"You want to recover Yanyun?" Cao Wei couldn't help but look at him with a surprised expression when he heard Li Zhang's words, this was the first time he had said such a thing from a young man, after all, the Great Song Dynasty had been suppressed by the Liao State all these years, and many people had given up the idea of recovering Yanyun.

"Yes, I didn't dare to think like this before, but after this trip to Liao, I found that there are many internal contradictions in Liao, and the military strength is also declining, as long as we seize the opportunity to break through the blockade of the Liao army in one fell swoop, it is not impossible to recover Yanyun." Li Zhang said with a confident expression at this time.

I saw that Cao Wei also showed a solemn expression when he heard this, and pondered for a while before he said again: "The Liao State is not so easy to fight, even if Emperor Taizu swept through all countries at the beginning, but in the end he suffered a big loss under the hands of the Liao State, as for the later Emperor Zhenzong, not to mention, we were on the defensive almost all the time in the Yuanyuan Alliance, and now even if the strength of the Liao State declines, it is still not easy to recover Yanyun." ”

"But this matter has to be done sooner or later, Mountain Chief, you are a veteran in the army, naturally you know better than anyone what Yanyun means to us, without Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures, our Great Song Dynasty can only station heavy troops on the border, and the military salaries spent every year alone are countless, the Great Song Dynasty is already overwhelmed, and if it continues like this, sooner or later it will drag down the finances of our Great Song Dynasty!" When Li Zhang said the end, he couldn't help but show a very sad expression.

The three major maladministrations of the Northern Song Dynasty: redundant soldiers, redundant officials, and redundant expenses. Among them, redundant soldiers and redundant officials are the direct cause, it is precisely because the number of soldiers and officials is too large, which leads to too much financial pressure, otherwise with the financial revenue of the Great Song Dynasty, it will not make the three divisions feel stretched every year, and redundant soldiers in addition to the domestic box soldiers, the huge border army is also a big problem.

Hearing Li Zhang say this, Cao Wei also showed a contemplative expression again, and after a long while, he said slowly: "You just said that the disharmony between the two palaces of Liao State will lead to civil strife, in your opinion, to what extent will this kind of civil strife reach, is it possible to greatly weaken the strength of Liao State?" ”

"Absolutely, Xiao Yunjin, this woman is profitless and unrighteous, extremely short-sighted, in addition to her ruthless means, I really don't see any advantages in her, when she comes to power, she will definitely set off a great turmoil in the Liao State, and if she takes the opportunity to send troops, it is very likely to recapture Yanyun in one fell swoop!" Li Zhang said with great certainty.

According to historical records, she killed dozens of Liao nobles as soon as she took power, and also abolished all the reforms of Empress Dowager Xiao and Yelu Longxu in Liao, which was the most fatal to Liao, resulting in more serious internal contradictions, and the strength regressed again, and even Xiao Yunjin once wanted to abolish Yelu Zongzhen and set up his other son as the emperor, but in the end he was calculated by Yelu Zongzhen and was imprisoned for a lifetime.

"If it's like you said, it might be a good opportunity, but you can't be too cautious about this kind of national war." Cao Wei still had a more cautious attitude, and said again at the moment, after all, he was old and not as radical as a young man like Li Zhang, but what he said was right, after all, this is related to the national fortunes of the Great Song Dynasty.

Li Zhang also understood the reason why Cao Wei was so cautious, after all, not everyone was as familiar with later history as he was, so before Cao Wei saw the chaos of the Liao Kingdom, he was not sure if there was a chance to recover Yanyun, but it didn't matter, Xiao Yunjin should be about to take power, and I believe that her performance will definitely not disappoint the Great Song.

After chatting about the affairs of Liao, Cao Wei asked about the fire in the palace some time ago, although he knew some inside information, but it was definitely not as clear as a party like Li Zhang, Li Zhang also briefly talked about it, but he didn't say anything that couldn't be said, after all, Cao Wei was a military general, and it was inconvenient to intervene too deeply in the government.

"By the way, the first batch of cadets will graduate and go to the army next year, I don't know if the martial arts have been arranged, whether to go to Hebei or Northwest?" Li Zhang suddenly thought of the graduation of the students, and asked again at the moment.

Mentioning this matter, Cao Wei also rarely showed a smile and said: "It's all arranged, during your absence, I have organized students to go to the front line to experience a few times, and the veterans in the army have very poisonous eyes, and they also sell my face, so when the first batch of students graduate, they will be arranged to serve in the army, as long as they perform well, the influence of martial arts will become greater and greater!" ”

"That's great!" Li Zhang immediately said excitedly.

The reason why the Great Song Dynasty was able to suppress the military with literature, in addition to the tone set by Zhao Kuangyin at the beginning, is also related to the fact that the generals are not angry, no matter how infighting the civil officials of the Great Song Dynasty are, but after all, they are all scholars, with the support of the behemoth of Confucianism behind them, and the interests in some things are the same, in the words of later generations, that is, the civil officials have a unified ideology to be armed, and sometimes even the emperor has to make concessions to the civilian group.

In contrast, the generals are simply a plate of scattered sand, although there have been a lot of military artists, such as Sun Tzu, Sun Wu, Li Jing and others, but their influence is far less than that of Confucius, and the generals have not formed a unified ideological program, and they are naturally very disadvantaged by the above civil official group, even if the military generals can occupy a certain upper hand in some periods, such as the beginning of the founding of a dynasty, but they will still be suppressed by the civilian official group in the later period.

However, now the emergence of martial arts has made up for this defect of the generals, if the generals in the army in the future are all from martial arts, and in addition to teaching the art of war, martial arts has also been instilling in them the idea of loyalty and patriotism, the same experience will make these generals more united, and in the future, when facing the civilian clique, it will be easier to form a unified interest group, so as to reach the point of competing with the civilian clique.

Of course, now that martial arts has just begun, even the first batch of students have not yet graduated, so the above can only be Li Zhang's assumptions, and he has not told anyone, of course, some smart people who do not line up see his plans, but Li Zhang does not mind, because he uses a dignified and upright yang strategy, unless they can let the martial arts close directly, otherwise they can only wait for the martial arts to be slowly integrated into a whole.

The trainees were about to enter the army, and Li Zhang also asked about this matter with great concern, and Cao Wei also told him in detail, some things happened during the time when Li Zhang left, so it was necessary for Li Zhang to understand.

"By the way, I saw a student who looks very old on the school field just now, and he seems to be not young, I don't know if you have any impressions?" Li Zhang suddenly remembered the person he had just seen in the school yard, so he asked casually.