Xinyue didn't know why she wanted to do this kind of thing, probably because she looked at Su Yuniang and felt empathy, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't make Jiang Tian fall in love, if she only had talent and no beauty, it would be okay, but the title of this talent and appearance was not called in vain, so although Jiang Tian can be regarded as a righteous gentleman, he is also a character who is not bound by etiquette, why is it that things that seem to come naturally are always so progressive? But when she recalled the idea she gave Su Yuniang, she was actually a little uneasy in her heart, although the Su family was in the middle of the road, it was also a scholarly family, and her own method was really ...... Fortunately, Miss Su was also a little hesitant when she heard this, and it was estimated that the girl's family had a relatively thin skin and couldn't do such a thing.

Xinyue, who was preoccupied, was a little reluctant to do things, and everyone in the family thought that it was because the lord's wedding made these girls feel a little sorry for themselves, so no one cared about it. His Royal Highness the Prince, who was only in the mansion when he had nothing to do, stupidly approached him and asked, "Senior sister, is she not feeling well?" Little brother, I see that you are very different from usual! ”

Xinyue was a little crying and laughing, how could she answer? If Zhao asked this question directly, she could ignore it or reprimand a few words, but in the face of the prince's question, it is impossible for you to be perfunctory and responsible. Just when she didn't know how to answer, she only heard a commotion in the front yard, and soon the courtyard door in the backyard was opened, and Steward Guo trotted all the way to the front: "I've seen His Royal Highness the Prince." ”

After Shi Li, Steward Guo turned to Xinyue and asked, "I don't know where the master is, there is an urgent military situation, and the saint is in a hurry to recruit the master into the palace!" ”

Jiang Tian, who was preparing to be the groom and was extremely depressed in his heart, walked into the imperial study in an official uniform with brisk steps, and outsiders did not seem to have a sense of urgency about military affairs at all, but had a kind of schadenfreude. Those who are familiar with the inside story know that he has finally found an excuse to delay the marriage. After entering the room, Jiang Tian, who was already very relaxed, was startled by the people in the room. I saw King Ji, who never asked about political affairs, sitting next to Zhang Tao, and the top leaders of various departments were all there, not to mention, the generals of the military and the old men of the Ministry of Defense were also sitting inside, staring at a map hanging on the wall at the moment.

Seeing that after he entered the house, the door was closed by the little eunuch from the outside, Liu Junding guarded the door with a golden knife and attended the meeting, Zhang Tao nodded and signaled that the meeting could begin: "Come on, tell me about the military situation again." Pick up the main one! ”

Liu Junding, who happened to be on duty today, didn't dare to slack off, and hurriedly copied a book and believed: "...... On October 18, a small group of horse thieves appeared outside our fort and dispersed...... On October 25th, a large force of Manchurian cavalry besieged Zhuoyang Fort 30 miles away, our fort was ordered to send two companies of cavalry to support, and then was ambushed by the enemy halfway, although after a bloody battle then withdrew to the fort less than a row, on October 26, the enemy sent 3,000 cavalry to surround our fort, after our officers and soldiers fought bravely, they were still able to keep the defense line intended, on October 29, Zhuoyang Fort was captured by the enemy, and most of the enemy more than 20,000 people besieged our ......"

After reading this military information, Kiko changed to another letter: "...... On November 2, our Yulin defenders received a battle report from the front, and the three garrison fortresses outside the Great Wall, including Zhuoyang Fort, Qingcheng Castle and Yangwei Fort, all fell, so they recovered reinforcements to strengthen the defense of the Great Wall, and on November 4, the enemy received the enemy's total strength of about 30,000 people......"

"Fast enough!" Jiang Tian frowned, pondering the speed of the enemy's advance, and the people in the congregation also frowned. After Xizi's unaesthetic voice finally finished reading the recent battle report, everyone looked at Zhang Tao and waited for him to speak first.

Because of the lag of news transmission, and because the military post station has not been fully recovered in the northwest region, when Beijing City receives the news, it is the content that Yan'an Prefecture will send back all the recent battle reports with carrier pigeons.

Zhang Tao, who had half-closed eyes and a murderous face, sneered: "I have learned to surround and send reinforcements!" ”

Jiang Tian understood this sentence, if the cage policy he participated in formulating was to imitate the devil, then the cavalry of Manmeng made a cameo appearance in the Eighth Route Army military engineering team this time, how could this not make Zhang Tao angry. Even a military novice can hear that he is in a hurry, so it's no wonder that there will be such a high-level imperial meeting.

