In the first month of 888, that is, the first year of Wende, Emperor Xizong, who was supposed to last until this time, died a year early, and with the support of the eunuch Yang Fugong, the emperor's seventh brother Li Ye succeeded to the throne, which is known in history as Tang Zhaozong.

However, compared with the farce of Chang'an, the other princes were not very interested in it. The feudal towns in the south were busy separating themselves and standing on their own, and the great war between Zhu Quanzhong and Qin Zongquan in the Central Plains ended in the defeat of Qin Zongquan. However, Zhu Quanzhong did not pursue Qin Zongquan for some reason, allowing him to return to Caizhou safely. After Li Keyong occupied Hezhong, he saw that Li Hanzhi was attacked by Zhang Quanyi and took Heyang, and after asking for help from himself, he sent Kang Junli and others to help Li Hanzhi attack Heyang. Zhang Quanyi took his wife as a hostage and begged Zhu Quanzhong for help. Zhu Quanzhong sent tens of thousands of generals such as Ding Hui to save Heyang, and led the cavalry to defeat the Hedong Army in Wenzhou (now Wenxian County, Henan), and divided the troops to cut off the Taihang Road. Quan Zhong will stay for Heyang, and revert to Zhang Quanyi as Henan Yin. Zhang Quanxin was grateful to Zhu Quanzhong for his help, so he wholeheartedly attached himself, and every time Quanzhong went to war, Quanyi provided food and battle. So far, Zhu Quanzhong has Luo and Meng Er Towns. Li Hanzhi returned to Zezhou, specializing in Kou plagiarism, and was killed for nearly ten years in Huai (now Qinyang, Henan), Meng, Jin (Linfen, Shanxi), and Jiang (now Xinjiang, Shanxi).

However, these are not within the scope of consideration of Tiance Mansion, after feeling the changes in the general trend of the world, taking advantage of the New Year's gathering, Li Xuanqing convened the civil and military forces of Tiance Mansion to hold the highest level meeting in Fengzhou for several consecutive days, and then the war machine of Tiance Mansion was quietly opened.

On the 10th day of the first lunar month, the General Staff began to secretly convene the commanders and above generals to gather at the Tiance Mansion, and the chief of civil affairs also attended as observers.

"Tell the lord that the Ministry of Civil Affairs has secretly mobilized 500,000 stone of grain to Yongfeng on the grounds that the state-owned farms in the northwest are being cleared. In addition, five sets of state and county-level officials have been prepared, which can be called upon at any time. At the beginning of the conference, Cen Tianshi began to report back to the Ministry of Civil Affairs for the preparatory work.

After Zuo Tiancheng finished speaking when he saw Cen Tian, he also followed: "The logistics department began preparations early in the morning, and transferred 500,000 stone of military rations to the Yongfeng granary, accounting for seventy percent of the army's military grain inventory, and made every effort to ensure that the main public soldiers were served. ”

Li Xuanqing nodded and said with a smile: "The army has not moved, and the grain and grass go first." The Ministry of Logistics and the Ministry of Civil Affairs are doing a great job. That's the biggest cost we can afford to fight. After a pause, he said solemnly: "Everyone, this is the first time that the Tiance Army has expanded outward, and it is related to the beginning of our entire plan in the future. ”

"Please rest assured, the General Staff Department has designed various plans to ensure that under all conditions, we can successfully take Dingyuan and come to the city of Lingzhou." During this period, the General Staff Staff led by Xu Tianxiang finally basically completed its own team and began to exercise the functions and powers of the General Staff Staff.

"Lord Qiqi, the contradiction between Han Zun's father and son and the veteran generals in Lingzhou City is about to break out, and at this time, everyone's eyes are not focused on Fengzhou, and their internal reports all believe that the Tiance Army will have friction with Xiazhou next." The Xuan Yingwei in charge of Hu Xiaosi now has the ability to steal intelligence into the upper echelons of the Lingwu Army. After a pause, he continued: "This year, the grassland people are planning to use troops against the Khitans in the east, so the environment in the north is very good, and the three tribes such as Dinghu have also taken the opportunity to get a respite, and the delivery of war horses and other materials is relatively smooth. Tahi Khan also learned from his lord to form a small assassination team, and recently wanted to sneak attack the Naiban tribe. ”

"Lord, everything is ready now, just wait for the lord's order." Xu Tianxiang saw that Hu Xiaosi finished talking about the surrounding information, and said with a smile: "Now is the best time for my Tiance army to attack, after the death of Xiazhou Tuoba Sigong, from his younger brother Tuoba Sigong to the table of Chang'an, saying that after the Xiazhou Jiedu envoy stayed, this person took care of the overall situation steadily, and at this time he was thinking about how to consolidate the interior and suppress the opposition. We sent troops to Dingyuan to help him fight the opposition Tuoba Siji near Dingyuan, so not to mention that he didn't have the energy to take care of us, even if they had the ability, with his heart, he would choose to sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight. ”

