Although soldiers are very fast, they can't be fast even if they are dispatched together with the already decaying Central Imperial Army. This encirclement and suppression is not the business of the Jinwu Army. In order to make it happen for all, the Privy Council wiped out Song Jiang and his gang on the northwest road of Jingxi Road, and prevented Song Jiang and his gang from fleeing back to Jingdong East Road, which has a developed waterway. They decided to use two wings with nearly 30,000 commanded forces in total.

In this case, it is not possible that the Jinwu Army can get faster just by fast.

In addition, it also took some time for Zhao Kai to prepare food, grass, divine arm bows and horses.

Finally, after discussion, everyone decided to decide, and ten days later, Cai still led his army to Puzhou to make a final decision.

After deciding to send troops, Cai still did not return to the Jinwu Army's garrison, but went to Tokyo Bianliang City early the next morning.

Nowadays, soap has become Cai's lifeline.

Therefore, if something happens to the soap, it will not only waste all the efforts of Cai Gan, but it will definitely damage Cai Gan's vitality. The key is that Cai Gan still has to distract his energy and then start other profitable businesses.

Therefore, it is urgent to solve your worries!

Nothing to say along the way.

It was said that after returning to Bianliang City, Cai still went straight to Mingluan Hall.

People must see their trump card clearly and understand what their greatest reliance is.

In this way, you can avoid stinking a good hand of cards.

Applying to Cai Jian, as of now, Cai Jian’s greatest reliance comes from the Cai family, so Cai still must maintain his greatest reliance. Therefore, when Cai Jian returned to Bianliang City, he came to Mingluan Hall and came to pay homage to his uncle Cai Jing.

This time, Cai still did not come empty-handed. He took a lot of effort to find a Tang Dynasty copybook of Ouyang Xun's "Zhongni Dream Diary Tie".

Although it is just a replica, not an original, it is also a very rare and good thing.

So much so many good things that Cai Jing had seen, so I couldn't help but look at them a few more times and praised: The book of Zhenxing is derived from Tailing, and is as thick as a spear and halberd of the arsenal. The wind is stricter than Zhiyong, and the polish is less than Yu Shinan. Looking at famous scholars in the Tang Dynasty, Yan Zhenqing and Ouyang Xun's calligraphy is the best.

As soon as he saw Cai Jing's appearance, Cai still knew that his gift was given the right one.

Cai still didn't say anything and kept standing beside him.

Cai Jing admired it for a while before putting down the copybook and said: Is it costing you a lot of money to buy this copybook?

Cai still answered truthfully: It was spent some money, but my nephew made some money selling soap recently, so my uncle didn't need to worry about me.

Cai Jing said: I have also heard of your soap. Although it is profitable, don’t be addicted to it. You can’t be slutty in life, you must do something.

Cai still said: No, my nephew remembers my uncle's teachings very much.

Cai Jing said again: I heard you abandoned literature and became a martial artist?

Cai still said: Yes, compared with Wentu, my nephew prefers Wutu. Moreover, the country is in trouble now, so my nephew thinks that martial artists may be able to do more.

Cai Jing said: Oh? Why do you say this?

Cai still replied: Most of the areas of Hengshan have been in the hands of our Song Dynasty. In the near future, there will be a national war between Song and Xia.

The most inescapable focus of the war between Song and Xia was the battle between Hengshan.

It can be said that the line between Hengshan and Tiandu Mountain is the dividing line of fate that plays against each other.

Hengshan is located in the northern part of Shaanxi Province in later generations, covering more than a thousand miles, with a dangerous terrain and was the most cutting-edge base for the Western Xia to attack the Song Dynasty.

The two countries of Song and Xia used Hengshan as the dividing line. Generally speaking, the north of Hengshan is all owned by Western Xia, and to the south belong to the Song Dynasty.

Since Emperor Zhenzong of Song gave Hengshan and Lingxia two prefectures to Xixia, the Dangxiang people actually truly had the foundation for establishing the country.

Let’s put it this way, without Hengshan, there would be no Xixia.

The importance of Hengshan to Xixia is mainly reflected in several aspects:

The Yihengshan area is not only crisscrossing mountains, but also has abundant water power. Wuding Dali and Tuyan Baima and other rivers crisscrossed, making Hengshan the most abundant place in the Western Xia except for Lingzhou, Liangzhou, Suzhou, Suzhou. The animal husbandry and agriculture are very developed here, and it is the main grain supply area for the Western Xia to attack the Song Dynasty.

Lushan, tea mountain in eastern Erhengshan, is the main production area of ​​salt and iron in Xixia, and it can continuously provide weapons for Xixia.

The Hengshan Qiang, who lived in the Hengshan area for three generations, was an important source of the Western Xia soldiers. They were brave and good at fighting, and were the best in the Western Xia.

