Huainan East Road, Yangzhou City, Song Dacheng.

During the Song Dynasty, the original "sub-city" on the Shugang Heights of Yangzhou City had become ruins. And the "Luocheng" in the southwest of it was slightly expanded to the south by the Song court, which was the city of Song Zhizhou.

The Song dynasty moved south, and Jianghuai became an important buffer zone between the Song and Jin. Before moving south, the imperial court ordered Lu Yihao, the governor of Yangzhou, to strengthen the state city as the northern barrier of Jiangning Mansion. The "Song City" built by Lu Yihao was all built with large bricks. Among them, the north city wall is south of the canal, with a total length of four miles; The east wall is on the west bank of the canal and is six miles long; The south city wall is along the north bank of the canal and is about four and a half miles long.

It can be said that Yangzhou City is surrounded by canals on three sides, and there are rivers in the city that pass through the turbidity stream and the official river, which occupies all the water conservancy.

Although there have been several heavy snowfalls in Hebei, the winter in Yangzhou is obviously not as cold as Bianliang City or Daimyofu, the green grass can still be seen everywhere, the drizzle in the sky is soft and weak, and the wind blows in autumn, only those bare branches, reminding people that this is already winter.

Lights can be seen everywhere, music can be heard everywhere, canals run through the city, oars and lights are heard, and green buildings sing and dance......

"The world is divided into three moonlit nights, and two scoundrels are in Yangzhou."

Since the late Tang Dynasty, Bi Shiduo and Sun Ru attacked each other, and Yangzhou was turned into a mound and ruin. Yang Xingmi repaired it, slightly became a strong domain, after the Zhou Dynasty opened up the Grand Canal, the Southern Tang Dynasty knew that Yangzhou could not be defended, and Yangzhou City was burned down.

Five dynasties of frequent wars, you come and go, Yangzhou City has never been able to restore the prosperity and style of the Tang Dynasty, and its status has also been replaced by Mingzhou, Quanzhou, these later trade ports.

Although it was replaced economically, because the Song dynasty moved south, the city of Yangzhou faced the Jianghuai, and its military importance became particularly important.

On the big teaching field next to the Yangzhou Prefecture, rows of soldiers are neat and solemn, naked, with their backhands behind their backs, without squinting, and looking straight ahead.

After many years of not practicing military drills, the wildflowers and weeds have already been cleaned up, and the sturdy men are lined up all over the field, or the pace is uniform, or the gun array is stacked and stabbed, or the load is running, sweating like rain, and the scene is extremely exciting.

In the land of the two Huai, there are many wars, a large number of fertile fields are barren, and the people's livelihood is hard.

Basins of cold water poured down on their heads, and the officers roared loudly.

"Have you forgotten the Abyss Alliance?"

"Invading our borders, killing my people, paying reparations and calling my brother a brother, it is a great shame, how can you forget!"

"Have you forgotten the Battle of Taiyuan?"

"The officials and the army are corrupt, forcibly captivating and destroying my Taiyuan, slaughtering the city and destroying the people, such a deep hatred, we will never forget!"

The third basin of water was poured head-on.

"Have you forgotten the shame of Jingkang?"

"There is no way for a gold thief, and there is no one in China who deceives me. If China does not strengthen itself, does not recapture the three towns, and does not restore its homeland, we will not be human!"

Familiar words, similar scenes, once again reappeared in front of the army, but the last time was in Tokyo City in the first year of Jingkang, and this time, it was in Yangzhou City after moving south.

The people who inspected have also changed, and the deposed emperor of the Great Song Dynasty in Tokyo City has long been missing, but in front of him is another prince of the Great Song Dynasty, King Kang Zhao Gou.

"Lu Xianggong, look at the sergeants under this king, whether they can be comparable to Wang Song's loyal army"

Zhao Gou looked at the column of fierce soldiers in front of him, and nodded with satisfaction.

The imperial court moved to govern half of the south of the Yangtze River, the financial scarcity, the shortage of food and salary, coupled with the drought in the south of the Yangtze River for many years, and the local bandits were everywhere, and the imperial court could spend these hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, which can be described as painstaking.

"His Royal Highness is eloquent and strategic, and his foot soldiers are elite, he is really a tiger in the world, and the old ministers admire him!"

