After arranging the mission to the Khitan, Zhang Zhao left his confidants Guo Tiance and Ma Yaozi to guard Xiazhou, and Luo Yu'er to guard Yinzhou.
He led his party, the Qiang leaders and 20,000 cavalry, and the rebel army in Hanshandu plus the five armies to suppress the horse and 15,000 infantry, for a total of 35,000 people, and began to move north.
Zhang Zhao went north this time mainly to deal with personally how to get everyone in Yunzhou out.
The army and people of Yunzhou, led by Wu Luan, the military governor of Datong, had been resisting the Khitans for more than six months, and they had long ago offended Yelu Deguang.
Yelu Deguang might let the merchants and civilians of Yunzhou go, and at most let them pay for their lives.
But for the generals of the Datong army led by Wu Luan, they would definitely not be pardoned. If they were not killed on the spot, it would be regarded as Yelv Deguang's magnanimity.
In this way, the Datong Army's thousands of soldiers and tens of thousands of family members would become the enemies of the Khitan people without mobilization.
Historically, most of them died on the front line of resistance against the Khitans during the Shi Chonggui period.
What a good recruitment target for Zhang Zhao!
They are natives of Yunzhou and have a deep hatred against the Khitan people. They will be the best vanguards to regain Yanyun in the future.
In addition, Zhang Zhao had just captured Xiazhou at this time, and his rule was not stable. If he could bring some Han people and Han Chinese tribesmen from Yunzhou to settle in Xiazhou.
Then you can use them to defend against the Khitans harassing Xia Province, and you can also use them to defend against the party members in Yinxia Land, killing multiple birds with one stone.
However, when Zhang Zhao went north, he did not take the route from Yinzhou to Fuzhou.
Instead, it passes through the Mu Us Sandy Land, bypasses Dijinze, and goes directly to the Shengzhou Dongshoujiang City area on the Yellow River.
Zhang Zhao also took a side trip to Youzhou to calm the hearts of all local ethnic groups.
As for the reasons for not going to Fuzhou, firstly, the Fuzhou family has actually cooperated with Zhang Zhao once, and it can even be said that a hand has been placed on Zhang Zhao's side.
However, the Fuzhou Zhe family still has great feelings for the central government. If Zhang Zhao leads his army to pass through Fuzhou,
On the one hand, whether Zhe Congyuan will agree to it or not, and on the other hand, it will push the Zhe family even harder, and it may be counterproductive.
The second thing is that Zhang Zhao is still not worried about the Zhe family.
After the Li family of Pingxia tribe disappeared, the Zhe family of Fuzhou became the largest and most prestigious Dangxiang family in the Fulin area of Yinxia.
In particular, they have great influence on some party tribes in Xiazhou and Yinzhou.
Who knows what the Zhe family thinks about Zhang Zhao?
Although Zhe Congyuan corresponded with Zhang Zhao several times, each time he was very respectful, and Zhe Deku also respected Zhang Zhao.
But in the face of the future and destiny of two families and hundreds of thousands of people, this personal feeling can be completely ignored.
It can be said that Zhang Zhao cannot get too close to the Zhe family until the Zhe family shows their willingness to cooperate with Zhang Zhao in essence, or before taking actual actions.
Sure enough, when Zhang Zhao arrived at Dongshoujiang City, Murong Nobunaga, Li Cunhui, Chai Rong and two thousand rebel cavalry were all there.
But more than a thousand cavalrymen from Zhe Deku and Zhejia did not show up.
"Sir, Zhe Dalang asked a certain generation to make a report. His father summoned him and he had to go back first."
Murong Nobunaga's face and hands were covered with frostbite, especially the cracks on his handsome face. He looked like he had suffered a lot.
"Sorry for your suffering! But your suffering is worth it. If the Khitans take Yunzhou one day later, it will be more beneficial to the development and growth of our Guiyi Army."
Naturally, there is no need to talk about the situation between father and son. You must know that when Zhang Zhao faced two thousand elite soldiers outside, he praised them very highly.
He bluntly said that they were heroes who drove out the Khitan bandits and defended their country. They wanted a big reward when they returned.
"But the Khitan Kingdom is still too powerful for us!
