. Early this morning, Zhao Chen summoned Han Yanzhi, Zhou Kui, Ye Hao, Chen Junqing, Li Xianzhong and Yang Yan to discuss matters in the Wende Palace.

This time, the main thing was to discuss the aftermath of quelling the rebellion, which included the review and handling of the rebels within Jiankang. There are also the recovery of rebels who escaped from Jiankang.

Because this rebellion also involved many officials in the DPRK and China, some of them were captured, and some of them were not, and they need to be investigated. How to deal with those who are caught, and how to determine the scope of investigation. An improper measure can also easily cause accidents. Among the fleeing rebels, if Li Quan still has a certain amount of military power in his hands, it is also necessary to determine whether he will be appeased or suppressed. At the same time, the Great Song Dynasty is still conducting military operations on two battlefields, so how should the various fronts be dealt with after the rebellion? Do you want to continue the march, or do you stop? These things also have to be decided immediately

In the past few days of the rebellion, Han Yanzhi has always been by Zhao Chen's side, and Li Xianzhong and Yang Yan are the main cadres of this rebellion, they are all meritorious ministers, and Zhou Kui, Ye Hao, and Chen Junqing Although they did not participate in the work of quelling the rebellion, when Zhao Hong, Shi Miyuan and others recruited hundreds of officials, the three of them were all officials who resolutely refused to congratulate Zhao Hong, and Zhou Kui and Ye Hao were both ruling ministers, although Chen Junqing is no longer the ruling minister, but he is the imperial envoy Zhongcheng, responsible for picketing hundreds of officials, is also the patriarch of the four dynasties, and they are all trusted. Therefore, such a major matter can only be discussed with a few of them.

After everyone paid homage to the emperor, Han Yan bluntly reported to Zhao Chen, as well as to the other officials present, the progress of quelling the rebellion.

In this rebellion, which took place for three days and four nights, nearly 10,000 rebels who participated in the rebellion were killed, and nearly 7,000 were killed by the Song army, and more than 2,000 were captured. Among the leaders of the rebellion, the first offenders Zhao Hong, Zong Tianxuan, and Shi Miyuan were all killed, while another important person, Li Quan, is now fleeing with his army. Eleven accomplices, including accomplices, died in the chaos and 17 were captured, and other officials of the DPRK and China, including Qian Xiangzu, Wei Jing, Wang Ju'an, Wang Shiyong, Sun Bingwen, and Yang Cishan, were all temporarily detained and awaiting examination and handling. Among them, Yang Cishan is Concubine Yang's brother.

In addition, in this rebellion, the Song army suffered more than 6,000 casualties, including 945 people of the Jingyan army, and Xiao Yong, the commander of the Gongsheng army, Wang Jian, and Zhou Jiang, were all killed. More than 10,000 residents of Jiankang Province were killed, and more than 200 rooms were burned down.

Zhao Chen nodded and said: "The soldiers who died in the war should be buried thickly, and their families must be compassionate to them, and the innocent people who died should also be comforted as much as possible." At the same time, some compensation can also be given. The people whose houses were burned down should also be well settled and not allowed to sleep on the streets. ”

Han Yan nodded straight and said, "Respect the Holy Will." ”

Then Yang Yan also came out and reported some news about the rebellion that the staff had heard. Since the outbreak of the rebellion, the staff department has not been idle, Zhou Xin has been sending people to secretly collect information in this regard, just yesterday, the captured rebel leaders were inquired, and at present it can be preliminarily concluded: Among the rebels, except for a few from Jiankang and Lin'an, most of them are from the Taihu Lake area, which can be said to be the general suppression point of the rebellion.

And according to the current situation, there are two rebel leaders Pan Bing and Chen Yichao, neither captured nor found their bodies, if they escaped from the city, then most likely fled back to the Taihu Lake, but now I don't know how many rebels are in the Taihu Lake area, but Taihu Lake is only more than 300 miles away from Jiankang, and it can be reached in a few days, so it must not be taken lightly.

Then Li Xianzhong also came out, based on the return of the spies, Li Quan led the men and horses to flee to the west, and when the spies returned, they crossed Luzhou and entered the territory of the Anfeng army, and they were still heading west. Now it seems that the goal of Li Quan's army is probably to capture Gwangju, because once Li Quan captures Gwangju, then he can flee north into the territory of Jin on the one hand, and south into the Dabie Mountains on the other hand, and the space and scope of maneuver are much larger. At present, the strength of Li's entire army is about 15,000, and its strength should not be underestimated, so no matter what the result is, it is not a good thing for the Great Song Dynasty.

After listening to the few of them, Zhao Chen and the other three ministers all fell into deep thought. In this way, the scale and scope of the rebellion were much larger than expected. Although it is now a preliminary subsidence, it cannot be careless, and for these rebels, the unanimous opinion of the ministers is to expropriate and suppress, and will not be appeased. Whether it is Li Quanjun or the remnants of the rebels in Taihu, they are not contemptuous. Therefore, we must think of a foolproof plan for the whole method of conscription and suppression.

