Yang Congyi has no interest in fighting for power and profit, nor is he greedy for power, leaving the court is a relief for him, Zhao Yan wants to take back the power in his hands, and he is willing to hand it back, but the premise is to recover Yanjing.

Now for him, the power and status in his hands are not as important as the recovery of Yanjing.

After chatting with Zhao Yan for half an hour, Yang Congyi brought the topic back to the Northern Expedition itself.

"The entire Northern Expedition is relatively smooth at present, 120,000 troops have been gathered outside Yanjing, Pingzhou and Laizhou can also mobilize 20,000 troops, the enemies of Liaoyang Mansion and Jinzhou are all contained, and it is difficult to support for a while, but our time is also very limited, if we can't take Yanjing before the cold winter comes, the army is very dangerous outside Yanjing. The ministers are old, it is not suitable to go north to Hejian Mansion, Jinan Mansion accommodation and living conditions are very good, and it is far away from Zhending Mansion and Yanjing, which is very safe, and it is a good choice to stay. In addition, all the military grain and grass that is transferred north must pass through Jinan Mansion, where water and land transportation is also convenient, if the emperor sets up his camp in Jinan Mansion and dispatches in the center, the soldiers will have no worries on the front line. Yang Congyi looked at Zhao Yan and said unhurriedly.

Zhao Yan said: "The camp is set up in Jinan Mansion and is too far away from the front line, since it is a personal expedition, why not be afraid of danger, not to mention the front line and fight side by side with the soldiers, at least the camp should be set up in Hejian Mansion." All Aiqing are the ministers of the Great Song Dynasty, and they should participate in the great cause of recovering Yanjing, and they should witness it. Wait a little longer, let them go north with the camp. ”

Yang Congyi paused, and then said: "Your Majesty, but the current situation in Yanjing is not good, among the four armies that have gathered in Yanjing, two of them have not fought in the past ten years, and no one knows how much combat power they have, and if they don't enter a battle, no one knows." And the Jin army has more than 100,000 elites in Yanjing, and their combat effectiveness is not weak, they have plenty of horses, come and go like the wind, and move quickly, if they concentrate their forces to attack one of the Northern Expeditionary Army, the battle situation may immediately be unfavorable to the Northern Expeditionary Army. ”

Zhao Yan was a little surprised when he heard this, he was not familiar with the army, and if even Yang Congyi didn't know how much combat strength the various armies had, it would be impossible for him to know. This time, a lot of troops were mobilized from the Huai River and the Yangtze River, and they have indeed been idle there for many years, if their combat effectiveness is not strong enough, what will be the result of the Northern Expedition?

"Didn't you say that this time the preparation was more sufficient, and there was no problem in capturing Yanjing?" Zhao Yan immediately asked.

"Before, it was expected to be able to mobilize 300,000 troops to participate in the Northern Expedition, and normally there would not be much of a problem, but after the adjustment of the battle, now the troops that can really appear outside Yanjing City are not even half, and the enemy also has more than 100,000 troops, and the strength is comparable. Although Yang Congyi didn't tell the truth, he didn't exaggerate much of the facts.

"Aren't the Jin armies from all walks of life running away as soon as they fight, and they have been losing and retreating, how can they tie with the Great Song army?" Zhao Yan was puzzled, so many battle reports had been saying that the Northern Expeditionary Army of all walks of life had won a great victory and regained the city one after another, while the Jin army was vulnerable, and even worse, they fled when they heard the wind, why did it completely change now in Yang Congyi's mouth?

"That's just a golden man strategy. For more than ten years, whether it was facing the Song army or the Jin army of Zhendingfu, they had adopted this method of shrinking the defensive circle, shrinking all the peripheral garrisons to twenty miles around Yanjing, and when the external pressure was too great, they would even shrink all their forces into Yanjing City. The grain and grass they stored in the city were enough for half a year, and it was difficult for either the Song army or the Jin army of Zhending Mansion to mobilize a large army to surround Yanjing City for half a year. For more than a decade, it is precisely this strategy that they have been able to stand invincibility. Yang Congyi explained.

Zhao Yan was silent.

Sure enough, it is not as easy as imagined to get Yanjing, and it is not as stable as Yang Congyi said before, is it because the time to prepare is not enough?

Zhao Yan couldn't wait.

He is not young now, and in a few years he will reach the age of knowing the destiny of heaven, if he can't take Yanjing when he launches the Northern Expedition this time, I'm afraid there will be no better chance than at this time.

Perhaps it is time to compromise, but it will backfire if you rush too much, and you may even lose the opportunity to unify Yanjing forever.

"Many Aiqing are unwell, I can't leave them in Jinan Mansion. You first go back to the front line of Hejian Province to preside over the overall situation, if the troops are insufficient, the imperial camp of 70,000 troops, you can take 20,000 to the north first. Zhao Yan thought about it for a long time and finally made this decision.

"That's all there is to it." Yang Congyi did not refuse, what he wanted when he entered the camp today was this result.

"Yanyun is the pain of the monarchs and ministers of all dynasties since Taizu, and there are only a handful of opportunities for the Great Song army to get close to Yanjing in the past two hundred years, and since the Jingkang Rebellion, we can come to Yanjing, which is even more unimaginable before, let alone dare to think that we still have almost Yanyun. Before, I gave you full authority to unify Yanjing, and I still count it. Taizu Taizong once said that whoever can unify Yanjing, whether it is a different surname or not, can be crowned king, and this promise is still counted! Zhao Yan suddenly became serious.

