Yu Yunwen was ordered to send an envoy again, plus Han Xiao's stomach went to the Jin Kingdom, plus the harsh winter had just passed, and the spring cold was still pressing, except for Yue Fei's first department who continued to encircle and suppress Zhong Xiang and Yang Mo, the rest of the places were calm.

And there were two more signing privy councillors who were ordered to send envoys, and for a time the government and the opposition discussed and litigated, and everyone said: "Lian Zhan Lianjie, I'm afraid that the golden dog is afraid, and I want to negotiate peace with our Great Song Dynasty." God has the virtue of a good life, but I am afraid that the emperor will also intend to allow this matter, and everyone will boycott the army. ”

Although the people and uninformed officials discussed one after another, the high-level officials of the two prefectures and the generals of the forbidden army, and even the chief officers of the logistics unit of the Xiang Army, which had been completely transformed, clearly understood in their hearts that the emperor and the two governments had no idea of negotiating peace at all, and a large number of guns, spears, bows and arrows, grain, grass and medicine, armor and military uniforms, cars and boats, or dry roads, or waterways and ships, were constantly flowing every day, heading towards Hedong Road.

Originally, Zhang Jun, the commander of the Third Army, had been transferred from his military position, and the previous rescue of Chang'an was not effective, coupled with the competition with the general Yao Duan, it was already a big disappointment, Zhao Huan was dissatisfied with this ambitious and greedy and brutal general, Zhang Jun was in the so-called Zhongxing Four Generals, his martial arts were extremely poor, and his character was also poor, that is, he was slightly above Liu Guangshi. Liu Guangshi is now dead, if Zhang Jun is cautious, he will be fine, since this person is as incompetent and useless as he has lived, he naturally cannot be appointed to a front-line military position. When the war in Hedong was interrupted, he ordered the cardinal to order Zhang Jun to be removed from the post of commander of the army and turned into a privy deputy envoy, which could be regarded as giving this person a step and saving a little face.

Zhang Jun hated in his heart, but he couldn't think about it. I had to give the edict. After he resigned from his post, he knew that it was Yao Duan who took over his military position, and he jumped to his feet angrily.

was about to be ordered to return to Chang'an, but when he arrived at Hezhong Mansion, he received an edict to stay in the river and stand by, and a few days passed. The Household Department of the Privy Council came with the soldiers, but he asked him to take a group of officials to live in Longkou and build the city.

He was resentful in his heart, and he didn't dare to show it on his face at all, it was the early spring, the roads were muddy, and he had to wear cloth robes and straw sandals every day, and take hundreds of thousands of people to crawl and roll in the muddy water, and stay until the end of February, when the government and the opposition were talking about peace. The city is built into a ring. Writing to the emperor, within a few days, the edict came down: "Zhang Jun and Guo Hao, the head of the Hedong Road march, went to Taiyuan together to participate in the military service." ”

After waiting for Guo Hao in Longkou for a few days, and seeing with his own eyes countless grain, grass, materials, and siege equipment transported to Taiyuan, Zhang Jun realized that the so-called peace agreement between the two countries to welcome back the emperor was all in vain. At the moment, I had to hold my mind and look forward to it every day, and finally in late February of the sixth year of Jingkang. Welcome Guo Hao to come.

In terms of qualifications, Guo Hao is still above Zhang Jun, his father Guo Cheng is also a famous general in the court, Guo Hao because of his father's position and young people into the third class to serve, and later to the fifth general of Huanqing Road to serve, to the Western Xia repeatedly made military exploits, promoted to the capital supervisor, in the Western Army. There are many stories about it. Once, in a battle with the Xia army for water, Guo Hao was hit by an arrow in the ribs and was angry. He led hundreds of horsemen to break into the enemy's formation, and the enemy was terrified and crushed.

At that time, Zhang Jun was just a junior colonel of the Western Army.

Then Jingkang two years of funeral, Zhang Jun by Zhao Gou Xin, gradually ashamed of the high power, although Guo Hao repeatedly made meritorious deeds, but is halfway through, until today, Zhang Junsi fell out of favor, became a miscellaneous privy deputy envoy, lost the right to the army, but Guo Hao is the head of the march, commanding the original imperial camp of the third army and Fengsheng two armies of nearly 70,000 people, to attack Taiyuan.

He had a strange thought, but Guo Hao ignored it, took dozens of staff officers and personal soldiers, and after meeting with Zhang Jun, he didn't say much, and immediately set off and rushed to the city of Taiyuan.

Since besieging Taiyuan at the end of last winter, Yao Duan first led his front army, and then was ordered to lead Zhang Jun's department. When Zhang Xian arrived with the Fengsheng army in the spring, the two worked together and got along well. As soon as the edict came, I heard that Guo Hao came to preside over the overall situation, and the qualifications of the two were not as good as Zou Hao, so it was okay. It's just that the edict also mentioned that Zhang Jun came together, and everyone knew this person's temper, but he secretly complained.

After besieging the city for several months, because of the abundant supplies and abundant supplies, the Song army camp outside the city was more than ten miles away, and the soldiers in the camp were warm and full, and the drill law became strict, and they all knew that the city would be attacked in the spring, and the morale of the idle few months was gradually rising, and the heart of war became more and more urgent. The imperial court will restore the military merit and reward the knights, and even the entire civil official, and the knighthood system has not yet become a conclusive conclusion, but the rumors have spread that the increase in morale is no longer comparable to the ordinary reward of silver.

