"Your Majesty, two battle reports from the Jiangnan Command." Hu Xiaosi and Wan Yi came to Changqing Palace, and returned the two battle reports transferred by Yang Tiancheng and said: "The Qiqi has been pacified by Xue Yang, and the high priest of the Qiqi will follow them back to Chang'an, hand over the surrender table, and the whole family of the Qiqi will return to the Tang Dynasty and merge into the Tang Dynasty territory." Chen Yu's mid-lane army was ready to fight with Pang Juzhao outside Xunzhou City, and the final battle would be fought before the end of the year. ”

Li Xuanqing nodded and said: "After the battle of Xunzhou, Pang Juzhao probably didn't have any confidence to win, but I estimate that the Southwest Campaign will not end so soon, and Xue Wanli's side has basically ended the campaign." Let Tiancheng take advantage of the end of this battle to adjust the deployment of the southern front, reduce the army of the southern front by 200,000 after Xue Yang's soldiers and horses and return to the Central Plains, and the various departments will take turns to rest and wait for the arrangement after the year before making a decision. Li Xuanqing glanced at Wan Yi and said with a smile: "How is the senior brother resting during this time?" Is this old wound getting better? Tianxiang should be back in the next two days, and he will be able to reduce his burden a little by then. "For most of the past six months, Wan Yi has basically stayed in the Chang'an base camp, dealing with the daily affairs of the General Staff Headquarters, and recuperating from his injuries by the way.

Wan Yi stretched his waist and said with a smile: "Thank you for your concern, it's basically fine now." Now that all the plans of the General Staff have been drawn up, we are waiting for Tianxiang to come back for approval, and then report to the emperor. ”

"By the way, the emperor, Xu Ying sent a message through Xuan Yingwei, saying that this high priest seems to be a little interesting to our Xue Dashuai, does the emperor want to push it when the time comes? Xue Yang, this guy is shy, but people are chasing him. Hu Xiaosi suddenly remembered one thing and said: "If the two of them get married, they can quickly stabilize the situation and let the southwest region integrate into the mainstream society of Datang as soon as possible." ”

Hu Xiaosi's words made Li Xuanqing and Wan Yi's eyes light up, and the latter smiled and said: "This is a good thing, but I heard that the high priest of Qi Qi doesn't seem to be able to marry, right?" ”

"I don't know about this, but Xue Yang's combat mission is basically over, and it is estimated that he will leave for Chang'an, and I will ask Xu Ying when the time comes." Hu Xiaosi spread his hands and smiled: "If this matter is done, it is estimated that several of our Datang Tiance Mansion should consider marriage this year, right?" ”

"Let's go back and let Qiaoxi do it." Li Xuanqing was also happy to see this, and turned around and told Qiaoxi about it. Qiaoxi is naturally elated, during this time, she happened to have nothing to do in Chang'an, and she was naturally busy preparing for this matter.

However, at this time, Chen Yu was not so easy on the Xunzhou front, and it was obvious that the Tiance Army's several major battles in the southwest not only frightened the Tang Dynasty's secession of feudal towns, but also the Nanzhao in the southwest. Outside Xunzhou City, the Tiance Army has seen the figure of the Nanzhao people several times. The news from Xuan Yingwei's side also confirmed that Nanzhao was already about to send troops to intervene, and there were different voices.

"Tiancheng, if Nanzhao participates in the war, it should be in the near future, should we wait for the war in Xunzhou?" Wang Houchun did not pay attention to Xunzhou, but wanted to use the tactics of encirclement and reinforcement in the Xunzhou area again, gather all the forces in the entire southwest in the Xunzhou area, and then decide the southwest in a war.

