At the beginning, Ye Qing always believed that the most fundamental reason why the Southern Song Dynasty was oppressed by the Jin people everywhere and had always been in a safe corner, including the successive failures of the Northern Expedition, was not in the troops and generals of the Great Song Dynasty, but completely on the court, and because the royal family and important ministers did not have the absolute determination to come to the Northern Expedition.

Since the beginning of the dynasties, the founding monarchs have almost all enjoyed the words of Wentao and martial arts, and with the development of the times, it is difficult to appear in the court as when the country was first founded, and the scene of the king's toughness and courtiers' iron-blooded unity.

The reason for such a situation is that after unification, the interests of individuals completely replace the interests of the court in comfort, so that when the interests of the country are damaged, whether it is the prince of the county or the courtiers, when considering foreign wars, at the same time, they must also take into account the interests of various groups within the court, so that the court cannot work together to fight against the Jinren.

Whether it was when the Song Dynasty had not yet crossed south, or the war against Jin after the southern crossing, in short, in all the war examples, the courtiers slackened the interests of the country for personal reasons, which was definitely an important reason for repeated setbacks in front of the Jin people. In the final analysis, the mentality of the Song court after a corner of peace is like a nervous mentality of wanting to win and being afraid of losing, not only wanting to regain all the lost territory so as to restore the prestige of the court, but at the same time afraid of the brutality of the Jin people, which will bring them greater losses.

That's why there is this kind of cautious currying favor with Jin, not daring to rush forward, and cautiously guarding the little foundation that is left now, and for the court and the royal family, it is already a victory if it is not lost.

Ye Qing really wanted to become a tough figure of the main battle faction above the court, and provide a big rear for the front-line soldiers to fully support them above the court, and after being a privy envoy for a period of time, Ye Qing's inner ambition began to grow slowly, and his eyes couldn't help but start looking at the phase of the Lin'an court.

With Zhao Ruyu's death, Ye Qing even thought about replacing him for a while, but obviously the current complicated situation of party struggle in the court and the fact that the northern land is not as stable as a rock makes him unable to achieve both fish and bear paws.

What's more, Li Fengniang obviously didn't want him to stay in the court at all because of King Jia's matter, so as not to leak the scandal, so under the overall consideration of various factors, the only way to benefit Ye Qing was to use Huainan Road as a link to connect and bind Lin'an, and go to the north alone to fight against the three kingdoms of Jin, Xia, and Mongolia with his own strength.

There have never been fools in this world, whether it is in the Jin Kingdom, the Xia Kingdom, or Mongolia, as long as they can gain a foothold in the courts of various countries and have a place, they are all human spirits tempered in the deceit.

Ye Qing was able to make every step extremely accurate before, and now, since the battle of Guanshan, he has had several hesitations and mistakes in strategic choices, and Lianjin Zhengxia is a wrong choice he has made recently, but fortunately, he corrected it in time, and at this moment, he finally gave up the United Jinren and chose to go south with Xin Qiji, Lao Liu Tou, Zhao Qi'er and others.

Now there is only one road left in front of Ye Qing, as long as he has always been vigilant about Mongolia's southward movement, as long as he still wants to resist the future Mongolian iron cavalry to set foot in the Central Plains, then now he can only nominally be a vassal to the Song Dynasty, and in essence stand on his own in the north.

In this way, he can completely ignore the attacks and pressure from the court behind him, and in the face of the scolding of the world, the attacks of the courtiers, and the distrust of the court, he will continue to move forward firmly, either succeeding or becoming benevolent.

Wan Yan Jing's reply completely made Ye Qing lose hope of living in peace with the Jin Kingdom, and with Wan Yan Yongji and Li Shi'er leaving Jinan Mansion, Ye Qing's stay in Jinan Mansion was no longer meaningful.

In July of the third year of Shaoxi, Ye Qing set off in Jinan Mansion and went west along the Yellow River, just like the last northern expedition to Liao, this time Ye Qing also chose to stay in Luoyang and Kaifeng for a short stay, and then continued to march in the direction of Jingzhao Mansion.

At the beginning of October of the third year of Chunxi, Ye Qing arrived in Jingzhao Mansion, and the Great Mongolian State on the grassland was formally established, and Temujin completed the true unification of the grassland.

Sankun's death also means that the Xia Kingdom and the Mongols have finally reached an agreement, and since then generations have been friendly and non-offensive, and the two have also begun to trade more frequently, and dozens of towns have opened in the bordering places, even exceeding the towns between Jingzhaofu and Xia today.

