhou and forced to engage in a prolonged siege, Wanyan Zongbi was reluctant to waste manpower and resources, as a siege would actually reduce the number of troops to less than 40,000.

Yue Fei only had a little over 10,000 men, and most of them were local soldiers from Xuzhou. Their combat strength was not strong. The only ones who could actually fight the Jin army in open battle were his 4,000 loyal veterans who had been with him for many years. The remaining local Song soldiers from Xuzhou were not capable of breaking out of the city to fight in open battle.

Therefore, Wanyan Zongbi could complete the long-term siege mission by leaving a maximum of 20,000 men. Keeping more than 40,000 men here would be too wasteful in terms of food and supplies, so he thought of withdrawing more than 20,000 men to try their luck on other nearby battlefields.

Wanyan Zongbi's first thought was to further penetrate downstream along the Si River, ideally at Chuzhou (Huaiyin), a strategic location where the Huai and Si Rivers meet, to deliver a decisive blow to the Song army and completely sever the Song's Huai-Si defense line.

After suffering several losses, Wanyan Zongbi had figured out the strengths and weaknesses of the Song army. Previously, the Song army had put all its main forces in Shandong and Xuzhou, fighting the Jin army on the front line. The Jin army was indeed blocked by the Sishui River and Mount Tai and could not break through.

However, because Zhao Zicheng himself was in Shandong, and his main generals were also in Shandong, while Yue Fei was in Xuzhou, the south of the Song Dynasty was actually quite vulnerable.

If they could cut off Shandong and Xuzhou's connection with the south from Huaiyin, then even if they couldn't conquer Shandong and Xuzhou immediately, they could completely devastate the Song people's prosperous rear area. Without their economic base, what use would it be for the Song people to merely hold onto a few strategically important prefectures and circuits?

Then, after entering the first month of the following year, Wanyan Zongbi turned east to Chuzhou.

When Wanyan Zongbi attacked Huaiyin in Chuzhou, he encountered the Song navy.

Zhao Zicheng said that Yang Zhi, Lin Chong, Lu Da, and even Liang Hongyu, who were transferred from the south, were deployed along the Huai River. Chuzhou, as the choke point of the Huai River, was naturally not to be overlooked.

Wanyan Zongbi was unaware of the existence of these Southern Song generals. He had only learned that Zhao Zicheng had generals such as Guan Sheng, Qin Ming, and Huyan Zhuo under his command, because these people had fought against each other in Shandong before. Some of them had even "despicable and shameless" pretended to surrender to the Jin Dynasty, and then tricked and killed Liu Yu after Zhao Zicheng arrived, returning to the Song Dynasty.

As for Yang Zhi and his ilk, they were originally under the control of the Northern Song court and were always stationed in the Zhenhai Army of Liangzhe Road to fight against pirates. Wanyan Zongbi had been in the north all along, so how could he have heard of these people? Even if he had heard of them, he would have underestimated them and regarded them as useless.

To be honest, if Yang Zhilin and his men were to lead troops from Liangzhe Road to fight Wanyan Zongbi in a land battle, they would really lose. This is because the quality of those troops was poor. For many years, Zhao Zicheng had no authority to oversee the training and equipment of these troops. Yang Zhi's troops were only slightly better than ordinary Song imperial guards, but they were not yet capable of fighting the Jin army in open battle.

However, simply defending the Huai River defense line at Huaiyin was quite easy for them. Wanyan Zongbi attempted to cross the river and outflank the enemy several times, but Yang Zhilin and Liang Hongyu fought desperately to stop him each time.

Coupled with Wanyan Zongbi's previous repeated defeats against Yue Fei, the morale of his army was severely low, and the fighting power of the Jurchen elites could only be utilized at most 60-70%. With this shift in power, Wanyan Zongbi had no choice but to suffer another loss in the Chuzhou region.

Although the absolute number of casualties was not too high, the warships that had been prepared earlier were lost in great numbers, and the war supplies were almost exhausted. Even if they burned, killed, and looted on the spot, they could not replenish their supplies. This forced a large number of Han Chinese people in the Huaibei war zone to flee to Huainan and seek refuge in the areas occupied by the Song government army.

