On the 16th day of the first lunar month of the 10th year of Jianyan, it was the early spring. On this day, the Song Army sent out a large force to launch a tentative attack in the direction of Jingxing. At the same time, some troops from the army gathered around Taiyuan also began to attack with a slightly slower pace.

They quickly broke camp and headed eastward.

The strategic intention behind this action is self-evident.

Moreover, perhaps judging from the hypocritical Zhao Guan family and the thoughtful civil and military leaders on the Taiyuan front line before the war, it is still very difficult to make up their mind to take this step... What about the position of Eastern Mongolia, and what about the violent combat power of the Jin Kingdom's cavalry after gathering in the field?

Increasingly, the Jin Kingdom's mourning of troops may have contributed to the rapid and unexpected outbreak of the decisive battle, including Zhao Guan's own considerations about the war, and Lu Xianggong rushing from Linfen to Taiyuan with illness to urge... These are all realistic experiences worthy of narration and discussion.

The whole thing involves a so-called process of suffering and overcoming.

But in fact, from a macro perspective, from the perspective of the rear bureaucrats, soldiers and civilians, middle and lower-level officers and soldiers, from the Jin people on the opposite side, and from the perspective of the alliance reinforcements that had just arrived in Datong, the advance of the Zhao Guanjia and the main force of the Song Army was actually

It's the kind that goes without hesitation or gap, making onlookers feel suffocating pressure.

the reason is simple.

First of all, the hesitation and struggle of the Zhao Guan family naturally appeared during the necessary war break and preparation period, just like washing the teacups took a lot of effort, but they were washed during the boiling time at the beginning, without delay.

The next thing to do.

Secondly, and the most critical point is that the fall of Taiyuan City was really shocking.

Looking back now, after opening the Queshu Valley, the Zhao Guan family and the Hedong Road army's advance speed, the speed of dividing and encircling, the speed of breaking the city, as well as the scale of the troops advancing from all directions, and the logistics preparations, even if we don't consider the battle that can be called

The mythical process of destroying the city still gives people a shocking feeling.

To put it bluntly, when a very small number of people began to quickly consider the decisive battle in the wild that was likely to occur after the city was breached, everyone else, including enemies and allies, were still immersed in the two-way breach of the city that was destined to be recorded in history from all aspects.

In fact, if this war is to be discussed in the future, the capture of Taiyuan City and Yuancheng may be considered together as the second stage of the Northern Expedition and as the same battle. In this battle of extraordinary strategic significance

, the Song Army achieved decisive victories in two directions at the same time, causing the Jin Army to lose the entire Hedong area, and further lost its subsequent strategic options, and was forced to enter the single strategic track preset by the Song Army.

"So, Hebul Khan himself is not against us, but he is simply unable to enforce orders and prohibitions on the Eastern Mongolian tribes?" That afternoon, in the empty Chinese army tent, Zhao Jiu was thoughtful and seemed to be thinking about it.

This result is not surprising.

"yes."

After learning the news of the dispatch of troops, Ren Baozhong, who was asked by Wu Jie to rush back quickly, ignored the fatigue of his carriage and horse, and immediately explained while holding warm salt tea and wiping his sweat. "According to the information we gathered during this trip, Eastern Mongolia and Inner China, now

The ones with the highest status and the largest tribes are of course the Borjijin-Taichiwu tribes led by Hebule and his cousin, but the Merqi tribe is also very powerful, and the two major factions have always been hidden in Eastern Mongolia.

The opposition was only forced to come together because of the rise of the Jin Kingdom..."

"So this time it was the Merqi tribe who had an affair with the Jin people, and Hebule had no control at all?"

"No." Ren Baozhong was also a little helpless. "According to Wu Dutong and his ministers' inquiries, it should be the Tatar tribe who had liaisons with the Jin people... But it is not certain. It is hard to say that the tribesmen had liaisons with the Jin people.

, maybe the Jin army retreated too quickly and Eastern Mongolia could not advance in time. I can only say that the Tatars are the most likely family to pass through to the Jin."

Zhao Jiu was stunned for a moment, obviously digesting the information, and then asked: "Isn't the Tatar tribe a border tribe artificially kneaded by the Jin people to fight against Eastern Mongolia?"

