"Bastard thing!" Zhao Yan slapped the letter he received on the table, and then cursed loudly, with the difference in identity and status, he has rarely scolded like this in the past few years, but he couldn't help but scold when he received the news today.

"Third brother, don't be too angry, Lu Huiqing did this is also something we expected, it was with this suggestion to use troops to the Liao State that he deceived His Majesty's favor, and this time he brought it up again, it is nothing more than guessing His Majesty's thoughts, and he wants to exchange this for greater rights!" At this time, Wang Shiyue also opened his mouth to persuade and explain.

Not long after Lu Huiqing's visit to the prime minister, he finally proposed to Zhao Ji to send troops to Liao again, although this matter was resolutely opposed by Sima Guang and others, but Zhao Ji has been looking forward to this matter for a long time, plus after more than a year of recuperation, he feels that the Great Song Dynasty has recovered from the previous drought, and the new law cannot be implemented for the time being, so he wants to increase his prestige by winning a foreign war, so with his secret support, coupled with the efforts of Lu Huiqing and others, As a result, the imperial court finally passed this resolution, and now the Great Song Dynasty is in intense preparations, of course, this news is still in a state of secrecy, except for some important ministers, the outside world has not heard the slightest rumor at all.

"No, I have to write another letter to my eldest brother to persuade him, although the country has now recovered some strength, but the harm caused by the change is far from calming, if you move troops to Liao at this time, the consequences are really unpredictable, why is the eldest brother so confused!" Zhao Yan was also very anxious at this time, and after speaking, he was ready to sit down and write a letter to Zhao Yan.

"Third brother, I think that even if you want to write a letter to Your Majesty, you should not directly oppose the use of troops against the Liao State, after all, you also understand Your Majesty's temper, and he will definitely not listen to the persuasion of others now. If your words are too intense, you may even arouse His Majesty's disgust! At this time, Xu Yuan, who had not spoken, suddenly said.

"That's true, Your Majesty has been getting older over the years, and your temper is also a little stubborn, although the third brother you have a deep relationship with Your Majesty, but there are some places that should not be too direct!" At this time, Wang Shiyue also spoke. In fact, he and Xu Yuan both thought that even if Zhao Yan returned to the capital to persuade Zhao Ji in person now, I am afraid it would be difficult for Zhao Yan to change his mind, because they found from Zhao Ji's style of acting in the past few years that the other party's character has become more and more stubborn, and it is difficult to listen to the persuasion of others.

Hearing the words of the two brothers-in-law, Zhao Yan couldn't help but be stunned for a moment, and then showed a contemplative expression, he and Zhao Yan did have a deep relationship, but he has been staying here in Guangzhou in the past few years. And he has military power and finances in his hands, he has long heard that some people in the court have a lot of complaints about him, although Zhao Ji has never said anything, and he is also responsive to his requests, but he has to admit that after several years of separation, the relationship between their brothers is definitely not as good as before, so Xu Yuan and Wang Shiyue persuaded him to speak tactfully for his sake.

Thinking of the above this causes. Zhao Yan also nodded and said to Xu Yuan and the others: "I understand, I will pay attention when I write a letter to my eldest brother." It's just that now is really not a good time to use troops against Liao, and I'm not optimistic about it, it seems that we must also be ready! ”

Xu Yuan and Wang Shiyue both knew that as early as when Lu Huiqing first persuaded Zhao Ji to use troops against the Liao State, Zhao Yan had already begun to make some preparations, of course, if Zhao Ji could successfully defeat the Liao State, these preparations would definitely not be needed. But if it doesn't go well, then Zhao Yan's preparations may save the foundation of the Great Song Dynasty.

It is precisely because of this that Xu Yuan and Wang Shiyue also stayed very cautiously to discuss with Zhao Yan, and discussed a way to deal with the next possible situation, as far as possible. After finally sending them away, Zhao Yan sat down and wrote a letter to Zhao Xu, which did not directly express his attitude towards sending troops to Liao, but only reminded Zhao Yan that the country is not stable now, if it is to send troops to Liao, it is good to have a shorter time, but if it is not effective, I am afraid it will only make the domestic situation worse, so please Zhao Ji must plan well in advance, and do not be impatient, etc.

In the vertical arch hall of the palace in the capital, Zhao Ji has been very excited these days, because the resolution on the dispatch of troops to the Liao State has finally been passed, although Sima Guang and others are still very stubbornly opposed, but with the support of Lu Huiqing and others, this matter has become a foregone conclusion, and the next thing is to think about how to use troops against the Liao State.

Speaking of using troops, Zhao Ji asked himself no worse than anyone else, when the battle of destroying Xia was the nominal commander, of course, the specific use of troops to fight the war was in charge of Yang Wenguang, but he was not a layman, at least the planning of the entire war, as well as the scheduling of various materials later, etc., he was also involved, so for this attack on Liao, he also planned to personally formulate a plan to attack Liao.

