EBE Chapter 331 Zhang Hao
Chapter 331 Zhang Hao
During the reign of Emperor Zhezong of Song
Zhao Xu was deeply concerned about the behavior of Emperor Qinzong and his ministers.
If he could travel through time and see those two bastards, he would definitely beat them up first!
He disregarded the impending collapse of the city, ignored its defenses, and failed to deploy troops for autumn defense!
Thinking of this, he sighed again, but what could he do?
The predicament of the Northern Song Dynasty was clearly nearing its end; he believed that even with Lin Ke's guidance, the Jingkang Incident was unavoidable!
……
The live broadcast continues.
Lin Ke sighed again, "Emperor Qinzong and his ministers knew the importance of Taiyuan, yet they still acted in this way; it was utterly outrageous!"
"He assigned the task to Li Gang, and to be honest, Li Gang sometimes really felt that he was quite unlucky!"
"As the Pacification Commissioner, he had neither financial support nor many troops. At the beginning of his term, he could only cobble together some men, train them, and repair some city defenses."
Even so, the imperial court did not agree to Li Gang's supply requests.
"Still using the excuse of having too many soldiers and too little food? Bah! Don't they even consider whether the Song court actually has too many soldiers and too little food? Isn't this just them not wanting to give it to Li Gang?!"
"What legitimate reason are you giving me? Now look what's happened! The Jurchens have invaded the south again, and Taiyuan is in danger. They only know to ask Li Gang to come to Taiyuan's rescue now. Wanyan Zonghan gave them a chance, didn't he?! Why didn't they come to the rescue sooner?!"
Golden Man: We've given you plenty of chances!
"If Li Gang weren't a subject, I'd really have to give them a piece of my mind. Since you wanted to suppress him, yet you also wanted him to rescue Taiyuan, you're basically taking all the good stuff?! You've got some nerve!"
"Alas... Li Gang was helpless in the face of such an imperial edict and could only bite the bullet and accept it. Thus, the third rescue operation for Taiyuan began amidst Li Gang's bewilderment (speechlessness)!"
Emperor Shenzong of Song, Zhao Xu: ...
A spoiled young man from the Song Dynasty: Those people are really hypocritical!
General Judy: It would be strange if Li Gang could win. Last time, even the Western Army, with its high level of ability, couldn't defeat them, and we missed another opportunity.
Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty: It is obvious that the Song Dynasty's fortunes were not good, and it had a series of setbacks, which was also its own doing!
……
"However, there were significant problems with the Song court's efforts to relieve Taiyuan; they failed to grant the commander-in-chief the authority to lead the troops he deserved."
"In the previous two campaigns, the Song court did not learn from its mistakes. On the contrary, it did not trust Li Gang much. Although he was nominally the commander-in-chief, he could actually mobilize very few troops."
"Compared to the Jin people's formidable fighting power, the Song court demonstrated its lack of military capability and its distrust of its commander-in-chief."
"The three rescues of Taiyuan involved hundreds of thousands of people, but perhaps the successive failures severely weakened the Song Dynasty!"
"This time, the Song court has assembled 170,000 troops, along with 50,000 militia and imperial guards from Hedong, for a total of 220,000."
"The troop deployment was roughly divided into three routes. The first route was led by Liu Ge and Wang Yuan, with troops from Pingding Army and Liaozhou."
"The second route is led by Xie Qian and Zhe Yanzhi, and will be launched from the Weisheng Army route."
"The last force, led by Zhang Hao and Zhe Keqiu, marched out from Fenzhou."
"Although the various armies are under the command of Li Gang of the Pacification Commission, we also know that he has no actual command authority."
"It can be said that most of these generals, in terms of the number of troops they command alone, are comparable to Li Gang's."
"Moreover, if a commander-in-chief who leads several armies has no command authority, even if his military talent is maxed out, his chances of winning are very slim!"
"Moreover, Li Gang is a civil official, and his military skills are not as good as those of veteran generals like Zhong Shidao. But there's nothing we can do; the court has very few capable people, especially those who advocate war!"
"So this plan, in essence, had its roots in the past. It's all thanks to Emperor Qinzong of Song; after all, he was still wary of Li Gang at that time!"
Cheng Yaojin of the Tang Dynasty: After listening to so much, I feel that the Song court wanted to save them, but their actions didn't match up!
A bystander in the Ming Dynasty: There's someone I want to save, but I don't trust anyone else. Oh well, here's what I'll do!
A spoiled young man from the Song Dynasty: This really makes the Song Dynasty seem utterly hopeless!
