"Yiding Erzhou, do you think it's time to fight?" In the Yanjing City Political Hall, Li Jing was presiding over a military meeting. Principal officials of the General Staff Council, the Governor's Office of the Five Armed Forces, and the Ministry of War attended the meeting, as well as members of the Shangshu Province and the Cabinet. Gai Yu, who had just returned from Daibei, was also among them, and Sun Lan, the prince of the Supervision Department, attended the meeting as an observer, and as the main intelligence reporter, she participated in almost all the core meetings and provided intelligence analysis.

After Li Quanzhong spent the New Year in Zhuozhou, he led 50,000 horses and horses, took his family and left Zhuozhou, passed through Mozhou and Hejian, and was escorted by the Qin army all the way through Cangzhou and Dezhou, and then crossed the Yellow River and arrived in Jinan. He will rest in Jinan for a few days, and then go to Tianping Town to join Yu Xuan, the marshal of Henan, the king of thieves.

Zhuozhou has now been garrisoned by Li Jing with Guo Zhenhai led by troops, and Shangshu Province and the cabinet have also selected a group of local officials to go there.

It can be said that although Li Quanzhong took away tens of thousands of horses, at this time, he was able to take over Zhuozhou smoothly without blood, which was still very satisfying to Li Jing. After all, Li Quanzhong's departure can be regarded as removing the hidden dangers, and the local power of Zhuozhou has lost its roots, and it can only be completely surrendered.

With the capture of Zhuozhou, the next target now in front of the Qin army is Yiding Erzhou in Hebei, the original Yiwu military town.

Yiding Erzhou is close to Taihang, guarding the Puyin Flying Fox and Flying Fox, leading directly to Ulzhou, east of the river.

After Li Keyong's defeat, now Li Siyuan has brought Liu Yunniang's daughter and Li Keyong's eldest son Rang Gaiyu back to Yanjing as hostages. In addition, Li Siyuan accepted the title of King of Yanmen County that Li Jing asked him to be, acting as the governor of the Northern Metropolis and the commander of Shatuo. The two sides signed a truce. Bounded by the boundaries of the existing site.

As long as Li Jing doesn't take the initiative to use force against Li Siyuan. Li Siyuan would never come to provoke Li Jing now.

However, there is a very critical matter between Li Jing and Li Siyuan now, that is, the issue of Yizhou and the Shatuo army in Yizhou.

After the last war, Li Sizhao, Li Cunzhang, Li Sien, Li Siben and other generals of Zhushatuo were blocked in Hebei and cut off the way back. After Li Keyong disappeared, Wang Jingchong retreated to Chengde Town, and the Yizhou Shatuo army suddenly became a lone army.

This army is not small. There are 30,000 horses, although they are all infantry, but they are also a lot of strength. Especially for the Shatuo people at this time, these 30,000 infantry are quite important.

Li Siyuan wanted to get back this army of soldiers and horses, but he didn't want to give up Yizhou.

And Li Jing, not only wants to capture Yizhou, but also intends to annex this Shatuo infantry in order to continue to attack and weaken the strength of the Shatuo people.

In the original plan, Li Jing planned to take Zhuozhou. He sent troops to forcibly launch an attack on Yiding, and quickly seized Erzhou by force. Take full control of the northern part of Hebei. However, the Khitan people's southward movement disrupted this deployment.

After surrendering Li Quanzhong's troops without a fight and forcing him to withdraw from Hebei, the Shatuo army in Yizhou reacted greatly, and the Shatuo people sent spies back and forth one after another, and Guo Zhenhai's Zhuozhou garrison scouts had several sentinel battles with them, and they were injured by each other.

Guo Zhenhai's troops stationed in Zhuozhou were full of morale, and they repeatedly asked for troops to be sent to Yizhou, and directly annihilated this lone army of Shatuo.

Today, that's what we're going to talk about.

The Shatuo army in Yizhou is a lone army, but it is not completely a lone army. Behind them is Dingzhou, which is Wang Jingchong, the son and daughter of Li Keyong. Now that the Shatuo people of Yizhou have become the northern barrier of the Chengde army, they will never sit idly by and watch Li Sizhao and others be destroyed.

