In the hinterland of Guanzhong, the banks of the canals are covered with huge wooden water wheels, the river flows slowly, the stone mill grinds the wheat into flour, the rotating drum cart draws the water from the low place to the terrace, the water row blows the wind to make iron, and the water spinning wheel spins yarn. Passing through a village, Zhao Xingde saw that someone was trying to make a strange hydraulic shovel to dig up the silt at the bottom of the river.

Out of Xiaoguan, it is the Hexi Corridor, the Qilian Mountains and Altun Mountains in the south, the Horsehair Mountain, Heli Mountain and Longshou Mountain in the south, the east and west stretch against each other for two thousand miles, making the Hexi Corridor a natural wind field, the Xia people make full use of the wind this God-given wealth, the Qilian Mountains melt the snow water to irrigate the fields, the windmills that can be seen everywhere gradually replace the water wheels, the wind pushes the overturned car to draw water for irrigation, the wind blows iron smelting, the wind mill grinds the surface, and almost all the water conservancy machinery is replaced by the wind power here.

From the north and south peaks downward, the snow-covered mountains reflect the golden sun, the green woods sometimes have birds and animals looming, the rivers wind down from the high mountains, the lush grasslands are full of cattle and sheep, the gentle valleys occasionally run hundreds of healthy horses, and the fertile fields are gracefully rotated by windmills, weaving together into a colorful picture.

This is like a paradise-like beauty, dizzying, but Zhao Xingde always felt that something was faintly wrong, after surpassing a group of merchants' carriages, he finally understood, if it was the Song Kingdom, a large number of government ships and moons kept dripping with charcoal, grain, silk and other materials to Bianliang, and on the galloping road from Chang'an to Dunhuang, in addition to the goods of the caravan, there was no official convoy of large-scale delivery of materials to the capital.

Could it be that the production of the nearby narrow plains alone could support the capital of the Xia Kingdom? When Zhao Xingde said this question, he actually got an affirmative answer.

"Exactly." Zhang Liangheng said, "There are only more than 100 royal families and ministers, there are only more than 2,000 central officials in the five prefectures, and only thousands of sergeants from the Longya and Tiger Wing armies are really stationed in the Western Capital, so there is no need to transfer food from other places for long distances." Most of the other necessary materials were bought at market prices and transported like previous caravans, which saved money. "The political center of the Xia Kingdom, the garrison of the western capital of Dunhuang, is only a few thousand soldiers.

Zhao Xingde gasped and asked in a low voice, "Isn't the imperial court afraid of a sneak attack by foreign enemies, or," he hesitated, "The generals outside the capital are in rebellion and can't be pacified?" ”

Zhang Liangheng knew that he had this question, and said with a slight smile: "Although there are only thousands of soldiers guarding the Western Capital, there are still 30,000 or 40,000 elite soldiers stationed in the outer states of the Western Capital. It is absolutely impossible for a foreign enemy to sneak attack the Western Capital. ”

He looked at the dozens of cavalry of the Anton Army Division in front of him, and said in a deep voice: "The so-called rebellion of the leading general is even more impossible. The sergeants of our Xia Kingdom are only loyal to the Five Mansions and to His Majesty the Emperor, and the generals are just giving orders. If there is really a great evil and a great evil, he defrauded the military power, and attacked Dunhuang instead. He said in a contemptuous tone, "More than half of the 100,000 troops must have defected, and the remaining half of the people also planned to take the head of the rebel general and make the merit for their crimes." ”

Seeing that Zhao Xingde still didn't believe it, Zhang Liangheng said: "In the Western Han Dynasty, Huo Quai, Wei Qing and other generals attacked the Xiongnu in the north and mastered hundreds of thousands of troops. The number of northern and southern armies guarding Chang'an is only tens of thousands of horses, especially stable as Mount Tai, not afraid of the rebellion of the border army. Without him, the hearts of the people are in the Han, and the hearts of the army are in the Han. Even if the general commands hundreds of thousands of troops, the Son of Heaven will be captured with a piece of edict. Even if Li Guangli heard on the front line that his family was imprisoned and executed in Chang'an, he only planned to make a desperate bet and kill the Xiongnu to atone for his military exploits, and he would never dare to support the army to make a rebellion. Now that His Majesty and the five governments of our country have practiced benevolent government, and have accumulated kindness over the past hundred years, how can they follow the rebel generals to rebel in their hearts and people's hearts, and their position in the hearts of the army and the people is even farther than that of the Han Dynasty? He was loyal to his country, and the sergeants recognized him as a general. If you rebel, you will be ruined, and everyone will want to kill them quickly. ”

Zhang Liangheng's tone and demeanor are extremely confident. He was afraid of the face of the Kwantung people, but what he didn't say was that the officials of the Xia court had always thought that the Zhao family in Bianliang could not do their best to win the hearts of the people, so they had to concentrate their heavy troops in Bianliang and guard the generals out of the town like robbers.

