Yue Fei's first Northern Expedition took place in Shaoxing four years (1 134) from May to July. Yue Fei led about 35,000 Yuejiajun, who defeated Li Cheng and others and the puppet troops, and successfully recovered the jurisdiction of Xiangyang Prefecture lost in the Southern Song Dynasty the year before, as well as the additional troops and Xinyang Army originally controlled by the puppet troops.
Take Ying and follow.
In the fourth year of Shaoxing (1 134), on April 19th, Yue Jiajun formally set out and advanced from Jiangzhou to Ezhou (governing Jiangxia, now Wuchang, Wuhan, Hubei). The army crossed the river from Ezhou to Yunzhou, and Yue Fei swore to the staff in the middle of the river: "If you fly, don't catch a thief and be handsome, and don't trip this river!" On May 5th, Yue Jiajun drove to Yunzhou at the gates. Yue Fei inspected the terrain around the city. Before the siege, he ordered Zhang Xian to persuade Zhou Zhijing, a pseudo-Jiyun state, to surrender. Liu Ji, the magistrate of Jingchao and Changshou County, led more than 10,000 troops to defend the city and refused to surrender. Due to the difficulty in logistics supply, Yue Jiajun's rations were only two meals, but Yue Fei said, "OK, I will break the thief the next day!" " At dawn on the 6th, Yue Jiajun began a general attack. Jing Chao committed suicide by jumping off a cliff, and Liu Ming was beheaded after being captured alive. Seven thousand people were killed by the pseudo-Qi defenders.
Yue Jiajun then divided his troops into two ways. Zhang Xian and Xu Qing led the army to attack Suizhou in the northeast, and Yue Fei led the main force to attack Xiangyang House stationed by Li Cheng, a puppet general in the northwest. Li Cheng fled without fighting. On May 17, Yue Fei occupied Xiangyang.
On the other hand, Wang Song, the puppet ruler of Suizhou, could not persist, and Zhang Xi 'an and Xu Qinglian failed to attack for several days. Niu Hao volunteered, brought only three days' rations, and led the troops to support Zhang Xi 'an and Childe Xu. On May 18, three days before the food was finished, Niu Hao, Zhang Xi 'an and Xu Qing jointly occupied Suizhou City. At that time 16-year-old Yue Yun made two iron cone guns weighing tens of kilograms, and the first one attacked Chengtou. Five thousand puppet troops were captured, and Wang Song was taken to Xiangyang to be beheaded.
Battle of Li cheng
Like the year before last (1 133), when dealing with Hengli Northern Expedition, Liu Yu quickly dispatched troops and invited some nomads. Together with Li Cheng's troops who fled to Xinye, the so-called 300,000 troops gathered in Xinye, Longpi, Dewll Hu, Zaoyang, Tang Zhou and Dengzhou in the southeast of Dengzhou. Yue Fei ordered Yue Jiajun to control Wang Wan, and the town governor of Jingnan County commanded Xintai to guard the Qingshui River to lure the pseudo-Qi army to attack. However, Xin did not dare to fight and fled to Yidu County (now Zhicheng, Hubei Province) without permission.
On June 5th, after Wang Wanjun fought the puppet Qi army, Yue Fei personally led the main force and defeated Li Cheng. The next day, Li Cheng fought in array again, but made a tactical mistake made by Liu Bang in the battle of Pengcheng. Yue Fei saw the flaw.
At the invitation of Wang Gui, Niu Hao and other generals, Yue Fei said, "Stop it. The thief has defeated me many times. I feel worse. He will have to practice, but it is still as dark as before. The advantage of infantry is to prevent danger, and the advantage of cavalry is flat and open; Cheng Nai left the cavalry on the river bank and the cavalry on the ground. Although there are hundreds of people, what can be done! " Yue Fei raised his whip and said to Wang Gui, "I will step with a pike, so I will right-click the cavalry." He also said to Niu Hao, "You are a cavalry, and you will attack from the left of success." Similar to Liu Bangpeng's defeat in the Battle of Chengcheng, Li Cheng pushed the rear cavalry into the water and drowned, and the army collapsed. Therefore, Li Cheng's first army was greatly weakened, and it was never possible to counterattack Xiangyang House.
Three counties in Xia Lian
Liu Yu kept asking Jin Guo for help, but Wu Shu, Hong Yan, was defeated by an army of Wu Jun in the battle of killing Jin Ping by Immortals in March, and the main force of Jin Jun suffered heavy losses. It coincides with the midsummer, and Jurchen can't stand the extreme heat, and is summering in the north. So he only sent a private named Liu Hezhen, which is not recorded in the history books, to meet Li Cheng, pieced together tens of thousands of Shaanxi-Hebei puppet troops, and camped in more than 30 places in the northwest of Dengzhou.
Before entering Dengzhou, Yue Fei made preparations for more than a month, during which he played Song Gaozong: "I stole the gold thief's point of view, and Liu Yu has a desirable reason ... to attack and discuss, so it is not appropriate to delay. If the years are delayed, we will spend twice as much effort to repair the city wall, increase the troops to gather food, and then take it ... If 200,000 elite soldiers go straight to the Central Plains at this time, restore the old border, and the people will be open and sincere. This is the long-term policy of the country, and your majesty knows it. " Song Ting still refused to approve further military action outside six counties.
Yue Fei sent Gui Wang and Zhang Xian to Dengzhou from Guanghua Road and Henglin Road respectively. On July 15, Wang Gui and Zhang Xian fought with tens of thousands of pseudo-Qi troops and 8 Jin Army for more than 30 miles outside Dengzhou. Wang Wan and Dong Xian suddenly attacked each other and defeated their opponents. General Kim Liu Hezhen escaped alone. Yue Jiajun captured more than 200 people, including General Yang Desheng, and captured more than 200 horses. The puppet Qi army Gao Zhong retreated to Dengzhou. On July 17, Yue Jiajun attacked the city, and Yue Yun was the first warrior to enter the city. He captured Dengzhou and captured Gao Zhong alive. In order to avoid suspicion, Yue Fei only declared the meritorious service in Suizhou, Yue Yun, but did not declare the meritorious service in Dengzhou. A year later, Song Ting discovered it, and Yue Yun was promoted to Wu Yilang. Yue Yun is called the "winner" because of his bravery and good fighting skills.
On July 23rd, Li Dao, the leader of the army, occupied Tang Zhou. At the same time, King Gui and Zhang Xian once again defeated the pseudo-Qi army and 8 Jin Army in three miles north of Tang Zhou. On the same day, Xinyang Army was also captured, and Yue Jiajun captured 50 officials including the well-known, Xinyang Army, Zhijun and Tongguan. The following year, Song Gaozong awarded Li Dao and Cui Bangbi a gold belt.
On July 26th, Liu Guangshi arrived with five thousand reinforcements led by Li Qiong, but there was no fighting. Yue Fei specially invited these 5,000 people to give them a "first reward", "if they die, they will not be rewarded, for fear of human feelings".