"Sir, it's the banner of Tong Xuanfu! Tong Xuanfu has come and brought hundreds of iron cavalry! Taiyuan Prefecture is saved..."

At the top of Taiyuan City, Wang Di, who was deposed as the Xuanfu Department by his father Wang Yizheng, reported to his father Wang Xuan in a cheerful voice.

A quarter of an hour ago, Wang Yan's personal soldiers who were waiting at the top of Taiyuan City came to report that an iron cavalry was coming across the Fen River in the west of the city and were crossing the river.

Wang Qi and Wang Di and his son immediately realized that it was probably the scapegoat Tong Guan. This was really a big shot! The father and son almost hugged their heads and cried bitterly. Fortunately, Wang Qi and Wang Di immediately led their men to the west wall of Taiyuan City, stretched their necks and looked at the ships of iron armored knights from the west bank of the Fen River to the east bank.

However, the iron armored knights who had got off the ship did not come to Taiyuan City immediately, because between Taiyuan City and the east bank of the Fen River, there were 180 Khitan far-blocking horses moving. Seeing enemy cavalry crossing the river, they all gathered, as if they wanted to stop them. However, the people who crossed the river were full of war armor, knights riding Qingtanglong stallions, and soon formed a terrible attack formation. The Khitan far-blocking horses were not troops used for tough battles, so they naturally did not dare to approach them, but just surveillance from afar.

When Wang Yan, Wang Di, and Hedong Road Transportation Commander Cai Anjidu climbed the city wall together, Tong Guan himself crossed the Fen River and even posed a banner. Then, surrounded by three hundred iron cavalry and hundreds of other entourages (including the followers of the iron cavalry), he came towards Taiyuan City in a mighty manner. Originally, more than a hundred Khitans who were blocking far away outside Taiyuan City did not dare to stop them, but dodged one after another.

Seeing Tong Guan’s majesty as such, the cultural relics officials from Taiyuan City on the top of the city also praised him.

"I really deserve to be the commander of the Northwest Governor for many years. It's really majestic!"

"What a great Tong Xuanfu who is shocking the northwest! Now Taiyuan Prefecture has no worries!"

"I didn't expect that Tong Xuan's iron cavalry was so fierce that even the Khitan cavalry had to avoid it. Now, not only Taiyuan Wuyou, but also the entire Hedong can be safe."

"Tong Xuanfu is about to reach the city gate, let's go and greet him quickly."

"Hurry, open the city gate..."

Finally, I don’t know who shouted, and then woke up the excited officials of Taiyuan. Tong Guan, Tong, Dafu, went outside the city gate, so open the door and put the suspension bridge! Taking advantage of the Liao brigade that did not arrive, quickly bring Tong Guan into the city.

...

Tong Guan entered Taiyuan City with a dark face. He didn't mean to show anyone's face, but that he was in a fierce battle and could not be happy.

He was welcomed into the Xuanfu Office by Wang Yan. Before he had time to handle the seal of the Xuanfu Envoy and the Taiyuan Prefecture affairs (Hedong Xuanfu Envoy was the original Hedong Road Strategy Pacifier. In order to match the northwest Xuanfu, Hebei Xuanfu became the Xuanfu Envoy, so this Xuanfu also served as the Taiyuan Prefecture), Tong Guan hurriedly said: "There are no Khitan soldiers outside Taiyuan Prefecture, only a few horses far away! The Khitan army must have gone north to Xinzhou. I wonder how many defenders there are in Xinzhou? Who will lead the troops to garrison?"

After hearing what he said, Wang Qi's face changed slightly, and he said skeptically: "Daofu has just arrived in Taiyuan Prefecture, how do you know that there are no Khitan soldiers outside the city?"

"How can I not know?" Tong Guan said, "If there are soldiers here, how could our family enter the city without any effort? Moreover, there are no Khitan soldiers and horses in such a critical area at the Fenhe Wharf, and no one is digging trenches outside the city, nor are there Khitan camps. How can there be soldiers? The Khitans just left some far away to stop the horses to guard the roads all over the road. The main force must have gone north to Xinzhou. How about the garrison in Xinzhou?"

"Xinzhou is empty and empty!" Wang Qi replied in a low voice, "Who would have thought that the Khitan would come from Jingxingkou? Hedong soldiers and horses were all in Daizhou, Ninghua Army, Kelan Army, Volcanic Army, Baode Army, Fuzhou and Fengzhou..."

"How did you deploy it?" Tong Guan hurriedly asked.

"Daizhou and Ninghua Army have appointed six generals, and are governed by Yao Yifu, the commander of the Xuanfu Department. The Kelan Army, the Volcano Army, the Baode Army, the Prefecture and Fengzhou are also appointed by five generals, and are governed by Zhezundao of Linfu Road."

Tong Guan sighed in his heart. The deployment of the Hedong Road Xuanfu Department was completely as expected, which was to place all the eleven new troops (and one general was taken to Hebei by Zhe Keshi) on the northern line, divide the troops and keep the defense at a critical moment. There was neither reserve, nor the troops to take care of the flanks and the rear.

So Xinzhou must have been lost!

As soon as Xinzhou was lost, even if the Western General Yao Xiong was in Daizhou, he was unable to stop the fall of Yanmen Passes.

Once Yanmen was lost, the Liao army was able to march straight into Taiyuan Prefecture City.

Now Taiyuan... I'm afraid it's really hard to protect!

Thinking that Taiyuan was difficult to protect, Tong Guan's heart suddenly trembled violently. The reason why he thorned the bullet and entered Taiyuan was nothing more than fear of death. Who dared to disobey Zhao Ji's death talismans? Oh, there are many people who dared to disobey, but Tong Guan is definitely not among them.

