In the bedroom, Zhao Zhen looked at the pages of large paper hanging on the screen, frowned, and looked carefully at each name. These were the several armies that had been completed, including Yang Wenguang, Zhao Zi, Zhang Ji, Jia Kui and Liu Ji's troops. From the commander below the commander and up to the lowest-level generals, they were clearly written in a tree shape.

Most of the generals here come from the imperial guards, and many people have the impression of Zhao Zhen. In addition, the most are the generals in the Tianxiang army of Du Zhongxiaoying. In recent years, some have been transferred to military academies, and the number of troops has been expanded, so the number is not large.

As an emperor, the most important thing is military power. If you cannot control military power, the throne will be threatened. After Du Zhongxiao's victory in Hequ Road, even if he built a military academy and cultivated talents, the final training of the imperial guards was not satisfactory. The very important reason was that Zhao Zhen was worried. Many of the new organization and new generals were new faces. How could Zhao Zhen trust it? And the person who could trust it with himself was Di Qing's 300,000 army.

Stand up and Zhao Zhen paced back and forth. After the Battle of Shuozhou, the imperial guards had to be trained in the entire army. Zhao Zhen must have a clear idea of ​​which of these people are available and which ones need to be examined. It is not easy to achieve the goal and ensure that he has military power.

Through the Dangxiang War and the training of military academy in recent years, a large number of trustworthy middle and lower-level generals have emerged, and they can be arranged to be placed in the imperial guards after the training. Zhao Zhen felt that he could control it. What he was considering now was Yang Wenguang and Zhao Zi, which was reliable.

Both of them were from generals and had been in the army since childhood. They were the most typical generals of the imperial guards. It was just a coincidence that when Du Zhongxiao was training camp in Tianxiang Army in Suizhou, he was sent there. With Du Zhongxiao, he made countless military achievements, soaring into the sky.

After rubbing his forehead, Zhao Zhen felt tired. Judging from the contacts this year, Du Zhongxiao was not a person who held military power. When he returned to the court to be the chief censor, he had no contact with the front-line generals, and as a Privy Councilor, he had only had official exchanges. Logically speaking, these people were trustworthy. However, Zhao Zhen was still very cautious when it came to major national affairs. Until now, he only asked Du Zhongxiao to report the plan and refine it, without involving the personnel affairs in the military.

What is power? In addition to the power stipulated in the articles of association, the important thing is personnel power, and financial power. Du Zhongxiao asked that in the future, the Privy Council and the Third Office reported the number every year, and after the emperor and the prime minister approved it, they would transfer money to spend it by the army. This is equivalent to saying that the army would have financial power in the future. Although the financial power was only part of it, it was already the same as before. Although the court could still control logistics and control the supply of materials, the independence of the army was still enhanced. When the financial power was released, the emperor would pay more attention to personnel power.

The list on this paper is the personnel power of the army. It is a great question to know which positions are responsible for which yamen, which can be appointed, rewarded and punished, and which positions must be controlled by the emperor. Only when done well can we truly control the army.

At this moment, Xiaohuangmen came in and bowed and said, "The official family, the time has come, please move to Chongzheng Hall."

Zhao Zhen nodded: "Okay, you can't let the minister wait for a long time, so let's go."

The Khitans on the Mayi battlefield on the front line were unable to break through the Song army's defense line, and the war had become a waste. Under the threat of Liu Ji in the rear, Yelu Hongji did not have the courage to bet on the same page, but just arranged artillery and continued artillery battles with Song. The artillery was not as good as the Song army and was destroyed a lot. It is obvious now that once there is difficulties in food and grass in the rear, Yelu Hongji could only withdraw his troops, and the war ended. Today, the ministers went to Chongzheng Hall to discuss this matter.

When they arrived at Chongzheng Hall, Zhao Zhen had just left, Wen Yanbo, Han Qi, Du Zhongxiao, Tian Kuang and others entered the hall and performed the ceremony as if they were rituals.

After giving the seat, Zhao Zhen said, "Pang Ji came to report that after the Khitan army of 300,000 arrived in Mayi, he attacked several times and could not break through Jia Kui's defense line. Now the two armies are exhausted there and there is no fierce war. Let's talk about the follow-up."

Wen Yanbo held the scepter: "The Khitan army consumed 300,000 times a day, and the daily food and grass consumed is not a small amount. According to the frontline spies, there was a mutiny in Fengshengzhou a few days ago. In recent days, the Khitan army has lost a lot of food and grass. According to estimates, it is really difficult for the Khitan army to persist."

