"A lazy man is a man with his mouth, and a man with his hands." Perhaps it was because of the sudden attacks of the Song and Liao borders that the Liao Kingdom attracted special attention to this dispute between the Song and Liao Kingdom. The Liao Emperor Yelu Hongji rarely went to hunt in various places without leaving the palace for a month, and the senior officials of the Liao Kingdom ruled all day long and expressionlessly entered and exited the conference hall.

After Han Qi succeeded in the raid, the garrisons of the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, Liao Kingdom, had not had any counterattacks, but there was no effect except for the loss of troops and generals. Han Qi had prepared materials and tools to repair the city defense fortifications before launching the raid. Once the three cities were taken down, they immediately organized transportation and forced the prisoners of war and residents of the three cities to be included in the ranks of Master to repair the city. In a short time, the three cities had been built like iron barrels, and two small cities were built around the three cities, sending heavy troops, plus the newly harvested food, Han Qi had decided not to leave.

Han Qi's city defense fortifications were very complete. On the third day after he occupied the three cities, the Khitan army assembled 50,000 troops in Zhuozhou to attack Xincheng, trying to drive the Song army back while Han Qi was not firmly established. However, after leaving three thousand corpses under Xincheng City, the Khitan generals couldn't help but sigh at the new city, which looked like a hedgehog-looking new city. In his opinion, it was simply a difficult task to conquer the city in a short time.

What was even more frightened by the Khitan generals was that his spies had found traces of Song cavalry many times within the 50 miles of the surrounding army, and the number was unknown. This news completely left the Khitan generals with no idea, but this also gave him a reason to withdraw troops. Although he did not know how many cavalrymen were deployed around him, even if there was no threat from the cavalry, he would definitely not be able to regain the new city with his own strength. Instead of letting the soldiers die in vain here for nothing, it would be better to leave his strength to take over Zhuozhou.

Han Qi did prepare a lot of cavalry here, with a total of 30,000 strictly trained cavalry. There was such a cavalry unit wandering in this area. This made no Khitan army dare to concentrate on attacking the city, and this cavalry was also responsible for protecting the cavalry that transported baggage and military supplies to the three cities. The Song army stationed in the three cities was food the most. The food in the city was enough for them to eat for a year, but the firearms, bows and arrows in their hands could not withstand such consumption.

In order to reduce the consumption of these disposable items, the Song army cited the strategy of defending the city during the Battle of the Security Army a few years ago and designed a large number of crossbows on the city defense fortifications. The vacant houses of the residents in the city were demolished to supplement them as ammunition. It can be said that most of the three thousand losses of the Khitan army that invaded the new city were killed by the overwhelming bricks fired by the Song army with crossbows. Anyone who approached the city wall a certain distance would have to shrink back against the defense in the face of the Song army's crossbows offensive. Not everyone could be able to withstand the bricks like rain.

The Song army originally planned to drag the Liao army to the new city for a few days, and wait for the Liao army to suffer heavy losses and exhaustion before using this elite cavalry to give the Liao army a final blow, but unexpectedly, the Liao army only fought for two days and then retreated immediately. This not only angered the Song army's guard generals, but after admiring the Liao army's ability to judge the situation, he had no choice but to send cavalry to follow and attack to see what the Warring States Period could be. However, the Liao army guard obviously did not relax his vigilance when retreating, and returned to Zhuozhou smoothly.

Han Qi stopped his subordinates from continuing to attack north and trying to capture Zhuozhou. He was not a military strategist, but he knew the overall situation. He understood that capturing these three cities is probably the bottom line of the Khitans. Taking over Zhuozhou with the current strength of the Song army is not a big problem, but once the Zhuozhou is captured the most troublesome thing is that the Khitans will have to fight with him, and the Song and Liao countries will also have a full-scale war. This is not what Han Qi wants to see.

