In March of the third year of Jianyan (1129 CE), su promoted Han Shizhong jigong to kaifu Yi Tongsan division, and concurrently served as the envoy of Huainan East and West Roads, with the office in Sizhou (泗州, in modern Suqian, Jiangsu). At that time, the Southern Song Dynasty Xiangyang Zhenfu made Li Heng want to send an army to fight against the pseudo-Qi (The Puppet Regime of Liu Yu, which was fostered by the Jin people in Jinan Province, Shandong Province) in the early years of the Southern Song Dynasty), and discussed which general to select and send to lead the army, because Han Shizhong had always been loyal to Xiao Yong, so he was selected. The History of the Song Dynasty records:
“...... Emperor Gaozong still gave Guangma Qigang, a thousand pairs, 20,000 silver, and 20,000 horses; he also paid a million taels (strings, strings, sticks), and 280,000 taels of rice for the purpose of half a year."
Emperor Gaozong of Song also rewarded Han Shizhong with 7 batches of military carriages and horses, 1,000 pairs of armor, 20,000 taels of silver and 20,000 pieces of cloth; he also took out 1 million strings of copper coins and 280,000 grains as military expenditure for half a year. Emperor Gaozong ordered Yao Shunming (姚舜明), a servant of the household department, to go to Sizhou (宿移, Jiangsu) to take charge of the army's money and grain; sun Yi, a grain officer of the Cangchang Department, was sent to Pingjiang Province (present-day Suzhou, Jiangsu) and Changxiu to Rao prefecture (present-day Poyang, Jiangxi) to take charge of logistics and supervise the distribution of grain and wages. Unexpectedly, Li Heng was defeated by the puppet Qi army and led the remnants back to the town, and Han Shizhong's plan to cross the Huai River by force was also implemented in the future.
In the fourth year of Jianyan (1130), Han Shizhong led an army to garrison Zhenjiang as the three towns of Nanjing, Runzhou (present-day Zhenjiang), and Huaidong. In the same year, the Jin army joined forces with Liu Yu's puppet Qi army and parted ways to invade the south.
Emperor Gaozong of Song ordered Han Shizhong to reorganize his armaments and lead his division to resist the invasion of the combined forces of Jin and Pseudo-Qi. Shi Zai, after Han Shizhong received the edict, saw That Emperor Gaozong was trying to make progress, and his words were earnest, and he was quite moved, and with tears he said to the general:
"As the Lord is like this, how can a courtier be born"! (The emperor is worried to such an extent, what do we rely on as courtiers to survive!) ）
So he led his troops to cross the river north from Zhenjiang, and sent the commander Xie Yuan to lead the troops to guard Gaoyou (高you, Jiangsu) and prepare to attack the Jin army infantry; Han Shizhong himself personally led the cavalry to garrison Dayi (Dayi Town, west of present-day Yangzhou, Jiangsu) to intercept the enemy cavalry, and he ordered the soldiers to cut down trees to block the road back to the south, and he cut off the road of return, threatening to break the ship.
The Court of the Southern Song Dynasty sent Shouchang to order Wei Liangchen (later official to prime minister) to send an envoy to Jinjin Camp, passing through Han Shizhong's military camp, Han Shizhong secretly ordered people to remove the cooking pots and stoves, tricked Wei Liangchen into saying that he had received an edict from the imperial court, and ordered him to immediately move to guard the Yangtze River. Han Shizhong estimated the approximate time of Wei Liangchen's departure and immediately sent an order to the whole army: "Watch the sound of my whip (pay attention to the direction of my horse whip)." So the leader returned to dayi town, "Le five towns, set up more than twenty ambushes, about the sound of the drum to attack." It means that 5 formations were controlled, more than 20 ambushes were set up, and it was agreed with the various armies in advance that as soon as the war drums sounded, they would immediately attack at the same time. Song sent Wei Liangchen to the Jin camp, and the General of the Jin Army inquired about the movements of the Song Army, and Wei Liangchen told the Jin people everything he had seen with his own eyes.
