In fact, Chengdu Mansion has been in a state of celebration for nearly half a month, when the heads of the Ten Tigers of Zengmen were hung at the city gate, the whole city was boiling, and people sang and danced to celebrate for three days.

The reform of the sales system for tea, wine, salt and sugar has made countless merchants happy, and they used lion dances and firecrackers to express their inner joy.

The privileges of the main store and the big salt merchant were canceled, and the sales department uniformly sold salt, wine, tea, iron, sugar, incense, etc., as long as the professional merchants registered in the government can buy the sales coupons to pick up the goods, this is the source of liberalization, there is no middleman profiteering, so that the final price of tea, wine, salt, sugar, pig iron and spices immediately dropped by 30%, while the income of the monopoly division has increased by 50%, which can be described as a great joy.

On the other hand, the management of monopoly products has become very strict, and it is strictly forbidden to make private wine, pick salt, and roast tea, and violators will be severely punished according to the number of punishments, ranging from whipping to death.

The newly established Sanlu Salt Tea Lifting Division is located near Xicheng, next to the Sanlu Cangcao Lifting Division, these two official offices are subordinate to the Sichuan-Shaanxi Transit Envoy, Li Yanqing concurrently serves as the transit envoy, Zhao Kai serves as the deputy envoy, Li Yanqing does not care about specific affairs, the power is actually in the hands of Zhao Kai.

The Sichuan-Shaanxi Capital Transit Envoy has a great scope of power, and has jurisdiction over the storage, transportation and sale of materials on Chengdu Fu Road, Zizhou Road, Kuizhou Road in Bashu and Hedong Road, Shaanxi Road, Qinfeng Road and Xihe Road in the northwest, and almost all the southwest and northwest of the Great Song Dynasty are included in this huge system.

However, its strategic intention is very clear, and it will continuously transport Bashu's taxes, grain, and material resources to the northwest for military expansion.

At the beginning of December, Li Yanqing returned to Jingzhao Mansion, at this time, the north entered the cold winter season, but it was the golden season for the army to train and prepare for war.

The national policy of attacking Western Xia has been determined, and for the time being, it is still in a state of top secret, only the Son of Heaven Zhao Gou, the Emperor Zhao Ji, the six phases of the Zhizheng Hall and Li Yanqing are known, but not long after Li Yanqing returned from Chengdu Mansion, an important military and political meeting was held in the Sichuan-Shaanxi Economic Mansion.

On this morning, a team from the east slowly entered the west gate of Jingzhao City, this team consisted of fifty people, almost all of them were cavalry, they were clustered with a carriage, and a general was followed by the carriage, he had a square face, about thirty years old, under the eyebrows of two swords, his eyes were particularly sharp, this person was called Xu Huiyan, the current pacification envoy along the Hedong Road, led 10,000 troops to garrison the front line of Lanzhou, Linzhou, Fuzhou and Jinning Army, mainly to defend against the invasion of Hedong Road by Western Xia.

The officials sitting in the carriage were none other than Yin Zhang Shuye of Taiyuan Mansion, who had been invited by Li Yanqing to come to Jingzhao Mansion to participate in important military and political affairs, while Zhang Jun, the Xuanfu envoy in the south of Hedong Road, had already arrived in Jingzhao Mansion a day earlier.

"General Xu, did you hear it, many people on the street have our Taiyuan accent." Uncle Zhang looked at the street at night and said to Xu Hui with a little feeling.

Xu Huiyan nodded, "This is normal, Taiyuan Mansion originally had a population of one million, but now there are only 200,000 left, and there are only a few slaughtered by the Jin soldiers, most of them have fled to Guanzhong, and it is not surprising to hear the Taiyuan accent here." ”

Zhang Shuye sighed, "I just hope that the war will end as soon as possible, the people can return to their hometowns, and Taiyuan Mansion will be able to restore its former prosperity little by little." ”

"Yes, as long as Li Jingliu can stay in the northwest, I feel that within five years, we can recover Hebei."

"I hope so!"

Xu Huiyan pondered for a moment and asked, "May I ask the prince, this time we came to Jingzhao Mansion, I don't know what it was for?" ”

"He didn't say this in the document, but he invited important officials and generals from all walks of life in the northwest, Zhang Dutong should have arrived, we are the latest to arrive, maybe we will know today."

