As soon as the meeting was dissolved, Zhang Chengye immediately came to see Li Jing.

As soon as he saw Li Jing, Zhang Chengye got straight to the point and said: "Why did the general agree to send troops?" And even if it is not good to resist the will of the imperial court, the imperial court does not ask us to send many troops, isn't it okay to send one or two thousand people each to the war? Why did you suddenly have a large number of troops and horses, and you want to fight with your troops? Jungong, Dengzhou and Liaonan are our foundations, and we must not afford to lose! ”

Li Jing got up, helped Zhang Chengye pour a cup of green tea himself, and handed it to him with a smile.

"Brother Jiyuan don't have to worry, drink a cup of tea first to compensate for my newly brewed tea, which has a different flavor from Brother Sencha."

Zhang Chengye was in no mood to drink tea at this time, and always thought that Li Jing agreed to send troops, and a big reason was that he decided to send troops for the sake of his father-in-law's arrival. "County Prince, it's still urgent to change the military order at this time, and you must not damage the Zhendong Army because of impulsiveness."

Li Jing sat next to Zhang Chengye and said to him seriously: "Brother Jiyuan, do you really think that my decision to send troops this time is wrong?" ”

"This dispatch of troops was originally Tian Lingzi's conspiracy to deal with the county prince's evil move, can't the county prince see clearly?"

Li Jing remained silent: "This is what happened, but since I decided to send troops, I naturally had already cracked it." He said calmly, "Tian Lingzi's hand was indeed a crisis for us. But there is a crisis, and there is also an opportunity. With danger comes opportunity. It's up to us how we look at it! ”

"Crisis equals opportunity?" Zhang Chengye looked at Li Jing with some puzzlement.

Li Jing chuckled and said carefully: "The Zhendong Army also has some problems at the moment, but they haven't been revealed yet. One of the biggest problems is that we have just annexed Liaonan and integrated 15,000 men. Although repeatedly compressed. The eastern army of Kezhen is 40,000 horses. There are 15,000 Liaonan soldiers. Other than that. There are as many as tens of thousands of Liaonan soldiers who have just been reorganized and eliminated, and if you count the 8,000 united soldiers in the eight counties, the Liaonan soldiers still have 23,000 men and horses, which is almost on par with our Zhendong Army. ”

Sighing, Li Jing continued: "This is a potential danger, and the army must be purified. Otherwise, it is very likely that there will be a forest of mountains, and then the military order will not work, and there will be arrogant generals. Just like that Li Keyong and the Taiyuan United Army. At every turn, they made trouble to reward important officials, and even raised soldiers for a thousand days, and when it was time to use the troops, they were the first to rise up and fight back. This kind of thing is very common in other feudal towns, but our Zhendong Army will never allow it. ”

Zhang Chengye seemed to understand what he heard, and since he first arrived in Shamen Town, he has always felt that the Zhendong Army is different from other armies in the Tang Dynasty. That's a fundamental difference from the inside out, and this kind of temperament is far from even the Divine Army.

"At the beginning, in order to smoothly integrate Liaonan, it was impossible to accept these Liaonan soldiers. Originally. They were also given separate battalion heads, separate territories. But. We can't go on like this forever, we have to digest them. And to digest such a large group of soldiers and horses, variables are needed. Right now, the crusade against Li Keyong is such an opportunity. Pulling the army out of Lu to fight, and letting them join our Zhendong Army, is the time to digest and influence these Liaonan soldiers. In times of war, there is also an opportunity to integrate these soldiers again. Moreover, by pulling these soldiers out of the country, we will also be able to carry out another in-depth integration of the land of southern Liaoning. Completely turn southern Liaoning into the territory of our Zhendong Army. ”

Zhang Chengye thought for a while, "It's just that Datong is dispatched, there are 10,000 soldiers in southern Liaoning, and 8,000 unity soldiers, and our Zhenjiang army is only 8,000, can we suppress them?" ”

"Don't worry about this, don't mention 18,000 Liaonan soldiers, even if it is doubled, our Zhendong Army can also deal with them."

Li Jing smiled, and both of them were in a much more relaxed mood.

"Which way is the county prince going to take to enter Datong?" Zhang Chengye asked.

"Directly take a boat to land in Youzhou, and then follow the giant horse water through Youzhou into Yizhou, cross the Taihang Mountain from Feihucheng, and enter Ulzhou."

This route was chosen by Li Jing a long time ago, and if you take the land route, the route is too long, and it is thousands of miles. It only takes one day to land on the coast of Youzhou by boat from southern Liaoning. Then from the sea to Yizhou, into Ulzhou Feihu County, at most 660 miles, according to the speed of 80 miles a day, can be reached within 10 days. This route was chosen not only because of the short distance, but more importantly, because the logistics of this route are very convenient for transportation.

"Is Youzhou willing to let us borrow the territory? We are an army of 28,000, and I am afraid that Youzhou will be a little jealous. ”

"It's best to be afraid, this time let's take this opportunity to integrate the Liaonan soldiers and train the troops in battle, but also the main purpose is to teach the Youzhou Lu Long Army a lesson and give them some deterrence." When Li Jing talked about the Youzhou Army, his face couldn't help but be a little unhappy.

