Five days later, Guo Song returned to Taiyuan. He immediately summoned senior civil and military officials from Tiance Mansion, Prime Minister's Mansion, Suzhengtai and other commanders to discuss important matters in the Qinzheng Hall of Jinyang Palace.
More than 20 people gathered together, and they formed the top management of the Jin Dynasty.
Guo Song said to everyone: "Before returning from Yunzhou, I received accurate information that Sijie Khan was dead, a civil war had broken out within Sijie, and a large number of Sijie herdsmen fled south, not only from Yunzhou, but also from Yulin
Many Sijie herdsmen have fled from the county and Fengzhou. I am not worried about the civil strife in Sijie, but I am worried about the Uighurs. Once the Huihe annex Sijie, they will dominate the grassland again and become a serious problem for us. I am considering sending troops to intervene in the civil strife in Sijie.
, what do you think?”
Sending troops to the grassland was of great importance, and Guo Song still wanted to listen to everyone's ideas as much as possible. It would be best if a consensus could be reached.
Zhang Qianyi was the first to ask: "Your Highness, what is the strategic goal of sending troops to the grassland, and what is the purpose to be achieved?"
Guo Song said with a smile; "I still want to maintain the balance of the grassland, and I cannot let one family get bigger. But there are several types of balance. For example, a group of giants are evenly matched, which is called balance. Similarly, a group of dwarfs are evenly matched, which is also called strategic balance.
What I want is the latter, I believe everyone understands what I mean."
Everyone burst into laughter, and then Pan Liao stood up and said: "Something happened in Sijie, and His Highness visited Yunzhou specifically for this purpose. The decision to send troops should be carefully considered. As subordinates, we all fully support His Highness's sending troops, but there are two things we hope for."
Your Highness, please think clearly. First, logistics. Tens of thousands of troops marching north will require a large supply of food and grass materials. How to solve the logistics problem?
Secondly, there are the surrounding forces. We have occupied the Hedong Road and have become the target of public criticism. Once we conquer the grassland north, will other forces take advantage of it? I will mention these two points. I hope His Highness can consider it clearly."
Guo Song nodded: "Pan Changshi said it very well. These two issues are the core issues. How to attack? How to defend? I came back from Yunzhou and was thinking about these two issues along the way. Let me talk about defense first.
At present, we have a total of 200,000 troops, 30,000 in Anxi and Beiting, 50,000 in Hexi and Longyou, 20,000 in Shuofang, 20,000 in Guannai Road, and 80,000 in Hedong Road.
It is indeed difficult for a 20,000-strong army to defend the Hedong Road while also marching north, so I plan to recruit 50,000 troops, replace the Shuofang Army and the Guannei Army, use 70,000 troops to guard the Hedong Road, and then 60,000 troops to march north to the grasslands.
Then let’s talk about logistics. Logistics is actually not a big problem. On the one hand, we have 10,000 camels. If these 10,000 camels do not carry large tents and only carry food and supplies, they can guarantee the rations of the 50,000 troops for a month. Moreover, we
When going to the grassland, first of all, there is no need to consider the rations of the war horses and camels. In addition, I can also support the war by fighting and obtain supplies from the Sijie and Huihe tribes. From my personal experience, in this northern expedition, we occupied
70% chance of victory."
At this time, Cao Wannian suddenly asked: "Is it true that His Highness plans to go out personally for this Northern Expedition?"
Guo Song nodded, "This battle is of great importance. I must lead the army myself!"
After a pause, Guo Song added: "Of course, I will arrange everything before I set off."
.........
In the afternoon, Guo Song paid a special visit to Li Mi. Li Mi had finished taking the imperial examination and was resting at home for a month. When Guo Jincheng and Xue Qing came back from Yunzhou, he would teach them to study again.
In the back garden, Guo Song accompanied Li Bi as he walked slowly. Li Bi said with a smile: "Last time, His Highness proposed that Cheng'er and Aqing go to the Guozi School to stay for a while. I thought about it and let them go there in the morning.
Go to the Guozi School to study, and then I will teach them in the afternoon. What do you think of this plan, Your Highness?"
"I'm just afraid that Mrs. Ge is working hard."
"It's hard to teach two children to read. I hope to train these two children to be successful, especially the prince. He needs more than just literary talent. He also needs to be sensible and sensible so that he can take over His Highness's career in the future.
Become the protection of thousands of people."
Guo Song nodded, "I will leave the child to Mr. Ge."
"I will try my best!"
The two of them walked a few steps, and Guo Song said again: "You must have known about the news that I am about to go on an expedition!"
Li Mi's son Li Chan is currently serving as the Minister of Justice. He also participated in the discussion this morning. Li Mi should know about this.
Li Bi smiled and said: "This is what I expected, but I didn't expect His Highness's Northern Expedition to come so quickly. I thought it would only happen after a few years."
"Today I am looking for Mr. Ge to ask about the balance of power. After I lead the army to the north, how will the power be arranged?"
"How did His Highness arrange his expedition to Anxi?"
"There was no arrangement at all at that time. I entrusted the government affairs to Pan Changshi and the military affairs to Zhang Canjun, and that's how I came over."