Yang Tiancheng saw that everyone had finished speaking, stood up and said with a smile: "Don't worry, Tiancheng has prepared in advance, as long as the lord gives an order, you can start at any time." ”

Li Xuanqing nodded, looked at the map next to him and pondered for a long time, and suddenly said: "Since this is the case, the General Staff immediately issued an order to start the Jiaolong water plan." The first battalion of the Tiance Army was formed with the first group in the west and the first independent cavalry, and Yang Tian became the general of the first battalion to implement the first phase of the plan. The second battalion of the Tiance Army was formed with the headquarters of the Fengzhou base camp, Chen Yu was the general of the capital, and the main force of the Tiandecheng cluster was transferred back to Fengzhou, with Chen Fan as the base camp of the capital, Wang Houchun formed the third battalion, and the defense of the east was handed over to Liu Baoliang of the Tiandecheng Left-behind Corps. The standard establishment at the battalion level is 10,000 people, both of which are composed of independent units and battalion headquarters personnel. ”

Li Xuanqing got up suddenly, and his clear voice revealed strong confidence, "The first battalion will act immediately after the meeting, and set off from Tu Shenze." The other units completed their formation in five days and set off in echelons according to the orders of the General Staff Headquarters. The Ministry of Civil Affairs should accept personnel in advance and set off with the army, when to fight, and when to take up their posts. ”

With Li Xuanqing's order, the two major military and political organs of the Tiance Army began to operate in full force, and Yang Tiancheng, who rushed back in advance, immediately began to advance lightly after conveying the order of the General Staff, and divided the troops into two roads with lightning speed, all the way to take Dengkou County, all the way to Dingyuan City, and 15,000 foot riders and horses quickly swept away Dingyuan City, one prefecture and five counties. This action almost disrupted all the plans of several surrounding feudal towns, and no one expected that Li Xuanqing would let Xiazhou's Tuoba Si fight and come to Dingyuan City.

At the same time, the local army in Fengzhou also began to move, and Chen Yu's second battalion began to set off for Yongfeng almost as soon as Yang Tiancheng went south. And Chen Fan and Wang Houchun in the east also started to act.

"Sir, Tiance Mansion is also preparing for relocation. Fengzhou is lonely and unsuitable as a center of power. Li Xuanqing looked at the former Fengzhou Thorn History Mansion where he had lived for more than a year, and smiled at Cen Tianshi beside him with a little emotion: "I'm going to leave this time, I'm really a little reluctant." ”

"Yes, Fengzhou is the starting point of our Tiance Mansion, and it has supported the most difficult period of Tiance Mansion." Cen Tianshi was the same, nodded and said, "But compared to the whole world, Fengzhou is indeed too small. In the future, Tiance Mansion will unify the world and recreate the world, and it cannot be nostalgic for the scenery. ”

"The Ministry of Civil Affairs is ready to let Yang Qiu, the director of the Department of Civil Affairs, take over the history of Fengzhou Thorn, right?" Li Xuanqing changed the topic and said with a smile: "This Yang Qiu is a bit capable, in just one year, the household registration system in Fengzhou has been fully implemented." Mr. transferred him away, what should the Civil Affairs Department of Tiance Mansion do? Do you have spare manpower? There aren't many people who can find a few people who are suitable for our kind of system these days. ”

"Haha, rest assured, during this time, Yang Qiu opened a civil affairs forum and began to train their own reserve personnel for various departments, and the effect was good. I put him in Fengzhou because I was worried that others would not be able to control it after the Tiance Mansion was evacuated, so I asked him to stay in Fengzhou temporarily. Wait until the situation is stable before moving back. Cen Tianshi said with a smile: "During this time, the distribution of power in this kind of institution of the lord is actually very good, each department performs its own duties and keeps its position, and it is easy for government decrees to be uploaded and issued." ”

Li Xuanqing smiled and didn't explain, just nodded and said: "The department setting is like this for the time being, if you encounter a new situation in the future, you can actually add new departments, or some departments can be reduced or merged over time." ”

"Report to the lord, report to the General Staff, the Lingwu army left Lingzhou City in advance, and the soldiers are already less than a hundred miles away from Dingyuan City." Just as the two continued to talk about this institutional setup, the herald from outside hurriedly walked in to report on the situation.

Li Xuanqing and Cen Tianshi glanced at each other, nodded and smiled: "It seems that Han Zun can hold out for a while." Sir, the relocation of Tiance Mansion is a lot of trouble for you. I'm going to see off Han Dashuai. ”

"Don't worry, the lord will leave the rear to Tianshi. My lord is relieved to go, and I will be there later. Cen Tianshi arched his hand at Li Xuanqing and said solemnly.