"Li An'an hasn't heard from him for a few days?" Ye Qing frowned, listened to Yu Yunwen's narration, and asked after thinking about it with a teacup.

"Except for the letter from some time ago, there has been no news in the past few days, and in my opinion, now the king of Zhenyi County has either reached some agreement with their emperor Li Chunyou, or he took the opportunity to attract many people to his command while the Mongolian envoys were still in Xingqing Mansion some time ago." Yu Yunwen said guessingly.

"No matter what, we can't just sit and wait now, we must turn the passive into the active, and we must bewitch Li An'an to fight with Li Chunyou, so that we can take advantage of it. Now that Temujin has established the Mongolian State, if it is not surprising, I am afraid that they will conquer Liao next year, and if there is still no movement of internal strife in the Xia Kingdom, we will really fall into a passive and backward situation, and once Temujin turns around, it will be even more difficult to take advantage of Xia and Jin. Ye Qing let out a long sigh and set his eyes on the huge topographic map of the Xia Kingdom again.

It's been three days since I returned to Jingzhao Mansion, but now everything in Jingzhao Mansion is still a mess, although the victims when I left have been properly settled by King Qing and Chongguo Gong, and even Ye Heng and Bai Bingzhong no longer look at them as coldly as before when they saw them, but now Ye Qing still feels that the rear is empty and unstable.

As the so-called army has not moved, grain and grass go first, but now the entire northland has just survived the shortage of clothes this year

It is still unknown what will happen to this year's crops, especially those fields that have been ravaged by the floods, and whether they will be able to produce crops to feed the people.

And now that Ye Qing wants to covet the Xia Kingdom at this juncture, it will be equivalent to increasing the pressure on the entire Northland, increasing the financial resources that are no less than the disaster relief and poverty relief after the flooding of the Yellow River, which is very likely to crush the livelihood of the Northland, thus plunging the Northland into panic and turmoil in an instant.

But the current situation does not allow him to delay for another year or two, and wait for the situation in the north to completely stabilize before conquering Liao.

After all, there is no such complicated situation on Temujin's side, and he will not be given a chance to breathe at all, so that he can completely solve the food and clothing in the north and then conquer the Liao State in the west.

So no matter what, Ye Qing had to swallow the Xia Kingdom hard, in order to strengthen his own power, so that he could keep his strength at a considerable level with Temujin, instead of watching others grow, but he was standing still.

"Your Excellency......." Yu Yunwen looked at Ye Qing, who was deep in thought, snorted lightly, and after watching Ye Qing look at him with his senses, he said slowly: "My lord, you have been to the Liao country, according to what you have seen, is it true that the Liao people can't compete with Temujin?" ”

"The contradictions between the North Mansion and the Southern Court have accumulated for many years, and the Liao State has already fallen into a crumbling situation, and now not to mention the Mongols who have just formed a pack of wolves, even the Xia State can easily defeat him." Ye Qing took a deep breath and said: "Temujin has also been to the Liao State, he naturally knows that the Liao State is vulnerable now, so he will temporarily not move the Xia and Jin countries, that is, he hopes to fight a war, and use the Liao to raise the prestige of his Mongolian state, so that Xia and Jin will not dare to make any changes, and it is enough to let Temujin divide and seize the two countries in the future." ”

"Maybe there is a way to make the Xia Kingdom as vulnerable as the Liao Kingdom, but ...... My lord, I don't dare to make an idea of whether this method can be used, and I still need you to decide. Yu Yunwen frowned, looked at Ye Qing with some concern and said.

"I know." Ye Qing looked up to the sky and sighed, in fact, Yu Yunwen didn't say anything, he knew what the solution was.

"Xia now has a total of 18 states in Henan and Hexi, and the four states outside the river have lost a state because of the battle of Guanshan, although it is not occupied by us, but under our noses, Xia is still not as attentive to the rule as it was back then, and it is obviously intended to guard against us. The rest of the three states outside the river, because of the border with Mongolia, can now be said to have been actively abandoned, although not included in the Mongolian territory, but with the arrival of the Mongolian envoys in Xingqing Mansion, dozens of towns have been established here, in fact, it has been completely attributed to the Mongols. Yu Yunwen didn't bother to say much about that method, but instead began to point to the map and said to Ye Qing: "Among the other eighteen states, if we want to seize it now, the easiest one is Lanzhou, but...... After taking Lanzhou, in addition to being careful of the strong counterattack of the Xia people, we must also be vigilant about the Dasanguan behind us, whether it will drag us back with the acquiescence of the imperial court. Even if Hengqiao has now been surrendered to the adult, once Hengqiao is out of the Great Dispersion Pass, then the Lin'an Chaotang will inevitably send a large army to garrison here, and the Guanghua army will obviously be completely given to the adult by them. ”

Yu Yunwen's words, in fact, whether they take Lanzhou or not, are a double-edged sword for them.

