Lin'an Never Night

Chapter 792: No Consensus

The Song Dynasty's strategy toward the Jin Dynasty and Western Xia was very cautious at the beginning.

The Jin Kingdom was being restrained by the New Jin behind the scenes, and had also been badly damaged by the Battle of Lingbi.

But the Jin Kingdom also made a clever move and took the initiative to give up Lintao, allowing Western Xia to border the Song Kingdom again and pulling Western Xia into the war.

Under such circumstances, the State of Song cautiously adopted the strategy of first destroying Western Xia and then conquering the Central Plains.

To implement this strategy, plans have been advanced for nearly five years.

The entire plan started more than a year before Yang Yuan came to Sichuan.

However, as the wars in Western Xia and Shaanxi went unusually smoothly, some court officials quickly slid from one extreme to another.

They suddenly felt that I was able to do it again!
So, why not declare war directly on the Jin Dynasty and take back the ancestral land in one fell swoop?
Therefore, some ministers wrote: Jin is exhausted and can't stand a single blow. Your Majesty should order all the generals to advance together, take the Central Plains, and destroy Jin in one fell swoop!
If the Jin Dynasty continues to fight with the Western Xia, it will miss the opportunity once it recovers.

The civil servants of the Song Dynasty really liked to take the world as their responsibility. Li Xianhe, the official in charge of the local salt and tea policies in the East Jiangnan Road, also wrote a letter to the little emperor with great interest.

He said that if all the elite troops in Lianghuai were sent out and a proclamation was secretly issued, ordering the righteous army in the Central Plains to capture each prefecture and county, they would be invincible and unstoppable.

There are quite a lot of people who are calling for this.

The radicals have good intentions, but their words, actions and behavior can only be described as too naive.

But how much does the little emperor know about military tactics?

So many well-read and famous heroes who had sung songs outside Donghua Gate said so, but it just catered to the young man's temperament of being ambitious.

However, the voices of the conservative faction are also quite strong.

The prudent faction, with a mentality of "everyone else is drunk but I am sober", loudly appealed to the court not to get carried away by a temporary victory.

Historically, the Song Dynasty had precedents of winning the first battle but then suffering a crushing defeat, whether against the Western Xia or the Jin Dynasty, and this happened more than once.

There are too many examples of this kind of thing that starts off well but ends badly.

Therefore, Yang Yuan now controls Baoji and Tianshui, posing a threat to the Longshan and Liupanshan areas. He points to Fengxiang in the north and threatens Chang'an in the east, which is enough to restrain the Jin army in Shaanxi and prevent them from easily getting involved in the war between Song and Xia.

At this time, Yang Yuan should be ordered to stop at Jianxun Ridge, manage Baoji and Qinzhou well, and contain the Jin army.

Yang Yuan must not cross Jianxun Ridge, so as not to make the Jin army too nervous.

Otherwise, once the Jin Kingdom chose to go to all-out war, the original intention of restraining the Jin Kingdom would be lost.

At this time, Yang Yuan should be allowed to station troops on the spot, and Liu Qi, as the reserve force, should advance into Western Xia via Lanzhou and advance on two fronts with Wu Lin to plot against Western Xia.

It turns out that this statement was indeed part of the original strategy and it sounds quite insightful.

Therefore, there were many ministers who agreed with this statement.

At this time, Mr. Shen Gai had officially retired and Wei Liangchen became prime minister.

Wei Liangchen also believed that this strategy was steady and the most correct one.

However, when Yang Yuan reported the victory back from Shaanxi, he also wrote a letter to express his desire to adjust the strategy.

You know, when this strategy was formulated five years ago, Yang Yuan was only thinking about how to deal with the three commanders of the Western Army.

At that time, he had not yet developed artillery and muskets, nor had he personally experienced the serious overall decline in the Jin army's combat effectiveness so intuitively.

But now it’s different, he is on the front line and he knows the real situation of both sides too well.

