In October of the first year of Xihe, four months after Fan Ning left the capital, Jinzhou City was lost, more than half of the 8,000 defenders were killed and wounded, the main general Liu Zhen died in the chaos, and 15,000 Liao troops occupied Jinzhou City.

At the same time, the 100,000 Song army led by Cao Shi, the general and the deputy marshal of the expedition to the north, encountered the 100,000 elite cavalry of the Liao army led by the Liao emperor Yelu Hongji himself on the north bank of the Daling River in the east of Liaoxi Prefecture, and the two sides launched a desperate battle on the north bank of the Daling River.

The loss of 100,000 troops exceeded sixty percent, the former army commander Cao Shi gathered 35,000 remnants of the army to retreat to Jinzhou, about 30 miles away from Jinzhou, met the general Li Song who fled from the north, Cao Shi learned that Jinzhou had been attacked by the Liao army of Dadingfu, cut off his back road to the south, Cao Shi's army was only enough to eat for four days, and when he was at a loss, Li Song proposed that the army could retreat to Dadingfu.

The main force of the Liao army came from Dadingfu to attack Jinzhou, so Dadingfu must be empty at this time.

Cao Shi adopted Li Song's suggestion and led the remnants of 35,000 troops to retreat to Dading Mansion........

After Yelu Hongji found out that Yelu Yixin secretly communicated with the Song Dynasty, he used a counter-tactic and ordered Yelu Yixin to fabricate a lie about the civil strife in Shangjing, and also created the illusion that Yelu Hongji was retreating north in a panic, and successfully deceived the Great Song Dynasty, so that the Song army was greedy for merit and rashly advanced, so that it was defeated.

At the same time as Cao Shi's defeat, the Great Song Dynasty Navy Army that went north from the waterway also encountered an ambush of 30,000 Liao troops, and the Liao Army, which had been fully prepared in advance, used thousands of rafts loaded with 20,000 barrels of fire oil to burn the Song army warships on the Liao River, and more than 400 warships of more than 5,000 stone were besieged by fire and completely burned, losing 300,000 stone of grain, 200,000 quintals of forage, and more than 7,000 casualties of the Song Army's navy.

When the news reached the capital, the government and the opposition in the capital were in an uproar, and the commander Han Jiang also took the initiative to submit a letter of resignation to the imperial court, willing to bear all the responsibility for the defeat of the army, and submitted his resignation to the imperial court.

In the imperial study, several prime ministers were urgently discussing with Zhao Ji, the son of heaven, how to deal with it, Wang Anshi saw that Zhao Ji was worried and under great pressure, so he comforted him and said: "Your Majesty, victory and defeat are a common thing in soldiers, the defeat of the Song army in a battle does not mean that we are at a disadvantage, we still have the upper hand in our national strength, as long as we deal with it properly, we can still turn back the situation and occupy Liaoyang Mansion." ”

"Nonsense!"

Fu Bi next to him finally couldn't bear it anymore, got up and reprimanded Wang Anshi and said: "Now I am actually thinking about occupying Liaoyang Mansion, it's just a dream, now I should think about how to keep Datong Mansion and Yanshan Mansion, and how to rescue the Song army who was besieged in Dading Mansion?" ”

Wang Anshi was angry in his heart, and retorted to Fu Bi: "Since ancient times, which army has been invincible? What does it matter if you are defeated once, just cheer up and fight again, the defeat is not terrible, the terrible thing is that the will is defeated, like Fu Xianggong, once defeated, he thinks that the general trend has gone, and begins to think about how to protect himself, this is the performance of a coward. ”

Fu Bi said coldly: "Who said that there is no army of eternal victory, have you been defeated once before by you to drive away Fan Xianggong?" ”

Fu Bi suddenly mentioned Fan Ning, and suddenly everyone's faces in the imperial study changed greatly, Wen Yanbo hurriedly glanced at Fu Bi, at this time, didn't he just stick a knife in the back of the Son of Heaven?

There was a sudden silence in the imperial study, and after a while, Zhao Ji sighed and said: "When Master Fan left, he gave me five precautions, the first is to strictly defend Jinzhou, and the result is that Jinzhou is lost; The second is that we cannot underestimate the Liao State, and as a result, we underestimated the Liao State and sent 100,000 troops to advance lightly; Third, we cannot rely on the water army, and as a result, we use the water army as the main force, which leads to the defeat of the water army; Fifth, we can't believe Yelu Yixin, but we believe Yelu Yixin's intelligence, and fall into Yelu Hongji's counter-plan, Fan Taishi will never fight head-on with the Liao army, as soon as he leaves, we will start a hard battle with the Liao army, this defeat is not an accidental defeat, it is caused by our entire strategic decision-making mistakes, and it is my fault! ”

This is Wen Yanbo said slowly: "Your Majesty doesn't have to take all the responsibility on himself, the Zhizheng Hall is also responsible, and the coach Han Xianggong is also responsible, but the old minister believes that now is not the time to hold accountable, now we should consider how to stabilize the precarious situation in front of us." ”

Zhao Ji was taken aback, "Is the situation so serious?" ”

Wen Yanbo nodded, "Your Majesty, this failure is not as easy as Wang Xianggong said, but the strategic failure that Your Majesty said, first of all, the Song army in Dading Mansion will be wiped out if it is not saved, and Weichen estimates that Xijing Datong Mansion is likely to not be able to keep it, and the Song army's top priority is to hold Youzhou, as for the counterattack on Liaoyang Mansion, it is purely a fool's dream." ”

Wang Anshi's face turned red and white, but he couldn't refute Wen Yanbo's words.

