Wenchi County, a county in the southwest of Lingzhou, is rich in salt, is one of the production areas of salt in Lingzhou, its salt color is like peach blossoms, commonly known as peach blossom salt. Since Li Xuanqing entered Lingzhou, Wenchi's salt production was taken over by the Yuwen family among the five wealthy businessmen, sent a special person to Wenchi, and the county government opened three large-scale salt farms in a public-private joint venture, the salt output doubled instantly, and the inflow of the salt drying method also made the Lingzhou salt price that had been guarding the salt pond since ancient times but could not eat low-priced salt fell off a cliff, which brought about a chain decline in other products, Li Xuanqing began to let the Department of Finance and the Department of Industry and Commerce begin to prepare for economic reform after knowing these circumstances.

The garrison of the heavy armor battalion of the Tiance Army is in Wenchi County. Due to the expansion of the scale of the military workshops of the Logistics Department, the new assembly line model advocated by Li Xuanqing and the practice of division of labor by division of labor became the standard, and the output of the military industry was gradually raised. The reorganized heavy armor battalion this time can be described as fully equipped and uniformly made of steel plate armor, which makes this army, which is privately known as the weapon of the town, exude a desperate chill.

The heavy armored battalion is different from other troops, and it has two capitals, the iron spear and the Mo knife team, each with an establishment of 5,000 people. Although it is infantry, it is fully equipped with war horses, and the total number of auxiliaries reaches a terrifying 14,000 people.

At this moment, the heavy armored battalion is doing routine training, and the Lingwu Army and the Anxi Army have their own research and practice for the heavy armored soldiers. After Li Xuanqing appointed Wan Yi as the commander of the heavy armored battalion, he specially and systematically summed up the training methods of the heavy armored soldiers, eliminated some unreasonable factors and began to popularize them, and transferred some of the methods of cracking to other troops, and the General Staff even included all these tactics in the assessment list of non-wartime troops.

On the high command platform, Wan Yi held the trumpet flag, the war drums behind him followed his own trumpet to change different drum sounds, and the two teams in front of him arranged a neat large array, following the trumpet flag and waving the weapons in their hands.

At this moment, the herald arrived from afar, quickly marched to the command platform along the passage between the two formations, turned over and jumped on his horse, "General Qiyu Dutong, the lord has crossed the border of Wenchi County, and arrived at the barracks in half an hour, and ordered the commander of the heavy armored battalion to assemble the above generals immediately, and the whole army will immediately transfer to the wartime establishment, and there must be no mistake." ”

Wan Yi took the talisman, held it high above the top, and roared sharply: "Brothers, the lord is coming soon, do you know what this means?" ”

Looking at the soldiers below who were silent and as thick as their own dark and shiny armor, Wan Yi's voice came out from afar: "It means that our hard training in the past few months is finally going to be tested today, and it means that my Tiance Mansion is going to use our Zhenguo weapon." I ordered, and the whole army immediately regrouped and prepared to move. ”

Half an hour later, the fifth battalion led by Li Xuanqing and the personal guards appeared in front of the heavy armor battalion. Wan Yi led the two commanders of the heavy armor battalion and the personnel of a cadre battalion to greet him at the gate of Yuanmen.

"Is there something wrong with the lord coming to Wenchi in a hurry?" In the big tent of the Chinese army in the heavy armored battalion, all the six commanders and three commanders of the three battalions gathered at this moment, Wan Yi saw such a big battle, and asked.

"Did the scouts sent by the Xuanying Guard to the southwest return?" Li Xuanqing pointed to the hanging map of the southwest of Lingzhou.

Among the guards were the personnel of the Lingzhou headquarters who were accompanied by Xuan Yingwei, and at this time they came out and said: "The time for Xuan Yingwei to operate in the southwest direction is too short, and after Commander Hu made urgent arrangements, he has sent three groups of detachments with a total of fifty people to the southwest direction and Yuanzhou and other places, and there is no news yet. ”

Li Xuanqing also knew that Xuanyingwei's previous direction was mainly concentrated in the east, so he didn't ask too much, and ordered the pro-guard team to send people to reconnoiter along the main road and continued: "The whole army rested for three days, and after three days, the fifth battalion was the vanguard, the heavy armored battalion was the middle army, and the pro-guard was the flank, rushing to Yuanzhou and driving the Tubo people out. ”

"The lord wants to move the Tibetans?" Wan Yi looked at the strategic situation map drawn by Li Xuanxin and said in surprise.