The entire city of Suzhou was deserted as people fled. Wanyan Zongbi also completely cut off the possibility of resupplying locally.

……

While holding off Wanyan Zongbi's entire army in Xuzhou and Chuzhou, Zhao Zicheng still had the strength to launch some counterattacks from other directions.

Zhao Zicheng was well aware that to quickly establish authority, it was not enough to just fight defensive battles; he also needed to coordinate some counter-attacks to show that "only Prince Xiu can recover the lost territories for the Song Dynasty."

However, how exactly to recapture it is a delicate matter, and whether it can be held onto after recapture is also a major question.

After more than a month of bloody fighting with Wanyan Zongbi, and as the first month of the following year approached, Zhao Zicheng became increasingly eager to launch a symbolic counterattack. (Logically, this year should be called the second year of Jingkang, but the actual reign title is still unknown. Historically, Zhao Huan was captured in February of the second year of Jingkang, but he was captured in the winter of the first year of Jingkang.)
He didn't even take a break during the Lunar New Year holiday, gathering his main staff to briefly discuss their objectives.

After discussing the matter, Zhang Shuye, Chen Guoting, Zhu Shengfei, Quan Bangyan and other important early ministers all felt that a temporary counterattack was possible, but it would be very difficult to hold onto the territory gained in the long term. Therefore, it would be very difficult to publicize such a "great victory in the counterattack" and make the world overestimate the significance of the counterattack.

Zhang Shuye was the most knowledgeable about military affairs among them, and most of the core opinions were based on his analysis.

Privately, Zhang Shuye frankly discussed the matter with Zhao Zicheng: if they were willing to send in generals like Guan Sheng and Huyan Zhuo, or if Zhao Zicheng himself were to personally supervise the army, it wouldn't be a problem for the Song army in Shandong to reclaim the desolate Cangzhou and other places, or even to temporarily counterattack Hejian and Daming Prefecture. The Jin army there is currently very vulnerable, having withdrawn most of their forces.

The problem is that even if you capture it, you can't hold it; instead, you might allow the counterattacking troops to get surrounded.

Therefore, if we are to take action, we must first consider our escape route and the supporting propaganda work. It would be best to also make good contact with the anti-Jin bandits throughout Hebei and the local Han Chinese militias who are banding together for mutual support, and to consider the overall situation.

Zhao Zicheng thought this made sense, so he didn't make any rash moves during the first half of the first lunar month. He spent the entire time until the Lantern Festival planning, waiting for an opportunity, and looking for weaknesses. If he couldn't find a good opportunity, he also planned to feign a counterattack against the Cangzhou and Hejian areas.

As for the significance of the counterattack, it can be described as "rescuing the people trapped behind enemy lines and withdrawing them to the Song-occupied areas." These places are close to the Bohai coast in Hebei, making them relatively easy to relocate. Zhao Zicheng had a navy, so it was impossible for them to be surrounded by the Jin people.

At most, it's just a matter of the size of the victory, but our side certainly won't suffer any major losses.

When Zhao Zicheng was planning, the first thing he thought of was the example of Zhuge Liang's Northern Expeditions. When Zhuge Liang first went out of Qishan, although Ma Su lost Jieting and the entire Han army had to retreat, he at least "brought back several thousand households from Longxi".

Zhuge Liang's relocation of the population from Longxi back to Hanzhong was a merit; if he could bring back the remaining civilian forces in Hebei today, that would also be a merit. Even if the common people could not be found, at least he could find those local Han armed groups who banded together for mutual support. At worst, he could issue an amnesty order and bring back some resistance forces, which would look good on his political record.

After having this thought, Zhao Zicheng, following the habitual thinking of a time traveler, almost immediately thought of finding the civilian righteous army represented by Lu Jinyi and Gongsun Sheng, who were still barely surviving on the edge of Hebei.

Lu Jinyi's base of operations was no longer on the Hebei Plain; he had fled to western Hebei near the Taihang Mountains. However, with the Jin army's two-pronged southward advance last year and the severe damage done to Shanxi, apart from Taiyuan, which was besieged and not captured, most of the other areas without fortified cities had been wiped out by the Jin.