Yang Yuan's troops had nearly 110,000 infantry and cavalry entering Shaanxi. These were all the troops in Tongchuan and Lizhou Central Roads except for the troops left behind in the city walls.

Yang Yuan made careful plans and believed that with this large army, he would have a chance to recover the entire Shaanxi province.

Even if it were a little safer, it would be possible to divide the entire Shaanxi province into two parts from north to south and capture the western half.

Once this strategic goal was achieved, he could head directly from Mizhi to Xingqing Prefecture, while Liu Qi's army could continue to move its garrison forward and enter Shaanxi.

In this way, with Wu Lin's army in the south providing support, the Western Xia army would be unable to take care of both ends, and the Western Xia threat could be quickly resolved.

By then, the three tigers of the Western Army would be able to leave Hangu Pass, the Lianghuai army would go north, and the New Jin Empire would go south, completely devouring the Jin Kingdom.

The war blueprint planned by Yang Yuan was quite good, and Prince Jin believed it anyway.

Yang Yuan's right-hand men when he was in Beijing, such as Xiao Yiran and Lu Chengze, also strongly supported him.

As a result, a third voice emerged, calling for adjustments to the original strategic plan formulated by the previous emperor.

Since this plan was proposed by Yang Yuan, a senior official with many merits, the court could not help but pay attention to it.

The little emperor had no idea what to decide. He listened to each person saying that they were right, and he felt a headache.

Although he has not yet taken power personally, since Prince Jin and the Prime Minister have different opinions, it is natural for him to become the arbitrator.

But the little emperor couldn't make up his mind.

He desires success but fears failure.

Once he makes a decision, the responsibility for failure will be borne by him.

Given the late emperor's brief but brilliant civil and military achievements, he was under considerable psychological pressure.

Unable to make up his mind for a moment, the little emperor, who was heavy-hearted, walked into the Zongyang Palace as usual.

Since he ascended the throne, Zhao Chen's situation has improved greatly.

For the young emperor, the events of the Jing Kang period were already a long time ago.

From the time he first met Zhao Chen, he had always thought that he was just a scholar and a Taoist priest, and in his mind, he had nothing to do with the former crown prince. The young emperor even allowed Zhao Chen to leave Zongyang Palace and wander around the streets of Lin'an, although he sent someone to follow him.

This time, Zhao Chen did not go out. He was painting in Zongyang Palace. The painting was a picture of willows in the pond in Zongyang Palace.

Zhao Kai was dressed in a jade-colored Confucian robe. Without waiting for Zhao Chen to come forward to pay his respects, he raised his hand to stop him and let him continue painting with peace of mind.

Zhao Kai sat down aside, poured himself a cup of tea and held the cup in his hand.

Looking at the half-finished painting, Zhao Qi smiled and said, "Teacher is living a leisurely life like a god."

Zhao Chen paused, glanced at Zhao Kai, and continued painting, saying, "Is there something troubling the emperor?"

Zhao Qi raised his eyebrows and asked, "Teacher, can you see that?"

Zhao Chen smiled slightly, put down his pen, and said: "The emperor's heart is pure and clear as water. Any joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness are just like the stone under the spring, which can be seen at a glance."

Zhao Qi sighed and frowned slightly: "Teacher, it's not easy to be an official."

Zhao Chen just poured a cup of tea elegantly and looked at him patiently.

Upon seeing this, Zhao Kai told Zhao Chen about the major problems that the court urgently needed to solve.

Zhao Qi frankly admitted: "I am still young, and I don't have enough experience in military affairs, let alone the art of war.

Therefore, the uncle of Jin, the prime minister of Wei, and others are all my loyal followers, but their opinions are so different that I really don’t know which one to believe.”

Zhao Chen pondered for a moment and said slowly: "No matter which side you listen to, it is not the way of a king."

"Oh?"

"You are a young emperor, full of vigor and vitality. You will soon be in charge of government. You should have your own ideas instead of being led by others."

