The process of resisting Jurchen's fourth southern expedition lasted for two years. In the first half, various forces in Jin and Shandong fought epic battles with the Jin army; in the second half, the war in Jiangnan and Southwest attracted the attention of most people in the world. But in addition to this, there are naturally large and small waves in the Central Plains region north of the Yangtze River and south of the Yellow River.
In the first half of the ten years of Jianshuo, Xuzhou once became the last stop point before the Jurchen launched the Jiangnan War. The causal connection of this battlefield has to be extended to the actions of all parties before the war began. At that time, the Huaxia Army launched a means to kidnap the pseudo-Qi emperor Liu Yu in Bianliang, and then threw Liu Yu's black cauldron on Wu Chao's head. Sending troops to help, but also dragging the Huaxia Army into the forefront of the war.
The behavior of the two sides seems to be throwing the blame on each other, but the actual purpose is to fight against the Jurchen. In response to Jun Wu's move, Ning Yi ordered Liu Chengzong to lead more than 8,000 people under his command to Xuzhou, helping him to defend the city anyway. In the tenth year of Jianshuo, when the Jurchen East Route Army arrived in Xuzhou, Liu Chengzong led his own army and more than 50,000 troops under Li Anmao to defend the city for three months, and then broke through the siege and headed north. Since Zongfu Zongbi was not determined to start a war here, the war did not develop to such a tragic level.
When defending the city together, you can fight side by side, but when you break out of the siege and go to war, some things will be separated from you and me. Li Anmao, the prefect of Xuzhou, belonged to Liu Yu, and his heart was attached to the Wu Dynasty. At the beginning of the war, the Huaxia army, which was invited for the overall situation, sent troops. When Xuzhou fell, he naturally wanted to bring his army back to Jiangnan.
- This is not a big deal at first. The Huaxia Army is not too expensive to fight, and he does not covet the 50,000 soldiers under his command, but before the battle with the Jurchen, the two sides have been in Xuzhou City for half a year. To make these armies hold back, propaganda, infiltration, and incorporation must be done. After evacuating from Xuzhou and seeing the combat strength of the Huaxia Army, some middle and lower-level officers of the Li line army had already made plans to join the Huaxia Army after more than half a year of infiltration work. Being directly seized power, more than 50,000 people changed hands and changed their black flags.
After the initial completion of the incorporation of Xuzhou, due to the critical situation in Shandong, Liu Chengzong and others moved north to support Zhu Biao, Wang Shanyue and others in Liangshan. However, due to the raiding and sweeping of the Jurchen East Route Army all the way to the south, Shandong was starved for thousands of miles. Although Liu Chengzong had an army in his hands, the materials were insufficient, and the materials on Liangshan were extremely poor. In the end, he borrowed it from Jindi through Zhuji. Thousands of people who supported Liu Chengzong crossed the Yellow River and faced Wanyanchang.
The tens of thousands of Li Clan troops who had just been recruited had to stay on the south bank of the Yellow River and survive on their own.
In order to lead the army for the follow-up reorganization and survival, Liu Chengzong left a leadership team of more than 20 people who were good at political work and organization, led by Zou Xu, the deputy chief of staff of the division. This is a leader among the young officers of the Huaxia Army. He emerged in the battle against Xixia, and was taught and trained by Ning Yi. Although he was still the deputy chief of staff at the division level, he handled affairs neatly and already had the ability to take charge of himself...
…
"Zou Xu, I am also very impressed with this person." The night wind blew past the barracks outside Hanzhong City, Qin Shaoqian said, "He is one of the most accomplished of your early disciples, with a decent name, and he acts with you. Very similar. After the Western Xia battle, the Jurchen came to demonstrate and brought the head of the shopkeeper Lu. He was one of the main receptionists. He was neither humble nor arrogant. You said at the time that this person is useful.