Although he could not continue to move north, what made Han Qi very pleased was that Emperor Zhao Xu sent him a secret letter to praise him for his actions. Behind him, this made him breathe a sigh of relief. Emperor Zhao Xu almost agreed to Han Qi's request. The most important thing was that Zhao Xu had ordered the recruitment of 10,000 elite troops from the Western Army and Yang Chongyue to Hebei together, and it was estimated that he would arrive soon.

Han Qi did not expect that Emperor Zhao Xu would be like him. What made him most pleased was the arrival of Yang Chongyue and the 10,000 elite soldiers of the Western Army. Yang Chongyue himself was young and promising. He took the position of one of the commanders of the Western Army at the age of 30 and made the Song Dynasty look extremely sideways. The more important ten thousand elite soldiers made the Hebei garrison a little more wings. Everyone knows that the Western Army was extremely powerful after the War to Destroy Xia, and some even made the Western Army the first army the Song Dynasty compared with the Central Imperial Army of the Biandu Garrison. Although Han Qi was disdainful of this statement in his heart. He was clear about the Song Dynasty's military, but there was absolutely no problem with the quality of the Western Army being higher than the army in his hands.

Han Qi also understood that with the arrival of Yang Chongyue and the Ten Thousand Western Army, he knew that the court had been waiting for a long time to dismember the Western Army, which might really be implemented. The Western Army made great achievements in the war to destroy Xia. Emperor Taizong, the founding of the Song Dynasty, made several northern expeditions in the spirit of "not letting others sleep soundly", but they all ended in a disastrous defeat. The Western Army was the first army to destroy the country in a century after the founding of the Song Dynasty. How should such an army go? Many big men in the court have been waiting for a long time, but it is

Because both forces are mixed in, they dare not start a rashly and provoke the war. Then again, if anyone comes first, they will guarantee that everyone will be done together in the end - Wang Shao of the new law, Zhong Yan of the conservatives, and of course Fu Bi, who is a conservative banner. After all, the conservatives will suffer greater losses. However, Wang Shao is the only general who took action by Wang Anshi. For Wang Shao's future destination, this aggressor naturally has another plan in his mind, and he doesn't want to destroy Wang Shao now.

Speaking of which, there are two very special figures in the Western Army - one is Yang Chongyue, who is about to go to Hebei to serve as deputy commander. His background is very simple. The people of Tianbo Mansion have been loyal to the court for generations. The only one around the emperor who can carry swords are six imperial guards with swords. This extremely honorable position is almost every generation of Tianbo Mansion can undoubtedly be selected. This is also a kind of compensation and trust that the royal family encountered in the Yang family back then; the other is Wang Shun, the leader of the Dingxi Army of 100,000, and his identity is only the court.

The senior officials of the court ruler realized that Wang Shun was Bingfeng, the youngest disciple of Xiao Wang's prince consort. Compared to Yang Chongyue, Bingfeng, who burned the Jianing Army alone and lurked in the Poxi Army, was even more legendary. Like Yang Chongyue, Bingfeng could still stay in the Dingxi Army. This was all the trust of the royal family in Xiao Wang's prince consort. In addition, Bingfeng's identity was so secretly level that no one knew that Mao would use this matter to openly impeach Xiao Wang's prince consort. I am afraid that once this news was announced, the Dingxi Army would rebel first.

The composition of the Western Army is very complicated. It can be said that the four sides play chess on a chess board. The conservatives and the reformists are rivals, but the two companies are also unwilling to see the royal family participate. Moreover, the three companies are more worried about whether the Western Army is stable or not, which has taken a decisive position in the defense security of the northwest of the Song Dynasty. In contrast, Wang Jinghui is more calm.

It is imperative to reduce the royal idea of ​​the Western Army, but how to weaken the Western Army is a more profound knowledge. Wang Jinghui is very disdainful of the naked weakening method of the traditional emperors and generals. The only thing he has a little favor is Zhao Kuangyin's "release the military power with a glass of wine", but that is not a good choice. At least Wang Jinghui himself believes that what needs to be weakened is not the combat effectiveness of the army, but the personal influence and imprint of the general in the army. However, no matter how much he thinks, it is obviously impossible to achieve such perfection. Wang Jinghui himself has been in the army of later generations and has a deep understanding of this point - even in the later generations without completing unification and very difficult circumstances, rebellion of the established Communist troops is extremely rare, but even so, the worship of heroes by soldiers remains the same. It is futile to eliminate the personal prestige and imprint of the general in the army.

