Although the area occupied by Dongjin is wide, but the only places that are really richer and more populous are the Yanjing area and Liaoyang Prefecture, the birthplace of the Jin Kingdom, the Beijing Huining Mansion was completely burned down after Yan Liang moved the capital to Yanjing, where most of the population was forcibly relocated, so the Shangjing area that occupies most of the land in Dongjin is actually not rich and cannot provide much support for Liaoyang Prefecture.

Therefore, the position of the Yanjing region in the entire Dongjin is very important, and no one dares to give up Yanjing lightly, and it is even more impossible to return it to the Song court.

However, since the failure of the southern invasion of Wanyan Liang, the strength of the Jin State has been seriously weakened, and then divided into two, and the two sides have invested a lot of troops and material resources in the north, and the national strength has been weakened for more than ten years.

Now even if Xijin and Dongjin are united, they will not pose a fatal threat to the Great Song Dynasty, if it is a single Dongjin, even if they try their best, they may not be able to capture Shandong, let alone attack Bianjing.

The national strength is not as good as the Great Song Dynasty, and it is entangled with Xijin in Linhuang Mansion, how dare you offend the Great Song Dynasty at this time, even if the Great Song Dynasty envoys provoke, and the Minister of Culture and Military Affairs of the Eastern Jin Dynasty instigated to kill them, Wan Yanyong did not dare to order killing.

Although the envoys were rude, and the content of the letter of state was excessive, what the Song court wanted was nothing more than interests, and since it was interests, there was something to talk about, and if they killed someone, there would be no way out.

The Song court is now strong, and can use thunderbolts to seize dozens of state capitals in Hedong and Guanzhong, and destroy his nearly 200,000 troops.

Since we can't win the fight, we can't tear our faces, let alone kill people, otherwise there will be no room for maneuver in the future.

Wan Yanyong suppressed his anger, restrained his inner impulses, and did not rebuke the envoys of the Great Song Dynasty in public, but even sent the envoys to prison.

The envoys of the Great Song Dynasty were sent back to the palace, and the entire mission was also closely guarded, and they were not allowed to leave Liaoyang City for the time being.

At the same time, the Liaoyang Prefecture sent people to gallop to Yanjing to verify whether the movements of the Song court were really as the envoys said, and ordered Yanjing to stay behind to strengthen the defenses in case the Song army suddenly attacked.

However, as soon as Wanyan Yong's edict was issued in Liaoyang City, the Northern Expeditionary Army of the Great Song Dynasty had already begun to move.

On September 12, the twelfth year of Beiding, the 50,000 soldiers stationed in Hejian Province were divided into three routes, and suddenly acted at the same time, bypassing large and small cities, and the troops pointed directly at Pingzhou City.

On 16 September, 10,000 soldiers of the Hejian Front Army arrived 20 miles south of Pingzhou City and set up camp.

After finding out that the former army of the Great Song Dynasty was not strong, they wanted to take advantage of the fact that the rear army of the Great Song Dynasty had not arrived to attack first and destroy the deployment of the Great Song army, so they hurriedly led 25,000 of the 30,000 garrisons in the city to the camp of the Song army early the next morning.

However, the Song army had long been prepared for this, occupied favorable terrain in advance, set up a camp according to the camp, blocked the enemy with strong bows and crossbows, and repelled the enemy's large-scale camp three times until the sun set in the west, always keeping the enemy out of the hundred zhang and unable to approach.

The Jin army of Pingzhou almost went out of the nest, and the attack on the camp was fruitless, and it was afraid that other troops in Hejian Province would come to support, so they hurriedly retreated in the afternoon and returned to Pingzhou City.

That night, Pingzhou stayed behind Feishu to hand over Yanjing and asked for support, and at the same time, Feishu hurriedly delivered to Liaoyang Mansion to complete the hostile situation of Pingzhou and Hejian Mansion to the emperor.

On September 18, Luo Cong, the former marshal of the Northern Expedition and the commander of Hejian Prefecture, led 20,000 soldiers of the Chinese army to join forces with the former army in 20 miles south of Pingzhou City.

On the afternoon of 19 September, 20,000 officers and men of the rear army also arrived 20 miles outside Pingzhou City to join the front army and the Chinese army.

At midnight on the morning of 20 September, former army marshal Luo Cong gave an order, and the 50,000-strong army immediately pulled out camp and rushed to Pingzhou City, 20 miles to the north.

An army of 50,000 well-equipped troops marched at a steady pace on the endless wilderness, not impatient, not fearless, as if they were about to crush the ground under their feet, the formation was vast, fearless, and the momentum seemed to tear apart all the enemies encountered in front of them.

Before the time, the Song army arrived three miles outside the city of Pingzhou, crossed the barren grass, and the city in front of them was clearly visible.

At this time, the 50,000 troops of the Great Song Dynasty arrived, and they did not dare to attack easily, so they closed the city gate, and the whole army went to the city, and waited for Yanjing to send troops to help as soon as possible.

That night, the Northern Expeditionary Army of the Great Song Dynasty camped outside the city and divided its troops to block the west and south gates.

At noon on September 21, the Song army was preparing to storm the city of Pingzhou, and at the same time shot a book into the city to persuade him to surrender.

There are only a few numbers in the letter of persuasion: sacrifice the city and live, fight against the slaughter!

The Song army gave the Pingzhou Jin army only twelve hours to consider, and after twelve hours, they had to attack the city on time!

The dense Song army outside the south gate and west gate was either arranging troops or preparing siege equipment, and it seemed that they hoped that the Jin army would go out of the city and surrender.

So the pressure came to the Jin army stationed on the city of Pingzhou, at this time they had three choices: one was to open the west and south gates and surrender to the Song army, the second was to open the east and north gates and withdraw to Laizhou or Yanjing, and the third was to wait for the Song army outside the city to fight to the death tomorrow and wait for the Yanjing garrison to come to help.