"Qiaoxi, have you cleaned it up? Let's get going. After Li Xuanqing shouted, he grabbed the two swords of Hengshuang Chengying that were placed aside, but saw Qiaoxi standing beside the jade lion with a small package, pink grassland women's clothes, wearing Li Xuanqing's white cloak outside, and her pretty appearance was extremely cute.

"Qiaoxi, how about we live in a different place?" Li Xuanqing walked over and scratched Qiaoxi's nose, and said with a smile: "Is it okay to go to the place where I used to live?" ”

"Okay, Qiaoxi also wants to see where the big brother used to live." Qiaoxi grinned and said, "Is there anything delicious in that place?" Qiaoxi likes to eat delicious food. ”

"Don't worry, there's a lot to eat. When the time comes, the big brother will make something delicious for you to eat. Li Xuanqing smiled lovingly, this girl had the idea of eating everything she wanted to eat but couldn't afford to eat before.

Li Xuanqing hugged Qiaoxi on horseback, jumped over, the jade lion roared, and went out of the mansion, the personal guards stayed to follow the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and Li Xuanqing took Qiaoxi to the general staff camp outside the city.

"Lord, Qiaoxi is also here." Xu Tianxiang saw Li Xuanqing and Qiaoxi dismounting, greeted him and said with a smile, "It's going to snow again in Fengzhou, it's cold, let's go first." "The jade lion was taken away by the guards.

"Tianxiang, what's the situation, Han Zun sent troops in this weather, he thought he was just like us, young and energetic, and he didn't care about this ghost weather." Li Xuanqing asked Qiaoxi to pour tea on the side, and looked at the several young staff officers in the general staff tent who were constantly comparing with the sand table and the map, and did not bother them, and walked to the side with Xu Tianxiang, and asked strangely.

Xu Tianxiang smiled bitterly: "I don't know, according to Xuan Yingwei's news, Han Zun has been seriously ill in bed for a long time, this time it is estimated that he is returning to the light." Xiao Si has already arrived at the front line, and he says that he is ready to start the Dark Night Project. ”

Li Xuanqing's heart moved, and he pondered for a long time before saying, "Dark Night Plan? So Han Zun is ready to do it? Then he smiled bitterly: "This is really an unplanned thing, I still plan to receive the Lingwu Army completely." Now it seems that it is probably in the soup. Let Xiao Si do it, leave him alone, just tell him to ensure the safety of Zhang Tianhu and the three of them. ”

"I've already told you, don't worry." Xu Tianxiang nodded and said, "Houchun's third battalion is also about to be opened, is our general staff set off with Houchun and them?" ”

Li Xuanqing nodded and said, "You are responsible for the specific matters of the General Staff, I won't ask." You sent a message to Hou Yong and Baoliang, after the westward expansion strategy is launched, the east and north sides must strengthen their vigilance, and the two of them must accept the control of the base camp Chen Fan and implement the integration of Fengzhou's joint defense. ”

"Did Hou Yong's cavalry advance according to the battle situation and be transferred south? The city was surrendered to the west and Chen Fan sent troops to garrison it. It's a bit of a luxury to have all the cavalry as city defenders. After Xu Tianxiang wrote down Li Xuanqing's words, he continued.

Li Xuanqing smiled and said, "Is Hou Yong's hob meat bothering you again?" It is okay to let him go south, but now is not the time, leaving a mobile force that can deter the opponents in the east, so that they do not have the idea of fishing in troubled waters. ”

"The lord is saying that Li Ke used Zhou Dewei, the Yunzhou general who was newly transferred to the Zhenwu Army?" Xu Tianxiang said in disbelief.

Li Xuanqing nodded, and said: "Li Ke uses this person to be stubborn, and he has always been jealous of my cheap big brother Li Cunxiao, since he transferred Li Cunxiao to the border of Youzhou to fight Liu Rengong, he let Zhou Dewei lead the Zhenwu Army, Yunzhong and Daijun, but all our arrangements in the east have been disrupted." And this Zhou Dewei is a wise and brave character, I am afraid that he will come to rob us at that time. After a pause, he said: "Hou Yong's cavalry garrison is in the west of the city, although it is located on the border, but in fact, it can rely on the speed of the cavalry to support every military town at any time. ”

"I understand, lord, I will let Hou Yong wait patiently, and remind Liu Baoliang of Tiande City to be vigilant." Xu Tianxiang's face was solemn, and he said solemnly: "If it weren't for the fact that Fengzhou is too important to us, in fact, Chen Fan is the most suitable, he has a calm personality and is good at defense." ”

"Report to the lord, chief of staff, the third battalion is ready to leave, and Wang Dutong came over to ask if the general staff is acting with the third battalion." The herald outside brought news of the 3rd Battalion.

Li Xuanqing and Xu Tianxiang nodded, and their eyes stopped in Dingyuan City.