On the second day of the third month of the lunar calendar in the ninth year of Xiande, the city of Lanzhou.

After two days of preparation, after making the necessary handover with the newly appointed chief official of Lanzhou by the imperial court, Zhao Kuangyin followed Zhao Pu's previous plan and pretended to obey the order, and led the army back to the capital

According to Zhao Pu's policy, at this time, the imperial court ordered Zhao Kuangyin and his henchmen to return to Beijing, which was not only not bad news, but a good opportunity for him to achieve a "great cause". In Zhao Pu's view, if he waited until Li Chongjin's rebellion was put down before returning to the court, the imperial court would inevitably be wary of Zhao Kuangyin, who had a heavy army, and would use various excuses to split the army and gradually weaken the strength in Zhao Kuangyin's hands. At this time, he was ordered to return to Beijing, which not only gave him a good excuse to lead the army to Kaifeng in the name of righteousness, but also enabled him to maintain the command of the conquest army, which was extremely beneficial to his "great cause". At the same time, Zhao Kuangyin is now deferential and obedient to the imperial court, which can also reduce the court's suspicion of him, and make the imperial court and those generals loyal to the imperial court in the conquest army relax their vigilance, so as to increase the certainty of one's own success in one fell swoop.

However, although during the discussion, Zhao Kuangyin agreed with Zhao Pu's strategy very much, and thought that he had a great grasp of the "great cause" of this achievement. But in the final analysis, the purpose of this operation is to "rebel" after all, and if you are not careful, you will be in danger of being killed. Therefore, while accepting Zhao Pu's advice, Zhao Kuangyin did not have confidence and hot-headedness, let alone really think that he could sit back and relax and be invincible. So, after the discussion, Zhao Kuangyin found two people successively and ordered them to do two things for themselves.

The first person to be asked by Zhao Kuangyin alone for a secret conversation was his younger brother Zhao Kuangyi. What Zhao Kuangyin wanted the other party to do was to take advantage of the opportunity when the army was still resting, secretly return to Beijing in advance, quietly take his relatives out of the mansion, and place them in the Dingli Courtyard in the inner city of Kaifeng Renhemen, which was guarded by Yang Guangyi, one of his confidants and cronies and one of the "Ten Brothers of the Righteous Society", in case the angry Chai Zhou court attacked his family members after the incident at home.

The second person who was summoned by Zhao Kuangyin alone was Zhang Fei, who had just joined him and was not even qualified to participate in the important meeting three days ago. If Zhang Fei was surprised and delighted because he was a new subordinate general, he was summoned by Zhao Kuangyin alone and given face-to-face teaching. Then, if those henchmen and cronies heard the task given to Zhang Fei by Zhao Kuangyin, they would be even more surprised and puzzled. Because, Zhao Kuangyin, who was full of praise for Zhao Pu's strategy of "planning and planning", and was very sure in front of all his confidants and cronies, said that the Beiping Army would not renegade on its promises, and that there was absolutely no possibility of going south, and that he could be treated with confidence, but asked Zhang Fei, who had regained control of most of the state and county branches of the "Feiyantang", to Xiong, Mo, Ying, Ba, Yi, Ding, Zhen, Zhao, Xing, Huan, Ci, Xiang, Lu, Ze, Jiang, Jin and other "Feiyantang" branches in various prefectures bordering or close to the Beiping Army issued directives, ordering the spies of these branches to pay close attention to the situation in the territory of the Beiping Army in person, especially the news about the movement of troops and horses of the Beiping Army. Once he found any abnormal movements of the Beiping Army, he immediately reported to his own house.

In fact, although Zhao Kuangyin stood up for Zhao Pu during the discussion and clearly expressed his belief that the Beiping Army would abide by the covenant and defend the alliance, Li Chuyun's words still touched his heart to a certain extent. Therefore, on the one hand, he kept telling himself that the Beiping Army would not go south, so that he could make up his mind to raise troops and achieve a "great cause". On the other hand, he was not at ease with the north, for fear that the powerful Beiping army would suddenly come south to "profit from the fisherman" when he was "fighting" with the Chai Zhou court. So much so that he had to say one thing and do another, and secretly used the intelligence network in Zhang Fei's hands to spy on the movements of the Beiping Army, so as to relieve his worries - in order to maintain his prestige among his confidants and enhance their confidence and trust in him, Zhao Kuangyin had to take the risk of handing over this matter to Zhang Fei, who had only been attached to him for a few days, to carry out it secretly, without letting those confidants know.

