The night was dark, and among the office of the Strategy and Pacification Envoy in Yan'an Prefecture City, there were always a few lights that night that had not gone out.

The news of the invasion of Khitan troops also reached Tao Jiefu. Oh, it can't be considered an invasion, right? They just entered the territory that originally belonged to the Western Xia. But they still poured a basin of ice water on the Taoist envoy who was in the mood.

Under his leadership, the situation is now very good! After the almost miraculous victory of the Sanzhi Army and the Hedong Army at Tongwan City, the Western thieves had lost the possibility of gaining a foothold in the Wuding River Basin. In the following days, King Cha Ge of Jin was quickly retreating, including Yuzhou City, all castles located in the Wuding River Basin were given up as soon as possible.

Because he left too hastily, many people were even left in the city of Youzhou! The food and grass were burned and set fire before they could be burned, but they were then extinguished by the people who participated in the looting. But not long after, Xiao Heda was able to fight at the Sanchakou, and the old military strategist, who had a sense of evil spirit, led his troops into Youzhou. After a period of education on ethnic unity, the people of Dangxiang in Youzhou City all handed over the food they had robbed to the country...

In addition to the more than 300,000 stones of grain that the Sanzhi Army had grabbed in Tongwancheng, the Song army in Wudinghe area now has more than 500,000 stones of grain. It is enough to support the attack on the Hetao grassland, Yanzhou and Lingzhou.

So Tao Jiefu was very proud during the day today. After discussing with his staff for a few hours, he formulated a very grand combat strategy and prepared to assemble an army of more than 100,000 to attack Lingzhou!

If possible, take down Xingqing Mansion together!

But after not long after excitement, bad news that made people frightened came.

The Khitans went south!

Is this going to go to war with the Song Dynasty?

Xue Sichang, the transfer judge of Fuyan Road, was the first to come after hearing the news and entered Tao Jiefu's study. Looking at Tao Jiefu sitting on a chair, frowned, and without saying a word, he asked, "Will the master fight?"

Tao Jiefu looked up at Xue Sichang and did not speak for a moment.

To be honest, he didn't know whether the fight would start. Although he followed Zhang Feng at the forefront of the Western Army for many years and was proficient in military affairs, he was just an "expert" to deal with the Western thieves and did not know the situation of the Khitans. Moreover, like most Song people, he had a little bit of fear of Liao!

When Tao Jiefu thought of the Khitan army swarming in, he felt a little numb. Now all the elite soldiers on the Eastern Front are in You, Xia and Yinzhou. Once the Khitan captures the Yinzhou retreat, the battle situation on the Eastern Front will be lost. At that time, not only Xiazhou, Yinzhou, and Youzhou will be lost, but even Suide and Yan'an Prefecture will have to finish together!

"You must be careful!"

After a while, Tao Jiefu said this.

"Master, who will let you guard against?" Xue Sichang then asked, "How should you guard against it?"

Tao Jiefu thought for a while, "Of course it was Tong Guan to defend himself. He was the governor of Shuofang Road. Yinzhou is the territory of Shuofang Road!"

The blame is also good. Although he is the commander of the Song army on the Eastern Front, his power is limited and can only be used in the battle against the Western thieves. He does not have the authority to go to war with the Great Liao!

Tao Jiefu cannot bear the charge of arbitrarily provoking the border. Similarly, if the Liao Kingdom is ready to stop and the army is approaching and the army is lost, Tao Jiefu will still be unable to bear it.

So the most important thing now is to turn the blame, and to turn the blame on Liao to Tong Guan.

However, it is not enough to just pass the blame, because Tao Jiefu's job is the Fuyan Road Strategy and Pacification Envoy. Yinzhou, which belongs to Shuofang Road, can lose some territory, but Suide Army and Yan'an Prefecture, which belongs to Fuyan Road, cannot lose any inch of land.

To ensure that the entire road of Fuyan is not lost, it is necessary to recall the army commanded by the old military strategist Wang En from Youzhou. However, in this way, the offensive against Yanzhou will be impossible.

Oh, it’s not that there is no way, but that the troops on the Eastern Front cannot be led by the army. Only Lu Huiqing can send troops from Jingyuan Road to attack Yanzhou.

Thinking of the situation he had worked hard to fight, he wanted to get ready-made for Lu Huiqing. Tao Jiefu suddenly became very depressed!

...

"Chongdao, Shi Yan, Commander Zhao, do you think, how should we deal with these Khitans?"

At this moment, the moon was dark and the wind was high, and the lights were brightly lit in the Shuofang Road Mansion in Tongwan City. Xiang Tongguan was wearing casual clothes and seemed a little restless in the luxuriously furnished central hall.

Among the three people who discussed major events with Tong Guan, Gao Qiu naturally frowned and looked even more uneasy than Tong Guan. However, Wu Haogu and Zhao Zhong Ge both looked calm and composed.

Especially Wu Haogu, there was no slight fear. It gave people a feeling of being particularly at ease. Can he be uneasy? Wanyan Xie is there too. What kind of Khitan people can't handle it?

Besides, he and the big men of the Khitan made money together in Jiehe Market. If he said that he would give up such great interests, he would give up?

