Everyone around was thinking quietly, but Zhao Pu drank tea indifferently, very slowly.

"Even if our army won ninety-nine battles, as long as it lost once, the whole army was defeated, facing the danger of losing territory and even destroying the country; However, the Liao Kingdom, the Western Xia, and the current Jin Kingdom, even if they are defeated ninety-nine times, they will not break their muscles and bones, but as long as they win once, it will be a reparation, a loss of land, or even the destruction of the country! ”

This deafening sentence shook the hearts of the planters like a morning bell and a dusk drum.

Since the establishment of the Song Dynasty, there has been no strong iron cavalry organized until now, and some are only horse armies.

Of course, there are reasons for the loss of grassland, but this is only one of the insignificant, and there are many reasons why it has been difficult to form an iron horse.

A powerful Iron Rider that requires at least thirty thousand to be effective. Thirty thousand iron horses, considering the wear and tear of war horses, at least 50,000 war horses are needed. The Iron Cavalry is a gold-swallowing beast, and the cost of raising one cavalry is equal to the cost of ten infantry, and the cost of raising 30,000 Iron Cavalry is equal to the cost of 300,000 infantry.

For the Song Dynasty, which had always been in a state of financial tension, it was natural that it could not conjure up money out of thin air, but could only cut a part of the infantry expenditure and attribute it to the cavalry, which would inevitably cause insufficient infantry expenses and attract the opposition of most of the generals in the army. This is one of the important reasons against the formation of the Iron Cavalry.

And the newly formed iron cavalry may not be able to compare with the Liao State and the Jin State Iron Cavalry in terms of combat power, which is also one of the important reasons for opposing the formation of the iron cavalry.

The most important reason for opposing the formation of the Iron Cavalry is that the formation of the Iron Cavalry is seriously contrary to the national policy of the Great Song Dynasty, "strong cadres and weak branches".

Once the Iron Cavalry is formed, the Iron Cavalry will inevitably be placed on the frontier, which will seriously threaten the authority of the central government. The national policy of the Great Song Dynasty was that the forbidden army near Bianliang had an absolute advantage over the border army, and even if the border army rebelled, it could be easily suppressed. However, the appearance of the iron cavalry seriously broke the balance between the central forbidden army and the border army, making it difficult for Bianliang to form an absolute advantage over the frontier.

In the past, the division has not paid much attention to the iron cavalry, without the iron cavalry, the Great Song Dynasty still resisted the attack of the Liao army and resisted the invasion of the Western Xia. But with Zhao Pu's words, the importance of the iron horse was realized unprecedentedly among the breeders.

The infantry is related to the survival of the Great Song Dynasty; And the iron horse is related to whether the Great Song Dynasty is doing well or not.

Without strong infantry, the Great Song Dynasty would have perished; Without a powerful iron horse, the Great Song Dynasty would inevitably have a hard time.

"This battle is extremely important, and it can be said that it is related to the fortunes of the country. If this battle is lost, Taiyuan will inevitably be lost, and then the reinforcements from all walks of life will also be devastated. And it's even more dangerous than then. When the Wuhu was chaotic, it was many grassland peoples competing for the Central Plains, Qiang, Di, Xianbei and other fighting constantly, internal friction continued, and it was difficult to work together to destroy the Jin Kingdom, so the Sima clan had a chance to breathe; However, this time it was only the Jurchen invasion of the Central Plains, the unprecedented cohesion of forces, and the joint efforts to destroy the Song Dynasty, our dynasty may not have the luck of the Sima clan's southern crossing. ”

"This battle must be fought a war of annihilation, if it is a half-dead defeat war, there is simply no need to live, wipe the neck, and save a waste of food. If it is a decisive battle in the grassland, even if the Jin army is defeated, it will be another defeat battle. But the Jurchens, who came to the east of the river without dying, the mountains and rivers in the east of the river are mostly mountainous, and the advantages of the iron cavalry are difficult to play, as long as they are taken by surprise and attack decisively and quickly, the Jin army will be destroyed! ”

In the end, Zhao Pu concluded that these were the main points he said.

After finishing speaking, Zhao Pu returned to the tent, covered the quilt and began to sleep.

This night, Zhao Pu had slept soundly, like a dead pig, but many officers had insomnia, and the breeders were also insomnia, and it was difficult to sleep for a long time.

…………

Ideological education is a long-term and arduous task, and relying on shortcomings to surprise attacks will not play a big role at all.