The last time Li Jing cooperated with Li Maoxun, Li Jing not only sold Li Maoxun a large sum of ordnance and war horses, but also helped him keep his secret. At the critical time, he sent 14,000 troops to cross the sea to attack Youzhou, which helped Li Maoxun share a large part of the pressure. Although, Li Jing picked up the grass and beat the rabbits, not simply to help, but easily broke through the six county towns of Youzhou, looted six million belongings, and returned 100,000 young people.

But anyway, Li Jing also helped Li Maoxun.

But after the matter was completed, Li Maoxun did not send the 300,000 stone grain or 1 million yuan that he had said before to Li Jing. Instead, he pretended to forget, and Li Jing sent several emissaries over, but the Uighurs were always playing Haluha, and they just refused to keep their promises.

In fact, Li Jing also understands that this Li Maoxun is distressed that the six county towns that were attacked and looted by Li Jing still have a population of 100,000. But when Li Jing started, Youzhou was not Li Maoxun's. Li Jing doesn't care about that, and he has to hand over what he promises.

This time, Li Jing was ready to take the opportunity of the crusade against Li Ke to enter Youzhou first to deter Lu Longjun. If Li Maoxun dares to blow up the stab, since Li Jing can help win the position of Lu Long's marshal, he doesn't mind spending some more effort to support a general with some prestige in Lu Long's army to compete with him.

"If Li Maoxun refuses to give in, then won't we have to fight with Lu Longjun? Although this Lu Longjun is chaotic, it is an old and strong man! Zhang Chengye said worriedly.

Li Jing didn't care: "We have an innate advantage over Lu Longjun, although we are across the sea, but the reality is that Lu Longjun has no interest in the sailors, but we have elite sailors who dominate the sea." Let's fight against the Lu Long Army, we can land and assault from any point along the long coastline at any time, and leave as soon as we are done. And they can only look at the sea and sigh, except by the sea, they can't get close to us by land. To the northeast, the western Liaoning corridor and the northeastern part of Liaoning are now occupied by the Khitans and Goguryeo, and they cannot get through. To the south, there are two feudal towns of Yichang Army and Ziqing Town, and they can't get through. Therefore, it would be good if Li Maoxun knew each other, otherwise, our Zhendong Army would have abused him thousands of times. Let him regret not being at the beginning! ”

In battle, Li Jing is never afraid, even if the other party is Lu Longjun, one of the three strongest towns in Hebei. What's more, in the current strategic situation of the two sides, Li Jing can be said to be completely superior.

This time, we should take the opportunity to integrate the southern Liaoning troops and further accelerate the digestion of these soldiers and horses. On the other hand, it is also to transfer these soldiers so that the Zhendong Army can further control the territory of southern Liaoning. Third, now that the end of the Tang Dynasty has come to the time of chaos, the Zhendong Army also needs to test itself with actual combat, to nourish the war with war, and to train soldiers with war. Another one, naturally, it is necessary to teach the ignorant Li Maoxun a good lesson, and by the way, let the Zhendong Army play a greater prestige and strive for more prestige.

"What does the general mean by sending troops to eastern Zhejiang?" Sending 8,000 troops to eastern Zhejiang, this is a little puzzling.

Li Jing smiled, "Going to eastern Zhejiang is not to fight, but to do business." ”

"Doing business, what's the point?"

"Recently, it has rained for nearly a month, and the sea and land routes have not been accessible for a long time, and many of our goods have been backlogged in the warehouse. Second, for a long time, our goods have been handed over to Cui, Han, Xiao and other large and small families for agent sales, adding such a link, we have made a lot of less profits. At present, I plan to let the sailors take advantage of this southern expedition to unite Xiao Hancui and other major merchants to form a huge sea caravan to go south to the south of the Yangtze River once. Bring our goods and go to the Jianghuai Lingnan area to exchange for other commodities, especially some materials such as grain and copper. ”

Due to the rebellion of Wang Jingwu in Ziqi, there were rebellions of the grass army in Puzhou and Jeju. The trade routes from Dengzhou to Luoyang, Chang'an, Hedong, Shannan, and Bashu were all threatened, and now this major trade route is threatened. Dengzhou, which is now producing goods in large quantities, is facing the problem of sales.

Dengzhou is not a large place, and the current output of southern Liaoning is not enough for self-sufficiency, and Li Jing's Zhendong Army can be so strong, relying entirely on the way of commercial production and trade. As soon as the trade route is broken, it will cost Li Jing's life.

And there is another one, Li Jing's recent gold mine has dug up a lot of gold. But gold is not money, it is only a treasure. In the north and the Central Plains, it is not easy to use. However, it is different along the Lingnan coast, because Lingnan produces a large amount of gold and silver, and there are a large number of Arab and other Hu merchants in coastal cities such as Guangzhou, so gold and silver can actually be directly circulated in the Lingnan area. Besides, there is still food that Li Jing urgently needs in Lingnan. And Lingnan, the trade transit point of the Arab world in Asia, Li Jing's goods can get a better outlet there.

It was with this consideration that Li Jing was ready to let the sailor fleet escort him, and with a combined caravan, he would go all the way south along the coast from Dengzhou to open up a more direct and better trade route. By the way, Wang Ying made a lot of trouble in eastern and western Zhejiang, robbed many states and counties, and Li Jing planned to let the eight thousand soldiers and horses of the Zhendong Army rob Wang Ying.

After listening to Li Jing's plans, Zhang Chengye was stunned for a long time, and finally had to admire Li Jing's breadth of thoughts. (To be continued......)