"Rank!" Speaking of this, the seed master Dao coughed lowly, at this time he was already an old man over seventy years old, the wind and sand in the northwest carved countless ravines on his face, a pair of somewhat muddy ones were already under the two white eyebrows, almost unclear, he looked at the generals on both sides, and said in a thick northwest accent: "I have indiscriminately cultivated this army, and in the past few years, I have entrusted the imperial court with great blessings, and I have relied on the talents of the generals, and I have been spared the fall, but I have no merit. Over the years, he has been old and sick, and he is even more sparse, but he wants to be peaceful, once he unloads his shoulders, returns the golden ou and the whole army to the imperial court, and returns to his hometown, his private wish is enough. I didn't expect that the imperial court would entrust me with a heavy responsibility, so that Zhong was ashamed, Zhong Mou's ability, how could he be in this big position, please list it bluntly, and mention one or two! ”

The people in the room glanced at each other a few times, but no one spoke, and after about half a sound, Yang Keshi, the former commander of the army, replied in a low voice: "Seed Shuai, Xuanshuai is not in Tokyo yet, let's wait a few days until Xuanfu Si arrives in Xiongzhou to discuss it!" ”

"Exactly!"

"It's better to wait for Xuan Shuai to arrive, and then it's not too late to discuss!"

Immediately, a few people in the room agreed with Yang Keshi's opinion, while Seed Master Dao himself and the rest of the generals remained silent, obviously they did not agree with Yang Keshi's suggestion. After about half a sound, the seed master Dao spoke again: "Yang Tongzhi, you said that it is not too late to discuss when Xuan Shuai arrives, then let me ask you, if Xuan Shuai arrives, let you enter the army immediately, what should you do?" ”

"This-" Yang Keshi was suddenly dumbfounded, he was a famous brave general in the Western Army, and he had the reputation of "Ten Thousand Enemies", but he was not the kind of reckless man who rushed forward with all his minds. During his time in Hebei, he also had a good understanding of the current situation of the Song army. The original Western Army had to adapt to the local environment and rest to make up for the shortfall; The military discipline of the Hebei army has been abolished for a long time, and it is necessary to re-strengthen training and reorganization; The generals of the various armies are not familiar with it, and they must be readjusted; I don't know how many troops the Liao army has, how strong or weak it is; It will take time, and according to his estimates, there are at least two months left before the offensive is a good opportunity. Moreover, judging from the characteristics of the two armies, instead of letting the army take the initiative to attack across Baigou, it is better to cross the river with a small number of elites to occupy a key point to attract the Liao army to attack, while the army is waiting on the south side of Baigou, so it is good to win a big victory. The defeat of the front army will also result in the loss of only a small number of troops. But if you wait until Tong Guan arrives. If Tong Guan directly asked the army to cross the river north, then they would only have to obey the order, and it would be more appropriate for the generals here to form a consensus first.

"The old man has been fighting with the thieves for decades. Know that this battlefield is not afraid of enemy soldiers. I'm afraid that I won't be able to do it together. The top has to advance, but the bottom has to retreat, and in the end it will be a clean loss. Not only did he lose his life, but he was also sorry for the Son of Heaven and his sons. "The voice of the seed master is not loud, but the words are very clear." I want to discuss the military before Xuan Shuai comes today, not for the sake of my own power. The ancients were over seventy years old, and a certain family was already seventy this year, and any fame and fortune were all things after death, but this battle was really, and I really couldn't let go of it! ”

Hearing this, the faces of all the generals showed a little moved, with the age and qualifications of the master, many fathers and brothers in the house were serving under him, not to mention himself. Although the general strategy of the seed master is not as talented as that of the contemporaries Wanyan Aguta, Sticky Han and others, he is very powerful in his scheming. For example, Wanyan Agu can win a battle with only one or two points of chance, while the Seed Master Dao will not fight this kind of battle at all, and as long as he has a seven-point chance of winning, he will not lose at all. For a country like the Northern Song Dynasty, perhaps the Dao of the Seed Master is more suitable than Wanyan Aguda.

"You know what you think!" It was Xin Xingzong who spoke, as Tong Guan's number one cronie in the army, he decided to show his attitude first: "But Xuan Shuai has not arrived, it is still a little inappropriate for us to discuss the matter of military discussion, judging from the current situation, there is no obstacle to delay it for a few more days!" ”

Xin Xingzong's speech played the final role, and everyone said that they should wait for Tong Guan to arrive in a few days. Seeing this, the seed master Dao had to sigh and said, "Okay, then let's wait for Xuanshuai to arrive!" “

The generals were relieved when they saw the seed master, and they were all relieved in their hearts, the discord between the generals and the handsome was not a joke. Seed Master Dao walked out of the door alone, and just turned the corner, a hurried voice came from behind him: "Big brother! Looking back, it was his younger brother Qinzhou Zhizhou, the deputy commander of the guard infantry army and the horse army, both of them were in the Western Army, and they were famous generals in the late Northern Song Dynasty.

