With countless resentments, the two of them still had the last hope, which was to catch up with Su Shi and attack Su Shi severely from both sides with the Liao army in Shenshan City.
If they can capture Su Shi next, it will be considered as making up for their mistakes, and they still have a chance.
We came all the way in a hurry, and when we arrived at Songziling and saw the Liao army standing guard on the mountain road in front of us, we realized that the Su army had never been here before.
Su Shi didn't come eastward?
This answer once again shocked Xiao Ying and the two of them. They quickly sent out a large number of scouts to search around, especially the north, which was the direction they were most worried about.
They were worried that Su Shi's army would move north first and then threaten the security of Beijing in the east.
Fortunately, the scouts quickly sent back the news that Su Shi's army did not go north, but probably went south along the Luan River.
"Send all the scouts to look for it and make sure to confirm the traces of the Su family army."
Xiao Ying breathed a sigh of relief when he learned that Su Shi did not go north. But he did not dare to relax too much. Su Shi gave him the impression of being too cunning. No one knew whether this was a deception on his part.
But they hope from the bottom of their hearts that this is true.
As long as Su Shi doesn't threaten Zhongjing, they can still be saved. At worst, they can spend more money to bribe some people to speak for them.
Su Shi did choose to go south this time.
By the way, this is not Su Shi's first visit to Luanhe City.
Su Shi had been here before when he entered Liaoning last time, and this time he seemed to be familiar with the road.
The army made no detours and came south smoothly, and suddenly appeared outside Luanhe City in mid-October.
Only this time, Luanhe City received the flyer first
The pigeon sent a message and closed the door one step ahead.
The Liao army in the city stood on the city tower, watching the Su family's army move along the front of the city and disappear.
It was finally confirmed that Su Shi's army had appeared in Luanhe City. While Xiao Ying and Zhang Jian were greatly relieved, they wrote another memorial and proposed peace talks with Song Dynasty.
It's impossible not to talk about it.
Nowadays, many Liao soldiers talk about Su Su.
If you are timid before fighting, pointing to such an army can still hurt Su Shi and severely injure Su Shi. It is simply impossible to capture Su Shi.
While writing the memorial, Xiao Shan and Zhang Jian jointly ordered that all the Liao army cities south of Luanhe City should be defended behind closed doors. They were not allowed to fight with the Su army, and they were allowed to wander here. If they could withdraw to the Song Dynasty,
That is the best result.
Seeing that the gate of Luanhe City was closed, Su Shi had no choice but to order the army to continue southward, and then arrived near Zunhua, the capital of Jingzhou.
The city gates here are also closed, and the city towers are full of Liao soldiers. They just watch the Su army coming to the city, neither coming out to attack nor opening the city gates to prepare for a battle.
"Young Marshal, why don't we attack the city?" Hu Tongtian, captain of the Second Black Cavalry Brigade, said with an anxious look on his face.
He didn't like this feeling of hitting a wall everywhere.
"No." Su Shi shook his head.
Siege represents a head-on fight. Although Su Shi is confident of taking Zunhua, what's next?
Do we have to attack every city we encounter? If so, how many of our 30,000 elite men can survive?
"Go to Shimen Town."
Zunhua has a city defense and is not so easy to attack, but Shimen Town to the south is different.
There are no walls there and it is difficult to defend.
Shimen Town, Su Shi has also been here before, and still cheats here
Killed three thousand elite Liao cavalry.
When I came here again, I found that everything had changed.
Not even a single citizen could be seen in the town. They must have fled after receiving the news in advance.
Ordinarily, a town with no citizens and no supplies would be of little use to an army of 30,000.
But in Su Shi's eyes, there's a lot to be done.
It's the end of October and the weather is getting colder and colder.
Although Su Shi's army has cotton-padded clothes to protect themselves, it does not mean that they are not aware of the cold. They are in urgent need of a shelter from the wind and rain.
Along the way, all they encountered were either cities with closed gates or Liao army scouts looking at them from a distance. Su Shi had already discovered that these Liao people did not bother them or mean to fight with them.
Even if the Liao army did not want to cause trouble, and the city gate was closed, it would be difficult for Su Shi to find a fighter plane, so it was better to take a good rest first.
Shimen Town is the resting place chosen by Su Shi.
All the flying eagle scouts were sent out hundreds of miles away to prevent the Liao army from surrounding them while they were resting.
Although the possibility that the current Liao army is frightened by them is very low, it still exists.
After the perimeter was secure, the Su family's army stationed in Shimen Town. Su Shi took out a large number of items and distributed them to every soldier.
No one asks how these things came into being. Anyway, if they are useful, everyone will be used to this.
In this way, surrounded by several cities in the Liao Kingdom, Su Shi started the cat winter in comfort. I am afraid that many people would not dare to think about this outcome.
Su Shi used his own strength to achieve this
At one point, it shocked all the surrounding Liao troops.
Su Shi's army settled down in Shimen Town, and Xiao Ying and Zhang Jian breathed a sigh of relief after hearing the news.