The Sihengshan area has a steep terrain and very difficult to attack. After the Xixia built more than 300 fortresses on the border between the Song and Xia countries, Hengshan became the first and most insurmountable obstacle for the Song army to enter Lingzhou north. The Xixia relied on the danger of Hengshan and directly blocked the Song Dynasty's transportation route from Tianshui to Datong. At the same time, after the gathering of the Western Xia army from Hengshan, the long Songxia border line could become its breakthrough target anytime and anywhere. Before the Qingli increased its troops, the Song Dynasty's slump in the Northwest Four Routes was not unrelated to the favorable terrain of the Western Xia occupied Hengshan, which was not unrelated to the fact that the Western Xia occupied Hengshan.

To put it simply, Hengshan is important to Xixia just like the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun against Liao Kingdom. They can attack and defend when they retreat. They are also an important agricultural economic base.

The Song Dynasty, which lost Hengshan, was extremely passive in strategic direction. The prefectures and counties such as the Qingjingyuan and Qinlong were always under the threat of the Western Xia army. Due to poor mobility and unfavorable rescue, the Song Dynasty could only divide its troops to garrison, which greatly increased the burden on the Song Dynasty.

This gave the Western Xia army a chance to defeat one by one. The three defeats of the Song army in Sanchuankou Haoshuichuan Dingchuan Village were all caused by Li Yuanhao's mobility advantage and the number of encirclements was caused by Li Yuanhao's use of his mobility advantages.

In terms of attack, the passiveness of the Song army was more obvious. After losing Hengshan, the natural front-line supply base, the Song army could only rely on civilians to carry food to cross the 700-mile sea of ​​supplies for supply. Once the logistics support was not available, they could only retreat without fighting.

After many years of war between the two countries, the Song Dynasty clearly realized the importance of the Hengshan area. Therefore, since the Renzong Dynasty, the Song Dynasty began to implement the strategic and tactics of building forts and villages step by step to erode the Hengshan area.

At the beginning of this year, after Liu Fa was defeated, Tong Guan used Zhong Shidao Liu Zhongwu as a general and led the troops from Fuyan Huanqing to exit Xiaoguan and attack Hengshan.

After a great war, the Western Xia army was defeated, the elite field forces were wiped out, and most of the areas of Hengshan were also captured by the Song army.

The seeds planted by Fan Zhongyan, Han Qi, Li Xian and Zhang Feng during the reign of Emperor Renzong finally picked the fruits by Tong Guan during the reign of Emperor Huizong.

The Hengshan strategy of the Song Dynasty achieved perfect success.

This decades-long strategic evolution, every improvement was adjusted and revised by the Song army after paying a heavy price, and ultimately proved that the Hengshan strategy after continuous improvement was a devastating blow to Xixia again and again.

Now, although Lingxia and other places in the core areas of Xixia have not been damaged, the loss of Hengshan has completely lost the geographical advantage and strategic initiative of Xixia. The Song army, which can advance and attack and retreat, can only work harder to enter Xingqing Prefecture and destroy Xixia.

Therefore, Cai still said that there must be a national war between Song and Xia. Although it was against their will, it was recognized by Cai Jing.

Cai still suddenly said unstoppablely: Ma Zheng and others went to the Jin Kingdom to buy horses, and the Jin envoy came to visit Song again. If my nephew was not wrong, the official should be preparing to join forces with Jin to attack Liao, so there might be a battle between Song and Liao.

Cai Jing raised his eyelids and asked: How did you know about this?

Cai still replied: This is not difficult to guess. It has been more than a year or two for the government to have this idea.

Yes.

In fact, Zhao Ji had long wanted to attack Liao.

Three years ago, after Zhao Liangsi (Ma Zhi, who Tong Guan knew from the Liao Kingdom) offered Zhao Ji a plan to defeat Liao with Jin, Zhao Ji began to fall in love with the recovery of Yan Yun.

Zhao Ji thought to himself: The Qingtang area has been trapped in Tubo for more than 300 years and can send troops to take it back, but Yan Yun has fallen into the Khitan for less than 200 years. Taking advantage of the Khitan civil strife and send troops to take it back, it should be possible.

So, Zhao Ji called his two important officials, Cai Jing and Tong Guan, to discuss the matter.

Tong Guan meant at that time that if the Liao Kingdom was indeed as Zhao Liangsi said, and had been destroyed by the Jurchens, then it would be better for the Song Dynasty to go out alone to fight the Northern Expedition and recover Yan Yun in one fell swoop.

Cai Jing's attitude was relatively cautious at that time. He believed that the situation in the Liao Kingdom was not very clear and clear at the moment. Just based on Zhao Liangsi's one-sided remarks, he hurriedly decided to send troops, which was suspected of being hasty. He should be ordered to further explore the movements and facts of the Liao Kingdom, and then make a decision after understanding the situation.

Later, after receiving Zhao Ji's secret decree, Xiongzhou, he speculated that the court might have some plans for Yan Yun.

Therefore, Heshen spent a lot of money to recruit handsome men from the Liao Kingdom from many ways to vigorously collect various information from the Liao Kingdom.

Soon, a merchant from Liao Dynasty presented a map of Yanshan, including the mountains, plains, forests, rivers, roads, cities, villages, villages, etc. in the Yanjing area.

He Guan was so lucky that he went to Beijing in person and presented the map to Zhao Ji.

Zhao Ji hung this Yanshan map in Chongzheng Hall and often looked at it in a daze.

