While the two were talking, Wang De came in to announce that all the generals who had come to the meeting had arrived and were waiting in the conference room on the second floor of the imperial boat. Zhao Yu ended the conversation between the two and went down to the second floor with Liu Zhixue to discuss with the generals. Most of the participants this time were officers of the Imperial Protector Army, and when they saw Liu Zhixue and His Majesty coming, they were all stunned, and then they looked at each other and smiled as if they were putting down their worries, and they all got up and saluted the two.

In the military system of the Great Song Dynasty, it was originally divided into two factions, one was the Xing Dynasty faction headed by Zhang Shijie and Jiang Cheng, and the other was the Shuaifu faction headed by Zhao Yu. However, Jiang Cheng was dissatisfied with Zhang Shijie's dictatorship, and had his father's will, and contributed a lot to Zhao Yu's succession, and he had the merit of supporting the dragon, which can also be regarded as Zhao Yu's descendant armed forces. In the Battle of Yashan in the aftermath, Zhang Shijie's command was ineffective, and his descendants suffered heavy losses, and he was no longer able to fight against the Shuaifu Army and the forbidden army in front of the palace led by Jiang Cheng, and his cronies gradually withdrew from the court under the pressure of Zhao Yu.

If the Shuaifu Army has to be distinguished, it can also be counted as two factions. One faction is the old army faction headed by Zhao Mengjin and Jiang Cheng, most of them were born in the old Song army, but most of them were middle and lower-level officers, and they were reused after relying on Zhao Yu, and assisted him in establishing the new Song army, which can be said to be the ministers of the hidden palace. They played a distinguished role in the defense of Qiongzhou and the reconquest of Jiangnan, and now most of them have become high-ranking military officers and court officials who defend one side.

The other faction of the Shuaifu Army is a series of imperial guards headed by Ni Liang and Chen Dun, most of them are from Zhao Yu's personal guard battalion and old battalion, they were all teenagers at that time, grew up with the little emperor, were taught by the little emperor, and the relationship is very close, which can be said to be the cronies of the cronies. With the growth of the Imperial Protector Army, he also became an officer at all levels and participated in the war to recover Jiangnan. But their qualifications are still shallow, not enough to provoke the beam, but they are also the backbone of the Song army.

In fact, judging from Zhao Yu and the generals from the Shuai Mansion, they have no factions. Zhao Mengjin and other generals watched Ni Liang and Chen Dun grow up, and most of these children in the old camp were orphans in the army, so in their eyes, they were like sons and nephews, they loved them very much, and they were happy to see them grow up; And Ni Liang and others also feel that they grew up under the wings of veterans, and they only have respect for them, even after entering the military, they still treat them as their fathers. Therefore, the old and the new are more about helping each other, and there is no suspicion, and the so-called two factions are imposed by the good deeds, and their intentions are self-evident.

If it is necessary to distinguish between them, Zhao Yu can be divided into the patriarchal faction and the young Zhuang faction. The veterans such as Zhao Mengjin and Jiang Cheng did not systematically study military command, and they knew that they came from the practical experience in the army and the influence of their families, and they had been in the old army for many years, so they inevitably took on the imprint of the old army in their thinking, and they were not suitable in the transition from cold weapons to hot weapons, and they were slow to accept new tactics and new tactics. However, they have rich combat experience and have undergone many army reorganizations, so their position in army management and campaign command is not yet irreplaceable.

The Shaozhuang faction grew up beside Zhao Yu, a 'military strategist' who became a monk halfway, and was also influenced by his advocating technology, being good at planning and having the courage to innovate, and most of them had entered martial arts and received systematic military education, so they had a high degree of acceptance of the use of firearms and new tactics. And because he is young and bloody, he has the courage of a newborn calf who is not afraid of tigers, and he dares to fight and is not afraid of any opponent. However, in the end, they lacked combat experience, especially the experience of commanding major battles, and they still needed to experience in order to stand alone.

Although the two factions belong to the forbidden army and the escort army, they are not distinct, but there are frequent personnel exchanges, especially the middle and low-level officers are often assigned to serve under the other side for training. And Zhao Yu treats the two departments equally, there is no bias, and the rewards and punishments are clear, so the two sides get along well. The Second Army's capture of Shouzhou caused a large number of civilian casualties, and Liu Zhixue was impeached on a large scale.

Seeing the harmonious relationship between the new and old generals, Zhao Yu was naturally happy, but knowing that he had sheltered Liu Zhixue this time, he also had to beat everyone, otherwise they would think that they would wipe their buttocks with their own majesty indiscriminately, and then act wantonly in the battle, and no longer estimate the casualties of civilians, which would not only damage the image of the Song army as a liberator, but also bring great trouble to the aftermath, and even cause turmoil, which is not without precedent in history.

Therefore, before the meeting began, Zhao Hao stressed that in future battles, he should try his best to avoid accidentally injuring civilians, and those who deliberately did it would be dealt with by military law. In order not to tie down the generals, he also made it clear that civilians who participated in the battle with weapons in hand or assisted the enemy in combat were not included in the list and could be treated as enemy combatants.

Subsequently, Zhao Yu conveyed the battle strategy agreed upon after the joint forces of Sizhou, which was intended to capture Xuzhou, recover the two capitals, annihilate the enemy forces that came to aid the enemy, and occupy Haizhou, so as to open up the communication line composed of sea, land and canals. In order to lay the foundation for the advance of Shandong and Hebei, the war ended in early May to avoid the difficulties brought to the operation after the arrival of the rainy season. Considering the current situation, the Second Army was temporarily subsumed into the Western Route Corps, and it will be reorganized after the capture of Fuli.

