In the winter of 890, the Luoyang Imperial Palace felt the most obviously, since Zhu Quanzhong decided to raise troops to attack Shannan Province in August, the sky in Luoyang has been in the ups and downs. Originally, Wei Zhaodu and Zhaozong secretly planned to take advantage of the inextricable battle between Zhu Quanzhong and Li Xuanqing in Shannan Province to relieve Zhu Quanzhong's military power, so as to control this powerful feudal town in the hinterland of the Central Plains. It's just that what I didn't expect was that Li Xuanqing would defeat Ge Cunzhou so quickly, so that hundreds of thousands of Xuanwu troops would be under the city of Anzhou. This made Wei Zhaodu lose his mind, and with the successive victories of the Tiance Army, Wei Zhaodu instinctively felt that the northwest was the most promising force to unify the world, but he had never contacted Li Xuanqing since he parted ways in Lingzhou, how to impress Li Xuanqing by rashly extending an olive branch?

In desperation, Wei Zhaodu and Taifu Cui Yin decided to take a step forward after discussion, and took advantage of Zhu Quanzhong's return to Bianzhou to plan to deal with the Tiance army, and instigated Emperor Zhaozong to issue a reward order, with Li Xuanqing, Zhu Quanzhong and other dozens of festival envoys as the ministers of Zhongxing in the first year of Dashun, and gave them knights and rewards. The edict was sent to the Liang Wangfu in Bianzhou and asked Zhu Quanzhong to look at it. Originally, Zhu Quanzhong planned to refuse, because this plan disrupted Zheng Fan's pace, but Xie Tong strongly suggested that Zhu Quanzhong agree, and stated his reasons, in the current period, he should use all possibilities to confuse Li Xuanqing, and it is best to lead Zhu Quanzhong's forces elsewhere to leave enough time for the Xuanwu army. Although in the current situation, there are very few people around Li Xuanqing who can pose a threat to him, but Xie Tong understands that Zheng Fan has secretly contacted a powerful ally and is waiting for his side to be ready, this is the last chance for the Xuanwu army to turn over, so Xie Tong has to cheer himself up.

Secondly, this is also an opportunity for Zhu Quanzhong to go further, since Emperor Zhaozong wants to reward the princes of the world, then Zhu Quanzhong should go further, and he will also be able to form a political advantage when he sends troops to recruit Li Xuanqing in the future.

Xie Tong's suggestion was unanimously agreed by Zheng Fan and others, and Zhu Quanzhong finally acquiesced to Emperor Zhaozong's idea and kicked the ball back to the Eastern Capital for him to do it himself. It's just that what these people don't know is that someone has been thinking carefully under their noses, and although these tricks may not work, they have given them a new hope and a way out.

Emperor Zhaozong, who received Zhu Quanzhong's acquiescence, immediately asked Zhongshu to order Wei Zhaodu to draft a decree, and issued a reward order in Luoyang on December 28, 890, canonizing Zhu Quanzhong, the king of Liang, as the generalissimo of soldiers and horses in all provinces of the world, with the rank of captain and false Jieyue; canonized Li Xuanqing, the prince of Lingyang County, as the general of Tiance, with the rank of first-class general, and the king of Xiping; Yang Xingmi was made by Huainan Jiedu as the general of the Sanpin Auxiliary State, and Qian Biao was made by the Qiantang Jiedu as the King of Dongping, and the General of the Sanpin Auxiliary State; Zhong Chuan is the king of Nanping.

After this news spread, the world was in an uproar, and it was really unreasonable to canonize so many kings with different surnames, and it has always been the practice of not crowning kings with different surnames, and now what is Emperor Zhaozong thinking.

Cen Tianshi, who received the holy decree from Luoyang from the Foreign Affairs Department of the Ministry of Civil Affairs of the Chang'an base camp, also smiled bitterly, and casually threw aside this holy decree that other feudal towns might cherish very much, thinking hard about the intentions of Luoyang and Bianzhou.

"Sir, what's the matter?" Hu Xiaosi walked into Cen Tianshi's office with a probe and said with a sneer.