However, Yang Tiancheng was obviously not optimistic about Wang Houchun's idea, shook his head and said: "It has not yet been decided whether Nanzhao will send troops or not, and even if it is to send troops, I am afraid that it will not be so fast, after all, we are not close to Nanzhao's territory now, I am afraid that they may not have such courage." Nanzhao has been coerced by Tibet three times before to attack our Tang Dynasty, Sichuan and other places, and after being defeated by the Tang army, its national strength has been declining, but it is still an important place in the southwest, and other surrounding forces have never dared to overstep the huge Nanzhao State. In fact, Nanzhao has been dormant in the southwest region for many years, and originally planned to take advantage of the civil strife in the Tang Dynasty to continue to devour the surrounding feudal towns from the surrounding areas. It's just that they didn't expect that the Tiance Army would suddenly rise up, fighting all the way from the northwest to the south of the Yangtze River with the momentum of destroying the withering and decaying, and the unification was too fast for them to fish in troubled waters. It's just that this time the Tiance army hit the doorstep, and the prosperity of Bingfeng is only afraid that it is not inferior to Tubo back then, so there are constant disputes in China about how to deal with the relationship with the Tang Dynasty. Moreover, some people even thought of using the Tibetan forces to advance south to deal with the Tiance army.

Yang Tiancheng also made Wang Houchun nod his analysis of Nanzhao, it seems that his plan still can't be realized, "Tiancheng, I estimate that Chen Yu won't be able to recover the southwest so quickly after this battle." I think Chen Yu shouldn't go back to Chang'an during the New Year's Festival, just stay here. ”

"You mean to send other troops back to the Central Plains to rest?" Wang Houchun's words made Yang Tiancheng nod for a while, the General Staff should also take into account that the 400,000 troops on the southern front have been fighting for a year, and the soldiers are tired and need to rest, and the imperial conference after the year is estimated that the strategic direction of Tiance Mansion will also be adjusted, so he thought about it and continued: "That's fine, transfer Qian Ning and Xue Wanli's corps back to the Central Plains and Bingzhou, Chai Jia on the southern front is responsible for cooperating with the navy to capture Yazhou, and the Western Route Army will transfer Tianyi's cavalry corps back to Guanzhong." In addition, the two main battalions of the 1st and 2nd Battalions were summoned to return to Ha Chung Province to prepare to receive new weapons from the Equipment Department. ”

While the two discussed, they began to transfer troops back to the rear, and soon a new establishment table was quickly revised by the staff officers, and after the two men signed it, they sent it to each unit one by one. In fact, at this time, the army on the southern front had basically finished fighting in the area where Chen Yu and Qian Ning were located. After Xue Wanli took Qinzhou after the construction of Lianzhou Port, he was waiting for Chen Yu's main army, and there was not much war in itself, and the Western Route Army was even transferred to rest on the spot. Therefore, after this establishment table was issued, some troops even began to return to the nearest service fleet, and Li Tianyi also led the cavalry corps back to Guanzhong. However, Xue Wanli thought about it and did not withdraw all the soldiers and horses with the fleet, but asked the chief of staff Li Lisan to lead a battalion to garrison Qinzhou on the spot to protect the Lianzhou naval base, and at the same time prepare for the landing in Yazhou.

Because Chen Yu's side is the main army, there are no troops and they have not been replaced. But at this time, Xunzhou also entered the final decisive moment, after accumulating for such a long time, Pang Juzhao actually understood the plan of the Tiance army, relying on the siege of Xunzhou to attract the surrounding and even the army of Nanzhao to rush to help, so as to besiege the city again. It's just that there is no news from Nanzhao's side, which makes Tiance Army's wishful thinking come to naught. However, there was no large army on the side of Nanzhao Kingdom, but it could not stop Ye Guangluo's plan to fool the soldiers and horses of a few tribes such as the Shui Tribe, the Dong Tribe, and the surrounding forces to fight against the Tiance Army. Not to mention, Ye Guangluo really brought tens of thousands of forces to hoard the west of Xunzhou City, as a horn to support the defenders in the city.

