In August, the cold wind from Siberia crossed the vast mountains, dyeing the grasslands outside the Great Wall yellow, turning into stripes of Mid-Autumn coolness in the majestic Yanshan Mountains, and finally stopped in northern Hebei and east of the Taihang Mountains. In the season of yellow and green,

Create a unique beauty.

But the Song troops at the Zhaozhou and Jizhou defense lines were not in the mood to appreciate such beautiful scenery.

War clouds rolled in from the north and enveloped northern Hebei.

Starting from the seventh day of August, intelligence came in for several days in a row, showing that the Jin army gathered on a large scale in Zhending Mansion.

The Song Army on the front line began to urgently mobilize reinforcements, and even the soldiers and civilians worked overnight to complete the unfinished fortifications in Zhaozhou.

Zongze's troop deployment orders in Daming Prefecture also began to be sent out. Cizhou, Luozhou, and Xingzhou prepared the Song army, and began to mobilize large-scale troops to Zhaozhou.

A large amount of military supplies crossed Xingzhou and were dispatched to Zhaozhou.

In addition to the 20,000 soldiers and civilians arranged by Zongze in Zhaozhou at the beginning of the year, this time there will be a total of 100,000 Song soldiers and civilians in Zhaozhou and Jizhou.

The number of the Imperial Guard was as high as 50,000.

The main method of combat is still defense.

Moreover, the defense system of the Song Army became more mature after the third Song-Jin War.

The cooperation within Hebei Military Town is obviously more tacit.

The most important thing is that in the military system, after the role of the Military Staff Department (Staff Headquarters) is added, the originally scattered armies have a bond of communication with each other.

Even though there are still gaps between the officers of each army, the transmission of information and military orders has improved much more than before.

It can be seen from the troop deployment in Hebei this time. As soon as the troop deployment order from Daming Prefecture was issued, all military towns began to take action, converging towards Zhaozhou and Jizhou from different directions.

On August 12, Hebei's military newspaper was placed on Zhao Ning's desk, sent by Daming Mansion.

There is the detected situation of the Jin Army, the Song Army's defense arrangements, and the demand for food and grass in the next few months.

Calculating from October to March next year, in half a year, the armies on Hebei West Road will need 400,000 stones of food and grass.

This is just what was eaten. If 400,000 dan were to be sent to the front line, the court would have to prepare 800,000 dan for the sake of prudence.

If you include Zhang Jun and Li Gang, plus Hedong Road, and extrapolate half a year later, Zhao Ning will probably have to prepare at least 3 million shi of food.

Zhao Ning immediately wrote back to Zongze, Zhang Jun and Li Gang, telling them to rest assured that food would be available at all times and to organize their defense lines.

He also told them that the Jin army was ostensibly making a big show of force in Zhending Mansion, but it was probably attacking in the east and in the west.

They are all thousand-year-old foxes, and no one is a fool.

Moreover, Zhao Ning speculated that Jin Wushu's army going south this time was a military test by the Jin Kingdom.

In the third battle between Song and Jin, the Jin army did not get any advantage and suffered a lot.

In the Jin Dynasty's court, the always strong militant faction must be unconvinced, let alone swallow this breath.

However, the advocates of peace must also vigorously promote peace in the court in order to strive for political interests.

The personnel changes in Jin Kingdom and Yanjing sent by Ma Kuo illustrate this point. Zongwang is stationed in Yanjing, which shows that the power of the Zhuhe faction is increasing.

Therefore, based on this calculation, Jin Wushu's military action can be said to be a military adventure by the main war faction.

Since it is a military adventure, there are several possibilities:

First, attack the defense line and test the situation of the Song Army's defense line.

Second, bypass the defense line, go deep into the hinterland of the Song Dynasty, and attack the richest places.

There is a general background and premise for this dispatch of troops, which is the New Deal in Tokyo. The New Deal triggered a debate in the court. Zhao Ning is not yet completely sure whether this military action of the Jin people is related to the New Deal of the Song Dynasty.

But he also took precautions.

On August 15, Zhao Ning secretly transferred Yue Fei back and ordered him to lead his troops to march east quickly, arrive at Xuzhou, and guard Xuzhou.

The purpose of guarding Xuzhou is actually to guard the important areas of the Huaihe River and Huaihe River.

