Fan Zhongyan glanced at Zhe Jimin, who was sitting at his head, and the two of them met with each other and nodded slightly. These commanders who commanded the troops actually knew that the Khitans would definitely cross the river and fight with the Khitans. As long as Qu Lie took the lead in leading the tribe to return to Song, Xiao Puda would definitely intercept him, otherwise what would he use to recruit the corps in the southwest?

Xu Ping repeatedly asked all troops to restrain themselves and not take the initiative to attack the Khitan. He knew that the war must be fought. Although both sides gathered heavy troops in this area, it was ultimately a limited local war and would not evolve into a comprehensive national war for the time being. Neither of the countries was ready, and there were too many unpredictable things to start a war rashly, and impulsive adventure was not what a great country should do. Only by strictly restraining can the scale of the war be controlled, and not let the troops fight to the forefront and break into the hinterland of the Khitan.

Wang Kai said to Yeli Wangrong and Cheng Keshang: "The two kings commanded the army north of Nuanquan Peak, the king of Yeli was in the north, and Cheng Keshang was in the south. If a Khitan army on the opposite side entered Hequ, they would urgently report to the Protectorate and act according to the military order!"

The two of them responded with their hands.

The Dangxiang army was sandwiched between Xu Ping's Longyou Army and Zhe Jimin and Fan Zhongyan's army. As an arrow, once Xiao Puda led the army to cross the Yellow River, they immediately attacked. The most important battle was fought by them. There was nothing to hide in this kind of thing. Xu Ping never hypocritically expressed his embarrassment to the two of them. They came to bleed for the Song army. If this battle was fought, the subsequent resettlement could be provided and the rest of their lives would be spent in a grand manner.

To Yeli Wangrong and Cheng Keshang, he talked about their respective garrisons in detail and the subsequent arrangements. Xu Ping said: "Two kings, please go to the Houya for a while. I have some court affairs to talk with Fan Jingluo and Zhe Junma. After the talk, I will go and drink with you."

Yeli Wangrong and Cheng Keshang stood up and left, and went to Houya first. The two understood their identities and certainly that the general ministers could not let them know about something. This is not a bad thing. Now they really think that their own people are troublesome. After the war, they have to use their own heads. Xu Ping said it very clearly that they are a guest army. The reason they were used was because the area under the Khitan ruled was also the Dangxiang tribe. After the war broke out, they would easily gain the upper hand. After the war broke out, the court would not allow the Dangxiang area to have its own army. If they fought hard, they would now be worthy of the court, and the court would be worthy of them in the future.

When the two went out, Xu Ping stood up and stood in front of the map and said to Fan Zhongyan and Zhe Jimin: "This battle of Yinshan must be fought with the Khitan. Even if the Khitan avoids the war, Yeli Wangrong and Cheng Keshen must use any excuse to attack the Yellow River. After this battle, our lowest requirement is to occupy all prefectures and counties west of the Yellow River, and the Yellow River is bounded with the Khitan. If the progress goes smoothly, you might as well push forward a little more, occupy Dongsheng, Yunnei and Tiande Army, and take the Yinshan and local advantage."

Fan Zhongyan said: "If you have to do anything, try not to use your sword and war. If the Khitans are willing to settle things, why should we take a step back? Then, what's wrong with the Khitans taking Dangxiang's old territory as the preceptor?"

Xu Ping shook his head: "If the boundary is settled, it will never change again. Everyone will not violate each other. What the strategy says naturally makes sense. But is this possible? Even if the Khitan court is reliable, there are many tribes at the border between the two countries and the nomadic areas, and it is common for them to move to another country. If one country suffers grievance, it is inevitable that he wants to move to another country, and the dispute will never stop. This is not Hebei, nor after the boundary is drawn, the border people will farm themselves and they can never interact with each other. This is a vast grassland, and the border is difficult to draw and cannot be inspected on a daily basis. Now that we take a step back, we will leave countless troubles for the future. After completing our efforts, hundreds of thousands of people have arrived here, and we will carry the troubles!"

Fan Zhongyan nodded and stopped talking. He did not believe that once the border was demarcated, it would be decided for thousands of years. With the dispute in Yanyun area, the war would definitely rise again after Dangxiang was destroyed. But now it is not ready, and 400,000 troops gathered under Yinshan Mountain, and the court could not support it for a long time. If there was no such trouble in Dangxiang area and sufficient food supply, the battle might have been fought along the way, and it might have been fought until Youzhou.

The truth must be told, otherwise there will be no peace. But you have to be reasonable. Only when you have to be strong enough, if you want to reason without showing your fists, others will think it is a joke. This battle is the follow-up of the Battle of Chanzhou forty years ago. You should first compare the fists with the Khitan, and then sit down to reason. In the future, how much money will be, how to pay, who will give it to whom, how to draw the boundaries, and how to deal with the dispute, all depends on the result of the battle. The court has always ignored the Khitan and is just waiting for this result.

Although there was no war with the Khitan after the Battle of Chanzhou, the border areas were confronting all the time. It was probably the same after this battle. Before the Dangxiang was completely pacified and the court was well prepared, it was probably not going to fight with the Khitan again. Since we had to confront each other in the future, we naturally had to get a geographical advantage that would benefit us and consume as much national strength as possible at the lowest cost.

