After discussing and deciding, the Great Song Dynasty immediately began to actively prepare for the western expedition to capture Western Xia.

The plans for the western expedition proposed by Yang Yan were all considered from a military point of view, but the conquest was never something that the army could accomplish unilaterally, and almost all aspects of the entire country were involved. It must be uniformly prepared by the imperial court. So there are still many things to decide.

First of all, the goal of this war was to destroy the Western Xia and occupy the territory of the Western Xia, which was the Hetao region, so it was now necessary to consider the question of post-war rule. On the one hand, after all, the land of Western Xia is a corner, Zhao Chen still hopes that Yang Yan can sit in Jiankang, supervise Jianghuai, and prepare for the future Northern Expedition planning, on the other hand, it is not Yang Yan's good at governing civil affairs, and as far as his own intentions are concerned, he does not want to stay abroad for a long time and cannot return home.

Therefore, it is necessary to select an official who understands both military affairs and civil affairs, as Yang Yan's deputy, to go to war with the army, once after the capture of Western Xia, he will take Yang Yan to replace him, stay on the local side of the garrison, and also strengthen civil administration. Sichuan Xuanfu made Liu Heng a suitable candidate, but Sichuan is also an important place and cannot be easily transferred.

After deliberation among the people, it was unanimously agreed that Xin Qiji, the deputy privy councillor, was the most suitable candidate. Xin Qiji, both civil and military, and cooperated with Yang Yan as early as when he was in Pingnan, and the cooperation was very appropriate, and there was also a set of methods to appease the people and govern the place, so this time it will definitely be able to cooperate successfully again.

In addition, this westward expedition not only involved Lintao Road, Sichuan Fourth Road, and even the surrounding areas such as Liangguang and Lianghu areas, but these areas are far away from Jiankang. If it all depends on the central dispatch of the imperial court, I am afraid that it will be beyond the reach of the whip, and when the time comes, it will delay the fighters. Therefore, it is necessary to send a minister to sit in the local area, and make a comprehensive dispatch so as not to make a mistake. And this task was assumed by Shang Shuyou, Pu Shot, and Zhao Ruyu as the minister of the Qin Mission.

In terms of Jiankang, Li Xianzhong, Chen Min, and Qi Fang, the three officials in charge of the forbidden army of the Sanya, immediately formed the Governor's Mansion, led by Wang Yan, and together with Yang Yan, formulated the detailed plan for the entire war, and organized the deployment of troops, and arranged the generals who went on the expedition. After the war began, he served as an advisor to the imperial court, and watched the trend of the entire war for the imperial court, and provided advice for the imperial court's decision-making in the course of the war. At the same time, once it is necessary to cooperate with the war in the northwest on the Jianghuai front, and launch a military operation, Wang Yanlai, the privy envoy, will be fully responsible. In the middle of the court, Han Yanzhi sat in charge, taking Ye Hao and Zhou Kui to take charge of the affairs of the imperial court.

Then Zhao Chen issued an order to Liu Heng, the Xuanfu envoy in Sichuan, clearly telling him that the imperial court would use troops against the Western Xia, and ordered him to immediately start preparations to collect grain, grass and other military supplies in Lanzhou, Xingzhou and other places, and at the same time to collect another 50,000 soldiers in addition to the five imperial garrisons in Sichuan.

This time, the materials, grain and grass of the westward expedition, and the requisition of the people were all completed in the southwest region, and the main support should be the Sichuan region, and the other two Guangxi and Lianghu regions will also share a part, so Zhao Chen issued an order to appoint Zhang Yan as the envoy of Guangnan West Road, Chen Lianghan as the envoy of Guangnan East Road, Gong Maoliang as the envoy of Jinghu South Road, and Shi Shidian as the envoy of Jinghu North Road, and paid responsibility for raising grain, grass, materials and other materials in the local area to support the army's westward expedition. However, for the sake of secrecy, the matter of the imperial court's use of troops in the northwest was not announced for the time being, and except for a few ruling ministers, only these four foreign ministers knew the movements of the imperial court.

Then, Zhao Chen issued another order to collect 150,000 reserve troops across the country, ready to replenish the men and horses in front at any time. Now the total strength of the Great Song Dynasty is about about 600,000, of which the imperial garrison is 270,000, the Sanya forbidden army is 180,000, and the navy army is 60,000, and the rest is the local army.

With the imperial court passing down one edict after another, the entire Great Song Dynasty also began to mobilize, and grain, forage, timber, iron ore, and cloth were all gathered in the northwest region like flowing water. The army also marched westward in batches, and many localities also began to recruit new soldiers and hire civilians. Although the imperial court did not officially announce the use of troops, the atmosphere in Jiankang Mansion gradually became tense. Some responsive officials are also aware that there will be a big move in the imperial court in the near future.

At the same time, under the leadership of Lai Wenzheng, the spy network established by the Great Song Dynasty in the Western Xia Dynasty launched an active action, feeding back every move in the Western Xia to the Great Song Dynasty for the reference of the imperial court's decision-making. Moreover, Lai Wenzheng was also ready to organize manpower, and as soon as the Song army was trying to start an offensive, he immediately organized a riot in the Western Xia to match the frontal attack of the Song army.

At this time, the Western Xia in the northwest obviously smelled a hint of unease. Because of such a large-scale plan for the use of troops, no matter how secret it is, it is difficult to keep it watertight. Although Western Xia did not have such a strict spy system as the Great Song Dynasty, after the defeat of the last war, many spies were also planted in the border state capital of the Great Song Dynasty, and it was difficult to conceal such large-scale movements as the mobilization of soldiers and horses and the collection of materials.

