The emperor is going to go on a personal expedition again.

This news quickly spread to the ears of the hundreds of officials in Beijing.

At first, everyone was skeptical, thinking it was unlikely. Everyone thought that the emperor was going to conquer the Indochina Peninsula in person, but this front line was not very good, breaking the capital of South Vietnam, Thang Long, the capital of Taungoo, Ava, the deputy royal city of Chenla, Purianko, the important town of Daguang in the south of Taungoo, and Hue, the royal city of Nguyen in Quang Nam

Isn't this a good fight, why is the emperor still doing it himself?

Is it the Dutch who are going to fight the South Seas? The Dutch are still holding on to Batavia, Java, and refuse to surrender, but I heard that Mataram and Banten, both of Java, are willing to send troops to help the Han attack Batavia?

When the last news came out that the emperor's personal expedition was not a southern expedition, but a western expedition, the officials all lost their voices.

Expedition to the West? Who is the Western Expedition?

Zheng Dzungar, Zheng Weilat, oh, it turned out to be Moxi Mongols, but these Moxi Tartars are not very honest to stay in the Western Regions, and I haven't heard that they crossed the border?

There is a well-informed one, at this time to help everyone solve a doubt, it turns out that Dzungaria has now become the overlord of the Western Regions, punching Tsarist Russia, kicking Kazakhstan, and this is also preparing to destroy Yarkand, even the previous return to the Han Wu Sizang and Shuote Gushi Khan, and the Turks who went to the coast of the Caspian Sea and established a khanate in the lower reaches of the Volga River have worshiped the Dzungar Khan Batur Huntaiji as the Great Khan of the Oirat Khanate, and they are willing to be little Khans.

It turns out that this is such news, it seems that these Moxi Tartars can indeed toss.

But the officials turned to be strange, this has something to do with the Han Dynasty with half a copper yuan?

So what is Tsarist Russia, Kazakh, Yarkand, or even Wu Sizang, what does it have to do with the Han Dynasty?

The attack between Batur Huntaiji and them, it can be regarded as dog eat dog at most, anyway, the Western Regions are 108,000 miles away from the Central Plains, as long as they don't cross the Jiayu Pass, don't cross the Jinshan Mountains, and don't cross the Kunlun Mountains, whatever they want.

But the Son of Heaven of the Han Dynasty wanted to drive the expedition in person and conquer the Oirats in the west.

So, many officials thought it was too strange, the emperor was a little tired of staying in Beijing, and wanted to go out to be majestic, right?

In this matter, the Beijing officials were surprisingly unanimous, feeling that the western expedition to Oirath was suspected of being nosy with a mouse.

Some officials are more straightforward, what is there in Moxi? Deserts, plateaus, yaks in Wusizang, raisins in Turbo? That little thing, big man is missing?

The Han Dynasty has desert north and desert south, there is no shortage of cattle or horses, milk and fur, there are many.

With that kind of idle work, it is better to work hard to dry up the natives of Central and South China, and destroy the Nanyang Island, so much fertile land in Central and South China, spices and minerals in the South Seas, how good these are in the bag.

It seems that the officials of the Han Dynasty are now more pragmatic and not pragmatic, and everyone is more concerned about practical benefits.

To put it bluntly, these officials all feel that Moxi has no oil and water, and they can't fight a war, and they will lose money if they don't do it well.

is so calculating, Liu Jun didn't know whether to be happy or happy after hearing the report from Dongchang. But at least he was not dissatisfied, after all, these officials were very pragmatic, and they didn't say that they were afraid of war, but they just felt that it was not cost-effective.

Tired of fighting and afraid of war, this is the most terrible.

The Han Dynasty fought for many years, but almost all of them were foreign wars, and they won successive victories, not only expanding their territory, but also bringing many war dividends, from officials to ordinary people, they were not afraid of war, and they were not afraid of war.

However, even if the seven prime ministers and counselors did not support the Western Expedition, and even opposed the Imperial Expedition, even if the officials of the entire Beijing Division thought that the Western Expedition should not be carried out, Liu Jun ignored their objections.

The founding emperor always has such a strong position, especially for an emperor like Liu Jun who holds absolute power, and the opposition of the prime minister's participation in politics cannot change his decision.

Fortunately, the generals of the military were surprisingly silent, and they did not join in the fun with the civilian clique. The emperor said that he wanted to fight, then they would fight, and the emperor said that he wanted to fight in person, then they would fight with the emperor.

