Chapter 462 Flame Marksmanship

Early in the morning, I stepped on my mount Feiyan and left Lin'an City with two hundred guards and the four ministers Jia Yidao, Lu Xiufu, Jiang Wanzai and Zhao Shunsun who accompanied the expedition, under the close escort of Yuan Jian, Gongsun Xiaochen, Zhang Quanyi, Shen Mo, Hu Yande, and Fang Ling.

Although Jia Rudao is quite obedient to me now, and his real power has been lost, I am not very relieved to put him in Lin'an, after all, his former henchmen are very numerous, and as the nominal head of the hundred officials, it is natural to go out with the car.

I didn't deliberately hide it from this royal expedition. On the fourth day after my departure, the Great Song Imperial Newspaper published the news that the Great Song Emperor had personally gone to Xiangyang to conquer the invaders of the Yuan Dynasty. As soon as this news was published, it immediately aroused heated discussions among the people of Lin'an City, who expressed their support for it, and in the next few days, the number of people who signed up to join the army and the people who went to Daesong Yinzhuang to buy war bonds reached an extreme. Of course, I only found out about this after the fact.

After leaving the city gate, I led everyone to the tomb of Zhao Kui to worship. Standing in front of the tomb, I said to myself: "Zhao Aiqing, I will set off to the north today, this is bound to defeat the Mongolian army of Xiangfan, and take advantage of the momentum of the northern expedition to the Central Plains, to the day of victory, I will burn the good news in front of Aiqing's tomb, in order to tell Aiqing's spirit." I will definitely take back the rivers and mountains of my Great Song Dynasty. Zhao Aiqing, rest in peace. ”

Fang Ling lit three incense sticks and inserted them in the stone incense burner in front of Zhao Kui's grave. With the light smoke, I stood silently for a while, and whispered, "Get on the horse and go." ”

After a quarter of an hour to the west, in a clearing about twenty miles from the west gate of Lin'an City, a battalion of the Imperial Forest Army led by Wen Zhang was waiting for my arrival. As soon as Wen Zhang, who was at the head, saw me arriving, he hurriedly dismounted and stepped forward and said, "The last general, Wen Zhang, see Your Majesty, please give instructions from Your Majesty." ”

"Well, Wenzhang, you lead one company of troops to open the way in front, and after the other two companies are broken, you can go west according to the established route."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Hundreds of people traveled all the way west, and more than ten days later, at three o'clock in the afternoon, I led everyone to Ezhou Mansion in the southeast of Hubei Province. The rapid march along the way made Jia Nidao tired and secretly complained, even so, Jia Nidao did not dare to complain at all, so he had to grit his teeth and persevere.

Ezhou has a long history, known as Wuchang in ancient times (not the Wuchang of later generations), according to the archaeological discoveries of later generations, around 3000 B.C., there were human beings living in Ezhou. The earliest records of Ezhou can be traced back to 2550-2070 BC, during the reign of Emperor Yao. Luo Mi's "History of the Road? The name of the country contains: "Emperor Yao had Fan Zhongwen, and now Wuchang has Fan Mountain. ”

As soon as I entered Ezhou City, I received an urgent report from Suizhou Xia Gui that the army had left Suizhou on May 13 and was expected to arrive in Yingzhou on the evening of 14 May. After reading it, I smiled and said, "It's really fast, it seems that the Broken Army is one step ahead of me." ”

Jia Rudao smiled: "Your Majesty, the Broken Soldiers have seen it, and they are worthy of being the elite of our army, and this distance is nothing to them." ”

"En, Shichen, Jiang Aiqing, our army has been marching in a hurry for days, can you two Aiqing still hold on?"

