The world of film and television begins from childhood

"The Marquis' birthday will be here in a few days, we have to prepare well."

Gao Hui and Song Yinzhang both nodded in agreement. Every year, the three of them prepared Zhou Chen’s birthday together and they had already become very skilled at it.

…………

In the fifth year of Jingyou, Zhou Chen's eldest son Zhou Ye passed the imperial examination and became a juren.

It was also this year that a huge change occurred on the border between Song and Xia. The Dingnan Army, which had been defeated by Zhou Chen, took advantage of the development in recent years to become increasingly powerful. It actually took the opportunity to break away from the control of the Song Dynasty and established the Xia Dynasty, known in history as "Western Xia".

In the second year after the establishment of Western Xia, they launched another war and plundered the border of the Song Dynasty.

Meng Cong, who had been guarding the Song-Xia border for a long time, had returned to the capital to retire because of his advanced age. Although there were also generals guarding the Song-Xia border, they were caught off guard by the Western Xia and lost several towns.

Although the Song Dynasty, which had not fought a war for many years, also fought back, it was unable to resist the 100,000-strong army of Western Xia.

After several defeats, Emperor Zhao Zhen was furious and sent generals again, accompanied by generals from the Meng family. However, the Song Dynasty, with its large number of soldiers and generals, did not gain any advantage.

The general on the border between Song and Xia did not have much combat experience. He was ambushed several times by the Western Xia army who pretended to be defeated and almost wiped out his entire army.

When the news reached Bian Jing, it naturally caused a huge shock.

Zhou Chen was summoned to the Wende Hall and met the emperor Zhao Zhen.

"Your Highness, I, Zhou Chen, pay my respects to your Majesty. Long live your Majesty."

"Please stand up, Mr. Zhou."

Zhao Zhen took power for several years and became more and more powerful.

"I summoned Mr. Zhou here because of the situation on the Xixia border. Mr. Zhou has probably heard about the latest battle reports."

"Return to the emperor, I have already understood."

Zhao Zhen said solemnly, "Xixia is just a tiny country, yet it dares to offend the might of the Song Dynasty. I will never tolerate it. When Zhou Qing was at the border, he almost destroyed the Dingnan Army. So I would like to ask Zhou Qing to go to the border to solve the problem of Xixia. What do you think?"

Zhou Chen immediately said loudly: "I will do my best to fulfill the orders of the emperor."

"it is good."

Zhao Zhen was overjoyed. He didn't have many capable generals at the moment, so after much thought, he thought of Zhou Chen.

"I have great faith in Lord Zhou's courage, and I am drafting an order..."

Soon, Zhou Chen was appointed as the Great General of the Nation and was ordered to set out on a day to conquer Western Xia.

It has been nearly twenty years since he returned from the Song-Xia border, and he finally has the opportunity to go on an expedition again. Zhou Chen is also very concerned about it. This is a good opportunity for him to take control of the military power.

If the Song Dynasty and Western Xia went to war, he didn't believe that the Liao court would remain indifferent. As long as the Liao Dynasty moved, he would have the opportunity to complete his side quest.

Although he is over 40 years old, he has the skills of an old horse in the stable. His physical fitness will not weaken with age before he turns 100, so he can still maintain the best condition.

After nearly twenty years, he had already mastered the Pure Yang Technique to a high level. Even when facing hundreds of elite soldiers, he was not afraid at all. If he could not defeat them, he could always escape.

He was not worried at all, but when the women in the family heard that Zhou Chen was going to the battlefield, they were all extremely worried and couldn't even sleep well.

Before leaving, Zhou Chen comforted the girls separately and arranged the household affairs.

Zhou Chen even called his eldest son to him and told him, "Ye'er, now that Dad is gone, you will be the oldest man in the family, so you must take good care of your mother and your brothers and sisters. Do you hear me?"

Zhou Ye has been the most sensible one since he was young, so he solemnly promised Zhou Chen that he would protect the family well and told Zhou Chen not to worry.

