After Li Yi ascended the throne, everything was simple, in order to save financial resources, he temporarily canceled all ceremonies, and even the imperial study was the old imperial study left by his father.

In the imperial study, Li Yi was discussing the next step with the new right minister Han Yun and the left minister Zhang Yansheng.

Han Yun said slowly: "The current situation is obviously that the enemy is strong and I am weak, Zhu Zhu has the upper hand, we should face the reality and take a defensive position, Weichen thought about it all night, and there are three suggestions for Your Majesty to consider." ”

He bowed to Zhang Yansheng again and said, "Please also ask Zhang Xiangguo to be right!" ”

Li Yi was overjoyed and said: "Han Xiangguo, please speak!" ”

"The first suggestion is to send a large army to defend Xiazhou and Hanzhong, and take advantage of natural dangers to prevent Zhu Zhu's army from entering Sichuan; The second suggestion is to vigorously build a naval army to ensure the smooth waterway between Jiangnan and Bashu, and also to prevent Zhu Zhu's army from continuing to march south of the Yangtze River; The third suggestion was to contact Guo Song, the envoy of Hexi Jiedu, and ask him to contain Zhu Jun from behind. ”

Zhang Yanxiang frowned and said: "I fully support the first plan and the second plan, but I am a little puzzled by the third plan, why should I ask Guo Song to contain Zhu Zhu from behind, is this request necessary?" Isn't he a minister of the court? ”

Han Yun said lightly: "Zhang Xiangguo, we have to face the reality, we have lost contact with Hexi for almost three years, Guo Song led the army to the west and captured Longyou, which thing has been discussed with the imperial court?" Including his appointment of officials, reform of the official system, and never told the court, we know nothing, it is undeniable that Guo Song is still nominally a Tang minister, but if we really order him with a condescending attitude, I am afraid that it will be us who will be embarrassed in the end. ”

Zhang Yansheng was about to oppose again, but Li Yi waved his hand, "We can't take care of Guo Song's affairs yet, don't waste your energy on him for the time being, I think the third point can not be considered in a hurry, but we can consider Liu Qia and Ma Sui, and recall the two of them together with the army to Chengdu and reuse them, what does Han Xiangguo think?" ”

Han Yun pondered for a moment and said: "The two of them should stay in Jiangnan, one is in Jiangnan East Road, the other is in Jiangnan West Road, plus Chen Shaoyou's Huainan Road, we still have the power to rebound, but we need to accumulate strength." ”

Zhang Yansheng said: "Weichen is also in favor of leaving the two of them in the east and west of the Yangtze River, and Zhu Zhu has already turned his face with Li Xilie, Zhu Jun's next target must be Li Xilie, we can use this opportunity to strengthen combat preparedness and build warships." ”

Li Yi nodded again and again, he deeply felt that this was a virtuous minister, and Lu Qi was really a traitor and misguided country.

"The two Xiangguo are right, let's discuss internal affairs again and see if there is any other way to open up sources and reduce expenditures?"

.........

The time gradually came to the end of February, these days the business of Xiazhou Bafang Restaurant has become extremely deserted, there are not a few customers at the end of the day, there is a military camp next to Bafang Restaurant, the restaurant is mainly for military business, and the cold business also means that the military camp has changed.

That night, in an attic on the top of the restaurant, a guy was staring at the barracks below without blinking, the barracks were less than fifty steps away from them, and the movement in the barracks could be clearly seen from the attic, which was also an important reason why the internal affairs camp chose this restaurant.

Shopkeeper Jia came over, slapped the guy, and scolded with a smile: "I didn't see you so serious, are you peeking at Widow Wang again?" ”

"Shopkeeper, that's your hobby, I don't have it, I feel that the barracks are a little abnormal today."

"What anomaly?"

Shopkeeper Jia hurriedly stretched his neck to take a closer look, looked at it for a long time and said, "It's a little wrong!" How is there no one. ”

"There's no one left, and the soldiers on the watchtower are gone."

"That's not right!"

Shopkeeper Jia suddenly saw it, and he pointed to the left, "It's a martial arts arena over there, and it's assembling!" ”

The men also saw that on the martial arts arena on the west side of the barracks, the black pressure was full of soldiers, and at this time, the soldiers began to move, and groups of soldiers walked towards the outside of the camp, they were all wearing armor and holding weapons, they were all infantry, there were as many as 3,000 people.

"And it began!" The shopkeeper muttered to himself.

"Shopkeeper, shall we report to Zhang Ye at dawn?"

"Don't worry, ask Ma Wencai first, and then get the exact news!"

........

As soon as the morning dawned, Shopkeeper Jia got the exact news from Ma Wencai's wife, that all the 15,000 party troops had been dispatched, and Ma Wencai had also set off with the army, and his whereabouts were unknown.

Shopkeeper Jia immediately used the letter eagle to report the emergency information to Zhang Ye.

At the same time, the soldiers of the scout battalion from Hexi were also distributed around Xiazhou, and they also found the Dangxiang army from Xiazhou, which was moving in the southwest direction, and the scout's eagle letter was also sent to Zhangye at the same time.

