"Your Highness, there is an urgent report from Youzhou Yue Fei!" Yu Yunwen hurried in with an official report he had just received. "Give it to me!" Wang Chen, who was sitting in the Shangshu Provincial Government Office and discussing matters with Zhang Suo and Zhe Yan, calmly ordered Yu Yunwen. Yu Yunwen followed his words and handed over the secret letter he had just received to Wang Chen. Wang Chen reached out to take it and opened the secret letter in front of Zhang Suo and Zhe Yanzhi. This is not a letter, but a military report written in the code developed by Wang Chen. Without translation, there is no way to understand the content. Wang Chen took out the code book he carried with him and checked them one by one. After translating the content of the letter, Wang Chen stayed for a while. Seeing Wang Chen's changed expression, Zhang Suo hurriedly asked: "Your Highness, what happened in the direction of Youzhou?" "The Jin army is mobilizing urgently. It seems that they are preparing to rescue Xixia and join forces with Xixia to fight against us. The army is attacking!" Wang Chen handed the translated secret message to Zhang Suo and Zhe Yan for review. Zhang Suo first took the secret letter and read it, and then handed it to Zhe Yanzhi. Zhe Yanzhi took it and looked at it, with excitement on his face. "Your Highness, it seems that Yue Fei's men and horses have something to do!" Wang Chen suddenly stood up and confronted Zhang Suo and Zhe Yan: "Ms. Zhang, Mr. Zhe, I will go to the palace immediately and tell this matter. Tell your majesty, as well as Xianggong Li and Xianggong Zhang, to ask your majesty to discuss this matter urgently. Is it necessary to take a preemptive strike against the Jin people?" Wang Chen said, without waiting for Zhang Suo and Zhe Yanzhi's reaction, and left in a hurry. . Zhang Suo and Zhe Yanzhi also stood up immediately and followed them out of the official office of Shangshu Province. After Wang Chen reported the situation to Zhao Chen and passed it on to Li Gang and Zhang Jun, Zhao Chen immediately summoned hundreds of officials to discuss the matter urgently. "According to reports from Youzhou Yue Fei, the Jin army has begun to gather on a large scale and is preparing to join forces with Xixia to attack the Song Dynasty. You can tell me what you think of this matter!" Zhao Chen and Wang Chen meant. First explain the situation to the ministers, and let them speak enthusiastically and express their opinions. Zhe Yanzhi was the first to stand up and expressed his opinion: "Your Majesty, I feel that our army should take the initiative to attack before the Jin invades. Invade the Kingdom of Jin and move the battlefield to the Kingdom of Jin to prevent the people of our Song Dynasty from suffering. At the end of the war!" Zhang Suo also immediately stood up and supported Zhe Yanzhi's statement: "Your Majesty, Shangshu Zhe is right. In the past, the battlefields of Jin invasions were in our Song Dynasty, which caused countless people to suffer. If this situation cannot happen again, the battlefield should be moved to Xixia or the Kingdom of Jin, so that their people can taste the pain of war. In order to prevent my troops from attacking Xixia from being attacked from both sides, and in order that our defenders on the Yanyun front line can take the initiative, I, therefore, It is suggested that our troops on the front line should attack Yan Yun before the Jin people, or join forces with the Xixia people, to avoid trouble!" Then Qin Hui, the Minister of Civil Affairs, also immediately stood up and expressed similar opinions. Meaning, the Jin people should be defeated when they are weak and have not fully joined forces with the Xixia people. There are many ministers who have come out to support a preemptive attack on the Jin Army. But some people said that now that our Song army is fighting fiercely with the Xixia people, we should exercise restraint in the direction of the border with the Jin people, avoid fighting on two fronts, and not look at each other from the beginning to the end. The Jin people and the Song Dynasty just signed a peace agreement two years ago. Given the chaotic domestic situation, they should not dare to go to war with the Song Dynasty. They mobilized their troops just because they were worried that we, the Song Dynasty, would take the initiative to attack. However, people who hold such opinions are only in the minority. After Wang Chen stood up and expressed his opinions impassionedly, he never stood up to express