On September 20, 17th year of Xiangxing, Lin'an and his group quietly left the palace city. Although the fierce battle ahead was in full swing, Lin'an still did not impose a curfew. Even though it was late at night, the tiles in the restaurants in the city were still brightly lit and the sound of silk music was constant. There were fewer pedestrians on the street, and they did not stop and watch the teams traveling late at night. Since the war with the Mongol Yuan, officials and troops have often left the city at night, and they have become accustomed to this.

However, tonight, this seemingly ordinary team was the emperor's journey. They left the city gate and went to the canal pier. They boarded the boat without stopping. A fleet full of supplies left the port and sailed northward. A cavalry heading to the front line was close and separated by the fleet, and there were also warships transported to the northern front line cruising in front and behind. No one knew that the emperor had left the capital and personally fought.

In order to cover people's eyes, the fleet also made disguises, removing all the marks of the navy of the guards. The soldiers were dressed up by ordinary sailors, and the officials who accompanied them were merchants or dressed in scholars who traveled. In the Song Dynasty, the scholars took official boats, and the situation of the caravans traveling with the official canal boats to ensure safety is not new, and naturally they are not so eye-catching.

Zhao Bing was unable to ride his own imperial boat when he went on a secret trip, but instead took a navy baggage boat. Although the ship had been modified internally beforehand, it still seemed simple and narrower than the imperial boat, but it had a complete function and was more comfortable to ride, so he naturally had no discomfort.

Considering that the in-person expedition lasted more than a year before it ended, Zhao Bing handed over the right to supervise the state to the empress dowager. Thinking that the empress was becoming more and more mature in politics, and the empress dowager was getting older and her strength and spirit were getting worse, he asked Wu Xi to assist in government affairs. In order to take care of the emperor's life, the empress arranged for Li Sanniang and Su Lan to accompany him.

"Mr. Zheng, thank you for your hard work!" In the early morning, Zhao Bing left the cabin to get some breath, and saw an old man with a hairy head wearing a cotton robe with 60% new one, standing next to the railing with his sleeves, just like a shopkeeper of a caravan. He smiled and said hello.

"Where is my subordinate's responsibilities, Your Majesty is sleeping well?" Zheng Huchen bowed his hands and smiled.

"It's cold, don't get caught in the cold!" Zhao Bing took off his fur hat and put it on his head and said, "With you by your side, how can I not sleep well!"

This time it was a secret trip. The soldiers of the guard camp had developed an inherent habit because of their long-term military life. Those who were interested could see from their gait and behavior at a glance. Therefore, except for a team of internal guards, they were all good players selected from the Affairs Bureau. They had been mixed in society with various identities for a long time, and they looked like ordinary people, and no one could tell clearly.

Zheng Huchen knew that the emperor was going deep into the Central Plains and fighting completely in unfamiliar areas, so he insisted on going out to fight with all his might. Zhao Bing could not resist him and could only agree. This operation was planned from the choice of time, to the design of the route, the disguise of ships, and the deployment of personnel. With such a long-term battle on the hidden front, and a veteran who was deeply silenced with various dark means by his side, Zhao Bing was certainly relieved.

"Thank you Your Majesty!" Zheng Huchen did not refuse, but only a touch flashed in his eyes, and said, "Your Majesty, since last year, the Mongol Yuan has strengthened its infiltration into the capital, especially his whereabouts. Although we have eliminated a group of people, there will eventually be fish that miss the net. Your Majesty will show up less."

"Well, I've recorded it." Zhao Bing did not refute and retreated honestly to the middle of the corridor, "Master Zheng also needs to take care of himself. This time, the expedition is high and the road is long, and the days are still long!"

"I am still strong, so don't worry about you." Zheng Huchen said again, "I have been trusting you for many years and have been entrusted with important tasks, so I have no choice. This time, maybe it is the last time that I have accompanied Your Majesty on the expedition. I also want to see the old capital. If I can go to Dadu for a while, this life will be enough!"

"I can't live without you. We have to drink outside of Masai and see the scenery of the desert!" Zhao Bing heard the sadness in his words. He was nearly 70 years old and knew that it was time to retire, so he could only comfort him kindly.

"As long as I don't mind my subordinates being old and incompetent, of course, I hope to accompany His Majesty to travel all over the beautiful mountains and rivers and see the world of flowers!" Zheng Huchen grinned and said.

Taking advantage of the northern tour last year, Zhao Bing inspected the traffic conditions of the canal. By repairing the cofferdam water storage and laying steamer traction in the countercurrent river section, now adding navigation beacons to the dangerous sections, ensuring the safety of the ship's night navigation and greatly increasing the navigation capacity of the canal. This greatly shortens the time for ships to sail.

In order to speed up the marching, and for the need for confidentiality, the fleet rarely berthed by the port along the way. With the assistance of the department, the fleet kept stopping day and night, and arrived at Yingtianfu Wharf at the end of the month, and no longer sailed in front of him. Zhao Bing and his party got off here, but did not enter the city. They only rested in the camp of the First Brigade of the Imperial Front Guards outside the city for one day, and then took a car to Kaifeng by land.

