Just after Chinese New Year's Eve, Jing Yu's fourth year of New Year.

Although it is the beginning of spring around the Chinese New Year, the temperature has not yet warmed up, and the wind from Hebei is blowing, so that the air is still filled with a faint chill.

On the third day of the Lunar New Year, the Constitutional Yuan issued an edict signed by the emperor and undersigned by the Constitutional Yuan, summoning Fan Yongzhi, the Shaanxi transfer envoy, to Henan, and Fan Zhongyan, the governor of Kaifeng Prefecture, to be the Shaanxi Economic and Strategic Envoy, in charge of the military and civil affairs in Guanzhong.

In addition, he also ordered Wang Deyong, the secretary of the Privy Council, to be the main general, and transferred 20,000 elite soldiers from the forbidden army stationed in Gyeonggi Road to the northwest and stationed at the border pass.

Judging from the current intelligence, Li Yuanhao's troops are by no means more than 150,000, at least more than 200,000. The Song army stationed in the northwest border pass has only about 200,000 troops, and it has to be stationed in dozens of cities on the sixth and fourth lines, and the mobility is very poor.

In this case, every time the Song army engaged, there were only tens of thousands of soldiers and horses that could be mobilized. Therefore, the scale of the battles of Sanchuankou, Haoshuichuan, and Dingchuanzhai in history is not large.

The Song army of Sanchuankou had more than 10,000 cavalry, Ren Fu's troops in the battle of Haoshuichuan were less than 20,000, and the battle of Dingchuanzhai was only 9,000.

On the other hand, on Li Yuanhao's side, although the total strength was slightly less than that of the Song army, because it was an active attack and the cavalry was highly mobile, it could reach a scale of 100,000 people every time it was dispatched.

Therefore, Wang Deyong only brought 20,000 forbidden troops over, which was obviously not enough to support the war.

But it can't be helped.

The number of forbidden troops stationed in the tun is large, and it was not difficult to allocate 100,000 troops in the past, but the difficulty is that more than 100,000 troops will be added to the northwest, and the logistical pressure will be very great, and the shortage of food in the border areas will add a great burden to the state treasury.

Therefore, since Li Yuanhao will be proclaimed emperor next year, and the war will not officially begin until the year after tomorrow, it is better to send Fan Zhongyan and Wang De to use them first.

Taking advantage of this time, Fan Zhongyan could rectify the military and civilian affairs in the northwest, build water conservancy facilities on the one hand, and store grain in the rear. On the one hand, in Yeonju, Gyeongju, Weiju and other places, forts were cast, and the enemy was blocked from the country step by step.

These places are the areas of Yan'an, Shaanxi, Qingyang, Gansu and Guyuan, Ningxia, which are the northwest barriers of the Great Song Dynasty, and are also the places where the Great Song Dynasty will face the Battle of Sanchuankou, the Battle of Haoshuichuan, and the Battle of Dingchuanzhai in the future.

As long as these places are held, then war can be expected.

On January 8, the fourth year of Jingyu, after the edict was issued, the Privy Council urgently transferred 20,000 elites from Gyeonggi Road to the west of Bianliang City. Two days later, Fan Zhongyan and Wang Deyong officially set off and set off for the border.

Zhao Zhen originally wanted to send them out of the city in person, but Lu Yijian, Wang Zeng and others dissuaded them and did not allow Zhao Zhen's Luan to go out in person.

The main reason is that he is worried that the Western Xia and Liao spies in the city will get information.

Because under normal circumstances, the rotation of the border army is a common thing, but if the emperor goes to send it, then it means that this operation is very important, and it is obviously a little irrational to go out of the city in person when he knows that the other party has spies in the city.

This will make Li Yuanhao and Yelu Zongzhen vigilant, thinking that the Song Dynasty may make a big move on the border, which will cause unexpected situations and unnecessary trouble.

So in this case, Zhao Zhen could only regret not going, and let Zhao Jun reward the army and send them out of the city.

