When Li Jiyan visited the royal manor, Li Qi had also convened his ministers to discuss the southern expedition to Hanzhong.

Ren Yuan and Yuan Xingqin did not understand Li Qi's choice, and they always advocated following the original route of Zhuangzong to destroy Liang, first taking Youzhou, and then attacking Cangzhou and Weibo. And Li Qi explained to them that the intention of the most Han was to open up the trade route with Shu first, during which there were huge economic interests, and the north and south of the Yellow River, due to years of war, the people's livelihood was exhausted, and if they got it, they had to invest a lot to settle the people's livelihood, and it didn't matter whether they got it early or late.

Only then did these people understand that Li Qi's understanding of war was whether it was beneficial or not, and if there were no interests, they would be placed first for the time being, and economic interests should be put first.

As for fighting, a group of generals naturally raised their hands in favor.

Since he decided to send troops, Li Qi said that he didn't want to drive the expedition in person this time, and he thought that Ren Yuan also participated in the previous expedition to Shu, which was more suitable. But Ren Yuan is now the prime minister, saying that he is a civil servant and it is not suitable to lead the army, so he shirked it. Later, Ren Yuan proposed that Charucci be in charge.

As a result, Li Qi shook his head: "General Xia is a cavalry general, and this expedition to Han is mostly mountainous, he is not familiar with it, and he wants to focus on the infantry army, he is not suitable." ”

The privy envoy Yuan Xingqin said: "The minister is willing to go." ”

"Xingyuan Mansion is the last section, the victory or defeat has nothing to do with the overall situation, Li Siyuan may counterattack from the direction of Zhenzhou and Dingzhou, and he also needs to sit in Jinyang and coordinate the overall situation. It is better to let Zhang Jingda be the commander, Yao Yanchou and An Congjin as the deputies, and transfer some troops from Jinyang and Hezhong, so that the Tonghua army will not be dispatched to defend Tongguan. Li Qi said after thinking about it.

Now that the Son of Heaven has proposed a candidate, everyone is a little unwilling that Zhang Jingda picked up a bargain, and it is not easy to oppose it directly, even if it is passed.

In addition, Li Qi also appointed Wang Yan, the former king of Shu, who was familiar with Shu, as the envoy of Liangchuan, and Zhang Ge, the former prime minister of Shu, and Yu Chuansu, as counselors of the army, followed Zhang Jingda's army to go on the expedition and give him advice.

After listening to this, Ren Yuan admonished and said: "This Wang Yan is the former lord of Shu, and there are still some people in Shu, and Your Majesty's move is suspected of letting the tiger return to the mountain." ”

Li Qi said with a smile: "I don't see where Wang Yan is like a tiger, besides, what does Shu have to do with chaos, Meng Zhixiang and Dong Zhang have their own ghosts, and they are just in the fire." ”

When the ministers saw him say this, they knew that it was the Son of Heaven who was fighting Shudi's idea, so they no longer persuaded each other.

Li Qi began to put the soldiers of the three major battalions of the forbidden army in Jinyang, who had been trained and matured, learned to read and write, and had some discipline and some skills, and needed to take turns to be stationed in the tunpu in the northland grassland, and then a group of garrison troops were stationed around Jinyang to receive new training.

Although the tunbao on the northland grassland has been built, the days in the border area are much more difficult than in Jinyang, which is certain. The garrison army needs to reclaim wasteland, build embankments, dig ditches, and build new workshops, all of which need to be carried out by experienced veteran military households.

It takes about three years for a new group of cantonment troops to basically master a farming and a craft in water conservancy, construction or workshop, and the garrison troops from other places need to be rotated for training, which is also a form of increasing their loyalty. After all, those who have been in the forbidden army of the Son of Heaven and those who have not done it have different feelings in their hearts.

The "brainwashing" activities of the Jinyang forbidden army, such as reading books and newspapers, were much more frequent and regular than those of the garrisons in various places, mainly to cultivate and strengthen their sense of discipline and loyalty to the imperial family and the empire.

