With the destruction of Wanyan Sali, the defense of the Central Plains has also entered the final stage.

Knowing that the weeping Langjun had died, Wanyan Lou immediately led the troops to retreat to Luoyang, and Yue Fei personally led 5,000 cavalry to chase after him. In the end, Wanyan Lou had to abandon all the servant armies, and let the general Xi Room lead 3,000 iron cavalry to retreat to Luoyang with more than 20,000 iron cavalry.

As soon as he arrived in Luoyang, Yue Fei's banner appeared in the east of the city. Behind Yue Fei, there were more than 100,000 rogue people's troops, overwhelmingly coming. Wan Yan Lou sighed, didn't care about mourning for the Xi room who died in the war, took the necessary baggage, and escaped from the west gate of Luoyang non-stop, and went straight to Shaanzhou.

"It's no longer possible!" Stretching out his hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead, Wanyan Zonghan in Jiyuan City finally admitted the failure of this southern expedition. "The time and place are favorable, and we can't occupy any of them. There is simply no way but to withdraw the troops. ”

Jin 13 knew that the eldest brother was about to withdraw the army, he looked at the faces of the generals in the tent, and found that some Wanhu were relieved, while some Wanhu were unwilling, and immediately explained carefully, "Our Dajin Erlang is the elite of a hundred battles, and if he dies on the battlefield, he naturally has no regrets." But if it is planted on an epidemic, it is not worth it. Now that the weather is getting hotter and hotter, the sons and daughters are already getting hot. If we don't retreat, I'm afraid that there will only be more and more people who are hot and falling. ”

Jin Thirteen's words hit the weakness of the generals in the tent. Even if the ten thousand households are unwilling, they have to admit that the Jurchen knights are not afraid of heaven and earth, but they are afraid of heat. Except for some mature women who can really stand the hot summer, most of the Jurchen soldiers will definitely not be able to hold on. The people in the tent were not wearing iron armor, and they still felt a burst of irritability.

Jin 13 paused for a moment and continued, "Of course, the heat is the main reason for our withdrawal. But more importantly, even if we continue to hold on here, it will be difficult for us to achieve greater results. Today, Niu Gao Wang Yan's rebel army is nearly 500,000 people, although the combat power is low, but the fighting spirit is extremely high. We will not be able to defeat them in a year and a half. ”

Wanhu Hazar said extremely unwillingly, "These Taihang thieves are as difficult as dog skin plasters. They are familiar with the terrain, and even in the plains, they have a way to set up an ambush. These inexhaustible Song pigs! ”

Another Wanhu Wanyan Cheng was even more resentful of Niu Gao. "Although the Taihang thieves are difficult, if there is no Niu Gao's elite army as the backbone, they will not be able to stop our Dajin Iron Cavalry."

"Wang Yan should not be underestimated." Jin 13 specially reminded, "In order to compete with the people's protector army, Wang Yan, who has never been treated by the imperial court, has accepted several batches of imperial baggage, and now his strength has increased greatly. The fierce general Fu Qing under him is a veritable enemy of 10,000 people. Not inferior to Yang Zaixing in Huazhou. ”

Wanyan Xiyin sat beside Zong Han and didn't speak. Seeing that Jin Shisan had persuaded all the generals that the withdrawal was a foregone conclusion, Fang Cai said slowly, "This time, our army attacked Song on three routes, spending countless money and food, but there was no record of winning a single one. I'm afraid that Prince Zongwang won't give us a good look. Emperor Taizong will not pretend to be a color to us. ”

The wrinkles on Zong Han's face were noticeably deeper than in previous months. Fighting with the Taihang Righteous Army for months made Zong Han physically and mentally exhausted. He watched helplessly as the Taihang Righteous Army became stronger and stronger, but there was nothing he could do. Niu Gao had the support of the Tianfu army, and Wang Yan had the support of the imperial court. The millions of displaced people in the ruined villages on Hebei West Road are all Jin Bing's sworn enemies. In the past few months, there have been at least one million Taihang thieves annihilated by the Jin soldiers. However, the total number of Taihang thieves has not decreased, but has increased. Not to mention the 100,000 righteous troops under Niu Gao's command who are fighting more and more bravely.

