After the court, as soon as Du Zhongxiao returned to the Privy Council, the official stepped forward quickly and presented an official document: "Taiwei, Hebei Xiongzhou text!" ”

Du Zhongxiao took the official document, and after arriving at the case, he took it out to read it. It turned out that it was Xiongzhou Zhizhou and Hebei along the border to pacify Ma Huaide to play, because the Khitan repaired Zhuozhou City, the service made the households under the rule too heavy, and many households escaped from the Juma River. A few days ago, 162 people from several villages crossed the Juma River together and arrived in Xiongzhou. The Khitan came over and asked the Song Dynasty to return the people, otherwise they would send soldiers and horses to rob themselves.

Du Zhongxiao put down the official document, sat there, and thought about it alone for a while.

After the training of the forbidden army was completed, they marched north to restore Yanyun, which was a matter that had been decided by the Song Dynasty. However, now that the whole training has just begun, there is only one army, led by Dou Shunqing, to Zhending Mansion. There is still a long way to go before the whole army completes its training.

Now is the wrong time to start a war against the Khitan. Du Zhongxiao couldn't help sighing. If you encounter this kind of thing a few years later, you don't need to say anything at all, just let Xiongzhou ignore the Khitan. But at this time, it was a little embarrassing.

After thinking about it again and again, Du Zhongxiao said to the officials: "Give the official document to the rest of the lieutenants and let them take a look." ”

The official agreed, and walked quickly with the official document.

took off his court clothes and changed into official clothes, Du Zhongxiao casually flipped through the official documents. He also ordered someone to take a map of Hebei Road and look at it carefully.

The Song Dynasty and the Khitan were on the front line of the Hebei Road, which was mainly divided into three parts. The westernmost is Zhending Mansion, which is the area near Zhengding and Shijiazhuang in later generations. In the middle is Dingzhou, and the defensive area is the Baoding area of later generations. To the east is Gaoyangguan Road, and the defense is the line from Xiongzhou to Hejian. These three roads are all longitudinal configurations, from a state in the north to the deep states and counties in the back.

The Khitan used troops, and in the plain areas, they were often dominated by cavalry, crisscrossing hundreds of miles, coming and going like the wind. Therefore, the defense of the Song Dynasty was not to defend a city on the front line, but to be hundreds of miles deep. The mobility ability is not as good as that of the Khitan, so they fortify step by step and build a city hundreds of miles deep.

Xiongzhou is the easternmost part of the defense line, and then to the east, Bazhou and other places, all the way to the sea, are Pitang, which is not conducive to the movement of the army. Xiongzhou is also the official road of the Song and Khitan Dynasty, and the northernmost Baigou Station has happened I don't know how many historical events. This is a sensitive place, there are too many conflicts between the two sides every year, and I don't know how many lawsuits have to be fought.

On the whole, most of the previous conflicts ended with the Song Dynasty retreating. Here, the Khitan previously had the absolute upper hand and was on the offensive. In other words, the Khitan had the ability to quickly strike at the Song Dynasty and then retreat, but the Song Dynasty did not have the ability to attack.

After looking at it for a while, Du Zhongxiao raised his head and sighed slightly. There are still too few troops, and in the entire Hebei Road, only the new Dingyuan army that has completed the whole training is in Zhendingfu. Although this army has completed the whole training, it has not gone through actual combat and does not know what its combat strength is.

At this moment, Tian Guo walked in quickly and said, "Taiwei, the Khitan people crossed the river into Xiongzhou, what should I do?" ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "The people on the other side of the river are also under the rule of Xiongzhou, and some of them who escaped are two losers. said that they were Khitan people, but in fact, they were somewhere in between. Since the people have crossed the river, let Xiongzhou be resettled. ”

"What if the Khitan sends someone to ask for it?" The field seemed a little anxious.

Du Zhongxiao said: "Ignore the Khitan." People have already crossed the river, how can they be sent back! By doing this, we lost the hearts of the people of Hebei Road, and a victory at the beginning of the year was not in vain. ”

Tian Guo nodded: "I think so too." However, the Khitan people are used to arrogance and will not give up. ”

Du Zhongxiao sighed, pointed to the map and said, "Yes, so I'm looking at the map of Hebei, if the Khitans really send troops, how should we deal with it." In the final analysis, there are still insufficient soldiers and horses on Hebei Road, and there are scruples about doing things. If there is an army of two or three hundred thousand after the whole training, why should you be afraid of the Khitan sending troops! If you want to rotate the forbidden army on Hebei Road, it is not enough to have two or three years, how can it not be enough. ”

Tian Guo looked at the map on the table, and after a while, pointed to Xiongzhou and said: "Hebei Third Road, the most important thing is actually Xiongzhou." It's just that I knew that I couldn't stop the Khitan army, so I divided Hebei Road into four roads and fortified them for hundreds of miles. ”

Du Zhongxiao nodded: "Yes, the layout of Hebei Road is hundreds of miles from the border to the rear, and it is the front line. There is no way, in the past, the Khitans went south, and sometimes they rode to Jingdong Road, and Hebei Road did not know where the enemy was attacking, so it could only be so. ”

At this moment, Fu Bi, Zhang Sheng and Zeng Gongliang came in and bowed together.

