I am Emperor Shizu of Song

Chapter 95 Give him a chance to do evil and he will show his true colors
Zhao Zicheng easily won the favor of Liu Guangshi and Han Shizhong with just a welcoming banquet, a few martial arts demonstrations, and the opportunity for people to see his military appearance and see the future of his subordinates.

Liu Guangshi has a backer and connections, so he hasn't thought much about it yet. He just feels that it would be very comfortable to cooperate with a civil servant like Zhao Tongpan, and he will definitely not be betrayed if he becomes an ally of him.

Han Shizhong, who was still being manipulated and had no backing, was even more eager to join the army. However, Liu Yanqing had eventually promoted him to the rank of battalion commander, so Han Shizhong couldn't do anything disloyal or unjust for the time being. Everything needed to wait for an opportunity.

The reinforcements had just arrived that day, and Zhao Zicheng had not assigned them any military tasks. After the welcoming banquet, the generals went to rest and there was no conversation all night.

The next morning, Zhao Zicheng went to his tent at the hour of Mao and invited Liu Guangshi, Han Shizhong and the Liang family father and son to formally discuss the military deployment to reinforce Hangzhou.

Because the atmosphere yesterday was so harmonious, Liu Guangshi and Han Shizhong already regarded Zhao Zicheng as an "insider who understands military commanders," rather than one of those hypocritical, hypocritical, and purely civil servants who constantly spoke high-handedly and obstructed others. Furthermore, without the participation of prefects like Zhao Lin and Wei Xian in today's military meeting, everyone spoke more bluntly.

Some words that are for self-preservation or for the benefit of a small group can also be put on the table.

So as soon as the meeting started, Liu Guangshi took the lead in asking the most critical question, but one that was not related to the military aspect:
"President Zhao, I pondered this all night long, and there's one thing I'm still worried about. As a judge in Jiangnan for a long time, I understand the situation better. Please help me clear up my confusion."

Zhao Zicheng smiled calmly, "General Liu, please feel free to ask."

Liu Guangshi: "Taiwei Tong's main force will take more than half a month to arrive in Jiangnan. Currently, only a few light cavalry have arrived first to support the local Jiangnan troops.

Although Fang La's army was annihilated by the Tongpan (Tongpan), tens of thousands of them were killed. But last night, after consulting with scouts and sentries, and reading the latest military reports, I found that Fang La's bandits seem to be still encroaching on the good people. Although Fang La's advance to the north has been temporarily halted by our army, his spread to the south is completely unstoppable.

"Do you think we can save Hangzhou? How long can the friendly forces in Hangzhou hold out? If we can't save the city, will we be implicated in the court's future discussions on rewards and punishments?"

Zhao Zicheng didn't answer the question directly, but instead asked, "How the court will reward or punish you in the future is not for me to comment on. It all depends on what missions General Tong assigns you and whether the requirements are strict. More importantly, will General Tong underestimate the enemy's situation?"

If General Tong underestimated the enemy's situation and boasted to the emperor in advance, saying, "As long as the imperial vanguard reaches Jiangnan, the decline can be stopped immediately. Once the main force arrives, a counterattack will be launched immediately." This would easily lead to excessive expectations from the emperor and the central government.

By then, even if we achieve merit, the court officials will see it as something we should have done and nothing to show for it. And if our army continues to retreat and temporarily loses ground, we might even be considered incompetent.”

After hearing these analyses, Liu Guangshi and Han Shizhong's relaxed feeling when they first arrived yesterday disappeared, and were replaced by solemn expressions.

They understood only too well how capriciously the Song court's expectations of its military leaders shifted. Sometimes, even a victory could be explained as "I should have fought better, the turning point should have come sooner." And if someone with connections lost, they could say, "The hole left by the predecessor was too big to fill, and they had done their best, laying a crucial foundation for the subsequent comeback."

This kind of thing had happened countless times within the Western Army over the years. The Song Dynasty and the Western Xia had fought back and forth, with each side winning and losing. Those with strong connections could always attribute a temporary defeat to the previous leader's deep-seated mistakes, while those without connections could attribute a temporary victory to the previous leader's strong foundation.

It now seemed inevitable that Fang La would be defeated sooner or later, but where would the imperial court set this "stop-loss line"? Would the arrival of reinforcements from the north immediately trigger a reversal of defeat? What percentage of reinforcements would need to arrive to trigger this stop-loss line?

