In Lin Jue's mansion, a meeting of military advisors that had been held since noon lasted until early afternoon. The meal prepared for everyone in the front hall was cold and hot and cold, but the meeting never ended.

The maidservant, who had been sent to inquire about the situation, came back and told the ladies that there seemed to be a great deal of commotion in the small hall of the second entrance of the meeting, as if they were quarrelling. The adults inside were blushing and their necks were thick. The women were a little worried, so they unanimously recommended Bai Bing to check the situation. In fact, Gao Muqing and Bai Bing were originally qualified to participate in this meeting, although the two were Lin Jue's wives and concubines, but when they were rewarded for meritorious deeds, the two of them were also awarded military positions, and one of their nominal military positions was the deputy commander of the front division of the palace and the deputy envoy of the guard Ma Junsi, both of which were extremely high military positions. It's just that it's equivalent to an honorary military position, and they won't perform their duties.

Gao Muqing has been very lazy since he entered Beijing, and his thoughts are on his son every day, taking him around, and he has become indifferent to the affairs of the court. Perhaps it was only now that Gao Muqing's heart really got rid of the previous shackles. Before his death, the owner of Gao Laozhai hoped that Gao Muqing could clear his reputation as the daughter of the bandit leader and live a normal life. Although the Luoyan Army was no longer a bandit a long time ago, it was not until they entered the capital that they could be regarded as truly getting rid of the identity of bandits and thieves psychologically. Gao Muqing finally got rid of the life that was completely different from that of ordinary women in Da Zhou for more than 20 years. She is determined to return to her role as a normal woman and mother, and to enjoy life that she has not enjoyed before.

Therefore, today Gao Muqing took his son to the market again.

Bai Bing is still the same, but she doesn't like to participate in this kind of meeting, her principle is that everything is arranged by her husband, so it doesn't matter whether she participates or not, she just needs to adhere to this principle. However, Gao Muqing was not in the mansion at this moment, and only she could find out some of the situation, so she could only ask the girl to go to the flower hall of the meeting to take a look.

Out of the back house hanging door, turn a few corridors, in front of the two into the flower hall. Inside and outside the courtyard ahead, dozens of guards patrolled and guarded. This posture is enough to illustrate the importance of this meeting in the flower hall. Even in Lin Jue's mansion, idle people and others could not get close. The identity of the servant girl who serves tea and water must be a trustworthy person who has followed the Lin family for a long time.

Seeing Bai Bing coming, several guards at the gate of the courtyard didn't dare to stop him, and hurriedly stepped forward to salute.

"Whatever you want, I'll go in and see." Bai Bing said hello and entered the courtyard, and soon heard the noisy voice in the flower hall on the east side.

“…… Dashuai, I still think that this time we will fight against the Jurchens, and we will be completely wiped out and hit their hometown. The Jurchens and the Liao people are both tiger and wolf clans, and they must be eradicated by cutting grass, and if they want me to have long-term peace and stability, we must completely eliminate these banes once and for all. Otherwise, once they recover, they will inevitably still covet my Da Zhou. ”

Bai Bing heard it, this was Ma Changqing's voice.

"Brother Ma, having said that, we have to consider the actual situation. We may only be able to mobilize 100,000 soldiers and horses on this expedition, and the Jurchens still have 200,000 people. Our army is not well stocked, and it is already a very good result that this expedition can drive the Jurchens out of the Great Zhou. The appetite is too big and the stomach is broken. Look at Western Xia, how many years has my Great Zhou occupied Western Xia? The result? Heavy troops must be sent to defend it, or they will rebel. I have been in Western Xia for so many years, and I can see it clearly. We got the land of Western Xia, but it didn't bring any benefits to our Great Zhou, on the contrary

It took a lot of lives and cost a lot of money. When General Yuan was alive, he often lamented this incident. Therefore, it is a burden for the Liao and Jurchens to take over the territory. That's what I thought anyway. ”

This voice was a little unfamiliar, and Bai Bing didn't hear who it was for a while. But she stepped up the steps, and when she came to the door of the flower hall, she saw the person who was standing and talking, it turned out to be the commander of the Northwest Army, and the Great Zhou Forbidden Army was waiting for Sun Wanchun.

Bai Bing appeared at the door and attracted everyone's attention. The generals looked at it one after another. Lin Jueben leaned on the big chair with his cheeks slightly closed, frowned and thought, saw Bai Bing walk in, sat up straight and smiled: "Why are you here?" ”

Bai Bing saluted everyone and smiled at Lin Jue: "I'll take a look, I heard that the meeting here is particularly hot, and the husband and the adults forgot to sleep and eat." The banquet for you has been heated three times, and it's almost time. Everyone asked me to ask, have you eaten yet? ”

Lin Jue was stunned for a moment, looked at the sunshine outside and smiled: "Isn't it almost time?" Have we been talking about it for so long? ”

Bai Bing said angrily: "You are not hungry yourself, and you don't care if others are hungry or not." ”

Everyone hurriedly said: "Don't be hungry, we're not hungry." When discussing big things, there must be a result. It's never too late to eat after you've discussed it. ”

Lin Jue smiled: "I still have to eat rice." But things have to be agreed. Bing'er, we're discussing one last thing, if you want to listen, just listen to it. ”

Bai Bing nodded and smiled: "Okay, then I'll listen." ”

