Li Di nodded slowly: "You also saw it this morning, most of the ministers are the main battle, and they all believe that they will win the battle." Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 However, the Privy Council, which is in charge of military affairs, does not see it that way, and they know more about military secrets, and there must be a reason for them. Yuan Haozhi delayed for two months before reporting to the imperial court, and the Privy Council could not escape the blame. Alas, it is not the blessing of the court to change people at this time-"

Chen Zhizhong said: "There is such a big loophole in the Privy Council, and not punishing it is not enough to warn the courtiers that it should be replaced." For the sake of today's plan, the most important thing is to select competent men to rush to the northwest, and as for which forbidden troops to be transferred, we can wait for the new privy councillor to take office. ”

The government affairs hall is not involved in military affairs, and the only opinions that can be put forward are personnel suggestions, and other ministers have agreed.

Today, the officials of the Zhongshu Sect system will discuss their own countermeasures, and tomorrow when the Chongzheng Hall gathers, it will be a unified voice, and there are no Privy Council officials here, no officials from the Imperial Historical Observatory, and no ministers such as Hanlin Scholars. With the prime minister in charge, the atmosphere is relatively harmonious, and even if there is a contradiction in private, it will not be shown at this time.

The official brought tea, everyone drank tea, and Yan Shu said: "Among the ministers here, only Xu Ping, the provincial lord of the three divisions, has gone through the battle array. The world has been peaceful for decades, and we are not familiar with military and political affairs, so it is difficult to come up with other countermeasures except for sufficient money and soldiers. I don't think it's better to let Xu Ping say his opinion first, and then we can discuss it? ”

Chen Yaozuo nodded: "That's it!" From a few years ago, Xu Ping said that the party Xiang Yuanhao would be opposed, and he would inevitably have his own views on northwest affairs. Let's talk about it first, we have a bottom in our hearts. ”

At this time, there is nothing to be modest, and it is also a good thing that the officials of the Chinese book system have unified their opinions, so don't talk about them in vain. And because of the New Deal, Xu Ping is also easy to talk to officials in the Chinese book system.

Standing up, Xu Ping asked the official to take the blackboard of the political hall and stand in front of everyone.

After taking the chalk and standing in front of the blackboard, Xu Ping said: "The party is rebellious, and it must be re-armed to quell the chaos!" As long as the party is pacified, the northwest will be safe, otherwise, the dynasty will be subject to this jumping clown, the west has to ask for Tibet, and the north is afraid that the Khitan will take the opportunity to make trouble. And not only that, the road for the Western Regions countries to pay tribute was blocked by the party, and it was not a trivial matter to be cut off from this dynasty. The party is located in the center of the forces in the north of the dynasty, and Yuan Hao has today, taking advantage of the geographical advantages to make a lot of contributions. Now he usurped the title of emperor, not only is it not allowed by this dynasty, but it also offends the Khitan. In the event of a war between the dynasty and the party, the Khitan will inevitably sit and watch the success or failure, depending on the situation of the war, and the victory of the dynasty will be won, and the war will go smoothly, and the Khitan will definitely not be willing to lose the party item, the force that binds the dynasty, and is afraid that it will exert pressure to keep the party item alive. Of course, the Khitan will not start a war with the dynasty because of the party, but will only respond to it. Therefore, once a war breaks out in the northwest, it is best to be quick and destroy the party before the Khitan reacts! ”

Chen Yaozuo clapped his hands and said, "That's the truth!" Therefore, tomorrow we will assemble and ask the imperial court to mobilize the forbidden army, defeat Yuan Hao's elite soldiers in one fell swoop, and go straight to Xingqing Mansion! As long as it is vigorous, the Khitan can only watch! ”

Xu Ping sighed: "Xianggong is right. However, all this must be based on the fact that the forbidden army can fight. Now that the country is sufficient, there is no shortage of money and food, and the three divisions have made preparations in advance, once the war starts, it can ensure that the Northwest Forbidden Army has enough money and food. But with money and food, whether the forbidden army can win the battle, to tell the truth, there is no bottom in the hearts of the lower officials. ”

Chen Yaozuo said murderously: "If you eat the country, you should be loyal to the country!" Raising soldiers for a thousand days, used for a while, the forbidden army spent most of the imperial court's revenue on weekdays, and now that it is fighting, there is a cowardly beheading without fighting. Kill a few, I don't think anyone else dares not to do their best! The party is like an ant in front of the DPRK, if it still can't win, it must be that the front-line soldiers don't use their strength! ”

"When you have to kill, of course, you have to make up your mind, but killing is not the solution to the problem. If the money given is enough and dares to kill people, the army can win the battle, and things in this world will be easy to handle. Unfortunately, this is not the case. ”

Speaking of which, Xu Ping did not go deeper. With a group of Wenchen who have never led soldiers, it is useless to talk about it.

Compared with the forbidden army of the Song Dynasty, the armies of the surrounding countries are all called Huazi, and there must be brave men under the heavy reward, which is not suitable for this army. In fact, the military law of civilian officials and generals is even harsher, with eight killings, ten killings, and fifty killings, and according to military law, they will lose their heads at every turn. There is money, and military law is strict, but you just can't win the war, this is the forbidden army.

The literati are cowardly, so the Song Dynasty defeated the battle, and this understanding is actually not as good as the Wenchen who really led the army in history. The forbidden army was brought from the military system and could not fight, especially not in a big war. If we use the military terminology of later generations, their performance at the combat level is not bad, and even superior to their opponents most of the time, but when they reach the campaign level, their performance plummets, and when they rise to the war level, their performance is a mess and miserable.