And Zhao Pu didn't expect that in just a few days, he would completely transform the thinking of this group of people, but at least he would leave in their minds the shadow of being loyal to the monarch and serving the country, swearing to kill Hu Lu, and driving away the thoughts of mercenary in their heads, worshipping money first, and messing around.

These 8,000 elite soldiers, selected from 80,000 people, have relatively high quality and relatively strong combat effectiveness, and in just ten days, they have trained the Mandarin Duck Formation a little bit, although it is still a big difference compared to the famous Qi family army in history, but it can be improvised.

In the continuous battle, the Mandarin Duck Formation also showed terrifying power, with a Mandarin Duck Formation of 120 people, against the Song army of more than 500 people, and finally won a complete victory.

"If there is still half a year to go, the power of the Mandarin Duck Array will definitely go to a higher level!" The planter sighed secretly, it was still a short time, and there was too little time left for them, but Taiyuan was in a dangerous moment and had to go out to the army.

Ten days later the team departed.

It's just that at the moment of sending troops, there was a disagreement with Zhao Pu in the seed division.

On the map of Hedong, the seed master said his plan: "Your Highness, I led the main army of 70,000 people, set out from the south, entered the Jinzhong Plain, and rescued Taiyuan from Taigu, while you led the strange soldiers, waiting for the opportunity to move, ambushing the Jin army." ”

"No, you're looking for death!" Zhao Pu immediately stopped, "The general is a lone army, there is no sufficient food and grass, no reinforcements, don't look at 70,000, in the eyes of the Jin army, it is just a snack." Although these 70,000 troops are bait, they should not be eaten like this. ”

"It can only be so, even if I die, I have to go, I am getting old, I am about to enter the coffin, and I don't want to get a reputation for fearing the enemy and supporting the army and respecting myself." The planter sighed, "Your bait plan is likely to succeed, it's all up to you!" ”

"I will, but whoever survives in the end depends on luck. In war, we advocate the law of the jungle, and if we lack strength, we must be mentally prepared for death. The more sweat on the training ground, the less blood on the battlefield. Since they are on the training ground and sweat less, they must be mentally prepared to bleed to death! Zhao Pu said.

The Shaanxi army is not all elite, in fact, the Shaanxi army is a mixture of dragons and snakes, giving birth to Han Shizhong, Liu Shiguang and other famous anti-Jin generals, but also gave birth to many generals who surrendered to the Jin State, not every general is loyal and patriotic, and a large part of them have embarked on the road of no return.

Keep the elite, and get rid of the dregs!

"I will lead 70,000 regular troops to set off, even if I can't defeat the Jin army, I can also make fighters for the other two Song armies!" The middle way of the planter.

Zhao Pu said: "I hope so!" ”

But he is really not optimistic about the battle of Taiyuan this time.

"Generals are good at commanding troops, but they are not good at figuring out people's hearts. If you can't do it, don't force it. Where there is life, there is hope! Zhao Pu finally admonished.

The seed master said: "I have followed my brother to fight for decades, and it is not so easy to die!" “

In the end, the troops were divided.

The Song army was divided into two teams, a team of more than 70,000 marched towards Taiyuan with great fanfare, led by Zhongquan, the seed division; One is only 8,000 people, led by Zhao Pu, and assisted by the deputy general Wang Yan.

Looking at the direction of the departing planter, Zhao Pu's heart was sour.

Several generations of the family have been loyal to the country, and there are many battlefields that have been killed, and now the brothers in the planters are all over seventy years old, and they are already old, and they should have been retired at home, but the Jin army coerced Bianliang, and the whole dynasty was up and down, and they could not find a general, so their brothers had to go out of the mountain and finally rescue Bianliang.

At the moment when Zhao Pu left Bianliang, the seed master Dao was already sick, and the continuous fierce battles had exhausted too much of his vitality, and he was most likely to get sick at the turn of spring and summer, and the seed master was sick, and it seemed that he was not far from death. As a result, the heavy task of rescuing Taiyuan fell on the shoulders of the planters.

The seed master is inferior to his brother in terms of strategy and use of troops, but he still resolutely accepts this inevitable rescue battle.

Along the way, he was taught in many ways by the planters, so that he changed from a military illiterate and a scholar who talked about soldiers on paper to a soldier who was familiar with military affairs and had foresight. And this time, he was even more willing to be a bait, leading an army of 70,000 to rescue Taiyuan and putting himself to death.

"Let's go!"

Leading 8,000 elite soldiers, Zhao Pu advanced towards another road. From today onwards, he will truly take charge of the army alone and go to the battlefield of resistance to Jin.