After a while, Chen Junqing came out and said: "Your Majesty, according to the opinion of the ministers, the outside of the soil must first be settled inside, so it is imperative that the foreign war should be stopped immediately, the imperial army should be transferred, and Li Quan and Taihu Lake should be conquered." In order to pacify the civil strife in the Great Song Dynasty. ”

Zhao Chen listened, and was silent, he also knew in his heart, at present, all the troops in Jiankang are only more than 30,000 people in total, and they also have to maintain order in the city, check the remnants of the rebels who have fled to the people, and the garrison is suspected of insufficient troops, so it is impossible to send troops from Jiankang to conquer and suppress, and withdraw military horses from the front line, so it is inevitable that the scriptures will become an inevitable thing?

However, withdrawing troops is easy to say, but it is a very difficult thing to do, because the enemy army will not let you retreat easily, and if one is not good, it is easy to turn into a rout on all fronts, and this kind of example is not uncommon in wars in history. At the same time, the question of whether the withdrawal of troops should be complete or partial, and whether the land and cities occupied in the past should be completely abandoned or continued to be occupied, these are all questions that need to be faced. Therefore, Zhao Chen's eyes looked at Yang Yan again, obviously at this time, he wanted to hear Yang Yan's opinion.

In fact, Yang Yan had already thought about this, and the former Zhao Chen looked at him, and then spoke again: "Your Majesty, the minister thinks that the advance on the Jianghuai line should be stopped immediately, and all the cities and lands occupied except for the four prefectures of Shou, Ying, Cai, and Tang should be abandoned. Withdraw the men and horses to quell the civil unrest. But on the front line of Western Xia, it should continue to persevere. ”

Zhao Chen nodded, and said to the others: "What do you think of the horse's opinion?" ”

Everyone was speechless for a while, and everyone was thinking about Yang Yan's opinion in their hearts. After a long while, Han Yan said straightly: "Can you ask the horse to explain the reasons for withdrawing the army and not withdrawing the army in more detail?" ”

Because Yang Yan was the chief general of the Song army that captured Western Xia, he suggested that the Song army in Jianghuai should be withdrawn and continue to attack Western Xia, which would inevitably make people think that he was reluctant to give up the work of capturing Western Xia and had ulterior motives, so it was reasonable for Han Yanzhi to let him explain further.

Yang Yan naturally understood this, so he said: "The Jianghuai front line was originally launched to cooperate with the attack on Western Xia and contain the forces of the Jin State, and the intention was not to capture the city, but to let the Jin State go to the rescue of the Western Xia. At present, it seems that it is only the first line of Xuzhou, Chenzhou, and Haozhou, and it is still far from Tokyo. Moreover, Jianghuai is close to Jiankang, and after the imperial edict is issued, within ten days, all walks of life can be withdrawn, and they can immediately devote themselves to counterinsurgency. At the same time, now that Jin is in turmoil, it is still flawless to take care of itself, and the Jianghuai line is withdrawn, and they are absolutely powerless to catch up, let alone take advantage of the situation to pursue. ”

After listening to Yang Yan's words, Zhao Chen nodded frequently, and even Han Yanzhi, Chen Junqing and others were quite approving. Zhou Kui said: "Then may I ask the horse, why does the Western Xia line still insist on marching?" ”

Yang Yan continued: "The Western Xia is different, my Great Song Dynasty originally sent troops to the Western Xia for the purpose of completely conquering the entire territory of the Western Xia, and now the Hetao and Henan regions are occupied by me, and the reinforcements of the Jin State are defeated by the Great Defeat, when the ministers return to Jiankang, the Western Xia monarchs and ministers are trapped in the isolated city of Xingqing Mansion, and the pacification of the Western Xia is just around the corner, and now the time has passed more than 20 days, if nothing else, Xingqing Mansion should be broken by the Jing. If the troops were withdrawn at this time, all the previous victories would be lost. My Great Song Dynasty wasted money, food, and troops, and all the efforts I made were all in vain. Moreover, Western Xia and Jiankang are thousands of miles apart, even if the men and horses are withdrawn, it will take at least a month and a half to arrive, so it is simply too late to hope that the men and horses of the Western Xia will withdraw to quell the chaos. Therefore, it is better to continue to use troops against Western Xia until a complete victory is achieved and Western Xia is completely occupied. ”

After listening to Yang Yan's words, Han Yanzhi immediately stepped out and said, "Your Majesty, the minister thinks that Yang Yan's proposal is feasible, and I hope Your Majesty will think twice." ”

Li Xianzhong also came out and said: "Your Majesty, at present, my Great Song Dynasty is on the front line of Jianghuai, with a total of more than 200,000 troops, including more than 50,000 people in the Sanya Forbidden Army, and Li Quan's army is only 15,000 people. There is also no need to join the Western Xia people. ”

Zhao Chen nodded slightly, looked at Chen Junqing and the others, and said, "What about the opinions of Qing and the others?" ”

After listening to Yang Yan's explanation, Chen Junqing, Zhou Kui, Ye Hao, etc. also felt that Yang Yan's opinion was very reasonable, and Han Yanzhi and Li Xianzhong also expressed their support for Yang Yan with scriptures, and the emperor seemed to agree, so they did not oppose it again, but unanimously passed it.

So Zhao Chen immediately issued an order and ordered all the Song troops on the Jianghuai front line to withdraw immediately. Only Shou, Ying, Cai, and Tang were left in the four prefectures, and the rest of the places gave up. Then he immediately ordered Li Xianzhong and Yang Yan to immediately formulate a perfect plan to quell the rebellion.