At the end of December, Zhao Jun took a boat across Dongting Lake and arrived at Jinghu North Road.
This place is not far from Bianliang. From the Han River to Xiangyang, after leaving the Nanyang Basin, you can go directly to Bianliang.
However, after spending more than a month inspecting Jinghu North Road, he did not go north back to Kaifeng, but took a boat west to Sichuan.
In December of the same year, a small earthquake occurred in Kaifeng, Bianliang, but the magnitude was very small and did not cause much impact or harm.
However, some officials from the Censorate immediately made a big fuss about this matter.
Using the excuses of thunder, heavy rain and hail in Lin, Fuzhou and Shaanxi at the beginning of this year, drought in the capital and insects eating mulberry trees in Cizhou in May, heavy rain in Tanzhou in August, and the earthquake in Bianliang at the end of the year, he said that disasters were frequent and that there were evildoers at work, and requested the dismissal of the chancellor and many of the co-chancellors.
This kind of impeachment was a common practice in ancient times, especially during the Song Dynasty. Whenever local disasters became frequent, the censors and the Imperial Censorate would impeach the prime minister, blaming him for the crime, and the emperor would then dismiss him.
The most typical example is Wang Anshi, who was dismissed due to drought.
This trick had worked quite well in the past, but unexpectedly, this time Zhao Zhen refuted it in front of many officials from the Censorate and the Imperial Censorate during the morning court session.
He also explained that droughts are caused by warming weather, insect plagues are caused by droughts that benefit insect growth, earthquakes are caused by collisions between tectonic plates, and heavy rains are caused by southeast winds that blow moisture inland.
This lecture on scientific knowledge stunned all the officials. They did not understand, but were deeply shocked.
All I can say is that Zhao Zhen has watched a lot of popular science videos.
At the end of December, the court took out another one million pieces of brocade, silk and satin from the left treasury and sent them to the Shaanxi market to buy military supplies. Together with the reserve grain that had been transported to Shaanxi before, Fan Zhongyan could not be said to be rich, but he had a strong army and a strong cavalry.
Under such circumstances, Lao Fan managed the northwest like an iron barrel, and for a moment even Li Yuanhao felt a little at a loss as to where to start attacking.
Historically, he did find a breakthrough in the direction of the Bao'an Army, but the person in charge at the time was Fan Yong. In addition, the terrain of Fuyan Road was open and there were few fortresses. The chief officer was a civil official who did not understand military affairs, so he naturally became Li Yuanhao's first target.
Now...
In January of the second year of Baoyuan, AD 1039, the snow outside the northwest frontier had not yet melted, and white snow could be vaguely seen on the top of the Helan Mountains.
The sky was thick with fog, and green grass grew on the vast grassland. Herds of cattle and sheep wandered aimlessly on the grass. The dirty sheep looked like gray clouds, and the shepherds drove them on horseback. The smell of cow dung was so strong that it made people feel dizzy when they got close.
Li Yuanhao has been living in a military camp outside the city for some time. The Dangxiang military camp is very interesting, with tents standing in rows. Outside the tents is the grassland where the soldiers graze every day.
When they dismounted, they were civilians, and when they mounted, they were soldiers, very similar to the later Mongolian people.
At this time, Li Yuanhao was looking at a map in the tent, accompanied by Yeli Yuqi, Yeli Wangrong, Yang Shousu, Zhang Yuan and others.
Although the weather was cold, it was as warm as spring inside the tent.
Li Yuanhao looked at the points marked on the map and sighed, "Fan Zhongyan should not be underestimated. He has built fortifications along all the important roads along the Fuyan Road in Song territory. Since last year, they have relocated the people from the border and established beacon towers along the way. If a sudden attack is launched, the Song army will have something to rely on."
"Your Majesty, there's a saying among the Song people that may not sound pleasant, but I think it makes a lot of sense. It goes, 'You can be a thief for a thousand days, but you can never be on guard against thieves for a thousand days.' Even if the Song army builds more fortresses, if they only know how to take the attack and never attack, they will ultimately be at a disadvantage."
Military advisor Zhang Yuan said next to him.
As Li Yuanhao's appointed military strategist for attacking the Song Dynasty, he naturally had to offer advice and strategies in order to gain advancement.
Li Yuanhao felt that Zhang Yuan's words made sense and asked, "Yes, I am the attacker. The Song army dares not cross the border. They even withdrew their troops from the border, retreating from Tumen to Long'an Mountain, over a hundred miles away. They even handed over the border to us. Isn't it my decision whether to attack or not?"
This is the initiative in war.
Originally, the Song-Xia border was near Tumen, which is the area around Tianciwan Town in Jingbian County in later generations. But now Fan Zhongyan has taken the initiative to shrink the strategy and even ceded the Song territory, which undoubtedly greatly increased Li Yuanhao's confidence.
This shows that the Song army was afraid of them and did not dare to come out to fight. They could only retreat into the fortress and fight a defensive war.
Doesn't that mean he can fight whenever he wants and leave whenever he wants?
With this in mind, Li Yuanhao scanned the map and pointed in the direction of Weizhou. He said, "The Song army has deployed heavy troops in Fuyan and Huanqing Roads and built numerous forts. However, scouts report that there are not many forts in Jingyuan Road. The troops have retreated to Zhenrong and are stationed in the areas of Sanchuanzhai and Dingchuanzhai."
Zhang Yuan immediately said, "This must be Fan Zhongyan's treacherous plan. If our army attacks from Jingyuan Road, the Song army can rush to our aid from Huanqing Road. While we're attacking Zhenrong, they can cut off our retreat. Then, they'll be attacked from both sides, and our situation will be dire."
"Yeah, I think so too."
Li Yuanhao sighed, put his hands behind his back, and slowly walked to the main chair in the conference room next to him and sat down, saying, "Fan is a cunning thief."
"Your Majesty, there is no need to worry. As the military advisor said, 'You can be a thief for a thousand days, but you can never be on guard against thieves for a thousand days.' Although it seems that our army is likened to thieves, the truth is this: the Song army only knows how to defend. If we bluff and attack from multiple directions, we will always catch them off guard."
Yeli Wangrong followed Li Yuanhao and said, "Besides, we have many spies within the Song army. We know their movements well. If we use them properly, we can attack from all sides, and the Song army will be exhausted from defending everywhere. We will definitely defeat them."
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