The atmosphere in the embassy of the Liao State was solemn, and Xiao Xiaomu seemed restless and restless after returning from the Great Song Dynasty meeting.

At this time, the deputy envoy Wu Shuda came to ask: "Lord Xiao, what is the attitude of the Southern Dynasty towards the conditions proposed by the Great Liao now, and have you encountered any problems?" ”

Xiao Xiaomu said: "Lord Wu, now the Great Song Dynasty is divided into two factions, one is the main battle, and the other is the main peace; However, neither faction agreed to cede the ten states of Guannan, and it was the emperor of the Southern Dynasty who fought the main battle, so the main battle faction had the upper hand.

They got a battle report from the front, saying that our Great Liao army had been annihilated by 5,000 people; However, many ministers of the Southern Dynasty were suspicious, and they were still afraid of our Great Liao, and they did not want to expand the war in their hearts. So we have to hold them down in momentum. ”

At this time, Wu Shuda said: "Lord Xiao, in fact, our Great Liao Army is superior to the Great Song Dynasty, but we can't be arrogant and underestimate the Song Army; This time, the emperor listened to the advice of Yang Youxuan and others, and it was unwise to blackmail and provoke the Great Song Dynasty; I'm not very optimistic about the results of this Da Liao, I'm not pouring cold water, I think the emperor can't get the desired result this time, and he will return with a feather. ”

Xiao Xiaomu sighed and said:

"What Lord Wu said is that at this time, although the elite of the Liao army poured out, there were 30,000 people each in the leather room army and the palace army, plus 20,000 in the Wuding army, a total of 80,000 people; And the Great Song Dynasty has already increased its troops to the border, with a total strength of more than 200,000, and they belong to the defense of the city, so they have the advantage of the home field, and the elite division of the Great Liao will not be able to please them. ”

At this time, I suddenly heard the loud and noisy voices outside, and there was a burst of excited shouts: "Great victory... Great victory, our Great Song Dynasty border army defeated the Liao army at the border pass, achieved an unprecedented victory, killed, wounded, and captured nearly 70,000 Liao troops. ”

A messenger galloped down the street on a war horse, and he was constantly shouting for victory, and on both sides there were crowds of people watching the excitement, many of whom were still following, but instead of hearing the joy, the people gathered together and whispered, looking suspicious.

A common man said excitedly: "My Great Song Dynasty border army has achieved a great victory, and the great joy at that time should be revealed." ”

At this time, I heard a gentleman splashing water:

"I think this great victory has water, and it is not worth believing, after all, since the era of Emperor Taizong and Emperor Zhenzong, my Song army and the Liao army have mostly lost more than won against each other;

Especially during the period of Emperor Zhenzong, most of our Song army was pressed and beaten by the Liao army, they often went to our Song Dynasty to fight the grass valley, and the border army was unstoppable, just following behind, just watching the Liao army burning, killing and plundering, and did not dare to fight against it, resulting in the displacement of our border people and the misery of life. ”

At this time, another person retorted: "What this Lang Jun said seems to be reasonable, but it is actually a big mistake; The current commander of the border army is a kind of Shiheng, he is a famous general in the world, he defeated the party in the northwest and killed countless enemies; With him in charge of the military affairs of the Song-Liao border, the Great Song Dynasty must have peace of mind, and it is not impossible to defeat the Liao army; Maybe you can recover Youzhou. ”

As soon as he finished speaking, he immediately attracted the ridicule of the scholar:

"This benevolent brother, don't be ashamed, in the era of Taizong, the combat power of my elite division of the Great Song Dynasty was equal to that of the Great Liao army, and the Northern Expedition of Yongxi ended in the fiasco of my Great Song Dynasty; The defeat in this battle changed the strategic relationship between the Song and Liao from offensive to defensive, thus making the relationship with Liao "end of the Song Dynasty";

Later, in the battle of Lanzhou in the Zhenzong period, my Great Song Dynasty was even more undefeated and defeated, and signed the "Lanyuan Alliance" with the Liao State, promising to lose 100,000 taels of silver and 200,000 horses of silk to the Liao State, and reached a withdrawal agreement.