Since the outcome of the Jin soldiers' attack on the Song Dynasty had been decided, Zong Han decided to withdraw to Taiyuan earlier. He won't be back to Yanyun this time. As long as it is not sent to Zong Wang's knife, whether it is Zong Wang or Taizong Wu begging, they will not dare to do anything to him Zong Han! Besides, in this three-way attack on the Song Dynasty, the Western Route Army lost half of it, and also folded Wanyan Sali in Funiu Mountain. Zong Bi of the East Route Army also suffered heavy losses, and now he can't even deal with a boat fire Zhang Heng, so he can only retreat in Jinan City. Although the Middle Route Army was not much better, it lost tens of thousands of households, but at least it did not hurt its muscles and bones. The death of Pucha Shijianu was self-inflicted, because it was Zong Wang's order to bypass Zong Han. Generally speaking, the three-way army is about the same, and no one has a good record.

Zong Han twisted a lock of beard and said with a smile, "Doesn't the Han people have a saying called sitting on the mountain and watching the tiger fight?" Now Niu Gao and Wang Yan are two tigers, and in the face of Dajin, the hunter, they naturally work together. But as long as the hunter retreats, the two tigers will never live in peace. Wang Yan was a general of the imperial court, and Niu Gao was an important general of Yue Nanman. I heard that Zhao Gou recently offered Wang Yanan a position as a consummating envoy on Hebei West Road. Wang Yan is loyal to Zhao Gou, as long as our army retreats, he will definitely go all out to appease Hebei West Road. At that time, Wang Yan and Niu Gao will have a battle. Hehe, when they lose both, Hebei West Road is still in the bag of my Dajin Kingdom. ”

Jin Shisan agrees with Zong Han's analysis. But he is not very optimistic about Wang Yan. "Big brother, although Wang Yan is known as the first hero of the two rivers, that only refers to his personal martial arts. When it comes to leading troops to fight, this person may not be as good as Niu Gao. What's more, the imperial court is far away in the south of the Yangtze River, and Zhao Xiaojiu is a person with no ambitions, even if he supports Wang Yan's soldiers, it must be limited. Niu Gao is backed by Ying Tianfu, and there is a steady stream of soldiers, armor, grain and grass. The two are on fire, and if Wang Yan can't defeat Niu Gao within a month, he will definitely be defeated by Niu Gao. ”

Zong Han smiled confidently, "Although what the thirteenth brother said is reasonable. But don't forget what Sun Wuzi said. Love the people, but it's annoying! Yue Nanman is known for protecting the people, and his army is indeed sitting on the protection of the people. But now there are at least millions of displaced people on Hebei West Road, and they are currently enemies of our Dajin, just to grab some military rations to eat. If our army retreats suddenly, presumably these hungry homeless people will not be polite to Niu Gao Wang Yan. I want to see how Yue Nanban will let Niu Gao deal with the homeless people who grab grain? ”

"Kill, lose the hearts of the people. If you don't kill, you lose the army. Wanyan Xiyin clapped his hands and praised, "Zong Hanbo is extremely powerful, and he is really clever. If you can't win the battle, let the Han people, who are the best at infighting, kill each other. In the end, the Central Plains is still our big gold. ”

Zong Han made a decision, and nearly 200,000 troops began to retreat to Taiyuan in batches.

But it was not easy for the army to attack, and it was even more difficult to retreat. Niu Gao, who is now in charge of 30,000 elites and 70,000 homeless people, will let Zong Han retreat. While sending someone to inform Wang Yan, he led the army to bite it.

The general who chased most actively was Fu Xuan. Although Fu Xuan is still nominally the commander of the cavalry regiment, there are more than 8,000 cavalry under his command, which is completely the scale of a cavalry division. Niu Gao thought that Fu Xuan's ability to command cavalry battles was not inferior to Dong Xian, and decided to hire a cavalry division for Fu Xuan.

Fu Xuan actually knew that as long as this war ended, he would definitely become a division commander. But what Fu Xuan wanted most was not the position of division commander, but the reputation of Megatron.

Thinking that Fu Qingfu chose Meng De and Jiao Wentong to lead the righteous army and the Jin soldiers to fight, Jiao Wentong's name was far smaller than the previous three. Since Fu Xuan and Jiao Wentong took refuge with Yue Fei in Taihang Mountain, Fu Qing Mengde followed Wang Yan, in fact, the four of them have been secretly competing. Now Fu Xuanjiao Wentong's name is far greater than Fu Qing. But if the two are compared, Jiao Wentong's name is much greater than Fu Xuan. Now whether it is the Protector Army, the Imperial Court, or the Jin Army, who doesn't know the name of the mad cow Jiao Wentong? Although Fu Xuan fought bloody battles with Jin Bing under Niu Gao and made many achievements, he just didn't have too brilliant records. This time, Jiao Wentong killed the crying Langjun, and his reputation was even more prosperous. Fu Xuan is extremely competitive, and he also wants to make a good record.

