Prime Minister

Chapter 1112: Great weapon free of charge

Chapter 1112: Great weapon free of charge

Zhang Gen was quite interested in military books and strategies, and often read books such as "Wujing Zongyao".

There is a study room in Zhang's mansion, where Zhang Yue stored maps of Xixia, Shaanxi, and Qingtang, as well as Zhang Yue's diary of the attack on Qingtang when he was the governor of Xihe Road, and some of his thoughts on the deployment of troops.

Zhang Yue once said to Zhang Gen that there are two kinds of generals. One kind is born generals, which depends on luck and talent. The other kind is scholars like him, who learn about war in war, record their experiences and lessons, and constantly summarize their lessons. In this way, they can achieve success later in life.

Zhang Yue did not allow anyone to enter this study, but Zhang Gen was a very tall person. Zhang Yue did not allow anyone to look inside, but he was curious and insisted on taking a look.

After reading it, Zhang Gen felt like he had discovered a new world.

Later, he was caught by Zhang Yue. Then Zhang Yue sneered twice, holding a bamboo board, and asked Zhang Gen what he had seen, and then began to test him. As a result, Zhang Gen answered one by one, and he could be said to be fluent. He looked at the expression on Zhang Yue's face, and saw that he was more dumbfounded as he listened to the end, and he couldn't help but feel secretly proud in his heart.

Then Zhang Yue said to Shiqi Niang who came to "rescue" him, "You will never achieve great things."

Finished talking and left.

Zhang Gen asked Shiqi Niang what her father meant by this?

Shiqi Niang said with pride: "Your father said that smart children don't need to be taught."

Zhang Genxi said happily: "Doesn't that mean I'm smarter than Daddy?"

Shiqi Niang smiled and said, "Maybe, but smart people often understand things quickly and are easily half-hearted, unwilling to go deep into their studies. But your father may not have the right method at the beginning, but he can persevere."

"Dripping water wears away a stone, and the character of becoming more courageous with each setback is far more important than being smart."

Zhang Gen suddenly realized what was going on.

Zhang Gen learned about the route from Qingzhou to Weizhou from his conversation with Zhao Long. He immediately drew a map of the route overnight based on his memory, marking the cities, passes, hills, rivers, and even forts and villages along the route.

After showing it to Zhao Long the next day, Zhao Long was extremely impressed by Zhang Gen.

You have to know that apart from the general, ordinary generals only know the map of the march, which is roughly known, and definitely not as detailed as Zhang Gen.

Then Zhang Gen asked Zhao Long, if the Western bandits knew that the Song army had such a grain transport team, where would they ambush them?

Zhao Long was very brave in battle, but he was not very skilled in this area.

Zhao Long shamelessly told Zhang Gen the truth.

Zhang Gen was surprised when he heard this. A general like Zhao Long actually didn't know these things. No wonder his father once said that there are mostly makeshift teams in this world. If you really want to learn it, it is not as difficult as you think. But if you think it is so simple and learn it, it will seem easy.

Zhang Gen discussed with Zhao Long and concluded that three places on the map were dangerous. They were either too far away from the Song army’s strongholds, or there were valleys where soldiers could be hidden, or the terrain was open and the Western Xia cavalry could arrive in one fell swoop.

After hearing Zhang Gen's summary, Zhao Long remembered that the Song army had indeed encountered surprise attacks from the Dangxiang or its affiliated tribes many times in the three places. He said, "What the Secretary said is very true. These three places are indeed dangerous."

Zhao Long thought to himself, this is what it means to be born with knowledge.

Zhang Gen thought to himself that the maps drawn in his father's study were more useful. He didn't know the details of this person, so he just took advantage of him and used him for his own benefit.

He smiled and said, "It's nothing. If you plan ahead, you will succeed. If you don't plan ahead, you will fail. As long as you can think ahead, you won't be afraid even if Li Yuanhao comes back to life."

The two of them immediately agreed to carefully guard these three places.

There was a section of the road between Qingzhou and Huanzhou, and they discovered that there were indeed hundreds of Western Xia cavalry attacking ahead.

The civilians in the team were all panicked when they saw this, except Zhang Gen, who jumped on his horse and said, "We have anticipated this. Take shelter in the village ahead!"

There was a village just ahead of the official road.

Because they were located at the forefront of the battle with the Dangxiang, the villages were built like fortresses.

