In the eighth year of Zhenguan of Taizong of Tang Dynasty (633 AD), on the third day of the twelfth month of the lunar calendar, the sky was gloomy, like a cauldron in the air. In the western suburbs of Chang'an City, the entire Lishan school field was surrounded by rumbling drums, after the three-way drums, the three armies gathered in the school field, Chu Ze stood in the middle of the crowd, watching the Tang Dynasty's expedition ceremony, the whole scene was really solemn, there was a breath of Xiao killing.

An old man in his sixties walked up to the high platform, and Chu Ze knew that this was Li Jing, the commander of this war, the military god of the Tang Dynasty. During Li Jing's career as a horseman, he commanded several major battles and won major victories, not only because he was brave and good at fighting, but also because he had excellent military ideas and theories. Based on his lifelong practical experience, he wrote excellent military works, including "The Mirror of the Six Armies", "Yin Fu Machine", "The Book of Jade Tents", "The Hegemony of the Country", "The Law of Guarding the Guard", etc., and there are records about Li Jing's management of the army, marching battles, and camping scouts. Li Jingcai was both civil and military, and he made great achievements for the unification and consolidation of the Tang Dynasty.

In the first month of the fourth year of Zhenguan, the wind was cold, and Li Jing led 3,000 elite cavalry, braving the severe cold, starting from Mayi and advancing towards the Evil Yang Ridge. Jieli Khan never expected that the Tang army would come suddenly, and the soldiers and generals looked at each other, and they were all shocked. They decided: If the Tang soldiers did not come from the country, Li Jing would never go deep alone, so he was "shocked a few times a day". Li Jing found out about this news and secretly ordered the spies to divide his henchmen, and his confidant Kang Sumi came to surrender. Li Jing immediately attacked Dingxiang, and under the cover of night, he attacked the city in one fell swoop, captured Yang Zhengdao, the son of Yang Xuan, the king of Sui Qi, and Empress Xiao, the former Yang Emperor, and Jieli Khan fled to the mouth in a hurry. Li Jing was awarded the title of Acting Duke of the Kingdom because of his military merits, and was given 600 pieces of goods, famous horses, treasures, etc. His Majesty Li Er said to the minister with a smile: "Li Ling of the Han Dynasty led 5,000 foot soldiers to attack the Xiongnu, and finally ended up surrendering to the Xiongnu, and he was able to leave a name in history. Li Jing went deep into the enemy territory with 3,000 cavalry, conquered Dingxiang, and weizhen Beidi, which was a miracle that did not exist in ancient and modern times, and was enough to snow the shame of forming an alliance with the Turks in Weishui in previous years. ”

This time the army attacked Tugu Hun, all the ministers in the court were arguing whether to fight or not, and many generals were also vying to take command of the battle, His Majesty Li Er has been unmoved, until Li Jing said that he wanted to fight, and he would fight hard, and said that he was willing to lead the troops to go, His Majesty Li Er decisively ordered Li Jing to fight Tugu Hun as the main commander, which shows that this military talent has won the trust of His Majesty Li Er.

Li Jing walked to the high platform, pulled out the sword at his waist, pointed to the sky, and swept his eyes towards the generals in the audience, and said, "A certain Li Jing is here to inform the three armies..."

Because it was too far away, Chu Ze really didn't hear it clearly, there was no such thing as a loudspeaker at this time, and it was basically impossible to want everyone to hear the lecture among hundreds of thousands of people. But the basic meaning Chu Ze probably knew through speculation that it was nothing more than "I am Li Jing, and I am here to inform the three armies that we are about to go on an expedition to compete with the enemy to see whose wrists are harder." All departments should strictly organize their ranks and obey my commands. Now Tuyuhun has come uninvited, offended my Datang Tianwei, invaded the land of Datang, harassed the Datang frontier, corrupted Datang production, and poisoned the people, this Tuyuhun is really bad and ruthless, and it is heinous! …… It is hoped that the officers and men of all departments will have the courage and glory of the horse leather shroud, and will not have the shame of being a deserter who is greedy for life and afraid of death. When they return from victory, the brave will naturally be rewarded, and the cowering will also have military law waiting. ”

As soon as Li Jing finished speaking, an official of divination and sacrifice walked up to the high platform, danced for a while, threw the long knife in his hand into the air, and after the knife landed, the divination official glanced at it and shouted, "Ji!" "Even if it's over, divination has always been an indispensable procedure in the ancient army. There are also many forms of divination, the most common being flag and sword. The former looks at the direction of the wind and the flag, if the flag hunts, the phoenix dances to the sky, it is auspicious, if the flag is wrapped around the flagpole, it is fierce. Occupy the knife is also roughly the same, throw the knife to the ground, look at the knife facing back, to judge the good and bad.

