After Zhao Ta Lichu, the last obstacle on the road of pro-conquest was eliminated, and the countdown began to enter the stage. But the emperor's travel was earth-shattering, not to mention the personal expedition, and there were too many unknown factors on this trip, and the preparation work seemed more cumbersome and long.

The emperor has to stay at home to take care of the house, Zhao Ta chose Empress Zhu Shuzhen and Empress Dowager Zheng Hongmei to jointly supervise the country this time, and put the two former emperors aside, but this is also understandable, the heart of defense is indispensable, what if the two of them are addicted to officials and want to work for a few more days? And the two women are different, one is his wife, the other is his own mother, they are all towards him from the bottom of their hearts, they will never betray themselves, and they will ensure that they are worry-free in front of them, and they don't have to worry about a fire in the backyard.

In fact, Zhu Shuzhen's poetry is okay, her experience and experience in handling political affairs are insufficient, and her ability is not as good as that of the concubine Yu Liyan, but the prince is his son, although she doesn't know yet, Zhao Ta thinks that even if she hangs up, she will support her son to the throne, and she can ensure that her 'edict' can be implemented smoothly. Zheng Hongmei, the old lady, is even more amazing, since she was a palace maid, she helped the Queen Mother deal with the government affairs, and after three dynasties, she has never seen anything, she can help herself clear the obstacles to the succession in such a sinister environment, and for many years she has also acted as the actual controller of the royal family, and plays the role of the sea god needle at the critical moment.

And Zhao Xin and Zhe Meiluan will go with them on the expedition, which is not only because the two of them are in the army, they can help themselves come up with ideas, protect themselves at critical moments, but also to prevent others from being too careful. After all, both of them have a certain amount of power in the court, and it is not impossible to do something while the emperor is away. Yu Liyan and Li Xiaoxiao are different, their roots in the court are shallow. If you want to make trouble, you are powerless, and the two of them are in the court. It can also stabilize the Khitan and Western Xia, so as not to add some unnecessary trouble to yourself.

The ministers who remained in the court were also very important. Not only did they have to deal with the day-to-day affairs of the state, but they also had to ensure the stability of the court, provide food and supplies to the front, and send officials to take over the newly occupied territories. And in case they hang up, they are ministers who take care of their orders, and they must ensure the smooth transfer and transition of power so that there will be no turmoil, and at the same time, they must also assist the new lord in handling the government and teach him how to govern the country.

The most suitable person for this job now is Li Gang. He assisted the two emperors in ascending to the throne, and he was experienced in this area, and he was known for his prestige in the court, so he could take on this important role. The other candidate is Zhao Ren, in addition to himself, he can suppress the arrogant soldiers in the past, and at the same time, his loyalty is also unquestionable, and he will carry out his orders to the letter, leaving him to take care of his own rest assured. It's a pity that they can't witness the great moment of the destruction of the Kingdom with themselves.

Zhao Ta would act with the North Road in the early stages of the war, and he had already gone to Pingzhou with the advance team to rendezvous with Gao Chong to establish the forward headquarters. At the same time, the Leopard Wing Army was ordered to board the ship in Quanzhou and be escorted by the sailor to sail north by sea. Its inland river fleet went north along the canal; Mingzhou and Haizhou sailors assembled in Dengzhou; The tiger general, the leopard general and the wolf general each left two brigades of soldiers to defend the Beijing division to train new soldiers, and the rest marched to Yanjing; The three armies of Lion Wing, Leopard Wing, and Loyal and Brave quietly marched towards Pingzhou; The Guards left four brigades to guard the imperial city, and the rest of the army went with the emperor and served as camp guards and strategic reserves. This expedition to Zhao Ta mobilized almost all the elites of the Great Song Dynasty. He wanted to strike a fatal blow to the Jin Kingdom with the power of thunder and completely destroy it......

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At the moment when the emperor was in full swing to arrange the aftermath and mobilize the army to prepare for the personal expedition. Yongbyon Fort also unleashed the first major war after the conflict between the two countries. Although it is early spring weather in Bianjing, it is still freezing and cold. However, the battlefield was in full swing, and the artillery of the Song army was constantly bombarding the fort. Instead of taking advantage of the siege, the soldiers laboriously dug a deep trench, blasting off the thick layer of permafrost and then digging deeper.

"Commander Army, what is the Song Army doing?" Meng'an Sida of Ningbian Fort asked Wan Yan Yulie beside him, and now both of them were lying on the earthen ramparts on the edge of the boundary trench to observe the movements of the Song army.

"They're digging a trench, can't you see it?" Wanyan Yulie said angrily that in the past two days, the Song army did not launch a fierce siege as he imagined, but continued to bombard the stone throwing machine positions they had set up behind the boundary trench with artillery, and destroyed the stone throwing machine and the earth platform that were placed there. Fortunately, he learned from the experience of being under the city of Pyongyang and did not put out all the stone throwers, otherwise there would not be a single one left.

"Commander, they should fill in the trenches, what are they digging the trenches for? Do you want to besiege us with this? Xida didn't see Wan Yan Yulie's impatient look, and asked uninterestingly.