Bai Bing sat down on the brocade bench beside Lin Jue. The crowd was interrupted from arguing, and there was a moment of silence and no idea where to start. Lin Jue coughed and said, "Brother Shicai Sun talked about the matter of Western Xia, so much so that I remembered the late Yang Shumi. There were many reasons why the Western Xia was slow to quell the rebellion of the tribes. I think the extermination order seems to be up for debate. Back then, I had an exchange with Yang Shumi on the castle tower of Xingren Mansion. ”

Ma Qingshan nodded when he heard this: "Don't say it, the boss almost forgot about the extermination order." The lowly government believes that the extermination order, although unethical, is too harsh and not a good way to go. But Yang Shumi's original idea was right. Barbarians are afraid of power and virtue, and it is useless to reason with them, and strong means must be used. It's just that Yang Shumi is too ruthless and the means are too much. I think there must be a better way to solve this problem, and this is a question worth exploring. ”

Ma Bin laughed and said: "Let's wait until we destroy the Jurchens and the Liao people to explore this kind of thing." Anyway, I agree with Brother Ma's idea, cutting the grass without removing the roots, and the spring breeze blows and grows again. This time, we will not only drive the Jurchens out of the Great Zhou, but also completely destroy them and the Liao people. Otherwise, there will be endless troubles. ”

"Brother Ma, it's still the same sentence, it's good that our current strength can drive the Jurchens out of Da Zhou. Anyway, I don't recommend that we think about destroying the Liao and Jurchens at this time. Honestly, what's the use of those barren lands in the north? Like the Western Xia, it only increased the burden. Defeat them and leave them to fend for themselves. There is no need to spend money, manpower, and energy in exchange for useless places. It's Western Xia, in fact, you don't want it. Sun Wanchun said in a deep voice.

Lin Jue frowned and shouted, "Lord Sun, what are these words?" It doesn't matter if you have the strength to destroy them, but you have to understand that no piece of land is superfluous. The land of the Liao people and even the Jurchens in Western Xia is not a lonely and barbaric place. Those were all part of my Central Plains Dynasty. You go and look at the territory of the Han and Tang Dynasties, north to Mobei, west to the Western Regions, and east to Da

The sea, the land of the South Sea in the south. Every piece of land is an integral part. It's just that the rise and fall of dynasties has increased or shrunk the size of the country. In fact, my Great Zhou has not yet reached the great cause of the Han and Tang Dynasties. You have made a fundamental mistake by saying that the land under the feet of the Jurchens of the Liao Kingdom of Western Xia is actually the land that my Great Zhou should recover. Got it? ”

Sun Wanchun was stunned, and smacked his lips for a while: "Okay, I don't read much of the humble books, so I haven't thought about these things at all." ”

Lin Jue waved his hand and said, "I know, I don't blame you. All of us must remember that not an inch of land is superfluous, but only temporarily occupied. When you have the ability, you have to take it back. The Liao Jurchens occupied it, which does not mean that they are the masters of that land, they are only temporarily staying. If they are willing to fit in, we can be inclusive of them. But only if they are obedient. The Qingshan brothers said that the barbarian clan is afraid of power and not virtue. This makes sense, but it's not entirely true. The reason why Western Xia became a powder keg was because it only used the means of threats. Strong means are indispensable, but indoctrination is even more important. As the so-called combination of grace and power, strong control and indoctrination methods go hand in hand, and it only takes ten years to see the effect. So, you are discussing the question of how the Liao and Jurchens were tamed, and it is not a problem for me at all. ”

Some of the people understood, some did not. Of course, Ma Qingshan understands that the so-called combination of grace and power and the means of education by Lord Lin is actually a means of assimilating different races culturally. In fact, this kind of method takes a long time, requires a larger amount of human and financial resources, and cannot be solved by rushing for quick success.

"I really just want to know what you think of the extent of this battle. Now it seems that opinions are divided. I think it's time for me to clarify my personal thoughts. I was inclined to take advantage of the situation to march north after defeating the Jurchen army, and destroyed the Liao State and the Jurchens. The reason is very simple, as long as we win the battle with the Jurchens, there will be no strong enemies in the north, this is a rare opportunity. Otherwise, with the characteristics of the Liao and Jurchens, it would take less than three or five years for them to gather a large number of cavalry. Because they didn't need to train soldiers and horses, their children grew up on horseback and were born soldiers, so they couldn't afford to miss the opportunity. Of course, we also have a lot of difficulties of our own, and our national strength is now declining, and the army will consume a lot of money and food and increase the burden on the people. That's where I'm struggling. In my opinion, this matter should be put aside for the time being, so as not to divide opinions. Let's focus on defeating the Jurchen army first. Some of you were overly optimistic, but I'm not that optimistic. The battle has not yet begun, everything is unknown, there is no sure victory. As you know, the current situation of our Luoyan Army is that it is easy to raise food and grass materials, but it is difficult for our firearms and gunpowder to be completely replenished for a while, and this is a big problem. But we can't wait any longer, if we wait any longer, the Jurchens will have to sweep the entire northeast to the bottom. From today onwards, all of you will enter a wartime state, and intelligence gathering, the assembly of grain, grass and materials, and the pre-war training and mobilization of soldiers and horses will be carried out at the same time. Brothers, my Luoyan army is invincible and famous, and I believe that we will also be able to win a great victory in this expedition. ”

Lin Jue stood up and waved his arms to end his tirade.

"Obey the orders of the commander!" All the soldiers shouted in unison.

Lin Jue smiled: "Let's go, eat and drink." Some of you are already afraid that your stomach is growling with hunger, but you are embarrassed to say it. There is a war soon, and the prohibition of alcohol is about to be enforced, so today is full of wine and food, and it is not until you get drunk. ”