Kou Zhun heard Zhao Heng and Chen Yaosuo talk about escaping again, and was so anxious that he scolded: "Your Majesty, Chen Yaosuo is a person who has misled the country (jiān), and you can't listen to his evil words to confuse the public." ”

Chen Yaosu said angrily: "Prime Minister, you and I have different political views, but we are both for the emperor and the court, why do you speak so badly to each other. ”

"I, if you were for the court, you wouldn't have left tens of millions of people and thousands of miles of rivers and mountains, you were just running for your life."

Kou Zhun said this, not only scolded Chen Yaosuo, but also scolded Zhao Heng. Zhao Heng felt a fever on his face, and as soon as he gritted his teeth, he was about to stand up and agree to the royal expedition, but when he thought of the Liao people slaughtering the city, he still didn't stand up in the end.

Seeing that Zhao Heng was still hesitant, Kou Zhun said again: "Your Majesty, fighting a war ultimately depends on military generals, we might as well call a few military generals to ask and see if they have confidence." ”

"Kou Qing is reasonable, go and call the commander of the third division of the army to come and face the saint."

Among the commanders of the three divisions, the former commanders were still vacant since Ling Kun left, so no one came. The guards and horses were all commanded, and Wang Yingjue and the guards were commanded, and Gao Qiong immediately entered the palace to see him.

Zhao Heng asked when he met: "Two (ài) Qing, now that Hebei is tight, and Kaifeng is also in danger, in your opinion, should I tour the south or go north to drive the expedition in person." ”

Wang Yingjue didn't think about it, and blurted out: "Of course, it is a personal expedition to the north, at this time, the people of the north will be lost, and the Great Song Dynasty will inevitably collapse for thousands of miles, and the people of the Liao country will not give up, and then follow to catch up, where else can they go?" ”

If Wang Qin advocated moving the capital and fleeing for his life, why did Wang Yingjue resist so resolutely? That's because Wang Qinruo is still in the Daimyo's Mansion, and once the emperor can't escape at this time, Wang Qinruo will die without a body.

Zhao Heng frowned and asked Gao Qiong: "What does Gao (ài) Qing think?" ”

Gao Qiong said unhurriedly: "It is easy for the emperor to go south, take the waterway along the Grand Canal, and you can reach Jinling in a few days, and it was from this road that Taizu and the first emperor conquered the Southern Tang Dynasty." ”

Zhao Heng said with a smile on his face: "Do you also think you should go south?" ”

Gao Qiong continued: "It is up to the emperor to decide whether to go south or north, and Weichen must swear to escort him, but the soldiers are all northerners, and their wives and children are all in the north. ”

Zhao Heng was taken aback when he heard this, and his face changed abruptly.

Kou Zhun took advantage of the situation and said: "Your Majesty, it is not terrible to drive the imperial expedition in person, our army is not less than that of Liao, and the army of Dingzhou will soon copy the back road of Liao, as long as the emperor raises his arms, the chance of winning is still very good." ”

"Okay, pass the decree, the emperor's brother Zhao Yuan will be divided into prison countries, stay in Kaifeng, I will set off immediately, and the emperor will march in person." Zhao Heng finally made up his mind.

As soon as he said go, Zhao Heng's royal car set off from Kaifeng the next day and hurried all the way to Shanzhou.

The Liao army broke through the Qingde army city, destroyed the Tianxiong army, and turned around to clean up the Daimyo's mansion. However, at this time, Empress Dowager Xiao suddenly stopped: "The Daimyo's Mansion is no longer fighting, it is just a lonely city without soldiers, and it is useless to fight it." Besides, the Song army in Dingzhou is about to chase after us, so we can't waste time and rush directly to Lanzhou to cross the Yellow River. ”

Xiao Tzu Rin received the order and commanded the army all the way south, heading straight to Lanzhou. Wang Qinruo, who was stationed in the Daimyo's Mansion, also escaped because of this.

Almost on the same day, Zhao Heng and Empress Dowager Xiao rushed to Lanzhou at the same time, one in the south and the other outside the north city, looking at each other across the Yellow River.