Lu Jinyi and his ilk are now on their last breath, hiding in remote mountain valleys where even food supplies are scarce, and people are starving to death every day.

Zhao Zicheng considered that he still had some generals who came from humble backgrounds and could be recruited to join the government, so he began to make efforts to do so at the beginning of the first month of the lunar calendar.

Finally, according to his estimation, once he actually took action in February, he would make a symbolic trip to Hejian and Cangzhou to bring back Lu Jinyi's remnants and incorporate them into the government army. Then he could proclaim a "great victory in a full-scale counterattack against the Jin state and the recovery of lost territory."

As for whether the recovered territory will be lost again, that is not important. As long as it has been recovered and some people have indeed been saved, that is enough to give Zhao Zicheng the political confidence to assume the position of regent.

After the plan was implemented, Zhao Zicheng didn't think too much about it at first, but unexpectedly, there were some pleasant surprises during the actual implementation process.

After Lu Jinyi's faction made contact with Zhao Zicheng, their attitude was almost one of immediate obeisance. They expressed that they could not go on living at all, and that, out of consideration for being fellow Han Chinese, being able to rely on His Highness Prince Xiu, the hope of all Han Chinese and a hero of the time, was simply a stroke of good fortune for Lu Jinyi. They were even willing to be his foot soldier.

As soon as Xiu Wang's army enters Cangzhou and Hejian, they will definitely travel hundreds of miles from the west to meet up with them, breaking through the Jin people's patrols, just hoping to break through and return to the rear to have a meal.

Moreover, while these rough-and-tumble figures like Lu Jinyi were not good at fighting, they were very well-informed about the underworld, as they could often break into small groups and infiltrate the populace to gather all sorts of intelligence.

Just like Chao Gai in Water Margin, they were always very well-informed and skilled at robbing things like the birthday gifts.

After Lu Jinyi and others made a firm decision to surrender, they immediately sent Zhao Zicheng some information that they had repeatedly gathered: the Jurchens captured the late Emperor Zhao Huan and others at the beginning of winter last year, and the following month they moved Zhao Ji and Zhao Huan north and now they are under their control in Yanjing City.

Zhao Zicheng already knew about Lu Jinyi's message even without him saying it. Historically, at the beginning of the two emperors' "northern capture," their remains were indeed transported to Yanjing and then stopped heading north.

At that time, the Jin dynasty also considered that "after the Jin people entered the Central Plains, they should move the capital to Yanjing, so as to control the grasslands and the Central Plains at the same time" - in this respect, the Jin people and the Later Jin were actually surprisingly similar. The later Qing dynasty also wanted to move the capital to Yanjing as soon as it entered the pass.

The Jurchens were clearly bolder than the Later Jin, because at least the Ming capital was already in Yanjing (modern-day Beijing), with an existing imperial palace. When the Jurchens arrived, this was still Nanjing, the capital of the Liao dynasty, which the Song dynasty had only occupied for two years and hadn't even had time to rebuild. The Jurchens' decision required immense courage.

The reason the Jurchens later sent Zhao Ji and Zhao Huan to Wuguo City in Heilongjiang was because they realized that Zhao Gou had become emperor, the south could not be pacified quickly, and Han Chinese resistance against the Jurchens was rampant. Keeping the two emperors in Yanjing (Beijing) might boost the morale of the Han Chinese in a northern expedition to rescue the emperor, but it was also unsafe. Therefore, they moved them north again, a journey that took another year.

(Note: Actually, it wouldn't take a year to walk from Yanjing to Acheng in Harbin. The main problem was that the harsh winters in the north made it impossible to walk. The Jin people decided to relocate Zhao Ji and Zhao Gou, but only set off in May of the following year, arriving in October. In reality, the journey only took five months; the rest of the time was spent waiting for the weather.)
Lu Jinyi told Zhao Zicheng this news with two intentions: first, to show off, and second, to see if Zhao Zicheng could gain a great merit by "rescuing the two emperors." However, Zhao Zicheng immediately realized that this was unreliable; a considerable number of Jurchen troops were still stationed in Yanjing. Even with light bronze cannons, it would be impossible to penetrate deep into Yanjing, breach the city walls, and defeat the Jurchen army.

