Hanjing.

Privy Council.

Privy Councilor Li Ji held a combat meeting with Liu Hongji, Yin Kaishan, Duan Zhixuan, Zhang Gongjin, Li Daliang and other generals.

The emperor has decided on the major battle direction of this southern expedition. It is to advance water and land together, with land as the main one and sea as the auxiliary one. Li Ji was the commander of the southern expedition, and then led 100,000 infantry and cavalry to cross the five ridges to conquer the rebels in Lingnan.

"Hunan Gui Road, Xiaohe Road, or Ganzhou Road?" Liu Hongji asked.

Sitting there, Li Ji said he was under great pressure.

Who can win the showdown between the God of War and the God of War?

Li Ji was not sure. If the emperor gave him more time, he believed that with the strength of the court, he could win completely, but it would take some time.

But now the emperor is urging him to attack Guangzhou before the heat of summer to avoid the high temperature in Lingnan and it is difficult for soldiers to adapt. But now it is the end of March, and Lingnan is already hot.

Although the summer heat has not yet entered, it will be the plum rain season, so it is as difficult to enter.

What made him most headache was that the emperor asked him to attack all the way.

Concentrate troops and attack again. The emperor's intention is to fight quickly, especially in the mess now, where the emperor hopes to cut the mess quickly.

If the troops were divided into multiple attacks and the momentum was high, Li Ji was sure to force Li Chao to fight at the same time on the long front, and it was difficult to support each other and could not support each other. In the court with absolute superior forces, this was the most stable tactic.

However, this method requires large-scale mobilization of the army, which takes a long time and is very expensive.

In particular, it is easy to miss the best offensive time, which gives Li Chao enough time to strengthen his control over Lingnan and further gain a foothold.

The emperor's method was to gather elite troops and attack with heavy punches, only 100,000 troops. This saved both time and military expenses, but also had its disadvantages.

It is easy to be waited for by the enemy, and the official army is at risk of running around.

"Li Chao has indeed made great contributions to commanding troops to fight. However, there are famous generals in Lingnan but no strong soldiers. If I attack with 100,000 elite troops, it would be like a tiger entering a flock of sheep. I thought that the Privy Councilor was too worried." Li Daliang said.

Li Ji just asked indifferently, "Does Li Chao really have no strong soldiers? Don't forget why this chaos started? Isn't it because Li Chao has a secret elite army in Nanyang, which is as high as 50,000? Besides, don't think that there are only 50,000 people in Lingnan."

He will make a careful calculation for everyone.

Li Chao had a private army on Liuqiu Island, which was said to have 3,000 elite territory guards, and Li Chao also had a Shanyi mercenary there, which was said to be less than 20,000. In addition, Liuqiu's population has increased significantly in recent years, and there are many immigrants, workshops, mines, and these are all militia teams.

"Just one Liuqiu, who has 50,000 people, there is no problem. Liuqiu owns a shipyard and many merchant fleets. When needed, they can be quickly recruited and converted into troop transport ships or even warships."

"There are also Li Chao's Zhao Guoling. There are not many soldiers there, and the total number of private soldiers and government soldiers is only about 5,000. But these soldiers have absolutely no weak combat power."

"In addition, the soldiers who were originally stationed in Lingnan are now on their side."

"There are also those Han tyrants and chiefs of Liyao, who also have strong strength. What if those chambers of commerce are added?"

In the past, Lingnan was indeed remote and weak in the eyes of people in the Central Plains, but now Lingnan has to be rich and has people, and Li Chao still has a complete set of military industry there.

Therefore, Li Ji did not despise Li Chao at all.

Many people who once despised Li Chao lost miserably.

"I believe that Li Chao must have known our plan, and he can even guess the route we are going to advance."

Zhang Gongjin, Minister of War, reminded him.

"He is now named Zhang Chao, and he has been deprived of his surname."

"Whether Li Chao or Zhang Chao are, I would like to remind everyone that this person must not underestimate the enemy."

How could such a person be able to control Lingnan and Fujian in just a short time? Now it is the prosperous era of Zhenguan. If it weren't for Li Chao, who would dare to rebel, and who would support it if it rebelled.

But Zhang Chao did it.

He rebelled in his prosperous era and quickly controlled Fujian and Funan.

A terrible opponent.

Return to the sand table again and look at the Wuling Mountains.

He shook his head.

"Xianggui Road is the best offensive route. Yuechengling has the lowest and flattest terrain, and is easiest to pass through by a large army. Moreover, the Xiangjiang River is dredged and transported easily. But Li Chao must have prevented it, and there must be heavy troops waiting for us in Guizhou."

Knowing that there is a tiger in the mountain, it is not Li Ji's style, or in other words, if the opponent is not Li Chao, he might have gotten on it. But knowing that the opponent is Li Chao and he still bumps into it, that would be too stupid.

"Xiaohe Road and Ganzhen Road." Li Ji hesitated on these two routes.

