"Chief of Staff, the 7th Battalion crossed the Yellow River yesterday and is expected to arrive at the Gyeongju Headquarters tomorrow afternoon, and on the orders of the Lord General, come to participate in the Battle of Kansai." Li Tianyi's fast horse of the seventh battalion sent the latest order.

In the front-line headquarters of the Tiance Army in Gyeongju City, Xu Tianxiang received Li Xuanqing's latest order, waved his hand and signaled Yang Tiancheng and Wang Houchun to gather in the center of the hall next to the sand table brought from the pirated copies of later generations, and said with a smile: "The lord really expects the enemy to be the first, and the seventh battalion led by Tianyi will arrive tomorrow, and we can directly attack Ningzhou at that time." ”

Yang Tiancheng on the side pointed to the army transfer of Li Maozhen that the staff officer had just marked and said with a smile: "Gyeongju now concentrates the directly subordinate battalion, the first battalion, the third battalion, the fifth battalion, and now the seventh battalion of Tianyi, and if necessary, the eighth battalion of Lingzhou and the ninth battalion of Chai Jia can also be transferred to participate in the battle, so that almost half of the main force of the Tiance army has been concentrated, and there will definitely be no problem in fighting Li Maozhen's seventy or eighty thousand fish belly troops." ”

Wang Houchun also nodded and said: "The second battalion of the eldest brother and the sixth battalion of Qian Ning are also on the flank of Xiazhou, and they can support the Kansai battlefield in the south, and they can attack the Hetao grassland in the north, so that the overall situation is already clear, and I think we can start arranging it, second brother." ”

Xu Tianxiang smiled: "Okay, let's start now." Houchun, you immediately led the headquarters of the third battalion and Xue Wanli's fifth battalion and the battalion directly under Xue Wanli, who were resting outside the city, to attack Guyuan and Jingzhou in the west, and after taking Jingzhou, the third battalion and the fifth battalion went south to directly attack Li Maozhen's old nest Fengxiang, and the direct battalion was transferred to the east to attack the troops who set out from Pizhou to support Ningzhou. Tiancheng, you take the headquarters of the first battalion to Ningzhou immediately, and after Tianyi arrives, I will ask him not to stay, but go directly to Ningzhou to meet you and take Ningzhou City. Xu Tianxiang stared at the two brothers in front of him and said: "Each department will strive to complete the goal in mid-July for half a month, and meet under the city of Pizhou." I will inform the Logistics Department and the Ministry of Civil Affairs to follow the troops closely, ensure that they will follow wherever you hit, and free up the main forces to deal with the situation behind. ”

Xu Tianxiang's arrangement doesn't see any problems, and the Tiance Army occupies the advantage of intelligence, the Xuanyingwei network and businessmen all over Guanzhong are almost one-sided on the side of the Tiance Army, so the battlefield is almost one-way transparent to the Tiance Army, for example, Li Maozhen has participated in negotiations with Li Keyong with Yang Fugong in the past few days, he drove away with the front foot, and the information was sent to Xu Tianxiang's desk later.

The three of them have decided to start action immediately, and the battle of Kansai of the Tiance Army has officially begun. At this time, Li Xuanqing had also led the cavalry corps to reach the city of Fengzhou, and had already informed Wu Huan's second cavalry battalion and Hou Yong's fifth battalion, who had returned to the northern line of the division, to also gather all their forces in Fengzhou, waiting for Li Xuanqing's arrival.

With the arrival of Li Xuanqing, the Tiance Army of the Hetao Grassland concentrated a cavalry corps of 30,000 people and a heavy cavalry of 5,000 people, as well as two infantry battalions of Chen Fan and Liu Baoliang, a total of 60,000 troops. When the people of Toyosu saw such a big movement, they knew that a big war was imminent. But since the Tiance army entered Fengzhou, this young army has always brought a victory as always, so that the people of Fengzhou are full of confidence in their own soldiers, coupled with the propaganda of the Fengzhou Thorn Mansion for this war, all that goes deep into the hearts of the people is the invincible courage and belief of the Tiance army, so that this city outside the city does not have the feeling of a big war at all, but sees the army assembled, and is full of laughter and laughter. Some restaurants and shops have even started to offer promotions to celebrate the good news in advance.