Yangzhou Zhizhou Lu Yihao said from the bottom of his heart. The soldiers in front of him are well-trained, brave and fierce, and I don't know how much stronger they are than those forbidden soldiers in the imperial court.

The Great Song Forbidden Army has long become synonymous with weakness and incompetence.

Although this Yangzhou parent official is over sixty years old, he is still brave and diligent, Jiang Gui's nature, old and spicy. Zhao Gou trained the new army in Yangzhou, he saddled his horse and ran actively, which was quite important to Zhao Gou.

However, he increased taxes in Yangzhou under various names, and levied excessively, which made the people's livelihood wither, the people were poor, and the merchants in the city had many complaints. All kinds of things are not, in the eyes of Zhao Gou and the imperial court, but they appreciate it.

When the imperial court first arrived in Jiangnan, there was a lot of waste waiting to be rebuilt, and with a humerus minister like Lu Yihao, who was able to do officials, the court could avoid a lot of trouble. As for the suffering of the people and the difficulties of the people's livelihood, that is another matter.

Zhao Gou nodded with satisfaction. This old man Lu is shrewd and strong, but he is his right-hand man. There are Qin Hui, Wang Boyan, and Zhu Shengfei in the court, and there are Lu Yihao and Zhang Junzhi outside the country, and the Jiangnan court can be regarded as having some hope.

As for those old ministers of Zhao Huan, Geng Nanzhong, Tang Ke, He Li, Sun Fu, Zhang Shuye and the like have long been abandoned by Zhao Ji's Jiangnan court and swept into the stinky ditch on the side of the road.

Zhao Gou turned to Zhai Liang, who had a solemn face next to him, and smiled slightly.

"Commander Zhai, tell me, can the new army trained by the imperial court be comparable to the elite of Wang Song's army?"

Zhai Liang pondered for a moment and bowed:

"Your Highness, Wang Song's training is unmatched in the world. Its military discipline is strict, the soldiers are elite and fierce, and everyone lives and dies. In addition, the firearms are sharp and the horse army is strong, so it can be invincible and invincible. ”

He looked at Zhao Gou's face that instantly turned cold, hesitated for a moment, and saw that Zhao Gou did not interrupt him, so he continued to be bold and continued.

"The reason why the loyal and righteous army can become a strong army is that the military orders are like mountains during the battle, and the generals in the army take the lead and take the lead. In order for our army to become a strong army, there is still a lack of actual combat. Only after a few fierce battles can it be regarded as a strong army. ”

Zhao Gou nodded slightly, frowned, and said:

"Now that the weather is getting cooler, you need to take precautions. Although the imperial court ceded the two rivers, Wang Song was still entrenched in the north, and the Jin people might wave their troops south. But I don't know if this new army can stop the golden people."

Wang Yuan saw that Zhao Gou was instantly stunned, and hurriedly persuaded on the side.

"Your Royal Highness, the enemy is facing Zhang today, the soldiers are in full swing, it is advisable to cross to the south, according to the river as a risk, train the army and politics, calm the people's hearts, wait for the country to be determined, and it is not too late to make a big move. His Royal Highness can sit in Jiangning Mansion, and there are old ministers and General Zhai Liang to stay behind. ”

Zhao Gou's face sank even more. The meaning of Zhai Liang's words, he could clearly understand how the new army of the imperial court could compare to Wang Song's loyal army.

The firearms are sharp, and the horse army is strong. Horses are scarce in the south of the Yangtze River, and it is not easy to build thousands of troops. As for firearms, although the imperial court has some small cannons, it can also cast its own earth-shattering thunder, but there is always no stable formula for gunpowder, and the gunpowder made is always not powerful enough.

This damn Wang Song!

Not to mention the formula of controlling the gunpowder, he also set up his own mountain and slapped the face of the imperial court, which turned out to be ambitious.

Now that the new army of the imperial court does not have powerful firearms, there is no way to train firearms and set up an artillery army, which is congenitally insufficient, coupled with the lack of a horse army, no wonder Zhai Liang thinks that the new army trained by the imperial court is not as good as Wang Song's loyal army.

