The gate of a courtyard outside the imperial city of Jinyang City. Someone shouted, "The emperor has arrived." Then suddenly a short voice said: "Drink! Two rows of stubborn soldiers stepped over and raised the cherry spears together.

Guo Shao pressed his sword and strode towards the door, and suddenly found that the posture and expression of the soldiers were very strange, not like the usual ones who asked them to hold their heads high, but they all wanted to bend down, and they all looked at themselves with their eyes, with awe on their faces.

He glanced at it and walked into the lobby and took a seat on it.

The civil and military on both sides stood up from their chairs one after another and bowed: "Your Majesty has no borders!" ”

"Get up." Guo Shao said casually as usual, raised his hand upwards, and said, "Sit, sit down and talk." ”

Guo Shao stretched out his hand and touched his forehead, looking back left and right, there were more than a dozen people, including the civilian officials of the "former camp military government" and the senior military generals in the army.

"The capture of Jinyang, the battle of the Northern Han Kingdom has been won. The current situation, the east is facing the arch, and the Youzhou army retreats to the northeast; In the north, Li reported that the Liao army retreated to the north of Xinkou and stationed. Guo Shao said, glanced left and right again, and stayed on Wang Pu's face.

Wang Pu owed, his eyes didn't dare to look directly at Guo Shao, he looked at the ground and hugged his fists and said: "The old minister is thinking of two strategies." ”

Guo Shao hurriedly said: "The king envoy said that it is okay. ”

Wang Pu said: "First, surrender." For the Northern Han Kingdom, including the defenders of Xinzhou, they were told to surrender with righteousness, pros and cons. The Northern Han Kingdom has been destroyed, even Jinyang can not stop the Great Zhou army, Zhucheng has neither elite soldiers nor male cities, stubborn resistance can only destroy all the way, except to surrender the Great Zhou has no way out.

Second, confrontation. The Liao army guarded the northern pass, and the Great Zhou did not need to attack, as long as the confrontation was attritional. After the surrender of Xinzhou, Li Chuyun's troops could possess the city, and the rear would send grain to the nearest place to feed, which would take a year and a half without any impact. The Liao army was different, the land north of Xinkou was even more barren, food and grass were scarce, the army had no place to eat, and the raiding of Daizhou and other places was easy to cause the local Han generals to revolt, and they had to be supplied from the Liao State thousands of miles away...... The Liao people have a lot of war horses, and the horses can still be eaten than the people, and they rely on food supplies to leave the grassland, which costs a lot of money. They can't confront us for a long time, so they can either withdraw their troops to the north or attack south.

The Liao State is internally unstable, and at this time there is no preparation for a long-term war with our Great Zhou, Jinyang has fallen into our hands, and there is no need for the Liao army to go south. What's more, even if Yelu Hugo goes south, the worst of the Great Zhou can rely on Jinyang to fight with him and be invincible.

So just wait and see the confrontation and consume food and grass. The minister thought that the withdrawal of the Liao army was only a matter of time. At that time, the Great Zhou will surrender again without bloodshed, recover Daizhou and other places, and occupy the entire territory of Hedong! ”

Guo Shao agreed with Wang Pu's plan very much after hearing this, and immediately said: "Good! ”

Wang Pu said: "With Your Majesty's will, the old minister will later issue a military order to Li Chuyun with the order of the military government. ”

Guo Shao's current handling of military and political procedures is very centralized and lacks checks and balances, but it is very efficient. Just like such a major military event, Wang Pu proposed it, Guo Shao's attitude was very clear, and he even saved listening to other people's opinions, and he could make decisions on the spot, and immediately implement them through the shogunate "Qianying Military Office". This system is useful in times of war, but the drawbacks are also obvious, assuming that the monarch's control is insufficient, and Wang Pu wants to run the party for private purposes (the privy envoys of the Zhou Taizu period were too powerful and lacked checks and balances, and wanted to hold Taizu hostage).

