The news that the Jin army had crossed the Yellow River and was approaching Beijing spread far and wide, and there was a panic in Bianliang City, and many powerful families began to leave Tokyo for refuge, while ordinary people were panicked, worried, and at a loss.

After Zhao Huan ordered the punishment of Zhu Mian, Wang Hao, and Li Yan, who had fled from Beijing without authorization, he issued a series of personnel appointments: appointing Wu Minzhi as a member of the Privy Council, appointing Tang Ke as the secretary of the ministry, appointing Li Ze as a member of the Tongzhi Privy Council, appointing Li Gang as a squire of the military department, appointing He Li as the Zhongcheng of the imperial history, and so on.

On the same day, the imperial court arranged for relevant personnel to distribute small lists in the streets and alleys of Bianliang City, recruit brave soldiers, and form a pioneer death squad.

The people responded and actively signed up to participate.

A number of public officials from the occupied areas and scattered soldiers also came to enlist, hoping for revenge.

Even, many wealthy families also spread out that they should bring their own money and rice, recruit people who dare to fight to help the country resist the enemy, and guard the Beijing division.

In short, the will of the people to resist is still very strong.

But it was useless, because most of the ministers in the court didn't want to fight this battle, and even several of Zhao Huan's governors tried their best to avoid the war.

Bai Shizhong and Zhang Bangchang believed that the Jin army was menacing, and the goal was very clear, that is, to come towards Bianliang City, and the strength of the city defenders in the Beijing division was insufficient, and the division of King Qin did not know when it would come, so they strongly persuaded Zhao Huan to go out of the city to avoid the battle, and to Xiangyang in the south or Luoyang in the west.

Zhao Huan himself has many worries about whether to defend the city or go out of the city, and suffers from gains and losses - he thinks that if he goes out of the city to Xiangyang or Luoyang, there is no reliable person to rely on, and he is afraid that there will be changes on the road, and he will have to bear the infamy of abandoning the clan and the people of the capital, and stay in Bianliang City, there are many ministers available around him, and the emperor's prestige can also be maintained, but he is afraid that Bianliang City will be lost and Sheji will be lost in his hands.

Under Zhao Huan's gains and losses, Jin Jun came to Tokyo, and Zhao Huan no longer had the possibility of escaping.

Zhao Huan could only appoint Li Gang, who had been in charge of the war, as Shangshu Youcheng, and appointed Li Gang as the pro-conquest camp envoy, with full authority to preside over the military command of the anti-Jin resistance, and Cao Yu deputy, let them set up the command organ in the Dasheng Mansion, and they would set up their own official subordinates, give millions of silver money each, and give the court council, martial arts doctors and generals to post 3,000 Dao, and allow them to engage in it cheaply.

Li Gang gave the order, and immediately recruited brave people to resist Jin, and temporarily did not hold Liang Fangping and He Guan accountable for throwing away the Yellow River without a fight, so that they could lead the Yanei army into the city to assist in the defense, and then ordered the army and people of the whole city to take active action to carry out preparations for war in an all-round way, repair the building and oars, hang felt curtains, install artillery mounts, set up crossbow beds, transport bricks and stones, apply torches, hang wood, prepare fire oil, and make full preparations for all the equipment needed for defense.

In the end, Li Gang had 40,000 troops, and then divided them into five armies, each with 8,000 troops, and established an organizational system of command, commanders, generals, and generals, and conducted military training every day to improve their military quality and combat effectiveness.

Li Gang arranged for the front army to be stationed outside the Tongjin Gate to protect the granaries in the city.

At this time, there were more than 400,000 stones of bean millet in the warehouse of Bianliang City, and later the army of King Qin gathered outside the city of Tokyo, thanks to this batch of grain as military rations.

The rear army was stationed outside the Chaoyang Gate and controlled the shallower Hao River in the Fanjiagang area, so that the enemy cavalry did not dare to approach the city wall.

The left, right, and center armies were all stationed in the city as strategic reserves, in case of emergency.

Bianliang City is composed of three parts: the outer city, the inner city and the palace city.

The fortifications were mainly distributed in the outer city, and they were built very strongly.

There are 14 gates in the outer city, including seven water gates.

A round or square urn city was set up at each city gate to strengthen the protection of the city gate entrance.

There was a war tent on the urn city, which was used for the defense and rest of the soldiers defending the city.

The outer city wall is equipped with a horse face every sixty or seventy steps, and the horse face protrudes beyond the city wall, which can be cross-fired to protect the wall from enemy damage.

There are warehouses about every 200 meters, which contain a variety of weapons and munitions.

In order to strengthen the city's defenses, a moat was dug around the outer city, and elm and willow trees were planted on both sides of the river, which also constituted a considerable obstacle for the besieging enemy.

