In the Privy Council, several Privy Councillors sat together to discuss the war on the front line.

Jia Changchao said: "Di Qing defeated Lingzhou himself, and the war later went very smoothly. He broke Yanzhou a few days ago and was attacking Youzhou and Hongzhou all the way east. Although the Dangxiang people had resistance, they were not fierce. I think the Dangxiang war could end in one or two months."

Du Zhongxiao said: "Although the progress is smooth, it is heard that the front-line army is not strict in military discipline, and there are many killings. The overall situation of the Party has been decided, and the rest are only the remaining troops. We should inform Di Qing and restrain our subordinates."

Jia Changchao said: "When the 200,000 army is fighting, how can we strictly observe military discipline! As long as the battle goes smoothly, the rest have to follow the generals."

Du Zhongxiao shook his head and was about to say something again, Tian Kuang on the side said: "Hequ Luyan, the minister of Yelu Chongyuan, Xiao Ge, sent his son to Shengzhou to take the letter to Shengzhou, intending to surrender to the court. In this way, the situation of the two Khitan emperors fighting is about to end, and the sooner Di Qing ends the war, the better."

Jia Changchao nodded: "After destroying Dangxiang, Hequlu has no worries anymore and can concentrate troops against the Khitan. Han Qi's troops have 200,000 troops, plus Di Qing's troops have 200,000 troops, so he can fight against the Khitan!"

Seeing Jia Changchao's fighting spirit, Du Zhongxiao hurriedly said, "Taiwei, the army cannot be calculated so simply. The court has accumulated for several years, and the war has been consumed last year and is unable to fight. For the Khitan, it is better to use various means to get one state and two states. It is best to avoid the dangerous places, and when there is enough savings in the future, it is better to send troops. Now, after the war, Yelu Hongji's new victory, it is the time to be the most morale, and I am afraid it will be unfavorable to the court."

Jia Changchao said: "Deputy Envoy Du, the accumulation was insufficient because the court complied with the people's sentiment and did not increase taxes. Now is a great opportunity. As long as you increase some taxes, it will not be difficult to support the battle of 300,000 to 400,000 people. Any price that can be taken away by Yunzhou is worth it!"

Du Zhongxiao was about to say something else, shook his head slightly, closed his mouth and stopped talking. What he really worried about was whether Di Qing's 200,000 people could enter the battlefield in time. If there was really a huge opportunity, it would be impossible to increase taxes and plunder materials from the people. But in the current situation, Di Qing's 200,000 people showed a combat power that made people feel uneasy.

During the several battles between the Song Dynasty and the Khitan, it was not that the combat power was not as good as that of the Khitan, but that the two armies were in a stalemate and often had poor command. A mistake in the middle led to a reversal of the battle situation and eventually a great defeat. The further we reached the back, the more the command of the large army was, the more it was unsatisfactory, and it became a stubborn disease.

Di Qing's own command can also be seen that he always held the army in his hands and did not dare to divide the troops. If he divided the troops, something happened. The officials in the court were used to the Song army in the past, but Du Zhongxiao was worried. Because the army was uncontrollable, the Song Dynasty suffered a lot and could not repeat the same mistakes. However, in the current situation, Du Zhongxiao could not rebel against Jia Changchao, so he had to shut up.

The restoration of Yanyun was a national policy established by the Song Dynasty when the founding of the country. When the Zhenzong Dynasty was in trouble, it had no choice but to make an appointment with the Khitan as a brother country. Now the Song Dynasty had an advantage in military strength, and there were many officials who had developed this ambition, and even Zhao Zhen himself was eager to try it out.

Jia Changchao said: "Xiao Ge intends to surrender to the court, so he can order Han Qi to contact him more. If he can offer it to Datong Prefecture, the court can give him a heavy reward, and it is no problem for the Duke and Mausoleum. It will be unexpected benefits to lure him to value profit."

Seeing Jia Chang's passionate look, Tian Kuang said: "Taiwei, Xinxia Dangxiang, it would be better to be cautious about the Khitan. Without Yelu Chongyuan's cooperation, it would be very difficult to get to Datong Prefecture with Xiao Ge alone. Yelu Hongji's army has arrived in Tiancheng County, not far from Datong Prefecture. Even if Xiao Ge wants to surrender to the court, we are not as convenient as Hong Ji. Deputy Envoy Du decided to seize Shuozhou, and Xu Tu will make progress in the future. Of course, it would be even better if he could win one or two more cities, such as Yingzhou and Weizhou."

