Do you know the long song of laughter?

Chapter 55 Happy conversation
  Li An didn't expect that his slight movement would be discovered by Gu Tingye.

He found that not only Gu Tingye looked at him angrily, but Sheng Changbai also looked at him with a somewhat unhappy look, making him speechless.

Why did he feel that the two of them were like middle school boys, thinking about problems too simply.

But I felt relieved when I thought about their ages. It was normal for them to be passionate at their age.

However, he also wanted to take this opportunity to make friends with Gu Tingye, so he explained: "I agree with what you said before. If we don't take back the Sixteenth State of Yanyun, it will be a big trouble for our court. The Sixteenth State of Yanyun is to defend against the nomadic people in the north. The key point is that if the Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures are not recaptured and there is no danger to defend the north, the imperial court will need to hoard a large number of troops and horses in the north, which will consume a lot of money."

"Moreover, the nomads are good at riding and shooting. The Han Dynasty relied on the strength of the city and equipment to resist the nomads. However, the Liao Kingdom has occupied the sixteen states of Yanyun for many years and has gradually adapted to defending the city. Moreover, the Liao Kingdom treats the Han people well and values ​​the Han family. The skills are no worse than those of the Song Dynasty in terms of equipment. If this continues for a long time, it will become a serious problem."

Gu Tingye saw that Li An also agreed with the two people's views, and what Li An said was very close to what he thought, and there were even some things that he had not expected. His expression softened and asked: "If that's the case, then why did you shake your head just now? ?”

"The Liao Kingdom has occupied the Sixteenth Prefecture of Yanyun for many years, and has gradually become accustomed to attacking and defending cities. But after all, it is a nomadic people, and the main force is cavalry. Starting from Emperor Taizu, kings of all dynasties have tried to recapture the Sixteenth Prefecture of Yanyun. . However, once the occupied line is extended and the Liao Kingdom has a large number of cavalry, logistics becomes a problem."

"If you want to recapture the Yanyun Sixteenth Prefecture, you must have a certain number of cavalry to ensure the logistics team." Li An said.

The Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun are just a collective name. Chai Rong, Shizong of the Later Zhou Dynasty, regained several prefectures and once attacked Youzhou. In the end, he had to return to the court due to illness.

After Song Taizu established the Song Dynasty, he also regained several states.

It is not what many people think, the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun have always been in the hands of the Liao Kingdom.

However, as long as the sixteen states of Yanyun cannot be recovered in one fell swoop, recovering a few states is of little significance.

Gu Tingye and Sheng Changbai were silent after hearing this. People like Sheng Changbai who were not familiar with military matters knew the importance of cavalry, let alone someone like Gu Tingye who was a general.

However, just as the Song Dynasty blocked salt and iron from the Liao Kingdom, the Liao Kingdom naturally also knew how to block horses.

Xixia was not independent in the past. Although it was also blocked, it could still get some.

And at that time, horses could also be obtained from the Western Regions.

However, since the independence of Xixia, Xixia has also strictly blocked the war horses from flowing into the Song Dynasty.

The most uncomfortable thing is that the original Song-Xia War also lost the Lingzhou City leading to the Western Regions.

This time the Song Dynasty completely cut off the source of war horses.

It can only be obtained by cultivating it yourself and some smuggling merchants.

However, the quantity is too small, and the cost has also increased a lot.

"The reason why I shake my head is that if I want to regain the Sixteen States of Yanyun, I should first destroy Xixia. Over the years, Xixia has often swayed between the Song Dynasty and the Liao Kingdom. Now it is establishing its own country. With Xixia on its side, it is difficult to defeat Xixia. Go all out to regain the Yanyun Sixteenth Prefecture. Moreover, by destroying Xixia, you can also get a large number of war horses, and then you will have the capital to fight against the Liao cavalry." Li An said.

Gu Tingye shook his head when he heard this and said: "Xixia has hundreds of thousands of troops. How can it be destroyed immediately? The difficulty of destroying Xixia will not be easier than recovering the sixteen states of Yanyun."

Li An smiled and said: "If you want to take Xixia, you must first regain Hehuang. If the Song Dynasty gets Hehuang first, Xixia will be worried about being attacked from both sides. On the contrary, if the Xixia people get Hehuang first, the consequences will be disastrous. By then Xixia will be gone. Worry about the future, if they invade the Song Dynasty, their military strength will be even stronger. After Xixia occupied Lingzhou City, it has been conquering the Western Regions. Once Xixia annexes the Western Regions, the next step will be Tubo in the Hehuang area."

