I am a prince in Zhutian Films

Chapter 412 Main Mission Completed
Prepare for war in winter and send troops in spring.

This was the overall strategy formulated by Zhao Wei. After the order was issued, Ke Zheng hurried to the front line.

Ke Zheng believed that now was not a good time to start a full-scale war with the Liao people and hoped to end the war, but Zhao Wei naturally disagreed.

This irreconcilable contradiction caused the master and disciple to part ways unhappily. Zhao Wei even asked for an imperial decree, asking Zhao Heng to order Ke Zheng to return to the capital. At the moment, no voices seeking peace could be heard in the northern border.

In the end, Zhao Heng was unable to withstand the pressure from court officials and once again sent envoys to negotiate with the Liao people. However, Zhao Heng also gave Zhao Wei a secret letter and recalled Ke Zheng, as well as Zhao Pan'er and Zhao Ye from the border.

On the Liao side, Emperor Shengzong of Liao was already furious because of the defeat. When he heard that the Song people actually wanted to negotiate, he was quite confused. However, he quickly reacted and sent envoys to make contact.

But the same thing goes, you can't negotiate peace just because you want to. It depends on whether Zhao Wei is willing.

So, taking advantage of the opportunity of the Song and Liao negotiations again, Zhao Wei directed and acted out a drama in which the Liao people invaded the border. Then, the Blood-Clothed Army under his command went into battle, massacred the invading Liao army, and entered the heartland of the Liao Kingdom, imitating the Liao people's invasion and carrying out a bloody massacre of the Liao Kingdom.

This action directly angered the entire Liao Kingdom, and the peace talks collapsed again. The angry Liao people even killed the peace envoys sent by the Song Dynasty.

The Song-Liao War, which had originally stopped, broke out again, but this time it was not on the border of the Song Dynasty, but within the territory of the Liao Kingdom, or to be more precise, within the territory of the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun. More than a dozen prefectures experienced wars of varying degrees.

The emperor and his ministers of the Song Dynasty, who were far away in Bian Jing, felt a little unbearable. Over the past year or so, the war had been going back and forth without stopping, and the peace talks had never stopped. However, every time they were about to succeed, something went wrong, which made it difficult for the court officials who were eager for a ceasefire to accept.

What Zhao Heng found hard to accept was that the Blood-Clothed Army under Zhao Wei actually broke through the Liao blockade and entered the Liao territory. This gave him hope that the Song Dynasty could recover the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun.

Although Zhao Heng supported Zhao Wei to continue fighting, there were too many people in the court who opposed him. In addition, Ke Zheng returned to the capital and denounced King Han Zhao Wei for deliberately provoking a war between Song and Liao. This gave Xiao Qinyan an opportunity and joined forces with the ministers to submit a memorial, demanding that Zhao Heng punish King Han. This forced Zhao Heng to send people to the northern border to investigate.

Gu Qianfan walked slowly into the hall and bowed to the official Zhao Heng.

"Your servant Gu Qianfan pays respect to the emperor."

"Gu Qing is here."

Zhao Heng looked at Gu Qianfan and nodded. Gu Qianfan had been in charge of the Imperial City Bureau for more than a year. He had made many contributions and was loyal. He was one of the people Zhao Heng trusted the most.

"Gu Qing, you should know that Ke Gong and Xiao Xiang reported to the King of Han that they were deliberately provoking a war, right?"

Gu Qianfan bowed and said, "Your Majesty, I have heard something."

"Do you think the King of Han deliberately started the war?"

While asking the question, Zhao Heng stared at Gu Qianfan, trying to see Gu Qianfan's reaction.

Gu Qianfan was silent for a moment, and replied: "Your Majesty, His Royal Highness King Han is a famous general in the world, and he has devoted himself to the court. I have always admired His Royal Highness King Han very much. As for whether His Royal Highness King Han deliberately provoked a war, it still needs to be investigated."

