On the day when the city of Raozhou was broken in Shangjing Road, the defense line of the Great Song Waqiao Pass and Yijin Pass was finally broken, and the Liao army with superior forces relied on sophisticated siege equipment and crowd tactics plus a surprise attack in the middle of the night to finally open the gap in the Great Song defense line; Fan Zhongyan hurriedly ordered to retreat to the second line of defense, abandoning Baozhou, retreating to the areas of Qizhou, Mozhou, and Yingzhou, and the focus of the defense was still to hold the area of Beicaoqiaoguan in Qizhou, the main road leading to Bianliang.

At the same time, bad news also came on the western front, Ninghua, Baodezhou, Fengzhou, and Fuzhou were lost one after another, and Xiao Huibu, the right army of the Liao army, broke through the defense line of Hedong Road on the left road; forced Han Qi's army to retreat to the areas of Linzhou, Lanzhou, and Taiyuan Mansion.

On the frontal battlefield, the two sides fought fiercely for nearly a month, the number of dead and wounded has exceeded 100,000, the losses on both sides are huge, after the Song army retreated the second line of defense, the Liao lord Yelu Zongzhen ordered the army to rest for three days temporarily, and personally rushed to the Song city of Chi Daizhou at the junction of the left and right armies to comfort the generals.

The Liao people celebrated with joy and martial arts, and the Song people were in a panic, and the two lines of defense that had been operating for many years on the left and right were broken, and it was conceivable that the Liao army would drive into it like a bamboo, and when the Liao army converged, it was the time when Bianliang City was in danger.

Zhao Zhen issued several holy decrees to reprimand Fan Zhongyan and Han Qi, and investigated the reasons for the loss, and some ministers in the DPRK and China also wrote to accuse them of the war.

Zhang Yaozuo, the governor of Kaifeng Prefecture in Langzhong, said that this was the most humiliating war since the founding of the Great Song Dynasty, and that the border had never been broken, and the enemy army threatened the danger of Bianliang City.

With Zhang Yaozuo taking the lead, a large number of people jumped out to second, and Han Jiang, the servant of the Criminal Department, Chen Yi, Zhang Zhizhao, Sima Rong, and other officials of the Ministry of Justice, were angry in the court, and the spearhead was directly pointed at Su Jin's strategy of dividing troops to surround the rear and raid.

Zhao Zhen's heart was also slightly shaken, but his IQ was not low enough to really doubt Su Jin's motives, Su Jin's plan was approved by himself, and he also believed that Su Jin would never make a crooked idea about the survival of the country, the Song Kingdom was finished, and Su Jin did not have the slightest benefit; As for the other meaning implied in the words of Zhang Yaozuo and others, Zhao Zhen only listened to him as a fart, no matter how he measured it, Su Jin would never do that.

In the face of the clamour, Yan Shu and Du Yan unexpectedly remained unanimous, angrily reprimanding this group of beam-jumping clowns in court, and at the same time asking Zhao Zhen to punish him.

Zhao Zhen remained neutral and terminated the discussion about strategic mistakes and correctness, in Zhao Zhen's words, whether the words for or against were fierce or biased, but after all, they are a kind of opinion, and they should not be punished because of differences of opinion.

Yan Shu had no intention of arguing with Zhao Zhen, at such a time to slander the leading generals out of nothing, which should have been severely punished, but Zhao Zhen's partiality towards Zhang Yaozuo is obvious, and this Zhang Yaozuo, who has recently been promoted to the rank of official, is thanks to the assistance of Zhao Zhen's pillow man Zhang Guifei, and it is not known that he will become another powerful minister in the court in the near future.

Yan Shu wanted to find an opportunity to remind Zhao Zhen of the identity of Zhang Yaozuo's relative, but Yan Shu was a conservative and slick person, so he always hoped that someone else would talk about it, and someone like Bao Zheng in the court would play this matter sooner or later, so there was no need to be too anxious.

"Fan Zhong flooded into Beijing to report on the military situation and give a statement about the defeat." Zhao Zhen was anxious to know how bad the current situation was, whether he wanted to go to Jiangning Mansion to patrol south to avoid trouble when necessary, as Su Jin told him before leaving, and now that he thought about it, maybe Su Jin had already expected the result of the defense line being broken.

"Your Majesty, the current situation is better not to find Fan Han and the two, the battle begins, the second line of defense will begin to be built, Fan Zhongyan and Han Qi should be ready, judging from the military intelligence report sent by the two of them, the tone of the two is not anxious, if there is a danger that endangers Bianliang, how can they not warn in advance? Now is the time when the war is tight, so let's not let them go back and forth to delay military affairs. Yan Shu said.

"Yan Xiang, can you bet on the safety of the emperor and the capital, in case something happens, you and I will be sinners through the ages." Zhang Yaozuo regarded himself as a person, and in his tone, he seemed to be the central official of the imperial court.

Yan Shu smiled and said: "If something happens, the old man and Du Shumi are responsible for it, how can it not be your turn to be the power of Kaifeng Mansion to take responsibility, but there have been a lot of rumors in the capital recently, you should do your duty, if there is chaos in the capital, you are afraid that you will not be able to get rid of it." ”

Zhang Yaozuo's face turned red, Yan Shu's words were thorny, mocking him for his high official status, Zhang Yaozuo had the heart to refute, but he couldn't speak, and said in his heart: Sooner or later, I will ascend to your position, and I will be reasoning with you when the time comes.

