Du Zhongxiao's memorial was sent out, and the Political Affairs Hall organized it and chose a date to discuss. For a moment, the court talked a lot, and everything was said.

Before the gathering was held, the war against Dangxiang was imminent. Di Qing and Han Qi made consecutive comments, taking advantage of the high and fat autumn horses to launch a full-scale attack on Dangxiang. After the morning court that day, Zhao Zhen summoned the ministers in the court to discuss this matter in Chongzheng Hall.

Du Zhongxiao sat down and saw that in addition to the two prefectures, Hanlin scholars were all present, including Li Shen, the envoy of the salt and iron, Zhou Zhan, the envoy of the Ministry of Revenue, Zhang Yu, the envoy of the Ministry of Revenue, and Fan Zhen of the Censorate. In addition, he was also the important ministers in the court.

After giving tea soup, Zhao Zhen said: "In the middle of the year, the two Taiwei Di Qing and Han Qi were divided into two groups to guard the north and south of the country. They had already been there for a month or two, and now the weather was clear and the weather was clear, which was the time for the use of troops. They submitted memorials many times, asking for the use of troops to use troops. This is a major event, and I dare not make a decision. Today I will summon all the ministers to discuss this matter in detail and express their opinions. What should I do?"

Wen Yanbo held the scepter and said, "Now the court has sufficient money and food, and the gunpowder and guns and bullets prepared for the front-line troops are also ready. We should use troops. Since the Dangxiang rebellion, the northwest has been using troops for years and the people are exhausted. We should eliminate Dangxiang and let the people in the northwest recuperation."

Zhao Zhen nodded: "Now that the army is good and the food is sufficient, so I should not keep this rebel. It's just that the imperial guards have been trained for several years, and there are only more than 400,000 people, all of which are used in the Party. Is there any risk? This matter is serious and you cannot act recklessly. You need to discuss it in detail by the ministers."

On the other side, the Privy Councilor Wang Deyong kept silent. Jia Changchao said: "It has been several years since the railway was built to the Zhenrong Army and it has been running smoothly. It has transported grain there several months ago and has sufficient reserves. Di Qing commanded more than 200,000 troops and worked together to resist the situation. How can Dangxiang resist it!"

Zhang Fangping, a political officer, said: "Gather heavy troops to Zhenrong Army, and there is no need to worry about money and food. Although there is flood in the Central Plains this year, it is not heavy. In addition to the bumper harvest of grain in the two Huaihe Rivers, it can supply hundreds of thousands of troops. However, in addition to food and grass, the army also needs to use guns and bullets when fighting. Although Du Zhongcheng fought in Hequ Road, although he had been fighting for thousands of miles, there were actually not many major battles, and there were not many gunpowder and bullets. This time, Han Qi's troops attacked Dangxiang were similar to those when Du Zhongcheng was on Hequ Road, so there should be no big concern. Di Qing gathered nearly 300,000 troops to Zhenrong Army. If he could not win quickly, it would be considered if gunpowder and bullets were delayed. The flames of this dynasty were collected from the ground, and there were only so many in a year, which was a troublesome."

Wen Yanbo said: "Du Zhongcheng defeated Khitan and Dangxiang in a row, opened up Hequ Road, and went west thousands of miles to restore the Western Regions. He had sufficient gunpowder and ammunition. Di Qing was just a way to attack Dangxiang, so how could it be short?"

Zhang Fangping said: "My husband, although Du Zhongcheng has opened up a lot of land, there are not many major wars. Moreover, they are all field battles, and the artillery is used less, so they actually consume not much material. This time, Di Qing was not in Zhenrong Army. His troops were nearly ten times that of Du Zhongcheng. It would be difficult to face the strong city of Lingzhou."

After the three departments were split, it is actually impossible to completely distinguish them in the short term. Now Zhang Fangping is equivalent to participating in politics and serving as the three departments, and is most clear about the preparation of war materials. Although he participated in politics, he had the right to know and make decisions in the affairs of the three departments, but others were still a little worse. In the fight against the Party and the most important thing now is materials, and the supply of materials can be sufficient and the combat effectiveness can be guaranteed.

This time, Di Qing, a group of troops from Zhenrong Army, mainly Shaanxi Road, and the imperial guards in the capital city, had nearly 300,000 troops. Han Qi led the troops of the Hequ Road, with nearly 200,000 troops. In addition to other groups, the total strength of the total force was about 500,000. This number was ten times that of Du Zhongxiao, and the material support was no longer comparable, so Zhang Fangping was of course worried.

