Outlaws of the Marsh

Chapter 845 The greatest support (please subscribe!)
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Knowing that Yue Fei led the expeditionary force all the way west, Li Yan looked at the map and remained silent for a long time.

To be honest, it is not a good idea to recover the Northwest before Xixia is cut down, just like, because Xixia blocked it, it was difficult for Dazhong to resupply the expeditionary force.

But then again, the opportunity must not be missed, and it will never come again. It is really difficult to have the conditions that are so conducive to recovering the Northwest Region. Once missed, Dazhong may never have the opportunity to surpass the Tang Dynasty.

Therefore, Li Yan finally turned his gaze away from the map - he decided to hand over the northwest region to Yue Fei and the others.

Li Yan sent his servant to call Hu Shijiang over, and asked, "When will the railway running through Longyou be repaired and open to traffic?"

Hu Shijiang made some calculations in his mind, and then replied: "The fastest, the fastest, I'm afraid it will have to wait until the end of next year."

Li Yan frowned and said, "It will take so long?"

Hu Shijiang explained: "The terrain in Longshan is too complicated, with high mountains and many trees. In some areas, tunnels must be blown up, so that section is really too difficult to repair."

Fearing that Li Yan would blame him for his poor performance, Hu Shijiang added: "However, as long as the Longshan area is built, the Hehuang area is behind, where the terrain is flat, and several miles can be repaired in a day."

Li Yan knew that there was no rush to build the railway, too much haste would lead to bad things, so Li Yan encouraged Hu Shijiang a few words and let him leave.

After sending Hu Shijiang away, Li Yan asked his servant to call Xu Guanzhong.

Xu Guanzhong's original proposal was to allow the expeditionary force to advance eastward after recovering the Mobei area, cooperate with Liu Qi and Wu Lin, and destroy the Mongolian, Kelie, Naiman, and Wanggu tribes, as well as attack the Dajin Kingdom. In fact, it is the safest plan to pacify the Northeast for Dazhong.

It can be said that Xu Guanzhong, the privy envoy, is very competent. He is always clear-headed. He clearly sees that the biggest threat to Dazhong cannot come from the northwest, but from the northeast. The Kingdom of Jin, the Mongols, the Kelie, the Naimans, the Wanggus, and even the Tatars are the real threats to Dazhong.

In Xu Guanzhong's vision, Dazhong should concentrate on eliminating all these big forces and hidden dangers in the Northeast, and then wipe out Xixia, and then consider matters in the Northwest.

in fact--

From the original intention, Li Yan is more in favor of Xu Guanzhong's proposal.

No one knew better than Li Yan that for the Central Plains Dynasty, the biggest hidden danger was the Mongols and Jurchens, whom Xu Guanzhong regarded as great enemies.

But then again, judging from the current situation, Yelu Dashi's proposal is not bad. Such an opportunity is really rare.

This is also proved by history-in history, Yelu Dashi unified the Northwest China during this period and established the vast Western Liao Empire, which lasted for nearly a hundred years for the Liao Dynasty. Its internal chaos led to a major retreat in national power, and perhaps the Liao Dynasty could last longer.

Therefore, it was difficult for Li Yancai to choose between Xu Guanzhong and Yelu Dashi's proposal, and finally handed over the choice to Yue Fei.

After Xu Guanzhong arrived, Li Yan cut to the chase and said, "Yue Fei has chosen to go west."

Xu Guanzhong was silent for a while after hearing the words, and said: "Based on the foundation laid by the officials for Dazhong, we should go west first and then east. Even if we do both at the same time, there should be no problem."

Seeing Xu Guanzhong's words, Li Yan was very pleased!

Later, Li Yan stated the purpose of finding Xu Guanzhong: "Although Yue Fei didn't ask the imperial court for support, the imperial court had to support the expeditionary army. It’s hard to sustain it. Taking a step back, even if we can sustain it, there will definitely be a lot of casualties. The soldiers are fighting for the country, we must do our best to make them less buried in foreign lands, um... for the time being, the train is only a matter of hope. No more, I am going to ask Wang Shu to recruit 50 civilians to send a batch of weapons and ammunition to Longyou by local means, as for how to send them to the expeditionary army from Longyou, look, is there any way?"

