Five days later, Guo Song returned to Taiyuan, and he immediately summoned high-ranking civil and military officials such as the Tiance Mansion, the Prime Minister's Mansion, and the Suzheng Observatory, as well as the commanders, to discuss important matters in the Qinzheng Hall of Jinyang Palace.

More than 20 people gathered together, and they constituted the top management of the Jin king's forces.

Guo Song said to everyone: "Before returning from Yunzhou, I got an accurate information, Sijie Khan has died, a civil war has broken out within Sijie, a large number of Sijie herdsmen fled south, not only Yunzhou, Yulin County, Fengzhou have a lot of Sijie herdsmen fled, Sijie civil strife I am not worried, but I am worried about Hui, once Huifu annexes Sijie, it will dominate the grassland again, become our henchmen, I consider sending troops to interfere in Sijie civil strife, what do you think?" ”

Sending troops to the grassland is a matter of great importance, and Guo Song still wants to listen to everyone's ideas as much as possible, and it is of course best to reach a consensus.

Zhang Qianyi took the lead in asking: "May I ask Your Highness, what is the strategic goal of sending troops to the grassland, and what is the goal to achieve?" ”

Guo Song said with a smile; "I still want to maintain the balance of the grassland, I can't let the family sit big, but there are several kinds of balance, such as a group of giants are evenly matched, this is called balance, and similarly, a group of dwarfs are evenly matched, this is also called strategic balance, I want the latter, I believe everyone understands what I mean."

Everyone laughed, and then Pan Liao got up and said: "Thinking about the accident, His Highness has specially inspected Yunzhou for this purpose, and the decision to send troops should be well thought out, as subordinates, we all fully support His Highness's troops, but there are two things I hope Your Highness can think about clearly, one is logistics, tens of thousands of troops are marching north, and a large amount of food and grass supplies are needed, how to solve the logistics?"

The second is the surrounding forces, we occupy the east of the river, has become the target of the public, once we go north to the grassland, will it give other forces an opportunity to take advantage of, the subordinates said these two points, I hope Your Highness can think about it clearly. ”

Guo Song nodded: "Pan Changshi said it very well, these two questions are the core problems, how to attack?" How to keep? I came back from Yunzhou, along the way thinking about these two issues, I will talk about the defense first, at present we have a total of 200,000 troops, Anxi and Beiting 30,000 people, Hexi and Longyou as one, there are currently 50,000 people, then Shuofang has 20,000 people, Guannei Road 20,000 people, and then Hedong Road 80,000 troops, relying on 20,000 troops to defend Hedong Road, but also to the north is indeed more difficult, so I plan to recruit 50,000 troops, replace the Shuofang army and the Guannei army, with 70,000 troops to guard Hedong Road, and then 60,000 troops to the north to conquer the grassland.

On the one hand, we have 10,000 camels, and if these 10,000 camels do not carry a big tent, only food and materials, it can ensure a month's ration for 50,000 troops, and we are going to the grassland, first of all, the rations of war horses and camels do not need to be considered. ”

At this time, Cao Wannian suddenly asked: "Could it be that His Royal Highness plans to go out in person on this northern expedition?" ”

Guo Song nodded, "The stakes are very high in this battle, and I must personally lead the army to the battle!" ”

After a pause, Guo Song said again: "Of course, before I set off, I will arrange everything." ”

.........

In the afternoon, Guo Song paid a special visit to Li Mi, who finished the main examination of the imperial examination and rested at home for a month, and when Guo Jincheng and Xue Qing returned from Yunzhou, he would teach them to read again.

In the back garden, Guo Song accompanied Li Mi to walk slowly, Li Mi said with a smile: "Last time, His Royal Highness proposed to let Cheng'er and Aqing go to Guozi to study for a while, I thought about it, and in the future, let them go to Guozi School in the morning to study, and then I will teach them in the afternoon, what does Your Highness think of this plan?" ”

"I'm afraid that the old man is too hard."

"What's so hard about teaching two children to read, I hope to train these two children to become talents, especially Shizi, he needs not only literary talents, but also needs to be reasonable, so that he can take over His Highness's career in the future, and become the protection of thousands of people."

Guo Song nodded, "I'll hand over the child to Elder Ge." ”

"I'll do my best!"

The two walked a few steps, and Guo Song said again: "The news that I am going to go on an expedition is known!" ”

Li Mi's son, Li Chan, is currently serving as the head of the Criminal Department, and he also participated in the discussion this morning, so Li Mi should know about it.

Li Mi smiled: "This is what I expected, it's just that I didn't expect His Highness's northern expedition to come so quickly, I thought it would happen in a few years." ”

"Today, I am looking for Ge Lao, and I also want to ask about the balance of power, how to arrange power after I lead the army to the north?"

"How did His Highness arrange for His Highness's expedition to Anxi in the past?"

"At that time, there was no arrangement, I entrusted the government affairs to Pan Changshi, and the military affairs to Zhang Senjun, so I came over."