It can be said that the strength of Bianliang City is rare in the world, with 40,000 troops in the city, more than one million people, enough food and materials, as long as the Song army sticks to it, the Jin army will never be able to capture Bianliang City.

After the Jin army crossed the flood, it beat the drum and marched strongly, mighty and mighty, and the momentum shook the sky, and the cavalry of the brigade rushed towards Bianliang City.

After Zhao Huan learned of this news, in order to cope with the extraordinary changes, the leading organization was adjusted - first abolished Li Gang's position as the envoy of the camp, and reappointed Li Gang as the imperial envoy of the four walls of the imperial camp, and then removed Bai Shizhong from the post of Dazai, and appointed Li Bangyan as the Dazai and the servant of the disciple, Zhang Bangchang as the young man and the servant of the Zhongshu, Zhao Ye as the servant of the disciple, Wang Xiaodi as the waiter of the Zhongshu, Cai Mao as the secretary of Shangshu Zuocheng and Tongzhi Privy Council, Wu Min continued to serve as the envoy of the Privy Council, and Geng Nanzhong was promoted from the signing of the Privy Council to the secretary of Shangshu Zuocheng.

At the same time, Zhao Huan sent an attendant to each of the country's roads, and asked them to urge the ministers of Zhulu to quickly lead the troops of King Qin into Beijing to reinforce on behalf of the imperial court.

On the seventh day of the first lunar month, Wanyan Zongwang led the cavalry of the Jin army to reach outside Bianliang City.

But—

The Jin army did not immediately attack the city, but went straight to the northwest outskirts of the capital, and then seized Mutuogang, where they set up camp.

This Mu Huogang is the Northern Song Dynasty Tiansi Prison (that is, a place to raise horses).

At this time, Mu Huogang had more than 20,000 war horses, and the grain, grass and fodder in the warehouse were piled up.

Moreover, the terrain of Mu Huogang is steep, surrounded by water on three sides, like a sandbar, and can be used as a barrier against the fog Zepi, occupying this place, easy to defend but difficult to attack.

The seizure of Mu Huogang was obviously suggested and led by Pharmacist Guo.

A few years ago, when Pharmacist Guo came to Tokyo to meet Zhao Ji, Zhao Ji had arranged for someone to accompany Pharmacist Guo to play a few games of polo here, so Pharmacist Guo was more familiar with the situation here.

The occupation of this place by the Jin army can be said to kill two birds with one stone, one is advantageous to the location, and the other is to obtain military supplies, which has laid a good material foundation for the upcoming siege war.

Soon, the Jin army launched an attack on Bianliang City.

Li Gang personally went to the scene to command the battle, defeated the Jin army at the West Water Gate, and captured more than 100 Jin soldiers.

Wanyan Zongwang felt that the Song army was not without combat power at all, so he sent Wu Xiaomin and other envoys to meet Zhao Huan.

Wanyan Zongwang's move, on the one hand, was to test the attitude of the Song people, and on the other hand, to investigate the military strength in Bianliang City.

After Wu Xiaomin saw Zhao Huan, he said: "The prince Langjun intercepted the pardon letter on the road, and he knew that the emperor was on the throne, and the emperor had already taken the throne. ”

Hearing that the Jin people wanted to negotiate peace, Zhao Huan was overjoyed, and immediately looked at Li Bangyan and Zhang Bangchang and other ministers and asked, "Who can go to Jinying to negotiate peace?" ”

All the rulers were silent, and no one was willing to stand up.

Seeing this, Li Gang stepped forward and said, "The minister asks to go." ”

Zhao Huan disagreed, and said: "Qing Fang governs the soldiers, no." ”

Zhao Huan saw that except for Li Gang, no one was willing to take the initiative to ask for his life, so he ordered Li Yan, the secretary of the Privy Council, to be the envoy, and Zheng Wangzhi and Gao Shi to be the deputies.

After retreating from the court, Li Gang stayed and did not leave, and he asked Zhao Huan why he didn't send himself to Jinying to negotiate peace?

Zhao Huan replied: "Qing's personality is too strong to pass. ”

Li Gang analyzed: "The enemy is sharp today, and our troops have not been gathered, so we cannot disagree. However, there must be a strategy, and if the strategy is taken, China's situation will be safe, otherwise the disaster will be over, and the safety of the sect and society will be in danger. The minister was worried that Li Yan would be cowardly, and he was afraid that he would miss state affairs. ”

Li Gang further analyzed: "The Jin people are insatiable by nature, and the Yan people are plotting for them, and the Yan people have always been cunning, so they will make a loud noise and make excessive demands to spy on our China's reaction. If the court does not move, and the measures are appropriate, they should retreat; If the imperial court is frightened and agrees to everything they want, they will know that there is no one in China, and they will covet it even more, and then they will be ......troubled."

