The four men who were sitting stood up almost at the same time after hearing this, and then Lü Haowen looked at them awkwardly: "Good instructor, you know that the person that Fan Xueshi relies on most in military affairs is a monk named Zongyin. During the Jingkang period, Fan Xueshi was the commander-in-chief of the Western Army and led 160,000 troops to support Tokyo. He specially selected a team of monk soldiers, named the 'Zunsheng Army', and another team of boy soldiers, named the 'Jingsheng Army'. He also built the 'Great Wall' in Tongguan to connect to Longmen..."

"And how badly did they lose?" Zhao Jiu figured out what was going on halfway through, but interrupted him directly.

"It was defeated by Wanyan Loushi's elite cavalry of 10,000." After experiencing the battle of Shouzhou, Lv Haowen and these people probably felt that some of the previous things were too absurd, and they lowered their heads after saying this. "Mr. Fan also lost his position as the envoy of Shaanxi and was transferred to Dengzhou."

"The Song Dynasty has survived until today, thanks to the blessing of gods and Buddhas." Emperor Zhao sneered. "If I had really come to Nanyang that day, I would have killed this man with my own hands even if it meant the destruction of the country... Liu Guangshi was really wronged!"

Hearing this, all the civil and military officials in the hall lowered their heads in silence. Even the short-statured Prefect Yan was at a loss for what to do and quickly lowered his head.

"In that case, it must be too late to rescue Dengzhou?" Zhao Jiu came back to his senses and continued to ask Yan Xiaozhong.

"That's not the case." Yan Xiaozhong quickly replied. "Your Majesty, please allow me to report that Liu Longtu, the transport envoy, is loyal and devoted. During the Jingkang period, he went to Tokyo alone to fight against the danger. When he came back, he received the order from the Emperor to tidy up Nanyang to prepare for the emperor's attack. He has been working hard to maintain it until today... Liu Longtu may not know military skills like me, but he will never be as absurd as Master Fan, and he will not easily abandon the city and leave."

Zhao Jiu's heart was lifted, but he quickly asked again: "Do you know the strength of that Jin army commander?"

"Five Jurchen Meng'an, two Khitan Meng'an, one Xi Meng'an, one Northern Han Meng'an, and one Bohai Meng'an, but it seems that because of the damage in the previous Taiyuan battle, there are only 50 to 60 Moukes in total!" Yan Xiaozhong immediately responded. "That's 5,000 to 6,000 main forces! The rest are all surrendered soldiers from the Western Army as a supplement. Only he fought in Xijing (Luoyang), Ruzhou, Caizhou, and Tangzhou, and many rebel troops surrendered to him recently!"

Upon hearing this number, there was silence in the hall for a moment, from Zhao Jiu and the other four ministers, to the censors below the Chief Censor Zhang Jun... In short, except for the more cunning scholar Kobayashi, almost all the important officials who came from the east instinctively and tacitly exchanged glances, and then a bold idea arose in their hearts at the same time... It was obvious that after the battle of Shouzhou, at least everyone's mentality was completely different from that of the officials in the west of Beijing.

Of course, after all, there were only 10,000 households plus a bunch of surrendered soldiers. After thinking about it, Emperor Zhao still felt a little guilty, so he asked again in a serious tone: "Mr. Yan, let's not talk about Fan Qiong in Xiangyang in the south. Are there any soldiers and horses available in Caizhou, Tangzhou, Ruzhou, and Dengzhou?"

"Reporting to the emperor, although the west of Beijing is in a mess, there are still brave men who dare to fight against the Jin army." Yan Xiaozhong's eyelids jumped, and he almost instantly understood what the emperor meant, and also understood the reason for the strange atmosphere in the hall just now, but he was three parts frightened, three parts shocked, three parts hopeful, and one part cautious. "Tangzhou is a small place with few people. We have tried our best, but in the northwest of Caizhou, there is a local tyrant named Zhai Chong. He is a distant relative of the two generals Da Zhai and Xiao Zhai in Xijing, and he is quite powerful. My family is placed in his house... Please give me a horse, and send an eunuch with a certificate of appointment back to Tangzhou. I must bring back 3,000 elite soldiers!"

