Qian Song

Chapter 68 Tan Zhen Prepares for the Battle (Read More!)
...

The terrain of Suzhou is dominated by gentle plains, which is the most typical place that is easy to attack and difficult to defend.

Li Cun must be worried about putting the large amount of money, food and other things he seized from Suzhou in Suzhou.

Therefore, Li Cun sent people to transport all the money, food and other things he had seized from Suzhou back to Hangzhou as soon as possible, except for what was necessary for the war.

Of course, because this amount is really too big.

——The public trial of Zhu's family alone cannot be completed in three or two days, and it will take half a month to send the huge materials seized from Zhu's family back to Hangzhou City.

Moreover, the Zhu family is not the only official, gentry, and noble in Suzhou—there are many members of the Zhu family, and they have all made a fortune and accumulated a huge net worth through the 20-year-old Hua Shigang.

It would take at least two months if all the officials, gentry and nobles in Suzhou were tried in public, their homes were searched, and the money, food and other materials found in the search were sent back to Hangzhou City.

Therefore, Li Cun explained to Zhang Shi, and left Zhang Shi and Jin Wu's rear army to continue to preside over the public trial in Suzhou, and sent the huge amount of money and food seized in Suzhou back to Hangzhou City, and continued to liberate other areas of Suzhou, recruiting troops, recruiting talents, recruiting Craftsmen, ship recruiters, shipbuilders, armor builders, etc...

And Li Cun, who only stayed in Suzhou for one day, continued northward with the front guard army, rear guard army, Jinwu front army, Jinwu middle army, and more than 1 recruits hastily recruited in Suzhou.

On the second day after Li Cun left Suzhou, he received a good report from someone sent by Su Dong. With the cooperation of Lu Xing'er and other Huzhou rebels, his troops had taken down Huzhou City, and then planned to hold a public trial and continue to liberate according to Li Cun's instructions. In other areas of Huzhou, recruiting soldiers, recruiting talents, recruiting craftsmen, recruiting boatmen, shipbuilding, building soldiers, etc...

Li Cun wrote a personal letter to Su Dong and Gu Jian, who was in charge of Huzhou's government affairs, explaining that they must pay attention to the method and method of doing things, not to rush forward, and to send the seized money, food and other materials back to Hangzhou City in time, and recruit Recruits train the way they train them, etc...

……

As soon as Tan Zhen arrived in Zhenjiang, he summoned Jiangyin Army, Guangde Army, Xingguo Army, Xinyang Army, Hanyang Army, Tianchang Army, Gaoyou Army, Jian'an Army, Huaiyang Army, Lianshui Army, and Wuwei Army to Zhenjiang. The 20-strong army, together with the armed forces of the nearby landlords who came to vote, claimed to be a 8-strong army, but it actually numbered [-].

Some people suggested to Tan Zhen that the 8 people should guard against danger, wait for the imperial court to send out a large army, and then go south together to wipe out the rebels.

Someone also suggested to Tan Zhen that the most urgent task is to train troops and horses, to use defense as offense, and to act when the opportunity arises.

But the purpose of Tan Zhen's coming here is to use Li Cun and his fellow villagers to make military achievements. How can he wait for others to share his achievements?
Therefore, Tan Zhen immediately rejected the idea of ​​those timid generals, and wanted to divide his 8-odd horses into two, one part went straight to Hangzhou along the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, and the other went south from Jiangning Prefecture to Shezhou. , It turned out that they wanted to wipe out Li Cun and Fang La at the same time.

But without waiting for Tan Zhen to implement his grand plan, Zhu Xi and other officials and nobles from Suzhou and Huzhou who fled to Zhenjiang from Suzhou and Huzhou told Tan Zhen that the Huben Army had gathered 20 people and marched northward, and Suzhou and Huzhou fell one after another. , I am afraid that within three to five days, the Huben army will hit Runzhou.

When Tan Zhen heard that Li Cun had come to die on his own initiative, he had a sudden idea and planned to organize a big battle in Runzhou to wipe out the main force of the Huben army, and then send his troops south to take Sushui, Huzhou and Hangzhou in one fell swoop.

In other words, Tan Zhen actually wanted to fight to determine the world and leave behind the reputation of God of War.

Tan Zhen's unrealistic and hasty vision met with widespread opposition.

Song Huan, the dispatcher of Jianghuai, Jingzhe and other road systems, came up with two strategies of "raising power" and "holding weight", saying that the ants and thieves are powerful, and the southern soldiers have not experienced battles for many years, and they are no longer able to fight. He advised Tan Zhenqian Don't act rashly.

