That night, the Jin soldiers, who had besieged the Sifang City Gate of Taiyuan for two months, receded like a tide, gathered together and joined forces, and all of them were stationed in the main camp of the Jin soldiers at the north gate of Taiyuan. This "locked city" fortification with a radius of 100 miles also collapsed.

Taiyuan...... Free!

Because the Jurchen army was moving in the middle of the night, the gate of Taiyuan City was closed and only strictly guarded, and by dawn the Jurchens had already changed their garrison and moved to the tun, and the Taiyuan soldiers and civilians did not know the exact news. still put on a strict defensive posture as in the past, and did not relax for a moment.

At this time, in the cottage of Taihang Qixing Mountain, a counterattack plan was being discussed intensively. After Guan Shan and Meng De met at Feihukou, they hurried back to the cottage non-stop, and summoned the other mountain leaders to discuss the strategy of intercepting and killing the Jurchens and retreating.

The leaders of the Nine Mountains jointly elected Bai Xu as a military advisor and listened to him arrange the use of troops. Bai Xu had already planned in his chest, and he had clearly considered Yan Zonghan's retreat. To the west is the border of the Western Xia Kingdom, and to the south is the hinterland of the Great Song Dynasty, and Wanyan Zonghan can only retreat north or east. In view of this, Bai Xu made a two-handed arrangement.

First, if Yan Zonghan took the risk of retreating north, then he would be seeking his own death - he could set up an ambush and annihilate on the Flying Fox Road, and even if he couldn't kill them, he would drag them to death and starve them to death!

Second, if Wanyan Zonghan boldly breaks through to the east, he will have to face the resistance of the Great Song Dynasty. At this time, Taihang Jiushan can flank the Jin soldiers from all sides, cut them first, and then break them individually!

At the same time, contact Xu Han, the commander of the Wang Division, and Chu Tianya, the king of Taiyuan, and others, and ask them to intercept and kill the Jurchen defeated army together, and be sure to beat the water dogs and not let the tiger return to the mountain!

Bai Xu's opinion was agreed by everyone. At that moment, the leaders received this order from him, and the remaining more than 20,000 men and horses in Taihang Jiushan were divided into ten shares, which were ambushed in various important and dangerous passes in the south of Taihang to block the Jin soldiers. As the saying goes, the poor don't chase, every ambush does not seek to completely intercept the Jurchens or covet the number of enemies, what they want is to cut their army into small pieces, and then slowly eat and swallow each one!

The cavalry of the Jurchens is powerful, but Wanyan Zonghan's troops have long been exhausted and their combat strength has been greatly reduced, and the ambush sites selected by Bai Xu are all some dangerous mountain passes, which can greatly prevent the combat power of the Jin cavalry.

Therefore, according to Bai Xu's strategy, no matter whether Wanyan Zonghan retreats to the north or breaks through to the east, he will fall into his net. Coupled with the assistance of Xu Han's Wang Shi and the Taiyuan army - after Yan Zonghan, he has already reached the end of the hero!

As soon as the plan was agreed, the sentinels sent by Qixingshan detected the news that the Jurchen army besieging Taiyuan had moved, and they had withdrawn to the besieging city and joined forces, and it seemed that they were about to flee!

Now that the siege of Taiyuan has been resolved, without further ado, Bai Xu immediately sent a quick envoy to contact Xu Han, and asked Ada to go to Taiyuan to inform Wang Yu and Chu Tianya in the city to act according to the plan!

At the same time as Qixing Mountain urgently discussed the troops, Wanyan Zonghan, who learned about the looting and burning of grain and grass in Lingqiu County in the rear, had already made a countermeasure in the shortest possible time.

The boldness of his strategy made the Jurchen generals, including Shi Liai, secretly take a few breaths!

Wanyan Zonghan's general strategy is to take advantage of Xu Han and break through to the east!

Behind the Jurchens was a flat and unobstructed idle area, a strategic depth that he had specially set aside for Yunzhong Mansion. However, when he learned that Yinshu Ke had been blocked at the Flying Fox Pass, he thought that this seemingly safe retreat was no longer safe. The main reason is that the Flying Fox Road is too narrow, which is not conducive to the rapid evacuation of tens of thousands of troops. If the Taihang people set up an ambush there, the army would be blocked in that small road; If they are pursued and intercepted by the Song soldiers in front of the Flying Fox Road at this time, the Jurchen army, which has already run out of grain divisions, will be in danger of being wiped out!