The boy went close to investigate and found out that the Khitan Pishi Army on guard in the Yuanyangbo area is well-equipped, has experience, combat effectiveness, and willpower and is among the best among the best. We only have three or four thousand such elites, and they have at least thirty to forty thousand."
Murong Nobunaga said to Zhang Zhao with some emotion that he had not been idle in the past few months and had traveled thousands of miles.
Not only did they go to Yuanyangbo, they also went deep into the grassland, and even attacked some scattered small tribes of Khitan and Zubu people, capturing hundreds of prisoners and dozens of horses.
Yuanyang Park is about 230 to 40 miles northwest of Yunzhou, and it is Daihai Lake, the third largest inland lake in Inner Mongolia in later generations.
The Khitan Pishi Army established a tight cordon from here to Datong.
"So although I came here with an army of 35,000, I didn't come here to compete with the Khitans, because we can't defeat them yet."
Zhang Zhao also sighed, then looked at Murong Nobunaga and asked: "What do you think of Fuzhou Zhejia?"
At this time, Zhang Zhao saw Li Cunhui coming from a distance, and quickly asked him to sit down and ask their opinions together.
"There are not many Zhe family members in Fuzhou. I asked Zhe Dalang and followed him to Fuzhou to spend some time renovating. I estimate that there are more than 100,000 people.
But the folk customs are as fierce as ours in Longyou, Hexi, and can send out tens of thousands of elite soldiers. If we have enough money and food, we can even recruit more.
But Fuzhou is small and the people are poor and cannot support so many warriors, so they can only rely on power."
Li Cunhui talked eloquently, and it seemed that he was well prepared. Zhang Zhao also nodded encouragingly, because what Li Cunhui said was really right.
The folk customs in Fuzhou are fierce, but they cannot afford to support so many fighting men. Historically, they have always relied on the Central Plains court to act as thugs.
Moreover, inspired by loyalty from generation to generation and recognized by the Northern Song Dynasty court, the Fuzhou Zhe family has always been quite loyal.
"It's a pity that we are not the powerful one in the hearts of the Zhe family now. Otherwise, Zhe Dalang's father, Zhejieshuai, would have come to pay homage to you in person right now.
However, they are now facing threats from the Khitans and will soon face threats from us.
If you can show enough goodwill and help them counteract the Khitans' annexation ambitions, you can at least keep them neutral but biased towards our position. Maybe we can directly pull them over in the future, but not necessarily."
Murong Nobunaga also agreed with Li Cunhui's words that Fuzhou Zhejia is indeed a good partner.
But it seems a little too early to recruit them.
Moreover, they are unlikely to follow the Guiyi Army into the Central Plains, but they are more reliable as allies or thugs against the Khitan.
Hearing his two sons say this, and considering the performance of the family in history, Zhang Zhao also felt that he would not wait for the family.
And he also remembered a problem. The Zhe family's ancestral home was Yunzhou, and there were many Zhe family members in the Datong army.
If the Zhe family participated in the action to rescue the Datong Army, then a large part of the debt must be attributed to Zhe Congyuan.
After Zhang Zhao returns to Hexi, will the Datong Army stationed in Xiazhou join forces with the Zhejia Yongan Army in Fuzhou?
Perhaps, Zhang Zhao touched his chin and thought for a moment. Could it be that Zhe Congyuan, who had always been very respectful to him, was avoiding Zhang so resolutely this time and even summoned Zhe De and Zhang back?
What does Zhao misunderstanding mean?
The more Zhang Zhao thought about it, the more likely it became. The Zhe family had been able to stay in Fuzhou for hundreds of years, so they really had some tricks up their sleeves.
....
Outside Yunzhou City, it is now almost the end of March, the weather has warmed up rapidly, and Yelv Deguang's mood has improved a lot.
On the one hand, he ordered Han Zhigu's eldest son, Zhangwu Army Tooth General Han Kuangtu, to transfer 11,000 Zhangwu Army troops to Yunzhou, and also recruited hundreds of craftsmen from Youzhou who could make various siege equipment.
Once the Zhangwu Army's 11,000 men arrived, the Khitan army outside Yunzhou City reached a scale of 65,000 men.
