Chapter 322 Personality Determines Success or Failure
On the south bank, Zhao Gu personally went to the warship port and boarded the watchtower, waiting anxiously for the situation of the north bank. After Liu Guangguo set out, he ordered all the warships to be pulled out, and the people and horses boarded the ship to prepare for a deadly battle.
In fact, long before Chu Tianya came to Shunchang Mansion, Liu Guangguo put forward the tactic of "pretampering the water village and taking a detour to raid the dry village and Shunchang Mansion". Zhao Gu actually appreciates this tactic and has always wanted to implement it. However, all kinds of news circulating in recent days are very unfavorable for him to avoid rats, mainly the victory of Jiyuan.
What Zhao Gu was worried about at that time was that in case he crossed the Huaihe River and won Shunchang, but Chu Tianya personally led the army to counterattack Shunchang. What should he do? At that time, the southern army will be irresistible, and there will be a surging Huai River behind it. With the lonely city of Shunchang, how can it be defended?
In the final analysis, Zhao Gu is still afraid of Chu Tianya's soldiers from the bottom of his heart. When he was in Xiangzhou and Zhending, he had seen the power of the Chu family army. At that time, Chu Tianya was just a mountain thief, and thousands of people dared to take the Zhending fortress guarded by the Jurchens. To this day, there are already hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses under Chu Tianya's command. In the battle between Wutongyuan and Jiyuan, even Zongwang and Zonghan's hundreds of thousands of Jinguo's main forces have been defeated by him!
In fact, Zhao Gu's heart is more afraid than anyone else. Originally, he wanted to take advantage of the battle of Jiyuan, when Chu Tianya had no time and no power to take care of the Central Plains. Zhao Gu wanted to take this opportunity to unify the south of the Yangtze River and take Tokyo. Even if you can't destroy the power of Chu Tianya in Luoyang, at least you can fight against him.
What Zhao Gou never expected was that the Battle of Jiyuan had a result at such a fast speed. This result is the last thing Zhao Gu doesn't want to see - Chu Tianya won!
When he learned the news, Zhao Gu's people were already crossing the Yangtze River. The so-called arrow has to be fired on the string. Since Hangzhou has changed its flag and completely tore its face with Chu Tianya, there is no possibility of reconciliation and retreat. Zhao Gu made a hard move all the way to the north. Now he has arrived at the bank of the Huai River, and there is Zhang Shuye in the way ahead. Zhao Gu's uneasy mind became more unresolute.
It was precisely because of Zhao Gu's scruples, trembling and hesitation that the Southern Army missed the best opportunity to seize Shunchangfu. They gave Zhang Shuye enough time to build a military fortress on the north bank of the Huaihe River, and gave him enough time for Chu Tianya to slowly walk all the way from Luoyang to Shunchang with the emperor.
Now, many outsiders who know about the war are commenting: if Zhao Gu has half of Chu Tianya's courage and decisive killing, he may have taken Tokyo, went straight to Luoyang, and even forced Chu Tianya to a desperate situation.
But Zhao Gu will always be the one who hides in Xiangzhou and secretly raises soldiers. He will not become Chu Tianya, who dares to take the truth with 5,000 tigers overnight. His fierceness and indecision in his bones determine today's situation.
In a word, it is their different personalities that determine their success or failure and fate!
......
More than 100,000 southern troops are ready to go on the south bank of the Huai River. Although these sergeants were worried, it was good to see that many people on their side could strengthen each other, so they were not afraid.
However, several warships that fled back in a hurry in the south of the Yangtze River completely shattered Zhao Gou's inner fantasy and dispelled the bravery of the Southern Army.
Liu Guangguo did not make a sneak attack, but fell into the encirclement arranged in advance by Chu Tianya. More than half of the navy lost, and the two sneak attacks led by Liu Guangguo himself, and one of them failed to come back!
......
Zhao Gu forgot how he came down from the high watchtower and how he returned to the handsome tent. His mind has gone blank, just like the mood and feeling of the death row prisoner when he heard the clear sentence.
The handsome tent was silent. King Kang's staff and generals all held their breath and calculated their future fates in their hearts. Many people think of one thing in their hearts: if you can't win, there is no hope... You have to find a way to cross the river and surrender as soon as possible!
For half an hour, there was no one talking in Zhao Gu's handsome account. The sergeants on the boats by the river have withdrawn to the barracks, and no one is allowed to talk about today's war situation. Those who dare to speak rudely confuse the hearts of the army will not be spared.
