On the 30th of the 6th, the Jin army sent more than 10,000 troops to attack Linjian in Suzhou, Li Xianzhong sent Shi Jun to fight, and the two sides had casualties in the battle for one day, and the Jin army dispersed on the 31st. On July 2, the Jin army re-attacked Pei County in Xuzhou, and on July 3, the Jin army broke through the city and invaded Pei County. At the same time, in Yingzhou, Haozhou and other places, the Song army and the Jin army also had small contacts. In the past few days, there have been continuous conflicts on the Song-Jin border, and there have been small and medium-sized battles in a row, and Han Yanzhi of the Jiankang Governor's Mansion has sent back several letters about the war.

And the Jin State even declared that it would raise a large army of 500,000 and gather the strength of the country to invade the south in retaliation for the Northern Expedition of the Song State.

The news reached Lin'an, and people in Lin'an City were also panicked, and rumors spread everywhere, for fear that the Jin army would cross the Yangtze River and attack Lin'an.

The Great Song Emperor Zhao Tuan was also surprised when he heard the news, because with the current strength of the Great Song Dynasty, it was probably difficult to resist the attack of the 500,000 army of the Jin State. So he convened the current important ministers of Lin'an, including Prime Minister Tang Siwei, Governor Chen Junqing, Tongzhi Privy Council Secretary Liu Heng, Qian Duanli, Liang Kejia, Yin Sui, Wang Zhiwang, Jiang Fu, Ye Hao, Ye Heng and others to discuss the plan to deal with the southern invasion of the Jin army.

Chen Junqing first spoke: "Your Majesty, Weichen thinks that it is imperative to announce that Han Yanzhi and Li Xianzhong should strengthen the garrison in the Lianghuai area, stick to the cities and counties, and prevent the Jin army from taking advantage of it, and then immediately mobilize people from all over the country, and recruit soldiers, select generals, so as not to be affected, and Wei Gong is seriously ill and cannot be a director, so he should immediately return to Yu Yunwen to preside over the overall situation." ”

As soon as Chen Junqing's words were finished, Qian Duanli immediately said: "Now the Jin army is pressing the border, all because of my reckless Northern Expedition in the Great Song Dynasty. The name is called the soldier, and the soldier may not be fine. Useful soldiers are invincible, they just want to take risks, rash and rash, and those who lose their masters and apprentices will win. In the name of useful soldiers, the reality of useless soldiers, Jia resentment makes trouble, and it is not beneficial to the country. What's more, the murder weapons of the soldiers, I hope that Your Majesty will take the collapse of Qixian County as a warning, and make an early decision to discuss peace as a state affair, which is a plan for the stability of the society. ”

Immediately afterwards, Wang Zhiwang also said: "The minister thinks that the master of the army is different from the minister, and the only thing is to flatter the will of heaven." And the minister's view of heaven's will, now the shape of the north and the south has been formed, can not be easily attacked, I can not cross the Huai River and go north, just like the enemy can not cross the Yangtze River and invade the south. Therefore, we should first negotiate peace with Jin, and if we use the power of attack and war to defend ourselves, then we will defend ourselves and solidify ourselves, and then respond to them according to the changes in the mechanism. This is the best policy. ”

Liu Heng couldn't help but say: "I have been a great Song Dynasty for more than 200 years, how can it be easy. How can it be determined by the number of days? Now, as long as you make every effort to defend the two Huai, the Jin country is not enough to filter, so why bother to negotiate peace with the Jin people. ”

Yin Sui immediately said: "The minister thinks that now that the country is not ready, how can the two Huai defend it, and it is advisable to negotiate peace with the enemy as soon as possible." ”

Liang Kejia also said: "The use of troops should be based on financial use, and now the use is insufficient, why should we gather troops?" What's more, my Great Song Dynasty has not yet strengthened its troops, and if I don't move according to my strength, I will regret it in the future. However, you can only increase the coin, don't abandon the land, don't ask for a mausoleum, then the peace matter will not be compensated. ”

All of a sudden, the ministers of the Lord and the faction spoke one after another to persuade Zhao Tuan to negotiate peace with Jin Guo. Among the main battle factions, Zhang Jun was seriously ill and could not be listed, Yu Yunwen was in Sichuan, Han Yanzhi was in Jiankang to supervise the battle, and Chen Junqing was unwilling, but he was unable to refute because he was not familiar with military affairs. Liu Heng and others are still young, and they are frivolous, so they have to let the Lord and the faction play.

