Forty-five strategies to break the summer

The night was late, but the Ruisi Hall of the Jiankang Palace was still brightly lit, and Emperor Zhao Chen was still sitting in front of the candlelight, reviewing the recitals from all over the place. Although the government affairs have been very busy these days, Zhao Chen has to work until around the second watch late at night every day, but Zhao Chen's mood has always been very good.

After Shi Miyuan took office on Hunan Road, he didn't know what means he used, but it only took more than a month to stabilize the situation on Hunan Road, clear the land, and verify that the work of holding households hostage was also carried out in an orderly manner. Moreover, after the civil uprising on Hunan Road subsided, the relevant personnel were also punished, which also played a considerable deterrent effect on other places, at least in the local area, no one dared to blatantly oppose the implementation of the new law, so the work of implementing the new law in other places has also been much smoother, within this year, in addition to Sichuan Fourth Road and Lintao Road, in the implementation of the 12 roads of the Jingjie Law, at least half of the land is clear, and the work of household registration verification will be completed. The first step of the Great Song Dynasty to eliminate disadvantages and innovate and enrich the country and strengthen the army can finally be successfully completed.

Zhao Chen looked at the chapter, and unconsciously heard the second watch outside with the scripture. Seeing that there were still three or four pieces left on the table, Zhao Chen stretched his waist, and felt a little tired at this time.

It's just that at this time, Yijing alarmed Yue Ying, who was reading on the side, and hurriedly got up and came to Zhao Chen's side and said, "Official, have you finished reading all the chapters?" ”

Zhao Chen said casually: "There are still three or four copies, and it will be fine soon." Suddenly, he came to his senses and said, "Why are you still here, didn't I let you go and rest first?" ”

Yue Ying smiled and said: "The official family has worked tirelessly for the sake of the country, and they are still reviewing and demolishing it late at night. I, as a queen, should serve here, so how can I go and rest first? However, after dawn, the official family still has to go to court, if there is no important matter, it is better to rest early. ”

The Great Song Dynasty has always strictly forbidden concubines to interfere in court affairs, and the concubines who can go to the Ruisi Hall to wait for the emperor's approval are often the emperor's favorite concubines. Zhao Chen has been married for more than half a year, and during this time, only Yue Ying was allowed to wait in the Rui Si Palace. In the past few days, no matter how late Zhao Chen has been busy, Yue Ying has always been with him, and no matter how he persuades him, he will not change.

Zhao Chen also knew in his heart that Yue Ying cared about him, so he only smiled bitterly and said, "Okay, there are still three or four copies left, and you can rest after reading it." ”

Yue Ying poured a cup of tea first, handed it to Zhao Chen, and said, "The official family will drink three teas first, raise the spirit, and then look at it." ”

Zhao Chen took the jade cup, took a sip of tea, and then looked at the next one, this one was sent from Lizhou West Road, according to the report of the defender of the Lanzhou border, there are traces of the mobilization of the army in the Western Xia, I am afraid that the army will be gathered again and invade the northwest border of the Great Song Dynasty, so please prepare for the imperial court as soon as possible.

After Zhao Chen took a cursory look, he couldn't help but pay attention, and immediately put down the teacup and picked it up carefully. It turned out that as early as two days ago, the Western Xia Affairs Department of the Ministry of Labor sent back the news, saying that the Western Xia intended to invade the northwest of the Great Song Dynasty on a large scale, and now the same news is coming from the border, Zhao Chen secretly thought in his heart: The Western Xia is really going to mobilize a large army to invade the border of our Great Song Dynasty.

※※Support original ※ "Song Xiang" in 1*7*K ※※※

Early the next morning, Zhao Chen, regardless of the early dynasty, immediately summoned two privy envoys, Han Yanzhi and Liu Heng, plus two military generals, Li Xianzhong and Yang Yan, to discuss how to deal with the imminent invasion of Western Xia.

Zhao Chen first said: "The northwest border has just been extinguished for more than two months, and now the Western Xia is about to invade my Great Song Dynasty again, and this time the army will be concentrated. ”

Han Yan said straightly: "Your Majesty, the current situation of my Great Song Dynasty is really not suitable to take the initiative to attack, so it is better to strengthen the garrison as the best policy." ”

Liu Heng also said: "Your Majesty, Wechen heard that the Minister of State in Western Xia has the dictatorship of Ren Dejing, which is almost on par with the monarch Li Renxiao, and the internal troubles are uncertain, how can he use troops externally, so Weichen thinks that this Western Xia will never invade my Great Song Dynasty, but he just wants to plunder on the border." Therefore, my Great Song Dynasty does not need to take the initiative to attack, but only asks His Majesty to order the border armies to be strictly guarded in case the Western Xia army comes to attack, that is, it is really not advisable to send troops. ”

As early as the last border emergency, Yang Yan made a detailed analysis of the current situation to Zhao Chen, and concluded that the Great Song Dynasty was not suitable for large-scale military operations. Compared with then, although the civil unrest on Hunan Road has been quelled, it has only just settled down after all. Moreover, although the reorganization of the Sanya Forbidden Army has been completed, the expansion of soldiers is basically in place. However, the reorganization of the imperial garrisons on Hubei Road, Lianghuai Road and other places had to be temporarily stopped because of the popular rebellion on Hunan Road. At this time, the Jin State increased its troops on the border on a large scale, and under such circumstances, the Great Song Dynasty was indeed not suitable for any rash action at present.

