Du Zhongxiao read the official documents from the court and handed them to Fu Bi, saying, "Before the official war with the Khitan, the court has begun to say that there is no money. How can we fight without money? Hundreds of thousands of troops gathered on the front line, and the daily food and drink cost a lot of money."

Fu Bi read it and said, "You can't blame Zhongshu for reporting your grievances. This is a lot of money. Until now, it has cost nearly 200 million guan. It still seems that after the battle is completed, it will take more than 100 million guan. When the country was first established, Taizu built a feudal pile warehouse, saying that it was to accumulate money to regain Yanyun. However, the feudal pile warehouse had not been able to save so much money for decades. Hundreds of millions of guan were enough to buy the Khitan."

Du Zhongxiao smiled and said, "The Khitan is too poor, I'm afraid it's not worth so much money. In fact, there's no need to worry about spending too much money. Where did the money go? It's not that the people of our country have made it away. By making guns, cannons and shells, several iron prisons have become as big as the air in recent years. When the war is over, they will transform various agricultural tools and various machines, and the money will not be lost in vain. Besides, these more than 200 million yuan are not all spent on war, and a large part of it is spent on the complete training of the imperial guards. There is actually not much money spent on real war."

After saying that, Du Zhongxiao thought for a while and said, "Zhongshu said that the court really has no money. One is to borrow money from the savings bank, and the other is to print some bonds to sell. I guess that the Iron Supervision Bureau has expanded in recent years, and it is difficult to borrow a lot of money from the savings bank. It is better to print bonds. All the rich people in the world come to buy it, which is always higher than the savings bank. After the war, it will be better to pay it back in a few years."

Fu Bi sighed: "The thing that is most afraid of in the world is to borrow money, including principal and interest, I don't know how much I will pay back then. Taiwei, this kind of refusal is really a lot of money. If I can't keep the Khitan army, I'm afraid the court will have gossip."

Du Zhongxiao nodded: "Yes, it's not to keep the Khitan army, but if it's just defeated, the battle wouldn't be delayed for so long. We have to transfer so many troops, strengthen the walls and clear the fields for hundreds of miles, and spend so much effort, we must have a result. The main force of the Khitan has passed the Fuyang River and approached Cangzhou. It's not that easy for them to transport grain from the country. Before leaving, the Khitan signed another 100,000 troops, and the people's strength in Youzhou has basically been drawn. We spend money on wars, don't the Khitans spend money?"

Fu Bi nodded. Of course he knew that the Khitan was not just a matter of lending this time. There were already fishing in Youzhou, and even the seeds were searched in many places. If he couldn't win, the Khitan wouldn't know how to live next year.

Du Zhongxiao stood up, walked to the door, and looked at the dim sky, and was a little dazed for a moment. The national strength of the Song Dynasty far exceeded that of the Khitan. In the past, the military was at a disadvantage, and the big reason was that it could not be effectively mobilized. After years of development, the national strength of both sides is now even more in the world, and the mobilization ability after the training has also increased, which is no longer a country of the same level as the Khitan.

This battle took so long, thanks to the huge territory of the Khitan. If the Khitan just defeated and could not completely wipe out its army, the Song army would still face endless troubles even if it recovered Yan Yun.

The vast area north of Yanshan Mountain is another mixed farming and pastoral land outside Hetao. Moreover, the place is vast, with many mountains, rivers and rivers, and it is developed relatively well. If you don’t occupy it, you don’t want to be safe. During this war, you can’t annihilate the Khitan army and let them retreat. The battle will probably take decades. If the Central Plains dynasty wants to be safe, it is impossible not to occupy these mixed farming and pastoral areas.

Now that there is a railway, as long as the war is over, one or two railways will be built from Youzhou, the nomadic people will lose their capital for noisy. From the time the Khitan army gathered in Youzhou, it has been nearly two months since the Song army has been tolerant and not to issue a hijacking force, in order to wipe out the army completely.

Does the Khitan have a population of 10 million? Du Zhongxiao estimated that it was roughly this number. In this battle, the Khitan mobilized 800,000 people, and it had reached its limit. If it failed, it might not be able to recover for decades. At that time, he could only be slaughtered by the Song Dynasty.

Meng Xuejiao led his troops to travel all the way and finally arrived outside the Ganning Army. At this time, several troops had arrived, all camped outside the city and separated around. Before Ma Huaide, the commander of the military commander, had not arrived, and the Privy Council did not allow the prefect to manage military affairs anymore, and was in a state of unowned leadership for a while.

The magistrate Zhang Binan came out of the city and immediately said to Meng Xuejue: "The leader of the regiment, Ma Taiwei has a document to come, and all the parts he has arrived are stationed outside the city. Your regiment must be stationed in Mumen Town on the south side. The people there have been brought into the city, and the town houses can be stationed for large troops."

Meng Xuejue bowed and thanked him and asked, "So far, have there been a Khitan army coming to attack the city?"

Zhang Binandao: "The Ganning Army is on the bank of the Yellow River. Although the river surface is frozen, it can pass through the army, but it is not conducive to combat. The Khitans have military camps on the other side of the river, with about 8,000 people, but there is no attack."

Meng Xuezhao nodded, thanked Zhang Binan, and ordered the army to go to Mumen Town.

Zhang Binan said: "I heard that the regiment leader came today, and a wine banquet was set up in the city to welcome the regiment leader. At this time, the five regiments of the Ganning Army had arrived, and they would have a glass of wine together, so you would be very familiar with each other. Otherwise, the Khitan army suddenly crossed the river and attacked, and it would be a good thing if they didn't know each other at that time."

