Gao Zunyu's eyes were shining, and he said in a low voice: "Gong Zheng, either eat them." ”

The west wind is blowing slowly, although the land of Lingxing Erzhou is known as the south of the Yangtze River, and the wind has brought a burst of coolness, but the hearts of the generals are hot. Zhang Qi thinks that Wang En and other generals can be ranked among the forty generals, in fact, Gao Zunyu and Li Xianruo can also be ranked among the forty generals in terms of military ability, and they can be ranked at least twenty generals, and although this person is a noble relative, he can be different from other relatives, he can endure hardships, stay on the front line outside the Saiwai for many years, and never complain, even Zheng Lang attaches great importance to him.

You can't look at people on the one hand, for example, Zhao Gou, who is not evil to the people, is thrifty, if it weren't for the Jin people to invade the Central Plains, and then there would be no Qin Hui, the demon, he might still be a more suitable Shoucheng king. But his shortcomings are more serious than those of a planter, and he is not a good manager. Coupled with his identity, Zheng Lang was afraid that there would be another story in history, so he did not rank Gao Zunyu in the ranking. Of course, it will be Zheng Lang's arrangement, such as Chong Pu and Wang Hou, if you talk about what you do in history, Chong Pu is ranked above Wang Hou, which is somewhat unfair.

But now it's not a big problem, these young generals haven't grown up yet, and now they are included in the lower generals, mainly honed, plus after this battle, there will be some new generals emerging, replacing the veterans of Hebin, then Zheng Lang will die, and the Song Dynasty will also have a standard for generals, at least there will be no story of using Ge Huaimin as the main general for at least twenty years.

The successive victories made Gao Zunyu's confidence a little inflated, and he wanted to try the combat effectiveness of the Khitans.

Zheng Lang smiled, he couldn't say that Gao Zunyu's proposal was not good.

The Song army was at war with the Western Xia people, as long as the court ministers did not reconcile, even if they did not appear, the Song army would also have the upper hand, and it would be reversed against the Khitan. However, the Tanguts and the Khitan fought vigorously, and the Khitans came to the Tangut and lost their home advantage. calmly take these 30,000 Khitans, and you will have the confidence to fight against the Khitans in the future. However, Zheng Lang still shook his head and said: "It's not proper, if the Khitans send 100,000 soldiers and horses, it's worth eating them, only 30,000 soldiers and horses, it's not appropriate to eat them." ”

"Why?"

"Gao Gong, if you eat 100,000 soldiers and horses, the Khitans will be afraid, and their national strength will also be seriously damaged, and they will not use troops against our dynasty in a year or two. 30,000 soldiers. It doesn't have much impact on the Khitan, and I'm worried about the Hebei side. There are a lot of troops stationed in Hedong, Hebei, and there are many city guards, even if the Khitans invade Hedong, Hebei, they can't shake the security of Gyeonggi. But after all, all the elite soldiers and brave generals were transferred to Hedong, Hebei, and with the current situation of the two regions, if the Khitan invaded the whole country, they would not be able to resist the enemy outside the country. Then the Khitan army went south, and the east of Hebei and Hedong shook. People have been displaced. Besides, this war has already suffered the people, and the treasury is even more empty, and the vitality cannot be restored within a year or two. And then there's the damage caused by the Khitan. The consequences would be severe, and could even shake the governance of the entire Western Xia region in the future. ”

There was a major drought in Xining for seven years, and the whole country was overhauled by the drought-stricken displaced people. Many reservoir weirs and dams were built, as well as roads.

These roads include some roads in Luliang Mountain and Taihang Mountain, but they can only be said to be a little better. With the current technology, the Song Dynasty could not turn the sea into mulberry fields, the mountains and mountains into plains, and could not forcibly open up these two mountains and open up temporary new roads.

If the Song army wanted to go from Shaanxi to Hebei, it was better to go to Linzhou first, then cross the Yellow River, then go to Taiyuan, and then go to Taihang Mountain step by step from Taiyuan, cross Taihang Mountain, and go to Hebei. It is at least nearly three or four thousand miles away, which means that if there is a police in Hebei, the Western forces will not be able to provide timely support.

Gao Zunyu was silent, war needs troops, but it also needs generals who understand military affairs, and what generals who understand military affairs are there now.