At this time, the battle with the Chengde army and the Shatuo army in Yiding was not a good plan for the Qin army.

Gai Yu took the lead and said: "Take advantage of his illness, and I will kill him." At present, the Shatuo army, Li Keyong is missing, the Liu family is captured, and the Shatuo army is divided into two, which is when morale is the weakest. I agree with King Qin's previous proposal, this time is really not suitable for attacking Yanmen Town, although Li Siyuan is young, but he has a strong Li Keyong, and even has a little bit of King Qin's wisdom. He now basically controls the heart of the Shatuo army, with the danger of Dai, Xin, Yun, and Shuo, if we fight him, it is very likely that it will be a protracted battle, and it will be difficult to win without a year or two. ”

He paused and said, "If we can get the support of the Hedong Army and the Zhenwu Army, we may still be able to break through Yanmen Town in a short time." But now Zheng Xianggong is scheming south to attack Luoyang, Li Siyuan, this kid is very good at posturing, and he has constantly expressed to Zheng Xianggong that he is willing to send troops to the south with the Hedong coalition army. Therefore, Zheng Xianggong will never cooperate with us in attacking Yanmen now. However, Li Siyuan is not easy to fight, but we must not underestimate him because of this, and we must not give him a chance to recover. In this case, I think that there is no need to send troops to Yanmen, Hedong, we can directly send troops to Yizhou and annihilate the Shatuo infantry in Yizhou, which can also give Li Siyuan a heavy blow, and we can also recover Yizhou and further expand the territory of Hebei. ”

Li Jing also nodded, "The Yizhou Shatuo infantry army is indeed a weakness of Shatuo, and if we can kill Li Sizhao, Li Cunzhang and other Yizhou generals, then there will be no generals available to Shatuo." In the end, Li Siyuan was also difficult to support alone. It's just that the Yizhou Shatuo Army has 30,000 infantry, and there are 180,000 soldiers and horses of the Chengde Army behind them. Although the German army has 180,000 soldiers and horses, including many new soldiers, we are now fighting mainly in the north, and another large army is in Jianghuai, although Hebei has 100,000 heavy troops. But this is already all we have, this army not only wants to maintain the situation in Hebei, but also is the only force to suppress the Hebei army. Is it too risky for us to take him to Chengde Town and Yizhou Shatuo for a desperate bet? Moreover, if we were to make a desperate bet, would Wei Bo's army go north to join the battle? These are variables that we need to think about carefully. ”

Domino effect!

The Qin army wants to eat the Yizhou Shatuo army, but Li Siyuan will not sit idly by, Wang Jingchong will not sit idly by, and even Han Jian may not sit idly by.

Wang Pu, the secretary of the military department, frowned, "It's better to spend it with them, now that the 30,000 Shatuo people in Yizhou are blocked in Hebei, the supply of military supplies depends on Yizhou, a small land that has been beaten into white ground by a few families, and it will not last." Even if Wang Jingchong is willing to support them with food and grass, it is not a common thing, right? Moreover, the Shatuo soldiers were blocked in Hebei, and after a long time, the army would inevitably return to their hearts and the people would be war-weary. We spent half a year with him, and they didn't fight. ”

Li Jing glanced at the sand table in the center, and there was Ulzhou between Yizhou and Daizhou. A Puyin and a flying fox connect the two places. Bauhinia Pass, Flying Fox City, Lingqiu City, Thai Opera Pass. Although this passage is dangerous, it is not foolproof. After a long time, you may have long nights and dreams.

In addition to taking this road back to Yanmen, Li Sizhao also had a road, that is, from Zhenzhou in Chengde Town, through Jingcheng to Taihang Mountain, into Taiyuan, and then back to Daizhou.

On both sides of Jingcheng, to the east is Chengde Town. To the west is the Taiyuan Hedong Army.

