Chapter 251 I’m here to see the Emperor!Zhuxian Town. Looking at the ruins of Zhuxian Town, Zhong Shidao and others were convinced that Jingji Road must have carried out an operation to clear the countryside. It seems that the Liao army did attack Kaifeng. But why is there no trace of the Liao army? The Western Army generals who followed Liang Shicheng to come to the capital to defend the king included Zhong Shidao, Zhe Keshi, Liu Fa and other generals, who led a total of 80,000 Western Army soldiers. There are mainly two reasons why they came so quickly to support the king. First, the emperor's edict and the Privy Council's orders were both authentic and valid. They were far away in Qinfeng Road, so naturally they had no way of knowing that Murong Fu had launched the "1 Tokyo Incident" in Tokyo. They did not know that the situation in Tokyo had changed, and they only thought that the court was in real danger. Although Western Xia was also invading, its national strength was limited and it was impossible for it to truly destroy the Song Dynasty. The Liao Dynasty was the most powerful country in the world and had the possibility of destroying the Song Dynasty. Between two evils, we should choose the lesser one, so for the time being, serving the king and repelling the Liao soldiers is the top priority. As long as the imperial court is safe, the Western Army will have an endless supply of resources and the power to counterattack. If the imperial court is gone, the Western Army will be like a sourceless water.
The generals of the Western Army also understood this, so they allocated 80,000 precious field troops and were willing to put the Qinfeng Road into great danger in order to protect Tokyo first. Second, Liang Shicheng did not come alone, but brought a large amount of gold, silver and silk, and encouraged Zhong Shizhong to hold on to Qinfeng Road, and even proposed guerrilla warfare tactics. What is this "When the enemy advances, we retreat; when the enemy camps, we harass; when the enemy is tired, we attack; when the enemy retreats, we pursue"? They used small troops to harass Western Xia and mobilized the local people, plunging Western Xia into the vast ocean of people's war. Not to mention, this approach really worked. The locals and the Western Xia were sworn enemies. Although it was easy for the Western Xia army led by Li Qiu Shui to capture cities, the military capability of the Western Xia itself was very average, and it quickly fell into the quagmire of security warfare, like a foot stuck in a swamp, unable to move forward. Li Qianshun, the ruler of Western Xia, wanted to follow Cao Mengde's example and massacre Xuzhou in a ruthless way, but was stopped by Li Qiushui. Qiu Shui said, "These are Murong Fu's people. Murong Fu loves his people like his own children. If he were to slaughter them, wouldn't he have heard of what happened to Jin Wang Richard?" Qian Shun said, "Isn't my mother a match for Murong Fu?" Qiu Shui said: "The supreme master of the martial world, Gusu Murong, swept across the universe and was invincible in the world. How could I be a match for that enemy? Besides, the accumulation of people's resentment will only make it difficult for the Great Xia Kingdom to move forward." As a result, the King of Western Xia was intimidated by Murong Fu's threat, and felt that if he really carried out a massacre in the city, it would indeed arouse a larger-scale popular resistance, and even the Huanqing Road that he had occupied with great difficulty would be lost. They can only endure the battle of public security and fight a bad battle. Li Qiu Shui also started to play badly in order to train Li Qianshun. Seeing that the court was so generous and that money was being distributed, and that Qinfeng Road would not fall for the time being, the Western Army generals became the mainstream in their opinion of supporting the king. Therefore, 80,000 Western troops set out to defend the king, while 80,000 were left to confront Western Xia. In a month, the Western Army marched rapidly and arrived at Zhuxian Town. But there was no trace of the Liao army. Just as Zhong Shidao and others were surprised, they saw a ceremonial guard arriving with drums and gongs, led by a eunuch named Zhang Biao, who brought a large amount of treasures, wine and meat, as well as the emperor's edict and gold medal. Zhang Biao read out the imperial edict, the general content of which was that the Liao army had been repelled by the united military and civilians of Tokyo, and that they had received support from the monks and soldiers of the Shaolin Temple in Songshan. The Shaolin monks were extremely skilled in martial arts and killed the King of the Southern Court of the Liao Kingdom, forcing the Liao ruler Yelu Hongji to withdraw his troops. The people of the Central Plains were eager to serve the king, and the Liao ruler Yelu Hongji, just like Yelu Deguang in the past, returned to the court in disgrace. However, the Western Army traveled thousands of miles to serve the king, and their loyalty was commendable, so everyone was rewarded, and wine and meat were given as a reward to the soldiers.
