"Dear General Datang, welcome to your arrival." As soon as Liu Xuan entered the tent, he was stunned for a moment, this tent is not ordinarily big, and the furnishings inside are also splendid, a large group of people sit inside the tent with wine glasses, it looks like a drinking party, and the people shuttling back and forth inside are also maids wearing silk brocade from the Tang Dynasty, holding scarlet red wine and constantly appearing everywhere. When Liu Xuan came in, everyone present naturally saw it for the first time, and the middle-aged man sitting in the main seat who was wearing white silk didn't look like a general at all, but like a businessman, stood up and smiled.

"Thank you Marshal Dodell for your hospitality." Liu Xuan learned through the interpreter around him that this was the commander of the Great Qin front, Marshal Dodel. However, Liu Xuan didn't find out any other information about this marshal, so he stepped forward to greet the other party and said with a smile: "I was originally an envoy sent by the Tang Dynasty to observe the war of your country, and I am deeply honored to be highly regarded by the marshal to participate in the pre-war meeting of your army." I wonder when the pre-military meeting of the marshal will begin? ”

"Haha, Your Excellency General, please sit down first, and I will first introduce you to the Great Qin generals who we participated in this war." Marshal Dodell let Liu Xuan to the guest seat, and then ordered a blonde maid beside him to give Liu Xuan a glass of red wine and said with a smile: "The pre-war meeting will start immediately, and the general will wait a moment." ”

Liu Xuan looked at the tall glass in his hand and couldn't help but smile slightly, it seems that these Taixi people will really enjoy it, this glass from the Tang Dynasty has only been circulated a little in the Central Plains, many people are not used to it, but what they didn't expect is that it has become a high-end item for high-end parties in this far west, which is really interesting. However, Liu Xuan's attention only turned slightly, and then he listened carefully to the names of Marshal Dodel, who was rarely present, more than 30 generals, and their life exploits. This is very important to Liu Xuan, so he listens very carefully, and from time to time he will record the interpreter behind him for careful investigation in the future. However, after Dodel's introduction, Liu Xuan stood up and said with a smile: "Marshal Dodel, generals, Liu Xuan, chief of staff of the Tang Western Expeditionary Army, is fortunate to meet you, and I am deeply honored to be able to participate in the pre-war meeting of your army, and I wish your army a victory." ”

Liu Xuan's words were originally just polite words on the scene, but what he didn't expect was that everyone, including Dodel, took it for granted, and Dodel smiled and said: "Your Excellency, please rest assured, we will definitely win this battle, with your country's firearms and the heavy infantry phalanx of our fearless kingdom, we will definitely not lose, not to mention that we still have cavalry." If it weren't for the fact that Dodel's complexion had not changed, Liu Xuan would have thought that this guy was drunk, and the words in his mouth were upside down and there was no order, but the meaning expressed in the words made Liu Xuan secretly slander himself, but he couldn't say anything more on his face, but nodded and said with a smile: "Your country's army is indeed extremely powerful, but I don't know how the Gauls are prepared?" And how much do the Gauls know about your army? ”

Liu Xuan's words suddenly quieted down the originally noisy scene, it was obvious that Doddle and the others didn't expect Liu Xuan to ask this, but there are some things that everyone knows but can't hang up on face when they say it, but Liu Xuan is an outsider after all, and he doesn't know about the grievances and grievances between Daqin and the Gauls, so Dodel frowned and said: "Your Excellency the General doesn't know, the territory occupied by the Gauls, including the vast land in the west, is actually my Great Qin's Japanese territory, but later these traitors betrayed Daqin, I have rebelled against my Lord. This time, I must take down this group of traitors for His Majesty the Emperor. ”

"I see, then I wish the marshal what he wishes on this trip." Liu Xuan nodded, didn't say anything more, raised his glass and said with a smile: "Liu Xuan is just an outsider, and he is only here to observe the battle, if your army wins a big victory at that time, I will definitely record it in detail, and then transmit your prestige in the east." ”

