The situation has changed, and the idea of ​​building a Yellow River defense line has lost its operability. While reporting to the court, Zhang Gui sent a horse to investigate in the east and south directions in order to obtain detailed situations. At the same time, he sent a messenger to Shanxi to ask them to send troops to cover their right wing and block the Kongxing that entered the mountain shape.

After staying in Xingzhou for three days, Zhang Gui was surprised by the news brought back by the scouts from all sides. It was not the rapid progress of the Southern Army, but the huge force dispatched far exceeding their estimates.

There are five Song army warships appearing in Shandong now, and there are also a considerable number of artillery troops, cavalry and prefecture troops. Based on this, nearly 300,000 troops are calculated. In Hebei, there are three Southern Army Imperial Guards, and the subordinate artillery troops, cavalry and local prefecture troops are no less than 150,000 troops.

Zhang Gui immediately realized that the Southern Dynasty used so much troops this time, which was by no means a punitive war they predicted, but just wanted to extort some benefits. Instead, he launched a comprehensive invasion of the north, and his request was not only the land south of the Yellow River. However, the reply from the court still continued to move south, recapture Fengqiu, and resist the enemy south of the Yellow River.

Zhang Gui was amused and helpless about the court's reply. At present, the enemy's troops are far better than him. Even if he can integrate the local province's town army and the Zongwang army, their troops are far inferior to the Southern Army. However, the same force does not mean that the combat effectiveness is equal. Judging from the previous battle situation, his troops are almost defeated at once. Some Zongwang simply gave up the field and hid in the city to defend, which led to the loss of a large area of ​​land in just two months.

Zhang Gui knew that if he marched rashly, it would be like a sheep entering the tiger's mouth. With his own strength alone, it would not only be difficult to reverse the situation, but also the danger of being eliminated by the Southern Army. Therefore, when he quickly reported the truth to the court, he thought it was not appropriate to implement it according to the original plan, but should quickly form a new line of defense to block the Southern Army and gain time to mobilize troops south to fight with the enemy, but he was not still illusion of making peace.

Therefore, Zhang Gui suggested using Jinan, Liaocheng, Daming and Cizhou as the basis, use natural dangers such as mountains, rivers, etc. to establish a defense line from east to west, block the southern army's path to continue to advance north, stabilize the situation of retreat, and then seek fighter jets to annihilate the enemy, open a gap, and wait for an opportunity to launch a counterattack to drive the enemy back to the south of the Yellow River. Instead of treating headaches, treating the head and feet.

The Khan responded quickly this time. The Khan warned his fear of his behavior, allowing him to quickly occupy Daming Prefecture and block the Song army advancing north. A private message from Buhumu was sent with the order. In the letter, he explained the Khan's anger and comforted and encouraged him, so that he would not feel dissatisfied with this and thus mislead the state affairs.

Zhang Gui read the order and Buhumu's letter several times and couldn't help but sigh. The court received a war report from the front that the Song army invaded Henan besieged Zhengzhou with one force, and the front army took Huazhou to attack Puyang. Based on this, the court made a judgment that the Song army was intending to seize the Daming Prefecture and enter Hebei, so it asked it to change its route and quickly go to reinforce the Daming Prefecture and repel the Song army invading the northern invaders.

But Buhu Mu's letter was full of worries. Now the Khan has returned to Dadu, but he is very pessimistic about the situation, especially when he learned that the Southern Army entered Hebei, he is even more frightened and uneasy. Now the ministers in the court have different opinions on the war. Some people have suggested that the Southern Dynasties are powerful and unscrupulous, and it is not wise to start a war with the Southern Dynasties. They can negotiate with them to draw the Yellow River and govern the north and south; but there are also many people who support the full war with the Southern Dynasties, and they have asked the Khan to send the army south to fight to the decisive battle.

As for the additional reinforcements, the troops who were following the entourages back to Beijing were exhausted and had to be repaired, and it was difficult to move south for the time being. The personal guards stationed around the capital were still hesitant because the Khan was worried that if the war ahead was unfavorable and the losses were too heavy, then there would be no soldiers to defend the capital.

Regarding the conditions proposed by Zhang Gui, he did not try his best to fight for him, and asked the Shanxi Xuanwei Office to send troops to Hebei to provide cover for his right wing, urged local provinces to raise food and grass, and handed over the local town troops to him. At the same time, he advised him to set off for reinforcements of Daming Mansion as soon as possible and not to disobey the Khan's will.

As for Zhang Gui's concern that the left wing was empty and that the Southern Army that invaded Shandong might be detoured later, Buhu Mu also agreed. But he also said that the war in Shandong was not so pessimistic. Yidu and Jinan were both strong cities, with tens of thousands of troops stationed. It was impossible to break the city in one go. As long as the city was still there, his left wing would be safe and there was no need to worry too much.

As he said this, Zhang Gui knew that he had to go deeper alone and risked being surrounded and annihilated by the enemy to go to Daming. But he couldn't help but sigh that he was still young and could not see the battle between the Mongolian army swept the grasslands, destroyed the Jin Dynasty and surrendered the Song Dynasty to seize the Central Plains and Jiangnan. However, he had also heard the ancestors who followed the Mongolian Khan and talked about the glory of the Mongolian Iron Cavalry back then.