Looking at the surrounding ministers, Jiang Tian asked uncertainly, "The question is...... Why did they attack Yulin? ”

Zhang Tao didn't speak, just nodded and motioned for him to continue, so Master Jiang had to stand up and walk to the military map, pointed to the surroundings of Yulin and said: "Although it is impossible for this map to reproduce every grass and tree there, everyone should be able to see that the northern Shaanxi region is full of ravines and mounds, and Manmeng is dominated by cavalry, and attacking here is not a good strategic breakthrough. Although our army began to spread fortresses outside the Great Wall to advance the battle line, there are only three independent fortresses here, and they are still the kind of half-hangers who have not been completely built and have not yet completed their functions, so what is the purpose of attacking here? ”

Facing Jiang Tian's question, Zhang Tao smiled weirdly: "Come on, change the big picture!" ”

The guards on duty hurriedly carried a huge scroll out, and then hung it on the beam, a huge topographic map of the war zone made of silk was displayed in front of everyone, looking at this topographic map similar to the modern map of later generations, Jiang Tian recalled the battle report he heard earlier: "30,000 soldiers raided the Great Wall of Northern Shaanxi...... It's late autumn again...... What if the remnants of the Manchu Qing Dynasty defeated Yulin? ”

That part of northern Shaanxi is not a place to be plastered in the 21 st century, and besides, attacking to the east is dangerous for the Yellow River, and as long as Shanxi is properly defended, there should be no problem, and only by attacking Yan'an in the south can it threaten the Central Plains and ...... to the west Then it is better to attack down from the Hetao area! So what exactly does the other party want to do to attack such a flattering place? Even if it's to grab some food for the winter, it's understandable, so why attack the Great Wall?

Seeing that Jiang Tian was still foolish, Zhang Tao snorted coldly: "Because there is a traitor among us!" ”

His voice was not too loud, but everyone fell silent for a moment, and no one dared to answer his words. Only Jiang Tian didn't react for a while, and asked casually: "Why?" ”

"Why!" Zhang Tao looked at the map with a gloomy face: "Because our offensive plan is to leave Xuanfu (near Zhangjiakou) in winter and go all the way west until the Hetao is recovered!" ”

Zhangjiakou to the west is the historical city of naturalization (Hohhot), here since King Zhao Wuling set up Yunzhong County, has been the focus of the Central Plains Dynasty and the grassland tribes of the contention, so the average person can understand that Zhang Tao wants to follow Zhu Di to recover Monan, but what many people don't know is that from Hohhot to the west, all the way to the middle of the Hetao area, there is a place that is not yet famous, this place has a name called Baotou in later generations, if in the eyes of people in this era, this area is at most a transit station to the Hetao, But Zhang Tao and Jiang Tian stared at the prairie north of Baotou, an area that would have a name that could not be ignored in later generations - Baiyun Obo!

Jiang Tian understood, everyone thought that Zhang Tao wanted to recover the land of Hetao horse breeding, and push the battle line back from the Great Wall back to the grassland, and reproduce the Ming frontier before the Tumubao Change, but only Jiang Tian understood which of the world's largest rare earth mines was more important than the war horse, and it was the biggest reliance used to dominate the world two hundred years later! It is an immeasurable wealth left to future generations. And just south of this area is Yulin! In the original plan, the Yulin defenders would cooperate with the main force of the Northern Expedition to contain the attack to the north, and the main task was to build a fortress group after occupying the Baotou area and completely defend this place. But now the Manchus directly crucified the troops carrying out this plan in place, unable to move, and their purpose was not to rob or re-enter the customs, but to completely disrupt the plan of the Northern Expedition in winter.

But Jiang Tian was confused again, the importance of Baiyun Obo was only known to him and Zhang Tao, no third person understood what rare earth was, and no one could understand the importance of that grassland, even if there were traitors in the imperial court and revealed the plan of the Northern Expedition in advance, it should be a raid on Datong Mansion or coercion on Zhangjiakou! Could it be that Zhang Tao suspects that he has leaked the news?