The Dasanguan garrisoned by Hengqiao can provide Ye Qing and them with a safe defense, but what is lost is the lack of troops once they conquer the summer, which may affect the trend of the entire battle situation.

And if Hengqiao is allowed to go out of the Dasanguan, even if it is only to further defend Lanzhou, the Dasanguan will also be sent to other armies by the Lin'an court to garrison it with lightning speed, so that Hengqiao's Guanghua army will completely cut off all contact with the Dasanguan.

After all, the Guanghua Army is not Ye Qing's descendant, and there is no such main reason that Ye Qing was trapped by the Xia State to guard Guanshan, forming a common hatred for the Xia State, so once they go out of the Dasan Pass and garrison Lanzhou, will their combat power be immediately reduced, and there is also a big question mark.

"If you take Lanzhou, then you can form a horn with Guanshan and Lanzhou, which must be a great benefit for the Lord to send a large army to advance into the hinterland of the Xia Kingdom. But if we want to pacify Lanzhou, or even the army that can stabilize the Dasanguan after the change of defense, we need to spend no less than the strength of the expedition to Xia. Yu Yunwen said in the end, with a trace of tiredness and helplessness in his tone.

In this situation, it is simply too difficult to conquer the summer, and if you think about it slightly, you will find that all the difficulties presented in front of you are difficult and dangerous, and there are almost no advantages in their favor, and they need to rely on themselves to create after the war comes.

is different from the Northern Expedition to the Jin Kingdom to regain lost territory, and now Ye Qing and their conquest of summer is like a war of foreign aggression, so in the situation that the time, place and people are not superior, they want to seek benefits in this war, and even annex the entire Great Xia, and even have a feeling of being an idiot's dream.

But it was precisely because no one believed that Ye Qing would be arrogant enough to believe that they would conquer the summer, which made it possible for them to achieve unexpected results after the war started.

But once the battle reaches a stalemate and the battle line is lengthened, it is extremely important whether the rear behind Ye Qing is stable.

The uncertainty of the Great Dispersion Pass, the conspiracy and fabrication of charges in the Lin'an court, whether the grain, grass and crops in Jingzhao Mansion and the entire northern land can be self-sufficient to meet the food and clothing of the people, whether the Jin people will take the opportunity to make trouble to invade the south, and other problems and worries, once the war starts, it is possible to rush to Ye Qing in a swarm, waiting for him to solve it.

"Li Heng now has 50,000 horses in his hands to garrison Guanshan, which is still a bit better. And among these 50,000 horses, more than half are Li Heng this year

After arguing with Liu Keshi for several months, Liu Keshi had no choice but to select the best soldiers from the Longcheng Barracks who he thought were suitable and sent them to Guanshan Li Heng. Tian Lin and Li Zhongfang are now on the third road of Hetao, and the military judge was personally sent by you before you went to Luoyang. So now, Li Heng, Tian Lin, Li Zhongfang, plus Zhong Silkworm, Mo Xiaobao, even if I am only six people, after taking Lanzhou with lightning speed, there must be a general in charge, Heng Qiao...... At most, it can be regarded as half, and there must be one person left, so that there are only four people left who can conquer the Xia Kingdom, even if you personally sit in Guanshan, and I or Li Heng is either in Lanzhou, in this way, there are only Mo Xiaobao, Zhong Silkworm and their five generals to conquer the Xia Kingdom, and the matter of pacification after the war also needs to rack their brains, so Li Heng can only sit in Lanzhou, and I must shoulder the responsibility of attacking the city and pacifying. In short, stretched. Yu Yunwen said at the end, looking at Ye Qing's helpless expression, he shook his head with a wry smile: "In this way, it is too difficult, and it is also a prerequisite if the war goes well." ”

"Jingzhao Mansion also needs someone to be in charge, and Guanshan can't be without people." Ye Qing leaned weakly on the back of the chair, raised his head and sighed: "When you spoke just now, I counted with my fingers in my heart, so at least I need to draw people from other state capitals in the Northland." There is no way for Jinan to move, and not even any state or government in the north can send any officials over. Only the officials of Huainan Road may be able to pull a few over in case of emergency. ”

"All of this, you need to make up your mind, Lord Ye, do you really want to drive such a wedge between Li An'an and Li Chunyou, and ...... Temujin was arrogant, and now that he was strong and strong, would he accept the kindness of the Xia Kingdom? More importantly, how the Lord faces Her Royal Highness the Princess of the Liao Kingdom. Yu Yunwen sighed, and finally broke the mystery.

