In the afternoon, Shi Quanbin asked Yao Shouxin to take him and familiarize himself with the affairs of the barracks. Due to the different military systems, Shi Quanbin paid special attention to the regulations in the army and asked Yao Shouxin to find someone to record one for him. It's just that he didn't expect the regulations to be so complicated, and after recording it, he watched it for an afternoon, only to feel dizzy and have no energy to do anything else.

In the evening, Du Zhongxiao called important officers in the army to listen to Shi Quanbin's talk about the situation in the DPRK and China.

Next to the big osmanthus tree in the back office, a wine feast was placed, and Yang Wenguang, Zhao Zi, Dou Shunqing and others from Yang Jin, Liu Ji and below sat together. On one side, a stove was set up, and a good cook in the army was selected, some barbecued, some stir-fried, and some made soup, and they could order whatever they wanted.

Before Du Zhongxiao and Shi Quanbin arrived, Zhao Zi said to Yang Wenguang: "This palace official is so powerful, in order to welcome him, he is so generous tonight, and he can do whatever he wants." After a while, a few of us ordered a leg of lamb, let it be roasted over there, and eat slowly. ”

Dou Shunqing on the side said with a smile: "It's so rich, but you order a leg of mutton, don't you live up to the good intentions of lifting?" ”

When a few people were laughing, Du Zhongxiao arrived with Shi Quanbin and said to him: "Group training, as I said earlier, the army is now formed, and the Yingtianxiang Army is an army, and there are three divisions below. Tonight, all the generals above the division level have arrived, and they will listen to the regimental practice and talk about what is going on in the DPRK and China now. ”

Shi Quanbin waved his hand again and again: "How dare I?" Besides, I came here to watch the army on the orders of the court to see how you are, and I can't say anything superfluous. I'm talking nonsense here, and it's spread out, how can I explain it when I go back to Beijing? ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "The group practice is too worried, we don't want to listen to any secrets of the DPRK and China, and what will happen in the future." Suizhou is located in a remote area, and the camp and field are extremely closed, and they have not heard anything outside the window for several years, and they are not clear about the government affairs. The group practice talked about some things that everyone in the DPRK and China knows, so that everyone can see and hear about it widely. ”

Shi Quanbin thought for a while and said, "If that's the case, it's nothing. Let's talk about it first, I'm just talking about what I have seen and heard, if someone takes what I say as the meaning of the court, and start thinking carefully, don't blame me then. ”

"How so? Team practice is at ease. While speaking, Du Zhongxiao put Shi Quanbin on his seat and sat down.

A soldier brought a piece of hard paper, handed it to Shi Quanbin, and said, "The regimental training is fine." Look at what you want to eat, and the little one tells you to do it. ”

Shi Quanbin took the cardboard in his hand and said to Du Zhongxiao: "Lift here, can you still order food?" ”

Du Zhongxiao said with a smile: "The camp has been trained for so many years, and the dishes in the army are the big categories in this area. Now there are several states on Jingnan Road, there are two major schools, one is the dish of the iron supervisor, and the other is the food of our camp Tianxiang army, which is called the military dish. It's rare to come to the group practice, how can you not taste it carefully. The ingredients are all bought from outside, and the cooks are all in the army, and no matter how good the food is, it is much cheaper than outside. ”

Shi Quanbin nodded: "Since that's the case, I'm not welcome." Taste any good dish. ”

A prosperous place where the population gathers is the most likely to produce a variety of cuisines. Needless to say, there are many people, prosperous places, and businessmen from all over the country gather, and in a few years, a few dishes are the center, and a preliminary cuisine has been developed. The population of the Yingtianxiang Army has been nearly 100,000 in recent years, and about 30,000 people are finally selected. With such a large population, the men have their own knacks for cooking, and everyone communicates with each other and develops a set of cuisines with their own characteristics. The characteristic of military cuisine is that it is mainly a large pot dish, and it is very popular among the people in places such as bazaars and docks.

After ordering the food, the soldiers poured the wine, and Du Zhongxiao said: "The people in our army, for example, do not participate in political affairs, and Suizhou is a remote place, so they don't know much about court affairs. It is rare for the stone regiment to train to the army to watch the army, please tell him about it, now the world's major events, you also talk about what you have seen! ”

After speaking, Du Zhongxiao took the lead in drinking the wine and asked Shi Quanbin to speak.

Sitting in the middle of the crowd and looking at the officers around him, Shi Quanbin felt a little high-spirited, and said: "Speaking of the general trend of the world, I think you all understand that the most important thing now is to go south to destroy Nong Zhigao." Needless to say, the Yingtianxiang army has already decided to go south, and most of you must know it clearly. Aside from the south, I'll talk about the north first. ”

"Since the time when Xiang Yuanhao was here, he had a conflict with the Khitan when he first negotiated peace with this dynasty, and it has been several years now. The Khitan had to attack the party every year and demand its submission. This dynasty sat on the shore and watched the fire, and the two did not participate, watching them fight more and more lively. There is a terracotta town in the north of this dynasty, whether it is a Khitan or a party, they dare not go all out. This year, 10,000 or 20,000 elite soldiers were drawn from Shaanxi No. 3 Road, preparing to go south to Pingnong Zhigao, and the pressure on the opposite party became smaller. The party has transferred troops, and this year's troops are more than in previous years. How can the Khitan be a big country and show weakness? In this dynasty, there is Nong Zhigao in the south to make trouble, and their courage has also increased. As soon as October began, the Khitan lord gathered a large army and personally led the attacking party. Before I left Beijing, the Khitan lord led a large army to Yunnei Prefecture, and the other route was the Khitan Emperor's younger brother Yelu Chongyuan, who was marching from Datong Mansion. ”