The expeditionary army leaving Beining City is like a stone falling into the sea. Only they can send messages back with carrier pigeons. The imperial court cannot contact the expeditionary army at all. Therefore, if Yue Fei and the others do not take the initiative to ask for it, it will be difficult for the imperial court to send them supplies. .

Xu Guanzhong thought for a while and said, "Let Zhang Xian send a large army to escort him."

"Send a large army?" Li Yan said.

Xu Guanzhong said: "Yes, at least [-] to [-]. In that case, if Xixia wants to stop it, it must dispatch a large army. It is impossible to pretend to be a bandit to rob. But in that case, Xixia will give us an excuse to attack it."

Li Yandao: "Your idea is very good, do you have a specific plan?"

Xu Guanzhong said: "The ministers and others have conducted a detailed analysis of the eastward route of the expeditionary army, and have also delineated the only roads that the expeditionary army must pass to the east, and found an area closest to Longyou. , Let Zhang Xian send a large army to transport the ammunition there, and wait for the expeditionary army to pick it up, and then the expeditionary army can be supplied."

Li Yan asked: "Where is that area?"

Xu Guanzhong replied: "A gorge at the confluence of Yizhishui and Yemili River is called "Hongshukou". It is the only place to pass through the Altai Mountains and Qilian Mountains to enter the Western Regions."

Over the years, Li Yan has looked at the map several times almost every day. It can be said that the whole world has already been pretended in Li Yan's heart.

Therefore, as soon as Xu Guanzhong mentioned Hongshukou, Li Yan knew its approximate location, and said, "It's so far away!"

Xu Guanzhong said: "Yes, it may take a year to go back and forth."

Li Yan said: "Is there no place closer?"

Xu Guanzhong shook his head, and said: "In other places, either we are not sure that the expeditionary force will definitely pass by, or there are powerful forces entrenched there. Only Hongshukou should be the most suitable."

Li Yan thought for a while and asked, "Are there so many big animals in Zhang Xian's place?"

Yue Fei and the others had 70 million war horses and camels before they dared to march westward. By the same token, if Zhang Xian and the others wanted to go so far away to deliver weapons and ammunition to Yue Fei and the others, they would never be able to deliver weapons and ammunition if there were fewer livestock.

Xu Guanzhong said: "We can only ask Wu Jie to gather all the large animals of the Western Army and send them to Longyou."

Li Yan hesitated and said, "This won't give Xixia an opportunity, will it?"

Xu Guanzhong said: "Our army has been fully restructured, and now it is dominated by musketeers. Therefore, the demand for war horses is not as great as before, especially in defense. Therefore, as long as we don't attack Xia in the near future, the Western Army All the big animals are transferred to Longyou, so it shouldn't be a big problem."

The advantages of the cavalry are mainly reflected in the quick response and maneuvering, and the quick response and maneuvering are mostly used in battles. Therefore, if it is not a formal battle, but just defending according to danger, and transferring all the large animals of the Western Army, the impact is really not big .

Li Yan thought for a while, and said: "It's not easy for us to replenish the expeditionary army once, so let's replenish them as much as possible, um... so, the people who went to replenish this time should not come back, let them also join The expeditionary army, after the expeditionary army hit Hongshukou, there should be some casualties, and the road ahead is still long, I'm afraid they don't have enough soldiers and horses."

This time it was Xu Guanzhong's turn to hesitate, and he said: "If you don't come back... the generals are nothing to add, but this war horse... that's all the property of the Western Army. Run back and play with me..."

Li Yandao: "I'm afraid the hardships of the expeditionary army to the west are beyond our imagination. Therefore, we must help them as much as we can. As for the horses of the western army, you can tell Wu Jie, In the next three years, all the war horses received in the Longyou area were allocated to him for the Western Army, and some Yunnan horses were transferred to the Western Army later, if it was not enough, let him overcome it by himself."

Xu Guanzhong knew that the officials had already given the expeditionary army the greatest support.

If this is the case, if Yue Fei can't recover the northwest region for Dazhong and the government, then the responsibility really does not lie with the government.

Pressing his temple, Li Yan asked again: "How is the Northeast?"

……

(End of this chapter)