Infinite War Begins with Cao Thief

The same emperors, after receiving the news of the Youzhou Incident, Emperor Tianzuo of Liao was furious, while Huizong of Song was frightened and inexplicable.

Because of the asymmetry of information, Song Huizong completely thought that after Dong Huang's army was defeated, the angry Liao army took advantage of the situation and went south, conquering Hebei all the way.

Liu Yanqing's defeat and the fall of Zhending Prefecture, Mingzhou, Xiangzhou and other places actually allowed Fa Zheng's army to drink from the Yellow River at any time. If Zhao Yun's troops leave Cangzhou and enter Daming Prefecture, the entire Hebei area will be destroyed. It is no longer in the hands of Song Dynasty.

Even Song Huizong did not expect that in the whole of Hebei, only the Daming Mansion of Liang Taishu, Cai Jing's son-in-law, was still in the hands of the Song Dynasty.

Cai Xianggong is really a wise man, and Liang Zhongshu is really a loyal minister and good general.

But Liang Zhongshu's outstanding performance could not reduce Song Huizong's fear at all.

Song Huizong, who was frightened three times overnight, quickly ordered Tong Guan's troops to return to Bianjing. At the same time, he restarted the cultivation method and asked him to quickly bring the elite of the Western Army to help.

Song Huizong even planned to summon troops from all over the country to serve the king, but the Zhao family's deep appreciation of military power made him suppress this idea for the time being.

In panic, Song Huizong received good news and bad news successively. The good news was that the Liao army in Hebei had been defeated by Dong Huang's army. The bad news was that Dong Huang's army had recaptured the Sixteenth Prefecture of Youyun and invited Chai Jin, in the name of Zhou Dynasty, used the name of Zhou Dynasty to punish the people and punished the people. Examples include the crimes of being ungrateful and unfair to the country in the Northern Song Dynasty, Zhao Kuangyi killing his brother to seize the throne, losing his teacher and humiliating the country, and Huizong of the Song Dynasty being extravagant and cruel to the people.

The crusade written by Chen Lin was so brilliant that even Song Huizong was amazed, but when he thought that the person he was scolding was himself, Song Huizong felt bad.

"What about the invasion of the Liao people? I think it was Dong Huang who deliberately forced the Liao people to do what they did when they defeated the Liao people!"

"What about the revival of the Later Zhou Dynasty? Bah, it's clearly an excuse for Dong Huang to rebel!"

"Dong Huang wants to use Chai Jin before he wears the yellow robe!"

The angry Zhao Ji even lost his words. After all, Zhao Kuangyin's yellow robe was not a glorious thing.

In fact, Zhao Ji, Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty, was extremely smart, but his intelligence was not used in the right place.

Dong Huangjun stopped pretending this time and went straight to a showdown, and Zhao Ji naturally tasted it.

But the problem is, Dong Huang was a strong man who recovered the sixteen states of Yanyun and defeated hundreds of thousands of elite Liao troops!

Song Huizong was also a little unsure about whether he could defeat such a powerful army.

At the critical moment, it was Taiwei Tong Guan who emboldened Song Huizong: "As an official, Dong Huang is nothing more than a warlord from Shandong Province. He has less than 200,000 soldiers and his equipment is far inferior to that of the Forbidden Army. If he can win, it only shows that the Liao army has become corrupt. It's just vulnerable. It doesn't mean how strong Dong Huang's army must be."

The core meaning of Tong Guan's words is only one: I can do it if I want to!

It's not that Dong Huang is too powerful, but that the Liao army is too useless.

"It makes sense!"

Tong Guan's words made Zhao Ji smile.

"But why did Liu Yanqing lose the battle?"

Zhao Ji is not that easy to deceive. The defeat of Liu Yanqing and the fall of Bazhou Cangzhou and other places not only caused the loss of military resources to the north accumulated over the years, but also meant that the northern defense line that the Song Dynasty had operated for hundreds of years was completely destroyed. Crash problem.

Dong Huangjun, who can cause all this, is not too weak after all, right?

"Liu Yanqing underestimated the enemy and was attacked!"

Tong Guan first determined Liu Yanqing's personality, and then said: "After Liu Yanqing retreats to Jingxing to regroup, won't Dong Huangjun be helpless?"

In fact, Tong Guan felt a little lucky that Liu Yanqing and others had lost the military resources they had reserved for many years, because in this way, he and the generals had finally settled their debt for many years of corruption.

Even if it was to thank Liu Yanqing for his contribution to settling the accounts, he would give Liu Yanqing a hand.

"Really?"

Song Huizong's eyes lit up.

If that's the case, there's a clue.

"For the official family, misfortunes and blessings lie ahead. Although Dong Huang has occupied Youzhou, he only has a few troops. Now there must be someone to guard Youzhou, right? There are about 30,000 to 50,000 people in Cangzhou, and the rest are in Zhending. , Mingzhou's line forms a long snake formation, the beginning and end must not be considered at the same time!"

Tong Guan took out the map and analyzed the situation, but he did not finish everything.

But Song Huizong was such a smart man that he immediately understood Tong Guan's true meaning.

