Meng Xuezhi watched the soldiers busy cleaning up the camp, and his expression was a little dazed. At the beginning of the year, he was inexplicably admitted to the military academy, and since then, he must be the first in every exam competition. The same is true for being assigned to the army, as long as there is a task or a competition, Meng Xuezhi must be the first.

Meng Xuejiu himself didn't know why this was the case, he just learned what he was taught, read the textbooks, and there was nothing special about him compared to others. But when it comes to the game, others will always make mistakes, and they won't. Perhaps, this is called genius?

In less than a year, Meng Xuexue had been promoted to the commander of the regiment, with more than 3,000 people under his command. In the past, when I was in the Khitan, I had to be frightened when I saw foreign officials, but in the Song Dynasty, I became an official.

Xue Chengdong, the grain and grass officer, came over and said with his hands crossed: "Regiment master, the whole army has been drawn out of camp and can march." ”

Meng Xuexue waved his hand: "It's still early, let's start the whole army." It takes us three days to rush to the Qianning Army, and there is not much time. ”

Meng Xuexue's army belonged to Ma Huaide's subordinates, but Ma Huaide had not yet arrived, and was commanded by Shuai Si. With the regiment as a unit, they marched towards the area of the Qianning Army. It is said that the Khitan had already moved south to attack Cangzhou, and these troops went to the Qianning Army to defend.

Thinking of this, Meng Xuexue couldn't help but shake his head. Liu 50,000 people in Hejian Prefecture, as well as more than 100,000 people from the newly transferred three armies, these people are not sent, but they send their own troops who have just finished training, which sounds unreliable.

The army marched all the way to the southeast, and the next day camped in Changfeng Town, Mozhou. There happened to be another army here, and in the evening, Cao Quan, the commander of that army, set up a wine feast and invited Meng Xuexue to drink.

After entering the handsome tent, Meng Xuexue and Cao Quan greeted each other. Cao Quan introduced several officers who were drinking together and invited Meng Xuexue to sit down.

After serving wine and meat, Cao Quan said: "Although the walls are clear and clear, everything is sold in this town." The army bought a sheep, and I told them to cook it and drink two glasses of wine together to relieve the fatigue of the road. ”

Meng Xuexue arched his hand: "Thank you for your hospitality." I am a new recruit to the army this year, and my family is poor, but I can't afford to eat sheep. ”

Cao Quan and the other officers couldn't help laughing when they heard this. Cao Quan said: "When I was in the military academy, I heard of pedants. No matter what you learn, you will learn it as soon as you learn it, and all exams are the first. We talk privately that pedants seem to be born to learn these things, and they are really not comparable to ordinary people. Today, the two armies happened to be together, so it was natural to invite the pedant to drink a glass of wine. ”

Cao Quan was born in Jiangmen, his family is wealthy, and he doesn't care about the price of a sheep. Meng Xuezhu is a legend at the Hejian Military Academy, and everyone knows the cadets in it. The Hebei Road Forbidden Army is based on the Hejian Fu Military Academy as the core training, and everyone in the army is curious.

After drinking a few glasses of wine and gossiping about the former military school, everyone enjoyed themselves.

Cao Quan said: "Pedant, you are a good learner, for the next point to say." This time, the Khitan army went south, and the Shuai Si did not send Taiwei Liu, but sent us who were newly trained and did not have enough time to learn, what does it mean? ”

Meng Xue said: "We are waiting for the generals, how can we guess Shuai Si's mind casually?" ”

Cao Quan said: "Everyone has nothing to do, just talk about it." How boring is it that there is no gossip about the long night? ”

Meng Xuezhu thought for a while and said, "Okay, I'll just talk about it casually, don't go to my heart." This time, the Khitan army went south, and the vanguard had reached the Yongjing army. However, there was no food to be found. Tried to attack the Yongjing Military City, but there was no way to break the city. Moreover, the reinforcements sent by the imperial court have arrived in Qizhou and are heading north. I had no choice but to retreat and go to Cangzhou to join the Khitan army-"

