I am Emperor Shizu of Song

Chapter 99: Zhao Zicheng's might overwhelms Jiangdong, and General Tong accelerates his march south

Two days after the Battle of Haining.

Zhenjiang Prefecture, Tong Guan’s camp.

The battle report that Liu Guangshi urgently sent back was immediately placed on the desk of General Tong.

Tong Guan was having a meal with his attendants, and he was accompanied by Liu Yanqing, a general of the Western Army who had just arrived in Zhenjiang that day.

At this time, nearly ten days had passed since Liu Guangshi and Han Shizhong went south, so more and more Western troops arrived in Zhenjiang, including Liu Yanqing. The size of Zhenjiang's imperial guards had exceeded 30,000.

Over 20,000 troops had already arrived in Huaiyin and crossed the Han Canal. Calculating the time, within three or four days at most, the force in Zhenjiang would have risen to over 50,000. If the battle went smoothly, Tong Guan wouldn't necessarily wait until all 150,000 troops were gathered before launching a counterattack. After all, when the battle was going well, it was important to seize credit.

But if the war situation still goes against him, Tong Guan plans to continue waiting according to the original plan to allow the troops to accumulate more strength.

Anyway, General Tong cannot take the blame. As long as he takes action, he must win all the battles afterwards. General Tong does not want to get involved in the hard work and tough battles before the turning point.

So at this moment, when he just received the battle report, he didn't think anything big had happened. He just thought that Liu Guangshi and Fang La were in a stalemate and there was a little friction, so he was quite impatient.

Before opening the battle report, he jokingly teased Liu Yanqing beside him, "Your son is far more impatient than you. We'll just have him take a few battalions of cavalry to the Hangzhou front to harass and delay Fang La, and help the Hangzhou defenders share the enemy's power."

Even if this is just a small matter, does it need to be reported so urgently? It's not like I haven't made any contributions before."

Liu Yanqing didn't know the contents of the battle report, so he could only accept the general's teasing and criticism of his son. He immediately left the table to apologize for his son's mistake: "My son is young and inexperienced. Perhaps he has made some minor achievements, so he thinks he is proud of himself. I am sorry to have embarrassed you. Why don't you finish your meal first and then take your time to read it."

"Well, that's not necessary. We are entrusted with important tasks by the government and are concerned about state affairs day and night. Now that we have received the war report, we must deal with it immediately." Tong Guan was very satisfied with Liu Yanqing's humble attitude, so he just laughed it off and didn't delve into it anymore. Instead, he put down his chopsticks and started to read it.

Liu Yanqing quickly complimented him, "The Grand Marshal is so busy with affairs of state, always up early and awake late, a true role model for court officials. Your Majesty, with a loyal and righteous man like the Grand Marshal, there is no need for us, the Great Song Dynasty, to worry about peace and prosperity."

Tong Guan was flattered and laughed triumphantly while reading the battle report carefully. After just a few breaths, his expression changed drastically and his eyes widened.

Liu Yanqing, who was trying to force a smile, was also made nervous by Tong Guan's change of expression: That little bastard, is he going to cause any big trouble?

Tong Guan stared for a long time, and seemed to have forgotten to breathe. It was not until his vision went black and he was short of oxygen that he subconsciously took a few deep breaths and came to his senses: "God bless our Song Dynasty! The emperor is so blessed! Liu Yanqing, your son has made you proud!

He and the local wing troops, with only 8,000 men, repelled Fang La's 100,000 men! They captured 20,000! They even killed Fang La's general, Fang Qifo, in battle! They camped in Haining Town, Yanguan County, Hangzhou, and fought a desperate battle! With their backs to the Qiantang River, they fought back. Such was the caliber of ancient generals! Our Great Song Dynasty hasn't seen such a feat in years!

There's no doubt that Liu Guangshi's battle report was exaggerated. Fang La's troops who participated in the Battle of Haining numbered no more than 70,000 to 80,000 men, including the elderly, the sick, and the support troops. Yet Liu Guangshi exaggerated the numbers to say they faced an enemy force of over 100,000.

