I am Emperor Shizu of Song

Chapter 165 An Unforeseen Sneak Attack

Zhao Zicheng officially assumed the positions of regent and grand marshal of the army at the ceremony held on the first day of the fifth month. He then spent one or two months reforming the internal affairs, implementing necessary military reforms, eliminating redundant officials and reducing unnecessary expenses, and increasing the soldiers' pay to boost morale.

After finishing all this and stabilizing the defenses in various places, it will be almost July.

As for Zhao Gou, he only heard about Zhao Zicheng's national policy in July. Zhao Gou tacitly understood and did not openly oppose it. He simply turned a blind eye to the possibility that Zhao Zicheng might take action against Zhong Xiang and Yang Yao, while he himself sat on the sidelines and watched the two tigers fight.

Of course, Zhao Gou wouldn't completely waste his time. He still had a bit of ambition to "strive for good governance." After all, who would willingly be a completely inactive puppet once they became emperor? Zhao Gou was still young and ambitious; he also wanted to amass wealth, train troops, and improve internal affairs.

Let alone Zhao Gou, even a pure puppet like Puyi in history wanted to regain power, which is quite normal.

However, whether Zhao Gou, with the assistance of Li Bangyan and Qin Hui, actually accomplished anything significant is another matter entirely.

In short, Zhao Zicheng's move against Zhong Xiang and Yang Yao will have to be delayed until at least August of the second year of the Jingkang era.

Even if the army assembles in Zhenjiang Prefecture or near Jiangning in August, and then marches upstream along the Yangtze River, it will take until at least half of August to reach Jiangzhou (Jiujiang) in Jiangnan West Circuit.

Currently, the only territory that has been formally submitted to Zhao Zicheng and acknowledges his rule extends to Jiangnan West Circuit. Further upstream along the Yangtze River beyond Jiangzhou, there are a few individual prefectures and counties that have submitted to Zhao Zicheng, but these are not entire circuit-level administrative divisions, such as Qizhou and Huangzhou.

Therefore, the march from Jiangzhou upwards will be slower, and there may be some reconnaissance and scouting battles to be fought. It is estimated that it will not be until early September that the army can cross Qi and Huang and reach the front line in Ezhou to make full contact with Zhong Xiang and Yang Yao's army.

During the Song Dynasty, the division of jurisdiction between Jinghu South Circuit and Jinghu North Circuit was not strictly based on the later division of Hunan and Hubei. At that time, many prefectures south of the Yangtze River in this area also belonged to "Jinghu North Circuit".

However, Zhong Xiang's power is currently quite strong. He has occupied almost all of the Jinghu region south of the Yangtze River, and even the Jiangnan lands that should administratively belong to Jinghu North Circuit are under his control. Zhao Gou and his loyal followers can only control the area north of the Yangtze River.

Therefore, the situation on the front line of Ezhou was actually a three-way standoff: Zhao Zicheng came from the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, Zhong Xiang came from the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, and Zhao Gou came from the Han River from the side.

In response to this situation, Zhong Xiang would naturally deploy his main forces to the Ezhou front to resist, and set up Yuezhou and other places in the rear as the second and third lines of defense.

Zhao Gou would also deploy a significant portion of his puppet regime's main forces, including troops borrowed from the Jurchens, along the Xiangyang and Yicheng lines on both sides of the Han River, to observe the outcome. If Zhong Xiang won, Zhao Gou's trusted generals would flow downstream from the Han River into the Yangtze River to expand their gains and seize territory.

If Zhong Xiang couldn't hold on, Zhao Gou might step in to help defend, or find another target to take the lead. In short, he would be flexible and adaptable, seeking advantage and avoiding harm.

……

The war on the western front seemed to be proceeding smoothly according to plan, but no one in the world knew that Zhao Zicheng actually didn't take the war on the western front seriously at all.

Long before he arranged the timetable of "sending troops out in August and arriving at the front line in Ezhou in September," he had already sent his top general, Yue Fei, to another front.

As for Zhong Xiang, Zhao Zicheng did not intend for Yue Fei to fight him. Although in the original history, Zhong Xiang and Yang Yao were quelled by Yue Fei, he had more important things for Yue Fei to do in this life.

Therefore, as early as the beginning of July, Zhao Zicheng traveled north from the Zhenjiang headquarters to Xuzhou to personally instruct Yue Fei.

"Pengju, hand over the defense of Xuzhou to others for now. The command of the cavalry and infantry on the Sishui defense line will be temporarily handed over to Yang Zhi. The command of the navy will be handed over to Hongyu and the others. Go to Goryeo; I have something else for you to do."