Li Xiandao: "It's a pity that there is endless turmoil in the rear, otherwise 30,000 Khitans will come, and it won't matter." ”

"Zifan, don't mention this matter again."

The reason why the Western Xia was in turmoil was mainly because Zheng Lang used cruel means to forcibly suppress it this time.

Those who obey have food, money, and silk, but it is not easy for those who obey, and they must cooperate with the imperial court in military operations to suppress the rebellious tribes. Those who do not comply will be suppressed immediately. This will inevitably provoke more tribal revolts.

But it is difficult to suppress most of the unruly tribes, and it will be easier to govern in the future.

Otherwise, even if you get Western Xia, it may not be easy to govern in the future. In the past, Li Jiqian only had a little bigger territory, and in the end, the beacon fire was burning, once the Western Xia lost control, even with Tubo, there would be new turmoil, and major events would be carried out.

After the Western Xia was governed and safe, and without reliance, there would be no great chaos in Tibet. Don't think that now that the river is calming down, and after the envelopment of the Hou, there are still many tribes who still have ill intentions.

Therefore, Zheng Lang would rather slow down the time, and also eliminate some unruly tribes by bloody means to reduce the unstable factors in the future.

But this is only known to Zheng Lang, in the history of the Song Dynasty, the turmoil was not so serious, and various encirclement policies were not implemented before, but the history of the dispatch of troops was full of mistakes and omissions. The first is to get the Western Xia, and there will inevitably be many unstable factors in the future. The second is the issue of seasonality.

In history, the Song Dynasty launched a general offensive in August, and after Li Xianxian took Lanzhou in September, the Liang family was shocked and sent envoys to the Khitan for help. But the Western Xia also had a place of fear, although the Khitan did not use troops against the Western Xia, but many times in the name of worshiping the pagoda, spying on the road and Western Xia intelligence, just like the Western Xia had ambitions for Hezhou, the Khitan also had ambitions for the Western Xia. What happened to the Khitan is not recorded in the annals of history, but then the Song army was defeated in November.

This season is not right, since the Xia, such a big place as the Western Xia, with the force of the Song Dynasty, it is impossible to get the Western Xia in one or two months, and the historical troops are not as good as now, the weapons are not as good as now, the preparation of materials and grain is not as good as now, and the appointment of generals is not as good as now, and the troops are dispatched in August, as long as they drag it out, they will soon enter the winter moon and wax moon, and in the coldest place, attacking the core of Western Xia, is it not looking for death?

If the Song army really won that time, it is difficult to say whether the Khitan would send troops, but the Khitan will definitely not easily sit back and watch the Song Dynasty get Western Xia. The most direct attack was to send an envoy to Western Xia to poison Liang's daughter, Empress Huizong, to death Empress Dowager Liang, giving Li Bingshun the opportunity to reconcile with the Song Dynasty and win the vitality of Western Xia.

Therefore, Zheng Lang had some doubts in his heart, could it be that some of his practices were added to the snake?

Zheng Lang thought for a while and asked the scout, "Who is the Khitan boss?" ”

"Gong Zheng is Brother Yelu Yan, the prime minister of the Khitan South Mansion."

"Brother Yeluyan?" Zheng Lang's eyebrows jumped, this person was the one who was in charge of Yelu Yixin.

In the autumn of the previous year, Yelu Hongji went hunting in the mountains. Yelu Yixin saw that Yelu Hongji had no children for a long time, this is very important, if Yelu Hongji has a son, Yelu Yixin only needs to instigate, Yelu Jun's son, that is, Yelu Yanxi, the grandson of Yelu Hongji, will not ascend to the throne, and Yelu Yixin will not be liquidated by Yelu Yanxi in the future.

Therefore, Yelu Yixin admonished not to bring the emperor's grandson with him, wanting to harm Yelu Yanxi. The Khitan minister Xiao Wuna repeatedly objected, saying: "I heard that the vehicle was driving a trip." Will keep the emperor and grandson, protect the non-people, I am afraid that he will change, and the ministers will stay, and the ministers will serve the left. ”

This may change from one to another, and it is very meaningful.

