Outside the towering walls of Zhuozhou City, there were busy Song army soldiers everywhere, digging ravines, laying traps, rejecting horses, repairing arrow towers, building walled walls, and cleaning moats.

At the head of the city, Zhao Bufan, who was wearing a white tiger swallowing cloud armor, was also in a hurry, followed by many generals in the army.

"Zhai Xing, how are the traps and deep ditches on the periphery dug and have the outer walls been completed?"

It is not the first time that Zhai Xing, who is over half a hundred years old, has fallen into a desperate situation, and his expression is very calm: "Roughly completed, a total of 37 deep ditches have been dug in all directions, thousands of traps, the wall is roughly completed, and there are 78 arrow towers. ”

Zhao Bufan listened in his ears, but his pace was still very fast, and his eyes looked left and right.

"Zhai Jin, what about the second layer of defense?"

Zhai Jin's body is very strong, almost two circles stronger than the other generals around him, his face is full of flesh, and his voice is even more rude: "It has been largely completed, and the wall is currently being reinforced!"

Zhao Bufan asked again with a calm face: "How is the moat being cleaned up, and how are heavy equipment such as trebuchets placed?"

Xu Guanzhong then quickened his pace, and hurriedly replied: "The moat has basically been cleared, and all our trebuchets have been placed along the perimeter of the moat!"

Zhao Bufan breathed a sigh of relief, and his tone gradually slowed down: "Who is responsible for the artillery, giant crossbows, rolling stones, and other things on the city wall?"

Tao Zongwang, who was the general of the Liangshan Army, hurriedly responded: "Back to the prince, it is the subordinates who are responsible, and now they have all been placed, and we have built a lot of additional arrow towers." ”

Seeing that everything was almost ready, Zhao Bufan stopped, turned around and walked to the edge of the city wall, gently stretched out his hand to hold the raised battlements, and looked at the towering defenses in the distance.

"The movements of the Liao army?"

Zhu Wu turned his head and glanced at Wen Huanzhang, walked closer, looked at his back and replied: " According to the report of the spies, the main force of the Liao State in the south has been rapidly assembling at Qigou Pass, the number is not much different from what was known earlier, it should be between 150,000 and 200,000, Yeluchun in the east has 50,000 Khitan elites in his hands, he is his own tribe, and it is also the strongest army in the south of the Liao State, and it is still stationed in Gu'an, I am afraid that it is planned to wait for the soldiers and horses of the Liao State in the south to be assembled, and then march into Zhuozhou together. ”

The grim situation did not make Zhao Bufan's face change much, he stood for a long time, and asked again: "After we collect the defeated troops from all sides, what is the total strength at present?"

Zhu Wu said heavily: "About 140,000 people, some of the soldiers and horses should have fled south to the Great Song Dynasty, not all of them fled to our side!"

Zhao Bufan fell silent, and the generals also stood quietly behind him, staring intently at his back.

At this time, he was the backbone of everyone, and the life and death of 140,000 people were all in his hands.

When the breeze hit, the imperial dragon pattern robe on his back swayed slightly, like a reassuring pill, as long as the soldiers of the whole army saw that this robe was still fluttering, they still had confidence and hope.

"Herald ......"

He opened his mouth slightly, and his voice was deep.

All the generals were shocked in unison, bowed down and clenched their fists: "In!!"

"Inform Lu Junyi to immediately lead the soldiers and horses of the palace to withdraw to Zhuozhou, and Xu Guanzhong will lead the Water Margin army north to respond!

Zhai Jin led 30,000 soldiers from northern Xinjiang to enter the outer defense line, and he was not allowed to order or retreat!

Zhai Xing led 50,000 soldiers of the Western Army to the middle defense line and stood by at any time!

The generals of the Liangshan Army, Jiao Ting, Ou Peng, and Deng Fei, are in charge of all trebuchets and other heavy weapons, and they are on call at any time!

The generals of the Liangshan Army, Ling Zhen, Chen Da, and Yang Chun, are in charge of all the artillery in the city, and they are on call at any time!

The officers and men of the Shanshui Battalion and the Guards Battalion of the Liangshan Army were immediately stationed on all the main roads in the city, closely monitored the people in the city, forbade anyone to approach the city wall, and gathered the personnel of the Logistics Division to go door-to-door to check all the swords and sharp weapons, but they were not allowed to kill, loot, and defile women, and those who violated the order were all beheaded.

At the same time, Shi Wengong was responsible for borrowing grain from the people, and each family was only allowed to keep one month's rations, and the specific number of livestock was drawn up by Wen Huanzhang, and the rest of the grain and livestock were all requisitioned and enforced. ”

"Yes!"

The generals responded with a bang.

............

The huge battle of Zhuozhou slowly unfolded, and the critical situation was quickly transmitted by the scouts, coupled with the Liao's intention to use this to hit the morale of the Song people and publicize it vigorously, causing the news to spread wildly in just half a month.

More than 100,000 Great Song Dynasty troops were deeply encircled, and Zhao Bufan, a famous Song general, was trapped in Zhuozhou, and the Northern Expedition army was in danger.

For a time, the court was shaken, and the whole country was panicked.

............

Tokyo Kaifeng Mansion, Imperial Palace Daqing Hall.

Emperor Zhao Ji angrily overturned the dragon case in front of him, and scolded angrily: "Liu Yanqing, who fled without a fight, if he doesn't try to rescue Zhao Bufan, he will be given a glass of poisoned wine, and he won't have to return the !!."

The main hall echoed, and the ministers were frightened.

............