"Big brother, why are you doing this?" The seed master sighed and said, "Then Xin Xingzong is here, who dares to settle down behind Tong Guan's back?" Where to go to the Xuanfu Division, it's ugly again! ”

"I didn't know it would happen, I just hoped for something!" The chin of the seed master Dao was raised slightly, showing a proud look: "The big war is imminent, but the upper and lower are all frolicking and thinking that they will win, and there is a sign of defeat, how can I sit idly by and ignore the three generations of my family who have received the favor of the Son of Heaven?" ”

"Big brother! Xuan Shuai has also fought, and at the moment I have an army of 150,000, and the Liao people are only 50,000-" When the seed master said this, he saw his brother's gaze looking straight over, and subconsciously closed his mouth.

"Ever fought? Is he a child, but that's also a war? In front of his brother, the seed master finally revealed his contempt for Tong Guan: "Indiscriminate rewards, bad military discipline of our Western Army, this is also called fighting?" This is the kind of bad thing in the world! The white hair on his temples fluttered in the wind like a dead tree.

"Big brother, don't talk about it!" Seeing that there was no one around, the seed master hurriedly persuaded him, although with his brother's age and official position, he was not afraid of people passing on to Tong Guan, but there were dozens of sons and nephews under the seed family who served in the army, and Tong Guan could trouble these people.

Under the persuasion of his brother, the planter finally closed his mouth, and his eyes showed sadness.

"Hey, I hope I can bring a few more sons and daughters back to my hometown this time!"

Yingzhou. It is located in the north of today's Shanxi Province, in the land of Zhao during the Warring States Period. Qin belongs to Yanmen County, and the two Han Dynasty are because of it. Later Wei was the land of Shenwu County. Sui belongs to Shuozhou. Tang is the land of Yunzhou. Five dynasties of Tang Zhiyingzhou. At the beginning of Tiancheng, it was also the Zhangguo Army. Liao later because of it. Because the north and south of the dragon head and the two mountains of Yanmen correspond, it is named Yingzhou. For the ancient Central Plains Dynasty, the Datong Basin was the core of the northern defense; When they are strong, they will push the border defense line to the line of Yinshan, and the Datong Basin, that is, the Yunzhong region, will become the location of the tun army, which can not only block Shaanxi, Shanxi, and North China, but also cross the Yinshan Mountain and attack the enemy in Mobei; When the power weakened, the Datong Basin was often occupied by nomadic regimes and became an offensive base that threatened North China, Shaanxi, and Shanxi. One of the most important roads from the Datong Basin to the North China Plain is along the Sanggan River Valley, in which Yingzhou is located, and is the most important town to guard this road.

Xuanhe four years of Yingzhou has been in a state of anarchy, since the middle of last year, the Jin soldiers from the east have broken through the Xijing of Liao, before these fierce and brave warriors came, Emperor Tianzuo has been able to collect all the elite soldiers taken away, Yingzhou's defenders were also killed in a sudden encounter with an arrow, his successor was killed by a strong man in the state before he could sit on the chair of Zhizhou. In the next few months, the Zhizhou in the state city changed like a marquee, so that the heroes outside the city naturally did not take the Zhizhou lord in the state city seriously, and each became the emperor of the soil on their own territory. Then the real ruler of Yingzhou should be the Jurchen Emperor Wanyan Aguda, who is currently in Xijing City, but his attention at this time is still on the Tianzuo Emperor of Liao State in the middle of the mountain, and for the states and counties like Yingzhou that will be returned to the Northern Song Dynasty according to the agreement, the Jin army only regards them as the object of plundering and providing food slaves.

On May 25, the fourth year of Xuanhe, Anbian Town, Yingzhou. This small town, located twenty miles east of the state capital, was actually a small walled city, which gradually developed into a small town. After the arrival of the Jin soldiers, many fleeing people gathered here, which brought a kind of abnormal prosperity to the town.

"Someone's coming!" The one-eyed old Liu on the lookout post at the entrance of the town shouted loudly. His shouts immediately caused a commotion, and dozens of men in tattered furs ran up the earthen wall, spreading their bows and arrows, as if they were facing a great enemy, and it was rare to wonder that they were like this, and the scattered routs and the hordes of horse thieves did not come one day.

"What about people?" Jiang Datou staggered up the wall while lifting his pants, looking like he had just gotten up from a woman's belly and had no good voice. Seeing this, the one-eyed old Liu cautiously pointed to the northeast: "Look, it's over there, those few horsemen on horseback may be horse thieves!" ”

Jiang Datou squinted his eyes and looked in the direction of the one-eyed old Liu's finger, only to see that six or seven men on horseback appeared on the ridge of the hill not far away, carrying bows and arrows, and the iron armor on his body reflected the cold light unique to metal.

"Horse thief? It's not like it, it's a bit like a rout, but the rout doesn't have such a good armor? Jiang Datou frowned, he has eaten military rations for a few years, he has much more knowledge than the one-eyed old Liu who is on guard, and that iron armor alone is worth two or three good horses, and he can't change it. He scratched his head and shouted to his subordinates, "You all watch closely, I'll go and call the master!" ”

By the time Jiang Datou invited the general on duty, the team was only more than half a mile away from Anbian Town, and the whole picture of this team could be clearly seen: more than 20 horsebacks, more than 20 carts, and about 100 on foot, all of them were armed with weapons, bows, crossbows, spears, etc. - this is not uncommon in Yingzhou, and almost two-thirds of them have armor, which is rare in Yingzhou. (To be continued......)