Chapter 317: Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun

"Foreign language learned, time to do serious business."

The next day, Zhang Jie woke up from a pile of pink arms and jade legs, and got up early as usual.

Although he learned Khitan several times last night,

Zhang Jie said that this was all a piece of cake and didn't consume much.

Zhang Jie beckoned to Master Ye Wen: I want to fight ten!

"Li Dequan, from now on, their supply will be calculated according to the beauties in the palace."

After washing up and dressing neatly, Zhang Jie, who became human-like again, ordered Li Dequan.

Since he had already slept with them, he naturally wouldn't pull up his pants and not admit it,

this due treatment still had to be given; he, Zhang Jie, couldn't do the heartless thing.

"This slave understands."

Li Dequan nodded seriously.

Although those few were captives before, since they entered His Majesty's bedroom,

they were the masters of this slave, so he couldn't be careless.

Besides, if these few had explosive luck, and were hit by His Majesty in one shot,

and became pregnant with a dragon son after this favor, that would be a step to the sky.

His Majesty's previous harem, whether it was Concubine Pan,

Concubine Li, or Concubine Yan, had no history of pregnancy; he didn't know if they were good at giving birth,

but these few had all given birth to heirs for the Tianzuo Emperor Yelu Yanxi, so such a probability was not small.

"Hmm."

"Go and summon Zhengdao and the others to the tent to discuss matters."

Zhang Jie gave a casual "Hmm" and continued to give orders.

Mere women, the important thing in front of him was to formulate a strategy for the Great Liao.

Rivers, mountains, and beauties, rivers, mountains, and beauties; if he had the rivers and mountains, was he afraid of not having beauties?

If he wanted to, he could completely sweep up the harems of Zhao Ji and Yelu Yanxi at this time.

"Your subjects pay respects to Your Majesty, long live, long live, long live!"

After a while, Wu Yong and the others had arrived at the tent and bowed to Zhang Jie.

"You ministers don't need to be so polite."

Zhang Jie waved his hand casually.

At the very beginning, he enjoyed such etiquette,

after all, which transmigrator didn't have such a dream of being alone and lonely?

Holding the power of the world in his hands, sleeping on the knees of beauties, these were the two greatest joys in the world.

But after a long time and many times, he was tired of it, wasn't he?

Zhang Jie walked to the huge map in the center of the tent that included the Great Gan, Western Xia, and Great Liao,

pointed to a key area marked on it, and said loudly:

"Next, the focus of our army is to capture this area.

Other places can be ignored, but this area, every pass, every city, I want them all!"

This area was none other than the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, which were ceded to the Great Liao by the Child Emperor Shi Jingtang over a hundred years ago!

"There is no wisdom greater than Your Majesty's.

As long as the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun are taken back by our Great Gan,

from now on, we in the Central Plains will not be so passive toward the nomadic tribes on the northern grasslands."

Wu Yong and the others expressed unanimous agreement with Zhang Jie's strategy.

The Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun were the dividing line between the Central Plains agricultural civilization and the northern nomadic tribes,

and their core strategic value lay in the dangerous terrain and dense passes,

which were the natural barriers for the Central Plains regime to resist the southward invasion of northern cavalry.

Losing this place, the Central Plains would open its gates, and the North China Plain would be flat,

with no danger to defend, directly threatening the core ruling area.

The Great Song had been exhausted by the threat of the Great Liao for the past hundred years,

and had to spend a lot of manpower and material resources to rebuild the defense line,

using "Water Great Wall," underground ancient battle roads, infantry-against-cavalry tactics, horse-protection laws,

afforestation, strengthening the Hebei defense line, and other measures to defend against Liao warhorses.

Water Great Wall: Digging pond water systems on the Hebei border, from Baoding in the west,

to Tanggu in Tianjin in the east, forming a "Heavenly Trap" barrier, effectively blocking Liao cavalry.

Underground ancient battle roads: Building a brick-paved tunnel network about 65 kilometers long in Xiong County, Bazhou, etc.,

setting up hidden soldier caves, sluice gates, etc., to hide and transport soldiers and monitor enemy movements.

Infantry-against-cavalry tactics: Developing long-range weapons such as the Shenbi crossbow (range 522 meters),

bed crossbows (range 1536 meters);

adopting the overlapping formation method, layering long-spear soldiers and crossbowmen to coordinate and reject horses.

Afforestation: Planting dense forests of elm and willow on a large scale on the border to limit cavalry mobility,

and using paddy fields and field canals to create fracture zones to slow down Liao cavalry.

Hebei defense line: Stationing heavy troops in strategic locations such as Dingzhou and Great Ming Prefecture,

constructing city defense systems such as urn cities and horse faces, forming the first and second defense lines.

All these measures effectively resisted the iron hooves of the Liao army,

but the consumption of this was simply staggering.

Moreover, the Yanyun region had been an excellent horse-producing area since ancient times,

which could provide key resources for the Central Plains dynasty to form cavalry legions.

After losing it, the Song Dynasty could only rely on infantry to resist northern cavalry, and its military strength was severely limited.

To supplement warhorses, the Song Dynasty had to implement the notorious horse-protection law,

which implemented a system of people raising government horses, distributing the horse-raising task to commoner families to supplement the shortage of warhorses.

The common people were no match for the government and were simply pitted to the point of no return.

It can be said that losing the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, the Central Plains dynasty not only lost a shield to protect itself,

but also lost a spear (cavalry) used for attack, and could only be beaten without fighting back.

"It's just a pity for other places."

Looking at the vast territory of the Great Liao, generals like Lin Chong showed regret.

These were all military achievements of expanding territory, how could they, the military generals, endure it?

This was simply a lecher who had been abstinent for ten years,

seeing a peerless beauty with a devilish figure who had already taken off her clothes, was waiting for him to take her,

but was told that he could only look at her, how could it be anything but depressing?

"There will be opportunities in the future, you all endure for now."

Zhang Jie spoke to appease the generals who were eager to fight.

He was also drooling over the territory of the Great Liao, but how big the stomach was determined how big the bowl was.

With the Great Gan established for less than a few months, elite troops no more than tens of thousands,

and the remnant forces of Western Xia and Great Liao eyeing them covetously from the outside,

and internally, Fang La was rebelling in the south, if he really wanted to play the trick of a snake swallowing an elephant,

and swallow the Great Liao in one bite, he would be afraid of being stuffed to death.

At present, the sausage-cutting tactic was undoubtedly more suitable.

"We understand."

Generals like Lin Chong nodded in understanding.

As high-level military officials, they knew the strength of the Great Gan very well;

capturing cities and seizing land was easy, but they didn't have enough manpower to maintain public order,

and by then, just a security war would be enough to make them overwhelmed.

The regret just now was just their natural pursuit of war and territory as military generals. ===== CHAPTER 318 =====

The regret just now was merely their natural pursuit of war and territory as military generals.