Liu Heng's words just now actually implied that Zhao Chen had internal troubles in the Western Xia Kingdom, and the current internal stability of the Great Song Dynasty was also not absolutely stable, so the best countermeasure at present was to focus on defense.

Zhao Chen nodded and said, "However, Western Xia is going to attack on a large scale, so with the current strength of the defenders of Lintao Road, is it enough?" Is it necessary to transfer some troops from Jiankang to reinforce them? In addition, will the local guards continue to be appointed in Lanzhou, or will the imperial court send another candidate?"

Han Yanzhi and Liu Heng listened to it and felt that this was a real problem. At present, the imperial garrison in Sichuan still maintains about 100,000. After the Wu Xi rebellion, the imperial court greatly reduced the garrison strength of Xingyuan Mansion, and at the same time increased the Lanzhou garrison, the current distribution of troops is, Jinzhou Imperial Garrison 25,000, Xingyuan Imperial Garrison 25,000, Xingzhou Imperial Garrison 35,000, Lanzhou Garrison 15,000 people, nominally Lanzhou garrison is also subordinate to Xingzhou Imperial Garrison. Coupled with a part of the box army and the township soldiers, the total strength can reach about 1230,000.

Such a force is not too strong, but most of the Song army is placed on the border of Song and Jin to guard against the Jin army, and the number of troops stationed in Lanzhou to guard against Western Xia is only more than 30,000 people. The other three imperial garrisons, under the control of the Jin army, could only draw at most 20,000 or 30,000 troops to support Lanzhou. Moreover, half of the Duxiang army and the township army, with such a force, if they want to resist the invasion of the Western Xia army, I am afraid it is indeed a little strong.

At present, Jiankang's Sanya Forbidden Army has been reorganized, with a total strength of 180,000, and it is indeed possible to allocate a part of it to support Sichuan. But this raises the question of who will be in charge.

Lanzhou is not closer to the two lakes and two Huai, and can be remotely controlled by the imperial court. Rather, it is thousands of miles away from Jiankang. Messaging is extremely inconvenient. Although there are 800 miles expedited, it is actually not up to the real 800 miles a day. Being able to run five or six hundred miles a day is very impressive. Therefore, the battle report from the front was sent to Jiankang, and then after the imperial court discussed and decided, it was sent back to the front line, and it would take 20 days to say the least. The situation on the battlefield is changing rapidly, and when the decision of the imperial court arrives, it will not be as late as it should be, so it is necessary to set up a master in Lanzhou to command. At present, Yang Changpeng, the commander of the garrison in Lanzhou, is obviously not qualified, so whether this commander is chosen locally in Sichuan or appointed by the imperial court also needs to be decided immediately.

If the imperial court does not send reinforcements, then the main general should naturally be selected in the local imperial garrison in Sichuan. It's just that as soon as the imperial court sends reinforcements, the problem comes, because the Sanya forbidden army is the central army, and I am afraid it will be difficult to obey the jurisdiction of the local imperial garrison. And if it is appointed from the DPRK, then what if it is appropriate?

In fact, there are not many candidates to choose from. Li Xianzhong, Li Bao and others are all old, and among the younger generation, only Yang Yan and Bi Zaiyu can take charge alone, and they can only choose between these two. Whether it is Han Yanzhi or Liu Heng, they are all inclined to appoint Yang Yan. It's just that everyone knows that Yang Yan's wife, that is, the eldest princess of Yongning, is pregnant, and the birth is in the near future, at this time, I am afraid that even Zhao Chen will be difficult to open his mouth and let Yang Yan go on the expedition now.

Therefore, Han Yanzhi and Liu Heng just looked at Yang Yan and were speechless for a while.

Yang Yan naturally understood what the two meant, but what he was thinking was a different layer. Seeing that everyone else didn't speak, he said: "Your Majesty, the two prime ministers, Li Dianshuai, I don't know if you have thought about it, after the Jin State increased its troops on the border, Western Xia immediately sent troops to invade the northwest, I think this will definitely not be a coincidence, right?" ”

Liu Heng nodded and said, "Western Xia is a subject country of the Jin State, so it should be inevitable that Western Xia should discuss it before sending troops. This is not surprising. Suddenly, his face changed slightly, and he said: "Mo Fei Zihao thinks that the Jin Kingdom and the Western Xia alliance are coming to invade my Great Song Dynasty?" ”

In fact, some people have thought about it before, but although the Jin Kingdom has increased its troops on the border, it has been guarding the border between the two countries and has not made any provocative moves, so the Great Song Dynasty is a little relieved. Now that Liu Heng has mentioned it again, Zhao Chen, Han Yanzhi, and Li Xianzhong can't help but change color a little. If the Jin State and the Western Xia really jointly attacked the Song Dynasty, it would indeed be difficult to deal with.

