The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 535 Using them as a sacrifice

The problems within Yang Yizhong's army were not isolated incidents.

Yue Wenxuan immediately launched a large-scale investigation, and found that there were quite a few such cases.

This was especially true of the troops that had been merged with the former puppet Qi state, many of whom had come from the former Southern Song dynasty.

The atmosphere in the former Northern Song army was better; only a few officers embezzled soldiers' supplies. Moreover, they didn't originally intend to do so. They only joined in because they saw that the officers of the former Southern Song and former puppet Qi armies in the neighboring camp were embezzling supplies. If they didn't embezzle, wouldn't they look foolish?

Seeing this, Yue Wenxuan couldn't help but sigh. That's just how humans are! If they see others breaking the rules and getting benefits without being punished, they can't help but follow suit.

Just like if one person runs a red light and it's okay, a group of people will run red lights.

If one person parks illegally and goes unpunished, an entire street of cars will park illegally.

"This matter must be severely punished." Gong Er Niangzi was also very angry. What angered her the most was that even the military palace of the former Northern Song Dynasty had been corrupted, yet there were still people who took the risk.

"Fortunately, we are only stationed on the border and have not yet launched a formal attack." Yue Fei, who was urgently summoned to the meeting, also sighed: "If we had already entered the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun and were fighting in the even more bitterly cold Liaodong, and the soldiers were being deprived of their military pay, there might have been a large number of frostbite deaths, or even a large-scale mutiny. The consequences would have been unimaginable."

"We can still deal with it now that we've discovered it," Han Shizhong said. "We can use these scumbags who embezzled military funds as a sacrifice. First, it will deter others who have ulterior motives. Second, killing these corrupt officials will greatly boost the morale of ordinary soldiers. With this morale boost, we can launch a campaign to recover the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun."

Yue Wenxuan nodded: "Han Shuai is right. We can use these people as a sacrifice."

Thus, amidst the heavy snowfall, almost all the soldiers of the Great Song Dynasty were summoned from their respective camps to the Great Parade Ground. Hundreds of thousands of troops watched a unique "Flag-Raising and Oath-Taking Ceremony" at the same time and in different locations.

All the non-commissioned officers who embezzled military supplies, rations, and pay from ordinary soldiers were bound hand and foot, dragged to the commander's flag, and beheaded. Their heads were then hung high, and the embezzled supplies were distributed to the soldiers on the spot.

As a result, the morale of the entire Song army soared!

Taking this opportunity, the commanders of each army took to the stage with standardized speeches and loudly proclaimed: "In the past, no country would rashly wage war in winter. Especially in places like Hebei and Liaodong, the weather is freezing and unsuitable for fighting. But we are different. We have a large amount of cotton clothing and food privately sponsored by Young Master Yue. We can fight without fear in winter and we can overcome the cold! A few pests cannot ruin our grand plan to revitalize the Song Dynasty and China."

The soldiers responded in unison: "Revitalize the Song Dynasty! Revitalize China!"

"Send troops to recover the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun, and realize the dream that the Great Song Dynasty has been unable to achieve since its founding."

The Song soldiers were in high spirits, and more than a dozen armies simultaneously stormed into the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun...
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At this time, the Jin Dynasty was already extremely weak.

When Emperor Xizong of Jin first came to power, the famous generals who had fought against the Song Dynasty in the past had all passed away, leaving only Talan and Jin Wuzhu as capable generals. However, Talan had rebellious intentions, and Emperor Xizong killed him on the pretext of "spreading rumors and misleading the public".

Then Jin Wuzhu led several thousand of his elite old troops to the Western Regions.

This presented Emperor Xizong of Jin with a major problem: he had no generals at his disposal.

When there were no great generals in Shu, Liao Hua could only be made the vanguard.

When the Jin dynasty lacked capable generals, Emperor Xizong had no choice but to entrust Wanyan Zongxian with the main responsibility. Wanyan Zongxian, also known as Saili, was the son of Wanyan Wohutu, the younger brother of Emperor Taizu of Jin, and a member of the imperial clan.

This person had almost no military achievements; militarily, he was mainly responsible for the internal stability of the Jin Dynasty, similar in role to a "military police captain." In the original history, he quelled the rebellions of Wanyan Zongpan, Wanyan Chang, and others, and was highly valued for supporting Emperor Xizong of Jin, holding positions such as Left Chancellor and Grand Tutor. However, in this timeline, he didn't even quell a rebellion; he was a complete military novice.

Wanyan Zongxian was forced to take on the heavy responsibility of resisting the Song Dynasty's "invasion," leading the Jin army, which had been decimated and whose morale was low, to garrison in Yanjing.

It was snowing heavily in Yanjing at this time, and the roads outside were frozen, causing the warhorses to slip and slide.

Wanyan Zongxian breathed a sigh of relief and said, "With such heavy snow, the Song army will definitely not attack. We can at least have a peaceful winter. We will need to consider what to do after the snow melts next spring."

As soon as he finished speaking...

A scout rushed in, his head and face covered in snowflakes, and shouted in a desperate tone, "The Song army is here! They actually braved the heavy snow to attack!"

"Huh?" Wanyan Zongxian exclaimed in surprise, "How is this possible? With such heavy snow, how can the army march? How can the soldiers move in the snow and wind? Aren't they afraid of freezing to death?"

The scout had a strange expression on his face: "Their soldiers all have thick cotton-padded coats, and they look like fat, round, mud-covered people as they slowly advance across the snowfield."

Wanyan Zongxian: "!!!"

This is just utterly unreasonable.

Historically, we have never seen anything like it, where troops would come to attack Hebei and Northeast China in winter.

Wanyan Zongxian then asked, "With the heavy snow falling, wouldn't their firearms be unusable? What are they planning then?"

The scout had a strange expression on his face: "I saw from afar that their muskets had bamboo boxes attached to them. I guess those are for protection against rain and snow."

Wanyan Zongxian panicked: "What should we do? Never mind, send out the order to prepare for battle. We can't fight a defensive battle; we'll be bombarded by cannons and won't be able to fight back. We must go out of the city and fight."

The lieutenant quickly stepped forward: "Marshal, our warhorses are slipping on the icy ground, which is very disadvantageous for open field battles."

Wanyan Zongxian: "Then dismount and fight on foot."

The quartermaster stepped forward and said, “In this kind of weather, soldiers need to be well-fed and warmly dressed to withstand the cold. Our Jin Kingdom does not have enough supplies. Our soldiers can barely get enough to eat, let alone fight in this weather. They can’t even fight on foot.”

Wanyan Zongxian went berserk: "Then why should the Song Dynasty be able to support it?"

The deputy general and the quartermaster looked at Wanyan Zongxian as if he were an idiot, thinking: The Great Song Dynasty was already richer than our Jin Dynasty! Otherwise, why would the Emperor want to reform and learn from the Three Departments and Six Ministries system of the Great Song Dynasty? Do you think the Emperor has nothing better to do? Isn't it because he learns from his rich neighbor that he can make himself rich?

(End of this chapter)