The news that Yang Huaiyu's army was trapped spread to the capital, and Zhao Ji originally wanted to block the news so as not to disturb people's hearts, but he didn't expect that it was only the next day, and this news had already spread all over the city, and everyone knew that the imperial court's action to recover Yanyun was a failure at the last moment, and even the army led by Yang Huaiyu was cut off, and there were even some rumors that Yang Huaiyu had died in battle, and the Hebei army was almost wiped out, etc., anyway, true and false rumors were flying all over the sky.

These rumors also intensified the fear of ordinary people, because they were worried that after the Liao army eliminated Yang Huaiyu's army, it would wave its troops south again, although the military strength of the Great Song Dynasty has risen sharply over the years, but in the face of the strong enemy of Liao, ordinary people still have no confidence in their hearts, of course, there are also some reasons for the encouragement of Liao spies.

However, compared to those ordinary people, as the emperor, Zhao Ji is the real headache, originally he used troops against the Liao State behind his back to support Lu Huiqing through, at the beginning Yang Huaiyu attacked everything, which made him really happy for a while, and even dreamed that after recovering the sixteen states of Yanyun, his prestige increased greatly, and then he would get rid of some of the shortcomings in the country, and he would definitely not encounter too much resistance, but now that Yang Huaiyu's army was trapped, all his previous illusions were shattered.

Originally, Zhao Ji convened Lu Huiqing and other four ministers to discuss how to deal with Yang Huaiyu's trapping, but unfortunately the four ministers were not united in this matter, Zeng Gongliang and Chen Shengzhi made it clear that "it doesn't matter, hang high", anyway, they didn't agree to send troops at the beginning, and now they can't blame them for the incident. As for Sima Guang, he was trying to put the blame on Lu Huiqing, and planned to use this incident to get Lu Huiqing down, but Lu Huiqing had a hard time, so he could only insist that the situation on Yang Huaiyu's side was not particularly bad, and of course he insisted on sending reinforcements.

As soon as he thought of the problem of reinforcements, Zhao Ji had an even more headache. Lu Huiqing has been clamoring to send reinforcements, but where is there any troops to send in the Great Song Dynasty? The only one who can go to the battlefield is the Western Army, but the Western Army needs to guard the northwest and the Western Regions, after the annexation of the Western Xia, some of the Western Xia sins still lurked, but later the Great Song Dynasty worked hard to develop the economy of the Western Xia homeland. So that there slowly settled down, but unfortunately after the change, the Xixia hometown was also impacted, which also made those Xixia evils active again, if the Western army guarding there was a part, I am afraid that those Xixia evils will immediately cause trouble, but if the Western army is not used, I am afraid that the tens of thousands of Hebei troops led by Yang Huaiyu will all die.

Either there was chaos in the northwest, or tens of thousands of Hebei troops were killed. The previous efforts to recover Yanyun were all in vain, which made Zhao Ji also in a dilemma, and Lu Huiqing and others couldn't think of any good way, and in the end, in desperation, Zhao Ji had to go to Tianbo Mansion to see someone in person.

Yang Wenguang is nearly 80 years old this year, and according to the original history, he should have died a few years ago, in fact, he did suffer from a serious illness a few years ago. At that time, he was lying in the hospital bed and almost died, but later he was diagnosed and treated by Zhilu Gu Cao Tong. In addition, he has been practicing martial arts all year round, and his physical foundation is very good, so he miraculously survived in the end.

Originally, Yang Wenguang had been serving as the chief instructor of the military academy, but after a serious illness, his body was not as good as before, and the change was at the peak of the law at that time. Even the military academy was infiltrated by some reformers, so Yang Wen simply resigned from his official position and went home to retire, and now the military academy is managed by Zhang Zai, and it is also operating normally.

Zhao Ji came to Tianbo Mansion to visit Yang Wenguang, although Yang Wenguang was already at home to retire. However, Yang Wenguang had served in the northwest for many years, and he personally defeated the Western Xia, so he knew the situation in the Western Army best, so Zhao Wei wanted to ask Yang Wenguang to see if he could find a way to mobilize some soldiers and horses from the Western Army as reinforcements.

Yang Wenguang has the merit of destroying the summer, which is greater than Di Qing's merit back then, if he hadn't insisted on going to the military academy at the beginning, I'm afraid he would still be able to sit on the privy envoy's position, but even so, the Yang family also relied on Yang Wenguang's merit to have a high status in the capital, even if several ministers saw Yang Wenguang, they had to treat each other politely, and they would never dare to treat him as a simple martial artist, plus he was old, Zhao Ji had something to ask for, so he came to the door in person to show his sincerity.

For Zhao Ji's arrival, the Yang family was also very excited, Yang Wenguang personally went out to greet him, but compared to a few years ago, Yang Wenguang is holding a cane, his body is also a little rickety, and he is trembling when he walks, which is the sequelae of the serious illness at the beginning.