Fortunately, Zhao Kuangyin was worried about reusing Zhang Fei so quickly, but Zhang Fei, who suddenly gained the trust and appreciation of the new master, was overjoyed and grateful for his boss's arrangement. On the one hand, as a newly attached member, Zhang Fei very much hopes to have the opportunity to let him display his talents in order to consolidate his position in the heart of the new master. On the other hand, her sister Zhang Yan's whereabouts are unknown since she fled from the Beiping Army. The mobilization of the above-mentioned state branches to investigate the news of the Beiping Army is also very beneficial to discovering Zhang Yan's whereabouts and protecting him. Therefore, after receiving the task, Zhang Fei did not dare to slack off, and sent the relevant instructions to the state and county branches in the shortest possible time, and hoped that the other party could bring him good news.

On the second day of the third month of the lunar calendar in the ninth year of Xiande, Beiping City.

At noon on this day, Wang Kunjun held a feast in the Jiedu Mansion to hold a full moon wine for his second son, Wang Di. The Beiping Military Festival Mansion is full of lights, and there is a festive atmosphere. The brothers pushed the glasses and changed the lamps at the banquet, and the fists were ordered, and the fun was not lively. This banquet finally swept away the oppressive and heavy atmosphere caused by Fan Wucheng's death and Gao Jun's self-confinement.

As the three protagonists of this banquet, Wang Di and Zhang Xiaofei are babies who are breastfeeding, and the other is a mother who has just given birth and has not fully recovered, so they naturally have to be protected and treated preferentially. In this way, the "attack" target of the brothers fell on Wang Kunjun, who was his father, without accident. If it weren't for Zhang Weixin and Xu Shaoan, who "acted bravely in the face of righteousness" and "volunteered" to resist the "attack" for the fifth brother, I am afraid that the latter would have been poured down by everyone a long time ago.

In fact, even if there is no Zhang and Xu in front of them as shields, Wang Kunjun will not refuse. And the reason why Wang Wuye is so confident, although Gai claimed to be holding a full moon wine for Wang Di, including himself and all the other traversers present, poured water not into his wine glass. As for the reason for this arrangement, it is very simple - with the end of the Battle of Lanzhou and the death of Zhang Yongde, the most important "stumbling block" for Zhao Kuangyin to reach the peak of power has been removed, and the conditions for his army to rise up are ripe. Especially after receiving the order of the Later Zhou court, ordering Zhao Kuangyin and his cronies to return to Beijing to receive a reward before quelling Li Chongjin's rebellion, and although Li Chongjin was ready to move, he had not yet really rebelled, and the Later Zhou court summoned Zhao Kuangyin to the news that there were likely to be other schemes, the brothers of the committee, the military department, and the intelligence department agreed that in the face of the choice of success or failure in one fell swoop, Zhao Kuangyin would definitely seize the opportunity, and the "big drama" of his "yellow robe" was only afraid that it would be staged in a moment. At this critical moment, how could the traversers really go to drink happily and miss a big event for the sake of the contents of that cup.

The full moon wine was drunk from the beginning of the afternoon until the beginning of the day, and then it ended with the satisfaction of the guests. At the end of the banquet, Wang Kunjun sent his wife and children back to the room to rest, and when he just returned to the study, Zhang Weixin walked in with an excited face holding a telegram and copying newspapers. And behind him, there were also Xu Shaoan and Li Junwu, who were also elated and high-spirited.

Just walked into the study, Zhang Weixin didn't care about seeing Wang Kunjun, so he shouted excitedly: "Fifth brother, brother Zhiwei is calling." According to the information sent by the 'Dark Feather' Lanzhou Branch, Zhao Kuangyin had led the army to leave Lanzhou City and go to Kaifeng at midnight this morning. This news, coupled with Zhao Kuangyi's secret sneak back to Kaifeng in the past two days, secretly took his relatives and family members to Dingli Yuan, and had frequent contact with those henchmen and cronies left behind by the Zhao group, as well as the news that Zhao Kuangyi from Xu Xinsheng's Xu brothers asked him to make all preparations and cooperate with Zhao Kuangyin to enter Kaifeng according to Jihua. Now, we can completely conclude that Zhao Kuangyin's 'yellow robe' drama is about to be staged. ”

"In other words, the good day we have been waiting for, taking advantage of the situation to go south, and chasing the Central Plains has finally arrived." Xu Shaoan shouted excitedly on the side, rubbing his hands eagerly. Even the eldest brother Li Junwu, who has always been steady and does not show his feelings easily, was also happy at this time, and nodded to Wang Kunjun again and again.