Yelu Hongji suddenly sobered up at this time and became alert, but he did not immediately take action against Yelu Yixin, and even followed Yelu Yixin's advice. Let Zhang Xiaojie take the position. It wasn't until last year, when the Song Dynasty was discussing Yelu Jun's relationship with Princess Shushou, that Yelu Hongji began to release Yelu Yixin. This is a helpless solution, Yelu Yixin has become a trend after all. Immediately and completely do it will change, this situation is just like Zhao Gou in later generations to Qin Hui, Zhao Gou is dissatisfied with Qin Hui, but he doesn't dare to do anything to Qin Hui. It wasn't until Qin Hui was about to die that Zhao Gou expressed this disgust, and even implied his adopted son Song Xiaozong to re-bury Yue Fei. Posthumously presented to Wu Mu. Maybe Zhao Gou regretted it in his heart at that time, after all, there were few loyal ministers like Yue Fei in the entire history of China.

It should be said that Yelu Hongji's approach is very wise, but Zheng Lang estimated in his heart that this was not the method that Yelu Hongji came up with, but another high-ranking person pointed out.

Who it is, Zheng Lang doesn't know.

But this Yelu Yange is a very cunning character.

The Khitan began to prepare to liquidate Yelu Yixin, but Yelu Yange was not affected much, and even in the history of Yelu Jun's death, Yelu Yan was one of the culprits of the helmet, and now Ye Lu Jun saved the Song Dynasty, and Yelu Yan has nothing to do with it, plus he defected in time, so he also took the position of prime minister of Nanfu.

After thinking for a while, Zheng Lang said to his subordinates: "Go and invite Guo Kui and Wang Shao to discuss the matter." ”

The soldiers went down, and Zheng Lang sat in the conference hall and pondered.

The two of them returned from the front-line cavalry, and when they heard this, they also felt a headache.

With 30,000 soldiers and horses, it is not easy to move, not moving, but this force is enough to shake the situation in Western Xia. At least I heard of the arrival of the Khitan army, and the wave of resistance in the rear was even more inspiring.

Wang Shao said: "Why did the Khitan only send 30,000 soldiers and horses, could it be that they only got the situation, and they had time to prepare grain and grass in the future, or there was a dispute within the Khitan?" ”

These are two very different situations. The former proves that the Khitan is ready to make a move against the Song Dynasty, and now 30,000 people have come to Western Xia, and in the future it may be 130,000 people who have gone to Hebei. And when this happens, even Gao Zunyu knows how bad the consequences are. If it is the latter, it doesn't matter if the problem is settled, when the Khitan dispute is settled, the Song Dynasty will already take down the Western Xia, and all the soldiers and horses will be in place, and the longer the time drags on, the more beneficial it will be to the Song Dynasty. Once the Song Dynasty governed the Western Xia, no tribes rebelled, and even gathered the 200,000 forbidden troops that used to be stationed in Shaanxi every year to deal with the Khitan with all their might.

Gao Zunyu said: "It's a pity that the Khitan spies can't get strong news. ”

There are a lot of Khitan Han people, but most of the Khitan Han people who can enter the Khitan politics are the major wealthy families of the Khitan Han people, and it is difficult for the children of the Han people to take the position, and the Western Xia is different, it is established and created, and the various departments are mixed, so since Li Deming's time, it began to absorb a large number of Han landlords and declining literati, or soldiers, and all kinds of craftsmen, bringing civilization, technology, and assisting the imperial court to create a system for the Western Xia, so the scouts are also easy to break into the interior of the Western Xia and get hidden news.

And for fear of alarming the Khitan, the spy battalion did not send scouts to the Khitan before, but later they did, but the time was very short, and the news of the core could not be found.

Guo Kui said: "I'm still worried about the problem of grain and grass. ”

The Xixia fortified wall was clear, half of the autumn harvest in the territory was destroyed, and the Yellow River embankment was dug up, trying to flood the Song army, although it did not succeed but lost the support of the people, but caused the displacement of the people in a radius of hundreds of miles, and the family was ruined. Since the Song Dynasty wanted to run Western Xia, it couldn't ignore it.

Zheng Lang sent people to organize these people, some of them stayed, drained the river, sowed winter wheat, and the rest of the people were compiled together, rushed to Jingzhao Mansion, and ate in Chang'an. He also organized the young and middle-aged among them, or as soldiers, to assist the Song Dynasty in suppressing the rebellious tribes. or as a people's husband, assisting the Song Dynasty to escort grain and grass to the front.

To Chang'an to eat, saving most of the transportation costs, but this year Shaanxi used more than 100,000 soldiers, more than 200,000 laborers, also destroyed agricultural production, the early imperial court is to prepare a large amount of grain, and since the first year of Yuanfeng began to prepare, last year prepared the most.