Yang Yan shook his head and said, "That's not it, from my point of view, the Jin Kingdom has no intention of invading the south again." Otherwise, we should deliberately show weakness in order to paralyze us, so as to surprise us, instead of creating a momentum of increasing troops. ”

When everyone heard that he was reasonable, they were all relieved. Han Yan said straightly: "So what does Zihao think this means?" ”

Yang Yan said: "I also vaguely felt that something was wrong before, but because of the changes in Hunan Road, I had no time to think. Now that I think about it carefully, there is only one possibility, that is, the Jin State must order the Western Xia to send troops to attack our Great Song Dynasty, so that our two countries will lose both, and they can profit from it. Jin Guo is increasing troops on the border, just getting ready. As soon as we go all out to meet the Western Xia people, then we can take advantage of the weakness, although it is not a large-scale invasion, but we can also seize some places on the border, and even force our Great Song Dynasty to pay the New Year's coin. And if we defend the Jin army with all our might, then it will be difficult to resist the attack of Western Xia, and the national strength will continue to be damaged, and it will be difficult to work hard with peace of mind. ”

When the others listened, it dawned on them. Although Han Yanzhi, Liu Heng and others had thought of this before, they were far from being as thorough as Yang Yan thought. And judging from the current form, it is indeed very similar to what Yang Yan said, under the containment of the Jin army, the Great Song Dynasty could only avoid strong defense in the face of the attack of Western Xia, and could not mobilize a large army to counterattack Western Xia. If this continues for a long time, not only will the two countries be exhausted, but it will also inevitably cause domestic turmoil. This Hunan Road Rebellion also took advantage of the opportunity for Western Xia to invade the border. Then it is difficult to guarantee that in the future, who will take advantage of the invasion of foreign enemies and make something else.

Zhao Chen frowned and said, "In this way, this plan cannot be underestimated, so according to Yang Qing's opinion, what can we do to crack the strategy of Jin and Xixia to jointly deal with my Great Song Dynasty?" ”

Yang Yan said: "The only way to do this is to take advantage of the fact that the national strength of the Jin State has not yet recovered, and it is not yet able to invade the south on a large scale for the time being." Strike hard at the momentum of Western Xia first. Let the Western Xia be hit hard, even if there is an order from the Jin Kingdom in the future, I will not dare to easily invade my Great Song Dynasty. ”

Liu Heng also frowned, and said: "Although Zihao said well, although the Jin State is temporarily unable to invade the south, the border army is never less than 200,000, and Zihao has just said that once I go all out to deal with the Western Xia, the Jin State will definitely take the opportunity to send troops." How did you hit Xixia hard? ”

Yang Yan smiled slightly, and said: "What I mean is that it is not to use the Great Song Dynasty to deal with Western Xia with all its might, but to use the existing strength of Sichuan and add a few elite men." and then used a strange plot to hit the Western Xia hard. ”

This time, Han Yanzhi, Liu Heng and others understood a little. In fact, although this is easy to say, it is extremely difficult to do. How can we use intrigue to defeat the strong with the weak? If someone else was so shy, they would definitely be ridiculed, but when Yang Yan said this, everyone didn't dare to despise it. Because when it comes to the strange use of soldiers, I am afraid that no one in the entire Great Song Dynasty can come out of Yang Yan's right, maybe he has already made up his mind.

Sure enough, Zhao Chen immediately asked, "Does Yang Qing have a trick now?" ”

Yang Yan smiled slightly and said, "Your Majesty, Liu Shumi just said that the prime minister of Western Xia has the power to respect and despotize, which is almost on par with the monarch Li Renxiao. This time the Song Dynasty is still Li Renxiao's man, Ren Dejing will definitely not hope to succeed, and we can just learn from it. ”

When Zhao Chen heard this, he couldn't help laughing, and said, "This is really a good way." ”

Han Yanzhi was a little distracted, and said, "It's just that Ren Dejing will join forces with my Great Song?" ”

Yang Yan said confidently: "It will definitely be, according to the news that our spies in Western Xia heard, last year, Ren Dejing sent his younger brother to Jin Guojin to thank him, but he was rejected by the gold master, and now the domestic momentum has plummeted." Therefore, Ren Dejing could not get the support of the Jin State, and only by taking refuge in our Great Song Dynasty could he compete with Li Renxiao, which was his only choice. ”