In September 888, at the critical juncture when the Tiance army was besieging Chang'an City, Li Keyong, who had been entangled with Li Xuanqing on the northern front, suddenly ordered the army to set out from Hezhong Fu, secretly intervene in the battlefield, and secretly attacked the defense line of Chang'an Dongcheng of the Tiance army.

After the news came out, not only did the offensive and defensive sides urgently adjust their defensive lines and redeploy their troops, but even Yang Shouliang and Zhu Quanzhong in the surrounding areas began to adjust their original layout. The situation on the battlefield in Guanzhong has taken a sharp turn.

Xu Tianxiang, chief of staff of the Tiance Army, who was the commander-in-chief of the campaign, after urgently transferring back the cavalry in Dongcheng and Nancheng, contracted the defensive line, deployed the main forces on the front line of the Hedong Army, and adopted a strategy of besieging Chang'an City without attacking it. At the same time, the flying pigeon urgently sent a message to Li Xuanqing, who was far away in Fengzhou, for help.

With the intervention of the Shatuo people, the situation in Chang'an City began to change strangely. This brute force intervention used by Li Ke broke the original rhythm. Yang Fugong, who learned the news, summoned Yang Shouliang and began to move closer to the Hedong Army, and on the other hand, he began to clear the hidden dangers inside Chang'an City. And Hu Xiaosi, who was in the middle of it, took advantage of the change, and immediately changed his plan, letting all his hands lurk, creating local terror, and confusing the public, intending to use Yang Fugong to force his opponent to expose the target in advance and let him do it in advance.

Hu Xiaosi's strategy played a role in the beginning, and for a while, the shadows of the Xuanwu Army were constantly exposed, and then they were arrested by the Shence Army. But the good times didn't last long, the opponent was obviously also a master of killing people with a knife, and after realizing that he was being calculated, he immediately fought-for-tat, and Hu Xiaosi started a confrontation against Hu, and for a while, Chang'an City fought one step ahead of the outside world when it was still a confrontation.

When Xu Tianxiang contracted his forces to stabilize the situation, the attacking Hedong Army also stopped, and it seemed that he was unwilling to face the more than 100,000 troops of the Tiance Army alone. And the Hedong Army stopped, and Yang Shouliang's Shence Army, which received Yang Fugong's instructions, also stopped, and the three parties actually maintained a strange calm outside Chang'an City.

"Tiancheng, what about the losses of the cavalry battalion?" In the tent of the Tiance Army, Xu Tianxiang called a meeting of all the high-level generals and asked about the losses of the sneak attack three days ago.

Yang Tiancheng glanced at Tuoba Siji, who had a gloomy face beside him, and sighed and said: "Only half of the people and horses of the second and third battalions of the Dangxiang cavalry have returned to the team, and the infantry brigade has gone out of the camp to search for more than 100 miles, and the scattered people and horses are also returning to the camp one after another. ”

Yang Tiancheng's words made all the generals present gasp, there were only three cavalry battalions on the front line of Chang'an, and now they lost one in the first battle, more than 10,000 people, it is so gone, no wonder Tuoba Siji's face is so ugly.

Yang Tiancheng continued: "In addition, Tianyi was attacked by a general of the other party and suffered internal injuries. The situation under the city of Chang'an may turn around at any time. I have a proposal. ”

Glancing at Xu Tianxiang's heavy face, Yang Tiancheng gritted his teeth and said, "Before the arrival of the lord, Chai Jia and Xu Ying from the directly subordinate battalion and Linzhou and Yanzhou should be transferred to the front line of Chang'an. Glancing at the surrounding generals, Yang Tiancheng walked to the side of the map and said: "From the current point of view, we can't solve the Shatuo people opposite us, even if we take Chang'an, we will face a defensive front from Yanzhou in the north and Xiazhou to Chang'an in the south, which is more than 1,000 miles long. If our army can concentrate its forces to gather and annihilate the Hedong Army under the city of Chang'an, it will be equivalent to defeating the mobile forces used by Li Ke in the east of our army, and the initiative will be in the hands of our army. ”

"Tianxiang, although we have asked the lord for help, but the forces that can be supported by the northern front of Fengzhou are limited, we must base ourselves on our own southern front forces and lay out everything before the arrival of the lord." Yang Tiancheng knew how Xu Tianxiang had felt in the past few days, so he called him by his name.

