The purpose of the imperial meeting has actually been achieved, and the important ministers of the military have already expressed all their opinions, and only the final decision remains, and the military will improve the defense plan of northern Xinjiang in the next two days, because this year's plan is to defend the north and attack the east, and these strategies have been discussed by the three headquarters, and the results have been sent to the imperial front, but Zhu Yunwen has not yet made the final instructions.

What makes Zhu Yunwen feel gratified is that although the three headquarters have not been established for a long time, the feasibility, offensive and meticulousness of their plans are much stronger than before, not that these people's abilities are stronger than Qi Tai, but because Qi Tai is a civilian official, he is a secretary of the military department today, and he may be transferred to the official department tomorrow, so his mind cannot be all put on military affairs, but the military is different, they cannot be transferred, so they can only do better in their own work, so their professionalism, The degree of initiative and solidity is not comparable to that of the military department, and of course this is also due to the outstanding staff officers who have been trained from the military academy in recent years.

After Xu Huizu returned to Beijing, he was appointed as a squire of the General Staff, and Zhu Yunwen gave him the task of thinking and thinking about the overall strategy of the Ming Dynasty. In Zhu Yunwen's view, the overall strategic thinking is what the Ming military lacks the most, which is not to say that the Ming Dynasty has no talents, but because the previous system did not allow them to work in this direction.

After everyone left, Zhu Yunwen retreated from the crowd and looked at the Daming map on the wall in a daze.

What to do?

Zhu Yunwen believes in the ability of Sheng Yong and Qu Neng, plus the first and second guards, it should not be difficult to conquer North Korea, and no matter who killed Li Fanggan, it doesn't matter what the other party's intentions are, but the other party has opened a window for Zhu Yunwen, do you want to take advantage of the situation to control North Korea?

However, the mountains of Korea are dense and the land is barren, once provoked by some people with ulterior motives, I am afraid that it will cause a big mess, and the Tang army in the past conquered Goryeo, will not be able to gain a foothold, and finally retreat to the north of the Datong River?

Thinking of this, Zhu Yunwen suddenly remembered that the reason why the Tang army could not gain a foothold was that the northwest war, that is, Tubo went down the plateau and fought with the Tang Dynasty for Hexi, which involved most of the Tang court's forces, so the Tang army could not gain a foothold on the Korean Peninsula.

Nowadays, the Mongols are not a big threat, they have been badly damaged, they need to recuperate, theoretically they will not go south, the envoy sent by the Warat a few years ago itself shows that the Warats do not want to make a big move, and they also need time to receive the political and military heritage of the Golden Family.

From this point of view, the biggest threat to the Ming Dynasty still comes from the northwest.

Thinking of this, Zhu Yunwen thought of Ping'an, who had been sent to the northwest since years ago to defend against Timur's eastward invasion; Soon after, Tie Wuchen, director of the Intelligence Department, personally rushed to the northwest to preside over the intelligence work.

Ping'an and Tiewuchen will send military reports almost every day, including the organization and deployment of the Northwest Army, the deployment of Jiayuguan and the situation of the Seven Guards of the Kansai such as Hami and Kuoduan, in addition, there is also the situation of the Eastern Chagatai Khanate further west, the Eastern Chagatai Khanate is also known as "Beshi Bali", it is part of the former Chagatai Khanate, and the Western Chagatai Khanate has become the Timurid Khanate, so the Eastern Chagatai Khanate is a buffer area between the Ming Dynasty and the Timurid Khanate. If Timur invaded the east, he would inevitably defeat the Eastern Chagatai Khanate first, so Zhu Yunwen was very concerned about the situation in the Eastern Chagatai Khanate.

Zhu Yunwen knew that his military ability was limited, so he did not like to fight risky battles, and for the possible invasion of Timur to the east, he asked Ping An to focus on defense, defend Jiayu Pass, and at the same time support the seven guards such as Hami and the Chagatai Khanate in terms of weapons and grain and grass, slow down the pace of Timur's eastward invasion, and it is best to drag Timur to death halfway, that is the most perfect ending.

Although Ping An didn't like this way of fighting, he preferred to gallop with cavalry and conquer cities, but the emperor had an order, and he could only obey it, and he did not slack off, but was conscientious and did not dare to make any mistakes. Because he knew that it was too easy for him to come as a duke, and when Ping Yan was rewarded for his meritorious deeds later, he felt a little embarrassed. Because many people felt that according to the emperor's strategy, anyone could win, the emperor resorted to the posture of a lion fighting a rabbit, embargoed Zhu Di from food, forced him to attack in a hurry, and at the same time organized nearly 500,000 troops to besiege him on all sides, so that he could take care of one thing and lose the other, and finally quickly put down the rebellion. But even so, the emperor still tried to make him a duke despite public opinion, which made him grateful and made many people jealous.

But Ping An is not worried, he knows his ability, as long as the emperor gives him a chance, he will be able to make a contribution to match the duke sooner or later, but there is also a premise, that is, the emperor must be ambitious, and now it seems that the emperor's ambition is still above his imagination.

Like North Korea, it will take about ten days for the military report in the northwest to rush 600 miles to Beijing, so the news that Zhu Yunwen knows is actually the news from ten days ago, and the news about the Eastern Chagatai Khanate and the Timurid Khanate is probably a month or even two months ago.

......

The Great Wall of Jiayuguan is like a giant dragon, winding between the mountains and mountains, it is like an iron gate, blocking the long yellow sand outside the plug, bringing a stable and peaceful life to the people in the Guannai and the northwest.

