As the sky gradually became brighter, the residents of Daming City finally discovered something different. They saw the long-lost Song army flags and also saw teams of Song army patrolling the city. The news made the residents of the city happy, and the sound of firecrackers and gongs and drums sounded everywhere in the city.

The Song army camp was crowded with people who came to reward the army spontaneously, with more than a thousand people. Many of them were driving large trucks, filled with chicken, duck, fish, and countless fine wine, as well as slaughtered fat pigs and fat sheep. The farmer was ordered to receive the people who reward the army in front of the camp.

"Dear fellow villagers, we are the vanguard of the Song army. I tell you that His Highness, the Regent, has begun the Northern Expedition, and hundreds of thousands of troops are encircling and suppressing the puppet Qi army in the Central Plains. Once the Central Plains is recovered, the next step is to target Hebei."

"General, how many troops do you have now? Can you defend Daming City?" a businessman asked worriedly.

Everyone talked, and this was their common concern.

Zhong Lie smiled slightly, "Please rest assured, we have 20,000 troops first, and reinforcements are on the way and will arrive in a few days. Since we have occupied Daming City, we will never give it to the Jin soldiers again. We hope everyone will give strong support in terms of manpower."

"We have been looking forward to this day for a long time. As long as the Song army posts a recruitment notice, I believe that a large number of people will definitely be willing to serve the Song army!"

Everyone was not wrong. When the notice of the Song army recruiting civil servants was posted in various parts of the city, young and strong people in the city immediately flocked from all over the place and lined up in front of the Song army camp. On the first day alone, more than 10,000 people signed up to participate in the civil servants.

Yan Qing immediately ordered the relief of the poor in the city. Daming Mansion was the most important base of the Jin soldiers in the Song Dynasty. He collected 400,000 stones of grain and nearly one million dan of forage in the city. Except for a very small part of it transported to the wharf, most of the other grain and grass were in Nancang City in the city. In addition, there were also a large number of soldiers, tents, flags, war drums, tin oil, pig iron and silver and other strategic materials in Beicang City. Even thirty large fire cannons were found in a dusty warehouse.

This discovery made Yan Qing very happy. They ordered the craftsmen to carefully check the thirty fire cannons to see if they could be used again. The result was everyone happy. The thirty large fire cannons had never been used and kept in good condition. Yan Qing immediately ordered the soldiers to transport the fire cannons to the top of the city.

Three days later, there were enemy cavalry spies outside the city, with more than hundreds of people. They peeked at Daming City from all directions. The spies were not Jin soldiers, but Ji army. Judging from the scale of the spies, the Hebei army that came to attack Daming City would not be less than 30,000.

...........

In Qinghe County, Enzhou, an army of 50,000 people was walking along the Yongji Canal. This was the army personally led by King Gao Qingyi of Ji to recover the Daming Mansion. After Gao Qingyi received the news that the Daming Mansion was lost, he immediately led the army south without hesitation.

Gao Qingyi was originally a Han native of Liao and surrendered to the Jin Kingdom earlier. He has always been respected by the Jin Kingdom. He represented the Jin Kingdom many times on behalf of the Jin Kingdom to the Song Dynasty. The Jin Kingdom considered that his ancestors were from a famous family in Hebei. After conferring Liu Yu as the Queen of Qi, he also conferred Gao Qingyi as King of Ji, and temporarily took charge of the Hebei region for the Jin Kingdom.

The Jin Dynasty's support for Gao Qing's descendants was obviously stronger than that of the Qi army. Not only was it more well-equipped, but it also provided 20,000 war horses. In terms of soldiers, it was mainly the surrendered Song army imperial guards, and had strong combat effectiveness.

Daming Prefecture is equally important to Gao Qing’s people. Daming Prefecture was called the Northern Capital in the Song Dynasty. The Song Dynasty spent a lot of effort on building Daming Prefecture, making Daming City no less than Tokyo Bianliang in terms of city scale and defense.

Originally, Gao Qingyi wanted to build the palace in Daming Mansion, but Wanyan Xie also occupied Daming Mansion, which made him feel uneasy. This time, Wanyan Xie also ordered the Jin soldiers of Daming Mansion to go south to suppress bandits and handed over the Daming Mansion to Gao Qingyi for temporary management, so that Gao Qingyi could see a glimmer of hope, but the glimmer of hope was extinguished as soon as the signs of this glimmer of hope were revealed.

The Daming Mansion was actually captured by an army of unknown origin, which really shocked Gao Qingyi. Was it the Song army or the Liangshan bandits?

Although it should be done by the Liangshan bandits on the surface, an intuition tells Gao Qingyi that things are probably not that simple.

On the night after the fall of Daming Mansion, Gao Qingyi received an order from Wanyan Xieye, asking him to retake Daming Mansion at all costs. Of course, Wanyan Xieye also offered conditions. After regaining Daming Mansion, he allowed him to move the palace to Daming Mansion and consider making him as emperor.

Whether it is the migration of the palace, the temptation of ascending the throne to the emperor, or the threat of his own, Gao Qingyi has to make a choice and must retake the Daming Mansion.

