The connection between these four things is actually not difficult to understand, and it is the key to the problem to bring out these four things, and this Su Jin has already done it for them, so soon, everyone has a faint eyebrow, including Zhao Zhen, who also has an answer.

"Are you saying that the Liao people took advantage of my internal and external difficulties in the Great Song Dynasty to fish in troubled waters?" Zhao Zhen opened his slightly closed eyes, gritted his back molars slightly, and asked.

Everyone's eyes focused on Su Jin, and everyone thought of this question.

Su Jin nodded and said: "The Liao people chose this time, and I have to say that this time is very good; As far as Weichen knows, the Northwest War has been fought for five years since the rebellion of the Western thief Yuan Hao, not to mention, in the two years from the second year of Baoyuan to the first year of Qingli, the Northwest Army of the Great Song Dynasty suffered several big losses; Wechen doesn't want to expose his scars, he just wants to state a fact. ”

There were several people in the crowd with embarrassed faces, the most embarrassing was Du Yan and Pang Ji and Fan Yong, the servant of the Ministry of Officials, these three people were the people concerned, Du Yan was the privy envoy general, and the military naturally could not escape his responsibility, the other was the original Shaanxi transit envoy Pang Ji, and Fan Yong was the prefect of Yanzhou who had a war at that time, the defeat of Sanchuankou killed and injured nearly 40,000 Song Dynasty soldiers, the defeat of Haoshuichuan killed and injured nearly 50,000 people, and the generals and colonels at all levels who led the army died more than 30 people, which can be described as a great shame.

Su Jin talked about this matter in court, although he admitted that he was not revealing the scars, but all the princes and ministers in the palace showed embarrassment; Yan Shu hurriedly looked at Su Jin and asked Su Jin not to say more about this matter.

Su Jin ignored it indifferently and continued: "In the two battles in the northwest, we lost 80,000 or 90,000 elites of the Great Song Dynasty, and the huge losses were staggering, and the military strength of the northwest was greatly injured; What was supposed to be an offensive posture now has to be on the defensive; If it weren't for Lord Fan and Lord Han adopting appropriate countermeasures, I'm afraid there would have been a leak a long time ago. ”

Zhao Zhen slowly let out a turbid breath and said: "What you said is the truth, but I think that the soul of the defenders of the northwest of the Great Song Dynasty is still there, and the western thieves will not be able to break through the border city so easily." ”

Su Jin hurriedly said: "What the emperor said is very true, my Great Song Dynasty soldiers are brave and fearless, this has been proven; What Wei Chen said about this is just to illustrate one thing, in the past few years, the battle with the Western Thieves has consumed too much energy of the Great Song Dynasty, killing 1,000 enemies and losing 800 themselves, this kind of loss cannot but be admitted. ”

Zhao Zhen said: "I understand what you mean, it is indeed too much loss. ”

Su Jin said: "The great drought in the Great Song Dynasty has also lost a lot, and there is almost no grain and silver in the treasury, and it can be seen that the consumption is so large that it is staggering. ”

Lu Yijian, who closed his eyes and pondered, opened his eyes and shouted: "Hugh is talking nonsense, according to what you say, isn't it time for my Great Song Dynasty to destroy the country and destroy the species, and it is better not to talk nonsense if you are alarmist." ”

Su Jin frowned and said: "Lu Xiang, this is not the time to pretend to be wrong, the lower officials are just talking about things, and there is no other meaning; How is the treasury, the emperor, Lu Xiang and the three divisions know a hundred times better than me, the officials do the grain affairs, and I saw with my own eyes that the granaries of the state capital are empty, and the treasury is exhausted, just and so on, even such a rich place as Yangzhou is in such a miserable situation, and the state capitals are afraid that there are ten treasury and nine empty; If my speculation is not correct, please ask the emperor and Lu Xiang to forgive me. ”

Zhao Zhen was irritable, patted the armrest of the dragon seat and said, "Su Jin, don't talk nonsense, you only talk about what I inquire." ”

Su Jin arched his hand and said: "Your Majesty, all in all, my Great Song Dynasty has indeed been in an eventful season in the past few years, but fortunately, the Holy Lord has been able to tide over the difficulties, but Weichen has to say a word in his heart, just like a person who has a serious illness, although he has survived, but the illness is like a thread, and his vitality is injured, and he must be slowly raised, and he will not recover so quickly." ”

Zhao Zhen nodded slightly, all that Su Jin said was the truth, although it was a little cruel to say it, but Zhao Zhen knew that it was not a matter of just avoiding it.