This is the only way that Zhao Gu can come up with at present to stabilize the army. If rumors and panics are not suppressed, he is worried that his 100,000 troops will run away!
After a long time, someone suddenly came to report outside the account, "Your Highness King Kang! An envoy sent a wooden box and a letter from the north coast!"
Everyone trembled all over, and Zhao Gou rubbed his face twice and said, "Come in!"
The pawn presented a wooden box, and there was also a letter on the box, which said "Zhao Gou Qinqi" on the cover.
To be outspoken and quite rude to say Zhao Gu's name!
Zhao Gu pulled the letter and tore it directly without reading it. He shouted, "Open the box!"
The left and right attendant came forward to open the box and showed a head, Liu Guangguo!
Everyone screamed at the same time, "Ah?!"
"General Liu!!"
Zhao Gu suddenly bounced up and froze. He stared at Liu Guangguo's head with big eyes, and his face turned pale!
"Big brother!!!" A general burst into tears and threw himself in front of the box and cried bitterly.
It's Liu Guangshi.
He listed the "Four Generals of Zhongxing in the Southern Song Dynasty" with Yue Fei and others in history, but now he is only a threbel who follows the rebellious Zhao Gou.
"Your Highness, order to send troops!" After Liu Guangshi cried for a while, he gritted his teeth and roared, "Chu Tianya bullied people too much! There are 100,000 people in our army, and it's just a flash of finger to break through Shunchang Mansion in the district! The more delayed it is, the more the Chu thieves have time to recruit and expand their troops to collect the thieves. Taking advantage of the lack of food and fodder and unstable foothold, it is a good time to defeat him! - Your Highness, don't hesitate any more! I can't wait any longer!!"
The last sentence roared out the hearts of many generals - hesitation! Zhao Gu's death is hesitation!
When Zhao Gu heard this, he was faintly angry. Although he was not angry, he did not agree. He just said calmly, "The Chu thief is full of tricks. Although the detailed return is only 30,000 to 40,000 horses on the north bank, who knows that he is still ambushing thousands of troops in other places? Now, it is not the best time for the decisive battle. Pass the order and rectify the soldiers and horses to take strict precautions. Let me think carefully about the strategy of breaking the enemy!"
"Alas!!!" Liu Guangshi beat his chest and burst into tears. He was both angry and sad, and even hated Zhao Gu a little.
"Report!--" At this time, another pawn said that the patrol officer picked up a lot of bamboo tubes on the bank of the river, which contained paper and letters.
The content of the letter is the official edict copied. It is clear that the sergeants on the south bank are all generals of the Song Dynasty. They were deceived, deceived and threatened by Zhao Gu, so they had no choice but to rebel against him. Now the officials have a purpose. For all the generals who repent in time and surrendered to the north bank before Zhao Gou's defeat, the officials will treat them well and appoint them. If they can leave Zhao Gu as soon as possible and no longer continue to help Zhou as abusers, the officials will not investigate! I hope that the soldiers on the South Bank will no longer be stubborn and be buried with Zhao Gu!
......
These bamboo tubes, like cold arrows, directly hit Zhao Gu's heart!
When Zhao Gu opened a bamboo tube and saw these letters with his own eyes, he felt as if he had been struck by lightning and stiffened all over, and even his eyes were straight!
This is far ten times or a hundred times bigger than the blow to him by Liu Guangguo's defeat!
Previously, Zhao Gouyan sealed the news, and there were only some "rumors" in the army, saying that the great victory of Song Jiyuan and the official family came to the imperial expedition. Now, the imperial edict of the government has been sent to the South Bank, and everything is true and unquestionable!
Therefore, before Zhao Gou came to his senses to suppress the bamboo tube and block the news, the news had spread widely in the barracks. For a while, the sergeants fled crazily, and there was a tendency to become a disaster!
Zhao Gu has no other choice. He could only listen to the opinions of Liu Guangshi, the representative of the "dead war faction". On the one hand, he strongly suppressed the deserters and the mutiny, and on the other hand, he took out all the money to reward the sergeant's dispersed hearts. In this way, Zhao Gou barely stabilized the situation, leaving a group of outlaws who died for money to continue to follow him.
Just like this, more than 10,000 people went to the south bank, which is almost equivalent to the loss caused by Liu Guangguo's defeat!
......