Now that the new emperor has been on the throne for four years, my Great Song army is still in a strategic defensive situation, how can it have the ability to capture Youzhou? ”

Anyway, everyone has different opinions, and they have everything to say, but they don't believe that the Song army will achieve a great victory.

At this time, the messenger had arrived at the Xuande Gate of the palace, and he was exhausted at the moment, so he forced himself to take out the token and hand it to the palace guards, so that it could be passed on to the government hall, the Privy Council, and the official family.

His movements had already alarmed Xia Zhu, the governor on duty, and Xue Kui, the privy envoy, and soon he came to the political hall smoothly, and at this time, the privy envoy Xue Kui also rushed to hear the news.

Xia Zhu, the governor of the political affairs, snatched the battle report and read it carefully, the more he looked at it, his expression was weird, his face was distorted and twitched, his mouth was wide open, and he looked surprised and inexplicable;

Seeing this, Xue Kui, the privy envoy, also stepped forward to watch together, and his face after seeing it was also very exciting, he was shocked and hesitant for a while, and he was ecstatic for a while, and his body was excited like a swing.

Seeing that Xia Zhu, the governor of the political council, said urgently: "Lord Xue, hurry up and go with me to meet the emperor and the queen mother, this is a great happy event, and the emperor and the queen mother will be very happy when they see it." ”

He hurriedly asked the eunuch on duty to go to pass the message, Zhao Zhen was reading in the palace at this time, and after he heard the eunuch pass the news, he hurriedly went to the side hall, and then summoned Xia Zhu and Xue Kui.

After Xia Zhu entered, he shouted repeatedly: "Your Majesty, it's a great happy event." ”

Zhao Zhen saw that the two of them had changed their previous calmness, and became a little excited, unable to control their emotions, and some lost their manners in front of the palace; This is really a rare thing, and he can't help but be curious, he doesn't know what made these two important ministers of the court confused.

He asked curiously: "Xia Qing's family, tell me what is the great joy that makes you and Xue Qing's family inexplicably excited, and you can't stop it?" ”

Xia Zhu hurriedly handed over the good news to Zhao Zhen and asked him to read it in person, Zhao Zhen took the good news and read it, and he quickly finished reading it.

Seeing that Zhao Zhen was also overjoyed, he hurriedly instructed the eunuch to notify the officials above the fifth grade of the imperial court to participate in the court meeting in the vertical arch hall, and he led Xia Zhu and Xue Kui to meet the empress dowager Liu E.

Liu E was sleeping in the palace, and the palace maid saw Zhao Zhen coming, and hurriedly went to Tongyu, and from time to time Liu E cleaned up and summoned them in.

Liu E said a little lazily: "Emperor, you and the two adults came to the mourning house, what is the so-called matter?" ”

Zhao Zhen said excitedly at this time: "Queen Mother, now I have a good news for you, that is, the border army of my Great Song Dynasty has defeated the elite troops of Da Liao, the Pi Room Army and the Gong Branch Army, killed and wounded 30,000 people, and captured nearly 40,000 people. The main forces of Da Liao in the five states in front of the mountain have been completely lost, and the gateway to Youzhou has been opened. ”

Liu E was a little suspicious when she heard this, she hurriedly snatched the military report, read it carefully, and pondered for a long time after reading it, her face changed, and she didn't know what she was thinking.

She finally said: "Emperor, this is a great happy event, but we still have to discuss how to deploy the border army next. ”

Zhao Zhen said: "Queen Mother, I have sent someone to summon officials above the fifth rank to go to the Vertical Arch Hall to see the court meeting, just to discuss how the border army should act next." ”

In the end, Zhao Zhen and Liu E drove to the Vertical Arch Palace, followed by Xia Zhu and Xue Kui, and at this time there were already many ministers in the hall.

Zhao Zhen sent someone to hand over the military report to Lu Yijian, the secretary of Tongping Zhangshi, and asked him to read the military report, Lu Yijian began to read the military report, he began to stammer, and at the same time saw that his face was full of shock.

