Zhishan casually put the short knife into the scabbard, pushed it towards Zhou Ping's side, and said earnestly: "Hide its edge, and wait for it to be useful!" ”

The majestic Taihang Mountains start from Wangwu Mountain at the junction of Henan and Shanxi Province in the south, she is like a giant dragon all the way to the northeast direction, until the shore of the Bohai Sea, west of the Shanxi Plateau, east of the North China Plain, north is the vast Mongolian Plateau, in the northeast-southwest direction, stretching for more than 400 kilometers, forming a huge "factory" shape. On the inside of the word "factory" is the fertile North China Plain, while on the left side of the word "factory" is the Shanxi Plateau, and above the word "factory" is the vast grassland outside the Saiwai and the black soil of Northeast China. Juma River, Hutuo River, Zhanghe River, Qin River and other rivers cut the mountain range, so there are many horizontal valleys in the Taihang Mountain, the local people call it "path", it is said that there are "eight paths of Taihang", since ancient times, it is an important channel to communicate the east and west and the outside and inside the Guan. The famous Bauhinia Pass, Shanxi's Niangzi Pass, Hongti Pass, Huguan Pass, Tianjing Pass and other passes are one of them, for thousands of years, groups of nomads through these passages, into the north of the North China Plain. After flowing out of the Taihang Mountains, these rivers traveled through the vast North China Plain, and while feeding the Chinese ancestors, these east-west rivers also became an important barrier against the nomads who entered the North China Plain from outside the Saiwai. Of these rivers, with the exception of the Qin River, the rest of the rivers flowed into the Haihe River system, which flowed into the Bohai Sea near present-day Tianjin, and Youzhou, located at the southern foot of Yanshan Mountain, the terminus of the canal, and bordered by Lugou in the north, naturally became the center of the northern North China Plain, and the Han people's defense against the nomads outside the Saiwai. And when after 933 A.D., the Jin Gaozu Shi Jingjiao ceded the sixteen states of Yanyun to the Khitans. It became the bridgehead for the emerging Great Liao Empire to invade the Central Plains.

After the failure of Emperor Taizong's two northern expeditions of the Northern Song Dynasty, the offensive and defensive situation between Song and Liao changed, from Song attacking Liao to Liao attacking Song Shou. Generally speaking, since the founding of the Northern Song Dynasty, the defense strategy of elastic defense has been generally adopted, which is to deploy garrison troops mainly with crossbowmen at key points on the border, and deploy powerful field legions in the depth of defense. Then seek a decisive battle in a favorable situation. In order to implement the above strategy. It was very necessary to control the key points and communication channels in the buffer defense area, so the defense system of the Northern Song Dynasty against the Liao army was west of Taihang Mountain, with Yanmen as the front and Taiyuan as the important town; To the east of Taihang Mountain, the white ditch is the moat, and the three towns of Zhending, Hejian and Zhongshan are the horizontal axis to ensure the traffic channels on both sides of the Taihang Mountain, and the danger of guarding Yanmen in the west is connected to Taiyuan. Once the Liao army invaded in a big way. The defenders guarding the key points of Bianjing were fortified and cleared. Slows down the enemy's advance. At the same time, avoid engaging the main force of the Liao army and attack the small plundering detachments and logistics units of the Liao army; The rear field corps stationed in the area centered on Bianliang in Tokyo used this time to complete the assembly and maneuver to meet the Liao army.

It should be said. In the Song Liao War in the decades of the founding of the Northern Song Dynasty, the Song army's elastic defense strategy was still quite effective, which was very obvious in 1004 AD when the Liao army went south, although the Liao army went south, deep into the Song realm, but the Song army strongholds in the rear of the Liao army were unable to hold on, the Song army in front of the emperor was very demoralized, and the offensive of the Liao army had reached the limit. Under these circumstances, the high-level leaders of the Liao State also realized that the strength of the Liao State at that time was not enough to achieve the strategic goal of capturing Bianjing and destroying the enemy state, and in this environment, the two countries signed the Tanyuan Alliance, which was largely equal.

More than a hundred years later, the balance of strength between the two sides on the North China Plain had undergone profound changes, and the Song army had once again become the attacking side. According to the content of the Song-Jin Covenant, in order to avoid unnecessary clashes between the Song and Jin armies, the direction of the Song army's attack was limited to starting from Xiongzhou, crossing Baigou, and directly taking Youzhou. In this way, the Juma River, Hutuo River, Zhanghe River, and Qinhe River, which run east-west on the North China Plain, became the main geographical obstacles to the Song army's attack, and Yizhou and Zhuozhou, which controlled these rivers, became the nails that the Song army had to pull out before attacking Youzhou.

Zhuozhou.

Zhou Ping jumped off the horse with agility, compared to the last mission, the treatment of the Liao people is undoubtedly a higher level, at least he no longer has to be locked in the kind of carriage without windows on all sides. He could also pretend to be curious and look at the thousand-year-old city, but in fact he was judging the city's defensive capabilities in the Cold Weapon Age through the eyes of a former architect.

