There are many people who are familiar with Xia Liao among the ministers, such as the former officials of Honglu Temple, and later after the revocation of Honglu Temple, officials such as the head of the Privy Council and the north house who are responsible for communicating with the two northern powers, and Xia Liao have a lot of contacts with Xia Liao, so they still know more about everything about Xia Liao, and they have long known what Su Jin said, but they don't dare to talk about the strength of Xia Liao and Xia Liao in the court, wouldn't it be asking for trouble.

Su Jin naturally didn't care about these, and he didn't think about it that much at all, he just wanted to tell everything he saw and heard, and the starting point was naturally for the sake of Da Song.

Zhao Zhen couldn't sit still, not because Su Jin said that the combat strength and discipline of the Great Song soldiers were not as good as those in other countries, but because Su Jin's words were faintly worried, which was what he cared about.

"What Su Aiqing means is that Xia Liao may secretly unite against my Great Song?"

"It shouldn't be in a short period of time, but with the passage of time, this is almost an inevitable result, the minister believes that we should pay more attention to the movements of the Liao State on the border, once the Liao soldiers on the Bazhou front line are gathered, it will inevitably be a signal for the alliance of the two countries to attack the Song Dynasty."

"This is also the reason why you don't approve of the transfer of troops and horses from the Northwest and Bazhou fronts to the south?"

Su Jin nodded and said: "Exactly, we have no way of knowing the specific time when the secret alliance between Xia and Liao was reached, but one thing is certain, once the troops and horses are drawn and the border forces are unbalanced, it will speed up the process of their joint retaliation; After the Xia-Liao War, although our Great Song Dynasty was the strongest among the Three Kingdoms, it was far from being able to resist the Liaoxia attack at the same time, not to mention that troops were still being used in the south; Nong Zhigao's rebellion was only limited to the mountainous and dense forests of the Yi people, and they lost their advantage without relying on these terrains, so for the Great Song Dynasty, they were just scabies, we only needed to properly mobilize the support of the troops from the surrounding state capitals, and give General Di material assistance, even if it dragged on for a year and a half, what can it do? However, the two countries of Liaoxia, whether now or in the future, are the henchmen of my Great Song Dynasty. ”

Zhao Zhen thought about it, looked at His Royal Highness's ministers, seemed to be soliciting opinions, Xia Zhu stepped forward and said: "Your Majesty, the old minister thinks that Lord Su's words are very pertinent, the minister has been in the northwest border, and he knows the nature of the northerners, and the party members are unruly and untamed, and they have never really bowed their heads to others. ”

In the imperial history, Cheng Bao Zheng also stepped forward and said: "The minister also agrees with Lord Su's discussion, the heart of guarding against people is indispensable, we are accompanied by tigers and wolves, and everything is more attentive. ”

Zhao Zhen sighed and said: "According to this, this time to drive Xia and Liao to fight at the same time attracted Xia Liao's hatred, the Liao lord sent a letter of state the day before yesterday, angrily accusing my Great Song of treachery, and has cut off all contacts with my Great Song Dynasty, closed all trade places on the border, and declared that I will not be with me, I knew that there would be such a result and I didn't care too much, but Su Aiqing said that Xia Liao would form a secret alliance was something I didn't expect, I thought that the Xia people would be grateful to my Great Song for preserving their place." ”

Su Jin said: "Xia people are not stupid! ”

Everyone heard the meaning of Su Jin's words, don't think that the Xia people are all two hundred and five, they know that the Song State is using them, and Su Jin is also very obvious, during the war, Su Jin did not take into account the casualties of the Xia army, so that the Xia army lost more than 100,000 yuan in the battle with the Liao army, and after the war, all the materials such as fire oil were taken away, the Xia people may not have understood at the time, as long as they used their brains a little afterwards, they understood Su Jin's evil intentions; Su Jin is probably already synonymous with the devil in the Xia Kingdom's court, and his reputation is so infamous.

"Well, if there is no objection, I will allow Su Aiqing to play, not to transfer troops from the north, but to mobilize troops from the nearest state capital to support; But I want to ask you Aiqing, since there is a worry about Xia Liao's joint attack on the Song Dynasty, how can my Great Song deal with it? You can't just wait for them to recover. ”

Everyone unanimously turned their eyes to Su Jin, and even the central leaders such as Yan Shu and Du Yan were automatically ignored, as if only Su Jin had the best strategy.

Su Jin saw the embarrassment on Yan Shu's face, although he and Yan Shu have always been in the same faction, but that was in the past, he was an official outside, and there was no direct conflict in power, but the relationship was easy to get along with. Fu Bi is a living example, Weng Zi's son-in-law turned against him because of the new policy, before and after Fu Bi was demoted, Yan Shu didn't even say a word of asking for help, this is the proof, even if Yan Shu said that it was to avoid suspicion, but this reason is really unconvincing.

