The raging fire engulfed the entire valley, the fire borrowed the wind, the wind borrowed the power of the fire, the flames rose to a height of thirty zhang, and the vines on the cliffs on both sides were also ignited, the fire spread extremely quickly, in just a quarter of an hour, the Panxiu Valley more than ten miles long became a sea of fire.

Li Yanqing led nearly 20,000 soldiers to look at the firelight in the sky twenty miles away, feeling the heat wave coming in waves, there were no trees within two miles of them in front, this was the wind blowing through the mountains from the east was roasted by the fire, with a breath of fireworks that made people palpitate.

In front of them, a wall of mud bags about two feet wide was built to prevent the golden soldiers from rushing through the sea of fire to break through, and at this moment, the sound of horses' hooves was heard in front.

Li Yanqing immediately realized that this was a golden soldier breaking through, and he shouted, "Crossbowmen prepare!" ”

'Woo-'

A low horn sounded, and the five thousand crossbowmen who were arranged in two rows raised their crossbows and aimed at the east side of the canyon, at this time, more than 2,000 cavalry rushed from the east like ghosts, all of them were blackened by smoke and fire, and the general wearing silver armor and golden helmet was the deputy commander Wan Yanchang, whose golden helmet was still clearly visible in the night.

Li Yanqing stretched out his hand, "Take my bronze bow!" ”

A personal soldier handed the bronze bow to Li Yanqing, and at the same time handed him an iron arrow, Li Yanqing took the arrow and wound it, pulled the copper bow suddenly, his eyes narrowed slightly, his arrow aimed at the face door under the golden helmet, and as soon as his hand was loosened, the iron arrow shot like lightning towards Wan Yanchang, who was the leader, and the arrow came extremely quickly, and it arrived in front of him in the blink of an eye.

Wan Yanchang had just escaped from the sea of fire, his eyes were sour, he only saw a black spot, and before he could react, he only felt a sharp pain on his forehead, and his eyes were dark, so he didn't know anything.

After Yan Chang screamed, turned over and fell off the horse, killed on the spot, Li Yanqing's arrow is the order, five thousand crossbowmen fired at the same time, the arrow was like a rain, shooting towards the Jin soldiers a hundred steps away, the Jin soldiers were hit by arrows and fell off their horses, they could not turn back, the remaining hundreds of soldiers roared loudly, drew their swords to kill the Song army, the Song soldiers still calmly released the arrows, hundreds of gold soldiers have not yet killed the horse wall, they have all fallen off their horses and died, a gust of hot wind blows, there is no gold soldier alive in the valley, only more than a thousand war horses are left to hide under the cliff.

"Go clean up the battlefield and leave no one alive!"

Li Yanqing gave the order, and the two commanders each rushed to the battlefield with 500 soldiers, killed the seriously wounded Jin soldiers, gathered the horses, and buried the corpses.

This fire burned for two days and two nights before it was extinguished by the arrival of a heavy rain, this fire made 15,000 Jin soldiers unable to escape and died tragically, although the other 5,000 people escaped from the fire, but could not escape the interception of the Song army, and also died under the random arrows of the Song army, 20,000 Jin soldiers were wiped out, and even Wan Yanchang also died tragically under Li Yanqing's bronze bow and iron arrows, which was the highest-ranking general killed since the Jin State launched the southern attack.

When Xiao Bosong, who was stationed in Linfen, got the news, he immediately led his army south and crossed the Yellow River from Mengjin on a raft.

Within just one month after the end of the Taiyuan Campaign, Li Yanqing launched a campaign against the southern part of Hedong Road, and completely annihilated Yanchang's 30,000 Jin soldiers with lightning speed.

Wanyan Xian was also helpless, had to write to the Emperor of the Jin State to ask for guilt, this time originated from the southern expedition that began in November last year, although in the Central Plains and Shandong won the victory, but in the Shaanxi Road and Hedong Road suffered a heavy defeat, the Jin soldiers lost 130,000 troops, including 60,000 Jurchen soldiers, the deputy marshal Wan Yan Chang was killed, another deputy marshal Wan Yan Lou was captured, and even the third prince of the Jin State Wan Yan Zongya also fell into the hands of the Song army, such losses and the capture of the Central Plains, Shandong region, is too heavy.

Wan Yan Xian also knew that his merits could not be compensated, so he officially resigned to the Jin court as the marshal of the southern capital, and Wan Yan Xian also suggested that the Jin State suspend the southern expedition and consolidate the occupied areas.

At this time, the north of Liaodong and Shangjing Mansion of the Jin State also suffered a snow disaster that had not been encountered in a century, the cattle and sheep suffered heavy losses, the national strength was empty, and they were unable to launch the southern expedition again, the Jin Emperor Wan Yan Sheng and other important ministers of the Jin State unanimously agreed to Wan Yan Xianye's suggestion, and sent Wan Yan Xiyin and Xiao Zhonggong as the chief and deputy envoys to send an envoy to Lin'an to negotiate peace.

.........