However, several other pieces of good news that Lu Jinyi revealed in great detail during his communication with Zhao Zicheng piqued Zhao Zicheng's interest.

Lu Jinyi also mentioned that when Zhao Ji and Zhao Huan were escorted to Yanjing, the Jurchens moved all the wealth they had looted during the fall of Bianjing, mainly the items already in the treasury, from Bianjing to Yanjing.

However, because Zhao Huan had already paid reparations to the Jin twice before surrendering, the central treasury of the Northern Song Dynasty didn't actually have much money left. The Jin were unwilling to accept this, and after capturing the city, they repeatedly massacred residents and plundered the people's wealth.

These acts of looting the people continued for another month or two, so the looted goods were not immediately transported to Yanjing. They were only shipped two months after the emperor was taken away. They are still en route and have not yet reached Yanjing.

It must be said that these thieves were incredibly well-informed about the transport of wealth. Lu Jinyi's knowledge of the Jurchens' transshipment of the spoils from the massacre of Bianjing was even greater than Chao Gai's knowledge of the birthday tribute.

Lu Jinyi simply didn't have the strength to rob them before. With only a few small men, how could he possibly be a match for the Jurchen army escorting them?

Moreover, according to Lu Jinyi, the Jurchens had boats and traveled along the Yellow River from Bianjing to the vicinity of Yanjing before finally taking a land route into Yanjing city—a route that may puzzle later readers.

However, it is not difficult to understand once you understand the geography of Hebei's grain transport and the Yellow River waterway during the transition between the Northern and Southern Song Dynasties.

At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun were in the hands of the Liao people. Therefore, the section of the Grand Canal in Hebei that was inherited from the Sui and Tang Dynasties was only usable up to Daming Prefecture. The Song Dynasty also spent manpower and resources to maintain it.

Canals, if left unmaintained, will quickly fall into disrepair and become abandoned. The Liao people did not need canal transport, so the section of the canal from Daming Prefecture north to Zhuojun had long been abandoned over the past hundred years.

However, in the mid-Northern Song Dynasty, the Yellow River breached its banks and changed its course northward. The Song court attempted to redirect the river three times, but all attempts failed. After the Yellow River turned north, it actually destroyed the original course of the Grand Canal.

(Note: The "History of Song Dynasty, Treatise on Rivers and Canals" states: "The Imperial Canal was encroached upon by the Yellow River and lost its original course." Here, the Imperial Canal refers to the section of the Grand Canal from Huazhou to Damingfu, as well as the section further north.)

The Yellow River, after its diversion, empties into the Bohai Sea near present-day Tianjin. Because the Grand Canal had been destroyed, large quantities of goods from Hebei were once transported by water via the Yellow River to the vicinity of Tianjin. Due to the lack of dredging in the delta region, they were then diverted to land routes to Yanjing (present-day Beijing). Neither the Jin nor the Liao people had the ability to build coastal waterways, nor were they very skilled at river-sea transshipment.

Upon receiving this news from Lu Jinyi, Zhao Zicheng was overjoyed and saw a new opportunity to boast about his "illustrious military achievements"—

The Jurchens would travel along the Yellow River until they reached its estuary near Tianjin, and then be transported by land to Yanjing (present-day Beijing).

Although I am not capable of launching a direct assault to recapture Yanjing, which is heavily fortified, I am confident that if I can advance by land and water, suddenly appear near Tianjin, and launch a surprise attack on the Jurchen escort team on a well-timed day, I can seize back the wealth that the Jurchens have looted from Bianjing!

This was truly a godsend for him. If he hadn't contacted Lu Jinyi, and if Lu hadn't readily agreed to cooperate and surrender, and if he hadn't been so well-informed beforehand, this matter wouldn't have been possible if any one of these things had been missing.

It was precisely because such a task required so much coordination that the Jin people were not on guard. The Jin people also did not understand troop transport by sea, and they would never have realized "how dangerous it would be to send the fleet along the Yellow River to the vicinity of the estuary".