Zhou Chen said goodbye to Zhao Pan'er and the other two girls cruelly, then left wearing his armor. Zhao Pan'er and the other two girls followed him all the time and watched him lead his army out of Bianjing City.

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 1016: Destroy Xixia and defeat Liao army

"father!"

Zhou Bai stood straight in front of Zhou Chen cautiously, with a look of panic on his face, and called softly.

Zhou Bai is the first son of Zhou Chen and Gao Hui. He has never liked literature and art since he was a child. He only likes to wield swords and guns. He is also the tallest and strongest among all the children.

Among all Zhou Chen's sons, Zhou Bai looks and has the most body shape like Zhou Chen. In addition, he has a lively personality and is good at wielding swords and guns, so Zhou Chen gave the Pure Yang Jue to Zhou Bai very early on.

Zhou Bai’s talent is really good. After a few years, he has developed a sense of qi and possessed internal strength.

The eldest son Zhou Ye has been a little genius since childhood. If nothing unexpected happens, he will definitely inherit Zhou Chen's title in the future, so Zhou Chen also trained his other sons separately. Zhou Bai was trained to be a military general.

But no matter what, Zhou Bai is only fourteen years old this year, not even fifteen, and he had the audacity to sneak into his personal guards without even consulting him.

"Have you told your mother about your coming out?"

"I left letters for both my mother and my mother."

Zhou Bai also knew that he had made a mistake, so he lowered his head and didn't dare to look at Zhou Chen.

Zhou Chen was not surprised. If Zhao Pan'er and Gao Hui knew about this, Zhou Bai would have no chance of getting into the Royal Guards, let alone leaving the Marquis' Mansion.

Although the little guy is a little smart, he is still too naive compared to his two mothers.

"Qin Yi is very nice to you."

Zhou Bai was startled and hurriedly explained: "Dad, it has nothing to do with Uncle Qin. I forced Uncle Qin, and Uncle Qin..."

"Okay, stop explaining. It's getting more confusing the more you talk."

Qin Yi has followed Zhou Chen for more than 20 years, and Zhou Chen knows him very well.

Qin Yi got married, but he only had one daughter. Although Zhou Chen taught Zhou Bai the Chun Yang Jue, Zhou Bai basically learned martial arts from Qin Yi, so the two of them were also in a master-disciple relationship. Qin Yi was particularly good to Zhou Bai, otherwise he would not have allowed Zhou Bai to follow him.

"Follow when you come, but you are not allowed to mess around without my order, do you understand?"

"Yes, Dad."

Zhou Bai nodded in agreement hurriedly. Having practiced martial arts since he was a child, he had always longed to go to the battlefield. Now that he had this opportunity, he would do whatever his father asked him to do.

Zhou Chen was surprised by Zhou Bai's appearance, but he was not too worried. The young eagle will have to learn to fly sooner or later. Zhou Bai is a little young, but with him watching over it, its safety will be guaranteed as long as it is not on the front line of the battlefield.

But Qin Yi hid it from him and let Zhou Bai follow him, so he naturally had to punish him.

Zhou Chen had been at the Song-Xia border for several years. Although he hadn't been there for a long time, he was still very familiar with the place. As soon as he arrived at the border, he immediately took control of all the military forces on the border.

The predecessor of Western Xia was the Dingnan Army. If the emperor had not restricted him before, he might have destroyed the Dingnan Army long ago, and there might not be the current Western Xia.

Zhou Chen has been leading the world of Langya Bang for decades. He does not dare to call himself a god of war, but he really does not take the 100,000-strong army of Western Xia seriously.

After he arrived at the border, he effectively prevented the Western Xia offensive, but he did not rush to counterattack. Instead, he waited patiently.

His real target was still the Liao Kingdom. As long as the Song Dynasty and Western Xia were in a stalemate, he did not believe that the Liao court would remain indifferent.