Jia Changchao said: "The two Khitan emperors fought against each other, and Yunzhou was right in front of him. If you don't take advantage of the situation, how can you be willing to do so!"

Du Zhongxiao said: "Taiwei, this dynasty fights against the Western Regions. Dangxiang, everything goes well. Without a major war, we cannot think of the Khitan like this. Compared with the Khitan, Dangxiang is a small force and not strong military strength. But the Khitan is different. It is a big country with a million armies. Once the war starts, it cannot be ended in a short time. When the war starts with the Khitan, the court must prepare early and have accumulated savings in the army to deal with it calmly. Otherwise, a mistake will easily shake the foundation of the country. The Hebei road is flat and cannot be taken lightly."

Seeing that Tian Kuan and Du Zhongxiao were both opposed to him, Jia Changchao couldn't help but turn to look at Cheng Kan.

Cheng Kan said: "After the Dangxiang War, all the savings in Guanzhong and West Jing Road in recent years were spent, and it was difficult to raise them for a while. Moreover, the Dangxiang's tens of thousands of prisoners could not be ignored, and it would be safe for a few years. According to Deputy Envoy Du, it would be better to take Shuozhou first and open the road to Datong Prefecture."

Seeing that Cheng Kan didn't support him, Jia Changchao had to sigh and stop saying anything.

A few days ago, Du Zhongxiao, Zeng Gongliang and Zhang Fang were asked to pacify his strategy against the Khitan. Du Zhongxiao proposed to first Shuozhou and then negotiate peace with the Khitan, which was recognized by the court. However, Xiao Ge wrote a letter to Han Qi, saying that Jia Changchao believed that there was hope and proposed to attack Datong Prefecture. Du Zhongxiao was the deputy envoy and had just entered the Privy Council. There was no way, so everyone could only discuss it.

The Khitan was incomparable to Dangxiang. It had a vast territory and was often hundreds of miles deep in combat. The Song army's advantages were not obvious. Moreover, it was difficult to cross the Yanmen Pass Road, so it was not easy to build a railway to Datong Prefecture. To the north of Youzhou, it was difficult to reach the railway, and the cost of combat was not comparable before. What Du Zhongxiao thought was to open the gap in Shuozhou and not stimulate the Khitan. When he saved a few more years, he would re-train the imperial guards and fight to the death with the Khitan.

Jia Changchao started his career with the lectures of the classics and lecturers, and he had a lot of thoughts, but the officials were not his strengths. The civil servants were still ordinary in politics, and he was even more disgusted with the army he was not familiar with. He just saw that he had won consecutive victories in the past two years and wanted to make more contributions in his post. He couldn't tell whether he could really do it. Du Zhongxiao, a partner of the Privy Councilor, felt very tired.

After discussing the matter, Du Zhongxiao returned to his official hall, looked at the official documents sent by Di Qing on the front line, and thought carefully.

After the capture of Lingzhou, Di Qing's troops made smooth progress, and there was no Dangxiang army defending the city. Yanzhou went down easily, and the army unfolded and headed towards the hinterland of Hengshan. However, due to the lengthening of the logistics distance and entering the densely populated areas of Hengshan, the army part implemented the policy of food over the enemy, and recruited a large amount of food from the occupied areas, causing many conflicts.

Du Zhongxiao did not object to the enemy because of food, but the army should be carried out uniformly, with strict policies, and do not over-oppress the people in the occupied areas. Otherwise, after the war, various problems would be accumulated together and it would be difficult to solve. It was originally the place where the Dangxiang people started, and they could not convince the people, and their future rule would inevitably be unstable. What Di Qing's army has done has aroused many Dangxiang people to resist.

Sighing, Du Zhongxiao put down the official documents and carefully sought countermeasures. In the Hengshan area, there was a more famous name in the later years, the northern Shaanxi base area. The transportation conditions there were complex, the population was relatively scattered, and it was difficult to manage in peacetime, not to mention now. It is not possible to occupy it alone by killing people, and it is necessary to appease the people. It is really difficult for the imperial guards of Di Qing's troops to complete this task.
Chapter completed!