"Why does it have nothing to do with whether our Dingnan Army coordinates its troops? If the Zhou army can successfully capture Shangjing City and force the Lord of Liao to flee or surrender, then the Dingnan Army can still gain something by crossing the river; but if the Zhou army is in Shangjing City, If your efforts fail"
When Li Guangyan spoke like this, on the one hand, he certainly grasped what Li Jiyun said and used it as a basis to support his own argument. On the other hand, he also felt a little confused sincerely - since the thousands of miles of grain roads after the Zhou army approached Beijing, they would definitely be affected by the Liao Dynasty. If the Zhou army is threatened by the army, then there is a high possibility that the Zhou army will be defeated at Shangjing City. At that time, the Liao army will definitely counterattack, and the Zhou army will have no time to take care of itself. Wouldn¡¯t the Dingnan army, which sent troops in coordination with the Zhou army, face the retaliation of the Liao Kingdom immediately? ? .
"I know what Uncle San is worried about, but that kind of thing shouldn't happen." A slight smile appeared on Li Jiyun's face, relaxing the atmosphere, and then continued, "Judging from the performance of the emperor and the Privy Council in the past ten years, They were far-sighted. If the battle against Liao ended up in a situation where thousands of miles of food routes were threatened and the frontline soldiers were unable to march to the capital, the emperor would not insist on going his own way. Then even if the imperial army of the Great Zhou Dynasty was defeated and went to the capital, there would probably be no The situation in the Mangshi Grassland is that at most they will retreat slowly from Shangjing City. In terms of the Zhou army's ability to defend the city, the border counties along the Xijing Road and Nanjing Road in the Liao Kingdom will probably change hands."
"It turns out that this is how Dalang sees it"
Li Jiyun nodded enthusiastically: "I believe that once the emperor realizes that something cannot be done, he will definitely not take any chances with his troops and fortify the city. This can be seen from the degree of relaxation of the Zhou Dynasty's siege areas in recent years. And judging from the battle capabilities of the Zhou Forbidden Army, as long as they It's not about fleeing hastily when the power is exhausted. It's about the troops retreating in an orderly manner. Then the Liao army will have no chance to take advantage of it. The Zhou army will definitely not be injured because of this. It will definitely be impossible to defend Yanbei and Yunzhou and other places. Question. At that time, the Liao army needed to be prepared for the Zhou army to attack Beijing at all times. It was not enough to deploy heavy troops on the front line of Beijing and Nanjing, but how could they still have the energy to go to the southwest border to retaliate against our army?"
"That's right! With the emperor's insight and ability, as well as the combat power of the Great Zhou Forbidden Army, even if it is impossible to destroy the Liao Kingdom in one battle, it will not be difficult to capture Shanbei Prefecture County and hold it. As long as the Great Zhou occupies Yunzhou and other Land, what will the Liao Kingdom use to retaliate against my trouble-making army? And where will they send troops from? You can¡¯t rely on the fortune-telling people in the north of Yinshan Mountain?"
I understood what Li Jiyun meant. Li Guangwen immediately became much louder. Although Li Jiyun's views did not fully support him, and he was far less optimistic about the prospects of Zhou's northern expedition to the Liao Kingdom, it did not prevent him from feeling that he had Li Jiyun's support.
"If we follow Dalang's estimate, then of course this battle will be fought." Li Guangyan hesitated for a moment, but could not find a reason to completely refute Li Jiyun's point of view, "As long as the imperial court occupied Yunzhou and other places, the Liao army would To retaliate against our troubled army, the Zhou army will become our barrier. Anyway, we will not occupy the north of the river, we will only send troops there to recapture the livestock and people that were previously captured."
In the final analysis, Li Guangyan just had doubts about the combat effectiveness of the Zhou army and the prospects of this Northern Expedition. He was worried that the gains would outweigh the losses if he followed the Zhou army to attack Liao. But it is not that he has any inclination towards the Liao Kingdom. Since Li Guangwen, Li Jiyun and others all felt that the worst outcome of the battle against Liao would not bring disaster to the Nanyang army, and Li Guangyan did not find any loopholes in their judgment. Then of course he would not oppose this war, which would definitely benefit the army.
As Li Guangwen said before, when the Dingnan Army sent troops, the Zhou court guaranteed the supply of food and grass. The main force of the Liao army was dealt with by the Zhou Dynasty Forbidden Army. The Dangxiang ministries only had to deal with some partial garrison troops of the Recruiting Division in the southwest of the Liao Kingdom, but they were not unable to take them down. As long as the party ministries can capture Yunnei Prefecture, Dongsheng Prefecture and other places, they will make a net profit by plundering some livestock and people from the local Khitan tribe and Zubu people. All the ministries need to pay is just some people in small-scale conflicts. It's just a loss, and after all calculations, it won't be a loss.
The worst outcome was that the Zhou army suffered a setback before going to the capital and was finally forced to retreat to Shanbei Prefecture County. At that time, all the Dangxiang troops had already looted north of the Yellow River. They would have to retreat sooner or later anyway, and the Dangxiang people would not Just like the Han people, they defended the city in the north of the mountain. Even if the Liao army had the ability to launch retaliatory actions, the focus of its retaliation would obviously not be on the far southwest, but would only be on the Yanbei region, which was a great threat to the capital.
Of course, this kind of business that is almost guaranteed to make a profit must be done. Even if Li Guangyan is wary of the Han court, he will not refuse to cooperate with them. After all, he has already cooperated with them when they fought against the Northern Han Dynasty. It will be difficult. The army's gains that time were not small.
"Wellsince everyone has no objections to cooperating with the imperial court to send troops to attack Liao, it has been decided. The Difficult Army will definitely send troops according to the order!"