Jiayuguan was built in Hongwu five years, built by the general Feng Sheng, after Feng Sheng took the northwest, the local has been completely Huhua, as an authentic Chinese living on the edge of the Yangtze River, Feng Sheng is very uncomfortable with the local Huyin, feel like going to a foreign country, so just loot a little and return to the division, and later built Jiayuguan according to the mountain, the northwest of the Han Dynasty to Yumen Pass, Yangguan moved more than 1,000 miles to the east.

Maybe Feng Sheng has a last resort, but every time he retreats from the Han border pass, the outside of the pass will become a paradise for barbarians, and as long as the Han pass is within the boundary, sooner or later it will be sinicized, Feng Sheng's inadvertent move has affected the situation in the northwest for hundreds of years in later generations.

Ping An has been a little worried lately, because since two months ago, the news of the Timurid Khanate was suddenly cut off, and according to the spies of the Eastern Chagatai Khanate, the Timurid Khanate had blocked the border and imposed martial law on the whole territory, so no one knew the specific situation there.

Ping'an's first reaction was that Timur had set off for the east, but he was not very sure, he could only inform the court of his speculation, all he could do was to continue to send spies, and at the same time actively prepare for war, fortunately, Timur had already prepared for the eastward invasion of the emperor, and the northwest had stored a large number of armor, food, firearms and ammunition over the years, which gave Ping An the confidence to let Timur return.

In order to obtain first-hand information, Ping An moved the headquarters of the Northwest Army to the city of Jiayuguan.

On this day, just as Ping'an was studying the military situation, the guards outside the door came in and reported: "Commander-in-chief, there is a strange caravan outside, saying that it is an envoy of the Ming Dynasty, and the envoy has come back and asked to enter the customs!" ”

"Envoy? Has there been an envoy from Jiayuguan recently? ”

Ping An frowned, and turned his head to look at Zhang Fu, who had just arrived in the northwest in early February, and he was also the new commander of the Shaanxi Xingdu Division.

Zhang Fu was stunned for a moment, and immediately stood up and replied: "No, the subordinates remember it, but,"

"But what?"

Ping An asked with a frown, a little impatient.

Zhang Fu knew that Ping An didn't like him, in fact, it was normal, he used to be a subordinate of King Yan, but in the end, anyway, he got the trust of Emperor Zhu Yunwen, and now he has become a henchman to lead the guards, which makes the counterinsurgency generals led by Ping An very incomprehensible, so they are also very unwelcome to see Zhang Fu, of course, including Guo Liang who surrendered in Yongping, Jiang Yu in Miyun anyway, now Guo Liang is in Guangxi as a commander, Jiang Yu is in North Korea, and he is a commander under Sheng Yong.

Zhang Fu said unhurriedly: "When the last general left Beijing, I once heard His Majesty mention that in the twenty-eighth year of Hongwu, that is, ten years ago, the first emperor had sent envoys to Timur, led by Fu An, the young secretary of Honglu Temple, and Guo Ji, Yushi Yao Chen, Zhongguan Liu Wei and others, maybe they came back!" ”

"Fu An?"

After being reminded by Zhang Fu, Ping An also remembered that the emperor had specifically mentioned this Fu An, saying that when he traveled thousands of miles, he would inevitably have a deep understanding of Yi Yi and was a rare talent in the Ming Dynasty. Although Ping An disagrees with this, since it is valued by the emperor, it is natural that he should also value it.

"Well, then let's go with General Ben and have a look!"

"Yes!"

......

In the spring of March, the south of the Yangtze River is already the season when the grass grows and the warbler flies, but the northwest is still bleak.

Under the light of the setting sun, dozens of travelers on camels were cheering excitedly and waving towards the head of Jiayuguan City.

"General, that's them!"

Ping'an took the binoculars and watched the group of people carefully, these people looked no different from merchants, the more special thing was the leader of an old man with a white beard, he wore a shabby black gauze hat, wearing a patched tattered five-grade green robe official uniform, standing next to the camel, looking at the direction of the city tower in Jiayuguan, and kept wiping his tears with the sleeves of his robe.

As for the others, only a few people were dressed in the official costumes of the Ming Dynasty, most of them looked like businessmen, but at the back, there were more than twenty people, very strong, all of them were dressed in the clothes of the Heavenly Sect, with steel knives in their waists, staring at the official wall of Jiayuguan, thoughtful......

Ping An thought for a while, waved his hand and said: "Put the suspension bridge, open the city gate, be on strict alert, if there is anything abnormal, kill it!" ”

"Yes!"

......

Under the guidance of the soldiers at the head of the city, this group of merchants slowly walked into the gate of Jiayuguan, as for why they didn't run two steps, it was because they didn't dare, because the city was full of dense bows and arrows, and if there was any change, ten thousand arrows would inevitably pierce the heart.

Seeing the peace in military uniform, the old man in the lead bowed down and saluted: "Fu An, the young secretary of the Xiaguan Honglu Temple, was ordered to return from the Timurid Khanate, I don't know what to call the general?" ”

"Are you Fu An?"

"Yes!"

"Very good," Ping'an shouted: "All the people who come, all of them will be arrested, interrogated strictly, and no spy shall be let go!" ”

"Yes!"

"My lord, my lord, why are you doing this?"

"Why are you arresting us? We are not spies! ”

......