The sudden Northern Expedition made the courtiers have a fierce debate, and the opposition accounted for more than half, most of them were not optimistic about the success of the Northern Expedition, and a few people thought that after the destruction of the Liao State, the Jin State, which had risen very quickly, would inevitably invade the south.

The most important thing is that Emperor Zhao Ji was very resolute this time, no matter how he persuaded him, he decided to go on the Northern Expedition, plus Cai Jing and Zhao Bufan both chose to support, so this matter was forcibly decided by the emperor in an indisputable situation, and the Song-Jin Maritime Alliance, which had been talked about for three years, finally entered the actual implementation stage.

Although Zhao Bufan did not participate much in the Maritime Alliance, the only participation was the time when he went to save people, which basically had nothing to do with him, but he was indeed sincerely happy about the smooth conclusion of the Maritime Alliance, and the recovery of the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun was his longing for many years after all.

In the next few days, his heart has been full of excitement, and he quickly handed over the affairs of Yushitai and Kaifeng Mansion, and then entered the Privy Council, familiar with the affairs of the Privy Council, understood the situation of the soldiers and horses of the three routes in the north and the layout of the garrison, and gradually began to plan the strategic concept of the Northern Expedition in his mind.

On August 12, the holy decree was issued, ordering him to immediately go to Jiangnan to supervise the war.

Zhao Bufan also knew that the war in Jiangnan must be pacified as soon as possible, otherwise it would affect the Northern Expedition next year, so he did not delay, and began to arrange family affairs on the day he received the holy decree.

Since he planned to go back to the north directly to dispatch troops and horses after pacifying Fangla, he didn't plan to keep people at home this time, and directly let Hu Sanniang lead Feifengwei to the north first, and at the same time took away the more than 100 rescued women in the family, and Zhao Wangfu was handed over to Zhu Bocai to temporarily send someone to take care of it.

The only surprise was that Xue Ling was reluctant to follow him, and refused to stay in the Zhu Mansion.

After several persuasions, Xue Ling faintly showed signs of illness in her anger, Zhao Bufan was worried that something would happen to her, so she could only let her follow Hu Sanniang and them to the north first, promising that after dealing with the affairs in Jiangnan, she would definitely return to the north as soon as possible, which made Xue Ling calm down.

After tossing like this for two days, the things in the capital were basically arranged, Zhao Bufan went into the palace to meet the emperor and the queen, and had a courtesy meal, which was regarded as a resignation as a righteous son, but he didn't think that the emperor Zhao Ji and Empress Zheng were still very grand, and repeatedly told him to be careful on the battlefield during the banquet.

In short, Zhao Bufan was in a complicated mood after eating this meal, and he didn't know what identity to face the two of them, and he felt a sense of restlessness, but when he left the palace, Empress Zheng suddenly took out a gold-inlaid robe sewn by herself, which made him a little moved.

After that, Zhao Bufan took Zhu Lian to Zhu's mansion for dinner, rested all night, and asked Zhu Lian to accompany her mother, so he returned to Zhao's mansion the next morning to pack up and set off.

This made Zhao Bufan angry, and his face sank instantly.

"The minister is about to go south, and the second prince is coming at this moment, and the minister can't entertain him. ”

Zhao Ta didn't get angry when he heard this, Junxiu's face was full of smiles, as if he was very kind, but his eyes were full of banter.

"The emperor's brother went on the expedition, and it should be sent to the brother, although you are just a righteous son, but I have always regarded you as a brother, and now you are going to the bitter cold northern Xinjiang for my Great Song Dynasty, and I am really moved by my brother, and there is no other reward for you, so I followed the example of the ancients and prepared a glass of water and wine for you to practice. ”

Fuck, is this meant to disgust me?

Zhao Bufan was angry, but when he saw the palace guards behind the other party, he didn't have a seizure, and his eyes became colder and colder: "Your Highness, there is no need for water and wine, the hour is not early, and the minister is still in a hurry to go to Jiangnan, so I will leave for the time being." ”

Zhao Tan's face sank: "What do you mean by this? I am kind enough to practice it for you, but you treat me like this, is it a bit rude? If it reaches the ears of the father and the queen mother, it is not very good, I am here to send you this righteous brother on behalf of many princes and emperors!"

