"Do you still need to inform General Zhao of the strategy of the Eastern Expedition?"

This simple question made Wu Jie pause slightly and fall into deep thought. Zhao Xingde's identity is the chief of the Prime Minister's Mansion, the firearms supervisor of the Eastern Expeditionary Army, and the full authority in the southeast to represent the Xia court and deal with the Song people. When the 50,000 Eastern Expeditionary Army secretly infiltrated Fangzhou, they cut off all the roads leading from the valley to the outside of the mountains, and the specific combat operations were concealed from the Protectorate in the Xia Kingdom. But the army is about to go out, and it seems that it is not appropriate to hide Zhao Xingde's words. However, he is a Song man after all.

Wu Jie remembered that when he was leaving, he greatly admired that one's advice: "Jin Qing went out to Kanto this time, and the first battle was the praying mantis catching cicadas, the yellow finch was behind, and our army was even more behind the yellow finch." After a long period of hard work, this situation of driving the tiger and devouring the wolf has been achieved. After the whole Song realm, the whole army was reorganized for the Northern Expedition, and the Khitan children could be wiped out. As long as this battle opens up the situation, the Protectorate and the Pillar State Government will agree to use troops in Kanto on a large scale. The mountains of grain and grass in Shu, the hundreds of thousands of regiments in Guanzhong are training the army, and the support will be endless, and Jin Qing can also show his ambitions in his chest, even with millions of troops, chasing the dead and chasing the north, sweeping thousands of miles of rivers and mountains. The key to this battle is, first, to grasp the timing of sending troops, and second, to attack the enemy unprepared and take him by surprise. Although Zhao Xingde is a talent, he was born in Kanto and has a close relationship with Chen Dong and others. The strategy of the march should not be hastily informed, so as not to miss a major event. As long as Jin Qing is cautious, the first contribution to dominating the world belongs to you! ”

"General?" The marching commander Shi Gao Gongmao asked again. He was just afraid that Wu Jie would negligently forget the reminder.

"It's a pity." Wu Jie shook his head and said with some regret, "Zhao Dujian is surrounded by fish and dragons, and it is easy to leak rumors. Don't notify him of the dispatch of troops first, and then inform him as soon as possible after our army sends troops. "For Zhao Xingde, Wu Jie has some appreciation, but that one's foresight is a hundred times better than himself, and Wu Jie naturally can't help but follow his special instructions. Although Zhao Xingde is a person valued by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, he is not ignorant and narrow-minded. Hide it from him at this time, and explain it tactfully in the future.

"Yes." Gao Gongmao had no doubts, and said: "General, the Prime Minister asked, after the army moves, how long will it take to break through the enemy army?" "The move of the Eastern Expeditionary Army to Fangzhou this time was a decision made by the Great General's Mansion and the Great Prime Minister's Mansion together, and even the Protectorate Mansion did not know about it. Although the previous actions were unaware, correspondingly, in order not to let the Liao Song Dynasty notice, the two governments also put a lot of thought into it. The troops on the expedition are all active non-commissioned officers and regimental training troops, and retired non-commissioned officers are not recruited from the civilian population. The roads for the transfer of troops were all surveyed and cleared by the Military Intelligence Department in advance, and the military quarters of the 50,000 Eastern Expeditionary Army were all transferred from the warehouse of the Baggage Division. The Prime Minister's Mansion originally planned to use the Cangli of Shu, but the General's Mansion finally refused due to the need for secrecy. Therefore, before the backup grain and grass came up one after another, the Eastern Expeditionary Army had to fight a quick battle, and it was best to rely on food in the Song Realm after the victory.

"Ten days," Wu Jie pondered for a moment, then repeated affirmatively, "Ten days is enough. ”

The Eastern Expeditionary Army in Fangzhou had four cavalry armies, including the White Feather Army, with a total of 20,000 cavalry, in addition to four infantry armies with 20,000 infantry, and a newly reorganized 20 battalions of firearms corps. In contrast, the five armies under the Andong Military Division have only 25,000 active sergeants. "Fifty thousand." Wu Jie couldn't help but squint his eyes, "Those who are good at fighting are dangerous, and their knots are short. He looked into the distance, looking at the mountains to the east, and his mood was a little anxious for the coming battle......

In Shuzhou, the Chinese barracks of the Baoyi Army were constantly filled with officers coming in and out, shrouded in an atmosphere before the war. Among the three Song armies gathered in Shuzhou, the Zhenguo Army was as disciplined as iron, while the Baoyi Army and the Henghai Navy were not satisfactory. The news of the three marshals' decision to attack the Liao army leaked out early. In the past few days, the mood of the whole army has been unusual. Fortunately, Zhao Xingde's military orders were one after another, from the battalion commander, the capital head, the captain, to the soldiers below, they were all busy making preparations before the battle, and they didn't have much time to think about miscellaneous thoughts.

"The morale of the army is good, right?"

Seeing the commander's question, Lu Mingyu smiled and said, "The big guy is gearing up, just waiting to fight this big battle." Luo Xianshi also nodded and said, "Let the Zhenguo Army also take a look, we are also fighting a big battle." With the two of them taking the lead, the battalion commanders Zhang Wudi, Xia Mao'er and other generals all clamored loudly, and their morale was very strong.