"It's okay to deal with it!" Wu Haogu smiled and pointed at Gao Qiu beside him and said, "With a general like Gao Brother, what can the Khitan do to me?"

When Gao Qiu heard this, his face turned blue and he said angrily: "Dalang, it's so time, why are you still saying such sarcastic words?"

"Why are you talking sarcastic?"

Brother Zhao Zhong interrupted with a smile. He had been observing Wu Haogu just now. When he saw his calmness, he was very pleased. He was now engaging in Wu Haogu. If Wu Haogu was a coward who was scared by the Khitans, what hope would he have?

"The Khitan soldiers are just Er'er," said Zhao Zhongge. "It is light and unruly, and can only travel to the dove and cavalry, and it is not very capable of fighting in formation. It is even worse than the Iron Harrier, so there is no need to be afraid."

The Khitan soldiers were so weak? Wu Haogu was a little suspicious when he heard this. In history, Dashi Tou defeated Tong Guan’s 150,000 army with thousands of cavalry?

Zhao Zhongge continued: "The Khitan has been living for a long time. Most of the so-called elites in the palace tent have never been on the battlefield, and they like to eat vegetarian food and chant Buddha's name. They have long lost the killing spirit of the past. In other words, the 20,000 tribal troops placed in Zhenzhou City have a slightly stronger combat power, and Mogus, the King of the Khan of the Bkrei tribe, was defeated by them."

Wu Haogu also felt that it was reasonable when he said this. The combat effectiveness of the Liao army is probably not as good as that of the Liao soldiers Tong Guan met during the Northern Expedition in history.

The latter is a veteran who has been killed for more than ten years by "Birth of Jurchen Gundam", and it is a skill to survive. And now, except for some of the people who were trained in the war with Mogus, no one else has ever been on the battlefield. How can it be compared with the elite Xixia army that has been fighting for years?

"Commander Zhao," Tong Guan held his beard and looked at Brother Zhao Zhong and asked, "Do you have any good ideas?"

Brother Zhao Zhong smiled: "What good strategy is nothing more than fighting!"

"Fight... beat it out?" Tong Guan frowned. This is a Khitan!

Brother Zhao Zhong said: "It's the most straightforward to fight, otherwise there will be some more entanglement. Don't think that the Khitans are so bold. In fact, they are also afraid of going to war. Now nodding is a test. If we find that we are weak, we will definitely gain a better position. So the best way is to hit the head-on. If they hurt, they dare not come again."

Tong Guan just shook his head, "It's not right, now they have not entered our borders, they are just wandering around the old land of the Western thieves."

"That's timidity." Zhao Zhongge said, "The Liao territory bordering the Western thieves is under the jurisdiction of the Southwest Zhaotai Division of the Liao Kingdom. This Zhaotai Division had some military strength during the reign of Emperor Xingzong of Liao. Now that Liao and Xia have been harmonious for many years, they have long declined. All the subordinate states and troops are empty and ready. The only one that can be used is the Pishi Army of the North and South Prince's Mansions, with a total of 20,000 people."

Pi Shijun!? Tong Guan took a breath.

How could he not know the reputation of the Pishi Army? That was the elite of the Khitan!

"The current Pishi Army is not the Pishi Army a hundred decades ago," Zhao Zhongge looked at Tong Guan and explained, "The Pishi Army was the elite of the imperial tent. Later, it was not enough to be affiliated with the North and South Prince's Mansions, but it was just the level of ordinary tribal soldiers. Because the North and South Prince's Mansions are all active on the territory of the Zhaidaosi in the southwest, the 20,000 out of the air is the most capable soldier in the Zhaidaosi in the southwest, and the rest are even weaker."

"The skin room is not an elite, so who is the elite of the Khitan?" Tong Guan asked in confusion.

"There are two types of elite soldiers in the Khitan," Zhao Zhongge explained, "A kind of elite soldiers who fight all day long are all under the northwest Recruitment Division. Among them, the strongest soldiers of the Zhenzhou Jian'an Army were all selected from the tribes, with a total of more than 20,000 cavalry. However, they only fought in the northwest to guard the town, and the conquests in other places were not allowed to be removed.

The other is the newly formed palace army. Although the Khitans' palace army has eleven palaces and one palace on the books, there are often only the newly built palace guards gathered and the weather is refreshed. Most of the old palace guards are dull, with insufficient supply, and are very useful. The newer palace guards are now Taihe Palace and Yongchang Palace, with a total of 25,000 cavalry, of which there are only 5,000 cavalrymen."

Every family had difficult scriptures to recite. The officials of the Song Dynasty valued culture over military forces because they were not at ease with military affairs, which led to their weakening of military power. The Khitan emperor was also afraid of the rebellion of the people below, so they had to collect all the elite troops into the palace and the army to protect them.

However, the palace military divisions are also close and distant, and the old palace military divisions are not always reliable. Therefore, when the Khitan emperors built new palace military divisions, they often weakened the old palace military divisions. This formed a cycle of the palace military divisions and the new palace military divisions weakened the old palace military divisions.

The Pishi Army, which was placed in the southwest by the Khitan court against Xixia, was the most outdated palace division army (the Pishi Army originated from the imperial tent of Emperor Taizu of Liao), and its strength was long out of line with its reputation.
Chapter completed!