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For Zhao Ji, the emperor and his ministers, it has been a lot of joy recently.

Cai Jian, who had made Zhao Ji's king and his ministers almost turned pale, was seriously injured by Liu Wei, who was sent by Zhao Ji and Tong Guan, and was about to die. This Song Dynasty's great trouble was about to be eliminated.

Gao Feng from Yizhou led 5,000 troops to surrender to the Song Dynasty, Guo Yaoshi from Zhuozhou led 8,000 ever-victorious troops to surrender to the Song Dynasty, and the last barrier in front of Yanjing City was gone.

Nowadays, Xiao Puxian, a daughter from Northern Liao, sent envoys to the Song Dynasty to seek peace and call the vassal.

This situation is so good that it's all right.

On October 13th, Xiao Puxian’s daughter’s title was delivered to the Bianliang City in Tokyo.

Zhao Ji was even happier after reading it!

Zhao Ji immediately summoned Wang Fu and other ministers to Chongzheng Hall to study the solutions.

The ministers had very disagreements on this.

Wang Fu's side believed that Xiao Puxian's daughter was just paying money and surrendering, which was unacceptable and she had to accept land. He believed that if the Khitan did not accept land, it would be rejected, and the army should continue to go north, because the recovery of Yanjing was not entirely for economic interests, but also for border defense and military interests, as well as important political significance.

Li Bangyan's side believed that it was acceptable. Their reason was that the Khitan was able to pay the money and surrender, which was already a historic victory. What could it do if the Yan land was numerous and the management was complicated. If the court took over directly, it might even have to pay it back, which would become a heavy burden. Furthermore, with the Khitan blocking the Jin people and Cai Shen, the Song Dynasty could slowly recuperate behind and then slowly take over it.

They argued for a long time, and no one could convince anyone.

Finally, Zhao Ji, who was very fond of merit, adopted Wang Fu's suggestion and decided to reject Xiao Puxian's daughter's statement.

The incident of Xiao Puxian’s daughter asking for a title to be a fan shocked a lot in the court. For the Song Dynasty, this was indeed a historic victory worth celebrating.

Dazai Wang Fu led all officials to express their congratulations:

The army ordered generals to use the power of Shenzhongxia to seize the chaos and insult and perish. Then they restored the land of Yan, and flourished to the ancient times, and liked to overflow from Mian District. I heard that Shunzhaozhao and began to separate the soil of Jidu, and Zhou established 800 countries. The first to send a message to the seal of Shi. When Tianjin analyzed the friendship between wood, Gu Guangyang was in fact the situation was dangerous with the golden soup, and the fertility was a fertile land and the sea. Shi Jin did not accept the Khitan, and then he severed the land and lost the danger of Jinhe...

He respects His Majesty, his nature is Yao Ren, his wisdom is Tang Yong, and his literary virtue is profuse. He is the carriage of the four seas, and he is the power of heaven and the land of the three kings. All of this strategy for washing the battle is to be a self-determination god, and his material is all in the nine levels, and his constituents are almost ten thousand miles away. The gods are in charge of the duties of heaven and earth, and they are urgently rewarded with the reputation of retro, and they are quick to be in the anger of heaven and receive the offering of the third examination. Chen Xikuo's rituals, the map of the geography of the geography, and the transformation of civilization...

From this memorial, we can see that Wang Fu did do his best to flatter Zhao Ji and praised him as if he was too naughty.

In a state of joy, Zhao Ji issued an edict to respond:

I have compiled a great map, and changed the common policies every day, and wanted to increase confidence, and cooperated with all nations. I have always been in line with the joy of neighboring countries and used the promise of following the deeds. Is it true that the foreign tribes rebel against the clan alliance and ordered the commander to go out to patrol the border...

Yan people were in a state of success and asked for their orders to return. They were about to restore the old border of Yanyun. They talked about the past aspirations of Chengzu, the king and his ministers were celebrated, and China and diplomatic relations were in harmony. This achievement was achieved by relying on the Liang Bi, and the great achievements were greatly promoted, which was actually a good plan...

Subsequently, Zhao Ji issued four handwritten edicts in a row.

First, Yanjing was changed to Yanshan Prefecture, and new names were given to eight states such as Zhuozhou and Yizhou.

2. Give new regained prefectures and counties.

3. The rate of exemption from the new counties is to exempt all kinds of taxes and taxes from newly recovered prefectures and counties. For poor and hungry people, they should provide relief to officials and grain, and do not displace the people.

4. To promote talented people, those who have talents who have been talented and have been buried among the people, those who have been recommended by the village but have not been tried, those who have offended the powerful or excluded by the powerful because of their loyalty, and officials who have been guilty of mistakes must be identified and promoted.

The court arranged for the fast horse to deliver the edict from Zhao Ji to the Xuanfu Department of Hebei, Xiongzhou.

After receiving Zhao Ji's hand edict, Cai You came to the post station and said to the Liao envoy: "We have received the edict and will not accept your resignation. Unless you take the land, you will be exempted from the negotiations. Now please leave the country immediately."

Xiao Rong was shocked!

