After deciding to go to Ezhou, Zhou He, Wang Chongyi and others immediately set off to escort Zhao Huan and Cheng south. King Jing Zhao Qi was the target of the Imperial City Division's surveillance not long ago, in all fairness, the generals of the Imperial City Division thought that Zhao Ke was the rightful orthodoxy, and they were unwilling to submit to the northern captives because of this. And Zhao Xingde also has a relationship with the Imperial City Division, Wang Yan and Shen Yun both gave Zhao Xingde some help in secret.

Ma Yuan looked at the back of the group of people and horses, and said enviously: "Hurry up and get there, let's be there soon." "These students decided to defect to Zhao Xingde in Ezhou. Ma Yuan is careful, and if he can ride a horse, he may be more valued. After a while, Tang Zishan's volunteers recruited more than a dozen Ding Zhuang, and Liang Xiu was also very satisfied. At this time, there was a huge gap between the north and the south, and the accents of these displaced people were similar to those of the Tangzhou people, and Liang Xiu thought that they were easier to control than the southerners. Most of the displaced people who joined the army did not have families, and the northerners were homesick, and they would work harder when they started fighting.

It was not yet late, and the people resting in the woods set off one after another. This place is only more than 100 miles away from Xiangyang, if the foot is fast, you can reach Xiangyang tomorrow. The southeast Wang Division was heavily stationed in Xiangyang, and it was temporarily stable when it got there. When they get over there, they share a few acres of land and do some work to make ends meet, which is the only plan that most people have. People leave their hometowns, these people are mostly middle-class families in the township, this time they left their hometowns, fled for a long distance, and had no other extravagant hopes, just to live a stable life, not to live such a precarious life under the rule of the Beiyu, pigs and dogs are not as good as life.

Xiangyang and Fancheng north and south between the Han water to build the city, before the rebellion in Fangla, the people of the Song State mostly knew this place from the Three Kingdoms dialect, Sun Jian was killed by the Huang Zu generals here, Guan Yu flooded the Seventh Army and was defeated, all of which made people sigh. After the rebellion in Fangla, Xiangyang became the southeast camp marshal's mansion, Liu Yanqing led 780,000 horses to the north to Qinwang, walked for nearly a month, as soon as he heard the news of the fall of Bianliang and the official family being taken captive, he returned to Xiangyang in seven days, and the march was very different before and after, which was quite criticized by the people of the time. Despite this, under the pressure of the northern army, this army has become the hope of the southeast half, and many people praise him for being old and serious, and maintaining an elite army for the imperial court. Some unreasonable people even compared the daimyo with Xiangyang, not only accusing Zhao Zhifu, Qin Hui and other Qingliu of misleading the country, but also slandering Wang Yan for not being able to protect the division and brigade like Liu Yanqing, and that he was the one who offended the defeat of Hebei.

Liu Yanqing stood at the head of Xiangyang City, looking at the north, and there was an endless stream of fleeing people. If you put yourself in the name of a big name, you will never end up better than Wang Yan. Therefore, when the news of Hebei's defeat and Wang Yan's martyrdom came, Liu Yanqing not only did not rejoice, but had the sadness of the rabbit's death and the fox's death. In order to prevent the Liao army from working carefully, now Xiangyang and Fancheng cannot accept displaced people. After the people arrived in Fancheng, the deputy generals Fu Dongming and Wang Liao selected Ding Zhuang, who was willing to join the army, and enriched the army, and got 30,000 elite soldiers in two months. Coupled with the original men and horses of the southeast camp, the two cities of Xiangfan have gathered 100,000 troops.

"Dashuai, this iron-clad Xiangyang, even if the Liaogou million army comes to attack, you have to break two teeth."

