"My lord, the general report of the battle situation has come from the Southwest Group Army." In Linhe County, Fengzhou, Li Xuanqing and Qiaoxi inspect the largest coal mining base in Hetao. Originally, this coal mine was not large, but because there are no suitable mining sites in other parts of the Toyosu area, this small mining site has become the largest. However, the logistics department is preparing to move this directly affiliated coal mining site to Tiande City, where a new open-pit mining site has been discovered, which is simple and of good coal quality. Although Li Xuanqing is a little distressed about the waste of this high-quality anthracite, fortunately, the domestic coal reserves are so large, and the waste point does not matter.

Li Xuanqing took the information handed over by the guards and glanced at it a few times, then said with a smile: "Qiaoxi, let's go back to Fengzhou." The two of them rode from Linhe to Fengzhou City, where the Third Army was located, and Chen Fan obviously received a notice from the General Staff and waited in the camp early in the morning. After Li Xuanqing asked Qiaoxi to go to the back tent to rest, he and Chen Fan came to his big tent and said with a smile: "Chen Fan, how is the training of your long-range troops?" "The last time the title was reorganized, the general of the Third Army gave Liu Baoliang, Chen Fan was secretly appointed as the commander of the bow and arrow battalion, under the direct jurisdiction of the General Staff, everyone didn't understand what was going on, until Li Xuanqing personally found Chen Fan after the meeting, and secretly arranged that Chen Fan took the bow battalion and the Third Army to join forces, and hid in the establishment of the Third Army to start a secret mission.

"Cavalry lord, at present, the number of archers and archers has been recruited, and the establishment of 30,000 people is divided into six capitals, and each department has secretly started training under the cover of the Third Legion." Chen Fan knew what Li Xuanqing was going to ask, so he replied: "The new mechanical crossbow has been equipped with one, and the effect is very good, but the speed of other weapons and equipment is relatively slow, so for the time being, it is still mainly based on archery and archery." ”

"Let's go, let's see." Li Xuanqing nodded, knowing that this matter was not in a hurry, but he only established this army for future transformation experiments, so he didn't have the heart to rush to success, and stood up and came to this secret training camp with Chen Fan under the banner of the Third Army to visit the training inside.

Chen Fan has his own experience in military training, so his military camp arrangements are staggered, and everyone is training according to the plan.

"You guy, why is there so many defenses in the training camp?" Li Xuanqing looked at the surrounding arrangements and said with a smile: "This is the hinterland of Fengzhou, what are you doing with so many defensive measures?" Prepared? ”

Chen Fan scratched his head when he was said, and said with a smile: "It's just a habit, don't laugh at the lord, the mechanical crossbow is in the northernmost part, there is an open space over there, and the farm is outside, which is under the jurisdiction of the logistics department, so no one knows what is inside." Lord, let's go take a look, there is live-fire training today. ”

When Li Xuanqing and Chen Fan walked over, the mechanical crossbow unit was carrying out live-fire training. I saw 500 strange looks that were a bit like the device of the rocket artillery box of later generations divided into a zigzag layout, the first and the last three arranged.

"Lord, please see, these mechanical crossbows are equipped with the latest booster crossbow arrows, in addition to increasing the range, they also have a fortification effect, each mechanical crossbow can fire five crossbow arrows at a time, and the ammunition box contains twenty crossbow arrows, so they can be fired continuously." Chen Fan walked up to one of the mechanical crossbows and pointed to the strange box and explained: "Every time you take out the card slot after firing, you can switch to the second launch by pushing the machine spring. Moreover, the ignition device also adopts the firing device mentioned by the lord, and uses flint as the ignition device. ”

Li Xuanqing walked to the side of this mechanical crossbow and looked at it carefully for a long time, nodded and smiled: "It looks a little like it, the logistics department has put a lot of effort into this mechanical crossbow." If you feel that there is something wrong or needs to be improved in the operation, feedback it to Qin Yao in time, although the mechanical crossbow is powerful, there is still a gap between it and what I expected, and this has not yet been essentially out of the category of cold weapons. ”

"By the way, in my name, I will summon the General Staff Officer, and from today onwards, the Bow and Arrow Battalion will be renamed the Artillery Battalion, which will belong to the Fifth Battalion of the Central Garrison Battalion, and you will be the general of the General System." Li Xuanqing pointed to the shooting range in the distance and said, "You guys start live-fire training, I'll see how powerful the artillery battalion is." ”

Chen Fan nodded to the commander in the distance, the latter began to raise the red and white flags in his hands and dance three times, the three mechanical crossbows in the assembly area began to pull the trigger, accompanied by the front finger of the red flag in the hands of the commander, suddenly pulled the trigger, only to see the sound of the machine spring bursting in an instant, and suddenly there was a neat whistling sound in the air, countless crossbow arrows dragging the tail of the flame flew into the sky in an instant, the white pillar of smoke suddenly covered the sky, and the whizzing crossbow arrows brought bursts of sonic booms, Fly towards the shooting range.

