Du Zhongxiao walked out of the festival hall and ordered the sacrifice to be removed.

At the end of May, Du Zhongxiao was changed from the Jiedushi of Chongxin Army to the Jiedushi of Henghai Army, and Enshu looked at the ruler, which is often called "with footnotes". When the country was first established, the status of the Jiedushi was not high. He was later changed to the position of the Sanqi Changshou, and then changed to the Hanlin Scholar. The Jiedushi of the Jiedushi of the army was not as high as that of the Hanlin Scholar. It was said that the Jiedushi of the army was higher than that of the third rank. With footnotes and Enshu of the ruler, it was only under the prime minister and the Privy Councilor, and was generally led by the prime minister when he was in charge of his duties. The Jiedushi of Henghai was higher than that of Chongxin Jiedushi, and Du Zhongxiao was promoted to an official again.

The civil service was transferred to military service, and the system was changed to observation envoy, and the bachelor's resignation was replaced by the governor. Du Zhongxiao was promoted once in the last time to redeem military merits. The promotion was promoted again in a few months, which was a reward for the active cooperation in the reform of the military system. If the promotion could not be promoted, the official position would be compensated.

The governor gave the flags of the flags, dragon and tiger flags, festivals, guns, and leopard tails, and was collected in the hall next to the official hall for worship on the 26th day of the lunar month. This hall is the story of Water Margin. Gao Qiu framed Lin Chong to mistakenly enter the White Tiger Hall. Because the hall is generally located in the west of the General's Mansion, the White Tiger is the west, also known as the White Tiger Hall.

After leaving the festival hall, Du Zhongxiao returned to the government office and read some official documents casually. Soon, Zhao Zi came to see him.

While sitting down, Du Zhongxiao said, "How do you know about Hei Shui City in the past few months?"

Zhao Zi said: "When returning to the court, Heishui City is near Juyanhai, with a small city, which is very strong. The water and soil are abundant, and Dangxiang cannot help but move the Han people in Hexi to settle there, which is very prosperous. Heishui City is an important road in Tongmo North of several counties in Hexi, and can also reach the Western Regions. It was originally a place for merchants to gather and distribute. After the Dangxiang people occupied it, they cut off the commercial route, and now they are just reclamation and grazing. There are more than a thousand troops stationed in the city, and there are about three or four thousand households around it."

After saying that, Zhao Zi stretched his neck and whispered: "Master, do you really want to attack Hei Shui City? Now you are training troops everywhere, the time is not right."

Du Zhongxiao said: "Hequ Road's army was in Shengzhou and Shazhou. You are all elite soldiers, what are you afraid of! More than 5,000 troops under your command can't defeat Heishui City, which is stationed by a thousand men? After getting Heishui City, the access between Dangxiang and Mobei was cut off. Another thing is that several counties in Heishui City are not in the hands of the court, and the transportation of the countries in the Western Regions is cut off. After conquering Heishui City, the Western Regions will be opened."

Zhao Zi nodded and said, "From following Jingliu to Hequ Road, one battle after another. Jingliu civil servants don't want to love fighting so much."

Du Zhongxiao smiled and said, "What civil servant? I have changed my military position. - You don't have to guess randomly. This battle is not just that I want to fight, but the court also wants to fight. Dangxiang has sent envoys to the capital to discuss peace. The previous defeat was a big deal, and this peace talks were not the same as during the Qingli period. The coin was cancelled, Dangxiang gave up his subordinates, and left the imperial title. This is the minimum condition. In order to see if the Dangxiang people are really obedient, they want to offer Heishui City."

Zhao Zi said: "The others are easy to say, how can the Dangxiang people in Hei Shui City be willing? Once this city is presented, the Yan Military Supervisory Office will be gone. The land is thousands of miles wide and there are countless products. How can the Dangxiang people be willing to do it!"

Du Zhongxiao said: "Zhao Jiqian rebelled against Song and took Xiazhou, and Xingzhou and Lingzhou. Is the court willing to do so? There is nothing to do. If the Dangxiang people don't offer, then take it by themselves. Let them understand that there are benefits to offer the city themselves, and if they are captured, there will be nothing. Heishui City is hanging alone in the desert, unable to support many people, and it is difficult to transport food and grass there. The court uses it to establish its authority, which is a good place."

After the Battle of Hue, the Song Dynasty closed the trade with Dangxiang border and cut off trade. After persisting for several months, Dangxiang sent envoys to Beijing to request peace talks. They could not defeat the fight, and they could not stand the severance of trade and could only surrender.