Now that the new army of the imperial court has no firearms and no horse army, and has to compete with the unfillable Jurchens, Zhao Gou is really a little uneasy in his heart.

"Does the imperial court still want to buy firearms from Hebei now?"

Zhao Gou's face turned pale. The silver that the imperial court had saved with great difficulty had to be given to Hebei for nothing. Only when the imperial court produces gunpowder as soon as possible can it cut off its dependence on Hebei.

The key is that these Jurchens, who have no faith in their words and have a human face and a beast's heart, have won the north of the Yellow River and controlled Shandong and Huainan, so they are afraid that one day they will wave their troops south in a vain attempt to annex Jiangnan.

These Jurchen fans are simply despicable and shameless, wolf-hearted, and have no benevolence, righteousness and morality.

The Great Song Dynasty, how did it get to this point

"Hey, Zhang Yifo, the straight lady thief, is too ruthless, Lao Tzu has to hold this revenge one day!"

Gong Ji lay on the bunk of the barracks, groaning with his teeth and cursing fiercely in his mouth.

Today, because of the unqualified training, the instructor who was trained was beaten with a stick, and his whole ass was swollen. If it weren't for the fact that the imperial court was still counting on them to deal with the Jin people, I am afraid that they would have to lie in bed for ten days and half a month.

"Brother, you are too short-sighted, no one should be offended, but you want to offend Zhang Yifo, you are simply asking for hardship, and you can't blame others."

Huang Jun, who was in the next bunk, leaned against the wall, rubbing his feet, looking quite disdainful.

"Why, he Zhang Yifo repairs his own house, why does he call our brothers to work and work without paying them, this can't be said anywhere."

Gong Ji is from the countryside of Jiangdu, a cattle herder from a poor family, and he doesn't understand the world outside. Huang Jun looked at his elm head, but he still didn't open his mind, and couldn't help but remind him.

"Zhang Yifo is your superior, if you don't go to work, forget it, and let others ask for wages, of course people will deliberately clean you up. Brother, have a long memory, don't take it seriously. It's yours who suffer!"

Huang Jun is a person from the past, at least he grew up in Yangzhou City, and he can see through the doorways and sophistication at a glance. This Gong Ji is a rectum, if he is like this in the future, I am afraid that he will be indispensable.

"If it weren't for the three times, I wouldn't have been here."

Gong Ji's eyes were full of helplessness, he lay on the bed, came over for a moment, and then asked.

"Brother, did you say that we fought too much?"

Huang Jun glanced at the soldiers in the barracks who were chatting in groups of three or five, shook his head and said.

"I think it's difficult. When the war started, even the forbidden army of the imperial court couldn't stop it, just us recruits, I'm afraid it's enough!"

Also, for Huang Jun and others, the longest enlistment time is only half a year, and most recruits are three or four months. They had never been on the battlefield, and it was indeed a little tender to let them compete with the brave and good Jin soldiers.

"In this way, we can't be the opponent of Fan Bing."

Gong Ji sighed, his eyes darkening. His eyes were staring straight ahead, not knowing what he was thinking.

"Brother Gong, don't be so heartless."

Huang Jun laughed in a low voice: "When the time comes, we will defend the city, and if we can't beat it, we can just take a boat." The soldiers are all landlubbers, and they will definitely not be able to catch up with us. If you really can't escape, it's better to surrender than to kill someone on the spot. ”

Gong Ji couldn't help but widen his eyes, turned his head to look at Huang Jun next to him, and hesitated: "Brother, this is okay."

"What's not going to work?"

Huang Jun raised his eyebrows, and his face became solemn.

"Think about your family, and look at the officials. Listen to my brother's words, don't take it seriously. Maybe when the battle starts, those big turbans will already flee one by one, who can take care of us. ”

Gong Ji was dumbfounded. Didn't you say that you should be loyal to the monarch and love the country, and kill yourself to become a benevolent, why did you get to Huang Jun, and it became another way of saying it?

For southerners like Huang Jun, who grew up in the street market, what kind of righteousness, benevolence, righteousness and morality are shit in their eyes. Only their own lives, only their own lives are real.

Those who are officials are happy and happy, those who are soldiers are inferior, and those who are officials flee first in war, so why should they be cannon fodder?