Just as Wanyan Loushi led an army of 50,000 to attack Yan'an Prefecture, northern Shaanxi, the Jin Kingdom immediately launched a winter battle. The 200,000 Jin Kingdom army crossed the Yellow River in three directions and launched a fierce attack towards the Central Plains and Shandong.

Among them, Wanyan Chang crossed the Yellow River from Mengjin and led an army of 50,000 to besiege Luoyang. The veteran Yao Gu led 20,000 Song troops to defend Luoyang. On the third day of the Jin soldiers siege, Wanyan Chang pretended to retreat. Yao Gu's general, Deputy Commander Jiao Anjie, was eager to seek credit and went out of the city to pursue the Jin soldiers. He fell into an ambush of the Jin soldiers. Jiao Anjie and 10,000 Song troops were killed in battle. Luoyang's army was shaken. Yao Gu led his army to abandon Luoyang and retreat south. Luoyang immediately fell. Hangu Pass was also occupied by the Jin soldiers, cutting off the Western army's way to rescue the Central Plains.

The middle army led 80,000 troops from Weizhou to cross the Yellow River. First, they broke through the defense line built by the Song army on the south bank of the Yellow River and captured Huazhou. Wanyan Zongwang immediately led his army into Kaifeng Prefecture and attacked Bianliang fiercely. On the one hand, the veteran general Zongze defended Bianliang to death, and on the other hand, they sent a confidant general Yue Fei to lead 5,000 troops to attack Huazhou. They defeated 20,000 Jin soldiers and Han soldiers who were left in Huazhou in Baima County. Gao Dabao, the chief general of the Jin army, was killed by Yue Fei. Wanyan Zongwang was worried that the retreat would be cut off and had to retreat north to Huazhou.

At the same time, Zong Ze wrote a letter to the leaders of various rebel armies in Hebei, demanding that they raise an army to fight against the Jin Dynasty. For a time, anti-Jin uprisings in various parts of Hebei were surging. Wanyan Zongwang was forced to send general Wanyan Yinshuke to lead an army of 30,000 to return to Hebei and brutally suppress the rebel armies in various parts of Hebei.

Although the Jin soldiers attacking the Central Plains were defeated, the Jin soldiers attacking Shandong were defeated continuously under the leadership of Wanyan Zonghan. Hu Zhiru, the chief manager of Jingdong Road, and his two sons were killed in Yunzhou. Liu Yu, the prefect of Jinan, surrendered to the Jin soldiers at a critical moment, resulting in the Song army fighting with the Jin soldiers in Qingzhou losing support and the entire army was defeated. The commander of the Sui Shiyuan was killed in the chaos. The Jin soldiers were unstoppable and occupied the entire territory of Jingdong in just a few days.

Li Gang, the pacification envoy of the two routes in the west of Beijing, was forced to retreat to Suzhou with thousands of remaining troops.

At this time, Wanyan Xie also arrived at the camp in Huazhou. Wanyan Zongwang walked into the tent and knelt down to the Marshal of Du Wanyan Xie, who also apologized for the crime. "It is not good for the attack on the Central Plains. I especially apologized for the Marshal of Du!"

Wanyan Xie also smiled faintly, "You are just attacking the Fengfu and are not good, and it has nothing to do with the Central Plains."

Wanyan Zongwang didn't know the commander's meaning, so he lowered his head and said nothing. Wanyan Xie also said: "After Talai captured Luoyang, he sent general Ali to capture Zhengzhou and Yingchang Prefectures. Zonghan also sent general Digu and Dihu brothers to seize Yingtian Prefectures, Xuzhou and Bozhou. Only Kaifeng Prefectures are left in the Central Plains. Think about it carefully, why can't you take Kaifeng Prefectures?"

Wanyan Zongwang whispered: "It's not that I can't take Kaifeng, but that I can't take the whole place of Bianliang."

"Okay! Even if it is Bianliang, what do you think is the reason?"

"On the one hand, Zong Ze constantly sent troops to harass Beiyi's retreat, so that Beiyi could not fully respond to the battle."

"Zongze also knows how to harass the rear and drag your back, so why don't you find a way to drag Zongze's back?"

Wanyan Zongwang hesitated and said, "I can't find an opportunity for humble position."

"Wrong! You had a chance, but you didn't catch it."

Wanyan Xie also walked a few steps behind his hands and turned around and said, "Not every senior official of the Song Dynasty in Bianliang City wants to defend the situation to the end, and it is not just Zong Ze who has the final say. Du Chong is a weak and compromise person. If you want to create conditions to make Du Chong feel desperate, and then give him a glimmer of life, he will take the initiative to give up Bianliang. As for Zong Ze, no matter how strong his will to resist, he must obey the arrangements of the court and follow the will of the emperor."

"I understand!"

Wanyan Xie also looked at him for a while, and finally shook his head and said, "Forget it, you can't do this well, I'll arrange it. Just capture all the surrounding prefectures and counties, so that Bianjing will become an isolated city."

