"The solution, it's very simple, I want to ask Zhang Xiangguo to write a letter to the Liao people, telling them that we don't have to fight this battle." Su Jin smiled.

"What? We heard you right, don't fight? Everyone was full of black lines, and they didn't know what medicine Su Jin was selling in the gourd.

"Master Su, don't be joking, it's better to quickly explain the strategy of how to fight the enemy, don't sell it." Zhang Yuan was slightly displeased, this Su Jin seemed to be a bit of a military affair.

"Zhang Xiang, what I am talking about is the strategy against the enemy, please write a letter, order someone to send it to the camp of the Liao army, and say: The Xia Liao army is hostile to the wilderness, the wind and cold invade, the situation is becoming more and more embarrassing, both sides have a large number of soldiers and horses frozen to death, according to this development, there will be huge losses without fighting; In addition, the New Year is approaching, the snow is severe and cold, the soldiers think about returning, and the monarchs and ministers of Daxia think about it again and again, and they all think that they can not delay any longer, so they submit a letter to help determine two alternatives, one of which is that it is not a long-term solution to delay for a long time, and it is recommended that the two sides start a war on the same day to win or lose; Second, the two sides withdrew their troops and stopped fighting, and each returned to the army to rest and escape the severe cold, and on the day of the warm spring next year, they would fight again to avoid the pain of freezing and starving to death on the soldiers' horses. ”

Zhang Yuan was stunned and said, "Master Su, do you really plan to withdraw from the army and stop the war?" ”

Su Jin said with a smile: "You write a letter immediately according to my wishes, whether you stop the war or not, it is not up to me, and it needs the cooperation of the Liao people." ”

……

At noon, the soldiers who were watching in front of the Liao army camp found several enemy soldiers in the wind and snow, and immediately sounded the trumpet to alert; The soldiers at the front immediately took their guard on guard, pulled out their strong bows covered with ice ballast, and shouted loudly: "Whoever comes, if you don't stop, you will be killed by arrows." ”

The three people on the opposite side hurriedly shouted: "Don't release the arrow, we are here to deliver the letter on the order of my family commander." ”

The soldiers of the Liao army looked at each other suspiciously, looking closely, but they saw that the three Xia cavalry appeared in the wind and snow, and they really had no weapons, their hands were empty, and they didn't even have armor on their bodies, only helmets.

"Which letter did you send? Isn't it a fraud? The Liao soldiers shouted.

"Brother, the wind and snow are bitterly cold, we also want to roast the fire in the tent, if there is no military affairs, who wants to drink the northwest wind, don't shoot arrows, there are indeed letters to deliver." One of the summer soldiers raised his hands in the air, and the letterhead of a yellow envelope in his hand swayed in the wind.

The Liao soldiers did not dare to slack off, and hurriedly reported to the top, the former army general gave an order, dozens of horsemen rushed out of the camp, and after a while, three bare-handed Xia soldiers returned to the camp, and the letterhead was naturally taken down and immediately sent to the Chinese army's big tent six or seven miles behind.

Yelu Zongzhen burned several pots of charcoal fire in the big tent, even so it was still cold and biting, all the generals were in their respective barracks to hide from the wind and snow, but were called by Yelu Zongzhen to the big tent to discuss the matter, after everyone came, Yelu Zongzhen picked up the letter on the case and said: "Xia people came to a letterhead, to give us two suggestions, one is to fight immediately, so as not to let the soldiers and horses freeze to death and starve to death in the wind and snow, and the other is to suggest that the two sides temporarily withdraw and retreat, and then fight when the weather warms. ”

The ministers read the letters one after another, and immediately discussed, Zhang Jian said: "It seems that the Xia people's experience is similar to ours, and they can't stand it, the old minister thinks that it is really the best policy to take the opportunity to withdraw the troops, but I don't know what conspiracy the Xia people have." ”

