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In the early lunar month, news came from the Central Plains that the Jin Kingdom sent envoys to Kaifeng and took the initiative to propose peace talks. Yue Fei asked Chang'an whether to allow the envoys of the Jin Kingdom to rush to Kyoto.

Li Hu refused, and he asked Yue Fei to tell the Jin envoy that the Hulien Army was about to enter the northern expedition, and there was no possibility of peace between the two countries, and the victory and defeat were decided on the battlefield.

In early February, Li Hu led the Hu Guards and the personal guards to the Central Plains.

Before leaving, Li Hu told Luo Sinan that the next few months are very critical. The court must take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to adjust the administrative region as quickly as possible, streamline the central and local institutions, and streamline officials in order to replace the old bureaucrats to the greatest extent. At the same time, vigorously promote the privatization process of official fields, and strive to achieve results in half a year, otherwise the storm will not be able to calm down.

"So many things are difficult to complete within half a year, let alone achieve results." Luo Sinan had no confidence in this.

"Of course half a year is not enough. But the court must implement these measures one by one to convey a message to the people, that is, the court has the determination to punish corruption, to eradicate all corrupt officials, to build a new Middle-earth, and to let the people of Middle-earth live a peaceful and prosperous life." Li Hu smiled, "Now the people of Middle-earth have no confidence. Those old bureaucrats have ruined Middle-earth, which has brought serious disasters to the people of Middle-earth. If we want to restore the confidence of the Middle-earth people and restore their confidence in the court and bureaucrats, relying solely on the victory of the Northern Expedition and the unification of Middle-earth, we must use the bloody means of fighting corruption and rebuild the prestige of the court and the people's confidence with a series of fruitful policies. Only in this way, Middle-earth has hope, our reform will be successful, and Middle-earth will have a day of revitalization."

Luo Sinan frowned. Faced with the current situation, she felt that she had no idea how to start. Although Li Hu was full of confidence, she had an ominous premonition. According to the current situation, even if Li Hu won the Northern Expedition, he would not be able to stabilize the country in a short period of time. This storm may not be able to calm down in one or two years.

=

In mid-February, Li Hu arrived in Xingyang.

Ying Qin, Yue Fei, Zhe Kecun, Xin Xingzong and others had arrived in advance. The generals welcomed Li Hu into the city and immediately explained Li Hu the strategy of attacking north.

"The Yellow River has thawed. It is too difficult for the army to cross the river from the direction of the White Horse to attack, so we discussed it and decided to cross the Hebei from Heyin to the direction of Hebei, take the Weizhou in Hebei, and kill Xiangzhou directly through Liyang, and then meet with the army on the north line at the city of Handan."

Yue Fei pointed to Weizhou on the map. From Weizhou to Handan, it was about 400 miles away. Now Weizhou is controlled by the Huli Army, and Wang Yan's Huli Army is guarding the Heishan Line. The Huli Army crossed Heyin to Hebei, which is very safe. The army can successfully enter Liyang and then go north to Handan. Once Handan is in a hurry, it is meaningless for the Jin army to defend Daming Mansion to the death. The Jurchens must retreat to ensure that their retreat will not be cut off. In other words, as long as the Huli Army kills Handan, the Jin army must fight with the Huli Army to fight for control of Hebei.

"The nine armies in the Central Plains crossed Hebei from Heyin to the north, and joined forces with the Eighth Army of the Tiger and Lieutenant to attack Liyang." Yue Fei continued. "The seven armies in Shandong and the five armies of the Tiger and Lieutenant in the Central Plains were stationed on the line of Baima to restrain the main force of the Jin army on the other side to cover the smooth crossing of the river. After our Central Plains army reached Liyang, the Shandong army crossed Hebei and went north, and 180,000 troops advanced together to kill Handan."

Li Hu was very satisfied with this combat plan and nodded repeatedly, "How are the Hedong army preparing?"

