As it was already mid-Spring in February, even the northern rivers showed signs of unblocking, and they would enter spring plowing in another tenth day. However, the negotiations with Zhending were still deadlocked. As Zhao Bing expected, facing the high-profile talks of several famous scholars sent by Zhending, even officials like Lu Xiufu were unable to resist. Three days later, there was no progress.

"Your Majesty, I am incompetent and cannot convince Zhending to come and share your worries!" That night, Lu Xiufu reported to the emperor about the negotiations over the past few days and said with shame.

"Prime Minister Lu, this negotiation has been delayed for a long time, and you are indeed responsible." Zhao Bing pondered for a moment and raised his hand to let him avoid the gift, signaling him to sit down and said.

"Please give reprimand your Majesty!" Lu Xiufu has been prime minister in Xiangxing Dynasty for nearly twenty years, and the monarch and ministers have been getting along very well. As for the current situation of face-to-face reprimand, he also realized that His Majesty was very dissatisfied with the progress.

"The Prime Minister Lu, the envoy sent by Zhending, to surrender, can be called a famous contemporary scholar in the north, and has a lot of experience in studying the classics and history. Although you have also read the classics and history well and have gained something, after all, after entering the officialdom for a long time, it is difficult to calm down and study them carefully. Isn't it a bad idea to talk to them about the scriptures and discussions with them? You are wrong in tactical use!" Zhao Bing said.

"This... but what they said is also very reasonable!" Lu Xiufu was stunned and said, "One of the conditions they mentioned is that Shi's rule of Zhending for three generations with benevolence and righteousness has been deeply loved by the people and supported by all walks of life. If he still stayed with Zhending after returning to the Song Dynasty, it would be beneficial to stabilize the situation and stabilize the people's hearts."

"Prime Minister Lu, if you have such a view, you are wrong first, and it is ridiculous!" Zhao Bing said anxiously after hearing this, "You are not only a Confucian scholar, but also an important official of the country at the center. You can no longer look at the problem from a pure scholar, but consider it from the perspective of benefiting the country and serving the people."

"The three generations of Shi's family have been deeply rooted for decades, and they are still allowed to remain in Zhending. In the short term, it may be conducive to stabilizing the situation. However, whether they can adapt to the situation and surrender to our dynasty and agree to the full implementation of our dynasty laws must be thought more. Once they touch on the interests of the group they represent, can they cooperate with the implementation of the dynasty laws, will they interfere with it, or even think that they are falsely thinking of snakes!"

"Your Majesty's concerns are reasonable, it's because I am wrong!" The emperor's words awakened Lu Xiufu. He immediately realized that there was a gap between ideals on paper and governance. As an official of the court, he faced specific affairs rather than talking about war on paper. He was entangled with them in the remarks of sages and finally found it difficult to reach an agreement.

As for Shi's resignation, as the emperor said, even if he surrendered sincerely, he still faced comprehensive changes, which would inevitably harm their interests. What would he do for the benefit of himself and the group? The most likely thing is to use his prestige in Zhending to respect the people and threaten the court, which made it difficult for the court's government orders to pass, and eventually formed a separatist situation of a country other than the law.

This situation is never allowed to happen to the Song Dynasty court, and as the emperor said that the negotiations with Shi were exemplary, it would have a guiding role in the future surrender of the Mongol Yuan forces. If you were eager to make a comeback with Shi, then those who asked for surrender would follow suit, resulting in the Song Dynasty that could only form a unified situation, but in fact it was a separatist family.

"Prime Minister Lu, negotiations may be just a real solution to overthrow it, so it is not advisable to continue to delay. Be tougher and don't let them be lucky!" Zhao Bing said slowly.

"Your Majesty, is there any change?" Lu Xiufu was busy with negotiations these days and temporarily put down other matters. He asked in surprise when he heard it.

"The scout reported the day before yesterday that Baozhou dispatched a large army to move south, showing signs of reinforcement of Zhending, and the march was very fast. According to the latest report, he had crossed the Tang River to Dingzhou and still had the intention to continue to move south." Zhao Bing reported to him.

"Hiss..." Lu Xiufu took a deep breath and walked to the map to find the location of Dingzhou and said quickly, "Baozhou is 100 miles away from Dingzhou. They will arrive in less than one day, while Dingzhou is only more than a hundred miles away from Zhending. This is calculated to arrive at the latest day after tomorrow. However, Zhending has only two cavalry divisions, artillery divisions and direct teams of the General Administration. They should quickly adjust the surrounding troops to return to the rescue and send cavalry to delay the enemy's marching speed!"

"Now the Fourth Army has gone north overnight, the Third Army has also left Wuji long ago, and the Fifth Army and the Eighth Army have returned to aid." Zhao Bing said.

"Your Majesty, how can the Third Army retreat? They should deploy defenses along the Shahe River to attack the enemy at half-fold to prevent the Baozhou army from continuing to move south!" Lu Xiufu said anxiously and angrily at the emperor's deployment.

"Haha, if the third army does not withdraw from Wuji, how could Zhang Gui continue to move south with great strides!" Zhao Bing smiled when he saw it.

"Oh, Your Majesty is taking the initiative to control the attacks of all the troops. Is it necessary to lead you into the trap?" Lu Xiufu pondered for a moment, and then said, "Your Majesty, now our army is going to attack reinforcements and besiege the city. The troops are slightly insufficient, and it is possible to be attacked from both sides!"