Wen Yanbo said: "How powerful cannons are? How can a Lingzhou stop Di Qing's army? It is estimated that this battle will not take much time to end. It does not take too much to prepare supplies."

Ouyang Xiu, a Hanlin scholar on the side, said: "When doing things, you must first think of the difficulties. It is the court's plan to lead the army to attack Dangxiang, and you should not be taken lightly. The combat materials must be reported to the court to see if they are sufficient or not."

Zhang Fangping said: "According to the report by Taiwei Di, the court has prepared enough and will send it to the front line one after another. However, the numbers I have read are not enough in the future. The numbers they have reported are less than what Hequ Road has used in recent years."

Ouyang Xiu said: "The so-called doubting people is not used, and employed people are not used. Since the numbers reported by Taiwei Di are sufficiently prepared, that is enough. If something goes wrong in the future, it is just to blame Taiwei Di. As the commander, he should calculate these clearly."

Seeing that everyone stopped talking, Zhao Zhen said to Du Zhongxiao: "Zhongcheng was the commander of Hequ for several years and fought the most. What do you think?"

Du Zhongxiao said: "I have never been to the south of Dangxiang. I don't know how many years have I built it. How many times the defense of Lingzhou City is now. If the city is difficult to break and the army is blocking the city under Lingzhou City, that's different. The materials needed for combat should be taught in the military academy. As long as the commander has set a strategy, it should not be miscalculated. Of course, in case of precautions, the court should prepare more to avoid accidents."

Zhao Zhen said: "What Zhongcheng said is. According to the number reported by Di Qing, add half of the preparations to prevent accidents."

Wen Yanbo and Zhang Fangping held the scepter and said that this time, the most important thing in attacking Dangxiang was Di Qing along the way. As long as he did not have any problems, there would be no problem with the big strategy. After breaking through Lingzhou, the gates of the Dangxiang core area were opened and there was no danger to defend.

After discussing logistics supply, Jia Changchao said: "This time the attack on Dangxiang was mainly based on Di Qing's troops and horses attacking Lingzhou, and Han Qi's troops were supplemented. The original intention of the court was to concentrate Zhao Zi and Yang Wenguang's troops and attack Dangxiang Helan Mountain, and the troops were at the city of Xingqingfu. Han Qi suggested that the city of Shanhe Pass was strong, and after leaving the pass, it was nearly a hundred miles of mountain road, which was not conducive to the operation of the army. He suggested that Yang Wenguang's troops were drawn to the Shanhe Pass, while Zhao Zi's troops came out of Xingxing Gorge to attack Shazhou, heading eastward, and attacking several counties in Hexi. There were few troops there, and they met with Di Taiwei to join Liangzhou."

After hearing this, Du Zhongxiao smiled. This was the route he decided after discussing with Han Qi when he left Hequ Road. For the army of hot weapons fighting with guns and cannons, Di Qing's nearly 300,000 troops were enough for a range of one or two hundred miles around Xingling Prefectures, and the north was not very useful. It was better to leave Xingxing Gorge and attack the weak links of Dangxiang. The Song Dynasty occupied Juyan and Yizhou, which was already directly bordering Hexi.

After hearing Jia Changchao's words, he was silent for a while. Wang Zhu, a Hanlin scholar, said: "Shanhe Pass and Lingzhou are one south and one north, facing the Xingling Prefectures in the core of Dangxiang. If one breaks one place in the north and south, you can encircle Xingqing Prefecture. At that time, Dangxiang was the object in the dynasty's hands."

Zeng Gongliang, the political consultant, said: "It cannot be calculated so simply. Now there is a railway, which is no better than before. Di Taiwei's subordinates are nearly 300,000. If it is fully expanded, Xingqing Prefecture can become an isolated city when surrounded Lingzhou. At this time, it is meaningless to attack Shanhe Pass."

Zeng Gongliang compiled "The General Essence of Wu Jing". After using muskets and cannons, he put some effort into the military textbooks and knew more about the current army than others. As long as the 300,000 army was fully expanded, it would be under its control within one or two hundred miles of the surrounding area. Less than 100 miles from Lingzhou to Xingqing Prefecture, if Di Qing surrounded Lingzhou, the surrounding area of ​​Xingqing Prefecture would actually be swept. At this time, Han Qi in the north attacked Shanhe Pass all the way, which would not be of much significance. It would be better to rely on the railway to attack from the west.