Han Qi was in charge of the Privy Council, so how could Dangxiang be let go? Although the entire army is being reorganized, the strength to deal with Dangxiang is still enough. After discussing with Du Zhongxiao, in addition to paying tribute, he also had to offer a city to show sincerity in order to reopen the market. This requirement is not too much. Not to mention that Dangxiang was originally divided from the rebellion of the Song Dynasty, the core Xingzhou and Lingzhou were originally under the rule of the Song Dynasty. Don’t Xingling and Heishui City are lenient enough.

When the two Khitan emperors fought for the establishment, it was not easy to stimulate them. Du Zhongxiao's Hequ Road was mainly developed to the west. After taking down Heishui City, the door to the Western Regions was opened. For Du Zhongxiao, whether to give or not to Heishui City must be in his own hands.

The Western Regions connects to the Central Plains, with three lines: South, Middle and North. The southern line passes through Qingtang, passes through the Tubo region, and then enters the Central Plains after reaching Qinzhou. After the northern and central lines were cut off by Dangxiang, this is the only line to enter the Central Plains now. The central line passes through the Hexi region, which is densely populated and cannot be taken from Dangxiang now. The northern line bypasses the desert, passes through grasslands and oasis, and enters the Western Regions. The only node that is broken is Heishui City.

In Du Zhongxiao's memory, the railway channel between the Central Plains and the Western Regions passed through Lanzhou and entered the Hexi Corridor. In this era, due to technical conditions, this line was difficult to walk. From Fengxiang to Lanzhou, there were too many mountains along the way, technical difficulties, and lack of economic benefits. When you go to the northern line, you can avoid the desert area and make many roads easier to build. At this time, the land was wide and sparsely populated, and the north was not overdeveloped, and the precipitation conditions were good. Many deserts in later generations were not formed at this time. As long as you choose a good route, you can avoid quicksand and go straight for thousands of miles.

With the railway, how can we not build it to the Western Regions? As long as the railway arrives there, it will be much easier to recreate the style of the Han and Tang Dynasties.

After the Battle of Hue, Du Zhongxiao ordered Zhao Zi to collect information from Heishui City. The party and the people were hesitant to discuss peace talks, so they could only exert military pressure.

After carefully asking about the situation in Heishui City, Du Zhongxiao said to Zhao Zi: "Heishui City is about a thousand miles away from your troops. It is mainly muskets, and some light cannons, and two thousand people are rushing thousands of miles away. Can you do it? Don't worry, you can carry livestock, horses and camels, I will give you as much as you want!"

Zhao Zi thought for a while and said, "We marched north of Langshan, and there are water springs all the way. As long as there is enough livestock and no shortage of food and grass, it is not difficult."

Du Zhongxiao said: "Okay, when you go back this time, while preparing, you should hurry up and clear the uninsured tribes within hundreds of miles of your tribe. To the south of Langshan, those who dare to shed their horses are rebellious without the permission of the court! In the Hexi area, the Dangxiang people can only be in the city in the south."

Zhao Zi said this several times. Although the troops were insufficient and could not break through a series of cities of Dangxiang, other nomadic tribes had to take sides. In the vast grasslands and deserts, the power of the Dangxiang people should be expelled and seized their hinterland.

The Yellow River is here with a large bend, which divides several areas. The north is Hebei, and the place surrounded by the Yellow River is Henan, the west is Hexi, and the east is Hedong. The name of Hedong Road comes from this. The rivers and mountains of Xingqing Prefecture refer to the east of Helan Mountain and the west of the Yellow River. Du Zhongxiao's current purpose is to seize the Hexi land except for the southern corridor and the Xingling Plain.

This area is extremely vast, but due to historical and geographical reasons, it is sparsely populated. Within a radius of thousands of miles, after the White Horse Military Supervisor Division was eliminated, it was at most 10,000 to 20,000 tents. They either surrendered, or the Song army captured prisoners and sent them to the Hequ Road. The purpose was to eliminate the hinterland of Dangxiang and turn his territory into several connected strips to prepare for the final victory.

Du Zhongxiao said: "Now except for your troops, everyone else is selecting new troops. The generals have been transferred away, and the soldiers have been sent out, and all the soldiers have come are recruits. The only ones who can fight directly are your troops, and they spend more time behind them. I have reported to the court that Yang Wenguang was stationed in Shazhou and deployed for the eastern part of Hequ Road. After this battle, you stationed in Hezhou and deployed for the western part of Hexi Road. To the north is the Khitan's collapsed ridge Jiedushi. No matter what the attitude of the Tatars troops are, we are not good to provoke now. The only ones that can be explored are the Western Regions. When we have 30,000 troops, we have captured the territory of Hequ Road. Now we have more than 100,000 troops in our hands, so we can't defend here. At least, we must make the road to tribute to the Western Regions smoothly and we can't be blocked anymore."
Chapter completed!