Li Guangrui had been sitting quietly listening to the arguments with a calm expression. At this time, seeing that everyone present had no longer disputed whether to send troops or not, he spoke calmly:?Set the tone.
In fact, since Li Yichao succeeded Li Renfu and withstood the army sent by Emperor Mingzong of the Tang Dynasty, it was no longer so important whether the disaster army obeyed the court's will. That time the Li family in Xiazhou refused to follow the imperial edict and move to the town, and the court finally responded. There is nothing they can do. The Dingnan Army is basically independent and has only nominal respect for the imperial court. The imperial court's will has no binding force on the Dingnan Army at all. Whether it obeys the imperial edict or not depends on the mood of the Li family.
However, there is a big difference between sending troops to attack Liao under the imperial edict and sending troops to fight against Liao on one's own. The advantage of the court's supply of grain and grass cannot be taken advantage of, and with the Zhou imperial army facing the main force of the Liao army, it is difficult to determine The combat tasks that the army needs to undertake are much lighter. When it is necessary to send out troops on its own, the Dingnan Army may not be able to retaliate against the Liao Kingdom, but this is not the case when it is ordered to send out troops in coordination.
"However our army does not need to send troops in a hurry."
Although the tone for dispatching troops has been set, Li Guangrui still has many things to consider. As Li Jijun said, "Whether to obey the imperial edict and how to obey the imperial edict, naturally everything is decided by the father." Now it is indeed decided whether to obey the imperial edict, but there are still many tricks in how to obey the imperial edict.
Li Guangrui turned to look at Li Jiyun and asked: "Da Lang, is the post road to Hedong smooth? How long will it take for the news of Hedong's dispatch of troops to come through?"
"Although the Zhe family in Fuzhou and the Yang family in Linzhou are feuding with my Li family, under the overall situation of the imperial court's full mobilization to conquer Liao, it will not hinder the return of messengers, and the news from Hedong can't be slowed down by going to Suizhou. It takes one or two days, so the post road is considered to be very smooth. Once we camp in the northeast of Hebei Province to engage the Liao army, it will not take more than five days for the news to reach Xiazhou."
Although Li Jijun didn't know why his commander-in-chief asked these questions, his commander-in-chief had grown older over the years and had neglected to take care of many of the common affairs. He had been in charge of Xiazhou's military and political affairs for some time, but these two questions were difficult. Not to him.
"Um¡¡"
Li Guangrui lowered his eyebrows and pondered, but there was a smile on his face. Judging from today's military meeting, his son is quite capable in both military strategy and daily government affairs. It can be said that he is worthy of important tasks. Even if he cannot afford it, He should also be able to take over the Li family's business in Xiazhou and stabilize the situation of the army.
"In this way, the troops in the north of Xiazhou are ordered to gather troops and weapons, ready to march north across the river to attack Liao at any time; the defenders of Youzhou are stepping up their defenses to the west; the most important thing is Yinzhou and Suizhou. Although Li Guangyuan and Li Guangxian are not here Although this is the first time we are sending out troops, we must be extremely alert. We must guard the forts along the border and strictly guard against invasion from any direction. As for the ministries on standby in the north of Xiazhou, we must wait until the formal military order from the Jiedu Envoy Office. You can cross the river, so remember!¡±
After pondering for a long time, Li Guangrui finally raised his head and expressed his final opinion. However, less than half of this paragraph involved coordinating with the imperial court to send troops to attack Liao. More of it was about strengthening the defense of the various states of the Difficult Army. , but this really made everyone present think a lot.
Li Jiyun thought about it for a moment, but he couldn't help but was suddenly surprised: "My father's intentionis he worried that the imperial court may take this opportunity to plot against me?"
"It is essential to be on guard against others! Although the imperial court has mobilized all its imperial troops to prepare for the Northern Expedition, the garrison in Hedong and Guanzhong areas has not moved northward in a large scale. If our army thought that the imperial court would cooperate with me in this battle and neglected to take precautions, it would be difficult to protect Hedong and Guanzhong. The armies in Guanzhong will not attack Yin and Sui. However, Zhao Kuangyin of Shuofang Army, in addition to attacking Liao, focuses his main energy on Liangzhou in the west. Youzhou seems to need to cover the entire southwest of Dingnan Army. , the real danger will not be higher than that of Yin and Suizhou."
Li Guangrui looked at Li Jiyun with relief and said everything in his mind. All the core members of the Li family were present, but he did not mind revealing these most important decision-making basis.
"We have to be on guard against the Han people!" Li Guangyan of course nodded his head when he heard this, "Even the Zhejia in Fuzhou must be on guard. When the troops in the north of Xiazhou prepare to march north to cross the river, they must also be on guard against the Zhejia's outright flank attack. Sneak attack."
"Although the Zhe family and my Li family are feuding, they have always been very respectful to the court, so they shouldn't be so rash?"
Li Guangwen once again disagreed with Li Guangyan's ideas.
Li Guangrui, however, greatly appreciated Li Guangyan: "Guangyan's worries are not wrong! Whether the Zhejia will be so reckless is a matter for the Zhejia, but we must be prepared for all possible changes. Of course, this time Based on the imperial edict to conquer the Liao Dynasty, as long as the court does not act rashly, we will not act recklessly."
As for the Dingnan Army, which has no ability or opportunity to steal any benefits from the imperial court even if it acts indiscriminately, Li Guangrui will naturally not say it. If the Dingnan Army wants to make a profit, it can only play the Liao Kingdom's idea at present. They took a bite of the opportunity of the Northern Expedition - of course, they had to hide behind the Zhou army and do it. This is what he ordered LiJiyun¡¯s purpose is to inquire about the military situation in Hedong.
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