The human heart is a very delicate thing, and those who advocate it cannot take it out and say it is true, and those who oppose it cannot dig it out and say it is false. Zhang Liangheng said this, and Zhao Xingde was speechless, only looking at the picturesque paradise on both sides of the road, and he didn't feel a little stunned.

At this time, in the main hall of the Prime Minister's Mansion in Dunhuang City, the Prime Minister Liu Yi was sitting in front of the case, carefully examining the three plans made by the Marching Department of the General's Mansion to send troops to Lu Mei.

The next strategy is to send an army of about 20,000 people to help the Lumei Kingdom defend the city, and not to do what it thinks. This policy is the most conservative and the most prudent.

The middle strategy is that the General's Mansion will transfer 20,000 soldiers from the Fourth Army to enrich the west, and when the Lumei Kingdom, Da Shi and the Rus people are both defeated and crumbling, they will suddenly raise an army of 50,000 and seize Lumei City in one fell swoop. The advantage is that the Xia State not only greatly moved the border westward, but also got the long-awaited good port to the sea, and the disadvantage is that from then on, the Xia State will face a direct conflict with the Rus State and the Great Food Country, and the army may be attacked by both the Rus and the Great Food and be trapped in Lu Mei for a long time.

The best strategy is to cross the river to attack Rus before capturing Lumei, the Anbei Military Division and the General's Mansion will first cross the river to attack Rus, attract the army and attention of Rus' to the east, strive to be able to defeat Rus', first force Rus' to completely withdraw from the battle for Lumei, and then wait for the opportunity when Lumei City is in danger, and enter Lumei in one fell swoop. If you deal with Da Shi alone, you are still a little sure. The problem with the plan is that after defeating Rus, the pressure on Lumei City has decreased, and it is not so dependent on its ally Xia Guo, and it will not be willingly ruled by the Xia people, and the key is timing.

At present, Xia and Lumei still maintain good trade relations, and the ports and castles built by Xia on the eastern shore of the Black Sea can be used as a stronghold for reinforcements.

Liu Yi weighed the pros and cons for a long time, and finally picked up the brush and drew a circle next to Shangce. The Rus people have always wanted to develop eastward, the horse thieves from the Rus have always harassed the Xia country on both sides of the stone mountain, looting and burning is more vicious than the Mobei barbarians, the Rus king Musti is very cunning and shameless, every time the Xia country sends a messenger to question him, he shirks that those horse thieves are actually some escaped rebel nobles, and the Xia army helped to exterminate it.

Now that the opportunity to fight has arrived, let the Anbei Military Division prepare to attack Rus, under the pretext, to chase down the horse thieves, that is, the "rebel nobles" in the mouth of the king of Rus. Liu Yi smiled slightly, and handed back this top-secret file to Sima Shi'anjie, the marching army of the Great General's Mansion who was waiting here.

For this kind of military affairs, the General's Mansion usually has private communication with the Prime Minister's Mansion, Liu Yi is a figure who goes out and goes to the Prime Minister's Office, and the generals of each military department have to give him some face.

Shi Anjie took the file, opened it, caught a glimpse of the circle, and showed joy, but called out the former title in the military palace: "General," he realized that he was wrong, and changed his words: "Prime Minister, you also advocate taking the best policy?" ”

Liu Yi smiled and nodded, and said with a smile: "Did you do the deduction of the best strategy?" "The marching horses of the Great General's Mansion are all the elites of the Xia Army, and the right-hand men of the generals largely make up for the shortcomings of the captains.

"It's the last general." Shi Anjie suppressed the excitement in his heart and straightened his waist.

"It's very detailed and bold." Liu Yi said with a smile.

"The last general, Prime Minister Xie Cheng, praised falsely." Shi Anjie saluted again, turned around and exited cleanly.

This young man seemed more energetic than the scribes of the Prime Minister's Mansion. Liu Yi stared at the closed gate and restrained his smile, the reason why he took the best strategy was that he did not want to trap the country's army in the stalemate of Lumei City for a long time. Sergeants were the pillars of Xia society, and being away for a long time could lead to unpredictable chaos at home. This kind of situation is exactly what the military system of the Xia State wants to avoid. The balance between the Liao and Song dynasties in the east was becoming increasingly fragile, and it was likely that the Xia army would be forced to leave Hanguguan in the east.

As a general, Liu Yi, when facing a war, just wants to achieve a complete victory. And Liu Yi, as the prime minister, will consider ending it as soon as possible while choosing the war.