There are so many tricks that can be played here.

Where there are people, there are rivers and lakes; wherever there is KPI assessment, there is room for cheating.

After realizing this, Liu Guangshi and Han Shizhong quickly realized that although they were sent as vanguards, they might also fall into a trap.

What if Tong Guan and the ministers believed that the "stop-loss line" had been set at "Hangzhou did not fall", and Hangzhou was not saved? Would they also be responsible?
Zhao Zicheng was definitely not responsible because he was a civil servant, the magistrate of Suzhou, and was cooperating with them in defense. As long as Zhao Zicheng tried his best and defended his territory, he could not be held responsible.

When he thought of this, Liu Guangshi could still hold back, but Han Shizhong was already a little crazy.

"I knew the higher-ups weren't so kind. They let us go first, hoping that if there's any credit, we'll share it with everyone. If there's no credit, we'll be the ones to take the blame for our poor rescue efforts!"

Liu Guangshi's face darkened slightly, but he didn't start cursing like Han Shizhong. He was still hoping for other possibilities, so he continued to ask, "Then please tell me, Zhao Tongpan, how long do you think Hangzhou can hold out? What are the chances of saving it? As long as Hangzhou can be saved, no matter what the high-ranking officials think, we will have made contributions without any fault."

But Zhao Zicheng poured cold water on him: "There is a certain chance, but the hope is not great."

Liu Guangshi's face instantly turned grayer: "Why?"

Zhao Zi said: "You were not originally from Jiangnan, so you don't understand the people's sentiments there. The people of Jiangnan have been grieving for a long time. This time Fang La started his rebellion under the pretext of killing Zhu Jie and abolishing the Flower and Stone Gang, which won him great favor among the people of Jiangnan.

If I hadn't acted decisively and executed Zhu Zhen, who had fled for fear of punishment and was recaptured, I might not have been able to save the three states of Su, Xiu, and Hu. But while I was saving the fertile land of the three states, Hangzhou City was already surrounded by Fang La and was under siege.

If Hangzhou had been united in its defense, it might have been able to hold out for several months. However, with several officials, led by Zhao Ting, the prefect of Hangzhou, abandoning the city and fleeing, morale within the city would inevitably collapse, making it difficult to say how long they could hold out.

The more crucial point is that I have estimated Fang La's money and food. Since he started his army, his money and food have been sufficient to sustain him. More and more soldiers have been brought in, but the food has not been eaten up yet. He can only rely on the wild grains that have not yet been stored in the warehouses during the autumn harvest to sustain him for a while.

According to common sense, Fang La's army would have run out of food by the time the coldest months of winter arrived. Therefore, before this, when Fang La conquered Muzhou, Shezhou, Chuzhou, Taizhou, and Wenzhou, he did not indiscriminately slaughter or plunder the people. Instead, he simply killed a few corrupt officials and merchants with bad reputations, and looted their property to provide enough for his army.

However, I believe that a rebel who could rise to such a level wouldn't be incapable of calculating even the most basic of accounts. The reason the five states didn't engage in indiscriminate massacres and looting was because those places weren't rich enough, and he had to pretend to be so in order to undermine the resistance of those who came after him.

Hangzhou was already so difficult to capture, and the imperial army had already stopped its decline on the northern front. I believe Fang La must have known that "the best he could do was capture Hangzhou, and it would be impossible to achieve anything greater." If he performed any worse, he might not even be able to capture Hangzhou.

Therefore, after Fang La captured Hangzhou, he would indiscriminately massacre and plunder the city, regardless of whether the rich had committed a crime before. As long as there was something to rob, he would rob it. This would allow Fang La to obtain a large amount of money and food, so that he no longer had to worry about how to ensure sufficient military food for a protracted war.

However, this would also completely undermine the popular support of Fang La. He would no longer receive the constant influx of citizens who viewed him as a vindicator. The prefectures would then continue to put up a desperate resistance, knowing that if the city fell, they would all die. Rich families and corrupt officials would also be forced to share their money and food with the poor to help defend the city. Without this example, Fang La's popularity and the public's expectations would remain unshattered.

So from this perspective, letting Hangzhou fall to Fang La briefly was also a touchstone. By taking Hangzhou, he lost the people's hearts. Just like Qin Shi Huang, who initially advanced with great momentum, but after conquering Qi, he immediately vowed to starve King Jian of Qi to death in a pine forest, and the Qin Dynasty fell within ten years.

