Early this morning, in the general's mansion not far from the northwest camp, the lights were being lit up and beaming with joy.

Today is the birthday of the general's wife, Yao, and not only a banquet was set up in the mansion, but even several children from the northeast came to celebrate her.

It's just that the Ning family has always been low-key, and unless it is the two family members who have a full birthday, it is generally not too grand.

This time is no exception, this time on his wife's birthday, the general Ning Zhiyuan only invited the clansmen within three suits and his henchmen to participate, which can be regarded as a small and medium-sized family banquet.

In the northwest, the wedding wine is usually placed at noon, so that most of the guests can return home before dark after eating the wedding wine.

After all, the northwest region is too broad, and it is not surprising that there are hundreds of miles between county seats. Moreover, in the past, there were often Hu people or horse thieves in various places, and it was not safe to travel at night.

Ning Zhiyuan, as the host, only needs to greet the guests when the banquet is opened, and other trivial matters are naturally handled by others.

Taking advantage of the fact that there was still a lot of time to leave the table, he called Ning Yabai, Ning Yafeng, Chi Fei, Zhang Wenxuan, Li Dingbei, and Xiao Zhijian to the study to discuss a major matter.

And what he wanted to discuss with everyone was the matter of the southern expedition.

In other words, the Northwest Army had already done its best to defend against the army from the capital, not to mention launching a counteroffensive against the Wei Dynasty.

But now it is different from the past, the Ning family is already full-fledged, and it is not out of reach to want to take the capital.

His confidence mainly comes from several aspects, one is that after the potato was fully promoted in the northwest and northeast, it has achieved great success.

Not only were the local people able to eat enough, but the problem of shortage of military rations, which had been plaguing the Northwest Army for many years, was also completely resolved.

And after two years of practice, potato processing technology has matured. Potatoes that could not be stored for a long time can be stored for a long time after being made into potato wedges or vermicelli in major workshops.

Judging from this year's bumper potato harvest in the northwest and northeast, plus the grain purchased from overseas, the Northwest Army will not be short of military rations for two years.

The so-called food in the hand, the heart is not panicked.

The problem of military rations, which had been confined to the northwest for many years, no longer became the biggest weakness of the Northwest Army, and now the tiger was finally freed from the predicament.

Second, after three years of continuous increase in troops, coupled with the training method of using veterans to lead new recruits, the Northwest Army has now become a tiger and wolf division of more than 600,000 people, of whom 70 percent are children of the northwest.

Third, the musketeers of the Shenji Battalion have grown to more than 27,000 people, which is where Ning Zhiyuan's greatest confidence lies.

You must know that the musket array of about 5,000 people had already beaten the imperial court's Northern Expedition army and fled. Now the number of people has suddenly multiplied several times, what a terrifying increase.

Today's Ning family has more than 600,000 brave and combat-ready tiger and wolf divisions, as well as muskets and flowering bullets, two big killing weapons that can be both long-range and melee combat, and it is really difficult to lose.

Since Ning Zhiyuan has the heart to compete in the Central Plains and seize the world, of course he doesn't want to let go of such a great opportunity.

Not only Ning Zhiyuan himself, but even Li Dingbei, Xiao Zhijian, and Ning Yafeng, several military generals, were also in favor of launching the southern expedition.

But Mr. Zhang Wenxuan, who was the mastermind, had a different opinion, and he arched his hand and said: "My lord, my subordinates think that this is not the best time to go south. ”

Ning Zhiyuan frowned and said: "Now that the puppet dynasty is in turmoil, and the people are out of line, shouldn't we take advantage of his illness to kill him?" ”。

Mr. Zhang Wenxuan shook his head and said, "My subordinates think that it is not chaotic enough now. ”

"Can this be explained?"

Judging from various indications, it is clear that the puppet dynasty intends to move its capital to Jiangnan in order to avoid a counterattack in the northwest.

