Wende Palace, East Warm Pavilion.

This can probably be regarded as Li Duan's imperial study, and occasionally he will summon ministers here, of course, only a few important ministers have this qualification.

Compared with those important ministers who are at least over forty years old, Lu Shen's age is easily envied.

Although Lu Shizhou, the great eunuch who walked in front and led the way, would not be jealous of Lu Shen, he could not help but feel a little emotional, when he was in his early twenties, he was just a small yellow door in the palace who specialized in running errands, and Lu Shen was already a top martial artist who could enter the Dongnuan Pavilion and discuss state affairs with the Son of Heaven.

In the warm pavilion, Li Duan stood in front of the table and splashed ink, and it could be seen from the handwriting on the paper that he was in a good mood.

There was a young man standing next to him, it was the second prince and the prime minister, Li Zongben.

"How about coming and seeing my words?"

Li Duan looked up at Lu Shen, and a gentle smile appeared on his slightly emaciated face.

Lu Shen saluted according to the rules, then walked into the imperial case and looked at the handwriting on the paper, looked at it for a moment and said: "Your Majesty, the minister doesn't have much ink in his stomach, and he doesn't know anything about calligraphy. In the minister's opinion, His Majesty's character posture is elegant and domineering, which is much stronger than the minister's words. ”

"Everyone in the world says that Lu Shen is decisive and angry, and a group of gentlemen in Beijing secretly scold you for being a frontier barbarian, whether the evaluation is good or bad, it is all saying that you have a straight temperament and would rather not bend."

Li Duan put the Zihao pen on the shelf and quipped, "But they didn't know that you would also shoot my ass." ”

Lu Shen smiled slightly.

The second prince standing next to him, as the only bystander in the warm pavilion, was not overly restrained, and said sincerely: "Father, Lu Hou has always been sincere and outspoken, since he said this, he must think like this in his heart. ”

Lu Shen knew that the Son of Heaven had made up his mind the moment he saw the second prince, and the battle for the prince would end soon, so he took the opportunity to say: "His Royal Highness the Prime Minister really understands the temperament of the minister. ”

He is rarely so cheeky, and the occasional appearance naturally has a great effect.

Listening to these two people singing and harmonizing, Li Duan couldn't help but laugh heartily, obviously he was in a good mood at the moment.

"Summoning you into the palace today is actually nothing serious."

Li Duan turned around and sat on the dragon chair and said warmly, "What do you think of the situation in the north?" ”

More than half a year has passed since the Battle of Heluo at the beginning of the year, and Jiangbei has always been in a relatively calm state.

After the death of Emperor Yan Zhang Can, the Northern Yan court fell into a situation of existential existence in name only.

Wang An and other important ministers under the command of the Jing Dynasty found a five-year-old doll from the Zhang family in Jingshan to succeed as the emperor, relying on the center of the court to maintain the operation of the entire government system, and the Jing Dynasty naturally did not miss this opportunity to use the foundation laid over the years to achieve further control over various places.

Today, the North Yan South Road, Weinan Road, and Gyeonggi area are basically under the control of the Jing Army, and only part of the territory of Jiangbei Road and the remaining Moyang Road can still maintain a certain degree of autonomy.

In other words, as long as Emperor Jing was willing, most of the territory of Northern Yan could be directly incorporated into the territory of the Jing Dynasty at any time.

The Jingzhou and Dingzhou Governors have always maintained a high degree of vigilance, because it is impossible for the Jing army to be willing to swallow the bitter fruit of Heluo's loss, and their revenge will inevitably come, it is only a matter of time.

Although Lu Shen was very busy in Beijing, he did not relax his attention to the north, and now he has the news channels set up by the military, the warp weaving department and the Lu family, and he can basically keep abreast of the situation in the north.

The cavalry of the Dingbei Army and the infantry of the Ningyuan Army have gradually taken shape, and Li Chengen and Liu Jiangdong have meticulously polished these two armies according to Lu Shen's instructions.

After pondering for a while, Lu Shen said calmly: "Your Majesty, it's early August, and the weather is still relatively hot. ”

Generally speaking, unless circumstances force it to do, military operations in this era avoid the hottest period between June and early October. Because of the logistical conditions at hand, the soldiers put on their stuffy and airtight armor, and stood in the scorching sun for half an hour like a flood, unable to hold out for long, let alone march and fight.

You can rely on clothes to keep you out when it's cold, but you can't go into battle shirtless when it's hot.

If the Lord's general insists on using troops in times of extreme heat, there will inevitably be large-scale non-combat attrition, and may even lead to a mass mutiny.

Although Li Duan had never been on the battlefield in person, he was no stranger to these basic common sense, after all, in the past, he would often exchange letters with Li Tianrun, asking for some details about the war.

He bowed his head slightly and said, "This is true, but winter will not be too far away." ”

"The minister also thought about the safety of the frontier. In Chen's opinion, this time the Jing Dynasty will not use troops on a large scale like the annexation of Zhao, and it is more likely that it will be a small elite raid. ”

"Why?"

"In the first two years of war, although most of the opponents of our border army were the Yan army, the Jing army did not always watch from the sidelines. In the battle of Lezer, our army dealt with 20,000 foot soldiers and 8,000 cavalry of the Jing army, and finally achieved a hearty victory, which completely shattered the myth of the invincibility of the Jing army in the frontal battlefield. In the battle of Heluo, the Jing army responsible for defending the city did not suffer much loss, but they were directly broken by our army under the protection of the Heluo city wall, which is an indisputable fact, and it can also hit the arrogance of the Jinglian people. ”

When Lu Shen talked about these battles planned and led by him, his expression was still very calm, and he did not boast at all.

The smile on Li Duan's face became warmer and warmer.