"Marshal, the command has sent a message, let us choose the opportunity to capture Xunzhou, and several other soldiers and horses have begun to follow the instructions of the General Staff to return to the hinterland of the Central Plains to rest and recuperate, and the army on the southern front will be led by the marshal to implement the follow-up strategic plan." Chai Jia handed the order sent by the headquarters to Chen Yu and said with a smile: "I'm afraid that we are going to celebrate the New Year in Xunzhou." ”

Where to spend the New Year Chen Yu didn't care, but the withdrawal of half of the army on the southern front made him frown, and his fingers also knocked on the desk: "It seems that the General Staff is already working on revising the strategic direction, and in the future, our southern front needs to independently deal with the two enemies of Nanzhao and Qu Chengmei." ”

"Isn't there still the Western Route Army?" Chai Jia asked a little puzzled, there are still 100,000 troops on Xue Yang's side of the Western Route Army, and the total of more than 200,000 here is enough to attack Nanzhao.

"I'm afraid that the Western Route Army will also have new combat missions after the year." Chen Yu smiled slightly, and no longer continued the topic, and said, "How are we preparing?" Since the General Staff has adjusted, we will strive to take Xunzhou before the year and defeat Pang Juzhao and Ye Guangluo. ”

Chai Jia nodded and said: "We are ready, Ye Guangluo has recently attracted a lot of soldiers and horses from a few surrounding tribes, it seems that he is desperate, and the two forces are only afraid that the strength of the two forces is more than double ours." ”

"Pass the order, let's attack the city early tomorrow morning, and you lead the team around Xunzhou City to attack these chaotic tribal alliances. For them, we must pay equal attention to grace and might, so that they can only be able to recover if they are frightened, and also bring peace to the follow-up places. Chen Yu obviously thinks more long-term than Xue Wanli, and knows that these few tribes may not have much combat power, but it is related to the stability of the place in the future.

"Don't worry, let's set off at the same time, which will inevitably make it difficult for each other to take care of each other." Chai Jia nodded, walked out of the tent, and arranged for the troops to prepare for tomorrow's battle. Chen Yu sat alone and pondered the adjustment of the strategic direction of the General Staff Department.

The situation outside Xunzhou City was also rekindled by the adjustment of the Tiance Army's plan, but at this time, Qian Ning's side received a summons from the command headquarters after Zhaozhou was taken, asking him to gather his troops and horses and return to the Central Plains to rest and wait for the new strategic adjustment of the General Staff. Qian Ning thought about it after reading it, it seemed that the battle in the northwest was imminent, but he, like Xue Wanli, withdrew the main force of soldiers and horses to the Central Plains, and also left a group of soldiers and horses to garrison Zhaozhou, which was also taken away by Xu Ying and integrated into the follow-up troops of the mountain battalion, becoming one of the main forces of the later plateau operations.

It can be said that almost all the commanders and generals of the army on the southern front are thinking about the adjustment of the follow-up strategic direction of Tiance Mansion after receiving the summons from the headquarters, and the return of the army to the hinterland will inevitably be readjusted and sent to other regions. However, this also means that the Tiance Army has preliminarily completed the unification of the Tang Dynasty after several years of hard fighting, and the next step should be to march into the northwest, right?

Li Xuanqing stood in Chang'an City and looked up at Chang'an, which was already full of snowflakes, and also took a long breath for a moment, what he should do in this life is basically finished, and he is waiting to recover the vast land that everyone in the future will be reluctant to love.

"Big brother is thinking about the Northwest?" Qiaoxi walked over with Xiao Tianqi in his arms and watched Li Xuanqing staring at the northwest silently, guessing his thoughts.

"It's time to restart that stretch of the Silk Road in a year's time." Li Xuanqing teased Xiao Tianqi and smiled: "Let's go over when the time comes, go and see Anxi in the Tang Dynasty, and see if there is any trace of my Han Tang there." ”

Xiao Tianqi can't speak yet, but he followed Li Xuanqing's example, stretched out his little finger and babbled to the northwest, as if he wanted to say something, this scene made Qiaoxi smile slightly, let Ruyan carry Xiao Tianqi back to Qianqiu Palace, and the couple returned to Changqing Hall to start studying the layout of the northwest.

