choke element

Chapter 1018: Turbulence (Part )

Liu Ran subconsciously took a half step back and stood in the shadow of the trees.

He had seen such scenes in Liaodong before, but he had never imagined that such a tragic situation would occur on the border of the Great Zhou.

The entire southern border of the Great Zhou Dynasty was only facing the Song army, and the Zhou army stationed there only imagined the Song army as their enemy. As the most important assistant to the commander-in-chief Guo Zhongyuan, Liu Ran also focused his intelligence efforts on the Song army. For example, the adjustments made by the Zhaofang troops of the Song State in the two routes of Jinghu could not be concealed from Liu Ran and others.

Zhao Fang was quite talented in poetry. Liu Ran would know every time he wrote a poem in the shortest possible time. Zhao Fang was over seventy years old and gradually became ill. Liu Ran also knew what medicine the doctor prescribed for him. There was a doctor named Chen Ziming who was actually an insider of the Great Zhou. Even the mobilization of Zhao Fang's troops and the promotion and punishment of generals could not be hidden from Liu Ran.

It's not that the Great Zhou's infiltration of Song was unilateral to this extent. Merchants and travelers traveled so frequently on the border between the two countries that there was nothing that could be hidden. Earlier, Zhao Fang brought a few followers and went straight to Kaifeng leisurely, which proved that the people of Song also had this ability.

The Great Zhou military's extreme strengthening of its control over information actually happened after Yin Chang left office.

Yin Chang was a powerful figure in the Shandong Red Coat Army, and was also the first Red Coat Army leader to surrender to Guo Ning and be entrusted with important tasks. Before this, the number of soldiers from the northern border that Guo Ning relied on was limited, like a man with bones but no muscles. It was only after Yin Chang joined the Dinghai Army that hundreds of thousands of Red Coat Army soldiers joined him and filled Guo Ning's military strength.

The soldiers who came from the Red Coat Army privately mocked themselves, saying that the Red Coat Army shed blood and sweat in the rebellion, while Guo Ning's Dinghai Army reaped the benefits. To some extent, this is not wrong.

After that, Guo Ning rose from a general to a powerful official, and then to the emperor step by step. The former members of the Red Coat Army also rose with the tide and occupied many middle-level and grassroots positions in the Zhou army. Yin Chang was in Kaifeng, but he dared to influence the court's major policies. This was his confidence.

Yin Chang was in trouble because of this. At that time, there was a rumor in the court that a group of ministers, including Xu Ding, believed that if Yin Chang committed such a serious mistake and was not severely punished, it would set a bad precedent. If other ministers acted recklessly in the future, would they be let off lightly?
It was Guo Ning who eliminated these noises and only dismissed Yin Chang from his post, and then sent him to Goryeo to be a superior, and brought his close subordinates with him. But the others would inevitably face a purge. Especially those who were not that close to Yin Chang, but whose identities as former members of the Red Coat Army were too obvious to cover up their identities as warriors of the Great Zhou Dynasty, had no hope of escaping this trend.

Guo Ning was not harsh in his treatment of people, and the purge process was not violent, but in just six months, some officers were promoted in name only but demoted in reality, some were ordered to retire and return to farming, and some were transferred to other places with their families. In addition, there were more than 20,000 troops under the command of no less than 40 or 50 officers, half of whom went to the north, and some filled Li Ting's troops.

After these people left in large numbers, the space was left to students who graduated from military academies in various places and had experience serving in front of the palace.

The military academy students were the most loyal to Guo Ning. Most of them were just ordinary soldiers in troubled times, with no wealth or family ties. Without Guo Ning, they would have no future. So they would never be pushed by any group to do their own thing. The only person who could make them obey was Guo Ning.

However, these students started from a low point, and their reputation and experience were far inferior to those of the old Red Coat Army. Therefore, even if they were sent to the army, it would not be easy for them to gain real power. They needed a process of elimination to prove that their talents were no less than those of the old Red Coat Army generals and soldiers who rose in the troubled times.

At the same time, Yin Chang and others were preparing for the war with the Song Dynasty. They had stored excessive amounts of weapons and supplies in many places along Nanjing Road. During this period, they were gradually transferred to the north to support the war in the northern border. The huge amount of supplies transported once caused a blockage in the Caohe River.