But Tan Zhen laughed it off, and only said: "One general without a plan will exhaust thousands of troops; one commander without a plan will defeat thousands of troops. The southern soldiers retreated steadily because of the incompetence of the commander. During the war, I sent three thousand supervisors to fight. Pro-army, in the rear of the army, whoever dares to take half a step back will be killed on the spot, who dare not fight hard?"

Seeing that Tan Zhen didn't accept his suggestion at all, Song Huan flicked his sleeves and left.

Tan Zhen held a military meeting to solicit the opinions of the generals on the battle.

Zhang Maung, the governor of Guangde, made a speech: "In the wilderness of the Runzhou plain, the ant bandits have four or five thousand horse troops, which is no less than our army. Our army has no superiority, and the ant bandits have even descended to the three prefectures of Hangzhou, Suzhou, and Huzhou. , The vigor is in full swing, and it is difficult for our army to fight for the front. Our army should defend according to the danger, train troops and horses, stand firm and wait for reinforcements, and wait for the Western Army and the Gyeonggi Forbidden Army to go south before we can talk about the battle."

Tian Sheng, commander of Gaoyou, made a speech: "Zhenjiang City and Jinling City are both strong cities, and there are more than a hundred hills on the left and right, which is conducive to our army's formation and defense. Although there are many ants and thieves, they cannot spread in our defense area. Our army defends against danger. Stopping the ant thief's way to the north is a great achievement."

However, most of the civil servants of the Liangzhe Road System and Commissioner thought that Zhang Mao's opinion was too slow, and Tian Sheng's opinion was too cowardly.

Most of the generals remained silent.

Zeng Sheng, who fled to Zhenjiang, agreed with Tian Sheng's opinion and resolutely opposed the battle with the Huben Army in the near future. enemy."

Tan Zhen couldn't help being irritated by the generals, and said sharply: "How could I not know what you said? However, the ant thief has developed to this point in a mere three or two months. If it is not eliminated early, it will sweep the south of the Yangtze River. At that time, the foundation of the Great Song Dynasty was completely destroyed by it, and the country will not be able to be a country. I am anxious about the situation in the southeast, and the safety of the Great Song Dynasty, so I have no choice but to hold a battle!"

The military council broke up unhappy.

After the meeting, Tan Zhen called all the people who opposed the battle to do their ideological work one by one, and reiterated that if they did not smash the southeast ant thief's rebellion with thunder, they would become Zhao Song's sinners.

Later, Tan Zhen simply said harsh words, he would remove anyone who opposed the battle from his official post.

In this way, no one dared to object to the battle anymore. You must know that Tan Zhen is Zhao Ji's imperial envoy, the highest official here, and he really has the right to dismiss them on the spot.

Therefore, the matter of holding the battle in Runzhou was decided by Tan Zhen alone.

However, because Zhang Mao, Tian Sheng and other generals always insisted on their own opinions and resolutely opposed holding a battle, Tan Zhen forced them to hand over their military power and kept him in the Liangzhe Road System as a staff officer.

But soon, someone slandered Tan Zhenjin again, saying that Zhang Mao and Tian Sheng scolded him for not knowing how to pretend to understand, only talking on paper, and that this battle would be defeated, which made Tan Zhen hate him.

Therefore, Tan Zhen settled Zhang Mao's guilt for not saving Huzhou, demoted Zhang Mao, and all the confidants under Zhang Mao were punished by Tan Zhen; as for Tian Sheng, he was secretly surrendered by Tan Mingsheng. In terms of military power, most of Tian Sheng's senior generals were also transferred to other armies by Tan Zhen.

After seizing the military power of Zhang Maung and Tian Sheng, and purging the senior officers of Guangde Army and Gaoyou Army, Tan Zhen appointed two of his trusted generals, Chen Da and Zhao Ming, to take charge of Guangde Army and Gaoyou Army.

No one else knows how capable Chen Da and Zhao Ming are in commanding the army, but Zhang Maung and Tian Sheng have run the Guangde Army and Gaoyou Army for many years and have a deep foundation. Your own prestige is simply impossible.

What's more troublesome is that the Guangde Army and Gaoyou Army are still the main force of Tan Zhen's battle.

Tan Zhen held the battle in a hurry, but changed his generals just before the battle, which can not but be said to have violated the taboo of military strategists.

Many Song generals are not optimistic about this battle, thinking that Tan Zhen may suffer a big defeat...

……

(End of this chapter)