"You ......"

Zhao Bufan instantly clenched his fists.

A trace of ruthlessness flashed in Zhao Ta's eyes, and he shouted at the guards behind him: "Why don't you bring the water and wine quickly!"

A janissary quickly ran to the front with a tray, and Zhao Ta grabbed the flask with a wave of his hand, rudely poured it into the bowl, and handed it over.

"Since you don't give me a good face, then why should I give you a good face, this is a wine that I am ordered to toast you on behalf of the princes and emperors, why don't you drink it quickly?"

Zhao Bufan looked at him deeply, snorted coldly, pulled Zhu Lian and turned around and left.

"Your Highness keeps it for yourself and enjoys it slowly!"

Zhao Ta was angry: "You dare to disobey?"

"Walk well, don't walk crookedly!" Zhao Bufan said without looking back, and quickly stepped out of the gate of King Zhao's mansion.

Looking at his back, Zhao Ta sneered, and shouted loudly in front of many palace guards: "Zhao Bufan, you are just a righteous son, not only openly disobey orders, but also trample on the hearts of all princes and emperors, this is a great rebellion......"

The voice came into the ears of Zhao Bufan and Zhu Lian, both of them were so angry that they didn't bother to pay attention to him, until they could no longer hear Zhao Ta's yin and yang strange voice, Zhu Lian scolded angrily: "Where did this fool come from?"

Zhao Bufan's eyes flashed with a cold light: "He is not stupid, this is to provoke the relationship between me and the royal family, isolate me a little bit, and make me lose power, but I didn't expect him to do it so quickly, it stands to reason that he has not yet gained a firm foothold, Yang Jian is also dead, he shouldn't be in such a hurry, but now that he has done so, it is enough to show that there are people behind him who are secretly controlling, and this matter is by no means simple." ”

Zhu Lian frowned when he heard this, and asked worriedly, "Then what should we do?"

Zhao Bufan waved his hand and said resolutely: "My father-in-law knows what to do in the court, we can do whatever we want, I didn't come to this day for personal grievances, I am too lazy to entangle with him for the time being, the Northern Expedition is in danger of the Great Song Dynasty, and the world's capable people are looking at me, this is the key, only by moving towards our goal of enriching the country and strengthening the army, and not forgetting the original intention, we must always." ”

"Hmm!"

Zhu Lian replied softly, looking sideways at Zhao Bufan's resolute face, his eyes gradually becoming blurred.

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

When Zhao Bufan and Zhu Lian hurried to the south of the Yangtze River, the Ming Sect soldiers and horses led by Fang La were already difficult to support, although there were still more than 200,000 people and horses in various places, but there were not many elites left, and most of the rest were people who followed later, and their combat power dropped significantly.

In order to avoid innocent casualties among the people, Zong Ze and Li Gang persuaded Fang La to surrender many times, but they were unsuccessful, so they chose to give up chasing the scattered rebels, directly attacked the main force under Fang La, and gradually forced Fang La back to Qingxi County, where the main altar of the Ming Sect was located, besieged but not attacked, and persuaded every day.

At this time, Zhao Bufan also rushed to the front line camp, and after briefly reading the holy decree, he called Zong Ze and Li Gang to the Chinese army tent alone.

"Two adults, the general trend of the Ming Sect has gone, and there is no problem with the pacification strategy given by the imperial court, why is Fang La still unwilling to surrender?"

Zong Ze, who was upright, seemed to hold back a lot of anger, the wrinkles on his face were squeezed together, and he said angrily: "Little prince, this is all the evil result of Zhu Mian's misdeeds in Jiangnan, whether it is Fang La, or the people who followed the rebellion, they all don't believe our words, thinking that we will slaughter them after recruiting them, and the imperial court has completely lost trust in the hearts of the people in this area of Jiangnan." ”

Zhao Bufan frowned slightly, looked at the strategic map on the table in front of him and asked, "Then what are the chances of winning the attack now?"

