It's not that the cabinet ministers think this is the best time to send troops, but the border troops and the generals trained by Zhao Xi are always ready.
Therefore, after the imperial edict was issued, the expedition team was assembled in a short time.
As for the superior strength of troops in a certain area...this is the current situation. Compared with cavalry, there is still a big gap in the mobility of chariots. Only with superior troop strength, chariots and infantry can defeat Northern Liao's troops.
Only with cavalry can victory be possible.
“How about the northwest?”
"The Northwest Territory... has always implemented the strategy of cannibalization. There is currently a civil war in Northern Liao and the Northwest Recruitment Division has insufficient troops and horses. However, the imperial cavalry is limited. In the northwest, the strategy of cannibalization should be continued."
"It is right to encroach on the northwest. Once you capture a city, you will stabilize it. The northwest consumes too much arms transportation, and the lack of armament materials must be considered. The country and the dynasty have insufficient cavalry, and their mobility is not as good as that of the Northern Liao Dynasty. The chariots carry limited armaments.
, Steady progress in doing good!”
"Actually, as far as the northwest is concerned, as long as the cities that are captured are advanced steadily, even after the civil strife in Bei Liao is finally calmed down, they will only be maintained in the end..."
The northwest was sparsely populated. During the existence of Xixia, the purpose of Bei Liao's setting up the Northwest Recruitment Division was to defend Xi Xia. As for the Song Dynasty, Bei Liao also knew that compared to the northwest, Yanyun was the core of the dispute between the two parties.
The cabinet also knew that sending troops at this time was not a full-front battle. To put it bluntly, it was just to take advantage of the situation and capture one city after another. There was no need to make any adjustments to the northwest edict.
"If the northwest lands are gradually encroached and a smooth route is finally established on the grassland, when the decisive battle with the Northern Liao comes, the Western Army's eastward march will not be effective in encirclement and suppression, but it will save the trouble of turning to the Central Plains and heading north."
"If this is the case, on the East China Sea, the navy of the imperial dynasty and the troops of the four princes have basically been cleared. At that time, part of the troops will be transferred to land from the sea and automatically go west. And the northwest passage will go eastward, and the main force will go northward from Hebei Road.
It can also form a grand strategy of encirclement and suppression!"
Under the influence of the official family, whether it was the Battle of Hedong or the annihilation of Xixia, the encirclement and suppression were completed strategically.
The territory of Bei Liao is thousands of miles from east to west, mainly composed of plains. If you want to carry out a large-scale encirclement and suppression like the Xixia annihilation, everyone knows that it is impossible. But if there is an all-out war from east to west, south and west, the effect on the morale of Bei Liao's army will be even greater than the combat power itself.
More useful.
“It’s a bit difficult!”
What Zhang Dun said is not what all ministers hope for? But everyone knows that this is difficult.
"Dahuang Shiwei, Di La, Wang Ji La, Cha Chi La, Ye Xi, Bi Gu, Ni La, Dalai Guai, Damili, Milji, Hezhu, Wuguli, Zubu, Pusuwan
, in the ancient Tang Dynasty, Hu Mu Si, Xi, Jiu Erbi and other eighteen grassland tribes regarded the Northern Liao as the orthodoxy."
"This is the result of the unification of the Northern Liao Dynasty for more than a hundred years. A hundred years, almost three generations. In addition, due to our own living habits, even if the Western Army of the Chinese Dynasty defeated them, it would not be possible to stabilize their rule in the short term.
Smoothly."
"This is not Hexi. Hexi is originally a place of mixed people. The Dangxiang people are too oppressed. The Han people, the Tubo people and even the Khitans do not agree with the Dangxiang people. But the eighteen tribes in the northwest agree with the Khitans."
"Furthermore, the dynasty has now recovered the Western Regions. The Xizhou Uighurs and Huangtou Uighurs have not yet been fully recovered. The entire Northwest Road is still incomparable with the territory of the previous dynasty in the Western Regions."
"Such as Yizhou, Beiting, Gaochang, Zhenzhou, etc., the administrative offices of the previous dynasty that governed the northwest have not yet been recovered. Even if the imperial dynasty can open up the passage from west to east, there are still those who serve the Northern Liao Dynasty further west.
The tribe will probably be attacked from both sides by then."
Wang Shao got all his credit from the northwest. He even said that he was able to join the cabinet because of the northwest. After joining the cabinet, he was also in charge of the northwest and southwest... Of course, it was not just the army, but also the northwest.
When Xinan returned to the country for the first time, there were still a lot of things to do.
It was also in dealing with many ethnic affairs in the northwest and southwest that Wang Shao accumulated considerable experience and gained a better understanding of the northwest, especially in the governance of non-ethnic groups.
Whether it is the Hexi Corridor or the Southwest, the degree of Chineseization is relatively high, and it has been completely recovered by the imperial dynasty. There has never been a break in disputes. It is difficult to send troops from the west to march into the Northern Liao Dynasty...
"What Zichun said is true. Even though the territory of the previous dynasty was thousands of miles away, it never completely surrendered to the nomadic people in the northern desert. On the contrary, it consumed a lot of energy, money and food from the previous dynasty."
"In the early period of the previous dynasty, the Western Regions were reorganized to a certain extent. However, Gao Xianzhi went to Talas to fight against Dashi, and Ge Luolu's rebellion led to the failure of the previous dynasty's Western expedition."
Wang Anshi is talking about the Battle of Talos in the Tang Dynasty.
In fact, this battle should be classified as an evenly matched encounter. The military defeat did not affect the foundation of the empire. The failure of Talos could only be regarded as a minor setback for the Tang Dynasty at that time.
Although Wang Anshi did not state that the so-called people who are not my own race must have different intentions, he still has some meaning in this regard.
Wang Anshi should have understood that culture, or different levels of civilization, is the root cause, but he cannot express it accurately for the time being.
"What will be the final territory of the dynasty? Will it be the same as the previous dynasty?"
This question seems to have been thought a little too early. Yan Yun has not recovered yet, but is talking about the final territory... The ministers of the Song Dynasty are actually not very ambitious. The so-called universal land is not the royal territory, because
From the cramped times when the dynasty was established, it did not cultivate much ambition.
This is because the military strength has improved over the years, and it is just his obsession with Yan Yun.
"Don't teach Huma how to cross the Yin Mountains!"
That's all.
"In the early years, officials once drew a general territorial map in the guard camp..."
Lu Gongzhu walked towards the sand table as he spoke... At this time, the sand table in Qinzheng Hall had already included the territory of Northern Liao.
"At that time, we also thought it was a delusion. Now it seems that what the officials envisioned is not completely impossible to realize. Whether it is kingly or domineering, with the soft means of wool and cotton, the hard means of chariots and firearms are added.
As long as combat power can be used rationally, I think it is really possible to realize the lies that the officials once said."
Lu Gongzhu's finger traced on the sand table, and the cabinet followed his finger and looked over... This includes the so-called Eighteen Northwest tribes, Uighurs, Uighurs, even Jurchens, Annan, and even Tubo.
, a large territory map that is nearly ten thousand miles away from east to west, north to south.
It is impossible for the cabinet to know that this is Zhao Xi's habit, and it is not an assumption. However, it is Zhao Xi's casual habit that makes the current cabinet members really excited.
The current cabinet is not pedantic. On the contrary, they all have the ambition to make great achievements and be famous throughout the ages. They are just considering the officialdom...