Wei Ni

Emperor Cao Rui's intention to attack Liaodong cannot be changed.

This is the consensus of everyone in Chonghua's back hall, and Wei Zhen and Jiang Ji are no exception.

The reason why they retorted and still insisted on their own opinions was just because they adhered to the principles of the people who were paid by the emperor.

Because Guanqiu Jian's sentence in the above table, "Your Majesty has already ascended the throne and there is nothing to write about," elevated the destruction of Liaodong Gongsun to a level related to the emperor's prestige, which greatly stimulated Cao Rui.

After all, the foundation of the Wei state was laid by Cao Cao; although Cao Pi's three campaigns against Sun Wu were mediocre, he did not return in defeat or lose territory; but he didn't mention it after he succeeded to the throne.

In other words, he also had the merit of killing Xianbei Kirbineng.

But since Emperor Wu of the former Han Dynasty, it was normal for the Central Plains dynasty to win the war against the nomadic tribes in northern Xinjiang. If they lost, it would be embarrassing.

But even though they were all determined, they still let Wei Zhen, Jiang Ji and Xia Houhui debate, and even summoned all the important ministers to discuss it~
All the important ministers knew what Cao Rui meant.

Guanqiu Jian is the best among the emperor Cao Rui's ministers, and Xia Houhui is the best among the clan's founders. One has been given the responsibility of being in charge of Youzhou, and the other has just been promoted to the guard general. This is not the emperor's intention to train future important ministers and generals. Let the two of them go to conquer Liaodong.

In addition, Guanqiu Jian had little military experience and Xia Houhui was too young.
It was obvious that the emperor wanted them, the moderate and prudent veterans, to fill in the gaps for the war plan, and to bring forward some unfavorable factors and tell them to Xia Houhui and Guanqiu Jian, so that they would know what they were doing and avoid them before leading the army to conquer. .

It can be regarded as a temple that increases the chance of winning the war.

The emperor did not want Guanqiu Jian and Xia Houhui to work in vain.

Not to mention that he cannot destroy Shu and annex Wu in a short period of time. He cannot even destroy Liaodong Gongsun!

Wei Zhen and Jiang Ji, who had been immersed in the temple for a long time, knew this well and followed the emperor's wishes.

But what made them a little irritated was that Xia Houhui and Guan Qiujian, who had little experience, could not see through this, and they still persisted in trying to persuade them.

They are really ignorant and noisy!

Therefore, when faced with Xia Houhui's request for advice again, Wei Zhen felt a little impatient, but did not lose his composure. He nodded slowly and said, "Zhiquan has to speak frankly."

"only."

Xiahou Hui nodded in greeting, and then said, "Among the guards, Hui Tie thinks that if we plan to attack Liaodong Gongsun now, we can win three victories. If we delay, we may lose our advantage."

"One is prestige."

"In the past, the traitor Gongsun destroyed the system of the temple and seized power. Your Majesty had no choice but to grant him a position and appease him because Shu and Wu were in trouble. But the traitor Gongsun still did not know how to be grateful and made peace with the traitor Wu. He is a wolf with ambitions and a beast! If you do not attack him, your Majesty's prestige will not be able to be established, and the system of the temple will not be promoted. If you let him go now, it will be a trouble for generations."

"Both of them are timely."

"Last year, Shu and Wu invaded in large numbers, but all returned without success. This meant that our country's soldiers would no longer have to work hard on the expedition, and the national treasury did not need to prepare military operations in advance. It can be said that the time was right to attack the Liao Dynasty. In addition, Gongsun's traitor seized the uncle's position. The time is not long, and the contact between the rebels and Wu has been cut off for a short time. It is said that there is internal injustice and no external support. If we do not attack it now, if it goes on for a long time, the troops of Shu and Wu will return and Liaodong will become more peaceful, which will make it more difficult for our army."

"The three are strength."