"Weichen has not yet had a good plan, and Yan Xiangdu Shumi must have a countermeasure." Su Jin said: "I would like to hear the opinions of the two elders. ”

Zhao Zhen secretly praised Su Jin's cleverness, and for a moment just now, he almost ignored the existence of the prime minister and the privy envoy, it seems that only Su Jin's words are a good strategy, and I have to say that there are some gaffes.

"Yan Aiqing has always been calm and meticulous, which is the foundation of my Great Song Society, I want to hear your opinion."

The unhappiness on Yan Shu's face flashed, he regained his calm look, and slowly stepped forward and said: "Your Majesty, colleagues, the old man was too optimistic about the pattern after the battle of Helan Mountain in Liaoxia, of course, the situation may not be as big as Lord Su said, we don't have to worry about it, because in any case, this war has caused huge losses to the two countries of Liaoxia in terms of morale and real results, and both sides have lost a lot of troops and consumed a lot of materials. ”

The ministers obviously felt that Yan Shu was dissatisfied with Su Jin's previous analysis, and the sensitive officials immediately began to speculate about the scale of confrontation between the two, and those who thought far away immediately began to think about which side to stand on to speak.

However, Yan Shu didn't let their thoughts fly farther, and the words continued: "But Lord Su's worries are not groundless, no near-term worries do not mean that there are no long-term worries, Liaoxia has suffered a big loss, and its hatred of the other party is far less than that of hating Da Song, because Da Song is the initiator of the cause they have to fight, and from the perspective of long-term interests, Liaoxia is more and more likely to form an alliance; And the Xia people pointed out by Master Su that they deployed heavy troops on the northwest border for the first time, which reflected the psychology of the Xia people, and in their hearts, my Great Song Dynasty was the fierce enemy; The goal of the Liao people is naturally clearer, they were stabbed in the back by the Great Song Dynasty, so the hatred is naturally the first to recommend the Great Song Dynasty. ”

"Lao Chen is just thinking about how to deal with it, thinking about it, it is nothing more than eight words, 'rich country and strong soldiers, strong soldiers', the Great Song Dynasty must be so strong that they dare not think about it, that is the fundamental solution, there is no other way."

Zhao Zhen frowned, Yan Shu's words sounded like a drop of water, but in fact it was equivalent to empty talk, everyone knew that they could deter the enemy country by being strong, but this was not something that could be done by talking, what Zhao Zhen needed was specific measures.

"What Yan Xiang said is reasonable, what does Du Shumi think?" Zhao Zhen didn't comment too much on Yan Shu's words, maybe Yan Shu didn't think about it, so he didn't have to chase after such a big talk, and he might have a better way to give him time to think in the future.

Du Yan hurriedly said: "The old minister has no good plan for a while, but the old minister will strengthen the border defense, pay close attention to the movements of the enemy troops on the border, and take precautions; The minister also had a suggestion, in order to be prepared, the minister asked to increase the number of soldiers recruited in each state capital, increase the number of soldiers in each state, and increase the number of soldiers in each state, so that the whole Song Dynasty could increase the number of troops by 200,000, which could be used to prepare for the needs of war. ”

Before Zhao Zhen could answer, Yan Shu, who was also the third envoy, said: "200,000 soldiers? Where does the armor, weapons, food, and grass come from? This is a standing army, 200,000 people a year to increase the cost of at least 4 million, not counting the initial armor and weapons, the annual income of the imperial court is only 40 million yuan, everywhere has to use money, where does the money come from? ”

Du Yanfu said with a smile: "Spread the burden to the state capitals, there is nothing that cannot be afforded." ”

Yan Shu shook his head and said: "The local interception has been canceled, and the purchasing division is directly dispatched by the imperial court, how do you let the local state capitals bear it?" Isn't this forcing them to hang themselves? ”

Du Yan said: "If you don't raise taxes and fees a little, anyway, my taxes are not heavy, and it doesn't hurt to add a little." ”

Yan Shu shouted: "Ridiculous, how can the tax rate set by the imperial court be increased?" The emperor said that if you don't pay taxes for ten years, you let the emperor lose his trust to the people? ”

Du Yan was also angry, and said coldly: "Then what do you say?" A rich country and a strong army, how to make a rich country strong in the art of war? I will say that, too, but what's the use? ”

Yan Shu's face was hot, and he said angrily: "You ......"

Seeing that the two were arguing in the court, Zhao Zhen, as usual when his subordinates were arguing, had no intention of extinguishing the fire at all, only sat silently, Su Jin couldn't stand it and hurriedly came out to play a round and said: "Don't be excited about the two bosses, I have a little immature suggestion, say it for the reference of the two adults, the two adults are worried about state affairs, which shows a sincere heart, but this is the court after all, and the emperor and all the adults are here." ”

Yan Shu and Du Yan consciously lost their temper, glanced at each other stupidly, and listed them separately.