The village was surrounded by rammed earth walls, as well as a suspension bridge and a trench. Zhang Gen and Zhao Long gave an order and led the civilians to escort the grain carts with mules and horses into the village before the Dangxiang cavalry arrived.

The villagers were half farmers and half soldiers, and together with the soldiers and civilian servants of the grain protection team, they were not afraid for the time being.

When the Dangxiang cavalry arrived, they were helpless in the face of this well-armed village and were about to withdraw.

But as soon as the suspension bridge at the entrance of the village fell, Zhao Long actually came out with dozens of infantrymen, holding a spear and a bow, to challenge.

The Dangxiang did not want to get involved and retreated immediately. Zhao Long rushed forward and shot down several Dangxiang riders and returned to the village, where he was greeted with cheers by everyone.

Half an hour later, the smoke on the beacon tower had gone out.

A large army arrived outside the village. The people who came were none other than Yu Chong, the governor of Huanqing Road.

He was shocked to learn that the Dangxiang had attacked the grain route. If this batch of grain was lost, he would not be able to hold Weizhou even if he captured it.

Therefore, he personally led more than a thousand armored cavalry from Huanzhou to come to the rescue. When he saw the Dangxiang retreat and the grain team retreat into the village, he was overjoyed.

He immediately thought that the Tangut cavalry had dared to penetrate into Huanzhou and harass Qingzhou, which was really rampant. What if he was attacked from both sides when he sent troops to Weizhou?

He needed a place to vent his anger.

Yu Chong had a ferocious look on his face, and when the guards on both sides saw this, they all knew that someone was going to be in trouble.

The generals are full of murderous aura, which is the result of years of accumulated power. However, when civil officials lead the army, they are rarely elegant and graceful, and most of them are unreasonable and ruthless.

Military generals and civil officials are arguing about reason, but they don't care about their lives.

Yu Chong rode into the village on horseback. Zhao Long, a general who remained calm in the face of tens of thousands of Western Xia troops, began to tremble when he saw Yu Chong.

Yu Chong saw two people waiting for him at the suspension bridge. He knew one of them was Zhao Long, but he didn't know the other. He saw Zhao Long's expression and knew that he was afraid of him, so he didn't take it seriously. The other person stood there carelessly with his back straight. He was furious and wondered how to give him a warning.

After hearing Zhang Gen introduce himself, Yu Chong jumped off his horse and said with a smile, "So it's my good nephew!"

Yu Chong, Kumamoto and Li Chengzhi were all generals of the New Party. Yu Chong pacified Maozhou, and Kumamoto pacified Yuzhou and Luzhou. Both of them were appointed as Zhongshu Censors due to their military achievements.

Li Chengzhi was a person whom even Wang Anshi highly respected.

Li Chengzhi and Kumamoto opposed Zhangyue's reform of the labor service law, and ended up one leaving and the other surrendering.

Zhang Yue was like Wang Anshi. It was ok for you to offend him on a normal day, but if you opposed him at the political level, he would use every possible means to get rid of you.

His performance in rescuing Mingsha City gave Zhang Yue a big negative score, so how could he not know it?

Seeing Yu Chong's change of expression, all his followers were surprised, even Zhao Long was a little shocked.

Zhang Gen, however, didn't think anything of it. It had been like this since he was old enough to understand.

He was not affected by the wind, frost, rain, snow, and fickleness of human nature.

"When the Dangxiang troops attacked this time, my nephew responded calmly and saved the food and grass for tens of thousands of troops. I will write a memorial to the emperor to request credit for my nephew!" Yu Chong said.

Zhang Gen said: "Reporting to the governor, this is all the credit of Zhao Zijian. I just happened to be in the army."

Zhao Long was secretly grateful when he heard this.

Yu Chong smiled slightly and said, "My dear nephew, he set out from Qingzhou yesterday. If nothing unexpected happens, he should have arrived at Yuanjiazhuang two hours earlier today."

"If I'm right, my nephew must be worried about the Tangut troops attacking this section of the road, so he rested and gathered strength in advance. After both the men and the horses have recovered their strength, they can quickly pass through this place and take shelter in Yuanjiazhuang when they encounter the enemy. As for Zhao Long, a man who only cares about military orders, how could he have thought of this."

