So on March 20, the privy envoys Wang Hu and Chen Zhizhong; Deputy envoy Zhang Guan was dismissed. Yan Shu and Song Shou served as privy envoys, and Wang Yiyong served as privy deputy envoys. On May 9, under the impeachment of the government and the opposition and Zhang Shixun himself seven times, Prime Minister Zhang Shixun was dismissed. He expected that the enemy was not accurate, and he was overly proud, and called a calm faction like Wu Yu a madman, and it was under his leadership that the imperial court refused to increase troops to the northwest, forcing the two deputy commanders-in-chief of the Great Song Military Region to go to war, and they only brought out a few thousand people who were pitiful! Damn it! It's as embarrassing as fighting outside the borders!

So who should I replace? The situation requires that all prejudices must be put aside and the most capable person must be chosen. Who? Everyone unanimously recognized - Wang Zeng! But alas, he's dead...

A year and a half ago, on November 26, 1038, Wang Zeng died. Like Kou Zhun, he can predict the date of his death. In the early hours of one morning, a large star in the sky suddenly fell, not far from his bedroom. The family was frightened and hurried to tell him. Bedridden, he smiled indifferently and said, "One month later, I should know", and a month later, Wang Zeng died. The nickname is the top "Wenzheng" among the Wenchen

So I was reluctant to let that person out of the mountain. Although that person is very annoying, he can't convince people - Lu Yijian.

Prime Minister Lu paid homage to the prime minister three times, surpassed Kou Zhun, and equaled Zhao Pu, how could he be prominent. But everyone knows the background behind it: you are the only one who pulls out the big one.

Zhao Zhen also knows this, and he also knows that if he chooses Lu Yijian, he has to worry about someone looking for trouble first-Fan Zhongyan. In order to work together in a working environment, Zhao Zhen deliberately brought Fan Zhongyan to be a peacemaker for his new prime minister: Fan Aiqing, Yi Jian still has merit, do you know Lu Dao? I used you this time, and I was recommended by Yi Jian... Unexpectedly, Fan Zhongyan replied with a smile: Your Majesty, I only have political disputes with Yi Jian, and there are no personal grudges. Now that state affairs are important, the minister knows what to do. The emperor wondered, what are you doing?

What happened next made Lu Yijian uncomfortable, and he suddenly received a letter from Fan Zhongyan. The letter said very sincerely: Whoever is an official must not have private crimes and public crimes. In the past, it was all a matter of business. I don't mean that the prime minister is elegant and elegant, he puts the country first, and he is deeply grateful. I hope to help the prime minister inside and outside. Survive the nation's troubles. Lu Yijian looked at this letter and sighed in his heart, four years have passed, today's Zhongyan is no longer yesterday's Zhongyan...

Emotion is emotion, Prime Minister Lu knows very well: Fan Zhongyan's true purpose is only one. Fighting in the front, fighting in the rear is money and food, Prime Minister, you have to work seriously, don't use national affairs as a tool for revenge! But in any case, Fan Zhongyan's posture is hard to buy. Lu Yijian is an understanding person, and in the later years, he did not do anything out of the ordinary, at least to Yan Yanlu, who was in charge of Fan Zhongyan. It's hard for others to say...

Li Yuanhao returned to the army from Yanzhou Mansion. All the way to attack Yongping, Saimen, Anyuan and other villages. Yongping Zhai was fortunate to command Shi Jili to rebuke the fallacy that the owner of the village and the prison army wanted to abandon the village and flee, and fought to the death when Li Yuanhao's army besieged the village, and Yongping Village was not lost. The other two villages were not so lucky. On May 11, Saimen Village was lost. Gao Yande, the owner of the village, was captured. Wang Jiyuan, the superintendent, was killed in battle. On the 22nd, Anyuan Village was lost.

On the 25th, in view of the fact that Xia Shouyun and Wang Shouzhong had been on the northwest frontier for more than three months. But there was no progress, and two villages were lost, and the edict ordered the dismissal and return to the court. But the Song court still has no clear staff. Another surnamed Xia took over all the military and political power in Shaanxi, which laid the hidden danger of the defeat of the Song army in the future...

Fan Zhongyan and Han Qi, hurry up! Otherwise, Lord Xia Zhu Xia will bury the entire land of Shaanxi! Xia Zhu, like Fan Yong, the only thing he could do was to keep asking the court for troops and food.