"What does the teacher mean?" Zhao Kai's expression became more serious.

Zhao Chen sighed and said, "The strategy set by the previous emperor has been implemented till now without any mistakes. How can it be easily changed?"

Zhao Qi's eyes lit up: "So, should I accept Wei Xianggong's advice?"

Zhao Chen shook his head: "Yes and no."

Zhao Chen said patiently: "As a monarch, you should have the dignity of a monarch. How can you let your subjects decide?"

"Have you forgotten the reason why the late emperor sent Yang Yuan to Tongchuan?"

"I haven't forgotten. I will rectify Sichuan and Shu, control the three commanders of the Western Army, and then..."

Zhao Chen sighed and said quietly, "But Yang Yuan now is more talented than Wu Lin was back then, and is already catching up with Wu Jie back then.

Your Majesty, think about it, if Yang Yuan could conquer even half of Shaanxi, what would be the difference between him and Wu Jie, the envoy of the four routes of Sichuan and Xia?
Yang Yuan has many descendants, so he is not afraid of lack of successors. With time, he will become a force that is more feared than the Wu family army. "

Zhao Kai's face changed slightly, and he held the teacup in his hand in a daze without saying a word.

Zhao Chen glanced at him and said, "Teacher, I am an idle person. Thanks to the grace of the government, I am able to live a carefree life today. At your age and with such a fate, I am already content.

In fact, given the teacher's special status, I shouldn't give advice to the government. But the government not only has family affection for the teacher, but also gratitude. The teacher can't help but speak out his heartfelt words. "

Zhao Chen's eyes moistened, and he said softly, "My Lord, this world is yours. Others may think about their achievements, but my Lord, you should think about our Zhao family's kingdom first."

Seeing Zhao Chen's true feelings, Zhao Qi's eyes slightly reddened, he could not help but gently put down the teacup and said solemnly: "Here, we are just master and disciple, so please speak frankly, teacher."

Zhao Chen said: "The strategy set by the late emperor cannot be easily changed. Yang Yuan should stop at Baoji and not go any further. He should just form a check on the Jin army."

Zhao Kai nodded slightly.

Zhao Chen added: "Liu Qi is a fierce general. The Xixia people are especially afraid of him. Now the situation is very good, and there is no need for him to stay in Hanzhong as a stabilizing force. You can move your troops into Xixia and advance with Wu Lin."

Zhao Kai nodded slightly, but he was secretly surprised in his heart, because this seemed to be no different from what Prime Minister Wei did.

Zhao Chen said: "If Liu Qi enters Xixia, he can compete with Wu Lin and not let Wu's army take the lead.

In addition, a military supervisor should still be stationed there. Hanzhong is a key location, so a civil official should also be sent to take charge.

The military supervisor and military advisor will be the powerful assistants of the emperor after he takes power. "

Zhao Kai's eyes lit up and he nodded.

Zhao Chen looked directly at Zhao Kai and said, "If a military general is independent, there will be endless troubles."

Zhao Qi seemed to be thinking about something. The teacher was right.

Although Yang Yuan was a civil official, he had too much military power.

Should I also impose some restraint on him when the opportunity arises?

At this time, Yang Yuan in Baoji City was completely unaware of the ups and downs in Lin'an City.

As soon as he settled down here, "Little Bao Si" Erme Issa couldn't wait to rush over from Tianshui to accompany him.

This time, Yang Yuan did not use cold violence against her.

Yang Yuan rubbed the two plump, white, firm and smooth buttocks and praised: "It feels so good! Just like the big steamed buns made of leavened dough in Guanzhong, so firm and chewy."

Ermeyisa had never heard such words before, and she was so embarrassed that she hid her burning cheeks in his arms and dared not say anything.

Xiao Qingtang, who had never been inferior to others in her life, immediately crawled over, stood in front of Yang Yuan, looked back, and asked in a tender voice: "Dad, what about me? Is my body strong and healthy?"

(End of this chapter)