When the Jin chieftain Nie Erbo heard that Han Shizhong had retreated to the Yangtze River, he was overjoyed and personally led his army to the mouth of the Yangtze River, only 5 miles from the town of Dayi; his general TaKuye also led the iron cavalry to the east of the fifth front (han Shizhong's deployment). Han Shizhong, seeing the Jin army's plan, ordered the colonel to beat the drum, ambushed the troops, made noise, and smashed into the enemy position, the flag color of the Song army was mixed with the banner of the Jin army, alternately appeared, the Jin army was caught off guard, the order was chaotic, the Song army took turns to attack according to the advance deployment, and the Jin army was overwhelmed. Han Shizhong's most elite "back ridge army" (escort pro-army) generals armed with long-handled sharp axes, slashed the chest of the knight, and cut the legs of the enemy's horse. Known as the fierce Soldier of the Jin Army, Han Shizhong commanded the Song army to ride from all sides, trampling and slashing the enemy's horse, "(The Golden Horse) was killed (even people with horses were killed)", and more than 200 people including the Jin general Tart were captured by the Song army.
Liang Hongyu
Han Shizhong's general Dong Min was ordered to lead his troops to set up an ambush at Yakou in Tianchang County (天長县, in present-day Tianchang County, Chuzhou, Anhui) to block the Jin army, which was greatly broken and more than 40 Jin people were captured. Xie Yuan, the commander of the capital, was ordered to lead an army to Gaoyou, encountered the Jin and pseudo-Qi armies, and "set up a water army to sandwich the river array, and the Japanese joint battle was thirteen, and the rejection was unresolved." The commander-in-chief Xie Yuan FengShizhong led the army to Gaoyou, encountered the enemy army, so he set up a water army in jiahe town, and fought fiercely with the enemy 13 times in one day, and the two sides were inseparable from victory and defeat, and they faced each other and held each other. When Han Shizhong learned of this, he sent the general Cheng Min to lead the cavalry to support, and then launched another life-and-death battle, defeating the enemy army and capturing thousands of households and hundreds of soldiers and soldiers. Han Shizhong personally led the main force to pursue the enemy army, all the way to the Huai River, the Jin army fled in panic, collapsed into an army, trampled on each other, a mess, the general fell into the Huai River and drowned many people, the river floating corpses like hemp.
When the shi zaijie report was transmitted to the imperial court, the courtiers rejoiced and entered the court to celebrate, and Emperor Gaozong of Song said to the courtiers:
"The world is loyal and courageous, and it is known that it will succeed (this statement is extremely hypocritical.) Emperor Gaozong originally wanted to make peace with Jin Bing, but when he saw Shi Zhong's great destruction of the Jin Army, he immediately took the credit to himself)".
Yu Shizhong said to Emperor Gaozong:
"Since Jianyan, the generals have not tried to fight with the Jin people in a battle, and in this life, they have been loyal to Lian Jie to defeat their fronts, and their achievements have not been meticulous."
Shen Youqiu's words mean that since the Great Song Emperor's clothes were dressed in the south and changed to Yuan Jianyan, the generals had not fought with the Jin army once, and now Han Shizhong had won consecutive victories, thwarted the Jin army's offensive, and arrogance, this credit is not small. After hearing this, Emperor Gaozong was deeply impressed and said, "The first reward is good." As a result, Han Shizhong and his subordinates Dong Min, Xie Yuan, Chen Jue, Hu Yantong, and others were all promoted and rewarded to varying degrees. The Biography of Song Shi Han Shizhong says: "Commentators regard this move as the first martial art of Zhongxing (people who discuss this matter regard this matter as the first martial art of Zhongxing in the Song Dynasty)." That is to say, Han Shizhong, a fierce general who was brave and good at war, made the first major contribution during the Jianyan period.
Portrait of Han Shizhong
【Illustrations from the Internet】