"Daofu, you immediately command the 10...200,000 forbidden troops to go north, and control the Taoist Department of Seed Masters. You must attract the main force of Dong Huang's army, and then order Liu Yanqing to send troops, cut off the main food route of Dong Huang's army, attack from both front and rear, and annihilate them. The main force of Dong Huang's army will directly send troops to the land of Youyan to recapture the sixteen states of Yanyun!"

Zhao Ji enthusiastically pointed out the way to the country.

Taking back the Sixteenth Prefecture of Yanyun was something that even his ancestor Zhao Er could not accomplish.

Once he is done, he will be the greatest emperor since the Tang Dynasty. He will enshrine Mount Tai so that his great achievements will be remembered for generations to come.

"Your Majesty, Holy Might!"

After achieving his goal, Tong Guan quickly flattered him.

Although this strategy was planned by Tong Guan, he was able to guide Zhao Ji to tell Zhao Ji this strategy that would definitely lead to victory without mentioning the specific strategy, so as to please Zhao Ji. That was his skill.

As a minister, what is most important?

Meritorious service?

Are you capable?

No, none of that!

The most important thing for a courtier is to make the emperor happy!

If the emperor is happy, everything will be fine.

With Zhao Ji's appointment, Tong Guan happily accepted the order and left.

Liu Yanqing had actually written to him before to explain.

Liu Yanqing said in the letter that Dong Huang's army was at the end of its strength. If Gao Shixuan had not underestimated the enemy, he would not have been defeated. When he stabilized the situation at Jingxing, he killed more than 20,000 Dong Huang's army. Dong Huang's army was attacked. Instead of going to Jingxing, I went south to catch the autumn wind.

Although Tong Guan did not fully believe Liu Yanqing's words, at least Dong Huang's army should have been annihilated by him, with more than 10,000 people killed, right? And it’s true that Dong Huang’s army didn’t capture Jingxing, right? Dong Huangjun’s attack on Yanjing wouldn’t be without losses, right?

The combination of various factors made Tong Guan feel that he had a good chance of winning.

Tong Guan's excited army mobilization finally brought 200,000 forbidden troops to the north bank of the Yellow River, where they joined the nearly 100,000 Western troops of Zhong Shidao and Zhong Shizhong's brothers.

Zhong Shidao also proposed to Tong Guan a way to cut off Dong Huang's retreat, and proposed that the troops should be divided into three groups. One group would attack Jingdong East Road to attack the base of Dong Huang's army. The other group would be led by Zhong Shidao himself and detour to Hedong Road and pass through Taiyuan. They left Jingxing to cut off Dong Huang's army's retreat.

Zhong Shidao's suggestion made Tong Guan feel that Zhong Shidao wanted to take away his credit, so he rejected Zhong Shidao's suggestion on the pretext that Liu Yanqing had been appointed by the officials to commit meritorious service.

As for the direction of Shandong, Tong Guan was not completely unprepared. He also wanted his confidants to take the credit, but unexpectedly Gao Qiu persuaded the officials and asked his cousin Gao Lian, the prefect of Gaotang, to lead the army. Capture the Jingdong East Road, focusing on capturing Yanggu and Yuncheng, cutting off Dong Huang's army's retreat.

Of course, Tong Guan hated this kind of behavior of grabbing credit and taking advantage, but at this critical moment, he didn't want to offend Gao Qiu, Song Huizong's favorite ministers, so he could only hold his nose and admit it.

Some of the credit has already been lost, so you still want to take away your talent? There is no way!

Master Zhong retreated in depression.

On the other side, Liu Yanqing, who received the order, was completely confused.

[Let me send troops to cut off Dong Huang's army's retreat? 】

Liu Yanqing looked at the defeated army who had no weapons and weapons, and his face became ugly and he looked like a running boy.

Tong Guan (1054-1126), whose courtesy name was Daofu, was a Taoist assistant. He was a native of Kaifeng (now part of Henan Province). A powerful official in the Northern Song Dynasty, one of the "Six Thieves".

In the early years, he relied on the Battle of Hehuang and the war against Xixia to start his career.

In 1120, Tong Guan was ordered to lead the army to suppress the Fangla peasant uprising, and later he was promoted to Grand Master with his merit. In 1122, the Jin people had fallen into Tokyo, Shangjing and Zhongjing. The Song Dynasty was determined to launch the Northern Expedition, but all ended in failure. The Song Dynasty exchanged silver coins from the Jin people for the empty city of Yanjing and established Yanshan Prefecture. Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty believed that Tong Guan had made great contributions and appointed him as the Xuanfu envoy of Yanshan Prefecture. He issued an edict to recognize Tong Guan as the Zhensan Gong, and granted him the title of Xu and Henan, and later the title of Guangyang County Prince.

In 1125, Emperor Qinzong of the Song Dynasty Zhao Huan ascended the throne by Zen, and issued an edict to personally conquer the country. Tong Guan was left as a guard in Tokyo. However, Tong Guan was not ordered and instead accompanied Emperor Huizong on his southern tour. Later, he killed innocent people indiscriminately, and many people including remonstrators and other officials were recruited. At first he was demoted to the Zuowei General, and he was also relegated to the Deputy Envoy of the Zhaohua Army Jiedu, and was exiled to Yingzhou. On the way to exile, Emperor Qinzong of the Song Dynasty issued an edict to count the ten major crimes against him, and ordered the supervisory censor Zhang Chen to follow the trail to Nanxiong and behead him immediately.