"Moreover, most of the territories on this road cannot be established at the beginning. There are too many tribes and they are too confusing. They should be drawn in, merged and suppressed. You are also experienced." Zhao Jiu did not care about the other party's reaction.

, but continued to analyze on his own. "What's more, Renqing is still from the Dangxiang clan, and he is a Dangxiang hero who has become world-famous decades ago. Although the court opposes ethnic divisions, some things can be regarded as historical issues. We, the monarch and his ministers,

There is no need to hide it. As a role model for party members, you should also have the experience of being an envoy with real power, so that the party members can return to their hearts. I even thought about it, if you can handle the affairs of Datong Road beautifully, you can come back to serve as minister.

It's all feasible...but the age of the Qing family really makes me a little worried."

"The officials." Ren Baozhong finally waited until the other party's words came to an end, but he knelt down directly in the tent and burst into tears. "I can share the worries of the officials, and I am not afraid even if I am broken into pieces. Why does it matter that I am just old?

For the sake of the official family, I can still work for another ten years!"

Zhao Jiu nodded: "Renqing is willing... Just take a rest. After I discuss it with Mr. Lu, I will give you a formal decree, and you can go back to Datong directly."

Ren Baozhong was startled for a moment, and then he suddenly realized that he finally knew why Wu Jie wanted to send this old man back to report the news! This was a huge favor!

However, despite his awakening, Renbao's loyalty did not show up at all, but he became more serious: "Since the official has chosen me as the envoy of Datong Road, I will do my best to repay the trust of the official."

"The situation is like this. At this time, we need an envoy who is so different from the envoys from the mainland, but Renqing is right here." Zhao Jiu sighed quietly. "So, it can be said that the times and the country chose Renqing. Please also ask

Renqing also should not let down the times and the country."

Ren Baozhong just kowtowed and had no idea what Zhao Guanjia was talking about.

In this way, after hastily determining the layout in the direction of Datong, the Song Army's last scruples disappeared. In the next few days, with the Control Department as a unit, one after another the main imperial battalion troops began to advance eastward on a large scale.

At the beginning, of course it was Dong Xian and Zhang Qi who were the first to attack on the 16th day of the first lunar month.

In the afternoon of that day, there were four commanders, Niugao, Zhai Jin, Zhai Chong, and Shao Yun, with a total of more than 10,000 people. They divided their troops into two groups, one from the south and one from the north. They attacked Xiong Ling and headed east as backup.

On the morning of the seventeenth day of the first lunar month, generals Dong Xian and Zhang Qi arrived in the eastern part of Shouyang County, which is almost the easternmost part of Taiyuan Prefecture. They came to the famous Mianman River and fought with a small group of Jin troops.

The so-called Mianmanshui is a tributary of the Hutuo River, which is also the famous river that passed through Jingxing and experienced a last-ditch battle.

At the same time, Han Shizhong, the commander of the imperial camp's left army, personally led seven commanders headed by Xie Yuan, with the imperial camp's left army as the main body, and nearly 25,000 imperial soldiers, plus more than 10,000 civilians and auxiliary troops.

Take the road on the north side of Shaxiong Ridge.

By the afternoon of that day, when Ren Baozhong hurriedly returned to Taiyuan, the four following commanders headed by Niu Gao also divided into north and south and arrived at Yu County and Shouyang County in the east of Taiyuan Prefecture respectively.

.

On the eighteenth day of the first lunar month, Ren Baozhong returned north early in the morning with his appointment.

In the morning, Zhao Guanjia personally led Long Yu, and left Taiyuan City under the escort of Yang Yizhong and Liu Yan. The accompanying people included Wang Yan, the commander-in-chief of the imperial camp, and Li Shifu, the deputy commander of the imperial cavalry.

As well as Wu Lin, the deputy commander of the imperial army who arrived from the rear not long after the rendezvous. The three of them, together with fifteen commanders, led the various ministries. There was almost no attrition in the Northern Expedition, and it was considered a new force.

The 30,000 imperial camp rear troops and the 15,000 imperial camp cavalry troops were party members of the Qingqi.

Such a large number, plus the 4,000 Imperial Banzhi, the 60,000 party auxiliary soldiers with rich combat experience, plus the Japanese samurai and Poxi troops to prepare for consultation with these miscellaneous people, the total is eleven

There must be many people.

Of course, with such a large number of people, they could only march thirty miles a day, but they were slowly heading east along the south side of Shaxiong Ridge, passing through Yuci.

The grandness of this troop dispatch basically overshadowed all other news... Dong Xian and Zhang Qi, who were the vanguard, cooperated with each other tacitly and successfully captured Pingding City, the capital of the Pingding Army, which had few troops stationed on the Mianman River.

