The envoys from Qin and Tang were just a brief interlude. Ouyang Shuo quickly composed himself.
"There are only two paths before us. Either we teleport the army to Luo Feng City and help the Great Jin defend against the enemy, or we directly wage war against the Great Zhou and open up a path to the Central Plains Province. How should I choose? Minister, please advise. "
Jia Xu stepped forward and said, "I do not agree with reinforcing the Great Jin dynasty."
"Reason."
"Rations." Jia Xu went straight to the crux of the problem. "The Great Jin dynasty only has one province. The East River Province is not a major grain-producing province, so its rations reserves are limited. In addition to supporting the logistics of the Leopard Tao Army, they also have to support the Great Jin's Blazing Flame Army and Imperial Guards. The rations are basically at their limits. "
"To repel the Great Zhou army, a conservative estimate would require the imperial government to send at least 500,000 troops. If the war is unfavorable and drags on, the consequences will be unimaginable once a food crisis erupts. "
"If I were the Great Zhou, I would definitely use delaying tactics and use their advantage in rations to engage in a prolonged stalemate with our army, so as to reap the benefits."
"Also, the entire wilderness is currently experiencing a downpour with no signs of stopping. It is already a foreseeable fact that the first season's rice and wheat production has plummeted."
"Based on the above points, I do not agree with reinforcing the Great Jin."
Ouyang Shuo fell silent.
He never expected that the first to fall victim to Gaia's six-year food crisis would be the Great Xia, who was the most prepared. The Great Xia had massive amounts of rations, but they were unable to transport them to the battlefield.
In the middle were the enemies of the Great Xia.
"In that case, we can only attack forcefully." Ouyang Shuo readily accepted the advice. "South or north?"
Attacking forcefully was also called besieging Wei to save Zhao.
Jia Xu replied, "Tactically, the north and south have their advantages and disadvantages. If we attack from the north, once we take down the Great Qing, we can directly threaten the Great Zhou capital, Handan, and force the Great Zhou to retreat. "
"If we attack from the south, we will face the combined forces of the Great Song and Great Ming. The advantage is that if we attack from the south, be it troop deployment or rations guarantee, it will be very smooth. And once we break through the southern defense line and attack the Central Plains Province, not only can we rendezvous with the Leopard Tao Army, we can also establish a rations transportation route to the Great Jin. "
To put it simply, the northern strategy was simple. It was a true besieging besiegement to besiegement. The tactics in the south were complicated and difficult to implement, but the rewards were great.
Once the rations transportation route was opened, Great Xia could use this opportunity to wage an all-out war with Great Zhou, or rather, the Six Nations Alliance. This war would determine the new structure of Huaxia.
From Jia Di's words, it wasn't hard to tell that he was leaning towards the south.
The problem was, did Great Xia have the power to deal with both Great Song and Great Ming at the same time? In order to deal with the million imperial guards before the fall of the Great Jin Dynasty, Great Xia had to mobilize at least 1.5 million soldiers.
Was Great Xia ready for this?
Ouyang Shuo didn't rush to a conclusion. He looked at Zhang Liang and said, "Zi Fang, tell me your opinion."
In terms of strategy, Ouyang Shuo trusted Zhang Liang more.
Zhang Liang did not decline. He and Jia Jia were in charge of different levels of consultation, so there was no problem of competition. "Your humble servant is thinking, if the Great Zhou Dynasty is unable to take down the Great Jin Dynasty this time, how will it fulfill its promise to the Song and Ming Kingdoms?"
Ouyang Shuo's eyes lit up. He followed Zhang Liang's train of thought and said, "With Di Chen's character, he will most likely act shamelessly. But with the strength of the Song and Ming Dynasties, it won't be easy to play around. "
"Your Majesty is wise!"
Zhang Liang complimented Ouyang Shuo before saying, "The matter in the south should be delayed rather than rushed. If we force the enemy into a corner, it will only cause the already unstable alliance of the six countries to become even more tightly united. "
"The matter in the north should be rushed rather than delayed. If the Mongols suddenly end their hibernation, a Western Turkic Khaganate might not be enough to satisfy Genghis Khan's appetite. A war could break out in the Vast Gold Province at any time. "
"If we don't completely deal with the Great Qing Dynasty before the Mongols make their move, the northern border will be in an extremely difficult situation. It will become a hot potato for the imperial court."
Zhang Liang's words shocked all the officials present.
Only now did they realize that if Great Xia wanted to unify China, not only would they have to face a large number of enemies, they would also have the strength to contend against Great Xia.
When facing a group of enemies, they could not afford to be careless.
Originally, when Jia Xu was analyzing the pros and cons of the north and south, Bai Qi, Sun Bin, and the other generals were leaning towards the southern battlefield. They had long been looking forward to the decisive battle with the Great Zhou Dynasty.
Now that they thought about it, the matter was not so simple.
"There is another benefit to dealing with the Great Qing, and that is to obtain the Nine Province Cauldrons in the capital. Together with the estimated Nine Province Cauldrons in Luoyang and Chengdu, the day when the Nine Province Cauldrons will gather is not far away," Zhang Liang added.