"Do you think the Song people are as stupid as you, they dig trenches to besiege us, so can they be trapped? You can't figure it out! Wanyan Yulie actually didn't understand why the Song army dug a trench, but he knew that it was definitely not to besiege them, this was not a lonely fort, if it wasn't for the fear of being discovered by the Song army lookout post on the lookout car, he really wanted to stand up and kick him twice, these days the Song army has become more and more bold, constantly approaching the front of the fort, specifically to fight the ambush soldiers on their own boundary trenches, I don't know how many sergeants died under the cold cannon of the Song army, so scared that everyone hid behind the earthen fortress during the day and did not dare to rise out, and did not dare to raise fire at night.

"Tongjun, you see that the trench dug by the Song army leads to the Hunhe River at one end and extends to our boundary trench at the other, are they going to flood the city with water?" Sidali, who has been trained, has not shut up yet, but he is no longer asking, but in the form of asking and answering himself.

"Flood the city with water, you are really stupid, our earthen fortress is two zhang higher than the Hunhe River, can the water overflow, but let our boundary trench become a moat, that can only ......" Wanyan Yulie fiercely gave this stupid subordinate a big ear scrape, but he suddenly thought of something and suddenly stopped and shouted loudly, "Order the archers to release arrows, and they must not be allowed to dig through the boundary trenches!" ”

Although Xi Dali didn't know what kind of wind the unified army was pumping, but after being scraped by a big ear, his brain became flexible, and he didn't say much and immediately mobilized the archers hidden behind the boundary trench to release arrows to the Song army digging the trench, and for a while the arrows rained down, and the Song army immediately threw down their tools to dodge, but there were still people who were injured by stray arrows. And the artillery of the Song army also immediately opened fire, opening fire on them, and the archers hurried to dodge......

"Commander, the archers can't bear it!" Xida Li said to Wan Yan Yulie with a sad face, after the two sides shot each other, the two sides began to play hide and seek, and whoever showed his head would be beaten. Of course, the Jin army's weapons were poor, and the price paid was a bit large, but the speed of the Song army's trenches was forced to slow down.

"Violators, cowards, slash!" Wanyan Yulie said viciously that he had already penetrated Song Jun's attempt to dig a trench.

The boundary trench is more than 10 zhang deep, more than ten zhang wide, and it takes a lot of effort to dig it back then, and of course it is very laborious to fill it up. And the Song army is tricky, they figured out guò dig an artificial river to lead the river water into the boundary trench, now the weather is still very cold, as long as two days the river will be frozen, but the people and horses, the boundary trench will lose the role of blocking the enemy horse, can go straight to the bottom of the trench wall. At that time, it will not be a few archers who will die, but will have to directly face the fierce attack of the Song army.

Wanyan Yulie knew that he could not stop the attack of the Song army without a trench, so he stopped the Song army from digging trenches at any cost, in addition to using archers to shoot enemy soldiers, he also used a stone thrower in advance to bombard the river digging site, hindering the construction of the Song army, and using the few cavalry in his hand to venture out of the village to drive away the Song army. Even secretly sent soldiers at night to fill the riverbed dug by the Song army during the day, which can be said to be exhaustive......

After being 'taught' by the emperor, the Song army began to sum up his experience. After discussion, they concluded that the most difficult phase of the offensive was the crossing of the river and the crossing of the trenches, when the terrain limited the forces and the artillery could not provide effective support. Moreover, it is difficult to transport large-scale siege equipment through the guò pontoon bridge, and it is also very difficult to manufacture a bridge more than ten zhang long. If the amount of work to fill the trench is too large to be completed in a short time, the soldiers are vulnerable to being killed or wounded by the enemy.

These two most difficult problems, however, were resolved when the Privy Council delegated the power to draw up detailed battle plans, and Zheng Ping demanded that the offensive be brought forward from the planned April to before the weather warmed. The frozen surface of the river allowed the army to move freely, and filling the trenches with the water of the river eliminated the headache of filling the ditch, which required them to dig a three-hundred-step canal.

During the exercise, Zheng Ping knew that half of his defeat was due to the fact that in the early days of the war, the artillery used as a support firepower was first knocked out by the emperor using trebuchets, so he thought that in order to avoid a recurrence of the tragedy, he had to destroy the enemy's trebuchet first, or limit its firepower, so that the enemy would lose long-range fire support.

Zheng Ping entrusted this task to Cao Yi, the commander of the 1st Artillery Brigade, and he found that the enemy's heavy trebuchets were all arranged in the fort, hidden behind the earthen ramparts, but the range of the large-caliber mortar guns equipped by the artillery brigade could completely cover every part of the fort. All they have to do is set up observation posts, find one and knock them out, or destroy the enemy's firing positions by concentrating fire. Knock out the enemy's long-range weapons, so the rapid-fire guns of the Song army can be safely and boldly deployed in the front line to provide cover for the sappers.

With a perfect plan, the Song army smashed the Jin army's blockade with the powerful firepower of the artillery, and dug the river canal to the trench step by step. With a loud bang, the frozen embankment of the Talu River was blown open, and the river water flowing under the ice gushed out and flowed into the trench in a steady stream...... (To be continued......)