The Miyagi in Gaochang City was the center of the city, and it was also the most prosperous place, and it was naturally the preferred residence of the nobles, who were also glad that the limited range of the Song army's artillery allowed their mansions to be preserved. However, as the earth fortresses built by the Northern Song army in the city became higher and higher, it indicated that the catastrophe was about to befall them. And what is more terrible than death is waiting for death, knowing that death is coming, but being powerless to resist, this kind of torment can be imagined.

The nobles living in the north of the city could not sit still, once the artillery fire of the Song army came, they lost not only their lives, but also the wealth accumulated by the Shu Dynasty, so they also joined the ranks of the petition, asking the lord to negotiate peace with the Song army again, and was willing to give a part of the property as a gift to the Song army. And Biler Ge didn't want to negotiate at the moment, the north wall of the palace city was the north wall of the inner city, and his nest was also covered by the artillery fire of the Song army, but the problem was that the Song army had rejected his 'kindness'.

Under the pressure of fear and public opinion, Biler was afraid, and the dodgy eyes of the generals showed that they were already afraid of the sharp firearms of the Song army, and they no longer had the confidence to fight. And those usually gentle and elegant ministers also began to complain about his arbitrariness in cutting off the trade route with the Song and tearing up the covenant for the sake of some petty profits, which caused today's disaster. pointed out that he was unworthy of being the king, and implied that he abdicated to make way for Xian to eliminate the anger of the Song Dynasty emperor.

Under the turbulent public opinion, Biler Ge could only order the prime minister to make peace with the Song army again in order to carry five carts of gifts out of the city, and sent a letter of state saying that as long as the Song army retreated, he was willing to call Song a minister. Double the annual tribute and cut off all contacts with Western Liao and Jin. Sincerely serve the Song Dynasty from generation to generation and never betray the Song Dynasty. But the result was unsatisfactory, and Song Jun accepted the gift but did not agree to their conditions. It is said that the lord of Gaochang Bi Lege colluded with the enemy country to repeatedly violate the emperor's prestige, and he must open the city and surrender by himself, wait for the disposal of the Great Song Emperor, and negotiate other conditions.

Of course, Biler Ge would not agree to the harsh conditions of the Song Dynasty, and if he canceled his title, he would lose his position as the lord of the country and become a pariah. And before the conditions were negotiated, he rashly went out of the city, and he lost his last place of refuge and became a plaything in the hands of the Song army. Therefore, he demanded that the city be opened to 'welcome' the heavenly soldiers into the city while retaining the security and status of the Gaochang Kingdom and the royal family, and he himself sent his son to the Great Song Dynasty as a hostage. to show his determination to reconcile with Song.

The prime minister ran a few times and said all the good things, but he still failed to impress the commander of the Song army, so he could only return the price suddenly. The emperor's order was to destroy the country, which was too far from the conditions proposed by Brother Biler, of course Gao Zhong and Zhao Li did not dare to agree, but the gift they gave was of course meat buns and dogs. And they can only choose to continue to fight until they are subdued, but it is a pity to destroy such a good place......

The day after the breakdown of the second negotiations, the Song army resumed shelling. The cannonballs of the Song army seemed to have eyes, and accurately hit the mansion of the prime minister and General Zuo, but fortunately they had prepared to withdraw in time so that they did not lose their lives. Naturally, the palace was also the main target of shelling, and it was possible that the obstruction of the tall buildings in the palace city made the Song army observation post lose sight. failed to hit Bilgo's dormitory, but blew up the inner garden, and the rare birds and beasts kept in it. The lion, tiger and wolf insect were frightened and went berserk in the palace. killed more than a dozen chamberlains and palace maids, and finally had to use the army to hunt down these beloved things of the lord.

The head of the kingdom was bombarded, causing an uproar in the city. Those whose homes have long been destroyed by artillery fire are gloating, and their hearts are much more balanced, and now everyone is the same, this is the end of your refusal to cooperate with the Song army, should; And those who 'dodged' this round of shelling are also terrified, not knowing if it will be their turn to be on their heads next time. The cannonballs have fallen into the palace city, which shows that the city is under the blow of the Song army, and it depends on the mood of the people who want to fight, and now the only way to protect their own family is to persuade the lord to agree to the conditions of the Song army as soon as possible!

It would not be entirely correct to say that there is no safe place in the city of Gaochang, and so far no shells have fallen from any of the Buddhist temples in the city. And this is by no means that the Song army can't see it, most of the Gaochang people believe in Buddhism, the city is full of Buddhist temples, and often built majestic and tall, especially the splendid hall, the towering pagoda is the most eye-catching, say not to see unless the Song people are blind. At first, it was believed that the Buddha had used his magic power to protect his home from artillery fire.

But with the shelling of all parts of the city, everyone gradually understood that this was by no means the Buddha's boundless power, but that the Song people believed in Buddhism like them, and consciously avoided the temple when they fired the cannon, which not only gave them a temporary shelter, but also made them believe that the Song people with the same belief would not hurt themselves at will, and it was only the lord of the country who had refused to agree to the conditions of the Song army, and it was precisely because of his treachery that everyone brought this unwarranted disaster!

