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Knowing that Yue Fei led the expeditionary force all the way to the west, Li Yan looked at the map and was silent for a long time.

To be honest, it was not a good idea to recover the northwest before the Western Xia was cut down, like, because of the Western Xia blocking, it was difficult for Dazhong to supply the expeditionary force.

But then again, the opportunity must not be lost, and it will not come again, and it is really difficult to have such favorable conditions for the recovery of the northwest region now, once it is missed, Dazhong may never have a chance to surpass the Tang Dynasty.

Therefore, Li Yan finally withdrew his gaze from the map, and he decided to completely hand over the northwest region to Yue Fei and them to toss.

Li Yan sent Hu Shijiang to summon him, and then asked: "When will the railway running through Longyou be repaired, and when will it be opened?" ”

Hu Shijiang pondered in his heart, and then replied: "The fastest, the fastest, I'm afraid I will have to wait until the end of the next year." ”

Li Yan frowned and said, "It takes so long?" ”

Hu Shijiang explained: "The terrain in Longshan is too complicated, the mountains are high, there are many trees, and some areas have to blow up tunnels, so that section is really difficult to repair. ”

Afraid that Li Yan would blame him for his disadvantage, Hu Shijiang added: "However, as long as the Longshan area is repaired, there is the Hehuang area behind it, where the terrain is flat, and you can repair several miles in a day." ”

Li Yan knew that the matter of repairing the railway was in a hurry, and if it was too urgent, it would be bad, so Li Yan encouraged Hu Shijiang a few words and let him leave.

sent Hu Shijiang away, and Li Yan asked the chamberlain to call Xu Guanzhong.

Xu Guanzhong's original proposal, that is, to let the expeditionary force march eastward after recovering the Mobei region, cooperate with Liu Qi and Wu Lu, destroy the Mongolian department, the Kereh department, the Naiman department, and the Wangu department, as well as attack the Dajin Kingdom, and pacify the northeast for Dazhong, is actually the most secure plan.

It can be said that Xu Guanzhong, the privy envoy, is very competent, his mind is always clear, and he clearly sees that for Dazhong, the biggest threat cannot come from the northwest, but from the northeast, that is, the Dajin Kingdom, the Mongolian Department, the Kereh Department, the Naiman Department, the Wangu Department, and even the Tatar Department, they are the real threats to Dazhong.

In Xu Guanzhong's vision, Dazhong should concentrate all his efforts to eliminate all these big forces and hidden dangers in the northeast, and then destroy the Western Xia, and then think about the affairs of the northwest.

In fact

In the original sense, Li Yan was more in favor of Xu Guanzhong's proposal.

No one knew better than Li Yan that for the Central Plains Dynasty, the biggest hidden danger was the Mongols and Jurchens whom Xu Guanzhong regarded as great enemies.

But then again, judging from the current situation, Yelu Dashi's proposal is not bad, such an opportunity is really rare.

This is also the history of history that has been proven by history, Yelu Dashi was in this period to unify the northwest region to establish a vast Western Liao Empire, for the Liao Dynasty to extend the life of nearly a hundred years, later, if not, Yelu Pu quickly completed the chaos and caused internal chaos to lead to a great retreat of national strength, maybe the Liao Dynasty can last longer.

Therefore, Li Yancai had some difficulty in making a choice between Xu Guanzhong and Yelu Dashi's proposals, and finally handed over the choice to Yue Fei.

After Xu Guanzhong came, Li Yan got straight to the point and said: "Yue Fei chose to go west. ”

Hearing this, Xu Guanzhong was silent for a while, and said: "With the foundation laid by the official family for Dazhong, we will go west first and then east, even if both sides are carried out at the same time, there should be no problem." ”

Seeing Xu Guanzhong's words, Li Yan was very pleased!

Subsequently, Li Yan said the purpose of looking for Xu Guanzhong: "Although Yue Fei did not ask the imperial court for support, but the imperial court could not support the expeditionary force, at least to replenish the expeditionary force with weapons and ammunition, otherwise, it will be difficult for them to support this long-term war, take a step back and say, even if they can support it, there will be great casualties, the soldiers are fighting for the country, we must do our best to let them bury their bones less in a foreign land, huh...... The train can't be counted on for the time being, I am ready to let Wang Shu collect 500,000 people, and send a batch of weapons and ammunition to Longyou by local methods, as for how to send them from Longyou to the expeditionary force, you see, is there any way? ”

The expeditionary force that left Beining City was like a stone into the sea, only they could send news back with carrier pigeons, and the imperial court could not contact the expeditionary force at all, so if Yue Fei did not take the initiative to ask for it, it would be difficult for the imperial court to send them supplies.