Han Fang said bitterly: "If the Liao Dynasty no longer exists, you will definitely be disturbed by the Jurchens and Cai Shen in the future, and your lips will be lost and your teeth will be cold!"

Cai You refused to listen and turned around and left.

Han Fang stood in the courtyard and said loudly: "The Liao and Song dynasties have been together for a hundred years, and the affidavits are there. Can you deceive the country and the heavens alone?"

...

He drove away Xiao Rong, Han Fang, Tong Guan and Cai You, Liu Yanqing, and Guo Yaoshi held a meeting together to discuss the march to Yanjing.

Guo Yaoshi first spoke: "The situation in Yanjing is more familiar with the situation. Xiaguan will briefly introduce the terrain of Yanjing to several adults. Yanjing City is divided into outer city, inner city and palace city. There are eight gates in all directions, including Yingchun, Andong, Xianxi in the west, Qingjin, Danfeng in the south, Tongtian and Gongchen in the north. The streets in the city are crisscrossed, and the main roads are east and west and north. The city is divided into twenty-six fangs, each of which has a gate and a wall."

Tong Guan asked: "Where is the palace city?"

Pharmacist Guo replied: "In the southwest, the scale is not too large, but the palace walls are very strong, easy to defend but difficult to attack."

Liu Yanqing asked: "How high is the city wall?"

Pharmacist Guo replied: "Three feet tall and one feet wide."

Cai You asked: "How many people are there in the city?"

Guo Yaoshi replied: "No less than 300,000, most of which are Han people, but the strongest ones are the Khitan and Xi tribes."

Liu Yanqing asked: "I heard that King Xi Xiao Gan is also called the King of the Four Army, and he is very good at using troops?"

Guo Yaoshi replied: "Yes, Xiao Gan is indeed very strategic and very cruel. Empress Dowager Xiao relies mainly on him. Now he leads his army to defend on the north bank of the Lugou River. He is the main opponent of our army to the north. There is another person named Yelu Dashi. People call him Dashi Linya. This person is also very good at fighting. He is now defending the Jinwu army in Juyongguan area, and some people defending the Jin army at Gubeikou and Yuguan. However, for some reason, the Jin army did not mean to go south."

Tong Guan smiled and said, "The Great Jin is an ally of our Great Song Dynasty. The reason why they have been slow to attack Yanjing is because they have an appointment with our Great Song Dynasty before."

Guo Yaoshi was shocked: "It turns out that the Song Dynasty has already united with the Jurchens. No wonder the Jurchens have never gone south!"

Tong Guan told him truthfully: "General Guo, we now have two plans for regaining Yanjing: one is to rely on our own strength to conquer Yanjing, which is the best. The other is, if we cannot take Yanjing, we will invite the Jin army into the pass, and then the two armies will attack Yanjing from north to south. Therefore, we will take Yanjing this time and make sure to win ten things and be sure."

Liu Yanqing expressed his opinion: "The best plan to invite the Jin army to enter the pass and attack Yanjing from north to south. First, this can greatly reduce the casualties of our army. Second, to be honest, the morale in our army is not too high at present, and we are still a little afraid of the Liao cavalry. After all, we are mainly infantry, so although we have a large population, it is difficult to gain the upper hand whether it is field battles or sieges."

Cai You said angrily: "So what about the infantry? Cai still defeated the Juzhen cavalry with the same number of infantry. Liu Dutong is so angry that we can't let go. We have hundreds of thousands of troops and the Liao army has only tens of thousands, which is more than ten times theirs. If we can't win, we must be laughed at by the people of the world."

Liu Yanqing wanted to say: "Cai still can defeat the cavalry with infantry because their weapons were advanced and caught the Jin army off guard. We don't have that kind of weapon. Moreover, Cai still's army is not all infantry, and there are thousands of cavalry."

But because Cai You was Zhao Ji's favorite minister, Liu Yanqing didn't dare to say this.

Out of favor with Cai You, Guo Yaoshi followed Cai You and said: "The Liao army was not that powerful. They were defeated by the Jurchens first and then by Cai Han, which was enough to show that they were not a strong army in the world. Moreover, they had few troops and divided their troops to defend. However, our Song Dynasty was the opposite. There were many soldiers and a wide general, and they concentrated on attacking. Therefore, as long as we work together, we are sure to win."

Tong Guan also smoothed out and said: "General Guo is right. The whole army will go north tomorrow, meet in Xiongzhou, and then act according to the opportunity."

The next day, Liu Yanqing led the Eastern Army to march northward, and Guo Yaoshi also followed the army northward.

Soon, Guo Yaoshi discovered that the Song army was messy and uneven, the soldiers were listless, and they had a very lack of fighting spirit. There was also a strange team... Let's call it the army. From top to bottom, it seemed that they were not here to fight, but like those who came to travel around, there were not only hundreds of sedan chairs and thousands of carriages, but they were blatantly raising hundreds of women in the team!

Guo Yaoshi, who saw the true face of Song Jun, regretted his hastyness. He thought to himself: "If I had known that Song Jun was a group of such people, I would rather go far to join Cai Shen."