Therefore, he led more than 8,000 cavalry, relying on the familiarity of the terrain, and even intercepted the 20,000 troops behind the Jin Bing Palace. Of course, Fu Xuan was not so mad as to attack the 20,000 golden cavalry with 8,000 cavalry, he just firmly guarded an evil wind gorge, so that the golden soldiers behind the palace could not retreat.

The Jin Wanhu behind the palace was finished, and the Han'er Wanhu Zhang Longbow knew that Niu Gao's 100,000 army was chasing after him, if he couldn't quickly defeat Fu Xuan's interception, the 20,000 army would definitely be planted here. Therefore, whether it was the Jurchen army or the Han'er army, they all sacrificed their lives to attack Fu Xuan.

Fu Xuan used the cavalry as infantry, that is, he defended the Evil Wind Gorge and did not retreat, he was iron-hearted to win a great achievement.

Wan Yancheng and Zhang Longbow fought to the end, and they both personally raised their knives and went into battle, but they still couldn't attack the Evil Wind Gorge. After a two-day delay, Niu Gao's 100,000 troops were wrapped.

Fu Xuan and Niu Gao attacked back and forth, annihilating 20,000 Jin soldiers in one fell swoop. Fu Xuan also got his wish and beheaded Wan Yancheng and Zhang Changgong, and made a battle feats comparable to Jiao Wentong.

Wan Yan Zonghan saw that Wan Yan Cheng had not followed for a long time, and he knew that something was wrong. But he had no intention of returning to the army. After fighting with Niu Gao for half a year, he knew Niu Gao's ability to command the army. With 100,000 troops in hand, Niu Gao can't defeat Zong Han, but he will definitely not be completely annihilated by Zong Han. Even if Wang Yan's army didn't come up, Yue Fei on the south bank of the Yellow River had already freed his hand. Therefore, Zong Han could only sigh in his heart and continued to lead the troops to retreat to Taiyuan.

Niu Gao and Fu Xuan wanted to rise up again and use the same method to intercept a piece of Jin soldiers and annihilate them, but they received an urgent report from the Mengzhou battalion, and Wang Yan's army not only did not pursue the Jin soldiers from another road, but instead sent Fu Qing to the outside of Mengzhou City, with bad intentions. At the same time, Yang Zaixing, who was guarding Huazhou, also sent a message to Niu Gao, asking him to beware of Wang Yan's army.

"The dog court is so lowly that it doesn't even take revenge on its father and brother, and it has to deal with our people's protectors." Niu Gao scolded fiercely for a while, but he could only lead the army back to Mengzhou.

As Zong Han expected, as soon as his army showed signs of retreat, Wang Yan and Yang Zaixing received a secret order from the imperial court, allowing them to take the opportunity to attack the Protector Army, take Niu Gao Fu Xuan, and sweep away the Protector Army forces on the Hebei West Road.

Yang Zaixing's heroic nature, only obeys Zongze, not the imperial court. Now Zong Ze has been demoted to Jinghu South Road by the imperial court, and Yang Zaixing is guarding Huazhou, not for the imperial court, but for Zong Ze's entrustment.

Huazhou, as an important town on Hebei West Road, will certainly not be ignored by Zong Han. Because of Zong Ze, the imperial court has not supported Yang Zaixing with any supplies in the past few months. The reason why Yang Zaixing was able to hold out until Zong Han withdrew was because of Yue Fei's selfless support. Every time the Protector Army sent something to Niu Gao, he didn't forget to give Yang Zaixing a little.

Yang Zaixing is the kind of person who will repay his kindness. He didn't think that the imperial court was kind to him, he thought that the Protector Army was kind to him. Without Yue Fei's support, the people of Huazhou would have become corpses under the knife. It was precisely because of this idea that he not only ignored the secret decree of the imperial court, but also led his troops to intercept Wang Yan's back road when Wang Yan led his army to Mengzhou.

Wang Yan had no choice but to lead his troops back to Cizhou. Yang Zaixing didn't really fight Wang Yan, but retreated to Huazhou. For a while, Hebei West Road calmed down again. The rebels from all walks of life either surrendered to the Lord, or joined forces in an attempt to form another corner. Beneath the surface calm, there is a surge of storms.