Zhang Qi got off the train and stretched hard. I took the train all the way from Yizhou, and I barely got off the train to rest, so I was really tired.

Jia Kui was already waiting at the train station, and he stepped forward with Wang Cun, the Zhihuo Army, to meet Jia Kui.

After saluting, Jia Kui said: "The captain is far from hard, and he will rest in the Volcano Army for a day and go again tomorrow." After the Volcano Army, it is not far to the Central Plains, so there is no need to travel so quickly. The army is mobilized thousands of miles, how can it be idle! ”

Zhang Qi returned the salute: "Thank you for the captain and the officer." This one, after traveling thousands of miles, is really annoying, and it is good to rest for a day. Our troops and horses still have six or seven days to arrive, and it is not worse than this day or two. ”

As they spoke, they left the station and went to a nearby post house. The current volcano is different from before, because it is located on the main road out of the Central Plains, and it is much more prosperous than before. A new post house was specially set up to allow passing officials to rest.

Zhang Qi arrived at the post house, took off his clothes and fell asleep. It wasn't until the evening, after a few hours of sleep, that I felt relieved. At night, Jia Kui and Wang Cun gave Zhang Qi the wind and dust, because the forbidden army was not allowed to enter the city, and the wine feast was set up in the post house.

The guest and host sat down, and Wang Cun said, "Can the captain come here?" Tonight, the place will prepare some thin wine for the captain to catch the wind and wash the dust. ”

Zhang Yu thanked him and said to Wang Cun: "The Volcano Army is on the road, and the army is working hard. I'll be here for one day, and I'll be there tomorrow. Now that it is September, the imperial court is urging urgently, and it is not to miss the travel date. ”

On the other hand, Jia Kui listened and said: "These days, the Privy Council is very nervous, and it keeps sending troops and concentrating troops to the Khitan front. Some of the soldiers and horses of our department were originally on Linfu Road, but all of them have been transferred to the vicinity of Shuozhou these days. ”

Zhang Qi shook his head and smiled bitterly: "My department is far away in the Western Regions, and it is not a paper order, thousands of miles away to Hebei Road." ”

Speaking of this, the two generals have a common language. Since accepting the Khitan people, neither the Song Dynasty nor the Khitan side gave in, and the situation at the front became more and more tense. In the north, Wang Kai took over the Yang Wenguang Department, stationed in Dezhou, Baishuiluo and Jiujiu Spring, blocking the North Road of Datongfu. In the south, Jia Kui's soldiers and horses were all concentrated around Shuozhou and aimed at the South Road of Datongfu. The forbidden army on Hedong Road is being reorganized, and it is estimated that two armies will be formed, one to deal with Datong Mansion, and the other may join the battlefield on Hebei Road.

The large-scale military mobilization has made the localities feel nervous, and there is a feeling that the mountain rain is about to come and the wind is full of buildings.

When the wine and food came up, several people drank a few glasses of wine, and their words focused on the war with the Khitan.

Zhang Qi said: "When the Privy Council first ordered our department to come east, it was not resolute and there was no given date. Until last month, he suddenly began to be stern, ordering our army to go to Hebei Road at the end of September. If overdue, military justice is engaged. Pity our army stationed in the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains, concentrating the army, it really costs people's lives! ”

Jia Kui said: "You leave with the army, who will garrison the Western Regions?" ”

Zhang Qi shook his head: "Who else can it be handed over?" It can only be the original forbidden army on Shaanxi Road. Many people were studying at the Hequlu Military Academy, but suddenly they had to be ordered to take the army west. Now from the west of Hequ Road, thousands of miles of territory, only Shaanxi Road originally had less than 100,000 forbidden troops. ”

When Wang Cun heard this, he couldn't help but worry: "In the territory of thousands of miles, there are only those garrisons, and the Privy Council is very happy. ”

Jia Kui said: "Zhijun, in the past Tang Dynasty, there were only tens of thousands of soldiers and horses in the Western Regions and Hexi, and they had to face Tubo. The imperial court arranged tens of thousands of people in the Western Regions, as well as railways, which was enough. It's just that the training was supposed to be completed, but now the training can't be completed, and everyone has no bottom in their hearts. ”

The whole training of the Song Army was based on the military academy as the core, and the recruit training base attached to the military academy was cooperated. The arrangement of the imperial court was to use the Wudu Military Academy on Hequ Road to reorganize the forbidden army on Shaanxi Road and Hedong Road, and the Beijing Military Academy to reorganize the forbidden army on Jingjing and Jingxi Road. Later, a new Hejian Fu Military Academy was established, presided over by Liu Ji, and began to train the forbidden army on Hebei Road. At this time, the forbidden army on Shaanxi Road had not yet completed its training, and hurriedly gave Huyi and Weining two military titles, and the number of people counted was how many, and they were stationed in the Western Regions and Hexi. Then the forbidden army that had not yet undergone training was transferred from Shaanxi and added to the two armies.