"Yes." Ren Baozhong became more and more helpless. "But in order to show goodwill to Hebuli Khan, the Jin people had previously transferred all the Tatar tribe and its territorial tribes to Eastern Mongolia."

"Is Hebule going to do it?" Zhao Jiu was completely speechless.

"So that the officials know that Hebule is not that stupid." Ren Baozhong felt his mouth was dry. "But Hebule took advantage of the repeated rise and fall of Jin and Liao Dynasties, and learned about the smuggling trade of Song and Jin Dynasties. His troops were on the grassland.

After the expansion, they divided their accounts with their cousin Anba'ai according to tradition. Anba'ai lived in the south. Their tribe gradually became stronger and stronger, and was renamed the Taichiwu tribe. Its power was gradually not weaker than that of Hebule's own Bo'er clan...

…It’s not bad that the two families are one and the same, and I am the main force of Hebule, but it’s not bad that they have become two families after all…”

"Let me guess." Zhao Jiu suddenly sneered at the superior. "The Tatar people are formed from small tribes supported by the Jin Kingdom. Naturally, they are on the southeastern border of the grassland. It has always been my Bahai and his Taichiwu tribe who are responsible for dealing with them.

And if they were transferred to Eastern Mongolia, they would inevitably become direct subordinates of the Anbahai and Taichiwu tribes. In fact, the Anbahai had no intention of falling out with the Song Dynasty, and they also knew that the Tatars were destined to have a close relationship with the Jin people.

The thread couldn't be broken, but anyway, Hebule was there to support him when the sky fell. He was happy to bleed less and expand his own power, so he directly accepted the Tatar people, and Hebule couldn't do anything for this with his cousin.

Falling out...yes or no?"

"Yes." Ren Baozhong hurriedly bowed his head in his seat. "The sage in the official family can see thousands of miles clearly."

"Shit can be seen thousands of miles away." Zhao Jiu stopped smiling and felt bad. "What I fear most is this kind of primitive tribe that has no evil intentions, but can become an enemy even if it is said to be an enemy. What can I argue but not do?

Trouble can be caused..."

Ren Baozhong did not dare to answer for a moment, and at this time there were only a few guards from Liu Yan down in the tent, so the tent was silent for a while.

"In any case, there are Tatar tribesmen among the Eastern Mongolians who serve as internal correspondents for the Jin people, right?" Zhao Jiu waited for a moment, signaled Ren Baozhong to drink a cup of salt tea, and then asked again.

"Well... yes." Ren Baozhong obviously hesitated for a moment, but after wiping his mouth, he answered in the affirmative.

"How did Wu Jinqing make the decision?" Zhao Guanjia continued to ask.

"Wu Dutong said that since the officials decided to send troops, he would deal with it quickly and strictly according to his previous instructions... Before the minister came, Wu Dutong had already sent a letter asking Hebul Khan to deal with all the Central Tatar troops within three days.

"Ren Baozhong didn't dare to stop at all.

"What happens after you deal with it?" Zhao Jiu frowned slightly. "Take the remaining reinforcements from Eastern Mongolia and go south?"

"No." Ren Baozhong finally swallowed. "No matter how Eastern Mongolia is dealt with or not, he will leave one to guard Datong and monitor Eastern Mongolia; another to guard Yanmen Pass as the key; and then take the Khitan with him

People, the Mongolian tribes, and the soldiers of the two deputy commanders Wang and Guo will return to Taiyuan together, so as not to delay the war... This is what Wu Dutong meant when he asked his ministers to come back first and tell the officials."

Zhao Jiu finally nodded, seeming to be very satisfied with this solution, but soon fell into silence for the second time, seeming to be thinking about something.

On the other side, Ren Baozhong drank the salt tea and reported the vital points, but he still felt out of breath and seemed a little nervous.

This is also inevitable. You must know that what happened in Datong this time once again made Ren Baozhong have the mentality of being sad when a rabbit dies and a fox hurts others, because he once again felt the same panic as when Xixia was destroyed a few years ago.

This kind of fear is not caused by any specific betrayal or treatment, but because of the layers of indifference of the superiors, the fate of many people has been decided.

