Du Zhongxiao read the official document from the imperial court, handed it to Fu Bi casually, and said: "There has been no official war with the Khitan yet, and the imperial court has begun to say that there is no money." How can you fight a war without money? Hundreds of thousands of troops gathered on the front line, and they needed a lot of money to eat and drink every day. ”

Fu Bi read it and said: "You can't blame Zhongshu for complaining, this battle really costs a lot of money." So far, it has cost nearly 200 million yuan. It still looks like it will take more than 100 million to finish the fight. When the country was first established, Taizu built a sealed pile warehouse, saying that it was to accumulate money to recover Yanyun. It's just that the pile warehouse has been sealed for decades, and it can't save so much money. Hundreds of millions of guan are enough to buy the Khitan. ”

Du Zhongxiao said with a smile: "The Khitan is too poor, I'm afraid it won't be worth so much money." Actually, you don't have to be afraid to spend a lot of money. Where does the money go? It's not been earned by its own people. By making guns, cannons, and bombs, several iron prisons have become as big as they have been blowing in recent years. When the war is over, they will transform all kinds of farm tools and all kinds of machines, and the money will not be lost in vain. Moreover, the more than 200 million yuan was not all spent on the war, but a large part of it was spent on the entire training of the forbidden army. The real war didn't cost much. ”

After speaking, Du Zhongxiao thought for a while and said, "Zhongshuyan, the imperial court really has no money. One is to borrow money from the savings bank, and the other is to print some bonds to sell. I estimate that in the past few years, the railway prison has expanded, and I have borrowed a lot of money from the savings bank, and it is difficult to borrow them again. It's better to print bonds, and the rich people in the world come to buy them, which is always higher than the interest on the savings. After the war, it will be a few years old. ”

Fu Bi sighed: "The most feared thing in the world is to borrow debts, with principal and interest, and I don't know how much I will have to repay at that time." Tai Lieutenant, this battle really cost a lot of money, if you can't leave the Khitan army, I'm afraid that the court will gossip. ”

Du Zhongxiao nodded: "Yes, it's not to keep all the Khitan troops, but just to defeat, this battle won't drag on for so long." We have transferred so many troops, hundreds of miles of strong walls and fields, and spent so much effort, we must have a result. The main Khitan force has passed through the floating yang water and is approaching Cangzhou. They have to travel hundreds of miles to transport grain from the country, and it is not so easy. Before leaving, the Khitan signed another 100,000 troops, and the people's strength in Youzhou had basically been exhausted. We spend money to fight wars, don't Khitans spend money? ”

Fu Bi nodded. Of course, he knew that the Khitan was not just a matter of borrowing money this time, but that the surrounding area of Youzhou was already exhausted, and even seeds were searched in many places. If you can't win, the Khitan won't know how to live next year.

Du Zhongxiao stood up, walked to the door, looked at the dim sky, and was a little distracted for a while. The national strength of the Song Dynasty far surpassed that of the Khitan, and it was at a military disadvantage before, largely because it could not be mobilized effectively. After all these years of development, the national strength of the two sides is now even more heaven and earth, and the mobilization ability after the whole training has also come up, and it is no longer the same level as the Khitan.

This war dragged on for so long because of the huge territory of the Khitan. If they only defeated the Khitan and could not completely annihilate their army, even if the Song army recovered Yanyun, it would still face endless troubles.

The vast area north of Yanshan is another mixed farming and pastoral area outside the Hetao. Moreover, the area is vast, there are many mountains and rivers, and the development is relatively perfect. If you don't occupy there, you won't want to be safe. In this war, the Khitan army cannot be annihilated, let them retreat, and the battle will only last for decades. It is simply impossible for the Central Plains Dynasty to be safe and not to occupy these mixed farming and pastoral areas.

Now that there are railways, as long as the war is over and one or two railways are built from Youzhou, the nomads will have no capital to make trouble. From the Khitan army gathering in Youzhou, it has been nearly two months now, and the Song army has been holding back, in order to completely annihilate this army.

Does the Khitan have a population of 10 million? Du Zhongxiao estimated that this is roughly the number. The Khitan mobilized 800,000 people in this war, which has reached the limit. If it fails, it may not be able to recover for decades. At that time, it could only be slaughtered by the Song Dynasty.

Meng Xuexue took his subordinates and traveled all the way, and finally arrived outside the Qianning Military City. By this time several armies had arrived, all of them camped outside the city, and they were divided into four sides. Before Ma Huaide arrived, the Privy Council did not allow Zhizhou to manage the military anymore, and he was in a situation where the dragons had no owner for a while.

Zhizhou Zhang Binan greeted him out of the city and immediately said to Meng Xuexue: "Regiment master, Ma Taiwei has an official document to come, and all parts of the city are stationed outside the city. Your regiment must be stationed in Mumen Town in the south. The people there had been brought into the city, and the houses in the town were ready for the army. ”

Meng Xuexue thanked him and asked, "As of today, has there been any Khitan army coming to attack the city?" ”

Zhang Binan said: "The Qianning army is on the bank of the Yellow River, although the river is frozen, it can pass the army, but it is not conducive to combat. The Khitans had a military camp on the other side of the river, about 8,000 people, but they did not attack. ”

Meng Xuezhu nodded, thanked Zhang Binan, and ordered the army to go to Mumen Town.