Zhang Gen was filled with admiration when he heard this and said, "The strategy is so brilliant, it's as if I saw it with my own eyes!"

Yu Chong did not seem to be pleased at all, instead he complained: "My dear nephew, you can see today that it is not that I did not save Mingsha before, but that the Tangut troops have already appeared in Huanqing and Qing."

"There are Tangut spies everywhere in the states here. Once the army leaves Weizhou, the Tanguts will cut off our retreat and tens of thousands of soldiers will die in the sea of ​​drought."

Zhang Gen replied, "Prime Minister, Han Zhishu sent me here to learn about the military situation."

Yu Chong's heart trembled when he saw Zhang Genyan and Zhang Yue.

……

Yu Chong immediately left his troops behind to protect Zhao Long in transporting grain and fodder.

The vanguard of Huanqing Road has arrived in Weizhou. Yu Chong was worried that the Dangxiang would attack the rear, so he wanted to wait until today to set out again. But when he saw that the food and supplies were attacked, he went to rescue them in person.

Yu Chong and Zhang Gen rode into Huanzhou City on horseback.

When Yu Chong saw that Zhang Gen's personal guards were actually the personal guards of the Transport Envoy Zhao Zhan, he cursed in his heart. This person had previously opposed the rescue of Mingsha City and his attitude was even more radical than his own.

As a result, when he met Zhang Gen, he knew how to flatter him.

After returning to the headquarters, Yu Chong insisted that Zhang Gen report his achievements. Seeing that he could not refuse, Zhang Gen wanted to put Zhao Long first.

Yu Chong said with a smile: "There are many good horses, but there are few good horse trainers. My nephew is really Zhao Long's good horse trainer!"

"But this man had conquered Qingtang in the past and made great contributions with the Prime Minister. Later, he was demoted for following Prince Chun. Do you know about this, my dear nephew?"

Facing Yu Chong's probing, Zhang Gen said, "I don't know, but the governor also said that there must be a good horse trainer before there is a good horse. If you want to recruit talents for the country, why ask about other things?"

Yu Chong agreed with a smile and immediately treated Zhang Gen to a sumptuous meal.

During the banquet, Yu Chong, a dignified governor, personally poured wine for Zhang Gen.

During the meal, Zhang Gen urged Yu Chong to express the court's intention to rescue Mingsha, and gave Yu Chong the latest copy of the imperial edict he brought with him for review.

Although Yu Chong was the governor, the imperial copies in his hands were only two months old. When he saw Zhang Gen bringing this thing, he was eager to understand the current situation of the court and was immediately overjoyed.

Yu Chong knew that military affairs were extremely risky. No one could guarantee that the Xixia general Liang Yongneng would definitely send troops to attack Huanqing Road when attacking Weizhou this time.

Yu Chong still looked embarrassed.

After the meal, Yu Chong gave Zhang Gen 1,000 strings of cash, saying it was money for the ambassador to do his job there. In fact, the Privy Council had its own source of money for the ambassadors, and Yu Chong used the name of giving money to Zhang Gen as a gift to let him spend it himself.

Yu Chong was still worried that Zhang Gen would not accept it, but the other party smiled and said, "I dare not refuse a gift from an elder."

Seeing that Zhang Gen accepted it generously without any hesitation, Yu Chong felt relieved and immediately made up his mind to send troops to Weizhou.

The next day, Yu Chong led the central army and baggage out of the border, leaving only more than 10,000 men to guard Huanzhou. He also transferred Zhao Long to Zhang Gen's command and assigned an additional 1,000 elite soldiers to serve.

Yu Chong also gave Zhang Gen and Zhang Gong two top-quality horses from Hexi, complete with brocade saddles and servants.

After seeing how Yu Chong won people over, Zhang Gen felt that power was a good thing.

At this time, Yu Chong received a report that Shen Kuo, Liu Changzuo, Zhong Shidao, Li Xian, and Wang Hou had led a regrouped army of 70,000 from Xihe and Jingyuan routes and marched out from Huluchuan stronghold. They had already engaged the Western Xia troops, won two consecutive battles, and annihilated more than a thousand enemies.

Soon after, news of victory came from Weizhou. Zhong Gu, the commander of Huanqing Road, conquered two Xixia camps and surrounded the city of Weizhou.

At this time, twenty-two days had passed since Zhang entered Mingsha City.

(End of this chapter)