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Li Dingguo actually set his sights on the Hetao area, which was greatly unexpected by Zhu Youzhen. He knew www.biquge.info that the Hetao area was not under the control of the Ming army, but had fallen into the hands of the Mongols dozens of years ago. In other words, Li Dingguo wants to fight abroad!

Of course, Li Dingguo can have this kind of thought, and Zhu Youzhen is also very happy. Because from the day the Qin soldiers were founded, Zhu Youzhen clearly told all the generals: The enemies of the Qin soldiers are not just thieves. Sooner or later, the Qin soldiers will definitely meet the Mongols and Jurchens on the battlefield, and that is where the Qin soldiers really come into play. It seems that Li Dingguo has firmly remembered his words.

However, Qin Bing's strength is not strong enough now, let alone the Jurchens, even Zu Dashou's Guan Ning Army may not be able to do it. And the current situation in Shaanxi is also very delicate, why does Li Dingguo want to provoke the Mongols at this juncture? Therefore, Zhu Youzhen asked Li Dingguo to elaborate on his thoughts.

Li Dingguo said respectfully: "The last general is from Yulin, Shaanxi, and hundreds of miles north of Yulin is the Hetao area, where there are often merchants, so the last general is very familiar with the situation there." Later, I heard Master Sun tell the last general about the history of the Hetao area, and I felt that I should recover it as soon as possible. ”

"Oh?" Zhu Youzhen said with interest, "I don't know much about the history of the Hetao, Dingguo, you tell me about it first!" ”

Li Dingguo smiled shyly and said, "Since His Royal Highness asked, the last general has no choice but to learn and sell now." The Yellow River comes from the east of Qinghai, encounters the Helan Mountain to block and folds to the north, and then encounters the Yin Mountain to the east, and then flows south along the Luliang Mountains, forming a big 'several' shape, and the top of this 'several' character is called 'Hetao'. If it is subdivided, it can be bounded by Ula Mountain, which is divided into the back set in the west and the front set in the east. Due to the moisture of the Yellow River, it is a plain with abundant water and grass since ancient times, with a dense water network, which can be cultivated and pastured, and is known as the "Saibei Jiangnan". The ancients had a saying, 'The Yellow River is harmful, only one set of riches', Your Highness can imagine that if it is owned by the Ming Dynasty, the officials and troops of the three sides will no longer have to worry about food and grass. ”

"When did the Loop fall under the Mongols?" Zhu Youzhen asked.

Li Dingguo said eloquently: "The Hetao area is not only fertile, but also passes through the outside of the north to the north, Guanzhong in the south, Gan and Liang in the west, and Youyou and Yan in the east, which is the main road connecting the Central Plains and the northern steppe, and the terrain itself is gentle, suitable for cavalry combat, so since ancient times, it has been the target coveted by the northern nomads.

"During the Warring States Period, King Wuling of Zhao opened up to the north and established Yunzhong County here, and since then, the Hetao area has been the territory of China. Later, the Xiongnu rose up to invade the south, for which Qin Shi Huang Ying ordered the general Meng Tian to lead an army of 300,000 to attack the Xiongnu in the north, and set up two counties of Yunzhong and Jiuyuan here. At the end of the Qin Dynasty, the world was in turmoil, the Xiongnu made a comeback, and the Hetao fell again. Later, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty ordered Wei Qing to recover the Hetao, and set up three counties of Shuofang, Wuyuan and Xihe here.

But since then, the Central Plains has been in frequent wars, and there is no time to look north, and the Hetao area has become the object of competition among the tribes of the grassland. Especially after the Mongols made their fortunes, they destroyed the Western Xia and Jin kingdoms, destroyed the farmland of the Hetao and converted it into pasture, and buried the bones of the Great Khan Temujin in the desert south of the Hetao. The person who guards the tomb is called 'Ordo', and later it became a part, that is, the Ordos Department. They even called the desert area north of Yulin and south of Hetao 'Ordos Plateau', but in fact it was just a group of robbers who occupied the magpie's nest. ”

"Wait, wasn't Meng Yuan driven back to the desert by our dynasty later, why hasn't the Hetao area been recovered yet?" Zhu Youzhen said.