The second prince standing next to him looked at Lu Shen who was talking eloquently, and couldn't help but have a touch of yearning in his heart, but he knew the responsibility on his shoulders, if there was no accident, he could only stay in this magnificent imperial city in the future.

Lu Shen continued: "In the final analysis, Jing Jun has already learned the strength of my border army, and the difference in strength is not as great as it was fifteen years ago. The so-called can be one can be two can not be repeated, Jing Jun can't afford the third defeat, that will shake the foundation of Jing Lian people's continuous expansion outward. Judging from Emperor Jingguo's actions, he advocated accumulating advantages and then achieving them overnight, just as he used to embezzle Zhao and Pseudo-Yan. This person has enough concentration, he will not take revenge in a hurry, he must first attack our border with a small elite force, one to test the strength of our border army, and the other to find a flaw in our defense line. ”

Li Duan bowed his head frequently and praised: "Aiqing's words made me suddenly enlightened. ”

The second prince also showed admiration.

Lu Shen said humbly: "Your Majesty praises falsely. For the border army, the most important thing at the moment is to tighten the pockets and not give the enemy a chance. When His Majesty completes the internal adjustment and improvement, the border army has a stronger backing, and then it can compete head-on with the Jing army. Talking about the defense of various places, there is naturally no need to worry about the presence of a strong governor in Jingzhou, and the Jing army in its heyday more than ten years ago has not been able to break through his defense line, let alone now. Chen Wei is worried about the land of Dingzhou, where the recovery time is very short, and the people's hearts have not yet returned to Daqi, and Li Dadu is the governor ......"

He didn't deliberately underestimate Li Jingda, the problem was that commanding the Beijing army and sitting in the border army were two different concepts.

Li Duan was silent for a moment, and then said slowly: "I understand your concerns. Judging from the report in the past six months, Li Jingda has done quite well, but I also know that he has developed a lot of bad habits in the capital, and he must want to make contributions when he is sent to Dingzhou this time. In this way, I immediately asked Xu Zuo to go to Dingzhou with the holy decree, and strictly ordered him not to take the initiative to provoke the Jing army, and he must stick to it. ”

Lu Shen was relieved.

The two major gateways of Dingzhou, the Dingfeng Road in the north has Song Shifei's Feiyun Army in charge, and the Qingliu Pass in the west has Duan Zuozhang's Lai'an Army to defend it, as long as Li Jingda does not do anything wrong, it is not difficult to block the attack of the Jingjun army.

Xu Zuo is the middle prince of the imperial history, and his grade is naturally far lower than that of the governor of Dingzhou, but Lu Shen knows very well that the Son of Heaven values this person, and he will basically be the next imperial historian in the future.

This kind of capable minister who is in the emperor's heart went to Dingzhou to supervise the army, and he didn't dare to mess around if Li Jingda was given ten dares.

Thinking about this joint, Lu Shen smiled and said, "Your Majesty Shengming." ”

Li Duan smiled and waved his hand, and said: "Now that the DPRK and China are quite stable, and various changes are being implemented gradually, the most important thing for you at the moment is to train the Beijing army, but I still have one more thing I want you to do." ”

Lu Shen arched his hand and said, "Please show your majesty." ”

Li Duan groaned: "Two years ago, I asked you about your opinion on the general trend of the world, and at that time I mentioned the seven departments of Shazhou, I don't know if you remember?" ”

Lu Shen replied keenly: "Your Majesty wants the minister to go to the western border?" ”

Li Duan got up and walked to the wooden frame on the west side, looked at the map of the world's territory hanging on the shelf, raised his hand and nodded at the location of Shazhou, and said leisurely: "Although there are not many people in Shazhou, the strength is not weak, and I don't fully believe the words of the woman named Luo Jiujiu." Although Hou Yu is hateful, the seven departments of Shazhou are not absolutely innocent. I have thought about it again and again over the years, and I really want to solve this hidden danger, but unfortunately I have never had a suitable opportunity. ”

He turned to look at Lu Shen and said gently: "Luo Jiujiu is the daughter of the head of the Yalong tribe, I can see that she trusts you quite a lot, this is a rare opportunity." If I can get rid of my old suspicions with the Shazhou Seventh Division, I will have one less piece of heart disease. In addition, the Shazhou Seventh Division controls the passage connecting the upper reaches of the Hengjiang River to the Northland, and I am not sure if the people of Jinglian can see this, but they must take precautions. ”

Lu Shen bowed slightly.

Li Duan continued: "My third consideration is that your training in the capital is not effective, but it is definitely not as good as the tempering of the frontier. In addition to the Dingwei army under Chen Lanyu, the other three armies of the Jinwu battalion were not qualified to go to Jiangbei to deal with the Jing army, but it was not a big problem to go west. You can select more than 10,000 people from the Jinwu camp and take them to Shazhou for some training. Your task on this trip is to try your best to make friends with the seven departments of Shazhou, and it is best to make a friendly alliance. ”

The Son of Heaven considered it comprehensively, and although this task was difficult, there were not too many dangers.

Lu Shen looked at the calm expression of the Son of Heaven, and suddenly asked repeatedly: "Your Majesty really wants the minister to go to Shazhou at this time?" ”

Li Duan looked him in the eye and said with a smile: "That's right. ”

The second prince stood by and watched, and naturally felt that this answer was very meaningful, but this was the first time he watched the conversation between the Son of Heaven and the important ministers in the Dongnuan Pavilion, and obviously he couldn't see through the thoughts of these people at a glance.

He just faintly felt that Lu Shen's expression was a little solemn, as if it was a very difficult thing to go to Shazhou to appease the Seventh Division.

Lu Shen didn't continue to ramble, and bowed to the Son of Heaven and said, "The minister's decree." ”

Li Duan nodded, his eyes showing relief.

(End of chapter)