On the city wall, catapults were being installed tensely and orderly. At the same time, with the assistance of the Taiyuan government, the Jingzhao Army recruited 5,000 carpenters and blacksmiths from the city to assist the army in the installation and commissioning of various heavy defensive weapons.

At the north city, Li Yanqing, accompanied by more than a dozen generals, inspected the installation of defensive weapons such as trenchers. The city was filled with busy craftsmen and soldiers. There were dozens of trenchers that had not yet reached the city on the open space in Cangcheng. In the corridor, seven or eight strong cows were pulling in front, and dozens of soldiers were pushing hard behind. A huge trencher slowly drove towards the city on the slope.

A huge trencher has already stood on the top of the city. The craftsmen have laid short wooden stakes at the top of the city and fixed the bottom of the trencher to three wooden stakes. Several craftsmen are installing throwing poles. The six-meter-long throwing poles are like long arms, ready to wave hard at any time.

"Have the belt on the trencher been checked?" Li Yanqing asked a craftsman.

The craftsman nodded, "It has been checked, and the slightly loosened areas are re-tied to ensure there is no problem.

Li Yanqing turned around and said to Wang Gui: "These catapults had been assembled many years ago. Some of the tied belts were old. If they were not replaced in time, it might cause the catapult to fall apart. Especially when throwing thunder, if the catapult fails due to damage to the catapult, it will cause very serious consequences. Therefore, I require all catapults to be carefully inspected, and it is best to add bundling, and we must resolutely prevent accidents."

Wang Gui bowed and said, "I understand that the craftsmen will re-bound all the catapults, so that there will be no accidents!"

At this moment, a rapid sound of horse hooves came from a distance. Li Yanqing walked to the battlements and looked north. He saw several cavalrymen running from a distance. After a moment, he rushed to the city gate. The cavalry shouted: "We are coming from Yanmen Pass, and there is an emergency military situation!"

Li Yanqing urgently ordered his side to go, "Bring them up!"

Soon, several soldiers who delivered letters were taken to the top of the city. The soldier knelt on one knee and submitted a military report, "Report to the commander-in-chief, this is the emergency battle report of Yanmen Pass!"

Li Yanqing asked: "Who is the leader of Yanmen Pass?"

"It's General Chen Su!"

Li Yanqing nodded. Chen Su knew that he was quite respectful to the master and was a general with both civil and military skills. He opened the military newspaper and read it. As he expected, the Jin Kingdom had launched an attack on Yanmen Pass. Seeing that at the end, Li Yanqing frowned slightly. Chen Su was worried that the Jin soldiers would come from Yizhou along Feihu Xing Pass, hoping to increase their troops.

Li Yanqing pondered for a moment and ordered his left and right to say, "Give each of them ten taels of silver!"

Several soldiers who sent the letter thanked him repeatedly, and Li Yanqing said to them again: "You will return to Yanmen Pass immediately to tell General Chen that the 20,000 troops retreated from the Xixia border are rushing to Daizhou, so that he does not have to worry, reinforcements will arrive soon."

"Abide by the order!"

Several soldiers went down the city, but Li Yanqing didn't care about patrolling the city for the time being and turned around and headed towards the military yamen.

After a moment, Li Yanqing returned to the military yamen. He went directly to the Intelligence Department of the East Court. The Intelligence Department was also busy. At present, the city was investigating spies from the Jin Kingdom. All suspicious people of unknown origin had to be investigated further. Almost a dozen people from the Intelligence Department did not sleep all night, and everyone's eyes were red.

Li Yanqing came directly to the lobby. Zhang Hu was discussing something with several officials. When he saw Li Yanqing coming in, he hurried forward to salute, "See the commander-in-chief!"

"How is it? Are there any gains in the investigation?"

Zhang Hu nodded, "Fifteen Xixia spies who missed the net were caught. According to their confession, there were about ten spies in the city. They also served for Xixia and Jin Kingdom at the same time. More than 100 pigeons and seven eagle letters were seized. The brothers are still searching for spies and pigeons."

“It’s done well!”

Li Yanqing praised and said, "Is there any news from Hebei?"

"Just just came from Zhending Prefecture that tens of thousands of Jin soldiers were besieging Zhending County, and Liu Guangshi led 30,000 reinforcements to Zhending County."

