You have truly caused me great suffering!

Yanshan Prefecture, the Xuanfu Yamen (military governor's office) of Wang Anzhong.

Li Anbi stepped in, looking at the room full of civil and military officials, staff and clerks, and felt a deep sense of grief and indignation.

"Commander Wang, why haven't you sent reinforcements yet?"

His voice was clear and resonant, without any sobbing or cracking, yet it was twice as loud, even more touching than a pitiful cry.

Everyone in the hall who heard this felt a sense of shame.

"I have already submitted a memorial to His Majesty, who has attached great importance to it and immediately instructed the Privy Council to come up with regulations. However, this is a matter of great importance, and the ministers of the Privy Council have differing opinions, so no result has been reached yet."

Wang Anzhong felt somewhat ashamed, and spoke haltingly, his voice growing softer and softer.

He couldn't defeat Cai Jing in Bianliang, so he chose to come to Yanshan Prefecture, thinking that this was a newly established prefecture with great power and that he could hold absolute power.

Unexpectedly, upon arriving, he was immediately caught up in the Battle of Pingzhou, putting him in a dilemma.

Moreover, Guo Yaoshi here is extremely arrogant and acts arbitrarily in all matters of state. Unlike Tong Guan, who has the Victory Army as his personal guard, Wang Anzhong came to Yanshan Prefecture alone without any trusted confidants. Therefore, he could only fawn over Guo Yaoshi, which made him even more arrogant.

Unable to express his grievances, Wang Anzhong stammered and eventually fell silent.

Li Anbi stood ramrod straight, looked around, and suddenly let out a cold laugh.

"If you don't save Pingzhou today, who will save Yanshan Prefecture tomorrow? Gentlemen, you'd better think carefully!"

After Li Anbi finished speaking, he walked away. In the past few days, he had tried various methods, but all his efforts to seek help had been in vain.

I thought it was a matter of course, but I never expected that the Song Dynasty would actually not send troops.

He had considered a million possibilities when he came, but he never expected that the Song Dynasty would put this matter aside.

Before coming here today, he had already thought it through. Since things had come to this point, there was no point in him staying in Yanshan Prefecture. He might as well return to Pingzhou and stand with Commander Zhang.

He neither cursed, nor shouted, nor begged; after leaving behind this resounding statement, he strode away.

I had originally gone to Bianliang and witnessed the grandeur of a great nation, as well as the extraordinary bearing of the Song emperor.

I thought it was a superior country, a great nation, but I never expected it to be all show and no substance.

After Li Anbi came out, the soldiers who had come with him from Pingzhou all looked at him.

Seeing Li Anbi's grim expression, the muscles on everyone's faces twitched, as if they all realized something, and they muttered through gritted teeth.

Li Anbi said, "I am going back to Pingzhou. Those of you who wish to stay may choose to stay. Given the current situation, I believe Commander Zhang will not blame you."

Nearly thirty people expressed their desire to return home and not stay in Yanshan Prefecture.

Li Anbi nodded and said, "Good! I refuse to believe that without the Great Song Dynasty, we cannot defend Pingzhou!"

Thirty-odd burly armored soldiers guarded Li Anbi as they marched eastward along the official road in Yanjing.

Although there were not many people, they were filled with the heroic spirit of Yan and Zhao, like a thousand troops and ten thousand horses.
-
In the tenth month of the fifth year of the Xuanhe era, a turbulent time had begun.

Chen Shao left Xiping Prefecture and headed to Yinzhou.

Chen Shao has already devised a grand plan.

No matter when the Jurchens invaded the south, as soon as war broke out, he would send troops to Weizhou and then take Yingzhou.

The Jurchen Tartars' attack will most likely start from Yan (present-day Yan) and then proceed to Hebei.

If I can take these two places, I can threaten them from the side and, together with Wang Bing, attack Yan at any time to divide the Tartars.

Of course, this matter is not so certain, as Chen Shao has not yet clashed with the Jurchens.