"Old minister, see Your Majesty!" Although Yang Wenguang's body is not as good as before, his spirit is very good, and his brain is very clear, seeing Zhao Ji hurriedly bowed down and saluted, which also made Zhao Ji hurriedly help him up, and then said a few words gently, and the two of them entered the hall to talk in detail.

Yang Wenguang had already gotten the news before, knowing that his son's army was trapped in Gubeikou, and at the same time, he also knew that the imperial court was now facing a dilemma, so he could also guess the reason why Zhao Ji came to find him, so after entering the hall, he asked the people around him to retreat, and Zhao Ji didn't talk nonsense when he saw this situation, and directly told the purpose of his coming.

"Old General Yang, I have always wanted to transfer troops to rescue General Yang, but there is really no army to mobilize except for the Western Army, so I want to consult the old general today to see if I can draw as much of the army as possible from the Western Army?" Zhao Ji finally sighed and said.

Yang Wenguang knew that Zhao Ji would ask this question, but he also showed a contemplative expression after listening, and after a while, he said in an old voice: "Your Majesty, although the old minister is at home, many of the descendants of my Yang family also serve in the northwest, and they also know a little about the situation there, the situation in the northwest has been unstable in recent years, and if you want to transfer a large number of western troops, I am afraid it will be even more difficult!" ”

For Yang Wenguang's words, Zhao Ji couldn't help but sigh secretly, and even faintly regretted it, he had known that if this was the case, he should not have been so radical in promoting the change, which not only led to the instability of the situation in the northwest, but also the instability of the Great Song Dynasty, if Yang Huaiyu's army was really annihilated this time, I am afraid that some ill-intentioned forces in the country would jump out immediately, and then the world would be in real chaos.

However, at this moment, I heard Yang Wenguang speak again: "However, although it is difficult to draw troops from the Western Army, it is not impossible. ”

"Oh, old general, please!" Hearing Yang Wenguang's words, Zhao Ji immediately showed an ecstatic expression and said, Yang Wenguang is already his last hope, if even he has no choice, then Zhao Ji can only endure the pain and make a choice.

"Your Majesty, in addition to the army of our imperial court in the northwest, there are also some militia groups composed of young and strong people, presumably Your Majesty has also heard of it!" At this time, I saw Yang Wenguang slowly speak.

"The militia?" Zhao Ji was stunned when he heard this, and then he remembered that when the Western Xia went south from time to time, it was difficult to stop the offensive of the Western Xia only by relying on the Western Army, so in order to protect themselves, some young people organized to form a militia group, and these militia groups also got the permission of the imperial court, for example, when Zhang Zai was young, he once organized a militia to assist the imperial court to recover the Western Xia, and later it was through Fan Zhongyan's persuasion that Zhang Zai was transferred from martial arts to literature, which led to today's achievements.

However, although Zhao Ji knew about the militia group, he quickly frowned and said: "Old general, I know some about the militia group, but the equipment and training of these militia groups are also intermittent, and they can't be compared with the regular army at all, so I'm afraid these militia groups will be embarrassed and useful, right?" ”

"What Your Majesty said is that the militia group is indeed incomparable with the regular army, but in order to protect itself under the butcher's knife of the Tangut people, the strength of the militia in some places is still very strong, if Your Majesty orders these militia groups to be incorporated into the regular army, and give them military salaries and weapons and armor, then these militia groups will definitely have a great increase in combat power, although they cannot be compared with the regular army, but they can be used to replace the Western Army stationed in the northwest, so that I estimate that it is okay to transfer 30,000 Western troops." Yang Wenguang said slowly while thinking, whether it is public or private, he will not sit idly by and watch the army led by his son be wiped out by the Liao army.

"Great! The old general's words really saved the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers in my Great Song Dynasty, I already know what to do, take care of the old general, I will go and prepare! Zhao Ji immediately stood up excitedly when he heard this, although he was a little rude, but at this time he couldn't take care of much, after all, the military situation was urgent, and no one knew what the situation was on Yang Huaiyu's side, so if he sent reinforcements earlier, maybe he could rescue some more trapped soldiers.

As a veteran in the army, Yang Wenguang naturally knew that the military situation was urgent, so he did not detain Zhao Xu, and personally sent the other party out of the house.

In the next half month, the imperial court sent envoys to various parts of the northwest to collect the militia groups in various places, and then replace some of the garrison Western troops, and finally transferred 30,000 Western troops, which was also in line with Yang Wenguang's previous estimate. This also made Zhao Ji admire Yang Wenguang, a veteran, even more, although 30,000 people is not a lot, but with more than 10,000 people in Wang Shao's hands, these more than 40,000 reinforcements and Yang Huaiyu should be able to force Yeluren to retreat first.

It's just that what Zhao Ji never expected was that just when the 30,000 Western Army had just been mobilized from the northwest and was about to rush to Hebei to rescue, there was a shocking news from Muzhou in the south. (To be continued......)