The Jin people also knew that in the third war between Song and Jin, the Song Dynasty suffered heavy losses, but no one could tell what the specific situation was.

The Zhao Guan family once again publicized the news of the troop increase in the official newspapers, and the Jin Kingdom's detailed operations in Hebei, Hedong, and Gyeonggi also received rumors of the Zhao Guan family's continued troop increase.

It was under this circumstance that the Jin Army's exploratory military actions began.

If it is detected that the Song Dynasty is really at the end of its war effort, the Jin Kingdom will definitely mobilize on a large scale again and move its army southward.

But if the Song Dynasty is still stubbornly resisting, the situation in the Jin court may be different.

In mid-August, Song army scouts detected a sizable Jin army in Zhending, heading south, numbering tens of thousands, with banners like clouds, covering the sky and the sun.

On August 17, the letter sent by Zhao Guan's family to the front line arrived in Jingzhao Prefecture, Daming Prefecture, and Cangzhou.

The western, central and eastern fronts all immediately became vigilant.

On August 20, a scout came to report: "Your Highness, a man named Li Cheng came to see him and said he had important information about the Song army!"

When Jin Wushu heard that it was Li Cheng, he immediately said: "Bring him to me quickly."

Not long after, Li Cheng met Jin Wushu.

"The last general, Li Cheng, meets His Highness!"

Jin Wushu was quite surprised to see Li Cheng again. Now is the time for him to vigorously expand his strength.

The current situation in the Kingdom of Jin has changed from last year. Wanyan Gao retreated behind the scenes. Zong Han was taken away from the military leadership and began to sit behind the scenes.

And he, Wanyan Wushu, was the one with the least losses in the third battle between Song and Jin Dynasties, and he was the one who fought the best.

This is also an important reason why Wanyan Wu begged for his life to take command and go south this time.

And the order he received was to carry out a beheading operation against the Song Dynasty.

That is to say, do not go head-to-head with the elite of the Song army, do not attack those well-defended places, but go directly deep into the territory and attack the core of the Song Dynasty as quickly as possible.

This was the result of a mutual compromise between Wanyan Zonghan and Wanyan Wu Qimai after a whole night of discussion.

It is based on the internal debate caused by the new policy reforms being implemented in Gyeonggi Road in the Song Dynasty.

Its purpose was not to destroy the military defense line of the Song Dynasty, but to quickly attack the core area with force, triggering a political crisis within the Song Dynasty, and making the Song Dynasty's court, which was already arguing about the New Deal, even worse.

To put it simply, it is more like a political blow.

Jin Wushu's goal is the Huainan two roads that Wanyan Zongfu failed to advance before. As long as he fights well this time, a large-scale food crisis will inevitably break out in the Song Dynasty by the end of this year, especially affecting the Gyeonggi Road.

After all, Huainan Road is the lifeblood of Gyeonggi Province.

Jin Wushu helped Li Cheng up: "General Li, there is no need to be polite. I thought I would never see General Li again!"

Li Cheng talked about his experience in the past six months and had been following Liu Yu. Later, Liu Yu himself was forced to hide in Tibet by the Song army. He heard that Jin Wushu was in Zhending Mansion, so he came to Zhending Mansion to seek refuge.

"This time I go south to attack the Song Dynasty, and I still need your help!"

Li Cheng immediately said excitedly: "His Highness gives the order, and the general will die without mercy!"

"Okay, I want to go deep into the Song Dynasty and the Huaihe River as quickly as possible. Do you have any good ideas?"

Li Cheng said: "Take the eastern route and avoid Zongze's tribe."

"Why?"

"The last general was under Zongze before. Zongze managed the army strictly. The Hebei defense line was airtight and deep. However, Li Gang on the eastern front was only good at defending one city and one pool. Compared to Zongze, the defense deployment and

The soldiers' management ability will be much weaker."

"Take the eastern route to Fucheng, and then quickly go south, from Dezhou to Dongping, and go straight to Xuzhou. It can be completed within a month. Xuzhou is the place of the Four Wars, but the defense of the Song Dynasty is weak. Once you enter Xuzhou, the two Huaihe Rivers will be under your Highness's control.

Under the attack!"
Chapter completed!