When Yue Fei first heard this, he was somewhat taken aback: "Go to Goryeo? The war in the Central Plains is urgent right now, what's the point of going to Goryeo? Even if the Jurchens invade Goryeo, we can just rely on the natural defenses of the mountains and rivers to defend it. We don't need any great generals at all. I urge Your Highness to reconsider and prioritize the Central Plains!"

Furthermore, I have a question I'd like to ask: when will it be appropriate to announce to the world the military achievements of our Great Song Dynasty in pacifying Goguryeo? Now that half of the Central Plains has been lost, we desperately need some military exploits of counter-offensive expansion to inspire the people!

Zhao Zicheng patted Yue Fei on the shoulder: "That's why I need you to go to Goryeo. When you come back, we can announce that Goryeo was only destroyed by our Great Song this year. Before that, it was just harassed by the remnants of bandits and was on the verge of death, but it was not completely destroyed. That's how it will be written in the history books. Anyway, there's only a difference of three to five years. It was a remote place, so it's easy to explain."

Yue Fei was stunned: "Is this all for? To put on a show so that the world would believe that Goryeo was only completely destroyed this year, you made me abandon the fierce battles in the Central Plains and waste half a year traveling back and forth? Your Highness... this is really..."

Yue Fei was quite straightforward, without much political maneuvering. He considered issues purely from a military perspective and naturally resisted grandstanding. Even though Zhao Zicheng was his benefactor who had promoted him for five or six years, he still felt he should speak his mind.

Zhao Zicheng laughed, showing no sign of blaming him. He confidently said, "Of course it's not just for acting. I have another plan! And this plan is very dangerous. I started planning it at the beginning of the year. Only you can help me make it happen."

Yue Fei then became serious and solemnly bowed, requesting Zhao Zicheng's instructions.

Zhao Zicheng cleared his throat: "Ever since I learned that the Jin people had released Zhao Gou, that traitor, I have been thinking about this matter. If we want to completely avoid a civil war, we still need to launch a northern expedition to strike at the heart of the country and 'welcome back the two emperors'."

"..."

Yue Fei was stunned for a long while before stammering, "Welcome...welcome back the two emperors? We should certainly welcome them back, but by then, the great cause of the Northern Expedition against the Jin will have already reached its final stage. I heard that after Your Highness harassed Hebei at the beginning of the year and intercepted the wealth that the Jin had looted from Bianjing, the Jin, fearing that our Great Song would launch another surprise attack on Yanjing, have moved the two emperors again. I don't know where the Jin are moving them to."

Zhao Zicheng said, "My dear brother may not know, but I do. In the past few months, I have secretly sent people to investigate, and I have also sent people from Goryeo to the north to investigate. I have also made good use of some extraordinary people from the north who have just joined my service, mainly those under Lu Jinyi's command."

All indications suggest that the Jurchens intend to escort the two emperors to their homeland, Wuguo City. Meanwhile, thanks to the spies sent by Lu Jinyi and the intelligence gathering of the Goryeo people operating in the Changbai Mountains, I have obtained detailed maps of the remote northeastern regions…”

Upon hearing this, Yue Fei's eyes darted around rapidly and he exclaimed in shock, "Your Highness, do you intend to... launch a surprise attack on Wuguo City from Goryeo? That's at least a thousand miles away, isn't it?"

The desolate lands beyond the Great Wall in the northeast are vast and deep, I've heard they're no smaller than the entire Central Plains. It's just that the land is bitterly cold and sparsely populated, which explains the small populations of the Jurchen, Bohai, and Xi peoples. Your Highness must think this through carefully!

Zhao Zicheng raised his hand to stop Yue Fei's wild thoughts, and then comforted him, "Of course we can't start directly from Goryeo. Going north from Goryeo, we have to cross Changbai Mountain and traverse dense forests to reach the Jin people's capital, Huining Prefecture. The journey is long and extremely dangerous."

However, based on my detailed survey of the local terrain and the intelligence I've gathered regarding the Jurchen rule since last year, my Great Song Dynasty could easily set off from a bay some distance east of Goryeo and travel north upstream along the river. That bay has no name, but since the local fishermen mostly catch sea cucumbers, let's call it Sea Cucumber Bay for now.

You must start from the east coast of Goryeo, go slightly north to Haishen Bay, then go upstream, following the route I roughly marked on the map. Go around the north side of the Jin people's 'Huligai Road' prefecture, then find the valley that crosses 'Anchuhu Ridge,' and further northwest over Anchuhu Ridge before entering the core area where the Jin people had more villages and towns..."

As Zhao Zicheng spoke, he pointed to the map. The "Anchuhu Ridge" he mentioned was the later Zhangguangcai Ridge, a relatively low-lying branch on the northern side of Changbai Mountain. This was also the edge of the area under the actual control of the Jin people at that time.