"Ten floors!"

Li Gang, who was sitting on the left side, responded calmly, glanced at Zhao Bufan's face, and then continued: "But the subordinates and the sect master do not advocate a strong attack, at the moment there are more than 100,000 rebels in this Qingxi City, of which 90,000 are ordinary people, and the strong attack is a massacre, bringing about the resentment of 90,000 families against the imperial court, there are too many people who have died in vain in this rebellion, I hope the little prince can understand." ”

Zhao Bufan raised his head and closed his eyes gently.

"Don't get me wrong, I don't mean to ask you to attack, I agree with you in terms of ideas, the people are the foundation of the country, but this war must end as soon as possible, and the main force of troops and horses must be assembled in northern Xinjiang within three months. ”

Zong Ze and Li Gang, who were sitting opposite each other, glanced at each other, their eyes extremely puzzled.

Zong Ze hesitated and asked, "Little Prince, do you mean that the main force of the Liangshan Army is going back to Northern Xinjiang, or is it all the soldiers and horses?"

"It's all!"

Zhao Bufan opened his eyes and said solemnly: "The Liangshan Army, the Zhejia Army and the current batch of Western Army officers and soldiers are all going to the north to assemble!"

"Why is that?" Li Gang was puzzled.

Zhao Bufan said lightly: "Song and Jin formed an alliance on the sea, agreed to jointly attack the Liao State next spring, the preparatory affairs for the Northern Expedition have begun, and I have also been transferred to the Privy Deputy Envoy to coordinate the Northern Expedition affairs, and now it is the end of August, if the army cannot be assembled in the northern Xinjiang within three months, how can I make strategic deployment?

"Northern Expedition??"

Zong Ze instantly exclaimed, stood up in a hurry, and asked angrily: "Little prince, what kind of foolish idea is this, now that the Jin State is rising, the momentum is like a bamboo, and the Liao State can't resist it, how can we still help the Jin State to destroy the Liao, if the Liao State is destroyed, won't the Jin State go south to invade the Song Dynasty?"

This Zong Ze is really a violent temper, a person in his sixties, he doesn't weigh it first when he speaks, no wonder he offends so many people.

Zhao Bufan didn't mind the outspokenness of this great loyal minister, but he didn't agree with it ideologically, looked into his eyes seriously, and asked in a deep voice: "Is that if we don't attack the Liao State, the Jin State will not invade the south after destroying the Liao?" I know more about the affairs of the northern Xinjiang than you, and I support this matter, only by taking the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun can we really defend the danger, and the stretching Great Wall is the moat left by the predecessors, why not use it?"

"Little Prince......"

Zong Ze obviously disagreed, and immediately wanted to argue, but Zhao Bufan waved his hand very calmly: "There is no need to discuss this matter, the holy decree has been issued, the dispatch has begun, and no one can change it, what should be done now is to end the war in Jiangnan as soon as possible, you immediately send someone to spread a message outside the city, telling the rebels that I want to talk to Fang La alone, the location is in the open area outside the city, neither side will bring soldiers and horses, and he will be allowed to bring five guards." ”

Zong Ze was shocked by him again, and hurriedly persuaded: "How can the little prince personally take risks, even if he wants to go, he should be a subordinate!"

"Okay!" Zhao Bufan got up slowly, and said in an unquestionable tone: "This is not a discussion, this is an order, none of you have to fight, and it is not the first time I have fought a war, I have my own sense of what to do, you send someone to set up a table in advance, put a pot of wine, I will go and rest for a while, if Fang La agrees, he will inform me...... By the way, be sure to tell him that now it was Zhao Bufan in Northern Xinjiang who wanted to see him, and he would come!"

When the words fell, Zhao Bufan got up and walked out of the big tent, leaving only Zong Ze and Li Gang looking at each other......