On this side, Fei Yi, as a lobbyist, teased the mind of the child, expressing Zhao Guo's special respect for the son's Xiangbang. On the other side, in Longtai, a meeting to decide the fate of the two countries is being held in secret.

This should be regarded as the largest meeting after Zhao Yong became the king. The participants of the meeting not only included Siqing, the chief officials of other ministries and temples, the military chief of the Jianling battalion, and even Zhao Gu, Zhao Xi, Niu Qian, Li Yan and other officials who came from Daijun to receive rewards.

Although it is a big court meeting, Zhao Yong has been very busy in the past two days, not only to deal with government affairs, but also lingering between the beds at night. Therefore, this time the court meeting was still held in Handan, and did not go to the traditional Xindu.

At the beginning of the meeting, Zhao Yi led the black-clothed guards to surround the main hall of Longtai, and all the palace eunuchs who served outside left, leaving only two or three eunuchs to wait outside.

And under the steps of Longtai, it was also arranged by Zhao Yi, and everyone was not allowed to approach, unless there was an emergency military situation. In the outer courts, everything is as before, and it is no different from usual. In such a situation of loose outside and tight inside, Zhao Yi closed the door of the main hall, but the door that changed the fortunes of Zhao Guo was opened.

"Summoning the ministers here today, I think it must be somewhat clear what it is for." Zhao Yong's face was serious, looking at the people under several cases, and he also looked solemn, "Gu once said that in the next few years, Zhao Guo will go all out to go north to Zhongshan through various measures, one is to take revenge on the shame, and the other is to completely sweep away this big trouble entrenched in the heart of our country." The years have passed, I don't know if you still remember the promise of the year? ”

"Your Majesty, clearing Zhongshan and the Northern Expedition is the great wish of my generation of Zhao people." Niu Jian was old and strong, and took the lead in expressing his approval.

Zhao Xi, as the first person in Zhao **, especially after defeating the coalition forces of Zhongshan and Yan, his prestige reached a peak. Even when Wu Guang was more and more snubbed by Zhao Yong, his call to stay in Sima Temple became even louder. In fact, he himself is about to be idle at home, and it is Zhao Yong who promotes him more to divide and offset Wu Guang's prestige in the army, otherwise, if Wu Guang wants to drag Zhao Yong's hind legs, it will be very easy.

And Niu Qian, as the second bigwig of the military after Zhao Xi, has gradually risen in the status of the rivers and lakes. Especially this time to resist the attack of Yan Guo and Zhongshan, he did not fight, but he successfully attracted the attention of the other party. Its military strength and command skills can be regarded as an existence that the other two countries are quite afraid of.

So Zhao Xi is not there, he is the representative of the military as a matter of course, and Wu Guang is no longer able to speak on behalf of the military.

Looking at the remaining officers, especially the young officers, nodding their heads one by one and agreeing with Niu Qian's words, Zhao Yong felt very proud. He did not deliberately seize military power, but took advantage of the soldiers' desire for military merit and successfully captured their trust. In particular, his support for the cavalry allowed the cavalry represented by Li Zhuo and Li Yan to be reused, and he achieved a major victory in the last battle, which also brought his prestige to the peak.

"The old general's bold spirit is not weak back then. Lone needed to rely on the experience of the old general to contribute to the clearing of Zhongshan. ”

"Liver and brain, don't give up!" Niu Jian sounded like a bell, withdrew his left leg, and saluted. Seeing this, the other generals also hurriedly saluted and said: "The liver and brain are smeared, and they will not give up." ”

"Good, the military heart can be used." Zhao Yong said happily, "Come on, go to the sand table." ”

After a while, eight eunuchs walked in from the main entrance carrying a sand table, which was the sand table of the original White Tiger Hall, which was arranged by Zhao Yong to be carried to the main hall this time. It not only re-planned and marked some of the borders between Yan and Zhongshan through the new map sent by Zhao Xi, but also drew the Zhongshan news that Lian Wu had explored in the interior of Zhongshan many times in Fangcheng, forming the most complete Zhongshan sand table today.

As soon as the sand table sat down, Le Yi bowed to Zhao Yong before he stood out from the crowd. Zhao Yong nodded, signaling that he could start. He turned around, picked up the baton next to the sand table, looked at the people in the main hall, took a deep breath, and said slowly: "Contemptible Le Yi, appointed by the king, to explain to the generals the plan of action for this crusade against Zhongshan. ”

At this time, although Le Yi had just been named Shangqing, neither the officials of the Handan faction nor the officials of the Daijun did not care about him. Because in their opinion, Le Yi didn't know what was liked by Zhao Yong in order to become Shangqing. You must know that although the secretary of Zhao is specially set up for talents from foreign countries, many people can only be crowned when they have reached a certain degree of prestige. For example, Lou Zhuan, although he was the first secretary to be named after Zhao Yong took office, in fact, he himself had been in Zhao State for many years, and was recognized by Feiyi and many county officials, so he had a chance.

