In August, Yanshan Mansion is still hot and unbearable. The official road outside Yanshan City is deserted and there is no pedestrian. The air seems to be roasted into a translucent liquid by fire, flowing in the air. Several businessmen from afar sat in a tea shed beside the official road. They were drinking herbal tea and fanning, but they were still sweating profusely.

At this time, several cavalrymen rushed from a distance, and their horses' hooves stirred up rolling yellow dust, like burning flames. Several cavalrymen instantly rushed past the tea shed, leaving behind choking dust.

"Shopkeeper, what's going on? Three groups of people have passed in just half an hour. Is there something big happening in Yanshan Mansion?" several merchants asked in a verbal manner.

The shopkeeper walked over with a teapot and said, "It's probably the matter in Pingzhou!"

"What happened in Pingzhou?" Several businessmen were anxious. They were going to Pingzhou. If there were military chaos in Pingzhou, they would have been in vain.

"Shopkeeper, tell me, what happened in Pingzhou?"

"I also heard a few days ago that Zhang Jue, the garrison of Pingzhou, killed more than a dozen generals of the Jin Kingdom, and surrendered Pingzhou to Song. Two days ago, General Zhang Linghui personally led 10,000 people to Pingzhou. The army was so spectacular!"

"This is bad. Isn't the Song and Jin war going to start?" The merchants were worried.

"It won't be a war! Song and Jin still have allies." The shopkeeper disagreed. "Besides, Pingzhou should have belonged to Yanshan Prefecture. The Jin Kingdom has gone back on its word. Now we will take it back ourselves. What do the Jin people have to say?"

The merchants said a few more words, then checked in and set off, and a team of mules headed towards Pingzhou.

The Pingzhou incident did not happen suddenly. As early as a month ago, Zhang Jue, the governor of Pingzhou, secretly sent someone to contact Guo Yaoshi, expressing his willingness to offer Pingzhou to return to Song.

Pingzhou defended Liaodong and Yanshan Prefectures with an extremely important strategic position, equivalent to the location of Shanhaiguan today. It originally belonged to Nanjing of the Liao Kingdom. In the maritime alliance reached by the Song and Jin Kingdom, it was clear that Pingzhou should belong to Song. However, because Zhang Jue, the governor of Pingzhou, surrendered to the Jin Kingdom, Pingzhou was actually occupied by the Jin soldiers.

When the Song army seized the Yanjing Prefecture, the Jin Dynasty refused to return Pingzhou to the Song Dynasty. In this way, the Jin army was actually stationed in the northeast gate of Yanshan Prefecture, and the gate entering Yanshan Prefecture was controlled by the Jin army.

Guo Yaoshi's heart was in a mess these two days. Since Zhang Jue expressed his willingness to surrender to the Song Dynasty a month ago, he immediately reported to the court. The court's reply to him was eight words: "It's acceptable, please handle it carefully."

This is also the emperor's opinion. Pingzhou has become a needle in the throat and a prick on the back of the Song Dynasty. Now there is hope of taking it back. After repeated discussions, the court finally decided to accept Zhang Jue's surrender.

But when Zhang Jue launched a coup and handed over Pingzhou to the Song Dynasty, Guo Yaoshi suddenly felt that he had taken over a hot thing. What was the attitude of the Jin Dynasty?

Guo Yaoshi was not stupid. He knew that the Jin people had already gathered in Liaodong and Yunzhou, and now they lacked an excuse to attack Song. But at this time, Zhang Jue surrendered, wouldn’t it be just right to give the Jin Kingdom a justification?

"Report to the Grand Commander, there is urgent news in Pingzhou!" A soldier outside the door reported.

Pharmacist Guo hurriedly said, "Bring it in!"

At this time, two soldiers came in and knelt down on one knee to salute, "See the Grand Marshal!"

"Speak quickly, what happened in Pingzhou?"

"Report to the Grand Commander, General Zhang Linghui has taken over Pingzhou's defense, but the Jin soldiers have made abnormal movements!"

Pharmacist Guo suddenly became nervous, "What abnormal movement?"

"Wanyan Zonghan has led a hundred thousand troops outside Yuguan in Pingzhou, and asked us to withdraw from Pingzhou immediately and hand over Zhang Jue's head to the Jin Kingdom, otherwise the Jin Kingdom will launch a large-scale attack on Song."

Yaoshi Guo's face was very pale. After a while, he waved his hand, "I understand, please step back!"

The two soldiers who reported to the news retreated, and Guo Yaoshi picked up a volume of information. This was the information from Juyongguan that he received an hour ago. Juyongguan originally had only three thousand gold soldiers, but it had increased to more than 10,000 in just one day. This extremely clear signal was that Guo Yaoshi had to pay attention to.