Liu Xuan's words made everyone laugh, everyone was smiling, obviously very concerned about Liu Xuan's saying that he wanted to transmit their reputation in the East, and suddenly everyone was desperately telling how powerful their subordinate army was, and even introduced the combat characteristics and advantages of their headquarters to Liu Xuan in detail, which made Liu Xuan listen to it with relish, and countless thoughts changed in his heart in an instant. And Marshal Dodel, who was sitting on the upper seat, was obviously very satisfied with the strength of his subordinates, and every time the merits of his subordinates were tantamount to boasting about their martial arts in front of Liu Xuan, they were naturally boasting about the strength of Great Qin. As for Dodel, being able to make the distant Eastern Empire face him up to him by showing off the strength of Daqin's army will not have other thoughts because of this, which is actually the reason why Daqin and he finally agreed to let Datang send a viewing group to the battlefield to watch the battle. Although they also knew that this move might expose the characteristics of their own army and make Datang wary, but for the fighting method that the Taixi people have always admired, the frontal battlefield is a regular battle, and they have not been in contact with Datang before, and they basically can't see anything just through the few battles between the Russians in Kiev and the Datang army near Sizhao City, so they instinctively think that the Datang army will not be much stronger even if it is stronger than their own, at most, the firearms are much stronger than themselves. For this point, the Great Qin people and the Great Cannibal have completely different ideas, the Great Cannibal is really in front of the Tang Dynasty army after the head is broken and the blood is shed, the strength of this distant central dynasty is stronger than in the past, more feared. Therefore, in the face of the lesson of blood, the Great Cannibal decisively changed the direction of external expansion, headed westward, and tried his best to establish good relations with Datang, in order to get more support and more firearms. And the Great Qin people obviously didn't expect it at all at this point, and they still predicted the Tang Dynasty according to their own ability, and even tried to make the Tang Dynasty fear them through this method of showing off their might.

After Liu Xuan's mind turned these thoughts one by one, he began to look at these senior generals of Daqin who were immersed in the lights in front of him, and sighed secretly, as a soldier, how could such an army win in the face of a strong enemy? Unless his opponent is the same as him.

"The soldiers are half dead in front of the army, and the beauties are still singing and dancing." Liu Xuan bowed his head and recited a poem from the Tang Dynasty, isn't this scene in front of him like this? It's just that such an extravagant scene has been swept away in the Tang Tiance Army today, and has been replaced by strict military law and rigorous style. Since its inception in Fengzhou, the Tiance Army has been influenced by Li Xuanqing's concept of governing the army brought by later generations, and many of the military laws and regulations promulgated have all come from later generations, and the strict law enforcement of the Military Judge Advocate General's Office and the strict control of military orders by generals at all levels have been able to put an end to this style of work. As a second-generation general, Liu Xuan empathizes with the style of the army, and is disgusted by the drunken gold fans in front of him. The army is used to fight wars, to defend the homeland and the country, not to show off military exploits, not to live a luxurious life, such an army should be swept into the dust of history. Liu Xuan saw that the so-called pre-military meeting was actually a drinking party held by the generals of various ministries looking for an opportunity, so after staying for a while, he found a reason to shirk and return to his big tent.

While Daqin's side was living a drunken life, the Russians in Kiev who came all the way from the northern coastline were constantly fighting, defeating the various principality city-states that were originally near the coastline one by one, and even the famous Teutonic axemen and heavy sword knights were forced to retreat step by step. However, when the Russians in Kiev were moving south and west, they were also attacked by the Moors from the north, and this group of Nordic pirates suddenly intervened for some reason and began to fight the Russians in Kiev not happy, which was equivalent to giving all the city-states in Germany a chance to breathe. At this moment of life and death, these city-states, under the tandem of the Danish king, quickly responded to the proposal of the Gauls and began to actively move closer to Amiens, preparing to converge the main forces of the Great Qin to defeat the Great Qin and then take advantage of the opportunity of the Moors to harass the Russians in Kiev and break them individually. The use of this strategy is indeed a good way to deal with the Great Qin people, and in Liu Xuan's opinion, if this method can be deployed, it is much better than the current strange tactics of the Great Qin people.

However, Liu Xuan was able to get these news, and the Great Qin people were naturally the same as the head snakes of the land, so when they got that the Russians in Kiev had advanced to the coastline, they finally remembered that this place was the front line of the battlefield, so after mid-October, the Great Qin people finally began to actively prepare and prepare for war. And on the other side of the battlefield, the Gauls were also preparing at the same time. Compared to Great Qin, the Gauls unexpectedly received assistance from the Moors, so this was their best time.

At this time, Liu Xuan really watched the fierce battle that the two sides were about to start. The tactical understanding of Daqin has also deepened. At least in terms of the use of heavy armor, Daqin is indeed much better than Datang. Hundreds of years of war experience have made their use of the heavy infantry phalanx to the point of perfection, and the same is true for the heavy cavalry, and even made a special cavalry spear for this purpose, the kind of weapon with a blunt head that does not seem to be lethal is very suitable for heavy cavalry charging in Liu Xuan's opinion. This has something in common with the iron spears used in the Tang Heavy Cavalry Battalion before.