Such an operation was necessary, otherwise it would not be enough to ensure the loyalty of the army, but it would also inevitably affect the combat effectiveness of the army. Therefore, Li Yun, Xu Jin and other people who controlled secret agents and generals like Guo Zhongyuan all sent several times more spies and intelligence personnel to keep a close eye on the Song army on the opposite side and never allow them to take advantage of the opportunity to steal.

The more they knew about the State of Song and the Song army, the more reassured the generals were. The State of Song did have elite soldiers and brave generals, but the country, from top to bottom, was not built for war. Their army could only be used for defense, but they could never organize an attack on a big country; their scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans at all levels were like a pile of loose sand and could not support a war.

Therefore, even if the military strength and armaments of the Nanjing Road Command were greatly weakened, they were still sufficient to ensure safety. Several important towns had three to five thousand men each, and each pass was supervised by a hundred-man team, so it was easy to stabilize the area.

But who knew that the Mongolian army was coming? Where did they come from? Why did they come? Why didn’t the spies of the Nanjing Road Military Command play any role?
Liu Ran was puzzled and gnashed with hatred for a while. Then he fled madly under the pursuit of Mongolian cavalry all over the mountains and plains, and no longer had time to vent his emotions.

He only knew that the Mongolian army and the Song army were not opponents of the same level. The Mongolian army's combat effectiveness was ten times that of the Song army, its marching and attacking speed was a hundred times that of the Song army, and its destructive power was a thousand times that of the Song army wherever it went!
When facing the Mongolian cavalry raid, the problems of the garrisons in various parts of Nanjing Road being busy with internal adjustments and lacking in war preparations were exposed.

All along the border of the Great Zhou, no village could hold out for more than half a day, no settlement was not immediately destroyed, no pass could block the movement of the enemy cavalry, and no garrison could engage the enemy without being annihilated.

Liu Ran's martial arts skills were outstanding. Most of his companions were from Liaodong, experienced in the battlefield, and were all good men. However, personal bravery and fighting skills played no role in the overturned situation.

In the past few years, Liu Ran has also studied military books and strategies. As a young officer favored by the Great Zhou Emperor Guo Ning, he felt that his future was more than just a military judge of the Zhaotao Division, and that his talents would allow him to take charge of the military affairs of a region, protect the country and the people, and then expand the territory. However, the military strategies he learned had no room for application in the ongoing chaos.

After all, he is an assistant officer now, and he has only a few direct subordinates.

He fled all the way from the border to Zhongmu, and joined the garrison troops several times, but was always dispersed by the Mongols. At the moment the war broke out, the Zhou army was in a completely scattered state, which directly doomed them to failure.

Any troops in the wild or in small camps could not respond to their companions. They were either dispersed on the spot or had to withstand the Mongol army's wave after wave of attacks that seemed to have no limit.

If they persisted in fighting for a little longer, they would have to witness the slaughter of civilians in their territory. These were civilians who were familiar with the soldiers, old women who sold vegetables, old men who carried water, women who occasionally flirted with them, and children who played around and asked for candy while the soldiers were on duty!

They died screaming in front of the soldiers. Their bodies were tied to ropes and torn apart by horses, and their bloody heads with several pieces of spine were thrown into the defensive positions by the Mongolian knights as weapons.

If you take a closer look at the heads, you might even find that one of them may be a garrison general in a nearby military camp, or a local official in a nearby village or town.

Those who are not mentally prepared cannot withstand such an impact. Despair spreads immediately, rapidly depleting the defenders’ physical strength, energy, and fighting spirit. No matter how hard they try, some people will not be able to hold on, and then the entire line collapses, and the army is defeated.

Now, even Zhongmu is lost.

Then there is only one way to go, which is to move closer to Kaifeng.

Liu Ran frowned and thought, moving quickly through the woods and catching up with the large group that was trying to cross the woods.

A soldier saw him and raised his voice slightly, saying, "Judge, Captain Sun is awake."

Captain Sun refers to Sun Huzi. After Zhang Pingliang went to the northern border, he took away most of Liu Ran's former subordinates, but Sun Huzi still served as the captain of Liu Ran's personal guards. Now he also has the rank of Zhongwu Captain, and if he goes up, he will be called a general.

