Zhang Jun said in a more solemn tone: "The official family, Xixia is always evil."

"Oh, how do you say this?"

Zhao Ning knew more or less the situation in Xixia.

The Xixia people made many detailed works in the Song Dynasty, but Zhao Ning also made many detailed works in Xixia.

Sun Fu is a diplomatic envoy on the surface, and he can get some information by the way.

The people who really spied on the information were the people from the Military Intelligence Department.

But having said that, spying on information, especially spying on a country's confidential information, has always been very difficult.

For example, the Xixia and Jin Kingdoms launched detailed measures in Tokyo, but they were unable to obtain documents on the results of the implementation of the New Deal.

The Kingdom of Jin and Xixia could only see the strong backlash and confrontation on the surface of the New Deal, thinking that the New Deal would aggravate the internal conflicts of the Song Dynasty.

But in fact, the people's livelihood in Gyeonggi Province has been unprecedentedly improved this year, and the society has achieved stability that has never been seen since Zhao Ji succeeded to the throne.

The detailed work of the Military Intelligence Department cannot bring back the real core secrets of Xixia and Jin Kingdom, but the key is hidden in many fragmented details.

Zhang Jun continued: "I arranged for a group of businessmen to regularly go to Huizhou in the name of trading to gather information. In recent years, Xixia has experienced an increasing demand for food, especially in the Hengshan area. Many businessmen on Qinfeng Road secretly

Grain was smuggled into the Hengshan area."

Zhao Ning wondered: "What does this mean?"

"The sudden increase in food demand in Hengshan is either because the Xixia people stationed troops on a large scale here, or they increased the mining of iron ore there, which requires more food supplies."

Zhao Ning fell into deep thought.

Xixia is an extremely special country. If you say that it occupies a very good geographical location, it is indeed unfair.

Xixia is located in the northwest, bounded by the Yellow River in the east, Yumen Pass in the west, Suguan in the south, and the desert in the north.

At first glance, it looks very impressive, and he even controls the Hexi Corridor.

But in fact, there are a large number of desert areas in the country, which greatly restricts business and agriculture.

Not only that, the southeast of Xixia was the sworn enemy of the Song Dynasty, and the northeast was the sworn enemy of Daliao. Daliao had launched several wars of annihilation against Xixia.

Now the Northeast has been replaced by the Jin Kingdom, and the Jin Kingdom continues to put pressure on Xixia.

As for the north of Xixia, it is the territory of the Mongol people, and the northwest is the territory of the Uighurs. The Uighurs are also famous for their heavy cavalry.

The Western Xia heavy cavalry Iron Harrier (yao) is said to be adapted from the Uighur heavy cavalry.

In short, Xixia is a country surrounded by powerful enemies on all sides.

If a country like this wants to survive, it must have a strong spirit and know how to kneel down quickly when it is time to kneel down.

The biggest characteristic of Xixia is that when its national power is strong, it will be extremely arrogant to attack you; when its national power is on the decline, it will quickly pretend to be dead and surrender.

The original Hengshan land had been taken over by the Song Dynasty at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, and the Western Xia Dynasty was about to be destroyed.

Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty suddenly sought death and wanted to unite with the Jin Dynasty to defeat the Liao Dynasty, which led to the subsequent war between the Song Dynasty and the Jin Dynasty.

At the beginning of the first year of Jingkang, Xixia took advantage of the gap between Jin State's expedition to Liao Dynasty and Song Dynasty's elite Western Army to march eastward for support. The army went south and recaptured Hengshan, the barrier of the inevitable country.

Xixia was able to breathe.

And because of the changing international situation, in order to fight against the Jin Dynasty, Zhao Ning did not hesitate to put aside his past hatred and make a big deal with Xixia.

It has been more than two years since the Song-Xia alliance was established, and green and white salt even appeared among the people on Gyeonggi Road, which shows that Xixia has made huge profits from this Song-Xia alliance.

As long as the Xixia people become strong, they will definitely raise troops and go south!