Yeli Chongyuan said nonchalantly: "Why do he Xia people say that they will fight and withdraw when they say they will withdraw?" Our army has come all the way here, it is better to fight to the death with it, looking at this posture, the Xia people have already lost their morale, and they just took this opportunity to defeat it in one fell swoop. ”

Yelu Zongzhen frowned and said, "Although their army is weak, how good is our army?" Tens of thousands of soldiers suffered frostbite from their hands and feet, and many of their horses froze to death, and every morning they couldn't pull out their sheaths, and they had nothing to keep warm and keep out the cold. Now that the wind and snow are blocked, the supply has been quite difficult, and a large number of grain and grass materials have been blocked in the small scattered pass in the east of Helan, and I am really worried. ”

Yelu Chongyuan didn't speak, Xiao Hui stepped forward and said: "Your Majesty, even if the army is withdrawn, it is necessary to prevent fraud, perhaps the Xia people deliberately use this to test the situation of our army's camp, once we know that our army is becoming more and more difficult, or there are bad intentions, so when the emperor replies to the letter, you must not teach the Xia people to know the specific situation of our camp, you can deal with it vaguely, depending on the situation, it is better to teach the enemy army to not know the details." ”

Yelu Zong said, "How do you say to answer? ”

Xiao Hui thought for a while and said: "The emperor only said that my Great Liao army has abundant materials, and it doesn't hurt to consume it, and I don't agree to the proposal of withdrawing troops. ”

Zhang Jian said with a smile: "King Xiao is a good way, the Xia people must feel that the fog is heavy, if they have tricks, they will definitely show their feet, if they decide to withdraw their troops, our army will retreat calmly, and they will not lose to the other party in terms of momentum." ”

Yelu Zongzhen nodded and said, "Okay, I will reply like this." ”

Yelu Chongyuan muttered in a low voice: "Self-deception." ”

Zhang Jian said: "Your Royal Highness, this is not self-deception, this is a move that the soldiers do not tire of, if the enemy army tests the truth and learns the current situation of our army, how can they let go of this good opportunity?" Fighting in such harsh and cold weather, although our army's combat strength is strong, it cannot guarantee a complete victory, and the Xia people do not have to fight to the death, otherwise what will they use to deal with the Song people in the future? ”

Yelu Chongyuan gritted his teeth and scolded: "All this is caused by Song Pig, and I will definitely say justice to the Song people in the future." ”

Zhang Jian patted him on the shoulder and said, "Yes, but the current matter is better to be solved first, if it goes on like this, there is no need to fight, and these hundreds of thousands of horses will also be explained here." ”

……

In the camp of the Xia army, Su Jin was holding Liao Xingzong's reply and reciting it loudly: "...... My Da Liao Iron Cavalry has long been ready to fight, the army has abundant grain and grass, firewood and salaries, and the morale is high, the Great Liao Iron Cavalry is an invincible army in the world, and the confrontation is not to fight is to remember the old friendship between the two countries; Now the two suggestions put forward by your army are quite coercive, and our Daliao generals unanimously decided to choose the first one, and wait for the wind and snow to stop for a while, and choose a day to start the war............ I didn't want to be the enemy of life and death with the Xia country, but your country hated my Daliao very much, and your army gathered, and there was a tendency to fight for life and death...... How could I have ever been cowardly in my glorious Liao? ”

The generals in the camp were shocked, the Liao people seemed to be determined, and they didn't think about withdrawing the troops at all, Su Jin wishfully wanted to get rid of the situation in front of him, and threw out any proposal to withdraw the troops, which seemed very naïve and ridiculous.

After reading Yelu Zongzhen's reply, Su Jin laughed out loud; It's a pity that the generals won't be funny, and no one will ask: why is the general laughing?