Regarding Li Gang's analysis, Zhao Huan agreed, but turned his head and said to Li Yan: "Aiqing will try his best to promote peace." ”

Li Yan was really cowardly, and after arriving at the Jin camp, he didn't dare to say a word, and the Jin people laughed at him and said, "This is a woman's ear." ”

Fortunately, there is a deputy envoy Zheng Wangzhi who argues with reason.

And yet—

No matter how Zheng Wangzhi argued, Wanyan Zongwang still relied on Guo Yaoshi's plan to ask Song Guo for 5 million taels of gold, 50 million taels of silver, 10,000 cattle and horses, and 1 million taels of satin.

In the process, the Jin army attacked Bianliang City again, hoping to deter the Song State by force.

But Li Gang and several subordinate officials braved the rain of arrows to go to the city to supervise the battle and inspire the soldiers.

Many soldiers were wounded, and Li Gang rewarded them generously.

Zhao Huan also saw that the situation was critical, and sent some attendants to come to condole.

The chamberlains held the imperial pen, read Zhao Huan's praise to the officers and soldiers, and brought precious items such as wine, silver bowls, and silk picks from the palace treasury, which were awarded to the soldiers one by one.

The soldiers were full of passion and cheered.

The two sides fought fiercely from Mao to Shen.

The soldiers of the Song army have been holding the city wall and killing thousands of enemies.

The Jin soldiers saw that the city was prepared, the Song people had a strong will to fight, and the city of Bianliang was high and strong, which was difficult to break, so they had to retreat.

He Guan and Liang Fangping, who lost the natural danger of the Yellow River, also participated in the war this time.

However, the performance of the two is diametrically opposed.

He Guan led his army to defend the northern city wall, and he fought bravely, so he was seriously wounded and finally martyred.

Liang Fangping led his army to defend the western city wall, and he ordered the sergeants to shoot with their bows when the enemy approached.

The people who participated in the defense in the city saw the strange order given by Liang Fangping, and they all thought that Liang Fangping had defected to the enemy.

As a result, thousands of people arrested Liang Fangping in the hustle and bustle, and sent him to Kaifeng Mansion and imprisoned.

Later, the people said that Liang Fangping's house had a golden man, so they all ran to Liang Fangping's house to catch the golden man, and as a result, some splashes who fished in troubled waters ransacked Liang Fangping's house.

Soon, Jin Jun's conditions were sent to Zhao Huan.

After Zhao Huan read it, he gathered the ministers together and asked for their opinions.

In the matter, Li Ye once brought gold to the gold camp to ask for peace, which was before Zhao Ji's throne, and he took the initiative to invite Ying to go.

Zhao Huan felt that Li Ye was the first person to contact the Jin people, and he probably learned the most, so he asked him to talk about his opinions first.

Li Ye said: "The Jin army is strong and strong, very strong, the enemy is strong and I am weak, so we can only negotiate peace." They are like tigers, horses are like dragons, they go up the mountain like apes, they enter the water like otters, their momentum is like Mount Tai, China is like tired eggs, and the court should be quick and peaceful! ”

Li Ye's words later somehow spread outside the palace, and then widely spread in Bianliang City, and people gave him a nickname: "Six as to give things".

Li Ye's envoy to negotiate peace can be said to be more than enough to succeed.

When the Jin army first entered the Hebei border, it was greedy and afraid, and it was only a day to give up, and it was completely tentative to advance.

After meeting Li Ye, Jin knew that Zhao Ji had the intention of seeking peace.

Moreover, Li Ye also talked about the military readiness of the Song State in his speech.

Only then did the Jin people dare to boldly go south, and only then did Guo Yaoshi dare to travel 150 miles day and night to raid the Junzhou Yellow River Bridge.

After listening to Li Ye's words, all the ministers of the Song State were shocked

Li Ze supported Li Ye's view, saying: "The momentum of the Jin army is indeed strong, and it cannot be easily resisted. ”

Zheng Wangzhi truthfully reported that "the Jin people demanded a huge amount, 5 million taels of gold, 50 million taels of silver, 10,000 cattle and horses, 1 million taels of satin, and cut the three towns of Taiyuan, Hejian, and Zhongshan, and they had to take the prince and the prime minister as hostages before they could retire." ”

Zhao Ji asked Prime Minister Li Bangyan: "What should I do?" ”

Li Bangyan was convinced of what Li Ye and Li Ze said, so he replied: "The Jin army has come to the city, and the defenders in our city are insufficient, and only by negotiating peace can we protect the society and the country, so it is better to promise them first, but the amount is too large, you can consider promising to give 800,000 taels of gold, 2 million taels of silver, satin as much as silver, 500 cattle and horses, and 1,000 sheep." ”

Zhao Huan nodded, he was unwilling and did not dare to risk resisting, he just wanted to keep the society, the Zhao family, and his own life.

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