"In that case, why doesn't Your Highness follow the same example as before?" Li Bixiao asked.
Guo Song shook his head, "It was very simple at that time. The prefectures and counties under management did not have a large population, so we could arrange it like this. But it is different now. The coverage is too wide. Even Pan Liao advised me to think carefully, so I came to ask Mr. Ge for advice.
.”
Li Mi smiled and said: "Actually, Baihutang is a very good yamen. It controls both government power and military power. There is also the Suzheng Platform, which plays a supervisory role for local governments."
This kind of constraint, His Highness should strengthen the functions of these two ministries. In addition, His Highness can set up a temporary consultation hall and select five or seven military and political executives to participate. When His Highness is not in Taiyuan, those decisions that should be made by His Highness
Major matters can be handed over to the temporary council for discussion and decision, and they will vote."
Guo Song nodded silently, "He also thought of this method. Pan Liao can't afford it by himself, so let's find a few more people to take it on."
Li Mi grinned and said: "Don't forget to arrange for a commander to join the general. If the military joins, the game of chess will be alive."
"It makes sense. I will transfer Liang Wu back. He is the most suitable!"
Guo Song's ideas gradually broadened, allowing Pan Liao, Zhang Fengyi, Cao Wannian, Liu Zi, Zhang Qiu'an, and Liang Wu to participate, but there was still one spot left.
Guo Song glanced at Li Mi, smiled slightly and said, "Mr. Li Ge is one of them, too!"
Li Mi chuckled, "Your Highness trusts me so much, so count me as one."
Since Li Mi tried his best to train Guo Song's heir apparent, he also had some responsibility for Guo Song's country.
.........
In the next few days, Tiance Mansion issued a recruitment order, and all states and counties in Hedong and Guannai Province posted recruitment orders, recruiting 50,000 third-level sergeants, with a monthly salary of two thousand yuan, tax exemption for family members, and five goats for admission.
, one stone of grain, three pieces of fine sheepskin.
As soon as the recruitment order came out, registration was very enthusiastic from all over the country, especially the major families in Hedong and Guan Nei all had Zhuang Ding. Out of support for Guo Song, the major families gave their Zhuang Ding to Guo Song one after another, and the number of Zhuang Ding alone reached 20,000.
The remaining people were almost half of the recruitment quota, and among them, there were more than 3,000 Yang family members.
At this time, a large amount of grain and grass supplies arrived in Taiyuan by water transport. There were more than 4,000 tank ships in the three transport fleets. They only took two trips to transport the grain, pig iron, copper ingots, gold, silver, cloth, and sheepskins from Zhangye Cangcheng.
Weapons, armor, trebuchets, saltpeter, etc., as well as the entire firearms camp were all transported to Taiyuan. Millions of sheep and hundreds of thousands of war horses were also disembarked from Hehe County, Lanzhou, and distributed to various ranches in Hedong Road.
.
Among them, 300,000 shi of grain and a large number of soldiers entered the Zihe River on ships and were transported to Yunzhong County for hoarding.
Time gradually came to June, the weather began to get hotter, the army's defense changes and mobilization ended, 60,000 troops began to assemble in Taiyuan, and the time for the expedition was approaching day by day.
This morning, Guo Yuniang came to Guo Song's office in Tiance Mansion. The intelligence agency she originally established was called Tiance Building. Because it had the same name as Tiance Mansion, it has been renamed Jinwei Mansion. The number of spies has grown to more than a thousand, and they are distributed in
There are hundreds of intelligence points in more than a dozen important states and counties, forming a huge intelligence network.
She waited for a moment at the door of the official room, and a manager came out and saluted: "Mr. Guo, please come in!"
Guo Yuniang walked into the official room and found that Wang Yue, the commander of the internal affairs army, was also there. Guo Yuniang quickly stepped forward to greet her brother.
Guo Song asked her to sit down, asked the manager to serve tea, and asked with a smile: "When did you come to Taiyuan?"
"I just arrived yesterday and heard that my brother is going to war again."
Guo Song nodded, "That's why I brought you two here."
At this time, the manager came in and served tea. Guo Song winked at Du Siye. Du Siye understood and immediately closed the door.
Guo Song then said slowly: "In the past, we were on the border and were not noticed by others. Now that we control Hedong, we have attracted the attention of people all over the world and are a thorn in the eyes of all major forces. This time when I go to the grassland, there will definitely be external forces.
Forces are infiltrating Taiyuan and even instigating civil strife. I hope that the internal affairs army will be on high alert and strictly prevent and investigate. Once external forces are discovered, they will be resolutely eliminated without giving them a chance."
Wang Yue stood up and said: "I humble my duty and obey the order!"
Guo Song then said to Guo Yuniang: "Jinwei Mansion is mainly responsible for external affairs. Internal matters are left to the internal affairs army. Jinwei Mansion should not interfere. However, Jinwei Mansion is also responsible for the safety of Jinyang Palace and senior officials. Yuniang, this paragraph
You can stay in Taiyuan for the time being, handle this matter personally, and strictly guard against assassins. If you don’t have enough strength at hand, you can ask the inner guard for help."
Guo Yuniang nodded, "Brother, please rest assured, if there is any mistake, I will ask Yuniang!"