Zhang Qi said: "The Western Regions now only have some strength in the Qarakhanid, and there was a big defeat last year, and there are not a few years, and there is no ability to fight with the imperial court again. The rest are small forces and are not to be worried. ”

Wang Cun said: "There may be no strong enemies in the Western Regions, but there are still various departments on the grassland. Once the imperial court started a war with the Khitan, it was difficult to guarantee that they would not go south. If the troops are insufficient, it is not a trivial matter to be taken advantage of. ”

Zhang Qi said: "The grassland army will inevitably be requisitioned by the Khitan, where will there be spare strength to come south?" Besides, there is Wang Kai on the Hequ Road, and there are tens of thousands of troops in the Western Regions, what can they do? The forbidden army that has not completed the training is also a strong army in the Western Regions. ”

In fact, after the destruction of the party, the forbidden army, which was equipped with some guns, was not comparable to the surrounding forces. As long as it's not a big war, they really can't help it. If hundreds of thousands of troops attack, the Khitan will not make a move, and there will be no such forces.

After drinking a few glasses of wine, Wang Cun said: "Looking at the arrangements of the Privy Council these days, it is inevitable that I am a little worried. Now the imperial court has decided to compete with the Khitan for Xijing Road and Nanjing Road, and for the rest of the places, if it can draw troops, it will draw troops. Can the Khitans listen to the arrangement like this? If they concentrate their troops and horses and attack from the north of Yinshan, they may not be able to succeed. ”

Jia Kui said: "The cardinal government must have figured out the pulse of the Khitan in such an arrangement, how could it make such a mistake?" In the Yinshan area, there are 50,000 soldiers and horses of Wang Kai, and the Tatars come south, how can they get benefits? Moreover, there are also tribes that are attached to the imperial court, which can also resist for a while. ”

At this time, the original Zhuanglang tribe and several other tribes attached to the Song Dynasty have expanded to Peking University in recent years, forming a protected area. It is not easy for the Khitans to go south from the north of Yinshan.

The Khitan had been operating in the steppe for many years, and the large tribes were all under the control of the Khitans except for a part of the Tatars. Moreover, the Khitan is quite popular with the grassland tribes and has a very high reputation. It's just that in order to suppress the ministries, they also don't have the ability to organize a large army.

The judgment of the Privy Council is that if the Khitan is not dealt a relatively big blow, it will be difficult for its power in the grassland to weaken. For a while, unless the Khitan army attacked, the grassland tribe could not form a big force. At this time, the center of gravity of the war was still Youzhou, and the area north of Youzhou.

After drinking a drink, Zhang Qi said: "Now we don't have to worry about this, the Privy Council arranged, and we just do it." In just a few years, the military academy on Hequ Road will be able to complete the training of the forbidden army on Shaanxi Road and Hedong Road. At that time, I was still afraid that some grassland tribe would come south. In recent years, the imperial court has a horse breeding land, and there is no longer a shortage of cavalry, so I am not afraid of them. ”

Jia Kui nodded: "The cardinal government said that it was your east transfer to the north of the Hebei Road, and it was not easy to transfer horses, so I ordered my department and Wang Kai's department to form more cavalry." Both armies had 15,000 men, about one-third, which was much more than before. ”

Zhang Qi said: "The northern region is vast, there is no cavalry, how to fight with the Khitan." If it weren't for the transfer of thousands of miles, I would still want to bring more cavalry with me. In the past, when Captain Du was there, he tried his best to let his subordinate armies have one-third of the cavalry. ”

If it is to the north, the more sparsely populated it is, the more important the cavalry occupies an important position. When Du Zhongxiao was on the Hequ Road, he organized and trained various armies, and always maintained one-third of the cavalry in the establishment, which was an important force. Although there are horses now, it is not easy to transport them to the capital, and there are many fewer cavalry of the new army that have been retrained.

There is no way around it, there is always a trade-off. The training time of cavalry is much more than that of infantry, and it is really impossible to expand the number of personnel in a short period of time. The newly reorganized army, cavalry and artillery were reduced considerably, and the number of infantry was greatly increased.

These old armies can also see that compared with their own years, the new forbidden army has fewer technical units and more infantry, which is quite a bit of a rush. There is no way, in two or three years, only the infantry can be quickly formed. The war against the Khitan was bound to be a war dominated by infantry, which was still different from before.

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