The wind was howling, and Ouyang Shan's voice was blown away by the river wind in an instant. Zhao Xingde looked at the river, as if he hadn't heard.

Ouyang Shan looked left and right, and lowered his voice again: "Some of the officers who are familiar with the last general, someone is recruiting them for Cao Xianggong. Some detained generals also took refuge in Cao Xianggong. He paused and lowered his voice, "Your Excellency asks you what your plans are, and you plan to follow your Lord to the death."

"Me?" Zhao Xingde took a deep breath and said slowly: "After defeating the Liao State, I'm afraid I won't be able to take you to war anymore." However, Cao Di and his ilk are not enough to rely on, he battalion service, compared with Liu Yanqing, fifty steps and a hundred steps, he will not be able to resist the general trend of this era, and following them, there is only one way to defeat. He looked at the lights on the river and said with emotion, "The soldiers of the Great Song Dynasty will no longer fight for this general and that general, and will not fight for this emperor and that emperor, their only loyalty should be our world." The people are precious, the community is secondary, and the monarch is light. Keeping this sentence firmly in mind, the people of the Great Song Dynasty will have a peaceful world. ”

Ouyang Shan hugged his fists and said: "If the adults are going to enter the phase, it is also a gratifying thing." ”

Chen Dong once vowed not to be the prime minister all the time. Zhao Xingde Yunwen Yunwu, the popularity is high, and it is rumored that he was elected as the prime minister. Wenwu has a different path, so Ouyang Shan heard the words "You can't fight anymore", and thought that Zhao Xingde was talking about this. As everyone knows, Zhao Xingde is the general of the Xia State, and he temporarily takes the position of the deployment of the southeast camp, which is a hurry to obey the power, and after defeating the Liao State, even if the situation stabilizes, he may go to his post at any time.

Among the twists and turns, Zhao Xingde was inconvenient to explain to Ouyang Shan, patted him on the shoulder, and said with a smile: "Even if you can't catch it in the future, Chen Xianggong and Cao Shangshu will not forget you." Ouyang Shan hugged his fists and said, "Lord Xie recommends." ”

Zhao Xingde nodded, he looked at Ezhou across the river, and let out a long sigh. The Baoyi Army changed the practice of civil and military affairs, and used a large number of scholars and scholars as middle and low-level officers. Chen Dong also persuaded Zhao Xingde that when he got through the current difficulties, he would simply stay in Kanto and not have to return to Xia. Zhao Xingde politely refused, and promised to return all the elite soldiers under his command to the imperial court in the future, and asked Chen Dong to treat the soldiers who were loyal to the country. Zhao Xingde was a guest general, and he did not have military power, so Chen Dong and other ministers regarded the Baoyi Army as the most reliable army. Once Zhao Xingde leaves his post, Chen Dong will inevitably send someone to take over the Baoyi Army and the Southeast Battalion. As long as the people in the council are in charge of the political affairs hall, they will inevitably weaken the subordinates of the generals Cao, Han, and Yue in the future. The Baoyi Army, which flaunts righteousness and is not loyal to a certain general, will be constantly expanded. Chen Dong and Cao Liangshi once talked about these arrangements with Zhao Xingde openly or implicitly.

Perhaps the defeat frustrated the Liao army, this day and night, Hanyang outside the city was exceptionally quiet, Zhao Xingde inspected the four city walls, warned the guards everywhere not to be negligent, and then returned to the east city Yingchun Gate tower to rest, this is the Liao army for days to attack the place. Since crossing the river, the Yamen has been deployed on the top of Phoenix Mountain, but Zhao Xingde has been staying on the Dongcheng Tower. Back in the room, he took off his helmet and put it on the desk, unfolded a piece of paper, there was already some dense handwriting on the paper, Zhao Xingde dipped some pine smoke ink with a wolf, pondered for a moment and then continued to write.

“...... There are clouds on the left, and the major events of the country are in worship and Rong. The so-called worshippers, the wise people worship ghosts and gods and stay away, should match the heavens with virtue, and act in accordance with morality. The so-called Rong people, I have heard that the ancients competed in wisdom, and the world competed in strength, and the virtue has been experienced for a long time, and I believe in the words...... In today's world, firearms are in vogue, and the strength of a husband in the countryside is not enough to open a bow and crossbow. There were no less than 60 million people in the Great Song Dynasty, and if half of men and half of women were counted, there would be no less than 30 million men in the whole country, and no less than 15 million men who could fight with their guns. There are 15 million soldiers in the war, so that China can defend its own way, and the upper and lower levels will not lose their morality. ......”

“...... The so-called sharpening of the knife hates the disadvantage, and the knife sharpness hurts people. The military system is divided into internal and external, and you can get both. It will make the inside heavy and the outside light, the inside dull and the outside sharp. The internal soldiers are heavy and dull, and they are dedicated to the prefectures and counties, and the state and county soldiers are registered in the military department, and each county has a captain of the military academy to practice and defend the war. And the crown of the man, each round of ten Ding draw one, each Ding makes the lotus gun for three years, and the year of knowing the destiny can be avoided. The so-called parents are not far away, which makes people leave their hometowns, and people do not take what they want. Therefore, the state and county soldiers are not out of the border. If there is something in the country, the prime minister will propose, and the state and county will discuss the conquest, and then the general will be awarded a military talisman, and the soldiers can go out of the state and county. After the battle, it will be returned to the court, and the soldiers will be returned to the state and county. If the soldiers are separated, there is no danger of perseverance...... Foreign soldiers are light and sharp, recruiting fierce and daring criminals, only tens of thousands of elite soldiers can go on an expedition to the desperate region and deter the stubborn. Foreign soldiers but remember to take side merits, the imperial court can not be too far away......" wrote about a stick of incense, Zhao Xingde stopped writing and ink. After marching and fighting all year round, he also developed the habit of writing down his experiences at any time.