Both sides were invincible on their respective battlefields, and the clash between these two undefeated armies would be an unimaginable and fierce battle.

To achieve their plan, Yin Xia's troops are the vanguard and the most important force.

If Yinxia were to lose its campaign at Weizhou, it would be just like Tong Guan's disastrous defeat at Baigou River during his campaign against Liao, completely jeopardizing its path to advancement.

He could only retreat to the Northwest and become a local warlord, at best like the Western Xia.

This was absolutely not in line with Chen Shao's will. He was not a Tangut and could not stand by and watch the Jurchen Tartars occupy the Central Plains, burning, killing, raping, and looting.

Since Li Xiaozhong personally made the trip from Xiazhou all the way to Datong in Yunnei, he has gathered a lot of intelligence along the way.

In the days that followed, he and Li Xiaozhong made many arrangements in Weizhou and Yingzhou.

From this point of view alone, their plan to seize Weizhou and Yingzhou, and then take Yunzhou, is different from Tong Guan's lack of reconnaissance of Yan territory before his campaign against Liao.

When Tong Guan led his troops, the entire Song Dynasty was blindly confident and completely underestimated the Khitan.

Thinking that if the Jurchens could suppress and defeat the Khitans, then the Song Dynasty could too, so they excitedly went to Youyan to claim credit.

Unexpectedly, he was dealt a heavy blow, which left Tong Guan devastated and the Song Dynasty's prestige completely destroyed.

Chen Shao, on the other hand, was extremely cautious and meticulous in his planning and strategizing, and had already achieved some initial success.

A powerful figure like Meng Nuan, who occupies the capital of Yingzhou and commands three to five thousand men, has enormous potential. In reality, he has already secretly surrendered to Chen Shao.

However, Chen Shao's sphere of influence did not extend to Yingzhou. Otherwise, he would have already nominally raised the banner of the Dingnan Army to prevent the Jurchen Tartars from invading from time to time.

Chen Shao did not leave in a hurry this time. The carriage slowly moved eastward and arrived at the banks of the Wuding River.

The group boarded a boat at the ferry crossing, eager to test the canal dug by Yang Cheng. With the sails unfurled, the river surged on, and a flock of wild geese gracefully flew across the vast sky.

Many farmers on both sides of the river were wielding sickles to harvest hay, stacking it up so that it looked like hills when viewed from the boat.

Everyone stared at the large ship in the river, watching with curiosity. On each side of the ship hung a flag: on the left was the Dingnan Army's banner, blood-red; on the right was the Lingwu Army's banner, black and yellow.

On the right flagpole is a large, dark green flag with a huge character "Chen" written on it.

Chen Shao's territory was ridiculously large, but his official rank and title were not high, similar to Xiao Zhong's.

This was also a common practice in the Song Dynasty: when you had enough power, you wouldn't be given a high official position; similarly, when your official position and rank were high enough, you would lose power.

Similarly, the Zhe family, whose patriarch Zhe Keqiu, was only a hereditary prefectural governor according to family tradition, and his military rank was only that of a seventh-grade Right Martial Grand Master.

His title was that of a fifth-rank founding baron of Wugong County.

In reality, he was in charge of the border defenses of Linzhou, Fuzhou, and Fengzhou, and his power was boundless; he was the local emperor within these three prefectures.

Tong Guan, after being granted the title of prince, was immediately stripped of his power. Even a eunuch who was a servant of the emperor could not be exempted from this rule.

Chen Shao stood on the boat, looking at the scenery along the way. Da Hu stood beside him. Chen Shao glanced at him curiously and found that Da Hu was not seasick at all.

Chen Shao thought that even such a tough guy would have weaknesses, like Li Kui getting seasick after boarding the ship.

He said with a smile, "Big Tiger, how was the boat ride?"

"It's similar to riding a horse."

