"Your Majesty, Li Jipeng and Yang Qiu's report." Qiaoxi in Tianjin City had just coaxed Xiao Tianqi to sleep, and Cen Tianshi hurriedly walked in and almost bumped into Li Xuanqing.

Li Xuanqing took it over and looked at it carefully and said with a smile: "These big families are finally over, okay, the overall situation of the southern line has basically been decided." Now it's up to the northern line, what about Tuoba Siji, is it still in Zhongjing? ”

"Your Majesty, the northern line is also very good. Now Hou Yong's army has arrived near Tokyo, and Tuoba Sigong on the northern line is also about to reach Tongzhou. Chen Fan's advance headquarters had already gone from Zhongjing to Yanjun City. As soon as Li Xuanqing's words fell, Xu Tianxiang walked in and said with a smile: "I just received the news that Chen Fan's main force has been divided into the north and south, and he is preparing to set off from Yanjun City to capture Shenzhou with his headquarters, and then converge the army near Tongzhou. ”

"What is the reaction of the Khitans and the Bohai Kingdom?" Li Xuanqing asked. Now that the Tiance army has entered the homeland of the Khitans in a big way, it is actually approaching the border of the Bohai Kingdom, and it is strange if these two enemies do not react.

"Big brother, sir, second brother. Let's go to the front hall, I'll make you tea. Xu Tianxiang was just about to reply, Qiaoxi walked over and said with a smile: "It just so happened that Brother Xu brought the big red robe from Wuyi Mountain, I specially found someone to copy it, and it tasted very good." In fact, although the style of tea drinking in the Tang Dynasty has prevailed, it is not as crazy as that of later generations, but Qiaoxi and Li Xuanqing, two visitors from later generations, naturally picked up this quintessence as soon as they came.

Since he came to the front hall and went to make tea, Xu Tianxiang said with a smile: "According to Xuan Yingwei's news. The Balhae Kingdom sent the prince to lead the army to Samhan before, and I don't know how to fight with the Goryeo Kingdom, and the remaining soldiers and horses in the country have now been assembled in Jeongju and other places, and there is a general of Fucheng led by Momoli I heard that he is preparing to join forces with Yelu Hanxiong to deal with our army. ”

Cen Tianshi looked at the map and frowned: "Then it seems that they put the main force in the north, focusing on dealing with Tuoba Siji's way." Isn't our army of more than 100,000 on the northern front a little weak? ”

"We can receive the news, and Chen Fan on the front line has also received it. Sir, rest assured, as far as Chen Fan's character is concerned, he is the only one who will fight others, and no one will beat his defense. However, I think that if the main force is placed in the north, then Hou Yong's army should not rush north, and can start directly from Tokyo, sweep the entire Liaodong Peninsula, and then turn around and go north to kill directly to Zhongjing, the capital of the Bohai Kingdom. Xu Tianxiang said, "In this way, the army of the Bohai State can be forced to withdraw from the front line, thus putting Yelu Hanxiong in a situation of being alone." ”

"There are too many places to operate in this matter, and if the troops drawn back by the Bohai Kingdom are Goryeo's army, then Hou Yong will be in trouble." Li Xuanqing shook his head and said, "You send this kind of plan to Chen Fan, let him choose for himself." In the rear, we should try not to interfere with the direct command of the front line, and let the commanders and generals play their role freely on the basis of not violating the grand strategic objectives. ”

"Your Majesty, this is carrying forward the independent ability of the front-line generals." Cen Tianshi said with a smile: "That's fine, it's difficult for us to grasp comprehensive information in the rear, and rash interference is easy to cause a lot of miscalculations." ”

In fact, when Li Xuanqing and a few people were discussing whether to change the strategy of the northern front, Chen Fan was also thinking about this possibility, as the commander who was the best at defensive counterattack among the generals of the Tiance Army, his character decided that he was not good at taking risks, and liked to fight a regular army annihilation war, relying on his own planning and troop superiority, Taishan won all the opponent's forces in a battle. Therefore, after thinking for a while, Chen Fan decisively gave up the possibility that Xu Tianxiang said, but chose to continue to implement the original plan, ordering Hou Yong to garrison Kaizhou with two battalions of infantry in the occupation of Kaizhou, and his main cavalry quickly moved north to join the main force to press Yelu Hanxiong and the Bohai State coalition army near Tongzhou, and chose the opportunity to annihilate its main force.

After the war on the entire northern front began, it progressed very rapidly, and the main forces of the warring parties, including the Bohai State, were basically cavalry, supplemented by infantry. Compared with the Tiance army and the Khitan army, which have a very thorough understanding of cavalry tactics and tactics, the army of the Bohai State is much worse, and its army combat strength cannot be compared with the first two. After arriving in Kaizhou, Hou Yong's side found out as soon as he came into contact with the Bohai army that the other party could not withstand the impact of the cavalry corps at all, and was defeated in a battle outside Kaizhou, losing more than 30,000 people, and then hastily withdrew from Kaizhou, throwing this important town in southern Liaoning to the Tiance army.