As the two were talking, the team arrived at the gate of Jingluo Mansion, and the soldiers had already rushed in to report, Li Yanqing greeted him, hugged his fists and said with a smile: "I don't know if Zhang Fujun is coming, I will miss the welcome!" ”

Uncle Zhang smiled at night, "I said why no one greeted me at the city gate, it turns out that Li Jingluo is ready to apologize!" ”

The two laughed, and Uncle Zhang immediately introduced Xu Huiyan to Li Yanqing, "This is the border defense envoy Xu in the northwest of Hedong Road!" ”

Xu Huiyan hurriedly stepped forward and knelt down on one knee and hugged his fists and said: "See the envoy of the scriptures!" ”

Li Yanqing hurriedly helped him up and said with a smile: "General Xu, please hurry up, I was also under Zhang Fujun back then, and we are all colleagues." ”

Uncle Zhang laughed at the night, "Yanqing is killing me, and when I look back, I want to discount my military rations, but I won't agree!" ”

Li Yanqing pointed at Uncle Zhang and smiled at Xu Huiyan: "Look at it, what is called disrespect for the old, this is it." ”

Xu Huiyan felt the deep friendship between Li Jingluo and Zhang Fujun, and he was also very happy in his heart, and he also laughed: "You immortals fight, we mortals can only admire, but we dare not participate." ”

The three of them talked and laughed and walked towards the house, and at this time, Uncle Zhang asked in a low voice, "What is the matter of this discussion?" ”

Li Yanqing whispered two words in his ear, and Zhang Shuye's face suddenly became solemn........

Zhang Shuye and Xu Huiyan arrived, basically all arrived, Li Yanqing, the envoy of the Sichuan-Shaanxi Economic Strategy, Liu Tao, the envoy of the Xihe Road, Zhang Shuye, the deputy governor of Taiyuan Prefecture, Zhang Jun, the commander of the South Hebei Road, Zhao Kai, the deputy envoy of Sichuan-Shaanxi Transport, Li Guang, the prefect of Jingzhao, Wu Jie, the defense envoy of the Northern Shaanxi Road, Liu Ziyu, the defense envoy of the Qinfeng North Road, Xu Huiyan, the border defense envoy of the Hedong Road, and Wang Gui, Liu Kuan, Liu Ziyu, Cao Xing, and other important military and political ministers of the Jingzhao Army, gathered in the Jingluo Mansion.

In the heavily guarded meeting hall, Li Yanqing stood up and said to everyone: "This time I invite you to come here to announce a major decision, and at present, this decision has been approved by the official family and the Emperor Taishang, and I believe that some colleagues have already guessed that it is the use of troops against Western Xia." ”

There was an uproar in the council hall, and everyone thought that they were preparing to take measures against the Jin soldiers, but unexpectedly, they were using troops against the Western Xia.

Li Yanqing raised his hands and pressed it, everyone was quiet again, he took out a scroll and said, "Read the holy oracle below!" ”

Everyone stood up one after another, and Li Yanqing unfolded the scroll and read slowly: "After careful consideration, I decided to adopt the suggestion of the envoy of Li Jinglu from Sichuan and Shaanxi, and seize the strategic opportunity to use troops against Western Xia. ”

Li Yanqing handed over the holy decree to everyone for circulation, with the treasure seals of the Son of Heaven Zhao Gou and the Emperor Zhao Ji, as well as the large seal of the Chinese book under the Zhizheng Hall, which is also what Li Yanqing was deeply worried about, the Emperor Zhao Ji has been fully involved in the military and political affairs of the Great Song Dynasty, and such major decisions must be implemented with his consent.

Everyone nodded silently, since the supreme resolution of the imperial court has been formed, then it must be implemented.