When Zhao Jiu heard that they were the relatives of Big Zhai and Little Zhai, he instinctively believed it... You must know that the brothers Zhai Xing and Zhai Jin were the real support of Luoyang, the Western Capital, and they almost single-handedly persisted in resisting the Jin in Luoyang. Zhao Jiu also saw a lot of news about this family from various places. As for Emperor Zhao, he vaguely associated the rise of this family with Zhujiazhuang and Zengtou City in Water Margin!

In other words, this family is simply the Song Dynasty version of a super powerful family, and they are a powerful family that rose to power by taking advantage of the chaos!

However, they are loyal and reliable in terms of their code of conduct, and they value national justice! Not long ago, the defense of Xijing was fought by the Zhai brothers alone, and the second son of the second brother Zhai Jin also died under the sword of the Jin people in the breakout battle.

Therefore, when ethnic conflict is the main core contradiction, the Zhai family is undoubtedly loyal to the emperor, patriotic and powerful!

"I don't know much about Ruzhou, but I heard about one thing in the Jin army." Just as Zhao Guanjia's mind drifted to the Water Margin, Yan Xiaozhong continued to narrate seriously. "There was a warrior named Niu Gao who took advantage of the Jin army's passage and rose up. He repeatedly fought against the Jin people and won. Now he has quite a lot of troops..."

Zhao Jiu was startled and almost didn't react... There was no way, after more than half a year, he finally caught someone he knew, and was a little caught off guard. Thinking about this trip to the West, I thought it was Journey to the West, but later found out it was Water Margin, but in the end it was Yue Fei's Biography.

"Your Majesty, I think we can make up our minds to fight this battle!" At this moment, Zhang Jun, the trial censor who had been staring at Emperor Zhao and wearing a red robe, suddenly stepped out. "This is not only because the imperial court must drive out the Jin army from Nanyang, but also because the west of the capital is in chaos and there are all kinds of people. The imperial court should take this opportunity to select the chaotic soldiers here, recruit the loyal and brave ones, and drive out the useless ones! It's a good way to kill two birds with one stone!"

Zhao Jiu nodded slowly. The four gentlemen around him looked at each other, unable to refute for a moment.

"If the emperor wants to wage this war, he must be careful about one thing." Seeing that no one spoke, Yan Xiaozhong had no choice but to remind carefully.

"What is it?"

"Good instructor, you know that there is a vital place at this time, that is Wuguan, and the guard is none other than the monk Zongyin in the staff of Master Fan..."

"Liu Yan!" Emperor Zhao turned his head and gave an order to someone beside him without waiting for him to finish. "I will give you a gold medal immediately. No matter how you lead your people to get around or get through, you must rush to Wuguan and seize the military power of that monk before the battle!"

"Your Majesty!" Just then, Xiao Lin, a scholar, suddenly stepped out. "I am willing to go and pacify them as a close minister of the emperor!"

Zhao Jiu was stunned for a moment, and couldn't help but feel relieved...

Of course I am relieved!

You have to know that Wuguan is hundreds of miles behind the enemy lines, separated by a main force of the Jin army of 10,000 households. It's not like going to Ruzhou to recruit Niu Gao or something like that, but this scholar Xiao Lin actually volunteered... There was Hu Yin in front and Lin Jingmo in the back, and even Zhang Jun didn't become depressed or retreat because of the blow just now. It can be seen that these young civil officials he promoted are not the same kind of people as Fan Zhixu!

What can I say? Thank God, the Song Dynasty still seems to be saved!

PS: Thanks to the fifty-third cute, restless volcano! I feel like I'll be able to enter the Masterpiece Hall next month if I keep going like this.