Hou Yong left Li San to lead the infantry corps to garrison Kaizhou, and then led his army north, and before leaving, he told Li San that if there was no Bohai army to help him on the southern front, he would send troops to fight south and recover the Liaodong Peninsula. This allows the Navy to have a land support point to support operations on the northern front along the coastal route.

However, before Hou Yong left, the battle situation near Kaizhou changed again, and the army of the Bohai Kingdom suddenly came in a big way. This news almost made Hou Yong fall to the ground. After leading the army to urgently set up a formation outside the city of Kaizhou and confronting the other party, he immediately began to investigate the reason. After careful investigation, Xuan Yingwei discovered that this army of more than 100,000 people was actually the prince's army that had invaded Goryeo.

"Damn, isn't this guy in full swing with the Goryeo Kingdom? Why did you come back all of a sudden? There's nothing wrong with that, right? Hou Yong discussed with Gao Siji after stabilizing his position.

Gao Siji also shook his head and said: "Xuan Yingwei has not been arranged much on the side of Goryeo, and it is not clear whether the two of them have reached any agreement for the time being, but after the battle situation has new variables, we must immediately report to the commander and ask him to pay more attention on the northern front, our main force on the southern front cannot go north in the short term, and this enemy must be completely eliminated, otherwise the southern front of our army will be contained, which will inevitably distract the commander at all times, which will be unfavorable to the overall situation." ”

Hou Yong nodded and said, "Liu Xuan, immediately send an urgent military report to the marshal to report the situation here." Lao Gao, let's fight tomorrow first to see what the strength of this prince army is, if it is similar to the previous one, we will defeat the other party in one fell swoop, if we can capture that prince, we will definitely be able to make the Bohai Kingdom defect in advance. ”

Gao Siji nodded after listening to Hou Yong's words, and then shook his head and said: "It is necessary to defeat the other party, but this prince still counts, even if he takes it, he can't keep it, otherwise he will definitely leave a disaster for the generals, he is the heir to the throne of the Bohai Kingdom, and it is not in line with the future rule of the empire in the northeast." ”

"That's right, then leave him alone." Hou Yong was stunned by Gao Siji's words, and then nodded and said, "Old Gao, tomorrow you will take the lead and go test the water." I'll take people to watch the battle from behind, if the situation is good, let's just break in, anyway, we are all cavalry troops, and we are fighting fast. ”

"Okay, leave it to me, let these guys learn the tactics of cavalry warfare." Gao Siji gave a rare smile, and then went out of the tent to mobilize the army to prepare. After such a long period of running-in, all the armies of the Tiance Army have been mixed, and all the soldiers and officers have been scattered and reorganized, so the former Dangxiang Cavalry Battalion and Shatuo Cavalry Battalion have also become historical terms. But these are not big problems for senior generals such as Gao Siji and Tuoba Sigong, the troop establishment and command system of the Tiance Army are becoming more and more mature, and the regularization of the troops has also reached its peak, so whether it is the previous troops or transferred from other troops, the orders of the superiors have always been forbidden.

Early the next morning, Gao Siji directly mobilized six cavalry battalions as the vanguard, went out of the camp gate, and waited for the troops of the Bohai State to be dispatched. Originally, Gao Siji planned to fight with the other party first and judge the strength of the other party first, but after waiting for more than an hour, he saw that the opponent's troops were coming out of the camp one after another, and the formation was also swaying.

"Deputy marshal, the marshal told you not to wait and start attacking directly, the artillery battalion is ready, you can bombard the opponent's military camp in advance." Just when Gao Siji shook his head, Hou Yong's personal guard in the rear stepped forward and said.

"Order the front army to attack immediately, the archers follow with the army, the trumpeters of the war drum corps immediately launch, let's attack in a goose-shaped formation, and chisel through them for me." As soon as Gao Siji waved the command flag in his hand, Wu Si'er of the front army couldn't wait for a long time, and almost as soon as Gao Siji's signal came out, he had already led the army to rush out. However, for them, the artillery battalion in the rear was much faster than them, and the mechanical crossbow almost instantly rushed towards the Bohai National Army formation with thousands of whistling rockets.

"Give me a couple of hundred explosives packs." Hou Yong arranged for the deputy general to get ready, and then attacked from the flank, and said with a smile. More than 100 ballistas on the side of the artillery battalion were also launched in an instant, and the explosive packets rose into the sky, rolling and smashing into the military formation of the Bohai State with sparks.

Originally, the Bohai State saw that the Tiance Army was fighting without declaring a war and sent an army to meet it, but the two sides had not yet contacted, and the whistling rocket exploded in the crowd at once, this powerful weapon made the cavalry of the Bohai Kingdom almost collapsed for the first time, and the explosion disrupted the formation, and the explosion that followed the explosive bag was even more with fireballs and black smoke to make the other party completely chaotic, and the vanguard was almost a touch of collapse, not only did not play a role in blocking the other party, On the contrary, after the defeat of this chaotic army, they began to counterattack their own camp.

