In late September 889 AD, just after Li Xuanqing and Li Ke divided the victory and defeat in a battle between the two rivers, Zhu Quanzhong, who had been watching the decisive battle between the two families in the south, suddenly saw that he took advantage of the chaos to attack Luzhou, and the northern front actually began to attack Wang Shifan.

When Zhu Quanzhong sent out his troops, this news was directly transmitted to the Chang'an base camp with the flying pigeon, and then quickly spread to the north and the east to surrender to the city, and arrived in the hands of Li Xuanqing.

"My lord, why is Xuan Yingwei's news so strange? Zhu Quanzhong's attack on Luzhou is actually understandable, and he fell into the well. But isn't it too strange for him to beat Wang Shifan at this time? War on two fronts? Chen Fan also pondered for a long time when he saw this news, and couldn't guess Zhu Quanzhong's thoughts.

"The attack on Wang Shifan can be understood as expanding the territory of the northern front, and for the sake of confronting us in the future, Luzhou and Qinzhou are the focus of Zhu Quanzhong and Li Keyong's contention, and they are also important towns in the Central Plains. Li Xuanqing frowned and thought for a moment and was a little unsure, but compared to Chen Fan and the others, he was much calmer, put down the information and walked to the map and said: "Your northern front has occupied the Dongshou City, and the remaining military towns will seize the time to take it, completely expel the forces of the Jin army from the Hetao area, and notify the political envoy of Fengzhou to send someone to receive it as soon as possible." ”

"Lord, don't we do anything about Zhu Quanzhong?" Hu Xiaosi, who was on the side, had been pondering this matter before, and when he saw Li Xuanqing patronizing the arrangement of the northern line, he couldn't sit still.

"Don't you already have an arrangement? Do you want me to remind you? Li Xuanqing glanced at him and said with a smile.

Hu Xiaosi touched his head and said with a wry smile: "I can only guarantee contact with Wang Shifan, but far water can't quench the thirst of the near, even if Wang Shifan is willing to surrender, we have no foundation in Shandong at all, this guy is a typical wall-to-wall grass, he will not work hard for us and Zhu Quanzhong at all, and it will be difficult for the Xuanwu army to arrive, and he will surrender directly without fighting." ”

"And even if we take Youzhou as scheduled, we will have to face a battle with Li Congwei and others, and we will always keep an eye on the movements of the Khitans on the northern front, and the task on the northern front will be too big after the year." Liu Baoliang pointed to the small feudal towns in Shandong and shook his head: "And our infantry is not enough. ”

This also made Chen Fan nod, as soon as he saw the dense cities in Shandong, he felt the importance of infantry, if the cavalry was allowed to dismount and fight, the Tiance army could not afford it.

"In this way, notify Tianxiang to send troops to capture Shaanzhou, let Zhu Quanzhong fight on three fronts, and pressure him to withdraw his troops from the Luzhou area, so that he will go north to occupy Cangzhou in time, which is not a bad thing for us." Li Xuanqing knew their scruples, nodded and said: "You and Tianxiang will discuss it, if necessary, transfer the infantry battalion of the western front into the northern front, or let Tiancheng and them be responsible for attacking the city, and you will lead the cavalry to fight." ”

"All in all, no matter what calculations Zhu Quanzhong has, the task of your northern front is to meet with An Xiuxiu before the New Year or before this winter." Li Xuanqing put down the charcoal in his hand and glanced at the generals present.

"My lord, do you want to secretly order An Xiuxiu to lead the army south to join Gao Siji and occupy Cangzhou and other places, so that we can plant a wedge in Shandong in advance." Chen Fan said with a frown.

His words made the people present suddenly think about another possibility, but Hu Xiaosi immediately said: "In this way, will An Xiuxiu think that we are killing people with a knife?" You must know that although he has promised to surrender to our Tiance Army, after all, he is not our core person now, and if he goes to Cangzhou, it means that he will be out of touch with our main force for a considerable period of time in the future, and he may face Li Congwei in the north, Wang Shifan in the south, Zhu Quanzhong and even Li Keyong and others in partnership at any time. It can be said that this is really the road of nine deaths and one life. Can he? And his troops are also seriously insufficient, even if you add the men and horses in Gao Siji's hands, it is less than 50,000 people. ”

"Little Four, you miscalculated, you forgot that you still have more than 100,000 horses in your hands, why don't you count them?" Chen Fan said with a smile: "Can your Xuan Yingwei's rebel army in the Shandong region move to the Cangzhou area, occupy this area before An Xiuxiu and the others arrive, and then defend the city." ”

Li Xuanqing nodded and said with a smile: "You really have a good experience in defensive battles, and this place can actually think of the troops defending the city." The key to whether this matter can succeed is not in us, but in An Xiu Xiu and Gao Siji. Although Xiao Si's rebel army has infiltrated well during this time, its combat effectiveness is not good, and the lack of food and grass in Cangzhou cannot support them to fight for a long time. ”

"On the issue of grain and grass, I can organize our own businessmen in Shandong to find a way to transport some of the past, but I have no good way to fight the fighting power of the rebel army, and there is no way to grow up without the baptism of war." Hu Xiaosi shook his head and smiled bitterly.