Not to be outdone, the two old men said at the same time: "Your Majesty, don't worry. ”

I asked casually: "For Ezhou, I think the two old Aiqing must still remember it vividly, if I remember it well, the victory in Ezhou ten years ago is one of the masterpieces of the two Aiqing." ”

Jia Rudao sneered and said: "The victory of the day is also purely a coincidence, if it were not for the battle for the throne of the Khan in Mongolia, the victory or defeat would still be quite unpredictable." ”

Jiang Wanzai was silent, just "hummed" softly, I knew that Jiang Wanzai's dissatisfaction was directed at Jia Rudao. Jiang Wanzai was upright by nature, outstanding military achievements, less than 30 years old, he was nominated by Song Lizong to add Jiang Wanzai as the secretary of the military department, but was suppressed by the then minister Shi Miyuan, and then transferred to civilian positions, in the first year of Song Lizong's Kaiqing (1259), Kublai Khan invaded the Song Dynasty, Jiang Wanzai returned to the battlefield as the supreme military chief of staff of Jia Nidao, and assisted Jia to command and organize the battle of Ezhou.

Just when the Song and Mongolia sides were at a standstill, it happened to be the news that the Mongolian Khan Meng Ge was shot to death by the Sichuan soldiers and civilians, the Mongolian Khan was vacant, and Kublai Khan was eager to return to the north to compete for the Khan, but was dragged by hundreds of thousands of Song troops, and fell into a dilemma for a while. Jiang Wanzai, as the chief of staff of the Song army, proposed that while the civil strife and instability of the Meng and Yuan dynasties, a small number of Song troops should be left in front to contain the Meng Yuan, and the main force would cut off the necessary way for the Meng Yuan troops to retreat north, and at the same time spread that the Han people in the north would revolt anyway and force Kublai Khan to fight a decisive battle with the Song army in the Central Plains, but Jia Nidao, as the commander of the Song army, was timid to ask for peace, and asked Kublai Khan to withdraw from the war on the condition that the Southern Song Dynasty would lose 200,000 yuan to Mongolia every year. When Jia Rudao reported to Li Zong, he concealed the plot of asking for the loss of New Year's coins and lied about the victory in Ezhou.

Seeing that this golden opportunity was lost in an instant, Jiang Wanzai resigned in a fit of anger and returned to Li to support his mother, and later Emperor Lizong of the Song Dynasty repeatedly asked Jiang Wanzai to reinstate the official, but Jiang Wanzai refused politely. It was not until after I ascended the throne that Jiang Wanli was strongly persuaded that Jiang Wanzai re-entered the court as an official.

Although as Jiang Wanzai said, ten years ago was a great opportunity for the Song Dynasty, but with the government at that time, who would dare to say that it was not another time to enter Luo? It is true that Jiang Wanzai is brave and good at fighting, but even if he is like Meng Heng, what can he do? The fundamental reason for the weakness of the Southern Song Dynasty was not the incompetence of the army, but the incompetence of those in power.

History should not be judged in terms of a dualism of yes or no, and everything about Jia Nidao should not be denied just because he is a traitor, although its starting point is not pure.

I looked at Jiang Wanzai, who was displeased, and Jia Yidao, who was slightly embarrassed, and said with a smile: "Two Aiqing, no matter what, the battle of Ezhou won ten years of recuperation for our dynasty, let the past pass, history is the truth that has happened, no one can go back to the past, as long as everyone learns a lesson, there will always be opportunities." Two Aiqing, Meng Shuai's tomb is in Ezhou, right? ”

"Yes, Your Majesty." The two of them rushed to reply again.

"I'll stay in Ezhou tonight, the time is still there, two Aiqing, go to Meng Shuai's cemetery with me."

Almost all scholars who study the history of the Song Dynasty believe that Meng Hui was the most outstanding general in the late Southern Song Dynasty, whether it was anti-Jin or anti-Mongolia, Meng Hui was indispensable, and it is no exaggeration to say that without Meng Hui, the Southern Song Dynasty would not have been able to hold on for decades in the Song and Mongolian wars.

