Li Zhang stayed in Yanzhou for three days. During these three days, he not only often contacted Liu Ping, but also asked about Liu Ping's character in the city. The final result was still very satisfied with him. Liu Ping is worthy of being both civil and military. He can fight against enemies with martial arts and civil and can get rid of Anbang. At least the public security in Yanzhou is much better than Qingzhou next to him. Although they are all border cities, all ethnic groups live in the city, but they are not like Qingzhou.

Of course, what satisfied Li Zhang the most was Liu Ping's military talent. In just three days, Liu Ping formulated a general strategy. As he said before, this time, the attack on Liao must be fast and ruthless, and concentrate superior forces to give a fatal blow to the Liao border. Moreover, the first target was the Nanjing Xijin Prefecture of Liao Kingdom, which was very bold.

However, the Liao Kingdom's intelligence has been sent recently. Nearly 100,000 troops were stationed in Xijin Prefecture and its surrounding areas, but now the battle between Yelu Zongzhen and Xiao Nojin is about to break out. Among them, Yelu Zongzhen has received the support of some generals from the north. After all, the north is the birthplace of the Khitan people, and many Khitan nobles there are more loyal to the royal family.

However, Xiao Nojin had the most elite army in the south. In order to defeat Yelu Zongzhen, Xiao Nojin had already drawn 70,000 troops from Xijin Prefecture to Zhongjing. In addition, the Xijing Datong Prefecture next to him had also been drawn by tens of thousands of people. As a result, the number of defenders on the border of Liao Kingdom was reduced by half, which made Liu Ping's plan suddenly increase his chance of winning.

In fact, this is not the first time that the Liao Kingdom has drawn troops on the border. In fact, since the Chanyuan Alliance, there has been no major war on the border between the Song and Liao countries for decades. Occasionally, there are some minor frictions, which are also initiated by the Liao people. This has also made the Liao people relax the security of the border. Even if they are stationed in heavy troops, they will mobilize troops to suppress them without hesitation when there is something happening in the country.

For example, in the Dayanlin Rebellion in the past two years, the garrisons in the Liao Kingdom could not suppress them at all, and finally they drew troops from the border to suppress them. This time the problem was even greater. After all, it was the emperor and the empress dowager fighting, and it was also related to the ownership of imperial power in the future. In addition, Xiao Nojin was not a long-term woman. For her own interests, she would not care about the border issues, otherwise Li Yuanhao would not be allowed to jump around the border all the time.

Li Zhang even speculated that if Xiao Nojin fought with Yelu Zongzhen and the battle situation was not good for her, maybe Xiao Nojin would draw the army from the border again, even if she was to draw all the troops, she would not care. After all, for her, if she failed, it would be even more uncomfortable than death. As for how the Liao Kingdom was not within her considerations.

It was also under this situation that the imperial edict in Li Zhang's arms that would not be dismissed Liu Ping was not issued. Even the day before leaving Yanzhou, he quietly burned the imperial edict. This was also his agreement with Zhao Zhen. If Liu Ping met the candidate for the chief general, then it would be useless to keep the imperial edict.

When Li Zhang left Yanzhou, Liu Ping did not come to see him off. It was not that he didn't want it, but that he couldn't, because just yesterday, Liu Ping set out to Qingzhou and Xingzhou. Because this time the attack on Liao also required to mobilize 50,000 troops from the northwest, and the 50,000 people will be selected by Liu Ping himself, so he immediately went to Qingzhou.

The first deputy Liu Ping selected was Guo Zun. The other party was once his old subordinate. When Zhao Zhen attacked Dangxiang, Guo Zun was ordered to serve. Later, Guo Zun was transferred to Qingzhou, and the Musket Army was also located in Qingzhou. Therefore, Liu Ping's first stop was Qingzhou. In addition, he was also planning to go to Xingzhou to select some troops that had participated in the attack on Dangxiang. These people were all veterans who had really been on the battlefield, and were much stronger than ordinary new recruits.

Li Zhang didn't know much about military affairs, and now he has appointed Liu Ping as the main general. As the saying goes, there is no doubt about employing people, and Zhao Zhen also promised to delegate power to him, so Li Zhang did not interfere in the selection of the army, let alone he was in a hurry to return to Beijing. After all, he agreed to Qingzhi and the others and agreed that the round trip would not last more than two months.

He ran wildly again, but nothing happened along the way. However, just as Li Zhang was about to arrive in the capital, the latest information from the Liao Kingdom came again, and this information also shocked Li Zhang because Yelu Zhirang was mentioned in the information.

The information content this time was also great good news for the Song Dynasty. Yelu Zongzhen and Xiao Nojin mobilized various armies to confront each other with Zhongjing and Shangjing as the center. However, both sides were very cautious, and the main army had been still holding on. In the end, Yelu Zongzhen might be a little unable to hold back, so he was the first to send troops to test.

There is a Huang River between Zhongjing and Shangjing. This Huang River is not the Huang River that flowed through Henan in later generations, but the upper reaches of the Liao River. It just crosses between Shangjing and Zhongjing, and merges into the Liao River with another tributary Tu River. The Tu River crosses through Zhongjing.

On the east side of the Huanghe River, there are two big cities, Yikunzhou and Longhuazhou. Now Xiao Nojin has the advantage of military strength, and these two big cities are under her control. After all, she had been in power for several years before, and had long cleaned up the Liao court. Almost all the main positions were controlled by her people, so as long as she did not die, Yelu Zongzhen would find it difficult to regain power.

However, Yelu Zongzhen suddenly sent troops this time and sent Yelu Renxian and Yelu Zhirang as the main generals. The two of them attacked Longhua Prefecture, but they succeeded in winning the big city of Longhua Prefecture, which also greatly increased Yelu Zongzhen's strength.

In fact, losing a city has little impact on Xiao Nojin's strength. After all, her main force is still concentrated near Zhongjing, but the loss of Longhua Prefecture has greatly hit her reputation. After all, Yelu Zongzhen is the emperor of the Liao Kingdom, and now he is in the power of great victory, which has led to many nobles who were originally on the fence starting to turn to Yelu Zongzhen.

In particular, the information also mentioned that some Han officials behind Xiao Nuojin also began to contact Yelu Zongzhen. Most of these Han officials were scholars, so they also valued orthodox. This made it normal for them to choose Yelu Zongzhen. Xiao Nuojin's influence was mainly in the southern part of the Liao Kingdom, which was the main territory of the Han people. Therefore, the wavering of Han officials also angered Xiao Nuojin, and for this, he even ordered the suppression of a group of Han officials, which temporarily stabilized the situation in the rear.

The information mentioned Yelu Zhirang, which also made Li Zhang feel relieved. It seemed that he had guessed correctly before. Yelu Zhirang was still alive. In addition, Yelu Zongzhen actually started a good start, which would definitely force Xiao Nojin to fight him. In this way, they should be quicker, otherwise they would not be ready to send troops when the Liao Kingdom finished fighting, which would be too late.
Chapter completed!