At the same time, the north bank is a relaxed scene. Most of the sergeants who were defeated and captured with Liu Guangguo surrendered to Chu Tianya. Originally, the vast majority of them were sergeants of the Song Dynasty. Who was really willing to draw a knife with their own people? Many of them were originally the forbidden army in Tokyo, and their ancestral home, wives and children are still in Tokyo. That is, with the blessing of Chu Tianya, they saved Tokyo and saved their homes and relatives. In terms of personal feelings alone, they are more inclined to the Tokyo court. It was only because people had no choice but to obey the military order to become Zhao Gu's party.
Now it's all right, and they are "righteous" to the secret. Originally, it was a shameful and self-esteem thing to be a prisoner and a traitor on the battlefield, but this group of surrendered sergeants rarely felt this way. On the one hand, they can accept it emotionally, and on the other hand, Chu Tianya has also issued a strict order to treat the soldiers well, and they are not allowed to treat the soldiers differently or bully and suppress them.
The Chu family army has always been known for its strict military discipline. As long as Chu Tianya is ordered, it will be strictly enforced. Therefore, these surrendered sergeants soon calmed down and became a member of the "Chu Family Army" with peace of mind.
Shi Li Ai, a military master who has always been good at conspiracy and trickery and pursuing the heart of attack, has played a major role at this time. First, he carefully selected a group of trustworthy people among these surrendered sergeants, asked them to act as a sneaky to escape to the South Bank camp, and let them show up to lobby and persuade the sergeants who were still staying on the South Bank, so that they could rectify the chaos as soon as possible. At the same time, Shi Liai also let them be in a large area of the South Bank rivers. Spread the "bamboo tube imperial edict", confuse the military heart of the Southern Army to the greatest extent, and carry out a devastating blow to the confidence of Zhao Gou's party!
These two tricks are quite useful. In just a few days, thousands of sergeants escaped from the southern camp through various channels and returned to the north shore. Although Zhao Gu carried out cruel repression and wanton buying in the barracks, he still did not stop the sergeant's continuous escape.
The number of sergeants in the south camp is constantly decreasing, and the army's heart is scattered; the number of sergeants on the north coast is increasing, and morale is surging. Now even Zhao Huan, the most military and timid official, is convinced that "the king of Shunchang will win"!
Within half a month, only after Liu Guangguo's suicide-like attack, the South Bank did not launch any attack. Instead, it followed the example of the north bank and began to build embankments and defend it closely.
Chu Tianya is not in a hurry. In fact, what he lacks now is time. Zhao Gu was really obedient and immediately gave him enough time to transfer the generals. On the one hand, Chu Tianya ordered the requisition of grain and fodder everywhere, while paying close attention to the war between Jiyuan and Xixia. Every day, there are fast horses from Luoyang to submit these important military information.
The Xixia people fought with the Western Liao people. The messenger sent by the Western Xia Kingdom to Luoyang for help was more diligent than the messenger sent by Luoyang to Shunchang. Chu Tianya laughed secretly and thought that Zhang Xiaochun, who was now in charge of staying in Luoyang, must be annoyed by these Xixia messengers.
On the other hand, the Battle of Jiyuan has basically ended. With the leading surrender of Wanyan Valley God, many real women who fell into a desperate situation could only choose this way. However, after all, the Jurchens are different from the rebels on the shore here in Shunchang. Their personality and position determine that a large number of people will not surrender.
Therefore, Liu Ziyu, who has always been shown as a "Confucian" face, did what the former "black-faced Yan Jun Meng De" could do this time - kill!
Those who do not surrender will be killed!!
In the Jiyuan area, the blood flows into rivers and corpses like mountains!
It can be said that from Chu Tianya left Luoyang until today, Liu Ziyu has been killing people for a day. The broken weapons can be piled up into a mountain!
Liu Ziyu, who had long been instructed by Chu Tianya, waved carrots and sticks at the same time in Jiyuan, and quickly calmed down a huge battle here. According to the prior arrangement of Chu Tianya, Liu Ziyu's soldiers and horses have now been divided into two batches, stationed in Jiyuan Camp and Taiyuan Front Line respectively. Yue Fei's troops returned to Zhending after the battle of Jiyuan, and teamed up with Jiao Wentong, the general of Zhending, to rectify the people and horses in strict defense to prevent the Jurchens from going south to report the defeat.
That is to say, the war between the Song Dynasty and the State of Jin has come to an end for the time being.
After reading these military newspapers, Chu Tianya smiled and said nothing, and he was extremely relaxed. Only when Shi Liai and others, who are very close to Chu Tianya, can they think when they see his expression. Now, Master Chu has completely controlled the overall situation and has enough time and enough soldiers to clean up the south of the Yangtze River!
Zhao Gou's good days are coming to an end.