The city is divided into the south city and the north city, the south city is on the south bank of the Yellow River, and the north city is on the north bank of the Yellow River, which are connected by a pontoon bridge. The main battlefield of this war can naturally only be Beicheng. However, the area of the northern city is very small, the city walls are low and dilapidated, it is impossible to defend the city, and if you want to fight, you can only fight in the field, which is very unfavorable to the Song Dynasty.

Fortunately, the current defender of Lanzhou is the famous general Li Jilong, who has fought all his life, and there is a way. First of all, he pulled all the army's baggage vehicles out of the city, unloaded the wheels and blocked the perimeter of the city, made the first line of defense, and secondly, prepared two lines of bow and arrow defense. In the end, it will fight with the Liao army in the field.

In the afternoon, the sky (yīn) was dark and the atmosphere became more and more tense.

The commander of the Liao army, Xiao Tzu Rin, led the generals to the front line to watch the Song army's city defense and deploy the strategy of the Ming (rì) battle.

Seeing the low city walls of the Song army and the baggage carts that stood in the way, Xiao Tzu Rin couldn't help but sneer: "It seems that Li Jilong is really old, and he wants to use these broken cars to block my Da Liao Iron Cavalry?" ”

Deputy Marshal Yelu Nuoyan said: "The Song army has no way to defend this broken city, and in the end it can only fight with us in the field, which is our advantage. It should be a few days before we can meet Zhao Heng.

Xiao Tzu Rin laughed when he heard this.

At this moment, the opposite city suddenly shouted long live, and the sound shook the sky, endlessly. Xiao Tzu Rin and the others looked up and saw that a certain yellow Luo umbrella was erected on the head of the city.

"Zhao Heng? Zhao Heng actually drove the expedition in person? Xiao Tzu Rin and the others shouted in surprise.

At this moment, Zhao Heng, under the persuasion of Kou Zhun and Gao Qiong and others, reluctantly stepped across the pontoon bridge and boarded the southern city.

All along, the news that the emperor intends to abandon the north and flee south has been circulating in the army, and the Song army officers and soldiers are depressed for this, and today they suddenly saw the emperor's Huangluo umbrella, how can the whole army not be group (qíng) agitation (dàng), and the Song army finally gained a foothold in momentum.

Zhao Hengqiang supported it, accompanied by Li Jilong, Kou Zhun and others, and inspected the defenders along the city, he saw that the soldiers had loud voices and were full of confidence, and his heart was a little more steady. As everyone knows, the soldiers are also the spirit and morale that they have just mentioned after seeing the emperor.

There was a huge object not far from the city, which attracted Zhao Heng's attention, and he asked, "Uncle, what kind of weapon is this, why haven't I seen it?" ”

Li Jilong replied: "Your Majesty, this is the (chuáng) Zinu invented by Ling Kun, which was the one who drove the Liao army (bī) into the mouth of the Flying Fox and the Sichuan rebels out of the Golden Bull Road. After careful study, the minister has made a lot of changes to him, the original two springs are now added to seven, the original big arrow did not have a carved feather, the direction is unstable, now we have added a large carved feather to it, it can be said that the current (chuáng) Zinu (cāo) is more convenient than the original, more powerful than the original. ”

"Oh, this is (chuáng) Zinu?" Zhao Heng showed a strong interest: "How far can it (shè)?" ”

"At least eight hundred steps, there is no problem from here (shè) to the camp of the Liao army."

"It's so far, how to send (shè), I send an arrow to try."

"This-" Li Jilong said with a sad face: "I'm afraid this is inappropriate, the big war hasn't started yet, and our strength can't be exposed."

"Oh, yes." Zhao Heng was slightly disappointed.

Kou Zhun moved in his heart on the side, and hurriedly said: "General Li, why wait for tomorrow for the big war, can't you fight a battle first today?" Since the emperor personally participated in the battle, it was the greatest spiritual strength of our army. He knew that with Zhao Heng's spleen (xìng), he would not dare to climb the mountain again at the beginning of the war, so taking the lead in a battle today was the best opportunity.

Li Jilong frowned, nodded thoughtfully, and said: "The prime minister is reasonable, Weichen will arrange it, and after a while, the emperor will send arrows as an order to launch an attack." ”