"It's not that I'm going to move them, it's that they're going to move us." Li Xuanqing threw down the charcoal pen and said: "Senior brother has lived in Lingzhou for a long time, so he must know the Tubo people very well, right?" ”

"Since the Anshi Rebellion, the Tibetan people have continued to harass China, and after years of Suzong and Xianzong, they occupied Hexi, expeditioned to the Western Regions, trapped the northwest court of Anxi in the desperate region, and cut off the throat of the Central Plains. Although the imperial court repeatedly united with the steppe Uighurs and other nomadic tribes to attack, it was never effective. Ten years ago, Tibet was in internal strife, and its own division was divided into several branches, and each ministry went its own way. Wan Yi briefly said the history of Tubo, pointed to the location on the map and the border with Lingzhou, and said: "The western part of Lingzhou is a Wenmo people, and it is also a branch of Tubo, and it is the descendant of slaves who revolted that year. The strength of the army should not be underestimated. ”

After listening to this, Li Xuanqing nodded, and sighed: "I have long known that Longyou Tubo cannot be underestimated, but I heard that since the split, Tubo is the strongest border garrison, and the closer it is to its royal headquarters, in fact, it has long been defeated, and the weaker its strength is." Is that so? ”

Wan Yi nodded and said: "That's true, in fact, Tubo was also an important factor that led to its split. The border town lord will have a heavy army, too much power, and the internal expropriation and tyranny, there were hundreds of thousands of slaves who revolted that year, and they poured into Ganlong, which is the origin of the Wen people. After speaking, he glanced at Li Xuanqing, gritted his teeth and said: "The last general does not recommend that the lord recover Yuanzhou at this time, our army's battle line is too long, from south to north, trekking for thousands of years, it is easy for the opponent to break through." Or shrink your attention to Guannei, and when you take Guanzhong, you can naturally send a partial army to recover Hexi Longyou. ”

"But what if someone instigates Tibet to take the initiative to attack?" Li Xuanqing looked at Wan Yi and said with a smile: "Xuanyingwei did not find any movement in Tubo in the west, but in Chang'an, he found that Zhu Quanzhong sent a secret envoy from Longyou Tubo, and the two agreed to capture my Lingzhou and Guanzhong. This is called the tree wants to be quiet and the wind does not stop. After a pause, he said: "It's best to take Yuanzhou in this battle, it doesn't matter if you can't take it, what we want is not to occupy a city and a place, but to defeat the ambitions of the Tubo people in this battle, destroy the invading army, and win time for my Tiance army to take Guanzhong directly." ”

"We only have 25,000 people, which is the limit of what the Tiance Army can deploy without using mobile troops." Li Xuanqing's eyes swept over the general standing proudly in front of him, and his tone was excited, "But we have to play with the momentum of the Tiance Army." At that time, the Anxi Army was able to stand proudly among dozens of countries with only tens of thousands of people and maintain the orthodoxy of the Tang Dynasty, and I believe that our Tiance Army can also do it. Because we have an undefeated military soul and the indomitable arrogance of the people of the Tang Dynasty. I ordered, and the whole army immediately reorganized and prepared to go. ”

Three days later, this army quietly appeared in the territory of Longyou without anyone's knowledge, and in order to maintain the secrecy of the march, all 5,000 people of the pro-guard army served as scouts and cleared all the places they went.

And when Li Xuanqing secretly attacked Yuanzhou, the Tubo garrison in Yuanzhou also ushered in its own army. The 30,000 elite cavalry sent by Zampu of Longyou Tubo combined with the 20,000 defenders of Yuanzhou to form a huge cavalry cluster of 50,000 people, ready to set off into Lingzhou.

In the era of the Lingwu Army, there would be a war between Lingzhou and Tubo almost every few years, so these Tubo generals did not have any doubts after receiving the military order to go to Lingzhou to fight, and for them, the capture of Lingzhou was equivalent to opening the west gate to enter the Central Plains Huahua world. Therefore, under the command of Sang Xiong, the general of the royal court, the cavalry of 50,000 people marched towards Lingzhou.

There was no intention of concealing the whereabouts along the way, and after the army, the smoke and dust were billowing and people shouting and neighing, so it was not lively.

However, just as the Tubo army set off, the Xuanying guards who had just been inserted in Yuanzhou City also quietly released carrier pigeons, conveying the news of the army's departure. Due to the rush of time, Xuan Yingwei was not able to find out the specific inside story, but only spread the news that the Tubo army had driven out of Yuanzhou City.

But these are enough for Li Xuanqing. Almost at the same time as receiving the message from the carrier pigeon of the Xuanying Guard, the scouts searching in front of the guards also came with the news that a large group of people appeared hundreds of miles away.

Li Xuanqing, who was marching to Yuanzhou, stopped, found Wan Yi and Xue Wanli, pointed to the map spread out by the guards, and said, "There is news from Xuanyingwei and the guards that the Tubo people have been dispatched. According to their footsteps, they will be here tomorrow at most. How do you say this battle should be fought? ”

"Since it's a surprise attack, I think we'll fight an ambush. The terrain on the right side of Longyou is complicated, which is not conducive to the charge of the cavalry group, but it is very suitable for our infantry to fight. The heavily armored Wei Shijian's Modao team has been inherited by the Anxi Army, which has not tasted defeat in the Western Regions that year. Wan Yi looked at the map and said.

