Now all departments are in the process of rest and rest, mainly to supplement their troops and pre-war policy education, and to send troops to assist local governments in clearing out the remaining enemies, suppressing rebellions, and conducting reconnaissance against the enemy. Therefore, there will be no major issues for the chief officer to leave for a while, and Zhao Bing will let them stay in Handan for a few days, learn about the situation on the front line in detail, and discuss the next combat plan.

At the same time, Zhao Bing attended two meetings of local prefecture chief officials, expressed his concerns, and emphasized the current urgent task. One is to prevent the people from fleeing and form a wave of refugees; the second is to publicize the Song Dynasty's policies on the newly restored land to stabilize people's hearts; the third is to implement land reform as soon as possible.

Zhao Bing knew that the people’s requirements were actually very simple, that is, they could get food and clothing, and live a peaceful and stable life. Therefore, only by allowing the people to gain real benefits and protect their interests can they be at ease. This will make people’s hearts stabilize and no longer bewitched by the Yuan Dynasty, so as to obtain a stable rear.

As for how to govern, Zhao Bing did not ask more about it. These civil officials were better at it, so he threw the stolen money to Lu Xiufu and others, and focused his energy on the next step of military operations.

"Your Majesty, I think that after obtaining supplements, I should launch an attack as soon as possible to annihilate the current Zhending enemy and open the path to Dadu. Otherwise, reinforcements from all over the enemy will have great difficulties in their future actions. Therefore, I think this battle should be done sooner rather than later!" Although I have understood the significance and difficulties of the current rest, Han Zhen still hopes to advance north as soon as possible to avoid encountering heavy troops with the enemy.

"Deputy envoy of Han, the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty, was stationed in Zhending with Zhang Gui as the commander of the country, blocking our army's path northward advance. In addition to his guards, he also gathered the garrison troops of various prefectures, counties, and towns and recruited civilian troops. It is reported that there are no less than 100,000 troops. It is not easy to annihilate them in one fell swoop, and it is necessary to plan well!" Jiang Zhen said.

"What Deputy Envoy Jiang said is very true!" Although Han Zhen and Jiang Jin were both deputy envoys of the Privy Council, they knew that Jiang Jin's qualifications and reputation were far better than themselves, and had a higher status in the Privy Council, so they had to pay attention to it and pondered for a moment, "Zhang Gui was born in a general and was cautious in using troops. This time, he was lucky to trap him in Daming. If he had not been suspicious of the Daming General, he might still be blocked under Daming City!"

"Well, after the three generations of generals of the Zhang family, his ancestor was the Mongol Yuan who destroyed Jin and pacified the northwest. He ranked second among the four Han marquis. His father led the army to pacify the south of the Yangtze River. If His Majesty had not been wise, he would have almost died in his hands when he went to the court. Although our army had fought with Zhang Gui for the first time, it could also be seen that his military use was well-known. If the Mongol Yuan court had repeatedly urged him to go south, he would not have fallen into our ambush easily. And he could break out under heavy troops, which shows that he had the ability to use troops, which was not inferior to his ancestors, father!" Tian Zhong nodded and said.

"It seems that Zhending is an important city leading to the capital, and there may be a fierce battle!" Jiang Zhen said.

"I think Zhang Gui is setting up a suspicion array in the old way, and his in Zhending is just a bluff, and Baozhou is the focus of his defense!" Zhao Bing stood up at this time, pointed at the map with his fingers and said.

"Why?" Tian Zhong, as the commander of the Hebei West Road, asked in surprise on his way north.

"Zhending Prefecture is located in central Hebei. In our dynasty, it is an important political, military and economic center for Hebei to defend against the southern invasion of the northern enemy. However, after the Jurchen invasion and moved south, Zhending had lost the significance of defending against the northern invasion, so the city was disrepaired and the outer city and the Zicheng were seriously damaged. After the Yuan Dynasty destroyed the Jin Dynasty, its policy of demolishing the city walls and not repairing the city for a long time accelerated the demise of Zicheng. Now that the city's defense function is lost, it is difficult to repair in the short term." Zhao Bing said.

"Zhang Gui fought with our army and knew that our firearms were sharp and that without solid city defense, we could not stop our army's attack. He knew that it was difficult to defeat. He would not place heavy troops in Zhending, but instead bluffed his voice, but focused on Baozhou!"

"Why is Baozhou?" Han Zhen was puzzled by the emperor's judgment. Zhending has always been a major center in the Central Plains and a place where military strategists must fight for. It was too hasty to give up so easily.

"In the sixth year of Taiping Xingguo, our dynasty changed Qingyuan County to Baosai County, and promoted Baosai Army to Baozhou. In the third year of Chunhua, Li Jixuan was the governor of Baozhou and established the city as the prefecture and county seat. In the 16th year of Dading of Jin, Baosai County was changed to Qingyuan County. In the first year of Zhenyou, the Mongolian army captured Qingyuan City and burned the city into ruins. The Baozhou Prefecture was moved to Mancheng County. In the second year of Zhenyou, it was changed to Zhongshan Road. After entering the Yuan Dynasty, Zhang Rou became the marshal of Baozhou, moved the prefecture to Qingyuan, and rebuilt the city..." Zhao Bing said.

Because Baozhou is the southern gate of the capital of the Yuan Dynasty, the Baozhou City built by Zhang Rou is eleven miles in radius and built with rammed earth, which is slightly larger than the previous dynasty. He planned the city, built houses, built city walls, and brought the moat into the city, dredged river channels, drained floods and prevented droughts, built lotus ponds, built academies, moved temples and schools, benefited transportation, benefit agriculture, commerce and industry, improved production conditions and the living environment of residents, so that Baozhou City could be revived and became the "a metropolis in Yannan".