Because the Jin people did not expect the Song army to come from the Bohai Sea, the Jin army, which was patrolling the Cangzhou area, did not notice anything unusual. Instead, the Song army suddenly appeared at the mouth of the Yellow River by sea!

After sorting all this out, Zhao Zicheng made a decisive move and immediately mobilized Li Jun to organize a navy. He then took Guan Sheng and Hu Yanzhuo with him and set off from the port on the Bohai coast of Qingzhou. They traveled a section of the Bohai Sea route and, having calculated the exact date, landed at the mouth of the Yellow River near Tianjin in the future!

As for how to accurately calculate the date, that relied on intelligence provided by local Hebei figures like Lu Jinyi.

Moreover, before making the decision, Zhao Zicheng directly summoned Lu Jinyi and instructed him on what he should and should not say:
"I have not heard of the matter of wealth you mentioned. I have only heard that this group of Jin men is escorting officials."

Lu Jinyi understood immediately.

This must be cooperated with! I never said that this fleet/caravan was transporting looted goods from Bianjing! I said that this group of Jurchens was escorting the Emperor!
His Highness Prince Xiu's surprise northern expedition was to rescue the Emperor! And to "welcome back the Two Saints"!
Only for such a noble goal is it worthy of Zhao Zicheng's personal involvement.

Just like when Liu Bei ascended the throne and wanted to personally lead an expedition against Wu, Zhao Yun advised him on the grounds of righteousness: "Now that Your Majesty has ascended the throne, if it is for the purpose of attacking Wei and avenging the late emperor, then you can personally lead the expedition. If it is only for the purpose of attacking Wu, then you can only appoint a general to lead the troops, and you should not act rashly."

With the pretext of rescuing the emperor, it became quite natural for Zhao Zicheng to personally establish his merit and authority.

However, it was later discovered that the intelligence was incorrect; the two emperors were not on this fleet, but had already been transported to Yanjing in the previous fleet. (Moreover, even if Zhao Zicheng encountered the army escorting the two emperors, he would not be able to defeat them, because the army escorting the two emperors would be much larger, consisting of the main force of the Jin army. The number of people escorting the money in the subsequent convoy would be much smaller.)

Regardless of the outcome, Prince Xiu's subjective motivation was to save the emperor with fervent enthusiasm. The error in the result falls under the category of "error of punishment" in criminal law and does not affect the establishment of his merit.

……

With ample intelligence gathering and the element of surprise ensured by maritime transport, Zhao Zicheng successfully launched a major raid in what will later become Tianjin in February!
The second batch of Jurchen ships escorting goods back to Yanjing was ambushed by Zhao Zicheng's overwhelmingly superior forces near Tianjin!
There's not much to elaborate on regarding the battle itself, since this was originally a transport unit. If a regular army couldn't even defeat a supply convoy in a surprise attack, then Zhao Zicheng might as well give up.

The Jurchens had two to three thousand men protecting them, and most of them were not cavalry. This was mainly because they had to travel along the Yellow River for most of their journey, so cavalry would be of little use. They sent a small number of Jurchen cavalry to monitor a large number of Khitan infantry and Xi infantry to escort them.

This escort force of less than three thousand men was suddenly ambushed and killed by Zhao Zicheng, who personally led the elite Song army.

Zhao Zicheng first ordered Li Jun's navy to force the Jin army's fleet to stop and intercept it. When the Jin people were in a panic and tried to land on the north bank of the Yellow River to resist on land, Zhao Zicheng personally led Guan Sheng, who had already landed, to attack the enemy who were halfway across the river.

In the midst of the chaotic battle, Zhao Zicheng and Guan Sheng killed Meng'an, the escort of the Jin army, and more than 2,000 Jin soldiers. This Jin army did not flee because they knew how valuable the goods they were escorting were. If they ran away, they would all be executed, and even their families would be executed.

It would be better to die on the spot; at least only you would die, not your whole family. Perhaps you could even wait for reinforcements from Yanjing.