Of course, before making a plan, it is necessary to determine the goal of this attack on Liao, whether to completely destroy Liao or just recover Yanyun, emotionally speaking, Zhao Ji naturally hopes to destroy Liao in one fell swoop, so that there is no strong enemy in the north of the Great Song Dynasty, but unfortunately he also knows that Liao is not Western Xia, even if the national strength of Liao declines, it is definitely not comparable to Western Xia, with the current strength of the Great Song Dynasty, it is simply wishful thinking to destroy Liao in one fell swoop, so Zhao Ji set himself the goal of recovering the land of Yanyun, Accomplish the feat that Emperor Taizong failed to accomplish at the beginning.

The land of Yanyun is also known as the sixteen states of Yanyun, in order to be able to get the support of the Liao State, the famous emperor Shi Jingqi gave the sixteen states of Yanyun and the countless Han people living here to the Liao State. Speaking of Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures has always been a dangerous place, the terrain is easy to defend and difficult to attack, there are many famous checkpoints, here has always been the Central Plains Dynasty to resist the northern Hu people's natural barrier, but since this place was occupied by the Liao State, the Central Plains Dynasty is like losing the strongest armor, the Liao army can go south at any time to plunder, which also makes the Liao people have always regarded the Central Plains Dynasty as their prey psychologically, and they can go south to hunt at any time when they are hungry.

It is precisely because of the above reasons that the Central Plains Dynasty has always wanted to recover the land of Yanyun, for example, in the Later Zhou period before the Northern Song Dynasty, Chai Rong of the Later Zhou Dynasty, that is, the eldest brother of Zhao Kuangyin, Taizu of the Song Dynasty, he wanted to recover Yanyun, and launched an attack on the Liao State in the sixth year of Xiande, and all the way was like a bamboo, and it took a month to recover the three passes of Ying, Mo and Ning, as well as the three passes of Yijin Pass, Waqiao Pass and Sikou Pass. Chai Rong was seriously ill, and finally had to withdraw from the army, and finally died of illness in Kaifeng, and it was Chai Rong's untimely death that allowed Zhao Kuangyin to take advantage of the loophole and seize the rivers and mountains of the Later Zhou Dynasty to establish the Great Song Dynasty.

However, although the Central Plains Dynasty changed dynasties, Zhao Kuangyin did not forget to recover Yanyun after the establishment of the country, and even he set up a "sealed pile library" in the inner library, and the money stored in it was prepared for the recovery of Yanyun, but unfortunately he died before he could use it, and later Zhao Guangyi succeeded to the throne, and finally used the money left by his brother to launch a war against Liao, but unfortunately Zhao Guangyi is a good hand at playing conspiracy and tricks, but he is far inferior to his eldest brother in the war, let alone compared with Chai Rong, and was defeated by Liao, he was not only hit by an arrow, And he fled back in a donkey cart, which can be said to be extremely humiliating, and later there were constant wars between the two countries, but the Great Song Dynasty won fewer victories and more defeats, and was no longer able to recover the land of Yanyun.

The Great Song Dynasty does not have the strength to recover Yanyun, but it is not that they don't want to, in fact, every emperor of the Great Song Dynasty dreams of recovering Yanyun, after all, Yanyun does not belong to the Great Song Dynasty for a day, then the Liao State is like a machete hanging over the head of the Great Song Dynasty, which may fall at any time, this feeling of handing over your life to others is not very pleasant, but since the defeat of Zhao Guangyi, the Great Song Dynasty has been in a weak position in terms of force, and later after the betrayal of Western Xia, let alone what to recover Yanyun.

However, this situation finally changed with Zhao Yan's crossing, Zhao Shu's national strength grew rapidly during his reign, and he destroyed the Western Xia's henchmen, but that battle also made the Great Song Dynasty consume a lot, and it was not Zhao Ji who was the emperor at that time, so he did not immediately start against the Liao State, and after Zhao Ji ascended the throne, he was busy changing the law, and wanted to get rid of the domestic malpractices and crush the Liao State with an absolute advantage, but unfortunately the change failed, but Zhao Ji was not reconciled, maybe in his opinion, even if it was the current national strength of the Great Song Dynasty, It also has a great advantage over the Liao State, which is one of the reasons why he decided to start a war against Liao.

The strategic goal is determined, and the next thing is to launch some details and preparations for the war, such as which army is the main force when launching an attack, the Western Army was originally the strongest combat force in the Great Song Dynasty Forbidden Army, but after the pacification of the Western Xia, the Western Army was scattered and stationed there, and the Western Regions were also a little uncalm, so a large number of troops were needed to guard the Western Xinjiang, which also made the Western Army not much able to use troops.

However, although the Western Army has been dragged down, the Hebei Army has been rebuilt, after several years of training, it is also a very strong army, plus there are firearms to help, so Zhao Ji thinks that only the Hebei Army is enough to take on the heavy task of attacking the Liao State, and then let the Western Army harass the Liao State from the other side, contain the strength of the Liao State, and then attack the land of Yanyun from the front with the Hebei Army, and it will not take long to recover the homeland.

Just when Zhao Yan was excitedly formulating a plan to attack Liao, the letter sent by Zhao Yan from Guangzhou was finally delivered to Zhao Xu, and Zhao Yan was also very happy after reading Zhao Yan's letter, because Zhao Yan did not directly persuade him to give up attacking Liao, but only reminded him of the risk of attacking Liao, which in Zhao Yan's view, Zhao Yan's non-objection was actually a kind of acquiescence. (To be continued......)