In the first year of Guangqi (875 AD), the situation on the ground of the Tang Dynasty suddenly changed dramatically, and Li Bao, the king of Ji, who had always been low-key and forbearing, suddenly became extremely high-profile.

First of all, King Ji captured Tian Lingzi, the great eunuch who brought disaster to the country and the people, and led the army to break through Pizhou, the capital of Suining Town, which intended to rebel, and captured Zhu Mei, the envoy of Suining Jiedu.

Then Li Bao, the king of Ji, escorted Tian Lingzi and Zhu Mei to Beijing, and the three divisions of the Criminal Department, Dali Temple, and Jingzhao Mansion were tried.

Li Bao, the king of Ji, did not personally bring the two traitorous ministers back to Beijing for trial, he only arranged for Hu Sanbao to go back, because he had more important things to do.

At the beginning of October of the first year of Guangqi, the Weizhou army once again used the gunpowder hole attack and blasting method to break through the city wall of Pizhou, and after seizing Pizhou (now Bin County, Shaanxi) in this earth-shattering way, the Weizhou army captured Zhu Mei, the envoy of the Suining Jiedu.

The capital of Suining Town was under the city, and Ningzhou (now Qingxian County, Gansu), Qingzhou (now Qingyang City, Gansu), and Yanzhou (now Changwu County, Gansu) all looked at the wind and fell.

The Weizhou Army, whose morale was greatly boosted, took advantage of the situation to play the banner of "arresting the anti-thieves and hoeing traitors for the country", and for a while, the towns in the northwest boundary of the Tang Dynasty were in an uproar, and the people were panicked.

Li Bao gathered a large army and immediately sent troops to Langzhou, Baoda Jiedu made Li Xiaochang very acquainted, the Weizhou army just arrived at the city of Langzhou, he immediately opened the city and surrendered, and expressed his willingness to follow the Ji King Li Bao to obey the dispatch of Weizhou.

Li Bao, the king of Ji, appreciated Li Xiaochang, who knew the current affairs, so he appointed him as the vice president of the Weizhou Honor Academy and sent him to Weizhou to follow Yang Yinyue.

After resting in Langzhou for five days, the Weizhou Army immediately reorganized its army and sent troops to Yanzhou (now Yan'an, Shaanxi), the purpose of which was naturally the Patriotic Army.

The festival of Weiguo Town made Cao Ruting very afraid of the Weizhou army, but he didn't want to lose the foundation in his hand, so when the Weizhou army attacked Suining Town, he began to prepare. He sent people to Xiazhou (present-day Jingbian, Shaanxi) to discuss countermeasures with Li Sigong (Tuoba Sigong) of the Dingnan Army.

Li Sigong is now suffering from illness, but he has a full understanding of the dangers of the menacing Weizhou Army, and he strongly orders the Dingyan Army to send troops to assist the Patriotic Army.

Because Li Sigong was seriously ill and could not personally lead the troops to the battle, Li Sigong appointed his second brother Li Sijian as the queen of the Dingyan Army, and led 10,000 troops and horses to Yanzhou to assist the Weiguo Army in meeting the Weizhou Army.

Xia Feng hunting, Li Bao sat on a horse and stopped at the foot of Yanzhou City, and what he saw was the Xiazhou Party Iron Cavalry full of military uniforms, they were skilled in bows and horses, and they were neatly equipped. Looking at the sluggish Patriotic Army on the side, the strong army and the weak army made a judgment.

On the other hand, his own Weizhou army is at its peak and morale is like a rainbow, and his heart is full of pride. Now in the northwest territory, if he wants to make a name for the Weizhou Army, he has to find someone who is famous enough to have a hard time.

Among the three towns of Suining Town, Baoda Town, and Weiguo Town, in addition to the Suining Army, there is still some combat power. The other Baoda army and the Patriotic Army did not see the momentum of the strong army at all, and now the Dingyan Army is coming, this battle is full of highlights, and this is also the famous battle of the Weizhou Army.