"Is this the intention to place the phalanx of heavy infantry directly in front and arrange cavalry on both flanks? It's not bad, but it seems that Daqin's use of heavy cavalry is not as skilled as that of heavy infantry. Could it be that their heavy cavalry would have served any other purpose? Liu Xuan was thoughtful, and the pencils under his hand also kept sketching the layout of Daqin's military formation on the paper.

"So the heavy cavalry can still be used like this? It was not my expectation, but wouldn't the power of the heavy cavalry be greatly diminished? Liu Xuan said to himself that the military formation he drew also appeared accurately on the paper, but Liu Xuan obviously disdained it.

"Did the Dark Guard and the Eagle Brigade find out how the Gauls were going to fight this battle? Wouldn't you be prepared? Liu Xuan asked casually after thinking for a while.

"Chief of Staff, Dark Guard and Captain Li of the Flying Eagle Brigade have not returned since they went out." The guard said: "Before leaving, the brothers of the secret guard said that they had a way to take the brothers of the Flying Eagle Brigade to sneak in, and find a place to observe the preparations of the other party during the day, and it is estimated that they have not returned at this moment." ”

"Forget it, come and see me when they get back." Liu Xuan turned around and walked into his big tent and began to record all this in detail, and after a while, he wrote a letter and asked the guards to arrange for people to send them back to the Tang Dynasty, which was what he had seen and heard in the recent period, and had already judged the Great Qin army.

Liu Xuan was about to rest after doing this, but the dark guard returned, and through the retelling of the secret guard and the Flying Eagle Brigade, Liu Xuan's previous surprise was immediately resolved. This Gaul really has a secret weapon to deal with the Great Qin, or this is similar to the invincible heavy armor army that he thought of to break the Great Qin.

"I'm afraid that no one will be able to understand the light cavalry, and the light cavalry will be able to restrain this kind of heavy armor." Liu Xuan's muttering did not reach the ears of the Great Qin Commander. At this time, Amiens had already snowed heavily, and the temperature began to drop significantly, and the battle between the two sides in the ice and snow had reached the most critical juncture.

However, at this time, Wan Yi and Tuoba Siji, who were far away in Shule, faced the messenger of the big cannibal with some headaches. The news that Datang sent a viewing group to Daqin was no secret in the first place. Naturally, the big cannibal also knew the news, and Ah Yebi thought that the foreign policy of the Tang Dynasty had changed, so he hurried over despite the harsh climate in the northwest. However, he didn't dare to question Datang, so he instead began to talk about Daqin's weaknesses and shortcomings.

"Your Excellency, my foreign policy has not changed. The reason why I sent a viewing group to Daqin was because I had no contact with Daqin before, so my Emperor His Majesty was a little curious, so he sent someone to see it in person, and there was no other meaning. Tuoba Si smiled and said: "So Ah Ye doesn't have to worry about Your Excellency, I don't have any other thoughts about Daqin and your country." ”

Wan Yi also took over the conversation and continued to comfort, and said that in the current trade between the two countries, Datang is biased towards the Great Food Empire, and in order to support the expedition of the Great Cannibals, Datang even took the initiative to increase the export of Great Food despite its poor grain production this year, which is enough to show Datang's attitude. The two of them talked badly, and they also lost a meal and countless gifts before sending Ayebi over and letting him go to Chang'an for the second round of material procurement.

"Okay, Dashuai, I'm going to rush back to the cabinet, Mr. Cen is the last year this year, and as soon as the Imperial Council is over next year, the cabinet needs to be reorganized, and I, as the deputy prime minister, can't continue to stay in the northwest and be with Dashuai." After Tuoba Si sent Ayebi away, he smiled and said: "Go back and see if the emperor can choose me to be the second prime minister, and when the time comes, I will invite the big guy to dinner." ”

His words made several people present laugh, the current political situation in the Tang Dynasty is stable, and the internal political factions are not so clear, and Li Xuanqing explained at the imperial meeting early in the morning that starting from the second prime minister, the helmsman of the highest administrative power in the empire will be elected in a new way, so everyone is not so fiercely competing. This joke of Tuoba Si Zhi also made Wan Yi sigh with emotion, turned his head to look at the east, and said with a smile: "Ten years have passed in a blink of an eye, time flies so fast." ”