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Although Zhao Gou hates Zong Ze and guards against Zong Ze, Zhao Gou still has to use Zong Ze.

Why?

Because, except for Zong Ze, the men and horses in Zhao Gou's hands were either unbearable to fight, or they were unwilling to go to war with the Chinese army or the Jin army in disobedience to Zhao Gou's orders.

Therefore, when he heard that the Chinese army was coming, the first thing Zhao Gou thought of was Zong Ze.

Zong Ze did not disappoint Zhao Gou, and directly summoned the people of his headquarters to meet the enemy.

But although Zong Ze has nearly 200,000 horses in his hands, as well as more than ten years of defeated troops on the front line, Zhao Gou is still not confident that Zong Ze can resist the Chinese army.

Therefore, Zhao Gou ordered Jiangning Mansion (later Nanjing, Jiangsu) to repair the city and palace to prepare for his own Nanxing.

Of course, Zhao Gou's order was given secretly, only a few of Zhao Gou's cronies such as Wang Boyan and Huang Qianshan knew, Li Gang didn't know, and Zong Ze on the front line didn't know.

After Zong Ze gathered his soldiers and horses, he still collected a lot of defeated troops, and then slowly went north, preparing to fight the Chinese army.

Soon after, the two armies met at the Bianhe River on the north side of Ningling Mansion.

The two sides first fought a few small battles that did not hurt, and then the large armies were assembled on both sides of the Bianhe River.

The northwest bank of the Bianhe River was led by Yang Yizhong's 80,000 Chinese troops, and the southeast bank of the Bianhe River was the 250,000 Song troops led by Zong Ze.

In terms of troops, it is natural that the Song army has an absolute advantage.

But the Song army was incomplete, and they were all infantry troops.

The Chinese army is strong in armor, as well as sharp weapons such as thunder carts and conscienceless cannons, as well as 20,000 cavalry.

Therefore, in terms of overall strength, there is not much difference between the two sides, at least, Zong Ze thinks so.

Zong Ze said to his generals: "I am the second emperor and the daughter of the royal family is humiliated, and I am so indignant. Today finally taught me to wait for the opportunity to take revenge, how can I not be loyal to the country? ”

Zong Ze can share the joys and sorrows with the soldiers in the army, so people are happy to use it.

Therefore, although on the other side of the river was an invincible Chinese army, the Song army was still in high spirits and ready to fight to the death.

Zong Ze ordered more than 200,000 men and horses under his command to set up a Pingrong Wanquan array.

This formation was personally made by Zhao Guangyi, Taizong of the Song Dynasty and awarded to the general.

This formation is composed of the front and rear, left, center and right five armies, about 17 miles square array (this phalanx is so extended in depth, can compress the space for the enemy's cavalry to maneuver) to deploy the main infantry in the center of the formation, strengthen the chariots, form three chariot battalions to enhance the infantry's defensive ability and attack capability, and deploy the cavalry in the front and rear left and right to serve as a guard and cover the central array.

All in all, it was a conservative defensive formation, with the Song army as the main force of infantry, able to fight against the northern nomadic cavalry on the plains.

In addition, Zong Ze chose the formation created by Zhao Guangyi, Taizong of the Song Dynasty, in this crucial battle, and also proclaimed their loyalty to the righteousness of the Great Song Dynasty.

On the other side, the formation method chosen by Yang Yi was the most commonly used attack formation cone formation—a cone formation with the Ben Thunder Car as the tip of the cone.

The war began at noon.

The Chinese army opened the way with flying gods and thunders and unconscionable cannons.

After blasting out a gap in the Song army's Pingrong Wanquan array, Ben Thunder crossed the river by means of a flying bridge, and then entered the Song army's Pingrong Wanquan array.

Seeing this, Zong Ze personally waved forward and commanded in person, which could not be said to be desperate.

How!

The difference in strength between the two sides is too big!

