The next day, Xue Shao was in the military camp of Chengping County, giving a banquet to Wang Fangyi and his important generals.

The Xiazhou Governor's Mansion is the most important military town in the northwest of the Tang Dynasty, and it is an important place for soldiers to fight for throughout the ages. The eternal swan song "Poor Wuding River bones, like a person in a spring boudoir dream" Wuding River is in Xiazhou. At the beginning of the founding of the Tang Dynasty, after pacifying the Liang Division, the Xiazhou Governor's Mansion was established, and since then it has been used to suppress the Turks in the north and reject Tibet in the south, and dredge the Silk Road to the west to reach the Western Regions, so that it is supported in the northwest border of the empire like an optimus pillar.

After Emperor Taizong pacified the Turks, he moved a large number of Turkic Hu people to the Hetao area south of Xiazhou, and the Xiazhou Metropolitan Governorate took on a more important national defense mission from then on.

Xue Shao learned that there was a county named Shuofang under the rule of Xiazhou, which was the place where the current Xiazhou Army was stationed. Based on Xue Shao's understanding of the history of the Tang Dynasty, Shuofang, which is definitely the most famous military location in the history of the Tang Dynasty, has repeatedly appeared in the annals of history as the names of "Shuofang Army" and "Shuofang Marching Road". Such a border town is undoubtedly very temperable, and it has sent countless military talents to the Tang Empire. Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi, the famous generals of Zhongxing during the Anshi Rebellion, were from the Shuofang army.

By inference, the current Xiazhou Army is actually the predecessor of the "Shuofang Army". The reason why they are now called the Anxi Army is because Wang Fangyi had assisted Pei Xingjian, the capital of Anxi, to quell the rebellion in the Western Regions a few years ago. After the chaos, Pei Xingjian returned to the imperial court, and the triumphant army he led was basically handed over to Wang Fangyi. That army was called the Anxi Army.

It can be said that Wang Fangyi directly inherited the mantle left by Pei Xingjian and carried it forward, so that there is now this famous Xiazhou army.

Although Wang Fangyi and his subordinates no longer serve in the area of the four towns of Anxi, the name of "Anxi Tiger Division" has been loud since the time of Pei Xingjian, and it was called out by the frightened alien enemies. Therefore, the current Xiazhou Army still calls itself the "Anxi Army". The name of "Anxi Tiger Division" is their greatest pride.

As far as the current situation is concerned, the Anxi Army under Wang Fangyi, and the Northern Army built by Cheng Wuting and now handed over to Xue Rengui to lead and guard the border of Shuodai, are the two ace field armies that Datang can fight the most.

Coincidentally, these two most important ace armies of the Tang Dynasty are inextricably linked with Pei Xingjian. One is the mantle directly passed down by Pei Xingjian, and the other follows Pei Xingjian to fight the Northern Expedition to the Turks.

Now, Xue Shao, Pei Xingjian's only relative student, met Wang Fangyi, the commander of the Anxi Army, and the two had a discussion to trace the root cause, that is, the more they talked, the closer they became, and they were almost relatives.

There is one thing that everyone knows in their hearts, but they haven't said it. That is, the army is a world where the strong are respected, and an outstanding old commander like Wang Fangyi can talk speculatively with Xue Shao, who is more than 30 years younger than him, and the most important reason is that Xue Shao used the city to fight a flat battle and won the recognition and respect of Wang Fangyi and all the generals under him.

After learning about Xue Shao's counterinsurgency, Wang Fangyi, who had been on the battlefield for a long time, was taken aback on the spot!

Because Wang Fangyi and others were very convinced that the imperial court sent a "baby bump" like Xue Shao to take command of the expedition, undoubtedly to go through the motions of "gilding". According to common sense, in order to ensure the absolute safety of the baby bump, the imperial court will definitely send him enough troops, enough fierce generals and think tank military advisors. and then send him a deputy who can do things, Wang Fangyi, to actually operate it, to "work" for the baby pimple to earn military merits.

But the truth is that Xue Shao only brought 800 so-called "elite" cavalry from Chang'an who had never been on the battlefield, plus 5 or 6,000 soldiers and native soldiers who were temporarily put together, and actually recovered Yanzhou without blood within ten days, and then defeated Bai Tieyu's 30,000 rebels and quickly pacified the whole territory of Suizhou.

This kind of thing is obviously not something that "baby bumps" can do.

Wang Fangyi and his generals never thought that there would be someone who could work harder than the desperate San Lang of the Anxi Tiger Division. How much they despised Xue Shao before, how shocked and respectful they are now.

After just a day's rest, Wang Fangyi's army was put into the finishing touches of suppressing the bandits.

In fact, bandits like Bai Tieyu's rebels are a little easier to deal with when the main forces are concentrated. If they are scattered and flee to all corners, or entrenched in mountain villages or fall into the grass, some people will take off their uniforms and put down their weapons and become unrecognizable civilians, so it will be difficult to deal with them a little bit. At the very least, it requires a lot of manpower.

If Wang Fangyi's 20,000 soldiers and horses didn't come, Xue Shao would really have a headache for the finishing work.

But Wang Fangyi and his generals all felt that letting the Anxi Tiger Division do this kind of thing of wiping their butts was really killing chickens with a cattle cutting knife. But there is no way, who called himself late, and let Xue Shao do the "big work" alone?

Before the Anxi Tiger Division dispersed all over the country, Wang Fangyi gathered people and asked Xue Shao to review it.

20,000 horses were assembled in the area east of Chengping County. At the time of the military parade, many people from Suizhou came to visit.