The facts were just as he thought. When he was in a stalemate with the Western Xia on the border and gradually won the victory, the Liao Kingdom finally couldn't bear it anymore and directly tore up the Treaty of Chanyuan and launched an offensive against the Song Dynasty.

The people of the Song Dynasty were really used to being weak. When the Liao court launched a war, they did not think of sending troops to resist or fight back. Instead, the first thing they thought of was to send people to the Liao court to negotiate and beg the Liao court to withdraw its troops.

When Zhou Chen heard the news, he was also shocked. The bones of Da Song were really broken and he had no backbone at all.

But the problem was that the Liao people were extremely ambitious. They were not satisfied with the conditions offered by the Song Dynasty and still mobilized hundreds of thousands of troops to launch an offensive on the border. Without the natural barrier of the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, the northern border was completely unable to withstand the Liao people's cavalry offensive and could only watch helplessly as the Liao people's troops headed straight for Bian Jing.

But for Zhou Chen, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so how could he let it go?

So he led the border army with a swift and powerful force, defeated the Western Xia army step by step, and directly reached the Western Xia imperial capital, captured the Western Xia emperor alive, and overthrew the Western Xia regime.

After destroying Western Xia, Zhou Chen immediately reported the great victory to the court and wrote a memorial to Emperor Zhao Zhen, requesting to be transferred to the north to fight against the Liao army.

Zhao Zhen was already worried about the Liao court's offensive and couldn't sleep all night. When he received the information about Zhou Chen's great victory in Western Xia, he was overjoyed.

Especially after seeing Zhou Chen's memorial, he was extremely delighted.

He was a relatively weak person, but no matter how weak he was, he was still the current emperor. When he was bullied by the Liao people, his civil servants still kept asking for peace. Some even suggested doubling the annual tribute and just giving some money to get rid of the Liao people.

But this time, the Liao people did not just want annual tribute, they also wanted the land of the Song Dynasty.

Zhao Zhen didn't want to be an emperor of a fallen country, so after seeing Zhou Chen's memorial, he quickly made a decision to transfer Zhou Chen to the north as the commander-in-chief of the north, and he must resist the invasion of the Liao people.

It can be seen that Zhao Zhen was still very conservative. He only hoped that Zhou Chen could defend the north and resist the Liao people's cavalry. He never thought that Zhou Chen could counterattack the Liao court.

After receiving the imperial order, Zhou Chen immediately led tens of thousands of elite troops from the border and headed north, ready to fight a decisive battle with the Liao court.

He had waited for this day for more than ten years. If he could not recover the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, it would be difficult for him to have another chance in the future.

When destroying Western Xia, Zhou Chen planned and waited at the same time. It took him more than a year to finally wipe out Western Xia and capture the Western Xia emperor alive.

This record is definitely a rare and glorious record in the history of the Song Dynasty, but Zhou Chen was not proud of it, because he knew very well that Western Xia was just a small country, and the Liao Kingdom was as large as the Song Dynasty in terms of territory, and its military strength was even greater. Therefore, it would be much more difficult to take back the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun from the Liao Kingdom than to destroy the Western Xia Kingdom.

This was indeed the case. When Zhou Chen arrived in the north with tens of thousands of troops trained on the Song-Xia border, the north was being ravaged by the Liao army.

It took Zhou Chen more than a month to integrate the northern army, and the Liao army had already invaded the heartland of the Song Dynasty.

During their first encounter, Zhou Chen witnessed the ferocity of the Liao army's cavalry. The Khitan tribe was able to suppress the Central Plains for a hundred years because of their powerful cavalry.

The Liao Kingdom lived in a harsh environment, and the cavalry they trained were indeed not comparable to the cavalry of the Song Dynasty. Moreover, the Khitans were naturally fierce, and the Song people were basically no match for them in individual combat.

Therefore, in the past, when fighting against the Liao army, the armies of the Central Plains dynasties had to rely on numbers to win.