Shuozhou, Liaoguo, the camp of the West Route Army.

Orizuki, who had just returned from the battlefield, was covered in blood, and she was still extremely excited about killing the enemy today, but she didn't expect Zheyuexiu to hand over an urgent report with a heavy face, she jumped off the horse suspiciously, read it carefully, and fainted on the spot.

............

Dongxian Port, a seaside house.

Zhu Lian stood quietly in the place where he bid farewell to Zhao Bufan, staring at the far north, crying silently.

Hu Sanniang next to her was even more hoarse, and she relied on Fang Baihua to support her, so she barely supported herself.

............

Dacheng County, Bazhou, Juxianzhuang.

He Daye looked at the angry Zhuang Zhong with a solemn face, and ordered sharply: "Immediately gather all the hall masters of the Twelve Zodiac Halls to rush to Juxian Village, and set off to the north in fifteen days, no matter what, at least save the Zhao Zhuang master to break through and return to the Song Dynasty!"

"Yes!"

Yan Wu and the others got up abruptly and resolutely responded to the order.

............

Jiangning Mansion, outside the Gao family's mansion.

A kind old woman gently straightened her collar for Gao Pet and said goodbye with tears.

"Darling, Prince Zhao is the backbone of the Great Song Dynasty, you must try your best to save him back!"

"Don't worry, mother, I will definitely save Lord Zhao back!"

Gao Zhong nodded heavily, resolutely turned around and rode on the war horse, took one last look at his elderly mother, and rode the horse on the journey.

............

Beigong Imperial Garden.

Tears from the corners of Empress Zheng's eyes slid down her cheeks, and she looked at the goldfish in the pool sadly, choking silently.

"Emperor, you have to come back alive!"

Zhao Yupan, the Jiade Emperor Ji who was standing next to him, was heartbroken, and gently wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes with a silk scarf: "Queen Mother, why didn't you explain your brother's life to your father a few months earlier, and let that damn bastard pretend to be?

Zeng Kun on the other side looked very helpless, and took over the words: "Your Royal Highness the Emperor, the queen is here to protect the second prince, I have already verified, there are signs of the fake prince's involvement in the matter of the fake prince, the person behind Yang Jian is the crown prince Zhao Huan, many things are not so simple, I even suspect that the crown prince Zhao Huan has won over many civil and military ministers, and there are signs of persecuting His Majesty to be the emperor, and this matter has been plotted for several years." ”

Zhao Yupan was instantly frightened: "Why didn't Husband tell me earlier?"

"I don't want you to worry!" Zeng Kun sighed, shook his head and continued: "In fact, as early as the original cleanup of Tong Guan, I found a lot of mistakes, and when I thoroughly investigated the life history of His Royal Highness the Second Prince, I found a lot of strange places, and I vaguely felt that there were many people hiding behind the scenes, until I found out the background of the fake prince some time ago, and then I followed the clues to find out everything."

But now I know that it's too late, Your Majesty has been obsessed with calligraphy and painting and strange stone antiques over the years, and he doesn't ask too much about the government, many powerful ministers and generals have been co-opted by Zhao Huan, and what is even more difficult is that Zhao Huan still doesn't know that many of these ministers who support him are deliberately harming him, these people seem to support him, but in fact, they are colluding to support the third prince Zhao Kai, the core purpose is to force His Majesty to become the emperor, but to abolish the crown prince Zhao Huan, support the third prince Zhao Kai, and completely control the government.

In the past, Cai Jing and Tong Guan were the two largest parties, these people were not obvious, and now Tong Guan is dead, Cai Jing is also old, their activities are becoming more and more frequent, I can learn some secrets, in fact, the current court is far from being as simple as it seems, there are those who protect His Majesty, those who protect the prince, those who protect the third prince, and those who protect the second prince, are intertwined and can't be sorted out at all.

I don't like to say a word, the dead Tong Guan is the most loyal royalist, those who were secretly close to Tong Guan in the past have now switched to all sides, leaving only Cai Jing to support him, but Cai Jing is old, and he always feels that he has a lot of ideas, and he is not too offended by either side, but I feel that he still wants the second prince to take the throne the most, but it is not obvious. ”

Hearing all this, Zhao Yupan was very anxious: "Then why don't you hurry up and tell your father about this?"

Empress Zheng, who had been silent for a long time, shook her head, she had gone through the ups and downs and understood the complexity of the court and the horror of the power struggle.

"Pan'er thinks too simply, we can't just pick on this matter, one is that these are just our perceptions, there is no actual evidence, and the other is that Huan'er and Kai'er are also princes, if they really get a lot of civil and military support, if Your Majesty uses drastic means, it will lead to uncontrollable civil strife. The third is that the court has been out of control, His Majesty is not completely sure, and he will not stand on our side, the royal affairs are both family affairs and state affairs, not so simple. ”

Zeng Kun looked at the worried Empress Zheng, and suddenly continued: "Empress, in fact, there is something I am not sure about, but I always feel that His Majesty already knew the identity of the second prince long before Tong Guan's death, and he recognized the second prince as his righteous son, and even pretended to believe Yang Jian, it should be intentional!"

Empress Zheng's eyes lit up, and she stared at him suddenly: "What do you say?"

Zeng Kun said solemnly: "Back to the queen, I can be sure that Cai Jing's confirmation of Zhao Bufan's identity is still before me, and I have recently confirmed it, and Liang Shicheng also knows, so it is impossible for Your Majesty not to know anything, and Liang Shicheng will not hide such an important matter from Your Majesty." ”

Empress Zheng fell into deep contemplation......