So Le Yi, how can he be able to be crowned Shangqing as soon as he came to Zhao State?

Le Yi settled down, tried not to care about everyone's puzzled eyes, and said calmly: "Due to the Northern Expedition to Zhongshan, the plan is too grandiose, the time is relatively long-term, and the autumn harvest weather and other factors must be taken into account in the middle, so the whole plan is divided into three steps, and it is explored and advanced from the north and south directions. Its purpose is to occupy the important passes east of the Taihang Mountains and controlled by the Zhongshan Kingdom, and to open up the communication channels for China's eastward and northward expansion. The southern corps is the main force to fight, and the northern corps is the countermeasure. ”

According to the plan, Zhao was divided into two groups, north and south, and the northern group was led by Zhao Xi Niu Qian, whose purpose was to contain the northern army of Zhongshan by harassing and breaking through the northern defense line of Zhongshan State, so that it could not go south for reinforcements, and the combat scope should be in Quyang, Danqiu, Huayang and Zhishang of Zhongshan State. These places are the key areas where Zhongshan and the Zhao border intersect, and once they are mastered by Zhao, then Zhongshan's northern defense line will have to retreat south.

If the overall defense line moves south, Zhongshan will lack the strategic depth to deal with the southward movement of the northern army of Zhao and lose the initiative, so even if this road is not the main offensive force of Zhao State, it is precisely the area that Zhongshan State must focus on. Therefore, Zhongshan will never dare to be careless.

The Southern Army was the main force of the campaign, and its purpose was to gain the initiative in the war against Zhongshan by occupying Shiyi and Dongyuan.

Shiyi is located in the east of Jingcheng Pass, when the "mouth of Jingcheng", and Jingcheng Pass is an important pass from the southeast path of Taihang Mountain into and out of Zhongshan Kingdom, once this place is captured, then Zhao State can enter Zhongshan Kingdom from Daijun through Jingcheng Pass East, instead of going north from the south to attack so much trouble.

Dongyuan is located in the east of Shiyi, adjacent to the Hutuo River in the north and Jingchengkou in the west. Through this place, you can go up the Hutuo River to Lingshou, the capital of Zhongshan. Thus compressing the southern defense line of Zhongshan to the Hutuo River. Through such a north-south defense line compression, like a pocket, compress the activity space of Zhongshan people.

"Therefore, the set goals of this campaign are the three cities of Fenglong, Shiyi, and Dongyuan, and the northern region of Yushangsai and Huayang as secondary targets." Le Yi said as he explained the goals of this plan one by one. And Li Zhuo and Zhao Yuan constantly placed villains of different colors representing the soldiers of the two countries according to Le Yi's designation. After Le Yi finished speaking, the whole plan was already displayed in front of everyone.

To put it simply, the plan is very decent. There is an attack, a strategy, a goal, a plan, and in general, it meets a standard campaign plan. But there are also many places in it that make everyone a little confused.

"Dare to ask my lord, if our army is well prepared, why only attack Dongyuan instead of crossing the Hutuo River north to attack Lingshou, if it can be fought in one battle, will it be a lot less trouble?"

"Not really." Le Yi shook his head, pointed to the sand table and said calmly: "Although from the sand table, the three cities of Handan, Shancheng and House are not too far from Lingshou, and if you attack from the north, it seems to be easier. Especially last time, the old general Zhao Xi miraculously bypassed the Zhongshan defense line and detoured back to the rear of the enemy army. He paused, looked up at the crowd and said, "But that battle is not representative. ”

As soon as these words came out, many officers from Daijun couldn't sit still, Niu Jian and Li Yan were okay, although the two were a little angry, but considering that Le Yi was Zhao Yong's side, and his identity was a general with troops, it was not good to provoke unhappiness. The other officers of the Shaozhuang faction were obviously not afraid of this, and they stood up one after another, accusing Le Yi of having no one in his eyes, and even laughing and sarcastically mocking him for having nothing to do but no meritorious. These big and rough people, they scolded and scolded on weekdays, and finally made meritorious contributions and received rewards, but they were denied by him in a word, how can they endure it. For a while, the entire court was chattering and chaotic.

Zhao Bao and Zhao Cheng glanced at each other, and they both saw the caution in each other's eyes, knowing that it would be very unwise to go out to interrupt the speech at this time, but it would be better to protect Mingzhe. Looking at Zhao Yong again, he was still sitting there on his knees calmly, not minding what happened at all, but looking at Le Yi for a long time, not knowing how he would face it. In this way, the two of them completely understood Zhao Yong's intentions, and completely dispelled the possibility of interjecting.

In this way, there was a lot of noise in the court, and the civil officials also looked at this group of great ancestors noisy, and at the same time showed disdainful eyes. Only Le Yi, his face was unwavering, without the slightest panic, he knew that if he wanted to win, it was not his voice that depended, but wisdom.