At the beginning of September of the third year of the Apocalypse, the Northwest War reported that the flying cavalry was introduced to Chang'an, and the Guiyi Army and the Uighur coalition army were defeated by the Tiance Army in Guazhou in one fell swoop, and the news that the Uighur prince Qibi Heli battlefield was captured alive soon came, and the Tang Empire was immersed in jubilation.

For this reason, the cabinet dispatched a brigade of the Ministry of Security to rush to the front line and set up a joint command with the National Guard, and escorted the prisoners back to the interior to participate in the booming labor construction. Because of the opening of the railway from Fengzhou to Tianjin, the Northern Economic Belt connects the northwest inland and the coast together, and a large number of seafood is quickly transported to the northwest front line with the train, and various industrial commodities produced in the northwest are also quickly transported to Tianjin by train, and then quickly transported to all parts of the south of the Yangtze River from the sea or the Grand Canal. The Xu family's fleet in Tianjin even directly loaded a large number of wool products and leather produced in Liangzhou to Sanhan and Japan.

"Big brother, Senior Brother Guazhou, they won, you should rest assured now, right?" Qiaoxi has been studying with Murong Feixue since she and Li Xuanqing came back from Fengzhou, preparing to form a new caravan, and many of the Murong family's businesses have begun to be handed over to his brother because of Murong Feixue's marriage, so she has been a lot more idle during this period of time, and she began to think about finding something to do with Qiaoxi. However, Murong Feixue seemed to feel embarrassed to see Li Xuanqing, so she basically went out of the palace to find her, and she didn't see her enter the palace.

However, Li Xuanqing didn't expect the battle of Guazhou to be such a success, but according to Wang Houchun and the others, if they didn't make a big move, there would be a problem, so they didn't care. It's just that he is undecided about something now, although he has instructed Xu Tianxiang to give an order to the front line, but he has been thinking about this matter for the past two days.

"I plan to transfer part of the army on the Western Front back and gradually replace the troops on the front line by means of rotational operations, after all, I have been fighting continuously for half a year, and in the bitter cold land of the northwest, if I can't carry out rotation training, I'm afraid that many soldiers will not be able to bear it." Li Xuanqing was a little unsure, and said with a wry smile: "The main thing is that in the next step, the northwest is afraid that there will be no way to conduct a big war until March next year, so I plan to transfer some troops from the front line back to the interior to rest and recuperate, so that on the one hand, the burden on the northwest can be reduced, and on the other hand, the experience of the northwest war can be passed on to others as soon as possible with the returning troops." ”

In fact, Li Xuanqing didn't know whether his move was good or not, and even for the northwest at this time, doing so was likely to lead to a situation in which the troops of the Western Expeditionary Group Army were unfamiliar with the early battle situation in a short period of time. Therefore, what Li Xuanqing told Wan Yi in the order was to let him deal with it at his discretion, and if it was not allowed, then not to execute.

"Does the big brother have any intention of using troops to the east?" Qiaoxi thought for a while and asked, Li Xuanqing's plan had been speculated by the people below before, and even the General Staff and the Cabinet were secretly preparing for a while, and the Beiyang Fleet of the Navy even held a similar landing exercise, and the acting ideas of this era knew at a glance that it was held in accordance with the concept brought by Li Xuanqing, so Qiaoxi could only think of this.

He has been thinking about the idea of using troops in the east for a long time, especially after the naval force occupied Japan's Shikoku Island, he thought about forming a combined sea and land force in this era, using Shikoku Island as a base, radiating the surrounding areas, and using this as a model to promote to the South and Western regions that will be developed in the future. Li Xuanqing's thinking was actually in line with the policy of later Britain in the Age of Discovery, occupying strategic points in various places, so that he could control the world on this basis. In terms of the industrial revolution that was first carried out in various parts of China thousands of years in advance, a larger market was needed. It's just that at present, the primary purpose of the Tang Empire is to recover Anxi, and only by taking Anxi can the unification of the empire be completed. Before the Industrial Revolution achieved greater results, the limit of the empire's ability to expand on land was actually Anxi, beyond which the empire would not be able to firmly rule in the newly occupied territories.