Because some atrocities at turning points in history undermine the trust built up over the years, allowing the world to see clearly that some people's so-called service to the people and keeping their promises are just temporary performances. Once they have deceived people and reaped the greatest benefits they can get in their lives, they will stop pretending.

Zhao Zi said that it can even be speculated that if Fang La had not conquered Hangzhou and had not obtained the first provincial capital that was rich enough for him to be shameless enough to stop acting, then Fang La's personality might have continued to maintain.

If Zhao Zicheng, Liu Guangshi and Han Shizhong attacked immediately and killed most of Fang La's soldiers, and solved Fang La's food problem by helping him reduce the population and the number of mouths to feed, then Fang La could continue to play the role of "the army of benevolence and righteousness", and more soldiers and civilians in the south would be deceived by Fang La's disguise.

In that case, Fang La would continue to mislead more people, and the rebellion might last even longer.

Liu Guangshi and Han Shizhong finally understood this and felt a sense of despair. "It seems that Hangzhou should be conquered by Fang La, both militarily and in terms of public opinion, so that the world can see his true colors. But what should we do?" Zhao Zicheng thought about it and finally decided to carefully offer Liu Guangshi and Han Shizhong a suggestion: "I have a plan to take General Liu out."

Liu Guangshi felt like he had grabbed a life-saving straw and quickly asked humbly: "President Zhao, please give me some advice!"

……

Zhao Zi said, "First, in order to give an explanation to General Tong, our army cannot linger in Suzhou and Huzhou for long. We must send troops south tomorrow. With our strength, we cannot directly approach the city of Hangzhou and engage Fang La in a field battle.

He has an army of 100,000, while our army is less than 10,000. It is like an egg hitting a rock, so we must rush to Yanguan County in Xiuzhou to deploy as soon as possible. It is the nearest county to the besieged city of Hangzhou. Further south is the enemy-occupied area.

Then, we can first use the main force of our infantry to prepare for an offensive battle, drawing Fang La's main force to intercept. Then, leveraging the mobility of our cavalry, we can detach a select detachment and use it to bypass Hangzhou City and raid its camp or find a weak point in the enemy's encirclement. Once outside the city walls, we can shoot a letter with arrows from the top of the walls, warning the defenders to hold out for a while longer, as General Tong's main force will arrive within twenty days.

As long as General Liu or Commander Han tries to do this, I can testify for you that you have successfully delivered the letter. I can also ask the officials of Su, Xiu and Hu states to jointly sign to guarantee you.

Please think about it, if Hangzhou was saved in the end and they didn't receive the letter, no one would ask about it in detail. At most, we would not report your heroic act of sending the letter to boost morale and pretend nothing happened.

If Hangzhou was not finally defended, the officers and soldiers in the city would have been massacred, and there would have been no evidence to prove the fall. Moreover, the fall of Hangzhou would have indicated that the morale of the officers and officials in the city was low, and the people were shaken. Otherwise, given the fortress of Hangzhou, it would not have been possible to hold it for more than 20 days.

Since ancient times, it was common for those who defended a strong city to hold out for several months. Hangzhou was not short of food, and Fang La did not have any heavy siege equipment. If it fell within three months, it must be due to the instability of the people's hearts, and it had nothing to do with outsiders.

Liu and Han thought this was a good idea. It would help them avoid future gossip. No one would question whether Hangzhou should be lost or whether it could be saved. Even if Hangzhou was lost, the responsibility would be 100% on the Hangzhou guards.

Of course, Han Shizhong still decided to do his best to deliver the message. He was a skilled warrior, skilled in wielding a powerful bow with a draw weight of several stones, capable of launching an arrow three hundred paces. He led a cavalry unit to the outskirts of Hangzhou and launched a letter into the city walls, warning the defenders that reinforcements from the imperial court were imminent. This was his best effort.

If Hangzhou City still cannot be defended, then it would be the end of all the civil and military officials in the city - this possibility is not impossible, because Fang La's ability to shake and persuade people before was really extraordinary, and the defending generals might also think that the person who shot the letter provided false information and was sent by the court to deceive them, just to make them hold on for a while longer and cause more people to die for the court and the tyrant.

Given Zhao Ji's late rule and his unpopularity in Jiangnan, it is normal for people to speculate and suspect him.