Du Zhongxiao said: "The Hequ Road Administration sent Sun Mian to order Liu Ji's troops to go out from the mountains and threaten the Khitan retreat. In order to prevent Liu Ji's attack, the Khitans arranged an army of 60,000 to 70,000 to prevent the Jinshatan from taking precautions. If there is really a difficulty in Khitan grain and grass, Liu Ji can attack and rob the Khitan grain and grass once, and the front line will be difficult to stay."

Zhao Zhen said: "The Khitan envoy Yelu Xiantong stayed in Shuozhou since Hongji sent troops, obviously waiting and watching. A few days ago, Pang Ji reported Yelu Xiantong to come to Kaifeng Prefecture. It seems that the Khitan did not want to fight anymore, but wanted to deal with the aftermath."

After Yelu Xiantong and Wu Zhan arrived in Shuozhou, they said they were going to Kaifeng Prefecture. Yelu Hongji sent troops, but suddenly they couldn't come and stayed in Shuozhou. Pang Ji was too lazy to pay attention to them and kept avoiding them, so he kept in Shuozhou. A few days ago, Yelu Xiantong suddenly proposed to go to Kaifeng Prefecture to negotiate with the Song Dynasty. Obviously, the Khitan didn't want to fight.

After Yelu Hongji defeated Chongyuan, he was furious and Xing a large army attacked Shuozhou. The result was contrary to his wishes. Now it is difficult to get on the brink of the tiger, and the situation is very unfavorable to the Khitan. If he cannot negotiate quickly with the Song Dynasty and the army retreats, the Song army may take advantage of the situation to attack.

Du Zhongxiao said: "The military letter says that you should not raise troops because of anger. This time the Khitan attacked Shuozhou, which was a taboo. In the Mayi crisis, Yelu Xiantong was about to come to the capital. I think he had received news from Hong Ji that the war could not be fought. The Khitans wanted to negotiate a ceasefire with this dynasty while the army was still in Mayi. In this way, we are not in a hurry to talk."

Zhao Zhen said: "The Grand Marshal thinks, what should I do if I don't talk about it for the time being?"

Du Zhongxiao held the scepter: "At this time, the Khitan was just a little difficult and was not even forced to retreat. At this time, the lion would definitely speak loudly. It would be better to take advantage of the fact that the Khitan army is now being restrained in Mayi and order Yang Wenguang in the north to continue to seize the ninety-nine springs after obtaining Baishuilu. In this way, all the way north of Datong will be to cut off the southward route of the Tatar tribes in the north. These places are originally the junction of Khitan and Tatar, and the Khitan has never paid much attention to it. After the imperial court seized it, they can negotiate with the Khitan, so that these places can be transferred with Shuozhou and let the Khitan be transferred to the dynasty."

Wen Yanbo said: "There are all wilderness places, what has the imperial court succeeded?"

Du Zhongxiao said: "My husband, there are all good pastures there, how can it be useless? Moreover, the Tatars have always been respectful to the Khitans. They often send troops to help each other when there is war. When fighting with the Khitans in the future, they have to be more careful. When the imperial court has these places, they can slowly recover the Tatar tribes and let them not send troops to help the Khitans when fighting with the Khitans in the future."

Han Qi nodded: "What Du Wei said is that after the Khitan retreated this time, there is probably no war within a few years. After taking ninety-nine springs, the entire Yangshan will be owned by the court, and you can take the opportunity to manage the grasslands. If you have food and iron tools, you will not be afraid of the Tatars not surrendering."

Between the Shangjing Road and Xijing Road of the Khitan, there were the Tatar tribes and the Khitan's collapsed ridge Jiedu. Unlike Shangjing Road, the Khitan did not set up cities here, nor did they have garrisons, and the Tatar tribes were relatively relaxed. Since conquering this place, the Tatars were very respectful to the Khitan. Whenever there was a war, the Tatars often took the initiative to ask for troops to help. Conquering the Tatars would be of great benefit to the future war with the Khitan.

Zhao Zhen said: "In this way, Pang Ji asked the Khitan envoy to stay in Shuozhou for ten days and ordered Yang Wenguang to take over ninety-nine springs. Ten days later, it would be difficult for the Khitan to stay in Mayi again. At that time, we would negotiate peace with the Khitan again."

All the ministers bowed and said yes.
Chapter completed!