If Li Sizhao wants to take this road back, Chengde Town will definitely borrow the road. But on the side of the Hedong Army, it is a little difficult to say. On the surface, it seems impossible for the Hedong Army to let the Shatuo people take advantage of Taiyuan, because the Hedong Army and the Shatuo Army are old opponents who have fought several times. But this is not necessarily, Zheng Congyan is now bent on going to King Qin, if Li Siyuan does what he likes and makes any promises, Zheng Congyan may not always refuse to let go. After all, Zheng Congyan is not a warlord, but a civilian prime minister. Single-mindedly put the interests of the imperial court first. Historically, Li Jing remembered that it seemed that Zheng Congyan's most reluctance was because of a holy decree of the imperial court. gave up Hedong Town to Li Keyong.

Li Jing wanted to eat the Shatuo army in Yizhou, but he was worried that he would forcibly send troops, which would eventually lead to the Hebei War. And now, Li Jing does not have much confidence to fight a large-scale battle in Hebei.

It feels like a tiger is facing a hedgehog and wants to eat it, but can't eat it.

If the war is forced, in case this Hebei battle is lost, this may be a disastrous consequence for Li Jing. For this reason, he must not be cautious or more cautious.

"What does Gong Jing think?" Li Jing turned his head and asked Jing Xiang, the envoy of the General Staff, who was in charge of the General Staff, whether to fight or not, to a large extent, Li Jing needed to listen to his analysis.

Jing Xiang, as an envoy of the General Staff Academy, was Li Jing's first military adviser. Many of the Qin army's strategic plans came from the General Staff under his leadership. In the past few years, according to the strategy led by him to take Liaodong as the rear base, Dengzhou and southern Liaoning as the economic pillar, first Liaodong and then Hebei, supplemented by troops out of Shandong, and through the strategy of Huanghuai, the Qin army has advanced step by step, which can be described as steady and steady, and has achieved a series of victories. Among them, Jing Xiang has made a lot of contributions.

It is precisely because of this that Jing Xiang now sits firmly in the position of the first strategist under Li Jing, and is in charge of the Qin army's troop transfer.

Hearing Li Jing's roll call, Jing Xiang thought for a while and asked, "Sometimes, you can't have both fish and bear's paws. At present, in the matter of Yizhou, I also think that the land of Yizhou, or the Shatuo Army of Yizhou, can get one of the two, not both. Now it depends on the meaning of King Qin, does he want to seize the land of Yizhou, or do he want to annihilate the Yizhou Shatuo army? ”

"I think that what King Qin just said is very reasonable, and now we have a three-way army out and reject the Khitan coalition army in the north. The remaining soldiers and horses are concentrated in Jianghuai and Hebei, and the Jianghuai soldiers and horses are thousands of miles away from Hebei, so if we start a Hebei war with Zhuzhen at this time, our chances of winning are at most five or five. In a certain view, opening up the five-five is actually tantamount to taking a great risk, which is contrary to our strategy all along. A certain opposition to the use of troops at this time is not only because we are short of troops, but also because our internal affairs and civil affairs are not going well at the moment, and logistics and military supplies cannot supply troops and horses to fight on all four routes at the same time. ”

Wang Pu was stunned for a moment, and asked rhetorically: "If you don't need soldiers, then how can you capture Yizhou, or annihilate the Yizhou Shatuo army?" ”

"If you want to destroy the Shatuo army, Kexin immediately went to Shanhaiguan to give an order, transferred back the 50,000 cavalry under Guo Chongtao, and then mobilized 50,000 troops from Mozhou and Yanjing in Hejian, and with lightning speed, ploughed the court and swept the holes, and used the blitzkrieg method to attack Yizhou directly, attack quickly, and then leave quickly. Before Chengde Weibo's reinforcements came up, he withdrew from Yizhou. According to this plan, there is a seventy percent chance of destroying the 30,000 Shatuo army in Yizhou, but we may have to lose additional casualties if we want to finish this battle in a short time, and the transfer back of Guo Chongtao's army will affect the entire strategic layout of the Khitan. ”

"Where's the middle strategy?" Li Jing didn't ask the best policy directly, since there is a lower policy, then there must be a middle and upper policy, as a superior person, you must listen to both.