"I agree with Commander Wan. In the past, the Lingwu army was like this against the Wen Mo people, they were all clever battles, and we didn't have the capital to charge the cavalry. Xue Wanli pointed to a mountain range on the map and said, "I have been to Yuanzhou in the early years, and this place called Lone Eagle Ridge is very suitable for us to ambush. This place is located in the key point of Yuanzhou in and out of Lingzhou and Qizhou, the mountain is steep, and the road is located on the side of the mountain, which is suitable for us to ambush. ”

After Li Xuanqing calculated the distance, he immediately ordered the whole army to quickly rush to Lone Eagle Ridge. Then take someone to see the terrain yourself. It turns out that this Lone Eagle Ridge is a dangerous peak on the road leading to Chang'an on Longyou Road at that time, standing on the east side of this north-south post road in an irregular shape, the ramp facing the road side is very long, relatively gentle, but there are many strange stones, making the whole mountain look steep and precipitous.

Li Xuanqing touched a piece of basalt that had weathered into an irregular shape around him, and knew that it was the cold climate in the northwest that caused these stones to be weathered, and the north wind of the sand in the lower layer continued to decrease, and it would take many years before the stones surfaced, causing such a strange landscape today. So he nodded and said, "This place is indeed very suitable for ambushes." Senior brother, you immediately arrange for the heavy armored battalion and the entourage of the logistics department to arrange an ambush position, with the heavy armored battalion in the left front, and the fifth battalion on the right side. Lu Yi asked the guards to concentrate immediately and hide in a place about twenty miles west of the road, if the battle broke out, the guards attacked around the rear, the heavy guards pushed to the right in front of the left, and the fifth battalion opened the road with bows and arrows to block the opponent, and the main force should concentrate on a high ground on the right side to cut the opponent. The Ballista and Hellfire brigades followed me to the mountainside and set up positions. ”

"Hellfire?" Wan Yi was about to prepare, but suddenly when he heard the new words coming out of Li Xuanqing's mouth, he suddenly stopped and asked, "Lord, what is Hellfire?" He knew that this legend was a long-range strike weapon invented by Li Xuanqing himself, and he personally tested it several times in Lingzhou at that time, and he was full of praise for its range and accuracy.

Li Xuanqing smiled slightly and said: "A secret weapon, which is guaranteed to make the Tubo people frightened." "I don't explain what it is, but I just lightly tell you when the time comes.

After speaking, he ignored the two of them, walked straight up the mountain, and began to command the erection of positions. The Hellfire Brigade is a newly established special operations brigade, which is subordinate to the special operations department like the Flying Eagle Brigade, and in the eyes of outsiders, this is a group of mysterious guys, and the outside has no idea what this group of people are busy with all day.

The commander of the Hellfire Brigade is Su He, this guy has been completely obsessed with this new type of weapon since he was appointed by Li Xuanqing as the commander of the Hellfire Brigade and saw the shock brought by gunpowder in this era. Under Li Xuanqing's suggestion, Su He not only became familiar with the characteristics of gunpowder, but also poured out several finished products in a targeted manner.

However, in this era, gunpowder was used in field warfare, and it could only be used to launch explosive bags with the help of catapults and special ballistas, in order to increase the power, Su He loaded these fifteen-pound explosive bags with scraps produced in the military workshop, injected iron horns and iron filings and other leftover materials, and made them into a spherical state, so as to maintain the stability of its trajectory, so that it could not find a landing place after being launched.

This time, Li Xuanqing went out to take away one-third of the output of the gunpowder workshop during this time, just to fight the Tubo people in a war, so that they would not dare to invade the east from now on.

Ten catapults that were dismantled into parts were assembled, and the ten special ballistae specially developed by the logistics department were also assembled. Behind the position of the Hellfire Brigade was an allista brigade, a full fifty ballistas lined up neatly, and the swarthy black cannon body exuded a scorching cold light. This most outstanding work of Western cold weapons embezzled by Li Xuanqing is showing its majesty on the Eastern battlefield.

It is very difficult to construct such a large-scale ambush position of 20,000 people, this kind of ambush in the era of cold weapons is not only as simple as concealing oneself, but also needs to facilitate one's own attack, so Li Xuanqing did not interfere with the command of Wan Yi and Xue Wanli, for generals like them, this kind of thing only exists in perfection.

This busyness went straight to the evening, and the intelligence of the pro-guard team also showed that the Tubo people would arrive at the battlefield at noon tomorrow at the latest, and because this place was within the control of the Tubo people, they were also very relieved that they did not send scouts to investigate, in fact, if it were not for Li Xuanqing, others would not have thought of taking the initiative to attack them at all.

However, in this way, Li Xuanqing also spent a peaceful night, except for the pro-guards who were ambushed outside, the troops of Lone Eagle Ridge should open fire and eat. The canned mutton and canned fish purchased by the logistics department made the soldiers feast and laugh all over the barracks.