Chapter 140 The Game Behind the Battle of Lingzhou

Yang Wenyan came back specially after taking leave from Ningyuan Hou Gu Yan for Yang Wenyuan's marriage.

If we take into account the round trip time, we will have to set off this afternoon.

Yang Yuqing and his wife, Yang Wenyuan and others present knew that Yang Wenyan would only return after the Great Zhou had fought a great war with Western Xia. Even though the Yang family had been in the army for generations, everyone still worried about Yang Wenyan.

After all, swords are merciless on the battlefield, and if you are not careful, something may happen that will bring pain to your loved ones and joy to your enemies.

Yang Wenyan showed no fear at all, but was eager to try, and said with a smile:

"Father, mother, don't worry about me. This national war is already on the verge of being launched. Not to mention that if this war is successful, it will be a great boost to our Great Zhou army. My Yang family has been blessed by the emperor and the people for generations. I have been practicing martial arts and strengthening my body since I was a child, and it is for this day. It is time to repay the country with my life!"

Mrs. Chen's face was still full of worry, but Yang Yuqing looked relieved. He nodded slowly and firmly, patted Yang Wenyan on the shoulder, and said in a deep voice:

"Seeing that you are so determined, I am very relieved. You are fighting for your lives outside, so I can only work for the welfare of the soldiers in the capital."

After saying that, Yang Yuqing asked Madam Chen to take Hualan and Yang Rujin to the back to have some private conversation.

Madam Chen knew that Yang Yuqing was going to talk about serious matters, so she stood up first and took the arms of Hualan and Yang Rujin. Hualan also understood, so she immediately bowed and left with Madam Chen.

After the people left, there was silence for a moment, and Yang Yuqing suddenly sighed:
"At the court meeting a few days ago, the emperor had already decided on the general rules for the Lingzhou battle. Even though I argued with the Duke of Lingguo and the Earl of Chengping, the order to transfer the Shaanxi Army was still rejected by the emperor and the civil officials. Many ranks of the imperial guards remained in place, and the Shaanxi Army remained on guard..."

Yang Wenyuan also knew the news, but he was not surprised at the decision made by the government. He just chuckled and said:

"The emperor is old now and is not willing to make trouble. If it weren't for Xixia's excessive actions this time, and if you uncles hadn't made consecutive reports, I'm afraid this war wouldn't have started."

Yang Wenyan remained silent, and Yang Yuqing sighed softly:
"The civil officials said that the Hebei Imperial Guard and the Central Imperial Guard can only stay behind to prevent the Liao Kingdom from taking advantage of the opportunity to start a war. However, according to various intelligence obtained by the Imperial City Department and the Privy Council's Speed ​​​​Room, not to mention that the Liao Kingdom has suffered heavy losses in the past few years, it seems that they are now a little busy with their own affairs, so how can they care about us?"

Although an alliance was signed between the two countries, the Great Zhou still sent spies to the Liao Kingdom as usual. However, because they were afraid that the Liao Kingdom would discover them, they did not send many spies and they did not go deep enough, so they only got some general information about the Liao Kingdom.

However, through various channel analysis, Yang Yuqing and others immediately discovered some tricks.

They found that the Liao Kingdom frequently mobilized its troops, mostly to the Jurchen tribes in the east.

However, because the intelligence work did not dare to be done too deeply, the officials of the Zhou Dynasty did not know what the Liao Kingdom was trying to do.

But one thing is obvious -

The Liao Kingdom was also preparing for a war in the east. Even if the Zhou Dynasty and the Western Xia went to war at this time, the Liao Kingdom should not have the energy to interfere.

But the government doesn’t care about that.

He was old and had no heirs, so he just wanted to fully enjoy his leisure time in the limited time he had and was unwilling to make any more efforts. Therefore, it was impossible for him to mobilize all the main forces to fight against Western Xia.

Besides, Gu Yankai now commands the Western Army, which accounts for a quarter of the country. How can he not be satisfied? He cannot suppress them even if there are more troops.

Moreover, there are many garrison troops to support them. Why do they need to draw on the Hebei Imperial Army and the Central Imperial Army? This is not a national war...

But the truth was beyond the expectations of the civil officials and the government. Seeing that the Liao Kingdom had just suffered a blow and was hastily plunged into the quagmire of war, the military generals secretly wanted to have a big fight with the Western Xia.

However, it was not a defensive war, nor a blitzkrieg, but a tug-of-war that would last for several years. The purpose was to train the troops and raise them... so as to enhance the status of the generals in the court.

As the number of literati increased, the status of military generals in the court deteriorated.

Even the nobles are not as glorious as they used to be in recent years. Their identities remain unchanged, but their status has declined a lot.

If there is no protracted war to increase the sense of crisis among the officials of the Zhou Dynasty, how can the status of military generals be improved?

How can military virtue be abundant if military generals have no status?

It just so happened that Xixia jumped out at this time and began to provoke near Lingzhou. It was like someone giving you a pillow just as you were dozing off.

Therefore, Yang Yuqing first proposed the idea of ​​​​going to war with Western Xia.

Not only fight, but also a big fight!

Anyway, the Great Zhou can afford to recuperate over the years.

As for when to stop?

According to the ideas of the military leaders, they will stop when the Liao Kingdom stops.

This move would not only put a pressure on Western Xia, but also improve their own status, so the nobles actively proposed to pull all the main forces from various places to Lingzhou, so that the emperor would not be able to stop halfway and would have to continue fighting.

But I don't know whether his intention was seen through, or simply because the civil officials and the emperor did not want to fight, so in the end they agreed to the condition of withdrawing troops from various places.

Xiangjun...

What is the use of the Xiang Army?

The elite troops in the Xiang army had long been transferred to various imperial guards, and the rest were just rookies. Could they defeat the others by relying on numbers?
But judging from the current results, it seems acceptable?

We have replaced the main army with local garrison troops. Since they cannot match in quality, how about making up for it in quantity?

However, Lingzhou is no longer a good place to gain military merit and qualifications, but has truly become a meat grinder.

"Then are the government officials and civil officials also going with the flow? These few years are the critical time for the succession, so they simply put all the energy of the military officers into the battlefield in Lingzhou, and have no energy to get involved in Bianjing..."

Yang Wenyuan turned to look at Yang Yuqing and couldn't help but think secretly in his heart.

"What about the generals? When the previous emperor was fighting for the position of crown prince, several families were stripped of their titles. I'm afraid they still remember it clearly. They probably don't want to get involved in this dispute now..."

To be honest, the generals' plan was somewhat related to Yang Wenyuan.

When Yang Wenyuan was chatting with Yang Yuqing, he casually mentioned:
"If you want to improve your status, you still have to find a place where your status can be truly put to good use. It just so happens that my Great Zhou is in a strong position. Let's find a place to fight for a few years, let the civil officials realize our importance, and train the troops at the same time. Isn't that wonderful?"

Who would have thought that after a while, Lingzhou had some friction with Xixia, and the generals exaggerated it...

Yes, it is an exaggeration!
(End of this chapter)