"This month, the Ghost Commander led the 21st, 22nd and 23rd Arrivals to Taiyuan, and then went south with Gao Baolong's Bohai Army, Abaddon's Tiger Lie 2nd Armed Forces, Hailasu's Tiger Lie 3rd Armed Forces, Lu Junyi's Seventh Armed Forces and Hong Yun's 30,000 Grain Shooting Army. Now he has arrived at Huguan, and you can cross the caliber of the yong and enter Hebei at any time."

Yue Fei pointed at Zhending Mansion on the map.

"Ship Li led the Forty-third Army of Huliu, the Forty-fourth Army and the Forty-five Army have entered Jingzhi and can attack Zhending City at any time."

"Tiangshuai sent a letter two days ago, saying that Wang Yao and Tan Hongyi had commanded the Sixth Army of Hu Lieutenant, the Forty-Eighth Army, the Fifty-Fifty Army and Hu Litao's 20,000 grain-shooting army were ready to attack Juyong Nan Pass, and they would launch an attack just when our Central Plains army crossed the river."

Li Hu smiled and asked, "What is the reaction of the Jin army in Hebei? Have you ever discovered the Jurchens' reinforcements going south?"

"The Jurchens don't seem to believe that we will launch an attack." Yue Fei smiled, with a hint of disdain on his lips. "In the eyes of the Jurchens, our army will definitely have to rest and take a breath after pacifying the southeast, so no major force adjustment has been made so far. As for the army in the direction of Youyan, we have not found any signs of southward reinforcement."

"If I were Wu Qimai or Wanyan Gao, I wouldn't believe that the Hu Lie Army turned around and attacked Hebei after just pacifying the southeast." Li Hu smiled, "Besides, the current situation in the north is not good for me. The Khitans intend to rise again in the desert. Yelu Longqing consolidated their territory in the area of ​​Keduncheng. Once Wanyan Zonghan leads his army to attack Daibei, the Khitans may not be willing to join forces with me to attack the Jin army. In this way, when we attack Hebei, Wanyan Zonghan's Western Tent Army can attack Daibei. Everyone restrains each other, so the Jurchens are indeed sure to defend Hebei."

"The Khitans want to betray us?" Yue Fei frowned and asked coldly.

"Not yet." Li Hu said, "But I suspect that they and the Jurchens have reached some kind of agreement in private. We have pacified the southeast and their strength has increased sharply. The northern expedition is inevitable. Sooner or later, they will recover Hebei and Youyan. In this case, if the Jurchens want to imitate the Khitans of the past and confront us for a long time, they will inevitably compromise with the Khitans. Compared with the Khitans of the past, they did not conquer the desert and unify the north, which is their fatal weakness. If the Jurchens retreated to Liaodong, the Khitans would lose the opportunity to make a comeback forever. Therefore, from the future, from the perspective of the north-south confrontation and the Han-Ban confrontation, the Khitans must temporarily put aside their hatred and join forces with the Jurchens to deal with us."

"Isn't this betrayal?" Yue Fei sneered.

Li Hu shook his head disapprovingly, "The Khitans are not strong now. Before they occupy the entire desert, they will never dare to betray me publicly. This is also one of the reasons why I am eager to fight the Northern Expedition. As long as I defeat the Jurchens in this battle, the Khitans' attitudes will inevitably change. At that time, they will fantasize about regaining their own territory and rely on my help."

"The general is going to sit in the mountains and watch the tiger fight." Ying Qin smiled.

"The premise is that we must win the Northern Expedition." Li Hu also smiled, "As long as we recover Hebei and Youyan, the situation in the north will be controlled by us. At that time, we can inspire the Khitans to attack the Jin Kingdom in the name of helping the Khitans restore the country, so that they can defeat both sides."

Everyone immediately discussed the details of the attack, and finally Yue Fei asked: "Master, when will we cross the river and launch an attack?"

"Tomorrow, the army will cross the river tomorrow." Li Hu said without thinking, "I urgently report to the Iron Supervisor Dai Bei and ask him to call Wang Yao immediately after receiving the order, and Tan Hongyi launches an attack."

"Li Jin, who was in urgent need of Jingzhi, asked him to launch an attack quickly, caught the Jin army off guard, making it difficult for the Jurchens to take care of the head and tail."