As for the 20,000 killed or captured, it is obviously inflated. In fact, there were only more than 10,000 enemy soldiers, and some of the wounded soldiers escaped and were not all captured.

Liu Guangshi calculated all possible losses to the enemy at a higher price and included them in the statistics, including those who escaped with minor injuries.

But no matter what, this level of water injection is much more conscientious compared to the war examples before the Song Dynasty.

Liu Yanqing, who was standing by, was so excited after hearing Tong Guan's retelling that his wine cup fell to the ground, spilling the wine all over the floor.

"Wha... what? With 8,000 men, we defeated 100,000 enemies and annihilated 20,000?"

Liu Yanqing's face flushed with excitement, his blood pressure soared, and his voice trembled. "But... didn't my son only bring two battalions of cavalry, 500 men? To defeat the enemy with 8,000 men, they had to rely mainly on the local Jiangnan troops, right? When did those troops become so powerful?"

Liu Yanqing was quite knowledgeable. He had previously learned from Tong Guan that Liu Guangshi and Han Shizhong had only brought 500 cavalry to support the battle. While they were nominally on par with the local Jiangnan troops and could cooperate with them, they were not directly under the same command. But in the final battle, how much of a difference would these 500 cavalrymen make? They would definitely have to rely on the local Jiangnan troops to perform better.

Just how powerful was this Jiangnan local wing army commander? He could turn decay into magic. Reminded by Liu Yanqing, Tong Guan quickly realized the problem.

Eight thousand people defeated an enemy of one hundred thousand! At least half of these eight thousand people were the Jiang Defense Army sent by Zhenjiang Prefecture. Tong Guan had a rough idea of ​​how lazy these Jiang Defense Army were.

Originally in history, the Zhenjiang wing army not only had low combat effectiveness, but also received a large amount of unused wages. The Liang family father and son led troops to help in the battle, but were finally defeated and dispersed. They were then beheaded by Tong Guan according to military law, and Liang Hongyu was reduced to a camp prostitute.

With such a force, Zhao Zicheng's advance instructions had helped the Liang family father and son to restrain themselves somewhat, and they had tried their best to make up for the shortfall in salaries, but the individual soldiers' combat effectiveness and military discipline were still not up to par. Even when Tong Guan sent them out, he did not dare to hold high expectations.

But it was this army that, after cooperating with Zhao Zicheng, turned decay into miracle in less than half a month. Looking at Liu Guangshi's battle report, it was said that the morale of the government troops was high and everyone fought to the death, thus defeating the enemy that was more than ten times their size!
It seems that Zhao Zicheng's ability to motivate morale is really incredible!
"Judging from my nephew Guangshi's battle report, our soldiers were truly brave and fought to the death. The reason for this is probably that Suzhou Tongpan Zhao Zicheng led the troops and inspired them. You can see for yourself."

As Tong Guan spoke, he handed the battle report to Liu Yanqing.

Liu Yanqing read a passage that mentioned Zhao Zicheng engaging in a righteous verbal exchange with Fang La, who was attempting to undermine the morale of the government troops, before a force of 100,000. Later, he publicly challenged Fang La, but Fang La was too intimidated to accept the challenge, a scene reminiscent of the King of Chu challenging Liu Bang. After the challenge failed, the government troops held their ground and launched a counterattack. Finally, Zhao Zicheng rode ahead, chasing and repelling the enemy, with 300 cavalrymen chasing tens of thousands of retreating soldiers...

Liu Yanqing simply couldn't imagine it. At the end, he could only imagine Zhao Zicheng as a heroic hero like the King of Chu.

