Since the Yeli brothers no longer objected, the change of direction of other people's intellectual interests changed from opposition to favor, and since there was to be a war, the direction of attack was put on the agenda.

According to Li Yuanhao's thoughts, this time it should be a piece of the bone that is hard to gnaw, since there is a big battle, it will fight the sore spot of the Song Dynasty, and the best target is the two roads of Yan Yan and Huanqing, which have been quite active recently; Fan Zhongyan sat here, and there was another masked Di Qing who once led his troops to capture Youzhou City, although he was quickly beaten back, but it really made the Great Xia monarchs and ministers disgusted.

For Li Yuanhao's suggestion, the Yeli brothers shook their heads secretly, this is the old problem of great joy, Yan Yan and Huanqing are on the eastern front, which is the closest barrier to Bianliang, the capital of the Song Dynasty, and more than half of the 150,000 troops of the Song army in the northwest are arranged on the two roads of Huanqing in Yanyan, which is to defend the enemy's momentum, if it is easily broken through, it will be repaid.

In comparison, although Jingyuan Road and Qinfeng Road on the West Road claim to be garrisoned by 100,000 male soldiers, they can actually fight no more than 50,000, and most of them are temporary patchwork miscellaneous armies; The only thing to worry about is Han Qi, who is in Qinzhou and sits on Qinfeng Road.

For Han Qi and Fan Zhongyan, there have long been songs and rumors in the army of the Song Dynasty, "There is a Han in the army, and the heart of Xixia is cold." There was a fan in the army, and the Western Xia was shocked when he heard it. This kind of ballad has long been heard in the Western Xia army, in fact, although it is a bit exaggerated, but it also tells some truths, Han Qi and Fan Zhongyan are two people guarding the northwest, which really makes the Western Xia army dare not make a mistake; Although after the victory of Haoshuichuan, Li Yuanhao once sent a letter to Han Qi and Xia Zhu and said: "Xia Zhu has not shrugged, Han Qi is not surprised. The dragon and tiger in the river are still talking about military aircraft. The smugness was beyond words, but the front-line generals who had dealt with Han Qi, Fan Zhongyan, and Xia Zhu all knew in their hearts how terrible the few officials of the Song Dynasty who guarded the northwest were.

However, this time it was not the Yeli brothers who spoke out, but a Hanchen named Zhang Yuan of His Royal Highness, who was originally a native of Huayin County, Huazhou, Yongxing Junlu in the Song Dynasty, and was also quite famous in the local area, and won the praise of the locals as "chivalrous self-responsibility", "negative and dignified, and talented".

It's just that this person's luck seems to be worse, and he has not been able to participate in several imperial examinations, so he thinks that his talent is difficult to stretch, so he decided to rebel against the Song Dynasty and join Xia, during the reign of Renzong Jingyou, and also during the Guangyun and Daqing years before the founding of Yuan Hao, he and his friend Hu Hao heard that Li Yuanhao had the ambition to establish a country and call the emperor, so he came to Western Xia, and then changed his name to Zhang Yuan, and his friend surnamed Hu changed his name to Wu Hao.

After coming to Xingqing Mansion, there is no way, in the Xixia country full of party members, the status of the Han people may not be much better than mules, horses, pigs and dogs, so the two of them drank and wandered all day long, and one day in a tavern and wrote on the wall with a pen: "Zhang Yuan and Wu Hao came to drink this building." When the patrolmen saw them, they knew that they were not Xia people, because the Hao character in Wu Hao's name was in conflict with Yuan Hao, so they took them down and gave them to Yuan Hao.

When Yuan Hao asked them why they violated their names and why they entered the Xia Realm, the two of them said loudly: "The surname has not been ignored, but the name has been ignored?" Yuan Hao's original surname is Tuoba, and his ancestors have been given the surname Li by the emperor of the Tang Dynasty and the surname Zhao by the emperor of the Song Dynasty. Originally, it was put aside in normal times, and this kind of words were the fate of being beheaded, but that day Li Yuanhao happened to be a long-admired wife, and he was in a good mood, not only did he not blame them, but also released them and entrusted them with important tasks.