"The last general agrees with General Yang." Tuoba Si on the side bowed and said: "This time we have suffered such a big loss, and our party has suffered a heavy loss, we must make up for it in the hands of the Shatuo people." ”

"Immediately in the name of the General Staff, Wang Houchun, Chai Jia, Xu Ying and Lu Yi were ordered. Wang Houchun and his direct battalion, the eighth battalion and the ninth battalion rushed to Chang'an to participate in the battle. In addition-" Xu Tianxiang glanced at all the generals in front of him and said: "The attack outside Chang'an City is due to the fact that I, the chief of the general staff, have not thought it through, and I will personally ask the lord for his guilt." But what I want to say is that we can't be defeated once and not dare to fight again. From now on, all the generals immediately prepare their armies and wait for the arrival of the lord, when the time comes, we must defeat the Shatuo people and avenge the dead brothers. ”

Just when Xu Tianxiang convened a meeting of generals, took the initiative to assume responsibility, and mobilized rear troops to join the battlefield. Li Xuanqing of Tiande City also received a message from the front line.

"Lord, if something happens in Chang'an, Tianxiang probably will ask the lord for help when he encounters unimaginable difficulties." Chen Fan and Tie Liang on the side read the information from the flying pigeon, frowned, and said, "There is also Tianyi injured, what's going on?" ”

"The flying pigeon passes the book, and there is too little information." Li Xuanqing answered Tie Liang's confusion while looking at the map carefully, Li Ke must have had someone's idea to intervene in the Chang'an war at this time. Li Keyong confronted himself on the northern front and did not leave, so who was on the front line who was able to sneak attack the party cavalry in the hands of Xu Tianxiang and others? And who can make Li Tianyi suffer internal injuries? Who are the leading generals on the front line?

"My lord, I think there may have been a secret movement within the enemy. The general they faced in Tianxiang should not be from the original Hezhong Mansion, but Li Cunxiao, who secretly returned from the northern front. Chen Fan frowned, muttered for a long time, and suddenly said.

Li Xuanqing nodded, turned around and said: "The only one who can hurt Tianyi with one move but didn't do it is estimated that Li Cunxiao is the only one, it seems that he still saved me some face, otherwise Tianyi will definitely not be able to get out of the way." It's just that with Li Cunxiao's temperament, this kind of sneak attack that was secretly arranged to the secret guards of Xuan Yingwei was not something he could do. This time, the main general is definitely not him, but someone else. ”

Tie Liang on the side was a little puzzled and said: "That's impossible, I've heard a long time ago, Li Cunxiao has a very high status among the Shatuo people, although he is ranked in the thirteenth Taibao, but the Shatuo people call him the 'second general', and the only one who can make him willing to be a subordinate general is Li Keyong himself." Others can't command Li Cunxiao at all. ”

Li Xuanqing naturally knew Li Cunxiao's status among the Shatuo people, and he was a little puzzled, if this was a ploy, it would be impossible for Li Cunxiao's character to show mercy to Li Tian's subordinates. So what's going on?

After a while, Li Xuanqing suddenly remembered something, and a trace of worry suddenly flashed between his eyebrows, and he immediately made a decision, and said to Li Feixue, who was acting as a guard outside the tent: "Feixue, the guard battalion will gather immediately, and go to Chang'an with me immediately." After giving the order, he said to Chen Fan and Tie Liang: "The northern line is all handed over to the two of you, with Chen Fan as the commander of the northern line." After I leave, Tiande City should be mainly defended, if Li Ke is used to attack, the infantry will defend the city, and the cavalry will be hidden as a means of counterattack. ”

There is nothing to explain to Chen Fan and Li Xuanqing. After just arranging it, while waiting for the assembly of the guard battalion, he was deploying in advance, sending people to fly pigeons to send a message to Lingzhou, and asked Shi Jian to take the Modao battalion to Chang'an as soon as possible. Li Xuanqing and Yang Tiancheng thought the same, as long as he saw that he and Li Keyong bordered nearly a thousand miles from north to south, Li Xuanqing couldn't suppress his inner thoughts, if he couldn't defeat Li Ke's mobile corps that interfered with the southern front in a war, then even if Chang'an repelled the other party by himself, then Linzhou? What about Xiazhou? What about Yanzhou? Do you want to be a firefighter and get tired of running for your life?

The personal guard battalion is a cavalry battalion, and the time for the whole army to be prepared is very short, and in less than half an hour, this fierce cavalry battalion has been assembled outside Tiande City. Li Xuanqing hurriedly said goodbye to Chen Fan, Tieliang, Hou Yong, and with a wave of his right hand, the cavalry horse galloped towards the south like a long dragon.

