In the middle of April 890, when the top management of the Xuanwu Army chose the opposite strategic decision of the Tiance Army, Yang Tiancheng, who was located on the southern front of the Tiance Army, also formulated specific measures for the defense of the southern front. He combined the defense of the southern front, which he had specified at the beginning of the year, with the strategy of long-range and close attack. In terms of front defense, the defense line of more than 2,000 miles was divided into three parts, and the eastern front was handed over to Wang Houchun's corps, which pinned down the army of the Xuanwu Army in Shandong on the Cangzhou front; The middle line is located in the two major areas of Bingzhou and Hezhong, which are bordered by most of the Xuanwu Army, and is personally responsible for it; The western front was handed over to the base camp to be left behind in the corps, and the third battalion in the Fengxiang and Hanzhong areas was given the responsibility to join some new barracks to form a new corps on the spot, and the third battalion was to be responsible for suppressing the Yang Shouliang group in Sichuan and Shannan Province.

The strategy of long-distance and close attack was all handed over to Zhao Si and Biaozi, the two generals arranged by Xuan Yingwei on the southern front, to execute. The southern front should quickly win over Shi Pu, the envoy of Xuzhou Jiedu, and Yang Xingmi, an emerging force in the Huainan region. In order to use the forces of these Huainan regions to contain the main force of the Xuanwu Army and buy time for the main force of the Tiance Army to fight a decisive battle on the northern front.

This is also the first time that the Tiance Army has discussed cooperation with the separatist forces in the outside world, so after weighing it again and again, Yang Tiancheng asked Zhao Si to go to Huainan in person, so that the internal affairs of the Xuanwu Army will be handed over to Biao Zi to be responsible for alone.

However, at this time, the plan implemented by Biaozi in the Bianliang area made Yang Tiancheng fall into deep thought. Biaozi planned to start the plan mentioned by Li Xuanqing and Hu Xiaosi in advance, but in Yang Tiancheng's opinion, it did not help much for the current situation. However, in view of this long-term approach, Yang Tiancheng didn't pay much attention to it, and agreed to Biaozi's plan after thinking about it for a few days.

Biaozi, who was clearly instructed, began his own plan. However, this guy's method of implementation makes people feel a bit obscene. After a month of rosemary in the early stage, Biao Zi asked the people of the Dragon Group to enter Zhu Youju's mansion on a dark and windy night, taking advantage of Zhu Youju's going out to socialize, and rolled Zhu Youju's wife Zhang into a big zongzi and threw it into Zhu Quanzhong's bedroom.

Biaozi, who was full of waiting to see jokes and spring palace pictures, led people to lurk outside Zhu Quanzhong's bedroom and waited all night, but suddenly discovered an embarrassing thing, Zhu Quanzhong discussed with Jing Xiang and Xie Tong and others almost every day in the past few days about preparing to attack Xuzhou, and the Xuanwu army was also adjusting for this strategy. This made Zhu Quanzhong's busy feet not touch the ground. At this time, Zhu Quanzhong honestly said that he didn't like to do those despicable things as recorded in history, and he was in the rising period of his career, and he almost temporarily put aside women in front of this major event. It's almost dawn this time, and Zhu Quanzhong hasn't come back yet. Biao Zi could only go back in a huff, and asked the dragon group to put people back into Zhu Youqi's mansion and prepare to find another way.

Compared with the disadvantage of Biaozi's side, Zhao Si quickly connected with the secret guards arranged in the early stage after going to Xuzhou, and quietly leaked the strategic objectives of the Xuanwu Army to the Xuzhou Jiedu Embassy led by Shi Pu. This news made Shi Pu quickly nervous. For Shi Pu, who occupies the rich land of Xuzhou, the biggest enemy is not Gao Biao and Yang Xingmi in the south, but the behemoth in the north. Shi Pu is actually a figure of the same era as Zhu Quanzhong, the difference is that Zhu Quanzhong is an envoy from the Huangchao Rebel Army anyway, while Shi Pu is an official appointed by the Tang Dynasty. However, after the extermination of the Huangchao rebel army, the two quickly assimilated into a kind of people, that is, separating the local area to fight against the central dynasty. The strategies of the two people are different, Zhu Quanzhong adopts the method of encircling the ministers to use the influence of the central court to seek benefits for himself, while Shi Pu is different, this guy relies on the emperor of the sky, and almost completely disconnected from the central government.

However, this is not the patent of Shi Pu alone, but in the late Tang Dynasty, far away from Chang'an, almost no central government was taken into account. Almost all of the feudal towns in Jiangnan are like this.

But times have changed. Emperor Zhaozong toured the eastern capital and arrived at the territory of the Xuanwu Army, so that Zhu Quanzhong could justifiably use the emperor's name to crusade against his illegal envoys. It can be said that at this time, Zhu Quanzhong, who coerced the Son of Heaven to order the princes, really made use of this political resource.

Shi Pu immediately convened his own think tank to study countermeasures. But in the face of the strong strength of the Xuanwu Army, all the strategies were overshadowed, and after several days of talking, there were still no good countermeasures, and Shi Pu turned gray overnight.

