Jingtai raised his wine glass and said, "Tomorrow, Captain Shi and Captain Yang will each return to their own army." A thin banquet will be set up today to see off the two of them. It happened to be the first snow today, and I drank a glass of wine to get rid of the cold. ”

After everyone drank the wine, Jingtai put down the wine glass and said: "It's October, the weather is cold, and the river will soon freeze." The soldiers and horses of the Khitan tribes have arrived in Youzhou one after another, and they will go south in the near future. To tell the truth, this time the Khitan soldiers came from the country, and this battle must be hard. ”

Shi Yu said: "The Khitans are coming, just fight with them." In the past few months, Baozhou has been fully prepared, and the Khitans have come south, and it is not easy to break through here. How big is Youzhou? Hundreds of thousands of people, once it is a long time, how can the Khitan support it? ”

Jingtai nodded: "Yes, as long as the Khitans are prevented from crossing the border, with the grain and grass of Youzhou, it will not be able to support it." As long as the battle lasts for two months, the Khitans will not be able to break through the city and will inevitably retreat. However, it is not easy for hundreds of thousands of troops to defend for two months. ”

The crowd nodded. That's a good thing, no matter how well prepared you are, you can't guarantee that accidents will happen. The Khitan came with the troops of the country, and hundreds of thousands of troops gathered within a hundred miles, and it is difficult to say what happened. Song Junyi must be prepared, and he must also have the ability to guard against accidents.

Lu Zhengdao: "The battlefield is changing rapidly, and it is not unusual for anything to happen. The most important thing is to have sufficient resilience. You can't just be overwhelmed by something you don't expect. As long as it is dealt with properly, it is not difficult to prevent the Khitan. ”

At this moment, the soldier brought a small pot and placed it on the table.

Jingtai said: "Cooked mutton, come, taste it." Today we drank and enjoyed the snow while discussing the war. Even if the Khitan is a soldier who has conquered the country, there is no need to be afraid. Behind us are Taiwei Liu from Dingzhou, and Taiwei Dou from Zhendingfu. In just a few days, they can take the train to Baozhou. Even if the Khitan attacked here with all their might, there was nothing. ”

And they all said yes. After drinking, each of them ate the mutton that was served. The meat is crispy, just in time for this kind of weather.

After drinking meat for a while and drinking a few glasses of wine, I really felt a lot warmer on my body.

Guo Endao: "The Ansu army has a gourd embankment, and there are many waters, almost connected in a line, and it is difficult to move. The Khitan is most likely to attack, or the Guangxin Army. It is at the foot of the mountain, and if there are any more soldiers and horses coming from the mountain, it will not be easy to defend against it. ”

Jing Tai said: "When discussing the war with the other lieutenants of the army, Captain Liu said that at the beginning, the Khitan was likely to go south through Taihang Mountain. The frontal army came to Baozhou, and another strange soldier attacked the back from the Taihang Mountain, and attacked back and forth. Liu Jianji's department in Dingzhou also strengthened the arrangement under his rule, built several cities, and cleared the wilderness under the Taihang Mountain. In fact, it is not terrible for the Khitans to attack Baozhou head-on, our cities can protect each other, and it is not easy to break through. What they are most afraid of is that they came out of the Taihang Mountains and cut off the back road of Baozhou, and it was not easy to hold on at that time. ”

Yang Sui's heart moved: "What does Taiwei mean, is he afraid that the Khitans will attack Dingzhou?" ”

Jingtai nodded and said: "Yes, according to Shuai Si's estimate, the Khitans may be divided into two routes, all the way to Baozhou, and all the way to Dingzhou." ”

After thinking for a while, Yang Sui said: "Dingzhou has an army of 50,000 under Captain Liu, and it is not easy for the Khitans to break through there. ”

Jingtai sighed: "It should be so." However, once the war implicates Dingzhou, things will be chaotic. When the time comes, many things will not be clear. Taiwei Shi and Taiwei Yang, you don't need to pay attention to this, just guard the place. If the Khitan really attacked Dingzhou, there would be something to deal with Taiwei Lu's soldiers and horses. The most important thing is that you must defend the Guangxin Army and the Ansu Army. ”