Zhao Tuan was very disappointed in his heart, although he promised Zhao Gou that he was willing to negotiate peace with Jin Guo, but he was unwilling in his heart, but now Zhang Jun is seriously ill, and the other ministers of the main battle can't come up with any good way to resist the Jin army, can they only negotiate peace with Jin Guo? He even said: "In this way, let's negotiate peace with Jin Guo." ”

I saw Chen Junqing kneeling in front of Zhao Tuan with a "coo", and said bitterly: "Your Majesty, you must not negotiate peace with Jin Guo." ”

Zhao Tuan was stunned and was about to speak. At this time, Tang Si retreated: "Your Majesty, the only way to plan today is to negotiate peace with Jin Guo as an expedient measure. Now that my Great Song Dynasty is guarding the two Huai, the Jin people will still negotiate peace with us, but once the two are lost, the Jin army will break through the Yangtze River, and it will be impossible to negotiate peace even if they want to negotiate peace at that time. Lord Chen, if you don't negotiate peace with the Jin State, what way can you return the Jin Army? He turned to his ministers and asked, "My lords, the Jin army has invaded, and that lord has a good plan to meet the army?" ”

The other ministers looked at each other, and no one answered. Zhao Tuan couldn't help but be a little disheartened, he had also experienced the battlefield during the Northern Expedition, and knew the danger of the battlefield, once the Jin army really killed the Yangtze River, it was difficult to resist the Jin army's iron cavalry with the recruited militia and local troops. At that time, do you want to follow the example of Zhao Gou and flee to the sea for refuge?

Zhao Tuan thought about it again and again, and finally made a decision, and said: "As Tang Qing said, you will be responsible for making peace with Jin." However, it is only allowed to increase the annual currency, and it is not allowed to cede land. Otherwise, I would rather raise an army to fight to the death with the Jin State. ”

Tang Siwei was overjoyed in his heart, and the emperor finally agreed to negotiate peace with Jin Guo, and hurriedly kowtowed: "The minister has the order." ”

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Zhang Jun was at home at this time, lying on the bed. Since returning to Lin'an, he has become more ill and has been bedridden and can only recuperate at home. But it has not improved, and my body is getting worse day by day. On the one hand, it was because Zhang Jun was too old and overworked during the Northern Expedition, and on the other hand, it was also because of heart disease: this time the Northern Expedition failed again.

Zhang Jun looked back on his life, and the defeat of Fuping, the Huaixi military mutiny, and the defeat of Fuli that he had experienced in the past few decades all came back to his mind one by one. Although he was dedicated to his country and advocated the Northern Expedition to regain lost territory, the military activities he participated in throughout his life were almost always accompanied by failure. Someone once commented that he was ambitious but not ambitious, and he was victorious but not secret. But Zhang Jun has always been unconvinced, and he is bent on finding a chance to prove himself.

Since Zhao Tuan received Zen, he summoned Zhang Jun to see him, and said: "I have heard the name of the public for a long time, and now the court is only public." Then he really trusted Zhang Jun. Even after the defeat of Fu Li, the scholars and masters discussed Zhang Jun's wrongdoing, Zhao Tuan still replied to Zhang Junshu and said: "Qing must not hesitate without fear of people's words. At the beginning of the day before yesterday, I and Qing were appointed, and today we must also end with Qing. Being so trusted by Zhao Tuan naturally made Zhang Jun grateful. For several years, he has been actively preparing for the Northern Expedition, and he has tried his best to hope that he will have the opportunity to repay Zhao Tuan's kindness and prove that he is not incompetent.

