After the death of the old emperor Li Renxiao of Western Xia, the successor crown prince Li Yuandan also died within a few months. The land of Guanzhong is now divided into three parts. Li Yuandan's younger brother Li Yuanqing occupied Chang'an, known as orthodox, and his ruling territory covered most of Guanzhong, and the north reached Danzhou, Dunzhou, and Gyeongju. Another younger brother, Li Yuankui, occupied Xingqing Mansion, the old nest of the Dang Xiang people, and controlled Suide, Yan'an, Baoan, and Huanzhou in northern Guanzhong. At the beginning of the year, a major battle broke out between the two sides over Gyeongju. There is also a group, led by Li Xi, an important minister of the royal family, who supported Li Renxiao's younger brother Li Renzhi, retreated to Dasan Guanxi, occupied Longzhou, Weizhou, Fengxiang Mansion, and took Hanzhong as a base to border Shu. After this split, the power of Western Xia was greatly reduced. In particular, the severe drought in Guanzhong has shaken the foundation of the party members.

In the joint attack of Jin Qi, the main thing to deal with was Li Yuanqing's forces. Due to natural disasters, Guanzhong's preparedness has been greatly weakened. It can be seen from the fact that the Jin army crossed the Yellow River so quickly that the Western Xia army along the river in Danzhou and Tongzhou could not resist the Jin army at all, or did not resist at all. But south of the Wei River, whether it is Tongguan or Yaoguan, it is directly related to the survival of Chang'an. Li Yuanqing will definitely use his greatest strength to defend.

Song Zheng and Fan Zhitong were worried that once the Jin army completed the encirclement of Li Yuanqing's north, Li Yuanqing would definitely shrink his forces and focus on defending Chang'an. If the Jin army revealed the contents of the Jinqi secret agreement to the party members, Li Yuanqing could completely hold on to the Tongguan and Yaoguan lines, where all the troops were concentrated, and rely on these two Xiongguan passes. At that time, it will be more difficult for the Qi army to attack.

Both of them considered that if they were Li Yuanqing, they would definitely break their wrists and resist the Qi army with all their might, and let the Jin army occupy Guanzhong, which was thousands of miles away. After all, the current Guanzhong Chidi is thousands of miles away, and the displaced people are everywhere, which is a burden for Li Yuanqing. Throw this burden to the Jin army, and then go all out to deal with the Qi army.

For the Qi army, it is necessary to try to take one of the Tongguan and Yaoguan passes, open the gateway to Chang'an, and the speed must be fast, not falling into a protracted war, and it must be completed before the Jin army completes the encirclement of the northern front. Otherwise, Li Yuanqing would definitely react.

Before the war, no one could have imagined this situation. Wanyan Yusheng only used one trick, that is, the Jin army on the southern route did not move, and provided the conditions for Li Yuanqing's defensive forces in the north to retreat calmly to the south.

The goal of the Qi army was to capture Chang'an, and then conquer the Dasanguan Pass and occupy Hanzhong, thus opening the gateway to the north of Shu. Dajin will definitely not let Daqi successfully complete its strategic purpose, and it is conceivable that as the war progresses, Dajin will definitely leak the secret covenant of Jinqi to the Tangut people and even the Shu people, intentionally or unintentionally.

can't say that Yan Yusheng is insidious, even if Song Zheng and Fan Zhitong are the people in power in Dajin, they will definitely do it.

The two also discussed that the current situation of Daqi is not suitable for the use of troops abroad, first, due to the poor financial situation of Daqi due to internal friction, it cannot support the large-scale use of troops for a long time. Second, the armed forces have just begun to rectify, and whether they can bring into full combat strength is still a question. Previously, due to the shortage of military spending, the army had to engage in business and smuggling, and although this barely maintained military expenditures, it also caused serious problems in the army and a decline in combat effectiveness.

The combat power of the army cannot be equated with the number of people, and sometimes, the more people there are, the more chaotic and the worse the combat effectiveness. This is the case in Daqi, however, in order to realize the desire to expand the territory in his lifetime, coupled with the fact that the little emperor is not clear-headed, an inappropriate war was launched.