"The whole army of the forward troops rushed into the gap opened by Wusi'er, and gave me a direct insertion into the Chinese army." Gao Siji saw that the opponent's striker was in chaos, and immediately no longer hesitated, put the remaining 30,000 horses in his hand into the battlefield, and began to press the opponent to fight. Half of the elite cavalry of Hou Yong's army rushed up, and the smoke and dust brought up almost made the prince of the Bohai Kingdom on the other side fall headlong directly. His army has already been pressed and beaten by the other party before it has even started, and if it continues like this, won't the whole army collapse? The prince hesitated a little and immediately threw his own Chinese army into the army and began to intercept Wusi'er, trying to intercept the opponent in the formation, and then mobilize the flank troops to outflank him.

"Order the whole army to assault." The actions of the prince of the Bohai Kingdom naturally couldn't hide Hou Yong, who had been staring at him, and without hesitation, he directly ordered the whole army to press up, and the Chinese army was divided into two groups in an instant, outflanking the left and right, and began to encircle the other party in reverse.

"The artillery battalion sent an elite squad to come forward and find an opportunity to kill that prince, this guy is easy to bring trouble to our children and grandchildren if he lives." Hou Yong thought about it and asked Liu Xuan to personally go forward and select an elite squad carrying a musket team and a small mechanical crossbow to touch it, preparing to take advantage of the chaos to intercept and kill.

After sending Liu Xuan away, Hou Yong said to himself: "It seems that we will go north soon, how do you feel that the strength of this Bohai Kingdom's army is so poor?" This is completely incomparable with the Khitans, and I don't know what this Yelu Hanxiong thinks, they have been in the Bohai Kingdom for more than a year and have not thought about taking down the other party, and they obediently shook hands with the other party and made peace. ”

"Forget it, let's step forward too, I haven't charged in a long time, and my hands are itchy." Hou Yong turned over and got on his horse and took his personal guards to the battlefield. At this time, the front line had become a pot of porridge, Gao Siji had already led people to rush towards the opponent's Chinese army, and all the people who stood in the way along the way were all killed on the spot by the former Shatuo brave general, and he had already seen the frightened face of the prince of Bohai Kingdom everywhere he looked.

"The prince of Bohai Kingdom is there, give it to me, kill him and promote him to the third level, and the reward is 10,000 Tang coins." Seeing Gao Siji taking the lead in the charge, Wu Si'er immediately roared. But before he finished speaking, Ye Gu's laughter came from beside him: "Okay, Wu Si'er, your reward is too small, no one is happy, so I'll come." Sons of the three armies, if anyone kills the prince of the Bohai Kingdom, I will let him go to the emperor's house for dinner. ”

Sure enough, Ye Gu's words suddenly caused too much commotion, almost all the soldiers of the Tiance Army were full of blood when they heard this, and the offensive of the Tiance Army also reached its peak in an instant, the morale of the Bohai State army was completely dispersed, and the defeated soldiers rushed towards their rear like headless flies.

"Haha, Us'er, it's still my promise to make a good move, the whole army will assault, kill me." Ye Gu let out a long roar and led his personal guards directly towards the prince of the Bohai Kingdom, not caring at all that the other party had already begun to prepare to escape.

"Okay, you two are really born to fight each other, hurry up and give it to me, and I'll let you eat the soil when you run away from the prince." Gao Siji stepped forward and interrupted the two people's calls, and rushed forward directly.

At this time, Liu Xuan's team on the battlefield had also arrived at the forefront. "Team Five, did you see the one with the gold crown? How about it, are you sure of killing the other party? Liu Xuan shouted to Captain Wu of the artillery battalion beside him.

"Chief of Staff, the distance is enough, I need to advance twenty zhang and find a fulcrum." Captain Wu nodded, and led his team members to a small dirt slope twenty zhang in front of him and began to set up a mechanical crossbow. The musketeers on their side continued to advance, ready to continue the pursuit in case the mechanical crossbow missed.

"Haha, just right, launch." Captain Wu said with a smile after quickly setting up the mechanical crossbow, and at the same time pulled the trigger of the mechanical crossbow with his fingers, only to see five long rockets shoot out at a rapid pace in an instant, and then the arrow magazine of the mechanical crossbow itself rotated on its own, and the other five rockets were launched again. After the two launches, Captain Wu stood up, pointed to the pillar of smoke in front of him, and said, "Chief of Staff, you see that the one wearing the golden crown has been overtaken." See, I shot. Let's go quickly, or we will be trampled into pulp by the defeated soldiers. ”

"Alright, it's finally done." Liu Xuan saw that the golden crown in front of him was chased by a rocket and disappeared into the pillar of smoke, and he suddenly smiled, and smiled with relief.