After a few days of travel, I arrived at the boundary of Xiangyi. This place was already the dividing line of peace reached by the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty, and it was also considered to have entered the boundary of Kaifeng Prefecture. This place was the former Bian River Road, and the Grand Canal has reached Kaifeng City since then, but it was silted due to the overflow of the Yellow River, which lost its ability to navigate, and at the same time it was damaged to the agricultural production environment in Kaifeng.

Zhao Bing looked around and saw that the surrounding area was deserted, and his eyes were filled with mud and sand caused by the overflow of the Yellow River. Due to the strong saline-alkali nature of the mud and sand, it was difficult to grow crops. The once thousands of hectares of fertile fields were abandoned and difficult to cultivate again. Seeing this, he couldn't help but sigh. The Yellow River was the last barrier for Kaifeng and was also a dependence on good fortune and good fortune.

Kaifeng City can be said to have become the Yellow River, and the failure is the Yellow River. The Yellow River not only brings water conservancy convenience, but also brings the threat of floods. From an objective perspective, the riverbed in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River gradually rises, resulting in changes in the river channel since the Song Dynasty Du Chong broke through the river. At the same time, disastrous weather such as continuous heavy rainstorms were all natural factors that caused serious river disasters in the Yuan Dynasty.

The soil erosion in the upper and middle reaches of the Yellow River has caused the river water to carry a large amount of silt downstream, causing a large amount of silt in the flat downstream areas to accumulate in the river channels. Over time, these silt accumulates in the lower reaches of the river, which leads to the rise of the river bed year by year. Over time, the river bed is higher than the ground on both sides, forming a "surface river", which makes Kaifeng always under the threat of the Yellow River breaking.

Since the fifth year of Mingchang in Jin Dynasty, the Yellow River was determined by Yangwu, and the southern tributary passed through forty miles north of Kaifeng City. Since then, the Yellow River has flooded and diverted the route many times near Kaifeng. By the time of entering the Yuan Dynasty, the Situation of Tokyo, Bian, Cai, and Wuzhang, and the Jinshui River were all silted by the Yellow River. Kaifeng only relies on one Jialu River to transport externally, which greatly affected the recovery and development of the urban economy.

Zhao Bing's mood gradually improved when he moved north. After the Jin and Yuan dynasties vigorously developed military farming, the situation improved. You can see the straw left in the fields after the autumn harvest on both sides of the road. Perhaps because the Yuan army retreated too quickly and the crop harvesting was rushed, there were many sparrows, and a large group of birds were looking for the lost rice.

A few days later, when they entered Kaifeng City, they did not set up a ceremonial guard and held a large-scale entry ceremony. When Zhao Bing saw the city, his heart sank again. Although he knew that he had suffered from the influence of war, decline was inevitable and he also had some understanding of the current situation, he still had some expectations.

At the end of the Jin Dynasty, after the Battle of Kaifeng in the Jin Dynasty and the Yuan army captured Kaifeng, "all the towers and turrets in the capital" were burned again, and Kaifeng City was destroyed and greatly declined. After the Mongolian destroyed the Jin Dynasty, it established Nanjing Road in Kaifeng, and later changed Bianliang Road to govern Xiangfu and Kaifeng counties. In the 28th year of Zhiyuan, it established the province of Jiangbei in Henan and Bianliang as its prefecture. From then on, Kaifeng was reduced to a local political center.

However, Kaifeng City was beyond recognition at this time compared to the Song Dynasty. In addition to the destruction of war, the rulers of Kublai Khan in the early Yuan Dynasty carried out a large-scale city destruction campaign to prevent unrest, and Kaifeng City was not spared. The outer city was demolished, with only the remaining base sites, and there were gates that were not built, and they were filled with soil, which lost the role of city defense. They only served as a moat to defend against the flooding of the Yellow River. The inner city only retained the city walls and the city scope was greatly reduced.

After the Song Dynasty recovered Jiangnan, Boyan saw the power of the Song army's firearms and thought that it was difficult to win in the field with a fast horse bent bow. Therefore, he suggested restoring the city to stop the Song Dynasty's northern invasion. Kaifeng City, as an important town in the Central Plains and the former capital of the Song Dynasty, would inevitably become a must-be defended place.

However, with Boyan's loss of power, the operation to restore the city was not effective. It was not until the Song Dynasty recovered the two Huai Rivers and entered the Central Plains that the real gold did not hesitate to sell Sichuan and Shu to protect Kaifeng City, and this place also became the first strong city encountered by the Song army to enter the Central Plains north. Rebuilding Kaifeng City was just put on the agenda.

However, the imperial treasury was deficient and the local finances were tight. It was basically impossible to restore the city to the scale of the Song Dynasty with limited financial resources. So they retreated and gave up the idea of ​​rebuilding the outer city, repaired it based on the inner city, and covered bricks outside the earthen city, raised the city walls, renovated the city defense facilities, and expanded the moat. However, only five city gates were retained, and the rest were all blocked.

The defense of the renovated city was hard to say, but it did not play its due role in this war. The Song army suddenly crossed the border and launched an attack. At that time, the Marshal's Office of Jiangbei Province in Henan had moved to Zhengzhou further north. The city had less than 3,000 defenders. Faced with ten times the force, the defenders refused and left the city and fled. The Song army occupied Kaifeng City with almost no bloodshed.
Chapter completed!