Chapter 201: Another Northern Expedition

Jinling Chong'an Palace is a royal leisure place built by Li Jing during his reign, with dancing pavilions, strange stones and precious trees. After Ma Yun ascended the throne, he would occasionally come to Chong'an Palace to take a rest.

But today Ma Yun went to Chong'an Palace not to rest. Well, Jack Ma's heartstrings have been straining recently. Everyone understands this reason, the north is engaged in a war in the Yanyun area that affects the overall situation of the world. Who wins and who loses, how can Da Chu not care?

On the surface, no matter what the war in the north is, for Da Chu, the situation is very easy to analyze, and it is nothing more than the victory of the Khitans, the victory of the Great Zhou, and the defeat of both sides. But after these three results come out, what should Da Chu do to obtain his greatest interests, this is the most important thing!

"The ministers (the last generals) and others will knock on my majesty!" The ministers of civil and military affairs kowtowed to Ma Yun.

"Everyone, Aiqing, get up. Gao Shun, quit! Ma Yun and Yan Yue said.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!" The ministers thanked them, stood up respectfully, and sat aside. From the sitting posture, it can also be seen that the temperament of these ministers, most of the ministers are polite, sitting with half a buttocks, and the generals obviously did not think about it so much, the emperor let them sit, and they also sat down.

Ma Yun glanced at everyone with a smile and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, it's not easy for everyone to gather together today." After all, Ding Dudu, Zhu Dudu, Lin Dudu, and Xiangxiang Wang all came from afar. It's like instead of taking turns to meet you in the main hall, it is better to set up a banquet in this Chong'an Palace, first, to catch the wind and wash the dust for the three marshals, and secondly, to discuss state affairs! ”

Seeing Ma Yun say this, Ding Sijin, Zhu Yuan, Lin Renzhao, and Ma Guangmeng stood up again, knelt down and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty!" ”

"Hehe, get up." Ma Yun stretched out his hands and said with a smile: "Don't be restrained." Come to Chong'an Palace to sit like this, it is a tea party, and we should not have too many considerations between the monarchs and ministers. Come on, come on, I will give you a cup first, the stability and prosperity of Dachu are inseparable from the full assistance of your Aiqing! ”

Seeing that the ministers and generals were about to salute again, Ma Yun waved his hand and said: "Don't ask for so many salutes, just treat me as the history of Yuezhou Assassin back then." Haha, let's fill this cup! Ma Yun kept saying that everyone regarded himself as the history of Yuezhou Assassin back then, but no one dared to look at it like this. The emperor said that then be approachable, if you are real, take it seriously, then you don't know what to do.

Ma Yun put down the wine glass, sighed, and said, "Hey, I am in a hurry for you to come this time, what this means, I think you must know it in your hearts." Since the beginning of spring, Pseudo Zhou has done a good show in Huaibei! It's a good sound. ”

Ma Yun took a sip of wine and said: "Presumably everyone also knows that the pseudo-Zhou has gone north to enter the sixteen states of Yanyun, and now it is now confronting the Khitans in Youzhou. Of course, there must be a discount for this 'soldiers and horses in the world', after all, the Khitans don't ask in the east, and Murowei often makes trouble. But the troops going south, there are 120,000 horses, there are still some! The Khitans have sent people to ask us for help, and I have summoned you to ask what you think about this. ”

Whether it was the privy envoy Wang Yun or the privy deputy envoy Li Xiang, neither spoke. Because His Majesty the Emperor urgently summoned back the four marshals who were guarding the frontier from afar, the intention was obvious. This is not His Majesty the Emperor, who can't trust the Privy Council, and wants to summon the generals of the Quartet to return to Beijing and set the Privy Council in the air. This is the emperor who wants to send troops, but he has no bottom in his heart, so he summoned all the generals back to ask about the situation. Then determine the next course of action.

However, even the privy envoys can see it, how can Zhao Pu and these people not see it. They were also silent. These four marshals didn't look at each other, and they weren't stupid, although the Great Chu court was more harmonious, but there were still some basic rules of officialdom. The emperor was obviously asking their opinions, and if they looked at each other, it was likely to give His Majesty the Emperor an impression, whether these people were in tandem.

Ding Sijin coughed and said, "Your Majesty, the minister thinks this is an opportunity. The main force of the Zhou army was in Yanyun, and the towns in Huaibei were bound to be mainly defensive. However, the towns in Huaibei have been repaired in recent years, the city walls are tall, and there are more bows and arrows than ox hair. It's easy to defend and hard to attack. The emperor was asking the opinions of the four of them, and it didn't matter who was the last to say it, but who was the first to say it was very important. You can't be modest at this time, if you don't say it, I won't say it, in this case, it will be bad to put Ma Yun aside and make a cold scene. And among these four people, not to mention the merits, in terms of qualifications alone, Ding Sijin is the oldest, and he is the first to be the best candidate.