Zhao Ji was a little anxious, and hurriedly said: "If you stick to Youzhou, what will happen to the Song army in Dading Mansion?" ”

Fu Bi also said: "The problem is here, the Song army in Dading Mansion is like a bleeding mouth for us, we must go to the rescue, but once rescued, it is inevitable that there will be a fierce battle with the Liao army, can we defeat the elite cavalry of the Liao army?" If we can't defeat the other party, it will be another fiasco, and our wounds will continue to tear and bleed, Wang Xianggong, what do you say we should do? ”

Fu Bi pointed the finger at Wang Anshi again.

Wang Anshi was speechless for a while.

At this time, a eunuch shouted at the door: "The Empress Dowager has arrived!" ”

Everyone got up one after another, Zhao Ji was most afraid of seeing the emperor's grandmother at this time, the emperor's grandmother must be asking himself for his guilt, how should he answer?

He had no choice but to get up to welcome the arrival of Empress Dowager Cao.

Empress Dowager Cao walked into the imperial study, and all the ministers saluted together, she nodded, "It turns out that all the ministers of the Zhizheng Hall are here, and it seems that the mourning family has come at the right time." ”

Zhao Ji hurriedly asked the imperial grandmother to sit down, and the Empress Dowager Cao waved her hand, "The mourning family is clear, but the mourning family is not here to interfere in politics, but as a member of the subjects of the Great Song Dynasty, the mourning family wants to make a suggestion to the official family." ”

"Imperial Grandmother, please speak!"

Empress Dowager Cao glanced at the Xiangguo and asked lightly: "All the ministers should know what the mourning family wants to propose!" ”

Everyone had a wry smile on their faces, of course they knew what the Queen Mother wanted to propose, but was it appropriate to propose it at this time?

Of course, Empress Dowager Cao also knew that proposing to recall Fanning at this time would be too big a blow to the Son of Heaven and would make him lose face, but this opportunity finally appeared, how could Empress Dowager Cao let it go?

She groaned for a while and said to the ministers: "Everyone, please step down first!" Let the mourning family and the official family talk about it separately. ”

Everyone saluted and retreated, and soon, only the Empress Dowager Cao and Zhao Ji were left in the imperial study, and the Empress Dowager Cao said to Zhao Ji: "If I suggest that the official family recall Fan Ning, will the official family agree?" ”

Zhao Ji's face was a little ugly, and he said for a while: "The emperor's grandmother's decree, of course the grandson does not dare to disobey." ”

"It's not a decree, it's just a suggestion!"

Zhao Ji sighed, "If I do this, I don't know what people in the world should say about me?" ”

Empress Dowager Cao said lightly: "If you don't do this, will the world praise Your Majesty for his wisdom and martial arts?" No, just look at the newspapers of the past two days, it can be said that the people's resentment is boiling, and they are accusing His Majesty of driving away Fanning, which led to the fiasco of the Song army, if His Majesty can recall him, the people of the world will only praise His Majesty for being humble and knowing that he can change his mistakes. ”

Having said that, after all, Zhao Ji's face is a little unbearable.

Empress Dowager Cao said again: "The mourning family wants to ask Your Majesty, is it the importance of the society of the Great Song Dynasty, or is Your Majesty's life important?" ”

"Of course, the community is important, and in order to protect the community, I will not spare my life."

"Very good, the mourning family also knows that His Majesty will say this, so the mourning family asks again, is Your Majesty's face important, or is Your Majesty's life important?"

Zhao Ji didn't answer, and Empress Dowager Cao smiled and said: "Needless to say, it must be that life is important, and ants are still stealing life, let alone people." ”

"Grandmother is right!"

"Then the question arises again, is the society of the Great Song Dynasty important, or is His Majesty's face important?"

Empress Dowager Cao's words hit the nail on the head, and Zhao Ji suddenly woke up, yes! For the sake of the society of the Great Song Dynasty, what is his face?

He immediately bowed deeply, "Adhering to the teachings of the imperial grandmother, the grandson will issue an order to recall Fanning." ”

Empress Dowager Cao nodded with satisfaction, "He is still the king of Chu in the Great Song Dynasty, he is still the Taishi, the scholar of Longtu Pavilion, and he is a courtier of His Majesty, and there is nothing wrong with calling him back to discuss military affairs." ”

Zhao Ji completely lost his resistance, and once again gave a deep salute, "Thank you for the teachings of the imperial grandmother, my grandson completely understands!" ”

Zhao Ji immediately issued an order to quickly summon Tai Fan Ning back to Beijing to discuss military affairs.

In order to allow Fanning to return to Beijing as soon as possible, his will was divided into two parts, one was to use the flying pigeon to send a message and summon Fanning back to Beijing by hand, and the second part was the official edict, the envoy went south by boat and would wait for Fanning in Luzon.