Before Jiang Tian could come up with any nonsense speculation, Zhang Tao said with compassion: "Some people think that betraying the Northern Expedition plan can disrupt the imperial court's use of troops, and then delay the imperial court's land reform policy, so that I can't get the land to raise horses in the Hetao, and there will not be enough cavalry to expedition to Mobei...... Joke! ”

Although the door of the imperial study was closed, but all the people felt a yin wind, which was murderous and the emperor immediately moved the pressure of killing intent, and all the ministers carefully made eye contact with their eyes for a long time, no one knew which one dared to betray the revolution, and then looked in the direction of Zhang Tao, but found that Zhang Qian, the king of Ji, was looking at everyone with more fierce eyes, as if he wanted to find out the villain who betrayed the lord and sought glory.

Jiang Tian is not afraid of this, only he and Zhang Tao have no reason to leak secrets among the people present, of course, he does not believe that anyone can know the true intention of this Northern Expedition route, and it is more likely to prevent the Central Plains from obtaining an offensive base with abundant water and grass. Especially when the Mongolian horses cannot be replenished, the peoples of the steppe still have the strength to fight. Of course, no one knows how much strategic value the cavalry still has left in Zhang Tao and Jiang Tian's plan, when the new firearms are equipped with new tactics. But in any case, before the revolutionary change in the means of transportation, cavalry and various livestock vehicles were the only choice for strategic strike forces.

Thinking of this, Jiang Tian rubbed his chin in front of the map, and a smile gradually appeared on his face: "Whether it is a traitor or Dolgon, they all think that our goal is to recover the Hetao north of Ningxia, and finally control Monan, and after obtaining enough war horses here, it is convenient to continue the Northern Expedition, which is exactly the same as when Zhu Di swept the north." However, their vision and insight are still limited after all, not to mention that after purchasing grain and scrapping to change to the sea, the grain reserves in the north are far more abundant than in Zhu Di's time, that is, the planting of new species such as potatoes and corn has also greatly expanded the red line of food security, not to mention that after obtaining Jeju Island, there is a hotbed for breeding military horses floating on the sea, if it is not for the fact that overseas horse breeds have not fully adapted to the local environment, the breed improvement work is not completed in a short time, otherwise who needs Hetao to raise horses! ”

The corners of Zhang Tao's mouth were slightly upturned when he heard him say this, and there was a hint of a hegemon's cruel smile: "Yes, their calculations are good, and the preparation for our Northern Expedition in the autumn will be contained, if the Great Wall is broken through because of Yulin's lack of preparation, then our most likely reaction is to urgently transfer the Northern Expeditionary Army from Shanxi to northern Shaanxi to encircle, because in another month, the Yellow River will freeze into a big ice mound, and then the moat will become a thoroughfare, and they will be able to cause trouble in Shanxi to the east, if it weren't for the same narrow mountains and highlands in the Luliang area, I am afraid that I will only be led by their nose!" The emperor's brother can deal with this. ”

As soon as Jiang Tian wanted to talk, he only heard King Ji on the side, it turned out that the emperor was called King Ji, but fortunately he didn't agree casually: "Brother Huang don't worry, there are only tens of thousands of Manchurian cavalry, and it is not the Eight Banners in its heyday, although the defenders of Yan'an Mansion are the old army that has not yet been reorganized, but the defenders of Yulin are definitely the division of a hundred battles, relying on the benefits of the Great Wall, it should not be defeated so quickly, just to stabilize the situation, it is indeed necessary to send a strong army to reinforce." ”

Zhang Tao nodded, then turned to Jiang Tian: "What do you think about this matter?" ”

Weichen agreed with King Ji's point of view. But ......" Jiang Tian looked at Zhang Gan's face, and saw that the other party did not react, so he continued: "But dispersing these 30,000 Manchurian cavalry is not the point, the important thing is that we should take advantage of this opportunity to let these thieves completely trapped in the Loess Plateau!" ”

As soon as his words came out, everyone was stunned, even Zhang Tao, who was used to fighting, was a little surprised: "In your opinion, this reinforcement has become an early Northern Expedition?" ”

"Not bad!" Jiang Tian walked to the map and pointed to Zhangjiakou and Yulin: "From the perspective of the terrain, if you take the traditional route, whether it is to mobilize the forbidden army or use the Northern Expeditionary army, you must cross the Taihang Mountain, Luliang Mountain, and cross the Yellow River to support Yulin. And as King Ji said, Yulin may not be captured for a while, and the main intention of the Tartars is also to sabotage our Northern Expedition, and by the way, grab some livestock and food before winter, so as long as the defenders of Yan'an Mansion are mobilized, the danger of Yulin will definitely be solved. However, the fortress outside the Great Wall and the materials contained in it were also captured by the enemy, so we did not win the victory strategically. However, if the Northern Expeditionary Army is sent out of the pass in advance, once the Great Wall is crossed, it will be a relatively gentle Mongolian Plateau, which can be besieged and naturalized to contain the enemy army from encircling Wei and saving Zhao, and far away from the gentle terrain of the Great Wall, it can march quickly on the gentle terrain not far from the Great Wall to counter-encircle the enemy army in the Yulin area, and even our side does not need to completely annihilate the enemy army, but just drive it into the desert west of Yulin......"