Increasing troops and distributing food is the most fundamental element of a war, especially in the northwest battlefield, where the entire army has just been wiped out with 10,000 enemies and 150,000, which is an undisputed matter, right? But in the face of this request of Xia Zhu, the new Shaanxi Economic Strategy to appease the envoy, the ministers of the DPRK and China were super talented, they turned over the history books, and then told Xia Zhu, and they also forwarded it to the emperor: increase the troops? There are no doors! The history books say that the Han general Huo Qubing once broke away from Wei Qing's main force with 800 light cavalry and went on an expedition of hundreds of miles, and cut the Huns to the ground. Then with 10,000 people to cross the Wuxi, through Supu, wading fox slaves, passing through the five kingdoms, killing more than 1,000 miles of Yanzhi Mountain, killing the King of Lan, the King of Luhou, capturing the Prince of Kun, collecting and slaughtering the Tianjin people, sealing the wolf Juxu, this series of feats has not also been made? There is also Li Jing in the Tang Dynasty, who broke the Turks with 3,000 cavalry, and then went to Yinshan with 10,000 cavalry, killed more than 1,000 enemy soldiers, captured more than 100,000 men and women of different races, and captured Jieli Khan! Lord Xia, what can't you do?

Lord Xia was so angry that his hands and feet were numb. Come on! I've also read history books. Huo Quzhi, Li Jing... After searching my China for 5,000 years, there are only a few abnormal anomalies. Do you think you can catch a handful at any time in the Song Dynasty, including me Xia Zhu?

Lord Xia immediately counterattacked: Wang Jian, a famous general in the Qin period, destroyed Chu and was bound to ask the first emperor for 600,000 elite soldiers; Meng Tian's northern expedition to the Xiongnu also had to ask for 300,000 soldiers! There are also the battles of Fu Jian and Cao Cao, all of which have hundreds of thousands of elite soldiers, and they all lost. Why don't you say that? I'm going to increase my troops! If you don't increase, you will be replaced, and you will come to the northwest to fight! Let's see how you can fight against all of you!

Zhao Zhen sat on the dragon chair and listened to it only to feel dizzy for a while, so he ordered everyone to shut up and increase 200,000 troops to the northwest, which were evenly distributed to the four roads of Yanyan, Huanqing, Jingyuan, and Qinfeng. Then collect the world's grain and grass to the northwest to transport. So the money was spent like flowing water: Sinong Temple first took out 1 million yuan of Changping money, and then the emperor used his private pocket of the inner treasury and the left treasury, and spent a total of 3 million guan in 4 times, which was only an advance of military expenses before the war.

After May 1040, the center of gravity of the Great Song Dynasty began to tilt to the northwest. It can be said that with the strength of the whole country to avenge the annihilation of the entire army in Sanchuankou, in such an unprecedented huge mobilization of the military, government, and finance, Fan Zhongyan, Han Qi, Yin Zhu, Pang Ji, Chong Shiheng, Di Qing, etc. have all come into play. In the next seven months, the wishes, efforts and encounters of each of them were the embodiment of the national power of the Song Dynasty at that time. It's hard to say what is right or wrong...

In May, Pang Ji set off for the Northwest Battlefield. On June 11, the deputy capital of Yanyan was redeployed to Ren Fu and reappointed as the deputy capital of Huanqing and the governor of Qingzhou. Before the second battle of Song Xia was about to start, everyone was slowly in place...

Lord Xia Zhuxia, the first high-ranking official in the northwest, was waiting for Fan Zhongyan and Han Qi to rush to Shaanxi. When he was bored, he came up with a super powerful strategy against the enemy - lure and surrender the reward! This is an upgraded version of the official reward of the Great Song Dynasty, and the official Song Dynasty once ordered: Whoever kills Li Yuanhao will be replaced with the titles of the Li family such as the envoy of the Dingyan Army and the king of Xiping. In order to increase the effect, Xia Zhu added a code to the reward grid, "Those who have won Yuan Hao's head will be rewarded with 5 million yuan" 5 million..."Water Margin", the birthday gang that can make good people take risks and become robbers is only 100,000 yuan. So after increasing it by 50 times, what will be the reaction of the barbarians who are savage by nature, fatherless and kingless? Comparing hearts to hearts, Lord Xia is full of confidence, just waiting for the day when someone will carry a bloody party head, or many people will carry a lot of bloody party heads to compete for a reward...

