In October of the first year of Xihe, four months after Fan Ning left the capital, Jinzhou City was lost, and more than half of the eight thousand defenders were killed or injured. The chief general Liu Zhen died among the chaotic army, and 15,000 Liao troops occupied Jinzhou City.

At the same time, the General and the 100,000 Song army led by Cao Shi, deputy commander of the North of the Conquest, encountered the 100,000 elite cavalry of the Liao army led by the Liao emperor Yelu Hongji, who was personally led by the Liao Dynasty emperor Yelu Hongji. The two sides launched a desperate battle on the north bank of the Daling River. The Song army was eventually defeated and the Liao army took advantage of the situation to chase and kill. The Song army suffered heavy casualties, and the pile of corpses even broke the Daling River.

The loss of 100,000 troops exceeded 60%. Cao Shi, the chief general of the former army, gathered 35,000 remaining troops to retreat to Jinzhou. About 30 miles away from Jinzhou, he met Li Song, a general who fled north. Cao Shi learned that Jinzhou had been attacked by the Liao army of Dading Prefecture and cut off his retreat to retreat south. Cao Shi's army had only enough food to eat for four days. When he was at a loss, Li Song suggested that the army could retreat to Dading Prefecture.

The main force of the Liao army came from Dading Prefecture to attack Jinzhou, so Dading Prefecture must be defensive at this time.

Cao Shi adopted Li Song's suggestion and led 35,000 remnants to retreat to Dading Prefecture...

After Yelu Hongji discovered that Yelu Yixin was secretly connected with the Song Dynasty, he used a counter-espionage strategy and ordered Yelu Yixin to fabricate the lies of civil strife in Shangjing, and created the illusion of Yelu Hongji's retreat to the north. He successfully deceived the Song Dynasty and made the Song army greedy for merit and advance rashly, and ended up being defeated.

Just as Cao Shi was defeated, the Song naval army heading north from the waterway was also ambushed by 30,000 Liao troops. The Liao army, who had made full preparations in advance, used thousands of leather rafts to load 20,000 barrels of turbulent oil to burn Song army warships on the Liao River. More than 400 more than 5,000 warships were besieged by the fire and completely burned down, losing 300,000 stones of food and 200,000 dan of forage. More than 7,000 people were killed or injured in the Song naval army. The chief general Miao was unable to retreat and committed suicide to his country. This was the heaviest loss since the establishment of the Song naval army.

When the news reached the capital, the government and the country were in an uproar. The commander Han Jiang also took the initiative to submit a letter of resignation to the court, willing to bear all the responsibility for the defeat, and resigned to the court.

In the imperial study room, several prime ministers were urgently discussing solutions with the emperor Zhao Xu. Seeing that Zhao Xu was worried and under great pressure, Wang Anshi spoke and comforted him: "Your Majesty, victory and defeat are common in military affairs. The defeat of the Song army in a battle does not mean that we are at a disadvantage. Our national strength still has the upper hand. As long as we deal with it properly, we can still make up the situation and occupy Liaoyang Prefecture."

"All nonsense!"

Fu Bi next to him finally couldn't bear it anymore and stood up to scold Wang Anshi and said, "It's just a dream to consider occupying Liaoyang Prefecture. Now we should first consider how to protect Datong Prefecture and Yanshan Prefecture, and how to save the Song army besieged in Dading Prefecture?"

Wang Anshi was angry and refuted Fu Bi: "Since ancient times, which army captain has been unbeaten? What does it matter if one defeated? Just cheer up and fight again. The defeat is not scary. What is scary is that the will is defeated. Like Fu Xianggong, if you lose once, you think the situation is hopeless and start to consider how to protect yourself. This is the manifestation of a coward."

Fu Bi said coldly: "Who said there was no Changsheng Army? Have you ever been defeated by you before? "

Fu Bi suddenly mentioned Fan Ning, and everyone in the study changed their faces. Wen Yanbo hurriedly winked at Fu Bi. At this time, wasn’t it just to mention Fan Ning, just to put a knife on the emperor’s back?

The imperial study room suddenly became silent. After a while, Zhao Xu sighed and said, "Master Fan gave me five precautions before leaving. The first is to strictly guard Jinzhou, and the result was that Jinzhou was lost; the second is not to underestimate the enemy Liao Kingdom, but we underestimated the enemy Liao Kingdom and sent 100,000 troops to advance lightly; the third is not to rely on the navy, but we used the navy as the main force, resulting in a disastrous defeat in the navy; the fifth is that we could not believe Yelu Yixin, but we believed Yelu Yixin's intelligence and fell into Yelu Hongji's counter-intervention plan. Fan Taishi would never fight head-on with the Liao army. As soon as he left, we began to fight hard with the Liao army. This big defeat was not an accidental defeat, but was caused by our entire strategic decision-making mistake, and it was my fault!"

Wen Yanbo said slowly: "Your Majesty does not need to take responsibility on himself. Zhizhengtang also has responsibility, and the head coach Han Xianggong also has responsibility. But the old minister believes that now is not the time to hold the responsibility accountable. Now we should consider how to stabilize the precarious situation in front of us."

