"Yes" Xu Ping held the document in his hand and looked up at Zhao Xun. "The soldiers and horses from the Khitan were heading towards Youzhou and will be arranged in front of the mountain at the end of September. Where are the mountain behind it?"

Zhao Xun crossed his hands: "My husband, the Khitan thought that the war was in front of the mountain this winter, and there were no gathering troops behind the mountain. My husband repeatedly said that he would use troops to Taihang Mountain this winter to seize Feihu, Lingqiu, and Yizhou, and told Su Xue Shi clearly."

"This is not in accordance with the rules!" Xu Pingyang Yang's document, "We can't attack Yunzhou, but the Khitan must gather troops to defend. If he doesn't order gather troops, does he look down on the nearly 300,000 soldiers surrounding Yun, Shuo and other states? It's outrageous!"

Zhao Xun was stunned and didn't know how to respond. So there is still such a rule? Whether to fight or not is up to me, but you have to use heavy troops to defend, otherwise you will look down on us. What if you look down on us?

After a moment of silence, Zhao Xun said, "My husband means that the Khitan should guard against autumn every year in the future?"

"Yes, of course. In the past, the enemy attacked and defended us. This dynasty spent countless manpower and material resources to deal with the prevention of autumn every year. Finally, it turned into an attack. Why should the Khitan not guard against autumn? Do you really think that this dynasty dare not fight? There is no such truth in the world! If the Khitan does not collect troops behind the mountain, then fight! First, then attack Taihang Mountain, and finally attack in front of the mountain, and fight thousands of miles!"

Zhao Xun was startled, turned around and looked at the map, and then said, "My husband means calling east from Fengsheng Road?"

"Not bad! If the Khitan does not order troops and horses, it will break the rules. Then we have to think clearly about how to deal with it!"

After saying that, Xu Ping stood up and stood in front of the large map hanging on the wall, looked for a while, and said to Zhao Xun: "You go and inform the Grand Marshal of Huiming and others, and come to the palace to report together. Fengsheng Road should move and let the Khitan gather the troops. Otherwise, the strategy for this winter will be greatly changed. Just a Puyin Xing in the Taihang Mountains is not enough, so you have to build a few more prefecture cities."

The overall situation with the Khitan is now confrontation, and the confrontation requires both sides to maintain sufficient military strength on the front line and balance the military strength. What is going on if one side does not deploy defense? It is fine if it is not suitable for military use in summer and autumn, but it is not enough to order troops in winter. The Khitan is destroying the overall situation of confrontation between the north and the south, which is great! This cannot be allowed no matter what.

When he arrived at Jingfang Hall, Xu Ping performed rituals with a group of ministers and held the scepter and said, "Your Majesty, you all have a letter from the Khitan. He has already collected troops and horses to several states in front of the mountain. There is no abnormal movement behind the mountain, and he does not collect troops and horses."

Zhao Zhen said: "Didn't the Prime Minister inform the Khitan envoy Liu Liufu that he used troops in front of the mountain this winter, and wouldn't the war start behind the mountain?"

"Yes, but then you have to order the Khitan to order troops and guard the important land. This dynasty has more than 200,000 troops, and several states behind the Khitan Mountains, and it costs a lot of money and food every year. How can the Khitan ignore it? Less than 100,000 troops to defend the place? How can this reason be made in the world? In the past, this dynasty has always been guarding autumn every year, and they have all arranged 500,000 and 600,000 imperial guards along the border to strictly prepare the Khitan. Now the offense and defense are easy, and it is Khitan's turn to prevent autumn. How can they not order the troops and horses and deploy heavy troops!"

Xu Ping spoke righteously, and Zhao Zhen and several ministers were stunned, but they did not expect that there was such a truth in the world.

Before the two sides formally made a contract, there was a strategic confrontation. Once the military power on the front line was unbalanced, war would occur at any time. This was what Xu Ping repeatedly emphasized, but the Khitans had not yet formed this consciousness, and neither did the officials of the Song Dynasty. A few days ago, Xu Ping kept saying that he would fight in front of the mountains this winter and not move behind the mountains to avoid misunderstandings from the Khitans. Unexpectedly, it has completely changed now.

Of course, it changed. How could Xu Ping think that the Khitan did not order troops behind the mountain? It was obvious that there had just been a war there last year.

After pondering for a while, Zhao Zhen asked, "What should we do according to the Prime Minister's opinion?"