Wherever the emperor pointed, they struck.

They don't meddle in political affairs, but they don't care about the military affairs and the wars.

"I feel like I'm going my own way now, and I'm just going my own way."

Meeting of the Military Aircraft Department.

Liu Jun shook his head and said with a smile in the face of the generals who were counselors of military affairs, as well as those who were present.

Wang Qian, the left privy envoy and the prime minister's political counselor and military counselor, bowed his head to the emperor, and he undoubtedly stood on the wrong side in this line.

Zhang Shan, the right privy envoy, said with a smile, "Governing the country, we military laymen don't understand, but when it comes to fighting, those civil officials are also laymen." Now that the court is talking about people's livelihood and economy, these civil officials are about to get into the eyes of money. In a war, in addition to expanding the territory and making war profits, you also have to protect your home and defend the country. The rise of Moxi Mongolia is so rapid, and we, as imperial generals, must take precautions. ”

"The strength of Moxi Mongolia today must not be underestimated, if you can't destroy him before he is full-fledged, I am afraid that it will become a problem for my henchmen in the future."

Many civil officials only saw that Moxi had no oil and water, but they did not see the rapid expansion of Oirat.

Just like when the Sui Dynasty was in the Sui Dynasty, Goguryeo dominated Liaodong and seriously threatened the Central Plains Dynasty, Yang Jian and Yang Guang both father and son were interested in conquering Liao, but many officials opposed the expedition to Liao, believing that Liaodong was outside the Guanguan and could not threaten the Sui Dynasty. Even after the Sui Dynasty was destroyed, the blame was shifted to Yang Guang's expedition to Liao.

Although the destruction of the Sui Kingdom was indeed related to the conquest of Liao, Goguryeo had indeed seriously threatened the Central Plains at that time. This is also after the establishment of Li Tang, Li Shimin also had to personally conquer Liaodong, and after Li Shimin's death, Gaozong Li Zhi also used troops in Liaodong for many years, and finally destroyed Goguryeo.

The high-ranking generals who gathered together all expressed their full support for the emperor's westward expedition.

"This expedition to the west, I will personally conquer." Liu Jun stood in front of the sand table and said directly, "My strategic layout is only twelve words, first north and then south, first late and then fast, slow and urgent. ”

The topography of the Western Regions resembles a huge gourd, wide in the south and narrow in the north.

Therefore, the northern Xinjiang is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and the southern Xinjiang is easy to attack and difficult to defend.

One of the biggest problems in fighting in the Western Regions is that the navy of the Han Dynasty cannot play a role, and supply transportation is also a problem. If the Han Dynasty directly takes the northern frontier, it can be used as a logistics base for advancing into the southern frontier, advancing and retreating freely, and it can also cut off the possible support of Tsarist Russia.

The reason for the slow and then the speed, and the slow advance and rapid battle, is because the Western Regions is far away and the logistics supply is difficult.

The slow advance is to ensure logistics, and the urgent battle is to quickly break the rebels, and the Han Dynasty has abundant financial resources and can fight a large-scale decisive battle, and logistics grain and grass are not a problem, but the pressure on transportation is also extremely great.

This war is unlike any previous battle, it will be a big battle.

In order to ensure that nothing goes wrong, Liu Jun is ready to mobilize a large army, but there are fewer troops and no chance of winning at all. Today's Oirat, that is the hegemon of Central Asia. It is estimated that it will not be a problem to mobilize 300,000 or 400,000 horses. The big Han took the initiative to attack and fought away, and there were not enough soldiers to stuff their teeth.

Liu Jun is ready to transfer the Han army of the three towns, 60,000 elites, plus the 20,000 guards and pro-army escorted, and this time 80,000 elite field troops will be dispatched.

In addition, the Mongol princes of the northern desert and the southern desert will be summoned to lead the troops to join the expedition, and Liu Jun is ready to recruit 100,000 Mongolian cavalry to fight. In addition, 60,000 Japanese troops from the two towns were to be conscripted to fight.

In addition, 100,000 local garrison troops in the northwest were transferred to be responsible for transporting ordnance, grain, and grass.

The total force will reach 340,000 horses, and the army will be divided into three lines. The commanders of the three roads have been selected, and the three generals Fu Shan, Liu Yunsheng, and Zheng Zhilong have unified their own roads.