The two were quite trusted after the Xia, and Li Yuanhao said that soon after the founding of the emperor, he appointed Zhang Yuan as the Zhongshu Order, and then Wu Hao was also reused. When Zhang Yuanyuan's family was detained by the Song Dynasty, Li Yuanhao sent spies to correct the Song Dynasty's edict and successfully rescued Zhang Yuan's family, which made Zhang Yuan even more loyal to Li Yuanhao.

In the wars of the Song and Xia dynasties, Zhang Yuan used his understanding of the Song people to come up with a lot of strategies and results; The plan of the Western Xia plot to assassinate the Liao envoy and sow discord that Su Jin had captured when he was in Bianliang was proposed by Zhang Yuan, but the executor was too stupid and finally fell short.

Zhang Yuan would never disobey Li Yuanhao's suggestion in public, and today he actually spoke out against it, which made everyone a little puzzled, and Li Yuanhao was also very surprised, but he knew that since Zhang Yuan's public opposition was either his brain was kicked out by a donkey, or his proposal had major mistakes and omissions, Zhang Yuan had to raise objections.

Why did Zhang Qing object? Is there a reason? Li Yuanhao asked politely.

"Your Majesty, the minister naturally has a reason, and the minister heard the emperor say that this battle is the last battle before the peace of He and Song, although the minister does not dare to agree with the matter of peace with the Song Dynasty, but since the king of Yeli and the emperor have reached a consensus, the minister naturally does not need to say much about this matter; The minister thought that since the result of this battle was used as a bargaining chip to negotiate peace with Song, then only one factor should be considered in this battle, not a question of who to fight with, but a question of whether or not he could win; If this battle is defeated, not only will it not be a bargaining chip to oppress the Song State and give favorable conditions, but it will be used by the Song Dynasty, not only will the peace agreement fail, but there will be a worry of destroying the country. Zhang Yuan said eloquently.

"Presumptuous, you don't even believe that my Great Xia Iron Cavalry can win in battle, destroy your own prestige, and grow the ambition of others, in the end, you are Han people, white-eyed wolves who can't be raised." Li Jiqian had long seen that Zhang Yuan was not pleasing to his eyes, and seized the opportunity to kick his feet quickly.

Li Yuanhao also had a gloomy face, and he didn't have a seizure, and said coldly: "Zhang Yuan, you must pay attention to proportions when you speak, this battle is bound to win, what is your intention to be discouraged here?" ”

Zhang Yuan straightened his chest and said indifferently: "Your Majesty, Weichen doesn't like to lie, my Great Xia Iron Cavalry is indeed invincible, but the Song people are not soft persimmons, and they can't rely on speculation to fight. If so, my Great Xia Iron Cavalry has already reached Bianliang City, what is the actual situation? Aren't you still entangled in the border and can't get in? The minister blamed the soldiers for their incompetence, but wanted to remind the emperor and everyone not to underestimate the Song people; This time, since you want to fight, you must win, no matter who you fight, as long as a big victory is used as a bargaining chip, you can force Song Renyi; The emperor's proposal to attack the strongest place in the northwest border of the Song Dynasty is really unnecessary, we don't need to give up the weak to gnaw the hard bones, it is okay to win a big victory on anyone, there is no need to take risks. ”

Everyone suddenly felt that Zhang Yuan's words were indeed reasonable, wouldn't picking up a soft persimmon and pinching it be more certain than risking defeat to attack Yan Yan and Huanqing, who were guarding Fan Zhongyan? Especially the Yeli brothers, they agreed with Zhang Yuan's opinion that their troops must not experience another major defeat, and it was indeed unwise to drown with Fan Zhong; Originally, they thought that Yuan Hao was so happy that he proposed to attack Fan Zhongyan, but now Zhang Yuan's opinion coincides with them.

