Sure enough, as expected by Zhao Fang, even at this moment, Jin Guo was still the heart of destroying the Song Dynasty, and Jin Xuanzong had just passed the New Year, regardless of the crisis in Shandong and Hebei, and once again ordered the servant to scatter Anzhen and lead the army to attack the Song Dynasty.

And just last year, that is, in the thirteenth year of Jiading, the situation in the Jin State deteriorated even more, the Mongolian army invaded the Jin Realm in the south, and the iron hooves almost stepped all over Hebei and Shandong, Jin Xuanzong also understood the sinister intentions of the Shuhu Gao Qi, and ordered the killing of the Shuhu Gao Qi, but he did not change his mind about the strategy of attacking the Song Dynasty.

In the eyes of him and some of the ministers of the Jin State, there was no hope for the north of the Jin State, and if the Jin State wanted to survive for a long time, the only way to make the Jin State survive was to take the Southern Song Dynasty as soon as possible, and then expand the territory to the south, increase the depth of the Jin State's defense, or use the Jianghuai natural danger to deal with the iron hooves of the Mongol army.

So Jin Xuanzong finished Yan Xun to wait until the situation in the north eased a little, and immediately sent Fusan Anzhen south to attack the Song Dynasty, Fusan Anzhen had no choice but to lead his Huamao army out of Xizhou (now Xixian County, Henan) to the south, in February in one fell swoop in Jingju Mountain Temple defeated the Song army, and soon waved the army to capture the Loess Pass under the control of the Song army, once again knocked on the door to the south, and the front of the troops pointed directly at Huangzhou and Qizhou.

The news immediately spread to Ezhou, and in Ezhou once again caused panic, because Huangzhou is on the north bank of the Yangtze River, and Ezhou across the river, only a water point, this time the army did not march to Xiangyang from Zaoyang, but diverted to Huangzhou, once Huangzhou was lost, it was equivalent to the important gateway on the Yangtze River was knocked open by the Jin army, almost a knife was inserted in the defense line along the river.

At this time, most of the Song troops were gathered in Xiangyang, Zaoyang, Tangzhou, and Dengzhou, and the troops in Huangzhou and Qizhou were insufficient, and Ezhou was temporarily in a state of emptiness in addition to the naval army, and the people were panicked for a while, and they were a little overwhelmed.

After thinking about it, he immediately ordered the Xiangyang army to rush to the direction of Huangzhou, and the Meng Zongzheng Department of the Zaoyang Army dispatched the Zhongshun Army to march eastward, posing a threat to the flank of the Jin army, and at the same time ordered the naval division of the garrison army to strengthen precautions along the river, even if Huangzhou was lost, the Jin army could not cross the river and attack Ezhou.

In addition, in order to strengthen the defense of Ezhou, Zhao Fang once again ordered the requisition and dispatch of townships in Zhuzhou County along Jingxi Road to Ezhou to help.

At the end of February, Zhao Fang's warrant reached Daye County and put it in front of Gao Huaiyuan, and the person who gave the order also made a special trip to Gao Huaiyuan to bring Zhao Fang's message, because Zhao Fang knew that among the counties around Jingxi Road, the strongest township should be regarded as Daye County, where Gao Huaiyuan was located, so the message asked Gao Huaiyuan to recruit the townships in Daye County as much as possible to go to Ezhou to help and assist the Ezhou garrison army in defense.

Gao Huaiyuan was also a little caught off guard by the rapidly changing situation, because his affairs had just started after the New Year, and the township bow and arrow clubs had just finished their spring rush and were waiting for full-scale training.

And for Liu Zhixian, this matter made him even more at a loss, he was completely a layman in this kind of military business, and he mainly relied on Gao Huaiyuan to take care of this kind of affairs for him, so he hurriedly asked Gao Huaiyuan to discuss this matter.

"County Lieutenant Gao, in your opinion, how many villagers can be recruited in this county to go to Ezhou to help? Will the Jin army attack the Yangtze River this time? If the county and township are brave, once the Jin army crosses the river, what will the county hold? As soon as Liu Zhixian saw Gao Huaiyuan, he couldn't wait to ask.