Now they don't dare to think about encircling Su Shi. As long as he doesn't trouble them, they will be lucky. But at this time, the Liao officials who came to the capital finally reached a conclusion on the peace talks - they agreed.
Although Su Shi is no longer causing trouble, his presence has forced many surrounding cities to be closed.
You can hold on for a short time, but if it lasts for a long time, with so many people in the city always needing food and drink, problems will inevitably arise.
As soon as the superiors agreed to the peace talks, Zhang Jian volunteered to be the ambassador and led his people straight to Bianliang of the Song Dynasty.
Compared with previous missions to the Song Dynasty, there has never been such an urgent mission as this time.
Zhang Jian didn't even have a seat in the sedan chair, so under the protection of hundreds of soldiers, he rode to the Song Dynasty and went straight to Bianliang City.
Bianliang City received news one step ahead that the Liao Kingdom would send its new envoy Zhang Jian to visit to discuss peace talks between the two countries and friendship from generation to generation.
In the past, when envoys from the Liao Dynasty came to the Song Dynasty, they usually would not state their purpose so clearly.
It would be good to reveal a general idea, but this time the purpose was stated in advance, which was intended to tell Da Song that you are ready, we are not going to fight, you can see what should be done.
What else can be done?
Compared to the Liao State, the Song State was even more unwilling to go to war.
The Song Dynasty is on the defensive side, and once it defends, it still defends the three tribes. If one of them fails, the country may be in danger of being destroyed.
Now that I heard that the Liao Kingdom did not want to fight, these gentlemen in the court were very happy.
.Under such circumstances, no one wants to put forward conditions.
They were worried about what they would do if the Liao Kingdom refused to agree to the conditions they had raised and the war continued?
But no one thinks about who created this situation today.
If Su Shi wasn't very good at fighting, didn't need any logistical supplies, and could appear and disappear, might the Liao people have bowed their heads?
Wen Yanbo volunteered, and before Zhang Jian arrived in Bianliang, he took on the role of minister with the power to negotiate peace with the Liao Dynasty.
He believed that this was an opportunity for him to perform, which could just make up for his previous misjudgment and misjudgment of Xixia.
Zhao Zhen and Wen Yanbo shared many of the same ideas about governing the country, and they admired him very much, so they gave him this opportunity.
In November, Zhang Jian entered Bianliang.
In just five days, the two sides reached relevant matters for peace talks.
Liao and Song were still brotherly countries, with a brotherly alliance and non-aggression against each other.
As the younger brother, Song would still pay tribute to Liao every year, in the amount of 10,000 taels of silver and 10,000 bolts of silk.
The amount of tribute was still the same as before. In the early days, it was 100,000 pieces of silver and 200,000 pieces of silk. But after Su Shi made several moves, it had dropped to a low point.
If Su Shi is in Bianliang this time, he will definitely stand up and completely wipe out the issue of tribute.
It was a pity that Su Shi was not here and others did not have such confidence. They were afraid that the peace talks would fail, so they recognized the previous agreement.
In other words, the Liao Dynasty reached peace talks without any losses. This also proves how afraid the court officials are of the Liao Kingdom and how unconfident they are.
After the peace talks were reached, Zhang Jian proposed again
An additional condition is that he hopes that a minister from the Song Dynasty can return to the Liao Kingdom with him, go to Shimen Town, and inform Su Shi of the peace talks between the two parties, so that he can withdraw his troops.
Everything else was easy to talk about, but when it came to sending people to follow Zhang Jian to Liao, the officials began to blame each other.
No one knows whether this is a conspiracy by the Liao people to kill the officials of the Song Dynasty.
If so, considering the fact that the Song Dynasty was afraid of the Liao Dynasty, even if a minister died, no one would dare to seek justice for him. Wouldn't his death be in vain?
Having said that, even if Zhang Jian had no intention of killing others, if they really went to Shimen Town and met Su Shi, could they really convince the other party to withdraw?
Su Shi is said to be easy to deal with, but he is really easy to fight.
It's like many courtiers in the court had business connections with Su Shi, allowing these people to make a lot of money.
But when it comes to being difficult to deal with, it is really difficult to fight. Many ministers in the court were often ridiculed and scorned by Su Shi. There were even some like Fan Zhongyan who was dismissed from office directly because of Su Shi.
of.
This peace negotiation was achieved through Su Shi's hard work.
But this time the Song Dynasty did not get any benefits from the peace talks. Who knows if Su Shi will be angry at this time?
If he is really angry and he doesn't retreat, who can do anything to him?
I'm afraid that in the entire Song Dynasty, Su Shi would only listen to the words of officials.
But the question is, how could Zhao Zhen follow Zhang Jian into the Liao Dynasty? Wouldn't it put the fate of the country at risk? Even if Zhao Zhen had the courage, other ministers would not agree.
Who should be sent to solve the problem?
This is the most important thing after the peace talks
matter.
Zhang Jian pretended that he would not leave unless anyone followed him, so the peace talks between Liao and Song could not be considered successful and they would just refuse to leave.