However, none of this disturbed the assembly of the Tiance army. After communicating with the person in charge of the Fengzhou Thorn Mansion and the Logistics Department to arrange the logistics supply, Li Xuanqing began to convene the top level of the Tiance Army for a pre-war meeting. To tell the truth, Li Xuanqing liked this way of gathering all the generals together to discuss the war situation, and this primitive democracy in the army also began to follow Li Xuanqing's words and deeds to convey to each level of independent combat units, reducing the chance of mistakes by the commander-in-chief in the army.

Hu Xiaosi was originally in Xiazhou to carry out Xuanyingwei's plan, but when Wu Huan's cavalry battalion went north, he came with him, and the plan in Xiazhou had reached a critical point, and he had a new idea that needed to be reported to Li Xuanqing in person. However, as soon as he spoke, the other generals present were stunned.

"Little four, you're kidding, right? Do you have a way to get Tuoba Si to surrender? Tie Liang, who replaced him as the commander of the heavy cavalry battalion because Wan Yi stayed in Lingzhou to train the recruits of the heavy cavalry battalion, looked at this guy in front of him incredulously, if he hadn't been familiar for a long time and couldn't be more familiar, he would have to wonder if this guy had taken the wrong medicine.

"Yes, little four, don't forget, you opened your mouth and scolded, and scolded your brother to death, can you still make him surrender? You're not sick, are you? Because Wu Huan was sitting next to Hu Xiaosi, he reached out and touched Hu Xiaosi's head at this time, and scolded with a smile: "Do you want me to find a military doctor for you to see?" Talking in the middle of the day, you're enough. ”

Li Xuanqing pondered for a long time and asked, "How sure are you?" Have you been in contact with Tuoba? Regarding Hu Xiaosi's words, Li Xuanqing was curious, but also wanted to see if he, the intelligence chief, really had the ability to deal with Tuoba Si's advice. If his plan can really succeed, it will undoubtedly play a role in turning the tide of the current war.

Hu Xiaosi saw Li Xuanqing looking at him, and said in a deep voice: "There is still a certainty of five or six points." When I was in Xiazhou, I had a direct contact with the leader of Tuoba Sigong's personal guards, and the meaning he conveyed was not as bad as we imagined, Tuoba Siji's personality was much more indecisive than his brother's, and he was not as strong as Tuoba Sigong, who was good at planning the overall situation, and was more able to endure humiliation. There are not many grievances against the Tiance Army, at least after his personal guards talked to me, Tuoba Sijian did not take any measures against me, and my identity in Xiazhou was almost public. ”

When he said this, the others fell silent, everyone knew what the effect of this plan would be if it succeeded, but if it failed or Tuoba Si left something behind, it would be equivalent to planting a time bomb for himself, in case it exploded at a critical moment, the tens of thousands of iron horsemen of the party were enough to destroy all the plans carefully formulated by the Tiance Army, and the risks and benefits were almost half open.

After a while, Chen Fan, who had not spoken, pointed to the map and said: "I agree with Xiao Si's plan, but we must wait until we defeat Li Keyong, at least until this battle is over, which can not only minimize the risk, but also increase the bargaining chips for negotiations with Tuoba Siji." It's just that I have a question that I haven't thought through. ”

"Is it about the arrangement of Tuoba Siji?" Hu Xiaosi glanced at Li Xuanqing, nodded and smiled when he saw him: "The problem of Tuoba Siji has already been arranged, even according to the previous plan, we only promised to make him the leader of the party members, and did not promise anything else." ”

"You can get in touch with Tuoba Siji, with his relationship with Tuoba Siji, if he is willing to surrender, then he will consider all the problems. Tell him that I can give up the post of deputy chief of staff in the military, and in politics, I can consider making him the deputy chief of civil affairs of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, all of whom are high-level figures in the Tiance Army and hold real power. Li Xuanqing waved his hand and set the tone for this matter: "As for when to make formal contact with Tuoba Siji, according to what Chen Fan said, wait until we defeat the Shatuo people before starting, but you can consider some informal occasions at your own discretion." ”

Hu Xiaosi nodded, and after keeping this matter in mind, he continued: "Another thing is that the Xiazhou party has reported that Li Ke has moved with a large army. Li Keyong has already asked Li Siyuan to lead the army from Daizhou into Shengzhou, and An Xiuxiu, Gao Sigong and others are also assembled in Taiyuan Mansion, and the troops on the Luzhou front are also withdrawing one by one and returning to Taiyuan Mansion. ”

Liu Baoliang took over and said: "Since the beginning of the month, the Zhenwu Army has also been frequently transferred internally, and Li Cunxiao's previous arrangements in Daizhou have all been overthrown. ”

"How is Li Cunxiao doing now?" Liu Baoliang's words made Li Xuanqing suddenly think of something, and hurriedly asked Hu Xiaosi.

