After Minzhou was lost and recovered, Zhang Yue led Wang Junwan, more than 10,000 Xihe Road Third Army of Zhongshi Road, and nearly 20,000 surrendered Fan troops to march towards Hezhou.
The Song army has always had the tradition of recruiting local rebels as soldiers. This is the legendary recruitment.
One of these measures is to solve local hidden dangers, and the other is to use thieves to control thieves.
Minzhou, Taozhou, and Diezhou are all in short supply, so when Zhang Yue went to conquer Hezhou, he also brought with him soldiers and horses from the seven Mujia clans in Minzhou, Qin Ling Zheng from Diezhou, and Guo Si from Taozhou.
Mu Zheng and Dong Fei's general Gui Zhang Qingyi attacked Hezhou in a hurry. Zhang Yue did not dare to neglect. After recovering Minzhou, he rested for a day and then rushed his troops to advance.
Zhang Yue's army arrived at the junction of Minzhou and Taozhou and settled down, summoning the generals to inspect the terrain.
Zhang Yue pointed to the mountains and rivers in front of him and said to his staff: "This is a key transportation point between Minzhou and Taozhou. If a fort can be set up here, it can block the enemy troops from Taozhou and prevent the invasion of Mu."
Come on, who of you is going to ask for help?"
The staff looked at each other, but Shen Kuo, who had always been taciturn, said: "I would like to give it a try."
Zhang Yue said: "Okay, this fort will be called Guzang Fort, and the governor will supervise this matter."
Shen Kuo immediately said yes.
Zhang Yue then said to Wang Junwan: "Choose a general who can lead troops to assist him."
Wang Junwan agreed.
As we all know, building a fortress under the nose of the enemy is a very risky matter. Gao Zunyu has always firmly refused such a thing, which even caused dissatisfaction among the officials.
Zhang Yue also asked about recruiting civilian service from the local area.
Wang Junwan explained the difficulties and said: "Minzhou has been short of food for a long time, and it was difficult to enter the country due to inconvenient roads."
Zhang Yue said: "This matter should be settled on the salt banknotes. There is a salt well on Xihe Road. Not only does it eliminate the need to dissolve the salt, but it also has room for export. Just ask Yuan Chang about this matter."
Cai Jing nodded and said: "Don't worry, General Wang. The original Jiaozi Service in Chengdu has been merged into the Xihe Road Salt Banker Service. Businessmen from Sichuan and Sichuan can also exchange salt banknotes through the Jiaozi they originally brought. The most important thing now is
As soon as Minzhou was acquired, the salt road from Lizhou Road to Sichuan and Shu was completely opened."
"Coupled with years of accumulation, many local Tibetan tribes in Minzhou have begun to use salt banknotes. Although salt banknotes have been depreciating recently, Tibetan people have been using them. If you use salt banknotes to buy food and hire labor from local people, the local people will
People can accept it."
Zhang Yue said: "There is one more thing I haven't told you. The Third Division has already set the annual salt quota for Jieyan and Xihe salt. Yongxing Road is 915,000 guan, and Qinfeng Road is 1.585 million.
Qian Guan, Xihe River has 637,000 Guan."
After hearing this, all the staff were overjoyed. This meant that Xihe Road could earn an additional 637,000 guan of salt banknotes a year.
And another good news is that after many years of trade between Fan and Han, the people of Fan have already accepted the circulation and use of salt banknotes, and they have also made certain contributions to alleviating the inflation of salt banknotes.
In the final analysis, the final outcome of a war is money, food and grass.
Zhang Yue said: "Then let's settle this matter. Use the salt banknotes to buy the money, food and manpower of the Tibetan tribe."
Everyone said yes.
At this moment, suddenly a horse galloped from the foot of the mountain. A soldier conveyed the message to Zhang Yue with a solemn expression: "Commander, our army was defeated in Hezhou. Jing Sili, blind medicine died in battle, and Bao Yue rebelled."
!”
Zhang Yue almost swayed when he heard this. What he was most worried about happened.
Except for Zhang Yue, everyone else's faces turned pale when they heard this.
Zhang Yue calmed down and asked, "What happened a few days ago?"
"Reporting to the Commander-in-Chief, there is no news from Minzhou. This happened five days ago."
