Today is a rare and good weather, with bright sunshine and no wind. The people in the city are very happy, with lights and colorful decorations, as if they are having a festival.

Zhao Zhen's train had just stopped at the platform, and Du Zhongxiao and Han Qi hurried forward with their ministers and greeted each other on both sides.

After getting off the train with Song Xiang, Zhao Zhen looked at Du Zhongxiao and Han Qi who were greeting him, and then looked at the people who were greeting not far away, and nodded. Destroying the Khitan and unifying the world, he would have achieved the achievements of Taizu and Taizong, which was enough to be considered a wise ruler. After decades of being an emperor, it should be the most proud time. After many years of old enemies, I felt so happy.

After the ceremony, Zhao Zhen met the elders of the city and returned to the yamen together. The yamen held a banquet to welcome Zhao Zhen, and at the same time, he was entertaining the elders of the hometown who came to congratulate him. The Khitan was about to be destroyed. The local people who had lost both were extremely excited and very enthusiastic.

The banquet ended until late, and they each rested and said nothing all night. The next morning, Zhao Zhen ordered Du Zhongxiao to go and see the coach.

After performing the ceremony, Du Zhongxiao entered Zhao Zhen's residence. Zhao Zhen was wearing casual clothes and saw Du Zhongxiao coming in, he ordered him to give him a seat.

After tea, Zhao Zhen said, "This time, the siege of Yelu Hong is based on Wuqing, and the Taiwei has made great contributions. Thank you for your hard work these days."

Du Zhongxiao bowed and said, "I am serving the country, why dare you say that I have worked hard?"

Zhao Zhen nodded and said, "This great victory depends on you a lot. I will reward you with my merits after the war, and I will not treat you badly."

Du Zhongxiao said: "I thank Your Majesty. Today's military achievements depend on the lives of the soldiers and the people support me. Yesterday, the Lord of Han came, so I said that you should let the soldiers and the people see the rewards when you come to Hebei Road. But I can order the three officials to transport more wine and meat from Hebei Road to let the soldiers who participated in the war enjoy it. Of course, the rewards must not be less. Also, Hebei Road and Youzhou are best to avoid their money and food for a year."

Zhao Zhen nodded: "It's not a difficult task. This time, the inner treasury will pay 10 million chunks of money to reward soldiers. If you make such a great contribution, the court will not treat you unfairly."

Du Zhongxiao hesitated for a moment and gave in thanking him. He originally had great emphasis on rewarding merits and the form of rewards was given to him. He wanted to benefit the soldiers, but he also tried not to simply use money to reward them. However, he thought that this was a very big project, and it was not appropriate to propose it at this time. If he had the opportunity in the future, he would do it well, and it was not necessary now.

When the Yingtianxiang Army was first established, it was actually a combination of land reclamation, and a large part of the rewards for military merits were in the form of localities, not in the form of money. Later, when leaving the army and training, many systems of that year were changed to the current systems of the Song army. After a long time, Du Zhongxiao was too lazy to change them. Now he has won consecutive victories and has no motivation to change them.

After becoming the Privy Councilor for so many years, Du Zhongxiao no longer had his initial enthusiasm. Many things can be changed or not, and they will not be changed. Du Zhongxiao changed many things in this era, and this era also changed Du Zhongxiao.

After saying a few gossips, Zhao Zhen said: "The Khitan army is surrounded. How about now? When can we launch an attack and eliminate them?"

Du Zhongxiao said: "All armies have arrived near Wuqing and can launch an attack at any time. However, I think there is no need to hurry. The Khitans now have no military rations and have begun to kill horses to fill their hunger. After a few days, the Khitans have no food and grass to replenish their morale, and their morale will inevitably be low. At that time, it will be easier to attack."

Zhao Zhen said: "This time Yao Shouxin came with him. There are many cannons in his Gong Sheng Army, which can be used on the front line. In addition, most of the invincible thunderbolt chariots made were brought over, which can save a lot of effort when attacking."

Du Zhongxiao said: "I have already been driven by the thunder chariot to Wuqing. Today and tomorrow, Yao Shouxin can also lead troops to Wuqing. Your Majesty should go to Youzhou first to calm the hearts of the people. This time, the Khitan came to the south, and Youzhou was the worst hit, and the people were very miserable. According to my estimate, it is not enough to just reduce taxes and exempt them, and they also need relief from the court. Otherwise, there would be no way to plow this spring."