On January 8, Zhao Jun had already brought the food and wine given by the emperor to the army camp, and personally arranged for the manpower to distribute the fifty yuan of money to each soldier, and at the same time gave them a day off so that they could arrange affairs.

When the army regrouped on January 10, the soldiers spent some of their money on their families, and some simply took it with themselves, and secretly vowed to go home and get married.

At least these soldiers did not know that the future war was about to begin, and they thought that just like in previous years, it was just a normal rotation between the cantonment of the forbidden army and the border army on Gyeonggi Road.

20,000 troops gathered outside the Xicheng, all kinds of baggage, grain and grass, chariots and horses have been prepared, and the government has hired 30,000 people, and the money given is not much, because it is only sent to Xijing of the Great Song Dynasty, that is, Luoyang. Later, Luoyang organized people and sent them to Tongzhou.

In this way, the relay is station by station, and the people from all over the country only need to send three or four hundred miles, and they can go back and forth in more than ten days. The government will be able to save a certain amount of finance, and the people will be able to consume less people's manpower, so as to prepare for the upcoming spring ploughing.

In the early morning of the 10th, when the sky was just dawning, Zhao Jun's carriage slowly left Wanshengmen and arrived at the western suburbs of Bianliang.

The western suburbs are a wilderness, with farmland, mountains, villages, and rivers, and the water of the Bianhe River flows gently outside the city and into Tokyo.

Fan Zhongyan and Wang Deyong were riding on horseback, and the middle and lower-ranking officers below were scolding and directing the soldiers to line up, because they had never lined up before, so Wang Deyong had to arrange their marching positions first and re-send the formation, otherwise it would be a mess.

When the sun had not yet risen, Zhao Jun, Lu Yijian, and Wang Zeng and their convoys slowly drove over. This time, Lu Yijian had to come, because on the surface, it was Fan Zhongyan recommended by Lu Yijian, and it was also to eliminate the influence of Fan Zhongyan's hundreds of official drawings at the beginning.

At this moment, Zhao Jun got down from the carriage, and by the gray light between heaven and earth, he couldn't help frowning when he saw the military formation in the distance that was still in a slightly chaotic arrangement.

"I've seen the prefect and the same knowledge!"

Fan Zhongyan and Wang Deyong came over to greet them, and then dismounted and saluted them.

Zhao Jun nodded slightly and said, "You don't have to be polite. ”

And they looked up.

Lu Yijian said in a deep voice: "The war in the northwest is approaching, Zhao Yuanhao's thief heart is not dead, this time the two of them went on the expedition, and they were deeply trusted by His Majesty, so please be sure to do your best." ”

"Yes."

The two bowed again.

Although they are also in high positions, and Fan Zhongyan is still an alternate acquaintance of the Political Yuan, comparable to the deputy prime minister, and concurrently serves as the Shaanxi Economic and Strategic Envoy, and is a proper military and political leader in Shaanxi.

But obviously, Lu Yijian and they are prime ministers after all, and their status is much higher than them, so they are not as casual as in the Constitutional Yuan now.

Lu Yijian was about to speak, but Zhao Jun waved his hand and said, "Okay, I won't say much about the scene." ”

As he spoke, he said to the two of them with a serious face: "The Great Song military system has led to the fact that the chief general has no contact with the officers and soldiers below at all, and the command is seriously out of balance, which is an extremely important issue, you can see for yourself." ”

Fan Zhongyan also glanced back, Wang Deyong didn't even look back, but said in a solemn tone: "The lesson of the prefect is that the lower officials must train these soldiers well. ”

"Hmm."

Zhao Jun was quite satisfied with his serious and pragmatic attitude, and said: "After going to the northwest, you don't have to worry about the affairs of the Privy Council in charge of military and political affairs. ”

"Yes."

Fan Zhongyan and Wang Deyong both responded.

Zhao Jun walked in front, he has become more and more like a prime minister at the moment, often does not smile, and rarely tells jokes about the Great Song Dynasty.

Although the jokes of the Great Song Dynasty are ironic, it is not a good thing that Zhao Zhen and them can't get off the stage.