Du Zhongxiao ordered a few people to sit down, and said: "The people of the north have fled to Xiongzhou, and the Khitan people will not give up." In addition, they suffered a loss on Hedong Road at the beginning of this year, and they may not want to get it back at this time. Ma Huaide of Zhixiong Prefecture said that the Khitans had already gone to Xiongzhou and asked them to hand back the people who had fled south. If you don't pay it, you will have to raise troops to go south. ”

Fu Bi said: "The Khitan people are just terrifying. They have been fighting in the country for five years, where can they fight a big war again! ”

Zhang Sheng said: "But we also have to prevent the Khitan from sending tens of thousands of troops, and just go south to loot and leave." In winter, the Juma River froze, and it was easy for the Khitan army to come and go. At that time, did the soldiers and horses on our Hebei Road chase or not? ”

Du Zhongxiao knocked lightly on the table and said, "Chase, of course you have to chase!" However, now the soldiers and horses on Hebei Road cannot be moved lightly. They have not undergone all the training, and they suddenly concentrate on fighting, but they are afraid that there will be chaos. Dou Shunqing is stationed in Zhending Mansion, and his subordinates actually have to train for several months before they can be of great use. Now Hebei Road, the most important thing is that there is not enough troops. ”

Fu Bi clapped his hands: "It's a pity, it's time for us to train, and there are no soldiers to adjust at this time!" ”

Du Zhongxiao stood up suddenly, and went to the table to look at the map. The rest of the people came over and watched together, not knowing what Du Zhongxiao was thinking.

After a while, Du Zhongxiao pointed to the map and said: "As long as there are 100,000 soldiers, deployed in Dingzhou and Xiongzhou, you will not be afraid of the Khitan going south." An army of 100,000 may not be able to be mobilized if you think of a way. ”

Tian was stunned: "At this time, the forbidden army in the capital has not yet completed the training, where can 100,000 soldiers and horses be transferred?" ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "After seizing Shuozhou, Zhao Zi's department was transferred back to the capital as the seed of the whole training. The soldiers and horses of the river meandering road, as well as the three-way army. The other two armies cannot be moved, and they must monitor Datong Mansion, and Liu Ji's army can still be moved. ”

Several people listened and said: "Yes, the Khitan soldiers and horses have been transferred from Datong Mansion, and there are only tens of thousands of people there. As long as we leave 100,000 troops to Hequ Road and transfer Liu Ji to Hebei, it will be no big problem. ”

After that, everyone looked at the map together. Tian said: "You can transfer Liu Ji to Xiongzhou and Yingzhou, and block the Khitans first!" ”

Du Zhongxiao shook his head: "There are soldiers and horses on Hebei Road, and there are defenses in Shenzhou and County, so there is no need to go to Yingzhou." Liu Jiyi's army can be arranged between Xiongzhou and Baozhou, and if the Khitans go south, they will be attacked head-on! In addition, Zhang Yu's army in the Western Regions, there has been no major war recently, and they can be transferred to Hebei Road. Don't choose soldiers and horses, just go to the Western Regions. As long as there is no big war, the forbidden army is still competent. Wait until the whole army completes the training, and then send troops to replace it. In this way, an army of 150,000 was raised on Hebei Road to calm down the Khitans. ”

"Zhang Qi? Transferred to Hebei? Tian Guo muttered to himself. The Western Regions are thousands of miles away, and if in the past, this kind of transfer of troops for thousands of miles would not have dared to think. However, now it is different, there is a railway, and it doesn't seem to be troublesome.

Du Zhongxiao said: "The party has been extinguished, and there are only some weak Tibetan troops left in the northwest. As long as we do not take the initiative to attack, there will be no war. You can order the original soldiers and horses on the Shaanxi Road to go to the west. Stationed in Hexi to the Western Regions, there will be no accidents. ”

Without the party, the forbidden army of the Song Dynasty had an absolute advantage over the western provinces. The Song Dynasty was not good at fighting big battles, and compared with the armies of other countries, the forbidden army had an advantage. In the face of the Zhufan Tribe, it is generally only a battle of a few thousand people, and they cannot pose a threat to the forbidden army.

Fu Bi nodded: "What the Tai Lieutenant said is extremely true!" Now that the training of the forbidden army has not been completed, we can only do our best to make good use of the army that can fight first. Although the Western Regions are far away, there is a railway, and it is not difficult to get to Hebei! ”

Tian Jing nodded slowly: "Yes, face the enemy first, and then talk about the rest slowly!" If Zhang Qi's subordinates were transferred to Hebei, they would not be afraid of the Khitans going south. If they dare to come, let them have no return! ”

The 150,000 army, just guarding, should be able to defend the Hebei Road without leakage. The Khitans dared tens of thousands of people to go south, and it was not so easy to go back.