At this time, Liu Tao asked: "When are you going to launch the Western Xia Campaign?" ”

"The time is tentatively set for March next year, and I will notify you of the specific time of the Northern Expedition in February, and I will convene you to come today, just to discuss the war preparations, it has been less than four months from now, and the time is a little rushed, but I have prepared before, in the battle of Hedong Road and Shaanxi Road, we captured a total of 70,000 sets of armor, 8,000 horses, 120,000 spears, 90,000 knives, and 30,000 barrels of oil, 14,000 tents, and 130,000 military blankets, which can be described as a rich harvest. In addition, although we withdrew our troops from the Hulushui Grand Canyon and ceded the Xiangyikou and Tage Village to the Western Xia Army, the Tiger Roaring Gorge on the eastern line of Hengshan Mountain was still in our hands, and the Qinggangxia Military Village in the northernmost part of the Grand Canyon was still occupied by the Song Army, which left a door for us to attack the Western Xia in the north. ”

Speaking of this, Li Yanqing glanced at everyone, and said slowly: "As for the troops, there are now 30,000 people in the direction of Taiyuan Mansion, 150,000 people on Shaanxi Road and Qinfeng Road, 30,000 people on Xihe Road, 20,000 garrisons in Bashu, including 30,000 cavalry, in terms of material money and food, I have 1.2 million stone of grain in my hands, 30 million yuan of military expenses, 3,300 earth-shaking thunders, 80,000 sets of armor in stock, and 30,000 tents. Xi Sanqian attacked Western Xia. ”

Li Yanqing's words made the blood boil among the military and political officials present, and Liu Tao asked again: "What is the situation in Western Xia?" ”

Li Yanqing smiled slightly, "Knowing oneself and knowing one's opponent, we will not be defeated in a hundred battles, we have deployed intelligence officers, and we have already mastered some information, so let's put it this way!" The current standing army of the Western Xia is less than 50,000 people, of which 30,000 are in Xingqing Mansion, and the remaining 20,000 people are distributed in the frontier, last year's Jin State disaster, extorted 1 million sheep from the Western Xia, resulting in sharp internal contradictions in the Western Xia, just last month, Li Qianshun has just quelled a rebellion, it can be said that now is the weakest time since the founding of the Western Xia, and it is also a good opportunity for us to attack the Western Xia. ”

"What about the Jin Kingdom?"

Zhang Shuye asked a little worriedly: "As far as I know, Jin Xia has an alliance, will the Jin State send troops to support Western Xia?" ”

Li Yanqing asked people to take a map to unfold and say to everyone: "Before the Jin State attacked the Song Dynasty, the Jin State only occupied the Linhuangfu area in the southeast of the Mobei Grassland, that is, Shangjing, and did not conquer the north and west and the richest central part, so after the Song and Jin concluded an armistice agreement, 300,000 Jin soldiers began to conquer the Mobei Grassland, their opponents were the Merikyu Department in the north, the Naiman Department in the west and the Dadan Nine Divisions in the middle, so far, they have only conquered the Dadan Nine Divisions, and set up the Northwest Road Recruitment Division in the Wangcheng of the Dadan Department, And established Victoria, Zhenzhou and Zhaozhou, now the army is still there, after the beginning of the spring will continue to go west to the largest force is the barbarian department, at this time, the Jin State is not to take care of the Western Xia, if you want to beware, that is stationed in Datong Mansion 20,000 Jin soldiers, if the Jin soldiers attack Hedong Road, it means that the Song army armistice agreement is torn up, the Song army can attack the Central Plains, this kind of stupid Jin soldiers will not do, but the 20,000 Jin soldiers of Datong Mansion may enter the Western Xia and fight with us. ”

Liu Tao sighed slightly: "Western Xia is actually their 30,000 Iron Harrier cavalry is difficult to deal with, if you find a way to break the enemy, then Western Xia is not to worry." ”

"The Iron Harrier Cavalry is nominally 30,000 people, but in fact, there are only 3,000 elites wearing cold forging armor, and the others are ordinary iron armor, these 3,000 people are indeed very strong in combat effectiveness, and they have swept the elite forbidden army of the Great Song Dynasty, but since the invention of the Divine Arm Crossbow, it has been completely feasible to deal with ordinary iron armor, but to deal with cold forging armor, the Divine Arm Crossbow is not good, but Jing Zhaojun has just invented a new type of firearm, which may be able to deal with cold forging armor."

Speaking of this, Li Yanqing smiled mysteriously, "I'll take everyone to see it for myself in the afternoon!" ”

Everyone was in high spirits, and their eyes were full of anticipation.