Minzhou, Taozhou, Diezhou, and Danzhou are to the east of Lugu Mountain, that is, between the junction of the first and second stairs.

"It seems that there are Huangshui Valley, Yellow River Valley, and Tao River Valley in the mountains, all of which are suitable for our army to colonize."

"As for the west of Nanshan and Xishan (close to the first step), it is not suitable for farming. It can be controlled with the strategy of restraining the strings."

Wang Zhongzheng understood as soon as he heard what Zhang Yue said, and he was simply looking back to see if there were any lines.

Others listened for a long time and couldn't understand the meaning of the words, but Zhang Yue understood it as soon as he said it.

Some people say that although the Song Dynasty had a large territory, not an inch could be lost and every inch of land must be fought for.

Others say that all the land west of Qinzhou must be given to the Tibetan tribe.

Both of these statements are too absolute and must be analyzed in detail on specific issues. The farming nation is limited by the supply line. It is almost the same when advancing to the first and second steps. In the following places, if the national strength is not enough,

For the time being, we can use the strategy of restraining the officials to control it.

But if you are on the second ladder, you should take everything.

"So Xizhou and Hezhou must be taken! And Minzhou, Taozhou, Diezhou and Danzhou outside the mountains should be taken." Wang Zhongzheng came to this conclusion easily.

The terrain of Xihe River and Hezhou in the mountains is low, and it is connected in all directions, making it easy to be attacked. Therefore, to defend Xihe River, the mountains and rivers must be well established.

Just like since ancient times, those who guard the Yangtze River must guard the Huaihe River first.

Minzhou, Taozhou, Diezhou, and Danzhou guard the passages, which is similar to the role of the Yangtze and Huaihe Rivers.

Zhang Yue said: "Fangshi Mingjian, it is exactly like this. Xizhou, Hezhou and Hezhou have a vast territory and a large population. They can form a country of their own. If I don't take it, it will be taken by Xia State sooner or later. Minzhou, Taozhou, Diezhou and Tangzhou

It is an external force. If it cannot be defended, Xihe will not be able to sleep peacefully for a day. This was already stated by Wang Zichun in the Pingrong policy."

Wang Zhongzheng was naturally familiar with the Pingrong policy implemented by Wang Shao in the first year of Xining.

Wang Zhongzheng immediately recited: "The Xia people have been attacking the Qing and Tang Dynasties for many years, and they cannot defeat them. If they are defeated, they will definitely join forces and march southward... Cut off the ancient Wei territory, completely subdue the Qiang in the southern mountains, and build Wusheng (Xizhou) in the west.

When sending troops to plunder the Tao River, Long and Shu counties should be completely disturbed..."

Wang Zhongzheng knew Wang Shao's Pingrong strategy by heart, and he was obviously very knowledgeable.

Zhang Yue said: "What Fang Envoy said is absolutely true. The two commanders in the Pingrong policy who 'submit to Nanshan Shengqiang' are Dong Xiang's two commanders Ji Pu Leng and Qing Yi Jie Gui Zhang..."

Wang Zhongzheng was suddenly stunned.

In the Song Dynasty, the Qiang people were divided into raw Qiang and mature Qiang.

Zhao Zhong, Bao Shun, Xi Qi and others were familiar with the Qiang, had long-term dealings with the Han people, and followed the Song army on expeditions.

As for Sheng Qiang, he is not convinced by Wang Hua.

As for the Qiang people in Nanshan, we are talking about the Qiang people in Minzhou, Taozhou, Diezhou and Tangzhou. Their leaders are Ji Pu Leng and Gui Zhang.

But the more powerful one is Wang Shao, and Wang Shao seemed to have predicted today's battle situation in the first year of Xining.

If Xixia wanted to attack the Song Dynasty, it was necessary to recover the Qiang people living in the Nanshan Mountains. On the contrary, when the Song Dynasty conquered the Qing and Tang Dynasties, it was also crucial to recover the Qiang people living in the Nanshan Mountains.

Zhang Yue said: "Guizhang was a general of Wenba Xi, the leader of Shannan. He later drove Wenba Xi away and established himself as the leader. Nowadays, most of the Shannan tribes listen to his orders."

"If you want to capture the four states in the south of Shannan, or attack the west mountain, take over the entire power of Hehuang, and subjugate all the Qing and Tang tribes, you must base yourself on Hezhou! Therefore, in this battle, we can only win but not lose."