Ning Yi nodded: "In the beginning, a group of people from Xiao Canghe had produced a lot of outstanding talents, but today, there are not many people left, and many people unfortunately died on the battlefield. Now Chen Tian's position The highest, he is partnered with Qu Zhengyan, as the chief of staff, and Chen Tian down is Zou Xu. His ability is very strong, and he has long been a candidate for chief of staff or even a division commander, because it was taught by me, and the improvement in this area is actually It was my intention to delay. I should be aware of these things, so this time in Xuzhou, Liu Chengzong gave him this opportunity to be on his own... I also ignored it... "
Qin Shaoqian nodded and read the information that Ning Yi handed over to him again and again.
It was in the autumn of the tenth year of Jianshuo that Zou Xu took over the army of nearly 50,000 people. This was almost two years ago.
…
From any point of view, the recruitment and placement of the tens of thousands of troops originally under Li Anmao's command was not an easy task.
First of all, after the establishment of the Puppet Qi, Xuzhou was already the territory of Liu Yu, the Puppet Qi, and the establishment of the puppet regime was originally an attempt to exhaust the Central Plains. Li Anmao’s heart was attached to the Wu Dynasty. When the time came, he wanted to seek the right way. However, the so-called army under his command was originally a puppet army with no combat effectiveness. It is possible that its combat effectiveness is only slightly better than that of the Han army in the late Southwest War.
Liu Chengzong led 8,000 people to guard Xuzhou with him. In order to be safe, he must have command and control in his hands. Although Li Anmao was hot-blooded, he always ended up in the Wu Dynasty. People were crucified in Xuzhou and defended until the last soldier, in order to minimize the pressure on the Jiangnan defense line. Liu Chengzong could not accompany him, so he knocked out Li Anmao during the meeting, and then seized power and transferred it.
In this way, although the transfer of upper-level command power has been completed, within this motley army, people are not mentally prepared for the disruption and complete reorganization of the entire army ecology. After Liu Chengzong and others decided to go north, what was left to Zou Xu's working group was an army that did not have enough food, no fighting force, or even enough centripetal force. Literally, the number was close to 50,000, but in fact it was only possible to explode at any time. Fire a time bomb.
Of course, under the circumstances at that time, no force in the entire world could be called an "easy" living space.
Jindi experienced the turmoil of Tian Hu's death and Liao Yiren's apostasy. Lou Shuwan and others also hid in the mountains and struggled to survive.
Zhu Biao and Wang Shanyue experienced the tragic rescue of Daming House, with heavy casualties. Countless companions were arrested and slaughtered. After Liangshan was besieged, the Quartet had no food and suffered from hunger.
In the south of the Yangtze River, the army on the Jurchen East Road is knocking on the pass and overturning is imminent.
In the southwest, the main force of the Huaxia Army had to face the threat of the strongest army in the world led by Zong Han and Xi Yin.
This army can only be thrown out like an abandoned child. Even at that time, Ning Yi was not too optimistic about the future of these 50,000 people. He made some suggestions to Zou Xu's working group thousands of miles away, and also gave them the greatest freedom. Under such circumstances, Zou Xu restructured the army with difficulty.
On the one hand, for more than a year, Zou Xu contacted the local landlords and big clan forces, adopted the method of fighting one against one, fighting to support the war, and obtained external resources as much as possible to maintain his own survival;
On the other hand, without the support of the main force of the Huaxia Army led by Liu Chengzong, he made huge adjustments and cuts to the army. First, some people were eliminated by battle, and some people were also lost in long-distance transfers. , to maintain the core combat force at the scale of more than 20,000 people, plus two splits in the middle, until the winter of the eleventh year of Jianshuo, this army fought for thousands of miles, covered with bruises and wounds, and settled near Funiu Mountain in the southwest of Luoyang. Come down.
To be able to achieve such an effect, Zou Xu's leadership ability is undoubtedly demonstrated. At that time, the Jiangnan War had ended, and the Southwest War was about to start. Although this army fought to support the war and made some elites, its overall strength was much worse than that of the Jurchen West Route Army. , His vitality has been damaged, and Ning Yi's side does not intend to put it into battle in the end, but let it rest and recuperate, preparing to use it as a key force in the capture of Luoyang, Bianliang and other places in the future.