Zhao Xingde looked at these subordinates with a smile. Since the blockade of the river by the Henghai Navy Naval Division, the left and right armies of the Baoyi Army have taken turns to attack and harass the grain routes of the Liao Army, which has been very effective. After the rest of the month, the food and straw of the Liao army at the front of Baozhou were scarce, and the signing army was even more demoralized under hunger, and some people even secretly lost their sincerity to the Song army, claiming that they were forced to take refuge in the Liao people, and as long as the two sides fought, they were willing to immediately turn to the Song army. Another gain from harassing the Liao army's grain route was that the soldiers of the Baoyi Army overcame their vague fear of the Liao thieves. The Great Song Dynasty was founded for more than a hundred years, and when the Northern Captives fought, they often suffered big losses and took advantage of small advantages. In folk rumors, most of the northern captives are riding and shooting, and they kill people without blinking. Even the self-proclaimed brave Shui Kou bandits, when talking about the northern captives, there is a mysterious sense of fear. However, in one harassment battle after another, the soldiers of the Baoyi Army became familiar with the Liao army, and no longer regarded the Khitans as monsters who could conquer and fight.

Luo Xianshi asked: "In this decisive battle with the Liao army, does Yue Shumi have any tricks?" The generals also showed a look of concentration on their faces. Everyone knows that this battle is extremely important, and Zhao Xingde has always been concerned about the generals of the Baoyi Army, and rarely pretends to be mysterious. Although the generals performed their duties, they knew the strategy of the privy council to use troops earlier, and they also had a bottom in their hearts.

Zhao Xingde looked left and right, was silent for a while, and told the truth: "Yue Shumi is determined to use regular soldiers to break the enemy. ”

"Regular?" Luo Xianshi was a little surprised, and nodded thoughtfully. The generals also looked at each other.

"It's a regular soldier." Zhao Xingde nodded, "The head of the enemy army, in the cavalry coming and going, gathering and scattering, it is not easy to annihilate. The commander of our army is in the dignified array. Moreover, the Zhenguo army has been holding on to the northern captives for several months, and you have harassed the enemy army for a long time. Although Brother Tiemu does not know how to write and ink, his mind is very meticulous, and the deployment of the Liao army at the front line is already impermeable. He pointed to the narrow plain between the mountains and the Great River, with the Song army camp in the west and the Liao army camp in the east. In this narrow place, crowded with more than 100,000 horses on both sides, the two armies of Liao and Song were like two rats meeting in a pithole, and the only way to defeat the opponent was to strive forward to defeat the enemy's main force. This was true for the Liao army, which was blocked in Shuzhou, and for the Song army, which had now turned from defense to attack.

Therefore, the strategy of the privy envoy Yue Fei to defeat the Liao army can be said to be extremely simple. With the Zhenguo Army and the Baoyi Army as the backbone, tens of thousands of Eastern and Southern Song Dynasty troops attacked from the front, striving to defeat the Liao army under Tiemuge in a short time. More than 10,000 elites of the Henghai Navy patrolled the river to respond, bombarding the Liao army barracks on the riverside with gunboats, and the Henghai Navy was also preparing to block possible reinforcements.

"Why not win by surprise?" Zhang Wudi complained, "Let the Zhenguo army fight in the front, and we will rush to the back of the Liao army, isn't it good to have a front and back attack?" The generals agreed. From the beginning of the Battle of Fangzhou, the generals of the Baoyi Army have long been accustomed to the tactics of ambushing and knocking on sticks. The southeast water network is dense, and the Baoyi army often harasses the enemy's grain route by boat, and the road after attacking the Liao army is easy to navigate.

"That's the way to die." Luo Xian said. He looked at Zhang Wuving, shook his head and said, "This battle is not something that can be finished by taking a small advantage. We are combined with the Zhenguo Army and the Henghai Navy, but we are slightly better than the Liao Army. Now, if it is divided into two, it is easiest to be broken by the Liao army. Think about what you would do if you had 20,000 or 30,000 cavalry in your hands, and the enemy army would automatically split into two halves, right? ”

"This?" Zhang Wushu was speechless for a while. It seems that this time we have to engage the Liao army head-on, and the casualties will never be light. The generals showed a look of disappointment on their faces, and only a person with a fierce nature like Xia Mao'er was a little eager to try. The expressions of the generals, Zhao Xingde was in full view, and he sighed secretly, compared with the Zhenguo Army, what the Baoyi Army lacked was this determination to fight to the death, and it was just this opportunity to temper the head of the camp. Although the situation on the battlefield has been very clear, and only by defeating the Liao army's defense line head-on can we achieve a quick victory, but the generals, you look at me, and I look at you, and they all feel a little lost.

At this moment, a "bang" was suddenly heard, which startled all the generals.

"Husband fight, courage also!" Zhao Xingde smashed his fist on the desk, "Put away all the opportunistic thoughts, the current situation is that the two armies meet and the brave wins!" ”

The elite drills, queues, and formations of the Baoyi Army Headquarters were all carried out with the expectation of frontal hard battles. After arriving in Shuzhou, Zhao Xingde didn't want these elites to lose too quickly, and politely refused Yue Fei's request that the Baoyi Army take on half of the defense line, but took the initiative to take on the military affairs of harassment behind enemy lines, which the Shui Kou were good at. Who would have thought that while training with war, it also buried the emotions of all units of the Baoyi Army who like to fight sliding battles and are unwilling to fight hard and vicious battles. And the confrontation between the two armies, vicious battles and hard battles are inevitable. Now that the generals are still like this, the mood of the soldiers below can be imagined.

Since taking charge of the Baoyi Army, Zhao Xingde has rarely spoken so harshly to his subordinates. Everyone's hearts were suddenly pang, some were silent, and some were ashamed. After being silent for a while, Lu Mingyu said: "General rest assured, the Zhenguo Army has fought a tough battle, and the brothers of the Baoyi Army are not bad breeds!" "That's it!" Xia Mao'er said: "The left army tooth barracks, how many vicious battles and bloody battles have come, and I have never frowned. With these two leaders, the other generals said that even if the horse leather shroud, they had to compete with the Zhenguo Army to see who could fight a tough battle.