Of course, another factor in initiating this war is that Daqi cannot sit idly by and watch Dajin annex Guanzhong, but this factor is not without a brilliant arrow. For example, Daqi could have threatened Dajin by mobilizing troops along the Yellow River, so that Dajin would not dare to use troops against Guanzhong. After two or three years, when the little emperor is in power, the Great Qi completes internal adjustments, and then uses troops externally, the situation will be completely different.

Song Zheng and Fan Zhitong are very consistent in the above views and have a sense of sympathy. The two of them were not very optimistic about the current situation, but neither of them could decide anything, so they only co-wrote a letter to report their views and predictions on the battle situation to Xiao Hui, and at the same time put forward some tactical references, such as sending small sergeants over the mountains to disrupt logistics supplies; or take advantage of the north bank of Weishui to make a detour to attack the side of Tongguan; Or send sergeants to disguise themselves as ordinary people, go to Chang'an to spread rumors, incite contradictions between Han people and party members, and so on.

"Do your best, obey the destiny of heaven!" After Fan Zhitong beckoned the soldiers to send the letter, he said the same thing as Song Zheng said a few days ago.

"Master Fan doesn't have to be too pessimistic," Song Zheng said with a smile, "No matter how bad it is, if we are defeated with our army, don't we still occupy the place east of Tongguan?" Even if Daikin completely annexed Guanzhong, it would not be able to do it in a year or two. Not to mention the famine in Guanzhong, how much energy Dajin has to spend to calm the people, even the party members will not watch Dajin comfortably occupy his own territory. ”

"Xiaolang, you still don't understand." Fan Zhitong sighed, "A few years ago, we were defeated by the Shu State, and the morale of the entire Great Qi was not shocked. In the past two years, I have just recovered a little vitality, and if I fail again, I don't know how many years it will take to recover the next time I use the army. What's more, if the army is defeated this time, the military will definitely split. The prince is not in good health, whether he can control the situation is another matter. At least before the Holy Lord is in power, the imperial court will have to go through some shocks. ”

Regarding the situation in Jiangning, Song Zheng knew better than Fan Zhitong and knew that this was true. But what about yourself? Let's think about how to save my life in Shu first.

On August 14, news came from Kuizhou, agreeing to Qi to bring Song Zheng into Shu. Fan Zhitong immediately decided that Zu Jie would lead 200 sergeants to escort Song Zheng to Fengjie.

Before leaving, Song Zheng also saw the battle report from the north. The Great Qi naval army had reached the mouth of the Wei River, but was blocked by the Western Xia army. The Western Xia army set up tall towers on the banks of the intersection of the Wei River and the Yellow River, on which huge crossbows were erected. Due to the drought, the water level of the Wei River dropped, and the giant crossbows and trebuchets were able to cover the entire surface of the river. Not only that, but several iron chains were laid at the mouth of the Wei River to block the way. The Great Qi Navy attacked continuously for several days, losing more than 200 large and small warships, and still could not move forward.

Under Tongguan, more than 100,000 Daqi soldiers attacked in turn, but failed to overcome the pass. The Western Xia soldiers did not fight with the Qi army in the field at the beginning, but held close to the Xiong Pass, and their defense line extended to the edge of the Yellow River, and even the Great Qi naval army had to move away from the south bank of the Yellow River, otherwise they would be attacked by the arrows and crossbows of the Western Xia army. After several days of bloody fighting, Daqi had already suffered more than 5,000 casualties.

The two Qi armies in the direction of Yaoguan have successfully merged in Shangluo, entered under Yaoguan, and tried to attack a storm, but with little success. In terms of topography, Yaoguan is more precipitous than Tongguan, and at the same time it is closer to Chang'an. Li Yuanqing arranged 40,000 troops here, although the number was only half of the Great Qi, but it was extremely difficult for the Great Qi to capture this pass.