In other words, the remnants of the Xie clan knew that the odds of victory were hopeless, so they were ready to concentrate their forces to stick to Jiangnan, a land with abundant money and food, which had the intention of favoring Jiangnan.

The lord can wait for him to move the capital, and then calmly take the capital and even the entire northern territory, and become a north-south confrontation with the puppet dynasty.

As long as the northern provinces are taken, it is not far from dominating the world. ”

"But isn't this waiting for the Xie family to take Jiangnan in vain? It's too cheap for them, right? Li Dingbei couldn't help but say.

Xiao Zhijian also agreed: "Dingbei is right, the provinces south of the Yangtze River are the land of fat. As long as the Xie family occupies Jiangnan, there will be no shortage of money and food in the future.

On the other hand, in various parts of the north, there are rebellious people, and if the marshal wants to stabilize the north, he must send troops everywhere to suppress it.

This crackdown is not over, we still have to find a way to feed the victims in various places, otherwise they will still be in chaos once they have no food to eat.

Compared with the Xie family, who patted their butts and slipped to Jiangnan to enjoy happiness, our side is tired and thankless.

In this case, it is better for us to go directly to Jiangnan and occupy Jiangnan first.

Although there must be heavy troops on the Jiangnan side, we not only have a large army in our hands, but also two weapons of great destruction, muskets and flowering bullets, where is our opponent, even if there are many people, it is just a group of rabble.

Dashuai, let's just go fight Jiangnan. ”

Although Ning Yafeng didn't say anything, judging from her eager expression, she was also very much in favor of this idea.

After all, the provinces south of the Yangtze River are the main grain and tax areas of the Great Wei, and if the Northwest Army really takes Jiangnan, then it will really need grain and money in the future, and there will be no shortage of anything.

The idea is so tempting that it makes your mouth water just thinking about it.

Seeing that the two henchmen and the second son both wanted to fight Jiangnan, Ning Zhiyuan couldn't help but feel a little moved, so he asked his eldest son Ning Yabai again: "Ah Bai, what do you think?" ”

Ning Yabai thought for a moment before saying, "Father, I don't approve of sending troops to Jiangnan now. The reason is that Jiangnan is too far from the northwest.

Although we have both a large army and firearms, not only is it easy to tire the soldiers from a long-distance attack, but also the terrain in Jiangnan is complicated, and the army is easy to fall into the enemy's ambush, so I am not in favor of sending troops to Jiangnan now.

I think Mr. Zhang's proposal is very good, first occupy the entire northern territory step by step, and then slowly absorb and digest it, and fight steadily. ”

Since the eldest sons, Ning Yabai and Zhang Wenxuan, do not approve of sending troops to Jiangnan, it is two against three.

Finally, Ning Zhiyuan set his sights on his little son-in-law Chi Fei.

"Ah Zhen, what do you think?"

As Ning Zhiyuan asked, everyone subconsciously looked over.

They all knew very well in their hearts that Chi Fei's opinion was very important, because his influence on the big marshal was unparalleled.

This has nothing to do with his status as a son-in-law, but all the fact that he has slowly accumulated this pivotal position through various achievements over the years.

Although he has always tried to hide his reputation, not too many people know that many new policies are actually his handiwork.

But everyone present knew that almost all of the reasons for such dramatic changes in the Northwest and Northeast were related to the various new policies he had proposed in the first place.

Nowadays, when it comes to such far-reaching matters as whether to send troops to Jiangnan, it is normal for the marshal to ask his opinion.

Facing everyone's attention, Chi Fei said with a smile: "Father-in-law, I agree with Mr. Zhang and his eldest brother's opinion, it is better to work steadily."

In fact, I had already communicated this issue with Mr. Zhang through letters a few months ago, and I thought the same as him, that now was not the best time to send troops on a large scale.

Although Jiangnan is a big piece of fat, it is precisely because it is so fat that we are not the only ones who are interested in it.

