Chapter 71: Crisis (Part 1)

"My thinking is quite simple." Zhao Jiu released Han Shizhong's hand and spoke slowly. "Liangchen is a famous general of the state; in military matters I must certainly follow your advice. Since you say from a strategic standpoint that the Jin army had no need to retreat in haste, then this hasty retreat must have something worth discussing."

The several accompanying civil officials stood silently in attendance, while the Emperor Zhao turned his head and actively looked toward Zhang Jun:

"What Deyuan said during the day certainly has its reasoning, but military matters concern life and death. We can only estimate the enemy generously and restrain ourselves strictly, not find an excuse, smooth things over, and let it pass... If we want to find an explanation, Jin Wushu is young and hot-tempered, with a temperament no different from mine. During the battle, in his spare time, he even sent a document to mock me. A man like that, with no one in his army who can truly restrain him—how could he give up so cleanly?"

Zhang Jun immediately bowed his head: "Your Majesty speaks correctly. It was your servant's insufficient consideration and presumptuous speculation."

"So, Liangchen." Zhao Jiu looked back at Han Shizhong. "I didn't summon you today to force you to admit fault, but to say that you are my backbone and guts. In military matters, I must rely on you... You tell me: if Jin Wushu has another scheme, where does his grand strategy lie? And how should we respond? This matter requires no one but you."

Han Shizhong first became smug immediately, but as he listened further, he couldn't help but grow solemn. Finally, he simply raised his head, thought for a moment, and arrived at an answer: "If I were Jin Wushu and had another scheme, there would be no more than two places. One would be to take advantage of breaking camp and moving north, suddenly launch an attack at Mengcheng, lead the main cavalry force in a swift strike on Jizhou, and swallow up that Yue Fei and Zhang Rong's troops... But if that were the case, we would have no other recourse—we couldn't even send word in time."

Zhao Jiu nodded slightly. Jizhou was over four hundred li from here, and the Jin were all cavalry. If it came to that, they could only resign themselves to fate. But that said, the Emperor wasn't too worried either, because according to military reports, Yue Fei and Zhang Rong together totaled nearly twenty thousand men, and they simultaneously held Jizhou City and Liangshan Marsh. With Yue Fei's skill, how could he not hold a city? Even if he couldn't hold it, retreating into Liangshan Marsh and taking advantage of the local terrain—would Jin Wushu dare to pursue him in there?

"The other place would naturally be to make us slack off, in order to launch a sudden counterattack and continue trying to cross the Huai to capture me?" Thinking of this, Zhao Jiu followed the other's line of reasoning and spoke on his own.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, this matter is both yes and no." Han Shizhong stood upright in the military quarters, supporting his waist, and answered boldly. "Not to boast, but although Your Majesty once reminded me that sea ships rely on large sails to move, and once the wind stops they become targets for small boats with fire arrows, Your Majesty had previously implemented a scorched-earth policy and gathered up the boats. How could the Jin army suddenly scrape together small boats? And how could they turn around and break my fleet in one move? Therefore, if I were Jin Wushu, launching this sudden counterattack would not come from this direction."

"Then from where?" For some reason, hearing this, Zhao Jiu instead felt relieved.

"Only two routes: in the north, cross the Fei River and Ying River westward in a stealthy crossing, and launch a swift attack on the upstream Guangzhou (modern Gushi and Huangchuan area); or in the north, cross the Guo River and Huan River eastward in a stealthy crossing, and launch a swift attack on the downstream Sizhou (modern Hongze Lake area, no lake at this time)!" Han Shizhong said thoughtfully. "Among them, Guangzhou is especially likely!"

"Why?" As the second person here who understood military affairs, Yang Yizhong finally couldn't help but interject. "Guangzhou has strong troops, while Sizhou has weak troops. Moreover, after crossing the river upstream and then launching a swift attack on the Bagongshan temporary palace, there are many mountain ranges in between, while downstream it's a clear road all the way... Didn't that Wushu get lost and get trapped in the mountains?"

"Not so." Han Shizhong waved his hand and said. "Guangzhou seems to have more troops, but generals like Miao Fu, Liu Zhengyan, Ding Jin, and Liu Yan have different commands, and Minister Yuwen may not be able to unite them. Moreover, among them, Ding Jin, who has more troops, is a newly surrendered man—whether he can fight or is willing to fight is hard to say! As for the terrain, let me ask you, Yang Dalang: if the Jin army exceeds ten thousand and all cross the Huai River together, what does terrain matter? Other than gathering our troops to escort His Majesty south, do we have a second option?"

"Then Sizhou..."

"Sizhou isn't impossible, but isn't it too far?" Han Shizhong let out a cold laugh. "Since it's a sudden counterattack, it's the last move. It needs to catch the enemy off guard. Sizhou is separated by a whole Haozhou—how could it be as convenient as Guangzhou, which is right to the west? And besides, how would they know that I, Han Wu, emptied Sizhou to protect Shouzhou and Haozhou? They only know that Sizhou is my defense area, and they might even fear it because of that!"