Li Bao looked at the generals around him, Song Wentong was calm, Zhang Qingping was brave, Zhang Chengfan was elegant, Wang Bo was fierce, Xiahou Haoyue was brave, and Qian Dean was cunning...... Their characteristics are varied, but they all have a loyal heart, and they know that they can only play a greater role in this troubled world by surrounding Li Bao, the king of Ji.

In addition, Li Bao has just contained Wang Jian, Lu Yanhong, and Han Jian, three heroes in history, and they have just joined the camp of the Weizhou Army. Therefore, Li Bao didn't need to let them go into battle first, as long as they followed the army as a bystander, they first got used to the style and tactics of the Weizhou army.

Han Jian and Wang Jianlu Yanhong are different, he knows that as a general, he must find an opportunity to show loyalty in order to win the favor of his master, but he has never found a chance.

When he arrived at the city of Yanzhou today, Han Jian knew that this was an opportunity to perform, so he immediately came to Li Baoma and said to Li Bao: "Your Highness Wan'an, attacking the city today, I want to ask His Highness for the position of a pioneer, so as to share his worries for His Highness." ”

Li Bao sat on the horse and looked at Han Jian condescendingly, he remembered the historical fact that Han Jian was on the side of Chang'an and always rectified Zhaozong Li Jie and the Tang Dynasty, which was called a miserable, he had always been very disliked by the seventh Li Jie, although this guy was cunning, but it was also angry with Li Bao.

So he and Yan said to Han Jian: "Han will be loyal, but this battle is a hard battle, Han will watch the battle first, let's see the strength of my Weizhou army first." ”

Han Jian saw that Li Bao said this, and he felt that although he didn't get the task this time, it would not be a loss to leave a good impression in front of the lord of Weizhou, Prince Ji, so he retreated on his own. It was his actions that caused Wang Jian and Lu Yanhong to complain a lot, but Han Jian couldn't care about it at this time.

Li Bao saw that Chenguang was not early, so he said to Xiahou Haoyue: "Xiahou Dalang will let your third army face the coalition of the Patriotic Army and the Dingyan Army today, how can you have confidence?" ”

When Xiahou Haoyue heard this, she immediately laughed and said: "Your Highness, rest assured, a military order has been issued here, and the city gate of Yanzhou will be opened for you before the whole army has dinner." ”

"Okay, Gu will see General Xiahou show his might today, do you want to appoint another deputy for you to suppress the formation?"

When Xiahou Haoyue heard this, she immediately shook her hand like a lotus leaf, and shouted in her mouth: "Your Highness, don't bother, the third army of a certain family will never need to trouble the brother troops, Your Highness will wait for the good news of so-and-so." ”

……

Xiahou Haoyue praised Haikou in front of Li Bao, but he understood that the Xiazhou Iron Cavalry on the opposite side was by no means a rice bucket, and although they had fought like Tubo in Weizhou over the years, it was just an ordinary training battle, not a real battle.

Now His Royal Highness is leading the Weizhou Army out of the nest to announce to the people of the whole world that the Weizhou Army is not a straw bag, and the Weizhou Army is a sharp and heavy weapon to shock the world and support the Tang Dynasty, which is the expectation of the Weizhou people and the simple concept formed for a long time.

Since the establishment of the Weizhou Army, the ideological education of each sergeant in the Kingdom of Ji has not stopped, and each of them has been instilled by education: the concept of loyalty to King Ji and fighting for the orders of King Ji for life.

Xiahou Haoyue also has his own beliefs, he was originally just an ordinary Jinwuwei sergeant in Chang'an City, and now he can become a number of generals in the Weizhou army, with a team of 10,000 people, he understands that this is completely the reason for Li Bao, the king of Ji.

He can't forget his roots, a good man must stand up to the sky, he wants to prove to King Ji and the whole world that the man of his Xiahou family has real skills.

The establishment of the Weizhou Army was reorganized by Li Bao two years ago, and the establishment of the army was upgraded. Today's Weizhou Army is one to five armies as numbers and sequences, with an establishment of 10,000 people per army. Each army was divided into two compartments, left and right, with five brigades each, two battalions each, five battalions each, ten fires each, and ten men each.