In fact, they all knew that it was faster and better to walk outside the Great Wall, and they also knew that Yulin would definitely be able to hold on for a while, but this opportunity should be left for the emperor to show his eloquence, as for the question of whether the enemy would be blocked by the enemy if he went deep into the dangerous place, none of these old guys thought that the Mongolian cavalry could still take advantage of the elite new army. I just didn't expect this nerd to come up with this strategy just by staring at the map for a moment.

King Ji looked at his imperial brother, and then retorted loudly: "It seems that Lord Jiang has absolute confidence in the combat power of the Northern Expeditionary Army, and he even thinks about dividing the troops!" ”

Jiang Tian had already entered the mental state of talking on paper in the Internet forum in later generations, so he naturally didn't care about the ridicule in Zhang Qian's words, and still stared at the map and carefully studied the possibilities: "Of course, with this self-confidence, the total strength of the Northern Expeditionary Army is 100,000, and more than 50,000 people have been assembled and trained, including 30,000 front-line soldiers and 20,000 baggage auxiliaries. In my opinion, we only need to send 10,000 elite cavalry to gallop quickly on the front line of the Great Wall, and the danger of Yulin can be solved naturally, and the 20,000 new troops with artillery will inevitably be able to capture Jining City before winter, and the defenders of Datong Mansion can also come forward to thicken their troops, maybe when the Northern Expeditionary Army is all assembled, we can already push the battle line to the Guihua City on the first line of Yinshan......"

Jiang Tian, who was talking eloquently, suddenly stopped, but stared at the map and frowned. Zhang Tao knew that he had finally discovered the problem, so he took a moment to ask, "Why didn't Brother Xian say it?" ”

"Shhh...... Wrong! Lord Jiang realized that he had made a serious mistake: "If 30,000 people want to capture the Great Wall, it is not easy to put it at the end of the Ming Dynasty, let alone the pass where the new army is stationed?" Dolgon is not so stupid, and his banner is not mentioned in the war report, and then consider that the descendants of Horqin Mongols and wild boar skins in the northeast of Xuanfu are still in-laws, if I am Dolgon, why should I care about the Mongolian steppes that have been robbed, if I can contain the main force of the Central Plains on the Yellow River, and the Manchu elite will go straight to Shenyang from Horqin......"

These old guys finally smiled, although the emperor's junior brother is a scholar, but after all, the master's insight is still there, the Central Plains in Manchuria actually only controls the line from Jinzhou to Shenyang, and the Qianli Great Plain to the north is theoretically still Manchurian's territory, and Dolgon has at least gathered tens of thousands of routs with white flags in the past two years, and it is difficult to say that it will not make a comeback in the northeast. Even if he wants to recuperate, he cannot let China's eyes be fixed on the northeast and divert the troubled waters to the west, which is exactly in line with his strategic needs.

Seeing that Jiang Tian seemed to be enlightened, Zhang Tao no longer went around in circles, and after a few concise edicts were issued, the war machine of the entire Chinese Dynasty began to enter the stage of war mobilization from the warm-up state of war preparation, and there was a very surprising news in these orders, that is, His Majesty the Emperor Long Yan was furious, decided to drive the expedition in person, and called on the whole army, good men should be sealed wolf Juxu, drink horses in Beihai!

Is this going to conquer the whole of Mongolia? Hearing this call, anyone who calms down is laughing at it, who doesn't know that he may be able to drink Ma Beihai with the situation of a generation, anyway, he is estimated to be invisible. But I can't stand the popularity of our Emperor Zhang, and there are many young people who want to follow Wei Qing and Huo Quai. Therefore, for a time, the voice of the whole country asking for war was endless.

"It's all a bunch of fools!" Jiang Tian could only sigh as he looked at the twists and turns that flew like snowflakes. These local officials are well aware of the emperor's preferences, so why not pat on the back at this time? Moreover, according to the laws of history, this kind of large-scale northern expedition generally lasts for several decades, and when the time comes, in the name of raising military funds, it is possible to fill their own pockets......