Chuzhou.

While the fierce fighting was going on in Pizhou, news that Mongolia was about to invade the Southern Song Dynasty was spreading in the city.

Zhao Tai owns many properties in Chuzhou, among which wine shops and theaters attract the largest number of people and are also the source of news.

At this time, in a house in Chuzhou, Hu Zhen was standing in the study with her hands behind her hands, listening to reports from her subordinates.

"Thousands of households! We have spread the news! There are many people in the city, with their families and families, going to the south to cause trouble!" one person reported.

Hu Zhen nodded: "There's only so much we can do now! Go! Inform the people in the wine shop and theater to pack your things and leave for Lin'an tomorrow!"

Zhao Tai is actually quite pessimistic about this war.

Of course, his pessimism was not about himself, but worried about whether the Southern Song Dynasty could withstand the Mongolian attack.

Zhao Tai's worries were not unfounded. Judging from the information he received, there were different opinions within the Song court. The official Zhao Yun was timid in fighting, while the Mongols were bent on attacking the Southern Song Dynasty. The results were generally foreseeable.

Therefore, Zhao Tai asked people to spread the news, hoping that the people in Jianghuai could prepare early to avoid being massacred by the Mongols.

News of Mongolia's brutality spread in Jianghuai. In addition to the oral reports of northern refugees who fled into the Southern Song Dynasty, there were also Jin Yiwei who secretly contributed to the spread.

Zhao Tai hoped to use this to attract the attention of various state governments in the Southern Song Dynasty, or to allow some people to go south in advance to avoid disaster.

Zhao Tai had doubts about whether the Southern Song Dynasty could resist the Mongols' invasion of Huainan, so he gave Hu Zhen an order very early to sell off his property in Huainan to reduce the losses caused by the Mongols' southward march.

"Don't worry Qianhu! I have already informed them and the ship has been arranged!"

Hu Zhen nodded when she heard this, "Okay, then go down!"

After his subordinates bowed and exited, Hu Zhen glanced at the study, feeling somewhat reluctant to leave. She sighed and began to pack her things, light the brazier, and destroy some letters and information.

…

In the city of Chuzhou, affected by the clouds of war, the people in the city were panicked.

Although the Southern Song Dynasty officials repeatedly stated that Mongolia had no intention of invading the south, and that even if Mongolia invaded the south, the court was prepared and told the people not to panic, many people still decided to leave Chuzhou.

Early that morning, in the west of Chuzhou City, an official ship docked. Zhou Simao, the newly arrived Huaidong pacifier, stepped off the ship and saw the commotion all around. Many people were rushing to get on the ship first, and they couldn't help but frown.

"Mr. Sir, the official sedan is ready!" The officials who came to greet Zhou Simao on the pier saw Zhou Simao's chess and cards, quickly stepped forward to salute, and then turned sideways to greet him.

Zhou Simao was about fifty years old, with a thin appearance, slightly squinted eyes, a few strands of beard under his chin, and a rather majestic appearance. He took a look at the situation on the pier, then walked into the official sedan, "Go directly to the Yamen!"

Zhou Simao originally wanted to go to the Appeasement Department first, but when he saw the chaos at the pier, he had people carry him to the Zhizhi Department Yamen.

Zhao Fan, the envoy of the Lianghuai system, was stationed in Chuzhou and was worried about the current situation.

He knew very well that the Mongols came for Zhao Tai on the surface, but in fact they wanted to deal with the Song Dynasty.

His opinion is that the Mongols cannot be defeated one by one. They must either take the initiative and place the battlefield in the Central Plains and Shandong, or withdraw the Kaifeng garrison and defend the Huaihe River with all their strength, and then urge Jinghu and Sichuan to contain the Mongols so that they cannot

Dare to attack aggressively.

Although he repeatedly submitted letters, the Song Dynasty had the national conditions of the Song Dynasty and the court had its own difficulties.

After the game between all parties, the final result was that he was not allowed to act rashly or take the initiative to provoke Mongolia.

Lin'an's order undoubtedly restricted Zhao Fan's hands and feet, making the Song army very passive. Fortunately, although Lin'an did not allow him to strike first, it did send him a lot of forbidden troops to strengthen the Huaihe River defense line.

