In December of the third year of Xuanping, when the year was about to end, when the various departments of the Tang Dynasty were busy because of the strategic development plan for the next year or two and the financial budget of Xuanping for four years, Li Xuan was also not idle.

At the end of the year, there are always too many things for him to deal with, although there are many important affairs for him to be handled by the minister on duty in the imperial study, and there are also Hanlin Yuan to help him deal with many trivial affairs.

But as a cautious emperor who is always on guard against being seized by ministers, Li Xuan still firmly controls the right to make decisions on major affairs, and the twists and turns of important affairs need to be reviewed by him personally, and all kinds of decisions are only available to him, and no one else has the power to replace them.

Without Li Xuan's personal approval, many things would not have been possible at all.

So when it comes to the end of the year, Li Xuan is also very busy!

While all departments on the Zhaoqing side, including Li Xuan, were busy with various affairs, on the northern front, Li Chunjing braved the slightest chill and continued to lead his troops to Yuezhou.

At this time, an intelligence staff officer of the Second Army was reporting the military situation to Li Chunjing: "My lord, Zhang Yue's department is still not out of Wuchang City, but the scout cavalry has already discovered a group of enemy troops outside Yuezhou City a few days ago to reinforce Yuezhou!" ”

"Oh, they've reinforced Yuezhou? And the enemy troops in Wuchang City did not come out, could it be that the guards were transferred from other places? Li Chunjing was slightly puzzled.

Immediately, the intelligence staff officer said: "My lord, this is indeed the case, after our reconnaissance cavalry investigated in detail, we found that this enemy army was a guard drawn from several Huguangfu counties north of the Yangtze River, with a size of about 10,000 people. ”

At this time, Wang Danxu on the side said: "It seems that this Zhang Yue has really made up his mind to pay attention to the turtle speed in Wuchang City, otherwise, he will not only send 10,000 guards to reinforce Yuezhou!"

After all, he Zhang Yue himself knew that the guards would not be beaten, otherwise he would not have cut the guards on his own, and now he has sent the guards to reinforce Yuezhou, which clearly wants to give up Yuezhou directly! ”

Li Chunjing did not answer, but continued to ask: "Is there any change in the Ming army in other directions?" Is there any intelligence from the First Army in Changsha and Hengyang? ”

The intelligence staff officer said: "The first army has sent information, reporting that the enemy troops in the direction of Hengyang and Changsha still have not left the city, but the enemy troops in the direction of Changsha seem to have received a large number of heavy supplies some time ago, and are speeding up the construction of various fortifications, and Nanchang has not received relevant news at present!" ”

Wang Danxu looked puzzled: "The enemy troops in Changsha and Hengyang have not been mobilized, and the enemy troops in Wuchang have not moved, this should not be, with Zhang Yue's knowledge, it is impossible for him not to know the importance of Yuezhou, how can he sit back and watch Yuezhou be taken by our army!" ”

At this time, Wang Danxu seemed to think of something, and immediately said with a anxious face: "My lord, this Zhang Yue has not moved here in Huguang, I'm afraid it will be unfavorable to Nanchang!" ”

At this time, Li Chunjing also nodded and said: "If nothing else, Zhang Yue's target this time is probably Nanchang!" ”

"Now there is only one Sixth Infantry Division on the Nanchang side, will it be too dangerous, once the enemy troops in the direction of Jiujiang and Nankang and the Ming army in the direction of Fuzhou cooperate to besiege Nanchang, I am afraid that a single Sixth Infantry Division will not be able to hold it for long!"

Li Chunjing said: "If the enemy in these two places attacks together, it will be inevitable to be besieged for a while, but this officer believes that the Sixth Infantry Division in Nanchang can hold it!" ”

Then Li Chunjing looked at the west and said: "Since the enemy army does not reinforce Yuezhou, then this official is not polite, take Yuezhou first, and then go to Changsha!" ”

"Then what should I do over there in Nanchang, do you want to send Cha troops back to help Nanchang, if you go back now, it should be too late!" At this time, Major General An Zichen, the chief of staff of the Second Army on the side, said: "After all, the enemy troops in the two directions of Jiujiang and Fuzhou combined, even if they don't count those guards and young people, but their main force is probably 50,000 or 60,000 people, once Nanchang is besieged for a long time, our army will not be able to advance eastward in time to rescue, I am afraid that the Sixth Infantry Division will be in danger!" ”

Li Chunjing shook his head directly, and then said in a firm tone: "Order the troops to speed up their march, and in three days, this official will see Yuezhou City!" ”

In the face of Li Chunjing's order, Wang Danxu and An Zichen both sighed slightly, Li Chunjing decided to ignore Nanchang in the rear and insisted on attacking Yuezhou, they also had no choice, and these two major generals were unable to change Li Chunjing's decision, let alone others.

