When the time came to the spring of March, the Crouching Tiger City was noisy for almost a month, and finally returned to peace.

The generals who rushed back to Bingzhou from all sides to take part in the major activities have already returned to their respective units one after another, preparing to embark on a new journey; after receiving the news that the "Bingzhou Peasants, Soldiers, Merchants and Gold Stores" are about to open, the merchants of various counties and counties who have rushed to Crouching Tiger City to join in the excitement have lost their leisure and elegance and have gone to various places to seize the opportunity and the market; the farmer's family, who had been idle for half a year, went down to the fields with their ploughing oxen and rushed to cultivate in the season, looking forward to filling their barns with the end of the year.

The lively and lively time is always beautiful and short, just like life, there are always a few ups and downs, and more often it is dull and uneventful. Although the song has come to an end and the people have dispersed, people from all walks of life in Bingzhou have the desire and expectation for a happy life in their hearts, and they have not lived as hard as before.

As several army commanders returned to their respective stations, several of Zhao Xing's think tanks were exchanged back to Crouching Tiger City, and the matter of killing the enemy before the battle was handed over to the military generals, and it was naturally the scribes who planned for the long term.

After the withdrawal of the various coalition forces of the imperial court this time, it was certainly impossible to gather such a large number of troops to besiege the state again for a period of time, but the state expanded the original standing 100,000 regular troops to as much as 180,000 in one fell swoop, which was naturally useful and reasonable.

In a small conference room in the Zhenbei General's Mansion, Zhao Xing, Jia Xu, Tian Feng, Chen Gong, Guo Jia, Qin Yilu, Xu Yan, Wang Kai and others discussed the development strategy and expansion direction of the state in the future.

Zhao Xing spoke first: "With the current strength of Bingzhou, mobilize 50,000 to 80,000 troops, and you can successfully take Jizhou or Liangzhou." But now, except for the Xiliang Dong Zhuoyuan's serious injury, the rest of the forces, including the three-way army of the imperial court, still retain their strength, once we take the initiative to provoke a war, the forces of several parties will unite again, making it difficult for us to take care of it. ”

"What Guochang said is very much, although our losses in this war of annexing states are smaller than those of the coalition army, but the consumption of money and food is huge, and it is difficult to cope with too huge a conquest. If one side is forcibly dispatched, it will hurt the vitality and foundation of the annexed state, which is not conducive to long-term development. Chen Gong followed Zhao Xing's words and analyzed.

"My opinion is that for the time being, the forces of the east and the west should not be moved, and that we might as well look to the north. Although the north is mostly a bitter cold land and poor in terms of property, now that Xianbei has been defeated, and the various tribes have no big leaders, they are in chaos, and it is a good time to completely solve the problems in the north. Guo Jia made his position and attitude clear.

"The current development of Bingzhou and the strength of the Zhenbei Army are based on the continuous promotion and application of various new technologies. We want to stay ahead of the curve and outperform other states by five to ten years in some of the key technologies and institutions. If this continues, the states will only get richer and richer, leaving the other states far behind. Although Youzhou is located in a remote place in the northeast, it is rich in coal, iron ore and copper ore. Tian Feng, who is familiar with the situation in the Northeast, said.

Mr. Yuan Hao is reasonable. This time, the state was besieged, and Youzhou Mu never participated from beginning to end, and secretly continued to maintain business contacts with us. Some time ago, Hitian Yue took his soldiers into Youzhou Dai County to carry out activities, and had a hot fight with the Youzhou County soldiers guarding the Macheng area, Liu Dai must have already learned about it, but he pretended to be deaf, obviously unwilling to offend Yu Bingzhou. If we pull Liu Dai over in private, we can send troops to Yuyang and crusade against Gongsun Zhan, who has injured his vitality, and Youzhou can come into our hands. Wang Kai continued Tian Feng's words and analyzed downward.

"Since Liu Dai turned a blind eye, why don't we take this opportunity to raid Danhan Mountain from the area of Macheng and drive the hidden danger of Bugendu back to the western Liaoning region as soon as possible!" Xu Yan was inspired by Tian Feng and also expressed his opinion.

Jia Xu, who had been silent, said at this time: "Your opinions have their own emphasis, and if you plan carefully, you can get things done." I thought that I might as well divide the troops into two or three routes, all the way north to the desert, taking advantage of the gradual warmer weather, to completely drive the Xianbei people from the north to the west; all the way to raid Danhan Mountain, and drive Bugendu back to the western Liaoning region, this way the army continued to chase under the banner of pursuit, chased to the north of Yuyang County in one breath, and then suddenly turned around and went south, and exterminated Gongsun Zan by the way. If the troops are divided into three routes, one of the two routes will be divided, and they will take over Liu Dai and directly rush to the Yuyang area. ”

"I wonder how many armies can be supported by the strategic reserves of the state now?" Zhao Xing turned his head and asked Qin Yilu.

"General Qiyu, the reserves of the state are relatively comfortable to support the war of the two armies for half a year, and if you support the war of the three armies for half a year, you will be a little nervous......" Qin Yilu thought for a moment and replied cautiously to Zhao Xing.

After listening to Qin Yilu's report, Zhao Xing frowned, feeling that the reserves that had been accumulated for many years had been consumed by a big war, and now it made him a little afraid.

"The Zhenbei Army is taking the route of strengthening the army, and if there is no adequate and reliable logistics support, it will directly affect the combat strength. Now that the state has gone through a big war, it is also scarred, and it is not appropriate to have a multi-way war. What I mean is that the affairs of the outside and the inside of the country will be spread out at the same time, and the remnants of Xianbei in the north must be cleared out at the present favorable opportunity; the Bugendu that occupies Danhan Mountain will let him live happily for a while; as for Liu Dai of Youzhou, as soon as the king of Jin is officially entitled, he must be brought over as soon as possible, so that all kinds of idle resources in the state can be revitalized as soon as possible. ”

"Now that the war has been peaceful, it is the time when the people's minds are stable, and it is indeed not appropriate to use troops everywhere. It's better to wait for the other states to attack each other, and then we can take advantage of the situation. Of course, because the use of troops in the north of Bingzhou does not involve Han Chinese, and it is far away from the southern states, even if it overturns, it will not attract the attention of all forces. Chen Gong, who has always liked to seek stability, continued to insist on his opinion of doing a good job in internal development first, and then raising troops to crusade against other states and counties.

After listening to Chen Gong's opinion, Zhao Xing nodded in agreement, and then said calmly: "I already understand Mr. Gongtai's meaning. With the current situation of merging states, it is indeed not appropriate to rush forward, but it is better to develop internal affairs with peace of mind and continue to accumulate strength. If the situation allows and the cost is small, we can also make some expansions appropriately, such as fighting north all the way to Beihai, pulling Liu Dai to the northeast, encroaching on Beidi County to the northwest, and finally bordering Ma Teng. ”

After careful analysis and discussion by everyone, Zhao Xing finally set the general direction of the synchronization of the outside and the inside, and then discussed the matters such as the king of Jin being crowned, and deployed and transferred several troops and horses that were going to be dispatched, and it was not over until the second half of the night.

Now that the general trend of merging states has been achieved, it is up to Zhao Xing to make the final decision on whether to adopt a storm-style invasion and expansion, or to adopt a steady and gradual advance. Fortunately, Zhao Xing's idea of becoming emperor was not so eager, and he finally chose a more compromise path, ready to reach the peak of power naturally.