Although the Warning Hunhe and Warning Yuanyangbo lines reached Yunzhou and deployed 20,000 people, the remaining 40,000 people were still enough to surround Yunzhou.
At the same time, judging from the time, Yelu Chagong, who went to find Shi Jingtang for the second order, should have received Shi Jingtang's order to abandon Yunzhou and started to rush back.
Yelv Deguang never thought about Shi Jingtang's failure to perform his contract. If Shi Jingtang failed to perform his contract, he would directly lead his army to Yedu.
Anyway, after Youzhou is acquired, the land of Hebei is opened wide. It is much easier to go south from Youzhou to Yedu, which is a flat river, than to attack a fortified city like Yunzhou, which is built against the mountains.
The trumpet sounded, and the Khitan army camp, which was preparing for the morning meal, was filled with smoke.
The 40,000-strong army stretched along the Yuhe River from Baishan Mountain in the northeast of Yunzhou City to the foot of Yunzhou City.
The envoys to the Guiyi Army were Wu Daler as the chief envoy, Cao Yanjing, Huixing monk Yang He as deputy envoys.
A group of fifty or sixty people, escorted by hundreds of Khitan cavalry, arrived at Yelu Deguang's imperial tent.
In the imperial tent, Yelv Deguang touched the small beard on his chin and was quite satisfied because the envoy from the Guiyi Army treated him with great respect.
Except for Huixing monk Yang He, the rest of the envoys and deputy envoys gave him the great gift of a foreign vassal paying homage to the emperor of the superior country.
If Xiao Shilu hadn't been defeated by the Guiyi Army a few months ago at the Hun River, Yelu Deguang would have thought that the Guiyi Army and King Zhang Han were the most loyal subjects of the Khitan Kingdom.
.
Unlike most Khitan aristocrats, who all had their hair in a bun, Yelv Deguang actually dressed like a Han Confucian scholar. Not only did he not have a bun, but he also had his hair tied up in a bun and a very fashionable net scarf.
"Where did the messenger come from? Who was he sent by?"
Yelu Deguang squinted his eyes and began to ask questions knowingly and with obvious dissatisfaction.
"The foreign minister came from Xiazhou and was sent by His Highness the King of Han in Hexi Province."
But Wu Darer was quite calm, because he had seen this kind of scene many times.
The Guiyi Army was not well received by the Central Plains imperial court, and was often made things difficult for them when they went on missions. As for being detained by the Uighurs when passing through Ganzhou, and being robbed by the Momo when passing through Liangzhou, it was commonplace.
"Foreign minister?" Yelu Deguang sneered, "Your lord, the King of Han, sent troops to attack the Dingnan Army without authorization. He is not a minister of the Jin State. He acted so boldly by the Hun River, and he is not a minister of our great Khitan. How can he be called a foreign minister?"
"My lord is from Hexi. Five generations of people have not forgotten their homeland for a hundred and fifty years. They are righteous and loyal ministers!
The Dingnan Army did not respect the orders of the imperial court, occupied the ten salt ponds in Yanzhou, and sent troops to attack them. This is the way of being a minister!" Wu Darer was happy and unafraid, and spoke loudly.
"So, the King of Han obeys the Emperor of the Central Plains. Whoever is the Emperor of the Central Plains will be his loyal minister, right?"
Yelu Deguang narrowed his eyes and asked thoughtfully.
"Of course!" Wu Dal'er nodded affirmatively.
"My lord, the King of Han, and the millions of healthy men in Hexi are loyal ministers guarding the border for the country, and they should obey the Emperor of the Central Plains."
Yelu Deguang filled up a lot of things in his mind at once, and his mind was a little confused for a while. He needed to clear his thoughts, so he waved his hand to the chamberlain beside him.
The chamberlain nodded, stepped forward and said to Wu Dal'er and others: "The envoy from Hexi has had a hard journey. Your Majesty, please rest for the time being and you will summon him later."
－－－－－－Digression－－－－－
Today Jie Geer showed off the cloth-covered iron armor and chainmail armor. Come and see! Nurhaj has launched an army!
This chapter has been completed!