The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

Now that Brother Yeli no longer objected, the direction of other people's interests changed from being opposed to being in favor. Since there was going to be a war, the direction of attack was on the agenda.

According to Li Yuanhao's thinking, this time it should be the bone that is hard to chew on. Since a big battle is going to be fought, it will hit the sore spot of the Song Dynasty. The best target is the two roads of Fuyan and Huanqing who have been quite active recently ;Fan Zhongyan was sitting here, and another masked Di Qing once led his troops to attack Youzhou City. Although he was beaten back soon, it really made Daxia's monarchs and ministers sick for a while.

Regarding Li Yuanhao's suggestion, the Yeli brothers shook their heads secretly. This is the old problem of great success. Yanyan and Huanqing are on the east front, which is the closest barrier to Bianliang, the capital of Song Dynasty. More than half of the Song army's 15 troops in the northwest They are all arranged on the two roads of Yanyan and Huanqing, which is precisely to defend against the enemy. If they are easily broken through, it will be fine.

In comparison, although Jingyuan Road and Qinfeng Road on the West Road claim to have [-] soldiers guarding them, in fact, no more than [-] soldiers can actually fight, and most of them are improvised motley troops; Han Qi sits on Qinfeng Road in Qinzhou.

For Han Qi and Fan Zhongyan, there have long been songs in the army of the Song Dynasty. In fact, although it is a bit exaggerated, it also tells the truth. With Han Qi and Fan Zhongyan guarding the northwest, the Xixia army did not dare to make mistakes; although Li Yuanhao sent someone to send a letter to Han Qi and Xia Song said, "It's not surprising that Xia Song ever raised his head.Manchuan dragon and tiger chariots, still talking about military aircraft. The pride is beyond words, but the frontline generals who have dealt with Han Qi, Fan Zhongyan, and Xia Song all know in their hearts how terrible the officials guarding the northwest in the Song Dynasty are.

But this time it was not Brother Yeli who spoke out against him, but one of His Royal Highness's Han officials named Zhang Yuan, who was originally from Huayin County, Huazhou, Yongxing Army Road, Song Dynasty, and was quite talented in the local area. , Won the praise of the local people for "being a chivalrous man", "suave and suave, and talented".

It's just that this person's luck seems to be a little bit bad. He failed to pass several imperial examinations, so he thought it was difficult to stretch his talents, so he decided to rebel against the Song Dynasty and vote for Xia. During the years, when he and his friend Hu Hao heard that Li Yuanhao had great ambitions to establish a country and proclaim himself emperor, they came to Xixia. At this time, they changed their name to Zhang Yuan, and their friend surnamed Hu changed their name to Wu Hao.

After coming to Xingqing Mansion, there was no way out. In the Xixia Kingdom full of party members, the status of the Han people might not be much higher than that of mules, horses, pigs and dogs, so the two drank and wandered all day long. The pen wrote on the wall: "Zhang Yuan and Wu Hao come to drink this building".After the patrol saw them, they knew that they were not Xia people, because the word Hao in Wu Hao's name conflicted with Yuan Hao, so they took them down and gave them to Yuan Hao.

When Yuan Hao asked them why they violated the name taboo and why they entered the Xia Realm, the two said loudly: "I haven't paid attention to the surname, but to the name?" Giving the surname Zhao means that one person has multiple surnames. This is tantamount to exposing Li Yuanhao's scars, saying that Li Yuanhao is capricious; in normal times, he would be beheaded if he uttered such words, but that day Li Yuanhao happened to be beheaded. The long-awaited wife was in a good mood, not only did not blame them, but also released them and entrusted them with important responsibilities.

After the two voted for Xia, they were quite trusted. Shortly after Li Yuanhao proclaimed himself emperor and founded the country, he appointed Zhang Yuan as the order of Zhongshu, and Wu Hao was also reused after that.When Zhang Yuanyuan's family was imprisoned in Suizhou by the Song Dynasty, Li Yuanhao sent spies to correct the Song Dynasty's edict and successfully rescued Zhang Yuan's family, which made Zhang Yuan even more loyal to Li Yuanhao.

During the several years of war between Song and Xia, Zhang Yuan used his understanding of the Song people to come up with a lot of strategies and achieved a lot of results; The plan was proposed by Zhang Yuan, but the person who executed it was too stupid, and in the end it fell short.

Zhang Yuan has never disobeyed Li Yuanhao's suggestions in public, but today he objected, which made everyone a little puzzled, and Li Yuanhao was also very surprised, but he knew that since Zhang Yuan publicly objected, either his brain was kicked by a donkey, or he was himself. There are major mistakes and omissions in the proposal, and Zhang Yuan had to raise objections.

"Why does Zhang Qing object? Is there a reason?" Li Yuanhao asked politely.

"Your majesty, I naturally have a reason. I just heard that the emperor said that this battle is the last battle before the peace talks between He and Song. Although I don't agree with the peace talks with Song, since King Yeli and the emperor have reached a consensus. Naturally, I don't need to say much; I think that since the result of this battle is used as a bargaining chip to negotiate with Song Dynasty, then there is only one factor to consider in this battle, not who to fight, but whether to win; if this battle is defeated, Not only is it not a bargaining chip for oppressing Song to negotiate a peace agreement and offering favorable terms, but it is used by Song, not only will the peace negotiation fail, but the country will be destroyed." Zhang Yuan talked eloquently.

"Presumptuous, you don't believe that my big Xia cavalry can win the battle, destroy your own prestige, and increase the ambition of others. After all, you are a Han Chinese, a white-eyed wolf who has not been raised well." Li Jiqian had long been displeased with Zhang Yuan and caught him. The opportunity quickly kicked up two feet.