Like Liu Yu, Gao Qingyi has an army of 100,000. In addition to the 20,000 troops of Daming Prefecture, 50,000 troops are stationed in Hejian Prefecture, where the royal palace is located, there are 30,000 troops stationed in Jingxing Tumen Pass in Zhending Prefecture, Fuyang Pass in Xingzhou, and Baixing Pass in Hejian Prefecture. Three of them are strategic areas in Hebei, and thousands of soldiers are stationed scattered on the north bank of the Yellow River, responsible for guarding seven Yellow River wharfs.

The 50,000 army marched south all the way, and more than 600 cargo ships were traveling with them, responsible for transporting food and supplies. All of the cargo ships on the Yongji Canal were forced to be requisitioned by the Jin Kingdom and were docked in Zhuozhou in Yanshan Prefecture. This time, in order to support Gao Qingyi, Wanyan Xie also generously lent all 600 cargo ships to Gao Qingyi.

Two days later, 50,000 Hebei troops entered the territory of Daming Prefecture. At this time, spies came from all over the place to report that the enemy had moved all the people of Daming Prefecture into the city. The counties outside were empty cities, and the villages were deserted, and they were full of death.

"What army is there in the city?" Gao Qingyi asked, looking at the city that was faintly visible in the distance.

A spy leader bowed and said, "I can't be sure of my humble position, but the big banner that takes the heavens on the top of the city is the big banner that takes the heavens. Should it be the bandits in Liangshan?"

"Should be?"

Gao Qingyi said a little dissatisfied: "Didn't you ask those released prisoners of war? They should know the inside story!"

"I asked about it. Some people say it was the Song army, but some people say it was the bandits, and there are all kinds of statements."

"Where is the opponent's weapons and equipment?" Gao Qingyi asked in the bottom of the question.

"The weapons are well equipped. Like us, it seems to be equipped with divine arm crossbows. However, the Liangshan Army in the past also had divine arm crossbows, so"

Gao Qingyi also knew that the spy was justified. It was impossible to determine that the other party was the Song army based on weapons and equipment, unless there was conclusive evidence, such as the information obtained from Lin'an, and the unique equipment only available in the Song army, such as the thunder and the like.

None of these evidences appeared, and they could not judge the real situation in the city.

"Father, could it be the Song army coming from the sea?" Gao Jian, the second son of Gao Qing, whispered.

Gao Qingyi didn't speak for a long time. This was an extremely bold guess, but it was very likely that if the army in the city was really a Song army, the Song army would certainly not have wings to fly over, so they could only come by the sea.

But this possibility is a bit terrifying. The Song army can reach the Yellow River by sea, and that can also reach its own nest, Hejian Mansion. It does not have much defense in Hejian Mansion! Only 5,000 people are left to guard the city. What should we do if the palace is lost?

But it is not realistic to withdraw troops now, so Gao Qingyi had to sigh and said, "Take the Daming City as soon as possible!"

The seven piers built by the Jin Dynasty on the Yellow River are Shanghe Wharf, Gaotang Wharf, Liaocheng Wharf, Chaoyang Wharf, Puyang Wharf, Liyang Wharf and Jixian Wharf. The largest pier is Liaocheng Wharf, followed by Liyang Wharf, and then Puyang Wharf.

In just five days, the Ruan brothers had destroyed Shanghe, Gaotang, Liaocheng and Chaoyang Wharf, burned more than 300 ships, seized 200 large ships, increasing their fleet from the first fifty to 250. A large number of boatmen and heroes who resisted Jin also joined their team, causing their troops to reach 5,000.

The Ruan brothers divided into two groups, one led by Ruan Xiaoqi and continued to lead more than a hundred warships toward Puyang, and the other led by Ruan Xiaowu and continued to blockade the Yellow River in Daming Mansion to prevent the 30,000 Jin soldiers who went south from coming back.

At this time, Jinan Prefecture, Yunzhou and Jeju were already in chaos, and the support ships were burned down. Wanyan Zonggan had to order to find food and horse materials on the spot. The Jin soldiers began to plunder food from house to house. The Jin soldiers took the opportunity to plunder property, raped and killed them. More than a dozen counties in the three places suddenly fell into a tragic wind and rain.

In just a few days, the Jin soldiers plundered nearly 100,000 stones of grain and 20,000 stones of black beans. They captured the civilians and mowed the grass everywhere, so that the cavalry could barely persevere.

The Jin army camp was outside Xucheng County. They carried thousands of tents themselves and barely sheltered 30,000 soldiers from the wind and rain, but most of the tents were destroyed, so it was impossible to live comfortably.

Just before the arrival of the Jin soldiers, Zhang Rong led 20,000 soldiers to retreat into Liangshanpo, causing the Jin soldiers to arrive in Yunzhou, but they could not find the enemy and their morale was frustrated.

Wanyan Zonggan was really upset. He had received clear news that their transport ships did not follow up. The fires surged into the sky on the Liaocheng Wharf, and it should have been attacked by the enemy.
Chapter completed!