The next step was to discuss the battle plan for capturing Fuli, and after some debate, the generals gradually formed two opinions. The first is to force the enemy to take the initiative to retreat with heavy troops, so that he will take the initiative to give up Fuli in order to avoid being surrounded and annihilated; The second is to besiege the city and send reinforcements, trapping the land of Fuli in the city, inducing the main enemy force that is still staying in Yingtianfu to come to the rescue, setting up an ambush halfway to annihilate it, and then attacking Fuli.

"Your Majesty, my subordinates thought that the enemy should be forced to take the initiative to give up Fuli, so that they could control the old canal without bloodshed, and open the way for the army to go west to Yingtianfu. At the same time, it can break the offensive posture of the two enemy forces that come to help each other, and form a flanking attack on Xuzhou! Sun Jin, commander of the Second Brigade of the Imperial Front Protector Army, pointed to the map and emphasized.

"Sun ruled, Fuli City lies above Bianshui, controls the waterway to Bianjing in the west, and at the same time chokes the main road to Xuzhou in the north, which is an important hub. As long as we hold Fuli, we can prevent our army from going west to Yingtianfu and avoid Xuzhou from being attacked on both sides. If you were the commander of the enemy's army, would you give up easily? Tian Zhong, commander of the first brigade of the Imperial Protector Army, asked rhetorically.

"This ...... Naturally, it will not give up easily, but if it does not retreat, it will fall into the danger of being surrounded and annihilated, so why not retreat to Yingtianfu and fight a decisive battle with our army! Sun Jin hesitated for a moment, and then analyzed.

"If the enemy army does not retreat and holds the city, our army can only attack. However, our army will also face the flanking attack of Xuzhou and Yingtianfu, and fall into the danger of being attacked by the enemy on the belly and back. Taking a step back, they can also attract our Western Route Army here, concentrate their forces in Xuzhou, and defeat the Eastern Route Army first, making our strategic deployment impossible to achieve! Tian Zhong still insisted that it was inappropriate.

"Tian Tong is too worried!" At this time, Luo Datong, the commander of the Fifth Brigade of the Imperial Front Protector Army, interjected, "Now that our Eastern Route Army has entered Xiapi, and the capture of the city is just around the corner, how dare the enemy of Xuzhou risk losing it and send aid easily!" ”

"Don't forget that Meng Yuan has mobilized the Zongwang army in the northwest to reinforce Xuzhou, so how do you know that he will not send troops to Fuli?" Tian Zhong asked with a smile.

"This ......" Luo Datong was asked, he knew in his heart that although the current enemy and our armies were equal in strength, if the strategy of forcing the enemy to retreat and fight the enemy in Yingtianfu was adopted, it was also necessary to leave troops in Fuli to ensure the safety of the rear road. At present, the enemy of Xuzhou has to guard against the attack of his own East Route Army, and it is difficult to divide his troops to send reinforcements, but once it is strengthened by the army of Meng Yuanzong, it is difficult to say, and at that time, the own army that goes west to attack Yingtianfu will really fall into the embarrassment of being attacked by the enemy on the back and fighting on both sides.

"Look, everyone!" Tian Zhong also pointed to the map and said, "The terrain of Jingdong is flat, and there are few rivers to block it, which is most suitable for cavalry mobility, which can quickly increase troops, and can also quickly escape when there is a danger of being surrounded, making it difficult for us to realize the strategy of annihilating the enemy's living forces and weakening its military strength." ”

"Well, what Tian Tongzhi said is extremely true!" Li Zhen, commander of the 2nd Brigade of the Imperial Front Protector Army, agreed, "Our army's mobility is restricted by the canal, and once it is far away from supplies, it will be restricted, while the enemy's troops are mostly cavalry, so they can quickly come and go, and once our army attacks a certain place, they can also quickly transfer troops to reinforce." However, once our army divides its forces, it will lose the superiority of its forces, and it will be difficult to encircle the enemy, making it difficult to achieve results even if the battle is won. ”

"Liu Dutong, what do you think?" Seeing that everyone was arguing about this, Zhao Yu turned his face to look at Liu Zhixuedao.

"Your Majesty, my subordinates think that no matter what kind of tactics they use, they need to meet one condition!" Seeing His Majesty asking himself, Liu Zhixue got up and pointed to the map, "Yingtianfu, Xuzhou, and Fuli are triangular in shape, and there are waterways and roads that are connected, and they are horns with each other, that is, they are each other's aid, and they are each other's backs. Therefore, if you break through one place, you can break the stability of the area. ”

"Well, that's good!" Zhao Yu nodded. He also saw that the three places were all transportation hubs, and the enemy's forces could be quickly mobilized between the three places to help each other, and the ratio of forces in one place could be changed in a short time. And he also knew that with his own equipment and strength, he was completely sure of victory when his troops were equal or even less than the enemy's, and it was rare that if he wanted to encircle and annihilate the enemy, he would need a large number of troops to encircle the enemy, otherwise he would only be able to fight a rout, and it would be difficult to achieve a large number of enemy annihilation.

"Your Majesty, so your subordinates think that if you want to accomplish the goal of destroying the enemy, you need to temporarily prevent the enemy Zongwang's army from going south to help, so that we can form a military superiority in the local area, and we can gather and annihilate the enemy in any of the three places, so as to change the current confrontation situation!" Liu Zhixue said......