He presided over the construction of the yamen to the north of the government, the houses to the south, and also built inns, soldiers' houses, warehouses, pharmacies, commercial tax offices, houses, horse courtyards, etc. He also built four qiaotu buildings on the city wall, with Gongji to the north, Liwu to the south, Changshan to the west, and Jieshi to the east. But looking at Langshan to the west, looking down at the whole city, the roads in the city were also designed to be straight, which were mainly for military purposes.

"The Zhang family's ancestral home is Dingxing, and later the family moved to Baozhou and was buried in Mancheng after their death." After Zhao Bing explained the reasons, he pointed out again.

"There were many Hebei plots that followed Zhang Rou back then, and there were hundreds of people who received titles. Many of them had fiefs around Baozhou and became local tyrants, but they still depended on the Zhang family. If Zhang Gui wanted to fight our army in Baozhou, he would be said to have a response and take up all the right time, place, and people. Moreover, these tyrants benefited from the Mongols, and would not give up, and would not give in more than those Mongols." Jiang Zhen said.

"Your Majesty reminds you that when fighting in Shandong, the Mongolian sects and royal army are often vulnerable, but the civilian army organized by local powerful people often fight to the death, work hard for the alien race, and even bury the clans for their own lives!" Han Zhen nodded and said.

"When we destroyed the Yizhou city defense and entered the city, many Mongolians retreated after a moment of battle, and even abandoned the city and fled. On the contrary, the tribesmen of Li Chang, the Marquis of Han of Yidu, led the village war with us, fighting for the streets, fighting from house to street, and fighting to the death without surrender. In the end, they could only kill them all to occupy the city. This battle also caused considerable casualties to our troops." Yan Feng sighed.

"Yes, Zhang Hong, the grandson of Zhang Rong, who was hereditary to Jinan Duke, was also the same. He sold all his property, armed his tribe and serfs, and recruited village warriors, and obtained 5,000 soldiers to help defend the city. These people were very brave and fearless, and were even more fierce than the Mongols. After the city was broken, they held the mansion and did not surrender. They could only use artillery fire to blow the walls of the courtyard to enter. However, all the women in the family committed suicide. In addition to the dead, the men gathered in the ancestral hall to burn themselves and died. The scene was sighing!" Guan Hong also sighed.

"This is not surprising." Zhao Bing said, "Although they were Han people, they were beneficiaries of the rule of the Mongol Yuan. These people still maintained the tradition of the Han people. After they became famous, they invited famous scholars as their aides and educated their descendants. They thought that loyalty to the Mongol Yuan was loyal to the emperor and patriotism, but in fact they were helping the evil. And under their rule, a relatively stable area was formed in this turbulent era, with relatively clear politics, and the people were able to survive under their protection. Naturally, they blindly followed them and became enemies of the Celestial Empire, and eventually became cannon fodder for them to be buried with them."

"Yes! His ancestor Zhang Rou became famous very early. He was a generous person when he was a teenager. He was good at riding and shooting. He was famous for his heroic spirit. He was in charge of Baozhou to bring the moat into the city, dredge the river channels, drain water from floods and prevent droughts, build academies, move temples and schools, benefit transportation, farming, commerce and industry, improve production conditions and the living environment of residents, so that Baozhou City can be revived, won the hearts of the people, and attracted many people to join us." Jiang Zhen said.

"As Your Majesty said, after these powerful men became famous, they often invited famous scholars to join the shogunate to educate their children. Hao Jing, a great scholar in the north, was once the guest of Zhang's visit. The descendants of Zhang's family also achieved success. Zhang Gui's father Zhang Hongfan was also famous at a young age and had both good civil and military skills. At the age of 20, he had to teach the tiger talisman to lead the army alone to fight and participate in the attack on the Song Dynasty. He was shocked by military merits. They all said that the tiger father had no dog son, and Zhang Gui was also a young man who inherited his father's title, skilled in bows and horses, and had martial arts. He was appointed as a general and must not underestimate the enemy!"

"Although there are tiger fathers but no dogs and sons, there is also a folk saying that "weasels have rats - a nest is worse than a nest." Although Zhang Gui was born after two generations of generals, he grew up under his father's reputation. Like other nobles, he received more love and care. His career went smoothly and he rose to prominence. After his father was defeated and died, he attacked his father's title, wearing a tiger talisman, and was full of high expectations from the court and the country. However, except for the feat of shooting tigers for a young man, he has performed mediocrely over the years, without any merits and no faults. He can only be considered a mediocre person and not afraid!" Seeing that the generals were silent after hearing this, Zhao Bing smiled and said.

"Haha, what Your Majesty said is very true. There are many people who are famous and cannot be trapped by their reputation. In the battle of Daming, we will be defeated by us and defeated by our generals alone!" Han Zhen smiled with a rare stinking foot that praised the emperor.

"Haha..." All the generals laughed dryly after hearing this, especially Jiang Jin was embarrassed, and Zhao Bing also woke up instantly. Jiang Jin was behind the prime minister, and he was an emperor of more than ten generations. What he said just now was like pretending to be in.

"Haha... I think this is not absolute. There are unworthy descendants everywhere, but there are also those who inherit the glory of the family!" Zhao Bing explained with a sneer. But he was not convinced. I was not a prince and grandson, but God teased him, forcing me to survive. The real "self" had long been sank to the sea in history.
Chapter completed!