Chapter 544 Soldiers should respond to Tianfu

"It's a pity, it's a pity." Fang Ling sighed as he looked at it, "Such a huge palace has become a ruin, alas! ”

Yuan Jian also sighed: "Your Majesty, judging from the scale of the ruins, it seems that the palace in Bianliang was slightly larger than the palace in Lin'an. ”

I looked at it and said, "yes." ”

Jiang Wanzai took us around the ruins, and when he came out, he said, "Your Majesty, the last general will arrange manpower to rebuild it at a later date." ”

"Reconstruction?" I thought about it, shook my head, and said, "Now that it's history, let's let it pass." ”

Jiang Wanzai paused, but quickly replied, "Yes, Your Majesty." ”

Perhaps, in Jiang Wanzai's view, my return to the ruins of the Bianliang Palace this time can be regarded as a return to my hometown, and there is no reason not to build construction and restore the foundation of my ancestors.

"Jiang Aiqing, send someone to make a stone tablet to commemorate the Forbidden City of the first emperor, and set it up in the center of the site, I want to use this stone tablet as a 'monument to the world'. On the front of the stele, the ruins of the palace of the first emperor of the Great Song Dynasty are written, and the two major events of the 'Jingkang Incident' and the Northern Expeditionary Army's recovery of Bianliang should be recorded on it. Also, write the last sentence of "A Fang Gong Fu" written by the poet Du Mu of the previous dynasty at the end, so that I and all the officials of the dynasty will remember it in my heart, 'Later generations mourn but do not learn from it, and let future generations mourn future generations!' That's a classic quote. ”

"Yes, Your Majesty."

I took advantage of the topic and said: "Ladies and gentlemen, as a successor, we should always reflect and learn lessons from history, so as not to repeat the mistakes of the past. At that time, the military and political strength of our dynasty were all above the Jin people, but in the end they were defeated by the backward and barbaric Jin people, so that Gaozong crossed to the south and lost a large number of mountains and rivers, why is this? Although everyone has their own answer in their hearts, I believe that in the final analysis, it was the inaction of the imperial court at that time. The first emperor listened to slander and reused villains, but he couldn't listen to them at the same time, so that the court did not raise the platform, and the traitorous ministers were in charge. A few days ago, I talked to you about the establishment of a Senate in the middle of the court, and the purpose of this was to find a practical way to supervise the powerful Government Council, the Military Council, and even the Emperor himself. ”

When Jiang Wanzai and the others heard me say that the Senate could still supervise the emperor, they were all surprised, but no one showed it, but just said in unison: "Your Majesty, the last general will be taught." ”

"Yes. Ladies and gentlemen, you must be thinking, how can the Senate supervise the Emperor, and how can it supervise it? I paused, "Although this is a very sensitive topic, it will be brought up one day." Everyone is a general who leads troops to fight, and it should be clear that what kind of generals there are, what kind of soldiers there will be, and the generals can be removed if they are not strong, but the emperor is not strong, what should I do? Replace? Can it be swapped? I have said many times that history is a mirror, the emperor is sage, the world will prosper, the emperor is mediocre, the world will die, therefore, to make the foundation of our dynasty can last for thousands of years, this is the most important. Of course, this matter is a bit unbelievable, and we will discuss it slowly in the future. ”

Leaving the ruins of the palace, I went to visit the Great Xiangguo Temple, and the reason for going to the Great Xiangguo Temple was influenced by the "Water Margin", and the story of "Lu Zhishen uprooting the weeping willows" has always been fresh in my memory.

On the way, Fan Liangfu, who is familiar with the Great Xiangguo Temple, introduced: "Your Majesty, this Great Xiangguo Temple in Bianliang is said to be the former residence of the Wei Gongzi Xinling Jun during the Warring States Period, the sixth year of Tianbao of the Northern Qi Dynasty (555 years), the temple was founded here, named 'Jianguo Temple', the first year of the previous dynasty Ruizong Yanhe, by Tang Rui's edict, renamed Xiangguo Temple, and gave the "Great Xiangguo Temple" plaque, known as Xiangguo Temple. In our dynasty, Xiangguo Temple became the largest Buddhist temple in Bianliang City. The two landscapes of 'Zisheng Fufeng' and 'Xiangguo Bell' in the temple were also listed as the second of the 'Eight Views of Bianjing' by the people of Bianliang in that year, and they were famous. ”

"General Fan, I ask you, more than a hundred years ago, was there a monk named Master Zhishen in the Great Xiangguo Temple, who had infinite manpower and could uproot the willows?"

Fan Liangfu thought for a while and said: "Your Majesty, there is a master named Zhishen, but I have never heard of the 'upside-down willow'. ”

I let out an "oh" and thought to myself, "It seems that the author is fictitious again." ”

On 12 March, I received a battle report from Li Tingzhi of the East Route on the battle on the outskirts of Xuzhou, in which the East Route Army defeated the 30,000 troops besieging the front of Xuzhou in one fell swoop, killing about 9,000 enemy troops, killing 2,542 officers and men and wounding more than 3,600 of our soldiers. After the battle, the main generals of the Eastern Route Army, after careful deliberation and in accordance with His Majesty's will, postponed the plan to march into Shandong, and waited for the arrival of firearms before attacking.

"This Li Tingzhi." I smiled and continued to read, roughly as follows:

On March 1, the Eastern Route Northern Expeditionary Army launched an attack at Foxiao.

Under the leadership of General Jiang Cai, the Broken Capture Army, which served as the vanguard, took the lead in rushing into the enemy formation, and the 3,000 Broken Capture Army was like a fierce tiger, disrupting the Yuan Army's position at once. The flag envoy in the army held the banner of Li Tingzhi, the commander of the Eastern Route Northern Expeditionary Army, so that the Yuan army thought that Li Tingzhi was there in person, so he used the army to attack.