As soon as the Chinese army's thunder cart rushed into the Song army's Pingrong Wanquan array, it went on a rampage, and the Song army's Pingrong Wanquan array was dashed to pieces, and the Chinese army's horse army followed closely behind, and soon the Song army was killed on their backs.

Seeing this, Zong Ze hurriedly sent his chariot to meet the enemy.

But Zong Ze's chariot was too bulky, and the chariot was too large to run, and the militia struggled to push it.

In this case, as soon as the front and rear of the middle rider were covered, the people abandoned the car and fled.

Therefore, Zong Ze's chariot failed to play any role.

All in all, the two sides fought for less than an hour, and the victory and defeat were divided - under the fierce attack of the Chinese army, the Song army can be said to be defeated.

In the end, the pioneer Wang Xiaozhong fell from his horse and died, Zong Ze fled south with the rout, on the way, afraid of being pursued by the Chinese army, Zong Ze and the deputy marshal Quan Bangyan changed into a white cloth shirt and grass shoes, and then fled to Huainan overnight with the defeated soldiers.

Knowing that Zong Ze was defeated, Zhao Gou didn't say a word, and immediately took his family and fled to Yangzhou under the escort of Zhang Jun, preparing to go to Jinling to reorganize the mountains and rivers.

On the morning of the third day of Zhao Gou's ascension to the throne, the vanguard of the Chinese army, that is, the Yao Xing Division, attacked Yingtianfu and turned it into a Chinese territory.

Zhao Gou and others have also been operating in Yingtianfu for several months, and Zhang Wei is good at managing money.

Therefore, Yao Xing and others really got a lot of good things in Yingtianfu, and there were more than one million stones of grain alone.

In this way, Zong Ze's chariot came in handy and became a sharp weapon for the Chinese army to transport grain and grass materials.

On the way, Zhao Gou heard about this and said to the left and right: "I see that Ze's chariot is not applicable, and it is in vain, Ze does not listen, and now he is an enemy." ”

It can be seen that Zhao Gou, who is gloating about Zong Ze's defeat, is not too frustrated.

Perhaps, Zhao Gou felt that after such a big defeat, Zong Ze could no longer threaten his throne.

Zhao Gou fled all the way to Yangzhou before stopping and breathing a sigh of relief.

Yangzhou this place, since the Sui Dynasty after the opening of the Grand Canal, gradually began to prosper, in the Tang Dynasty, as if the country's largest industrial and commercial city, the status even surpassed Chang'an and Luoyang.

Zhao Gou took Yangzhou as the temporary capital and temporarily settled here.

But Yangzhou is north of the Yangtze River after all, and Zhao Gou knows that sooner or later the Chinese army will have to fight here.

Therefore, as soon as Zhao Gou settled down, he sent someone to escort his concubine to Hangzhou south of the Yangtze River first, where the Yangtze River was relatively safe.

And Zhao Gou himself stayed in Yangzhou, putting on a shelf that did not forget to forge ahead in the Central Plains.

Li Gang helped Zhao to set up marshals' mansions, important counties, and secondary counties along the river, Huai, and He, and strengthened defense: Xuzhou set up marshal mansions along the river, Yangzhou set up marshal mansions along the Huai, and Jiangning mansions set up marshal mansions along the river.

Zong Ze fled to Jingchu in defeat, and then arranged a defensive line in Jingchu, which has the potential to swear that Jiang will not be defeated.

However, although Zhao Gou, Li Gang, Zong Ze and others tried their best to put on the posture of not giving up the territory north of the Yangtze River, in fact, the Southern Song Dynasty had completely abandoned the territory north of the Yangtze River.

But—

This is not to say that the north of the Yangtze River and the south of Yan are all under Chinese control.

Don't forget, the Jin people still occupy Yanyun and Hedong, and Wanyan Zonghan is still in Henan and has not returned.

In addition, with the withdrawal of the Southern Song Dynasty from the Central Plains, the rebels and bandits rose together in the Central Plains, and there was chaos everywhere.

Therefore, in order to truly win the Central Plains, Li Yan and China's civil and military officials still have a long way to go.

……