Chapter 272 Guan Sheng: Wu Song on the other side of the river puts a bid to sell his head

Shandong and Jiangnan are both in chaos.

This was an extremely huge blow to the imperial court.

If Shandong was not so close to the capital, it would have rebelled. In any case, it could not collect much tax, and it suffered disasters every year, such as the Yellow River flooding and typhoons.

Jiangnan was the main source of economic and food resources for the Song Dynasty.

The corruption in Jiangnan was actually a far greater blow to the imperial court than Shandong.

Therefore, the court was divided into two factions on the issue of redress.

One faction will first suppress the Cao bandits in Shandong who are close at hand, while the other faction will send its main elite forces to suppress Fang La in the south of the Yangtze River and restore the economy.

Where are the main elite forces of the Song Dynasty?

In the northwest frontier.

On the border between Song and Xia, there were the Zhe family army and the Zhong family army.

During the Song Dynasty, the Zhe family had eight generations in the army and had an elite force that had lasted for more than a hundred years. They had a very long history and could be said to be the number one military family in the Song Dynasty. Moreover, they were descendants of the Xianbei people.

In "Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils", Murong Bo rebelled and used all kinds of tricks. In fact, if he could have conquered the Zhe family, his cause of restoring the country might have really been possible.

The Zong family army had been in the army for five generations and had made great military achievements for the Song Dynasty and outstanding contributions to fighting against foreign enemies.

The Zhong family army produced many heroes: Zhong Fang, Zhong Shiheng, Zhong Gu, Zhong Yan... and the contemporary Zhong Shidao and Zhong Shizhong, all of whom are talented generals.

Five generations of the Zhong family have joined the army, and dozens of them died on the battlefield. Old Mr. Zhong and young Mr. Zhong were the pillars and backbone of the Song Dynasty.

At this moment, the battlefield between Song and Xia in the northwest.

The coach's surname is not Zhe, nor is his surname Zhong.

It was the eunuch Tong Guan.

Before news of the rebellion in Shandong and Jiangnan came, this man forced Liu Fa, the governor of Xihe, to attack Shuofang despite opposition.

So, Liu Fa led an army of 20,000 to meet the Western Xia army in Tong'an City.

Chago, the younger brother of the Western Xia emperor, personally led a large army to fight against the Song army's vanguard, and also sent an elite cavalry to climb the mountain and take a detour to attack the Song army's rear.

The Song and Xia armies engaged in an extremely bloody battle. The Song front army led by Yang Weizhong was unable to resist the offensive of the Western Xia army and retreated to the Song central army. The Song rear army led by Jiao Anjie also felt exhausted and was forced to move closer to the Song left army.

Led by generals such as Zhu Dingguo, the Song army fought desperately from morning to evening, but suffered heavy casualties and gradually became exhausted.

Liu Fa was forced to break out overnight and died in the early morning of the next day at Gai Zhuyi, seventy miles away from Tong'an City. Ten thousand Song soldiers were killed in the battle.

When the news of Western Xia's defeat reached Tokyo, the court was in complete panic.

At least, the elite troops from the Northwest cannot leave for the time being.

Then we can only deploy the imperial guards and local troops.

During the Song Dynasty, people guarded against military generals like they did against thieves, but there was also the problem of too many soldiers. The emperor was incompetent and his ministers were lazy. Whenever there was a natural disaster or man-made disaster, they would recruit the victims as soldiers. Many thieves and criminals were exiled as soldiers. Even the powerful bandits who occupied the mountains and acted as kings were recruited as soldiers.

After years of doing this, one can imagine the quality of the soldiers.

They are naturally weak in fighting, but are good at harming the people. If they meet a strong general leading the army, they can still be restrained. If the prestige of their superiors is not enough, then they will inevitably "be as reckless as a comb."

For example, Guan Sheng, in terms of his background, was just an inspector of Pudong. Unlike Hu Yanzhuo, who came from a family of generals with many generations of military connections, he did not have many old friends and relatives to rely on. He had neither prestige nor connections. Among the military generals from various places, who knew who Guan Sheng was?

In terms of strength, when he went to Tokyo, he was accompanied only by his sworn brother Hao Siwen and a dozen Guanxi men, but no troops of his own. Cai Jing and Gao Qiu were both mediocre in the military. Seeing that Guan Sheng was extraordinary and well-versed in military tactics, they promoted him to the position of military commander and allocated 15,000 troops from Hebei to command him.