Li Yanqing led the Jingzhao army to great victories in Taiyuan and Linfen, and the news that the entire territory of Hedong Road had been recovered reached Lin'an, making the government and the opposition, which had suffered greatly from the fall of the Central Plains and Shandong, like a spring breeze blowing in the harsh winter.

The people of the capital sang and danced to celebrate this hard-won victory, and the Son of Heaven Zhao Gou was extremely excited, he knew what it meant to recover the Hedong Road, which meant that the Song army had the strategic capital to attack and retreat in the north and west.

In addition to being delighted, Zhao Gou immediately issued an order to canonize Li Yanqing as the king of Jin, promoted to Taifu, and rewarded 10,000 taels of gold, all the generals participating in the war were promoted to one level, and more than 300 to 1,000 acres of land were rewarded, and each soldier was rewarded with 50 acres of good land, and those who made great contributions were rewarded separately.

Just a few days after the news came, the prisoner of war ship from the Yangtze River waterway also arrived in Lin'an, sending Wanyan Lou Room and Wanyan Zongya, and not long after, Li Yanqing sent three other Meng'an Wanfu of the Jurchen Ministry.

The three were Wan Yan Chang's son-in-law Puchahu Balu and his two sons Wan Yan and Wan Yan Wu Dabu, and the three were captured by Wang Gui when they broke through from the east of Panxiu Valley, Wang Gui knew the importance of the three people, so he did not kill them, but captured them alive and handed them over to Li Yanqing, who immediately sent people to escort them to Lin'an.

Soon, the Great Song court got the news that the Jin State had decided to negotiate peace, and the envoy of the Jin State was on his way to Lin'an.

According to the practice of the Jin State, the five Jurchen aristocratic prisoners of war including Wanyan Lou Room could exchange with the Jin State, exchange land, population, or the corresponding Song Dynasty nobles, but there were obvious differences in the court in terms of specific exchanges.

In the Daqing Palace, Qin Hui, who had just been promoted to the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, was impassioned, and strongly demanded that the five prisoners of war be exchanged back to the people of the Great Song Dynasty who were tortured in the Jin Kingdom, "Weichen was also unfortunate to be a slave in the Jin Kingdom, and knew the hardships of the slaves, wearing thin clothes in the bitter cold, walking barefoot in the snow, eating not as good as dogs, fatigue is better than a weak donkey, and women will be ashamed, in addition to physical torture, there is more physical and mental torture, walking on the street can not raise their heads, every Jurchen must worship, was condemned as Song slaves, hundreds of thousands of people are always eager for Wang Shi to go north and rescue them back to their hometowns, The five Jurchen nobles are all the heads of ten thousand husbands, and they can return to their hometowns in exchange for 50,000 people, Your Majesty, the country is people-oriented, and we should first sympathize with the suffering of the people! ”

Although Qin Hui's words were fierce and his feelings were deep, his call did not get too many ministers' responses, and nearly seventy percent of the ministers in the court had the same demand, asking for the second emperor to be replaced.

The right minister Fan Zhixu said: "Your Majesty, my Great Song Dynasty people stand up with filial piety, take Gangchang Wulun as the foundation of the society, heaven and earth are the princes, we stand between heaven and earth, when the monarch, respect the family, respect the teacher, the two emperors are both the king of the Great Song Dynasty, and the father and brother of His Majesty, they were unfortunately captured by the enemy country, and were devastated, so that the Great Song Dynasty soldiers were shameless, and the government and the opposition were ashamed, and there was an opportunity to redeem them, why should we hesitate?" Your Majesty, proclaim the decree! ”

Dozens of courtiers came out to respond, "Your Majesty, Fan Xiangguo's words of loyalty are also from the bottom of the hearts of the ministers, and it is the responsibility of our monarchs and ministers to welcome back the second emperor, please give an order!" ”

In addition to the seventy percent of the ministers who asked to welcome the second emperor, and a few ministers such as Qin Hui asked to exchange the people, some ministers led by Gao Shen suggested that the land of the five states of Huaibei be exchanged, so that the strategic pressure on the Huai River line was reduced.

Zhao Gou was really embarrassed, and finally he gave Sun Qi, the young eunuch in the palace, a look, and Sun Qi immediately knocked on the cloud board, and shouted loudly: "Please pay attention to the order of the court, don't mess with the court's courtesy!" ”

The sound of the cloud board sounded, and the hall gradually quieted down, and Zhao Gou said slowly: "I can understand the mood of all Aiqing, of course I can't wait to welcome back my father and brother immediately, but the negotiation has its own rules, we not only want to welcome back the second emperor, but also strive for more benefits, so please be patient for the time being, don't rush this time." ”

There was no opposition in the main hall, and Zhao Gou said: "Today's morning dynasty is over here, please discuss the candidates for the chief and deputy envoys of the negotiation in the Zhizheng Hall, and report to me as soon as possible, and disperse the dynasty!" ”

The bell of the scattered dynasty rang, and the hundred officials sent the Son of Heaven to leave from the side road, and everyone left the hall in twos and threes.