However, this time the order was clearly different from the usual relocation camps, and only one-third of the battalions were selected to be young and strong, and they did not bring their families. When the officers finished reading the order, some were excited, some were afraid, and some were worried...... Anyway, everyone realized that this time they were going out to fight, not to adjust their defenses.

The army began to prepare from the tenth day of the first month, first concentrated in the large camp of Qingyuan, and the five battalions of the first army were drawn from Taiyuan Mansion and the Xindai Tun Army, with a total of more than 10,000 men and horses, and soon gathered. Along the way, the designated daily camping sites have received orders to prepare food and grass supplies.

On the sixteenth day of the first month, when the north of Jin was still a land of ice and snow, the Jinyang Mabu army totaled more than 10,000 people, and the military order to go to Hanzhong finally came down.

Li Yanwei braved the rain and snow, inspecting his team back and forth, the weather was not good, it was not a suitable day for marching, but the war drums had been beaten, and the horn responded, even if there were knives in the sky, he must also lead the army to Jiaocheng today.

On a high slope to the west of the Qingyuan camp, a group of armored cavalry stood solemnly, and Yuan Ren, the general of the forbidden army, and An Xianqi, the commander of the Jinyang South camp, watched the departure of the expeditionary team.

An Xianqi was expressionless and didn't say a word, just watched Li Yanwei gallop back and forth in the rain and snow, boosting the morale of the soldiers. He was a little angry and asked for his life to fight, but was rejected by the Son of Heaven on the grounds that he was a cavalry general and was not suitable for mountain combat. The chief general of the Jinyang Army chosen by the emperor was Li Yanwei, who had just been transferred back from Daizhou.

Li Yanwei is the son of Li Cunzhang, the general of the Jin Army, who was the former training envoy of the Daizhou Regiment and has never fought with the army, but this time he was entrusted with an important task by the Son of Heaven. It is clear that the Son of Heaven is balancing the power of the various families in the army.

After seeing that the baggage team also left the barracks, Li Yanwei turned his horse's head, clasped his fists with both hands, and signaled to Yuan Ren and An Xianqi, who were superintendents, and then urged the war horse to gallop towards his Chinese army. The red cloak behind him was fluttering in the wind, which was very conspicuous, which made An Xianqi look a little hot.

More than 10,000 soldiers and horses dragged out a long line on the ancient road in Jinyang.

"Go back and hand in the order, what else do you see? We are the Praetorian Guards, and if the Son of Heaven does not drive the expedition in person, he will not be able to get the opportunity to go to the battlefield, unless he asks for a foreign appointment. Yuan Ren glanced at An Xianqi and said.

An Xianqi glanced at the long convoy of the baggage battalion commander, sighed and said to Yuan Ren: "The Son of Heaven mobilized more than 40,000 soldiers and horses to fight more than 10,000 people in Zhang Yun, and anyone with a discerning eye saw that it was a good opportunity to make war achievements, but he didn't expect to be taken advantage of by Li Yanwei's guy. He has not dealt with Li Yanwei since he was a child, and now he has finally turned over and overpowered the other party in his official position, but he didn't expect that only a year later, this guy was also promoted, and he also got a fat errand.

Hanzhong also belongs to the Shu land, the products are abundant, if you lay Hanzhong, there must be a lot of oil and water at the bottom.

Yuan Ren wiped the rain on his face and said with a smile: "There are three hundred Jinyang young soldiers staring at it in the baggage camp, this expedition, how much benefit you want to get underneath, but it will be difficult, those young people don't know how to be accommodating." ”

An Xianqi looked at the convoy that was gradually moving away, nodded and smiled: "That's right, it's not easy to take advantage of the war now, and those students are in charge of the law enforcement team." With that, he chuckled, urged his crotch mount, and left the hillside of the observation camp first.