He didn't even think about whether this man was a talented leader or how he could command 15,000 troops.

But Guan Sheng led his troops and headed straight towards Shandong from Daming Prefecture in Hebei.

It is winter now and the Yellow River has dried up and frozen, so there is no need to worry about being blocked by the river.

What he didn't know was that Wu Song's 3,000-man Liangshan troop, a first-rate force, had been waiting in Yanggu County for a long time.

Hao Siwen was called Jing Mu'an. His mother dreamed that Jing Mu'an was reincarnated and became pregnant, so she got this nickname.

He now also got the position of deputy general, and hurried over to report: "Brother! Brother!"

"Siwen, the military addresses are addressed by rank, and you must never call me Big Brother again!"

This Guan Sheng was a very handsome man. He was eight feet five or six feet tall, with a thin beard, eyebrows reaching into his temples, eyes looking up into the sky, a face as red as a jujube, and lips as red as if painted with vermilion.

It's like Guan Yu descending to earth.

"General Guan, we have found out that the rebel on the other side is a general of the Xuanyi Army, named Wu Song. He is nicknamed the Subduing Tiger Arhat by the people of Jianghu."

"It's him!"

Guan Sheng had heard of Wu Song's name and sighed, "Such a hero actually defected to Liangshan and became a rebel."

"General Guan, I heard that it was him who teamed up with the Liangshan bandits to capture Dongping Prefecture without sacrificing a single soldier."

"Humph! A traitor to his country! A man who would sell his head for a price. Look at me and I'll take his head."

At this time, someone came from outside the big tent, lifted the curtain and said, "General, don't rush to fight the rebel."

"It turned out to be Liang Zhongshu."

"General, Daming Prefecture has troops to defend against the Liao Kingdom. The commander is the military commander, 'Heavenly King' Li Cheng, who can lead 5,000 troops. Under his command are two brave generals, Suo Chao and Wang Ding, who serve as the chief and deputy vanguards."

Liang Zhongshu also wanted to get the credit for suppressing the rebellion, so he said with a smile: "If we send out our troops from both directions together, we will surely be able to destroy the enemy on the other side."

With the help from Liang Zhongshu of Daming Prefecture, Guan Sheng would not refuse.

This "Heavenly King" Li Cheng received an order from Liang Zhongshu and set up camp on the other side of the Yellow River. He pointed at Wu Song's camp on the other side and said:

"Look at this bandit, what a big name! He has conquered most of Shandong. A descendant of the Huyan family, Hu Yanzhuo, went to suppress them, but was defeated by him. I thought they had earth-shattering means, but now I know that the Shandong soldiers are useless and the Huyan family has no successor!"

Li Cheng was so arrogant, not because he was stupid, but because Damingfu was the most famous city in Hebei, a dignified BJ. If the Liao people went south, it would have to resist the attack. Therefore, the generals in the city were brave and the soldiers were good at fighting. Naturally, they were arrogant and looked down on the world.

Another thing is, don’t underestimate Li Cheng, he is just a military commander.

The position of Military Commander in Chief in the Song Dynasty had a wide range of ranks. Li Cheng was the Military Commander in Chief of the Daming Prefecture, a genuine high-ranking military general, which was far different from the Military Commander in Chief of the Prefectural Government held by Huang Xin and others.

Seeing Li Cheng looking down on Wu Song, the "Subduing Tiger Arhat" on the opposite side, Suo Chao, the "Vanguard" beside him, couldn't help but laugh and said, "Not to mention the commander, even I am puzzled. I have been investigating the rebels these days, and I don't even have many cavalry."

When the two of them said this, the generals around them burst into laughter.

But they all had many worries in their hearts: Liangshan was going to capture cities and territories, and this battle would be difficult!
But Suo Chao is a regular soldier of the BJ Damingfu garrison. He is one of the 108 Liangshan generals, ranked 19th, and one of the eight cavalrymen and vanguards of the cavalry, corresponding to the sky star. He is used to using a golden axe, and because of his impatience, he is the first to fight in battle, so he is called the "vanguard".

"General, we are joining forces with Guan Sheng, so we must not lose face. When the general attack begins, I am willing to be the vanguard to kill Wu Song!"

(End of this chapter)