Wang Jinghui has repeatedly prevented anyone from changing the current situation of the Western Army. It was because the position of the Western Army was the territory of the Western Xia in the past. Although the country established by the Dangxiang people was destroyed by the Song Dynasty and the Dangxiang royal family was escorted to Kaifeng, Biandu, to be inspected, some fish that missed the net organized a small-scale rebellion organization. Taking advantage of the complex terrain and cultural situation of the Western Xia to deal with the Song Dynasty. The Western Army also adopted many methods in this regard. In addition to suppressing by force, it was to reorganize the entire local population, and to reorganize some of the strong laborers as slaves of the Song Dynasty, which greatly alleviated the local security situation. However, despite this, the situation was still not optimistic.

Wang Jinghui also knew that if he kept hindering like this, he might not even lose the fruit of himself. The only way was to guide - without affecting the overall strength of the Western Army, he would draw new troops from the Central Plains Imperial Army to rotate with the Western Army to cooperate with the Western Army. In this way, some elite troops of the Western Army would gradually replace the defense lines between Hebei and Liao Kingdom. The overall strength of the Western Army did not change much. The newly added troops could use their strong strength to deal with the remaining small fish and shrimps in the Western Xia to train the army.

Wang Jinghui's suggestion was unanimously agreed by the senior leaders of the Song Dynasty. In their opinion, this was also a very good way out. At the same time, he also asked the senior leaders of the Song Dynasty how to deal with the Dingxi Army. The Dingxi Army had to prevent the invasion of the northern part of the Bu tribe and to restrain the Liao Kingdom from the West, so this required the Dingxi Army to have strong combat effectiveness. For this reason, the Dingxi Army's threat of rebellion in the future was reduced to the minimum, so it would be necessary to use other elite Western Army soldiers who had participated in the War to Destroy Xia for replacement. Despite this, Wang Jinghui did not raise the issue of senior generals of the Western Army, because this involved the future fate of the three disciples Dao Bingfeng, Dingcheng and Peicheng, so he avoided this.

Yang Chongyue and 10,000 Western Army were transferred to Hebei by Han Qi, the attendant, which also began the prelude to the large-scale defense change within the Song Dynasty. Wang Jinghui was helpless. It was not easy to survive until today's situation. You should know that the Song Dynasty's suppression of military generals in history may be the most harshest in all dynasties in Chinese history. Originally, in history, Di Qing could have achieved a larger Warring States period in the Western Expedition, but Renzong valued him the most.

A recall order was issued, and the Xixia in the dilemma was revived; Wang Shao had just become more popular, Xihe was also recalled by Emperor Zhao Xu of Shenzong, and a rebellion occurred in Xihe. What is even more eye-catching is probably Yue Fei, and his fate is extremely tragic. This "iron rule" of the Song Dynasty ruined many heroes who were determined to make contributions. When it comes to Wang Shao's ending in history, he wanted to be afraid of Yue Fei's unjust death and Di Qing's scare to death.

Time soon entered September of the fifth year of Xining. At this time, the weather in the north was gradually getting colder. Faced with the frequent military mobilizations of the Song Dynasty in the south and southwest, the Liao Kingdom felt exhausted. The Song and Liao Kingdom had more than ten major and large conflicts in the border area bordering Nanjing Road and the Song Dynasty, but the Liao Kingdom returned in a defeat. Not only did they not regain the three cities occupied by Han Qi. Instead, they also lost their troops and generals to wipe out the face of the Liao Kingdom, a major country. As for the border areas between Xijing Road and Shangjing Road, they were already in a state of decay. Mogus and the Dingxi Army of the Song Dynasty looked at the border without anything and entered the border at will. On the surface, these tents were hung on Mogus' head, but in fact Mogus did not dare to go south to Xijing Road and enter the Dingxi Army. The Nanzhubu tribe was already controlled by the Dingxi Army.