Although there is no definite news that the Flying Fox Road has been completely blocked by the enemy army, this risk is too great for Wanyan Zonghan to take it.

On the contrary, if they broke through to the east, although they would have to face the Song army under Xu Han's division, that army had already been beaten by the Jurchen iron cavalry. In addition, Xu Han was subject to the official family of the Southern Dynasty, which was just convenient for Wanyan Zonghan to wield the means of diplomacy.

So he sent an envoy to see Xu Han, saying, "The prince of Taiyuan and others are too stubborn, resisting the decree of the officials of the Southern Dynasty not to hand over the city, and the Jin State does not want to waste soldiers, horses, money and food here, so let Xu Han clean up the gate and then hand over the city."

In order not to make Xu Han and others suspicious, Wanyan Zonghan still put on a strong face, arrogant and unreasonable, and the lion opened his mouth to ask the Great Song Dynasty to "compensate for the soldiers, horses, money and food lost by the Dajin Kingdom when attacking Taiyuan". Then, Wanyan Zonghan said very "empatheticly" that he knew that Xu Han was the commander of the army and was acting on orders outside, and that this kind of thing could not be done and that he needed to ask the imperial court for instructions, but the army of the Jin State could not wait here, so he asked Xu Han to give the Jin soldiers 30,000 stones of grain and grass first, and let Wanyan Zonghan lead the army under his command to return to the north via Hebei - of course, the advantage to Xu Han was that Taiyuan was "temporarily handed over to you to dispose of".

Wanyan Zonghan's wishful thinking can be said to be extremely loud, provided that he pinched the fate and weakness of the commander of the Southern Dynasty. He knew very well that the "rat gall officials" of the Southern Dynasty did not dare to offend the Dajin Kingdom at all, so that Xu Han and others who led the troops to save Taiyuan also hesitated and did not dare to fight to the death. In this case, if 30,000 stone grain and grass can be exchanged for a Taiyuan city, it can also calm the contradictions and conflicts between the Southern Dynasty and the Dajin Kingdom. For Xu Han personally, it is also a great feat, which is quite similar to Tong Guan's "recovery" of Yanjing Mansion back then.

This kind of "win-win" good thing, Xu Han has no reason to disagree.

Facts have proved that Wanyan Zonghan was right, this scheming Jurchen hero did not defeat the Taiyuan people on the battlefield, but once again won at the negotiating table of the Southern Dynasty.

Although Xu Han is a little bold and righteous and has the heart to serve the country, his life is in the hands of the officials of the imperial court after all, and of course he knows the true thoughts of the officials - it is best to recover Taiyuan; If you can't, you can't tie too deep with the Jurchens!

Now that the Song soldiers have newly defeated Xu Han, he is in a dilemma, and he has just sent a letter to the court asking for instructions, and he is ready to be scolded and punished, but Wanyan Zonghan suddenly threw such a big pie, willing to exchange 30,000 stones of grain and grass for him a Taiyuan City - this is not only the most acceptable thing for the official family and the imperial court, but also to save his career and life of Xu Han!

Although Xu Han's seed master and Yao Gu and other generals unanimously agreed that Wanyan Zonghan was already on the run at the end of the crossbow, it was the best time to beat the water dogs. However, Xu Han refused to accept anything, and still stood at the height of "diplomatic relations between the two countries and the government of the court", brutally criticized and suppressed the demands of his generals to ask for war, and criticized the two famous generals of the Western Army, Chong and Yao, to be indecent and lose the slightest temper.

Then, in order to reflect the tolerance and generosity of the ceremonial state of our Southern Dynasty, Xu Han warmly entertained the envoy, and promised to send 20 more carts of wine and 100 stones of meat on the basis of the 30,000 stone grain and grass requested by Wanyan Zonghan to see off the "friendly army of the Jin Kingdom". In order to show the friendship between the two countries, Xu Han promised to move all the troops under his command to the south for thirty miles to make way for the Jin soldiers!

Xu Han didn't even ask why Wanyan Zonghan didn't take the shortcut to return north to Yunzhong, but had to make a detour to Hebei for hundreds of miles.

