Zhao Bing understood the opponent's thoughts and then made up his mind to fight. But this time he didn't want to just passively defend, but seized the opportunity to expand the scale of the war. However, he also knew that this was not a battle that crossed the river to grab horses before, and he could temporarily organize, nor was it a battle with greater intensity, but a local war with greater scope and influence.

‘War is the continuation of politics’. Over the years, Zhao Bing’s understanding of this has become deeper with his identity changing. At the beginning, he knew this sentence, and his understanding was literally meaning. At that time, the General Administration had just built a thousand and eight hundred people, and he was thinking about how to save his life. What is restoring the country and saving the people is a beautiful word on his lips, and where is the political goal, and there will be no long-term strategy. He was thinking about how to win the battle in front of him.

When he arrived in Qiongzhou, facing the situation of "poverty and poor" and surrounding the enemy, Zhao Bing considered how to hold on to the scene, win over the hearts of the people, and gain a foothold. His level at that time was limited, so he could only look at the world from a tactical perspective, relying on courage and experience in his previous life to solve strategic problems. To put it bluntly, he would be a headache to treat the head and foot, and at best he would only do the job of a magistrate.

However, this period was not long, and Zhao Bing quickly became emperor and moved the court to Qiongzhou. The changes in the situation forced him to consider the problem from a larger perspective, but he was mainly "seeking survival and development". Although the restoration of the country has been put on the agenda, it still seemed to him a distant dream and I don't know when it will be realized. He also knew that under the title of emperor, he was doing the work of a chief official in a border area, and his realm was improved, and he could barely examine the world with a combat perspective and solve problems.

Even when Zhao Bing made the decision to recapture Jiangnan, his judgment on the situation was one-sided. He weakened the Mongolian Yuan's dominance in Jiangnan, attacked its economy, calculated Kublai Khan and the Battle of Protecting the Tombs were all from the perspective of organizing a major battle. He never thought that he could occupy the entire Jiangnan in such a short time. He had even made a plan to return to Qiongzhou once the war was unfavorable.

Looking back now, Zhao Bing would sweat coldly and say he was lucky. At that time, it could be said that it was a chaotic battle, and several battlefields started at the same time. They won by surprise and instantly made the entire Jiangnan a pot of porridge. The Mongolian Yuan was not prepared to deal with it at all, so they could only respond passively. In addition, Kublai Khan suddenly died, and the court was in chaos, which allowed Zhao Bing to control the situation.

Due to lack of political considerations, no corresponding plan was formulated at that time, so Zhao Bing could only respond hastily. Although it would not lead to a big mistake, the policy was not without flaws at that time. However, with the assistance of the ministers, he could only barely deal with it, and the subsequent "internal strife" made him exhausted and fussed.

At that time, Zhao Bing had already made the worst plan, and even prepared to use the army to take over the regime, implement military control, complete the transition, and consolidate his throne. Fortunately, he had mediated and reconciled, resolved the political crisis, and calmed the possible division of the court. And that period of time he was "seized" also allowed him to reflect on his actions, let him understand his shortcomings, and knew that if he wanted to consolidate his position, he had to learn to examine the world from the perspective of a supreme ruler in order to make the right decision.

With this awareness, Zhao Bing was more cautious about launching wars, rather than in the past, he only had to consider whether the battle could be won, but he wanted to think about the "ultimate goal", that is, the war plan, how to make the entire military activity a unified action with an ultimate goal. That is to say, the war plan made all military actions point to the ultimate goal, so that all military actions have clear goals, rather than doing their own things.

Zhao Bing knew that war and politics influence each other, political goals affect war goals, and war is a tool of politics. War plans involve four aspects, including combat policies, the scope of means of use, the size of power and the influence of time. The policy refers to the direction and goal of guiding the cause forward, and also depends on the political purpose of both the enemy and us; the strength and multiple relationships between the enemy and us; the characteristics and capabilities of the governments and peoples of the enemy and us; the political combination relationship of other countries and the possible impact of war on them.

The concept of war plan he recorded, "On War" describes it in this way: the war plan summarizes the entire military action and makes it a unified action with an ultimate goal. If people do not know what to achieve with war and what to achieve in war), then they cannot start war, or they should not start war. This main idea stipulates all principles of war, determines the scope of the means of use and the size of the power used, and will always affect the minimum link of military action.

There are two theories about the outcome of war. One is that war is the whole, everything depends on the final result; the other is that war is independent of each other, and the final result is the accumulation of individual results. Zhao Bing believes that the first type can be regarded as the basic view, and the second type is the first type of correction under specific circumstances. Zhao Bing believes that war is composed of some independent results, which are like the independent "games" in gambling. The winning or losing of the first few games has no effect on the winning or losing in the future, but people can accumulate each single result like a bargaining chip to change the situation...