The colleagues of several other county officials also stared at Gao Huaiyuan with wide eyes, they are now a little uneasy, for fear that once the Jin soldiers cross the river and defeat Ezhou, Daye County will bear the brunt of the Jin army's attack and plunder, so this is very contradictory, I don't know whether to send a large number of township warriors to Ezhou to help, from a selfish point of view, they hope to draw less township warriors, once the Jin army crosses the river, Daye County can still rely on it, at least leave some township warriors to defend the county.

Gao Huaiyuan despised their thoughts a little, but his face didn't reveal anything, and after thinking about it for a while, he raised his head and replied loudly: "Your Excellency, don't worry too much, in this matter, it seems that the Jin army basically has no possibility of crossing the river to the south!" First of all, although the Jin army is the elite led by the famous generals of the Jin country, the strength of the Jin army is not strong, and they lack naval ships, and they are not good at water warfare.

What's more, the strength of the Song army in Jiangbei is not weak, the number of Jin soldiers sent this time is limited, even if they capture Huangzhou, they do not dare to rush across the river, once our Jiangbei army rushes to the Huangzhou area, cut off their retreat from behind, the Jin army is afraid that there will be a danger of annihilation.

Therefore, the master of the Jin army, the servant San'an Zhending, will not do anything other than this stupid thing, not to mention that the city of Ezhou is strong, the back of the mountains and rivers is easy to defend and difficult to attack, even if the Jin army can cross the river, there is no artillery cart and other things to attack the city, so you don't have to worry too much about this matter!

As for the requisition of the township to rush to Ezhou to help, in the next thought it will not have a big impact on the county, now the spring rush has basically ended, immediately enter the agricultural season, and this time to Ezhou to help, the degree of danger is far less than the previous to Xiangyang, may only be in Ezhou for a period of time, as soon as the Jin soldiers retreat, they will come back!

And take a step back, once the Jin army crosses the river, Ezhou is now short of troops, once the Jin army occupies Ezhou, it is equivalent to the opening of the hinterland of my Jiangnan. If even the Ezhou garrison can't stop the Jin army, can this county only rely on these township warriors to stop the Jin soldiers from going south?

Therefore, this time we should be ordered by Lord Zhao to send as many villagers as possible to Ezhou to help, only Ezhou is not lost, and our Daye County can ensure that there is no loss! I wonder what you think? ”

After Liu Zhixian and the others listened to Gao Huaiyuan's analysis, they suddenly breathed a long sigh of relief, their gang only cared about local affairs on weekdays, and for a long time, Song Jin fought in Jiangbei, but the Jiangnan area was not affected, so they didn't pay much attention to the war, and it was impossible to predict the development trend of the war situation like Gao Huaiyuan.

Liu Zhixian felt that Gao Huaiyuan was right, now Ezhou is short of soldiers and horses, and Daye County is also the closest to Ezhou, if he refuses to cooperate with the requisition of the township to help Ezhou, I am afraid that Zhao Fang will be impeached and handed to Beijing, and his position as Zhixian may be regarded as sitting at the head, so as soon as he thought of this, he no longer hesitated, so he immediately nodded and said:

"What the county lieutenant Gao said is very true, this matter should be done according to what the county lieutenant Gao said, you should go down immediately, go to the township separately and send the township Yong to the outside of the county to concentrate, and hand it over to the county lieutenant Gao to lead, three days is limited, and the troops will be sent to Ezhou City after three days! This is a time of national crisis, how can we, as officials of the Great Song Dynasty, take care of small interests and ignore the overall situation? I hope you will work together to go to the national crisis! ……”

After Gao Huaiyuan listened to Liu Zhixian's generous statement, he was greatly disdainful in his heart, and as soon as Liu Zhixian heard that Jin Jun would not cross south, he immediately changed his face, which was really disgusting!

However, others didn't see it that way, and immediately got up and said yes, and then Liu Zhixian assigned a task, almost using all the manpower of the county government, and sent it to the township to start dispatching the township Yong, while Gao Huaiyuan was in charge of the township Yong of the three townships such as Gaojiazhuang, and after saying that, they went down to start preparations.