In order to know the situation in Hebei in time, Li Yanqing sent more than a dozen posters to set up five intelligence points in various parts of Hebei to send major military information to Taiyuan at any time.

Li Yanqing turned around to the table and stared at a huge map of Hebei and Hedong Road on the table. Zhang Hu asked in a low voice: "What's wrong?"

"Just just received a report on the battle between Yanmen Pass. Chen Su, the guard general of Yanmen Pass, was very worried that the Jin soldiers in Hebei would enter Dai County from Feihu Xing. Yanmen Pass was attacked from both sides and could not defend it. He hoped that I could send troops to support **xingguan immediately."

"This General Chen is right in his worries. It is indeed very possible. It is summer now, and Feihu Xing is not blocked by ice and snow. It is very convenient to go from Yizhou to Daizhou."

Li Yanqing shook his head, "Chen Su reminded me that I am not worried about Daizhou, what I am worried about is Jingxing."

Zhang Hu was shocked, "Is the commander-in-chief worried that the Jin soldiers would come from Jingxing?"

Li Yanqing sighed softly, "It is inconvenient to go to cavalry in Feihu Xing. Yizhou has been lost for nearly ten days. If the Jin soldiers had used Feihu Xing, they would have come here long ago. Until now, there is no movement in Feihu Xing. I suspect that the Jin soldiers' goal is to go to Jingxing. After all, Jingxing has greater strategic significance, and it is possible that they can take care of the baggage and cavalry. If the Jin soldiers focus on attacking Zhending Mansion from the Jin soldiers, they will probably be hit by my words."

"Then you can send troops to guard Jingxing Pass now."

Zhang Hu immediately suggested: "Defending Jingxing Pass can prevent the enemy from entering Taiyuan Prefecture from Jingxing."

Li Yanqing looked at the map without saying a word. The Jingxing Pass that Zhang Hu mentioned was a pass on the Hedong side, while the pass on the Hebei side was Tumen Pass. The characteristics of these two passes were both defense from Jingxing to Hedong. If you want to block the Jin soldiers from Jingxing to fight to Hedong, you should be guarding the Tumen Pass on the Hebei side, but it is probably too late now. Tumen Pass may have been captured by the Jin soldiers.

In fact, even if the Jin soldiers did not capture Tumen Pass, they could not defend it. Tumen Pass was not Yanmen Pass. Once the Jin soldiers attacked a large scale, they could capture Tumen Pass at most one day. The only way to intercept was to fight fiercely between the two armies and completely defeat the enemy's attack. If they defended the pass, they could block the enemy's army, and there would be no idiom of fighting on their backs.

Li Yanqing pondered for a long time and said, "Let Yan Qing come to see me immediately!"

Soon, Yan Qing hurried over and knelt down on one knee to salute, "See the commander-in-chief!"

Li Yanqing said to him: "You can lead fifty elite soldiers to Jingxing. If you find that a large group of Jin soldiers enter Jingxing, you can immediately send a pigeon letter to inform Taiyuan."

"Abide by the orders!"

Yan Qing bowed and hurried away, Li Yanqing's eyes turned to Yanmen Pass again. Once the Jin soldiers moved from Hebei to Hedong Road, the first defensive line on Hedong Road would be meaningless.

After conquering Yanjing City, Wanyan Zongwang quickly gained the support of the people of Yanshan Prefecture by paying homage to the soldiers of the Liao Kingdom. The Jin soldiers quickly gained a foothold in Yanshan Prefecture, and then divided into two groups to march southward. The deputy commander Wanyan's mother was the main general, and led an army of 50,000 into Hejian Prefecture and attacked Hebei East Road.

Wanyan Zongwang led an army of 50,000 to attack Zhending Prefecture. With Guo Yaoshi as the guide, he took the lead in entering Dingzhou. The Dingzhou commanded Liu Bi Xiancheng to surrender. The 30,000 troops deployed in Dingzhou collapsed without fighting, causing the Jin soldiers to be unstoppable and did not encounter any resistance. Three days later, he arrived in Zhending County.

There were only five thousand flaps in Zhending County, and the commander-in-chief Wang Yan was commanded by the commander-in-chief. At this time, Wang Yan had already learned that 30,000 reinforcements were about to arrive, so he ordered the entire army to defend the city to the death and wait for reinforcements.