"We still have to find a way to build this Yellow River bridge." Qiaoxi frowned and looked at Huang Hedao: "Otherwise, the transportation capacity of the railway we build from Chang'an to Lingzhou will definitely be greatly reduced, and the transportation cost will also be greatly increased." To put it bluntly, the war in the northwest is actually a logistics war, and how far our logistics can go, how big the territory of Datang is. ”

"But the Yellow River Bridge is not so easy to build, and I don't know if there is any progress in the production and development of cement. This year, we're all looking to the east and the south. Li Xuanqing also knew what Qiaoxi was talking about, just building the kind of bridge on the big river for later generations, and the test was not only a design problem, but also a raw material problem. However, if the transportation between Guanzhong and the northwest is not connected, then it will not be possible to solve the most fundamental problem that has plagued the Han people from navigating the northwest for thousands of years.

"Tomorrow, let's go to the industrial group, and then go to Brother He's house by the way, to see if there are any major breakthroughs in cement and special steel, maybe they have already broken through?" Qiaoxi took Li Xuanqing's hand and said with a smile: "If there is progress, we can try to build a big iron bridge across the Yellow River, so that we can break through the natural danger of the Yellow River, so that the materials and manpower of Guanzhong and the Central Plains can continue to enter Hexi, and completely solve this problem." ”

"That's right." Li Xuanqing also smiled slightly when she said this, and pulled her to walk and said: "Let's go to the cabinet building, Mr. Cen said that the cabinet is ready to account for the seizures in Jiangnan and Northeast China, and maybe there is still room to build a bridge." ”

"Big brother, I look at the hanging, you forgot, the railway over there in Bohai Bay has not been repaired yet, I heard before that it has not been repaired to Yanjun City, this is still repaired at both ends. Now that Bohai Bay is frozen, I am afraid that we will have to temporarily suspend work and wait for the beginning of spring before it can continue. Qiaoxi smiled: "Maybe there are still sleepers in stock, the northeast is rich in timber resources, and all sleepers are made locally." It's just that this sleeper needs to be dried for too long, and the Ministry of Communications and the Ministry of Railways should not have enough reserves, and the sleepers made of new wood are estimated to be used for the next railway. ”

"It doesn't matter, as long as the railway is connected there, it will be connected to the mainland with the help of the Grand Canal, so that not only the east and west, but also the north and the south are connected." Li Xuanqing has a different obsession with transportation integration, "Hangzhou can also connect the south and the canal by sea, and Guangzhou's goods can go directly to the mainland, which is very convenient." ”

Li Xuanqing's words were verified in the previous Lingnan campaign and the fight against typhoon disasters, and materials from the Central Plains and Guanzhong arrived directly in Shantou and Guangzhou through canals and sea transportation, helping the people of Lingnan to tide over the difficulties in time. Moreover, the Tiance Army's conquest of Lingnan and the southwest region also relied on sea transportation to transport a large amount of materials and weapons to the front line, ensuring the victory of the front line.

Chen Yu was on the front line of Xunzhou, naturally he didn't know that Li Xuanqing of Chang'an was colluding with the empire's traffic at the moment, and even counted the Xunzhou area where he was located, and the Xunzhou he was facing with Chai Jia at the moment was also under the attack of the Tiance army, Chai Jia was responsible for attacking a small number of tribes outside the city, and he led most of the Tiance army to start attacking the city, and the explosives of the artillery battalion set off a boundless explosion on the Xunzhou city tower and quickly pulled Chen Yu's thoughts back to reality, and the dense arrows of the mechanical crossbow like locusts fixed countless soldiers on the city tower to the ground, This was accompanied by a small blaster on the arrow.

"This Pang Juzhao and Ye Guangluo, are they planning to fight in the streets?" Chen Yu looked at the degree of resistance on the city tower and groaned slightly, and then began to arrange in advance, so that the siege troops were ready for street battles, and the archers and sword and shield men began to form a team of three, and began to arrange the formation layer by layer.

"The mechanical crossbow covers the preparation of the demolition team." I saw that in an instant, more than a dozen demolition teams began to leave the camp of the army, and quickly rushed forward against the ground, and the blasting canisters on their backs became the hope of all the soldiers at this moment.