With the victories of the two battles of Xiangyuan and Xingzhou, and with the Xiye Recruitment Division in Changye and the Zhongye Recruitment Division in Handan, preparing for a decisive battle with the Jin soldiers in Hedong and Hebei, the situation north of the river developed in a favorable direction for the Song army.

But at this moment, Xianghan lost.

After the Jin soldiers occupied Luoyang, Zhai Xing's first army, which was guarding the Fengniu Cottage in Yiyang County, became a big problem for the Jin soldiers. In order to besiege Bianliang, the Jin soldiers continued to launch military operations to clear the periphery of Bianliang, and finally killed Zhai Xing at the end of the first year of Shaoxing.

Zhai Cong endured his anger and inherited his father's will. He united with the Song Dynasty's Shenwu Left Deputy Army Commander, Xiangyang Mansion, Deng, Sui, Yingzhou Zhenfu Envoy, Li Heng, and Xiangyang Governor Li Heng and Suizhou Governor Li Dao, to launch an attack on the puppet Qi. Although Zhai Cong's military strength had been greatly weakened, and Li Heng was also short of soldiers and food, and his equipment was quite poor, the signing troops among the Jin soldiers responded one after another, and the progress of the Northern Expedition was quite smooth.

The rebels who signed the army mainly had two parts. Niu Gao, Zhao Qi, Zhu Quan, Niu Bao, Zhu Wancheng and other armies were attached to Li Heng, and Dong Xian, Zhang Xi, Dong Zhen and other armies were attached to Zhai Cong.

In the second year of Shaoxing, Li Heng, Niu Gao, Peng Xi and other armies recovered Ruzhou, Yingchangfu, Xinyang Army and other places. Hu Anzhong, the governor of Tangzhou, who had already lowered his gold, was also recruited by Li Dao.

Zhai Cong deployed Dong Zhen, Zhang Xi, Dong Gui, and Zhao Tong to attack Xijing Henan Mansion and executed Yin Mengbangxiong of Henan Province, who excavated the imperial tomb of the Song Dynasty. Military victories enabled Zhai Cong's army to soon control a vast area from Zhengzhou in the east to Jingzhaofu in the west. Bianliang in the siege is also in sight.

Zhai Cong and Li Heng's two armies from the west and south of the two directions to attack Kaifeng Mansion, in March, the Jin Dynasty marshal Zuo Du Jian Yan Wushu to join Li Chengsuo led 20,000 signed troops, in the northwest of Kaifeng City Mu Shigang with the Song army. Li Heng, Niu Gao and other armies had no armor and were routed by the heavy armored cavalry of the Jin side.

Since then, the Song army has been in a slump, and in just a few months, not only Fengniu Cottage, Dengzhou, Suizhou, Tangzhou, Xiangyangfu and other places in Yiyang County have fallen one after another, but even Yingzhou, which is closer to the rear, has been captured by the enemy. Li Heng, Zhai Cong, Niu Gao, Dong Xian, Li Dao, Zhang Xi and others successively retreated to Jiangnan West Road.

At this time, Yue Fei was stationed on Jiangnan West Road to "suppress thieves", that is, to deal with local civil unrest. He heard that Li Hengniugao was waiting for Hongzhou, so he hurried to meet him.

At this time, it was Zhu Shengfei who served as the pacification envoy of Jiangnan West Road, and he recognized his family with the Queen Mother Zhu Fenglian.

Yue Fei said to Zhu Shengfei: "Since the Jin soldiers besieged Bianliang, Weichen has always wanted to go to the rescue, but he has always had to fly in the south of the Yangtze River to suppress thieves, and his heart to serve the country cannot be displayed. Now that the gold thief has taken Xianghan, I'm afraid that we won't be able to fight. ”

According to Yue Fei's thoughts, not to mention the duty of a courtier, Zhu Shengfei is the queen mother's own brother, and her sister is in trouble, shouldn't she hurry to the rescue?

"The grand plan of rescuing Bianliang should be decided by the imperial court, and Pengju should not be commented on arbitrarily." Zhu Shengfei's well-intentioned persuasion.