But so many soldiers needed grain and grass, and the people of Western Xia needed relief. The grain and grass prepared in the early stage are simply not enough. Repression is one measure, and pacification is the main one. In order to appease the people, they could only distribute military rations and give relief to some people who lacked food and clothing.

As a result, the army had to stop at the Yellow River.

At the same time, it also brings greater difficulties and pressure to the rear.

Zheng Lang said: "Zhongtong, don't worry about grain and grass, I have written a note, asking Your Majesty to borrow 30 million yuan from the bank, and use these money to urgently requisition grain and grass from all over the country." ”

He said to Li Xian again: "Zifan, you write a draft order for me." With materials such as cloth and tea, grain and grass were distributed from some grain-rich households, and after two months, the imperial court paid them back one by one. and with this grain and grass they settled the people. ”

"Okay."

Li Xian was writing the draft order, and the other four were pondering.

Zheng Lang said: "Don't be afraid of 10,000, just in case, it's best to send a few generals back to Hedong, Hebei." ”

That's it. looked at Wang Shao and Guo Kui.

It's not enough to have a general, but also to be handsome, among these two. No matter which one sits in Hebei, because of his prestige, and a few brave generals cooperate, the Khitan will not dare to offend Hebei and Hedong.

However, both of them bowed their heads.

At this moment, no one wants to leave the front line. Chong Ge was in a hurry, Zhang Kai didn't want to, or Zheng Lang persuaded him, saying that he had admonished him in front of Zhao Ji, if he went to the Khitan in the future, he would be the boss, Zhang Kai was reluctant to exchange with Chong Ge.

Zheng Lang's mouth opened, and Guo Kui and Wang Shao suddenly raised their heads and glanced at each other. didn't speak, but it meant that Zheng Lang understood that Guo Kui undoubtedly said to Wang Shao in his eyes You have the merit of Hehuang, why do you still fight with me to destroy the merit of Xia. Wang Shao meant to say, what ability can you compare with me.

The two were not convinced, so they silently lowered their heads again.

Zheng Lang shook his head.

The work of extinguishing summer is not trivial. But a lot of credit is not necessarily a good thing.

Zheng Lang didn't want to go back to serve as the prime minister, otherwise he would become the target of all the scholars because of his high merits. The same is true for several other people, Wang Shao and Guo Kui are destined to be hidden, Gao Zunyu is already the prince of the country, and there is no reward again, and he is a relative, that is, there is Gao Taotao, he will inevitably enter the cold palace after he goes back, but the three of them have not been urged by Li Xian. Li Xian is a eunuch, and the change of the palace is particularly harmful, and the greater the merit this time, the more powerful the future scholars and doctors will attack, and it is even possible that they will not even be allowed to stay in the capital.

In fact, if you go to Beihetao, or go to Hebei, you will avoid this great achievement, and your career will be smoother in the future. Especially Wang Shao, he himself was born as a civil servant, and he was a scholar and a first.

Zheng Lang is this idea, but Wang Guo will not think like this, what about snow hiding, it will not be a capital crime, but this merit is real, and it will go down in history in the future.

Neither of the two spoke, Zheng Lang was helpless, and finally said: "In this way, just in case, let Chongyi and Zhang Yu lead the two armies to Linzhou to standby." ”

Because of their pure and good personalities, these two people let Zheng Lang be transferred to Hedong, Hebei at the end of the year before last to train the township soldiers, Chongyi is in Hedong, Zhang Yu is in Hebei, and the two generals attacked the White Leopard Jintang and other cities, and the township soldiers under their respective hands also received actual combat training.

But the main thing is that they have a good personality and are obedient, so they are easy to transfer.

Zheng Lang was not enough, and said: "Let Qu Zhen and Yao Lin lead the cavalry to Linzhou to stand by." ”

The two of them bravely crowned the three armies, and their subordinates were all cavalry battalions, fast, not to Linzhou, Zheng Lang's authority is Shaanxi and Hehuang, plus the Linfu Road in the war zone, Hebei Hedong is not within his scope of authority, so he first wrote a fold and delivered it to the capital with fast feet, and then the holy decree was sent directly to Linzhou. The army started to attack, the speed was not fast, the holy decree reached Linzhou, even the cavalry may not reach Linzhou, and then Qu Yao and the two quickly crossed the Yellow River and went to Hebei from the east of the river.