Approaching the Jingxing Pass in the narrow sense; no one cared whether Li Qiong's 10,000 troops moved from Shangdang Basin to Liaozhou (later Zuoquan County area); or whether Wang De led his troops from Datong Prefecture to turn back and pass Yanmen Pass, no one cared.

On the nineteenth day of the first lunar month, the weather was calm and the troops were advancing without stopping.

On the twentieth day of the first lunar month, the impatient Wang De first returned from Datong and led 20,000 troops into the Taiyuan Basin. After learning the news, Lu Yihao, the Prime Minister of the army, also set off immediately. He only led a few thousand troops and 20,000 horses to expand the selection.

The civilian men who came out carried a large amount of baggage and most of the civilian officials who accompanied the army and headed east.

On the afternoon of this day, Generals Dong and Zhang, who had officially entered the Jingxing area, suddenly encountered the main force of the Jin army in Baijingzhai. The Song army was caught off guard and was unable to defeat it, so they had to retreat ten miles to camp.

On the twenty-first day of the first lunar month, after three days of leisurely marching, the main force led by Zhao Guanjia arrived in Shouyang County, while Wu Jie led 10,000 Khitan Yinshan reinforcements, 15,000 Mongolian reinforcements, plus the remaining 10,000 imperial camp rear troops.

Cross Xinzhou and enter the Taiyuan Basin.

Immediately, Li Yanxian led the remaining Shaanluo troops, about 10,000 troops, plus Wang De's 20,000 troops, a total of 30,000 soldiers, and set off together, and within one day they moved forward to catch up with Lu Yihao.

Almost all of the more than 10,000 Eastern Mongolian tribesmen, from the leader down, were in panic and confusion, not knowing where to go.

But again, no one cares.

Even so, even if all these branch issues are put aside, everyone can calculate a possible and horrifying final number of participants.

"At least 150,000 or 60,000, and at most 200,000, in the end there may actually be 170,000 or 80,000..."

Across the Taihang Mountains, less than a hundred miles away from the front line of the Song Army, north of Daluze, in Gaoyi County, Zhaozhou, in the lobby of the county government office in the city, after gathering information from all aspects, his eyes were filled with bloodshot eyes. Gao Qingyi, who was sitting next to him, gave a more accurate figure than that of Zhao Guan's family, because they knew very well how many cavalry groups would be gathered by Qu Duan, Liu Qi, Zhang Zhongfu, Zhang Zhongyan, Zhang Xian and others standing far behind them. People. "It mainly depends on whether Wang Sheng from Puyinxing and Hebule further north will gather together. As for Qu Duan and Zhang Xian, it is no longer possible to solve the problem before the main force of the Song army leaves Jingxing. "

"It can be said that we have already watched them in Zhenlu. We have 130,000 households here, but there is no time to make up for the various battle losses. In fact, there are still more than 100,000 soldiers and infantry left." The lobby is empty, except for one person. The table was laid with a map, and Wu Shu, who was also exhausted, was closing his eyes and speaking on the side of the table, but he was repeating the numbers that were already familiar to him. "Huo Nu and Wu Lin Da Taiyu have arrived in Baozhou ( Later, Baoding), the eldest brother also handed over the four Hezha Meng'an of Yanjing to Uncle Wanyan, according to my letter, and will arrive in Baozhou soon... These three people will definitely be able to make it in time! But what about the south? ? Undefended? What if Yue Fei comes after him and gets involved? "

"So we must launch it as soon as possible." Gao Qingyi also repeated the words he had repeated many times. "It is best to launch it before Yue Fei reaches Hejian down the river, and before Zhao Song official Chu Jingxing arrives at Zhending... Wang Sheng from the north had no time to join forces, so it would be a battle of 120,000 to 30,000 against 170,000 to 170,000!"

"What do you think, Marshal?" Wu Shu, who was thirsty and exhausted, closed his eyes and called to another person in the hall... In fact, there were only three people around the table with the map in the hall at this time, and they also arrived in a hurry. Here, a small-scale military meeting was hastily convened.

Retreating is not that easy, especially when Quduan came out of Fukouxing to meet up with Yue Fei's "cavalry" and followed closely behind them. In desperation, countless troops were abandoned in large numbers, a lot of supplies were also thrown away, and only a few family members were left behind. , valuable belongings, and military supplies were preserved... Fortunately, the signed army could be replenished along the way, and Zhending still had a certain amount of storage.

But after saying this, there was no reply for a long time.

Wu Shu was surprised and opened his eyes to look, only to find that Ku was sitting diagonally across from him. He was looking at the map with bloodshot eyes like Gao Qingyi, and then he raised his head and glanced at himself: "That's the number, along the way. After calculating it so many times, why does King Wei need to calculate it again?"

Wu Shu was noncommittal and just asked: "What was the marshal thinking about just now?"