Compared with the Qi army, Dajin's side was much smoother. As Song Zheng expected, the Jin army did not go south, but marched westward all the way, pushing the battle line to the line of Baishui, Jucheng, and Luochuan, while the Jin army on the south route was still slowly transferring troops to Hedong Mansion, and had no intention of crossing the river. Since then, the strategic intentions of the Jin army have become more and more obvious.

Before leaving Zigui, Song Zheng introduced Bei Leye to Fan Zhitong and asked him to help establish a branch of Huitong Trading Bank. Fan Zhitong was reluctant to get involved in this kind of thing, but Song Zheng revealed that the trading house is not only to trade goods, but also to provide a lot of convenience in spying on the intelligence of Shu. Fan Zhitong was a little moved at this time, and after carefully inquiring about the operation of the business bank, he agreed. Of course, the condition is that the trading house will replace Jinghu Pass for transshipment and procurement of part of the military supplies.

The reason why he arranged the business before leaving was because Song Zheng and Fan Zhi were not familiar with each other at the beginning, and if they acted rashly, they would definitely be rejected. After these days of communication, the two have become New Year's friends, and this is the opportunity.

"Between the white emperor and the clouds, thousands of miles of Jiangling will be returned in one day. The apes on both sides of the strait could not stop crying, and the light boat had already crossed the ten thousand mountains. Li Taibai's poem, which has been passed down through the ages, gives people romantic and bold feelings. However, few people have ever been able to appreciate the danger of sailing here. Reefs and shoals are prone to capsizing and deaths. Only the lightest boatman, the sailor who is most familiar with the waterways, can sail through this place smoothly.

Going down the river, although it is a little thrilling, it is also a little indulgent. But the most difficult thing is to sail against the current, which is the greatest torture for manpower. Whether it's the people on the boat, or the men who pull the fiber.

The Padang men were naked, with only a sweat towel tied around their heads, and their bodies were at an angle of 30 degrees to the ground. They walked laboriously on the shallows by the river, almost with their hands and feet. The rope was deeply embedded in their shoulders, and the sweat ran down their bodies and melted into the river beneath their feet.

Song Zheng was not romantic enough to appreciate their strength and beauty, but just instructed Zhang Chong beside him to pay twice the wages of these men out of his own pocket. He knew that at least for the next thousand years, these men would continue this kind of labor from generation to generation.

Facing the surging river, Song Zheng stood on the bow of the boat, letting the splashing waves wet his clothes. Su Chan, with Yun'er's support, also came to the bow of the boat. Despite her pale face, she looked greedily at the river and the green hills on both sides.

"Master He has a sentence in his heart, 'A water flies into the air, and the whole width of the bead curtain is lifted.'" Yang Jiong also has a saying, 'No wind and waves.' 'Childe has experienced it?' Su Chan said with a slight trembling.

Song Zheng was not in the mood to talk about poetry and lyrics with her, and said lightly, "Bead curtains, waves, what are you doing!" ”

This sentence was so blunt that Su Chan was stunned. After a long time, she seemed to think of something, and replied, "Doesn't the son want the slave family to praise you, 'Jiangtou is not a storm, and it is difficult to walk in the world'?" ”

Li Jing of the Southern Tang Dynasty talked with Feng Yansi, and once said, "Blowing a pool of spring water, what is the matter?" Feng Yansi's answer was, "Not as if Your Majesty's 'small building blows through the Yusheng cold'." ”

This is a good story in the literary world, which has been widely circulated. Obviously, Su Chan suspected that Song Zheng was going to imitate the elegance of his predecessors. This is also to blame Song Zheng, a few days ago, he accidentally recited Xin Qiji's "Partridge Heaven: Giving Away", which made Su Chan shocked and chanted repeatedly for several days.

She didn't expect that Song Zheng really didn't have the mood to chant poetry. Song Zheng turned around and glanced at her, and said with a big smile, "Master Su, do you know how many dry bones have been buried in the wind and waves under our ship for thousands of years?" ”