As expected, Tuo Junjing's troops suffered heavy losses from the outset. Li Ziqian was no slouch; his troops were quite capable. Jiulongshan fell, and the Qinglin Army suffered over a third of its casualties, forcing them to retreat to the Songquanli area.

At this time, Zhao Huan's troops had already arrived at Liuhe Town. This time, the army did not deliberately rush the march. Zhao Huan was not in a hurry anyway, and the army just followed its usual pace and finally arrived at Liuhe Town on the border.

After Zhao Huan's series of reforms, the Song Dynasty's fiscal revenue increased significantly. The Song Dynasty also had the capital to go to war. First, it recovered the Western Xia, and then Kang Huojian and Zhu Qing entered the heartland of the Hebula on the grassland.

Zhao Huan led the imperial guards north to Goryeo. All this depended on the strong financial income of the Song Dynasty.

But war is simply a money-burning business. With such expenditure, the national treasury has been almost depleted.

The most serious problem was that the army mobilized this time amounted to hundreds of thousands, and the civilians mobilized for logistics reached millions. The heavy labor made the people complain bitterly. The army collected food, transported fodder, and paid military salaries, which was a huge expense, and the labor force mobilized was even greater.

The only thing that made Zhao Huan feel relieved was that the Song Dynasty had taken advantage of the situation so far and at least had not suffered a major defeat.

The situation was different for the Hebula, as the Mongol empire was too vast and its forces were too dispersed. The main reason was that the Song Dynasty was well prepared, with a variety of counter-weapons emerging one after another, and they seemed to have specially studied how to deal with cavalry.

In the camp, Hebule had a cold face and all his generals were dejected. Hebule's most trusted general, Darantai, was covered in blood and hung his head, sighing.

Darantai encountered Zhu Qing's Iron Wolf Army on the outskirts of Dadan's tribe, and the two sides had just fought a bloody battle.

Darantai still hasn't understood why this Song army unit marked by the wolf flag is so powerful.

"Dalandai, how did you fight this battle?" Hebule finally spoke.

Darantai seemed to feel ashamed to face them. He lowered his head and clasped his fists, saying, "Great Khan, I simply cannot defeat them. This Song army is different from any we've encountered. They..."

"It's the same as the Song army we encountered," Hebule interrupted him: "The key point."

Darandai sighed. "They use the wolf as their symbol, and their flag features a black wolf in armor. They seem to know our tactics well and how I will fight."

Hebule was surprised: "Do you think they have seen through our tactics?"

Darantai nodded. "That's right. I used cavalry on both wings to start the encirclement. I didn't expect the Song army to use the same tactics. They also used cavalry archers on both wings to encircle the enemy, while the heavily armored cavalry charged in the center."

Hebule was furious: "Even if they use the same tactics, my Mongolian warriors have conquered all corners of the world, how can we not be defeated by them!"

Dalantai wiped his sweat and said, "Respected Khan, the Song wolf army is extremely powerful. They wield powerful crossbows that can fire continuously and aim. The crossbows have pulleys that can be pulled by a child, and the arrows are as fast as meteors. My Mongolian men in leather armor are no match for them."

The Shenbi crossbow was indeed too powerful, especially after Zhao Huan suggested that the Military Equipment Supervisor add a pulley power-assisting device to the crossbow, which could achieve twice the result with half the effort.

The Shenbi crossbow was extremely powerful. The leather armor of the Mongolian cavalry archers could not withstand the power of the crossbow arrows at all. Sometimes even the heavy armor of the soldiers could be shot through.

Even more terrifying was the ability of the Shenbi crossbow to fire multiple arrows at once, and swapping arrows was incredibly quick and easy. Some skilled shooters could swap arrows in seconds. For every two arrows fired by a Mongolian archer, the Song army could fire five or even more.

Moreover, Dalantai encountered Zhu Qing's Iron Wolf Army, the elite of the elite of the Song Dynasty. Originally, Dalantai's troops were also the trump card in Hebule's hand, but they were vulnerable when they met the Iron Wolf Army.

Kubula sighed: "It is my destruction! It is my Mongol kingdom that is destroyed!"

"I am Liang Zifan, the humble general, and I am here to pay my respects to Your Majesty! Long live Your Majesty!" Liang Zifan went to greet Zhao Huan's troops outside Liuhe Town early in the morning.

Zhao Huan was really not used to the bitterly cold border of Goryeo. The last time he personally led an expedition against the Jin Dynasty, it was midsummer, but now it was already the dead of winter.

"General Liang, haha, when I was in the capital, I heard about General Liang's reputation in Yue Fei's letter. General Liang defeated Li Ziqian of Goryeo and his reputation spread far and wide. Today I see that his reputation is well-deserved." Zhao Huan highly regarded Yue Fei and was also full of good fortune for Yue Fei's subordinates.

Liang Zifan was overjoyed, not expecting His Majesty to know him. He hurriedly bowed and said, "My humble name is just a humble one, Your Majesty, your words are too kind."

Zhao Huan nodded slightly. He didn't like these compliments either. "General Liang, let's get back to the point. How are things going in Goryeo?"

Liang Zifan made a gesture of invitation and said, "Your Majesty, please take a seat in the tent. I will report the war in detail to you."

Zhao Huan nodded slightly again and led everyone to Liang Zifan's camp. The soldiers beside him knelt down to greet them.

When someone walked past Liang Zifan, Liang Bufan was slightly startled. The other person was dressed as a concubine. A closer look was even more shocking. Wasn't this the Princess of Goryeo?

Princess Yanran smiled slightly and nodded slightly towards Liang Zifan: "Thank you, General Liang, for saving my life. I will never forget it."

Zhao Huan turned around in surprise and asked, "Life-saving grace? What's going on?"

Princess Yanran then smiled and recounted in detail how she escaped to the border of the Song Dynasty and how Liang Zifan led his men to repel the pursuing Goryeo troops.

After listening to this, Zhao Huan said, "I didn't expect there would be such a story. It's no exaggeration to say that General Liang is your savior."

Liang Zifan was so frightened that he kept saying panic, but Princess Yanran was very happy because she was a person who knew how to be grateful.

After returning to the military camp, Liang Zifan introduced the situation in Goryeo to Zhao Huan in detail, and gave an overview of the mountains, rivers, customs and folkways of Goryeo.

Liang Zifan said, "Your Majesty, Goryeo is a land of mountains and rivers, with rugged and difficult roads. Furthermore, in the dead of winter, logistical supplies are even more difficult. If we want to enter the hinterland and defeat Li Ziqian's forces, it will be very difficult."

Zhao Huan had already thought of this. He said to Liang Zifan, "I have brought 37 red-coated cannons this time, but I hope they are sufficient. Can we use these weapons to wipe out Li Ziqian's forces?"

Liang Zifan was almost speechless at this. He had seen the power of the Red Cannon before. Yue Fei's troops had two of them, and Liang Zifan had seen their power firsthand: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, with this divine weapon, Goryeo has nothing to fear."

Thirty-seven guns. For a small country like Goryeo, which city could withstand the barrage of thirty-seven massive cannons?

The emperor was truly generous, personally leading the army with so many cannons. These cannons could hit anything they pointed at, and in the era of cold weapons, who could rival them?