"Xianggong needs Bianliang's will? The last general is not talented, and he is willing to go to Bianliang to ask for a decree. ”

"Bianliang is surrounded, the news is not clear, let's wait for the decision to go."

Yue Fei had no choice but to retreat silently, but he met a big man at the door, waiting for him: "Dare to ask if it's Yue Zhenfu?" ”

"Dare to ask you?"

"The last general." Niu Gao Yu Boyuan, a native of Lushan, Ruzhou, was sixteen years older than Yue Fei, and he was forty-seven years old at the time. Niu Gao served as an archer, organized the local people to resist Jin, and fought more than ten battles with the enemy in the area of Jingxi Road, and won every battle.

"Hearing that the calming force is the main rescue of Bianliang, the last general is excited, and he is willing to pacify the horse's pawn. Begging for moderation. ”

Yue Fei knew that there were more than 10,000 people in Niu Gao's department, and he also admired Niu Gao as a good man, so he invited him to "come to Jiangzhou to station in Quanxing." ”

In Jiangzhou, Yue Fei was like a trapped tiger, having to rein in his ambitions and wait for his will. At this moment, the situation in Bianliang became further tense.

At the end of October of the second year of Shaoxing, Bianliang was already a battlefield, within a radius of ten miles outside the city wall, there was no flat land that was one zhang square, and there were ravines everywhere.

At the outermost part of the defensive circle, far away from Yingchang Mansion, Shi Yong, known as "General Shi", was directing his soldiers to dig a pit.

Shi Yong, who had been promoted to commander, said to his old partner Xue Yong: "Tell everyone to hurry up, the inspector is coming." ”

Xue Yong, a student of the Cadre Wei Army, followed Huyan Geng into Bianliang, promoted to the third rank on the spot, and became the commander of each patrol battalion and Yu Hou after being dispersed.

Xue Yong was lying lazily, enjoying the warm winter sun: "It's hard for the inspector to wait." I won't accompany you this time, they're going to go shopping, you can take it. ”

It is well known that inspectors are difficult to serve. This one thought that the trenches were dug too narrowly, which affected the transportation of the wounded; The other thinks that the trenches are dug too wide, and even the war horses can jump down, what is the use? The third will think that the breastwork is too low to protect people when shooting at the golden soldiers; Another demanded that the breastwork be completely leveled and that it be enough to lie down in the trench, which on the contrary hindered the rush out.

And General Shan Tingqi, who was really responsible for guiding the digging of trenches, only checked after each battle: "Everyone must do their best to dig the trenches." ”

As for how to dig the trenches, General Shengshui didn't know at all: "The general only waited for the commander to give an order, and then poured water into the ditch." ”

After Shan Tingqi left, Lin Chong, the regimental training envoy, came again and scolded the two of them: "A stone man, a sick tiger, when will the trench be dug well?" ”

This is the daily norm in the outermost part of Bianliang.

The two were chatting when a herald came: "Captain, the regimental training envoy is looking for you to talk." ”

Because in the official rank system of the imperial court, the officials who represent the high and low status, from the assassin history to the sixth rank to the non-rank, a total of 20 ranks, are called captains or lieutenants, so the soldiers also call these low-level officers captains.

Shi Yong coughed: "Call whom, me?" Do you know what's going on? "The siege of Bianliang has been going on for several months, and every day is nothing more than resisting the attack of the Jin soldiers, or preparing to resist the attack of the Jin soldiers. Now that the regimental training envoy is calling him to go, do you want to make a short attack?

"God knows, all the heralds have been sent. All the commanders are going to go. ”

"Okay then." Shi Yong instructed Xue Yong, "You take your brothers to continue digging a pit here, and I will come as soon as I go." ”

Shi Yong came to the regiment headquarters, the assassin Shi and the regimental training division were not there, and the cadres gathered together, whispering, Shi Yong asked them, but they shook their heads and said nothing.

Only the other conductor's Jiao Ting was there. Shi Yong knew that this was a person who couldn't beat a fart with three sticks, so he didn't ask him.

At this time, a person came in in a hurry: "Do you know, there is no one around us. ”