Hearing this, Cao Quan said: "Pedant, they have arrived at the Yongjing Army, why don't they continue to go south?" The reinforcements of the imperial court are always far away. ”

Meng Xuexue shook his head: "There is no food in the army, where are they going?" The Yongjing army was four hundred miles from the border, and they brought ten days' rations, and when they got there, they ate almost enough. After the strong wall cleared the wilderness, there was nowhere to scavenge for grain and grass, so he had to retreat, otherwise he would have to starve to death there. ”

These people were all lieutenant generals of the former forbidden army, and there had been no war on Hebei Road for many years, so they were very confused by the behavior of the Khitans. There is no military rations, so the soldiers are ordered to loot everywhere. If the walls are clear, can you really bring the people and grain and grass in the territory to the city? Although there were no people along the way, Cao Quan still couldn't believe that he could really do this.

The reason why the wall can be cleared is because the court is willing to spend money. If it weren't for the fact that money was enough, and only relied on administrative orders or intimidation, the people would not be so obedient. It was under the strict order of the imperial court that the three divisions took out a lot of money, and even had the benefit of being tax-free for one year after entering the city, so that the people were collected in the city. In the eyes of Cao Quan, there is no concept of spending money like the imperial court, and they have never been able to understand it.

For nomadic attacks, the fortified wall is a big killer. When the north invaded, they relied on looting after entering the country, and if they couldn't grab it, there would be no food and grass in the army. It's just that it's too hard to do before. A large number of people poured into the city, so that they could have food and clothing, and a place to live, which was a lot of money. If they are given benefits, the annual tax of the imperial court will inevitably be affected, and the amount of money will exceed the ability of the imperial court. And for the court and the military, the people are not important, just numbers. It's okay to collect money, and it's free to spend money.

When the Khitans entered the country, once they could not grab food and grass for ten days, they could not continue. The habit of the five dynasties is because of the grain to the enemy, and after the rapid development of the Song Dynasty in these years, it was able to clear the wilderness and change this habit.

A group of people sighed and persuaded them to drink.

Cao Quan said: "The Khitan army of hundreds of thousands went south, and I heard that it was a national soldier. The imperial court should send elite soldiers and strong generals to meet the attack, why don't you let the nearly 200,000 troops of Hejian Mansion not use it, but send us to guard the Qianning army? Isn't it, Shuai Si thinks we're better at fighting? ”

Meng Xuexue shook his head: "After studying in the military academy for half a year, you should understand that we can't compare to those armies." Why not send them to the front? In my opinion, there is only one reason, and they have a more important task. As for what the task is, then it is difficult to say. ”

Cao Quan shook his head: "The news I heard is that we don't have enough time to study, so we went to the Qianning Army to fight against the Khitan and learned while fighting." The nearly 200,000 troops are idle in Hejian Mansion, just in case there is an accident. ”

Meng Xuezhu smiled and shook his head: "Where is this kind of thing in the world?" How many battles did Taiwei Du fight to save Tanglong Town? Not a single defeat. How could he do such a boring thing? With all due respect, to send us there can only be said to be a heavier task for the other armies. ”

Cao Quan listened and raised his glass: "Listening to your words is really shocking." These days, we have been talking about how they sent us to the front. There are different opinions, but it is still the most reasonable theory of pedants. ”

Meng Xue drank the wine and said: "In this war, it can only be said that Shuai Si has a great plan. If you just want to defeat the Khitan, you should use all your elite troops and quickly send several armies from Hejian Mansion to Cangzhou. Only in this way, in the last real gunfight between the two sides, the Khitans were defeated, they would be willing to retreat. Now the layout of Shuaisi gives people the feeling that they have been dragging out time. ”

Meng Xuezhi just felt that Shuai Si was dragging time. The border state army cleared the wilderness, renovated the city, and stood on the defensive. When the Khitan attacked, they did not send a large army to meet them, and let them go south. No matter how far the Khitans attacked, they only continued to expand the scope of the fortified wall.