A farming expert from the Ming Dynasty commented: "Actually, it doesn't need to be this popular because everyone knows that many other people in the Song Dynasty were more capable than the emperor!"
All emperors of the Song Dynasty: ?_?
……
People from other timelines who heard about Song Ting's arrangement slowly developed a few question marks in their minds!
They must have heard correctly, right? This is just too outrageous!
Whose commander-in-chief doesn't have the authority to command during battle? What if an emergency occurs?
Could it be that we have to consult Emperor Qinzong of Song?!
As bystanders, if they were to work for Zhao Huan, they'd probably be heartbroken every day!
……
"Li Gang also knew that the disparity between the two sides was too great, but Emperor Qinzong kept demanding that he send troops, and the generals were clearly not obeying his orders, so the possibility of maneuvering in this situation was very small!!!"
"Moreover, the situation between the Song and Jin dynasties is different now than before. They have no advantage at all. If they hadn't missed the opportunity in the early stages, things might not be so bad now!"
According to historical records, many of the Song Dynasty's troops at that time were from Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, and Sichuan, and their fighting strength was not strong compared to the Western Army or the Jin army.
"Even though things have come to this, they still don't look at how rotten their Song Dynasty's military is, yet there are still people causing trouble and making a scene!"
"Zhang Hao, one of the commanders, ordered Zhe Keqiu to send troops to relieve Taiyuan first, deviating from the planned strategy."
"But Zhe Keqiu also knows that Taiyuan City is now an isolated city surrounded by the Jin people, and it would be very difficult for him to go in and rescue it!"
"Maybe he'll end up like Zhong Shizhong, going deep into enemy territory alone and getting killed by his superiors. So Zhe Keqiu took a different approach. His superiors said they would send troops to rescue him, but they didn't specify when they would arrive. Anyway, he's slow!"
Zhe Keqiu: Seven days and thirty-five li, that's slow enough!
"But Zhe Keqiu didn't realize that his every move had been detected by the Jurchen scouts."
"He thought he'd be fine if he walked slowly, but the people on the other side were probably wondering if they were here for leisure or to fight!"
"Especially since Zhe Keqiu stopped to rest at Guozha. The problem is, you know that Taiyuan is surrounded by Jurchens. You just rested, so why weren't you on guard at all?!"
"A large group of people sat down casually, without assigning anyone to scout or setting up camps. It was as if they were just there for a vacation, with no discipline whatsoever."
"Are you looking to die or get your lunchbox killed? Showing up like this so brazenly, aren't you afraid of being attacked by the Jurchens???"
Zhu Baba of the Ming Dynasty: The Song court is still as infuriating as ever!
Li Erfeng of the Tang Dynasty: The Song Dynasty truly deserves to be called the "Weak Song"! What a mess this guy made!?
A general from the Tang Dynasty: Is this for real?! How could a general do something like this?!
An official from the Sui Dynasty: It sounds outrageous, but it's actually true...
Empress Wei Qing of the Great Han Dynasty: It's clear that the talent pool in the court is now a mixed bag...
……
"Meanwhile, the Jurchens observed this group for several days and were surprised to find that the people sent by the Song court had been resting for several days."
"Don't even mention comparing them to their regular troops, even a bunch of stragglers would be better than them. What kind of camp is this? It doesn't look like an army!"
Jin Bing: Boss's "Little Golden Pig" has given us another kill. He's quite embarrassed, considering how many times he's done this!
Song Ting (inwardly cursing but outwardly smiling): (??∧??)……
"A few days later, one morning, the Jin soldiers got up early and prepared to rush towards Zhe Keqiu's troops, but our Song court was still leisurely eating breakfast!"
"If this weren't the front lines, and if this weren't the late Northern Song Dynasty, we'd really think they were here for a vacation. This relaxed atmosphere is something even seasoned generals who fought on the front lines probably wouldn't experience!!!"
"In this state, it would be difficult to defend against the enemy, so when the Jurchens appeared stealthily, this group realized that the Jurchens had actually come in such large numbers!"
"In the blink of an eye, the Jin soldiers attacked the left flank of the Song army as soon as they appeared. Due to a lack of preparation, the Song army was caught off guard and had to defend itself, but it fought desperately and managed to stop the offensive."
"Then, they attacked the left and then the right, but the Song army on the right was clearly inferior to the one on the left, and was defeated by the Jin army. Taking this opportunity, the Jin army launched a surprise attack on the Song army's central camp."