Xu Jin, who was accompanying him, also came out of the cabin. After seeing Chen Shao, he walked over and said, "General, the autumn wind is cold, especially on the river. It is not advisable to stand at the bow of the boat for a long time."

Chen Shao remained noncommittal, but smiled and went with him to a room inside the ship.

Chen Shao noticed some military reports on his desk, picked them up and glanced at them. He had already read them all; they were nothing more than reports about the battle in Pingzhou.

"Zhang Jue might be in danger this time." Xu Jin sighed, his regret evident in his words.

Chen Shao nodded and said, "Zhang Jue, what a pity, what a pity, he is too far away from us and too close to Bianliang."

Even if we wanted to help, we were powerless to do so.

"In just a few months, Wanyan Zongwang, with the same troops, has achieved such a disparity in performance. I've heard that Wanyan Zhamu is also a fierce general, having repeatedly distinguished herself in the conquest of Liao. In that case, isn't Zongwang even more formidable?" Xu Jin clicked his tongue and continued, "In the future, he might become our greatest enemy!"

Chen Shaoshen agreed. Wanyan Zongwang was indeed formidable. He was Aguda's second son and was known as the Second Prince of the Jin Dynasty.

Later, when they invaded the Song Dynasty, it was his eastern route army that abandoned the traditional Taihang Mountain passes and marched straight to Bianliang along the Hebei Plain.

Taking advantage of the Song army's psychological vulnerability regarding the "natural barrier of the Yellow River," they crossed the Yellow River on ice at night.

As a result, only 6 troops broke through the northwest defense line of Bianjing in 7 days.

Without him, the Jingkang Incident might not have occurred. He besieged Bianliang twice, but did not launch a forceful attack.

Instead, they kept pulling and arguing, forcing the signing of the "Three Towns Agreement" before voluntarily withdrawing north to alleviate the logistical pressure on the Jurchens.

The release of Li Gang, a proponent of war, exacerbated the infighting within the Song court. Finally, 4000 light cavalrymen raced 300 li day and night and captured members of the Song imperial family in Bozhou.

The good news is that Chen Shao knew he wouldn't live long and would die in his thirties.

If that bastard were alive, he'd be even harder to deal with than Zonghan.

Even from a ship thousands of miles away, the talk of Pingzhou carried a somber atmosphere.

Chen Shao didn't want to talk anymore, so he got up and went back to his cabin, where he happened to run into Jin Mo'er who came to bring him clothes.

The boat was moving quickly, and the river breeze made her clothes flutter, while the cloak behind her shoulders made her seem to be flying in the wind.

Her slender waist was cinched at the waist, making it seem as if it were about to bend in the wind. The light shirt on her chest clung tightly to her body in the wind, revealing her beautiful and full figure.

Seeing that she had a black cloak with red trim hanging from her arm, and that her slender waist looked like it was about to bend in the wind, Chen Shao smiled, picked up the cloak, and instead of wearing it himself, wrapped it around her.

Jin Mo'er smiled sweetly, tightened her cloak with her slender hands, and followed him into her cabin.

Her husband's occasional small acts of kindness often made her happy for days.

When Chen Shao went to Yinzhou this time, he only brought the three Jin sisters with him to serve him, which was actually a way for them to go back to their parents' home.

I don't know if the Qiang people have this custom, but the three sisters were all quite happy.

A rug sent from Xizhou was spread on the floor, and the other two sisters were sitting on it, playing some game.

Chen Shao sat between the two men and enjoyed the river breeze for a while, at which point he did start to feel a bit of a headache.

He couldn't help but miss Shishi. If Shishi were here, she definitely wouldn't let him get a headache from the wind.

He rested his head on Jin Ye'er's lap and said, "I'm going to take a nap."

"How can a master relieve his fatigue without taking off his clothes?"

Chen Shao thought it made sense, so he stood up and let them help him take off his clothes and make up the bedding.

Chen Shao casually grabbed one, held it in his arms, and began to nap. (End of Chapter)