Located in Datong between the inner and outer Great Wall, 'the upper valley in the east, the south and Heng, the desert in the west, the desert in the north, the key point of the border, the barrier of the Beijing division, and the place where the ancient times were used'. To the west and north of it are the rolling Yin Mountains and the majestic Great Wall, together with the Yellow River, which forms a natural barrier. Along the line of the Great Wall, there are many dangerous fortresses in Xiongguan, and beacon towers are dotted around. In the south, the three passes of the pass, Ningwu and Yanmen pass are in danger, and the 'eighteen passes of Yanmen' such as Taihe and Guangwu are the only ones to rush. In the east, there are three passes of Heng Mountain, which stretches for more than 500 miles and Flying Fox, Fallen Horse and Bauhinia, which are known as the key to the north. These natural geographical features make Datong have many natural barriers, and it has been a battleground for soldiers since ancient times!

In addition, Datong is also an important military and material hub, there is a big road to go south to Hedong and Hebei, Yanyun land, not only the Central Plains army to go north through the road, but also become the northern nomads to the south often take the route.

Because there are Taihang Mountains in the east and Luliang Mountains in the west, due to the mountain barrier, it is inconvenient to go south, and there is Hanhou Mountain in the southwest in the northeast, which is the barrier of Zhouling and Gouzhu Mountain, but there is just the valley of Fen River and Yangwu River that can be used, and it can be passed with a little construction. From Datong through the Gouzhu Mountain, along the Yangwu River Valley, into the Xinding Basin, and then to the south along the Fen River old road, straight to the Taiyuan Basin in the middle of the Hedong region. From the north along the Yuhe River, the Shili River goes straight to the outside of the Saiwai, and Liu Bang of the Han Dynasty attacked the Xiongnu in the north to take this road.

Another old road leading to the Hebei Plain area is the Flying Fox Road, which was opened up when King Wuling of Zhao chased the Xiongnu in the north, taking Datong as the starting point, passing through the Hengshan Mountains in the southeast of Hunyuan. Then cross the watershed of the Hutuo River and the Tang River to Lingqiu, and you can reach the area of Laiyuan and Weixian in Hebei. It is an important passage road in Xijing, Hebei Plain and Yanjing area, but the road is extremely steep and narrow.

Later Jin Tianfu two years. Liao occupied Yunzhou and became the border fortress of Liao. Liao Xingzong Chongxi thirteen years changed Yunzhou to Xijing, set up Xijing Road Datong Mansion, became the capital of Liao, is one of the important tax revenue bases of the Liao Dynasty, attaches great importance to Datong, non-princes are not allowed to master, and send heavy troops to guard, in order to prepare for the Western Xia and Song Dynasty...

Last year, the Jin army captured Xijing, which made Zhao Ta choke. He remembered that in history, the Jin army went south to attack the Song Dynasty, and one of the roads was from Datong to conquer Taiyuan, and then rendezvous at Bianjing City. Now that the Liao people have recaptured Xijing, such a good opportunity must not be let go, even if it cannot be completely controlled in their own hands. Nor must it fall into the hands of the Jurchens.

Now, according to the agreement between the Great Song Dynasty and the Jin State, whoever occupies the Yunzhou area belongs to whomever it is, and now nominally Datong has been occupied by the Jin State and should belong to it. Ancient and modern. Sending troops to other countries must have a righteous name, even if a modern superpower like the United States is strong and fights Iraq and Afghanistan. You have to find an appropriate excuse, no matter how unreliable it may be. That's why the teacher is famous, otherwise you can't get support. Now, if you send troops in the name of the Great Song Dynasty, it will definitely be unjustifiable. It is difficult to get the support of the imperial court, and it will also give Jin Guo an excuse for 'default'.

After thinking about it again and again, Zhao Ta thought that Datong could not help but intervene, but it not only involved military problems, but also complex international relations, and it was not easy to fight the fox and provoke trouble, and it was really difficult to find someone among his own people who could deal with and solve such problems, and the situation was changing rapidly, even if he sent an agent to encounter a major event, he had to ask for instructions, and the means of communication in this era would only make a mistake. Therefore, the most suitable person is only himself, so he decided to go to the outside of the plug in person.

"Since the prince has decided to go out of the fortress, then I will immediately send an order to gather all the troops and prepare to send troops!" Zhao Li saw that the prince had made up his mind, so he could only express his support.

"No, now the recruits have just entered the camp, and they haven't been trained yet, so they can't be used!" Zhao Ta immediately refused.

"Lord Wang, don't you often say that the battlefield is the best training ground, isn't it just right for us to pull these recruits to the battlefield?" Zhao Yi said.

"You're going to take advantage of the loopholes, you wooden man!" Zhao Ta smiled, "What I said is also premised, what are you going to do on the battlefield without even putting a gun?" Remember that substituting training with war is blind activism, and substituting training for war is formalism, both of which are undesirable, that is contrary to the law of development, and it is for our soldiers to die! ”

"Then the prince is not ready to use the loyal army, but there are tens of thousands of gold troops over there, Zhao Yong is newly defeated, how to deal with it, you can't go alone, right?" Zhao asked suspiciously, in fact, there was a sentence in the back that he was embarrassed to say in his stomach.