"Whether it is to attack and destroy Xixia, or to curb the development of Xixia and reduce the pressure on the northwest, the Hehuang area must not fall into the hands of Xixia."

The strategy Li An mentioned was actually the "Pingrong Strategy" proposed by Wang Shao, a famous general in the Shenzong period.

Wang Shao was originally a civil servant with a low official position, but he resigned and became a knight-errant. He wandered around the northwest for more than ten years, always paying attention to the developments of Xixia, Tubo, Qiang and other ethnic groups.

Wang Shao wrote a memorial about the situation he had learned over the years and dedicated it to Emperor Shenzong. This is the famous "Pingrong Policy" for later generations.

Later, Shenzong adopted his strategy and ordered him to lead troops to conquer Hehuang and Tubo. Although it failed to destroy Xixia in the end, it enabled the Song Dynasty to form an encirclement of Xixia, achieving the strategic goal of making Xixia "worry of being attacked from both sides".

It can be said that if it were not for Wang Shao's "Pingrong Policy", the Song Dynasty might have perished long ago by the time Xixia took Hehuang.

Li An knew that if he wanted to get close to a wealthy kid like Gu Tingye, he would have to do it without showing some real skills.

If he agrees with the two of them, he is just a yes man.

As for regaining the Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures, he had nothing to do. After all, Li An didn't have the ability to do what so many famous officials in the Song Dynasty failed to do.

After much deliberation, Li An thought of "Ping Rong Ce". "Ping Rong Ce" can get the support of Shenzong, which shows that it has a high strategic importance.

He felt that with Gu Tingye's talent and knowledge, he should be able to discover it.

After hearing this, Gu Tingye thought carefully for a long time and said with a solemn expression: "Yes, Hehuang is very important and must not fall into the hands of Xixia. However, Tubo is a state of the Song Dynasty, and we, the Song Dynasty, cannot rush to send troops to Tubo."

Li An was startled when he heard this. He had forgotten that when Wang Shao proposed the "Pingrong Policy", Tubo was in civil strife, and now was indeed not the time to send troops.

Although the strategy proposed by Li An cannot be implemented for the time being, Li An's views made Gu Tingye regard him as a like-minded person.

"As the saying goes, to fight against foreigners, you must first settle the internal affairs. Whether it is to recover the sixteen states of Yanyun or to take over Xixia, reforms are needed to solve internal shortcomings and enhance the national power of the Song Dynasty. Otherwise, it will be just empty talk." Sheng Changbai said.

Gu Tingye nodded when he heard the words and agreed: "Yes, but now that the official position of Han Xianggong has been restored, the period of reform must not be far away. Perhaps when we are in the court in the future, the long-standing shortcomings have been eliminated, and we can Once you show your ambition, you will never forget this life."

Li An felt that Gu Tingye was too naive. He didn't know whether the official's original intention to restore Han Zhang's position was to reform.

But last year, the official's only heir died in infancy, and even he heard in Yangzhou that there was a lot of trouble in Bianjing because of the appointment of the crown prince.

He was familiar with the plot and knew that there would be no so-called reform at all. The dispute over the throne continued until King Yan rebelled and was taken advantage of by Zhao Zongquan, and then the matter was settled.

But this time Li An did not dare to show it, but echoed what these two people said.

While the three of them were chatting, Sanshui came over and saluted, "Second Young Master, the banquet has already started in the front yard."

"Look at me, I have forgotten the main business. Come on, I will lead you to the table." Sheng Changbai patted his forehead and said.

"Zecheng, we had a great time chatting. Why don't you ask someone to bring some wine and food over, and we can chat while eating." Gu Tingye suggested.

Anyway, he didn't know anyone. As a guest who came with the man, he would definitely be entertained by the woman's relatives.

He had just embarrassed the Sheng family so much before. It would be so embarrassing if he went there.

Sheng Changbai looked at Li An after hearing this. He also knew that Gu Tingye was a little embarrassed now, and it would be better not to go.

However, Li An was different. He nominally followed Liu Xuewen.

"Brother Sheng, Brother Gu, I don't like the excitement either, but I still have to tell the teacher." Li An said.

"It should be so. Li Xiandi, go quickly, we will wait for you to come back." Gu Tingye said with a smile.

　Thank you for quitting cigarettes twice. You said that I am skinny for your monthly ticket support.

　　
  　
  (End of this chapter)