After pondering for a long time, Guo Yaoshi knew that the matter was of great importance and could not be solved by himself alone. This matter must be reported to the court. Since it was the court that allowed him to accept Zhang Jue's surrender, the broken matter of wiping his butt should of course be solved by the court.

After making up his mind, Guo Yaoshi immediately prepared. He sent a team of cavalry to report a letter to the capital at 800 miles. He also sent two soldiers to the Jin army camp to deliver the letter, hoping that the head commander of the Jin army would be able to give the time and wait for the court's decision.

The Jin army camp is located outside Yu Pass north of Pingzhou. There is no camp in the 100,000 army. A large tent is out of bounds and lasts for more than twenty miles. The Jin army did not appear now, but it has always been around Liucheng 300 miles away. When Zhang Jue mutiny and Jupingcheng surrendered to the Song Dynasty, the wolf lord of the Jin Kingdom, Wanyan Sheng, immediately got the news. He was extremely furious and immediately ordered Wanyan Zonghan to rush to Pingcheng to solve the problem strongly.

Attacking the Song Dynasty had long become the national policy of the Jin Kingdom. When the Liao Kingdom was extremely weak, it temporarily organized an army of 40,000 elderly and weak to defeat hundreds of thousands of Song troops. This allowed the Jin Kingdom to see through the corruption of the Song Dynasty. How could the Jin Kingdom not yearn for such a corrupt and rich prey?

But the Jin Kingdom also knew that the Song Dynasty was not the Liao Kingdom. They needed time to prepare for such a big country with a population of dozens of times their own. They needed two or three years to completely digest the Liao Kingdom and turn the Liao Kingdom's army into the combat power of the Jin Kingdom.

The plan to attack Song has been formulated, but it still takes time to prepare. At this critical moment, the Jin Dynasty wanted to solve the problem with Pingzhou, but it did not want a war to break out. This difficult problem was left to Wanyan Zonghan.

In the sheepskin tent, Wanyan Zonghan stood in front of a huge map with his hands behind his back. This is the entire map of Yanshan Prefecture, which clearly marked the city, population and the situation of the Song army.

Next to Wanyan Zonghan was a middle-aged man dressed in a Song man. He bent over his face with a flattering smile, waiting for Wanyan Zonghan's inquiry.

"Mr. Liang, is it too risky to do this?" Wanyan Zonghan asked slowly.

The middle-aged man surnamed Liang was Liang Fangping, a former transferee of the two routes in Hebei. He fled on the eve of his arrest due to the serious deficit in the warehouse. He fled to Liaodong and surrendered to the Jin Kingdom. He was highly valued by the Jin Kingdom. He was rewarded with hundreds of slaves from the Han people. He is currently serving as the military staff officer and is also the chief aide to Wanyan Zonghan.

Liang Fangping smiled and said, "I know the monarch and ministers of the Song Dynasty very well. These people are as timid as mice, but they are greedy for fame. Pingzhou can be sold to them to satisfy their vanity, but Zhang Jue's head must be. As long as Zhang Jue dies, the Song Dynasty will lose all the hearts of the people in Yanshan Prefecture, including Guo Yaoshi, and the fox will be sad. When the next attack on the Song Dynasty, the general will lure Guo Yaoshi again and surrender again."

Wanyan Zonghan took a few steps behind his hands. He recognized Liang Fangping's suggestion. As long as they control Juyongguan, it would be fine if Pingzhou was returned to the Song Dynasty. However, the key was to send troops to Juyongguan to put pressure on the Song Dynasty. He felt that this risk was quite high. Once the Song-Jin war was triggered, they were not ready, which was not in line with the national policy of the Jin Dynasty.

Liang Fangping smiled and said, "The political consequences of the Song-Jin War are not affordable. Even if the general sends troops, as long as he does not attack Yancheng, Guo Yaoshi will never dare to act rashly. The general sends troops to put pressure on him, and at the same time sends people to negotiate with the Song Dynasty. He is hard on one hand and soft on the other. I believe that the Song Dynasty will obediently send Zhang Jue back."

Wanyan Zonghan nodded, "Okay! Just listen to the gentleman's words, I will tell the wolf master about Pingzhou, which can be considered as paralyzing the Song army."

Ten days later, a Jin cavalry of ten thousand people rushed into Juyong Pass and rushed straight to Changping County. The defenders of Changping City abandoned the city and fled. The Jin soldiers then occupied the county town and drove thousands of people in the city to Yancheng. The Jin soldiers then set fire to Changping County. The fire soared into the sky and could be seen for dozens of miles.
Chapter completed!