When the battle can be used to decide the outcome of the war, the forbidden army can still show the temperament of a strong army. But when delicate coordination is required, and the army needs to carry out the campaign actions according to the commander's intentions, then there will be chaos.

When future generations look at history, they will always find that in fact, when the two armies faced each other, the Song army, especially the army that fought all the year round, was not weaker than the opponent, and when the combat strength was calculated according to the number of heads, it was not weak at all. But in the end, it's always for one reason or another that the war is lost. Later generations scolded the generals who led to the key points of defeat, saying that once they did, the war would not be lost. Actually, it's not like that, there's nothing wrong here, there's something wrong with the other places. The command system of the forbidden army simply does not have the ability to conduct a major war, and problems are inevitable, and problems are accidental.

It was with this problem in mind that Xu Ping was worried about the war in the northwest. Otherwise, just looking at the paper, it would be like most officials who are optimistic now, Da Song casually moved his little finger and killed the party.

Roughly drew a map of Shaanxi Road on the blackboard, Xu Ping said loudly: "The road between this dynasty and the party is divided, but there are only Shaanxi Road and Hedong Road." From east to west, it is Linfu Road, Yanyan Road, Huanqing Road, Jingyuan Road and Qinfeng Road. Qinzhou is lonely and has Tubo as a barrier, and the possibility of being attacked by the party is extremely small, and it is the other four roads that are really likely to fight. Roughly speaking, it can be divided into two sections: east and west. The eastern section of Linfu Road and Yanyan Road, with Yanyan Road as the priority, the party has paid tribute through here over the years, the geography is proficient, and it faces Guanzhong. The western section of Huanqing Road and Jingyuan Road, and Jingyuan Road is the most important. The geography of Huanqing Road is fragmented, and even if it is indigenous, it is difficult to organize a large army. Jingyuan Road is also focused on the Zhenrong army, which is the place of Xiao Pass of Qin and Han Dynasties, and has been the main road for the Hu people in the northwest to invade the pass since ancient times. In view of this geography, Xia Guan has three strategies: offense and defense. ”

That's what Li Di wanted to hear, and motioned for Xu Ping to continue.

"One is to defend the west and attack the east. That is, the west road is to hold the Zhenrong army, the wall is cleared, and all the Han households and Fanhu households are moved to the south of the Zhenrong army, and the Zhenrong army is defended with 10,000 or 20,000 forbidden troops. In the land of a city, the rear can ensure that there is no shortage of money and food, even if the party sends hundreds of thousands of troops, there is nothing to be done. At the same time, the east road took Yanzhou as the center, concentrated the army, and along the way, the hammer smashed the hard walnut, and did not care about anything else, and marched to Xingqing Mansion with all its might. With the current arrangement of the three divisions, it can support the dispatch of two or three hundred thousand forbidden troops along the way, concentrate them, and fight a decisive battle with the party. No matter how strong the soldiers were, Yuan Hao recruited all the men of the party into the army, and he could not resist the offensive of the two or three hundred thousand forbidden troops of this dynasty. As long as you attack Xingqing Mansion, you can decide the battle in one battle! ”

Concentrating forces and forcibly fighting a decisive battle is a way that has no way out, purely to suppress people with force. The army's organizational strength is not good, and it cannot say anything about scheduling and coordination, so it has to use stupid methods. In the past, it could not be used because the logistics of hundreds of thousands of troops could not be guaranteed under such geographical conditions, but now through the efforts of the Third Division, it can already be used.

Li Di nodded again and again when he heard this, although the stupid method was stupid, it was the most reliable, and it was the appetite of his old ministers.

Xu Ping continued: "The second strategy is to defend the east and attack the west. That is, the west road takes Yanzhou as the center, builds the city high, accumulates grain, and has a heavy army in this city, and at the same time responds to the Linfu road. Similarly, the walls were cleared, and the households were moved into the interior, so that the party had nothing to plunder, and could only stop under the fortified city. The West Road is supported by the Yongxing Army and Fengzhou, relying on the water transportation of Jingshui and Weishui, which can support an army of 200,000 or 300,000 on Jingyuan Road. The army is all the way, out of the town Rong army, following the Qin and Han dynasties to discuss the old way, and directly hitting the party! ”

In fact, the second strategy is basically the same as the first strategy, but the offensive and defensive direction has been changed, and the general principle remains unchanged.

"When comparing the two strategies, the second strategy should be the best. Because if you attack from the east road, you must also beware of the Khitan flanking our army at a critical time and responding to the party. If the second strategy is used, Tubo has always been obedient to this dynasty and has no such worries. ”

Chen Yaozuo said: "There is some truth in these two strategies, but why not go both ways?" Then the party must take care of one and lose the other! ”

Xu Ping shook his head and only said three words: "I can't do it." ”

Not to mention that two or three hundred thousand soldiers were dispatched at the same time, the Great Song Dynasty did not have so many soldiers to use, and the material transportation in Guanzhong could not support it. These hundreds of thousands are soldiers, and they do not count the heavy soldiers and people, at this time, only the Great Song Dynasty has the ability to do this.

In fact, there is another problem, that is, the command system cannot afford to attack on two fronts at the same time, and it is very good to be able to sort out the military situation along the way. Chen Yaozuo's question is complete nonsense, can he dispatch a million troops, and he can also fight the summer in five ways. The crux of Xu Ping's suggestion was that the offensive side should have the absolute strength to break through the party's troops and the country's troops, and the other way should be able to prevent it.