Finally he reads, "... Our army defeated the elite leather room army, the palace branch army and the Wuding army of the Liao army, killing and wounding a total of 30,000 Liao troops and capturing 40,000 people, achieving an unprecedented victory, of which the 1st Army Division made the first contribution in this battle. ”

After he finished reading, there was an uproar in the court, and the ministers were shocked, many people were skeptical, and many thought that this was fake news, but it became a matter of opinion.

At this time, Qian Weiyan, the governor of the political affairs, said forward: "Official, whether this good news is true, do you want to verify it, after all, if the battle report is true, this kind of record should be the biggest victory in the more than 60 years since the founding of the Great Song Dynasty." ”

Tongping Zhangshi Lu Yijian said: "Yes, official, what Lord Qian said is not unreasonable, we really have to verify it, otherwise it will affect our judgment and deployment of the next step of the Song Liao War." ”

At this time, Kou Zhun said: "Official, I think this good news is true and undoubted, the commander of the border army, Chong Shiheng, is a loyal and credible person, he is brave and resourceful, and he will never make a false good news, after all, this great victory is in front of space, and no one has the courage to cheat." ”

The Empress Dowager Liu E said: "The mourning family also thinks that this good news should not be fake, but it is good to verify it, and everything is safe." ”

At this time, another report came, which was from the Privy Vice-Envoy Zhang Vientiane, and his report confirmed the authenticity of the good news of the world;

And this report also brought two shocking news: one was that the 1st Lu Division captured Zhuozhou, and the other was that the Song army began to attack Youzhou.

At this time, the ministers were in an uproar, they never expected that the Song army would cross the border to launch an attack on the Liao army, they still wanted to value peace, and did not want to expand the war with the Great Liao.

Among them, Lu Zongdao said: "The official family, the micro-ministers impeached Chong Shiheng for expanding the war without authorization, which will cause a full-scale war between Song and Liao and destroy the alliance signed by the first emperor. ”

Qian Weiyan also played: "Official, it is best for us to maintain the status quo, let the border army withdraw to the border, and don't leave an excuse for the Liao State, so as not to start a full-scale war and let the people of the Great Song Dynasty suffer from the flames of war again." ”

And Kou Zhun said:

"Official, Da Liao took the lead in attacking our border army, and they still wanted to claim the land of the ten counties in Guannan, and they had already torn up the alliance of Lanyuan;

It was they who were unrighteous first, and besides, our Song army had more than 200,000 troops at this time, and the main force of Da Liao in the five states in front of the mountains had been lost, and it would take three or four months for them to collect troops of the same size from all over Da Liao;

This period of time is enough for us to capture the five states in front of the mountain, and the opportunity will not come again, and the battle will lead the five states in front of the mountain, and then occupy the Shanhaiguan, and then the border line of the Great Song Dynasty will be moved to the Great Wall;

As long as our border army holds a few passes, such as Juyong Pass, Gubei Pass, Shanhaiguan Pass, Bauhinia Pass, etc., it can completely block the southward pace of the Liao State and keep the enemy out of the Great Wall, and we no longer need to station 200,000 troops on the border line, and we may only need 100,000 people to keep the enemy out of the country. ”

Zhao Zhen hurriedly took a group of ministers to a side hall, and saw several huge sand tables filled the room, and saw Zhao Zhen come to a sand table, which is the sand table of the sixteen states of Youyun, with the towering Taihang Mountain and Yan Mountain, as well as the winding Great Wall, as well as the passes above, such as Shanhaiguan, Gubeikou Juyong Pass, etc.; There are also meandering rivers, such as Juma River, Sanggan River, Baigou River, etc.; There are also strange traffic, waterways and dry roads, and hidden paths; Finally, there are the cities, towns, and villages dotted around.

It is intuitive to see that as long as the passes along the Great Wall are captured in advance, the Liao army will be expelled back to the grassland, and it will be difficult to step into the Central Plains.

Zhao Zhen said at this time: "Zhong Aiqing, you see, if the general occupies Youzhou, how feasible is it to divide his troops to capture the various Great Wall passes?" ”

At this time, Xia Zhu replied: "These passes are steep, easy to defend and difficult to attack, and there is quite a tendency that a man is a pass; It must have been difficult to overcome before, but now that we have artillery support, it should be a no-brainer to overcome these passes. I agree with the government's suggestion. ”