After entering the middle of February, Guo Song made a deployment, and he ordered Liang Wu to lead 3,000 cavalry to secretly enter Wulan County, Huizhou, which was only fifty miles away from the border of Lingzhou, and was the closest city to Lingzhou in Jiedu Prefecture in Hexi.

At the same time, the Hexi Army also hoarded a large amount of food and materials in Huizhou, ready to be transported to Lingzhou at any time.

Guo Song received an eagle letter from the internal affairs camp and the scout camp at dusk, and he stood alone in the big tent, looking at a map of Shuofang hanging on a wooden shelf.

After a month of intelligence collection, Guo Song has gradually understood the strategy of the party members, their strategy is simple and simple, the troops are divided into two ways, one way to annihilate the Shuo Fang army, and the other way to raid Lingzhou, but he can't see the specific distribution of troops, but one thing Guo Song knows better than Cui Kuan, the party army is only 10,000 troops in name, but in fact they have 20,000 people.

After pondering for a long time, Guo Song immediately ordered: "Send an eagle letter to Wulan County immediately, and order him to rush to Lingzhou immediately." ”

That night, Guo Song also personally led 30,000 cavalry to leave Zhangye and slaughtered Lingzhou at a gallop........

Cui Kuan also sent troops, Zhu Jun's military operation in Shannan Dongdao made him see an opportunity, he did not hesitate to implement the plan five days in advance, he will lead 15,000 Shuofang troops and 10,000 Dangxiang troops to converge, seize Gyeongju, Suizhou, Yanzhou and other prefectures and counties.

Choi Kwan's first target was Gyeongju.

The remnants of Helan Mountain, which stretches in the north of the Guannai Province, separates Shuofang from Guannai, and whether it is to capture Gyeongju or Yanzhou, it is necessary to first capture Xiaoguan, and only after entering Xiaoguan can it sweep through the states in Guannai.

Zhu Jun also guarded against Cui Kuan, he deployed 3,000 troops in Xiao Pass, as long as Xiao Pass was held, the states in the pass did not need to deploy more troops.

15,000 Shuo Fang army to the foot of Xiaoguan Mountain, at this time it was nearly late, Cui Kuan ordered the army to rest in place, waiting for the party army led by Ma Wencui to come to converge, Cui Kuan of course is considering letting the party people attack Xiao Guan, there is a Qiang army of about 1,000 people, can go over the mountains and mountains, very suitable for attacking the pass.

When the time gradually came, the soldiers of the Shuofang army were resting in a wilderness, Cui Kuan was looking at the map of Xiao Pass in a marching tent, Xiao Pass can be described as dangerous, easy to defend and difficult to attack, there are 3,000 defenders stationed on it, and they may not be able to capture it.

If Xiao Pass could not be captured, they could only take a detour, go north along the Yellow River to Fengzhou, and then follow the Yellow River to the south from the east, enter Yanzhou, and take Yanzhou first.

Cui Kuan secretly regretted that he should not go to Xiao Pass, but should make a detour to Fengzhou, as long as he attacked Xiao Pass and had a fierce battle with the defenders, he would inevitably turn his face with Zhu Zhu, Zhu Zhu was likely to send troops to intervene, on the contrary, if he occupied Yanzhou silently, Zhu Zhu might admit it.

Wrong decision!

At this time, a personal soldier said at the door of the tent: "Envoy, the scout has come to report, General Ma's team is here!" ”

Cui Kuan nodded and immediately greeted him.

Dozens of his personal guards came to the north, only to see that in the dark, an army was coming, Cui Kuan asked in a loud voice, "Is it General Ma?" ”

But no one on the other side answered, he suddenly felt a trace of uneasiness in his heart, and was about to turn the horse's head back, but only heard Ma Wencui shout, "Release the arrow!" ”

The opposite side suddenly fired a flurry of arrows, a thousand arrows shot at Cui Kuan and his own soldiers, Cui Kuan couldn't dodge, even people and horses shot like hedgehogs, a moment before death, remorse poured into his heart.

"Kill!"

Ma Wencui roared, and 10,000 party cavalry slaughtered the resting Shuofang army like a landslide.

The soldiers of Shuofang's army were caught off guard and collapsed in an instant, 15,000 soldiers scattered and fled for their lives, some soldiers fled desperately in the wilderness, the party cavalry followed closely, and some clever soldiers fled for their lives up the mountain.

Ma Wencui shouted: "Don't leave any of them, kill them all!" ”

The war horses galloped, mercilessly chopping and assassinating, one after another Shuo Fang soldiers screamed and fell in a pool of blood, this was a one-sided massacre, Ma Wencui spent several years to win Cui Kuan's trust, Shuo Fang Army finally fell into Cui Kuan's stupidity and conceit.

..........

At the same time, another party army of 10,000 people was marching rapidly overnight to Lingzhou, with cavalry and infantry in the ranks, and the infantry carrying siege weapons, this is the day they have been waiting for for decades, Lingzhou is empty, and they are finally about to occupy this rich Qiantao plain.

Just when the Dangxiang army had just entered Lingzhou, the 3,000 cavalry led by Liang Wu arrived in Lingwu County first.