When Zhang Liang finished speaking, Sun Bin said, "Pavilion Elder Zhang's words are reasonable, but this general has a worry."
"Speak!"
"Without reinforcements, how long can the Great Jin last against the Great Zhou army? Once war breaks out, can the Great Jin guarantee the rations of the Leopard Army? If their rations are cut off, what will happen to the Battle of Luoyang? What will happen to the Leopard Army? "
As the second-in-command of the southeast war zone, Sun Bin had to consider the interests of the war zone.
Attacking the Great Han was a mission that the southeast war zone had accepted. If it was messed up, it would be a humiliation for the entire southeast war zone. This was something that Sun Bin did not wish to see.
Now that the war zone's commander-in-chief, Han Xin, was fighting on the frontlines, Sun Bin had to take responsibility.
"This truly is a problem." This time, Ouyang Shuo did not seek the opinion of any of the ministers and said straightforwardly, "When enemies meet on a narrow path, the brave will win. Now that the war has developed to this point, we cannot be afraid of the slightest thing. We must bring out the spirit of conquering the world. Since rations are limited, the battle of Luoyang cannot be dragged on. We must think of a way to end it as soon as possible. "
"Wenhe, think of a way to end the battle of the Leopard Army quickly." Ouyang Shuo called out Jia Xu's name.
Ouyang Shuo's improvisation was truly a test of a strategist's ability to adapt to changing circumstances. Without some ability, one would be rendered speechless by Ouyang Shuo's questions.
Fortunately, Jia Xu was a top-notch strategist.
As a strategist, his foundation was not only reflected in the imperial court memorials. In this aspect, a strategist and an actor were very similar, and that was, 'ten minutes on stage is ten years of work off stage'.
How to put it?
Take Jia Xu as an example. As the number one strategist in the army, he might not personally participate in every military operation of the Great Xia, but he would definitely follow the entire process and make use of the intelligence agency's information to do his homework.
His goal was to have an accurate grasp of the overall situation and constantly deduce the battle situation, simulating countermeasures so that he could either actively or passively propose them for the Emperor to make a decision.
This was the role of a strategist.
It was not something that could only be improvised on the spot when it came to the imperial court.
No matter how formidable a person was, it was impossible for him to come up with an accurate strategy without understanding the situation at the frontlines. That was nonsense, and it was impossible for it to appear in reality.
Just like Zhuge Liang in the Romance of China, he seemed to be living in seclusion, but in reality, he had a clear view of the situation in the world. Otherwise, how could he come up with the highly constructive Longzhong Couplet?
Thus, Jia Xu wasn't nervous in the slightest when faced with the Emperor's question. He sorted out his thoughts and replied, "If we use conventional tactics in the street battle of Luoyang, it will definitely take a long time. The rations crisis will indeed erupt like what General Sun Bin has proposed."
When Sun Bin heard this, he looked at Jia Xu gratefully.
"If we want to resolve it quickly, we can only use unconventional tactics. Given Luoyang's conditions, we can use assassination tactics. If either Emperor Wu of Han or Wei Qing dies, the Han army will definitely fall into chaos.
"We can either burn down the granaries in Luoyang and cause the morale of the Han army to collapse. Or we can start a massacre and spread fear, causing Luoyang to fall into chaos. Or we can use poison. It's currently the rainy season, and it's possible to use the rain."
"…"
Jia Xu's strategies made all the officials' scalps go numb.
Poison warriors were indeed poison warriors, and they could come up with all sorts of vicious tactics. But thinking about it, given Great Xia's image in China, there were some tactics that couldn't be carried out.
For example, Great Xia definitely wouldn't carry out a massacre or poison.
As for burning down the granaries, given Wei Qing's cautiousness, he would definitely guard the granaries tightly. Even if the Mountainsea Guard had many spies in Luoyang, there was no chance of success.
Or rather, the chances of success were next to none.
Eliminating all the other options, only assassination seemed feasible, but that was also the most difficult tactic. There was no need to mention Emperor Wu of Han. He lived in the imperial palace and was heavily guarded. Not to mention assassination, they probably wouldn't even be able to meet him.
As the commander of the Han army, Wei Qing would always have his personal guards by his side, and it would be extremely difficult to assassinate him.
No matter how they thought about it, there was no chance of success.
While the ministers were worrying, Ouyang Shuo seemed to be deep in thought. He thought of a business partner. It was the super guild that had betrayed Great Xia once, [Listening to the Rain Pavilion]. It was also the only guild that remained in the capital.
Coincidentally, the Rain Listening Tower was stationed in Luoyang.
Thinking of this, Ouyang Shuo said, "Let me make arrangements for Luoyang later. Right now, we should discuss which troops to send to the north to attack the Qing army."
Although the Qing army had only sent 200,000 imperial guards to guard the borders of Luoyang, they had to uproot the entire Qing army if they wanted to threaten Handan City.
Otherwise, Jingdu would be like a nail that was hammered into the Great Xia army's path. It could cut off the Great Xia army's supply route at any time.
If they wanted to threaten Handan City, Jingdu was a hurdle that couldn't be avoided.
Furthermore, Ouyang Shuo wanted to use this opportunity to destroy the Qing army in one fell swoop and establish a new structure in the northern borders.
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