Zhang Yue was silent when he heard this. He had just arrived in Minzhou five days ago. At that time, even if he led his troops to save Hezhou, it was too late.
Jing Sili and Blind Yao were both killed in the battle. One can imagine how heavy the Song army's losses were.
…
At this moment, Bianjing City is experiencing a severe storm that has not been seen in a century.
This wind disaster was so violent that the people could not open their eyes on the road, and many roofs were blown up by the strong wind. After the news of this wind disaster and Jing Sili's defeat and death reached the capital, people were panicked for a while.
Wen Yanbo and Feng Jing were meeting with officials in the Zizheng Palace.
The official family had also just received the news of Xihe's defeat. They were so sad that they couldn't say a word, and they covered their chests with one hand and felt a little uncomfortable.
The official said to Wen Yanbo: "Wen Qing, please continue."
Wen Yanbo looked at the official's pale face and was a little worried, but he continued: "Your Majesty, after the defeat of Xihe Road Jingsi lost his army and Wang Shao was demoted, many officials in the court discussed it. At this time, Hehuang has already
If you are not in a place where you are aggressive, you should withdraw your troops early to avoid the danger, just in case..."
At this point, Wen Yanbo hesitated.
"What if something happens? Wen Qing just said it's okay." the official asked.
Wen Yanbo said: "Your Majesty, in order to conquer Xihe, we have depleted the troops and horses on Qinfeng Road. If our army is wiped out in Hezhou, not only Xihe Road will be lost, but Qinfeng Road will also be lost. Once Xia Kingdom returns,
If we send out troops, even the Yongxing Army cannot be saved."
After hearing this, the muscles on the official's face twitched, and he thought for a while before saying, "But... but Zhang Yue just regained Minzhou."
Wen Yanbo said: "Recovering Minzhou is only a small victory, but losing one Hezhou is better than losing ten Minzhous."
Feng Jingdao: "Your Majesty, the three departments have calculated an account a few days ago. After the construction of Xihe Road, the imperial court will spend more than four million yuan every year. It is really difficult to support the expenses for a long time."
"We have also calculated that if we continue to open the Xihe River, the people of Shaanxi will become increasingly poor, and the government's finances will continue to be depleted. How can we only rely on the taxes of several states and counties to support it? In the long run, we can only rely on the government's supply."
The officials were silent after hearing Feng Jing's words.
At this time, Wen Yanbo spoke again: "Your Majesty, yesterday Cai Ting reported that the Khitan envoys arrived in Xiongzhou to negotiate with us. The Khitan envoys stated that if the border troops are not withdrawn, the Khitan leader will lead a large army to conquer. Don't be surprised when the time comes.
The king doesn’t care about brotherhood!”
Wen Yanbo, Feng Jing, your look and my words made the officials shaken in their hearts.
When Zhang Yue first sent troops, the officials had high hopes for him. However, as Zhang Yue left the capital for a long time, the high hopes became a burden. Now the news of Jing Sili's defeat has almost broken the last nerve of the officials.
The official thought for a while and said: "Fighting on the Xihe Road for so long has indeed cost a lot of money and a lot of hard work. Although I let Zhang Yue command the troops, I don't necessarily ask him to recover his homeland that was lost to foreign countries. That's right.
The two beloved ministers have said so. I have issued an imperial edict to Zhang Yue to defend him for a while. We should not engage in battle for the time being. It is better to avoid the edge for the time being."
Feng Jing said: "Your Majesty, you gave Zhang Yue the power to make arbitrary decisions at the last moment. If you issue an imperial edict, I'm afraid it won't make him change his mind now."
The officials were a little upset after hearing this, but after thinking about it carefully, Feng Jing's words made sense.
The official looked painful and said: "Then let Li Xian go. He will go out of the capital and tell Zhang Yue not to send troops for the time being. Just stay in Xizhou. If the enemy's army is strong, I...I can allow him to retreat temporarily.
Tongyuan Army!"
Retreating to the Tongyuan Army was equivalent to Zhang Yue's work being in vain for the past few years, and the countless money and food he had invested in it were wasted.
But at this point, the official didn't care so much anymore. He was now completely helpless.