Going north to Mingsha to attack the coalition forces?
Or go south to Huanzhou and continue to Koubian?
After pondering for a long time, Li Deming could not make up his mind.
After thinking about it, he couldn't help but slowly cast his eyes to the east, to Daliao.
The Khitan has always been the object of dependence of the Xiazhou Li family. Before going on an expedition, he would naturally not forget to send envoys to the Liao Kingdom.
This mission to the Liao Kingdom was firstly to seek marriage, and secondly to unite the Liao Dynasty against the Song Dynasty.
More than half a month ago, he received news from the Liao Kingdom. Regarding the marriage, the Liao Kingdom's attitude was very ambiguous.
There was neither a flat yes nor a categorical rejection.
According to the envoys' reports, the Lord of Liao seemed to have been persuaded by the Song envoy Xue Kui.
Therefore, the Lord of Liao was wavering.
Upon learning this, Li Deming's heart suddenly went cold.
Although he doesn't think highly of Song Ting in his heart, Song Ting's strength cannot be underestimated. The Song army's combat power is not good, but it can't stand up to a large number of people.
In addition, a large number of forts were built in Huanzhou, Yanzhou, Qingzhou, Zhenrongjun, Weizhou and other places along the border.
If Li Deming knew the war theories of later generations, he would definitely be able to accurately describe Song Ting's defensive strategy.
Generally speaking, there are three forms of defensive warfare, namely forward defense (front defense), defense in depth and elastic defense.
The main purpose of forward defense is to keep the enemy outside the country's borders, and the Great Wall is a typical forward defense measure.
However, the cost of building the Great Wall was too high. Even if the Song Dynasty government had money, it could not afford to build a new Great Wall in the vast northwest region.
After all, there isn't that much terrain to take advantage of.
Therefore, the strategy adopted by the Song Dynasty in the northwest region was a model that combined depth defense and elastic defense.
Defense in depth, that is, continuous resistance, requires the enemy to pay corresponding resistance and price every time he captures a place.
A large number of forts were built along the border, which could not only serve as a base for border inspections, but also attract some familiar households who had taken refuge in the Song Dynasty.
In addition, some forts can also serve as temporary trading places.
During the war, these forts transformed and became the strongholds of the Song army along the border. A large number of forts were connected together to assist each other in defense, which could effectively block the enemy's attack.
These fortresses are like nails. If the enemy turns a blind eye, the garrison in the fortress will instantly move from the front to the enemy's rear.
If there is a certain number of troops behind enemy lines, whether they are harassing logistics or gathering forces to attack the rear, the cost will be unbearable for the combatants.
Therefore, these fortresses need to be uprooted. Even if they do not need to be all uprooted, most of them need to be destroyed.
And this happens to be part of elastic defense.
What is elastic defense?
The main purpose of choosing elastic defense is to prevent troops from being dispersed on a long front line and to avoid falling into a protracted war of attrition.
Having the mobility of the attacker and the convenience of local operations at the same time is the greatest advantage of elastic defense.
Of course, elastic defense is not without cost.
Placing the enemy at the national border is the greatest danger.
Where the enemy would attack and what they would do were completely uncontrollable. Therefore, Song Ting could only give up a large area of land near the fort.
These lands were either abandoned or given to familiar households along the border.
This is how Cao Wei obtained the land from the Tibetan tribe before. If he was not on the front line along the border, where would he have given the land to the Tibetan tribe?
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Khitan.
Zhongjing, Dadingfu.
During the recent period, Yelu Longxu (Liao Shengzong) was very confused.
Shengzong of the Liao Dynasty was deeply influenced by Confucianism. When he was a child, he could not let go of scrolls, and he could write poems at the age of ten. As one of the admirers of Confucian culture, he could not bear to bully the orphans and widowed mothers of the Song Dynasty.
Since the Chanyuan Alliance, the Song Dynasty and the Great Khitan have become brotherly states. Since Zhenzong is older, Zhenzong is the elder brother and Liao Shengzong is the younger brother.
When Zhenzong ascended the throne, Liao Shengzong still sighed.
Before we got married, the emperor's brother and I were fighting each other's battles, and we were almost brothers. For more than twenty years, the emperor's brother was promoted to Xia. He was born in the same month as me and was only two years older. How long will it take for me?
Later, Liao Shengzong also built a prayer dojo specifically for Zhenzong to pray for hundreds of days.
Therefore, overall, Liao Shengzong himself still highly recognized the Chanyuan Alliance.
According to seniority, the current official of the Song Dynasty is his imperial nephew.
If he accepted the Xiazhou Li family's request for help and sent troops south, not to mention violating the previous covenant, the Liao Shengzong would not be able to pass the test just because of the adult bullying the child.
However, from the perspective of the country, Xiazhou Li family had to save it.
Without the involvement of the Li family in Xiazhou, the Song court could concentrate all its forces on various places in Hebei.
After pondering for a long time, Liao Shengzong finally decided to ask his ministers for their opinions first.
When it comes to the Southern Dynasty, it is of course best to summon the officials from the south to discuss it.
The official system of the Liao Kingdom was divided into north and south. Among them, the official system in the north was exclusive to the Khitan people, while the official system in the south was a Han official system.
Use the national system to control the Khitans, and use the Han system to treat the Han people.
In fact, this is the ancient version of one country, two systems.
About half an hour later, Lu Demao, the Prime Minister of Nanfu, hurried to the palace.
Lu Demao's ancestors were from Dongping. During the Five Dynasties, a branch of the Lu family in Dongping moved to the land of Yanyun to avoid war.
The Liao Kingdom also had imperial examinations. As Han Chinese, the Lu family actively participated in the imperial examinations.
By the time of Lu Demao's generation, great achievements had been made. In the twelfth year of Liao Shengzong's reign (995), Lu Demao and his younger brother Lu Defang took part in the imperial examination at the same time.
Lu Demao won the first prize in one fell swoop and passed the first prize.
Since then, Lu Demao's official career has been prosperous, and he has successively served as the third envoy, deputy privy envoy, etc., and is still the prime minister of Nanfu.
Under the system of the Liao Kingdom, officials with Han origins became prime ministers of the Southern Prefecture, and their official career was almost complete.
"See Your Majesty!"
After entering the palace, Lu Demao bowed and bowed to Liao Shengzong.
"Lu Qing is always quick-witted. In your opinion, how should I, the Khitan, handle the affairs of the Southern Dynasties?"
"I think that we must never agree to join forces with the Song Dynasty to attack Xia!"
Although Lu Demao is a Han Chinese, his family has been in the Liao Dynasty for several generations. As the saying goes, eating the emperor's salary and being loyal to the emperor is a matter of loyalty.
His first consideration was of course the interests of the Liao Kingdom.
The land of Song Dynasty is just my hometown.
If it was a trivial matter, he wouldn't mind speaking up for the Southern Dynasty, but when it came to major military and national affairs, he would not accommodate the Southern Dynasty in everything.
"oh?"
Liao Shengzong smiled slightly: "How do you understand Lu Qing's intention?"
"Although the Emperor of the Song Dynasty is young, from the perspective of my ministers, he has great plans. In the future, the Emperor of the Song Dynasty will most likely inherit the legacy of his ancestors and conquer Yanyun again!"
Lu Demao has always paid close attention to the new emperor of the Song Dynasty.
At first, he thought that Empress Dowager Liu E would be in charge of power alone, just like Empress Dowager Xiao in this dynasty.
After all, Liu E had the late emperor's edict, and her name was justifiable.
However, things developed far beyond expectations. The little emperor of the Song Dynasty frequently 'interrupted' the affairs of the court and seemed to have gained the right to govern.