"Order the commanders of the Central Plains army to cross the river immediately and fight northward."

=

February 14th, Daming Prefecture, Hebei.

Wanyan Gao and Yang Pu rushed to Daming Mansion day and night. The situation in Hebei was very tense at this moment. Wanyan Zongfu, Wanyan Zongbi and Liu Zongyan gathered together to discuss countermeasures. News from various channels can confirm that the Tiger Lieutenant Army was indeed going to attack Hebei, rather than bluffing. In order to fight, Zongfu also dispatched troops and tried his best to defend Hebei.

"According to all sources, the Tiger Lie Army in Shandong has arrived at Huazhou, Puzhou, and at least 200,000 troops on the south bank of the Yellow River." Zong Fu reported to Wanyan Gao, "In addition, the Tiger Lie Army in the Hedong direction is also gathering in the Jingxing area. Therefore, we guess that the Tiger Lie Army will definitely attack Hebei in the north and south, cross the river and attack the south line, and threaten Zhending, so as to force me to find it difficult to take into account both the head and the tail."

When Zong Fu said this, he looked up at Wanyan Gao, "If nothing unexpected happens, the Tiger Lie Army in the North will cooperate with the Hebei battlefield and attack Juyong Nan Pass at the right time to threaten the security of Yanjing and firmly restrain our army in the Yanjing direction." Zong Fu looked worried and said worriedly, "If the Tiger Lie Army attacks one by one, the other two will be restrained. We will be a little stretched in the deployment of troops."

Wanyan Gao looked solemn, and after a long time, he sighed, "Wanyan Talan's entire army was wiped out, and Shandong was lost, resulting in the loss of our army's advantages in the Central Plains battlefield."

Wanyan Gao glanced at Zong Bi intentionally or unintentionally. Zong Bi's face turned red and he bowed his head ashamed. In the Central Plains War, Zong Bi was careless and underestimated the enemy. The 20,000 Jin army was wiped out. It can be said that to a certain extent determined the fate of Wanyan Talan and the Shandong Jin army. However, after the war, Zong Fu deliberately protected Zong Bi and attributed Zong Bi's failure to the betrayal of the Southeast Song army in the war report. Zong Bi escaped. However, looking back today, the loss of Zong Bi's 20,000 elite troops not only determined the result of the Central Plains War, but also affected the allocation of troops on the battlefield in Hebei, so that the Hebei Jin army seemed very passive in the face of the large-scale attack of the Tiger Lie Army.

Wanyan Gao did not continue to talk and changed the topic, "I came here mainly to reopen peace talks. Huanglong Mansion is interested..." He paused for a moment, shook his head helplessly, as if he was quite dissatisfied with Huanglong Mansion's decision.

"Now, peace talks?" Zong Fu said in surprise, "Li Hu has already issued an edict to Zhongtu that he is going to launch a Northern Expedition, and he also flatly rejected our peace talks at the beginning of the year. There is no possibility of peace talks at this moment, unless we defeat Li Hu on the battlefield."

"Are we confident that we can block the Tiger Lieutenant Army from the front line of the Yellow River?" Wanyan Gao asked.

Zong Fu hesitated for a moment and said, "We have 200,000 troops in Hebei, stationed in Zhending, Handan, Daming Prefecture and the Yellow River line. Among them, there are 100,000 troops on the Yellow River line. If the Hu Lie Army crosses the river from the direction of Baima, I am sure to block them, but in my opinion, the Hu Lie Army may not adopt this attack strategy."

"What about your guess?" Wanyan Gao continued to ask.

"It is too difficult for the Huli Lie Army to cross the river from the front." Zong Fu said, "By my guess, the Huli Lie Army either crosses the river from Heyin, takes Weizhou, and directly kills Xiangzhou; or crosses Taihang Mountain from Hedong Longde Prefecture to kill Handan, and cuts off our Hebei defense line in half. If the Huli Lie Army attacks Xiangzhou and Handan at the same time, we will not be able to stop the Huli Lie Army from entering Hebei."
Chapter completed!