However, compared with Shi Pu, Zhao Si's focus is more on Yang Xingmi. For this emerging Huainan force, except for Li Xuanqing, everyone else in the Tiance Army is very curious, it stands to reason that Yang Xingmi was first under Gao Biao's subordinates, and when Bi Shiduo attacked Gao Biao, he suddenly rose up and rescued Gao Biao, who was supposed to die in the hands of Bi Shiduo. But soon after, he was self-reliant, separated from Gao Biao, and became independent in Luzhou, but because Gao Biao had been on the list of Yang Xingmi as the assassin of Luzhou, this was not completely self-reliant.

During this period, Yang Xingmi defended Luzhou and the surrounding areas in addition to the mutual attacks of large and small forces in Huainan, and led his troops into Yangzhou, and after fighting with Qin Yan in the Yangzhou area, Qin Yan was driven out of Yangzhou, and went to Xuanzhou in the same period. In this way, the original large and small forces in Huainan began to reshuffle, and in this staggered situation, Yang Xingmi was able to gradually grow and become a more influential separatist force at that time.

Li Xuanqing also felt a little strange after receiving Xuan Yingwei's starting process about Yang Xingmi, he basically did not intervene in other forces in southern China, but history still changed unconsciously, Gao Xiao, who should have been killed, survived, and Yang Xingmi did not abandon the city when he was in Yangzhou, but successfully held Yangzhou, although this war still caused unimaginable disasters to Yangzhou.

In view of this situation, when Xuan Yingwei formulated the plan for a long-distance and close attack on the southern front, Li Xuanqing did not remind Hu Xiaosi to pay attention to this unusual phenomenon.

Zhao Si also faithfully implemented the plan formulated by Hu Xiaosi on the southern line, and after revealing the information to Shi Pu, he quickly came to Luzhou to find a way to connect with Yang Xingmi.

However, when Zhao Si was implementing the plan on the southern front, the situation on the northern front of the Tiance Army finally ushered in a turnaround. After Li Xuanqing and Xu Tianxiang sat in Jizhou, the latest news also came from the front, after the Flying Eagle Brigade secretly intervened in the battlefield, Abaoji finally lost the good luck in the early stage, in front of Banten three times his own troops, the royal court guards suffered heavy casualties, in desperation, Abaoji with the remaining remnants of the body seriously injured and fought and retreated to try to join the Yelu Hanxiong's brigade that rushed to hear the news. And the opportunities for the Flying Eagle Brigade are also gradually ripening at this time. And with the retreat of Abaoji, Bandan's goal gradually failed, and there was no way to capture Abaoji alive, and the intensity of the attack began to increase.

In this way, the two armies chased after each other on the front from Zhongjing to Shangjing, thousands of miles away, and kept heading in the direction of Shangjing. In fact, although Abaoji is young, his courage and wisdom have begun to appear. As they got closer and closer to Shangjing, the more assistance the Wang Tingwei received from the surrounding garrisons, which forced Banten to have no way to care about Abaoji's life. At this time, the Flying Eagle Brigade had become the vanguard squad of the Banten tribe's cavalry.

"Boss, the latest information, Yelu Hanxiong's troops will arrive early tomorrow morning. I reckon that Banten will launch a night attack tonight, completely destroy the royal court guards before Yelu Hanxiong arrives, and if possible, he will still find a way to capture Abaoji alive. "Su Xiaohu's side, a Flying Eagle Brigade soldier turned the latest news from the Xuanying Guard's secret guard outside.

"How is Abaoji's kid's body?" Su Xiaohu was also a little surprised by the strong vitality of the grassland, the last arrow shot by the Flying Eagle Brigade last time, it was a miracle that this kid survived.

"The situation is not very good, I heard that Abaoji can't get up now, and the command of the guard is presided over by the adjutant general. This should probably be the reason why Yelu Hanxiong rushed over. After all, for Yelu Hanxiong, the most promising of his sons is Abaoji, and Yelu Hanxiong also cultivates him as his heir. Next to Su Xiaohu, the "San'er" of the third team stood up and said with a smile: "Let's act tonight, if we don't move, it will be too late." ”

Su Xiaohu was about to speak, when a soldier of the Flying Eagle Brigade walked in outside the tent again and handed over a piece of information.

Su Xiaohu and San'er scanned the information, and they both saw the flickering smile in each other's eyes.

"San'er, without further ado, you go and prepare. The rest of the people will be led by me to take care of you, and after you have succeeded, go southeast, and no one among the rebels will find us. Su Xiaohu immediately began to arrange the task, and notified Xuan Yingwei's people to start arranging the retreat.

And the news that Su Xiaohu was preparing to make a move quickly made Xuan Yingwei's secret guard quickly spread through secret channels to Chen Fan's camp, which had quietly led the army to lurk hundreds of miles away.

"Everyone, the arrangement of the Flying Eagle Brigade can be completed tonight, and we will start preparing for action." Hou Yong and Wu Huan, who acted with Chen Fan's headquarters, said.