"I understand. Since the day he entered the martial arts at a young age, he had the ambition to recover Yanyun, and during the period, whether he was in the army or not, this ambition has not changed, it has not changed before, it has not changed now, and it will not change in the future. In this life, Yanyun will not return, and the ministers will not be blind to death! Yang Congyi once again expressed his will, for more than ten years, he has expressed his will in front of Zhao Yan many times, but this time, there is more of a decisive intention.

"Good. I have always believed in you, and I believe that only you can lead the Great Song soldiers to recover Yanyun! Zhao Yan nodded, and after speaking, he took half of the talisman and handed it to Yang Congyi, and said at the same time: "If Yanjing wins, the world will be safe, and you will also take the Jingwu Forbidden Army with you." ”

"No! The Jingwu Forbidden Army is the private army of the Son of Heaven, and their duty is to defend the capital division and protect the Son of Heaven. The emperor drove the expedition in person, there are too many unpredictable things, and the elite forbidden army must not leave the camp! When Yang Congyi heard this, he was shocked and immediately refused.

Although this elite forbidden army is based on the new elite army he selected and formed in Bozhou that year, and the elite soldiers with superb martial arts in the whole army are selected and expanded, but since Yang Congyi handed over this cavalry that he personally formed and supervised the training to Zhao Yan and put it under the command of the front division of the palace, he has no contact with them, and Yang Congyi did not include them in the Northern Expedition army to be recruited in this Northern Expedition.

"The city of Jinan is high and thick, comparable to Bianjing, even if there is no imperial camp and forbidden army, no enemy dares to attack Jinan City, not to mention that there are other forbidden troops. You take them away, and you let them go through the experience. The forbidden army that has never experienced the war, let them defend the Beijing Division, and I can't rest assured. Zhao Yan persuaded.

Yang Congyi's heart suddenly moved, understood Zhao Yan's thoughts, and immediately stopped refusing, took the talisman in his hand, and said: "Thank you to the emperor, with the help of the Jingwu Forbidden Army, the minister will be a little more sure if he takes Yanjing." ”

"I hope they live up to their name, if they are ineffective in combat or do not listen to orders on the battlefield, you can treat them equally and according to military law!" Zhao Yan said again.

"Obey the order!" Yang Congyi responded.

After that, the two discussed for half an hour, and Yang Congyi said goodbye and left the camp.

On the eighth day of November, Yang Congyi led an army of 30,000, including the Jingwu Forbidden Army, to leave Jinan City with a batch of grain, grass and ordnance that had just arrived, and went north to Hejian Province.

However, just when Yang Congyi had just left Jinan Mansion for 100 miles and had not yet entered the territory of Hejian Mansion, he suddenly received an urgent report from the Shuai Mansion.

The urgent report said that on the fifth day of this month, the Yanjing Jin Army suddenly launched an attack on the Northern Expeditionary Army stationed on the Hedgehog River, and the Song army was defeated, retreated 30 miles, and retreated to the Dashi River, and all the grain, grass and baggage of the camp of the Hedgehog River were lost!

When Yang Congyi heard the news, a bad premonition suddenly rose in his heart, and he immediately accelerated the speed of the march, lost the grain and grass material transportation team and the 20,000 infantry army, and led the elite forbidden army to rush to the north.

Half a day later, Yang Congyi received another urgent report, the Northern Expeditionary Army, which had retreated from Dashihe, wanted to recapture the Hedgehog River camp and fought another battle, but the result was a big defeat, and it had returned to Zhuozhou two days ago.

On the tenth day of November, Yang Congyi received another urgent report, and the Northern Expeditionary Army stationed in the Daxing camp learned that the Hedgehog River camp had been defeated and retreated to Zhuozhou, and they lost their left strategy, fearing that the defending Jin army would attack, so they had now abandoned the Haizi Village camp and retreated to Gu'an County!

Upon hearing this news, Yang Congyi was furious, but they had already withdrawn their troops and their morale had been lost, and it was obviously not advisable to order them to recapture the camp.

At the beginning, the four-way army was divided into four battalions, holding four directions, and forming an encirclement of Yanjing, which was already a bit risky.

Based on this consideration, the four battalions are not far apart, and the army can support the camp in half a day, if each battalion sends a small force to go forward for 20 miles, the connection between the four battalions will be closer, no matter which way the Jin army intends to attack secretly, there are adjacent armies that can rush to support with the Jin army, and the combined troops of the two battalions will have 60,000 or 70,000 people, and Yanjing will never risk sending more than half of the troops to attack the Song army camp, so as long as the neighboring battalions support in time, the Song army can be invincible.

Now that there are accidents in the Hedgehog River and Haizi Village camps, it is obvious that they did not strictly implement the military orders given to them by Yang Congyi at the beginning.

But it's too late to say anything, and how to make up for it is the top priority.

How the entire Northern Expedition battlefield evolved, Yang Congyi has deduced many times over the years, and there is a high probability that this situation will occur in the deduction, so there is naturally a way to deal with it.

Therefore, he quickly ordered the Northern Expeditionary Army of Zhuozhou and Gu'an, ordering them to hold the city no matter what, and before the new order, they must not go out of the city to face the battle, let alone go out of the city to take the initiative to attack.

At the same time, he sent people to the Tongyun camp in the east of Yanjing City and the Chaobaihe camp in the northeast to give orders, ordering the two battalions to support each other, not to retreat, let alone abandon the camp, and the reinforcements must arrive within three days!

On November 11, Yang Congyi led the Jingwu Forbidden Army to cross the Hejian Mansion and went straight to the direction of Bazhou.

At about noon on the 12th, the Jingwu Forbidden Army followed Yang Congyi and rushed to Gu'an County, fifty miles north of Bazhou City.