To be fair, the Tatars in the Eastern Mongolian Army this time may have had internal connections with the Jin people, but maybe not. It is really possible that the Jin people withdrew too quickly and did not catch up.

But Wu Da didn't care.

Those Tatar tribesmen who followed the army, a total of two to three thousand people, are likely to suffer the fate of all being wiped out because of Wu Da's words. Many so-called Tatar tribes on the border will also be wiped out because of this incident.

in disaster.

And one level up, no matter how Hebul and his cousin deal with the Tatar tribe, whether those Tatar people live or die, they cannot change the reality that the Eastern Mongolian tribes will be isolated in this war.

No matter how hard they struggled and remedied, they could not change the fact that Hebul and Eastern Mongolia had lost the military trust of the Song Dynasty.

In the same way, if you go up one level and come to the house of this kind official who did not forget to give you a seat and salted tea, I am afraid that the fate of the entire Eastern Mongolian tribe will depend on some potential possibilities.

Because of a misunderstanding and the official's thoughts, they were completely changed after the war.

Ren Baozhong has seen this kind of thing once. Last time, this official easily chose to destroy Xixia because he wanted to gain a decisive position when attacking Hedong... And after destroying Xixia on the grounds of excessive land and water reclamation,

, in Ningxia, in order to reserve military rations for this dispatch, the irrigation area was even larger.

"Renqing...Renqing."

"I'm here." Ren Baozhong came to his senses and broke into a cold sweat, but he quickly stood up and responded.

"Sit down."

"Here."

"What did Simon Gu say?"

"It's okay for Mongolian. Hu'erzahusi Khan is just a mixed person. As for the tribes of Mongolian, as I said before, because they are between the Western Liao and the Song Dynasty, they are mostly influenced by the eight tribes of the Western Liao. Basically,

It's still safe... It's just that after the official asked Tuoli to go back, Tuoli jumped up and down, acting like a fox and pretending to be a tiger, and won over many members of his father's direct subordinates, which seemed a little inappropriate."

"Even so, you can't keep the gangsters." Zhao Jiu said suddenly, looking confused.

"What the officials said is..." Ren Baozhong didn't stop at all and quickly agreed.

"Where's the Khitan?"

"Khitan is even more appropriate...Although they had allowed Hu'er Zahusi Khan to plunder Datong and were tempted to do so, Yelu Yujian was a frightened bird at first. He knew that the long-term relationship between Yinshan and him in the future would still be in the Song Dynasty. With this

On the contrary, it is reasonable and reasonable." Ren Baozhong continued. "This matter is the responsibility of Academician Mei. He only stayed in Datong for two or three days, but he actually had seven banquets with a group of Khitan people and wrote eighty-nine poems..."

"It doesn't matter." Zhao Jiu sneered. After confirming that the Khitan people were fine, he quickly interrupted him. "This is what he was asked to do."

"Yes." Ren Baozhong became more cautious.

At this time, the Chinese army's headquarters also fell silent for the third time... because Ren Baozhong's report was theoretically completed.

"Is Renqing in good health?" After a moment, Zhao Jiu looked at the other person thoughtfully.

"Although I am old, I can still wear armor and ride a horse." Ren Baozhong was startled and stood up again.

"I don't need you to put on armor and ride horses." Zhao Jiu finally smiled in response, but had no intention of letting him sit down again. "I want to say that you have been by my side for several years, and you have served as counselor in military affairs and border affairs.

Achievement. And if this battle can be successful, no matter where the northern border is pushed, there must be a new road set up along the border... I am not talking about the Yanshan Road, but I am talking about taking Datong as the core to control the surrounding states.

The county is involved in Yinshan affairs and Mongolian affairs, which is probably equivalent to that before the Liao Kingdom..."

"Xijing Road." Ren Baozhong finally couldn't help but remind him.

At this moment, any worries, timidity, and panic that I had before were all gone.

"Yes, Xijing Road."

Zhao Jiu thought thoughtfully. "Renqing has been with me for many years and knows that I am not the kind of person who likes empty talk. Whether it is Datong Road or Xijing Road, I feel that the Qing family is the most suitable to be the first manager of this new road."

It’s because you are a close minister, so you can definitely understand my thoughts and won’t do anything wrong.”

"Chen..." Ren Baozhong's mind almost went blank.
To be continued...