"Since the eldest brother has this plan, then it is better to let the senior brother and the fourth brother make their own decisions. At least the fourth brother and the younger brother are there, and the big brother's strategic concept can be understood by them for the first time. Qiaoxi understands Li Xuanqing's intention to transfer back those experienced veterans on the Western Front, at least the Sanhan region must be taken by elite troops, where the Zhu family who ran away has gained a foothold from the news brought back by the merchants who went to trade before, and it has also developed well in the past two years, if you add the conquest of Japan, then you must have more elites.

When Li Xuanqing and his wife were thinking about this matter, Wan Yi on the Guazhou side was also discussing this matter with Wang Houchun, Hu Xiaosi led a team to pick up Yang Tiancheng and the Flying Eagle Brigade, and the entire Western Front was left with Wan Yi and Wang Houchun who could decide this matter. However, Wan Yi had his own thoughts about Li Xuanqing's order, so after thinking for a long time, he asked: "Houchun, did you hear from the emperor and Tianxiang before the General Staff came that there were plans to use troops against other opponents?" Or is there a war on the Tibetan side? ”

Wang Houchun shook his head and said: "If there is a war on the Tibetan side, it will be enough to have Xue Yang, Xue Yang has concentrated more than 100,000 people in the southwest and trained for half a year to fight in the plateau area, so if the Tibetan area starts a war, how can it be necessary to draw troops from your side?" And you are the front line, how can the emperor only plan to increase your troops? And the order also said that it is necessary to prepare for rotation and keep the combat strength of the Western Front at its peak at all times. It's just that the last sentence of the emperor lets you deal with it at your discretion, and it seems that he also has reservations about this order, so you can deal with it flexibly. But before he finished speaking, he suddenly remembered something: "But don't say that it is possible that the emperor intends to use troops against Sanhan, the General Staff has a plan for this matter, and the navy is also prepared, according to the navy's plan, when they and the first battalion solve the matter on the Liuqiu side, the main fleet will go north, and when the time comes, the army will attack and take Sanhan from the sea, and liberate Chen Fan's troops from the northeast." ”

"It's not possible, but the emperor has already put it on the agenda of the General Staff of Sanhan." Wan Yi hadn't finished speaking, Yang Tiancheng and Hu Xiaosi had already walked in, obviously Yang Tiancheng was also told about it by Hu Xiaosi on the way, so after coming in, he spoke directly: "And the emperor's move may be to let the troops change their equipment one by one, and at the same time increase the source of new soldiers on the Western Front, but the emperor has some concerns about whether this will weaken your combat power and let the senior brother consider it at his discretion." Yang Tiancheng waved his hand to signal Wang Houchun not to interject and said: "Senior brother, Houchun and I are not the coaches of the Western Expedition after all, so this matter cannot be decided for you." If it is not conducive to the western expedition, then don't mention this matter, I think Tianxiang should have other plans, after all, now the huge cavalry troops in the north are also changing, and the power of the new rifle is greater than the breech gun in your hand, and it must be able to cope with all situations. ”

"In this case, then carry out the emperor's order, anyway, it is already winter in the northwest, and it will snow in the next few days, just let Qian Ning and Xue Wanli's troops follow Yang Yi and them to withdraw to Hexi, and they can also save some of the baggage grain." Wan Yi nodded and said, "But the troops who arranged rotation training on the side of the General Staff should hurry up and rush over, and I still want to take the sandbank." ”

Wan Yi set the tone here, and this matter was easy to do, but Hu Xiaosi was not optimistic about Wan Yi's desire to take the sandbank, because according to his plan, this winter was basically his Xuanyingwei's time, and he just took advantage of this time to accelerate the conflict between Li Yichang and Cao Rengui, prompting them to break up with each other. And at present, Li Yichang's strength is too poor, so he must find a way to let Zhang Chaofeng return to Shazhou, so as to intensify their contradictions, which Hu Xiaosi has even thought about what to do, so he shook his head when he heard the words and said: "Senior brother, your idea is estimated to be in vain, not counting the weather, even if you attack in the snow at that time, it is estimated that it will only cause all the forces in Shazhou to hug together, so instead of this, it is better to focus on deterrence on the side of Guazhou, and let me completely dismantle them." ”

Everyone laughed when they heard Hu Xiaosi's words, this guy is careful, everything he arranged in the sandbar before has been overturned, this is a typical unwillingness, thinking about doing it again. So Wan Yi didn't pay much attention to it, nodded and began to deal with the matter of rotating troops, after all, once the rotation was decided, it would take time for the new troops to adapt to the operational environment and characteristics of the northwest, which was the reason why Li Xuanqing couldn't make up his mind. However, according to Wan Yi's plan, it is better to train troops in Guazhou this winter, and it can also deter the Guiyi army on Shazhou at all times, so that Zhang Chaofeng and they have to follow Hu Xiaosi's plan.

