Since the summer of 810, Liu Yan has been troubled by one thing, that is, the sudden contract is coming. Pen fun and pavilion www.biquge.info

Originally, Tuqi's attack on the Silk Country had almost become commonplace, and the corresponding defense measures of the Silk Country had been built very well, so there should be nothing to worry about, but this time the situation was a little different from the past.

First of all, the Turgean side did not deliberately conceal the intention of the upcoming attack, which is completely opposite to the past. You must know that the strength of the Tuqi is mainly light cavalry, and high mobility and plunder are their characteristics, so the suddenness of the attack is their most important way to defeat the enemy. In the past, Tuqi would do their best to conceal the time and direction of their attack, but this time they did not do so, which made Liu Yan feel strange.

What's even more strange is that no matter how to conceal the contract in the past, Liu Yan could learn some clues through Wu Sicheng or Liu Xianzhi's intelligence network, but this time the people of the contract did not deliberately keep it secret, but they couldn't find a clue, all kinds of statements were mixed together, and there was no clue at all, and the screening of intelligence almost came to a standstill in the massive amount of various types of information.

This is the first situation that Liu Yan has encountered since the war with Tuqi, he feels like a blind man in the dark at a loss, and what is more worrying is that there is a news that has been confirmed, that is, this time Tuqi will attack with the strength of the whole country, and its total strength will exceed 200,000, and may even approach 300,000.

Faced with the largest battle since the start of the war between the two countries, he didn't know how to defend it, and this matter was so urgent that Liu Yan kept discussing it with several high-ranking officials for several days. In fact, to put it bluntly, the main direction of the possible attack of the Tuqi is nothing more than the line of Liaodong, Youzhou, Taiyuan and Fengzhou Linzhou, but the problem is that although the defense in these directions has been significantly strengthened over the years, and the most powerful generals in the country of silk have been sent to defend it, but in the final analysis, there are only about 100,000 troops in each direction, and the front that needs to be defended is quite broad. As a result of the discussion at the meeting, most of the senior officials believed that Youzhou could become the main direction of attack of the Tuqi army, because the defensive front of Youzhou was wider than that of several other regions, and the geographical conditions were not as favorable as those of other regions, and the northern expedition of Gaodingbian at the beginning of the year had severely damaged Badr, the right virtuous king of Tuqi, so it was the easiest target for the Tuqi army.

However, Xue Boren, the squire of the military department, refused to agree with this mainstream speculation. He believes that Youzhou is indeed the weakest link in the defense chain of the Silk Country, but it is not weak enough to be easily broken through, and it is not easy for Tuqi to capture this land, but it will pay a considerable price. Then you should carefully consider the true purpose of the Tuqi, if the goal of the Tuqi is still just to plunder as before, Youzhou is actually the most unsuitable place, because in the process of fighting between Tuqi and the Silk Country, the Youzhou region suffered the heaviest losses. It can be said that almost all the northern part of the Youzhou region has been ravaged by the Tuqi Iron Cavalry, and some areas have even been ravaged more than once, so the people there live in great hardship, and even if the Tuqi army wants to plunder, there is no material to plunder. In such a situation, even a small army may not be able to satisfy the appetite of the other party, not to mention that this time it may be hundreds of thousands of troops? Therefore, unless the target of Tuqi is not plundering at all, it is impossible to attack the direction of Youzhou. If not for plunder, then for a more ambitious strategic purpose. Among the four major defense zones mentioned above, the strategic value of Youzhou is precisely the lowest. The advantage of capturing Youzhou is that it can cut off the connection between the Liaodong Protectorate and the central government of the Silk Country, but the Silk Country has an incomparable maritime transportation capacity, even if such a situation really happens, it will not be able to completely cut off the connection between the Liaodong Metropolitan Protectorate and the central government, not to mention that the area under the jurisdiction of the Liaodong Metropolitan Protectorate is vast, rich in products, self-sufficiency is not a problem, and it will not pose any substantial threat if it is cut off. Then there is only one possibility left, after conquering the Youzhou area, Tuqi is ready to continue to go south, to Jizhou, Qingzhou line development, and may even fight the Yellow River and drive straight down.

On this point, the possibility is not very large, especially the Silk Country in the area south of the Yellow River and north of the Huai River dug a large number of canals, these canals can transport a large number of Jiangnan materials for the Luoyang area in peacetime, and it is very convenient to mobilize troops in wartime, and the cavalry of the Tuqi in this kind of water network area is completely unable to exert its power, the two are mutually exclusive, once the Tuqi army enters this area, it will be like a deep quagmire unable to extricate itself.

Therefore, Xue Boren believed that the main direction of attack of the Turkic army would not be in the Youzhou area, but elsewhere. As soon as his reasoning was put forward, it immediately aroused strong opposition from the officials of the military department headed by An Jingbian, because although Xue Boren's statement had a very sufficient reason that the Youzhou area would not become the main target of the attack, it was difficult to judge the real direction of the main attack of the Tuqi, nor did he give a reason for the Tuqi not to attack Youzhou and to attack other directions.

The more Liu Yan listened, the more he felt a headache, because he knew very well that Xue Boren's statement was reasonable, but An Jingbian's statement was also reasonable. If Youzhou, as the weakness with the least offensive value, is not enough to become the target of the Tuqi attack, then the defensive forces in the direction of Taiyuan Jinglufu and Fengzhou Linzhou, which have important strategic value, are obviously more stable, and the difficulty of the Tuqi attack is greater, while the speed of reinforcements from the Silk Country is much faster, and the possibility of the Tuqi attacking here is also very low. As for the Liaodong region, although Abicil once attacked there once and almost succeeded, but it was achieved by taking advantage of the mistakes of the Silk Country itself to avoid the real and attack the false, if Su Chengdong was allowed to spend all his time to meet the long-distance raiding Tuqi army, the Tuqi would definitely not be able to bargain.

If the direction of the enemy's main attack cannot be determined, how should the strategic materials of the imperial court be deployed, and where should the reserve forces be gathered? Liu Yan knew one thing very well in his heart, that is, if he could completely thwart Abicheril's attempt this time, Tuqi's combat effectiveness would not be able to recover within a few years, and this would become an excellent opportunity for the Silk Country to switch from strategic defense to strategic offense. It is precisely because of this kind of thought that lingers in his heart that Liu Yan's pressure has increased, and he has not been able to make a decision for a long time. In the end, the strategic materials prepared by the Silk Country in order to meet the attack were still concentrated in Luoyang, and were not sent to any specific defense area.

However, the attack of the Turks was not delayed by his troubles, and autumn finally came. (To be continued.) )