Zhou Chen's goal was to defeat the Liao army, not to show off his bravery for a moment, so he was also prepared to win by numbers, gather the troops that were scattered by the Liao army, and begin to encircle the Liao army.

Although the Liao army was powerful, they were far inferior to the Song Dynasty in one respect.

That is, they were unable to sustain a protracted war. As the invading party, they did not have enough dry food. They relied on fighting to support themselves and robbing the Song people of their food to ensure their survival along the way.

Therefore, after the Liao army entered the heartland of the Song State, they basically did not attack large cities, because large cities are easy to defend but difficult to attack. The Liao army simply did not have that much time and energy to attack cities, and they were more likely to plunder small towns and villages.

The Liao army moved too quickly, and it was not easy to encircle and suppress them.

Zhou Chen had rich experience in warfare, but even so, it took him a long time to block the Liao army's offensive routes one by one and then launch a counterattack.

The emperor and his civil and military officials who were far away in Bianliang were shocked to learn that Zhou Chen had blocked the offensive of the Liao army in just over three months, preventing them from advancing and relieving the danger of Bianliang.

Especially after learning that Zhou Chen had annihilated a large number of Liao troops, they were ecstatic, and then something extremely absurd happened.

The imperial court once again sent peace envoys to the Liao Kingdom to negotiate peace, and was willing to stop the war in exchange for annual tribute.

I have to say that the thinking of the civil servants of the Song Dynasty was really weird. They would negotiate if they lost the battle, and they would negotiate again if they won the battle. The key point was that even after they won the battle, they would continue to pay tribute in exchange for peace. This was really incredible.

What's even more outrageous is that Zhao Zhen, as the emperor, actually agreed to it. It was he who asked Zhou Chen to go, and now it is also he who asked Zhou Chen to stop the war. This emperor was really kidnapped by the civil service group.

Zhou Chen was preparing to lead his troops to counterattack when he suddenly received an order from the capital, ordering him to guard the border and wait for the peace talks to be concluded.

"boom!"

Zhou Chen slapped the table in front of him and broke it into pieces.

"father."

Zhou Bai picked up the imperial edict from the debris with a nervous look on his face, wiped it, and then began to read it.

After the slap, Zhou Chen calmed down and looked at his son who had been trained on the battlefield for more than a year.

"Any ideas?"

After reading the contents of the imperial edict, Zhou Bai's face suddenly showed an expression of disbelief.

"Dad, the government asked us to cease fire? And also asked us to prepare to return the prisoners?"

Zhou Bai was young and energetic. When he learned the result, he found it unbelievable. He was at the front line and knew clearly the scenes of the soldiers fighting on the battlefield. In the end, they won the battle, but the emperor and officials far away in the capital actually asked them to cease fighting and release the Liao people who had killed countless people of their Song Dynasty. He really couldn't accept this.

"Very unwilling?"

"Of course. We fought bloody battles and lost countless brothers. How can we let the Liao people go so easily? Moreover, under your leadership, we are invincible. Why should we stop the war?"

Zhou Chen said calmly: "Because we are not the ones who can make the decision."

"It's that simple?"

"Yes, it's that simple."

Zhou Bai gritted his teeth. He was a passionate young man. Defending his country and expanding the territory was his dream.

The past year or so was like a dream to him. Although it was hard and dangerous, it ignited his blood and he longed for such a life.

As a result, just when he was full of ambition, the court's orders and imperial edicts were like cold water poured down on him, extinguishing his passion.

"Dad, what should we do? Are we really going to stop the war?"

Zhou Chen sneered and said, "Stop, of course you have to stop, after all, it's an imperial decree."

"But……"

"Nothing but."

Zhou Chen interrupted Zhou Bai directly. His son was still young and had limited experience, so he could not understand many things.

Now that he has received the imperial edict, if he does not obey it, it would be disobeying the order, which is a serious crime. His whole family is in the capital, and they are out of reach, so of course he would not do such a stupid thing.

Of course, these are what Zhou Chen said to Zhou Bai. In secret, he had other instructions.