Because he was seriously injured when attacking Kaifeng in his early years, Sun Huzi has always been in poor health, and he has been bedridden for half a year. He was lucky to escape this time. But in a battle yesterday evening, Sun Huzi injured his left rib and remained in a coma after being bandaged.

"Awake?" Liu Ran rushed to Sun Huzi in two steps.

Sun Huzi nodded weakly: "Old Liu, where are we?"

"West of Kaifeng. I wanted to go to Zhongmu, but the defenders of Zhongmu were dispersed by the Mongols just now... I'm afraid they are doomed now." Liu Ran explained the situation in a low voice while checking Sun Huzi's wounds. These are all necessary skills for officers. After many trainings, Liu Ran is very skilled.

"It's a minor injury, not serious. You can rest for a few days and then you'll be back to full strength."

Sun Huzi smiled bitterly, "Don't talk about jumping around. Even if I hadn't been injured, I wouldn't be able to jump around. In the past few years, my bones hurt just by standing. I can't even hold a knife anymore. I'm useless now."

Liu Ran patted his shoulder: "Don't talk nonsense, don't think too much."

Sun Huzi looked around and found that most of the people in the advancing team were unfamiliar. He asked in a low voice: "Are you gathering the people again?"

"After the battle last night, some people gathered along the way, plus a group of defeated soldiers we met. They are counting on me, and I can't abandon them... I plan to take them to Kaifeng. They will be safe there... Kaifeng has Marshal Guo in charge, so we will be able to hold out."

Liu Ran tried to speak in a more relaxed tone.

He felt very heavy in his heart, and still couldn't believe that his side had suffered such a shameful betrayal and such an unimaginable defeat. But he had to cheer up, otherwise he would not be able to inspire his subordinates.

Sun Huzi slowly reached out his hand and held Liu Ran's arm.

Liu Ran thought he wanted to get up, so he helped him up a little. Sun Huzi was panting, but he didn't move. He pulled Liu Ran closer and said, "You can't go to Kaifeng."

"what?"

"We have seen the Mongolian army's tactics so many times in the past few days. Don't you understand? There must be the most Mongolian cavalry roaming outside Kaifeng. They are waiting for the defeated troops to retreat to Kaifeng, and then they can easily intercept and eat them! If we go to Kaifeng, it's like a moth to a flame!"

"Then take everyone and continue to escape? Fight while fleeing until everyone dies on the road?" Liu Ran couldn't help but ask back.

Of course, there are more than one important military town on Nanjing Road, Kaifeng. But at this time, the border has been defeated repeatedly and roads have been cut off everywhere. Even if other important towns and cities are stable, it is useless if you can't go there. Besides, you have already arrived in Kaifeng, what else can you do if you don't fight for a place?

This time, the Mongolian army was eager to take advantage of the chaos to attack Zhongmu, and did not carefully search the surrounding area, so this group of people on our side luckily escaped. What about next time? Going to Kaifeng or not going, which choice has a greater chance of survival, who can guarantee it?

"can not go."

Sun Huzi sneered twice: "Is there anyone in this team who doesn't know you? Is there anyone who doesn't know that you are the military judge of the Nanjing Military Command of the Great Zhou Dynasty?"

"Beard, what do you mean?"

"When you get to the vicinity of Kaifeng City, you have a 20% chance of entering the city at best. After entering the city, you will only add a few dozen soldiers who can fight in the city, which is better than nothing. But there is still an 80% chance that your team will be annihilated by the Mongolian army, and someone will identify you. Then the Mongolians will push you or your body to the foot of the city and boast loudly that another important general of the Nanjing Military Command has died!"

Sun Huzi took a few quick breaths and continued, "Do you think the ordinary people in Kaifeng will be terrified? Will the merchants in Kaifeng, who value their own safety more than anything else, be panicked? After the garrison troops were transferred away one after another, Kaifeng is now like a wonton with a thin skin and a large filling... With three thousand soldiers guarding such a large city, how much spare energy will there be to suppress the rioters? If they can't suppress the chaos in the city, what will the Mongolian army outside the city do?"

Liu Ran was silent for a while.

Sun Huzi sneered, "Our commander must be extremely worried right now, so you better save your energy and don't make things worse!"