Unlike the harsh climate outside, which was biting cold and windy, the inside of the side hall was now warm like spring, which made several courtiers wearing thick clothes sweat a little on their foreheads after a while. Of course, this sweat may not necessarily be due to the temperature in the temple, but may also be due to the topic they are discussing.

In front of Zhao Ji and a group of courtiers, there is a map of the military movements of the Song and Liao sides in the north, which is a few zhang long and short, and the details are much more detailed than the one Sun Tu has at hand, and even the advance and retreat of the two armies in recent months are unobstructed, which makes it easier for people to feel the embarrassment of the Song army's current situation.

Zhao Ji's face was quite heavy, and his eyes swept over the faces of these important ministers in front of him one by one, and then he said: "Now that the situation on the front line of the Northern Expedition is urgent, I summoned the ministers here today to ask if you have any good strategies to break the enemy?" ”

More than a dozen courtiers below were silent again, in fact, since the successive defeats of the Song army in the winter, there have been many times like this monarch and ministers, and they have already come up with the idea, but whether they adopt it or not, anyway, the front-line war has not improved in the slightest, and to this day, even if these people are high-ranking officials in the military department and the Privy Council, they can only pretend to be deaf and dumb at this time, and remain silent.

The silence of the ministers made Zhao Ji even more annoyed, and after snorting, he looked at one of his most trusted people: "Gao Yu, what do you think?" ”

It has been a year since his son Gao Duo was killed by Sun Tu, and Gao Yu's illness has been cured, but he also looks a lot older and has lost a lot of weight, and he looks like a bamboo pole at this time. As the fact that the head of the military generals in Tokyo City is now, since there is a problem on the front line, he Gao Taiwei naturally cannot escape, so he can only bite the bullet and say: "Your Majesty, the minister thinks that the repeated failures of our army are just the result of some accidents, as long as the imperial court strictly orders the front-line generals to be careful and vigilant, and boost the morale of the army, it will not be difficult to break the Liao army." ”

Well, although he did speak, it was all cliché and useless nonsense, even Zhao Ji, the emperor who didn't actually understand military affairs, frowned with some dissatisfaction and disgust. Seeing this, Gao Yu hurriedly added: "And in the humble opinion of the ministers, the defeat during this period of time should be related to Tong Guan's improper command on the front line, and Your Majesty should send good generals and famous ministers to the north to assist, so as to have the possibility of turning the tide of the war." ”

As he spoke, Gao Yu quickly glanced at an official beside him, who immediately understood, stepped forward to help him relieve the siege, and said: "Your Majesty, the minister thinks that what Gao Taiwei said is indeed true, and the imperial court's strategy of ordering Tong Guan to send troops to fight the Liao army head-on as soon as possible is also extremely correct, if you can have this assistance, then this battle will be won!" ”

"Oh? How so? Zhao Ji's face finally looked better, and he asked with anticipation.

"The minister carefully studied the war report of the two armies in the previous year, but found that my Great Song Dynasty official army had an absolute advantage at the beginning, and it was only after several small-scale battles were fought that it turned from victory to defeat, and finally had to retreat and defend itself. The reason for this lies in whether to start a full-scale war with the Liao army. Our army is far superior to the Liao army in terms of strength, and it is well prepared, and the only weakness is that the terrain is not familiar. If the whole army presses up and confronts the enemy head-on, then our army has a great advantage, how can there be no reason not to win? However, if a small force advances, the situation will be different, the Liao army can be divided into troops to obstruct, there is no disadvantage in troops at all, and there is a favorable geographical advantage, our army has lost several battles, the army's heart is shaken, and naturally it can only retreat to protect itself. ”

After saying this, it really made many people in the hall nod secretly, feeling that this analysis made a lot of sense. Only a few people showed disapproving expressions on their faces, and Sun Tu, who was almost at the end of the group of ministers, even sneered with disdain, and almost stepped forward to say a word of nonsense.

Although he had never been to the front line, he could clearly analyze a lot of things just from the inside information of the battle report he had obtained. The Song army was able to achieve successive victories at the beginning, not because the whole army pressed in, but because the Liao army at that time was not fully prepared. In addition, there may be a share of his Sun Tu's credit, because judging from the Song army's march and combat route, they clearly picked the loophole in the Liao army's border defense to make a surprise attack, how can there be any reason not to win?

And the Song army was able to easily select its weaknesses to attack, relying on the guidance of the Liao border map obtained by Sun Tu and Tong Guan when they went to the Liao State a few years ago. He still remembered clearly, the specific layout of the Liao border army, and even the internal situation of the city checkpoint were marked, as long as there was a target, it would be easy to break through the Liao army's defense line. The only thing that makes people a little puzzled is that in this case, why did the situation of the Song army take a sharp turn after several big victories?

As for the desperate head-on decisive battle with the Liao army now, even if the Song army has an absolute advantage in terms of troops, I am afraid that it will not be able to win, and it may even lead to a strategic fiasco. Therefore, if Sun Tulai was to make a statement, he would persuade the emperor to order the withdrawal of troops and continue to rely on Yanmen Pass and other Xiongguan to fight a war of attrition with the Liao army.