Meng Xuezhao thought about it and agreed immediately. He ordered his subordinates to go to Mumen Town first under the leadership of the deputy commander. Let's rest in the town tonight, and wait until he passes tomorrow before making careful arrangements. Before leaving, he carefully instructed that this was on the front line and that the scouts must be sent out.

The Ganning Army is a military city, with a small city and a small population. These days, the surrounding people have been brought into the city, and it is suddenly very lively.

Meng Xuejiao followed Zhang Binan to check the city gate, and saw the bustling inside and the people on the streets were flowing endlessly. He couldn't help but say, "The Khitan army is not far away. Why is the city so prosperous? Are the military and civilians not afraid of the Khitans attacking?"

Zhang Binan said: "There are more than 3,000 defenders in this city, more than 100 cannons, and the city wall has been repaired several times. How can it be so easy to break? Moreover, Hejian Mansion is behind him, and there are 200,000 troops there, so who will be afraid? Besides, more than half of the people in the state have arrived in the city. If it is not more lively, something will happen. The leader of the regiment, most of these people are countrymen, and many of them have never entered the city in their lifetime, so it is difficult to manage."

Meng Xuezhao nodded and said nothing. The Ganning Army is a small place, with only one county in Ganning, with a population of about 4,000 households. In addition to Ganning City, there is also Diaotai Town in the north that hosts the people of the whole province. It is located in the lower reaches of the Yellow River, with a lot of floods and not much population at all. Most of the people in the territory usually live in villages, and Ding Zhuang is mostly archers.

After entering the government office, Zhang Binan brought Meng Xuejiao to the Houya and introduced him to five regiment leaders, Zhang Gan, Bi Deying, Yang Tu, Zhou Zhenghai and Wu Cheng. These five were all imperial guards for many years, studied in Hejian Mansion, and became regiment leaders after training. Although they were familiar with Meng Xuejiao, they all knew his name. They were the first in the military academy and were never defeated in training. They were the legend of the Hejian Mansion Military Academy.

Everyone greeted each other, and the five were very intimate and each took their seats.

After serving the wine and food, Zhang Binan said: "Ganning is a small place. It's really difficult to accommodate the people these days. There is no good wine and meat to treat you, don't be surprised!"

Yang Tu was the oldest and bowed to his hands: "You are polite to the magistrate. We are ordered to come here to fight against the hostilities and disturb the magistrate. How dare we think about it!"

After saying a few polite words, Zhang Binan said: "Ma Taiwei will arrive the next day. At that time, everything here must be ordered by the Taiwei. I hope that the Khitan will not attack and you will live there in the next two days. If there is any difficulty, you can tell me that I will try my best to send someone to arrange it. However, the army's food and grass will be arranged by the officials, and the imperial family will not be allowed to disturb the place. Don't blame me!"

After saying that, he raised his glass: "It's rare to get together, drink it!"

Everyone drank wine and ate meat. Although Zhang Binan was kind, the food and food were still very rich today. In the past few months, these places with not being remote, and food and grass have always been sufficient, so they don’t have to worry about food and drink.

After drinking a few glasses of wine, the words turned to war. Zhang Binan was a military general and was not unfamiliar with military affairs.

Bi Deying said: "I heard that the Khitan army had arrived at the city of Cangzhou and began to attack the city. Fortunately, Cangzhou City has been renovated many times, and now it is extremely solid. There are many artillery on the top of the city, and the Khitans are in vain."

Wu Cheng said: "Previously, the Khitan army attacked the Great Wall. After many days of attack, the city was unscathed. It can be seen that the Khitans are not good at siegeing the city. If they want to attack Cangzhou, they are afraid that it is very difficult. Moreover, when the Khitans arrived before the Khitans arrived, the court replenished a lot of food and supplies to Cangzhou. Even if they were surrounded for the first half of the year, they still think that Cangzhou is still as solid as a soup."

Everyone nodded together. Obviously, they were very confident in the war in the Khitan and were not afraid.

Zhou Zhenghai said to Meng Xuejue: "When scholars were in the military academy, they always had the best exams. In your opinion, what would happen to this war?"

Meng Xuezhao thought for a while and said, "In my opinion, the Khitans are not good at attacking cities. Their army comes south this time, and it may not necessarily be necessary to capture the city. What is more likely to be to attract our army to help, and both sides fight outside the city. Therefore, the Ganning Army may send a large army here. Except for the five armies we are now heading to lead the army to guard the city, the other four regiments are probably going to fight against the Khitan soon."

Everyone was surprised.

Zhou Zhenghai said: "If this is the case, why didn't the court send those armies? Just like Grand Marshal Liu, who once led his army to destroy Dangxiang, had countless military achievements. The other Grand Marshals also went through a big battle, so why didn't they come?"

Meng Xueshou said: "How could we generals know what Shuai Si is thinking? They must have something more important and cannot come. Anyway, when we come to the Ning army, we will probably fight fiercely with the Khitan, and it shouldn't be bad."

Although the rest of the people seemed to not pay attention to the coming war with the Khitan, Meng Xuejiao did not dare to neglect it. He could see clearly that the Khitans were indeed not capable of siegeing cities. He went south, afraid that they wanted to fight the army that the Song army came to aid. These people were the targets of the Khitans' attack. If they were not prepared, they would not know what would happen then.
Chapter completed!