"In that case, why doesn't Your Highness follow suit?" Li Mi asked with a smile.

Guo Song shook his head, "At that time, it was very simple, and the population of the prefectures and counties under management was not large, so it could be arranged in this way, but now it is different, it involves too many areas, and even Pan Liao persuaded me to think about it carefully, so I came to ask the elder of the pavilion." ”

Li Mi smiled and said: "In fact, the White Tiger Hall is a very good yamen, it is a kind of moderation on government power and military power, and there is a political platform, it plays a supervisory role, it is a constraint on the local government, the functions of these two ministries should be strengthened, in addition, His Royal Highness can set up another temporary advisory hall, select five or seven military and political executives to participate, when His Royal Highness is not in Taiyuan, those major matters that should have been decided by His Royal Highness can be handed over to the temporary advisory hall for discussion and decision, and they will vote." ”

Guo Song nodded silently, "He also thought of this method, Pan Liao can't afford it alone, so find a few more people to bear it." ”

Li Yu grinned and said: "Don't forget to arrange a commander to make the general join, and if the military joins, this game of chess will be alive." ”

"It makes sense, I transferred Liang Wu back, he is the most suitable!"

Guo Song's thinking gradually broadened, and he could let Pan Liao, Zhang Beiyi, Cao Wannian, Liu Zi, Zhang Qiu'an, and Liang Wu participate, but there was still one place left.

Guo Song glanced at Li Yu and said with a slight smile: "Li Ge Lao is also one!" ”

Li Mi smiled, "Your Highness trusts me so much, then count me as one." ”

Since Li Mi has done his best to cultivate the son of Guo Song, he also has a responsibility on his shoulders for Guo Song's society.

.........

In the next few days, the Tiance Mansion issued a recruitment order, and all the prefectures and counties in Hedong Province and Guannei Province posted recruitment orders, recruiting 50,000 third-class sergeants, two yuan per month, tax exemption for family members, five sheep for admission, one stone of grain, and three high-grade sheepskins.

As soon as the conscription order came out, the registration was very enthusiastic, especially in Hedong and Guannei, the major families have Zhuang Ding, out of support for Guo Song, the major families have handed over Zhuang Ding to Guo Song, Zhuang Ding alone has reached more than 20,000 people, almost half of the recruitment quota, of which the Yang family has more than 3,000 people.

At this time, a large number of grain and grass materials arrived in Taiyuan by water transportation, and the three transport fleets had a total of more than 4,000 trough ships, and they only took two trips to transport the grain and grass, pig iron, copper ingots, gold and silver, cloth, sheepskin, weapons, armor, trebuchets, saltpeters, etc., as well as the entire firearms battalion to Taiyuan, and millions of sheep and hundreds of thousands of war horses also went ashore from Hehe County, Lanzhou, and distributed to the major pastures in Hedong Road.

Among them, 300,000 stone grain and a large number of soldiers and armor entered the Purple River with the ship and were transported to Yunzhong County to be hoarded.

The time gradually came to June, the weather began to get hot, the army changed guard and the transfer ended, and the 60,000 army began to assemble in Taiyuan, and the time for the expedition was approaching day by day.

On this morning, Guo Yuniang came to the Guo Song official room of Tiance Mansion, the intelligence agency she originally established was called Tiance Building, because it was the same name as Tiance Mansion, it has been renamed Jinwei Mansion, and the spies have developed to more than 1,000 people, distributed in more than a dozen important states and counties, with a total of hundreds of intelligence points, forming a huge intelligence network.

She waited at the door of the official room for a while, and one of the officials came out and saluted: "Manager Guo, please come in!" ”

Guo Yuniang walked into the official room and found that Wang Yue, the commander of the internal affairs army, was also there, and Guo Yuniang hurriedly stepped forward to greet her brother.

Guo Song asked her to sit down, let her serve tea, and asked with a smile, "When did you come to Taiyuan?" ”

"I just arrived yesterday, and I heard that my brother is going to go on an expedition again."

Guo Song nodded, "That's why I brought you two here." ”

At this time, when he came in and served tea, Guo Song gave Du Siye a look, and Du Siye understood and immediately closed the door.

Guo Song said slowly: "In the past, we were in the border and were not noticed, but now we control Hedong, which has been noticed by the world, and is a thorn in the side of the major forces. ”

Wang Yue got up and said, "Obey the order!" ”

Guo Song said to Guo Yuniang again: "The Jin Wei Mansion is mainly external, and the internal affairs will be handed over to the internal affairs army, and the Jin Wei Mansion should not interfere, but the Jin Wei Mansion is also responsible for the safety of Jinyang Palace and high-ranking officials, Yu Niang, you are staying in Taiyuan during this time, personally grasp this matter, strictly guard against assassins, if the strength at hand is insufficient, you can ask the internal guard army for help." ”

Guo Yuniang nodded, "Please rest assured, brother, if there is a mistake, take Yuniang is to ask!" ”