The idea is beautiful and the response is super creative. Emperor Li Yuanhao of Western Xia himself replied in person, "Those who have Xia Zhu's head will be rewarded with 2 yuan"

2 vs 5 million, exactly 1:2.5 million? Xia Zhu was silent instantly. What a serious thing, it's just a laughing stock...

There is still a need for someone to do practical things to appear, July 12. Guo Zhi made Liao and once again declared to Emperor Liao: We are going to beat your colt, who told him not to learn well! You must draw a line between your uncles... On August 21, Liu Jian sent an envoy to Tibet.

On the 28th, Fan Zhongyan came to Yanzhou Mansion on Yanyan Road. This place has been penetrated by Li Yuanhao, and he is facing the crisis of war again at all times, how can he be careless and careful? After taking office, the first strategic policy he set was the word "keep." Let go of it in advance, settle yourself before you can think of anything else. On this premise. As soon as Fan Zhongyan took office, he broke the ancestral system of the Great Song Dynasty. The ancestral system stipulates that 10,000 soldiers under the jurisdiction of the army, 5,000 soldiers under the jurisdiction of the Jin, and 3,000 people under the command of the capital are deployed, and they are not based on the ability of the generals, but only according to the size of the official position, from the lowest to the highest, to rush out of the battle to kill. As a result, a large number of soldiers and junior officers were killed. Fan Zhongyan was determined to reform. He divided the 18,000 defenders of Yanzhou into 6 divisions. Each department is headed by a general, commanding 3,000 people, and giving each general a chance to perform, who is strong and who is weak. At a glance, rearrange the order of battles in the army. The freedom of the generals was greatly increased, and the benefits were immediately apparent. It is concentrated in the body of Chong Shiheng.

The Qingjian City of Chong Shiheng was placed under the jurisdiction of Yan Yanlu. He was the most tossed person in the Western Army of the Great Song Dynasty in that era. He trained the whole people in Qingjian City. The solution is one word - money!

Practice archery first. The silver ingots hung on the target, and whoever could shoot it would be whomever it would be. Later, this method was extended to the whole city, regardless of men, women, children, and even criminals, it doesn't matter, as long as you are good at archery, you will be released from prison immediately! In the long run, it is estimated that the pigs in Qingjian City will be put across the street to buy a pound of pork, the money will be shot over, the meat will be shot back, the payment will be cleared, and the air mail will be delivered. But there is a question, where did Chong Shiheng get so much money? Even if His Majesty Renzong pulls out the money to the northwest, there will be nothing left after deducting it to him, so how did the money come from?

History: Chong Shiheng opened 2,000 hectares of camping land, recruited merchants, and he gave the capital to do business locally. In addition to collecting local products into Beijing, the main customers are the local ethnic minorities. This is a big deal for fame and fortune. Chong Shiheng not only made money, but also gave great benefits to the local Qiang and other ethnic groups through business, allowing them to enjoy Han luxuries that they had never dreamed of before, or even imagined. Chong Shiheng would also visit the chief of the Yiqiang tribe on a snowy day three feet deep as agreed, which made the other party overjoyed and couldn't believe it, and obeyed him from then on. will even push food and undress, and even send his beloved woman out of the country, just in exchange for the obedience of the alien race.

But in this way, both Fan Zhongyan and Chong Shiheng are a little foul. Because they have returned to the era of Zhao Kuangyin, only the border generals of the Great Song Dynasty had the independence of the military, finance, and government. Engaging in such a way as Chong Shiheng is simply a small feudal town, and since the era of the big sluts, this is the top taboo of the Song Dynasty!

But the good thing is that it works. From this time until the 4th year of the Qingli Conference, although there were constant wars between Song and Xia on other grounds, Yanyan Road, which was supposed to be the most dangerous and weak, was the calmest. Li Yuanhao basically never made trouble here again. Xia Renxiang said, "Little Fan Laozi (Fan Zhongyan) has tens of thousands of armor soldiers in his belly, which is not as good as Dafan Laozi (Fan Yong) can be bullied."

At the same time, Fan Zhongyan sent Zhou Mei to regain Jinmingzhai. A few days later, tens of thousands of Western Xia troops really attacked Jinmingzhai. Zhou Mei led 3,000 troops to fight. The battle reached the end of the day, and the reinforcements did not arrive. Zhou Mei then set up a suspicious army in Shanbei. The Western Xia army thought that the reinforcements of the Great Song Dynasty had arrived, and hurriedly withdrew.

