Powerful Song Dynasty

Chapter 848

Wang Xiu shook her head, glanced at Li Gang, and said meaningfully: "Refusal at the door does not mean surrender."

Li Gang's eyes lit up. He knew that Wang Xiu was interested in the Northwest, and he had communicated with him on some occasions. It seemed that the intention was to attack the party, which was exactly in line with his original intention.

However, there are still concerns, and he said in a deep voice: "Now, the army is marching south, how can we spare the strength to divide the troops?"

"It's just a navy bodyguard. It's fighting to support war. The western guards have been fighting for ten years, so they should be a banker. Otherwise, they must have complaints." Wang Xiu looked at Li Gang with a smile, and her attitude was quite teasing. .

This guy is really not a thing, it turned out that Zhong Lirui was still going to be kept, Li Gang couldn't help but roll his eyes, feeling aggrieved.It turned out that once there was going to be a war, Zhong Lirui, who was in charge of the capital, would definitely not have any other arrangements and would stay in the Privy Council.

Everyone also realized what Wang Xiu didn't say, that it is good to attack the party. Since Zhao Ji's era, he has violently attacked the party and adopted a strategy of cannibalization, advancing step by step. I can't stand it anymore.

Those who are not very interested in the Southern Expedition have a strong interest in the Westward Expedition, because this is the lost territory, and it is of great significance to regain it, and no one wants to make contributions.

Qin Hui's heart trembled, and he secretly called himself really stupid. He even forgot that Wang Xiu had the intention of going west, so he acted like a villain, and hurriedly said: "I'm afraid it will be difficult to do it with Shaanxi alone."

Wang Xiu glanced at Qin Hui with a half-smile, and said plainly: "The Western Guards are not enough, the Northern Guards and Dianqian Division can be transferred, and they can also be issued to the world's young men."

"The captives are cunning, we must guard against them." Tan Shiji said leisurely.

"The ink is still wet, no matter how shameless they are, they won't break the covenant, right?" Li Guang said hesitantly.

The two hit the nail on the head.The Jin army still maintains a strong force in the east of Hebei. Once something happens in the northwest and a large number of northern servants are transferred to the west, the Jurchens will definitely take advantage of it again.

"The captives have never been trustworthy. Once I fall into the chaos in the Northwest, they will drive straight in. It will be too late to regret!" Xu Han said without hesitation. The painful lesson made him forget that it was the mistake of Zhao Ji and Zhao Huan's father and son. The imperial edicts of the Song Dynasty were changed from day to day, which led to the Jurchen's confidence.

Lu Hao asked Xu Han with blank eyes. He had a different opinion with Xu Han on the handle of the military, which caused the two privy ministers to disagree. He said displeasedly: "It is very beneficial for the imperial court to use troops to the northwest. Back then, the emperor had opened up a good situation. Fortunately, the soldiers and civilians in Shaanxi have fought bloody battles to keep the favorable terrain, and the imperial court can gather a large army to attack Lingzhou by surprise."

After a hundred years, except for formal occasions with party members, the emperors and ministers of the Song Dynasty still called Xingqing instead of Lingzhou.Of course, Xia Jianguo's capital, which was changed from Xingzhou to Xingqing in Li Yuanhao's time, has long since changed beyond recognition.

Qin Hui pondered for a long time, and said cautiously: "How confident are you in going west? Can the war be ended quickly?"

This question was on point. Whether the war could be ended quickly was the key to whether the Jurchens would go south. No one doubted Qin Hui's question, and all eyes turned to Wang Xiu, hoping to get a satisfactory answer.

Once a protracted war breaks out, it will definitely not be in the interests of the Song dynasty.

Wang Xiu felt uncomfortable with everyone's attention. He considered his words and said, "I'm [-]% sure. The period will be about one year, and at the latest it will be no more than two years."

Everyone's eyes suddenly dimmed. Two years is too long, enough for the Jurchens to prepare and find an excuse to go south.One year seems to be a bit too short, giving people an unreal feeling.

"However, as long as the troops are properly matched, we don't need too many troops. We only need the Shaanxi and Dianqian Forbidden Army as the main force, and the Northern Guards don't need to make a big move." Wang Xiu didn't want to destroy morale, that would only make his The plan fell through.

In fact, the policy of elite soldiers also has shortcomings. In the face of two or three battlefields, the quality of personnel is high, but it is difficult to reach a certain scale and cannot guarantee the initiative in the battlefield.To give a simple example, to deal with twice the number of troops, the quality of soldiers and the use of technology do not need to be much higher, while three times the number of troops requires the opponent to pay twice the technical advantage, and so on, increasing by analogy, not simply multiplying.

Inspirational generals, high-quality soldiers, and advanced warfare technology are the keys to victory, but they do not mean that manpower is obsolete. Regardless of the era of cold weapons or hot weapons, maintaining a large army of a certain size is also an inevitable factor.

"Everyone, this is a war to destroy the country. The time cannot be too short, and the mobilization of troops cannot be too small. Even if it is a rehearsal before the Northern Expedition. If it is feasible, we will call the front of the palace to join the Western Army, and gather 15 imperial troops in advance. Bian issued 16 township troops and 50 civilian husbands, so there was no need for a large-scale transfer of the northern garrison to the west, and only brigades and battalions were needed to train troops."

"The military strength is not too small." Li Gang glanced at Wang Xiu, he did not think that Wang Xiu was clever, and he used the highest military strength in party wars, that is, more than [-] forbidden troops.Although that war ended in failure.

However, this war must not be taken lightly. 15 forbidden troops are not too many, and the township army can only be used to replace the gap in numbers. The Xia army claims to have an army of 50!

"The use of manpower and material resources is too great. I am afraid that the world will be hurt and the captives will take advantage of it." Even Lu Haowen hesitated, thinking that it was too much to use more than a million people.

Don't think that there are only about 30 soldiers and 50 civilians. These are the manpower that directly participated in the war or was transferred on the military road. The military states along the way must organize manpower and material resources. The number of people participating in the war will never be less than one million.

Not to mention coping with the possible southward movement of the Jin army, even the imperial court's financial resources may not be able to handle it. After a battle, millions of guns will be in vain.

Sustaining the war for one to two years is definitely a huge test for the national strength of the Song dynasty.

Wang Xiu was not hesitant to express his feelings. War is a beast that swallows gold. It is obviously impossible to support a war of annihilation without huge manpower and material resources. Especially for a war of annihilation that requires a quick victory, it is absolutely impossible not to use all our strength.

Li Gang also hesitated a little, he advocated aggressiveness, but he was not a blind fool, and said in a deep voice: "Master Wang, we still need to think about it in the long run."

Wang Xiu was very unhappy to hear that, these people who usually advocated the Northern Expedition, when it came to the real battle, each of them had more than one thing, it was almost annoying.

His determination cannot be changed, and he said bluntly: "From a long-term point of view, don't you understand that the captives are powerful, and the court has no horses, so it is impossible to fight against them. The reason why we have achieved several great victories is because of the right time, place and people. , but there are very few elites who have killed or wounded the captives.”

(End of this chapter)