Everyone looked closely and couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. The person who was speaking was originally the veteran Zong Ze. He is now serving as the Minister of War and also the commander in front of the palace.

If we talk about this general, he had fought a lifelong battle. He had fought against the Liao Kingdom in the north, the Xixia Kingdom in the northwest, the Nanyue Kingdom in the south, and the Jianghu forces in various places. He had basically fought against this two-legged race in the Song Dynasty, and he was brave and as fierce as fire. He had a high prestige in the army. Only the old generation's ruler, his husband, and his master.

He is over 60 years old now, but in fact, he should have retired a long time ago. He has also mentioned it several times but was rejected by Huizong. Now the world is not peaceful. He feels more at ease with a veteran of three dynasties.

Originally, Huizong frowned when he heard that. When he was about to get angry, he saw that Zong Ze's fire was gone. He knew that this old man was so angry that he was so angry that he had not been a minister of the Ministry of War. If he had not been a second-rank military governor or commander in front of the palace, why would he be just a third-rank official? But his loyalty is absolutely no question, and Huizong is indeed a "junior" in front of him.

Therefore, Huizong smiled and said, "Please calm down. What I said just now is not the old general. If there is any good way for the old general, please tell me quickly."

Zong Ze said seriously: "These bandits have developed a climate now, and the world is now full of thieves. It is definitely not what Grandmaster Cai Tong Shumi and others say about peace in the world. As an old minister, they went home to visit relatives last year and encountered two or three groups of thieves who were not open to their eyes. If the Liangshan bandits were actually rampant to the point of publicly challenging the court, it can be seen how arrogant they are. If they cannot be defeated quickly, the rest of the thieves will definitely follow the same thing, and then we will never have peace."

Huizong knew that Zong Ze would not lie. Hearing the Yan, he glared at Cai Jing, Gao Qiu, Tong Guan and his group, and then said: "The old general is reasonable, but the court is a little helpless when he wants to deal with these bandits at the same time. Gao Qing brought 50,000 or 60,000 imperial guards over the previous period and was defeated by Liangshan. This time, he wanted to deal with so many bandits at the same time, where would he go to mobilize troops?"

Huizong's question is not aimless. Although the imperial court claims to be 800,000 imperial guards, half of it has been sent to various places. After all, the world is not peaceful now. The remaining 400,000 Gao Qiu lost another 50,000 or 60,000 this time, and the rest have to be stationed in the capital and surrounding important towns. Huizong is not a brave emperor like Qin Huang and Han Wu. There is no one around to protect hundreds of thousands of people, but there is no sense of security at all. To successfully conquer Liangshan, oh no, there is definitely no one without 70,000 to 80,000 people in the Tang Dynasty, so this question is here.

Zong Ze naturally understood Huizong's nature and knew that if he wanted to call the imperial guards to guard the city, it would be like snatching food from a tiger's mouth. Huizong would never agree. Moreover, even if Huizong was willing to join forces to oppose the ministers, their residences were all in Tokyo. He immediately said seriously: "Your Majesty, the imperial guards should naturally not move the protection of the capital city, but don't forget that we still have 500,000 and 600,000 troops."

Huizong asked in confusion: "Is the veteran general going to use the Xiang army and even the township warriors of the county and the township? This is probably not possible. The Liangshan bandits are of great strength. The combat power of the Xiang army is not great enough. Even if the veteran general commands it himself, it is very risky."

Zong Ze smiled and said, "What the General of the Mo is naturally not the village warriors, but our border army. In recent years, the Liao Kingdom has not been very honest and has always created friction on the border. The 300,000 troops of the old Zhongliwei Gonggong, naturally should not be moved lightly. However, the Western Xia Kingdom has not made any noise for more than ten years. It would be a waste that Xiao Zhongliwei Gonggong's border army has been stationed all the time. The General of the Mo is suggesting that Xiao Zhongliwei Gonggong send a team to deal with the Liangshan bandits. The border army has always been brave and dealing with only Liangshan is like a soup and snow, which will inevitably be like a bamboo shoot."

It turned out that the imperial court now has two strong enemies on the border, namely the Great Liao in the north and the Western Xia in the Hetao region in the northwest. Since the founding of the Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin, the three kingdoms have fought each other for more than a hundred times. Due to various reasons, the Northern Song Dynasty has always lost more and won less. Later, it has been through various means such as marriage, tribute, and opening border cities. Although there have been frictions in recent years, there have been no large-scale battles.

However, the court did not dare to be careless. Therefore, in addition to the imperial guards, there were two border troops to deal with the Liao and Xixia countries. They were led by famous generals Lao Zong Jinglue Xianggong Zong Shidao and his brother Xiao Zong Shuzhong. Among them, there were more than 300,000 of Lao Zong’s husbands, and nearly 300,000 of Xiao Zong’s husbands, all of whom were elite on the battlefield.

Among them, the Liao Kingdom has a large territory and strong strength, and it is common for provoking and even radical branches to rob the border. The comprehensive national strength of the Western Xia is much worse than that of the Northern Song Dynasty. It is only because of the strong combat effectiveness of the soldiers to maintain a stalemate. Both sides have been in peace for more than ten years, so Zong Ze has proposed to call Xiaozhong to manage Xianggong's troops.

Of course, the Jurchen tribe in the rear of the Liao Kingdom has already increased its strength. Wanyan Abaoji has even established the Jin Kingdom to openly resist the Liao Kingdom. The Liao Kingdom has failed to send troops to suppress it several times, but the attention of the important officials in the imperial court is still on the Liao Kingdom. Even if there are spies to report the information there, no one pays attention to it.

When all the officials heard Zong Ze's words, they were talking a lot, and many people nodded and praised him. Huizong was also quite moved and immediately asked the Privy Councilor's Office to discuss Zong Ze's suggestions together.

Tong Guan, Zhao Guang and several other Privy members, as well as Qiu Ge, Su Yuanjing, Yang Jian and other Taiwei discussed on the spot. They knew that Huizong was really angry this time, so they didn't bother to restrain each other anymore, and they all carefully analyzed the situation. After a fierce discussion, Tong Guan reported to Huizong on behalf of everyone, saying that Zong Ze's plan was feasible, and Xiaozhong's subordinate office could send 80,000 troops, and then select 20,000 from the imperial guards to gather 100,000 to attack the Tang Kingdom.

Huizong was very happy to hear this. He issued an imperial edict on the spot and selected several imperial envoys to go to Xiaozhong to dispatch troops and generals. Then all the officials naturally flattered and pre-supported the victory in advance. The king and his ministers became happy again. The previous tension had long disappeared. Everyone seemed to have seen the grand occasion of the complete destruction of the Tang Dynasty a few months later.

Then the imperial envoy set off on the same day, but as soon as he left, a major news quickly passed back to the capital the next day, which shocked the whole court and the country were stunned. The news was only a mere five words - the invasion of the Xixia Kingdom!

Finally started to draw alien races, brothers, how do you feel?

(End of this chapter)
Chapter completed!