After the main force of the Second Army began to accelerate, in Nanchang City, Cai Erhu also frowned!

Unlike Li Chunjing and the others, who were far away from this place, who had not been able to know the situation here, Cai Erhu had already learned from the reconnaissance cavalry scattered around the periphery early this morning that the enemy troops in the direction of Jiujiang and Nankang had gone south!

Not only that, but the defenders in the direction of Fengcheng also reported the Pegasus Express at almost the same time, saying that the enemy troops in the direction of Fuzhou were dispatched, but they did not even go to Fengcheng, but directly bypassed Fengcheng and went north to Nanchang.

What their goal is, it is already very clear, that is, to besiege Nanchang!

Facing the siege of the main force several times that of the enemy, Cai Erhu's face is naturally impossible to look good!

"My lord, don't worry, our army has continuously strengthened the defense of Nanchang City, deploying hundreds of large and small artillery pieces and more than 50,000 rounds of ammunition.

"Yes, not only ammunition, our army has a rich food reserve in the city, and the food in the city is enough to supply 50,000 soldiers and civilians in the city for half a year!"

"And we can also temporarily recruit the young men in the city to help defend the city!"

"That is, now the enemy army is coming in two ways, and we can even take the initiative to attack and break one of them first!"

The person below seemed to be more confident than Cai Erhu, and after hearing that the enemy army was coming, he didn't have the slightest fear, and even showed an expression of leaping and trying.

But Cai Erhu was a little worried!

Since the Sixth Infantry Division was reorganized into a division, it has been staying in Guangdong, and it has only recently gone north to Jiangxi, and has not fought any large-scale battles, so that although the soldiers under its command have been training for a long time, they have also carried out many small and medium-sized combat tasks such as suppressing bandits and clearing out the remnants of the Ming army, but they have not fought a real and brutal battle, so many of the more than 10,000 soldiers of the Sixth Infantry Division are actually facing this kind of large-scale battle for the first time, and their combat experience is quite lacking!

This is also what Cai Erhu is worried about, the soldiers lack large-scale combat experience, which is not a big disadvantage in the upcoming battle!

If this fights, even soldiers who have already undergone complete training may find it difficult to adapt to the cruelty of actual combat.

After all, large-scale actual combat and training, and even the tasks of suppressing bandits and escorting baggage are completely different!

The biggest difference is that people will die in actual combat, and many, many people will die!

However, what made Cai Erhu feel relieved was that the unique rotation and promotion system of the Tang Dynasty Division made most of the officers of the Sixth Infantry Division have rich combat experience.

The Tang Dynasty, whether it is the army or the navy, implements a rotation system to a certain extent, the so-called rotation system, that is, to allow officers to hold different positions in the process of growth.

Moreover, without real combat exploits, it is almost impossible to be promoted to the post of battalion commander or above, so many of the current officers above the battalion level in the Sixth Infantry Division are actually officers who have been promoted from other units.

For example, Colonel Dai Liliang, the commander of the 16th Infantry Regiment of the 6th Infantry Division, is the commander who took the 3rd Battalion of the 17th Infantry Regiment to Fuhao Jing at the beginning of the year.

And Dai Liliang's road to the army, is generally a standard example for many senior officers in the Tang Army, he was a child, and then applied for the martial arts school, after completing his studies, he first went to the grassroots army as a deputy captain, and then was promoted to captain, and was transferred to the Sixth Infantry Division as a staff officer, and was promoted to captain.

Immediately successfully passed the entrance examination of the Imperial Academy, and in the learning stage, he served as a trainee staff officer in the Operations Department of the Privy Council, studying behind a group of combat staff officers.

After a short period of study, he was sent to the 6th Infantry Division as the commander of the 3rd Battalion of the 17th Infantry Regiment.

Because the regimental units of the Datang Army are relatively large, ordinary infantry regiments have five infantry battalions under their jurisdiction, and the mixed regiment is on this basis plus other auxiliary units such as artillery, cavalry, and baggage, so whether it is the commander of an infantry regiment or the commander of a mixed regiment, it is actually difficult to personally command many troops, so the deputy commander position in the Datang Army is usually able to lead the troops in person.

During his tenure as the deputy commander of the First Mixed Regiment, he also led his troops to fight several battles with the scale of lieutenant colonels against Yu Dayou's thief army, and participated in the campaign of attacking Zhangzhou.

On the eve of the 6th Infantry Division's departure to the north, he was transferred to the 6th Infantry Division, an old unit, and served as the commander of the 16th Infantry Regiment, and was naturally promoted to colonel.

Dai Liliang's road to the army is the path of many officers at the battalion and regiment levels in the Tang Army, who have spent several years and held a variety of positions.

This is also the path of the students of the early Imperial Academy, but this is only limited to before the restructuring of the Imperial Academy, after the restructuring of the Imperial Academy, the path of the students of the Imperial Academy will be different from any previous officer!