But the fact is that these people never received any help. More than two thousand people put up a stubborn resistance and were completely annihilated by Zhao Zicheng, who had an overwhelming advantage in strength. More than two thousand heads were cut off.

Aside from the wealth the Jurchens seized immediately upon capturing Bianjing, and the proceeds obtained through continuous massacres and plunder of the populace, Zhao Zicheng ultimately reclaimed it all. This wealth represented the accumulated savings of the Han people over a century, and therefore rightfully belonged to its rightful owner.

Moreover, after the great victory, Zhao Zicheng immediately retreated, and even spread the news that: this attempt to rescue the emperor was militarily successful, but unfortunately, due to intelligence failure, the emperor could not be saved.

They only recovered Cangzhou and Hejian prefectures, and also received back thousands of households of Hebei people and thousands of anti-Jin guerrillas in Hebei. They also intercepted a large amount of wealth that the Jin people had previously looted from Bianjing.

Moreover, Zhao Zicheng's statement is supported by sufficient witnesses—although Emperors Huizong and Qinzong were not in this group, there were other prisoners, mainly Han Chinese resistance ministers whom the Jurchens had captured in the one or two months after the fall of Bianjing. Those who were not killed on the spot but were considered more useful to be imprisoned were also intended to be transported to Yanjing along with the valuables.

Therefore, when Zhao Zicheng was robbing money, he also rescued dozens of court officials and captured generals of the Henan local resistance faction. Although none of these people were of particularly high status, they were all loyal and righteous men and witnesses to Zhao Zicheng's righteous act.

Among the people Zhao Zicheng rescued, those with names and surnames included He Li, who had once served as a chief minister.
And Li Ruoshu, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel
There was also a general named Zhai Jin who continued to resist in Henan after the fall of Bianjing, but was later defeated and captured.

The other dozen or so were minor figures, not well-known in history, but they were all principled resistance fighters.

Zhao Zicheng rescued these anti-Jin patriots, and they were naturally extremely grateful to him. They all firmly testified to Zhao Zicheng that King Xiu's expedition to the north to recover Hejian and Cangzhou was to save the emperor!
……

The subsequent impact of Zhao Zicheng's successful sneak attack was far-reaching.

On the one hand, the Jurchens suffered huge material losses, and most of what they had looted from Bianjing was returned.

Secondly, the fact that Yanjing was almost attacked by Zhao Zicheng by sea and his army was at the gates greatly shocked the Jin people. Zhao Zicheng's actions became the direct trigger for the Jin people to "immediately send Emperors Huizong and Qinzong to the Five Kingdoms City in the Northeast".

The Jin people didn't even dare to consider having Zhao Huan persuade Zhao Zicheng to surrender. They assumed Zhao Zicheng was too fierce to charge into battle and seize prisoners. If Zhao Huan died in the chaos, Zhao Zicheng could claim the Jin had murdered the late emperor beforehand, and no one would testify for the Jin.

It's pointless to gamble on something like this. Leaving Zhao Huan in the Northeast might actually be more effective. If we really bring it up, it might actually help Zhao Zicheng instead.

Even if we have to deal with Zhao Zicheng, we have to use underhanded tactics! This was the only consensus reached by the Jin high command after this incident.

They have even begun to consider deploying puppets to oppose Zhao Zicheng.

They already knew that Zhao Zicheng was their greatest adversary in completely destroying the Song Dynasty, without exception; the others were insignificant.

Meanwhile, news of Zhao Zicheng's numerous achievements gradually spread throughout China. The remaining core court officials in the Heluo region, as well as local officials in various parts of the south, all knew of the magnitude of Zhao Zicheng's accomplishments.

He commanded Yue Fei to hold off the Jin army in Huaibei and win many battles;
In Huaiyin, Chuzhou, he again held off a detachment of the Jin army with the help of Yang Zhi, Lin Chong, and Lu Da;
Finally, he also fought a counterattack in Hebei, personally leading the northern expedition and once recovered two lost prefectures, and even tried to rescue the emperor!

These three major achievements cover all aspects, from defense to field battles to the recapture of lost territory.

It is time for all Han Chinese officials to make a decision.

(End of this chapter)