It's a pity that this time the Northern Expedition failed again, and even the emperor was trapped in Qi County, if it wasn't for Yang Yan's expedition to Heiyang Mountain, which burned the grain and grass of the Jin army, it would be almost impossible to protect it. What made him regret even more was that Han Yanzhi, Wang Yan and others had repeatedly reminded him that he was on guard against the Jin people's plan to lure the enemy, but unfortunately at that time, he was carried away by the victory on the surface and did not listen. If you had listened to their counsel then, you would not have failed in this. Thinking about it now, Zhang Jun is even more remorseful, and his illness is naturally getting worse and worse.

Although he has been sick at home, he also knows that the voice of the Lord and the Central Government is now rising again, and the ministers of the Lord and the Minister have also pointed the finger at themselves. Yin Sui wrote a book, impeached Zhang Jun's domineering, and Fei Guo did not pay for it. Zhang Jun, who has experienced the sea for decades, naturally doesn't care about these, but what is the emperor's attitude now? Will it be shaken by the failure of this Northern Expedition and renegotiate peace with the Jin State? In that case, not only will his efforts in the past few years be in vain, but I am afraid that the Great Song Dynasty will never have any hope of recovering the lost territory.

In fact, what really made Zhang Jun ashamed was that under the command of Yu Yunwen, the Song army on the western front sent troops from Sichuan, not only recovering Qinzhou, Gongzhou, Longzhou, Fengxiang and Kyushu in succession, but also reopening the border between Song and Western Xia. In the face of Yu Yunwen's success, Zhang Jun felt that he was even more gloomy. In fact, even the minister of the main battle also had a lot of criticism of Zhang Jun, such as Chen Junqing, who suggested that Yu Yunwen be recalled to replace Zhang Jun to preside over the overall situation against Jin.

Thinking of the battle of Quarry Rock that year, after Yu Yunwen turned the tide, the sick veteran Liu Qi said: "The imperial court has raised soldiers for 30 years, and no skill is used, and the great achievement is a Confucian student, and my generation is ashamed to die!" "Are people of my generation really old?

Zhang Jun was pondering, when his son Zhang Yan hurriedly walked into the room: "Father, the emperor has come to visit the sick." ”

Zhang Jun was startled and immediately woke up from his contemplation. The emperor came to visit him in person, but the emperor still hasn't forgotten himself! Zhang Jun couldn't help but have mixed feelings in his heart, and hurriedly struggled to sit up. Zhang Yan hurriedly came to the bedside and held him up and said, "Father, be careful." ”

Zhang Jun gasped and said, "Quick, help me up and see me." ”

At this time, Zhao Tuan Si walked into the room under the support of a large group of eunuchs and guards, and saw that Zhang Jun was about to get up, so he hurriedly came to the bedside, stretched out his hand to stop him, and said, "Duke Wei, don't be polite." Lie down and recuperate. ”

Zhang Yan hurriedly asked his family to bring a chair and put it next to Zhang Jun's bed. After Zhao Tuan sat down, he found that Zhang Junji's face was scorched and yellow, and he described it as withered. He didn't spend much time with Zhang Jun, but he respected Zhang Jun's loyalty very much and regarded him as a teacher. At this time, seeing that Zhang Jun was terminally ill, he couldn't help but feel sad for a while, and almost cried.

Zhang Jun saw it in his eyes and smiled slightly: "The emperor doesn't have to be like this, he thinks he is over seventy years old, and even if he can't fully heal this time, he won't die young." It's just that since the emperor was reinstated, he is regarded as a humerus, and he must obey his words, believe his plans, and trust him. The minister should have done his best to live up to His Majesty's hopes, achieve restoration, return to the old capital, bow to the pure, and die for himself. Although things are contrary to wishes, the minister is dedicated to the country and has no selfishness, and heaven and earth can be used as a reference. ”

Zhao Tuan said: "Wei Gong is loyal and righteous, and I know everything." I know each other with the princes and ministers of Wei, leaning on the Great Wall, which cannot be shaken. ”