Shi Yu said: "Don't worry, Taiwei! Our department has nearly 10,000 soldiers and horses, and the guns are complete, so there will be no mistakes! The Guangxin army is only so big, and it is useless to have many soldiers and horses from the Khitan. For a few months, the Khitans tried to surround us, but they couldn't surround us. ”

Yang Sui said: "There is a gourd embankment to the north of the Ansu army, and there are not many places where the Khitans can cross the border to attack. Tai Lieutenant peace of mind is. ”

Jingtai nodded: "In order to prevent the Khitans from going south, the Privy Council began to deploy several months in advance. After spending so much thought, if something goes wrong, we can't explain it. In Baozhou, it can only accommodate 50,000 troops, and no matter how many people there are, it is useless. The most important thing is that we cannot be cut off by the Khitans and divided and surrounded. Therefore, when the city is built, several cities are gathered together to help each other. We estimate that as long as they hold on for two months, the Khitans should retreat. ”

Lu Zheng heard this and hurriedly asked: "The Khitans have retreated, should we chase after them?" ”

Jingtai smiled and shook his head: "It's too early to say that. That kind of big thing has to be decided by the imperial court. But be prepared. really repelled the Khitans, how could they not take advantage of the situation to recover Youzhou? ”

The generals on the front line were not very clear about the strategy of the Song army, and they were even less aware of the intention of the highest level to completely annihilate the main Khitan force in Youzhou. The order they have now received is to hold the states and drain the Khitans first.

Focusing on defense, building cities separately, and not pursuing active attacks, is because in this era, defending cities has a great advantage. A city defended by one or two thousand people, as long as the defender has sufficient supplies, it is difficult for the attacker to gather hundreds of thousands of troops. On the front lines of Baozhou and Xiongzhou, the Song Dynasty built dozens of cities and contained all the people, which is the reason. Although the city is small, it is difficult for the Khitan to break through.

There was a railway to transport supplies to the front, and there were sufficient troops, and the Song army's plan was to consume the Khitan troops in the first few months. When they are exhausted, they will devote a large number of fresh troops to offensive operations. The focus of the strategy is to concentrate the war on a few states on the front line in the initial stage, and not to spread to the interior. In particular, it is necessary to prevent a large force of Khitan cavalry from breaking through the front line and suddenly penetrating into the interior. Therefore, regarding the possible capture of Dingzhou by the Khitan, Liu Ji, Jingtai and others are particularly concerned.

In the past, the Song army rarely had the main army, and it was often defended in separate cities, and there were not many troops in each city. When the Khitans go south, they often go after a few cities, and then they are like entering a no-man's land. It doesn't matter if there are cities in the rear that have not been captured, each city does not have many troops, and there is more than enough to defend the city, but there is no ability to attack. It may be that the main Khitan force has already arrived around Kaifeng Mansion, and the Song army in the rear can only watch and cannot react.

With the speed of the Khitan cavalry, once it breaks through, it can reach Kaifeng City in dozens of days. At that time, the Song Dynasty often did not have time to gather troops, so it faced a decisive battle between the two countries. The Song Dynasty was particularly taboo about the Khitan going south, which was the case. In terms of strength alone, in fact, the Song army often has the upper hand. But when it came to the battlefield on the front line, it was often the Khitan who had an absolute advantage.

It is not easy to gather heavy troops on the front line. Even though most of the grain and grass needed by the forbidden army on the Hebei Road came from the Hebei Road, it was not easy to transport it to the front line. Disperse the garrison, in addition to defending the various cities, but also to get food nearby, without transportation. Now it is different, after the railway is built, the grain and grass in the rear can be transported in a steady stream, and the main forces of the Song Dynasty are in the front, all of which are arranged in several states along the border.

With the development of technology and the improvement of the economy of the Song Dynasty, the whole strategic situation was different from before. Relying on the railway, the Song Dynasty could form various heavy army groups to defend key roads. If the Khitan does not defeat the border heavy army group, once it penetrates, it may be besieged. However, this huge change was not realized by the Khitan for a while, and it was difficult to adapt to the new conditions with the strategic deployment.

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