Yang Zhi immediately sent Liu Xi to Yanzhou to report on the situation of the war, and asked Zhao Kai, who had already arrived, whether he would start negotiations when the time was ripe? The staff members who followed Zhao Kai to send troops looked at each other, and now that the war in Youzhou had not yet begun, and Hengshan was still in the hands of Western Xia, how could he negotiate? Liu Xi received Yang Zhi's face-to-face instruction and explained: " Thinking about negotiations now, it is possible to obtain greater benefits without bloodshed, and even if the negotiations fail, the army can also be rested, so that the army in Hongzhou and other places can first clear the enemy in Hengshan, and in the spring of next year, even if the Western Xia wants to reinforce Henan, it will be insufficient because the Yellow River has more than enough. ”

Zhang Shen agreed, because his troops were on three sides of Hengshan, and if Yang Zhi could exert pressure on the side of Dingbian Town, the pressure would be doubled for the Western Xia army entrenched on Hengshan. Zhao Kai did not doubt Yang Zhi's intentions, Yang Zhi thought from the beginning that it was a blessing to be able to occupy an advantage in Henan, and the temporary transfer of Lu Yi to the army was undoubtedly for negotiation, and the threat of Jin and the supply of materials in Taiyuan and Qinzhou were big problems, Zhao Kai immediately replied to Yang Zhi, and the negotiations could start from entering Youzhou City.

Youzhou is the place where the two armies converge this time, and they can threaten Lingzhou and Xiazhou at the same time, Zhao Kai is determined to win, even if he pays a big price, Zhao Kai will not hesitate. As soon as Liu Xi came back and said, Yang Zhi understood, knowing that his brother-in-law still valued his name in history, and said to Cai Suitian sent by Liu Xi and Zhao Kai with a smile: "It's about the same as I estimated, I will take Youzhou." ”

However, Yang Zhi was not prepared to gnaw hard, with nearly 100,000 Western Xia troops and a fortified city, Yang Zhi did not have so many people to add to the pit. Yang Zhi whispered a few words to Aode, and Aode smiled: "I understand, I will speak out in the back of each house or in the yard, so that they can hear this, and I don't know who said it." ”

After Ao De left, Yang Zhicai told the two that he would use a counter-plot to release the more than 5,000 Xixia soldiers and civilians who were unwilling to surrender, most of whom were old and weak and wounded, in order to create a rumor about Ren Dejing, saying that Ren Dejing had discussed with Taiyuan to cede Youzhou and Suizhou to the Great Song Dynasty, and occupied Xiazhou to be called the king of Chu.

Liu Xi was a little incredulous, who didn't know that the Dingbei Army was strictly disciplined, and even if such a confidential thing was true, it would be impossible to leak it; Cai Suitian knew that Yang Zhi was going to buy people's hearts at the moment, so he naturally couldn't kill people on a big scale, so he could only use the value of people to the end, and finding a reason to put these people back was completely out of his mind, but Cai Suitian was worried that the Xixia people would not be fooled: "The Xixia Paradise Hall has an internal response in the city, and there are strict censorship methods, so I'm afraid it won't work." ”

Yang Zhi said with a smile: "The party members need a reason to restore the confidence of 100,000 soldiers, and they don't care whether this rumor is true or not. ”

Three days later, Yang Zhi released more than 5,000 captives of the Western Xia soldiers and civilians, who galloped all the way to Youzhou, and on the way, with a belly full of fear and anger, spread the words they heard more widely in their exchanges with each other. When this group of people arrived in Youzhou, the rumors quickly spread among the Western Xia army, and soon reached the ears of the generals in the army.

This is an unsophisticated lie, and it is full of flaws at a glance, but it is in line with the wishes of those soldiers who have lost the battle in the Western Xia army, and the 200,000 male soldiers were beaten by the Dingbei army so that they could not find the north, and gambled on the national glory and fate of the Western Xia. Ren Dejing looks very suitable, the ministers of the Great Song Dynasty, the relatives of the royal family, can carry any pot, and no matter how he carries it, he will not die.

Wu'er Siqi knew that it was a rumor, but instead of stopping it, he sent a large number of released captives and merchants back to Xingzhou, so that the rumor spread all the way from Youzhou to Xingzhou; Ren Dejing had to go back to Xingzhou to explain that Raida Gongji had to think about how to get out of such a predicament. Judging from the military situation in all aspects, Hongzhou, Longzhou and other places were still unable to advance westward for a time because of the threat of the Xia army in Hengshan, and Yue Fei had returned to Jingzhou to prevent the counterattack of the Xia Xia army and the Jin army in the north.

Now the danger to Youzhou is Yang Zhi in Wuyuan County and Quduan in Baotai Army, and Hot Gongji suddenly discovers Yang Zhi's goodwill, that is, the 5,000 people who have been released back; if Yang Zhi wants to spread a rumor, 500 or 1,000 people are not enough? Why give 5,000 people at one time, Yang Zhi will not make such a mistake, Yang Zhi is hinting to himself that what he needs is Youzhou, not the population of Western Xia.

Under the current situation, as long as Wu'er Siqi and Raida Gongji ensure the stability of the situation in the southeast of Western Xia, they can effectively relieve the heavy pressure of the Dingbei Army and win a respite for the Virtuous Xia; 。

Hot Gongji was a little uneasy, lest one of his mistakes make a big mistake, so he decided to try again, and ordered the Western Xia army in Xining Prefecture to take the initiative to retreat, as long as the people and horses escaped, and the livestock and cities were all left to the Song people, Qu Duan chose to occupy Xining Prefecture when he was pursuing. Hot Gongji's feeling was not better, because he knew very well that when Yang Zhi's hundreds of thousands of troops gathered in Youzhou, it was the moment of decisive battle between the two sides.

Wu'er Siqi walked in with a happy face, and shouted as she walked: "My lord, look who is coming." ”

The waiter Yunlang Huan followed Wu'er Siqi in, and said with a heavy face: "Lord Hot Gongji, I brought the emperor's will, in order to defend Lingzhou, let your army all withdraw across the Yellow River, leaving Mu Jun's 2,000-foot army to guard Youzhou." ”。

Ah, two thousand infantry troops guarding Youzhou, Hot Gongji instantly understood that this was the practice of giving up Youzhou, and it was exactly the same as his own consideration, Hot Gongji asked in surprise: "Did Lord Ren think of it?"

Yun Langhuan shook his head and said, "It's King Jin." King Jin believes that the Great Song Dynasty still cares about Western Xia, even Yang Zhi, and he is not absolutely sure of reproducing the style of the first battle of Gyeongju, but now our army reinforcements can't come, and they rashly fight in Youzhou, which has lost national strength in vain, so it is better to take the initiative to give up Youzhou and prepare for the peace talks later. ”