In this way, the desire to recover Yanyun's old place became increasingly strong in Zhao Ji's heart.

After a while, Zhao Ji received a memorial from Wang Ji, the governor of Daizhou on Hedong Road, saying that Wang Shizhong, the magistrate of Yingzhou in Liao Kingdom, led his whole family to Daizhou to surrender.

Zhao Ji was overjoyed and immediately ordered Wang Ji to send someone to escort Wang Shizhong's family to the capital to the palace.

It was also in Yanqing Palace that Zhao Ji met with the King's Army.

When asked about the situation in the Liao Kingdom at that time, the statements in Wang Shizhong were basically the same as those in Zhao Liangsi.

Zhao Ji asked the King's Army to talk about his view on the strategic concept of the couplet Jin to destroy Liao and recover Yanyun.

Wang Shizhong believed that this was a good strategy. He said: Now the Liao Kingdom is already weaker, and the Jurchens are just the opposite, like the sunrise in the east. If the Song Dynasty could seize this opportunity of Liao's internal chaos, it would be easy to recover Yanyun, and to join the Jin Dynasty to destroy Liao, it would definitely accelerate this process, which was the best strategy.

Later, Dong Panger, a native of Laishui, Yizhou, Liao Kingdom, gathered a group to raise an uprising and captured the cities and towns, with great momentum.

Soon, Dong Pang'er sent someone to Song to send a surrender to the Song Dynasty, expressing his willingness to surrender to the Song Dynasty. During the surrender, he claimed to be Dong Cai, the general of the Song Dynasty, who defeated the enemy, and was determined to capture the old land of Yanyun, serve the Song Dynasty, and requested the Song Dynasty to send troops to support it.

At that time, Cai Jing and Tong Guan both suggested that Zhao Ji accept Dong Pang'er.

Cai Jing believed that using the Liao people to recover Yan Yun was the best strategy. Dong Panger's uprising was an excellent opportunity and should not be missed.

Tong Guan advocated that on the grounds of supporting Dong Pang'er, he would directly send troops north to recover Yan Yun.

Zhao Ji then agreed to recruit Dong Pang'er and promised that if Dong Pang'er could help the Song Dynasty recover Yan Yun, he could be named King of Yan in the future.

Cai Jing then ordered the relevant departments to secretly make war robes and crowns for Dong Panger's army. Once they were accepted, they would be included in the Song army's organization.

During those days, Zhao Ji was very excited. He ordered Tong Guan to draw some elite troops from the Central Imperial Army to form a front army. At the same time, he ordered all Hebei routes to prepare for wartime logistics support, and also planned to secretly drive the main force of the Western Army to the Hebei border in the name of changing defense.

Soon, the Northern Expedition Front Army quietly set out from Tokyo - Tong Guan planned to lead the Northern Expedition Central Army to be dispatched in early March.

Deng Xunwu, who was the Privy Council at the time, hurriedly entered the palace after hearing the news and asked to meet the saint. Before he could be approved, he rushed into Chongzheng Hall and handed over a memorial to strongly oppose the attack on Yan, "Ask to the Northern Expedition" directly to Zhao Ji, and asked Zhao Ji to order Cai Jing to come and discuss it in person.

Deng Xunwu's memorial was very long, and a total of twenty-seven matters related to the interests of the Northern Expedition were stated, and each of them was commented in detail.

For example, the article "Wu Ming" was released, he commented: Relying on the alliance oath of Song and Liao, there has never been a war between the two countries for a hundred years. Now we are suddenly going to send troops to attack Liao and destroy the alliance oath. Why? What reason should we use to inform the people of the world? And what reason should we use to inform the Liao Kingdom? We are released.

At the end of the memorial, Deng Xunwu wrote affectionately: Officials, please examine the court today. Can any of the ministers who plan to discuss compare with Zhao Pu? Are there any of the generals and generals who are good at the generals and Cao Bin and Pan Mei? Can the elite of armored soldiers compare with the beginning of the founding of the country? At that time, with the Shenwu of Taizong, Zhao Pu's strategy, and Cao Bin and Pan Mei's generals, they won every battle and conquered all directions, but only Yan Yun's attacks ended in failure. It was not possible at that time, but today? And you should not send troops lightly. If you swear a hundred years ago, you will abandon it once. I am afraid that if the war breaks out, you will not be able to rest!

After reading Deng Xunwu's memorial, Zhao Ji couldn't help but waver: Is it a bit too hasty to send troops to the north?

Zhao Ji thought to himself: The Khitan is different from Tubo and from the Western Xia. The Khitan is a grassland empire. It swept across the entire grassland and was invincible. Once they attacked the Central Plains, they might trample the mountains and rivers!

Zhao Ji told Cai Jing about his concerns and said: If you violate the oath of our ancestors, it may lead to ominous consequences. It is better to stop the Northern Expedition.

Zhao Ji suddenly decided to stop the Northern Expedition, which surprised Cai Jing. He thought to himself: The government is simply treating war as a joke. No soldier has been released. The national war is about to start. I will regret it when I come to the battle.
To be continued...