"But I estimate that the first thing Zhang Chaofeng will do when he goes back this time is to cancel his throne, this time he has suffered a big loss in Guazhou, if he doesn't continue to stir our nerves before new foreign aid arrives, this is also the focus of our Xuanyingwei plan." Hu Xiaosi also felt funny when he thought of Zhang Chaofeng's experience, this guy didn't know what to think, the Tang army had fought and wanted to be the emperor, now it's okay, the Guiyi Army still has a lot of strength but was lost by Cao Rengui in the first battle, and the rest of the army is estimated to be enough to suppress the inside, and it can be regarded as a failure, if this is replaced by Hu Xiaosi, it is estimated that Cao Rengui has the mind to strangle Cao Rengui.

In fact, Hu Xiaosi guessed correctly, the first thing Zhang Chaofeng did after returning to Shazhou was to instruct Li Yichang to cancel the emperor's title. It's just that he, the Jinshan Kingdom of the Western Han Dynasty, has existed for a very short time, and it has been less than twenty days, so there is basically no reaction at all levels of Shazhou to this, and even Li Yichang himself is not the slightest surprised. It's just that the rest of the things surprised him, Zhang Chaofeng directly led his troops to arrest Cao Rengui, and the Cao family was also ordered not to go out in the mansion.

"Lord, this matter is not allowed, although General Cao was defeated, he is not guilty of this, he is a meritorious person, wouldn't it be self-destruction of the Great Wall to make a big move against him at this time?" Li Yichang hurriedly stopped Zhang Chaofeng and persuaded bitterly: "Besides, the Cao family has been in Shazhou for a hundred years, almost at the same time as the main father, and the family started at the same time, and it is intertwined. ”

Li Yichang was originally Zhang Chaofeng's master, so he naturally spoke more directly than others, so Zhang Chaofeng also sighed when he heard this, pulled him to sit down and said with a wry smile: "How do I not know that moving the Cao family at this time is tantamount to self-destruction of the foundation, but my Zhang family's foundation was completely destroyed by him in a war." This time, I am afraid that Wang Tu's hegemony will be empty in a blink of an eye. ”

The bitterness in Zhang Chaofeng's eyes made Li Yichang sigh, and he couldn't persuade him to do this kind of thing, so he asked after being silent for a long time: "How should we act for the sake of today?" ”

"Now that winter has arrived, the dry and cold weather in the northwest will help us prepare for the winter. Teacher, go and arrange for the Tibetan mercenaries to leave the country. Now that our military strength has been greatly reduced, they are afraid that staying on the sandbank will be more dangerous than the Tiance army, and they must arrange to leave the country immediately. In addition, I have arranged for someone to reorganize the Guiyi Army that I brought back, and I am afraid that we will have a hard time this winter. Zhang Chaofeng had an indifferent look on his face, stood up and bowed to Li Yichang and said, "It's an eventful time now, and I ask the teacher for a lot of help." ”

After Li Yichang left, Zhang Chaofeng began to visit the other backbones of the Zhang family one by one, and in his opinion, only his own family was the most reliable in this situation, especially his fourteenth aunt Zhang Yanqiao. At the beginning, he was able to regain the power of Hexi from Suo Xun, relying on his fourteenth aunt to lead the troops to kill Suo Xun at a critical moment and help him regain the position. Speaking of this fourteenth aunt, Zhang Chaofeng suddenly had a feeling of finding a backer, at least in this northwest surrounded by heroes, he also has a backer, who can give himself the most powerful support when he is most dangerous.

However, when Zhang Chaofeng walked towards Li Mingzhen's house, Li Yichang walked alone to the Shazhou prison after arranging military affairs, he knew that he had the ability to help Zhang Chaofeng at this moment, but Li Yichang didn't know if he was right to do this. Zhang Chaofeng's worries and suspicions, how could he not be worried? But now that the situation is so critical, he has no way to think about the rest of the matter, at least before the Tiance army rests and gathers, Shazhou must at least have the power to protect itself.