Although the news fed back to the Western Xia was not accurate enough, the inaccurate news was more likely to stimulate all kinds of conjectures, and these conjectures were often not biased towards the good side, and the worse it was, the more it was thought in that direction.

At the same time, Ren Dejing's side seems to be preparing to move recently, constantly deploying troops and gathering people, which is completely as if he is going to make a big move, and he also sent people to Xingqing Mansion to write a letter, proposing to Li Renxiao that he would drive away the Jin army stationed in Xiazhou and take back Xiazhou.

In fact, Ren Dejing didn't know that the Great Song Dynasty had the intention of sending troops to Western Xia, but because the Jin army's garrison in Xiazhou was like a man's back for Ren Dejing, and the threat was too great, Ren Dejing had been trying to find a way to drive away the Jin army and take back Xiazhou. It's just that although the garrison of the Jin army is not much, it is backed by Dajin, and before getting the full support of the Great Song Dynasty, Ren Dejing did not dare to act rashly, so he temporarily endured. But now that there is a change of throne in the Jin Kingdom, Ren Dejing also realizes that it is indeed a good opportunity to drive out the garrison of the Jin State by relying on his own strength alone.

But now the monarch of Western Xia is still Li Renxiao, and Ren Dejing is also a courtier of Western Xia in name, and if he wants to drive away the Jin army, he must issue an edict from the emperor, so Ren Dejing is frequently active and forces Li Renxiao to make an order.

In his opinion, Ren Dejing dared to write to expel the garrison of the Jin State, which must have received some kind of commitment or support from the Great Song Dynasty, and then contacted the various actions of the Great Song Dynasty on the border, Li Renxiao and the Western Xia courtiers immediately came to a conclusion, that is, taking advantage of the current Jin State when the new monarch of the Jin State succeeded to the throne and the country was unstable, I am afraid that when he could not take care of foreign affairs, Ren Dejing planned to collude with the Song Dynasty and launch an attack on the Western Xia.

In fact, such a judgment is not wrong, but the real conclusion is often more desperate. Li Renxiao and the courtiers of Western Xia discussed how to deal with it for several days, but the courtiers all agreed that the strength of the Song army's combat effectiveness was not comparable to that of the past, and after the defeat of Western Xia two years ago, the vitality of the present has not recovered, not to mention that the Song army still has Ren Dejing's help, so even if the Western Xia understands the intentions of the Song army and prepares as soon as possible, I am afraid that it is not the opponent of the Song army.

In fact, the Western Xia monarchs and ministers didn't know that this time there was also Mongolia's share, if they knew, I was afraid that they would be so scared that they couldn't even eat.

Of course, the other ministers were not idle, and they all used their brains to think of a way, and some ministers thought that they should immediately send envoys to the Song Dynasty to hold them accountable why they should renounce the alliance and attack Western Xia. Some ministers also suggested that now it seems that the power of the Song Dynasty is greater, so it is better to simply turn their backs on the Jin State and turn to the Song Dynasty as ministers.

But Li Renxiao thinks that these two methods are useless, first of all, now the Song Dynasty has not clearly declared war on the Western Xia, all this is just the Western Xia's own speculation, so it seems unreasonable to send envoys to accountable, and if the Song Dynasty really intends to attack the Western Xia, how can it be prevented by sending people to be accountable? Didn't Zhao Kuangyin, Taizu of the Song Dynasty, have a famous saying: Lying on the couch, how can you allow others to sleep soundly.

The first is that the Western Xia has been a vassal to the Jin State for many years, and there is a certain degree of trust between each other, and the Song Dynasty may not believe that the Western Xia is a sincere vassal, even if it is believed, but the Song Dynasty has been respected, and may not accept the submission of the Western Xia. Second, even if the Song Dynasty can accept the submission of the Western Xia, the Western Xia will inevitably offend the Jin State again, and if the Jin State fights again a day later, then what should the Western Xia do?

At this time, the left privy envoy Lang entered the ranks and said: "Your Majesty, the only way to do this is to take a three-pronged approach." ”

Li Renxiao hurriedly said: "How to do it in a three-pronged way, please explain it in detail." ”

Lang Zhenzhong said: "Your Majesty, first of all, we still have to actively prepare for the unexpected. Secondly, we should still send someone to the Southern Song Dynasty, now we are just guessing by ourselves, and we can't be sure, so we can test whether the Southern Song Dynasty really intends to invade our Dabai Gaoguo. At this time, I immediately sent someone to envoy Jin Guo, knowing the benefits, and asked Jin Guo to send troops to save me. Since the ancient road, the Jin country will not understand this truth, so the minister thinks that the possibility of them sending troops is still very large, as long as the Jin country is willing to send troops, then our country is worry-free. ”

Li Renxiao nodded, the three-pronged approach of slandering Jinzhong is really good. No matter what the result is, you have to give it a try, so Li Renxiao immediately issued an order, appointed Gao Shan Du as the commander of the Xingqing Mansion, organized soldiers and horses, and urgently recruited men and horses in the country to prepare to meet the Song army. Then he appointed Jiao Jingyan, a scholar from Hanlin, as an envoy to the Song Dynasty to listen to the truth and truth. He also sent an envoy to the Jin country, saying that the Jin army would be mobilized to help each other.