Yan Yan Road is not able to go. So where to go? Li Yuanhao set his sights on Jingyuan Road, which was supervised by Han Qi.

On September 14th, the Western Xia army suddenly killed the Sanchuan Village of the Zhenrong Army on Jingyuan Road! In a bloody battle on the same day, Yang Baoji, the west road of the Zhenrong Army, was killed, and Sanchuan Village was lost. But the next day, Song reinforcements arrived quickly. The rank of the leading generals is not high, and Liu Jizong, Li Jiang, and Wang Bing are all the same eunuchs. They divided their troops to fight, but the battle situation was unfavorable, and Liu Jizong himself was shot and wounded. Here's the question: Why should we divide our troops?

Another eunuch, Wang Qi, arrived immediately, and he brought 3,000 cavalry, but before he reached Sanchuan Village, he was surrounded by the Western Xia army. Wang Qi led his troops out of the siege and came to Zhenrong Juncheng, the largest military stronghold on Jingyuan Road. The Western Xia army was in hot pursuit. Wang Jue didn't ask to enter the city, he asked the city to send troops to fight to help him kill these blockers, and he also had to save Sanchuan Village! But to the dismay the refusal of the city. When it got dark, Wang Jue changed his request: You don't have to open the city, just throw down what you eat, and then you open your eyes and look carefully!

The food was thrown out, and in the twilight, Song Jun ate silently, watching the enemy behind him chase closer and closer. Wang Jue came to the soldiers "The Art of War: Attack the crowd with outnumbered, it will be at dusk" Now that it is late, we will suddenly kill back, which will definitely catch them off guard!

The battlefield boiled instantly, and the warriors of the Song Army, who were still breaking through and fleeing just now, suddenly killed again! Of course, the party members were not caught off guard, they had been pursuing, and now they want to fight! A Western Xia general rushed out, and it was Wang Qi who was holding a spear, "Who dares to fight my enemy", and the Western Xia man stabbed him in the right arm with a shot. What happened next was the nightmare of the Tanguts. History has a conclusive conclusion that "there is a Song generation, the ordnance bow and crossbow are the first, and the spear is second" How to play with guns and how to break guns, the officers of the Great Song Dynasty are more familiar than anyone else, and they all have a belt on their wrists and an iron whip hanging! After getting close, Wang Jue whipped his hand and smashed his opponent's head to pieces. Immediately afterwards, another enemy general rushed over, still a spear, to say that the Tangut people are really persistent, it is still an old routine - thorn. Wang Qi was also very cooperative, still bearing it with his right arm, but his reaction was more acute after being injured, he grabbed the enemy gun, and with another whip, he killed the second enemy general!

After the death of two generals in a row, the quality of the Western Xia army was exposed. After Guo Zun was killed, the Song army slashed again and swore not to surrender! But this group of Western Xia troops who had been chasing people actually fled, releasing cold arrows as they ran.

The rain of arrows in the dark was very deadly, Wang Qi himself was hit by three arrows in a row, and his war horse was also killed, so he had to stop. A question surfaced: Does Sanchuan Village still have to be saved?

This involves a fundamental problem: It is not easy for Han Qi to gather the combat effectiveness of Jingyuan Road in just over 100 days, but it is obviously not possible to mobilize the troops scattered everywhere into a formation and coordinate the battle. Therefore, Sanchuan Village was attacked, and the first to go to the aid were all the capital supervisors, and the heads of the military regions at the level of Liu Ping and Shi Yuansun did not appear at all. At this time, Wang Qiru still wanted to kill the past, and he was destined to have no reinforcements, purely looking for death. Unless Zhao Zhen himself is trapped in Sanchuan Village, the gains outweigh the losses!

So Wang Jue withdrew. For three days, there was a defensive vacuum in the local area, and the Tangut people did whatever they wanted. Three days later, the Song army gathered enough strength and was led by Guo Zhigao, the governor of Jingyuan Road, and rushed to Sanchuan Village.

Before Guo Zhigao arrived, the Western Xia army withdrew from Sanchuan Village and attacked the Zhenrong army, the most important military stronghold in the Jingyuan Road. As long as you take it, you can break through the passage to Weizhou and Jingzhou in the south in one fell swoop, and go directly to Guanzhong! (To be continued......)