He is as open-minded as a grain of salt, generous and simple in character, has both the talent of being a minister and an assistant, and the courage to govern. He loves his disciples and his son-in-law. It is really a blessing for me, and it is also a blessing for the Song Dynasty.
"Xiao Gao, do you know why my master called you back alone?"
"Master must have something important that he wants to give instructions to his disciples. Please speak out, master. Disciples will do their best."
"Xiao Gao, do you still remember that my teacher was greatly shocked during that military exercise?"
"It was then that I realized that Xiao Gao not only has great literary talent, but also has Sun Wu's plans."
"Ah, this..."
Gao Zhang's face froze, Master, it's over, it's obviously over, okay?
It's a pity that Master continued with a narcissistic look on his face, especially when the Jiangnan Zhu Family Rebellion occurred when he went to Jiangnan.
After being eliminated by Xiao Gao, you and Fan Zhongyan were the same type of people.
That means you can be a good general when you go out, and you can be a good minister when you go in.
Therefore, it was at that time that Weishi made up his mind to give you a bigger stage, that is, the northwest.
Moreover, you used clever strategies to weaken Naxixia's combat readiness capabilities using merchant methods, and even used it to vigorously support the Imperial City Division's intelligence system.
Using trade between merchants and other countries, the intelligence system of the Song Dynasty was penetrated into all aspects of Xixia.
Nowadays, Wang Fuye, the powerful detective of the Imperial City Division, has become a confidant around Li Qianshun, the leader of the Xixia Kingdom.
All these are enough to make the official Zhao Ji feel that his beloved disciple is indeed worthy of the metaphor of Sun Wu's plan.
This time Xixia encountered a major disaster that had not been seen in decades. According to this calculation, Xixia will definitely find a way to raise troops to loot the border towns in the northwest of the Song Dynasty.
"... Therefore, I would like to send you to the northwest to take charge of military affairs."
Sure enough, it finally came. It seems that the master has been holding back for so many years and has become somewhat uncontrollable and wants to mess with Xixia.
Just when Gao Zhang was thinking wildly, he heard Master Zhao Ji speak again.
"Xiao Gao, now that your strategies have been effective in Xixia, and now Xixia has suffered such a disaster, will we, the Song Dynasty, have a chance to regain our old land?"
"???" Gao Zhang was immediately shocked by how bold a person like his master was and how powerful his land was.
But facing the master's eager and expectant eyes, Gao Zhang really couldn't just tell him to stop dreaming.
His eyes moved and fell on the sand table that had not yet been removed. He looked at the balance of power between the enemy and us up there.
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Gao Zhang finally set his sights on the Xingqing Mansion, and had to admit that Xixia's protection of the royal capital, Xingqing Mansion, was very strict.
The twelve military divisions established, from south to north, tightly surrounded the Xingqing Mansion in the center.
Especially in the south and southeast areas, facing the Song Dynasty, eight military divisions with a total of 220,000 troops were arranged in an orderly manner.
In addition, troops were also deployed to guard the north and west of the Xixia territory.
On the contrary, there are not many troops in the Xingfu area. Of course, there are not many troops, which can only be said to be relative.
When Li Yuanhao of Xixia founded the country, the Xingfu Mansion had 70,000 troops. Later, as Xixia began to expand to the middle and surrounding areas, in order to defend against the two major enemies of the Liao Kingdom and the Song Dynasty.
The garrison of Xingqing Mansion is decreasing day by day. The information received before is that the garrison of Xingqing Mansion is only 20,000, but they are definitely the elite among the elite.
After all, whether it was the Song Dynasty or the Liao Kingdom fighting against the Xixia, they were all accustomed to fighting stupid battles, forming a stronghold, making camp step by step, and slowly advancing step by step.
And Xixia has long been familiar with it and has become numb to this routine.
The main purpose of the war between the two sides is not to eliminate how many living forces, but to occupy or destroy how many fortresses.
After more than a hundred years, there were many forts on the Song-Xia border, and everyone wanted to build the forts into each other's homes.
This mode of war has never changed.
This is also the reason why Xixia dared to station heavy troops near the country's borders instead of gathering them in the royal capital.
If there is a way, the soldiers and horses in the Xixia border town can be firmly contained. Then an elite force of a certain scale was sent directly into Xingqing Mansion.
Similar to the decapitation strategy from the rear, it may actually have miraculous effects.
However, how can we insert an elite force of a certain scale directly into Xingqing Mansion and destroy the political and economic center of the Xixia Kingdom?
Gao Zhang stood there blankly, muttering something in his mouth, while the official Zhao Ji waited patiently.
He even personally brought tea to Gao Zhang. He was even more confident than Gao Zhang himself.
This was his intuition. He intuitively felt that this beloved disciple could definitely come up with a solution to Xixia.
Just like the Liao Kingdom, he actually did so many things after his mission, and even got together with many Han officials in the Liao Kingdom.
As for Xixia, this beloved disciple had already prepared for a rainy day and had done so much work, not to mention that the most elite and capable Western Army of the Song Dynasty was gathered here.
#####
At this moment, Gao Zhang also had a general idea in his heart, that is, gunpowder, those gunpowder weapons that have been prepared for so long.
As long as it can be transported to Xingqing Mansion, it will definitely burn down the capital of Xixia.
But this is back to the difficulty at the beginning, how to transport it...
Gao Zhang's eyes wandered back and forth on the sand table for a long time. When he decided to use gunpowder, Gao Zhang felt that his ideas suddenly broadened a lot.
That is, if the soldiers from all sides move forward steadily to suppress the Xixia armies' Sichengzhai.
It is absolutely possible to control the strength of the Xixia military divisions, but the north is busy causing disasters, and there is no spare capacity to send reinforcements southward in a short period of time.
At this time, it is completely possible to take advantage of the Lingzhou River, a tributary of the Yellow River that is bound to freeze every severe winter and is large enough to carry people and horses.
Among the 50,000 elites who had been trained for a long time, 10,000 elite cavalry were supported along the river, and 40,000 elites advanced rapidly on the frozen Lingzhou River.
There is no need to cross mountains and ridges, and there is no need to attack cities and forts. With lightning speed, it can take at most one day to reach the gate of Xingqing Prefecture and Xiping Prefecture (Lingzhou), the companion capital of Xixia.
The current garrison in Xiping Mansion is only fifteen thousand troops, and most of them are old and weak.
"Master, I do have an idea, but this idea is not yet mature and needs to be considered carefully..."
Gao Zhang thought about it and felt that he still needed to discuss it with the veteran drivers who had fought in the northwest frontier for many years to see if it was feasible.
As soon as he finished speaking, he saw Master Zhao Ji actively standing beside him, raising his hand and pointing at the sand table, and said with high spirits.
"You should have a good talk with me first. I will give you a detailed review. Maybe I can help you."
The attitude of a teacher saying that you can do it, you can do it, and even if you can’t do it, you can do it.
"..."
(End of chapter)
