Unlike the harsh climate with biting cold wind outside, the side hall is now warm as spring, which makes the ministers wearing thick clothes feel a little sweaty on their foreheads in a short while. Of course, this sweat may not necessarily be caused by the temperature in the hall, or it may also be from the topic they are discussing.

In front of Zhao Ji and his ministers, there was a map of military movements between the Song and Liao sides several meters long and very large in the north. The content on the map was much more detailed than the one Sun Tu had. Even in recent months, the two armies have been fully advanced and retreated, which makes people more likely to feel the embarrassment of the situation in the Song army. From the beginning, they took the initiative to attack occasionally, they occasionally won a small victory, but now they can only retreat to Baigou River, without any advantage.

Zhao Ji's face looked quite heavy, his eyes swept across the faces of the important officials in front of him, and then he said: "Now the situation on the front line of the Northern Expedition is urgent. I am summoning all the ministers to come today to ask if you have any good plans to defeat the enemy?"

More than a dozen ministers below were silent again. In fact, since the successive defeats of the Song army in the winter, there have been many reports of such monarchs and ministers. They have already issued the ideas they should have, but whether they adopt them or not, the front-line wars have not improved at all. To this day, even though these people are senior officials in the Ministry of War and the Privy Council, they can only pretend to be deaf and silent at this time.

The silence of the ministers made Zhao Ji even more annoyed. He snorted and looked at one of the people he trusted the most: "Gao Qiu, what do you think?"

A year has passed since his son Gao Duo was killed by Sun Tu. Gao Qiu's illness has recovered, but he has also seen aged a lot and lost a lot. At this time, he looked like a bamboo pole. As the leader of the generals in Tokyo, since there was a problem with the front line, Taiwei Gao naturally could not escape, so he could only bite the bullet and said, "Your Majesty, I think that our army's repeated failures are just some accidents. As long as the court strictly ordered the generals on the front line to be careful and encourage the morale of the army, it would be a big problem to defeat the Liao army."

OK, although he did speak, he was all cliché and useless nonsense. Even Zhao Ji, the emperor who actually didn't understand military affairs, frowned with dissatisfaction and disgust. Seeing this, Gao Qiu quickly added: "And in my foolish opinion, the defeat during this period should be related to Tong Guan's improper command on the front line. Your Majesty should send good generals and famous ministers to the north to assist, so that the situation can be reversed."

While speaking, Gao Qiu quickly winked at an official beside him. The latter immediately understood and stepped forward to help him rescue him: "Your Majesty, I think what Gao Taiwei said is indeed reasonable, and the court's strategy of ordering Tong Guan to send troops to fight the Liao army as soon as possible is also extremely correct. If this assistance can be provided, this battle will be won!"

"Oh? How did you see it?" Zhao Ji's face finally looked a little better, and he asked with anticipation.

"I have carefully studied the battle reports of the two armies for the whole year, but found that our Song Dynasty official army had an absolute advantage at the beginning. It was only after several small-scale battles that they turned from victory to defeat, and finally had to retreat and defend themselves. The reason was whether we started a full war with the Liao army. Our army was far superior to the Liao army, and we were well prepared. The only weakness was that the terrain was not familiar with. If the entire army was pressing forward and confronting the enemy head-on, our army would have a great advantage, and there would be no reason to win? But if we advance in a small group, the situation would be different. The Liao army could be divided into divisions and obstructed, and there was no disadvantage in military strength. As well as the geographical advantage, our army would be able to retreat and protect ourselves after several defeats in our army. "

After saying this, many people in the hall nodded secretly, feeling that this analysis made sense. Only a few people showed disapproving expressions on their faces. Sun Tu, who was almost at the end of the ministers, even sneered disdainfully, and was almost like going forward to say nonsense.

Although he had never been to the front line, he could clearly analyze a lot of things based on the internal information of the battle report. The reason why the Song army was able to win steadily at the beginning was not because of the entire army's advance, but because the Liao army was not prepared enough at that time. In addition, maybe there was a part of his contribution to Sun Tu, because from the Song army's advance combat route, they clearly caught the loopholes in the Liao army's border defense and were raiding. How could there be no reason to win?

The reason why the Song army was able to easily select its weak points was due to the guidance of the Liao border defense map obtained by Sun Tu and Tong Guan on a mission to the Liao Kingdom a few years ago. He still remembered clearly that the main figure marked the specific arrangements of the Liao border army and even the internal situation of the city checkpoints. As long as it is targeted, it will be able to easily break through the Liao army's defense line. The only thing that is a bit puzzled is that, since this is the case, why did the Song army turn sharply after winning several big victories?

As for the fact that he is desperate to fight the Liao army head-on, even if the Song army has an absolute advantage in military strength, it is unlikely that he will win, and it may even lead to a strategic defeat. Therefore, if Sun Tu is asked to make a statement, he will persuade the emperor to issue an order to withdraw his troops and continue to fight a war of attrition with the Liao army based on the strong passes such as Yanmen Pass.