The negotiations went so smoothly and the officials of the Southern Dynasties were unprecedentedly efficient, which was simply beyond the expectations of Wan Yan Zonghan. In less than a day, everything was settled. When the envoy of the Jin Kingdom went back, he also brought a cart full of grain, grass, wine and meat!

This really solved Yan Zonghan's urgent need. He immediately ordered the whole army to rest for a while, and then abandoned the baggage and light troops and broke through to the east. In order to prevent accidents, he arranged several generals such as Ceres, Wumur, and Wulihai, each leading elite cavalry to open the way in front, guarding the two wings of the army on the left and right, and laying down three ambushes to prevent the soldiers and horses in Taiyuan City from pursuing him!

As soon as the planning is complete, just wait for tomorrow after dark, tens of thousands of Jurchen troops will rise from camp and flee eastward!

At this time, the Taiyuan soldiers and civilians trapped in the city had just discovered the movements of the Jurchens outside the city. On the surface, it seems that the siege has been solved, and Taiyuan is victorious. But people are ignorant of the outside world, and it is difficult to make a clear judgment. Coupled with Yan Zonghan's veteran soldiers, it may be that he is trying to deceive the Taiyuan City Gate. Therefore, the soldiers and civilians in the city still did not dare to relax and were still waiting for the battle.

That night, Ada passed through the Jin soldiers' lock-up fortifications that had been evacuated, touched into the city of Taiyuan, and sent several "heavy news" to the soldiers and civilians in the city.

When they heard these news, everyone was overjoyed, but Wang Yu, who had already run out of oil, fainted on the spot!

The military doctors tried their best to finally save Wang Yu. After waking up, the first thing Wang Yu said was-"What about the end of the world"?

"The students are here!" Chu Tianya was standing in front of Wang Yu's sickbed, and hurriedly stepped forward to hold his hand.

Wang Yu glanced around the room, his son Wang Xun and the generals in the army, as well as Xiao Linglong and others were there, so he said, "You all go out first!" ”

When everyone heard this, they all retreated silently.

At this time, Wang Yu, who was already as thin as wood, closed his eyes and let out a long breath leisurely, with a rare smile on his face. He held Chu Tianya's hand and said, "Tianya, we are finally looking forward to this day; It's a pity that the old man is dying and can't accompany you anymore on the next journey. ”

Regarding Wang Yu's physical condition, Chu Tianya already knew the bottom in his heart, and he could only sigh in his heart at this time. Now any words of comfort are all gossip, and Chu Tianya said, "What does the teacher have to explain?" ”

"You're different, you're a rare talent. But your character can't stand on the officialdom and army of the Great Song Dynasty. And what you have done before is an inevitable capital crime. Wang Yu closed his eyes and said slowly and in a low voice, "We can hold Taiyuan City temporarily, but it is difficult to guarantee that it will still fall into the hands of the Jin people in the future." On that day, he received the holy decree sent by Lu Yundi to the city, and the old man finally understood. No matter how capable the loyal ministers are, no matter how many troops they have, even if they can hold a city and a place, they can't hold the collapse of the Great Song Dynasty. ”

Chu Tianya nodded silently. As the saying goes, people are dying and their words are good, and at this time, Wang Yu can be regarded as saying what is in his heart.

Wang Yu rested for a while, Chu Tianya fed him a sip of hot water, and then he said: "Maybe what I am really lacking in the Great Song Dynasty is not Wang Jinggong (Wang Anshi) who implements reform and law change, nor is it a few fierce generals who are loyal and brave enough to fight in battle, but a hero who can transcend corruption and customary rules, and in addition to the existing dynasty and law, he will bring a drastic and groundbreaking innovation to the rivers and mountains of the Great Song Dynasty...... Break and stand, maybe you can survive in a desperate situation! ”

"Break and stand, desperate to survive......" Chu Tianya repeated this sentence.

Wang Yu's hand added a little strength, holding Chu Tianya's hand tightly, and at the same time, he opened his eyes, and looked at him with a strange light in his eyes, "The old man knows that you are definitely not a thing in the pool. Maybe one day in the future, you will become the hero in the old man's prophecy! …… Promise the old man, no matter when, never wave the butcher knife in your hand at your own people! ”

Chu Tianya's eyebrows tightened and nodded slightly.

Wang Yu let out a long sigh of relief, closed his eyes and lay down again, "Now, it's time for you to leave Taiyuan and go to Taihang Mountain!" ”