Li Yuanhao looked at Zhang Yuan and said coldly: "Then in your opinion, where should you attack?" But don't forget that there is Fan Zhongyan in the east and Han Qi in the west, no one is easy to mess with, according to what you say, we should cross Liupan Mountain to attack Lanzhou, but unfortunately horses are always horses, they can't fly. ”

Zhang Yuan pretended not to understand Li Yuanhao's teasing, and said with a straight face: "Your Majesty, listen to Weichen's analysis and analysis, the strong horses of Yan Yan and Huanqing in the east will not be considered for the time being, but Jingyuan and Qin Feng in the west definitely have something to do; Although Han Qi is on the East Road, he is guarding Qinfeng Road, and his seat of governance is in Qinzhou, hundreds of miles away from the border; In front of him is opposite to us is Jingyuan Road, Weizhou Yuanzhou Jingzhou and other state capitals were originally under Wang Yan's control, but after a detailed report, Wang Yan seems to be about to be transferred to the capital to serve, and then Jingyuan Road will come to a novice to sit in charge, of course, it is not ruled out that the Song court will order Han Qi to concurrently serve, but I think it is unlikely; Weichen thought that no matter who they took over, the handover was a time of chaos and instability, and at this time, attacking Jingyuan Road would definitely be able to win a big victory, which was the direction of our attack. ”

Li Yuanhao touched his chin and nodded slowly, Zhang Yuan's analysis was very reasonable, it seemed that Jingyuan Road was indeed the direction that should be attacked, and the chance of winning was quite large.

Zhang Yuan continued: "Among the states of Jingyuan Road, the minister thinks that Weizhou is the best target, although Yuanzhou is slightly ahead, but Yuanzhou is also closer to Huanqing Road, and Fan Zhongyan's rescue is also easy, and Weizhou is isolated in the west, it is a lonely city, which is an excellent target." ”

Yeli Wangrong interjected: "How do you know that Han Qi doesn't support from behind? Wouldn't Fan Zhongyan come for reinforcements from a long distance? ”

Zhang Yuan arched his hand and said: "The king is right, there is indeed this possibility, but based on the recent performance of the Song people, what they are most worried about is fighting with me in the field, and they are better at shrinking defense; We only need to make a gesture and show that we are about to attack the two roads of Yanyan and Huanqing, Fan Zhongyan will definitely not dare to use support, and our army can be diverted from east to west to kill Weizhou directly, and at the same time, the Jianing army commanded by Commander Li can send people to feint to attack the northern walled city of Yanzhou to contain Fan Zhongyan; My army is fast, and it will be killed in Weizhou without a thunderbolt, even if Fan Zhongyan understands it, he can't be rescued, and Han Qi will also be unable to rescue, not to mention that he doesn't have many soldiers and horses on hand, in my estimation, he will send some soldiers and horses to support at most, and the rest of the soldiers and horses will shrink and be strictly guarded. ”

The ministers nodded one after another, feeling that Zhang Yuan's words were reasonable, first feint to attack the east, and then quickly advance westward, and there was not much delay in the middle, 100,000 troops could be under the city of Weizhou overnight, and even if Fan Zhongyan found out about the plan, it would take at least five or six days to send troops to rescue, and he could use the method of robbing aid halfway or simply taking Weizhou quickly, so that Fan Zhongyan could only retreat.

Li Yuanhao weighed it, although he was inclined to defeat Fan Zhongyan, not only because it was more deterrent, but also because of that, he opened the closest gate to Bianliang and occupied the area of Yanzhou and Qingzhou, and it would be easy to attack Bianliang at any time in the future; But Li Yuanhao also had to consider the consequences after the defeat, which he could not bear, and after considering all kinds of considerations, Li Yuanhao approved Zhang Yuan's suggestion.

"What do you think of Zhang Yuan's plan?"

"We think it's feasible and safe." Everyone said.

Li Yuanhao raised his hand and said, "Okay, since everyone thinks it is feasible, then it will be carried out according to Zhang Yuan's plan." The left and right armies immediately gathered in Huizhou, and ordered people to find out who would take over in Weizhou, and at the same time, they also went everywhere to inquire about the whereabouts of Su Jin, who had captured Ning Ming, God forbid, I hope he is in Weizhou City, so that I can catch him alive and cramp. ”