Su Jin smiled, stretched out his hand to throw Liao Xingzong's letter on the case, looked at the generals who were talking about it, and said: "The Liao people have a set of bragging, and there is plenty of grain and grass and firewood, and the three brothers who sent the letter came back and said that the military tent of the Liao army is as cold as an ice cellar, and the ashes of the charcoal fire are already ashes and cold stoves, and I don't know how many days the charcoal fire has been broken, and the armor of the Liao people is very thin, unlike our soldiers, at least there is a cotton and linen lining, it can be seen that their bad sin is greater than ours, and they actually beat their swollen faces and fat people; Then I would strike them hard to make his hides break itself. ”

Su Jin dressed neatly, went out of the big tent, whispered a few words to the dynasty Mahan, and then ordered someone to call the three soldiers of the Liao army who delivered the letter into the big tent; The three soldiers' faces were a few bruises, but their faces were frozen, and they looked cramped and uneasy under the gaze of the generals when they entered the big tent.

Su Jin said with a smile: "The three of you have worked hard, it is not easy to send letters back and forth in the snowstorm, and my reply will trouble the three of you to bring back your army camp to your emperor." ”

The three of them said in unison: "It should be, it should be." ”

Su Jin said with a smile: "In addition, I have some gifts that I also trouble the three to bring back to the emperor of your country, the weather is cold, and it is not as good as sending anything to keep warm, I have prepared a wolf skin and a large coat of wolfskin, plus three barrels of things in my camp to warm the fire, please transfer it to the emperor of your country, and then say that the gift is light and affectionate, although the war is inevitable, but the gift still needs to be served, a little respect." ”

The three of them hurriedly agreed, and Su Jin shouted loudly: "Come on, take the three brothers to warm up and eat, bring them gifts, and escort them out of the camp." ”

Wang Dynasty Mahan entered the tent and led the three people out, out of the big tent left and right turned through dozens of camp tents, the three of them looked around, faintly saw that there was a bright fire in these tents, and they could smell the aroma of wine and meat in front of the tent door, and the three of them swallowed saliva greedily.

Wang Chao saw it in his eyes, turned around and smiled: "These guys are like this every day, they have no scruples about drinking wine and eating meat, and they are also sympathetic to the hardships of the cold weather. ”

The three of them were secretly frightened, Xia Jun was so carefree, compared to his own camp, gnawing on dry food on this ice and snow every day, it was like living in hell, and his heart was full of taste.

Dynasty Mahan led the three of them into an empty tent, there was a pot of meat stewed on a table inside, and there was a pot of wine next to it, Mahan beckoned: "Three brothers, please sit down, eat and drink well, and the general will send a letter later, and you can leave with gifts." ”

The three of them were already salivating, and they were not polite, they sat down to eat and drink, and a soldier became interested in the blue flames in a brazier next to him, seeing that there was nothing in the brazier, just a pool of clear water, but the flame was burning hot, and the whole tent was warm like spring by this pot of fire, and couldn't help but ask in surprise: "Two generals, what is this?" Can something that looks like water be burned? ”

Wang Chao said in surprise: "The three of you don't even know this, right?" This is fire oil, our army relies on this thing to make a fire for heating, there is no grass and trees on this Gobi Desert, how to survive such a cold day? Don't you have a brazier in your camp? ”

"Raw...... Naturally make a brazier, but ......" Before the soldier finished speaking, he was beaten by another soldier next to him by an elbow, and hurriedly changed his words: "We also use fire oil, I just ask casually, casually." ”

Wang Chao laughed and said: "Feelings, this brother is the one who tested us, what is there to talk about such commonplace things, the three of you hurry up and eat, it is dark, there are still several miles between the two armies, it is difficult to walk on the road when it gets dark, and there are bulky gifts to bring, don't make a mistake." ”

The three of them hurriedly buried themselves in eating and drinking, and after half an hour they came out of the tent drunkenly and with a full belch, their horses had already been brought in, and the gifts had been packed and hung on the side of the horses, but they were three large wooden barrels, in which the sound of water was rattling; Under the escort of Wang Chao and others, the three of them were sent out of the camp.