"Dear Prime Ministers, the Mongolian Yuan has recently deployed heavy troops on the front lines of Runzhou to Jiangkou. I think the enemy is trying to invade from Henan to Henan and approach the capital. Although our army has now entered combat preparations, its defense is very passive everywhere!" Zhao Bing summoned several priests in the court to discuss the defense of Jiangdong and listened to their opinions. He pointed to the map on the table and briefly introduced the current situation of enemy and us.

"Your Majesty, I think that you should fight back firmly in this battle, and it is best to be able to deal with the enemy severely. This will not only protect the safety of our capital, but also restrain the enemy's troops in Henan and Shandong Province and reduce the pressure on the Jinghu line." Lu Xiufu said first.

"I think the battle to recover Sichuan and Shu is imminent, and the Huguang General Office is responsible for raising supplies and reinforcements, and almost all the main forces of the Yangtze River Navy are transferred westward. If Jiangdong starts war again, they can only rely on the Jiangdong General Office to fight independently. I think they are not able to do anything, so I should focus on defense rather than on all efforts!" Jiang Yu, the deputy general in charge of military affairs, thought for a while and said.

"I think what Governor Jiang said is very true. If our dynasty launches a full-scale counterattack, it will inevitably mobilize a large army to cross the river. In this way, Jiangdong's troops are empty. Jiangdong is not only the capital, but also the main source of taxes for our dynasty. Once the dynasty loses the rules, the whole country will be in turmoil!" Liu Fu pondered for a moment and said.

The three spoke separately, and Ying Jieyan squinted his eyes, looking like he was sleeping. If Zhao Bing hadn't seen his fingers sucking on his legs, he would have thought he was asleep. After the Mid-Autumn Festival, Ying Jieyan submitted a memorial to ask for retirement and retirement, and he immediately rejected it, but the old man made a memorial again, and he would have just detained it this time. But today he was old and was no longer in good spirits.

"What do you think sir?" Zhao Bing leaned over and asked.

"Your Majesty, I think what Prime Minister Lu said is so good that he should resolutely fight back against the enemy!" Ying Jieyan seemed to have reacted and coughed lightly.

"Your Majesty, I also think that this battle should be a big battle, and I should go deep into Jiangbei to seek a complete victory!" Han Zhen, deputy envoy of Privy Councilor, said at this moment. At present, Zhao Bing is also the Privy Councilor, so he is in charge of daily affairs, so he is qualified to participate in the court discussion.

"Your Majesty, the two countries are still in peace talks. I think that the Mongolian Yuan protests in Jiangbei are nothing more than losing in negotiations and want to blackmail them. Therefore, I think that the Mongolian Yuan will not be in the battle. As long as they see that our dynasty has a tight defense, they will retreat without any gaps!" Liu Fu said at this time.

"I dare not agree with what Governor Liu said!" Lu Xiufu continued, "Although our army has heavy troops in the south of the Yangtze River, the defense line is thousands of miles long. To deploy defense everywhere, it is necessary to mobilize tens of thousands of rural soldiers and servants. Even so, it is difficult to ensure that there are no omissions. Once the enemy crosses the river, even if only hundreds of people will cause shock to the government and the people, people will be panic. It is better to cross the river and fight!"

Zhao Bing listened to the arguments of several priests at this time, and he did not interfere too much. He had long understood that since war is a tool of politics, war must have political characteristics, so it must be measured by political standards. The main outline of war is always determined by the government. In modern special terms, war is determined by the political authorities, not by the military authorities.

Moreover, war is nothing more than the continuation of political exchanges with another means, but it should be pointed out at the same time that such political exchanges are not interrupted by war, nor become something completely different because of war. No matter what means are used, political exchanges will actually continue to exist; and, the main route followed and bound by war events can only be the outline of political exchanges that run through the entire war until peace.

Therefore, war is politics itself in its main aspect. Politics is here to write swords, but it does not stop thinking according to its own laws. In order to accurately know how many means it is necessary to consider the political purpose of both the enemy and us, which involves considering the strength and multiple relationships of the enemy and our side, the characteristics and capabilities of the enemy government and people, and our situation in these aspects; it should also consider the political combination of other countries and the possible impact of war on them.

This means that Zhao Bing cannot decide alone, but must consider all issues comprehensively and listen to opinions from many aspects. Even if he subjectively hopes to expand the war, he must follow this principle...8)
Chapter completed!