"I don't know the situation of the Great Song Dynasty Liao State, the Liao people live in a bitter cold land, and they must have coveted the rich territory of our Great Song Dynasty, and at the beginning of the founding of my Great Song Dynasty until the first emperor, I have conquered the Liao State several times, and Emperor Taizong led his army to the north and almost entered Youzhou City; Although the alliance of Lanzhou was concluded, how could the Liao people forget these things? No matter how harmonious the relationship between the two countries is now, there is only one premise, that is, the strength is equal. ”

Everyone was so fascinated that they completely forgot that they were listening to a teenager talking about the general trend of the world, and this person's analysis was very methodical, and it sounded reasonable, and some of the views were unheard of.

"My Great Song soldiers are full of fine food, although the Liao people have a covetous heart, but they really can't swallow it, and if my Great Song Dynasty attacks the Liao State, the chance of victory is not great, it is precisely because of the equal strength that the two sides have the opportunity to be about the country of brothers; Just imagine, if the Liao State is weak, how can I, the Great Song Dynasty, let this evil wolf go in the north and not kill it? ”

Zhao Zhen thought so, and even Lu Yijian, Du Yan and others thought that what Su Jin said was to catch the key point, if the Great Song Dynasty was not forced to do so, how could he make peace with the Liao people, there was really no way to destroy the Liao State; Emperor Taizong led an army of 300,000 to take advantage of the young age of the Liao lord and the Northern Expedition of the Empress Dowager Xiao Xuan when she was in power, but it did not achieve victory, let alone now; The growth of the Great Song military force was far from keeping up with the growth of the Liao army; It is rumored that the Liaoguo Iron Cavalry has already exceeded one million, and now it is a fool's dream to beat them.

Su Jin continued: "The current situation is when the balance of strength is broken, how can the Liao people not take advantage of it, they took advantage of the fierce battle between our Great Song Dynasty and the Western Thieves, and the national strength was very depleted. Unable to transport troops? No! ”

Zhao Zhen struck a stir, straightened up and stood up, paced slowly on the steps in front of the dragon seat, and suddenly stopped and asked, "Then what is the purpose of the Liao people sending envoys here?" Why didn't they attack my Great Song directly? ”

Su Jin thought for a while and said: "The war must be famous, and the Liao people do not want to bear the responsibility of tearing up the covenant. One is to spy on the inside of our Great Song Dynasty, to see if our Great Song Dynasty soldiers and civilians are exhausted by the western thieves, and whether the condition of ordnance, grain, grass, soldiers and horses is good; Second, if they want to be famous, they will use this envoy to put forward harsh conditions, and if our Great Song Dynasty does not allow it, it will provide an excuse for the Liao people to enter the army. ”

Zhao Zhen's face was pale, this coincided with his estimate, when Su Jin mentioned those four things just now, he had already thought of this possibility, but he didn't want to believe his speculation, until Su Jin said it, he had to face this tricky fact.

The ministers also changed color, the Liao people's means this time were extremely clever, this is a typical first salute and then soldiers, but the word 'li' in front of it may make the Great Song pay a very high price, and if you don't agree to their conditions, the price may be even greater.

"This is all Weichen's speculation, things may not be as bad as Weichen thought, Weichen just wants to say, the heart of defense is indispensable, the emperor is benevolent and righteous, but the Liao people may not know what is good or bad, and they can't help but take precautions." Su Jin bowed and said.