Li Dingguo sighed and said: "In fact, Taizu chased Mongolia to the north, and not only recovered the Hetao area at that time, but also greatly expanded to the north, and set up Daning, Kaiping, and Dongsheng Sanwei north of the Great Wall, and its Middle East Shengwei is directly north of the Hetao. During the Yongle period, in order to appease the 'Duoyan Sanwei' who contributed in the Battle of Jingjing, Chengzu took the initiative to give up Daning, Kaiping and Dongshengwei, resulting in a gap in the northwest defense line. For more than 100 years after that, the Mongols repeatedly invaded the south, first occupying the Hetao Plain, and then using the Hetao as a springboard to continue south to Yansui or eastward to Datong, which was really a big trouble for the imperial court.

Previously, there were many knowledgeable ministers in the imperial court, advocating raising troops to recover the Hetao in one fell swoop, so as to prevent the Mongols from invading the south. During the Jiajing period, the first assistant Xia Yan advocated the 'reset', and for this reason, the main battle faction Zeng Mill was appointed as the governor of the trilateral side. It's a pity that in order to bring down Xia Yan, the traitor Yan Song repeatedly slandered in front of Emperor Sejong, saying that the river loop could not be recovered, and the use of soldiers was in vain to waste money and food, and even repeated the story of Tumubao. Sejong mistakenly believed Yan Song's words, killed Xia Yan and Zeng Milling, and no one dared to repeat it again. ”

Zhu Youzhen couldn't help but slap the table when he heard this, and said angrily: "It's another traitor who has misled the country, which has led to the loss of the territory!" ”

However, he calmed down again and asked Li Dingguo: "In this way, not only has the imperial court lost the Hetao for nearly a hundred years, but even the desert area south of the Hetao cannot be controlled. Now that the Mongols have a solid grip on the Loop, why do you want to reclaim the Loop at this time? And the combat effectiveness of the Mongols is not comparable to Gao Yingxiang, how sure can you win? ”

Li Dingguo replied angrily: "Your Highness, the last general has read the "Heavy Discussion on the Fuhe Taoshu" that was milled to the imperial court from Master Sun, and one of the sentences is deeply respected: China does not suffer from no soldiers, but does not train soldiers!" And His Royal Highness repeatedly taught the last general, etc., that the best training is actual combat, and the last general also thought so. Qin Bing's future opponent is the Tartar, and the combat power of the thieves is too different from the Tartars. If we are content to defeat the Rogue, we will inevitably be caught off guard when we face the Tartars in the future. The Mongols, on the other hand, were weaker in combat than the Tartars, but stronger than the officers and thieves, and were just the right targets for the Qin soldiers to train. Now that the majority of the thieves in Shaanxi have fled, we can free up our hands to launch a surprise attack on the Hetao area.

As for whether he can win, the last general has also thought about it repeatedly. The Mongol cavalry was certainly fierce, but the Qin soldiers also had several advantages. Therefore, if the command is done properly and the soldiers use their lives, they have a great chance of winning. ”

"Tell me, what are the advantages?" Zhu Youzhen said eagerly.

"First of all, in the past two hundred years, only the Mongols have come south to attack us, and the officers and troops rarely take the initiative to attack the Mongols in the north." Li Dingguo smiled and said, "Therefore, the Mongols will inevitably be careless, and our army will have the opportunity to carry out a surprise attack, which is called surprise." ”

"Moreover, it is the height of summer, and according to the Mongol tradition, they will go to other steppes in the north to graze nomadically, and the Hetao area must be empty. If the general's prediction is correct, except for the Ordos Division, the other Mongolian divisions will not appear in the Hetao area now, and we only need to defeat the Ordos Division to recover all the lost territory in the Hetao and south of the Hetao, which is called attacking it unprepared. ”

"Surprise and surprise sounds good." Zhu Youzhen was told by Li Dingguo that there was already some activity in his heart, but he still frowned and said, "But what about the Ordos Department?" Will the Qin soldiers be able to defeat the Ordos Division? ”

Li Dingguo took a sip of tea and said unhurriedly: "Originally, the Mongols were all cavalry, and even if they were frustrated, they could be defeated, and they would come back in a short time, which was really difficult to deal with. But the Hetao is their treasure, and the last general will come up with a plan, if it goes well, maybe they can wipe out the Ordos Department! ”