Zhang Binan said: "I heard that the group leader is coming today, and a wine feast was set up in the city to catch the wind for the group leader. At this time, five regiments of the Qianning Army have arrived, and they have a glass of wine together, and you are also familiar with each other. Otherwise, the Khitan army suddenly crossed the river to attack, and it was not a good thing not to know each other at that time. ”

Meng Xuezhu thought about it and agreed immediately. Order his subordinates, under the leadership of the deputy commander, to go to Mumen Town first. Rest in the town tonight, and wait for tomorrow to pass, and then carefully arrange. The parting carefully instructed that this was on the front line, and that scouts must be sent out widely.

The Qianning Army is a military city, the city is not large, and the population is not large. These days, the surrounding people are taken into the city, and it is suddenly very lively.

Meng Xuexue followed Zhang Binan to the city gate, and saw that it was bustling inside, and the people on the street were endless. couldn't help but say: "The Khitan army is not far from here, why is the city so prosperous?" Could it be that the army and the people are not afraid of the Khitans attacking? ”

Zhang Binan said: "There are more than 3,000 defenders in this city, more than 100 cannons, and the city wall has been repaired several times, how can it be so easy to break?" And Hejian Mansion is behind him, where there are 200,000 troops, where will anyone be afraid? Besides, most of the people in the state have gone to the city, and if they don't make a little more lively, I'm afraid that something will happen. Leader, most of these people are from the countryside, and many of them have never been in the city in their lives, so they are not easy to manage. ”

Meng Xueji nodded and said no more. Qianning Army is a small place, only one county, Qianning, with a population of about 4,000 households. In addition to Qianning City, there is also a city in Diaoyutai Town in the north, which houses the people of Quanzhou. It is located in the lower reaches of the Yellow River, and there are many floods, so there is not much population. Most of the people in the territory usually live in the village, and Ding Zhuang is mostly an archer.

After entering the official office, Zhang Binan took Meng Xuexue into the back office, and introduced him to the five regiment masters, Zhang Gan, Bi Deying, Yang Tu, Zhou Zhenghai and Wu Cheng. These five people are all generals of the forbidden army for many years, who have studied in Hejian Mansion and became the head of the regiment after training. Although he is familiar with Meng Xuexue, he knows his name. In the military academy, he is the first in every exam, and he has never failed in training, which is the legend of the Hejian Military Academy.

Everyone saluted, and the five of them were very affectionate, and they each sat down.

After serving the wine and food, Zhang Binan said: "Qianning is a small place, and it is really difficult to shelter the people these days. There is no good wine and meat to entertain you, don't be surprised! ”

Yang Tu was the oldest, and he arched his hand and said, "Zhizhou is polite." We were ordered to come here to fight against the hostile and harass Zhizhou, how dare we think about it! ”

After saying a few polite words, Zhang Binan said: "The day after tomorrow, Captain Ma will arrive, and everything here will be subject to Captain Tai's orders at that time." In the past two days, I hope that the Khitan will not come to attack, and you will just live. If you have any difficulties, you can tell me and I will try to send someone to arrange it. However, the grain and grass in the army have their own plans, and the government is not allowed to disturb the localities. No wonder! ”

After speaking, he raised his wine glass: "It's rare to get together, and have a drink!" ”

And they drank wine and ate meat to their heart's content. Although Zhang Binan said politely, today's wine and food are still very rich. In the past few months, these transportation is not a remote place, and there has always been plenty of food and grass, but there is no worry about food and drink.

After a few glasses of wine, the conversation turned to the war. Zhang Binan was born as a military general and is no stranger to the military.

Bi Deying said: "I heard that the Khitan army has arrived under the city of Cangzhou and has begun to attack the city. Fortunately, Cangzhou City has been renovated many times, and now it is extremely strong. There were many artillery pieces at the head of the city, and the Khitans tried in vain. ”

Wu Cheng said: "Previously, the Khitan army of 50,000 attacked the mouth of the Great Wall, and after attacking for many days, the city was unharmed. It can be seen that the Khitan people are not good at attacking the city, and they want to attack Cangzhou, but they are afraid that it will be difficult and difficult. Moreover, in the days before the arrival of the Khitans, the imperial court provided a lot of grain and grass materials to Cangzhou. Even though it was besieged for half a year, it was still impregnable to come to Cangzhou. ”

Everyone nodded in unison. Obviously, they are quite confident in the Khitan war and are not afraid.

Zhou Zhenghai said to Meng Xuexue: "When the scholar was in the military school, he always had the best exam. In your opinion, what will happen to this war? ”

Meng Xuezhu thought for a while and said: "In my opinion, the Khitan is not good at attacking the city, and their army coming south this time may not necessarily be to capture the city. More likely, it is to attract our army to come to the rescue, and the two sides will fight in the field outside the city. Therefore, the Qianning army here may send a large army. The five armies we are here now, except for the Yang regimental lord who led the army to garrison the city and defend the city, the other four regiments are afraid that they will soon have to fight the Khitan. ”

Everyone was taken aback.

Zhou Zhenghai said: "If this is the case, why didn't the imperial court send those troops?" is like Captain Liu, who once led the army to destroy the party, and made countless military achievements. The rest of the lieutenants are also after the big war, why don't they come? ”

Meng Xue said: "We, the generals, how will we know what Shuai Si is thinking? They must have something more important to do and should not come. Anyway, the army of the Qianning Army is estimated to have a fierce battle with the Khitan, and it should not be bad. ”

Although the rest of the people didn't seem to pay much attention to the upcoming war with the Khitan, Meng Xue didn't dare to slack off. He could see clearly that the Khitans' ability to attack the city was indeed not good. The army also went south, but I was afraid that it would be a field battle with the army that the Song army came to help. These people are exactly the target of the Khitan's attack. If you don't prepare, you don't know what will happen.

(There is something to do today, only one more, forgive me.) ）