In August, Yanshan Mansion is still very hot, the official road outside Yanshan City is deserted, there is not a single pedestrian in sight, the air seems to be roasted into a translucent liquid by the fire, flowing in the air, there are several businessmen from afar sitting in a tea shed next to the official road, they are drinking herbal tea, while playing a fan, but it is still hot and sweaty.

At this time, several cavalry galloped from a distance, and the horse's hooves stirred up billowing yellow dust, like a burning flame, and several cavalrymen instantly galloped past the tea shed, leaving choking dust.

"Shopkeeper, what's going on? In just half an hour, three groups of people have passed, has anything happened in Yanshan Mansion? Several businessmen asked.

The shopkeeper came over with a teapot and said, "I guess it's a matter from Pingzhou!" ”

"Something happened in Pingzhou?" Several businessmen were suddenly anxious, they were going to Pingzhou, if there was chaos in Pingzhou, then they would run in vain.

"Tell me quickly, what's going on in Pingzhou?"

"I also heard a few days ago, Pingzhou guard general Zhang Jue killed more than a dozen generals of the Jin State, raised Pingzhou to the Song Dynasty, two days ago General Zhang Linghui personally led 10,000 people to Pingzhou, the army is so spectacular!"

"This is terrible, isn't Song Jin going to war?" The merchants were worried.

"It won't go to war! Song Kim still has allies. The shopkeeper disagreed, "Besides, Pingzhou should have belonged to Yanshan Mansion, and the Jin Kingdom reversed itself, and now we take it back ourselves, what do the Jin people have to say?" ”

After a few more words, the merchants settled and set off, and a mule team headed for Pingzhou.

.........

The Pingzhou incident did not happen suddenly, as early as a month ago, Zhang Jue, the general of Pingzhou, secretly sent someone to contact Guo Yaoshi, expressing his willingness to sacrifice Pingzhou to the Song Dynasty.

Pingzhou held Liaodong and Yanshan Mansion, the strategic position is extremely important, equivalent to today's Shanhaiguan location, it originally belonged to the Liao State of Nanjing, in the Song and Jin countries reached a maritime alliance, it was clear that Pingzhou should belong to the Song, but because the Pingzhou guard Zhang Jue surrendered to the Jin State, Pingzhou was in fact occupied by the Jin soldiers.

When the Song army captured Yanjing Mansion, the Jin State refused to return Pingzhou to the Song Dynasty, so that the Jin army was actually stationed in the northeast gate of Yanshan Mansion, and the gate into Yanshan Mansion was controlled by the Jin army.

Guo Yaoshi's heart has been in a mess for the past two days, since a month ago, after Zhang Jue expressed his willingness to bring Pingzhou to the Song Dynasty, he immediately reported to the imperial court, and the reply from the imperial court to him was eight words: 'Acceptable, handle it carefully.' ’

This is also the opinion of the Son of Heaven, Pingzhou has become a needle in the throat of the Great Song Dynasty, a thorn in the back, and now there is hope of retraction, and the imperial court finally decided to accept Zhang Jue's surrender after repeated discussions.

But really when Zhang Jue staged a coup d'état and handed over Pingzhou to the Great Song Dynasty, Guo Yaoshi suddenly felt that he had taken over a hot thing, and he took over Pingzhou, what was the attitude of the Jin Congress?

Guo Yaoshi is not stupid, he knows that the Jin people have already assembled in Liaodong and Yunzhou, and now he lacks an excuse to attack the Song Dynasty.

"Qiqi Marshal, there is urgent news in Pingzhou!" There was a report of soldiers outside the door.

Pharmacist Guo hurriedly said, "Bring it in!" ”

At this time, two soldiers came in, knelt down on one knee and saluted, "See the commander!" ”

"Tell me, what's going on in Pingzhou?"

"Marshal Qiyu, General Zhang Linghui has taken over the defense of Pingzhou, but the Jin soldiers have moved!"

Pharmacist Guo suddenly became nervous, "What kind of change?" ”

"Wanyan Zonghan has led an army of 100,000 to knock on the pass outside Yuguan in Pingzhou, and asked us to withdraw from Pingzhou immediately and hand over Zhang Jue's head to the Jin State, otherwise the Jin State will attack the Song Dynasty in a big way."

Guo Yaoshi's face was very pale, and after a while, he waved his hand, "I know, step down!" ”

The two messengers retreated, and Guo Yaoshi picked up a volume of information, which was an hour ago received information about Juyong Pass, which originally only had 3,000 gold soldiers, but it had increased to more than 10,000 in just one day, this extremely clear signal, Guo Yaoshi had to pay attention to it.