In fact, the people of Gaochang should be most grateful to Zhao Li, the supervisor of the Song army. After the first few rounds of shelling, it was already found that the Gaochang people and officials who had lost their homes had fled to the temple for refuge, and that a single artillery attack could achieve major results, so they demanded that the temple be targeted. However, the suggestion of the artillerymen was categorically rejected by Zhao Li, and a strict order was issued to prohibit the shelling of the temple under any circumstances, and it was not allowed to fire at the monks, even after entering the city, this order must be strictly observed, otherwise there will be no forgiveness!

It is said that all operations against the enemy are based on the premise of annihilating the enemy's living forces and striking important targets, so the orders of the supervising army made the generals very puzzled, even Gao Zhong felt confused, and Zhao Li had to explain this. He had seen the dispute between the monks and the Tao during the Daguan period, under the premise of the emperor's worship, the whole country destroyed Buddhist temples and built Taoist temples, which caused a conflict between monks and Taoist believers that lasted for several years, and the monks did not hesitate to self-immolate and resist, even the then prince Zhao Huan was involved, and finally used the power of the government to enforce the implementation to continue.

The dispute between monks and Taoists left a deep impression on Zhao Li at that time, and also made him understand the powerful power of religious beliefs, so that the princes at that time had to pretend to be gods and ghosts to confuse everyone to achieve their goals. Since then, the conquest of Western Xia and the Dali Emperor have relied on the power of Buddhists to stabilize people's hearts and weaken the hostility of the people. The whole country of Gaochang, whether it is the lord or the lowest slaves, all believe in Buddhism, and those temples are their spiritual sustenance and spiritual home, especially here at the forefront of the cultural conflict between China and the West, and the people's sense of religious belonging is stronger.

If the temple was destroyed in disregard of the local people, it would inevitably be regarded as an invading infidel by the Gaochang army and civilians, and it would instead inspire them to revolt and unite against the Song army. Contrary to the initial goal of destroying the enemy's sense of resistance through firepower strikes and dividing and disintegrating enemies of all classes, then what you have done before will be in vain, and countless potential enemies will be added to yourself......

In the following days, the Song army concentrated on several strategic points and fortifications in the city, especially a granary in the inner city was burned by incendiary bombs. Although the loss is not large compared with the total amount of grain stored in the city, this makes the soldiers and civilians in Gaochang City more worried, once the Song army launches an artillery bombardment against the city's warehouses and destroys all the grain, it will only be the Song army that will hold on to the end, and they will starve because they can't survive. At the same time, the soldiers have regarded the city as a daunting path, without the shelter of the city defense facilities, going up is no different from sending them to death, and their morale has dropped to a freezing point.

Due to the heavy casualties among officials, the situation in the city has already shown signs of getting out of control, with vicious incidents of robbery, theft, murder and extortion of goods, and even attacks on soldiers on curfew duty. Ordinary people were afraid to go out to escape the shelling, merchants did not dare to open their doors, and conflicts arose one after another when food stocks were exhausted. And the weather is gradually getting warmer, the people and animals killed by the bombing are not buried, and the gradual decay emits a foul smell, which will inevitably cause a plague in the long run, and the chaotic situation has turned Gaochang City into a dead city.

Brother Biler is also in a panic all day, the cannonballs that fall in the palace from time to time make it unsafe here, he is constantly changing the palace three times a day, to prevent the Song army from detecting his location and asking for his own life, where do you have the heart to deal with government affairs. And the bad news from outside the palace also made him uneasy, the soldiers transferred from other places have been at the forefront, resulting in heavy casualties, especially those tribal soldiers at the bottom are cannon fodder, they understand that they are not the opponent of the Song army at all, and if they continue to consume like this, they will die here sooner or later, so they began to plot to kidnap the lord of the country and open the city gate to surrender in order to save their lives.

It was at this time that the envoys sent to Western Liao passed through the blockade of the Song army and returned to the city, bringing bad news. Now the envoys of the Seljuk Empire have arrived in Western Liao, claiming that more than 100,000 troops have gathered at the border, and if Western Liao does not surrender, they will launch a holy war, vowing to destroy Western Liao, and the army and civilians will be slaughtered. And Yelu Dashi, the Great Khan of Western Liao, rejected the 'good intentions' of the Seljuk Empire and was already determined to face the battle, so naturally there was no extra force to take care of Gaochang's affairs.

The state of Gao Chang was on the verge of collapse, and Bilge would also suffer in torment, because he believed that the Western Liao would not give up on them, so he reluctantly supported himself and refused to accept the demands of the Song army. And now the news of Xiliao's refusal to send troops to aid is tantamount to a bolt from the blue for him, which means that Xiliao has abandoned him and no longer cares about his life or death. In desperation, Bilge sat in the hall without eating or drinking for a day, and did not say a word, until late at night, when he suddenly ordered the prime minister, the privy envoy, and the general of the left and right guards to enter the palace to discuss matters...... (To be continued......)