General Zhong Shidao and other generals, please take off your armor and go to the Kaifeng Palace to meet the emperor. The emperor will give you a generous reward. "Master Zhang, Xixia is invading in full force. The evil queen of Xixia, Li Qiushui, is unstoppable. Huanqing Road has been lost, and Qinfeng Road is also in danger." Master Zhong said, "I will report this to the emperor and ask him to support the Western Army, rush to Qinfeng Road, conquer Huanqing Road, and repel the Western bandits." Along the way, Liang Shicheng had explained to the generals of the Western Army that Empress Dowager Gao had passed away and that Emperor Zhao Xu was now in power. Therefore they were not surprised when the emperor gave orders. "Okay, okay!" Zhang Biao said, "The emperor has known about this for a long time. After repelling the Liao soldiers, he wanted to defeat the Western bandits and avenge the national humiliation. This time the Western bandits and the Liao Kingdom invaded at the same time. The Liao Kingdom even tore up the Treaty of Chanyuan. I think they colluded with each other. It's a pity that the unity of the military and civilians of my Great Song Dynasty left the Khitan helpless." Zhong Shidao agreed repeatedly. At that moment, many generals of the Western Army followed Liang Shicheng, Zhang Biao and others to Tokyo. The 80,000-strong Western Army remained in Zhuxian Town to receive their reward. The soldiers traveled a long distance but did not have to fight, yet they could get money and have wine and meat to eat, which was very enjoyable. Since there were no external enemies and all the generals had gone into the palace, the low-ranking officers of the Western Army began to drink wine with the soldiers, and the military discipline of the entire Western Army quickly became lax. This is the true level of the most elite imperial guards of the Song Dynasty. They are just weaklings fighting against the Western Xia, and can't be considered a first-class strong army. So later they took advantage of the Liao's illness to destroy it, but were defeated by the Liao's Yelu Dashi. Later, when facing the Jin army, they could only achieve success in mountain warfare. Once they reached the plains, they were also defeated by the Jin army. The Western Army was eventually defeated by the Jin Army at the gates of Taiyuan City, and Zhong Shizhong died a martyr for his country. Later, when the Southern Song Dynasty was established, it was actually a reorganization of the army. The less Western Army habits the Southern Song army had, the stronger its combat effectiveness. It can be seen that the Western Army was not a good example. But nowadays, the world is full of weak people competing for supremacy and noobs fighting each other. You don’t need to be strong, you just need your opponent to be worse to win. This is also the reason why Murong Fu dared to lead the newly expanded imperial guards to attack everywhere, because there is no worst, only worse. The reason why Murong Fu expanded the army by only 100,000 was not only because he was very picky, but also because the Song army had a terrible problem of empty pay, and there was a huge discrepancy between the book data and the actual data. The more he occupied the Song Dynasty and the more he understood it, the more Murong Fu realized that it was not unfair for the Northern Song Dynasty to experience the humiliation of Jingkang. The whole country is in peace and tranquility, with swords and guns put into storage and horses put to rest in the mountains. Along the way, Zong Shidao saw broken eaves and walls everywhere, which were signs of the fortification and clearing of the countryside. There were also a large number of horse hoof prints and wheel tracks. However, the walls of Tokyo were intact, with only signs of recent repairs, which seemed to prove that the Liao army had once besieged the city. But Zhong Shidao frowned, feeling that these marks seemed somewhat deliberate and strange. But his imagination could not imagine that the city of Tokyo had changed its owner. When we entered Tokyo City, we found that the doors and windows of the entire city were closed, there were few people on the streets, and only the imperial guards were patrolling. Zhang Biao explained: "The Liao army had just retreated, and Tokyo was still under martial law, and even a curfew was imposed. The government considered this a great humiliation, and they should learn from it and revive the martial virtues of the Song Dynasty." Zong Shidao said yes, but he was thinking in his heart, if the ancestral laws of the Song Dynasty remain unchanged, how can martial virtue flourish? Thinking about this, the group arrived at the palace. Zong Shidao and other Western Army generals dismounted. They were indeed not wearing armor. After all, the armor was heavy, and these generals did not like to be fully armed unless they went to the battlefield. After entering the palace, they saw that it was in order. Zhong Shidao and others lowered their heads, not daring to look around, and were taken all the way to the Zichen Palace. Zhang Biao said, "Everyone wait a moment, the official will be here soon." Zhong Shidao and others were solemn, preparing to perform the etiquette between the emperor and his subjects, and thinking about how to impress the emperor and obtain more military funds, food, and equipment.
Suddenly, a group of palace guards entered the Zichen Palace, led by Jiumozhi and Xiao Yuanshan. It took Jiumozhi and Xiao Yuanshan a month to resolve their own hostility and solve the problem of being possessed by demons according to the general principles taught by Murong Fu. Without the sequelae of being possessed, the two of them naturally came out to work, so Murong Fu's team of masters who conquered cities and territories became: Murong Fu, Tianshan Tonglao, Jiumozhi, Zen Master Lingxiu, Chen Zhen, and Xiao Yuanshan! Such a lineup is truly invincible! Zhong Shidao frowned as he looked at the guards in front of the palace, but Jiumozhi and Xiao Yuanshan suddenly attacked and pinned Zhong Shidao to the ground. The rest of the Western Army generals were also pinned to the ground. The generals were shocked. Zhong Shidao struggled and said, "I am here to see the emperor! What are you doing? I have shed blood for the Song Dynasty. My family has been loyal for generations. I want to see the emperor! I want to see the emperor!" Everyone started shouting, but the people holding them down were obviously masters. Although they were well versed in battlefield martial arts and had great strength, they just couldn't break free. Liang Shicheng smiled and said, "Generals, the emperor will be here soon, why are you so anxious?" (End of this chapter)