The Zhangguangcai Ridge is much easier to traverse than the main ridge of Changbai Mountain, with an average elevation of only 800 meters. Considering that the highest peak is over 1,600 meters, after avoiding the higher elevations, most other areas are relatively easy to traverse.

Especially in the valleys where the tributaries of the Mudanjiang River flow through the mountains, the elevation is generally only 200 meters, and the terrain is relatively flat.

To the northwest of the Zhangguangcai Mountains lies the plains surrounding what would later become Harbin, the earliest core area of ​​the Jin dynasty's rule. Huining Prefecture, part of the Shangjing Road, was located there. Wuguo City, where Emperor Huizong and Emperor Huan of Jin were captured and their sheep presented as tribute, was also a city under Huining Prefecture's jurisdiction. Emperor Wanyan Wugumai of the Jin dynasty received the homage of Emperor Huizong and Emperor Huan of Jin there. To the southeast of the Zhangguangcai Mountains lies the territory of what would later become Mudanjiang City, known during the Jin dynasty as "Huligai Road," a road-level administrative division. However, apart from the later urban area of ​​Mudanjiang and the county seat of Ning'an, which was under Mudanjiang's jurisdiction, the rest of Huligai Road was primarily a hunting and fishing area, lacking any significant agricultural development or governance.

If Yue Fei can launch a surprise attack to block the main valleys of Zhangguangcai Ridge or Anchuhu Ridge, and prevent the Jin people from crossing the tributary valleys of the Mudanjiang River to send a message, he can basically ensure that the enemy in the southeast of Anchuhu Ridge is captured and killed without anyone noticing.

As for the last stretch of road after crossing Anchuhu Ridge and entering the core plain area of ​​Harbin, which is the section from Shangzhi City to Wuguo City during the Jin Dynasty, it was definitely impossible to march secretly, so they had to launch a high-speed raid on the plain.

Fortunately, the last part of the journey is not too far. It is less than 300 li from Shangzhi to Wuguo City, while the entire journey is 600 li if you start from the fishing and hunting area on the edge of Huligai Road.

The first three hundred li required crossing mountains and blocking roads to cut off communication; the next three hundred li, if they could not hide, they would have to launch a surprise attack.

Zhao Zicheng's cannons, which he had been working on for several years, especially the light cannons and tiger crouching cannons that were easy to move quickly by horse-drawn horses, were finally going to be unlocked in this battle.

Zhao Zicheng had been on the defensive in his previous battles with the Jin people, and had thus kept his powerful cannons at bay.

He had endured for so long, and when the cannon was finally invented, he was bound to pull off a spectacular and ruthless move. Otherwise, how could he justify holding back for so long?
As for light bronze cannons like the Tiger Crouching Cannon, which weigh only a few hundred kilograms, it's unrealistic to expect them to breach city walls in the Central Plains. The city walls in the Central Plains were too high and thick; cavalry cannons could only be used for killing people with shotgun shells in open battle, and it was completely impossible to breach a city.

However, for those remote northeastern cities thousands of miles away, the tiger-squatting cannon was perfectly adequate. Zhao Zicheng had also researched relevant historical materials in his previous life and knew that the so-called cities built by the Jurchens in the Northeast had walls that were incomparable to those of the Han Chinese in the Central Plains.

The main reason was that the Jurchens lacked the manpower, resources, and engineering technology; secondly, the Jurchens did not need to defend cities.

What they called the Five Kingdoms City was just a few rammed earth walls with some sharpened wooden stakes buried in them, with a defensive strength similar to that of military camps in the Central Plains, at most a structure of rammed earth plus deer antlers/chevaux-de-frise.

Such a siege could be breached by using bronze cannons weighing several hundred kilograms and firing iron balls weighing three to five kilograms.

In this way, Yue Fei would not have to worry about the problem of "cavalry being unable to attack cities on long-distance raids". He could directly use pure cavalry and cavalry artillery to break through the gates and launch a raid on the Northeast Plain.

Weren't the Jurchens going to attack Bianjing to capture Zhao Ji and Zhao Huan?

If the enemy can go there, so can I! Let's fight our way to Wuguo City and bring back the hostages!

Of course, Zhao Zicheng wouldn't try to salvage anything more. His order to Yue Fei was simply to bring Zhao Huan back, and not to force anything else.

Emperor Huizong is already quite old and may not be able to withstand the arduous journey. If he is truly alive and unable to endure the hardship, he can be placed in Goryeo for a while. Zhao Zicheng will send someone from the Murong family to keep an eye on him (of course, this detail need not be explained to Yue Fei to avoid putting him in a difficult position; Zhao Zicheng will handle it himself).
As for the other princes who were captured along with him, there was no need to rescue them; let them die if they were already dead. It wasn't that Zhao Zicheng wasn't willing to help, but the long march was genuinely difficult, and he might not be able to bring too many weak hostages. It was also possible that they would be killed by the Jurchens during the attack on the city.