The great cause of CPU still has to be both offensive and defensive, and it is most appropriate to play a stick and give a date.

Several people came all the way to the pavilion, the Linchuan Pavilion outside the west city of Bianliang, and the pavilion was next to the Bianhe River.

Although it was the beginning of spring, the weather was slightly cold, and the gentle north wind blew, blowing everyone's wide robe cuffs to hunt.

Everyone walked into the pavilion, and outside was Di Qing with his battalion of men and horses, guarding the entire pavilion.

Zhao Jun noticed that Di Qing was also riding on horseback, and he was still the commander of the battalion, and he was not promoted.

Historically, Di Qing was also transferred to the northwest this year, as the commander of Yanzhou, and belonged to the battalion commander, with three or four hundred men under his command.

But Di Qing was able to fight, itself relying on his heroic performance among the middle and lower-level grassroots officers.

If he is rashly promoted, he will not be directly a commander without the combat experience of a grassroots officer, which is not a good thing.

"Hanchen."

Zhao Jun beckoned to him and motioned for him to come over.

Di Qing was stunned for a moment, then hurriedly turned over and dismounted, and trotted all the way.

"Zhiyuan."

He said respectfully.

"Just listen to it."

Zhao Jun said.

"Yes."

Di Qing stood aside.

Zhao Jun walked into the hall, and there was a stone table in the pavilion.

He took out the map of the northwest, looked around, and said to Fan Zhongyan: "Old Fan, do you remember what I said? ”

"Yes."

Fan Zhongyan nodded.

Zhao Jun had already said about the problems of the war between Song and Xia, such as the long-term peace, lax armaments, corrupt military system, unclear thinking, lack of mobility, strategic passivity, and so on.

Since Wang Deyong and Di Qing were also present, the reasons for these failures will not be mentioned.

Zhao Jun pointed to the map above and said: "Li Yuanhao is about to establish a country, and the war between the two sides is inevitable, I have already analyzed the disadvantages between us, so I won't go into details, this time I will talk about the advantages." ”

"Advantage?"

Everyone looked at each other, this issue had actually been discussed repeatedly before, and the advantages were obvious, first, they were prepared in advance and prepared. The second is the advantage of troops, which can be dispatched in advance.

Is there any other advantage now?

"I have repeatedly looked at the terrain and found that our advantage lies in the geographical advantage, on the side of the Hexi Corridor in the north, the Qilian Mountains separate the Western Xia, the Great Song Dynasty, and Tubo; Between the Yellow River and the Hexi Corridor is a vast desert; The Liupan Mountains and Hengshan Mountains in the south form the Northern Shaanxi Mountain Range, separating the Guanzhong Plain from the sand moraine in northern Shaanxi. ”

Zhao Jun drew a circle on the map and said: "Therefore, the use of troops between my Great Song Dynasty and Western Xia should be carried out around the four regions of Yanzhou, Qingzhou, Weizhou and Xizhou. Because if you fight somewhere else, you have to climb a series of mountains and deserts, which is too expensive and efficient. ”

"Hmm."

Fan Zhongyan nodded slightly, he had never actually been to the northwest, but in recent months, he had repeatedly studied the map of the northwest, and he had also asked the generals who had been stationed in the northwest to inquire about the situation, so he naturally knew this aspect.

Zhao Jun had said before that the three battles with Western Xia had all taken place in this area.

For example, the Battle of Sanchuankou took place in Yan'an Prefecture, Yanzhou, west of Yan'an City in later generations. The Battle of Haoshuichuan took place in the Anhua area of Weizhou, northwest of Longde County, Ningxia. The battle of Dingchuan Village was in Zhenrong in the north of Weizhou, and Guyuan in Ningxia in later generations.

The north of here is the Ningxia Plain, that is, the area of Yinchuan City in the later generations, an endless plain area, and the south is backed by the high slope of loess, which is a hilly and mountainous area, which is easy to defend and difficult to attack.