"How could the Zhao family produce such a talented person, both civil and military... I've heard before that Zhao Zicheng is extremely loyal and courageous, speaking his mind without hesitation, even risking his own life, willingly going to jail to impeach Zhu Jie and request the abolition of the Yingfeng Bureau. After the government released him, he even had the audacity to execute Zhu Jie, who had tried to escape for fear of punishment. Now it seems that this man is truly as heroic as Xiang Yu, but also as reckless and reckless as Xiang Yu.

However, he wasn't greedy for credit. He allowed Guangshi to report the results of this battle, and he didn't hide Han Shizhong's contributions. He clearly distinguished between rewards and punishments. It's also possible that he knew he was a member of the imperial clan and didn't want to be known for his military prowess, so he tried to share the credit with his fellow generals. "Working with such a man was truly Guangshi's great fortune..."

As Liu Yanqing read the battle report, his mind raced, and he felt he had roughly figured out Zhao Zicheng's motives. He also concluded that it would be very satisfying to be able to work with such a colleague in the future to achieve merit and defeat the bandits.

As a member of the royal family, Zhao Zicheng did not want to steal the credit and attract attention. If a military general could have such a boss, he would be very lucky!
For a moment, Liu Yanqing himself secretly resented why he could not follow Zhao Zicheng. It would be great if Zhao Zicheng could hold a higher position in the future and lead him.

Now, he can only hope that his son can follow Zhao Zicheng and gain more credit.

"He is a benevolent and righteous ruler, and most importantly, he is such a hero. It's a pity... He holds too low an official position and is too young to be envied by others." Liu Yanqing felt deeply in his heart, but did not dare to show it on the surface.

Tong Guan was also in great joy, so he had no time to guess Liu Yanqing's mentality. He just urged Liu Yanqing to prepare his troops as soon as possible and prepare to march south in advance. At the same time, he hurriedly sent the victory report of the Battle of Haining back to Bianjing.

While writing the battle report, Tong Guan recalled Liu Guangshi's suggestion to send Fang Qifo's head as well, and he quickly had it brought up. Because he was eating, the attendants had only brought the written document, fearing the dead head would disgust the Grand Marshal. Tong Guan, however, was in high spirits and, despite his own meal, insisted on seeing the head immediately.

Soon a wooden box was presented to him. Tong Guan endured the smell of blood and opened the lid with his own hands. He admired it repeatedly and confirmed that it was correct. Then he closed it, asked his attendants to wash his hands and face again, continued to eat, and asked the clerk to listen to his dictation and write a formal victory report on the spot.

Of course, in Tong Guan’s victory report, the military merits would definitely be redistributed and polished, allowing the Western Army to gain more benefits, and also highlighting the remote control and steady command of General Tong.

There is nothing we can do about this.

"You must reorganize your troops as soon as possible. We can't wait that long. We must march south in five days. Then, gather 50,000 men and march forward! Head straight for Hangzhou! Fang La's morale has been crushed by Zhao Zicheng's actions. If we send another 50,000 men, we will definitely be able to relieve Hangzhou. There's no need to wait for an army of over 100,000 to advance together!"

"I obey your command!" Liu Yanqing quickly cheered up and said that he would attack as soon as possible.

At the same time, Tong Guan also gave Liu Yanqing a rough idea that by then, there would be two more groups led by Wang Bing and Yang Weizhong who would go south with Liu Yanqing.

In the original history, Tong Guan, because of his slower and more cautious advance, was able to wait for the arrival of Wang Huan and Xin Xingzong's reinforcements. Now, because of the acceleration and advancement, Wang Huan and Xin Xingzong were too late to catch up with the Battle of Hangzhou.

If Fang La fled back to the mountainous areas of western Zhejiang to fight after the Battle of Hangzhou, the troops of these two generals might have caught up with him. However, it is not impossible that the imperial court, seeing that the situation was settled, simply told them not to come and turn back to save money.

In short, Liu Yanqing accelerated the preparations for sending troops, and in five days he would go south with Wang Bing and Yang Weizhong. After another five days on the road, they would reach Hangzhou. There was not much time left for Fang La.

(End of this chapter)