The core strategic thinking of the operation has been formulated, but the specific tactical formulation still needs to be the responsibility of the General Staff Office under the command of Cai Yuan.

"Give you four months to prepare, and all the soldiers and horses will go out of Jiayuguan next summer. Prior to this, the Ministry of War was responsible for preparing food and forage equipment, the General Staff Office was responsible for collecting military information and formulating tactics, and the Fifth Theater was responsible for dispatching troops. ”

The time of the attack was also chosen in the summer, also because the autumn was high and the horses were fat, and the autumn was the most favorable for the nomadic Moxi Mongol tribes. But in the summer, just after a winter and a spring, the cavalry at this time had not yet recovered to its peak.

At the end of the meeting of the Military Aircraft Department, Liu Jun left Fu Shan alone to say a few words.

"You haven't been to see the Taishi since you came back, have you?"

"Back to Your Majesty, yes."

"You are the personal disciple of the Taishi, when the Taishi was wronged, you led hundreds of Shanxi students into Beijing to rescue you. The relationship between your teachers and students is well known, and even if he is now the head of the cabinet, you don't have to worry so much, you should move around or move around. After you leave the palace, go to the Taishi's mansion, meet the Taishi, have a meal with him, and by the way, also talk to the Taishi about the necessity of the western expedition. ”

Fu Shan came to Yuan's Mansion with two jars of Shaoxing daughter Hong, the wine was imperial wine, and the emperor asked him to bring it.

Yuan Jixian was looking at the book in the study, and when he heard that his disciple Qingzhu was coming to visit, he stood at the door of the study wearing a big coat, waiting for Fu Shan to come in.

Fu Shan was carrying two jars of daughter red in one hand and two lotus leaf bags in the other.

He walked in slowly, stood in front of the door and smiled at the teacher.

"The imperial wine given by His Majesty, the real eighteen-year-old daughter red, this is the five-spice sauce beef and dried beef I bought on the road."

Yuan Jixian took it and said to his subordinates, "Take the beef and cut it, put the dipping sauce on a plate, cut off the fragrant dried food, and then take two cups." ”

The family cut up the beef and dried mushrooms and brought them in, and then withdrew.

Yuan Jixian poured wine for his disciple and looked him up and down, "After going out to command the army for a year, I have become thinner and stronger." ”

"Leading soldiers outside is really exercised." Fu Shan smiled.

Looking at his proud protégé, Yuan Jixian was very emotional. "I think back then, when I was a student in Shanxi, I was really lucky to be able to accept you as a disciple."

"Students can worship under Mr.

Master and apprentice, you look at me and me, I look at you, but I don't know where to start for a while, and I can't help but be silent.

"You were originally a student, and since then I recommend you to join the army with Your Majesty, and since then you have always been the right-hand man of Your Majesty's army. Qing Lord, do you plan to quit the military and politics and return to civilian work? ”

"I haven't thought about it yet."

Yuan Jixian said, "I'm fifty-five today, you should be thirty-three this year, right?" ”

"Yes, the disciple is thirty-five years old this year."

Yuan Jixian nodded, "I think it's a pity that you stay in the military world, with your talent, you should be transferred to a civilian position." If you are interested, there is now a suitable position in the Cabinet, and the Secretary of the Ministry of War is vacant for merit, and I think you are very suitable. With your all-round civil and military talents, and your Majesty's brother-in-law, you can serve as the second assistant for one or two terms, and when you have served two terms, you will only be fifty years old at that time, and you can take over the important task of the first assistant. ”

"Thank you, but Your Majesty has given me the position of commander of the Western Expeditionary Army."

"Your Majesty has still decided to go west?"

"Yes, Your Majesty will personally march out of Jiayuguan in April next year, and plans to send 340,000 troops."

There was silence again.

Yuan Jixian sighed, "What Your Majesty has decided, no one can change it, Lord Qing, do you really think that this battle must be fought?" ”

Fu Shan pondered for a moment before replying, "Yes, the Dzungar power is expanding too fast, and it has already annexed Kazakhstan, if he is allowed to destroy Yarkand again, he will definitely invade the east at that time." Now we don't send people first, but we will do it later! ”

"What you said is also true, even if the big man doesn't take the initiative, Dzungar will one day offend my big man. With a hint of luck, it's just an unrealistic fantasy, let's fight, fight early, settle down early. Yuan Jixian finally expressed his approval of the Western Expedition. (To be continued.) )