"Boom, boom, boom" A full 2,000 crossbow arrows quickly concentrated on the simulated city walls and dark bunkers on the shooting range, but suddenly burst into bursts of explosions, and after the thick smoke, the shooting range was in shambles, and the simulated dark forts and city walls that had been placed before were blown apart, rubble flew out, and smoke and dust were raised.

"Lord, how is the power?" Chen Fan rarely felt a little complacent and said with a smile.

Li Xuanqing's smile when he saw him didn't hurt him and said, "During this time, you take the time to go to the logistics department, and let Qin Yao find a way to purify the gunpowder again, and I have already roughly talked to him about the purification method, and let him arrange someone to study it." Although the current black powder seems to be very powerful, in the final analysis, it is still not powerful enough. If it's powerful, your 2,000 rockets can at least blow up the shooting range. Now it's the ability to help increase the range of the bolts, and the others are a bit of a misnomer. ”

"Okay, I'm not here to see you train, but to find you for something." Li Xuanqing saw that Chen Fan's face was a little embarrassed when he was told by himself, and he pulled him as he walked and said: "Yuanzhou Houchun fought well, and defeated the 100,000 army of the Tubo people in the first battle, if it weren't for our energy not in the west, we could directly hit their royal court and state." However, after cutting off the threat of Longyou, Lingzhou Wanyi has already planned to attack Liangzhou in Hexi. You should consider sending about 10,000 troops to the actual battle and see how the results are. ”

"What does the lord mean to let the artillery battalion go to the battlefield in advance?" Chen Fan thought about Li Xuanqing's words for a while.

Li Xuanqing nodded and said, "What's wrong?" Not ready yet? "I am also a little helpless about Chen Fan's idea of being perfect in everything, but what people with this kind of personality arrange him to do, as long as he nods, it must be foolproof.

"That's not it, the artillery battalion is ready for a fight." Chen Fan shook his head and said.

"That's good, there are mostly a few tribes in the west, which is suitable for new weapons for battlefield experiments. And I plan to merge the Hellfire Brigade with your artillery battalion when the time is right, and decentralize the Ballista Brigade to the legions as a regular part of the legion. So this time you are not only experimenting with new weapons, but also taking on the significance of the first battle of the new class. Li Xuanqing planned to simulate the regular establishment of the army in later generations, so he said to Chen Fan.

"Don't worry, my lord, I will choose two of them later, both of which will be led by the deputy commander, and go to Lingzhou to listen to General Wan's dispatch." Chen Fan understood what Li Xuanqing meant, and took the order.

"After the capture of Liangzhou, the location of the artillery battalion will be moved to Liangzhou, and there will be many new weapons in the follow-up logistics department, all of which are related to gunpowder, and you will be the first to test and equip them when the time comes." Li Xuanqing said with a smile: "This is an epoch-making weapon, and the secrecy work must be done well." On the battlefield you have the right to retreat first, and you are not responsible for the defeat. And wherever he goes, he must have the Xuan Ying Wei arrange for men to follow him to ensure that he is not detected by the enemy. ”

Here, when Li Xuanqing arranged for Chen Fan to send an artillery battalion to prepare for the Northwest Group Army in Lingzhou, the order given to Wan Yi by the General Staff was also sent to the commander's tent of the Lingzhou Army.

"The commander, the order of the General Staff and the Lord." Wan Yi took the two orders handed over by the staff officer, glanced at them and said with a smile: "Immediately send the order to the general system and all battalions to convey the orders of the lord and the general staff. ”

The war drums outside the tent began to give orders at a rapid pace, and accompanied by the flying horsemen quickly out of the camp to inform the commanders of the armies. After ten o'clock in the drums, the commanders of the various armies under the Northwest Group Army gathered all of Lingzhou at this moment and arrived at the commander's tent.