As for Hedong, with the 20,000 trained and actual combat township soldiers who have been congested, and are close to Western Xia, the problem is not serious.

After giving this order, Zheng Lang's eyes flashed with humiliation and unwillingness.

The Khitans swaggered and immediately withdrew the army and went back, although 40,000 village soldiers and 10,000 cavalry were transferred back, which would not have much impact on the battlefield. But Zheng Lang's move is somewhat of a pawn.

Although he has been a ruler for nearly 20 years, he also knows that he has to eat one bite at a time, but how can he not feel humiliated in his heart.

Therefore......

……

Yelu Yange's army was relatively fast, and he didn't leave Fuzhou, Fuzhou is the Song realm, and if he goes from Fuzhou, he can give the Song people an excuse to do it, and he is also afraid.

He led an army of 30,000, in fact, it can't be said that there are 30,000 troops, only 20,000 troops, and 10,000 people who escort grain and grass, from the Jinsu army to the west, to the southwest, across the Quye River, along the border of the original Fengzhou and then to the ancient Great Wall, swaggering straight to Xiazhou, the core area of Western Xia.

It has nothing to do with arrogance, this is the result of the Song Dynasty's habitual weakness, such as the Khitan envoy to the Song Dynasty Tokyo Yuema Long Street, but the Song envoy to the Khitan often has to be aggrieved and seek perfection, and can not lose the etiquette of the great country, so the atmosphere in the poems of many Liao envoys is extremely depressing.

But this time it's different.

Yelu Yange came to Mingtang River, but before crossing the Mingtang River, he met the 50,000 Song troops who had withdrawn to Linzhou.

Yelu Yange was very dissatisfied, and sent an envoy to the camp to ask what it meant.

Chongyi replied that they were ordered to withdraw to Hedong and Hebei.

I didn't go to Hedong Hebei to fight, it's better not to start a war with the Khitan now, the reason why I was transferred to Hedong Hebei is to deter, there is no need to hide it.

Of course, it will take a while to go to Hebei. However, Yelu Yange fed back the news to the Khitan and then made deployments, and Zhang Yu had already brought the army to Hebei.

Then Chong Yi said: "Hearing that the army of the Liao State came to cooperate with the Song Dynasty with King Qin, Zheng Gong was overjoyed. Let the subordinate Yu Mingtang Chuan Liyi welcome the arrival of your army. ”

The envoy went back.

Friendship began to welcome the Khitan army.

First, 2,000 artillery pieces were transferred to Hebei to prepare for war.

Instead of bombing the Khitan barracks, it aimed at the Pingchuan area on the left, and two thousand artillery pieces were fired together. Three rounds of bombardment in a row bombed the Khitan army to the ground. Then 20,000 soldiers walked out with the bow of the divine arm in their hands, and divided into three teams to shoot in turn.

The bow and arrow are the Khitan strengths, but the range of the Khitan bow and arrow is only a hundred paces, and the distance is almost two hundred steps, if it is not an elephant god arm bow. At the time of the battle of the cold weapons, there was a difference of a hundred steps, and it was a fatal hundred steps.

With the sound of the horn, the Song army formed a phalanx, holding weapons, and practiced in the west of the Mingtang River.

In terms of formation, the Song Dynasty was the first among the Three Kingdoms, and these soldiers went through actual battles, and the phalanx was constantly changing, and the murderous spirit seemed to rise to the sky.

Brother Yelu Yan was a little dumbfounded, this is the welcome ceremony?

With Chongyi with 40,000 village soldiers, 10,000 cavalry, and nearly 20,000 from Hedong, the people who followed the repatriation and escorted the supplies also swaggered across the Mingtang River under the noses of the Khitans.

Brother Yelu Yan didn't dare to move, not to mention that the Song army had the upper hand in the troops, that is, if the Song army used those 2,000 artillery pieces and 20,000 divine arm bows to fire a salvo just now, he would lose more than half of his subordinates.

Whether it was a welcome or a demonstration, Zheng Lang didn't care too much, what he wanted to win was these three or two years, after this time period, it was impossible for the Song Dynasty to show weakness like the Khitan.

He was waiting for the news to see Yeluyan's reaction after the welcome ceremony. (To be continued......)