"Brother Zhong Gong said that the useless people from the north can attack Liaodong. Huishen agrees. The people from the north still exist because Emperor Wu and Wen used it as a frontier fortress for Jing'an. Now Xianbei and Wuhuan are no longer in trouble. If they are not used, , I’m afraid it won’t happen again in the future.”

Having said this, Xia Houhui saluted Wei Zhen again, his voice slightly agitated.

"The guards believe that Liaodong cannot be conquered now because the national treasury is getting exhausted and the people are tired and have been fighting for a long time. Hui also thinks so. However, Hui still thinks that everything has pros and cons, and it is nothing more than small harm and big gain. There are many ears. If the harm is small but the benefit is great, and the foundation of the country is not harmed, we should work hard to do it, and we should not tolerate the thieves and lose the power of the court. "

Wei Zhen was silent about this.

Because the first and second things Xia Houhui said are superficial, but the third thing is to the point.

The so-called "useless people" refer to the Youzhou border troops.

Due to the influence of Dong Zhuo's chaos and separatist rule, the frontier army system that guarded the northern border in the previous dynasty had been ruined.

After the Wei Dynasty replaced the Han Dynasty, it did not rebuild. Instead, it relied on the garrison of county soldiers and the rush of reinforcements from the Chinese army to maintain frontier wars.

But Youzhou is slightly different.

In the past, Liu Yu's old troops, such as Xian Yufu, Qi Zhou, Xian Yuyin, etc., as well as the later rise of Yan Rou and his brother Yan Zhi, supported Cao Cao, the emperor of the Han Dynasty, during the Battle of Guandu, so they were able to retain the structure of the border army.

For example, Xian Yufu first supervised the six counties of Youzhou as General Jianzhong, and later he was appointed as General Zuodu Liao to control the state; Yan Rou, who was regarded as his son by Cao Cao, was appointed as Colonel Huwuwan. Even during the Cao Pi period, Youzhou was still led by Xian Yufu as General Huya and Yan Rou as General Du Liao. Although they are all deceased now, in order to resist Xianbei's considerations, the Wei State still did not abolish the border army system that guarded Youzhou.

However, now Kirby has been executed.

Because of the disaster, the Xianbei tribes in the two states were separated and invaded each other. The strong fled far away and the weak surrendered.

It is time to dismantle the border troops.

After all, the people in Youbin are few and the land is poor, so most of the border troops need to rely on Jizhou for support.

Therefore, when Xia Houhui said "I'm afraid it won't happen again in the future", he meant that if he waited until the frontier army was dismantled before going to attack Liaodong, he would have to recruit troops and corvee again.

Recruiting troops and practicing martial arts will also consume the national treasury, and corvee labor will also make the people suffer. Why not use troops now?

In this way, half of the reasons Wei Zhen refuted have been dismissed.

As for the other half of the reason "Liaodong has experienced three generations, is prosperous in military affairs and is good at fighting", that is just a reason added by Wei Zhen because he felt that Guan Qiujian had no military experience. If Zhang He was still here to supervise the army to attack Liaodong, he would not say that Liaodong is difficult to destroy.

"As Zhiquan said, the time to attack Liaodong is lost."

After a long time, Wei Zhen spoke softly and asked, "But, has Zhiquan ever thought about how much it would cost to transport food every day for sending troops for more than 4,000 miles to fight against thieves? And if Gongsun's thieves fortify the wall and clear the country, and the war is deadlocked, it will be difficult to retreat. The soldiers have been away for a long time, do they still have fighting spirit?"

As soon as this question came out, Liu Fang and Sun Zi, who had previously closed their eyes to rest, opened their eyes slightly in unison.

First, he glanced at Jiang Ji without leaving any trace, and then set his sights on Xia Houhui, waiting for his answer with interest.

But Xia Houhui just opened his mouth and did not answer.

It's not that he's running out of words.

But since Wei Zhen didn't know, he couldn't tell.

Because as early as a few years ago, when the emperor Cao Rui wanted to make Tian Yu and Wang Xiong's attack on Liaodong end in vain, Xia Houhui advised him to do business with merchants and secretly sent spies to Liaodong to prepare for the war.