"Chief of Staff, immediately convey the order to the heavy cavalry battalion behind, let them advance lightly, and be sure to arrive at the headquarters of the group army the day after tomorrow. In addition, the order was given to the lurking Fifth Army Corps and the Grassland Cavalry Battalion that all troops would arrive at the Yanshan Mountain Range, five hundred miles west of Zhongjing, for a period of five days. Chen Fan took a deep breath and asked his chief of staff, Liu Yi, to quickly write the order.

"What does the marshal mean to wait for the main force of Banden's army to come back and fight Yelu Hanxiong before we intervene?" Hou Yongwei thought about it for a while, and suddenly understood Chen Fan's intentions and said, "Will this make the original plan change?" ”

"No, this and Tianxiang's Ninth Legion, which has mobilized Gao Siji, is secretly hidden near Danzhou, waiting for these Khitan troops to come back and then follow all the way. When the time comes, they are fighting lively, and our army can gather to surround and annihilate these people. Chen Fan passed the urgent order he had just received from the General Staff to Hou Yong and Wu Huan and said with a smile: "The meaning of the lord is very clear, this battle must defeat the living force of the Khitans, so that Yelu Hanxiong's plan to kill people with a knife will be completely frustrated, and he will have to pay the price." ”

"Go and report to the General Staff and the Lord," Chen Fan took the order written by Liu Yi and instructed as he signed.

As a result, this melee in the northern grassland has finally surfaced everywhere, and the calculations of all parties before the war are about to begin to be tested on the battlefield.

However, at this time, Hu Xiaosi, who was in Zhongjing, asked the secret guards to pack up and prepare to evacuate Zhongjing City, and instructed the local secret guards to temporarily withdraw from the city, and even if necessary, they could lead the Han people in the city to go to several secret locations chosen by Xuan Yingwei in advance to hide.

This series of orders, which puzzled others around him, revealed the intelligence officer's strong confidence in his own army and his forward-looking vision for intelligence work.

"Our withdrawal this time will not last long, we will come back soon, and then this northern grassland will eventually return to the arms of our Han people, never lost, and become our hinterland." Hu Xiaosi smiled at his accompanying subordinates.

With Hu Xiaosi's arrangement of post-war matters, all the plans of Xuan Yingwei within the Khitan people were completed, and many dark lines for the next step were also buried. Thinking that he had provoked discord between father and son in power on all the northern and southern lines, Hu Xiaosi couldn't help but have a smile on the corner of his mouth, but then he disappeared, and quickly took these people out of Zhongjing City, and then disappeared.

At this time, Li Xuanqing and Xu Tianxiang, who were in Jizhou City, also received Chen Fan's report, and after the two secretly summed up for a long time, they began to arrange the war under Danzhou City that had dragged on for almost a month. After the Khitans besieged the city of Danzhou, they went out to attack Danzhou several times, but under the command of Li San and Wu Wenlong, the defenders of the Tiance Army, the defensive battles of the Tiance Army were as brilliant as the previous offensive operations. After the explosives package in Cangzhou was improved by the equipment department, it became a real defensive weapon, and this new weapon that broke out with powerful explosions at every turn made the Khitans who would not have attacked the city suffer a lot. It took a month to firmly grasp the initiative of the war by the more than 30,000 defenders of the other side. And if you can't take Danzhou, you can't enter the hinterland of Youzhou at all, and the Khitans in desperation began to think of other ways, but the order from Zhongjing, the base camp in the rear, made these steppe cavalry who had been under the fortified city for a month almost fall into a panicked situation. After hesitating for a few days, the son of Banten, who was the commander of the front, began to divide the army into three groups, gradually covering the withdrawal of Danju, and returning to Zhongjing to prepare to carry out his father's orders.

I have to say that Chateauroux's approach is still very cautious, and Gao Siji, who originally wanted to sneak attack, decisively gave up his previous plan and began to follow the other party.

This time, almost all the forces of the three parties went towards Zhongjing. The tripartite war is about to take place in the steppe. A decisive battle that would affect the fate of China in the eyes of later generations began to unfold outside the Central Plains. This was also the beginning of the plan of the Tiance Mansion led by Li Xuanqing to defend the south and attack the north.

When the north was about to usher in the decisive battle, on April 20, 890 AD, Zhu Quanzhong was ordered by Xuzhou Jiedu to disrespect the orders of the imperial court, and tried to conspire with Tiance Mansion to overthrow the Tang Dynasty and other 20 crimes, and led the army to march on the grounds that Emperor Zhaozong personally went to Bianzhou to see off the Xuanwu army, and Zhu Quanzhong was promoted from the Duke of Liang to the king of Liang County, the general manager of the march of the South Road, the governor of the world's soldiers and horses, and the conquest of the ministers, led the army of 150,000 to Xuzhou.

Yang Tiancheng, who was north of the Yellow River, smiled slightly at the Xuanwu Army's northern defense force configuration map sent by Xuanyingwei, and also started his own actions.