At this time, Cen Tianshi didn't bother to go to Hu Xiaosi's trouble, so he directly handed him the holy decree thrown aside, and said with a wry smile: "What's wrong with today's court?" Isn't this a disaster for the country? And can Zhu Quanzhong agree to our lord to be crowned king? Is there any news for your Xuanyingwei? ”

Hu Xiaosi shook his head after reading it and said: "Xuan Yingwei only monitored that Wei Zhaodu and Cui Yin had close contacts between Bianzhou and Luoyang recently, and did not inquire about this reward order, but it should be Wei Zhaodu's work, and only he can avoid our eyes and ears at close range and conspire with Emperor Zhaozong." ”

"Wei Zhaodu don't pay attention to him, the key is how can Zhu Quanzhong agree, you must know that this is to make it more difficult for him politically." Cen Tianshi shook his head, pulled Hu Xiaosi, and walked in the direction of Changqing Palace.

The two of them thought hard all the way to Changqing Palace, but at this time, Li Xuanqing was staring at the map and frowning while boiling porridge for Qiaoxi, Qiaoxi is now fatter, and he is lying on the soft couch on the side with a mink fur holding a small stove staring at Li Xuanqing, and when he saw the two of them coming in, he smiled and said, "Sir, Brother Hu, you are here." ”

As soon as she spoke, Li Xuanqing also retracted her contemplation, helped Qiaoxi up, and said with a smile: "It's just snowing, you didn't come here to eat, right?" I've been a vegetarian lately, and I can't smell meat. ”

Cen Tianshi saw Qiaoxi go to the harem accompanied by the maids on the side, and said with a wry smile: "The lord is laughing, now Qiaoxi is the biggest, don't talk about the lord, even if we don't eat meat, we have to follow it." ”

"My lord, this is a holy decree from Chang'an." Hu Xiaosi handed the holy decree in his hand to Li Xuanqing, and at the same time briefly introduced the information exchanged with Cen Tianshi just now.

"You asked Xuan Yingwei to focus on Zhu Quanzhong's movements, and find a way to find out what this guy is going to do? This matter will not be so simple, and didn't you say a few days ago that Ge Cunzhou has also been released? It seems that Zhu Quanzhong is planning to go to war. Li Xuanqing said in a deep voice.

"That doesn't make sense, if there is a war, then we should find a way to mobilize these feudal towns around us to concentrate on us. It is reasonable to appease Yang Xingmi, but what does it mean that Zhong Chuan, Du Hong, and Ma Yin are also enshrined in turn? Hu Xiaosi couldn't think of any other possibilities.

"Forget it, Zhu Quanzhong's followers estimate that it will take a long time to prepare, so they will release these to confuse us. However, as far as the situation is concerned, the collision between us and Zhu Quanzhong is inevitable, and this will be a struggle for the dominance of Datang, and the loss of either side will affect the direction of the entire Datang. Cen Tianshi figured it out and continued: "If that's the case, we don't need to pay attention to so much, just do our own thing." ”

However, Li Xuanqing thought of something, and said to Hu Xiaosi: "Let the secret guards of Luoyang and Bianzhou not relax, and keep an eye on Zhu Quanzhong and Wei Zhaodu, I feel that Wei Zhaodu may make a deal with His Majesty the Emperor and Zhu Quanzhong." ”

Li Xuanqing guessed Wei Zhaodu's thoughts, but to be precise, he only guessed half right, Wei Zhaodu didn't want to make a deal with Zhu Quanzhong, but wanted to make a deal with Li Xuanqing himself, but these people ignored Wei Zhaodu's reward for Li Xuanqing in the holy decree, the rank of general was actually canceled in the Tang Dynasty, but Wei Zhaodu added it Thinking that Cen Tianshi and others should be able to see it, but they forgot that Chang'an has established a complete set of political systems that are completely different from all previous dynasties.

This negligence also laid the groundwork for Wei Zhaodu's tragedy later, but at this time, Wei Zhaodu was interested in speculating about the reaction of these people in Chang'an after seeing the holy decree. But the praying mantis catches the cicada, and the yellow finch follows. When he was planning how to connect with Chang'an, Zheng Fan's plan was almost ready, waiting for the Spring Festival to start implementation.