Staff member Huang Zhan held a folding fan and said with a smile. But Liu Yanqing's face was contemplative, and his brows furrowed. Huang Zhan secretly said that it was not good, and carefully kept silent. Liu Yanqing looked at Fancheng, the Hanshui ferry did not stop, the displaced people stopped in Fancheng for a while, then crossed the river to the south, these days, the ferry boat is becoming more and more insufficient, so that the north bank of the Hanshui has piled up a large number of people.

"These poor people." Liu Yanqing shook his head. He was born in a family of Jiangmen, although he is not as scholarly as a family, he is also a fine cloth and jade food, he looked at the people crowded on the shore, and his eyes showed a trace of pity. The southeast and Hebei moved to change the commander, and many of the close relatives of the Liu family in Hebei have already moved to the southeast, but the Liu family is deeply rooted in Hebei, and there are many distant relatives trapped in the land occupied by the Liao thieves, but Liu Yanqing can't take care of it.

"Marshal, the military rations in Ezhou have arrived." The general Ding Dao said.

Liu Yanqing let out an "um" and signaled that he knew.

Huang Zhan took the opportunity to smile and said: "The handsome tiger is majestic, this Chen Shaoyang is still an acquaintance." ”

Liu Yanqing nodded, a hint of pride flashing across his face.

Xiangfan is a large army city with high pools and deep pools, and there are a lot of grain and grass reserves. However, the place where the army is stationed, the grain and grass are not small, and they are usually transferred from the southeast prefectures and counties, and Ezhou is at the confluence of the Han River and the Great River, which is the necessary place for the transfer of military rations. When Chen Dong and Yue Fei raised troops in Ezhou and respected the Son of Heaven not to obey the order, Liu Yanqing was still on the way back to Xiangyang, so he handed over to his subordinates to prepare to seize Ezhou downstream. This not only means that each is his own master, but also to preserve his own food channel. Who would have thought that when the army arrived in Xiangfan, it met Chen Dong's envoy. Chen Dong promised not to intercept the military rations sent to Xiangyang by the southeast prefecture and county, and even the military rations that should be supplied on Jinghu North Road were not a lot.

In this way, Liu Yanqing was shaken again. It can be said that it is expedient for him to respect Zhao Qi as the Son of Heaven, and if he raises troops to attack Chen Dong, there will be no room for turning around in Bianliang. Most importantly, the situation in the north is also quite strange. Although Yelu Dashi captured the monarchs and ministers of the Great Song Dynasty, the Liao soldiers were always stationed outside Bianliang City, except for Zhao Ke who was still detained in the Liao military camp, such as Zhao Zhifu, Qin Hui and other ministers, almost all the important ministers of the court were still in Bianliang, and the Great Song Dynasty seemed to be still operating as usual. This situation made the Song people particularly at a loss. Even in the Jianghuai area under Cai Jing's nose, many prefectures and counties still accept Bianliang's will to "borrow troops to quell rebellion" and provide grain and grass for the Liao army going south. Not long ago, Li Jin and Kong Yanzhou coerced tens of thousands of people to make trouble in Jinling, and it was also in the name of respecting Bianliang, which was quite demagogic. Now the situation seems to have the possibility of peace, Zhao Zhifu and Qin Hui and others are making peace with Beiyu with all their might, if the peace negotiation is really successful, then Zhao Ke will immediately turn the corner. And Zhao Qi, Cao Di, Cai Jing and others have really become chaotic ministers and thieves. Under the joint attack of the imperial court and the Liao army, Liu Yanqing did not believe that Luoyang and Taiyuan could hold on.

On the battlefield, the most fearful of death is often the first to die. Therefore, although Liu Yanqing is willing to fight for his subordinates desperately, he is very cautious. The strength of the Zhenguo Army is not weak, and it has a righteous reputation, and Liu Yanqing is not willing to fight to the death with the Zhenguo Army as a last resort, and his strength is wasted in vain. After all, he and Yue Fei are both generals of the imperial court, not princes in troubled times fighting for territory.