"Zhang Gui came to Zhending in a hurry. In addition to the pressure from the Mongolian Yuan court, Zhending also sent envoys to ask for help, but he would go there no matter what. He suffered a great loss in Daming City and had already become a frightened bird. And I have already spread the news that Zhending wants to surrender." Zhao Bing said.

"Your Majesty's intention is that Zhang Gui's help must be forced by the situation. Based on the lessons he taught in Daming before, he was nervous and would turn around and retreat to Baozhou when things were not good..." Lu Xiufu guessed the emperor's intention, but he thought it was inappropriate, "No, if he was worried about repeating the same mistake, he should move forward tremblingly instead of marching quickly!"

"The cavalry dispatched this time were mostly cavalrymen, probably because they learned from the lessons from the previous time and wanted to use the urgent marches to reach Zhending to complete the encirclement of it. Once they found that Zhending had turned against him, they could quickly escape and return to Baozhou." Zhao Bing said.

"What does Your Majesty want to do?" Lu Xiufu frowned.

The current situation is very dangerous. The three armies that were forward were all infantry. Even if they wanted to march in a hurry, they would have to sleep all day and night before they could return to Zhending. The Fourth Army in Gaocheng was resting and recuperating while recovering, and it would have to come over for a day and night. They could only fight two cavalry divisions with only more than 6,000 people and an artillery division that could not fight independently, and the camp guards and the direct team of the General Administration Office on the south bank of the Henan Province. With these forces, it is difficult to block the enemy's attacks from both directions. Your Majesty's arrangement is too risky.

"I have discussed with Tian Zhong and will arrange the main battlefield of the army that annihilated to assist Baozhou here!" Zhao Bing pointed at the only way out of Dingzhou and entered Zhending with his fingers.

"Your Majesty's intention is to attack the enemy at half-crossing, but the river water has not yet thawed yet. The enemy cavalry can cross the river in multiple ways. If the troops are fewer, it is difficult to block the impact of the enemy cavalry. If the troops are too many, they will inevitably be discovered by the enemy, and they may retract back to Dingzhou!" Lu Xiufu said.

"The Prime Minister Lu is very worried." Zhao Bing said, "I have already investigated. Although the Tang River has not thawed, the ice layer has become crisp. The heart of the river cannot withstand the cavalry crossing the river at the same time, so I can only lead the horse to stretch the distance and move slowly. I judged that they would choose to cross the river at the early morning, when the temperature is the lowest and the ice is the most solid. If we ambush the troops far away from the river bank, it is the beginning of the moon again, and the moonlight is dark, it will be difficult for them to find the ambush."

"Then how will Your Majesty dispatch troops?" Lu Xiufu said.

"After the discussion, Tian Zhong ordered the Fourth Army to march straight into Dingzhou at night, set up an ambush along the Tang River, and sent two other cavalry divisions to assist in the battle; the Third Army, which had evacuated Wuji, flew a shot and went to the vicinity of Dingzhou City from a small road. After the Baozhou Army left, he took advantage of the empty city in the city and cut off the enemy's way back, and annihilated them on both sides of the Tang River with two attacks." Zhao Bing said.

"The key point at the moment is whether the Fourth Army can reach the south bank of the Tang River on time. They have to march for more than 150 miles in a hurry, which is very difficult!" Lu Xiufu nodded, but said without any worries.

He knew that His Majesty's deployment of troops in this way caused the Baozhou reinforcements to have the illusion that his troops were scattered around the surrounding areas, Zhending's troops were empty, and the troops could not return to support in time in a short period of time. He made him think that as long as the speed was fast enough, he could avoid their blockade, and first arrived at Zhending to defeat a small number of besieged Song troops, and then joined forces with Zhending's army to defeat the Song troops who returned to the rescue.

However, if the Fourth Army cannot reach the designated position on time and block the Baozhou Army crossing the river, it will really have a chance to succeed, and the camp will be in crisis. If it is not done well, it will be a replay of the past when His Majesty had to personally lead the guards in Yangzhou. If there is any mistake, he will be to blame.

"Prime Minister Lu, don't worry, we must believe in Sun Kai and the Fourth Army. They have the ability to arrive at the designated position on time and complete the blocking mission." Zhao Bing saw his concern and smiled, "The Fourth Army was able to arrive on time during the school review last year, and their training results have always been at the forefront among all the armies."

"Your Majesty, what I am worried about is that there is still a connection between Zhending and Baozhou. If Shi takes the opportunity to attack, our lack of troops in Zhending will endanger the safety of the camp." Lu Xiufu said.

"The guards in the camp are not decorations, and there is a Hutuo River block. When they find that there is something unusual in Zhending, they immediately blow up the floating bridge, making it impossible for them to cross the river in time. The Eighth Army and the Fifth Army are near, and they will be able to arrive at the city of Zhending tomorrow. Therefore, the success or failure of this battle requires more cooperation from the mainland minister!" Zhao Bing smiled and comforted him.

"Your Majesty even though you give me the order, I will do my best to complete it!" Lu Xiufu said.

"Tomorrow's negotiations, Prime Minister Lu should not smile at them, just keep a stern face, do not respond to anything he says, let alone argue, just tell them that the deadline is approaching, and you can also wake them up in time!" Zhao Bing said.

"Your Majesty wants me to be a serious clay Bodhisattva!" Lu Xiufu said with a funny feeling after hearing this.
Chapter completed!