Alliance contract?

Except for the shape of the words, there is no difference between that thing and the armistice contract between Song and Jin Dynasties. It is just a tacit understanding between the two parties.

Once the time comes, those contracts will be too tough to wipe your butt.

Zhao Ning pondered for a while and said, "If I want to destroy Xixia, how many troops will I need?"

Zhang Jun was stunned for a moment, he didn't expect Zhao Guanjia to speak so directly.

"It's fashionable now."

"What I'm asking is, how many troops are needed?"

Zhang Jun said: "To destroy Xixia, we must first seize Hengshan. We need 200,000 troops and 300,000 soldiers and civilians for logistics."

The total population of the Xixia Kingdom is about 2.3 million. Although the Xixia people are small, Xixia has always pursued the principle of all people being soldiers, and at its peak, it could quickly mobilize 500,000 new troops.

Moreover, there is Hengshan Mountain in the south of Xixia, which is high in the north and low in the south, making it easy to defend but difficult to attack. To the east is Helan Mountain to defend the Liao and Jin Dynasties, and to the north is the desert.

With such terrain, as long as Xixia concentrated its troops in one place, Song, Jin, and Liao would not be able to capture it.

When Li Yuanhao attacked the Song Dynasty and the Liao Dynasty, he concentrated his troops in one place, and both the Song and Liao Dynasties were defeated.

As for the strategy of capturing Hengshan, it was decided during Fan Zhongyan's time.

Fan Zhongyan said this at the time: I should train troops in Qi and select generals, and gradually return to Hengshan to cut off the thieves' arms. In a few years, it can be expected to be pacified.

Hengshan produces grain, salt, and iron ore, and its terrain is high.

After hearing Zhang Jun report this figure, even Zhao Ning felt heavy-hearted.

Xixia is a tough country. To destroy it, you really need to invest a lot of troops, food and money. What's more, if Song and Xia break up their faces and really want to destroy Xia, the Kingdom of Jin will definitely intervene.

This is the balanced deterrence of the three countries.

The future situation is much more difficult than imagined.

Zhao Ning said: "Do you think it is necessary to destroy Xia?"

Zhang Jun said categorically: "If your Majesty wants to resist the Jin Dynasty, he will destroy Xixia!"

"I made a ten-year plan last year. The goal of the ten-year plan is to destroy Xixia. There are still nine years left. Can it be destroyed?"

Zhang Jun fell silent.

Zhao Ning said: "I will give you enough logistical support, troops, money, and food. I will give you as much as you want. Can you destroy it in nine years?"

Zhang Jun stood up and immediately knelt down and said, "I am willing to devote myself to death and die!"

Zhao Ning helped him up. Zhang Jun alone would definitely not be able to complete the task of exterminating Xia. A large amount of backup support would be needed.

In the long run, if we want to provide a large amount of logistical support, we must resolve the shortcomings of internal affairs.

In the short term, if we want to destroy Xia, we need to truly build a strong army.

The Western Army is not weak in combat, but there are many factions, each working in their own way, and the internal consumption is huge.

If you want to destroy Xixia within nine years, you must also solve the military and political problems.

"Xi Gong has been detained in the prison. Over the past year or so, I have received memorials from many civilian officials and military generals of the Western Army. They all want to protect Xi Gong. What do you think of this matter?"

Zhang Jun said bluntly: "If the war between Song Dynasty and Jin Dynasty had not stopped, Xi Gong could not kill him, but now that the war between Song Dynasty and Jin Dynasty has officially ceased, His Majesty has full authority to deal with it."

"If I not only want to kill Xigong, but also Liu Guangshi, will everyone in Shaanxi be in chaos?"

"This is a brief period of peace between the three parties."

"I understand what you mean."

Xi Gong and Liu Guangshi both made big mistakes in the Third Song-Jin War.

However, due to the special characteristics of the Western Army, killing these two men during the urgent period of the war will definitely have an impact on the border army, especially the Western Army.
Chapter completed!