But Ding Sijin's words were indeed ambiguous, he said that it was an opportunity, and that it was more difficult to attack. Ma Yun raised his chopsticks and said, "Let's talk while eating, this is a banquet, don't do it like asking about politics in the Qinzheng Palace." Don't be inhibited! ”

Ma Yun ate two bites of food and said: "What Ding Dashuai means, I really understand, Marshal Zhu, you can talk about it!" ”

Facing the Zhou army in Huaibei, it was mainly Ding Sijin's middle line troops, as well as Zhu Yuan's southern line troops. When Ding Sijin finished speaking, Ma Yun immediately asked Zhu Yuandao.

Zhu Yuan hurriedly put down his chopsticks and said, "Your Majesty, the minister thinks that the towns in Huaibei are good to attack or not, and whether they can be captured." There is one factor that is very worth considering, and that is the situation of the war between the Zhou army and the Khitans in the Yanyun area. If the Zhou army is defeated, there is nothing to say, and the towns in Huaibei definitely have no determination to fight us to the death. Our army is pointing north, and they either surrender or flee. But if the Zhou army is victorious, then we will encounter a strong resistance to attack Huaibei, and once the labor division is outside the city, I am afraid it will be a kind of damage to the army. The meaning of Zhu Yuan's words is obvious, if it is outside the city, I am afraid it will be the same as the defeat of Bianjing last year. However, the official definition of the defeat in Bianjing was not a major defeat, but a humanitarian war that had to be waged. Even, this war was put into the Great Chu Royal Military Academy for the students to study (until Ma Yun hung up, the new emperor canceled this must-talk battle). Therefore, Zhu Yuan didn't dare to give examples. Although at his level, even if he told Ma Yun the truth, Ma Yun would not say anything. However, Jack Ma doesn't think so, it doesn't mean that others won't think so. Zhu Yuan didn't want to give someone a handle.

"That... So if the Zhou army wins, how should we deal with it? Jack Ma asked. Why does Jack Ma ask that? Why didn't he ask if the Zhou army was defeated? Speaking of which, this is a guess in Jack Ma's heart. According to the history that Ma Yun is familiar with, Guo Rong is quite beautiful. The most wise emperor in history: Emperor Qin, Han Wu, Tang Zong, Song Zu, don't look at him Guo Rong here, that is not to say that he is not as good as the above four, the most important thing is that he lived too shortly, and that Song Zu is actually on the basis of Guo Rong, obtained the world. Guo Rong planted a tree, which was already a big tree, but he was blamed, but he cheapened Zhao Kuangyin.

How could such a capable, wise man do such a crazy thing? In the case of being attacked by the enemy on his own belly, he rashly attacked another great power. If Guo Rong is ruthless to fight for the Khitan, he may not be able to impress the Khitan. But Guo Rong obviously didn't think so, but attacked and showed his brilliant martial arts to the Khitans! If Guo Rong is not crazy, then Guo Rong must be sure. And what Ma Yun is most worried about is that Guo Rong is sure of winning!

If Guo Rong kills the Khitan, then Da Chu will be in danger! Obviously, after the Khitan vitality was greatly injured, the whole world was the same as the Three Kingdoms, and what was even more terrifying was that the Shu Kingdom was far worse than the Shu Han. If, if Guo Rong really wins, Ma Yun doesn't want to continue playing with Shu.

"Your Majesty, the minister thinks that even if the Zhou army wins, this Northern Expedition will not be worth the loss!" Zhu Yuan didn't answer Ma Yun's question, but talked about another topic. Why did he say that? The Great Emperor Ma Yun has always insisted on the Northern Expedition, but in fact Ma Yun is under pressure! Why is it that in ancient Chinese history, except for the Ming Dynasty, there has never been a successful example of the unification of the world in the south? There are environmental factors, and there are human factors. In fact, there are doubts within the Chu State about whether to continue the Northern Expedition. This kind of questioning is not to say that there will be no Northern Expedition, but under what circumstances. What is the best way to win with one hit! It is conceivable that if there is another defeat in Bianjing, the state of Chu may really never go on a northern expedition again.

Zhu Yuan keenly felt the pressure of Ma Yun. He advocated the Northern Expedition, so he must have hoped to strengthen the emperor's thoughts. And the current situation, in Zhu Yuan's view, is an excellent opportunity.

Ma Yun's eyes lit up and asked, "Zhu Aiqing, tell me about it." Why did Zhou Jun lose more than he gained? ”

"Your Majesty, the minister thinks that the Zhou army is actually committing a taboo in the military family when he goes north this time! The Khitans have been preparing to go south since the beginning of spring, and although the Zhou army suddenly moved north, it did not play a role in a surprise attack. On the contrary, it will provoke a fierce resistance from the Khitans! Who did Li Shouzhen and the Khitans fight with in the past, and the Khitans are proficient in bows and horses, which is not comparable to ordinary armies. Even if the Zhou army wins, at least it will kill 1,000 enemies and lose 800. It's good for our Da Chu! Zhu Yuan said.

Zhu Yuan's words actually did not impress Ma Yun. Ma Yun smiled slightly and said, "Then what does General Zhu think our army should do?" ”

"The minister thought that he should immediately send troops to the Northern Expedition! However, instead of attacking the towns of Huaibei, it was an attack on the Jingdong region (present-day Shandong Peninsula)! ”