Because he saw it very clearly, in fact, when it came to Song's biggest advantage over Liao, there was always only one point, that is, strong national strength. Especially today, the rear of the Liao State has already been full of smoke, and the Jin people are killing all sides in the Liao State, and the logistics supply of the Liao army that fought with the Song Dynasty on the front line is bound to be in short supply, as long as it can drag on for a while, the entire Liao army can be completely dragged down. At that time, if you attack the north and south with the Jin army, it will be even more difficult to break the Liao army and recapture Youzhou.

Moreover, in this way, there is also a great advantage, that is, it can preserve the absolute combat strength of the Song army, and make sufficient preparations for dealing with the Jin army going south in the future. In his eyes, the Liao people have long ceased to be a threat to the Great Song Dynasty, and the Jin people are the most terrible enemies.

It's just that Sun Tu can't say these words, because he can see that the monarchs and ministers of the court have already made up their minds, and even the will has been conveyed to the north, how can they change because of their own words? He is still self-aware, he was already suspicious of the emperor, and he was only worried about the affairs of Jiangnan, so he was an idle marquis, and now he is singing the opposite, except for making the Son of Heaven angry and making the ministers laugh, but it is useless.

Sun Tu never thought of being a loyal minister of the Great Song Dynasty, so he even saved this bit of saliva, but he watched those courtiers put forward suggestions that seemed reasonable, but in fact were useless.

It's just that his state of watching the play didn't last to the end after all, because soon, Zhao Ji named him: "Yuehou, do you have any opinions on the north?" I remember clearly, you are a rare famous general in my Great Song Dynasty in the past few years, and you have made many military exploits in Shandong and Jiangnan, and you have almost never tasted defeat. ”

couldn't hide if he wanted to, so Sun Tu could only come forward helplessly. In fact, he also knew very well in his heart that since the emperor specially ordered him to enter the palace today to participate in the court meeting, there must be something to ask him.

After thinking for a while, he said: "Your Majesty, the minister thinks that the Northern Expedition is indeed quite dangerous, our Song army is inferior to the Liao army in terms of combat strength, and the Liao army has a tendency to mourn soldiers, if it is a frontal battle, our army's chance of victory should be less than 30......"

"Yuehou, what you said is too alarmist, right? You should have heard it just now, at the beginning of the Northern Expedition of my Great Song Heavenly Soldiers, I have been steadily suppressing the Liao army, why not talk about the enemy army, you don't want to grow the morale of others to destroy the prestige of my Great Song Dynasty. "At that moment, there are officials who have opened their mouths without yin or yang.

The emperor's face was not too good-looking, and he snorted: "Do you really think that my Great Song Dynasty can't recapture the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun?" ”

"Back to Your Majesty, there is still a chance." Sun Tu raised his words and said: "But we must not rush forward, but we should give full play to the advantages of my Great Song Dynasty." The minister thought that the way to win was to advance by retreating and fighting a war of attrition with the enemy. Just like the battle of Cao Cao and Yuan Shao's Guandu, if Yuan Shao could make good use of his advantages and slowly consume Cao Cao's grain and grass troops with procrastination, then with his ten times the enemy's strength, it would not be difficult to break Cao. But in the end, he took a decisive battle because of the loss of the black nest, which led to ......"

"Yuehou, what you say is really a bit of a paper talk. How did my Great Song and Liao become Yuan Shao and Cao Cao? Do you think that righteousness is on the side of the Liao people? At that moment, someone jumped out again, and began to divert the topic to another place.

Sun Tu's face also changed: "I'm just making an analogy, how can I say anything righteous?" Moreover, the battle of the country is not one or two battles that can distinguish the winner and the loser, and taking defense as the offensive and waiting for the opportunity is the best strategy for us to win. "Unexpectedly, a guy who has never led soldiers to the battlefield said that he was talking about soldiers on paper, and Sun Tu was also a little speechless.

But obviously, Zhao Ji and the ministers could not adopt his conservative strategy, and Gao Yu even took the opportunity to say: "Your Majesty, the minister thinks that a decisive battle with the Liao army is the most effective strategy to reverse the current unfavorable war situation, as for what the Marquis Yue is worried about, the problem that our army is inferior to the Liao army is easy to solve." ”

"Oh? What do you mean by that? This statement really made Zhao Ji interested and asked hurriedly.

Gao Yu glanced at Sun Tu and replied, "Didn't Yuehou train a hundred battles for my Great Song Dynasty over the years?" Now that the enemy is in front, it is the time for the Marquis of Yue to serve the imperial court, and His Majesty can let him lead this army north again to support Tong Guan, and if he personally leads the troops, the Liao army will be defeated! ”

Everyone in the palace was stunned at first, and then they all quickly came back to their senses, and even the emperor showed a thoughtful expression, and then looked at Sun Tu: "Marquis Yue, are you willing to go out again for me and for my Great Song Dynasty and Li Min?" ”

Sun Tu took a deep breath, and it was only then that he finally understood the true purpose of today's scene, Gao Yu and others!