At this time, in the festival hall, Zhao Fan was discussing with his subordinates how to arrange defense.

"Zhizhi Xianggong, Pizhou has been fighting for many days, and the loyal army may not be able to hold on for long!" Li Zhongshuo, an aide under Zhao Fan, said worriedly.

Zhao Fan twitched his cheeks and stood in front of the map with his hands behind his hands, "Thanks to Zhao Guorui this time, if he hadn't understood the general situation and stood firm in Pizhou, if the Mongols had been allowed to rush over directly, the Huaihe defense line would have been easily torn apart!"

"That's right! There is no Chao'an in the imperial court. I originally thought that the loyal army would not hold on to Pizhou, but I didn't expect that he would actually lead his troops to defend Pizhou!" Li Zhongshuo said: "Zhao Guorui is worthy of being the unparalleled national scholar after Taizu!"

Zhao Fan nodded, agreed with this evaluation, and then asked: "What's going on with the Forbidden Army? I can't waste the time Guorui bought for us, and we must complete the deployment as soon as possible!"

Speaking of the Forbidden Army, Li Zhongshuo said in a sullen voice, "Reporting to my husband, it has been half a month since Liu Dianshuai arrived in Chuzhou and he stayed in Chuzhou City all day. Many officers of the Forbidden Army are also having fun in the city and are not interested in military affairs!

"

Zhao Fan frowned. During the years of peace in the Song Dynasty, the Forbidden Army was all composed of Quangui's children. They were pampered in Lin'an and neglected training. When they arrived at the front line, they still behaved like this, which made Zhao Fan feel quite uneasy.

Zhao Fan heard that the officers were having fun in the city. How could such an army fight against the Mongols? He was about to say something when suddenly a subordinate reported outside the festival hall, "Mr. Zhizhi, the new Xuanfu Xianggong is here!"

Zhao Fan was a little surprised. He didn't expect Zhou Simao to come to see him so soon. He thought about it and said to many of his staff: "Since Mr. Zhou has arrived, you can come with me to welcome him!"

Zhao Fan was the Zhizhi envoy, with a higher rank than Zhou Simao, but Zhao Fan did not dare to neglect him because Zhou Simao was sent from Lin'an to monitor him and prevent him from disobeying the imperial court's will.

The Song Dynasty always relied on civil service to control military affairs. Military officers would be surrounded by civilian officials to monitor and restrain the military attaches to prevent them from disobeying the court's orders.

The situation on the front line is now tense, and the gun could go off at any time. Zhou Simao was sent by the court to prevent the Song army from provoking a war on the front line.

Therefore, Zhao Fan had to come out to greet him in order to live an easy life, so as not to offend Zhou Simao, who would write a secret report to accuse him of being domineering.

When Zhao Fan came outside the yamen, he saw the official sedan coming to greet Zhou Simao. When the sedan stopped and Zhou Simao got off, Zhao Fan smiled and said, "Zhou Fu has just arrived in Chuzhou, why don't you take a rest?"

When Zhou Simao saw Zhao Fan greeting him, he saluted and said, "I have seen Mr. Zhizhi before!"

After speaking, he straightened up and said, "I originally wanted to go to Xuanfu Division first, but when I was at the dock, I saw the gentry and the people rushing to get on the boat first. I was quite puzzled, so I came to ask Mr. Zhizhi!"

Zhao Fan did not expect that Zhou Simao would find fault with him as soon as he arrived.

The people of Chuzhou left the city and went south to cause trouble. Zhao Fan was in charge of Chuzhou, so he naturally had a better understanding of this situation.

He initially thought about restricting the people from leaving the city to avoid shaking the morale of the army, but then he felt that restricting the gentry and the people was not an option.

After all, he was not sure whether he could stop the Mongolian army. The people's spontaneous movement to the south could ensure their safety, reduce the population of Chuzhou, and prevent the city from depleting food too quickly after the Mongolian army besieged the city.

When Zhao Fan saw Zhou Simao coming to question him, he didn't want to quarrel with him, so he said kindly: "It turned out that Zhou Anfu was doing this for this reason! Let's go in first, and then we can talk slowly and in detail."
Chapter completed!