"Wasn't he transferred away from the Luzhou front line before, and later after Li Cunxin's defeat, Li Keyong transferred Li Cunxiao back, and now it is estimated that he is still with Li Keyong." Hu Xiaosi thought for a while.

"Okay, we'll talk about this later, now we're about to make contact with Hetao and Li Keyong's cavalry, and in the next few days, Xuan Yingwei will collect all the information in the Shengzhou area, and the movement of Li Keyong's army will also be transferred here at any time. Now I order that the second and fifth battalions of the enemy soldiers immediately open Tiande City, Baoliang, you also rush back immediately, do a good job in the defense of Tiande City, and after the cavalry arrives, they will be stationed outside the city, and do not enter the city for the time being. ”

Wu Huan, Liu Baoliang and Hou Yong stood up, bowed to receive the order, and galloped away with the men and horses.

After the three of them left, Li Xuanqing pointed in the direction of the grassland and asked, "How is the war in the Youbei Grassland now?" Tahi: Haven't heard from them yet? ”

"As expected by the lord, the Tunis was defeated, and the main army was almost wiped out in the north, but one thing is that the Yaks seem to have dealt with it, so the Khitan ambush did not achieve a complete effect, and even a wave of counterattacks was even launched in the middle of the battle, but the Khitan leader Yelu Hanxiong personally led his own 20,000 iron cavalry to break through the defense line of the Chinese army in Jargas at a critical moment, and killed the commander of the Tunas in one fell swoop, which led to the collapse of the whole line."

"What are the casualties of the Khitans in this battle?" Li Xuanqing stared at the map and pondered for a long time before asking.

Hu Xiaosi shook his head and said: "The specific casualties are not clear, but according to the intelligence from within the Huangjiasi, the casualties are not less than 50,000, which is close to about forty percent for the total number of Khitan troops sent this time." ”

"What about Tahi? It's been almost a month since the Eagle Brigade entered the grassland, is there any news coming? Li Xuanqing shook his head, according to historical records, the process of the struggle between the Khitan and the Khitan is the process of the rise of the Khitans. Although history does not record the battle of Youbei, according to the current clue analysis, the Khitans are not capable of looking west at least in the short term, and there will be a gap in the number of troops after the defeat of the Hujias, and this is the best time to intervene in the grassland.

"Half a month ago, Xiaohu had an encounter with the people of the dark guard, it seems that they went in the direction of Yanran Mountain, and the tone conveyed by the dark guard seems to have a clue, but they haven't met it since." Hu Xiaosi handed over the information he received and said with a wry smile: "The grassland is too big, although Xuan Yingwei has invested a lot of manpower in various ways, but its effect is not ideal. ”

Li Xuanqing also knew that it was difficult to transmit news in the grassland, but he still told him to pay close attention, and controlling the grassland in this era controlled the source of the most elite troops, so he couldn't help but be anxious.

"By the way, my lord, Li Keyong has another message over there, and Li Keyong may come to Hetao in person. The secret guard on the side of Taiyuan Mansion said that Li Keyong planned to lead his troops into the grassland, but Zhou Dewei and others tried their best to oppose it, so it did not take place at present. Hu Xiaosi thought about it and said the latest news, and said: "But it seems that Li Keyong's original intention was not to come to our side, but to lead troops to attack Helian Duo in Youbei, I heard that this guy has a close relationship with the Khitans recently, which makes Li Keyong very annoyed." ”

Following Li Xuanqing's fingers, Li Xuanqing's brows slowly soothed, and then said with a smile: "Little Four, remember to say good news first when you report in the future, do you know?" ”

"Good news? What kind of good news is this? Hu Xiaosi muttered, but was glanced at by Li Xuanqing, and was about to speak, when the latter had already said to Chen Fan: "With Li Keyong's character, it would be strange if Zhou Dewei and others could stop him." The fourth battalion and the heavy cavalry battalion are the Chinese army, and the personal guard is the front army, which will start their journey early tomorrow morning, with the goal of Wuliang Suhai. ”

Li Feixue and Tie Liang glanced at each other, neither of them knew what Li Xuanqing's purpose was, only Chen Fan thoughtlessly, glanced at the map behind him, pulled the two of them to bow down to receive the order, and withdrew from the big tent.