A heavy rain slowed down Ye Qing's march a lot, and on June 24, the fourth year of Shaoxi, Ye Qing, who was supposed to go directly to Yanchang County under the rule of Yanzhou, had to stop in Yanzhou for a while.

Liu Minxing welcomed Ye Qing into the government office, and while playing the 30,000 horses led by Wang Chong and Xie Lun, they were already camping in Yanchang and Menshan counties with great fanfare, while looking at Ye Qing, who was a little distracted, and asked, "My lord...... Adults are too tired all the way, why don't you rest for a while before allowing the official to play? ”

"No, just keep talking." Ye Qing shook his head, for some reason, just when he was looking at the map, what came to his mind was the feeling that he might really have a confrontation with Temujin in the Jin Kingdom in the near future.

This feeling was inexplicable, but it made Ye Qing believe that once Temujin also intervened in the affairs of the Xia Kingdom, then the destruction of the Xia Kingdom would inevitably occur, so ...... Once the Liao State was taken by Temujin, the originally divided Chinese territory would only be left with the Song, Jin, and Mongolian kingdoms.

In this way, as the situation gradually becomes clearer, Wan Yanjing is sandwiched between himself and Temujin, and will inevitably become the object of his rivalry with Temujin, or ...... "If this battle is over, it seems that I will have to go back to Lin'an." ”

Ye Qing said this thoughtlessly, Liu Minxing on the side looked dazed, and after moving his lips, he didn't know what to say about Ye Qing, so he had to continue to say according to what he had just said: "My lord, although it has been more than a year and nearly two years since Xiaguan took over Yan Yanlu, ...... When the Jin people evacuated, a large number of horses were taken away, so now the lower officials can only gather no more than 5,000 war horses. ”

"Enough, a lot more than I thought." Ye Qing patted the shoulder of Liu Minxing, who was a little frustrated, comfortingly: "It's just that if we want to completely drive the current Mongols to the north of the Yellow River and dare not go south to graze, we still need time, I hope that after this war, we can have the ability to win that magnificent grassland." ”

Although the land of the three roads of the Hetao is now completely in the hands of Ye Qing, there are still Mongolians wandering around the large grassland behind the Wuding River, and they who are better at herding horses will cross the Yellow River from time to time to find horses, and then go along the way, so now, Liu Minxing can make up five thousand war horses in the land of the three roads of the Hetao, which is already commendable.

It is true that the three roads of Hetao are fertile, but it has always been a place where soldiers must pass through, and it is the main battlefield for farmers and nomads to compete for war horses all year round.

Among them, it is the Suide Prefecture in the north of Yanzhou, which is closer to the Wuding River, which has always been a staggered area of agriculture and animal husbandry, and when the weather is cold and the ground is freezing, the nomads will lead their troops to the south and wreak havoc on the property and fields of the farming people.

However, when the farming people were strong and the weather warmed up, as the nomads retreated northward, the government and the people would expand northward with the situation of tuntian, so that the territory of this area dominated by the Wuding River has been changing hands in a tug-of-war.

From the beginning of Qin, this is the war zone between agriculture and nomadism, the Qin general Meng Tian once expelled the nomads, so that the Hu people did not dare to take the herding horses, Huo Quzhi and Wei Qing also fought with the nomads here, expelling the nomads from harassing and looting the farming people.

For the Song people, the most heart-wrenching and suffocating sigh was when the Divine Sect was in order to resist the Xia Kingdom

invasion, and build Yongle City here, but this Yongle City, but never brought a day of joy to the Song people, but because after the Xia people seized the Wuding River, cut off the water source in the city, and finally made the 20,000 army trapped in Yongle City, thirsty to death, starving to death, until the whole army was annihilated, the government and the opposition were shaken.

"Swore to sweep away the Huns without regard for themselves, and five thousand mink brocade mourned Hu Chen. Poor and uncertain riverside bones, like a person in a spring boudoir dream! Liu Minxing read this Tang Dynasty Chen Tao's "Longxi Journey", and then followed Ye Qing with a sigh and said: "My lord, it's not that the lower officials disrespect the court and the royal family, but ......." ”

Liu Minxing looked with a hint of self-deprecation, and said slowly: "When Xia Guan was still in Yangzhou, he always thought that the words rough, bold, iron-blooded, and brave only existed in books, but when the official arrived at Wuding River and saw the abandoned Yongle City, he realized that my Song people were so weak and didn't know it. All day long, the graceful and handsome are on the lips, even if the men put flowers one by one, they don't think about serving the country and bravery, they only know how to indulge in the wind and snow, and extravagant pleasures. My lord, it is not the ambition of the subordinate officials and the destruction of their own prestige. At the beginning, although you seized all the territory of the three roads of the Hetao, but ...... Under our rule, the pastures north of the Wuding River ...... It has never been our pasture, but has become a place for the Mongols to ride horses and whips, shepherd sheep and horses. But before we recaptured it, the grassland on the north bank of the Wuding River had always been in the hands of the Jin people, so according to the lower officials, if you want to really own a pasture, you must not guard it in the future with brave warriors such as Wei Qing and Huo Quai. ”