"You want to say, what can I do alone, and it's useless to go, right?" Zhao Yan looked at Zhao Yan and said, Zhao Yan smiled and didn't dare to take it, but the expression on his face already explained what he thought, "Although the first and second brigades of the Kryu Army have suffered heavy casualties now, the third and fourth brigades are still intact, and there are still tens of thousands of coordinated troops over there, as long as the dispatch is effective, it can still play some role, and it can be replenished quickly." In addition, not all places in the Xijing region have fallen into the hands of the Jurchens, the Liao army in other places will definitely send troops to help, and the Xixia will not sit idly by watching his uncle suffer, and the strength of several aspects should add up to prevent Xijing from falling into the hands of the Jurchens again, and our main task now is to block the Jin army that returned to Xijing and buy them time! ”

"Then the prince can't go to Xijing alone, he has to bring some people!" Zhao Yan said.

"Of course, I'm not an immortal, I can destroy them all by reciting two mantras, otherwise what else do I want you people to do!" Zhao Ta patted Zhao Yan twice on the head and said.

"Then how many people are you going to take with you, and which of us will go?" Zhao said with a smile.

"I only took a hundred men from the Guards Battalion, and another five hundred men from the dragon generals were selected to form a commander to accompany me, and I set out in two days. None of you will move, and the task now is to get a good grasp of training new soldiers, form combat effectiveness as soon as possible, and ensure that you can go to the battlefield at any time when the time comes! Zhao Ta said: "What are you going to do when you see Xi?" ”

"Lord Wang, time is pressing, I'll go pack my things and go with you!" Miki said.

"You can't go either, I'm not traveling with public funds this time, I'm traveling secretly, you and I are gone, that's not revealing, you have to cover for me, you must not let people know that I am out of the jam!" Zhao Ta said with a cold face.

"Lord Wang, I..." saw Xi and wanted to say, but he also understood that everyone knew that he was the shadow of the prince, and wherever he was, the prince would be nearby.

"Say no more, you can't go!" Zhao Tan glared at Jianxi and interrupted his words, "Zhao Yan, Zhao Li, tomorrow I will inform the local government in the name of patrolling the border, you will lead the brigade to Fuzhou and Fengzhou to train under my guard of honor, and the selection of accompanying sergeants must be carried out in secret, and the task and destination cannot be informed." Zhao Zhi, you immediately prepare the supplies of the entourage, the clothes and armor will be selected from the Han army of the Liao State, all those with the Great Song Dynasty logo will be removed, each person will be equipped with three horses, ten days of food and grass, and the ammunition will be carried according to the highest carrying standard! ”

"Lord Wang, Princess Aman of Xixia has something important to see you, to see or not to see?" At this time, Wangfu, who was on guard outside the house, came in and whispered in the prince's ear.

"I just yawned, and someone sent a pillow, see you!" Zhao Ta listened, and after a little thought, he understood Aman's intention to ask to see, and said with a chuckle.

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The trade between the Song and Liao provinces was carried out between the two countries through the Rongchang, but there was still a large amount of non-governmental smuggling activities outside the Rongchang. The Beijing area of western Liaoning, especially the area bordering the Hedong region, has complex topography, interlaced mountains, vertical and horizontal passages, no natural barriers, and it is not easy for people to enter and exit. In addition, Liaoxi Jing belonged to the Central Plains, and it was only included in the territory of Liao after Shi Jingjiao ceded the 16 prefectures of Yanyun, so the blood relationship between the border people in this area was particularly close, and it became a common thing to pay for the common defense, which made border control more difficult, so that smuggling activities were extremely prosperous.

Due to its superior geographical location and adjacent to the economically rich Hedong region of the Song Dynasty, Beijing Datong in western Liaoning is an important economic and trade zone between the Liao and Song dynasties during the period of peace and the stage of ethnic tension. Liao to Xijing Datong as a base, and the Song of Hedong, Hebei region trade, because of the military rise of the road gradually become a business road, on both sides of the road, is full of trade sites, this road has become the outside of the nomads and the Central Plains economic exchanges, but since the Song Dynasty intends to use troops against Liao, the field has long been closed, and closed the border, the road leading to Xijing in the east of the river has been sparsely populated, and the roads leading to the Liao country are extremely busy.

Now the war between the Liao State and the Jin State has broken out again, the fierce battle is in full swing, from time to time there are rout troops entering the country to attack and harass and plunder or scouts who are not familiar with the geography have strayed into the Song Dynasty, so there is already martial law everywhere along the border, there are troops patrolling day and night, and the forts are also lined with sentry posts, waiting for the day to prevent accidents, I heard that the Prince of Yan of the two rivers Xuanfu is going to lead troops to patrol the border in the near future, and the state army is even more vigilant in the spirit of twelve points, because everyone knows that Prince Yan of Lu Daoyan is very strict in governing the army, and if he does not do it, he will lose his official position and resign

On the ninth day of the first day of April, a group of people entered the Xiongyong Village of the Volcano Army, and it is said that the gate of the village had been closed at this hour, and no one was allowed to enter or leave, but it was strange to see that these people entered the village smoothly, and then they were invited to the most 'luxurious' guest inn in the village.

People couldn't help whispering when they saw it, guessing the identities of these people, but they didn't dare to raise their voices, because they knew that the deputy Zhijun had chartered the entire inn two days ago, and this deputy Zhijun had a very big background, leading to the sky, it was said that he was the leader of Prince Yan's pro-army, and he was transferred to this post after making military achievements, and even the Zhengzhijun didn't dare to speak loudly to him, and this person was not smiling, and his methods were ruthless, but he governed the place in an orderly manner... (To be continued.) )