Instead of swallowing it in a hurry now, it's better to wait until you watch a dog-eat-dog drama before it's too late. ”

After Ning Zhiyuan heard this, his eyes suddenly lit up, "You mean, the Hu people in the south?" ”

"Yes, it is the Hu people who are entrenched in the south.

These jackals from outside the Saiwai have long coveted the Central Plains, especially the prosperous and rich provinces in the south of the Yangtze River.

Although the puppet dynasty's relocation of the capital to Jiangnan could temporarily settle down, it also exposed their own weakness, indicating that the puppet dynasty was no longer able to control the entire territory of the Great Wei.

An insatiable jackal like Hu Ren, once he sees this, how can he let go of such a good opportunity.

The more the puppet dynasty occupies the big fat of Jiangnan, the more likely it is to become the target of the Hu people.

During the Northwest War a few years ago, didn't the Xie family want to collude and use the Hu people to deal with our Northwest Army?

The so-called feng shui takes turns, and now it's our turn to watch their good shows.

When the Hu people and the puppet dynasty are defeated, isn't it more time-saving and labor-saving for our Northwest Army to enter the field to harvest again? ”

After listening to Chi Fei's words, except for Zhang Wenxuan, who had already known about the matter, everyone else present was so excited that their eyes lit up.

Ning Zhiyuan simply slapped the table hard and said, "Okay, we'll wait for them to eat the dog."

Since Old Thief Xie wants to move the capital to Jiangnan, let them go, and let's take the northern provinces first. ”

Zhang Wenxuan proposed: "My lord, this matter should be sooner rather than later.

We can start with the surrounding areas in the northwest, gradually encroach on the past from the north to the south, and force the puppet dynasty to move its capital as soon as possible.

The sooner they moved their capital to Jiangnan, the sooner they would come into conflict with the Hu people. ”

"You're right, sooner rather than later.

In a few days, we will gather all the generals in the camp to discuss this matter together, and if we are prepared quickly enough, we may be able to send troops to Jiangxi next month. ”

As soon as Ning Yabai, Ning Yafeng, Li Dingbei, and Xiao Zhijian, the military generals, heard that they would be able to send troops to Jiangxi next month, their eyes showed a strong fighting spirit.

After enduring so many years, it was finally their turn to launch a large-scale counteroffensive by the Northwest Army.

Chi Fei and Zhang Wenxuan were not as happy as them, but felt heavy in their hearts.

They knew very well that once the Hu people and the Xie family fought in Jiangnan, both the soldiers and the common people would suffer heavy casualties.

Especially with the ferocity of the Hu people, it is not an exaggeration to describe it as being full of corpses everywhere they go.

If the Northwest Army had sent troops now and occupied Jiangnan ahead of schedule, it might have been able to avoid such a tragedy.

But in this way, the Northwest Army is likely to face pressure from both the puppet dynasty and the Hu people at the same time, which is very dangerous strategically and easy to fall into a protracted war of attrition.

Although the northwest now has some family foundations, it cannot help the long-term attrition of two-front operations.

Therefore, it is the best way to sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight, and then wait for Hu and Wei to lose both sides before entering the harvest.

In addition, if you want to alleviate the civil unrest that broke out due to famine in various places, the best way is to provide potato seeds and planting methods from the northwest, so that as many people as possible can grow this high-yield life-saving food to save their lives.

However, since the Ning family has the intention to compete in the Central Plains, the more chaotic the world is, the more beneficial it is for the Ning family, so they have been strictly prohibiting the flow of potatoes from the northwest and northeast, in order to monopolize this high-yield crop.

To put it bluntly, it is necessary to let everyone know that only by following the Ning family can they have enough to eat, otherwise they will continue to starve.

This is very effective in maintaining local stability, but many people will definitely starve to death in areas that are not taken over by the Ning family.

Sometimes politics is just so cold and unforgiving.

In all dynasties, the one who can really sit on that chair cannot be a soft-hearted person, and the Ning family is no exception.