This time the dispatch of troops is different from the past, the number of township warriors is far beyond the past, the quota of each township is 100 people, mainly the bow and arrow club, each township is taking the lead in arranging the drawing of Ding, plus the county government is very strict supervision, so the speed of progress is also very fast.

Gao Huaiyuan himself ran to Gaojiazhuang, and transferred fifty villagers from Gaojiazhuang, and Crouching Tiger Village naturally dispatched fifty villagers to fill in Gaojiazhuang township, and brought the villagers of three townships to outside the county in two days.

Due to the large number of conscripts this time, in order to avoid chaos, Gao Huaiyuan took the people of Crouching Tiger Village as the backbone and set up an officer corps, and each of the thirteen townships sent a person who had served in front of the army as the head of the capital, and the head of the bow and arrow club in each township was the deputy head of the team, and the deputy head of the society served as the head of the team, so as to facilitate his unified scheduling.

And this time, he also filled Guo Liang and other archers who had followed him in front of the army into the township army, and each served as the flag and other positions, and even Dong Qiang also entered the county as an errand because of the battle against bandits, and became the deputy head of the archer team, this time he was also taken by Gao Huaiyuan and went to Ezhou together.

Under the strict order of the county government, when the three-day period expired, the township finally arrived outside the county seat on time, each township was one, and stationed in the school field outside the county seat.

This time, Daye County can be said to be the best among the townships, and after a year of training, although they are still ordinary people, they are no longer as messy as before, at least after the queue, the team looks good, and there is no mess.

The thirteen people and horses were divided into three battalions by Gao Huaiyuan, two battalions each had five soldiers, each incorporated into five hundred township soldiers, Gaojiazhuang and Crouching Tiger Village's township Yong was used as Gao Huaiyuan's personal army, as his personal soldiers and heralds, but also an assault force in his hands, combat effectiveness is the strongest, the remaining two people and horses were used by Gao Huaiyuan as a baggage battalion, specifically responsible for mules, horses and vehicles to transport grain, arrows and other heavy materials.

For Gao Huaiyuan's arrangement, the people of all townships did not dare to have any opinions, and after Gao Huaiyuan's integration, the scattered township soldiers were pinched together overnight and became a fairly large-scale army. Honestly, they followed the heads of the troops stationed in their township and got busy.

In the early morning of the fourth day, after a horn sounded outside the city, a group of villagers rushed out and set foot on the road to Ezhou, and the weapons of the villagers were also prepared in advance, and there were 20 spearmen, 20 sword and shield men, and 60 archers in each villager, forming a relatively complete cooperation.

It's a pity that there is a lack of protective equipment such as armor among the villagers, and if they can be armed with armor, the combat effectiveness of more than 1,000 people should not be underestimated.

Gao Huaiyuan, who had experience in leading troops, was no longer a fledgling kid a few years ago, and effortlessly drove this township army to march, strictly ordering all the heads to control their subordinates.

Gao Huaiyuan led the team to walk in front of the team, with his yellow horse under his crotch, wearing a suit of armor brought back from before the army, a leaf helmet on his head, and a glaive knife in his hand, which looked majestic, so that the villagers who followed him all secretly applauded.

Although this time it was to Ezhou to help, but the township soldiers were still a little nervous, many people were nervous, I don't know what will happen after arriving in Ezhou, but their leaders have experience in battle formations, constantly cheering them up on the road, instilling in them a lot of obedience to military discipline, and gradually under the encouragement of their gang, the township soldiers who went out for the first time gradually felt at ease.

The road from Daye County to Ezhou is only about 80 miles, under the supervision of Gao and Yuan, Xiang Yong was required to march to Ezhou City in a hurry, without any rest on the road, although it is harder to walk, but it can avoid the trouble of stationing on the road, and the provincial camp will be delayed.

Therefore, Daye Xiangyong finally arrived outside the city of Ezhou in the middle of the night, and a group of men and horses blocked their way in the distance, and a large number of torches lined up on the road, and a fast horse galloped towards them.

"Stop coming, tell me who you are!" A Song army officer with a helmet and armor holding a big gun pointed at them from afar, shouting and asking.