"The Ganzhou Road has to pass through Dayuanling. The road here is the most difficult to pass. The army is difficult to pass, but it is easy to defend and attack. It is not suitable for a large army of 100,000, so Xiaohe Road is better."

In the end, Li Ji chose Xiao Hedao.

The main attack direction was also placed in Hezhou.

However, if it is empty, it is real, and if it is real, it is empty. The necessary cover is still needed. He planned to place a military force on Hunan Gui Road and Ganzhou Road. The number was small, so he bluffed his flag and pretended to attack to attract some Zhang Chao's troops.

After half a day of discussion, the plan was determined.

Li Ji took the plan to enter the palace to meet the saint.

After reading it, Li Shimin agreed.

"From Xiaohe Road to Lingnan, mainly attack Hezhou, and then go to Guangzhou, it's very good."

Li Ji hesitated, "I asked Your Majesty to transfer some elite soldiers and generals. I guess Zhang Chao's troops will have sufficient troops and strong combat power."

"Who do you want to join us in the south?" Li Shimin put down his memorial.

"I want to invite Qin Qiong, Yuchi Gong, Cheng Yaojinniu Jinda Shan Xiongxin Luo Shixin and other generals to accompany him."

Li Shimin stared at Li Ji.

"Yuchi Gong can be your deputy commander, I can also transfer Li Daliang, and Zhang Liang will go to war with you."

As for Qin Qiong and others, Li Shimin was not relieved. In fact, even if he was relieved, it would be useless because he issued several edicts to these generals in succession to ask them to enter the capital.

But until now, Qin Qiong, Cheng Yaojin, Luo Shixin, Niu Jinda, Shan Xiongxin, Su Dingfang and others have not received the imperial edict to enter the capital. Six gates have reported secretly that Cheng Yaojin gathered the troops and militia in the territory and practiced every day, saying that he was preparing to encircle and suppress the Qiang people.

But Qin Qiong had no response.

Luo Shixin, Niu Jinda, Shan Xiongxin and others were also training troops and refused to enter the capital.

What made him angry the most was Su Dingfang.

This student of Li Chao, Prince Jiang, one of the Eight Kings of the Tang Dynasty, has openly raised the anti-flag flag in the south of the Mo to respond to Li Chao.

The situation is not optimistic.

Only half of the nobles of the Eight Leaders of the Tang Dynasty's border areas were leaving their territory to come to the capital after receiving the imperial edict. Half of them were looking for various reasons to shirk their way and did not set off.

Even more, rioters like Su Dingfang directly raised an army.

There are also people like Cheng Yaojin who are training troops.

Sima Zhao's heart is well known to everyone.

He never expected that these people would choose Zhang Chao instead of standing on his side.

Why?

Because of the attitude of the nobles, Li Shimin increasingly demanded a quick battle.

When Li Chao is destroyed, we will settle the score with Cheng Yaojin and others.

As for Su Dingfang, he would not tolerate it for a moment. He was already ready to draw troops from Shuofang and Hexi to encircle Su Lie.

"How long as possible can we send troops?" Li Shimin asked.

"It takes about one month to prepare."

"I only give you seven days. After seven days, I will send troops immediately. All kinds of troops will rush directly to Hunan from the military governments in various places, where you gather."

"Mr. Mao. Time is tight. I don't have so much time for you. If you drag it on, it will be hot. It's even harder to fight in Lingnan. I can't wait until autumn or winter. I can't wait for that long!"

Li Ji sighed in his heart.

"I obey the order."

Li Ji withdrew.

Wang Chengen came in.

"What's the matter?"

"Your Majesty, Xiangyang, Nanyang, Luoyang, Chang'an, Jingzhou and other major cities have all experienced bank runs and rushing purchases. The situation is very chaotic, and governments in various places are stepping up their suppression, but some people spread rumors behind them, which fueled the fire. Now the water is very muddy."

Li Shimin's eyelids twitched.

Whatever I am afraid of is coming, the bank run and the rush to buy are in the end, but I still can't control it in the capital.

It has spread out quickly.

"Why did the bank runs happen in those places? Didn't it be that the orders were issued early to make the various places ready?"

"Your Majesty, Li Ji's money shop branches in various places are like Hanjing, and most of the vaults are empty. There were many gold, silver and copper coins on the books, but now there are not many. They can still be maintained at ordinary times, but now when there are people's merchants running, they will be fully redeemed immediately."

The banknotes cannot be exchanged, which has become a fatal crisis.

Originally, it was just a problem with Li Ji, but now the banks of the court and other merchants' money shops have been run.

In fact, even if there are gold, silver and reserves in the vaults of branches in various places of the court, in fact, whose banknotes are not over-issued? Moreover, a large number of runs cannot be dealt with. Even if the court is indeed rich, the court cannot adjust them. Branches one by one were run away, and then panicked merchants and people went to the next door.
To be continued...