Wang Fangyi personally accompanied Xue Shao on the parade.

The two of them each rode a horse, and amid the loud cheers of 20,000 cavalrymen, they walked through the ranks and went to the platform.

"Well deserved, the division of tigers and wolves." Xue Shao praised repeatedly.

Wang Fangyi humbly waved his hand and laughed again and again, and said, "The young marshal is from a noble background, so he shouldn't be able to cook, right?" ”

Xue Shao was a little surprised, and said with a smile: "How could the old general suddenly ask about this layer?" Yes, I don't know how to cook, I don't know anything at all. I once made a plate of dumplings, but I still asked someone to cook it for me. ”

"The young marshal is really a sincere person." Wang Fangyi laughed and said, "Actually, the old man just wants to say that a really clever chef can make the most delicious food with the simplest ingredients, rather than sticking to high-quality and expensive ingredients. Leading troops to fight is actually the same thing. The Anxi Tiger Division is indeed an elite division, and it is a treasure left by Pei Gong. The old man relied on Pei Gong's prestige and drove such an army to play a little bit of unwarranted prestige, which is not capable. The young marshal was able to make such an amazing record as a great victory in Chengping with only the thousands of stragglers and new troops cobbled together in Yanzhou, which can be called the style of a real famous general! ”

Xue Shao laughed, "The old general won't make fun of me." If you put my group of people and the Anxi Tiger Division together, they can't be called an army, it's too cold. ”

"The army is not for watching, it is for fighting!" Wang Fangyi said, "The old man has been many years, and he has not seen a young man like General Xue who can fight. Pei Gong's vision is extremely high, and he has never accepted apprentices for thirty years. Now that I have finally accepted you as a student, I am indeed a unique vision! ”

Xue Shaoxu whispered: "Actually, Pei Gong was also forced!" ”

"Huh?" Wang Fangyi was slightly stunned, and subconsciously thought of a person, the queen of heaven.

Xue Shao smiled and said, "I pestered him for several months, making him tireless and restless day and night. Pei Gong will not accept me as an apprentice again, I am afraid that my life will not be guaranteed. ”

"Haha!" Wang Fangyi laughed and secretly scolded himself for being a villain, and his face felt a little hot.

Xue Shao's joke was a little "cold", but it just hit the hearts of Wang Fangyi and the others - they all thought that Pei Xingjian was forced by the pressure of the queen of heaven to accept Xue Shao as an apprentice.

Later, Xue Shao presided over the usual sacrifices in the army and distributed general flags to the generals of various provinces. The fierce generals in the Anxi army are like clouds, and there are many talents. In addition to the "fierce vanguard" Duan Feng who provoked Xue Chuyu before, Wang Fangyi's subordinates have at least seven or eight generals who can stand alone. Among them, there are two that Xue Shao is most interested in, they are Wang Fangyi's right-hand men, Wang Xiaojie and Ashina Zhongjie.

Xue Shao vaguely remembered that these two generals were also famous in the history of the Tang Dynasty, especially Wang Xiaojie, who could be called a generation of famous generals. He still deserved to enjoy the martial temple in the Song Dynasty, and was worshiped by the Song Dynasty as a famous future in the future.

The Anxi Tiger Division set out, divided the troops, and went to clear the remnants of the rebels of Baitieyu. Before leaving, all the generals in Anxi made a military order, promising to complete the task within ten days and return to hand over the order. There is a bit of "competition" in this, because Xue Shao recovered Yan and Sui Prefectures within ten days.

This kind of competition is benign, and Xue Shao greatly appreciates the blood of the soldiers of the Anxi Tiger Division. If you don't fight and don't fight, then you are not a soldier.

With the Anxi Army taking over the rest, Xue Shao's men and horses finally ushered in a rare rest. At this time, Xue Shao also had time to start the official inventory of casualties and make every effort to help the injured.

The 800,000 horsemen at the time of departure were actually less than 800 by the time they arrived in Yanzhou, and some of them withdrew from this battle in the middle of the snowstorm. In the battle of Chengping, thousands of cavalry were scattered among the main forces of 5,000, acting as low-level generals such as team members and fire chiefs, and taking the lead in charging into battle. After this battle, the thousand cavalry lost a total of more than 340 people.

Eight hundred thousand horsemen, now only half is left. The quantity has indeed decreased sharply, but the quality has increased more than tenfold. The surviving thousand cavalry soldiers have withstood the battlefield trials of blood and fire, and now they can be called the real elite.

Xue Shao thought to himself, Emperor Li Zhi would definitely be quite painful when he knew about this. After returning to Chang'an, how to convince the emperor how to reorganize the thousand cavalry will definitely be an important and arduous task.

The most casualties were the native soldiers under Guo An's command. They set out with 1,200 people, and now only 216 remained, almost all of them wounded, and no less than half of them were seriously injured.

Xue Shao took all the thousand horsemen to visit Guo An and his wounded soldiers.

Seeing that the native soldiers and brothers were all ragged, yellow-skinned, and each of them had severe frostbite or sword sores on their bodies, many of the thousands of cavalry soldiers shed tears. They took off their five-colored robes and presented them to their native soldiers who fought side by side with them.

The next day, Xue Shao and Guo An re-ascended Guitou Mountain and came to Guikou Cliff. It is here to pay tribute to the fallen soldiers.

Xue Shao said to Guo An, the dead have been buried in our hearts. The settlement of their compassionate family members was personally arranged by the Tri-State Deposed Embassy and was responsible for the end.

As long as the living people are willing, take all your family members and the rest of your life, go with Xue Shao, and go to Chang'an!