Regarding the decayed external situation, the Liao Kingdom was already exhausted, and the envoy of the Song Dynasty, Su Song, also received the stern edict from Emperor Zhao Xu, his performance at the negotiating table became stronger and stronger, making his opponent Zhang Xiaojie extremely passive. At this point, the top leaders of the Liao Kingdom finally realized that they had only two ways to go - one was to agree to the peace agreement clauses proposed by Su Song, and the other was to make the victory and defeat of the battle between the Song Dynasty. Unfortunately, the top leaders of the Liao Kingdom could not make a correct choice between these two ways, and the peace agreement between the Song Dynasty was too harsh. The battle between the whole country was even more difficult. Without enough confidence, how could they even take a decisive battle? At this time, the Khitans found that the days when they could obtain the annual monies and even land of the Song Dynasty could only rely on verbal or even a small amount of force threats. The future path was even more difficult for the Liao Kingdom!

"Sir, the Liao Kingdom finally agreed to sign a peace talks before the three people, and agreed to all the terms required by our Song Dynasty. And also requested that the vertebrae be reopened for trade between the two countries..." Yansheng said.

"Well!" Wang Jinghui didn't seem to be thinking about this. The Khitans had no chance of winning in this struggle. It was just a matter of time before signing the treaty. However, he did not expect that the Khitans could not continue playing for a few months. It was really unexpected that he signed the treaty so quickly.

"Sir, the Secretary of the Central Committee was ordered by the saint to send the key points of the signing of the treaty between the Song and Liao countries. However, the students thought that some things seemed to be puzzled!" Yan Sheng said hesitantly.

Wang Jinghui put down the teacup that he had been playing with in his hands and said with a smile: "Did the Khitans set up any traps in this treaty?"

Yansheng smiled and said, "There is no trap. This treaty is generally very beneficial to the Song Dynasty, and for the Liao Kingdom, it can be regarded as a loss of power and humiliation. I wonder if Zhang Xiaojie still has the same face as he continues to be the prime minister!"

"Zhang Xiaojie is very thick-skinned, and this person is also capable. He is highly valued and trusted by Yelu Hongji, and his relationship with Yelu Yixin, even if he wants to resign, Yelu Yixin will not agree. What's more, this person regards yellow and white things as his life, so how could he destroy the Great Wall by himself?!" Wang Jinghui said with a smile: "What are the strange terms in this treaty that you are puzzled by. Let's talk about the key points and listen to it. See why the Khitans suddenly were willing to agree to this contract again?!"

"What the students are most puzzled by is that the Liao Kingdom took the initiative to propose the issue of trading war horses in the treaty, and there were as many as 30,000 horses written on the treaty. The following appendix also states that 'If the two countries need it, they can expand the war horse trading as appropriate, but war horse trading needs to be traded with copper coins'!" Yansheng said with a frown.

"Oh?!" Wang Jinghui frowned after hearing this and asked, "Does the Privy Councilor and the people from the Secretariat have any explanations about this?"

"No, they were just ordered to send the contents of the contract and left, without saying much!" Yansheng replied.

Wang Jinghui seemed to say to himself: "Is there any talented Khitan people?!" He shook his head, as if he wanted to clear out this idea. Wang Jinghui had contact with very few Khitan people, and the most impressive one was Xiao Youdan. His opponent's carefulness and methods left a profound impact on him. However, after Xiao Youdan's death, he had never seen Khitan figures who could be compared with him. Even in the information of some noteworthy Khitan officials who were fed back from the Dading Mansion, no one with extremely outstanding talents was found. Wang Jinghui was just grateful for this. After all, there was one less dangerous person like Xiao Youdan, and he also saw that Xiao Youdan's original thoughts were purely to kill him and then hurry up. He could not hold back such a person.

"Sir, what's wrong?" Yansheng said.
Chapter completed!