Judging from the strategic layout of the Song Dynasty, the deployment in this area is a bit like the nine-sided defense system of the Ming Dynasty and the Guanningjin defense line.

Take advantage of the fort defense and adopt a defensive posture to prevent the northern nomads from moving south.

Zhao Jun said in a deep voice: "Since we occupy high slopes and hills and guard various passes, it is obviously impossible for them to complete the strategic purpose of Kouluo Pass, and logistics must not be able to keep up, so the best way is actually to fight a defensive counterattack." ”

"Yes, that's exactly what we were talking about."

Fan Zhongyan said.

They had studied the Northwest strategy many times before, and finally clarified the way to play the defensive counterattack.

But at this moment, Zhao Jun said: "This strategic idea is no problem, but have you noticed a point, precisely because we occupy mountainous and hilly terrain, the lone army of Western Xia can't keep up with the logistics in depth, and can only use mobility to engage in sneak attacks, which can't shake the foundation of our Shaanxi, but for us, isn't it the other way around?" ”

"What do you mean?"

Wang Deyong looked at the other party in surprise, he had already vaguely guessed Zhao Jun's intentions.

"Offense is the best defense!"

Zhao Jun said categorically: "Our terrain advantage is easy to attack and easy to defend, retreat back to the pass, and attack outside can go straight to the grasslands of Western Xia, if I have an elite cavalry in the Great Song Dynasty, with enough dry food for ten days, while Li Yuanhao's army is going south, go north to raid the various party tribes, it will definitely make Li Yuanhao suffer heavy losses!" ”

Take the initiative?

Fan Zhongyan was stunned for a moment, and Lu Yijian, Wang Zeng and others around him were also stunned.

This is something that has never happened since Taizong.

Because Zhao Guangyi lost the battle of Yongxi's Northern Expedition, the donkey cart fled, and the Great Song Dynasty never dared to take the initiative to attack again.

The current situation in Western Xia is through Li Yuanhao's hard work, and the military strength of Western Xia is very strong.

But Fan Zhongyan didn't think that Zhao Jun was a scholar, so he still nodded and said: "After going to the northwest, the lower officials will carefully investigate the terrain to see if they can gather a group of elite cavalry to complete the instructions of the prefect." ”

"I don't know how to command remotely, I'm just giving you a suggestion, hate me The Great Song Dynasty doesn't have Huo Huqi, and eight hundred people can run rampant in Mobei!"

Zhao Jun sighed, and then looked at everyone: "But I still say that, it's not wise to be beaten passively." Sometimes taking the initiative to attack is also a strategy, but the prerequisite is that we must do a good job of reconnaissance and intelligence, not blindly, and the significance of guerrilla tactics lies in using mobility and intelligence to attack them unprepared, and this is also the method that Li Yuanhao will use! ”

Hate me that the Great Song Dynasty doesn't have Huo Hussar?

The speaker has no intention, but the listener has a heart.

Di Qing next to him suddenly remembered the mysteries of the art of war that Zhao Jun had taught him, and he thought deeply for a while.

I see.

At the beginning, the prefect passed on his own guerrilla warfare methods, and this was for this reason.

Di Qing felt that he had a heavy responsibility for a while, and the prefect actually compared him to Huo Hussar, and he felt the pressure coming to his face.

Soon the hour was approaching.

Seeing that it was not early, Zhao Jun would not repeat it more, what should have been said had already been said.

The Great Song Dynasty blindly and passively being beaten would only fuel Li Yuanhao's arrogance, and he hoped that Fan Zhongyan would be able to achieve certain results in the northwest, not just to repel the invading enemy.

But it is a pity that with the armament situation of the Song Dynasty, it is obviously difficult to achieve the effect of Huo Qu's illness in the Han Dynasty.

So Zhao Jun can only mention it.

Whether it can be achieved depends on whether Fan Zhongyan can keenly seize the opportunity.

I hope Lao Fan can succeed.

Zhao Jun waved goodbye to everyone, and gave wine before leaving, looking at the figure of the army in the distance, he thought to himself.

(End of chapter)