"I'm thinking about the advance of the Zhao Guan family." Ba Lisu stroked the simple map in front of him and shook his head. "King Wei, do you think the Zhao Guan family's previous advance into Taiyuan was as fast as the wind? This time they marched from Taiyuan to Jingxing. Does it count as Qi Xu Rulin? Next, will we invade Ruhuo?"

Wu Shu was stunned for a moment and couldn't refute for a moment, but soon he came back to his senses and went to see Gao Qingyi again: "Gao Tongshi, I'll ask you again. Putting aside the question of troop strength, and taking a breather now, are there any people in the army?

Is there anything important that needs to be dealt with?"

"First, do you want to defend Jingxing?" Gao Qingyi blurted out. "Second, where to choose as the battlefield? The two are interrelated."

Wu Shu thought for a moment and asked, "Is this all there is?"

"There are many more." Gao Qingyi almost sneered. "For example, is Yanjing stable? Will a cavalry army be sent to Duxing to attack Yanjing? Are the new recruits of Yanjing's new army available? Who should be the commander?

How much military supplies does Zhending Mansion actually have? How many troops has King Chen (Lu Guan) prepared for us in Zhending to assist us? Our army has worked hard so far, how many stragglers have been lost? When will we be able to gather them properly? Just think about it

, things are everywhere…”

"But none of it is a top priority, nor is it the overall situation." Wu Shu sighed quietly, and then steeled himself to look at the simple map again. "Right now, the decision that needs to be made regardless of anything is whether Yelu Mawu should withdraw.

Come out of Jingxing and join us, and then choose where to fight?"

"Withdraw!"

Ba Lisu suddenly said: "Jingxing is wide in the middle. When Han Xin fought a battle of 100,000 people in the Jingxing Road, it was not too narrow... Ma Wu and his subordinates must not be able to stop the Song Army brigade, so they should withdraw and preserve it."

Strength comes first. Moreover, along the way, you kept saying that we must fight as soon as possible, fight as soon as possible, and fight before Yue Fei catches up... Counting on the delay of layers of resistance will be detrimental to us."

"Can we have a decisive battle in Jingxing?" Wu Shu suddenly interrupted, as if he directly acquiesced in letting Yelu Mawu retreat.

"After all, it's a passage terrain, not suitable for a cavalry brigade." Ba Lisu shook his head in reply.

Wu Shufu went to see Gao Qingyi again, and Gao Qingyi also shook his head.

"So." The fourth prince nodded first, then looked at the map and muttered something. "Today we need to find a good terrain to fight on, east of Jingxing and west of Zhending? Guard the Hutuo River or the Mianman River.

?”

"Is the King of Wei confused?" Ba Lisu suddenly became impatient. "I told you that we can't delay it... The sooner we fight the Song army, the more powerful we will be. If we delay it, we will drag it until Yue Fei goes north to Hejian.

, flanked by two sides, the situation is even worse! And if we want to quickly fight the Song army, what is the purpose of guarding these rivers? Letting them go through the rivers is the main topic!"

Wu Shu was suddenly startled and looked at the map again, but his eyes moved to the area east of Mianmanshui, which turned almost due north after entering the Hebei Plain.

At this time, Gao Qingyi also slowly spoke: "Even so, the Song army cannot be allowed to cross the Hutuo River, because Zhending City is behind the Hutuo River. If the Song army tries to destroy the city again, the whole army will be shocked.

I'm afraid, I don't dare to fight, what should I do if I just sit back and watch the Song army seize Zhending?"

"We can't set up camp next to the Hutuo River." Ba Lisu added again. "Otherwise, we will be at our backs... Once... once we are defeated, even though we are cavalry, it is difficult for us to scatter in all directions and risk being wiped out.

Danger of outflanking."

Wu Shu heard this and finally touched the map and smiled bitterly: "In this way, it can almost only be between the east of Mianmanshui (running north-south after leaving Jingxing) and the southwest of Hutuo River (running northwest and southeast near Zhending)

They found a random place in the plains, and then led the Song army across the Mianman River to get me... But this area only has one county, and it is estimated that hundreds of thousands of troops will almost fill the place.

.”

"Get the deer!"

The next moment, after a slight pause, Balisu and Gao Qingyi, who were not looking at the map at all, shouted out the name of the county almost at the same time.

"One hundred and twenty miles away from here." Gao Qingyi added, "To the northwest of us."

"Huo Lu...a good name."

On the bank of Mianman River, which is only a hundred and fifty miles away from Gaoyi, Zhaozhou, in the camp, Zhao Jiu looked at the map and made another evaluation of this place. "What a good name."

Just as Han Shizhong was about to agree, Zhao Jiu suddenly raised his head and asked again: "Look at the map. How far is it to the northeast of us?"

"One hundred and twenty miles." Han Shizhong was startled for a moment, then became solemn. "It's just a Jingxing passage, plus a continuous stream of water."
Chapter completed!