After pondering for a long time, Guo Yaoshi knew that the matter was very important, and he couldn't solve it by himself, and this matter had to be reported to the imperial court.

Having made up his mind, Guo Yaoshi immediately prepared with both hands, he sent a team of cavalry to the capital with an expedited express delivery of 800 li, and sent two soldiers to the Jin Bing camp to deliver the letter, hoping that the commander of the Jin soldiers could give a grace time and wait for the decision of the imperial court.

The Jin soldier camp is located outside the Yuguan in the north of Pingzhou, the 100,000 army does not have any camp gates, a big tent can not see the edge, stretching for more than 20 miles, the Jin soldiers are not just now, it has always been, but it was located near Liucheng three hundred miles away, when Zhang Jue mutinied, Pingcheng surrendered to the Song Dynasty, the wolf lord of the Jin State Wan Yan Sheng immediately got the news, he was extremely angry, and immediately ordered Wan Yan Zonghan to rush to Pingcheng to solve the matter strongly.

Attacking the Song Dynasty has long become the national policy of the Jin State, when the Liao State was extremely weak, temporarily organized 40,000 old and weak troops to defeat hundreds of thousands of Song troops, which made the Jin State see through the decay of the Song Dynasty, such a rotten and rich prey, how could the Jin State not yearn for it.

But the Jin State also knew that the Song Dynasty was not the Liao State, and for such a large country with a population dozens of times that of their own, they needed time to prepare, and they needed two or three years to thoroughly digest the Liao State and turn the Liao State's army into the fighting power of the Jin State.

The plan to attack the Song Dynasty has been formulated, but it still takes time to prepare, at this juncture there is an accident in Pingzhou, although the Jin State wants to solve it strongly, but it does not want to break out into war, and this thorny problem is handed over to Wanyan Zonghan.

In the sheepskin tent, Wanyan Zonghan stood in front of a huge map, which was the entire map of Yanshan Prefecture, which clearly marked the city, population and the garrison of the Song army.

Beside Wanyan Zonghan stood a middle-aged man dressed as a Song person, with a flattering smile on his face, bent down slightly, waiting for Wanyan Zonghan's inquiry.

"Mr. Liang, is it too risky to do this?" Wanyan Zonghan asked slowly.

The middle-aged man surnamed Liang is Liang Fangping, the former Hebei two-way transfer envoy, he escaped on the eve of being arrested because of the serious shortage of time in the warehouse, and fled to Liaodong by boat to surrender to the Jin State, he won the attention of the Jin State, and the Han slaves were rewarded to him by hundreds, and he is currently serving as a staff officer of the army, and he is also the chief staff of Wanyan Zonghan.

Liang Fangping said with a smile: "The humble position knows the monarchs and ministers of the Song Dynasty very well, these people are as timid as mice, but they are greedy for false fame, Pingzhou can be sold to them to satisfy their vanity, but it must be Zhang Jue's head, as long as Zhang Jue dies, the Song Dynasty will lose the hearts of the people of Yanshan Mansion, including Guo Yaoshi, who will also die and be sad, and when the next step is to attack the Song Dynasty, the marshal will get twice the result with half the effort when he lures Guo Yaoshi." ”

Wanyan Zonghan took a few steps, he recognized Liang Fangping's proposal, as long as they control Juyong Pass, Pingzhou will not hurt even if it is returned to the Song Dynasty, but the key is to send troops to Juyong Pass to put pressure on the Song Dynasty, he feels that this risk is quite large, once it triggers the Song and Jin wars, they are not ready, which is not in line with the national policy of the Jin State.

Liang Fangping said with a smile: "The political consequences of the Song and Jin Wars Guo Yaoshi can't afford it, although the marshal sends troops, as long as he doesn't attack Yancheng, Guo Yaoshi will never dare to act rashly, the marshal will send troops to exert pressure, and at the same time send people to negotiate with the Song Dynasty, one hand is hard and the other is soft, and I believe that the Song Dynasty will obediently send Zhang Jue's head back." ”

Wanyan Zonghan nodded, "Okay! Just listen to what Mr. said, I will go to the wolf lord to tell the wolf lord about Pingzhou, which can be regarded as paralyzing the Song army. ”

........

Ten days later, a 10,000-person Jin Guotie cavalry slaughtered into Juyong Pass, straight to Changping County, Changping City Guards abandoned the city and fled, Jin soldiers immediately occupied the county seat, drove thousands of people in the city to Yancheng, Jin soldiers immediately set fire to Changping County, the fire soared to the sky, dozens of miles can be seen.

The defenders of the fifteen passes urgently asked for help from Guo Yaoshi, and at the same time, the envoy of the Jin State arrived at Yanshan Mansion.