In addition to understanding the situation in Liaodong, these detailed operations also have an important responsibility: developing internal response.

They were not the kind of internal agents who would instigate rebels to open the city gates before the battle and provoke internal struggles among Gongsun Yuan's officials, but powerful right-wingers and big businessmen who could secretly hoard food.

These powerful people and big merchants all have forts outside the city.

The Wei State pretended to be merchants and secretly provided them with resources, allowing them to take advantage of the local people's convenience and quietly hoard grain for the Wei State's invasion of the army.

Of course, they can't hoard much.

But it only needs to be able to feed the 30,000 troops for half a month, and the Wei army can seize the opportunity before the war.

After all, as long as the Wei army can march lightly and reach the mouth of the Liao River quickly, the ships in Jizhou and Qingzhou that can transport grain by sea can be unblocked. In this case, there is no need to worry about the transportation of grain.

However, this strategy is better at keeping it secret.

At that time, the emperor Cao Rui only consulted with Jiang Ji and asked Liu Fang and Sun Zi to send people to deploy privately. No one else knew about it.

Therefore, Hou Hui did not dare to leak it this summer.

Guanqiu Jian on the side also misunderstood. Seeing that Xia Houhui didn't answer, he took over without hesitation, raised his hands and said, "Of the guards, Zhiquan has been in Huainan for a long time. He doesn't know the current situation in Youzhou, so he can't." Answer. I had a banquet with Your Majesty yesterday and talked about this matter. Your Majesty asked me to focus on accumulating grain and practicing martial arts after I went to Youzhou, and I must ensure that when I send troops to Liaodong, there will be no dangers as mentioned by the guards. "

"Yes, I understand."

Wei Zhen responded and said no more.

Since Guanqiu Jian had already mentioned the Emperor, it was hard for him to refute.

When Liu Fang and Sun Zi saw this, they also withdrew their gazes and once again stared at them.

On the other hand, Jiang Ji, who had always been with the old god, thought of something and suddenly asked, "Zhong Gong and Zhi Quan both said that Liaodong can be conquered. They must have a strategy in mind and don't know how to come up with it?"

"The teacher is well-known, the generals are handsome and capable, and they can only win with strength."

Without thinking, Guanqiu Jian took the lead in replying and roughly explained his strategy.

He planned to go to Youzhou to serve and practice martial arts while accumulating grain. When the generals were ready to fight and the food was sufficient, he would lead his troops to Liaodong and recruit Gongsun Yuan to the dynasty with the emperor's edict.

If Gongsun Yuan accepts the order and obeys the imperial edict, the army will take advantage of the situation and station in Liaodong to recruit the common people and stabilize the area.

Of course, this possibility is slim.

And if Gongsun Yuan disobeys, he will lose his status as a minister, and Guanqiu Jian can claim that Gongsun Yuan is a traitor and march to attack him; and he will spread the message to the counties and counties east of the Liao River, and he will only punish the chief villain and not follow him. Otherwise, the fighting spirit of the people in Liaodong will be destroyed. In this way, as long as the Wei army can defeat Gongsun Yuan once or twice in the battle, the dawn of victory can be foreseen.

To put it bluntly, there is nothing outstanding about his strategic planning.

But there is nothing to criticize.

After all, war is inherently adaptable.

No matter how detailed the plan, no matter how well-thought-out the strategy, it is just talk on paper before setting foot on the actual battlefield.

Therefore, Jiang Ji didn't say anything.

He just nodded and said "hmm" and then turned his attention to Xia Houhui.

"There are two things that I would like to benefit from, and I would like to ask Jiang Hujun to correct them without hesitation."

Xia Houhui spoke consciously and said something modestly first. Just when he was about to tell everything in his mind, he saw everyone standing up and bowing their heads, and he couldn't help but stop talking and get up.

Emperor Cao Rui has arrived. (End of chapter)