his opposition to the current war with the Jin people. "The Jin people are like tigers and wolves. As long as their vitality recovers, they will definitely invade our Song Dynasty again. The Kingdom of Jin will always be the biggest threat to our Song Dynasty. Now that the power of the Kingdom of Jin is in danger, our Song Dynasty attacks Xixia, which makes them feel the coldness of their lips and teeth. , afraid of suffering the same fate as the Xixia people, so they are ready to unite with the Xixia people to fight against the attack of the Song Dynasty. We, the Song Dynasty, should take this opportunity to wipe out the Xixia and Jin armies in one fell swoop, completely eliminate the troubles in the north, and conquer this area. The land that originally belonged to China has been re-incorporated into the territory of the Song Dynasty! One thing I hope my colleagues will remember is that offense is always the best defense. Keep the battlefield away from the place where the people of the Song Dynasty live. The harm this will cause to the people of the Song Dynasty will be At the very least, if we knew that the Song Dynasty¡¯s Northern Troubles would be completely eliminated in this battle, and the people north of the Yellow River would no longer be harmed by the Jin people, then most of the people would support Wang Chen¡¯s Northern Expedition!¡± Wang Chen¡¯s words brought attention to the court. It fell silent for a moment. Yes, what Wang Chen said is reasonable. If the battlefield occurs within the territory of our country, the damage caused to our country will definitely be much greater than if the battlefield occurs outside the country. If the battlefield occurs outside the country, Then the people in the Song Dynasty would be free from the suffering of war. The people of the Song Dynasty have already suffered hardships caused by countless wars. If the people north of the Yellow River can be made to suffer again,To experience the pain of war is a matter of immeasurable merit. Attack is the best defense, and no defensive method can completely eliminate the enemy's danger. After Wang Chen, prime ministers Li Gang and Zhang Jun also stood up and expressed that they should adopt a preemptive approach to defeat the Jin people before they could attack Yanyun or join forces with the Xixia army, so as to eliminate the Song Dynasty as much as possible. Crisis in the North. The outcome of the court meeting immediately became a conclusion, and the Song Dynasty would take the initiative to fight against possible attacks by the Jin people. The soldiers and horses gathered in the Yanyun area were not enough to defeat the Jin army, let alone destroy the country. Therefore, the imperial court immediately issued a mobilization order, ordering more than a dozen military guards stationed north of the Yellow River to reinforce Yanyun and the Xixia territory. battlefield. In fact, these military guards have been stationed not far from the Yanyun and Taiyuan lines. As long as the battlefield situation changes, reinforcements can be sent north immediately. Wang Chen has been busy for several months, and the preparations made are quite sufficient. In addition to men and horses, the stockpile of food and weapons is also relatively sufficient. As long as no special circumstances occur, it will be enough to ensure the needs for a month or two of fighting. With the issuance of the latest imperial edict, the Song Dynasty has also entered into nationwide mobilization. The reorganized military guards north of the Yellow River have all moved north. Some armies south of the Yellow River, as well as the Xiang army, have also moved north one after another. There is an endless stream of convoys transporting grain, grass, weapons and ammunition from the banks of the Yellow River to the north, and the scale will become larger and larger. After the imperial court issued an edict to launch a full-scale war against the Xixia and Jin people, the entire Song Dynasty almost entered a state of war preparation. However, the people north of the Yellow River showed unimaginable enthusiasm and took the initiative to join the transportation of supplies without the need for recruitment. The civilian militia team contributed to the Song Dynasty army's northern expedition again. Just half a month after the imperial court issued the edict for all-out war mobilization, there were already as many as 250,000 troops gathered in the Yanyun area. Wang Chen originally wanted to go to the Yanyun front line in