Zhao Heng hummed, "That's a mature and frank statement. The King of Han is my son, and I know who he is. It's just that some remarks in the court recently were unfavorable to the King of Han. There were even memorials impeaching the King of Han for raising his own troops and disrupting the peace talks between the two countries many times.

Of course I don't believe what these villains say, but in order to prove the innocence of King Han, this matter still needs to be investigated carefully. Gu Qing, you are in charge of the Imperial City Bureau and are an expert in this area. Prime Minister Xiao also recommended you to me, so I want to send you to the Northern Frontier to investigate this matter.

We must investigate thoroughly and clear the King of Han’s name.”

Gu Qianfan lowered his head and said, "I will live up to the reputation of the government and lead my men to the border immediately."

Zhao Heng didn't know that Gu Qianfan was Zhao Wei's man, but he believed that with Zhao Wei's ability, he would be able to make Gu Qianfan return to him, even if Gu Qianfan was Xiao Qinyan's son.

After Gu Qianfan left the palace, he felt a cool breeze on his back and his eyes became hesitant.

"Could it be that the emperor is also afraid of His Highness and wants to make a move on His Highness?"

He has been in the officialdom for so many years and has seen a lot of intrigues and deceptions in the officialdom. There is no trust even between biological fathers and sons, just like him and Xiao Qinyan.

Ever since the King of Han went to the border to take charge of the army, the civil servants in the court have been criticizing him a lot. Even after the King of Han destroyed the Dingnan Army and repelled the Liao Army, these critics not only did not decrease, but became more and more.

The meaning is just one: the King of Han controls the military, which is the way to disrupt the country.

Therefore, these civil officials have always wanted to transfer Zhao Wei back to Kyoto from the border and send people to the border again. The candidates should be either civil officials or military men who advocate peace.

Although the emperor had never agreed, he might have been influenced by these remarks and felt wary of the King of Han. However, the Liao army was too powerful and the emperor did not dare to act rashly. After all, throughout the decades of the Song Dynasty, the only one who could defeat the Liao people head-on and achieve a major victory was the King of Han. Therefore, even if the emperor was wary, he did not dare to act rashly against the King of Han.

Gu Qianfan felt a chill all over his body. He was Zhao Wei's man and knew very well what Zhao Wei wanted to do. He knew that Zhao Wei was loyal to the Song Dynasty and the emperor. But the emperor's words and actions today might show that he was beginning to doubt His Royal Highness the King of Han.

While Zhao Wei was leading his troops in bloody battles on the front line, people in the rear kept trying to facilitate peace talks. Even Ke Zheng had betrayed the pro-war camp and was now leading the impeachment of King Han, causing the government to secretly investigate the King.

The government said that he wanted him to clear the King of Han's name, but in reality, if he really investigated the King of Han and found any problems, then...

"Your Highness, I finally understand what you said. It turns out that the biggest problem in recovering lost territory is not the war, but the court. Not everyone wants to recover lost territory."

Gu Qianfan felt sad, but as a subject, he could not go against the emperor's will.

After returning home, Gu Qianfan made arrangements for his wife and children, asked someone to deliver a secret letter to Zhao Huai'en, and then took his men to the border.

Zhao Wei didn't know that Gu Qianfan had brought people to the border. Now his main focus was still on the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun and the Liao Kingdom.

Seeing that he was not far from completing the system task, he must go all out.

So in the spring of the second year of Qianxing, when the court was preparing to negotiate with the Liao people for the third time, Zhao Wei directly led the army to launch an offensive against the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun.

The Liao people obviously did not expect that Zhao Wei would be so bold as to directly attack the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, and at such a fast speed that he launched the offensive without giving them time to react.

For a time, the Liao defenders were defeated by the Song army and lost their weapons and territory one after another.

When the news reached the Liao capital, the Liao court cursed everyone, including the Song emperor.

