Zhou Simao nodded, followed Zhao Fan into the Yamen, and sat down in the hall.

Zhao Fan sat in the middle hall, Zhou Simao sat on the left side, and the officials and staff of the Production and Construction Department who followed were seated according to their status.

As soon as Zhou Simao sat down, he said: "Mr. Zhizhi, the Mongols have not attacked yet, and the people in Chuzhou City have left the city in panic. This is to shake the morale of the army, and the second is that the situation on the front line is tense. If it reaches the ears of the Mongols, will it be possible?"

Do you think we are moving people to prepare for war? If this triggers a war, who will be responsible?"

On his way north from Lin'an, Zhou Simao saw many people moving south with their families. The Mongols were already in chaos without fighting, so he was quite dissatisfied with the officials who set up envoys in the Huaihe River system.

He was a little excited, and spoke in a mellow tone, thinking that he could wake up the officials in both Huaihe and Huaihe Rivers, hoping that Zhao Fan would pay attention to it, but Zhao Fan just nodded after hearing what he said, "Don't be excited about Zhou Fu. The gentry and people of Jianghuai and Huaihe went south to avoid trouble.

The official is aware of it."

Zhou Simao looked at Zhao Fan with some surprise. He originally thought that Zhao Fan didn't know, and he didn't want Zhao Fan to know, but he deliberately condoned it.

Zhou Simao was surprised and said: "Why didn't Mr. Zhizhi stop it?"

"The Production and Construction Department analyzed the current situation and believed that once Mongolia moves south, its army will inevitably rush in. Our army is no match for Mongolia in the field. When the Mongolian army arrives, the army can only defend behind closed doors. However, the army is in the city and is protected by the city.

But what about the people in the four fields?" At this point, Zhao Fan sighed, "Huainan is densely populated and there are many residents in the city, but when the war breaks out, the people in the four fields will also

People will rush into the city first to avoid disaster. By then, the supplies in the city will be consumed rapidly, and it will be difficult to hold on to the city. The people who cannot enter the city will be robbed and slaughtered, and will even be used by the Northern soldiers, who will drive them to become scapegoats for the siege. Therefore, while you are taking advantage of this opportunity,

Before the Mongolian army arrived, some people were allowed to go to the south of the Yangtze River to reduce the population in the city, and the Zhizhi Department tacitly approved it. I think Zhou appeasement does not need to worry!"

Zhou Simao frowned, "Mr. Zhizhi! The official sent me here in the hope of preventing a war between Song and Mongolia. I thought a lot about not conflicting with Mongolia on the way here. I thought to avoid conflict, firstly, not to

Take the initiative to provoke and not anger Mongolia. Secondly, we must not show too much weakness and let Mongolia feel that there is an opportunity. Now that there is no conflict, the people of Huaihe and Huaihe are rushing to flee south. What will Mongolia think of me~~~"

Zhao Fan heard what he said and was about to speak. When Zhou Simao got excited, he stood up, waved his hand to stop Zhao Fan from interrupting, and continued to talk, "Zhizhishi allowed the people to flee south. This is shaking the morale of the army and not guarding it."

Border confidence, too

Showing weakness to Mongolia. The prime minister was informed of the military affairs. He should have known that when we united with the Jin to destroy the Liao, our army suffered a disastrous defeat. This allowed the Jin Kingdom to see what was false and what was true, which led to the Jin army going south. Therefore, I think we must not let the people leave the city now.

I hope Mr. Zhizhi will think twice!"

Zhao Fan listened to Zhou Simao say a lot and did not give him a chance to speak, so he could only wait for him to finish.

At this time, Zhao Fan had already understood that although this gentleman from Lin'an was not a peace advocate without a bottom line, he did not know the situation on the front line or the gap between Mongolia and Song Dynasty.

Obviously, he was ordered to come here with the purpose of preventing Song and Meng from starting a war. At the same time, in his opinion, if the gunfire really went off, the Song army could still fight and have the strength to defend Huainan.

He was either arrogant or subconsciously unwilling to fight Mongolia and had not thought about the consequences of Mongolia's invasion.

He thought that war could be avoided by not provoking Mongolia and putting up airs on the border.

Compared with him, Zhao Fan is undoubtedly a pessimist.

The Song army in Lianghuai lost 30,000 elite soldiers last year and was unable to regain its strength in a short period of time. It is true that the imperial court sent reinforcements, but do you think the senior officials in the Forbidden Army can fight?