Although most of the Pingzhou garrison were also Han Chinese, they were never Song people, and they had no feelings for the Great Song Dynasty.

As for opening the door and retreating, this is not the best choice, after all, although the Song army is powerful, they occupy the city, it is not that they do not have the ability to fight, if they retreat in advance before a battle is fought, no matter where they go, Shangguan and the court will pursue it, and no one will have good fruit to eat.

Take a step back, even if you want to retreat, it will be a matter of holding the city for a few days, because you have fought and lost the enemy, and then you can break through the encirclement and retreat safely, so that you can give a reasonable explanation to Shangguan and the court.

Therefore, the defenders of Pingzhou thought that in the face of the Song army, there was only one really good choice, that is, to resist first, and then calmly retreat to Laizhou or Yanjing, and then the imperial court organized troops, and then attacked from east to west to recover Pingzhou City!

Luo Cong also knew that it was useless to persuade the defenders of Pingzhou to surrender, and before the army left Hejian Mansion, he had already prepared to storm Pingzhou and clear the obstacles for the Northern Expeditionary Army.

In addition, there is another purpose, that is, to wait for the news that the Yidu Army has captured the Shihe Pass.

It turned out that before Luo Cong led the army of Hejian Mansion to the north, he had already passed the news with the Yidu Army, and the two sides agreed to send troops before and after, Hejian Mansion attacked Pingzhou City, and Yidu Mansion took the Shihe Pass between Pingzhou and Laizhou through the waterway.

In order to prevent the Jin army of Yanjing and Pingzhou from escaping eastward back to Liaoyang Mansion, the two armies agreed to attack Shihe Pass first, cut off the retreat of the Jin army, and then attack Pingzhou City.

Although the Yidu army set off later than Luo Congbu, at this time, they took the waterway, the wind and the water were smooth, and the sail was a sail, but the speed was much faster than that of the army on foot.

Late at night, Luo Cong sat in the handsome camp, and had no intention of sleeping, one was to worry about tomorrow's siege, and the other was to wait for the news that the Yidu Army was in Shihe Pass.

Pingzhou City is taken, then the Northern Expedition army can immediately cut off the most convenient connection between Liaoyang Mansion and Yanjing, when the army occupies Pingzhou City is like a wedge, deeply wedged into the waist of the Jin people, if you want to rescue Yanjing, the Jin people must recapture Pingzhou City, if the Jin people mobilize a large army to attack Pingzhou, other places must be empty, the Northern Expeditionary Army can take the opportunity to attack from all sides, then the Northern Expedition will win.

The imperial court and Yang Congyi handed over the important task of conquering Pingzhou City to Luo Cong, which was the importance and trust of Luo Cong, and he had to be cautious and walk on thin ice.

"Handsome! Shihe urgently reported that our army had seized the pass and was pursuing in the direction of Laizhou! ”

When the hour was approaching, the guards outside the tent made an urgent report, and Luo Cong's heart suddenly lightened.

As soon as the Shihe Pass was taken, the army would have no worries in the east.

So he immediately ordered: "Pass the order to the front army, and attack the city on time!" ”

"Yes!"

The herald quickly left the tent with the letter and went to the camp of the former army to deliver the siege order.

Since the Shihe Pass has been taken, and the former army is preparing to attack the city, he can launch an attack at night, this battle does not seek results, Luo Cong just wants to test his army, and by the way see how much fighting spirit the Jin army has.

The marshal's order was transmitted to the front army, and the commander of the front army immediately summoned the main generals and announced the siege order.

When it was ugly, a trumpet sounded, piercing the night sky, and the gate of the front camp of the Song army suddenly opened, and four dragonfish rushed out and went straight to Pingzhou City, which was three miles away.

The Jin army, who was on duty day and night on the city of Pingzhou, soon discovered the abnormality of the Song army's camp, and soon found that the Song army was coming straight to the city, and immediately ran to tell each other: "The Song army has attacked the city!" The Song army is attacking the city! The Song army attacked the city......"

The shouts of the soldiers of the Jin Army on the city wall pierced the last quiet night before the storm in Pingzhou City.

The storm came six hours early!

But many people are not ready for the storm right away.

However, when the storm comes, it is not up to people's will, but also to wait for people to make all defensive preparations from the heart to the material and equipment, it is so sudden and so random.

The Song army came like the wind and stayed a hundred feet away.

In the dim night, the firelight flickered, and after a little preparation, they only heard an order, and the whistling sound of the strong crossbow breaking through the air came from the front of the formation, and the hearts of the people were suddenly shaken.

The strength of the crossbow bed of the Song army has long been famous in the battles of Song Liao, Song Xia, and Song Jin, ** as thick as an egg, the range is squeezed far, and the person who is shot is killed immediately.

A volley of crossbow bed spears came in an instant, easily shooting through the Jin soldiers on the city wall and by the campfire not far away, and the spears flew farther into the city.

The spear flew by, and the Jin soldiers immediately fell and died, some people had a big hole in their heads pierced by the spear, some people were torn off half of their heads, some people were shot in the neck by spears, and their whole heads rolled to the ground, and more people were pierced through their chests, and a huge blood hole was broken in their bodies.

Under the light of the fire, the tragic sight of the unlucky and dead soldiers instantly stunned the nearby soldiers, and many people immediately shrank their heads and hid under the battlements.

But soon, the timid soldiers tasted the hot taste of the horsewhip in the hands of the Shangguan.

Then one by one trembled, poked their heads out of the wall again, and looked at the Song army hundreds of feet away.

Before they could see the actions of the Song army, they saw some black spots that seemed to be there in a trance, and they went straight to the front door!