In short, with so many people, it would be best if Zhao Huan could be saved. If Zhao Huan is killed, then another person can be sent to save him. As long as one person is saved, that's enough.

"Therefore, rescuing the Emperor is the most crucial thing. If an accident occurs, we can replace him with the Retired Emperor. As long as one of them comes back alive, I can prevent the Han people from fighting a civil war again. At that time, I can directly have the Emperor declare Zhao Gou a traitor and issue an imperial edict requiring the civil and military officials of Huguang and Henan to return to the court."

If we can truly achieve this, my esteemed brother's great feat of this surprise attack will not merely be about saving one or two people, but about re-establishing the legitimacy of our Great Song Dynasty.

Upon hearing this, Yue Fei felt both excited and impressed by this extraordinary achievement, but also somewhat afraid—not of a military level, but of a political level.

He knew there were some questions he shouldn't ask, but he still had to, so he gritted his teeth and pressed on: "But I wonder, once the two emperors really return to court, how will Your Highness conduct yourself?"

Zhao Zicheng didn't want to be too explicit, so he said proudly, "I naturally know about loyalty and filial piety. If my brother can return, I will ensure that he can enjoy a peaceful old age."

Enjoying a peaceful old age... that means ensuring he has no worries about food and clothing and can live a life of wealth.

Zhao Zi said that it would be somewhat untrue to say that Zhao Huan or Zhao Ji would remain emperors until their deaths.

The world has come to this state because the emperor is incompetent, causing the people to suffer so much. If we were to bring him back and let them continue their work, the soldiers and the people of the land would not agree.

Although Yue Fei once raised the banner of "welcoming back the two emperors," he also had some political acumen. He certainly wouldn't have dared to suggest things like "please ask the emperor to return the throne to the retired emperor." If he had actually welcomed them back, he would have simply asked Zhao Gou to provide for his father and brother so that they would have no worries about food and clothing.

Even Zhao Huan himself, when he encountered the envoy sent by Zhao Gou to negotiate, grabbed the envoy's carriage and sleeves and cried out: if his ninth brother could redeem him, he only asked to become the master of Taiyi Palace, that is, to become the head of a Taoist temple and live a life of monasticism.

Therefore, Yue Fei felt that the condition Zhao Zicheng had proposed in private was entirely reasonable and that he had fulfilled his loyalty.

If the late emperor were to truly welcome him back, he would certainly be "willing" to first establish the Prince Regent as the Crown Prince's nephew or younger brother. Then, after the recapture of Bianjing, he could pass the throne to the Crown Prince Regent, citing his great contributions to the country and the restoration of the state.

At that time, no one in the world will object.

As for Zhao Gou, as long as Zhao Zicheng truly welcomes Zhao Huan back, a single imperial edict can declare Zhao Gou to be an extremely wicked and rebellious traitor who has no ruler, no father, and no brother.

This would give the generals who chose the wrong side a way out, allowing them to choose again, and perhaps even give them some of the Henan lands that the Jin dynasty had previously ceded to Zhao Gou's court—

The reason the Jin people retreated north and returned part of the Henan and Huaibei territories to Zhao Gou was because Zhao Gou was their puppet. But if this puppet collapsed too quickly, and the Jin people were unable to immediately move south to reinforce their defenses, allowing the local Han Chinese garrison to directly surrender to Zhao Zicheng, then they would have made a huge profit.

Therefore, no amount of effort was too much for Yue Fei in this operation. What Zhao Zicheng wanted to ensure was that when attacking Zhong Xiang on the western front, he would make a great show of force and draw the main force of the Jurchens to the southern battlefield as much as possible, thus leaving the Jurchens' rear vulnerable.

Historically, the Jurchens never considered the defense of their rear stronghold because there was simply no one who could threaten the rear of the Jin Dynasty.

The area surrounding Wuguo City, and even the entire Huining Prefecture of Shangjing Road, might not be able to muster five thousand elite Jurchen warriors. And the Jurchens themselves felt it was a waste, completely unnecessary.

If Yue Fei had used pure cavalry raids coupled with cavalry artillery, he could have easily succeeded in his mission in the undefended rear. Even if something unexpected happened, it would have at least guaranteed that Yue Fei could break through and escape, and the limited forces the Jin army left in the rear would have been far too small to pursue and annihilate him.

In the most extreme and urgent situation, Zhao Zicheng also allowed Yue Fei to destroy the bronze cannon that had run out of shells and sink it into the river.

Compared to the potentially huge gains of this operation, even losing a few dozen early bronze cannons would be worthwhile, as long as they aren't captured by the Jurchens.

After much deliberation, Yue Fei was filled with emotion and finally resolutely accepted the mission.

(End of this chapter)