Zhang Yue thought of the history of another time and space. It was not until the first year of Xuanhe that Tong Guan led his army to march westward, and the Song Dynasty completely captured Hengshan and Qingtang.

In the second year of Ke Xuanhe's reign, the Fangla Uprising broke out, and Tong Guan was transferred back to quell the rebellion.

In the seventh year of Xuanhe, the Jurchens went south to attack Bianjing for the first time, while Xixia came back from the dead and launched a full-scale counterattack.

Reading history to this point is really depressing.

If Xixia could be pacified before Jingkang, or even before peace was declared, Song Dynasty would at least be able to fight against the Khitans and Jurchens with all its strength.

But it’s just a little bit different. If Pingxia had happened ten years earlier, would history have been different?

Thinking of this, Zhang Yue suddenly felt a little dazed.

He is now standing at the forefront of history, and the country's path has taken two completely different paths because of his choices.

And Wang Zhongzheng had already vaguely grasped Zhang Yue's overall strategy.

Wang Zhongzheng said: "Our family understands Zhang Longtu's strategy. This time our family went westward, the officials gave us advice and said, 'The plan is greater than the details, and the difficulty is easier than the easy'. Now Mu Zheng is weak, Dong Fei

If the Qingtang is strong, we should take the Mu Zheng. If the Qingtang is weak, if the Xia is strong, we should take the Qingtang first."

"Now Muzheng and Guizhang have trapped Tabaicheng. Perhaps Zhang Longtu wants to wait until his troops and horses are ready before attacking, but the art of war has it that it is better to use few than to use many. If you have more soldiers, you will compete with the grain, and if you have fewer soldiers, you will compete with the enemy.

.”

Zhang Yue said: "It's true as Fang Shi said, but when Fan Wenzhenggong was planning to conquer the northwest, he advocated the strategy of shallow attack, and Zhang Mo also did the same."

What Zhang Yue said was shallow attack and advance, which was proposed by Fan Zhongyan.

It is actually similar to the "fortifying the stronghold and fighting the war" a thousand years later.

Implement active defense on the inside, and implement "shallow attacks" on the outside, advancing only a little at a time, based on defense.

In fact, the historical results of the Song Dynasty's attacks on Xixia were all based on the "shallow attack and fortification" mentioned by Fan Zhongyan at the beginning. As long as they advanced further or went deeper, they often failed.

For example, they suddenly went sixty miles deep to build Luowu City and the battle of Yongle City, both of which failed.

At the same time, the most resolute person in history who carried out shallow attacks and fortifications was Zhang Kai himself. Zhang Kai only prepared six or seven days of rations for each attack. He rarely carried out large-scale and deep penetration attacks. After taking the territory, he stopped to build the city.

It took Zhang Yue a month to capture Hezhou City, and another month to confront the enemy in Tabaicheng.

The biggest benefit of the shallow attack strategy is that it solves the Song Army's long logistical supply line problem, but this strategy seems timid and consumes a lot of national power.

Zhang Yue continued: "I was stationed in Ninghe Village and sent troops to attack the Hezhou Tibetan tribe. Wang Junwan and others raided the Tibetan tribe in Hezhou. The troops reached the line of Nanchuan Village and Huaiqiang City in order to cut off the Shannan Tibetan tribe led by Guizhang.

On the way back, many Tibetan tribes have already left their strongholds."

"Now, more than seven of the ten tribes in Hezhou have surrendered to our dynasty. I order them not to provide food to Tabai City. Once the food for the Fan army is exhausted, Guizhangmu Zheng will be in chaos without fighting."

"Now it's just a matter of waiting for a good time."

Wang Zhongzheng asked: "Is the timing mentioned by Zhang Longtu waiting for Master Zhiyuan to turn Mu Zheng Gui Zhang against him? If it fails, won't we have to waste military rations?"

Zhang Yue smiled and said: "Mu Zheng and Gui Zhang are two people who share the same bed but have different dreams. Even if they don't have the wisdom to make this trip, there will be internal strife sooner or later."

…

After a long conversation, Wang Zhongzheng was convinced by Zhang Yue.

That night he immediately wrote a letter to the emperor, saying that the general was leading the troops outside, and that as long as he did not encroach on his duties on weekdays, he would be able to succeed in the future.

Zhang Yue continued to send generals to plunder as far north as the Yellow River and south as far as Nanshan. The Song army's cavalry was everywhere plundering.

In March of the sixth year of Xining.

Rumor has it that Mu Zheng and Guizhang were at odds with each other.
Chapter completed!