"All of them are in charge of Chang Shengjun, Zhuozhou is left behind, and Mr. Guo is in charge!" With the sound of a long and long Hongliangtong, Zhou Ping tidied up his clothes a little, and looked at the people who were coming out of the city gate, only to see that the person at the head had a slightly yellow face, protruding cheekbones, a brocade robe, and a smile sang to Xiao Huaidan and Zhao Zong, who were headed, and said: "Humble welcome to Xiao Xianggong and Master Zhao!" ”

"Mr. Guo is exempt!" Xiao Huaidan's face was a little weird, but Zhou Ping didn't notice it, his attention was all attracted by the man in front of him, the reason is very simple, anyone who studies the history of Xuanhe Jingkang, Chang Shengjun is an unavoidable concept, and Guo Yaoshi, the head of Chang Shengjun, is an unavoidable figure, it can be said that the demise of the two great empires of Liao and Song Dynasty has a "credit" of the man in front of him.

"Xiao Xianggong and Bachelor Zhao have worked hard all the way, and they have prepared a reception banquet in the house to wash the dust for the two Xianggong, and please give them a face!" Guo Yaoshi's face was full of smiles, and he looked gentle and polite, compared to the few men behind him who were wearing iron armor and looking like fighting men, he didn't look like he was born in the resentful army colonel who was killed from Liaodong, which was almost a hell. Zhou Ping also had to sigh and say nothing else, just with this ability to adapt to the situation, it was not a fluke that this Guo pharmacist could climb to this point today.

Zhou Ping was thinking about it, when he suddenly heard a strange sound behind him, and when he looked back, he found that his entourage Luo She'er's eyes were red and trembling all over, and the strange sound was actually made by his teeth striking, and he was already extremely angry. Zhou Ping hurriedly glanced at Xue Liangyu behind him, and Xue Liangyu willingly took Luo She'er to the back and sandwiched him in the team.

"This is Deputy Envoy Zhou!" A voice came from behind him, Zhou Ping turned around, but it was Guo Yaoshi, I saw him smiling and reaching out to grab Zhou Ping's right arm and pull it into his arms, and said in a low voice: "A certain family heard that you are running under Tong Shuai, and now the world is in turmoil, if he can help in the future, please reach out to help!" ”

"What did Mr. Guo say!" Zhou Ping couldn't help but be shocked in his heart, and secretly thought that although it was almost a semi-public secret that Song Liao was making envoys engaged in etiquette and deputy envoys engaging in intelligence, it was not just that everyone knew about it, and this guy was a small colonel from a resentful army who entered the industry very quickly, and said with a forced smile: "The lower official is just a pawn under Tong Shuai, where can he be the chief manager with heavy troops, don't say it is Tong Shuai, that is, the sons of heaven of both countries are very concerned!" ”

A wry smile appeared on Guo Yaoshi's face: "What kind of hands hold heavy soldiers, a certain family is just forcibly pushed on this son, and he eats a safe meal for the thousands of children under his command, which is as good as Brother Zhou." If I can throw this big burden out, I will be satisfied with letting me go to the Southern Dynasty to be a farmer! ”

Guo Yaoshi's words were sincere, Zhou Ping stared at each other's eyes, but he didn't see half of the hypocrisy, and secretly thought that it was no wonder that Song Huizong and Tong Guan trusted you later, and this acting skill alone was at least at the level of an Oscar actor in later generations.

"What did Mr. Guo say!" Zhou Ping also tried his best to pretend to be surprised on his face: "A talent like Mr. Guo, a certain family has the courage to make a board for Tong Shuai, even if Mr. Guo comes to vote naked, at least it is a position of control!" ”

"If that's the case, then thank you Brother Xian!" Pharmacist Guo's face showed a look of disbelief, and then he pretended to be honest: "Actually, there is no need to control or not, as long as I can give my brothers a bite to eat!" ”

"This is nature!" Zhou Ping hurriedly slapped his chest and made a blank check, but he secretly laughed in his heart that this guy really showed his feet, and he still couldn't let go of the military power, which can be known without asking.

Guo Yaoshi and Zhou Ping chatted a few words, and then ran to the front to deal with Xiao Huaidan and Zhao Zonglai, Zhou Ping also saw that Xiao Huaidan's face was already a little angry, and secretly thought that it was no wonder that the other party was the other party, Chang Shengjun could be said to be a very important military force in Yanjing Dao at that time, and its leader was so openly hooked up with the envoys of the enemy country in front of him, which was too shameless for him, but at the same time, it also showed how unfavored Yeluchun's regime was.

"It's a pity that the Song army didn't even win against such a weak enemy in history!" Zhou Ping couldn't help but sigh secretly, it seems that he should make a more pessimistic evaluation of the military strength of the Song side, and if he can, he won't fight, anyway, as long as the paper tiger is not pierced, others will not find out that it is a paper tiger.

Although it is not difficult to see that Guo Yaoshi has done his best to hold a banquet, no matter in terms of the quality of the wine and food or the level of the courtesans, there is still a considerable gap from the expectations of the envoys of the Song mission. What's more, although Guo Yaoshi has a good talent in winning over relationships, he is neither a scholar nor a scholar like Xiao Huaidan, who has a good aristocratic education, and it is still half the effort to have a good relationship with the Zhao bachelor who was born in the country. However, Zhou Ping also judged from the clues in the chief manager's yamen that this chief Guo had squeezed the blood of the people of Zhuozhou almost to the point that he couldn't even rectify a banquet that satisfied Master Zhao, and it was obvious that the people's fat was not spent on himself. (To be continued......)