With the Liao army pressing the border, Liu Yanqing's mind changed again. The Liao army is known as 300,000 people, and the southward movement is violent, and there are 100,000 soldiers and horses in the southeast camp, while the Ezhou Zhenguo army has only 8,000 people in the northward headquarters, and the strength and weakness are very different. Xiangyang is located in the upper reaches of the Jianghuai River, which is a place where soldiers must fight. This place is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and the Central Plains further north is easy to attack and difficult to defend. After the southern soldiers captured Xiangyang, they could use this as a basis for the Northern Expedition to recover Henan and Hebei. If the northern army gets Xiangyang, with the help of the Han River and the river to transport grain and grass, the army can go down the river and sweep the Jianghuai.

However, the Liao army had the ambition to win, but Liu Yanqing did not have the heart to defend it. What he repeatedly considered was still the disparity between strength and weakness. He was born in Hebei, and he always thought that the elite soldiers in the world were better than Hebei, and the cities in the world were stronger than Bianliang. However, with the strong troops of the Hebei camp and the strength of Bianliang City, they still can't resist the Liao army, so why can 100,000 southeast soldiers and horses hold Xiangyang? At this time, Liu Yanqing wanted to retreat to Ezhou again. He vaguely knew that after the cession of Hebei was rejected by the Liao, because the Liao army revealed the idea of letting Zhao Ke return to Bianliang and teach Hebei, some people are now considering dividing the river with the Liao people to rule, and the southerners will return to the south, and the northerners will return to the north. Ordinary Baixin didn't know that the Xiangfan Navy was already collecting Hanshui ships and preparing to carry the army to Ezhou. At this time, in Liu Yanqing's eyes, the rabble in Ezhou was not to be feared, and when the time came, it would be enough to give Yue Fei an official position as a general.

"It's a pity that it's a fortified city, it's too close to the Central Plains." Liu Yanqing sighed. The moss on the bricks of this Xiangyang city is full of arrow marks and bloodstains from previous dynasties fighting for this city. He looked at the north bank of the Han River, and suddenly, a cloud of wolf smoke ignited at the head of Fancheng, and three pillars of smoke rushed straight into the sky, looking very hideous against the blue sky.

With the wolf smoke rising, the people piled up on the north bank of the Han River suddenly became in a commotion, and the people rushed to the few remaining ferries on the shore, some people were even squeezed into the Han River, and some people jumped into the still cold and biting river water to try to swim across the Han River, and the north bank of the Han River was like dumplings full of people. Their panicked shouts, disputes, and noisy voices were heard clearly at the head of Xiangyang across the Han River. The people didn't know when the northern captives would enter Fancheng, but the shadow of the Liao thieves had obviously enveloped everyone.

Looking at the rising wolf smoke, Liu Yanqing's cheeks twitched slightly, and Huang Zhan and Ding Jidao beside him changed their faces even more.

This is still the beacon built when Wang Yan presided over the southeast camp. Regardless of the state, county and countryside, build a beacon tower every 30 miles to prevent thieves. The three torches of wolf smoke represent that more than 3,000 enemy horsemen have approached Fancheng. Since the Liao army was mostly light cavalry, most of the cities defended by the Song army along the way were mainly persuaded to surrender by the Bianliang edict, so the march was rapid. Before the governor of Dengzhou Xu Yue and the soldiers and horses Jingchao fell to the north, Fancheng discovered the traces of the Liao army's rangers. The wolf smoke was lit from time to time, and in just over ten days, it went from the first five hundred riding into the Kou with one torch of wolf smoke, to more than 1,000 riding more than two torches of wolf smoke, and then to about 3,000 riding with three torches of wolf smoke.

Looking at the people on the north bank of the Han River who were scrambling to flee for their lives on the south bank, Liu Yanqing couldn't help but shudder. If these 3,000 horsemen are only the vanguard soldiers and horses, then the Liao army soldiers and Xiangfan are already close at hand. The impregnable Xiangyang City is actually in danger.