"Never mind! The method proposed by Zhao Tongpan is a good one. We don't have enough troops to fight Fang La directly. Apart from trying to send a letter to the Hangzhou defenders to encourage them to hold off, what else can we do?

Although Zhao Tongpan is trying to help us avoid possible future guilt, I, Han Wu, will still do my best! When the time comes, I will lead my cavalry and try to rush to the outside of Hangzhou City to shoot arrows! We won't play tricks, we must really shoot arrows onto the city walls."

……

After several people discussed the plan, they made a plan for sending troops that day.

The next morning, Zhao Zicheng led the Huzhou and Suzhou wing troops, as well as the Zhenjiang wing troops led by Liang Xin and Liang Feng, father and son, and set out from Wucheng to the south.

On the first day, the army moved faster, covering nearly eighty miles a day, and arrived at another county town in the south. They stayed in the city for the night and did not choose to camp in the wild.

Later on, the marching speed slowed down a bit because they were getting closer and closer to the area controlled by Fang La. If they walked too fast, they would easily be hit by Fang La's interception troops and forced into a field battle.

Therefore, the specific plan that Zhao Zicheng ordered was to "build a strong camp and fight a stupid battle", advancing only thirty miles a day, and when the main force moved forward, there was no need to demolish all the camps on the way. It would be better to repeat the construction, prepare more materials, and make more preparations.

With such a distance of advance, even if Fang La noticed them and mobilized his main force to intercept them, Zhao Zicheng could immediately retreat into the camp and fight a battle to defend the camp.

So as to avoid being forced into a more uncertain field battle due to time constraints.

At the same time, such a strategy of building a strong camp and fighting a static battle can also make the troops more powerful, making it easier for Fang La to notice this group of people and pay more attention to them, thus reducing the pressure of the siege in the direction of Hangzhou.

As expected, on the fourth day after Zhao Zicheng sent out his troops, Fang La's army responded very strongly to Zhao Zicheng's reinforcements.

Fang La also learned from the lessons of Shi Bao and Deng Yuanjue who died at the hands of Zhao Zicheng, and did not dare to divide his troops this time.

Apart from the necessary forces to block the gates of Hangzhou, Fang La mobilized as many of his main forces as possible to move towards Yanguan County, which borders Hangzhou and Xiuzhou, attempting to concentrate superior forces and wipe out Zhao Zicheng's forces in one fell swoop.

But Zhao Zicheng would certainly not let Fang La succeed. He set up camp for the last time about thirty miles southwest of Yanguan County and out of the city.

Yanguan County is about ninety miles away from Qiantang County, the seat of Hangzhou.

If you walk more than thirty miles southwest from Yanguan County, you will reach the area of ​​Haining in later generations, and it is only more than fifty miles away from Qiantang County. Of course, during the Song Dynasty, Haining was not a county, but just a small town.

When Fang La's army arrived, Zhao Zicheng had already ordered his troops to withdraw and defend the camp. His camp faced the Qiantang River to the southeast, and the navy warships from Zhenjiang protected his flanks, so he was not afraid of Fang La's encirclement.

Even if Fang La completely surrounded Zhao Zicheng's camp on three land sides, and Zhao Zicheng was unable to hold it after a fierce battle, he could still retreat by water using the warships on the Qiantang River.

As a peasant army that had only been in existence for a few months, Fang La did not have large ships or naval forces. Even if Fang La could gather a large number of men to fight on the water, the warships he used were always inferior and could only be small fishing boats for civilian use.

Zhao Zicheng had his men work hard and at all costs to strengthen the camp. When Fang La's vanguard arrived, they saw that Zhao Zicheng had few soldiers and launched a tentative attack on the camp.

However, Zhao Zicheng had Yang Zhilin who defended Lu Da to the death, and Zhao Zicheng himself personally patrolled the battlefield with a sword. The morale of the soldiers was extremely high, and relying on the rammed earth walls and pointed wooden fences of the camp, they were able to remain unmoved in the face of the strong attack of the enemy that outnumbered them several times.

Fang La's vanguard's attempt to attack the camp was thwarted and they had to resort to a stalemate.

But they didn't know that when Fang La was mobilized by Zhao Zicheng, Han Shizhong had already led more than 200 Western Army cavalrymen to rush towards Qiantang County, trying to raid the camp and harass them, and also shooting arrows and sending letters to the defenders in the city to boost morale.

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PS: There is a symposium for the website’s Hangzhou station today, so I went out at noon.

(End of this chapter)