"Abide by the orders!"

Du Chong had just served as the prefect of Kaifeng and the pacification envoy of the two Hebei routes. Emperor Zhao Gou promised him that he would complete this term and be appointed as the prime minister of the government affairs. It was precisely because of this promise that Du Chong reluctantly agreed to return to Kaifeng Prefecture.

But at this time, Du Chong was extremely regretful for his decision. A gentleman did not stand on a dangerous wall, but he put himself in danger. One bad news after another made him deeply feel the strength of the Jin army, the weakness of the Song army, and the inability to control his own destiny.

Du Chong also thought about escaping from Bianliang, but the existence of Jin soldiers from all directions made him afraid to take the risk of leaving Bianliang. These days, Du Chong was in panic all day long, but had no choice.

That afternoon, Du Chong was drinking alone in the mansion. The shouts of civilians training and running were heard outside, which made Du Chong extremely annoyed. Zong Ze did not listen to his advice and forcibly implemented military and civil orders in Bianliang. From fourteen-year-old boys to sixty-year-old men, they all had to be organized into military training. This was a gesture of the whole city's military and civilians living and deceased together with Bianjing.

At this time, an old housekeeper outside the door reported, "Master, there are guests outside looking for him, saying that he is his old friend."

"Old friend?" Du Chong frowned, "What's the name?"

"He said he was Chen Ran."

Du Chong was shocked. Isn’t Chen Ran the magistrate of Hejian Prefecture? Or was he a confidant who was promoted when he was appointed as the Hebei Transportation Commissioner. Why did he come?

Du Chong was confused, but he hurriedly said: "Please come to see me!"

Soon, a scholar in his thirties walked in quickly, smiled and clasped his fists and said, "Don't you be fine?"

Du Chong looked up and down at the other party, and saw that he was in a good complexion, fat and strong, and was not as pale as the displaced officials. Du Chong asked in surprise: "Wenqing, where have you been in the past two years?"

Chen Ran smiled slightly and said, "Of course it's in Hejian Prefecture. I am now the Hejian Prefecture of the Jin Kingdom."

Du Chongteng stood up and asked sternly: "Then why are you in Bianliang?"

"Brother, please sit down and listen to me slowly. I actually came to help my brother."

Du Chong sat down slowly and snorted, "Tell me! How do you want to help me?"

"I only ask my brother one thing, do you want to join Lin'an as prime minister?"

Du Chong was slightly stunned. After a while, he shook his head and said, "You can't even save your life now. How can you have other ideas?"

"Isn't it easy for brother to return to Lin'an? With just one word, brother can return to Lin'an smoothly, and no one dares to intercept brother."

As soon as Chen Ran finished speaking, footsteps suddenly came from outside. The old butler said anxiously: "Master, Zhang Hu led someone to the door and said there were spies in the Master's Mansion and wanted to come in and search!"

Chen Ran's face suddenly changed drastically, and he hurriedly clasped his fists and said, "Please save me, brother!"

"Don't be afraid, I am the prefect of Kaifeng, the Minister of Revenue of the imperial court. How dare a small commander come to search my mansion?"

Du Chong asked the old butler to take Chen Ran to hide in the female room of the inner house, so he walked out calmly.

Zhang Hu, who was waiting outside the mansion, was Li Yanqing's confidant. Because Zong Ze lacked a capable intelligence leader, he asked Li Yanqing for help. Li Yanqing introduced Zhang Hu to him and was appointed as the commander of the intelligence battalion by Zong Ze, leading a thousand people to search the spies in the city.

Zhang Hu lived up to Zong Ze's expectations and dropped seven Jin soldiers' intelligence dens in a row, basically clearing out the Jin soldiers and spies in the city, and received high praise from Zong Ze.

Zhang Hu knew that Du Chong was unreliable, so he sent someone to secretly monitor Du Chong's mansion. Just now, Zhang Hu received a quick report and a suspicious person came to Du Chong's mansion.

At this time, Du Chong slowly walked out and asked coldly: "What's wrong with General Zhang?"

"Someone just reported that an unknown person had smuggled into the home of the prefect. Hu Zhi was worried about the safety of the prefect, so he came to check it out."

"If General Zhang is really worried about my safety, I would like to thank you, but if General Zhang had other intentions, hum! I will definitely ask Zong Ze to give me an explanation."

Zhang Hu smiled faintly, "So, are there really customers in the prefect's mansion?"

"I don't have any customers, but I don't want others to disturb you. You go!"

Zhang Hu couldn't forcefully search Du Chong's mansion, and he couldn't be sure if the person who entered was a spy, or just wanted to escape the military and civil order. After all, Du Chong was a high-ranking official in the court, and offending him would affect Zong Shuai.

Zhang Hu then bowed with his fists, "Disturbation!"
Chapter completed!