Between the two of them, the method that has not been mentioned is to force one of them to send troops to help Temujin attack Liao together when they bewitched Li An'an and Li Chunyou to fight in Xia, so as to give Ye Qing and them more opportunities to conquer Liao.

After all, only if there is a war within the Liao State, Ye Qing and they can have the opportunity to plot in the Xia State, if Li An'an and Li Chunyou of the Xia State are just fighting between the court and the officials, and they do not use a single soldier, then Ye Qing and they want to attack Xia, in the current situation, it can be said that there is no chance at all.

Only by letting the Xia Kingdom be chaotic from top to bottom, as big as the royal family, princes and ministers falling into turmoil, and as small as the common people panicking because of the war, in such a situation, Ye Qing and others went out of Guanshan, seized Lanzhou, and then waved their troops westward, maybe they could have the possibility of success.

Of course, all of these need Ye Qing to convince himself of his affection for Yeluyue, after all, Yeluyue is the princess of Liao, and Ye Qing is from behind to help Temujin attack Liao, how to look at this matter is not authentic.

The Liao Kingdom perished, Yeluyue died with Xiang Xiaoyu, Ye Qing's heart is afraid that he will always feel guilty, and Yeluyue is lucky not to die, even if he is rescued by him, how should he Ye Qing face Yeluyue?

After all, this kind of thing is impossible to hide forever, one day Xia Guo or Temujin will stab this matter to Yeluyue to know, and it is even possible, as long as Xia Guo cannot attack Liao at the same time as Temujin, then it is possible to attract Yeluyue's suspicion of Ye Qing.

"If only I hadn't provoked her and been less attentive, but now I'm really a problem for myself." Ye Qing patted his forehead and sighed, this matter so far, although it was only between him and Yu Yunwen, Ye Qing always felt that Bai Chun seemed to have guessed it.

Otherwise, how could he return to Jingzhao Mansion by himself It was only a short three days, Bai Chun was only gentle as water to himself on the first day, and in the next two days, his face was like ten thousand years of cold ice every day, and he never smiled at him Ye Qing again.

"This matter can't be delayed, and adults need to make up their minds quickly. It is obviously impossible for the Mongols to conquer Liao this year, but they will inevitably conquer Liao next year, and we can get a glimpse of one or two from the changes in the steppe today. And if we want to sow discord, cause Li An'an and Li Chunyou to fight infighting, or help the Mongols attack Liao, now is the time to start making preparations and start planning. Yu Yunwen was afraid that Ye Qing would not have a headache, so he continued to force Ye Qing with a smile.

"Let Wu Lian take a closer look at the situation in Xingqing Mansion now, especially after the Mongolian envoys left, what is the situation above their court now. Then you took the initiative to write to Li An'an and Hot Gongji, to find out their current reactions, their opinions on the arrival of the Mongol envoys, and Li Chunyou's opinions, and try to literally reveal the idea that we can help him seek the throne of Xia. Ye Qing slapped the heart of the table, but then softened again: "Only you and I know about this matter, as for the decision...... I'll talk to you about it in the next few days. ”

"Can Ye Heng use it?" Yu Yunwen asked Ye Qing, who was about to get up and go home, without raising his head.

“…… I'll wait until I've met him, but ...... This is really a good suggestion. Ye Qing was stunned for a moment and said.

Yu Yunwen got up and said: "Actually, since you sent the martial judge to Luoyang, I have had this idea, the martial judge and you have both served in the Shenjin Army under Ye Heng back then, so as soon as the martial judge leaves, Ye Heng's face in Jingzhao Mansion will look better." ”

"Pull it down, I was just a team commander at that time, and now I'm the envoy of the Northland Festival, he didn't send me at all, is it comfortable to see me?" Ye Qing waved his hand, he didn't have much hope for these old stubborns.

After all, whether he is qualified or aged, he is much worse than Ye Heng, so how can Ye Heng today put down his face without scruples and regardless of the eyes of others, and let himself send him!