Because he could see clearly that in fact, in terms of Song's greatest advantage over Liao, there was always only one point, that is, its strong national strength. Especially today, the rear of Liao Kingdom had already been full of war, and the Jin people were fighting all over the country. Then the logistics supply of the Liao army that confronted Song on the front line would inevitably be short of. As long as it could be delayed for a period of time, the entire Liao army could be completely defeated. At that time, it would be even more difficult to defeat the Liao army and recapture Youzhou.

And in this way, there is another great advantage, that is, it can preserve the absolute combat power of the Song army and make sufficient preparations for the Jin army heading south in the future. In his eyes, the Liao people were no longer a threat to the Song Dynasty, and the Jin people were the most terrifying enemy.

But Sun Tu was hard to say these words, because he could see that the monarch and ministers in the court had already made up their minds and had even conveyed the order to the north. How could it be changed because of his own words? He was still self-aware. He was already suspicious of the emperor and was only concerned about the affairs of Jiangnan, so he let him be a free marquis. Now he sang a rebellious tune, which was of no use except to make the emperor angry and make the ministers ridiculed.

Sun Tu never thought of being a loyal minister of the Song Dynasty, so he even saved the saliva. He just watched the ministers as if they were watching a show and put forward suggestions that seemed reasonable but in fact they were useless.

But his state of watching the show was not lasting until the end, because soon Zhao Ji called him: "Mr. Yue, do you have any insights into the matter in the north? I can remember clearly that you are one of the few famous generals in the Song Dynasty in the past few years. They have made many military achievements in Shandong and Jiangnan, and have almost never lost."

Even if he wanted to hide, Sun Tu had no choice but to come forward. In fact, he also knew very well that since the emperor had specially issued an order to enter the palace to participate in the court today, there must be something to ask him.

After thinking for a while, he said, "Your Majesty, I think the Northern Expedition is indeed quite dangerous. Our Song army is not as powerful as the Liao army in terms of combat. In addition, the Liao army has the power of a mourning army. If we fight head-on, our army's chances of victory should be less than 30%..."

"Marty Yue, are you so exaggerating? You should have heard it just now. My Heavenly Soldiers in the Song Dynasty have always suppressed the Liao army at the beginning of the Northern Expedition. How could it be better than the enemy? Don't be more ambitious than others to destroy the prestige of the Song Dynasty." At that moment, some officials spoke up in a silence.

The emperor's face was not very good either, and he snorted: "Do you really feel that my Song Dynasty cannot retake Youyun Sixteen State?"

"Your Majesty, there are still opportunities." Sun Tu raised his words and said, "But you must not be rushing to advance, but you should use our Song Dynasty's advantages to achieve success. I think that retreating as advance and fighting attrition with the enemy is the way to win. Just like in the battle of Cao Cao and Yuan Shao in Guandu, if Yuan Shao could make good use of his advantages and slowly consume Cao Cao's food and grass forces with his words, it would be difficult to defeat Cao with his strength ten times that of the enemy. But as a result, he took a decisive battle due to the mistake of Wuchao, which led to..."

"Mr. Yue, what you said is really a bit like talking about war on paper. Why did my Song Dynasty and Liao Kingdom become Yuan Shao and Cao Cao? Do you think the righteousness is on the Liao people's side?" Someone jumped out and opposed it, and he began to lead the topic to another place with great sternness.

Sun Tu's face also changed: "I'm just an example, how can there be a saying of justice? Moreover, the battle against the country cannot be decided by one or two battles. Taking defense as an offense and waiting for the opportunity is the best strategy for us to win." Sun Tu was actually talking about the war on paper by a guy who had never brought his soldiers to the battlefield.

But obviously, Zhao Ji and the ministers could not adopt his conservative strategy, and Gao Qiu took the opportunity to make a statement: "Your Majesty, I think the decisive battle with the Liao army is the most effective strategy to reverse the current unfavorable situation. As for what Yue Hou was worried about, the problem that our army was inferior to the Liao army was easy to solve."

"Oh? How do you say this?" Zhao Ji was really interested and asked hurriedly.

Gao Qiu glanced at Sun Tu and replied, "Hasn't the Yue Hou trained a elite army for our Song Dynasty over the years? Now that the great enemy is ahead, it is the time when the Yue Hou serves the court. Your Majesty can ask him to lead the army north to support Tong Guan again. If he leads his troops personally, the Liao army will be defeated!"

Everyone in the palace was stunned at first, and then they soon all came back to the smell. Even the emperor showed a thoughtful expression, and then looked at Sun Tu: "Marquis Yue, are you willing to go on a war again for me and for the people of the great Song Dynasty?"
Chapter completed!