Guo Shao also believed that after the destruction of Jinyang City, there was no longer a need for large-scale battles. Sometimes he felt that war was a kind of trend, and everyone would follow it...... As Wang Pu judged, what kind of situation the enemy and the remnants of the Northern Han Dynasty would follow.

At this moment, Wang Pu looked at the generals again and said: "The Great Zhou army is not afraid of the Liao army, but now it is fighting with the Liao army in Hedong, and it will not get the results and benefits. Hedong is already in the pocket of our dynasty, and it is impossible to open up territory through a great war; The Liao army has also controlled Xinkou, Yanmen and other passes, and it is mainly horsemen, so it is difficult for us to win much even if we win.

Unprofitable battles, the best option is not to fight. If you want to fight the Liao army, it is better to choose Youzhou! ”

The generals were immediately moved when they heard this, and they began to talk about each other for a while.

Wang Pu said again: "The minister didn't say that he would attack Youzhou now, the Northern Expedition still needs years to prepare." ”

Guo Shao's heart was also ready to move for a while, he was from the time when the first emperor first ascended the throne in the Zhou army forbidden army, thinking that the battle of Gaoping, the emperor led the main force of the forbidden army to conquer in person, and although the battle with the Northern Han army was won, it was very difficult to win, and he was almost defeated at first; Looking at it now, the field battle between Baigu and Yang Ye, as well as the capture of Jinyang, have been fought very smoothly...... Guo Shao couldn't help but think that the combat effectiveness of the current Zhou army has been greatly improved compared with a few years ago.

Regain the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun. This is a deed that is both tempting and seductive for any Central Plains master!

However, during the Northern Expedition of the First Emperor, in the southern part of Youzhou, Guo Shao also realized the strength of the Liao army. This is still not to be taken lightly.

At this time, Wang Pu submitted a note again, which was a detailed report on the entire territory of the Northern Han Kingdom, the people, and the garrison. Guo Shao didn't care much either, one was that he believed that Wang Pu and the others could handle these things well, and the other was that he was attracted by a greater temptation in his heart at this time, which was Youzhou.

Guo Shao probably took a look at the main garrison. Wang Pu suggested that the troops of Jinyang should be transferred out of the "Dragon City", and then the men and horses from the interior should be transferred to garrison the city defense of Jinyang, and the military power should be divided, and civilian officials should be appointed from the imperial court to take charge of the main power...... The Jinyang garrison was only for defense, and no longer assumed the responsibility of sending troops to attack.

Guo Shao presumably agreed with Wang Pu's proposition, which was mainly aimed at weakening Jinyang's military capabilities...... The main city is very majestic, it can be attacked and defended, if its strength is allowed to sit large, it is indeed a little difficult to control. After weakening, and then recovering the control of the Hedong lands, Jinyang could not control the peripheral lands, and he would not be able to get the resources to sit on the strength.

The generals said something specific. Guo Shao slapped his palm on the chair and stood up: "Today's discussion is over, Wang Yuanjun and Zuo You followed me into the back hall, and the others dispersed." ”

The crowd also bowed down and stood in the hall and said, "Congratulations to Your Majesty." ”

Guo Shao summoned Wang Pu and the others to discuss privately first, and asked them to help judge the possibility of recovering the sixteen states of Youyun.

Wang Pu reminded: "The victory of Jinyang is unexpected, but Youzhou is not Jinyang, we must not take advantage of the victory to be arrogant, and we cannot underestimate the strength of Liao." ”

Guo Shao nodded solemnly and said humbly: "The king reminded you right." ”

Wang Pu is very particular about speaking, and generally does not flatter, and every time he will say some "anti-ear" blunt words, but those blunt words will not make Guo Shao angry, but will have a sense of closeness; And Guo Shao speculated that if something really went wrong, Wang Pu also left a way back for himself, after all, he had already reminded the ruler that he was not derelict in his duty as an important minister who assisted the king.