In fact, Zheng Fan's choice of this time is still very good, according to the practice of Chang'an in the northwest, basically nothing else will happen in the month after the Spring Festival, and the military and political leaders of Tiance Mansion will gather in Chang'an to discuss the plan for the coming year, and there will be no major events that will not change. And if you act on your own at this time, you can sit down on the matter before the Tiance Mansion reacts.

Around this time, the entire Xuanwu Army from the field troops to the logistics baggage began to be secretly mobilized, and the gunpowder secretly developed by Xie Tong and Zheng Fan was also distributed to the front-line troops. It's just that the Xuanwu Army doesn't have ballistas, so they can only modify catapults and use them as equipment for throwing explosive packs.

After the information was transmitted to Chang'an, the General Staff began to prepare in advance for various arrangements on the Huanghe Northern Front, and several main forces near Chang'an also began to move to the Hezhong area, and the Modao Battalion and other troops transferred back from Hexi began to move to Guanzhong. At the same time, before Chen Fan returned to Chang'an, he had secretly transferred cavalry battalion divisions to deploy defenses in several important towns in Youzhou.

However, Li Xuanqing, who was in Chang'an, was stunned at the map, according to his understanding of Xuanwu Jun Xie Tong and others, this arrangement could be seen at a glance that there were huge loopholes, how could the other party not see his countermeasures? Moreover, in a field battle north of the Yellow River with himself, in front of the superior cavalry corps, what did the soldiers of the Xuanwu Army rely on to resist?

What are you missing? This made Li Xuanqing puzzled, Xuan Yingwei's information was turned over by himself, but he couldn't find any clues.

"Could it be that Zheng Fan's recent skills are good?" Li Xuanqing muttered to himself, but he didn't notice Qiaoxi walking behind him.

"Big brother, give you the stove." Qiaoxi handed the stove in his hand to Li Xuanqing, and when he saw that his face was a little haggard, he couldn't help but feel distressed: "Big brother, don't be anxious, even if Zhu Quanzhong has a backhand, as long as there are enough reserves, you don't have to worry too much." Moreover, Zhu Quanzhong is not right, if it weren't for the continuous pressure on his eldest brother, he would definitely abolish the emperor of Luoyang and sit by himself. Qiaoxi rubbed Li Xuanqing's forehead and said with a warm smile.

"Now in this situation, he shouldn't dare to abolish the emperor and stand on his own. It's just that when I think about it, I always feel that there is still a hidden part of his strategy, but I can't figure out who else can be pulled against us, so I have a headache. Li Xuanqing hugged Qiaoxi in his arms and smiled bitterly.

"Don't think about it if you can't think of it, let Big Brother Tiancheng and them finish the meeting early and then rush to the front line, so that if there is any change, you can deal with it calmly." Qiaoxi suddenly smiled: "It's a pity that Brother Hu may not be able to enjoy the honeymoon." Before, he was clamoring to plan to go to northern Tibet to visit relatives. ”

"If you can defeat Zhu Quanzhong and let him go, I heard that Gesang's father has decided to return to the Tiance Mansion, so there is one less constraint." Li Xuan swept the snowy plateau in the southwest of the map and said with a smile.

The two chatted for a while, Qiaoxi began to get sleepy again, and squinted in Li Xuanqing's arms and fell asleep. Li Xuanqing lightly carried Qiaoxi to the apse and let the maid serve beside him, and then came to the General Staff Building. Yang Tiancheng had already thrown the annual plan of the General Staff to several staff officers of the General Staff and the Operations Department, and he stayed up all night with Xu Tianxiang in the office of the General Staff Hall, taking a group of high-level generals who rushed back in advance to conduct war games and formulate a plan to counter Zhu Quanzhong.

