December 20, 881 A.D.

It is already the twentieth day of the lunar month, the people have long been preparing for the New Year, as the saying goes, long and short work, the twenty-fourth day of the lunar month is full of work, the lunar month is the slack season, farmers can take advantage of this time to rest, and the Spring Festival is the most solemn festival, visit relatives and friends, begging for the coming year, there are too many things that should be done.

The iron-blooded army stationed in Huainan Province has long penetrated deep into Haozhou and Luzhou.

The movement of the army was very rapid, and it was in Layue, and the sergeants stationed in Haozhou and Luzhou did not know about it.

When the 50,000 soldiers of the iron-blooded army entered Shouzhou, Li Rupei made arrangements, Zhu Wen led 20,000 troops, responsible for exterminating the 10,000 Yangzhou troops stationed in Haozhou, and he led 30,000 soldiers to be responsible for exterminating the 10,000 Yangzhou troops stationed in Luzhou.

The time of the offensive was set for December 21.

Layue launched an attack, which is unimaginable to ordinary people, the 100,000 soldiers of the Iron and Blood Army, there is no way to have a good New Year, can not reunite with their relatives, brave the cold to go on the expedition, facing the danger of dying on the battlefield, this is originally a demoralizing thing, but the prince personally led the army to the battle, which made all the soldiers excited, the prince is the same as them, can not reunite with his family, the same wind and sleep, the same hardship, put in other armies, this is unimaginable.

The emperor's decree has already arrived in Yangzhou, Bi Shiduo officially appointed the commander of all the Taoist camps, maybe it is the New Year, after Bi Shiduo took office, there was no action, did not ask the army stationed in Yangzhou to dispatch, nor did he ask about the situation of the iron-blooded army, and he looked like he was not moving.

Li Rupei had already analyzed Bi Shiduo's thoughts, after Bi Shiduo surrendered to Gao Yu, it was impossible not to learn to be obedient, the matter of conquering the Yellow Nest was thankless, and the mobility of the Yellow Nest was too strong. Maybe when the army arrived, Huang Chao would withdraw without even fighting, so that the army would be empty, and Bi Shiduo would not do such a thing that cost the people and money.

The most important thing is that Bi Shiduo used to be a general under Huang Chao, he understands Huang Chao's temper and temperament, and also knows that the sergeants under Huang Chao have a certain combat effectiveness, and it is impossible to completely exterminate Huang Chao with only 100,000 troops in Yangzhou, and it is not good. It is very likely to suffer a fiasco, you must know that Zhang Lan back then, so prominent, that Huang Chao had a headache and trembled when he heard it, it was not in the hands of Huang Chao, and Cao Quanxi also died in the hands of Huang Chao.

All this shows that Huang Chao has good combat effectiveness.

Bi Shiduo will not fight, at most he will ask the Iron Army to fight. Bi Shiduo will not ask the Jiedu envoys in various parts of the south to support the Iron and Blood Army's conquest of the Yellow Nest, and may also ask the Jiedu envoys in various places to guard against the Iron and Blood Army.

Therefore, Li Rupei prepared for the worst, that is, to confront the army under Bi Shiduo, and rely on his strength to completely exterminate the army in Yangzhou. As long as the army in Yangzhou can be completely wiped out, the imperial court basically has no army in the south, and Li Rupei has not yet taken the rest of the small troops under the control of the Jiedu envoy.

The Iron Blood Army was able to wipe out the 100,000 army in Yangzhou. It also indicates that the imperial court has lost control of the south, and all these places are controlled by Li Rupei and the Iron Army, when the time comes. Li Rupei will use some other tricks to make the capital completely chaotic.

So the battle of Yangzhou is crucial.

Once the battle of Yangzhou began, it also heralded a complete break between the iron-blooded army and the imperial court, although on the surface obeying the emperor, in fact, it was going its own way, of course, there was another point, Li Rupei also expected that after the battle of Yangzhou was launched, the northern feudal towns would definitely not live in peace, and there would be a lot of action.

Li Rupei thought that it would be better to let the northern feudal towns and the imperial court fight against each other, or fight each other, weaken their own strength, so that the iron-blooded army could pacify the north in the simplest and easiest way, and complete the important task of unifying the north and south of the Tang Dynasty.

Li Rupei also considered letting Huang Chao go to the north to make trouble, but finally dispelled this idea, Huang Chao and the northern feudal towns are still typical, Huang Chao's character is brutal, will not care about the place, the historical Huang Chao, once used human flesh as military food, killed countless people, let Huang Chao go to the north to make trouble, Li Rupei is to find trouble for himself, if the capital Chang'an and the eastern capital Luoyang are destroyed in the hands of Huang Chao, he will not forgive himself, so Huang Chao must be exterminated in the south, which cannot be shaken.

Xie Yuxin entered the Chinese military tent.

After a long period of exercise, Xie Yuxin has undergone a huge change, the previous weak image has completely disappeared, Xie Yuxin participated in the training of special forces, which is called devilish training, many people can't bear it, they can't imagine that Xie Yuxin actually endured it, and it is precisely because of this that Xie Yuxin, a general of the iron-blooded army from a literati, has been recognized by the soldiers.

