Xue Ju was ready to endure it at first, waiting to see the posture of the Hexi Army, ready to harvest all the crops of 70,000 mu in two places, and couldn't bear it anymore, on the one hand, he sent troops to find opportunities to rob grain, and on the other hand, let the cavalry raid Longcheng County; Unexpectedly, Zhuge Quan asked the Perak battalion to hide the explosives in the convoy transporting grain, lost more than 50,000 catties of grain, and killed 3,000 Qin troops; The 5,000 cavalry returned in Longcheng County in vain, and on the way back to the division, they were intercepted and killed by Shi Daqian, losing nearly half.

Xue Rengao ordered his subordinates to bring 300 people to surrender, and was tricked by General Zhuge to lure Xue Rengao to attack Longcheng County again, take down Qi Shizheng, and shoot 5,000 Qin troops in an ambush. Xue Ju didn't dare to let the Qin army attack again, and he was unwilling to watch the grain being taken away by the Hexi army, so he thought twice and sent the guard captain Hao Ying to Fufeng to mobilize 50,000 troops to help.

Hao Ying only arrived in Chencang, and learned that the army of Dou Rail and Li Shuliang suddenly attacked Yongxian County, and the south of Gaoqi City was attacked by the Tang army. The Hexi Army occupied Huangyuan County because of Tang Bi; That was Tang Bi's hometown, Yang Chong had exchanged armor for human lives, and after Tang Bi arrived in Huangyuan, he contacted many past acquaintances, as well as Li Hong and Xiang Haiming's old department, a total of more than 10,000 people, and cooperated with Yao Junsu to seize the city.

In the end, Hao Ying could only lead Chen Cang's 5,000 men back to Tianshui, Xue Ju got the news, and suddenly suffered a stroke in worry, Xue Rengao was so angry that he ignored Hao Ming's dissuasion, and the whole army went out to attack Qingshui County; After three days of siege, Shi Daqian led 20,000 reinforcements to arrive, and Suo Yanshou was flanked before and after, and the Qin army was defeated.

The two sides fought in the field again, Xue Rengao was infinitely powerful, good at riding and shooting, known as ten thousand enemies in the army, wantonly single-handedly, and Shi Daqian's army in front of the fierce battle Lily, was cut off by Shi Daqian's helmet, and fled to his own formation in a hurry. Suo Yanshou and others took advantage of the moment when the morale of the Qin army weakened, and the Qin army was defeated on all fronts, and the fierce general Hun Gan led 2,000 cavalry to surrender to the Hexi army, and Shi Daqian pursued and killed until the city of Shangqi.

In Shangtai City, the internal history ordered Zhai Changsun to have captured Hao Ying and decided to surrender the city; Xue Rengao was unable to enter the city, and turned around and fought fiercely with the Hexi army for more than three hours, but after all, he died of vomiting blood. After Zhai Changsun surrendered, he subdued more than 30,000 Qin troops; Xue Renyue of Jicheng and Dong Axing of Qinling then led the crowd to surrender, and Zhuge Quanzhi ordered Zhai Changsun to temporarily guard Tianshui County, and sent Hao Ying, Xue Ju, and Xue Renyue to Shangxian and handed them over to Yang Chong.

Xue Ju died of illness on the way to the escort, Yang Chong gave Xue Renyue a false position, arranged in Shangxian, and Hao Ying was sent to Shizhou to serve as Han Shige's long history. Still busy, Yang Tong's holy decree was transmitted to Shangxian, and it was Yang Wang, the secretary of the ministry, who came to pass the decree; Yang Wang left Luoyang, and Wang Shichong was able to act as the secretary of the ministry. Double happiness came to the door, and bursts of firecrackers were set off at the gates of various yamen in Shangxian County, attracting adults to watch and children to run.

But in the marshal's mansion, there was no trace of joy on Yang Chong's face, whether it was the recovered county or the county that was conquered, it was a mess, the people withered, there was a shortage of materials, and horse thieves and soldiers were everywhere; Changchuan County is even more problematic, even after Xue Ju fled, the Li family also summoned 2,000 Qiang people and horse thieves to ambush the grain transport team, and was left behind in Lintao County Tianjian commanded the Thunderbolt Camp and the Hehuang Yiqiang Camp to kill the flowers, if it wasn't for Li Zhang personally came forward to kill several family members, Tianjian could watch the Qiang people slaughter the city.