Xu Ping asked Wang Kai and Zhao Xun to hang up the map and pointed to it, "This dynasty has no preparation for a big fight. This winter's war can only be fought in small battles, and should not be too deep. Therefore, it should be limited to a hundred miles from the border before, and it cannot be far beyond 200 miles. Otherwise, the stored food and grass will not be enough to support it, and the war process will be difficult to control. Based on this principle, there are several places that can be started along the border from east to west. One is to attack Xincheng from Xiongzhou and Fanyang along the post road; the other is to attack Yizhou from the Beiping army; the third is to cooperate from Daizhou.

The Beiping army attacked Yizhou and took Lingqiu and Feihu; the fourth was to go out of Yanmen to take Shuozhou; the fifth was to attack Dezhou by Zhenwu army; the sixth was to attack Fengzhou from Yunneizhou. Fengzhou had already been fought last year, and it was left to the Khitan to exhaust the army behind the Khitan Mountains, so there was no need to consider it. Hedong soldiers and horses wanted to take Lingqiu and Feihu, so Shuozhou did not fight. Now the Khitan dared not to point the troops behind the mountain. Fengsheng Road had to move the troops behind the Khitan Mountains. There was only one place more suitable, that is, the Zizhenwu army attacked Dezhou."

The capture of Dezhou, even further, the capture of Baishuili, and cut off the Khitan route from Ninety-Nine Springs to the northern grassland, which was enough to hurt them. Last year, it was clear that the Khitan attacked, and Xu Ping led the Song army to defend, but did not let Cao Keming exert efforts in this direction. This year, the Khitan dared not to point the troops behind the mountain, so he had to go this way.

In comparison, Fengzhou is now useless to both the Khitan and the Song Dynasty and is useless to take it. The armies placed on Fengsheng Road threatened Datong Prefecture, Xijing from Zhenwu County, and were not confronted with the Khitan soldiers in Fengzhou. The reason why they did not concentrate in Zhenwu County was just to attract the Khitan to send troops to Fengzhou.

This is the benefit of having many soldiers and wide generals. If the Song Dynasty chooses a direction of attack, it can concentrate a hundred thousand troops. With thousands of miles of borders, the Khitan defense line seemed to be loopholes everywhere in the Song Dynasty. If you choose any place, you can fight a war. After completing the military reform, the imperial guards completely became field corps. As long as the command organization is sent to the front line, the battle can be fought at any time. No longer as before, to fight, you have to spend a lot of time and energy to concentrate your troops and prepare food and grass. Even because the imperial guards set up defenses everywhere in each garrison, they only have huge forces, but they cannot concentrate their strength.

He stood up and looked at the map. Zhao Zhenminghao: "If you go from Zhenwu to attack Dezhou, will there be enough food and supplies?"

Ming Hao held the wat: "Since last year, we have been transporting food and grass to Yunneizhou. Now the storage there can support 150,000 people a year. It would be enough to only use the troops from Fengsheng Road to attack Dezhou or even Baishuilu."

Ding Du looked at the map and said, "It is very feasible to send troops from Zhenwu. Fengzhou's defense can be temporarily handed over to the Fengsheng Road Inspection Office, and ordered the Qingshi army to go east to Zhenwu, and then move two armies from Yunneizhou area, and there will be tens of thousands of soldiers and horses. The Khitans have less than 100,000 soldiers and horses in several states behind the mountain. If they do not order a market this year, the Khitans dare not leave Yunzhou lightly. These tens of thousands of soldiers and horses will be like entering a no-man. Capture Dezhou and then plunder the Khitan's states behind the mountain, and they will not be able to recover within a few years."

The Khitan's permanent army had less than 200,000 in front of the mountain and less than 100,000 behind the mountain, and more than 100,000 troops directly under the royal court. These 400,000 people were already the limit that the Khitan could support. Among them, the more than 100,000 people were also nomadic, and they were considered semi-finalized troops. With the sixteen states in front of the mountain and behind the mountain, they supported more than 200,000 people, and the people had no spare energy.

The Khitan fought against Song by gathering from the nomadic tribes in autumn and winter. After the troops gathered at the border, the farming areas of Yan land provided food and grass for one or two months, and then quickly entered the Song land to plunder. This is a chain. Once the food and grass cannot be plundered from the Song land, the Yan land cannot support the army, and the Khitan's combat system collapsed.
Chapter completed!