A fierce internal split broke out in January of this year, when the original working group with only eight members faced off. It is said that a small-scale "rebellion" broke out, which was then strongly suppressed by Zou Xu. Two members of the working group and dozens of soldiers fled with injuries. Fang Chengye, who had returned from Beidi at that time, was under orders to go near Luoyang. After learning about the situation, he contacted Zhuji Force to initiate investigation procedures.
At the time when the Southwest War was in full swing, Ning Yi was constantly gathering strength to prepare for the subsequent battle of Wangyuan Bridge. As for the accident near Funiu Mountain, he was naturally unable to judge for a while, and could only instruct external personnel who had spare capacity to check according to the procedure under the premise of keeping it as secret as possible. The entire investigation process has been confirmed by many parties, and at the end of April, the dust has just settled.
The survey results show that the Chinese army entrenched in Funiu Mountain at this time has completely transformed into the one-word hall controlled by Zou Xu—this is not the biggest problem. The real problem is that in the past nearly one year, Zou Xu, He has been controlled by material desires and hedonic emotions. In the vicinity of Ruzhou, he once killed the landlord and took his wife and concubines. After arriving at Funiu Mountain, he relied on each other with Yin Zong, the prefect of Luoyang, and received a large amount of materials and even sent him. The case of women happens.
According to the detailed investigation results of various aspects, after arriving at Funiu Mountain, the local squires prepared several other jobs for Zou Xu in the nearby county towns. Zou Xu seemed normal in the army, but he often went to the city to enjoy himself. These things were only vaguely noticed at first, and since Zou Xu was still strict in governing the army, no one said anything rashly. In January of this year, the battle situation in the southwest was tense. After the news that Huangming County had been breached, the other members of the working group thought that they could no longer sit back and watch the development of the battle situation. Now that they had breathed a sigh of relief, they should make further plans. Finally attacked at the meeting, tit for tat.
Zou Xu himself is powerful and powerful, but the other people in the working group are not fuel-efficient lamps. The two sides pointed out the matter, and the working group began to impeach Zou Xu. Among the eight people at that time, only the one who stood by Zou Xu. The remaining two. So Zou Xu attacked, and of the five people who confronted him, three were killed after that. Hundreds of soldiers of the Huaxia Army died in this internal strife.
After Fang Chengye and others intervened, Zou Xu once tried to catch all those in the know, and finally gave up after such possibility was shattered. He had a meeting with Fang Chengye and others, and then expelled them without making any more excuses. Fang Chengye immediately sent a message back, and Ning Yi knew that in the midst of such a fierce battle in the southwest, such a bad traitorous act had broken out in the north.
…
"What I brought with me is just a summary." The soldiers patrolling in front came over and saluted Ning Yi and Qin Shaoqian, Ning Yi returned the salute, and then said, "Fang Chengye's investigation in that area is relatively detailed, and Zou Xu is in control. After 50,000 troops, Liu Chengzong's troops had already left, so he had no bargaining chip for strong suppression. Within the army, he could only rely on checks and balances of power and intrigue to divide the original middle-level generals to maintain the command of the working group. In fact, he did a pretty good job.”
"Outside, he understands that he does not have the advantage of people and people, so he always unites one group of squire forces to fight another group; the battle is constant, so he can maintain external pressure and maintain internal relative stability; and in such battles , Dividing and streamlining the troops is actually similar to the method Jin Guo took. If the 50,000 soldiers were treated equally, it would be difficult for him to maintain power stability with a working group of more than 20 people. , adjusted layer by layer, and divided the army into three, six, nine, and so on. In the end, although there were only more than 10,000 core troops left, the combat strength of the entire army has far exceeded the previous 50,000. This kind of planning Ability, if used on the right path, can do great things."
Ning Yi said this, Qin Shaoqian smiled and said, "In some respects, I really got your mantle."