"It's just that now the Mongols are powerful and arrogant, and our side can compete with them, and the generals with brave might, except for the adults, as well as General Zhong and General Mo, the lower officials really don't know who else can do this. But now that the Lord is in charge of all the northern lands, how can he give up the whole road of governing his jurisdiction because of a pasture? And the two generals, Zhong and Mo, did not follow the adults to Yanzhou this time, which is enough to show that the war in Xia is still tight. My lord....... ”

"I know what you mean, you want to persuade me to temporarily give up the war in the Xia Kingdom, and concentrate on consolidating the three roads of the Hetao, so that after three or five years of forbearance, it is not too late to fight against the Xia people." Ye Qing took a deep breath, shook his head and said, "But time is running out, if this is the case, the Mongols will only become stronger, and it will become more and more difficult for us to fight them in the vast grassland." The seizure of part of the Xia Kingdom is more for us to deter the Mongols, so that they will not be able to do whatever they want. As for the Mongols, sooner or later there will be a war. ”

The sound of the rain outside the window was still crisp, Liu Minxing nodded silently, he could somewhat understand Ye Qing's situation and difficulties now, but as a pacification envoy of Yan Yanlu, every time he went to Suide, he stood by the Wuding River, looking at the green grassland opposite, the blue sky with white clouds, and the herds of cattle, sheep and horses, as well as those extraordinarily arrogant, barbaric and unreasonable Mongols showing off their might to them, his heart would tremble with jealousy.

Those fertile pastures were originally supposed to be their horse grazing land, but because of the overstretched troops in the north, as well as the three provocations of the Mongols, and the yin and yang disobedience of some Jin officials on the third road of Hetao, the fertile pastures were nominally returned to the hands of the Song people, but in fact, they made wedding clothes for the Mongols and became the grazing land of the Mongols.

In this way, Ye Qing and the others are equivalent to working in vain

The Hetao Third Road is equivalent to half of the territory, and it is impossible to talk about recovering all the Hetao Third Road.

"The Yongle City of the past has long been abandoned now, I don't know what it looks like now?" Ye Qing pointed to the map that was still marked with the word Yongle and asked.

A military city on the frontier used to resist the invasion of the Xia Kingdom was named after the word Yongle by the imperial court, which made people laugh at it, I really don't know if the Song court was big-hearted or stupid to the point of being brainless.

"There are still some remnants of the city, which has long been deserted and overgrown with weeds, and even then the season is depressed, desolate, and even ...... It seems that I can still smell the sadness of the 20,000 troops who were besieged and annihilated. Liu Minxing said with the same regret.

"Let's start preparing, in addition to ensuring the supply of food and grass for the current war, let's prepare to rebuild Yongle City." Ye Qing tapped the word Yongle on the map with his index finger again, and then thought for a while: "But forget about the word Yongle, I don't have the poetry of the imperial court, so I will replace it with the word herding horses." ”

"Horse Husbandry?" Liu Minxing's eyes lit up.

"Sounds good, but at least it makes us clear how important this place is to us who lack horses." The rain line outside the window is continuous, but the front-line battle reports that come and go are one after another.

Wang Chong and Xie Lun were stationed in Yanchang and Menshan counties with great fanfare, and even the scouts who investigated the Jin army were unwilling to send more, and only cared about arranging tripping horses, rejecting horse guns, and other battles to prevent the Jin cavalry Tiefutu.

At this time, the scouts sent by the begging Shilie gods and slaves, who were not far from the third road of Hetao, were to investigate all the deployments of the Song people without much effort.

"The terrain between Menshan and Yanchang is open, suitable for cavalry to fight, not suitable for the Song people who are mainly infantry at all, and now the Song people have made it clear that they want to fight with us here, what is the purpose?" The begging stone lie gods and slaves couldn't help frowning, they were no strangers to the advantages and disadvantages of the terrain of the three roads of the Hetao, after all, it had only been less than two years since they had evacuated the Hetao.

What's more, he also believes that among the officials left over from the imperial court at the beginning of the Hetao Three Roads, there must be many officials who are still close to Dajin, and the Song people should not be unaware that those people will fight back, how can they be so relaxed and freehand to guard against them?

The Song army did not deploy troops in the area of Yuhuang Mountain, where the terrain was more suitable for the defense of the infantry army, but showed their family in the area of Yanchang and Menshan, so they sent a letter to tell themselves: I will not go anywhere, just waiting for you to attack, even if you come from other ferries, we will not move the nest.

"How many centaurs have the Song people gathered now? Who is the commander this time? The begging stone martyr god slave frowned, and his gaze moved from the map to Wanyan Xiang and Wanyan Zonghao beside him.

Wan Yan Xiang and Wan Yan Zonghao are both members of the Great Jin Clan, and they have been following Wan Yan Jing since they were still the kings of Jinyuan County, and they have even been attendants by Wan Yan Jing's side since they were children.

And this time taking the opportunity to conquer the Song Dynasty, Wan Yan Jing can be said to have sent his three henchmen out, which is enough to see that Wan Yan Jing's ambition for the three roads of Hetao will be won and the importance of the Song people.