"What is the lord going to say to An Xiuxiu?" Chen Fan didn't pay attention to what Hu Xiaosi said, but saw that Li Xuanqing's eyes had been staring at the Daizhou area, and immediately understood what he was thinking, and asked.

"I'm going to go to Daizhou in person and talk to An Xiuxiu once." Li Xuanqing turned around and said something that shocked everyone.

While Li Xuanqing and others were discussing the disposition of Shandong, Yang Tiancheng and Xu Tianxiang, the general staff of the Hezhong region, were also discussing the disposition of Zhu Quanzhong after he suddenly joined the war group. The two of them also set their eyes on Shaanzhou and other places, the border with Guanzhong. Unlike Li Xuanqing, who also had to consider the Shandong region, the idea of the two of them was to take advantage of the main force of the Tiance Army to hoard the river, directly take Shaanzhou, and then the front army directly took Yuzhou, so that the troops of the Tiance Army could directly threaten Henan Prefecture, that is, Luoyang and other places, so that Zhu Quanzhong's ruling center would be under the threat of the Tiance Army. This will inevitably greatly mobilize the Xuanwu army to move westward, thereby reducing the pressure on Luzhou and other places.

It's just that in this way, the main force that was originally used to attack the Youhe region was put in the direction of Zhu Quanzhong, which was equivalent to throwing all the pressure on the northern front. The two of them discussed and discussed, and there was no complete solution. However, there are not many troops in other directions of the Tiance Army that can be deployed on a large scale, and they cannot adhere to the three-line operation.

Thinking of this, the two of them looked at each other and smiled bitterly, they and Zhu Quanzhong were actually in the same situation, and the third-line operation required a huge number of troops to be able to play a role, otherwise it would not be possible to mobilize the enemy, and they would fall into the embarrassing situation of dispersing their troops.

"I don't know if the lord has any other way, otherwise we will fight Zhu Quanzhong for free. If we attack at the same time as him, most of the anointed lands in the Netherworld region will fall into his hands. Yang Tiancheng and Xu Tianxiang carefully studied Li Ke's territory and smiled bitterly.

"I think Shaanzhou must be occupied no matter what. The occupation of Shaanzhou is to show Zhu Quanzhong that we already have the means to contain him on the Western Front, and if he is obsessed, we can directly take Luoyang. Xu Tianxiang said: "As for the others, I believe that the lord has already started to arrange, don't forget that Xuan Yingwei has been arranging in Shandong for so long, it is impossible to have no countermeasures." ”

"Okay, I'll immediately ask Tianyi to bring soldiers and horses to Shaanzhou. By the way, you can bring new recruits over and use siege battles to hone and hone. Yang Tiancheng nodded and smiled: "The other ministries are almost resting now, I think we can cross the Yellow River and enter the Hedong region in the near future, Zhu Quanzhong can grab time, we can also grab time." After the occupation of Shaanzhou, let Tianyi garrison Shaanzhou, flank Zhu Quanzhong, and at the same time participate in the Hedong campaign when necessary. ”

"Then let's write a report and send it to the lord immediately, and you go and transfer the troops." Xu Tianxiang nodded.

The Tiance Army discussed countermeasures almost as soon as Zhu Quanzhong sent troops. In fact, within the Xuanwu Army, there are also different voices about going north to take Luzhou and Qinzhou. The think tank headed by the military advisor Xie Tong resolutely opposed Zhu Quanzhong's approach, but advocated concentrating troops on the eastern and northern fronts, with Cangzhou and Li Congwei bordering as the main purpose, and the eastern front was to completely take Wang Shifan and expand his strength to the extreme, so that he could face a very delicate situation, Li Xuanqing's forces were extremely scattered after taking Li Keyong's secluded region, and the Xuanwu army at this time could concentrate its forces to the north to compete for power because of its compact territory, and Li Xuanqing's mobile forces could be defeated in a battle. When the time comes, the brigade will compete with the other party city by city, and it will inevitably be to let the other party divide his troops and be restrained everywhere, so as to take the entire north without much effort.