As generals, Xiahou Haoyue and others all felt that the number from one to five was very dull, and they always wanted to discuss with Li Bao to change the number of the troops, but Li Bao was always noncommittal.

However, not long ago, His Royal Highness King Ji wrote the name of the "Wind and Fire Army" to the artillery battalion in Tibet for the first time, which made many people see the hope of changing the name of the unit.

However, this name change must be done with results. The Wind and Fire Army was able to get His Royal Highness to write the number in His Royal Highness's own handwriting, because they had made achievements in Tibet. Today is a good opportunity for him to change the name of the Third Army in Weizhou, and he Xiahou Haoyue is desperate to win this opportunity for all the Third Army.

Xiahou Haoyue pulled through the subordinates in the Third Army in Weizhou to start the pre-war mobilization meeting, Xiahou Haoyue not only served as the commander of the Third Army, but also served as the owner of the left wing of the Third Army, and Ding Badao served as the deputy of Xiahou Haoyue as the owner of the right wing of the Third Army.

The ten brigade commanders of the Third Army were middle-level generals in the army, and when they saw Xiahou Haoyue coming back from His Royal Highness King Ji and had a smile on their faces, they knew that their own army master must have received a military order.

So a group of people surrounded Xiahou Haoyue and asked, "Xiahou Army Lord, did Your Highness let our Third Army attack first?" "Looking at the smile on the face of our military master, we know that the position of this vanguard must be our third army", "Don't sell it, let's talk about it." ”

Xiahou Haoyue waved his hand, and then said: "You dogs, just listen, this time the battle of Yanzhou, His Royal Highness has been fully handed over to our Third Army." ”

"What? Xiahou military master, you didn't coax someone, did you? Ding Badao asked with a look of surprise.

"This is naturally true, you will have to cheer up a certain later, a certain has already made a military order for His Highness, and the whole army will break through Yanzhou City before dinner, you all know that this military order is not a joke, if the third army can't take Yanzhou City, what face do we have to see Your Highness? At that time, a certain person will ask himself to step down as the commander of the Third Army, and you can wait and see. ”

Xiahou Haoyue said resolutely, and everyone was awe-inspired, and they promised that they would not disgrace the Third Army. Xiahou Haoyue said to everyone: "I won't say much about the void, let's discuss the battle later." ”

When Xiahou Haoyue was busy formulating military strategies, Li Sijian of the Dingyan Army was not idle, he looked from afar, and saw that the Weizhou Army on the opposite side was so majestic, and he was quite hesitant in his heart.

Cao Ruting looked at the sad expression on Li Siji's face, he was even more worried in his heart, he hesitated: "Li Yanei, according to you, what are our chances of winning this time?" ”

Li Sijian looked at Cao Ruting, who was full of sadness, he knew that this ally was also beating a drum in his heart at this time, but at this time, the morale could only be drummed. So he smiled and said: "Ambassador Cao, don't worry, although this Weizhou army looks majestic, but their generals have not gone through many battlefield battles, and the sergeants of a certain Dingyan army are all veterans of the battlefield, and our number is not less than the people on the other side, and we will never suffer a loss in battle."

Besides, we have Yanzhou City as a support, their Weizhou army is far away and tired, even if we are unfavorable in the first battle, relying on Yanzhou City to hold on, the days are long and the night is cold in the north, they will definitely not carry much grain and grass, as long as Xiazhou sends a ranger to continue to sweep their grain routes, these Weizhou soldiers will be able to suffer heavy losses and collapse without a fight. Once they run out of food and grass and retreat in defeat, we will be able to win without a fight. ”

Cao Ruting listened to what Li Sizhi said, and the panic in his heart calmed down a little, but he remembered the rumors in the past that there were many magic weapons in the Weizhou army: coupled with the unpredictable method of breaking the city wall in the Weizhou army during this time, he couldn't help but worry again, and then remembered Li Siji's fleeting sorrow just now, he couldn't help muttering in his heart: "Can we really hold it?" ”