Except for Du Zhongxiao and half of Zeng Gongliang, the other ministers here know little about the current army. Even though they obtained the textbooks from the military academy, they still had a little understanding of the Northwest strategy because of a large amount of mathematical content. Most of the Northwest strategy rely on their previous impressions and were intuitive.

If it were before, it would be impossible to send 300,000 troops from Zhenrong Army and could not support it in the rear. But now with the railway, food, grass and materials can be transported directly to the Zhenrong Army. There is a large base, and the railway line is along the rear, which is completely different from before. The 300,000 army will occupy how big the front line will be deployed, and no one can imagine how to fight this battle.

When it comes to front-line deployment, everyone is talking about it, and they are all talking about it, and they are unable to make up their minds for a while.

Zhao Zhen said: "The one who once commanded the battle was Du Zhongcheng. Now the imperial guards were trained by the Hequ Road. Zhongcheng, how do you think this battle against the party should be arranged?"

Du Zhongxiao held the scepter: "When you go back to your Majesty, I think that there is something good about Han Taiwei's proposal. The proposal to attack Shanhe Pass was nothing more than to advance north and south, and attack Xingqing Prefecture between the two routes. As I saw when I was on Hequ Road, Shanhe Pass Dangxiang spent a lot of effort and was extremely strong. It was difficult to attack, let alone after the pass, there were dozens of miles of mountain roads, and Dangxiang could rely on mountain harassment. It would be better to work together in Lingzhou and let the army lead Di to attack Dangxiang's confidant."

The deputy envoy of the Privy Councilor Tian Kuang said: "Is it really no benefit to attack Shanhe Pass? If so, why should Dangxiang spend a lot of effort to manage it?"

Du Zhongxiao said: "Dangxiang does not spend a lot of effort to operate, our dynasty can attack from there. After they operate, the mountains and rivers are dangerous and solid. Since there are other roads to choose from, there is no need to walk from there. The railway leads to Yizhou. If the railway uses Xingxing Gorge as the base and goes straight out of Shazhou, Dangxiang will not have many soldiers in several counties in Hexi, which is exactly empty. There are few people there and too many soldiers and horses that cannot be supported. It is most suitable for 20,000 or 30,000 people."

Everyone knew that Dangxiang had only 20,000 to 30,000 troops in several counties in Hexi, and his troops were indeed not large. However, such long-distance attacks could only be caused by food to the enemy, and he was a little hesitant for a while. According to military law, soldiers could not plunder the people's wealth. Of course, most people did not abide by this rule during actual combat. However, the central court could not arrange strategies according to this idea.

Tian Kuang said: "Hexi is one or two thousand miles away. If Han Qi's army goes deeper, it is afraid it will not be easy to support it."

Du Zhongxiao said: "Of course they do not have the ability to attack the city, but there are no strong cities in several counties in Hexi. This was originally an auxiliary army of Taiwei Di, and even if the march was not smooth, it was nothing. In fact, if the imperial court occupied the Western Regions, Dangxiang's Hexi would be unstable. Once the imperial army arrived, there would inevitably be many surrenders when they heard the news. Attacking there is much better than attacking other places. Dangxiang would inevitably panic when the army arrived at the foot of Helan Mountain."

Hexi is the passage from the Central Plains to the Western Regions. Since the decline of the Tang Dynasty, the rulers have changed several times, and the number of people and households has decreased a lot. The army that can support in that area is 30,000 to 50,000 people, and no matter how many places, it can't bear it. Du Zhongxiao's plan is to occupy Liangzhou as soon as possible and rely on the Zhenrong army to sweep the west of Helan Mountain.

For a while, everyone was silent, and for a while, the ministers could not imagine how to fight such a battle, which was beyond control.

In fact, for Du Zhongxiao, Dangxiang's army was only 200,000 troops, and Di Qing held 300,000 troops and could directly attack Xingling and the two states. Dangxiang dared to send troops to rescue and annihilate them on the spot. This battle was not difficult to fight. The current problem is that the court did not have the experience of Du Zhongxiao leading troops to fight, and this battle seemed to be full of concerns.

After a long discussion, Zhao Zhen chose to believe Du Zhongxiao's words. After all, he had fought a war. He said: "In this battle, I should follow Han Qi's plan on the front line. Du Zhongcheng said the same thing. It would be good. Di Qing led the army to attack Lingzhou, and Han Qi went out of Xingxing Gorge to attack Guazhou, striving to achieve success in the battle. By the next summer, we can destroy the party and Xiang Xiang and solve the problems in the northwest border!"
Chapter completed!