person to command the war against Jin, but the young emperor Zhao Chen refused to let him leave Kaifeng again, and Yu Ruoran, who had just given birth to a child, also wanted him to stay in Kaifeng. In the end, Zheyanzhi asked for orders to go to Yanyun to take charge of the war in the north. Although Wang Chen believed in Yue Fei's ability, Yue Fei's qualifications were still a little behind. If he wanted to take charge of the overall situation, his position was also lacking. There must be an official who holds an important position in the government to take charge of everything. Only then can he do a better job. Operate everything in this war to prevent our Song army from being able to coordinate with each other and follow up after the war with the Jin people begins. Just after the emergency war mobilization order was issued, Zhe Yanzhi immediately set off from Kaifeng and rushed to Youzhou at starry night. It only took one day for the secret message sent back by Yue Fei to reach Kaifeng, and Zhao Chen's edict for general mobilization of the war was also issued on the same day. Zhe Yannan left Kaifeng on the third day after the edict was issued. Such high efficiency cannot but be said to be a miracle in ancient times when communications were backward. When Yue Fei sent back the secret message, the Jin Kingdom was gathering troops, and it was not that they were about to launch a war against the Song Dynasty. It will take at least a few months for the Jin people to assemble their troops and horses. After they have assembled their troops and horses, they will go south or west to reach the place bordering the Song Dynasty. It will take at least about two months. After two months, they will urgently start from Zhe Yanzhi, who set off from Kaifeng, should also arrive in Youzhou. After the war mobilization order was issued, Wang Chen became even busier. He often went to the palace to report things to Zhao Chenxun, and also discussed government affairs with Li Gang, Zhang Jun, Zhang Suo and other high-ranking officials in the court, as well as issues that needed to be resolved during the war. . Wang Chen felt like he was as busy as a top, spinning all day long. Fortunately, the current officials in the Great Song Dynasty have changed their previous style of doing things. Most of them are no longer overstaffed and work at a fast pace. Once something is arranged, it can be implemented quickly. In mid-March, another good news came from the front line. Han Shizhong reported to the court that the army he personally led after a bloody battle captured Lingzhou and annihilated and captured more than 30,000 Xixia troops. Lingzhou was captured by our army, which is a very happy thing. Lingzhou was captured by our Song army, which means that a large area of ??Xixia military territory has been occupied by our army. A large part of the beautiful and rich Hetao Plain fell into the hands of our Northern Expedition army. Wang Chen knew that this was the result of the Xixia people not being prepared for war, and also the result of the more powerful explosives equipped in our Song Dynasty army. In addition to the shocking news of the capture of Lingzhou, Han Shizhong's department sent back a lot of good news, all of which reported how many Xixia armies were defeated or annihilated. After Han Shizhong captured Lingzhou, he continued to lead his army to attack Zhongxingfu, the capital of Xixia. Before the war, Wang Chen¡¯s order to the generals was to use fast and mobile tactics to achieve greater results. The strategy adopted by Han Shizhong's troops was just as he planned, advancing quickly and attacking the hinterland of Xixia territory quickly. Xixia people who are not adequately prepared will naturally not be able to arrive.Our army has assembled superior forces to attack. "Your Majesty, this time my army goes to Xixia, the Xixia people will definitely not be able to stop it. Lingzhou is captured by our army, and the Hetao will definitely be within easy reach," Wang Chen said happily after reporting the latest battle report to Zhao Chen: "Your Majesty, Xixia will definitely be destroyed in this battle. Perhaps the war will go more smoothly than we expected. This is a gratifying thing!" Zhao Chen was also very happy and said cheerfully: "Xiaochu, this paragraph The Song Dynasty is full of happy events. Good news is coming from the front, and good things are happening around me. Do you know that Concubine Shu is happy, and I have a baby, haha!" "Ah" Wang Chen was surprised. stunned.