After entering Taiyuan, he discovered that Taiyuan is also a place of death. If there is any difference, it is that if you don’t enter Taiyuan, you will have ten deaths and no life, and if you enter Taiyuan, you will have nine deaths and one life.

"Then... how many soldiers are there in Taiyuan City? What are the reserves?"

"There are only thousands of old imperial guards and wing troops in Taiyuan City, and thousands of troops are trained in the regiment." Wang Ying said, "Although the people are not worthy, there are still some armored weapons, but there are too few arrows, which has made people step up their construction. If the training can be carried out strictly, you should be able to fight."

Cai Anji, the Hedong Road Transport Author, also went to Xuanfusi, and immediately replied: "There are still some reserves in Taiyuan City, but many refugees from these two people entered the city..."

"What? Refugees? You can't let them enter the city!" Tong Guan knew it was awful as soon as he heard it. "The Khitans are not good at attacking the city. They drove refugees into Taiyuan, and they must have wanted to increase the food consumption in Taiyuan City!

How many people are there in Taiyuan City now? How many elderly, weak, women and children are there? While the Liao people are not besieged, hurry up and send them across the Fen River!"

"There are Khitans outside the city," Cai Anshi shook his head, "How can the people be willing to leave the city?"

Life is at stake, and Tong Guan didn't care about respecting civil officials, so he hurriedly said, "It's better for you to take the people out of the city! Both of them are high-ranking officials of the court and are highly respected. Personally escorting the people to evacuate Taiyuan is also a good deed that is famous for keeping history!"

"This..." Wang Ying was still hesitating. Will the people run slowly if they lead them together?

"I am still a grain official, how can I leave the city?" Cai Anchi asked back.

"It is precisely because the scholars are the ministers who have to leave quickly!" Tong Guan said, "Taiyuan will be surrounded soon. If the scholars and the ministers do not leave, would they be trapped in the city? Moreover, there is a lot of gold, silver, money and silk in the Taiyuan treasury. They have to be transported away with the scholars to reward soldiers and recruit strong men!

In addition, our family also entrusted Zhang Zhiping to recruit warriors in Hexi, Ding Zhuang, a total of 10,000 people, and he was known as the ever-winning army. He will enter Hedong soon, and at that time, he will need to allocate food and salary."

The ever-winning army was a mercenary. According to the agreement, a knight (including an auxiliary soldier, two war horses, two horses, and all equipment) paid 400 yuan for recruitment. From now on, 50,000 yuan would be paid in military pay every month. If there was any war, it would be paid for double pay. All the food, grass and arrowheads would be consumed by the Song Dynasty court.

In addition, one person was killed in battle and was given a pension of 400 pieces, and one armor was won and a reward of 50 pieces. All the seized belonged to the warriors.

Now the 1.5 million yuan of the 2 million yuan recruitment fee is given by the two grain departments in Hexi and Shaanxi (according to Zhao Ji's order), and the remaining expenses will be allocated by the Hedong grain department. If Taiyuan is broken and Tong Guan is outside the city, of course he can report to the officials for money, and he will definitely get it.

But now Taiyuan has not been captured and Tong Guan has entered the city again, so the funds of the Everlasting Army should be taken care of by the Hedong Caosi.

If the inventory of Cai Anji and Hedong Caosi are trapped in Taiyuan City, then who will the Changsheng Army ask for money? If there is no money, will this mercenary go to the battlefield? Dream on!

"No, no." Cai Anshi shook his head repeatedly and stroked his beard and said, "The court has its own laws. I am a grain minister all the way. How can I leave my post without permission? Besides, the Hedong treasury is a national reserve, so how can I move it without permission? Even if I want to move, I have to ask the court for an order. The Ministry of Revenue will send a staff to supervise it before it can be moved."

Well, if Yelu Yanxi comes, will you let him go to the treasury to get money?

Tong Guan wanted to know the answer, but in the end he didn't ask.

Cai An insisted on leaving, so of course he did not withdraw. But after all, he was Tong Guan, one of the "Six Thieves" in history, and he was also a big thief of the same level as Cai Jing among the six thieves. How could he sit and wait for death?

"Since Mr. Cai is unwilling to leave the city, it is better to jointly sign a memorial with our family and ask the court to send important officials to preside over the military affairs of Hedong outside Taiyuan City and government affairs." Tong Guan said, "After all, Taiyuan is about to be trapped. Although you and I are the chief ministers of the Caoji, it is difficult for the government to leave Taiyuan."

This makes sense.

Cai An nodded, "I wonder what important official Tong wants to take over Hedong military affairs?"

Our family wants to make Wu Haogu, can you agree? Tong Guan sighed in his heart again and said to Cai An: "We must be an important official at the top of the two prefectures. If we can let Xianggong Cai, Zheng Shu will leave the capital."

Well, let’s take the blame together!

"It should be like this." Cai Anzhi felt that it made sense. Now the highest level of military officers in the Song Dynasty are Wu Haogu and Tong Guan. They are both Taiwei. Wu Haogu cannot come, and Tong Guan has already arrived. Then the only way to let the leader of the civil servants be dispatched.

Wang Ying, who was standing beside him, also said on a whim: "Please add the official! Let's report together, we will always ask for life for the people in Hedong!"

"Okay! Please ask for the people!" Tong Guan said with a smile, "Master Wang is ready. Tomorrow, our family will send general Lu Qian to lead 100 cavalrymen to escort the bachelor out of the city."
Chapter completed!