Yang Yizhong had no way to refute.

"Beyond that, there's another reason." Zhang Jun, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly spoke slowly. "If they want to launch a swift attack on Guangzhou, they must pass through Shunchang Prefecture (modern Fuyang). And when we withdrew from Shunchang Prefecture earlier, Your Majesty, out of benevolence, specially relocated many of its people... Marching from there provides a certain degree of cover. General Han's words are quite reasonable."

"Regardless, first send people to notify both upstream and downstream overnight. Both Sizhou and Guangzhou must be reached, so they can prepare defenses in advance." Hu Yin also spoke up at the right moment. "As for Jizhou, we should also try to send people on a roundabout route. We can't just ignore it because the transmission is slow."

Everyone nodded together, then all looked toward Zhao Jiu.

However, the Emperor sat expressionlessly, slanted in a chair inside the military quarters. He first nodded slightly, then shook his head repeatedly, clearly having another thought: "It must be done this way, but even so, I still have some worries. Because over at Guangzhou, aside from Liu Yan, I can't rest easy about anyone..."

The several people in the military quarters, except for Han Shizhong and the young Lin Academician, nearly all raised their eyebrows in unison!

And although the young Lin Academician didn't raise his eyebrows, his mind was working normally, even a step ahead—Ding Jin being worrisome was perfectly normal; everyone was worried about him. But why were Miao Fu and Liu Zhengyan also worrisome?

Could it be because they were from the Western Army military families? And because of the Liu Guangshi affair, His Majesty harbored ill will toward all Western Army military families?

On second thought, it seemed that those who had rendered meritorious service and were now in favor were not from Western Army military families! Yue Fei, Fu Xuan, and Zhang Rong went without saying. Even Han Shizhong and Zhang Jun, though both from the Western Army, came from humble backgrounds and were not from several generations of military families. Even Yang Weizhong, the old Grand Commandant, though he had the longest and deepest seniority in the Western Army, was also a first-generation striver! A non-Han from the Huanqing Circuit, he had relied on himself to reach his current position as the foremost man in the army. Though he was from the Western Army, he was absolutely not from a military family!

Thinking further along these lines, it seemed that the prospects for the Xin brothers, Miao Fu, Liu Zhengyan, and others were not too good either?

One could only say that His Majesty truly was His Majesty. Though young, he had long seen through the decay and uselessness of the Western Army military families. After the Liu Guangshi affair, he had made up his mind while biding his time and not acting... And thinking further, that night before last, when he was stopped by Hu Yin and then called over by His Majesty, and in his panic had no choice but to back Zhang Rong—could that have been a stroke of luck?

Otherwise, it was still better than misreading the situation and backing Liu Zhengyan or Miao Fu, right?

He just didn't know whether that Zhang Rong was sensible, or whether he was fair or dark...

Speaking of which, setting aside everyone's deep digressions, Zhao Jiu's thinking here was actually much simpler—from start to finish, in military matters, he only trusted these two and a half men: Yue Fei, Han Shizhong, and Zhang Jun. The first two counted as full men, the last as half.

After all, who could blame him? The army's construction was a complete mess, so he could only rely on the generals' own abilities. And among the Four Generals of the Restoration, only these three were truly useful.

As for Liu Yan, Yang Yizhong, Wang De, and others later on, it was only after prolonged personal contact that he gradually came to trust them or saw their abilities, and then included them in the trustworthy category, jotting them down in his little notebook inside the imperial tent.

In other words, Zhao Jiu had initially only hoped to use himself as bait, relying on Han Shizhong and Zhang Jun to fight a defensive battle on the predetermined battlefield of Shouzhou, because at that time he only had these two cards in hand. And now, with the support of Yue Fei and others, although they had won a great victory, which was an unexpected delight, after the battlefield scale had completely expanded, the Emperor found himself somewhat powerless!

And at this time, many of the civil and military officials at the temporary palace were still misjudging the situation—just that the misjudgment had reversed direction!

Back then, everyone treated Han Shizhong and Zhang Jun as ordinary Song army generals, but Zhao Jiu knew that these two were still a cut above the rest and could contend with the Jin. Now, with some military achievements, everyone treated the rest of the Song army as being on the level of Han, Zhang, and Yue. But only Zhao Jiu knew that these three were already the highest level of the Great Song regular army... most of the rest were still useless.

And over at upstream Guangzhou, a simple logic was this: with the abilities of Han Shizhong and Zhang Jun, they could only barely hold off Jin Wushu with superior forces on a predetermined battlefield. Even the most reliable Yue Fei's military report clearly stated that he ambushed five thousand with twenty thousand, relying on the divine terrain of Liangshan Marsh's periodic flooding to win... So, pray tell, what could generals like Miao and Liu, who fought Ding Jin for so long before forcing his surrender and couldn't even absorb and reorganize him in time—what kind of performance could such generals and troops have against the Jin army?

This logical deduction shouldn't be a problem, right?

So, the Emperor Zhao was in danger again!