They all believed that the Song Dynasty's attempt to negotiate with them was just a cover, the purpose of which was to make them relax their vigilance and then allow Zhao Wei to lead his army to invade and catch them off guard.

Judging from the current situation, the Song people's evil plan has obviously succeeded, but this move has also aroused their anger, and they will definitely make the Song people pay the price.

Therefore, when the Liao people were furious, Emperor Shengzong of Liao ordered the whole country to counterattack the Song Dynasty, gathered an army of 500,000, and led the army in person. Zhao Wei took advantage of the Liao people's unpreparedness and seized five states in one go. Although the Sixteen States of Yanyun had been occupied by the Liao people for many years, there were still many Han people living in this land. So when Zhao Wei led his army to attack and seized the land, he did not spend much effort to recover the lost land and change the flag.

Gu Qianfan was marching at a fast pace after receiving the imperial decree. He was just buying time by clearing out bandits along the way. So when he arrived at the northern border, Zhao Wei was no longer at the border. He led his troops to attack the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, and in just over a month, he had recovered five of the prefectures, forcing the Liao people to flee in panic.

Upon hearing the news, Gu Qianfan was so shocked that he didn't know how to describe his feelings. He never expected that the Liao people would be so weak. No, it's not that the Liao people are weak, it's that Zhao Wei is too strong.

If Zhao Wei was allowed to continue fighting, wouldn't he be able to recover the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun? !

Gu Qianfan was extremely surprised, but at the same time, he felt deeply worried.

Because he was not sure what the emperor's attitude towards Zhao Wei was, and Zhao Wei's attack on the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, strictly speaking, did not obtain the consent of the capital and the emperor. If the emperor wanted to take action against Zhao Wei, he could use this charge to convict him.

Gu Qianfan was worried, but he still sent Zhao Wei's victory results back to the capital using the fastest delivery method of the Imperial City Bureau.

He could only hope now that the emperor would pardon King Han's crime after learning of his great achievement in recovering the five states of Yanyun.

Even so, he still felt uneasy, so he briefly investigated the situation at the border, and then he ran into his former boss Lei Jing.

After learning from Lei Jing that the Liao emperor had assembled an army of 500,000 and led the army in person, he left some of his men behind to help and rode back to the capital at full speed.

On Zhao Wei's side, after recovering the five states in a swift manner, he could no longer proceed because the Liao emperor, Yelu Longxu, had already led an army of 500,000 to the Yanyun area and blocked the Song army's advance.

The 500,000 Liao troops outnumbered the more than 200,000 Song troops in the northern border led by Zhao Wei, but the two sides did not start fighting immediately.

Bianjing City.

When the court and the public learned that the Liao Kingdom had mobilized the entire country to recruit 500,000 soldiers to attack the border, Zhao Heng and all the officials were panicked.

At this time, the court was extremely united and reported to Zhao Heng, asking him to dispatch troops to the northern border to meet the Liao army.

The ministers in the court were really at a loss. Although they were extremely dissatisfied with Zhao Wei, if they did not send troops to support him at this time, and if Zhao Wei failed to withstand the crazy Liao people, the Liao people would inevitably invade the heartland of the Song Dynasty, and it was not impossible for the country to be destroyed.

Compared to the possibility of destroying the country, nothing else matters.

Zhao Heng was also very clear that he did not want to experience the shame of Jingkang in his dream, so Zhao Heng not only mobilized 400,000 garrison troops and vassal troops from all directions, but also mobilized 200,000 imperial troops, totaling 600,000 troops to reinforce the northern border.

It is no exaggeration to say that Zhao Wei has now reached the pinnacle of the military generals of the Song Dynasty. He has an army of nearly one million, which was simply unimaginable in the Song Dynasty. It can be said that as long as he wants, the throne is within his reach.

This situation occurred because he pressed the Liao Kingdom too hard, causing the Liao Emperor to send troops south to attack the Song Dynasty regardless of everything.