However, with the opinions of front-line generals such as Ge Cunzhou and Ding Hui, there was a serious conflict with the think tank, for these generals, taking advantage of Li Ke's main force to lose the core area of Bingzhou, so that even if Li Xuanqing can take the northern part of Youzhou, the gains outweigh the losses, and they will also face the threat of the Khitans.

In fact, there is no question of who is right and who is wrong in these two ideas, but it reflects the different strategic considerations of the two sides, Xie Tong focuses on the overall situation, and does not care about the struggle for these leftovers, but is based on the struggle for control of the entire northern China. However, the idea of Ge Cunzhou and the others is to occupy the rich areas of the other party as much as possible to expand their own strength, and accumulate enough strength for the ultimate competition in the future.

In the end, Zhu Quanzhong still did not resist the temptation of reality, and sent Ge Cunzhou as the commander-in-chief, leading 80,000 troops into Luzhou and other places. However, he did not completely abandon the opinions of Xie Tong and others, and at the same time as Ge Cunzhou sent troops, he sent Zhu Zhen and others in Shandong and other places to lead troops and horses to attack Wang Shifan, which was regarded as implementing these two plans at the same time.

However, his approach made Xie Tong sigh more than once, and he left Zhu Quanzhong's marshal mansion gloomily and left. However, as soon as he returned to his mansion, he heard a report from his subordinates that Zheng Fan was visiting.

"Is there something important for Lord Zheng to come so late?" Xie Tong actually doesn't like the current Zheng Fan too much, since Zhu Quanzhong asked him to take over the intelligence organization, he found that this high-spirited colleague in the past has become more and more dark, but he can't stand the respect that people have for him, so Xie Tong has no way not to accept Zheng Fan.

"Lord Xie, what do you think of the lord's move?" Zheng Fan didn't have any thoughts about the person in front of him, but bowed and asked.

Xie Tong let out a long sigh when he heard this, shook his head and said, "Can't you see it with the eyes of Lord Yi?" Although this move can occupy most of the territory of the state, how to face the Tiance Army after the territory is expanded? The Tiance Army is attacking from the north and south, but we are coming out from the east and west, can't you see it? ”

"The same is to disperse the troops, but the other party shot earlier than us, and the layout in the Bingzhou area was also earlier than ours, but I am afraid that the other party will have already adjusted by then, but it will become a leisurely waiting. Moreover, the northern front of the Tiance Army has concentrated most of the opponent's cavalry team, and if the horses gallop wildly, the two armies can join forces, and we will face the overwhelming situation of the opponent's Mount Tai at that time. Zheng Fan also let out a long sigh and said: "Compared with other people, I have been dealing with Li Xuanqing and others for a long time, although this person is young, he basically does things after making plans, and when he makes a move, he basically thinks about all the tricks." I'm afraid that the other side has now seen the intentions of our army. ”

"The lord has a plan." Xie Tong said coldly: "The Tiance Army has conquered a huge territory in the past two or three years, and the lord has become impatient because of this, losing his own plan and losing his heart, blindly following the other party, and will inevitably be completely defeated by the other party in the end." ”

"What should we do now?" Zheng Fan also knew Xie Tong's grievances, but he didn't have anything to do, today in Zhu Quanzhong's meeting room, he also had opposing opinions, but Zhu Quanzhong didn't listen.

"Let's take it one step at a time. Your intelligence agency should find a way to listen more to Li Xuanqing's movements, and let's see if the other party will make mistakes. Xie Tong sighed and said quietly.

Xie Tong is worthy of being the top wise man of this era, and he discovered the hidden dangers of Li Xuanqing and Zhu Quanzhong when they used troops at a glance, but what he didn't know was what the hole cards in Li Xuanqing's hand were, and he didn't know the layout of Xuanyingwei in Shandong.

Time is moving forward little by little, and when Ge Cunzhou's army arrived at the city of Luzhou, Li Xuanqing also walked out of the city of Daizhou, and An Xiuxiu personally sent him outside the city and bowed down. With Li Xuanqing's departure, An Xiuxiu quietly led the army to disappear from Daizhou, and Daizhou was subsequently taken over by the lightly armed cavalry of the Tiance Army, and the northern town of Daizhou fell into the hands of the Tiance Army.

In Shandong, when Hu Xiaosi issued the supreme order, all branches began to cooperate closely and deliver a large amount of grain and grass to the Cangzhou area, which was still an enemy-occupied area, according to the plan. The Cangzhou guards didn't know what to do, and thought that these merchants were hiding from the war in the Central Plains, and opened the city gate to happily accept these rich people who flowed oil, but they didn't notice the cold glint in the eyes of some people who followed these merchants to transport grain and grass.

At the end of September, all parties in the Central Plains also came to a node, and a magnificent Central Plains campaign kicked off from this moment.