In Zhao Fan's view, once a war breaks out, the Huaihe defense line will definitely not be able to hold.

Because the imperial court did not formulate a strategy in advance, and at the same time issued orders to tie the hands and feet of the frontline troops, the frontline situation was very passive.

Zhao Fan felt that once the war started, all the cities in Kaifeng and Huainan could do was to hold on to the city, making it impossible for the Mongols to capture the city, and then wait for the Sichuan and Jinghu Song armies to take action. The two Huaihe Song armies would be completely unable to defeat the Mongolian army on their own.

Therefore, in Zhao Fan's view, what needs to be done now is to move what can be moved, collect what cannot be moved into the city, and then hold on to wait for changes. It is simply impossible to think of fighting in the city and repelling the Mongolian army.

Zhao Fan was silent for a long time, "Zhou Anping, if the people are prohibited from leaving the city, what will happen if the Mongols come?"

Zhou Simao's mouth went dry as he spoke. He just sat down and picked up the tea bowl to take a sip. After hearing this, he put the tea bowl down again and frowned: "If there is a real fight, wouldn't there be elite soldiers from the Huaihe River and Huaihe River, as well as the imperial army reinforced by the imperial court?"

As he said this, he couldn't help but look at Zhao Fan suspiciously, and finally understood in his heart why rumors were spreading in Huainan and people were panicking. It turned out that Zhao Fan couldn't control the Huainan system and was timid.

Zhou Simao smiled unconsciously with contempt. This military minister was unreliable. He said seriously: "If Mr. Zhizhi is not confident in resisting the Mongols, I can write to the officials and send officials to take charge of the overall situation."

】

Although Zhou Simao's rank was not as high as that of Zhao Fan, he was a purely civil servant and a Lin'an commissioner. Even if he was disrespectful to Zhao Fan, there was nothing Zhao Fan could do.

After hearing Zhou Simao's words, Zhao Fan finally showed a hint of anger on his face, and the officials and staff of the Department of Production and Operations also felt angry in their hearts.

Zhou Simao didn't take it seriously. Seeing that everyone was silent, he stood up and said: "Before, before I took office, I couldn't control the chaos in Huainan. Now that I have taken office, the envoys don't want to take care of it. I am guarding one side.

It must be taken care of!"

After finishing speaking, Zhou Simao slightly cupped his hands and said, "I have appointed the envoy, and I have resigned!"

After Zhou Simao left, officials from the Envoy Department were installed in the festival hall, which immediately caused a stir. Zhao Fan waited for them to talk for a while, then waved his hands helplessly, "Forget it. Xuanfu Yamen wants to take care of it, so let him take care of it, and hurry up and set up defenses."

It’s what we should do.”

Regarding the Mongolian invasion to the south, it was not only Zhao Fan who was pessimistic. In fact, Zhao Tai, who was holding on to Pizhou, was even more pessimistic than Zhao Fan.

The Mongol Empire is the most powerful empire in the world today, and there is no doubt about this.

When Mongolia was attacking the Southern Song Dynasty, other troops of his army were marching westward, and they were invincible and had already reached Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

This means that the Mongol Empire is at war with multiple major civilizations in the world at the same time, and it has a great advantage in all of them.

The military strength of the Song Dynasty now lags far behind that of Mongolia. When a strong military country attacks a weak military country, it will definitely be invincible in the early stage. The Song Dynasty will most likely suffer a military defeat and lose cities and territory. It is inevitable.

Therefore, Zhao Tai's prediction for the war between Mongolia and Song Dynasty is that cities and territories will be lost in the early stage, and a stalemate will occur in the middle stage. It will then depend on whether the Mongols have sufficient stamina or whether the Southern Song Dynasty can fully mobilize, so they will not make any big mistakes.

Now that Mongolia has just begun to attack, the Song army is definitely at a disadvantage, so Zhao Tai ordered Hu Zhen to sell off his property in Huainan early.

Before Mongolia sent troops to Shandong, Hu Zhen quietly sold some properties. Recently, she disposed of all the remaining shops and houses at cabbage prices, leaving only a few houses as the stronghold of Jinyiwei.

Early that morning, Hu Zhen led everyone to the dock as agreed, preparing to go to Jiangnan along the canal.
Chapter completed!