Zhang Jin persuaded and said: "Yue Guogong, some things are inevitable during the war, and now the key is what to do behind Longzhou and Yongzhou?" "Zhang Jin is old, he doesn't want to fight everywhere anymore, just for the sake of his family's children, he chose Yang Chong's camp, and this time he came to Shangxian to take the initiative to ask Yang Chong to send someone to Honghua to take over the Yongzhou assassination history.

Qu Tutong went to Luoyang, Yang Qi didn't want to publicize it, Yang Chong discussed it with Yuan Wei and others for several days, and heard the results of the discussion: "Tianshui County and Longzhou were merged into Qinzhou, and Changshi Zhuge Quan was also the history of Qinzhou." Du Yan was the assassin of Yongzhou, Xie Yingdeng was the commander of Qinzhou, and Li Xianyu was the commander of Yongzhou. In addition, Suo Yanshou led the 5,000 cavalry of the headquarters to be transferred to Shangxian County for reorganization, and Wei Yuanzhao was the Sima of Tuntian in Longzhong, which was expanded to 20,000 Tuntian troops; General Zhang temporarily sat in the Marshal's Mansion and served as the guard of Chang'an. ”

Staying in Chang'an seems to be a fictitious position, but Yang Chong is about to use troops in Chang'an, and he has set up a department of the Left-behind Division in advance to facilitate the recruitment of talents and future operation. Fang Yanzao introduced Yang Chong's idea, first established six departments, and arranged for Yuan Wuji, the waiter of the military department, Cui Chuzhi, the waiter of the Ministry of Rites, Gao Junya, the waiter of the criminal department, and the wine Wang Tong, the priest of the country, to assist Zhang Jin.

Yuan Wuji is still in charge of military affairs as a squire in the military department, adding: "Yue Guogong is preparing to organize two guards in Xiazhou, two guards in Xiazhou, two guards in Shi Daqian and Xie Yingdeng in Tianshui, two guards in Liangde and Han Shige, and one in Liangzhou, with 23,000 to 26,000 people per guard. ”

Zhang Jin and others understood that this was a precursor to a great war, Xue Ju had been destroyed, the Hexi Army and the Tang Army were already in full contact, and a big war could break out at any time. Only through such training could Yang Chong gather an army of more than 100,000 people to attack Chang'an. Yang Wang is also from the Hongnong Yang family, and Yang Chong is a clansman, knowing that what Yang Chong is going to say below is the secret of the Hexi Army, and said with a smile: "Yue Guogong, the old business is over, so I won't bother." ”

Yang Chong stopped: "Lord Yang, we are all our own people, and we don't need to avoid it. Although the territory I occupy is large, in terms of army, it is difficult to rank in the top five in the Great Sui, that is, Xue Ju occupies two or three counties, and the troops are not under me, so as soon as I fight, my troops are a little tight. ”

Yang Wang had been a county guard and had fought with Li Mi, and he kept observing Yang Chong's army along the way, and said with a smile: "That's because the Duke of Yue Guo is unwilling to expand the army, and he takes the route of elite soldiers." is the Wagang Army, known as 300,000, but there are only 30,000 or 40,000 people who can really fight and are accustomed to fighting, otherwise Zheng Guogong would have been defeated in Luoyang a long time ago; I read the joint letter from Zhuge Quan, Wei Yuanzhao and Shi Daqian, 50,000 troops surrendered, only one-third of them were incorporated into the army, and the rest of them were all tuntian, which is unimaginable in other teams. ”

Other armies only hate the lack of soldiers, especially the elite soldiers under Xue Ju, who are simply reluctant to go to Tuntian; Yang Chong smiled modestly and said: "Lord Yang has won the award, I heard that Zheng Guogong is acting as the secretary of the ministry, if you say something that should not be said, even if Lord Yang goes back, Zheng Guogong may not give up his real power, it is better to stay in Shangxian." ”

The official department of Shangshu, the highest-level prefect of the Ministry of Officials in the Six Ministries, is in charge of the appointment and dismissal of officials, examinations, promotions, transfers, decorations and other affairs of the national officials, and is the head of the six central government Shangshu. When Wagang Zhai Rang wanted to regain power from Li Mi, he asked Li Mi to let him be the head of Otsuka, Wang Shichong and Yuan Wen were competing for power, and they must control this position in their own hands, otherwise, if they didn't read out a holy decree, why did they have to ask Yang Wang, the secretary of the ministry, to go on a trip.

(End of chapter)