After sending Jia Dian and Chen Ximing away, Du Zhongxiao summoned important officials to the Shuaifu, sat down separately, and said: "It's March now, the Yellow River is iced, and the climate is pleasant. When the weather is good, there are naturally more things. Last year, the Khitan Yelu Chongyuan attacked Youzhou Hongji, and the two sides fought in Ruzhou, and the war was stalemate for several months. According to the news from the front, if Chongyuan can't attack Ruzhou, the general trend will go. In the next few days, the two sides will fight each other, and the soldiers and horses of this road will be concentrated in Shazhou and Zhenwu, and Datong Mansion will be controlled remotely. If Yelu Chongyuan is defeated in Ruzhou, he must meet him immediately and fight for Datong Prefecture. ”

Bao Zheng said: "This time, the two Khitan emperors stood side by side, which was different from before, and it was extremely big. In the battle of Ruzhou, although Chongyuan was useless, Hongji was not easy to defend. No matter who wins or loses, I'm afraid it's not as easy to tell the winner as it gets. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "This kind of civil war cannot be regarded like other wars, the two sides do not have the determination to fight to the death, and they must prevent them from making peace at any time." After nearly a year of training, although there are still many unsatisfactory places in the army, there is no shortage of strength in a battle. If Chongyuan is defeated, then our army will enter Datong and seize the area behind the mountains first. If Hongji is defeated, then Hebei Road occupies Youzhou, which is the same reason. Yang Wenguang's department was stationed in Fengzhou, which was originally to monitor Datong and could not be left unattended. ”

Bao Zheng arched his hand: "That's what the marshal said." It's just that I thought that the Khitan civil strife did not subside so quickly. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "The prolongation of the Khitan civil strife this time is the most likely thing. However, military deployment should not be based on this, but should take into account various circumstances. Yang Wenguang's department, the most important thing is that when Yelu Chongyuan was defeated, he couldn't let go of Datong Mansion, and other things were not under his control. Well, the deployment of the Khitan, this is the case. ”

The Khitan civil strife, whether it is Yelu Chongyuan or Yelu Hongji, can not fully control his generals. The war between the two sides mainly revolved around Ruzhou and Changping. If Chongyuan captures the two places, Hongji's troops may be quickly defeated. If it can't be attacked, Chongyuan will face splitting pressure internally.

The Song Dynasty had an absolute strategic advantage, and no matter which side failed, it could occupy the front or back of the mountain in advance. However, now the Song army except for Du Zhongxiao's department, the combat effectiveness of other armies, the court has no bottom in the heart. At least in the past two years, he does not have the strength to start a war against the Khitan.

The old forbidden army was more than 800,000, and it was not an easy task to complete the reorganization of the entire training. Recently, after looking at the situation in the Hequ Road Army, Du Zhongxiao felt that he was not optimistic. Due to the lack of ability of officers at all levels, the combat strength of the Song army is much lower than that of the Hequlu army years ago. When will it be fully transformed? Du Zhongxiao has no bottom. If there is a big war, it may be very fast. If there is no major war, it will drag on like this all the time, and it will always be the old army, and it is not impossible.

After talking about the Khitan, Du Zhongxiao said again: "The party in the west, since the battle of Hue Du, the big defeat and loss, have not eased up now. After the imperial court has trained the army, it can attack the party. However, as with the Khitan side, this is not a short-term matter. The party project is now divided into three parts, and the two prefectures of Xingling, south of Hequ Road, are the core areas of all party items. In the past year, the party has built a high city in this area and cast a lot of artillery to rest on the city wall. In particular, in the mountains and rivers in the south of Hezhou, the party has built a great wall, which is the most difficult to do. In the east, the Yokoyama region, after we occupied the upper reaches of the Kuye River and the land of Jinze, was compressed, and now retreats to the mountains. A few days ago, Jia Kui was newly appointed to manage the military affairs of Goulinfu Road, and Linfu Road was divided into Hequ Road. The imperial court intended to let Linfu Road go south, Dunyan Road to the north, and the north and south to attack Hengshan. It's just that the soldiers and horses are not ready, and the railway has not yet been repaired to Yan'an Mansion, which is just an idea. ”

Speaking of this, Du Zhongxiao stood up and said to everyone: "The third part of the party item is the number of counties in Hexi. Last year, we defeated the Baima Supervisor and captured the Heishui Supervisor, leaving only the Gansu Supervisor and the Xiping Supervisor, with less than 50,000 soldiers and horses. It should be noted that the party and the whole people are soldiers, and the fact that the military divisions of Gansu and Xiping are so small shows that the population of several counties in Hexi is not large. Liangzhou, Ganzhou, Suzhou, Guazhou and Shazhou were all densely populated places, and after more than 200 years of chaos, there are only tens of thousands of households left. ”