After knowing that Guo and Zhang were coming, Yao Duan invited Zhang Xian, and took their respective generals to the official road on the north bank of Fenshui to open a queue to greet them. However, after waiting for half an hour, he saw the smoke and dust rising in front of him from a distance, Yao Duan nodded slightly to Zhang Xian, and the two greeted together. In the blink of an eye, I saw hundreds of red-robed guards holding flags, escorting Hao and Zhang Jun. Yao Rui looked at Zhang Jun first, only to see that he was dressed in vermilion purple, with a fish talisman hanging from his waist, although he seemed to have something on his mind, he still did not lose his grace and luxury. Look at Guo Hao again, he is famous for his bravery on the battlefield, and he is outstanding for his courtesy in the court and in private, at a glance, at this time, he is just an ordinary soldier in his robe, and he is still carrying a Mo knife in his hand, if he doesn't know someone, he just thinks he is an ordinary soldier.

Yao Duan knew that Guo Hao was a person, but he had never worked together, and at this time, he had a good impression at first sight, and when Ye Xian stepped forward, he saluted, and said with a smile: "The last general has seen the governor." ”

Guo Hao is middle-aged, very humble and gentle, seeing Yao Duan and others come up one by one to salute, he hurriedly jumped off the horse, first returned the salute, and then smiled at Yao Duan: "You and I have known each other for a long time, you should know that I am a person, and I have to do this virtual pomp and circumstance, and we don't have to make a difference." ”

Yao Duan glanced at Zhang Jun first, and then replied: "Etiquette cannot be abolished, the marching commander leads the army, and the position is more than the privy, let's come out to greet us, and let the whole army know that with the backbone, the following local affairs will be easy to do." ”

Although Guo Hao seems to be Mu Na, in fact, he can make Zhao Huan believe in it, let him be the head of the march, and lead the army to attack Taiyuan, how can he be an idle person, he immediately smiled, no longer entangled in this matter, and turned his head to Zhang Xian and said: "General Zhang has been serving under the account of Marshal Yue for a long time, and has never met. ”

Zhang Xian was not as jealous as Yao Duan, and he ignored Zhang Jun's original love, but at this time, he heard Guo Hao's praise, and he was happy in his heart, and he also replied: "The last general was originally a brave man, and His Majesty did not abandon the permission to be controlled by one army, and asked the chief manager to mention more, if there is a place, although the lesson." ”

"How dare you, General Zhang is too disgusted."

For a while, everyone was cold and noisy, and the camp had its own drummers, knocking and beating, welcoming Guo Hao, Zhang Jun and others into the camp, and was about to enter the big tent, but Guo Hao raised his hand to block everyone's footsteps, and only said: "The holy order says that Taiyuan is important, and it cannot be delayed any longer." I was on the road late, waiting for the news of Western Xia, and I heard that Lord Guangyu was very easy to communicate with the Xia people, so I hurried over. Since this is the end of today, let's go and see the city quickly, and if we can capture it one day earlier, it will save a lot of worry? ”

The boss is so urgent, naturally it is the pressure of the emperor's proposition, the generals obey awe, Zhang Jun has nothing to say, at the moment Yao Duan Zhang Xian and others accompanied, and did not bring a guard of honor, only dozens of cavalry followed, and rode to Taiyuan City together.

The Song army camp is several miles away from the city, in fact, go further, the wooden fence deep cabinet horse enemy building can be seen everywhere, Guo Hao looked all the way, only to see that Taiyuan City is fortified everywhere, tightly not exposed, in the deep winter when the frozen ground can be used to lock the city method to cause this, it is indeed a great consumption of people's and material resources, if not, the enemy will try to come to the aid, will not let the defenders in the city sit and wait to die.

Taiyuan in the early Song Dynasty, is still a steep city, because since the Tang Dynasty is a military town, the city is tall and majestic, Linfen water and control Jinzhong, there is Taihang natural danger in the west, Taiyuan can be coerced in Guanzhong, cross the Yellow River and go straight into the Central Plains, Tang Li father and son have to pass in Guanzhong, Jin Wanyan Zongwang surrounds Taiyuan and then crosses the Yellow River until Kaifeng City, the importance of its strategic place can be seen.

And because Taiyuan is too important, the early Song Dynasty Liu according to this city and Hangzhou Song army, decades of both sides of the soldiers to live, the Song army has not been able to succeed, until the Song Taizong personally led the soldiers, the royal drive pro-conquest, Taiyuan people are exhausted, still resist to the end, after the Song soldiers broke the city, in order to vent their hatred and burn Taiyuan, the original circumference of 24 miles, open 24 gates of the military important place of the steep city, since then no longer exists. After the burning, for the north to resist the Khitan, had to rebuild the new city not far from the original place, the circumference is eleven miles, the city is built with soil, and the city is not encompassed, the city gate is four, compared with Taiyuan in the five dynasties of the Tang Dynasty, it is not the same day.

At this time, in front of Guo Hao and a group of Song generals, although it was the time when the sun was shining, the small and cramped Taiyuan City seemed to be hiding in the shadows, completely lifeless, the flag on the head of the city was weak, the soldiers were trapped, and after being besieged for several months, it was obvious that the morale of the army was completely lost, and the city seemed to be broken as soon as it was attacked.

Zhang Jun looked at it for a while, and finally felt that it was difficult to hold this city, thinking of the situation of Yao Duan and others, his heart was resentful, and he smiled because of the whip: "Such a small city, there are more than 10,000 defenders, our army is seven times larger, and hundreds of thousands of people are used, how can it not be attacked?" ”

"I don't know, in such a small city, 3,000 Shengjie troops and thousands of soldiers, Wanyan Zongwang has 60,000 elites, and it has been defended for 253 days." As soon as Zhang Xian saw this person, he felt that everything was unpleasant, he had a strong temper, except for the emperor and Yue Fei, no one would buy the account of those who were not pleasing to the eye, and immediately came back coldly.