Li Rupei values Xie Yuxin very much, he knows very well that the generals of the Iron and Blood Army cannot be completely coarse, for example, Song Hu and other types have almost no development potential, and it is difficult to be competent to command operations alone, because the cultural level is not enough, and serving as the general of the Iron Blood Army is purely the need to maintain the situation, if the generals of the Iron Blood Army are all of the same type as Song Hu, to put it mildly, it is very likely to drag down the Iron Blood Army.

Xie Yuxin's situation is different, a scholar, but there is no fame, entering the iron-blooded army, just to be able to make meritorious contributions, so he will work hard, especially able to endure hardships, Li Rupei promoted Xie Yuxin to be the general of the iron-blooded army, which is a great encouragement for Xie Yuxin, in order to be competent, Xie Yuxin almost desperately, participated in all the training steps of the special forces, survived more than half a year, and successfully completed all the training.

Usually, Xie Yuxin reads a lot of military books, and finds the generals around him for advice, which is very modest.

Li Rupei always paid attention to Xie Yuxin's situation, he knew that Xie Yuxin's progress was rapid, and the only thing he lacked was to command large-scale actual combat.

Li Rupei took Xie Yuxin out on the expedition this time to give Xie Yuxin the opportunity to command the battle alone.

"General Xie, the army will start fighting tomorrow, and 10,000 soldiers in Yangzhou are stationed in Luzhou City, what suggestions do you have, let's hear it."

"Yu Marshal, the subordinates think that the soldiers are fast, the fortifications of Luzhou City are not particularly strong, and it is during the Spring Festival, the soldiers in the city are negligent in defense, and they will never imagine that the Iron Blood Army will launch an attack at this time, the Iron Blood Army marching process, most of them are day and night, try to keep their whereabouts secret, it should be said that the sergeants stationed in Luzhou have not yet noticed the actions of the Iron Army, and the subordinates are willing to lead three thousand elite soldiers tonight to launch a surprise attack, and the army will then take Luzhou City in one fell swoop and destroy the army stationed in the city."

"Oh, then tell me what to do when you attack Yangzhou next."

"After the iron-blooded army launched an attack in Haozhou and Luzhou, the news will definitely spread to Yangzhou quickly, Bi Shiduo's choice should be to stick to Yangzhou, after all, it is during the Spring Festival, if Bi Shiduo retreats to Yangzhou, the iron-blooded army can take advantage of this opportunity to quickly assemble in the direction of Yangzhou, encircle Yangzhou, and trap Bi Shiduo's army, and his subordinates think that the iron-blooded army should not attack for the time being, and adopt the strategy of besieging Yangzhou, and when Bi Shiduo is short of food and grass, the decisive battle will come."

Li Rupei nodded slightly, for so many years, the iron-blooded army has fought in the form of fierce attacks and fierce attacks, and has never besieged the opponent, so that many soldiers are used to rushing and killing on the battlefield and are unwilling to use the way of trapping.

"Very well, what if Master Bi chooses to fight face-to-face."

"The subordinates believe that it is almost impossible for such a situation to occur, and the soldiers of the Iron Army hope that Bi Shiduo can take the form of frontal combat, so that they can fight quickly, and the subordinates think that the army under the command of Bi Shiduo is by no means the opponent of the soldiers of the Iron Army, not to mention that Bi Shiduo has not controlled the army for a long time, and the contradictions within the army are serious, only the 20,000 troops stationed in Maozhou and Luzhou are Bi Shiduo's henchmen, the most trusted army, and the Iron and Blood Army uses lightning speed to destroy the 20,000 army, For Bishiduo, it was an unbearable blow. ”

A smile appeared on Li Rupei's face.

"Your analysis is good, if Master Bi asks the court for help, how should the Iron Army respond."

Xie Yuxin paused slightly and spoke randomly.

"There is no turning back arrow from the bow, and the subordinates think that there is no need to manage the measures of the imperial court, when Gao Biao led the army to be stationed in Yangzhou, Huang Chao attacked Luoyang in the east, as well as Henan Mansion and other places, Gao Biao watched from the wall, unwilling to rescue, at that time the imperial court should be severely punished, and now the iron-blooded army is just a substitute for the imperial court to teach Yangzhou an army."

"General Xie, you have told you all this truth, how can the court be embarrassed."

"The subordinates think so, and that's what they say, the subordinates think that the commander has pointed to the crux of the problem, and there can be no vague understanding among the officers and men of the Iron and Blood Army, and they must be consistent from top to bottom, and they must not be shaken by any external forces."

After another pause, Xie Yuxin spoke.

"The subordinates believe that the guarantee of victory in this battle mainly lies in the supply of grain and grass, and the siege of Yangzhou is not short, and there must be sufficient supply of grain and grass, so that Bi Shiduo stationed in Yangzhou can be completely besieged."

After Xie Yuxin said this, Li Rupei stood up.

"Very good, I decided to let you command the battle against Luzhou City, and you are solely responsible for commanding the battle, and I will not intervene, and I believe that you can take Luzhou in the fastest time."

Xie Yuxin's body trembled slightly, what does Li Rupei's arrangement mean, he knows very well, if this battle can be completely won, then he will be able to command more and more important battles in the future, maybe it is possible to take charge alone, let a scholar command such an important battle, such a decision, only Li Rupei dares to make a decision.

"Marshal, my subordinates are willing to make a military order and will definitely take Luzhou City." (To be continued......)