Looking at the excited and excited expressions of several committee members, Wang Kunjun was also deeply infected, and while grabbing the copy newspaper and reading it carefully, he said to Xu Shaoan: "Old man, you go quickly and summon all the brothers in Beiping City to the mansion, and we will immediately arrange the next move." At the same time, the relevant news was immediately conveyed to all the brothers in the field through various means, so that they could do a good job of cooperating to ensure that the southward operation was foolproof. ”

Xu Shaoan naturally didn't dare to slack off, so he hurriedly responded, turned around and rushed out of the study to deliver the news.

On the afternoon of the second day of the third lunar month of the ninth year of Xiande (the afternoon of April 8, 962), the committee decided at an enlarged meeting that the committee issued an order:

First, it was announced that the Beiping Army's southward combat operations would be codenamed "Jingnan," and that all the units going south would be collectively referred to as the "Jingnan Army."

Second, Qian Yuanshan and Muttel led the vanguard troops of the "Jingnan Army" who had been secretly assembled and waited for many days somewhere outside Qinzhou City, Taiyuan Prefecture -- the 3rd Infantry Regiment of the 1st Synthetic Infantry Division, the Cavalry Regiment of the Division, the Mortar Battalion of the Artillery Regiment of the 1st Composite Infantry Division of the "Feilong Army", the 1st Infantry Regiment of the 3rd Composite Infantry Division, the 1st Independent Cavalry Regiment, the 1st Independent Artillery Regiment, the 1st Regiment of the Marine Corps, the 3rd, 4th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd, and 24th Regiments of the "Security Army", totaling nearly 30,000 horses. Leave immediately, straight to the open.

Third, all units of the Beiping Army were ordered to be fully mobilized, and the main forces of the "Jingnan Army" must be completed within three days in accordance with the established jihua -- the main force of the 1st and 2nd Infantry Regiments of the 1st Composite Infantry Division of the "Feilong Army" and the divisional artillery regiment, the 2nd Infantry Regiment of the 3rd Synthetic Infantry Division, the divisional artillery regiment, the divisional cavalry regiment, the independent 2nd Artillery Regiment, the "Ranger Battalion" and the "Wolf Tooth Battalion", the 1st to 4th Regiments of the "Security Army" Standing Regiment, the 25th to 40th Regiments, and the 1st to 20th Regiments of the "Security Army" Reserve, totaling about 120,000 troops. The assembly, followed by the vanguard troops, waved southward under the leadership of Wang Kunjun and Zeng Zhilin.

Fourth, the "southward advance group" led by Wang Feng, which had been lurking in Kaifeng for many days, was ordered to make all preparations in order to assist the defenders of the Later Zhou Dynasty in defending Kaifeng City and protecting the Later Zhou royal family and important ministers if necessary, and to hold out until the arrival of the "Jingnan Army".

Fifth, the Ministry of Intelligence was instructed to strictly control and comprehensively crack down on secret agents and meticulous work that might come from Zhao Kuangyin's clique, including the prefectures and counties through which the "Jingnan Army" passed through on its southward journey, and to delay as much as possible the time for the other side to obtain news of the dispatch of the army, so as to increase the suddenness of the "Jingnan Army's" southward operation.

Sixth, during the period when Wang Kunjun led the army southward, the work of the Beiping Army was co-chaired by Zhang Weixin, Xu Shaoan, and Li Junwu, and the civil affairs and military and political chiefs of each prefecture performed their respective duties and fully cooperated with the southward combat operation.

In the early morning of the third day of the third lunar month of the ninth year of Xiande (April 9, 962), Qian Yuanshan and Muterr led the vanguard troops of the "Jingnan Army" to leave the secret assembly place outside Qinzhou, Taiyuan Prefecture, and killed the first stop of the southward operation - Luzhou.

In the early morning of the seventh day of the third lunar month of the ninth year of Xiande (April 13, 962), after holding a solemn and solemn oath ceremony, Wang Kunjun personally led the main army of the "Jingnan Army" to leave Beiping City and went straight to the Duliukou of the Qianning Army, the only way to go south along the Yongji Canal.