In September of the sixth year of the Qingli period of the Song Dynasty, the war in the northwest was in full swing.
Han Qi sent Zhang Kang, Jingtai and others to attack Yuan Hao in the west, surrounded Miaochuan City, and attacked Zhuola City. The battle went smoothly.
Now the Western Xia army outside Miaochuan City has been completely wiped out, and the Song army is bombarding the city.
At this critical juncture, the Liao Kingdom suddenly invaded Goryeo. In the Battle of Guizhou, Goryeo was defeated and fled south in panic.
Pyongyang in later generations was not the capital of Goryeo, but Goryeo's Western Capital.
After King Wang Huinan of Goryeo fled to Xijing, he left General Kang Chengzhi to garrison there, while he himself fled to Kaifeng, which was later known as Kaesong in Korea.
Although the Liao Kingdom had once captured Kaesong and occupied it for a period of time, Wang Hui decided to defend Kaesong to the death.
Because it is sandwiched between two rivers, namely the Peishui (Licheng River) and the Nihe (North Han River), and to the west is the Bohai Sea, the terrain is extremely dangerous, making it convenient for the Song army's navy to come to the rescue.
Although the areas further south were also part of Goryeo, such as Seoul, which later became Goryeo's Nanjing, and the area east of Daegu, which became Goryeo's Tokyo, the south was almost indefensible.
Therefore, in order to prevent the country from being destroyed, the King of Goryeo had no choice but to take a gamble and choose to fight a decisive battle with the Liao Kingdom in Kaesong to defend his own capital.
Almost at noon when the Council of Political Affairs meeting ended, many prime ministers, after discussion, immediately went to the back garden to discuss with Zhao Zhen.
When Zhao Zhen learned about the situation and heard that this battle would allow him to recover Qingtang, Zhuolao, Nan and the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, he almost died of joy and happily sent troops.
The Song Dynasty was obsessed with the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun. At the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, Emperor Huizong of Song even threatened that whoever could take it back would be made a king of the opposite sex. This is enough to show how much the Song Dynasty valued this land.
In the final analysis, the geographical location of the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun is too important.
Without Yanyun, there would be no stronghold for defense against the northern nomadic peoples. The country would have to face their offensive pressure at any time, and in order to protect the country's territory, it had to be heavily guarded, resulting in high military expenditures and depletion of the national treasury.
Now that there is finally an opportunity to take it back, it would be strange if Zhao Zhen was not overjoyed.
September 22nd, at noon.
Yesterday afternoon, Zhao Zhen signed the order to mobilize troops at the speed of light, and the Privy Council also approved it at the speed of light. Then the Ministry of War and the Privy Council quickly began to withdraw the Bianliang Imperial Guards.
Now the Song Dynasty has an army of more than 600,000. Excluding the 300,000 or so troops in Shaanxi and Hebei, and the more than 200,000 troops scattered in other places, there are still about 200 battalions left in Bianliang, which is about 100,000.
Compared with the nearly 400,000 imperial guards gathered in Bianliang before the military reform, with a total of more than 630 Tokyo camps, the imperial guards at this time appeared to be more refined and much more powerful.
The old, weak, and lazy soldiers were weeded out, leaving only the elite who dared to fight. In addition, every ten battalions formed an army, and each army had a general as the commander, who managed daily training and military discipline, greatly improving combat effectiveness.
At this moment, Fan Zhongyan had just gone to the Privy Council to get the transfer order. When he came out of the Privy Council, Zhao Zhen was already waiting for him.
The shortest way out of the palace from the Privy Council is to go south from the Duanli Gate, but Fan Zhongyan had to set out from the Xihua Gate today to go to the Bianliang Forbidden Army Camp first to lead the soldiers away, so he went through the back door of the Wende Hall in the north, and then went to the Xihua Gate in the west from the Fudao.
Outside the Chuigong Hall, Zhao Zhen came out from the North Palace, while prime ministers such as Zhao Jun came out from the back door of the Daqing Hall and went to the outside of the Zichen Hall. After the two sides met up, they saw Fan Zhongyan coming out from the back door of the Wenden Hall from afar.
Fan Zhongyan's movements in the palace were naturally monitored by them. Seeing that everyone was waiting for him on the corridor, Fan Zhongyan hurried over to greet Zhao Zhen and said, "Your Majesty."
"Well, I will go with Hanlong and the others to see Lord Xiwen off."
Zhao Zhen put his hands behind his back, his face slightly flushed, and it was obvious that he was still quite excited. After all, this was a big event to recover the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun.
Zhao Jun had already told him that the Song Dynasty had only briefly recovered the territory at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, and that was by buying it back, and it was quickly repelled, even making the Song Dynasty a laughing stock for generations. And such a feat was about to happen in his hands, how could he not be excited?
"I will die for your Majesty's sake."
Fan Zhongyan replied quickly.
"hehe."
Zhao Zhen waved his hand and then walked towards Xihua Gate. As he walked, he said, "This battle is different from the previous ones. Although the previous wars with Xixia and Liao were important and established the current status of our Song Dynasty, the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun have always been a concern for our Song Dynasty, and I also attach great importance to it."
"Yes, the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun. Taizu and Taizong also tried to take them back many times, but unfortunately they always failed. If we can recapture them in this battle, our Song Dynasty will truly return to the prosperity of the heyday of the Tang Dynasty."
Yan Shu beside him also sighed.
A solemn expression appeared on everyone's face. If Yanyun was not recaptured, it would always be an indelible dark cloud hanging over the Song Dynasty, which was heartbreaking.
"I will do my utmost to restore Yanyun to Han territory."
Fan Zhongyan said seriously.
Several people were walking side by side, Zhao Zhen was walking in front, Zhao Jun was on his left, and Fan Zhongyan was on his right.
Then came the many prime ministers on both sides and behind him, who walked slowly towards Xihua Gate.
Zhao Jun also put his hands behind his back, looked up at the slightly pale warm sun of late autumn, and said with a smile, "Actually, Old Fan, don't be too stressed. With the current size of the Song Dynasty, defeating the Liao Kingdom shouldn't be a big problem. It's just that we don't want to annex the huge Liao Kingdom right away."
"Um."
Fan Zhongyan nodded slightly in response.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