After Li Xuanqing left, Chen Fan also began to give orders, and Hou Yong and the two party cavalry battalion commanders Ye Gu and Lang De also began to lead their troops out of the city, carrying out hidden camouflage, and Tiande City was bright and dark.

Starting from Tiande City, the guard battalion began to accelerate, and the cavalry battalion of more than 10,000 people charged, the horse's hooves shook the earth, and the smoke and dust covered the sky and the sun, like a tornado, rushed to the Yellow River, from the Nanyuan ferry to the other side of the Yellow River, and then went straight to Xiazhou without stopping. The striker was responsible for informing the recruit camp and the logistics department near Xiazhou to prepare meals, and it was actually from Tiande City to Xiazhou City in one day and one night.

After arriving in Xiazhou, the logistics department urgently exchanged new war horses from the party members, and the well-fed guards set off again after a hasty rest for two hours, this time the cavalry of 10,000 people was equipped with a replacement war horse and rushed towards Chang'an again. This hurricane advance also made the guard battalion later become a long-legged army with a long-distance attack, from Guanzhong to the Central Plains, and finally north into the grassland, west to attack the Western Regions, all the way with the banner of the Tiance Army across the world, no army has the speed of this army.

Li Xuanqing led the army from north to south all the way to the rescue. The Shatuo people on the opposite side are also waiting for the arrival of the follow-up army. Just when Xu Tianxiang was waiting for the mobilized troops to arrive one after another, the news of Xuan Yingwei was also delivered, and Zhou Dewei set out from Taiyuan Mansion and led an army of 50,000 towards Chang'an. However, the speed of his march seems to be different from Li Xuanqing, the speed is not fast, as if he is guarding against someone sneak attack all the way, the army set off with murderous spirit, the front and rear troops are all on guard, and they still send sentinels to go out hundreds of miles in Hedong.

This strange move and confrontation between the two armies made the surrounding princes fidget, but they didn't know what the other side had in mind, so a whirlpool of intricate troop arrangements was formed around Chang'an City.

And before the backup of both sides arrived, the frontline commanders focused on searching for each other's intelligence. Therefore, at this time, within a hundred miles around Chang'an City, scouts on both sides were whistling and whizzing away like hornets, doing their best to rob and counter-rob.

In this intelligence war, the Flying Eagle Brigade of the Tiance Army was transferred back by Xu Tianxiang to participate in this duel of small elite troops. Su Xiaohu, who was originally looking for Yang Fugong's treasure spot, vented all his anger on the scouts of the Shatuo people because he couldn't find the location. I saw that since the return of the Flying Eagle Brigade, the intelligence war has been one-sided. The bold Su Xiaohu even hit the rear army of the Shatuo people, and a fire almost burned all the grain and grass of the Shatuo people, so that the Shatuo scout team, which had always relied on the superiority of his cavalry, did not dare to go out of the sight of the main force. This situation also made the Lord Shatuo, who had been hiding his identity since the start of the war, furious, but there was nothing he could do.

After clearing the opponent's scouts and eyeliner, the Flying Eagle Brigade returned to the same place to continue its mission, and Hu Xiaosi, who was in Chang'an City, also summoned Xuan Yingwei's killer weapon, the Dragon Group, to Chang'an and began the battlefield battle belonging to Xuan Yingwei. This group of killers in the darkness of the Tiance Army shuttled through the streets and alleys of Chang'an City like ghosts, "naming" according to the target, clearing hidden dangers, and eliminating the spies of the Shence Army and the Xuanwu Army.

However, Hu Xiaosi's target was cleverly chosen, and he did not move the opponent's main strength, but still let the other party maintain the strength to continue their own plans. And the secret guards of the Xuanying Guard's Chang'an Branch, who had their hands free, began to enter the palace to arrange. This war has not really begun, and Xuan Yingwei is already planning for the aftermath of the war, which can be regarded as the realization of Li Xuanqing's original intention of taking precautions for intelligence work and taking one step at a time to see three steps.

After ten days of anxious waiting and confrontation, in mid-September 888, the horses neighed in front of the camp of the Tiance army, the banner of the Tiance army flew in the wind, and under the galloping of thousands of horses, Li Xuanqing's figure began to appear outside Chang'an City.

And almost at the same time, in front of the big tent of the Shatuo people, Zhou Dewei also completed the final journey, the army converged, the barracks stretched for hundreds of miles, and the war was about to break out.