A year later, it was the spring of the third year of Qianxing.

The news that Zhao Wei led his army to defeat the Liao army and recaptured the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun spread throughout the world and caused a sensation throughout the Song Dynasty.

Bianjing, Imperial Palace.

"Your Majesty, this is a letter from the Liao envoy."

Eunuch Cui carefully placed the Liao Kingdom's letter in front of Zhao Heng, then stepped aside.

Zhao Heng has been in a very good mood recently. The ceded Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun were recovered during his reign. Just based on this point, he can be on par with Emperor Taizu, and even surpass Taizu and Emperor Taizong.

Now, he didn't even need to mention the Fengshan ceremony at Mount Tai, as countless court officials praising his achievements would ask him to go to Mount Tai to offer sacrifices to heaven and earth, making him very happy.

When Zhao Heng opened the letter from the Liao Kingdom and read its contents, he was first happy, then furious, and finally he sighed, appearing quite helpless.

This was a letter from the Liao Kingdom requesting peace talks. In addition to requesting peace talks, it also condemned King Han Zhao Wei for destroying the diplomatic relations between the two countries and being the culprit of the war between the two countries. It asked the Song court to immediately recall Zhao Wei and punish him, etc. Otherwise, the Liao Kingdom would mobilize the entire country to fight a bloody battle with the Song court to the end.

Although he came to seek peace, the words between the lines were still full of a sense of superiority, and in the end he even threatened their Song Dynasty.

The defeated party is still so arrogant. Under normal circumstances, the victorious party will definitely not give face, but the Song Dynasty is a special existence.

Although Zhao Wei defeated the Liao army, the Song Dynasty had always lived under the oppression of the Liao Kingdom, and many people had an inherent fear of the Liao people. It was only after Zhao Wei's great victory, the recovery of the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, and the annihilation of nearly 300,000 Liao troops that the Song Dynasty regained its confidence.

However, as an emperor, Zhao Heng had more considerations. The Song Dynasty's recovery of the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun was already the greatest feat and victory since its founding. There was really no need to continue fighting.

More importantly, I can’t fight any further.

The two years of war with the Liao Kingdom had cost the national treasury huge amounts of money, and even he, the emperor, had to tighten his belt. If the war continued, the Song Dynasty's treasury would not be able to sustain it.

Besides, the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun have been recovered, so there is no need to seize the land of Liao. He simply doesn't care about those barren lands.

Therefore, Zhao Heng was also inclined to cease fire and negotiate, but he was very dissatisfied with the attitude of the Liao people. They had won the battle, so they had to put forward the necessary conditions and take a tough attitude.

"The Liao people are asking for peace talks. Who do you think is suitable to talk to them?"

Zhao Heng put down the letter and casually asked Eunuch Cui next to him.

Eunuch Cui was stunned for a moment, then bowed and said, "Your Majesty, I am a disabled person, and I dare not speak nonsense about state affairs."

"You." Zhao Heng smiled and said, "If I ask you to speak, just speak."

Eunuch Cui bowed his body, secretly glanced at Zhao Heng, pretended to think about it, and said in deep thought: "This time, the war between the two countries was won by the army led by His Royal Highness the King of Han. I think His Royal Highness the King of Han is the most suitable. Moreover, summoning His Royal Highness the King of Han back to the capital can also prevent the Liao people from endangering His Royal Highness's safety and starting another war between the two countries."

Zhao Wei smiled: "I didn't expect him. That guy is indeed the most suitable candidate."

Throughout the Song Dynasty, there were many people who had the toughest attitude towards foreign affairs, and Ke Zheng was one of the representatives.

But even Ke Zheng was just a younger brother in front of Zhao Wei.

Therefore, after summoning all officials to discuss the matter, Zhao Heng issued an imperial decree to summon Zhao Wei back to Beijing to participate in peace talks.

(End of this chapter)