Speaking of this, Shi Quanbin looked at everyone: "Since the party is a minister, the world has been peaceful for a few years. This year, because of the Nong Zhigao rebellion, the war has started again. Not only our Great Song Dynasty, but also the Khitan and the party also have to fight a big battle. This dynasty leveled Nong Zhigao, and the Khitan subdued the party, and only by doing both can there be a truly peaceful time. For the Khitan, the civil strife in this dynasty is a rare opportunity. Once you miss it, it will be even more difficult to subdue the party in the future. This time, with the soldiers of the country, the Khitan lord personally conquered, it seems that he will not stop if he does not achieve his goal! ”

When they heard this, the crowd talked about it. Because he wants to go south, everyone knows the war on Nong Zhigao's side. After besieging Guangzhou, Nong Zhigao gathered his subordinates, plundered the surrounding counties, and began to strategically retreat along the Yujiang River to the West Guangnan Road. It can be seen that he wants to return to Yongzhou and split the soil. Unexpectedly, while the war was raging in the south, the Khitan and the party were not idle, and they also started a posture to make a big fight. It's been a lively year.

Seeing that this topic aroused everyone's interest, Shi Quanbin continued: "Why did the Khitan attack the party on a large scale when they took advantage of the current dynasty to go south to quell the chaos this year? Ladies and gentlemen, since Du Tiju built the railway supervisor in Yexian County a few years ago, he built the railway and ran the train, and the situation in the world has been different. Railways can set the pattern of the world, and trains are a sharp weapon for transporting troops. In the past few years, the imperial court has devoted itself to building a railway in Yanbian in the north. This kind of thing can't be hidden from the Khitan, and every time a Khitan envoy comes to the capital in recent years, he must mention the railway. They even came to propose that they wanted to buy trains from the dynasty and build railways in the territory. How can such a sharp weapon of the country be compared with others? The imperial court naturally refused. However, in order to avoid the dissatisfaction of the Khitan, heavy troops were assembled on the border, and the current railway is mainly repaired around the party. In the west, it has been in Fengxiang Mansion, and after arriving in Dingzhou in the north, it has been extended to the Baode Army, which is only a river away from Fuzhou this year. Facing the Khitan Hebei Road, in order not to stimulate the Khitan, only Cizhou was repaired, and the Daimyo's Mansion was transferred. In addition, the road to Dengzhou to the east, passing through Qizhou and Qingzhou, and receiving the Daimyo Mansion from Qizhou. In this way, the railway was connected to form a line in the north, and even if the Khitan army went south, it could not cross the railway line. When the current dynasty destroyed Nong Zhigao and built the railway to the Zhenrong army in the west, everything will be different. The railway is to the north, the west is repaired from Cizhou to Zhending, and the east is repaired from Qizhou to Hejian, and then connected in the middle, and the Khitan army has no place to cross and horizontally. ”

Seeing that everyone was surprised, Shi Quanbin smiled and said, "You are far away in Suizhou, and you are in the army, so you may not have heard this news before. In fact, it is not a secret, everyone in the DPRK and China knows it, this is the strategy set by the two governments, and even the Khitan people understand it. Therefore, they must solve the party before this, let them completely become vassals, and the two work together to deal with the changed pattern after the construction of the railway in this dynasty. ”

Du Zhongxiao has been paying attention to the layout of the railway, and has also made suggestions, but he never knew that the government hall and the privy council have such a plan. After the chaos of the local rush to repair the railroad in the first year or two, the right to build the way was quickly received by the Council and the Privy Council, and the planning thereafter was not clear to the local officials unless it came to the place they governed. It is a wise move for the shipping department to rush to repair the railway from Xiangzhou to Jiangling, and if it is any later, all the road repair capacity will be concentrated in the places that Shi Quanbin just mentioned. The most difficult thing is the railway north of the Yellow River, both trunk lines start from Baima, one to Bingzhou, the other to Cizhou, ready to be repaired to Zhending. There is a pontoon bridge in Hakuba, which is being prepared to be replaced with a stone bridge and an iron bridge to connect with Kaifeng Prefecture.

Baima is the most important crossing of the Yellow River, guarded by a large number of forbidden troops, as well as a large number of Xiang troops, who are responsible for river affairs. Many of the forbidden troops under Di Nan came from there, and many crossed the river from there.

If the party is surrounded by a railway, the railway that will be repaired to Hebei Road will be ready to be repaired, and it will inevitably be repaired. After the railway connection, the threat of the Khitan cavalry moving south was greatly reduced, and everything was different. In the offensive and defensive battles against key points, the Khitan had not yet shown its strength to be stronger than the Song army, not to mention that the railway had greatly increased the ability to move along the road.

This is the grand strategy of the two governments, and it is also a conspiracy, which is not concealed and cannot be concealed. The officials of the imperial court are clear, the Khitan is clear, and the party items are equally clear. When this railway network was formed, the pattern of the north would be completely changed, and the Song Dynasty would gain the advantage of internal line mobility, and the balance of strength would change.

Finally, when the Song Dynasty was in civil strife, the Khitan would not let go of the opportunity to attack the party, and the party would also fight with all its might. This battle will determine the form of the two countries joining forces in the future. The Khitan wanted an obedient party item to be his follower, and the party item wanted to strive for the most equal status possible. This is their battle of national fortunes, and whoever wins it will have the initiative in the future.

The Song Dynasty only had to quietly watch them fight, slowly expanding their superiority and changing the unfavorable situation of the two-front battle. As for the future, who knows? In the eyes of the ministers of the two governments, that should be a matter for future generations to consider, as long as they establish a strategic pattern, it will be great.