Guo Yaoshi held it over and over again, but in the end he couldn't help but say to Liu Yanqing: "Master General, if we don't strictly enforce military discipline, our army will probably not be able to fight."

Liu Yanqing smiled bitterly and said, "Those young masters of Yanei who came to gilt. They were not here to defeat them, but to make contributions. Let them go, and they will not be able to avoid these 40,000 to 50,000 troops."

Guo Yaoshi said again: "The morale and discipline of other troops are not good either."

Liu Yanqing sighed and said, "That's why I advocated attacking Yanjing with the Jin army. We don't have the conditions to fight at all now."

Pharmacist Guo suggested: "Why not enforce military law?"

Liu Yanqing shook his head and said, "How to implement military law? The so-called law does not blame the masses. Once a military change is caused, the consequences will be even more unimaginable, so it can only be maintained in this way."

Yaoshi Guo really couldn't understand how Liu Yanqing became the commander?

In Guo Yaoshi's opinion, the first thing to do as a commander should be to reorganize the army. There is no army that can implement unified orders, and he still has the face to say that he is the commander?

Guo Yaoshi thought to himself: "If I take care of the more than 500,000 troops, carefully select 100,000 from them, and then promote the commander who dares to fight, will this Yanjing be at his fingertips?"

Guo Yaoshi was even more disappointed with the Song army and regretted surrendering to Song.

At the same time, the Western Route Army, led by Liu Guangshi, was also advancing towards Zhuozhou.

Liu Guangshi is now in his prime, because he sent troops to successfully occupy Yizhou at night, Zhao Ji personally promoted him to Chengxuan envoy of the mighty army. Now, Liu Guangshi is only one step away from commander--let's say so, if Liu Guangshi was not without a literati, he would be the second Cai Shen. In this way, how could he not be proud?

Feng Xuanqing (Yang Keshi's confidant general) who led his troops to Yizhou did not get any contribution.

Yang Keshi was resentful about this.

Tong Guan knew that Liu Guangshi and Yang Keshi had conflicts, so he specifically emphasized in his letter to Liu Guangshi: No matter who it is, he must not harm the public privately.

Yang Keshi and Liu Guangshi each led their troops to set off. According to Tong Guan's order, the two armies would meet in Gushan Town and then head north together.

But when the two armies gathered in Gushan Town, a fight broke out between the soldiers of the two armies because of the battle for the camp.

The soldiers blamed each other, and the situation continued to expand. Yang Keshi and Liu Guangshi also scolded each other, which eventually led to the delay of the Western Route Army in Gushan Town for a whole day.

Tong Guan was furious when he heard the news and immediately sent his marching officer Yuwen Xuzhong to Gushan overnight to deal with the matter.

After Yuwen Xuzhong arrived at Gushan, he learned that the matter was caused by a conflict between soldiers, and it was not a direct conflict between the two generals, so he tried his best to persuade him to make peace. Yuwen Xuzhong did not dare to offend him, and he could not afford to offend him. The only thing he could do was mediation, that is, to persuade him to do both sides.

Later, Yuwen Xuzhong saw that Liu Guangshi and Yang Keshi were really unable to work together, so he had no hope of persuading peace, so he asked Liu Guangshi and Yang Keshi to station in separate camps and ordered them to march towards Zhuozhou.

Soon, the Song army met in Zhuozhou.

Zhen Wuchen organized tens of thousands of military, civilian monks and Taoist priests in Zhuozhou to go out to the city to welcome him.

People beat drums and drums, were cheerful and cheerful, and welcomed the King's Army.

Liu Yanqing entered the city to pacify the officials and the people, checked the treasury, and ordered Yang Keshi and Zhen Wuchen to change defenses and guard Zhuozhou.

Yang Keshi originally had only two thousand troops, not enough to guard Zhuozhou, so he asked Liu Yanqing to increase his troops.

Considering that Yang Keshi is Tong Guan’s confidant and beloved general, Liu Yanqing appointed Yang Weizhong as his deputy and added 20,000 troops to Yang Keshi.

At this time, the troops commanded by Liu Yanqing included the Yizhou soldiers led by Zhao Bingyuan, the Changsheng army led by Guo Yaoshi, and the Yanshan Township brave army led by Zhao Xu, Zhang Guanyu and others, totaling no less than 500,000.

Every day from morning to night, outside Zhuozhou City, the sound of drums and turtles shook the sky and the earth. Since ancient times, the prosperity of the Song Dynasty has never surpassed this time.

Former general Zheng Jianxiong led his army to the south bank of Lugou River, and several cold arrows suddenly shot from the north bank.

Zheng Jianxiong immediately sent someone back to Zhuozhou to report to Liu Yanqing, saying that the front army had fought with the enemy along the Lugou River, but it was unknown that the opposite bank was in fact and asked whether to cross the river to fight?

The Lugou River is only thirty miles away from Yanjing, but Liu Yanqing did not order the Song army to cross the river - he was worried that Xiao Gan would set up an ambush on the other side of the river.
To be continued...