Seeing that Fan Zhongyan stopped talking, Zhe Jimin said: "Protector, since this is the case, why not take Fengzhou too? The troops are heading straight to Yunzhou and even conquering Shuozhou again. In the future, the war with the Khitan will start again, and it will be much more convenient to advance troops."

Xu Ping smiled and said, "We can't think so far before we think about the war. We will confront the Khitans after the war. After the confrontation between the years and months, we won over the Khitans and conquered Fengzhou. Shuozhou is not a difficult task. The Jiuyuan and Shuofang counties set up during the Qin Dynasty are actually a large area of ​​flat land along the banks of the Yellow River and surrounded by mountains. The soil here is rich and the water conservancy of the Yellow River is very easy to reclaim into farmland. If you occupy these two counties, you can farm here. Ten or eight years later, the food and grass here alone can support hundreds of thousands of troops in battle. You two think about it.

I wonder, if there were 300,000 to 400,000 troops in Hequ all year round, how could the Khitan Yunzhou be preserved? The military and horses asked why we didn’t occupy Fengzhou and gain all the geographical advantages of the two counties, because we are planning to confront the Khitan in this area in the next 10 or 20 years. If we occupied Fengzhou, the border with the Khitan would be bounded by mountains. As long as they guard the pass with a small number of troops, they could defend the Yunshuo and the two states. If they left Fengzhou, the Khitan would have to station a large army here, and the food and grass must be transported from behind the mountain. You know how difficult it is to transport grain in that place."

Fan Zhongyan and Zhe Jimin nodded and slowly came back to the spotlight. It was not that they did not understand this principle, but that the Song Dynasty had already exchanged its offensive and defensive roles with the Khitan. If the Khitan was an offensive side, then Fengzhou was the base for them to attack westward. The Song Dynasty, which was defending, must take it, otherwise the two counties occupied by Jiuyuan and Shuofang were not as calm as the Shuofang. On the contrary, if the Khitan became the defensive side, Fengzhou would become a huge burden, and it would take huge manpower and material resources to maintain the army confronting Song.

After this war, the Song Dynasty had to digest the Dangxiang area occupied and would not easily fight the Khitan again. The Khitan had to adapt to it and became the side to guard against the Song Dynasty's attack. The entire military strategy would change drastically and he would not dare to start a war easily. In the years of military confrontation, due to geographical advantages, the two sides were suffering from different expenses, which was a severe test for national strength.

In the past, the Song Dynasty suffered a loss in the confrontation in Hebei. Xu Ping left Fengzhou to the Khitan, and they suffered a loss.

Seeing that the two of them understood their meaning, Xu Ping said again: "After we meet, you will go back to Dijinze. Fan Jingluo commanded the Fuyan Road troops in the south. When the war broke out, he rushed to the east to capture Tanglong Town, and the troops were on Shuozhou. Echoing the tall Quan in Daizhou, it caused the attack on Shuozhou, which made the Khitan soldiers and horses in Yun and Shuozhou dare not come north. Zhe army was in the north, followed Cheng Keshang's army and went to capture Dongshengzhou. I followed Ye Li Wangrong and went to capture Yunneizhou. If there was no major accident in this battle, the Longyou Army would stop when it arrived in Yunneizhou. Zhe army would stop when it reached Zhenwu County of Khitan, and Fan Jingluo would stop when it arrived in Tanglong Town."

Zhe Jimin said: "This is the strategy of the Protectorate, we can just do it. However, now the army is gathering, and we don't know when the war will start? We can't wait until the Khitan ruled the army and came before we attack, right?"

Fan Zhongyan said: "Of course not. The 400,000 army is here, and people eat horses and chew it, so it is difficult for the court to support it. There are hundreds of thousands of victims behind us, and the money and food they spend cannot be counted and cannot be delayed for a long time."

Xu Ping nodded and said, "Fan Jingluo is right. This battle must be decided quickly. It is June. After you go back, you will prepare and the war will start in mid-July. It was still summer, and the grass was not dry and the Khitan troops were not gathered. Don't worry, Yeli Wangrong and Cheng Kesheng have a way, and Qu Li will definitely be able to lead the troops to surrender at that time. Xiao Puda will send troops!"

Zhe Jimin said: "Qu Lie sent someone to me a few days ago, saying that he was interested in coming to vote, but without the permission of the escort, I did not reply to him."

"Don't worry about Qu Lie's affairs. This dynasty and Khitan are brotherly countries. You are the imperial officials, so you should avoid suspicion. I will let Yeli Wangrong and Cheng Keshang contact Qu Lie. They are all Dangxiang people, and there is nothing to say about Khitans. We occupied those state troops, calmly arranged troops, and waited for the Khitan army to come. We waited for the effort. We firmly occupied the upper hand in this battle and did not allow any mistakes. Fight it quickly and fought for decades of peace!"

After saying that, Xu Ping said to Fan Zhongyan and Zhe Jimin, "Now I think about it, it is actually quite lucky to attack Yuanhao. Everything was going well after the war in Tiandu Mountain, and it destroyed Dangxiang like the autumn wind swept the fallen leaves. For the soldiers on the front line, it is of course a good thing to fight less wars. But for the court, the war was too smooth, and the subsequent handling left many problems. It is definitely not easy for this place to truly become counties under the court! The more we fight this battle, the less likely it is to have strange intentions, and the more calm the place of the county and county behind it!"
Chapter completed!