"The middle strategy is to stand still and wait for the opportunity."

This answer obviously did not satisfy Li Jing, and this way of waiting has never been his style. He prefers to take the initiative and grasp the situation.

Wang Pu said on the side: "Let's talk about your best strategy." ”

"The best strategy is to seize Yizhou, but not to fight Shatuo, and besides, we have to let them go." Jing Xiang said.

"How? King Qin also mentioned it before, but Li Siyuan didn't trust us. ”

Jing Xiang said with a smile, "Li Siyuan really doesn't trust us, but he trusts Wang Jingchong and will also trust Zheng Congyan." ”

He stood up and pointed to the Jingcheng between Chengde Town and Hedong Town in front of the sand table, "If the King of Qin can reach an agreement with Li Siyuan, Wang Jingchong, and Zheng Congyan, according to the same way that Li Quanzhong left Hebei before, the King of Qin ordered Li Sizhao of Yizhou to lead the Yizhou Shatuo Army to the south of King Qin, let him pass through Chengde Army Zhenzhou, enter Taiyuan and fall under the command of Zheng Congyan's Hedong Coalition Army of Hedong Town, and go south to King Qin, I think, Li Siyuan Li Sizhao will definitely be willing, Even Zheng Congyan would be willing. ”

"Will Wang Jingchong agree? Shatuo's army left, although they lost a chicken rib Yizhou, but they saved the soldiers and horses, maybe they were willing. Zheng Congyan got tens of thousands of Shatuo soldiers and horses to follow him to the king, and he might agree, but what did Wang Jingchong agree? Now the Yizhou Shatuo Army is their barrier, and if they leave, Dingzhou will bear the brunt. Wang Pu asked.

Li Jing chuckled and said, "If this king really has this proposal, Wang Jingchong can only agree to borrow the Tao regardless of whether he wants it or not." ”

The matter is obvious, if Wang Jingchong refuses to give way, then the Shatuo people will definitely be dissatisfied with this, and their alliance will inevitably break down, so that the consequences of Chengdezhen will only be worse. promised to give way, but also knocked out his teeth and swallowed it in his stomach.

Although Yanmen and Chengde are allies, no matter how good the allies are, they will not always be the same when they are faced with their own vital interests. 30,000 infantry troops, and several Shatuo generals, which are very important for Li Siyuan and the entire Shatuo army in Yanmen Town. It is important that they are willing to temporarily ally with Zheng Congyan and Li Jing, and it is important that if the Cheng German army dares not to take advantage of it, they may fight against each other.

The most important thing now is not the attitude of the three towns of Chengde, Yanmen, and Hedong, but the attitude of Li Jing.

Do you really want to let go of the 30,000 Shatuo army in Yizhou and let them leave?

Li Jing frowned and pondered, gently tapping on the table in front of him, unable to make up his mind and make a decision for a long time.

"King Qin, Yizhou is very important to us, and if we control Yizhou, we will really have a firm control over Ulzhou." Li Zhen reminded below.

Li Jing nodded, it was a safe move to let Li Quanzhong withdraw from Hebei before. Now that the Qin army has no better way to annihilate this corps, let them leave, at least they can take Yizhou at the lowest cost.

And Yizhou is very important to the Qin army.

"Well, that's how it was decided. However, the specific details will be handed over to the General Staff Yuan, and the Supervision Department will send people to liaise and negotiate with the three towns of Chengde, Yanmen, and Hedong, even if we let Li Sizhao leave, we can't leave them easily, the initiative must be in our hands, and we must not let them leave easily, and if they want to leave, they have to peel off a layer of skin. Anyway, Li Siyuan and Li Sizhao must be more anxious than us! ”

Although Li Jing felt unwilling, he felt that he had missed an opportunity to hit the Shatuo people again. But if it's just an ungrasped opportunity, when it's time to give up, he will still give up decisively!

Sometimes, it's better not to be greedy and take a step back! (To be continued......)