"Our railway is in the north, separated from several counties in Hexi by the desert, and goes straight to the Western Regions. Once it is received from Yizhou, everyone, the most affected is not the Black Khanate and Gaochang State, but several counties in Hexi. It is likely that the former Guiyi army will rise again, and Ganzhou and Suzhou will leave the party, and even like Yizhou, they will want to return to the rule of the imperial court. That's the most important thing! ”

Speaking of this, Du Zhongxiao said: "Now the deployment of Hequ Road is Yang Wenguang's department stationed in Shazhou and Fengzhou, and the front line of Yinshan Mountain. Zhao Zi's headquarters were stationed in Hezhou, all the way west to the Western Regions. Zhang Qi's department is stationed in Shengzhou and is directly under the Shuaifu. In response to the situation, after Linfu Road was drawn to Hequ Road, its soldiers and horses were not divided into an army, and it was appropriate to arrange them in the area of Linzhou and Dijinze. Zhang Wei's department went west, arranged along the railway, and was stationed in Hezhou. Zhao Zi's department went all out to the west and entered the domain. The overall deployment is still to take the party as the main goal, and also manage the Khitan. ”

After Du Zhongxiao finished speaking, everyone nodded together. Once the railway was built to Juyan County, westward expansion was imminent. Zhao Zi went west, and Zhang Yu's department was also stationed in Hezhou, which shows that the Hequ Road attacked the mountains and Heguan and went south to Xingling was abandoned, and it became a great detour along the railway to the west. To start a war with the party, the most likely is that the Shaanxi Road army will gather the Zhenrong army along the railway and go north to Lingzhou.

Once the Khitan Yelu Chongyuan was defeated, Yang Wenguang's troops quickly marched eastward, and with the cooperation of Zhang Qi's troops, they attacked Datong Mansion. The two armies have a total of 100,000 soldiers and horses, and each has drawn out most of them, attacking the Khitan with 70,000 or 80,000 people, and occupying Yun, Ying, Shuo, and Weishu Prefectures, which should be possible.

Sitting down again, Du Zhongxiao said: "The plan of the year lies in spring, and now that it is spring, we must reformulate the plan." If you have any opinions, you can put them forward, and we will discuss them together. ”

Fu Bi said: "There should be no big mistake in arranging it like this. However, according to this arrangement, is there too much force for party items? ”

Du Zhongxiao nodded: "The deputy envoy is right, most of the troops are used to defend the party. There is no way, this is the will of the imperial court. I don't dare to say that the Khitan has the potential to win, so I still focus on dealing with the party first. ”

In the final analysis, the imperial court had little confidence in fighting the Khitan. Although there was a great victory in the Hequ Road operation last year, the Khitan was not seriously damaged, and the main forces were safely withdrawn. Immediately afterwards, the army of Hequ Road was dismantled in pieces, and it was not an overnight achievement to train such an army. As for the party, although it was also a lot of failure, the confidence of the Song Dynasty was still sufficient. Even in the Khitan Civil War, the military goals of the Song Dynasty were still against the party.

Fu Bi nodded, and said: "Now the party is obedient, and there is no reason to fight." Xia Guan thought that it was better to focus on the Western Regions. ”

Du Zhongxiao said helplessly: "The Western Regions are vast and weak, so it is indeed suitable for using troops. However, to attack the Western Regions, it is necessary to focus on the repair of railways. Wherever the railroad is built, the power of this dynasty can go. The railway has not yet arrived, and it is still not suitable for large-scale use of troops. ”

It is not easy to build a railway from Hezhou all the way to the west, which is full of yellow sand. The railway is not just repaired, it needs to be maintained at ordinary times, and there must be stations along the way, and there are a lot of manpower requirements for road repair and road protection. Other places are not enough, and the cost of conservation is not small to the west of Hezhou. It can only rely on the trade routes of the Western Regions to come from the railway, collect some taxes, and have economic stimulus.

From Hezhou to Yizhou, the distance between them is more than 3,000 miles, and there is only a large supply point in Juyan. For the meandering road, it is not easy to support it. When I arrived in Yizhou, it was a vast and sparsely populated area to the west, and it was not easy to even draw the population to build roads. Now Hequ Road, the population is not large, and the place is too big.