At this time, the soldiers came in to report to the soldiers who had made meritorious contributions in the daytime battles of each department, and after Zhao Xingde read the roster, he sketched with a red pen and determined that at dawn tomorrow he would personally give three people "Saint Song Tongbao" money, and another eleven people would be given "Saint Song Tongbao" silver money.

He did not immediately return the roster to his own soldiers, but carefully flipped through it again, looked at the names of each of the officers who submitted them, and recalled each person from different shades of ink, Zhao Xingde pondered for a moment and ordered: "Since I presided over the southeast battalion, I have seen the generals and soldiers eating rough together, and it is very hard, and I can't go away. From tomorrow onwards, several commanders will take turns presiding over the feast and treating the officers in the camp. Rectify more delicious dishes, and invite some singers from Ezhou to help the fun. Officers above the head of the battalion, but voluntarily, can go to the banquet to eat and drink at mealtime. ”

The soldiers agreed, Zhao Xingde stood up, pushed open the carved window, looked at the dark night sky in the distance, and sighed.

Cao Di and other important ministers actually disregarded the overall situation so much, and the sailor had just won for a while, so he stretched out his hand to the southeast camp, and the dark tide in the camp was surging, which was quite chilling. Zhao Xingde originally planned to resign from the position of subordinate of the southeast camp and return to the Xia Kingdom after the situation stabilized, but now it seems that he has to be a villain, eliminate all the half-hearted people, and then return this army to Chen Dong and others, so as not to cause trouble in the future and involve a group of brothers who followed him from birth to death.

............

In Dunhuang, the sky was not clear, and a cavalry tiger wing army guard held a torch to lead the urgently summoned lieutenant to the council hall. Many lieutenants stood at the door of the council hall, under forty huge granite rock pillars, the flickering light of the fire, casting uncertain shadows on the insignia of the armies guarding the four directions.

"If he wants to fight, let's fight!" Someone shouted rudely, "If you deceive someone, can you still swallow your anger?" ”

"Yes, hit!" "Kill all the barbarians! Never again! ”

"It's long overdue!" "Yes!"

Taking advantage of the fall of the Xia army in Rus', in the past few years, the Sultanate of Rûm has been vigorously armed, first annexing the Caliphate of Egypt and then capturing Baghdad. Not long ago, several Xia caravans were attacked by the Sultan's soldiers and horses, and the merchants of the Xia Kingdom were killed and wounded by hundreds of people, and the southern trade route to the Lumei Kingdom was almost completely cut off by the Sultanate of Rûm. It is said that the main target of the Sultan of Rom is still the country of Lumei, but another division of the Sultan of Roma marched eastward, gathered tens of thousands of horsemen of the Turkic nomads, and besieged Xiliuzhou in the river for three days. The Anxi Military Department and the states of Hezhong have issued an urgent mobilization order, ordering all retired sergeants to report to the battalion and not to travel far in the near future, and at the same time to send a letter to the Protectorate and the General's Palace, requesting that troops be sent to attack the Sultanate of Rûm.

More than 100 lieutenants had learned the news on the way, and the sound of righteous indignation and angry scolding could be heard everywhere inside and outside the council hall. Others pulled out their horizontal knives, and the torches shone in the cold light.

"Stay put, everybody." The Protector of the Governor, Shi Cui Chunyou, stood at the door, his face was full of solemnity, and said to the captains: "Your Majesty, Prime Minister, and General will come soon, and you will come immediately." "The crowd was excited, and at this time, when the people from the General's Mansion arrived, they proposed a plan to send troops against the Sultan of Rûm, and all the lieutenants would agree with it.

Just behind the council hall, in a small room, His Majesty Chen Xuan, Prime Minister Liu Yi, General Zhang Shanfu, Wu Ting, Xie Yuan, etc. were all present. Compared with the momentum outside, the atmosphere here is particularly dignified.

"In just a few years, this Sultan of Rûm has become a momentum." Wu Ting sighed, "The one who attacked Xiliu Prefecture was the Sultan of Roma's own brother, Serku. According to our secret report, the target of the Sultan of Rûm's next conquest was the country of Lumei. This attack on Xiliu was due to this person's greedy and violent nature, wanting to be rich in the river, and listening to the instigation and sending troops privately. "After the annexation of the Egyptian caliphate by the Sultanate of Rûm, the Department of Military Intelligence suggested sending troops to fight against it, but the matter was suppressed due to the resurgence of war in the Rus' homeland. The Military Intelligence Department did not insist anymore, but did not expect that it would become a major problem now.

"The Western group of Hu, one after another, its rise and fall, its rise and fall." Zhang Shanfu said, "General Wu doesn't have to blame himself. ”

Wu Ting shook his head and didn't say anything more.

Zhang Shanfu paused for a moment, and then said, "Today's plan, the battle of the Liao and Song Dynasty in the east has reached the most critical time, and at this time, both tigers are injured, this is the best time to dominate the world." He looked at the other people in the room, "Since the goal of the Sultanate of Roma is Lumei, I think that the war in the west can be slowed down for a while, and the Liao and Song countries in the east can be solved first, and then turn against the Sultan of Roma." He listened to the commotion of the captains outside, hesitated for a moment, and said to Chen, "It's just that the captains are excited, and if they want to persuade them to focus on the overall situation, I'm afraid Your Majesty will have to come forward in person." ”