Su Jin thought: History has proved that this time the Liao people are here to extort bamboo, and I am just saying this to comfort and comfort you; But since I've been here, it seems that everything has changed again, and I'm a factor that doesn't exist at all in this era, and is this small factor leading things to a better place or worse? No one can tell!

Su Jin retreated to the last position and stood quietly, the eyes of the surrounding officials looking at Su Jin were very different, this person's analysis was reasonable, and his speculation was quite reasonable, the whole thing was like a big picture laid out in front of him, teaching people to see it clearly at a glance; Originally, the military affairs were complicated and complicated and obscure, but after he said it, it became clear at a glance.

"Do you have any comments on the words of the Soviet envoy?" Zhao Zhen broke the silence and asked everyone again.

"Your Majesty, the minister thinks that Su Jin's words are too alarmist, the war between the two countries is a major matter, how can it be easy to start a war, and the minister thinks that after the Liao State comes to make a clear decision, he can make a decision." Deputy Prime Minister Zhang Dexiang took the lead this time and played first.

"Your Majesty, the old minister thought that he had to guard against it, the words of the envoy of the Soviet Union fit in the silk reason, and the relationship between my Great Song Dynasty and the Liao State is indeed not as harmonious as imagined, although there has been no war in recent years, there is really a lot of friction and fighting between the two countries, and the people of Hebei have been harassed by the Liao soldiers several times, and there are many dead and wounded; Last year, the Liao people actually sent a large number of men and horses into our territory to cut down a large number of trees, and then our border army inspected and burned all the wood, and almost had an engagement; It can be seen that the Liao people have been ready to move, and they have to guard against it. The one who spoke was another actual deputy prime minister, Jia Changchao, who participated in political affairs as a squire of the Ministry of Works, and was also an old minister of the two dynasties.

Zhao Zhen was used to disagreeing with his subordinates, but in this matter, he was very tired; Seeing that the two opinions began to argue in the court, and I don't know when there was a situation, a nameless fire rose in my heart.

Zhao Zhen forcibly suppressed his anger and looked at Lu Yijian, at a critical time, he still needed this old minister to provide advice. Lu Yijian is also accustomed to speaking out at critical times.

"Your Majesty, the old minister thinks it's better to make preparations with both hands; Lao Chen still said that overreaction will backfire, but if you don't prepare, you will be caught off guard; In view of the imminent arrival of the Liao envoys, we still need to treat each other with courtesy, showing the majesty and demeanor of our country, and cannot give them a handle; In addition, I believe that the number of the two armies is only more than 20,000, and the Liao people have more than 100,000 troops. The minister suggested that troops and horses should be quickly mobilized to reinforce Xiongzhou and Bazhou in case of contingencies. ”

Zhao Zhen turned to Du Yan and said, "Du Aiqing, what army can be mobilized to reinforce there?" ”

Du Yan hurriedly said: "The two armies of Ansu and Guangxin are the closest to Waqiao Pass, and they can move closer to the east, and they can be rescued at any time when the war breaks out, but it is just ...... In this way, Hebei West Road seems empty. ”

Zhao Zhen said: "Is there a solution? ”

Du Yan groaned and did not answer, and the deputy privy envoy Chen Zhizhong stepped forward and said: "You can order the Caoqiao Guan Shun'an Army and the Qizhou Yongning Army to move forward to defend the front, and then mobilize Jizhou, and the Xiang Army of the Daimyo Mansion will move forward for in-depth defense." ”

Zhao Zhen said: "Is it possible?" ”

Du Yan nodded and said, "It's okay, but if things happen in a hurry, I'm afraid it will take time." ”

Zhao Zhen said: "You can't delay, move forward lightly, Yan Aiqing, you need to transport grain and grass in time, and work with Hebei to transport it for logistics." ”

Yan Shu frowned, asking for money and food is the most troublesome thing at present, but the entanglement is only for a moment, and then he bows down and agrees.

Zhao Zhen breathed a long sigh of relief, returned to the dragon seat and sat down, and before he knew it, his forehead was already sweating.