Li Xuanqing's arrival caused Yang Tiancheng to divert his attention from the map, and reported to Li Xuanqing: "Lord, Zhu Quanzhong's counterattack plan has been completed, and Xiao Si has also contacted Zhao Si to ask him to restart his contact with Yang Xingmi, and if necessary, contain Zhu Quanzhong from the south." ”

Li Xuanqing took the results of the wargame deduction and looked at it and said, "We can contact Yang Xingmi to contain Zhu Quanzhong, is there any other party in your wargame deduction to contain our moves?" Don't send out a fire brigade at that time, that's not good. ”

"Du Hong, Ma Yin and others in the southwest will not easily participate in the war, unless we are at a disadvantage. Therefore, the troops stationed in southern Sichuan could be increased as appropriate, turned into an independent group army, and moved to Shannan Province, so that the east could participate in the battle of besieging Zhu Quanzhong, and the south could suppress Du Hong and Ma Yin. Yang Tiancheng nodded and said: "It's just that most of our soldiers are northerners, and the water nature is not good, so the southern line is basically headed by the old department of Chengxi." ”

"Then transfer Li Yang, who is studying at the Military Academy, to the Southern Front as the acting chief of the group army, and let him be responsible for the task of containment." Li Xuanqing remembered the young general recommended by Hu Xiaosi and said: "I have met this person once, and he can do it." ”

"Lord, do we want to keep some troops on our northern front?" Chen Fan interjected at this time. For a person with a mind like him, there will be danger in any direction, so he is not optimistic about the counterattack plan formulated by Yang Tiancheng and Xu Tianxiang, thinking that the two of them will focus too much attention on the southern front.

Yang Tian was about to refute, but was stopped by Li Xuanqing, "Chen Fan, what do you mean that there will be danger on our northern front?" ”

"I can't say, but Zheng Fan was able to contact the Khitans to jointly attack us before, so this time there may not be no means to persuade the Khitans to go south again. Even if they don't fight Fengzhou and other places, what if they send troops to the old Khitan land? Attacking Jerod Hanxiong at this time, then we must keep enough troops on the northern front to maintain the balance. Although the relationship between Huang Jiasi and our Central Plains Dynasty is very good, it is indispensable to guard against people. I think it is necessary to transfer some troops to Danzhou, so that we can just in case. ”

To be honest, Chen Fan's personality determined that the first thing he thought of at any time was defense, so the preparation he made was actually useless many times, but he couldn't stand Li Xuanqing had been pondering Zhu Quanzhong's back hand for the past few days, and when he heard him say this, he suddenly felt that there was indeed a loophole in his northern front. And with Zheng Fan's ability, it seems that it is not very difficult to move the royal court to the south, and from the perspective of the emperor, it is not considered to break the previous relationship, after all, the imperial court is in the eastern capital at this time, if it is easy to invite the people of the emperor to go south, it is the same as the Anshi Rebellion Emperor Suzong invited the Hui people to participate in the Central Plains counterinsurgency.

"Chen Fan, are you still in the layout of the northern line?" Li Xuanqing asked after a long silence.

"It has moved south, but the heavy cavalry battalion is still in Jizhou, and if necessary, the light cavalry can be transferred north to form a complete group army to participate in the battle." Chen Fan saw Li Xuanqing's eyes burning, and immediately realized something, and hurriedly said.

"Tianxiang, after the year, the General Staff will immediately set up the Central Plains Advance Command, and you will sit in Yingzhou to coordinate the Central Plains battle situation. The Northwest Region asked Wan Yi to come back, set up the Northwest Campaign Command, and unified the command of the troops in Guanzhong and Hanzhong to set off from Shaanzhou and other places; The southwest asked Xue Yang to go back and take charge of the front-line battle from Shannan to Jingzhou. Li Xuanqing thought for a while and began to arrange, "You three iron triangles are still responsible for the Youhe region, Houchun is in charge of the eastern line, you are responsible for Tiancheng in the middle line, and Chen Fan is in charge of the northern line." The General Staff of the General Staff of the National Troop Deployment in various localities has been re-planned. ”

"This time, the Tiance Army will go all out and take the Central Plains for half a year." Li Xuanqing's eyes were sharp, exuding a scorching light.