Chu Ze knew that divination was also a kind of psychological suggestion, in feudal society, people were in awe of ghosts and gods, and prayed to heaven before going out to ask about the good luck, and the morale of the three armies was greatly encouraged, and at the same time, it also strengthened the belief that the soldiers would win. Chu Ze speculated with a bad taste in his heart, "If this official shouts fiercely, will His Majesty Li Er cut off his head and use it as a night pot, haha..."

The next thing is to sacrifice, "the major events of the country are in the worship and Rong", so the teacher must sue the ancestral temple. Sacrificing to one's ancestors is tantamount to asking one's ancestors for instructions, and then being ordered to go out on an expedition and fight with the majesty and influence of one's ancestors. Before the army set out on the march, it had to carry out a provocation, that is, smear blood on the banner. Provocation can be divided into pre-war provocation and post-war provocation. Therefore, the ancients often had the practice of killing people and sacrificing flags, of course, before going on the expedition, they mostly killed animals instead.

A soldier brought up a sheep that had been prepared for a long time, Li Jing raised his sword to cut off the sheep's head, and the sacrificial officials smeared blood on the military flag and war drums, and then each soldier got a bowl of wine, Chu Ze took the wine in the bowl and looked at it, the wine was very turbid, it was really a glass of turbid wine! Li Jing raised the bowl to his chest and shouted, "All soldiers, drink this wine!" ”

"No!"

Drinking a bowl of wine and slamming the bowl on the ground, it means that there is no return for this trip. At this time, only the sound of "popping" and smashing bowls remained in the entire school field. The rice bowl is not only used to drink, but also a tool for eating, and the bowl is to drop the tool for eating, which means that the rice bowl will not be used in the future, and it also means that this expedition is a trip to put life out of the way, and the way of collectively throwing bowls can not only be clear but also boost morale. Looking at the scene in front of him, Chu Ze felt a feeling of "the wind is sluggish and the water is cold, and the strong man will never return"!

Li Jingjian on the stage went straight to the west and shouted loudly. "This commander leads the general manager of the Xihai Road march, commands the military department of Shangshu, and the soldiers of each department will open Liangzhou on the same day, and after the opening of the cavalry camp first, the foot camp will follow, and the daily camp will be buried in the water to make rice, and the troops shall not be exchanged during the march, and the people shall not be disturbed along the way, and the farmland shall not be destroyed, and those who violate the order shall be beheaded!"

"Knock knock knock" three-way drum beating, the whole army open!

Chu Ze on horseback followed the team, feeling the war preparations in the era of cold weapons, and the ranks of the army marched like an earthy yellow dragon, meandering and wriggling on the white field. The steps of tens of thousands of people, from near and far, converged into a rustle like the whispering of countless streams, and the whole scene was truly spectacular!

On the bank of the Weishui River, the water is flowing eastward, it has been flowing for a long time, the wind is not very strong, the river is full of people seeing off, occasionally sobbing sounds, but no one stepped forward to interrupt the marching procession, the soldiers are just passing by, secretly glance at the river, when they see their relatives, their eyes are full of joy, invisible, it is inevitable that there will be disappointment on their faces. Chu Ze looked at the crowd for a while, but didn't find any acquaintances, so he stopped looking.

"Mother, woo....brother has passed!" The little girl, who was seven or eight years old, said to the woman beside her with tears.

"Well," the woman took the little girl in her arms, wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, and said to a strong man beside her, "Let's go, let's go home!" ”

"Hey."

These three people are none other than the Chu Mu family who came from Taiping Village early in the morning, just to look at Chu Ze from a distance, standing too close and afraid of being discovered by Chu Ze, disturbing his mood, it can be said that he has good intentions!

Jin Ge Iron Horse, General Sword, Momentum Rumbling Out of Chang'an; Tears of relatives, heroic wine, long cut, heart; Thousands of miles of conquest, defend the territory.