Zhao Zhen nodded: "It's good. The people of Youzhou have not been under the rule of the court for more than a hundred years, and their feelings are pitiful. The court can pay the money to buy seeds from Hebei Road and lend them to the people. It is enough to exempt them from taxes for one year."

The geographical climate of Youzhou is similar to that of Hebei Road, and seeds can be supplied by Hebei Road. This great victory was of great importance to the Song Dynasty. Spending this money was nothing. After destroying the main force of the Khitan and capturing the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, the Song Dynasty needed to clean up the mess as soon as possible.

The consequences of this battle in Youzhou were not only to eliminate the main force of the Khitan, but also to the entire Khitan. More than 400,000 tribal troops, Ding Zhuang, a grassland tribe east of Yinshan, was transferred to the 400,000 signing troops, Ding Zhuang from Youzhou, Yunzhou, Pingzhou and even several states in Zhongjing Road and Tokyo Road were also taken to the time. Without these Ding Zhuang, the production and life of these places were affected in the next few years, even decades.

As the Khitan defeat was decided, tens of thousands of signing troops surrendered to the Song army. However, most signing troops had lost their lives due to excessive labor and constant shortage of food. The Youzhou area will be very difficult in the next few years.

Zhao Zhenlai happened to provide some help to Youzhou in the name of the emperor and issue some preferential policies. Not only to win over the hearts of the people, but these places do need help, otherwise it will be very disadvantageous.

After talking about Youzhou, Zhao Zhen said: "It's still early, let's go to the command place and see how you fight in the last battle."

When he arrived at Zhao Zi's official hall, Zhao Zi hurriedly stepped forward to salute. After sitting down, he came to tea. Zhao Zhen ordered Han Qi, Song Xiang, Fu Bi, Li Fugui, Li Zhang and others to discuss the war together.

After everyone arrived, Zhao Zi ordered his soldiers to hang up a huge map. He said, "Now in the Wuqing area, there are about 410,000 soldiers and horses in the Khitan, of which 180,000 were signed. This is their last force, and there are no reinforcements outside. The army there are 100,000 people from Wu Song and Liu Huan, 100,000 people from Ma Huaide and Li Weixian. The north is 100,000 people from Jia Kui and Jingtai, and 100,000 people from Liu Jianji and Dou Shunqing. A total of 400,000 troops are divided into two parts. In Wuqing City, there are 45,000 people from Zhang Ji. There are 50,000 people from Longwei Army. In Xiongzhou, we can reach Wuqing at any time. If we can fight with the newly arrived Gong Sheng Army, there are more than 500,000 people."

Zhao Zhen said: "Both 500,000 people against 400,000 people, the two armies are actually not much different."

Du Zhongxiao said: "Your Majesty, the number of people is like this, but the combat power is not like this. The Khitan's 400,000 troops and 180,000 signing troops are actually unable to fight. Just like our army, there are more than 200,000 troops transporting grain, which is not included. Although the Khitan's nomadic cavalry has more than 200,000 people, most of them have been defeated and their morale is no longer as good as before. Since being surrounded, the Khitan broke through many times, but has not succeeded once. Now, the Khitans do not even have the courage to break through, and they just live there to die."

Han Qi said: "If we don't count the signing army, we will have an absolute advantage by 500,000 to more than 200,000."

Du Zhongxiao nodded: "Yes, this dynasty has absolute advantage in its military power. The biggest problem now is that the Khitan soldiers and horses are all concentrated in one place, and the barracks are connected together and they are not stationed separately. If you want to defeat them one by one, there is no chance. Of course, 400,000 people are crowded together, and the Khitans are not in good condition. They are just waiting for us to attack, and they have no intention of fighting."

Song Xiang said: "This dynasty has an absolute advantage in this battle, so there should be no problem in destroying the Khitan army. I don't know how to attack?"

Zhao Zi pointed to the map and said, "Originally, we wanted to use the 200,000 troops in the north to cooperate with the Longwei Army to suppress the south. The 200,000 troops in the south set up a formation to prevent the Khitans from escaping. After the Gongsheng Army arrived, there were many more artillery. Now we prepared artillery and advance together, compressing the Khitans to a place two or three miles wide in the north and south, and then bombarding them with cannons."
Chapter completed!