"You are just a big shot!" Zhao Jiu interrupted him directly. "So, I have already notified Wu Jie to quickly cross the river from Shizhou and Lanzhou to lead the central army for me... Do you understand?"
Qu Duan was speechless for a moment, but he was obviously unwilling.
"Prince Yan'an is not here..." Zhao Jiu saw this and stopped hesitating. He turned his head and looked at someone, speaking coldly. "Yang Yizhong, go and give him a whip on my behalf! Get him out!"
No one said a word in the semi-permanent Tumu stronghold, and since the emperor had given the order, no one dared to refute it. The soldiers on both sides rushed forward, dragged Qu Duan out, and dragged him directly to the gate. Yang Yizhong picked up the horse whip and followed, lashing him with the whip in public inside the gate, then dropped the whip and stood in silence.
Qu Duan was extremely embarrassed, ashamed and angry, but he knew that asking for a fight this time was a huge taboo for Emperor Zhao, so he could only awkwardly go to lead the horse and prepare to leave.
"General Qu, stop." Yang Yizhong threw away his whip, but took the initiative to stop the other party.
"What does Commander Yang mean?" Qu Duan just wanted to leave quickly.
"When the emperor heard that General Qu was coming, he issued an order saying that he had heard that his horse, Tiexiang, had died of old age in Jiezhou and could no longer accompany him on the battlefield, so he was asked to bring this horse back as his mount." As he spoke, Yang Yizhong stepped aside, and a guard had already brought a majestic horse. "This is the tribute horse sent by the Western Liao ruler Yelu Dashi last year..."
When Qu Duan saw the horse, he recognized it as the mount that Emperor Zhao had been riding for the past few months. After taking the reins from the horseman, he sighed awkwardly: "Is Emperor Zhao still worried that I will surrender to the Jin people because of what happened today? Even if I really surrender, the commanders in the army will chop off my head..."
Yang Yizhong said nothing.
Seeing this, Qu Duan could only smile and shake his head, then he changed to the imperial horse and rode back south in the snow, looking a little embarrassed.
After Qu Duan left, there was no word that night. Early in the morning of the next day, the 18th day of the twelfth lunar month, the light snow stopped early and Emperor Zhao set out again, with the dragon flag pointing north, urging the army in the front and leading the troops in the rear. The main forces of Hedong also continued to advance northward at a high speed.
At noon that day, we left the Yangliang North Gate and entered the open terrain of the Taiyuan Basin.
At this time, Zhao Jiu looked back at Queshu Valley again, and couldn't help but sigh that it was a matter of time and fate... Because according to the explanation of the local military officer, the truly dangerous time in Queshu Valley is in summer. In summer, the Fen River often floods, and mudslides often wash away the roads. Not to mention that the surging river water will also cause the passable places in the valley to become extremely narrow, and the army needs to cross the river repeatedly to move forward.
If that were the case, and the Jin army still had layers of defense, the Song army would have to either rely on Wu Jie to fight, or turn around and attack Shangdang... How could it be possible for the ice to form a road as it is now, which in turn would speed up the army's passage?
But regardless of this little emotion, let's just say that after Emperor Zhao's dragon flag came out of Queshu Valley, it paused for a while and then headed north again. That evening, it arrived at the city of Jiexiu, which had been surrounded by Niu Gao of Li Yanxian's army.
Here, Zhao Jiu summoned Niu Gao, comforted him a little, and gave him a small reward for his previous contribution in breaking through the northern gate of Yangliang. He then stationed his troops behind Niu Gao's camp that day.
The next day, the 19th day of the twelfth lunar month, the imperial carriage traveled sixty miles and arrived at the city of Pingyao.
The defenders in Pingyao were already shocked by the Song army's sudden and rapid northward advance to surround the city. Seeing countless troops passing by the city and heading north, they gradually wavered. Then they saw the dragon banners arriving, and they were completely horrified. On the second day, which was the 20th day of the twelfth lunar month, when Emperor Zhao was about to abandon the siege troops and continue northward, the Han army in the city rebelled, opened the east city gate, and took the initiative to surrender.
Faced with such an opportunity, Zhao Jiu certainly did not give up, but handed over the imperial guard to Qiao Zhongfu, the commander of the imperial camp who was responsible for locking the city of Pingyao. Qiao Zhongfu immediately led his troops into the city, and after a fierce battle, they captured this important stronghold in the Taiyuan Basin before noon.
However, even though the city was breached, Emperor Zhao had no intention of stopping. He left some of his squad members behind, gathered the troops, and immediately set out with Wang Sheng's troops who had caught up with him. That evening, they arrived at the city of Qi County and met up with Wang De.
Another day, which was the 21st day of the twelfth lunar month, Zhao Jiu arrived at the city of Taigu at noon, met up with Han Shizhong and Wang Yan, and then arrived at Xuguo Town in the evening without stopping.
On the 22nd day of the twelfth lunar month, upon learning that the important town of Yuci to the east of Yangqu, the capital of Taiyuan, had been surrounded by Li Qiong himself, Emperor Zhao did not hesitate to lead his growing number of main combat troops towards Yangqu, the capital of Taiyuan.
That evening, they arrived at Yongli Prison, less than 20 miles away from the main city of Taiyuan, and set up a large camp there.
On the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, in the morning, leaving aside the 300-li distance for the vanguard troops, Emperor Zhao and his imperial guards, after eight days of rapid march, through the narrow passage of Queshu Valley, a total of nearly 500 miles, finally set up the iconic dragon banner under the city of Taiyuan at a speed that was absolutely beyond imagination... This speed, no matter from which angle, is undoubtedly a military miracle. Not to mention, during this march, the important towns on the east bank of the Fen River were quickly divided and surrounded by the Song army one by one, and even the important town of Pingyao was captured.
However, at the same time, in order to maintain the speed of advance, the many towns on the west bank of the Fen River were almost completely forgotten by the Song army. Wanyan Salihe, who was in charge of the defense zone on the west bank of the Fen River, was not sure if he was disturbed by the speed of the Song army's advance, but he was actually hiding under the surveillance of the Song army.
Thanks to this, along with the dragon banner of Emperor Zhao, there were no less than 30,000 elite soldiers from the imperial camp. At the same time, countless troops and civilians were constantly gathering from the rear.
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