"In private, I did look a bit like me earlier, first of all, it's the looks, it looks very handsome, right?" Ning Yi said, both of them laughed, "Then the way of doing things, the earlier ones For a group of people, first of all, they think about what they need to do, and their teaching methods are very radical, and some of them are even omnipotent. But Zou Xu's actions are not only effective, but also very generous and relatively particular in many aspects, which I appreciate very much. The place."
Ning Yi paused: "Furthermore, in terms of private resources, Zou Xu was able to endure hardship due to the lack of resources earlier, but at the same time, he knows how to have fun in the midst of hardship, how can he get something delicious with limited resources? Under the circumstances, he has a heavy appetite... This is actually very similar to me, and now that I think about it, this is a weakness of mine."
Qin Shaoqian said: "It's normal to be hungry when there is nothing to eat. In the future, the world will be better, so I don't think it's alright..." He is also a playboy from the prosperous world, and he has already enjoyed what he should have enjoyed in his early years. I don't think there is anything wrong.
Ning Yi sighed slightly, then patted him on the shoulder without saying anything about it.
"In the Central Plains, the barren area is indeed barren, but there are always people who can survive. Zou Xu joins the vertical and horizontal lines all the way, pulling one side to fight the other, and has frequent contact with some big clans and landowners. Last fall, he was in Ruzhou. It should be regarded as a turning point. The concubine of a family, who was supposed to be the child of an official family, got on with each other, and was later broken on the spot. Zou Xu may have dealt with such a private matter for the first time, and murdered at that time. The whole family, and then got a name, alas…”
"Then go to Luoyang... In fact, the few households still alive in the Central Plains have been reduced to the extreme in terms of combat power, some local wealthy owners and some bandits in groups. Zou Xu led this Huaxia army in That place seeks to survive. Although there are many fights, the reputation has always been good. He fights one side and never does anything to the boss on his side. So for these people, paying Zou Xu the protection fee, in the In such a war situation, it's not too uncomfortable..."
Qin Shaoqian smiled: "Instead of paying people protection fees, how can I bring people over and become my own?"
Ning Yi nodded: "Yes, things in Ruzhou are now difficult to trace, and it is difficult to tell whether these people headed by Luoyang Yin Zong actively designed and corrupted Zou Xu, or whether Zou Xu came to this step naturally. But in general He said that Zou Xu had already had a showdown with Fang Chengye. He would not accept the result of returning to the Huaxia Army and then accepting the trial, so he could only be determined and unite with some poor people in the Central Plains to become the king of the mountain. Ability, he is also very clear about the internal regulations, rewards and punishments, and various things of the Huaxia Army. If there are continuous blood transfusions from Yin Zong and others, and he is not overridden, he may indeed become a weaker in the next few years. The version of the Huaxia Army..."
"… What are you going to do?"
"It's impossible to forgive him now." Ning Yi shook his head, "If I hadn't thrown Tang Minjie to Jin Guo, I really wanted to throw him to Funiu Mountain and fight Zou Xu in the ring. Now... Let's hand it over to Fang Chengye first, and take a look at the surrounding situation. If it can be solved properly, of course it is best, if not, in a few years, we will sweep him together. The world is too big, and there are already a lot of people who come to join in the fun. ."
The two walked along the barracks, Qin Shaoqian nodded and thought for a long time: "I understand now why you were so worried before."
"A year, if you don't watch it, what should be corrupted will be corrupted... In the next few years, this will be the most serious problem we will face."
"Understood... Class, meeting."
"Comrade Shaoqian... You're a little more enlightened..."
The galaxy spreads in the night sky, and the two people in the barracks talk and laugh. Although they are serious and even decide the future of the whole world, they occasionally hook up with each other.
South of the barracks, the Han River flows. A war that shocked the world has ended. On the land of Shenzhou that spans thousands of miles, countless people are still listening to the wind. The follow-up impact is about to make waves among the crowd. everything.
Fourteen years have passed since the Jurchen first went south. The whole world is in pieces, and countless city heads have changed with various flags. At this moment, new changes are about to begin.