"Don't get me wrong! We are Daye Township Yong, and we are specially ordered to come to Ezhou to assist in the defense of the city! This official is Gao Huaiyuan, the lieutenant of Daye County! Gao Huaiyuan also picked up the horse to meet him, and replied loudly.

After listening to Gao Huaiyuan's words, the atmosphere relaxed, and the Song general who was blocking the road put away the big gun, walked in and looked at Gao Huaiyuan by the light of the torch, and after determining that there was nothing wrong with them, he turned over and dismounted and said: "The little one is in the military, how offensive, I hope the adults will bear with me!" Can you let the little one check the adult's degree? ”

Gao Huaiyuan also saw that this person was a low-level officer in the Song army, and his identity was now compared with him, much higher than him, although the other party's requirements were a little excessive, and he actually had to check his path, but Nian was in a nervous state at this time, so he was not embarrassed by him, and stretched out his hand to the Song general.

After the man saw it, he quickly apologized again after confirming that it was correct, and returned the Du Mu to Gao Huaiyuan, and then asked cautiously: "I don't know how many villagers have come to help this time?" ”

"Thirteen hundred! I don't know if the camp has already been arranged for us? Gao Huaiyuan replied loudly.

This number really surprised the patrolling Song army, they didn't expect that a Daye County actually dispatched more than 1,000 people to aid Ezhou, and they didn't dare to slack off, the officer led by him hurriedly replied: "Your Excellency, the garrison army camp has already received the order of Lord Zhao, and has prepared camps for Xiangyong from all over the country, please come with the little ones!" ”

After a lot of tossing, the exhausted Xiangyong finally settled down, but the sky was gradually white, Gao Huaiyuan ordered Xiangyong to cook and rest on the spot, and set off to report to the handsome tent in the camp.

And this time because of the seriousness of the situation, Zhao Fang actually took the illness to deal with the matter of the imperial guard in the camp in the garrison, woke up in the morning, and heard that there was already the news that Xiangyong had arrived in Ezhou, and after asking, he learned that it was a person from Daye County, so he immediately came to find Gao Huaiyuan, and happened to meet Gao Huaiyuan who was enthroned at the sign-in place outside the tent, so he recruited Gao Huaiyuan to Zhao Fang's big tent.

"Boy, you really didn't disappoint the old man, and you were the first to rush over, but I don't know how many villagers you brought to Ezhou this time? Can Xiang Yong fight? Zhao Fang was dressed as a civil official, and after sitting in the tent, he asked with a smile when he saw Gao Huaiyuan.

"Xiaguan see Ambassador Zhao, Xiaguan brought 1,300 township warriors from Daye County this time for the deployment of adults, most of these township warriors have been trained to a certain extent, but they are not elite, and it is not possible to use them as the main force, but as an auxiliary army to assist in the defense of Ezhou, Xiaguan thinks that as long as the dispatch is well-organized, there should be no problem! Please show me! Gao Huaiyuan was also not modest, and told Zhao Fang roughly the situation of the township he led.

Zhao Fang nodded slightly: "Boy, you can not be arrogant or impatient, this is very good, now is the time to employ people, you are very timely, and the old man will not hide it from you, this time after the Jin army master will scatter Anzhen's troops, the army will be fast, and the soldiers will be directed at Huangqi Erzhou, and there is a great tendency to break through my Yangtze River moat in one fell swoop, which can be said to be menacing!" And Ezhou is now very empty, only less than 4,000 soldiers and horses, Jiangbei Huangqi two states soldiers and horses are even more insufficient, the situation is quite bad!

Although the armies in the Xiangyang area have begun to march towards Huangzhou, the distant water does not quench the thirst of the near, especially when the Jin army sent troops, and at the same time sent troops to attack Tang and Deng Erzhou, and Meng Zongzheng and Hu Zaixing and Liu Shiguang's Shenjin Army, Zhongshun Army and other armies were contained in the Tang and Deng areas, and they could not come to aid Huangzhou, so the situation was quite urgent!

Since you came so timely, the old man wants to send you across the river to Huangzhou, Jiangbei, to assist Huangzhou in defending against the enemy, I don't know if you have the courage to do this, boy? ”