Zhao Xu was shocked, "Is the situation so serious?"

Wen Yanbo nodded, "Your Majesty, this failure is not as easy as Wang Xianggong said, but rather a strategic failure as Your Majesty said. First of all, if the Song army in Dading Prefecture is not rescued, the entire army will be destroyed. Moreover, I guess the Datong Prefecture in Xijing is likely to be unable to be saved. The top priority of the Song army is to defend Youzhou. As for counterattacking Liaoyang Prefecture, it is purely a fool."

Wang Anshi's face turned red and white, but he could not refute Wen Yanbo's words.

Zhao Xu was a little anxious and hurriedly said, "If you stick to Youzhou, what should we do if the Song army in Dading Prefecture do?"

Fu Bi also said: "The problem is here. The Song army in Dading Prefecture is like a bleeding mouth of ours. We must go to rescue, but once rescued, fierce battles with the Liao army will inevitably occur. Can we defeat the elite cavalry of the Liao army? If we cannot defeat the other party, then we will be defeated again, our wounds will continue to tear and blood will continue to flow. Wang Xianggong, what should we do?"

Fu Bi pointed his finger at Wang Anshi again.

Wang Anshi was speechless for a moment.

At this time, a eunuch whispered at the door: "The Empress Dowager is here!"

Everyone stood up one after another. Zhao Xu was most afraid of seeing the emperor's grandmother at this time. When the emperor's grandmother arrived, he must be asking him for guilt. How should he answer?

He had no choice but to bite the bullet and get up to welcome Empress Dowager Cao.

Empress Dowager Cao walked into the imperial study room, and the ministers bowed together. She nodded, "It turns out that all the ministers of Zhizhengtang are here. It seems that the Ai family is coming at the right time."

Zhao Xu hurriedly asked the emperor's grandmother to sit down, and Empress Dowager Cao waved her hand, "Ai family made a point, but Ai family was not here to interfere in politics. She was just a subject of the Song Dynasty. The Ai family wanted to give an advice to the official."

"Please say it to my grandmother!"

Empress Dowager Cao glanced at the prime ministers and asked lightly: "Everyone should know what the Ai family wants to propose!"

Everyone smiled bitterly. Of course, they knew what the Queen Mother wanted to propose, but was it appropriate to propose it at this time?

Of course, Empress Dowager Cao also knew that the proposal to recall Fan Ning at this time would have a great blow to the emperor and would make him lose face. However, after finally seeing this opportunity, how could Empress Dowager Cao let it go?

She pondered for a while and said to everyone: "Dear Masters, please step back first! Let the Ai family and the official family have a separate conversation."

Everyone bowed and left. Soon, only Empress Dowager Cao and Zhao Xu were left in the imperial study. Empress Dowager Cao then said to Zhao Xu: "If I suggest that the government recall Fan Ning, will the government agree?"

Zhao Xu's face looked a little ugly, and he said for a while: "Of course, my grandson dare not disobey the imperial edict of the emperor."

"It's not an imperial edict, it's just a suggestion!"

Zhao Xu sighed, "If I do this, I wonder how the people in the world should discuss me?"

Empress Dowager Cao said lightly: "If you don't do this, will the world praise Your Majesty for being wise and powerful? No, you will know that you can read the newspapers in the past two days. The public is full of grievances, and they are accusing Your Majesty of driving Fan Ning away, resulting in a crushing defeat in the Song army. If Your Majesty can recall him, the people in the world will only praise Your Majesty for being humble and being able to correct your mistakes."

Although he said that, Zhao Xu was a little embarrassed after all.

Empress Dowager Cao said again: "The Ai family wants to ask Your Majesty if the country of the Song Dynasty is important or your life is important?"

"Of course, the country is important. In order to protect the country, I will never spare my life."

"Very good. The Ai family also knows that Your Majesty will say this. Then the Ai family asks again, is Your Majesty's face important or is Your Majesty's life important?"

Zhao Xu did not answer, and Empress Dowager Cao smiled and said, "It goes without saying that life is important. Even ants can live in secret, let alone others."

"The emperor's grandmother is right!"

"Then the question is again. Is the country of the Song Dynasty important or the face of His Majesty important?"

Empress Dowager Cao's words hit the nail on the head, and Zhao Xu suddenly realized, yes! For the sake of the country of the Song Dynasty, what is his face?

He immediately bowed deeply, "Under the teachings of the emperor's grandmother, his grandson issued an order to recall Fanning."

Empress Dowager Cao nodded with satisfaction, "He is still the King of Chu of the Song Dynasty, the Grand Tuan, the Grand Secretary of Longtu Pavilion, and the Minister of the Secretariat of the Central Secretariat. He is His Majesty's minister. There is nothing wrong with summoning him back to discuss military and national affairs."

Zhao Xu had no resistance at all and bowed deeply again, "Thank you for your teachings from the emperor and grandmother, my grandson fully understands!"

Zhao Xu immediately issued an order and quickly summoned Tai Shi Fanning to Beijing to discuss military and national affairs.
Chapter completed!