The Jin soldiers set up a camp thirty miles away from Zhending County. In the central army's tent, Liang Fangping, the former transfer envoy of Hebei two routes, offered advice to Wanyan Zongwang: "Although Zhending County is tall and strong, it is not difficult to attack. Your Highness can not attack the city for the time being. Wait for the Song army to come to the rescue, and then 30,000 elite troops will be distributed to ambush the reinforcements. At this time, the Song army was sent far away to rescue, and the soldiers must be exhausted and the army could not form enough. At this time, the cavalry attacked strongly, but the Song army could defeat the Song army in one battle and turn to Zhending City. There is no reinforcements to hope for Zhending City, so they will naturally surrender to the general. This is a strategy to siege the city and fight aid. I hope your Highness will adopt it!"

Wanyan Zongwang nodded, "This plan is indeed wonderful, but I received an urgent message from my brother that the Western Army could not attack Yanmen Pass. I planned to send 20,000 troops from Jingxing to Hedong Road and attack his back. I think if I should attack Jingxing first?"

"Your Highness, Jingxing is not worth worrying about. I know very well that Tumen Village has long been abandoned. Your Highness can send a light army to Jingxing first and seize Jingxing Pass on the west side. After capturing Zhending Prefecture, it will not be too late for the army to attack Hedong Road."

After a pause, Liang Fangping said again: "Mizhi suggested that Your Highness send Yanshan army to the Feihu Road from Yizhou to kill Daizhou. Since the Tanyuan Alliance, there has been no war on Feihu Road. The defensive military camp on the Daizhou side has long been abandoned, and only **Shaped Village is barely available, but it cannot withstand the attack of the army. As long as a strong brigade enters Daizhou, the natural danger of Yanmen Pass can be easily broken from the back. In addition, the attack on Jingxing in the south is at your fingertips. Hedong Road will be at your fingertips. Wuzhi is foolish to ask Your Highness to consider it!"

Wanyan Zongwang laughed happily, "Sir is worthy of being a living map of the Jin Kingdom's great cause to go south. There is no need to worry about the fact that there is a teacher in Hebei and Hedong."

Wanyan Zongwang immediately sent two thousand men, Pu Cha, and Sheng Guo, with two thousand troops, to enter Jingxing, and seize Jingxing Pass first. At the same time, he ordered Guo Yaoshi to lead 30,000 eternal soldiers to go to Feihu Road and kill Daizhou in advance. He personally led 30,000 cavalry to fight against the 30,000 Song troops who came from afar.

The chief general of the Song army who supported Zhending Prefecture was Liu Guangshi, the commander-in-chief of the Western Route Army. He led 30,000 imperial guards to march day and night to Zhending County. Liu Guangshi was the son of Liu Yanqing, the former Shaanxi Route Defense Commander. Because he made contributions to the northern expedition with Zhong Shidao, he was named the General of the Left Guard and the Deputy Commander-in-chief of the Palace. This time he was recommended by the prince, and he became the commander-in-chief of the Western Route Army, responsible for the defense of Zhending Prefecture and Dingzhou.

Although Liu Guangshi immediately led his army north after being ordered, he was still one step late. He received news of the Jin soldiers' attack on Dingzhou in Zhaozhou, which immediately made Liu Guangshi anxious. He must rush to Zhending County before the Jin soldiers. Zhending County has sufficient food and the city wall is tall and strong. As long as he guards Zhending County, the defense on the western front can be established.

But Liu Guangshi still overestimated the defense of Dingzhou. He believed that Dingzhou had 30,000 defenders. Even if the Xiang army was defeated by the Jin soldiers, he could at least buy himself three days, so that he could kill the Jin soldiers to Zhending Prefecture and Zhending County.

However, Liu Guangshi never dreamed that the Dingzhou defenders did not defend even an hour and collapsed without fighting. The main general Liu Bi offered the city to surrender. The three days he expected to win were completely destroyed.

On the official road about eighty miles south of Zhending County, Liu Guangshi led 30,000 reinforcements and was heading north quickly. On both sides of the official road were endless wheat fields. Summer grain had been harvested, and the wilderness became bare. Groups of birds hovering in the wilderness, looking for missing wheat grains.

There are three species in the north of Hebei Road in two years. After summer harvest, the autumn grain is not continued to sow, but the soil is raised for one season and winter wheat is sown in late autumn.
Chapter completed!