"The lord and the general staff have issued an order to let our Northwest Group Army choose the opportunity to send troops to Hexi and recover Liangzhou." After Wan Yi saw everyone sit down, he said: "This is the first time that I have sent troops after the Tang Dynasty lost the land of Hexi for a hundred years, you must give me a twelve-point spirit, fight this battle well, and live up to the trust of the lord." ”

"What does the marshal mean is that we take the initiative to attack, cross Helan Mountain, and attack Hexi?" At this moment, an infantry battalion of the Fourth Army has gone to Helan Mountain to deploy defenses, and the remaining infantry battalion at this moment is really Qian Lao Liu, and the rest is a capital of the Dangxiang cavalry battalion. Qian Lao Liu saw Wan Yi change his previous strategy and said, "Then should the other two aspects of the lord's arrangement be adjusted?" ”

"This is the information sent by the Xuanying Wei Hexi Branch this morning, you two should take a look." Wan Yi didn't answer, but picked up a piece of information and handed it to Qian Lao Liu and said with a smile: "The movements of the Wen Mo people are too slow, and the news from Xuan Yingwei says that they don't believe in the ability of the Longyou Tubo people at all, so they have the intention of watching the excitement, and they have no preparation in the early stage." However, if the news of Yuanzhou's victory reaches Liangzhou, the leader of the Wen people, Khanba, will definitely speed up his preparations for war, but the lord's idea of coming to attack my Lingzhou is no longer big. So we have to change our plans immediately and cross Helan Mountain. ”

"Immediately notify the heavy cavalry battalion and General Hou to inform them of the plan of our group army headquarters, and at the same time order the heavy cavalry battalion to immediately cross Helan Mountain to meet the infantry battalion over, and the Seventh Corps of General Hou will continue to cruise in the northwest of the Hexi Corridor to maintain pressure and ensure that the infantry can take Wuwei County, so that we can gain a foothold in Hexi, and the logistics department should take the opportunity to seize the time to transport supplies to the past, and our time in Hexi will not be short." Wan Yi looked at the map and began to convey orders.

Qian Lao Liu looked at the marching route drawn by Wan Yi and said with a smile: "This marching route of the Great Marshal is the best road out of Hexi since ancient times, but it has only been abandoned in the last hundred years. ”

"Don't worry, the construction corps of the logistics department has already gone to repair, we are fighting in the front, they are building roads in the back, ensuring that they will repair wherever we fight, and they will not delay things. Moreover, the Hexi Corridor is rich in products, and our food and grass supplies can be sourced locally, and Xuan Yingwei has secretly hoarded a lot, so we don't have to worry about it. ”

"That's great, let's go and prepare immediately, and the army will set off in two hours." Qian Lao Liu and the Dang Xiang Cavalry Battalion all nodded and withdrew from the big tent and began to prepare to go. As a result, the curtain has just come to an end in the southwest, and the war has once again ignited in Lingzhou in the northwest. But this time the people of Lingzhou City did not have the slightest movement, and the continuous war for a hundred years made the people here not take the war in their eyes at all, not to mention that this time it was not a local battle, but a fight, and it was the battle of the Tang Dynasty to regain the lost territory. Since the Anshi Rebellion, the Hexi Corridor, a passage connecting the Western Regions, has been cut off by the Tubo people for a hundred years, and today, the children of the Han family set out from Lingzhou to shoulder the honor and disgrace of the Tang Dynasty for a hundred years, to recover the lost land, to remember the sages, to fight bloodily for the hometown that haunts the soul, and never regret the battle.

And just when Lingzhou made the decision to send troops, Li Xuanqing of Fengzhou was also looking at the West for a long time, and the mottled bits and pieces in his memory were almost forgotten, but the distant West had regrets for thousands of years.

"Big brother, why don't you go to the battlefield this time?" Qiaoxi saw Li Xuanqing looking at the western sky and was silent, knowing what he was thinking, he came over and leaned against him and asked.

When Li Xuanqing heard this, a trace of indescribable vicissitudes flashed on his face, and he smiled bitterly: "It's not that I don't go, but I don't dare." The chronicle of that memory is so vague that everything has disappeared into the river of time. If I go to witness, won't I have to break open the unbearable memories of the past hundred years? The people of the Han family are lonely, how did the 100 years of being broken have passed, I really can't bear to look at it again, I'm afraid that I can't stand this hatred, and when the butcher's knife is raised, I don't know when I can put it down. So let's let Wan Yi go, he is from Lingzhou, he can understand this state of mind best, and it is most suitable for him to solve it. ”

"Big brother, there is Qiaoxi with you, don't be so sad. Hexi is also very good-looking, and after we recover it, we will manage it well, so that the Han people can live a good life again, so that there will be no regrets. I think since the history books don't want to record it, I probably hope that future generations will have this wish. Qiaoxi smiled.

"That's what I said, let's go, since Wan Yi's side has started, we can't slow down here. Things in the east cannot be delayed. Qiaoxi's words made Li Xuanqing smile slightly, and reached out to wrap her soft figure and walked away quickly.

This day is August 15, 889 A.D., and this special day will be immortalized in history with the full moon like a silver platter. When the war on the Western Front had just begun, the supreme commander of the Tiance Army carried out the war planning in the east on the same day, and this matter related to the later direction of Chinese history began to be arranged in a matter that others did not know.