Zhao Zhen coughed and said: "Yan Xiang is so confident, I am naturally full of confidence, victory and defeat are commonplace, and a temporary defeat is nothing, but the Political Affairs Hall and the Privy Council want to order Fan Han and the two not to have any more differences, and if there is a chance, they need to regain the lost ground." ”

Yan Shu Du Yantong claimed that it was, and Zhao Zhen sighed and said, "I really want to know where Su Jin's army is now." ”

Yan Shu played: "The minister and Du Shumi asked to meet after the next court. ”

Zhao Zhen knew that he was going to discuss the matter of Su Jin's army, and he didn't want to talk about it in public, so he immediately announced his retirement from the dynasty and urgently recruited Yan Shu Du Yan to enter the side hall to meet him; Yan Shu took out a bamboo tube and handed over the military information sent by Su Jin to Zhao Zhen; Zhao Zhen quickly finished reading it, patted his thigh happily, and said happily: "Sure enough, I have entered Shangjing Road and won Huaizhou." ”

Yan Shu smiled and arched his hand: "Congratulations to the emperor, congratulations to the emperor, Huaizhou captured, the next target is not Gyeongju or Raozhou, according to the time, the flying pigeon road will take five or six days to arrive, now this time should have been the second city, and then the Liao people's nest to Beijing, but to see who took whose nest first." ”

Zhao Zhen couldn't help but say: "No wonder you are confident in the hall, why didn't you tell me the news earlier?" ”

Yan Shu said: "I just arrived in the morning, and I can't say it in the hall, Su Jin specially told me to keep it secret, for fear that the Liao people would listen carefully and learn about it, so I leaked my intentions early." ”

Zhao Zhen twisted his beard and smiled: "Okay, good Su Jin, I was indeed a little worried just now, now it seems that I should sit firmly in the capital, as long as Han Fan and the two can hold on, it will be a favorable situation, and the Liao people will know that there is internal chaos overnight, but whether they withdraw or not will depend on Su Jin's ability." ”

Yan Shu said: "Exactly, you have to take Shangjing, the emperor, you think, if Yelu Zongzhen's mother, queen concubine and son are served in a pot, then Yelu Zongzhen should not go crazy?" ”

Zhao Zhen laughed and said: "It depends on whether Su Jin has this means, the day the Liao army withdraws to save itself, it is the time for our army to counterattack, and now we just need to stabilize it." ”

Du Yan said in a deep voice: "It is this reason, this is also the established policy, the emperor must not be instigated to disturb the square inch, I want to mobilize the army of the north and south roads of the southwest of Beijing to go north, although there are only 50,000 people, but deployed in the northeast of the capital, you can also feel at ease, please ask the emperor to agree." ”

Zhao Zhen waved his hand and said: "You go and do it, I was in a very low mood today, but now I am much better, the two Aiqing have worked hard, Yan Xiang drafted a decree for me to encourage Fan Zhongyan and Han Qi, the words of the previous holy decree were a little more intense, and these two people are afraid that they can't hang up." ”

Yan Shu Du Yan said in unison: "Obey the order!" ”

……

Originally, he summoned Yelu Chongyuan and Xiao Hui to Daizhou, ready to reward the victory of the eastern and western defense lines, but on the night he came to Daizhou, a shocking news came, which immediately shocked the Liao monarchs and ministers at a loss.

"Damn Song people, insidious and cunning comparable to the fox of the grassland, actually used the Xia Realm to march to copy my back road, damn Xia people, actually borrowed the Song Dynasty, after destroying the Song Kingdom, the first one to deal with the prostitute Yelidulan." Yelu Zong really scolded like a shrew in spite of his demeanor.

The ministers under the tent were silent, and no one spoke for a long time, Xiao Hui said softly: "All kinds of signs indicate that the grassland looting east of Dasanguan was carried out by the Song army led by Su Jin, but unfortunately we were wrong in our judgment at that time, and we thought that the Xia people took advantage of the fire to rob." ”

Yelu Zong said angrily: "What's the use of talking about this now? At the beginning, I wanted to divide my troops to exterminate, but you didn't agree, but now it's okay, and the knife is stuck in my heart. ”

Xiao Hui said with embarrassment: "The minister sent someone to investigate afterwards, and found that the rump of several enemy horses killed on the grassland were branded with the war horses of the Xia Kingdom, so it was determined that it was done by the Xia people. ”

The emperor's younger brother Yelu Chongyuan snorted disdainfully: "I am stupid, but I blame others for being smarter, a few dead horses have deceived you, the king of the Northern Courtyard, and the 200,000 army is going north, but there are no clues to work?" I didn't believe it. ”

Xiao Hui said with difficulty: "It's not that I didn't track it down, it's just that the enemy disappeared without a trace after the attack, and it is said that to go to Shangjing Road, you need to pass through Beifeng Prefecture and Zhongjing Province, but after the enemy attack and harassment, I didn't go from this line at all, so I am even more convinced that it was the Xia people who withdrew to the country after the attack." ”

Yeluzong was really angry: "Could it be that they grew wings and flew to Huaizhou? ”

Xiao Hui hurriedly said: "Thinking about it, there is only one way to go directly to Huaizhou, and that is to go north along Yunnei and through the desert; It seems that the Song people came prepared this time, and the goal is very clear. ”