Under the command of Dong Wenyong, the commander of the front, the Yuan army quickly stabilized its position and surrounded the Broken Legion. This Dong Wenyong is the younger brother of Dong Wenbing, the marshal of the Eastern Route Army of the Yuan Army, who is brave and good at fighting, brave and strategic. Although the captives were brave, they were also invincible to the iron cavalry of the Yuan army, which was several times their own, and they were about to be surrounded by the Yuan army.

Thousands of projectiles exploded for the first time in the enemy's formation on the eastern road, and although they had been prepared in advance, the Yuan army besieging the captives was still dizzy, and for a while, they were at a loss. The sound of the explosion of the grenade was the agreed order to strike together, and after the broken army attracted a large number of Yuan troops, Li Tingzhi and Xia Gui led 15,000 elite Song troops respectively and personally launched a general attack from both flanks.

Although the Yuan army resisted desperately, it was rushed from the inside to the outside by the broken army that broke through the encirclement, and the formation was chaotic, and the main general Dong Wen saw that he was invincible with his eyes, and he didn't know how many grenades the Song army had, so he immediately issued an order to withdraw his troops.

After the Yuan army in front of Xuzhou retreated, the Yuan army besieging the other gates of Xuzhou also retreated north one after another.

"With Li Tingzhi's strategy, Xia Gui's bravery, and the power of the captive army, the casualties of our soldiers and soldiers reached more than 6,000, and it can be seen that 1,000 enemies were killed and 800 were self-inflicted. But with the use of firearms, the situation is quite different. After reading it, I sighed.

In the past, my words would have attracted the opposition of the generals, and it was a miracle that our army suffered fewer casualties than the Yuan army in an offensive battle. However, the generals of the Central Route Northern Expeditionary Army no longer doubt that after personally participating in the battles of Xiangyang and Dengzhou, which were used to throw firearms, they also fully agreed with my point of view, and the casualties of Li Tingzhi's troops were indeed somewhat large.

In the following days, the Central Route Army divided its forces and successively regained most of the cities in Henan, and by the end of March, only Xiangzhou (Anyang) and Yingtianfu (Shangqiu) were still in the hands of the Yuan army.

On March 22, General Gundam in Kawanaka reported that our army had successfully recovered the western part of Sichuan, and that at present, the army was resting and recuperating, and when there were sufficient firearms, the Northern Expedition would be launched.

On the 24th, I decided to send troops to attack Yingtianfu.

"Since the retreat of the Mongolian Middle Route Army, its 50,000 troops were stationed in Xiangzhou and Yingtianfu, of which Yingtianfu's strength was the majority, with about 40,000 people. Now, there are only these two cities left in Henan, and I have decided to send troops to Tianfu, I wonder which general is willing to be the vanguard? ”

"Your Majesty, the last general is willing to go." Among the generals, a white-robed young general flashed out.

I fixed my eyes and saw that it was Meng Tianxiang, and then said with a smile: "General Meng's martial arts are strong, and he should be fine." ”

"Your Majesty, the last general is familiar with the terrain of Yingtianfu, and the last general is willing to go." Another young player, Fan Liangfu, continued.

"General Fan is young and promising, and he can also go." I looked at the two young generals and said in a good mood, "The two generals obey the order. ”

"The last general, please give an order from the emperor."

"General Fan Liangfu, you are familiar with the terrain, I order you to be the vanguard of the front Zhengyin Zuo, and lead a thousand cavalry troops to set off early tomorrow morning, open the road in the mountains, and build bridges in the water; General Meng Tianxiang, I order you to be the vanguard of the front Zhengyin and lead the Zhongshun Army to clear the scattered Yuan troops along the road, and there must be no mistake. ”

"Yes, Your Majesty, the last general will be honored."

"The generals listened to the order, the first and second divisions of the Imperial Forest Army, the second Wu Songhan division of the Lin'an Military Region, the 19th Lu Division of the Xiangyang Military Region, a total of 43,000 people, four squads of the artillery battalion with a total of 40 artillery pieces, and a total of 4,000 people from the Black Tan Regiment and the Xingfu Army served as the escorts of the Chinese army, a total of 50,000 troops set off early the day after tomorrow to attack Yingtianfu."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Marshal Lu Wenhuan of the Middle Route Army, and Yin Yinglei, the envoy of the Lin'an Military Region, followed me to march in person."

"Yes, the last will obey."

"Jiang Aiqing, you guard Bianliang and are responsible for military affairs in various parts of Henan."

"Yes, the last general."

"General Zhang Shun, you are responsible for supervising the transportation of grain, grass and military supplies."

"Yes, the last will obey."

A few days later, more than 1,000 Song army vanguards, led by Meng Tianxiang and Fan Liangfu, arrived fifty miles west of Yingtianfu.

After setting up camp, Meng Tianxiang said: "Brother Fan, it's still early, you and I will go to Yingtianfu for a walk?" ”

Fan Liangfu was young and vigorous, and immediately asked, "Why not?" ”

The two were bold and bold, and they did not lead troops, but just ordered the deputy general to strictly guard the camp and wait for the arrival of the follow-up army.

Fan Liangfu was mostly familiar with the roads in Henan, so he left the camp and took Meng Tianxiang straight east. After a while, the two of them had already arrived at Ying Tianfu City.

"Meng Tianxiang?" Ah Shu, who was standing on the city gate, had a good eye, and saw Meng and Fan from a distance.

"Just these two people dare to come to challenge, the commander, and the last general will go out of the city to capture them, so as to strengthen the momentum of our army." Ali Hague said hatefully.