Li Yuanhao's face was also gloomy, and he held back his anger, and said coldly: "Zhang Yuan, you must be careful with your words, this battle is bound to be won, why are you discouraged here?"

Zhang Yuan puffed up his chest and said indifferently: "Your Majesty, I don't like lying. My Great Xia Iron Cavalry is indeed invincible, but Song people are not soft persimmons. You can't rely on guesswork in war. If you say you win, you have to plan and arrange. What? If so, my great Xia cavalry has already reached Bianliang City, what is the actual situation? Isn’t it entangled in the border and cannot advance an inch? I am not blaming the incompetence of the soldiers, but I want to remind the emperor and everyone not to underestimate the people of Song Dynasty ;This time, since we want to fight, we must win. No matter who is fighting, as long as a big victory is used as a bargaining chip, the Song people can be forced to negotiate; If necessary, we don't need to give up the weak and attack the strong to gnaw hard bones, and it is okay to win a big victory against anyone, so there is no need to take risks."

Everyone suddenly felt that Zhang Yuan's words were indeed reasonable. Wouldn't it be more sure to pick a soft persimmon and squeeze it than risk defeat to attack Fan Zhongyan and Huanqing who were guarded by Fan Zhongyan?Especially the Ye Li brothers, they agreed with Zhang Yuan's view that their army must not experience another big defeat, and it is really unwise to fight Fan Zhongyan to the death; they thought that Yuan Hao was so happy that he proposed to attack Fan Zhongyan , now Zhang Yuan's opinion coincides with theirs.

Li Yuanhao looked at Zhang Yuan and said coldly: "In your opinion, where should we attack? Don't forget that there is Fan Zhongyan in the east and Han Qi in the west. No one is easy to mess with. According to you, we should We can cross Liupan Mountain and attack Lanzhou, but horses are still horses, they can't fly."

Zhang Yuan pretended not to understand Li Yuanhao's teasing, and said sternly: "Your Majesty, let me listen to my analysis for you. I don't think about Yanyan and Huanqing Bingqiang Mazhuang in the east for now, but Jingyuan and Qinfeng in the west are definitely there. Articles can be written; although Han Qi is on the East Road, he is guarding Qinfeng Road, and his government is located in Qinzhou, hundreds of miles away from the border; in front of him, facing us is Jingyuan Road, Weizhou Yuanzhou, Jingzhou, etc. The state capital was originally under the control of Wang Yan, but according to detailed reports, it seems that Wang Yan is about to be transferred to the capital to take up a post. However, a newcomer will come to Jingyuan Road to sit in the post. Of course, it is not ruled out that the Song Dynasty will order Han Qi to concurrently take up the post, but I think it is possible Not much; I think that no matter who they take over, the time of handover is a time of chaos and instability, and at this time, attacking Jingyuan Road will surely win a big victory, and this is the direction of our attack."

Li Yuanhao touched his chin and nodded slowly. Zhang Yuan's analysis made sense. It seemed that Jingyuan Road was the direction to attack, and the odds of winning were quite high.

Zhang Yuan continued: "Among the prefectures on Jingyuan Road, I think that Weizhou is the best target. Although Yuanzhou is slightly ahead, Yuanzhou is also closer to Huanqing Road. Fan Zhongyan's rescue is also easy, while Weizhou is isolated in the west. , is an isolated city, and it is an excellent target."

Yeli Wangrong interjected: "How do you know that Han Qi won't come to support? Wouldn't Fan Zhongyan come from a long distance for reinforcements?"

Zhang Yuan cupped his hands and said: "Your Majesty is right, there is indeed a possibility, but based on the recent performance of the Song people, what they are most worried about is fighting me in the open field, and they are better at defending; we just need to make a gesture , showing that he is about to attack the two roads of Yanyan and Huanqing, Fan Zhongyan must not dare to provide support, and our army can divert halfway from east to west to kill Weizhou, and at the same time, the Jianing army commanded by Commander Li can send people to feint The northern walled city of Yanzhou contained Fan Zhongyan; our army was fast, and we rushed to Weizhou in a flash. Even if Fan Zhongyan understood it, he would not be able to rescue him in time, and Han Qi would also be unable to rescue him, not to mention that he had soldiers and horses Not many, according to my estimation, at most he will send some troops to support, and the rest will hide and take precautions."

All the ministers nodded, thinking that what Zhang Yuan said was reasonable, first feigning an attack to the east, and then quickly advancing to the west, without much delay in the middle, a hundred thousand troops could arrive at the city of Weizhou overnight, and even if Fan Zhongyan found out that he had been tricked, he would It will take at least five or six days to send troops to rescue. You can use halfway rescue or simply take Weizhou quickly, so that Fan Zhongyan can only retreat.

Li Yuanhao weighed it. Although he was inclined to defeat Fan Zhongyan, it was not only because it was more deterrent, but also because it opened the door closest to Bianliang and occupied Yanzhou and Qingzhou. Attacking Bianliang was accomplished overnight; but Li Yuanhao also had to consider the consequences of defeat, which he could not bear. Taking all considerations into account, Li Yuanhao approved Zhang Yuan's suggestion.

"What do you think of Zhang Yuan's plan?"

"We think it's feasible and relatively safe." Everyone said one after another.

Li Yuanhao raised his hand and said: "Okay, since everyone thinks it is feasible, then follow Zhang Yuan's plan. The left and right sides immediately gathered in Huizhou and ordered people to find out who will take over in Weizhou. The whereabouts of Su Jin who captured Ningming, God bless, I hope he is in Weizhou City, so that I can capture him alive and have a cramp.”