At that time, the Mongolian army used the advantages of cavalry to take action during the attack, adopted the tactics of surrounding and attacking key points, and seized the passes. It also used the tactics of luring the enemy out of the city and taking clever tricks to annihilate the enemy's main force, disrupting the enemy's deployment, making it impossible for them to take care of each other. Faced with a strong city, they often used the tactics of besieging the city and eliminating reinforcements to always grasp the strategic initiative.

On the other hand, Zhang Gui of the current court felt that history seemed to be repeating itself. Under the military pressure of the Southern Dynasties, he was always in a passive defense state, and he was not ideologically and combat-ready in the Southern Dynasties' northern expedition to the Central Plains. After self-destruction of the Song Dynasty and unifying the Central Plains, he had been peaceful for a long time, and his soldiers did not want to fight and became increasingly corrupt. Especially in the later period of Kublai Khan, he did not pay more attention to the rise of the New Song Dynasty, which led to his loss of Jiangnan in one fell swoop.

After the Zhen Jin ascended the throne, he was forced to make peace with Song, divide the Yangtze River, and lose Jiangnan. Although he had the ambition to retake Jiangnan, he was not capable of being ambition and generals were incompetent. After failing the first battle with Song, he was panicked and confused. Faced with the powerful offensive of the Song army, he had to be beaten everywhere and retreat step by step.

After the war failed and the two Huaihe Rivers lost, Zhen Jin was frustrated and the court was in constant conflict, and various factions killed each other. Even when they were dying, Zhen Jin had to wield a butcher knife to open the killing, clean up the court, and prevent the Khan from falling. However, after Tiemur inherited the Khan throne, he moved to defense in the Southern Dynasty, fearing war and seeking peace, and lost confidence in the Song Dynasty to fight again.

Zhang Gui also thought that it was precisely because of the strategic change that led to a series of tactical failures. In order to cope with the threat of the Southern Dynasty and to achieve the goal of stability in the northwest, Zhenjin deployed the Zongwang Army, who was transferred to the south to serve the kings, on the dividing line of the north-south, to guard the land and consolidate the border defense.

But it is also this strategy that bound the grassland cavalry, known for its rapid maneuvering, to their respective fiefs, causing them to lose the basis of large-scale maneuver warfare. The entanglement of interests between the various sects and kings has caused them to gather crowds to cause trouble, but it also prevents them from cooperating with each other and only caring for personal interests, resulting in being defeated by the Song army, or trapped in the lonely city until it is wiped out, and there is no strategy or tactics at all.

On the other hand, the Song army was able to advance with an absolute advantage with a crushing force, and could siege cities and plunder and pull out the lonely cities. At the same time, it also provided sufficient space for their tactical performance. They could use their advantages at sea to implement long-distance maneuvers, and dared to detour and penetrate the rear with a small amount of troops, cut off their retreat routes, and carry out attacks...

Under such circumstances, even if Zhang Gui is called a new generation of wise generals by the world, he is helpless at the moment and feels that it is difficult to change the current situation. He is burdened with national hatred and family hatred, and cannot surrender to the Song Dynasty. All he can do is to put his strength into blocking the offensive of the Song army and to prepare for the court to defend the capital.

After making up his mind, Zhang Gui tried his best to get rid of the frustration in his heart and examined his current situation. He felt that entering Daming Mansion and staying in the city might be the only favorable choice at present, and he might be able to wait for the fighter to appear and reverse the situation.

He knew that from the Sui Dynasty, the Grand Canal of Daming passed through the ancient city of Daming Prefecture, which was the Yongji Canal at that time. The opening of the Grand Canal provided unique development conditions for Daming Prefecture. After the "Kaiyuan Prosperity", Daming Prefecture had become the most prosperous area in Hebei, and the hub and city for water transportation between the north and the Jianghuai River.

During the late Tang and Five Dynasties, with the careful management of the Weibo Jiedu governors, Daming Prefecture became the leading city in North China. During the Northern Song Dynasty, it was an important military center north of the Yellow River. It had the momentum of "controlling the Heshuo and locking the key to the north gate". It became the northern gate of the Kyoto Bianliang and had a special military strategic position. In other words, Daming Prefecture controlled a large area of ​​territory north of the Yellow River. If it insisted on Daming, it blocked the enemy's passage to cross the Yellow River south, and vice versa.

Since Daming was established as the capital, the city was also expanded, including both an "outer city" and a "palace city". Although the circumference of the outer city is not as long as eighty miles in the Tang Dynasty, it is also as many as forty-eight miles. Even if the palace city is three miles around, it is built majestic. It is called "high city and dangerous land, with vast troughs and deep moats"; "magnificent drum towers", "broad characters"; "thousands of dance pavilions and singing platforms, and tens of thousands of Lin Palaces and Fanyu", it should be said that it is not an exaggeration.

During the Jin Dynasty, Daming Prefecture became the capital of Qi, the vassal state of the Jin Dynasty, and was the base camp for the expansion of the Jin Dynasty to the south. From the Sui Dynasty to the Jin Dynasty, Daming Prefecture relied on its position as a water transport hub city in the Grand Canal, and developed from the economic center of the Central Plains to a strategic military center confronting north and south during the Song and Jin dynasties.

After entering the Yuan Dynasty, the political center of the Central Plains moved to Dadu, and the diverted route of the Grand Canal of Jinghang moved eastward, resulting in the decline of the strategic position of Daming Prefecture, which has declined into a prefecture city, but it is still a strong city entrenched on the road to Jinggi.
Chapter completed!