The tomb of Meng Heng is located at the foot of the Purple Mountain in the west of Xianyu Township (now the area of Xiayang Village, Tujiayuan Town) in the southwest of Ezhou, 50 miles away, out of the west gate of Ezhou, under the protection of 50 guards, after more than half an hour of galloping, we came to the foot of the Purple Mountain.

As I approached Meng Gong's tomb, I slowed down my horse and sighed, "Meng Shuai's untimely death is really a great loss to my court. ”

Jia Yidao, who was very respectful and familiar with Meng Hui, continued my topic: "Yes, Your Majesty. Dashuai was only one in fifty when he died of illness, and he did die young. ”

Jiang Wanzai, who is also familiar with Meng Heng, said: "Your Majesty, Meng Shuai's illness is actually caused by internal fire. ”

"Really?" I was stunned.

Jia Yidao, who had been talking to Jiang Wanzai along the way and was not speculative, also echoed: "Your Majesty, what Lord Jiang said is true. ”

Jiang Wanzai saw that Jia Rudao echoed his words, and said with a slightly gloomy face: "Your Majesty, Meng Shuai is not a few years older than the minister, plus he has been practicing martial arts since he was a child, and his health has always been very good, in the summer of 1246, I was the general of the Northern Army of the original Zhenzhen, and Fan Yongji, who was then the southern province of Mongolia, did not want to continue to be an official in Mongolia, so he secretly asked Meng Shuai to surrender. Meng Shuai was overjoyed and hurriedly wrote to the court to ask for approval. Fan Yongji, as the military and political governor of the southern province of Mongolia, once he returned to the army, it would obviously be of great benefit to our dynasty militarily, but the government at that time was controlled by the four traitorous ministers of Yan, Ma, Ding, and Dong, and he was unwilling to surrender and rebel on the grounds that Fan Yongji was not credible and rebellion was not frequent. When he received the reply from the imperial court, Meng Shuai, who was originally only slightly infected with the wind and cold, suddenly became angry, spat blood from his mouth, and sighed to the sky, "Thirty years to clean up the hearts of the people in the Central Plains, and now I can't help it." After speaking, he passed out in a coma, although Lang Zhong was treated in time, his condition has worsened since then, and he died in Jiangling on the third night of September of that year. ”

Later historians have another explanation for the reason why the imperial court refused to surrender to Fan Yongji, that is, Song Lizong was afraid that Fan Yongji's submission would increase Meng Hui's power, so he became suspicious, so that he made the same mistake as Gaozong of the Southern Song Dynasty and rejected Meng Hui's request.

At that time, Meng Gong had the "Zhongshun Army", the "Ningwu Army" and the "Flying Eagle Army" composed of Uighurs, all of which were the most combat-effective troops in the Song army, which was quite similar to the Yuejia army at that time. However, it was this so-called "private army" that caused Song Lizong's fear, so he refused to surrender.

I am also inclined to this statement, and there was a vague record of this in the notes of the Emperor of the Hsienwen Pavilion, and on this unpublished record, Emperor Song once scribbled that the Meng of today, the Yue of the past?

Meng Hui's ancestor was Yue Fei's general, and he was clear about the turmoil pavilion that year, so he also roughly guessed the intention of the imperial court's refusal, and Meng Hui's ambition in this life was to realize Yue Fei's dream and recover the mountains and rivers.

After listening to what Jiang Wanzai said, I roughly understood the reason, maybe Jiang Wanzai was right, but I couldn't expose the shortcomings of the first emperor, and said vaguely: "Meng Shuai's wish will be fulfilled by me and you." ”

At this time, it was late afternoon (1 pm to 3 pm), the weather in May (the ancient calendar was the lunar calendar) was already very hot, and today the sun was shining, and I came to the tomb of Meng Gong, but I never thought that in front of the tomb of Meng Gong, there was a shirtless young man in his early twenties who was wielding a spear, obviously practicing marksmanship.

Jiang Wanzai blurted out: "Flame marksmanship." ”