Xu Guanzhong thought for a while and said, "Let Zhang Xian send an army to escort it." ”

"Send an army?" Li Yandao.

Xu Guanzhong said: "Yes, at least thirty or fifty thousand, in that case, if Western Xia wants to stop it, it must send a large army, and it is impossible to pretend to be bandits to loot, but in that case, Western Xia will give us an excuse to attack it." ”

Li Yan said: "Your idea is very good, do you have a specific plan?" ”

Xu Guanzhong said: "The ministers have made a detailed analysis of the expeditionary force's eastward route, and have also circled the necessary route for the expeditionary force to the east, and found an area closest to Longyou, so that Zhang Xian can send a large army to transport ammunition there, and wait for the expeditionary force to come to collect it, so that the expeditionary force can be replied." ”

Li Yan asked, "Where is that area?" ”

Xu Guanzhong replied: "There is a canyon at the confluence of the Yizhishui and Yemili rivers, called "Mangrove Mouth", which is the necessary place to cross the Altai Mountains and the Qilian Mountains into the Western Regions. ”

Over the years, Li Yan has to look at the map several times almost every day, and it can be said that the whole world has been installed in Li Yan's heart.

Therefore, as soon as Xu Guanzhong said the mouth of the mangrove, Li Yan knew its approximate location, and then said: "So far! ”

Xu Guanzhong said: "Yes, once you come and go, I'm afraid it will take a year." ”

Li Yan said: "Isn't there a place to get closer?" ”

Xu Guanzhong shook his head and said, "In other places, either they don't dare to ensure that the expeditionary force will definitely pass by, or there are powerful forces entrenched there, and only Hongshukou should be the most suitable." ”

Li Yan thought for a moment and asked, "Does Zhang Xian have so many big livestock there?" ”

Yue Fei and they had six or seven hundred thousand war horses and camels to dare to go west, and in the same way, it can be seen that Zhang Xian and the others wanted to go to such a far place to send weapons and ammunition to Yue Fei and them, and they would definitely not be able to send them if there were fewer livestock.

Xu Guanzhong said: "I can only let Wu Jue gather all the big animals of the Western Army and send them to Longyou." ”

Li Yan hesitated a little and said, "This won't give Xixia a chance, right?" ”

Xu Guanzhong said: "Our army has been fully restructured, and now it is dominated by musketeers, so the demand for war horses is not as great as before, especially when defending, so as long as we don't cut down Xia in the near future and transfer all the big animals of the Western Army to Longyou, it shouldn't be a big problem." ”

The advantages of cavalry are mainly reflected in rapid reaction and mobility, and rapid reaction and mobility are mostly used in battles, so if it is not a formal engagement, it is just a matter of defending the danger and transferring all the large animals of the Western Army, which really has little impact.

Li Yan thought for a while and said, "It's not easy for us to supply the expeditionary force once, so let's replenish them as much as possible, huh...... In this way, the people who went to replenish this time should not come back, let them also join the expeditionary force, after the expeditionary force reached the mouth of the mangrove, there should be a certain number of casualties, and the road behind is still long, I am afraid that they will not have enough soldiers and horses. ”

This time it was Xu Guanzhong's turn to hesitate, and he said, "Don't come back...... The generals are nothing, so it's easy to add, but this war horse ...... That's all the belongings of the Western Army, if all of them are given to the expeditionary force, Wu Jue is afraid that he will come back and play with me......"

Li Yan said: "The hardships of the expeditionary army's expeditionary force to the west, I'm afraid we can't imagine it, so how much help we can give them, we must give them as much help, as for the war horses of the Western Army, you just tell Wu Jue that in the next three years, all the war horses received in the Longyou region will be allocated to his Western Army, and he will transfer some Yunnan horses to the Western Army when he goes back, and if it is not enough, let him overcome it himself." ”

Xu Guanzhong knew that the official family had given the greatest support to the expeditionary force.

If this is the case, Yue Fei can't recover the northwest region for Dazhong and the official family, then the responsibility really doesn't lie with the official family.

Pressing his temples, Li Yan asked again: "How is the Northeast?" ”

……