In the middle of October of the second year of Changyuan (the first year of the Luoyang era), the Tang court mobilized 40,000 troops, more than 20,000 war horses, countless grains, grasses, heavy mules and horses, and launched a counterinsurgency war against Luoyang with Xue Chongxun, the general of the left guard of Hedong County, as the main general. The military budget is 800 million yuan, and the prefectures and counties along the way have requisitioned people to transport grain and grass, and the people and money are consumed.

According to the news from Luoyang, Li Longji claimed to have 100,000 troops, but in fact there were about 40,000 or 50,000 troops: about 20,000 troops from the original Luoyang garrison and the garrison of the Yellow River Dacang and other places defected, plus some big families in the eastern part of the country recruited troops and horses, coerced farmers and craftsmen, and soldiers recruited from the Zuo Zhichong Prefecture, and the total strength was tens of thousands...... Their original plan to persuade the guards of Youzhou and Tongguan to rebel has not succeeded.

Li Longji set up officials in Luoyang to open the dynasty, and the three provinces and six ministries were all available, and he also set up government offices in the occupied places to engrave and seal letters, and a complete set of perfect institutions were established very quickly, and Chang'an had to pay attention to it, so he did not hesitate to mobilize heavy troops and spend a lot of money to suppress them.

At this time, Xue Chongxun had the power of the army in his hands, tens of thousands of elites in his hands, and he was full of confidence in victory, but he did not dare to take it lightly. The impact of this war is very crucial, in case it loses...... The Chang'an Imperial Court is almost finished: not only will Li Longji further grow and attract more forces; And Guanzhong loses tax support, making it difficult to provide for it.

Xue Chongxun set out from Chang'an with his Shence army, and arrived at the southern plain of Tongguan at the beginning of winter, and 36,000 Guanjian people from all over Guanzhong also converged here one after another, and after the combined army, the army totaled 40,000, and marched eastward along the south of the Yellow River.

The two deputy generals, Zhang Wulang and Yin Ci, were both Xue Chongxun's old subordinates, and Xue Chongxun listened to their advice and organized Guanjian into six armies with 6,000 people each, plus the descendants of the Shence Army, a total of seven troops. When marching, it was divided into three armies, the front, the middle and the rear, with the Chinese army as the main force, and advanced straight to the east.

The striker did not encounter any resistance until he reached Cijian in the west of Luoyang, and he did the work of paving roads and repairing bridges. The general of the vanguard of the official army made meritorious service and led thousands of cavalry to charge the formation, but was defeated and retreated westward to Xin'an before closing the position.

After Xue Chongxun arrived in Xin'an, he was furious when he heard the news of defeat, although he had never fought a big battle, but he knew a lot of people who led troops, and he had always heard of the truth of the soldier's sharpness.

At this time, the person who was friendly with the general came out to intercede and persuaded: "It is not very auspicious for Fang to behead the general, so if the prince leaves him with his life, he will be guilty of meritorious service in the future." ”

Xue Chongxun felt that it made sense after hearing this, the enemy army didn't kill the general, but he killed one first, which seemed to be a bit unlucky. But when I think about it, if I don't listen to the command, I will fight indiscriminately, if I spare it, it will not have a good impact on military discipline, and when others make a mistake, you will not kill anyone, how can you kill Lao Tzu alone?

When there was some hesitation left and right, Xue Chongxun also had no experience in how to deal with this situation. But he didn't like to sway from side to side the most, and after a moment of silence, he immediately said: "It's useless to talk too much, beheading!" ”

Several generals hurriedly fell down and said, "Think twice." ”

Think of your sister! Xue Chongxun secretly scolded and said angrily: "Come on, drag the sin down." ”

At this time, Zhang Wulang said: "The enemy army is stationed at Cijian to guard the gate, and wait for work, and the soldiers cannot come to the city unless they take this place." Our army has come from afar, so it is better to settle down and stabilize the camp before trying to forge ahead. ”

Yin Ci also agreed: "Xin'an is located on the north bank of the valley, our army is stationed on the south bank, and occupies the city, and the two sides of the strait come and go freely. You can threaten Cijian at any time, and you can send troops across the river at any time to threaten the granary on the bank of the Yellow River, killing two birds with one stone. ”

Xue Chongxun thought it was good, so he ordered the whole army to stop camping here. It was the first time he had brought so many people, and he really had no experience in how to set up camp and set up formations, but fortunately, there were generals around him who had learned the art of war, and he only needed to delegate power to the right people...... For Zhang Wulang, Xue Chongxun was intentional to cultivate, so he gave Wulang the opportunity to exercise, let him be responsible for commanding the battalion, and then let the two officers and generals who had seen the battle serve as deputies to check and fill in the gaps.

After Zhang Wulang chose a place that was conducive to defense, he asked someone to cut wood and first enclose a temporary wooden wall. The army accompanied them with their own tools, in addition to making fires and cooking, there were also wooden saws, axes, machetes, hammers and other things, which came in handy at this time. When marching and fighting, you don't just cut people, and sometimes you have to do life work such as chopping wood.

The people who went out to cut down the trunks of many trees came back and divided them into two kinds, one long and one short. Then bury half of the trunk in the soil after scorching it, arrange the long trunks in a tight row outside, and the short trunks in a row inside, and then put a plank between the two rows of trunks, divided into two layers, so that the part of the long trunk becomes a parapet, the upper layer of the plank can be used by sergeants to patrol and post posts, and the lower layer can store defensive weapons and rest.

In half a day, the structure of the barracks was constructed, and after lunch, everyone began to build the facilities in the barracks. The organization of the Tang Army's weekday operations was basically a squad of 50 soldiers plus a deputy of the captain team, and the same was true when the camp was set up, more than 50 people formed a camp tent, and everyone's camp tent was facing each other, digging drainage ditches around the camp tent and between the camp area.

Zhang Wulang issued another military order: it is strictly forbidden for sergeants to run between various camps, and tents are not allowed to run around in the camp; Each battalion (regiment) should dig a thatched hut from a suitable distance, away from water sources and grain storage, and not too far, and those who are not qualified will be whipped by the captain.

After a whole day of such busy work, the framework of the barracks was roughly completed, and about 40,000 people lived together, which was very lively. The open space next to the river is like a low city pulled out of thin air, and if you stay for two more days, the watchtower, arrow tower and other buildings will be repaired even more decently.

In the evening, Xue Chongxun and the generals came to a high place, only to see that the fire was bright within a radius of several miles, the patrol team was uniform, and there were drums to command the change of guard and set up a strict degree, Xue Chongxun was very accomplished and couldn't help but feel happy, and forgot the gloom of the defeat just a few days ago.

……

However, at this time, the transportation information was inconvenient, and Chang'an was not very clear about the situation on the ground, and the news they got was only that the official army lost the first battle in Cijian, and then stationed in Xin'an and did not move, without any achievements. The atmosphere in the imperial court was naturally not very good, thinking that he was very capable of fighting when he met Li Longji, and he couldn't calm it down for a while.

Xue Chongxun's work was also slow, he knew that he was inexperienced, for fear that some negligence would lead the whole army to collapse, and he was also cautious in his actions, and the progress was even slower...... In fact, they seemed to be addicted to living in the newly built barracks, and they did not move until the wax moon, and there was no progress at all.

At this time, Chang'an was a little unable to sit still, and the imperial court sent Yushi to Xin'an to see the situation and asked Xue Chongxun if he had increased his troops. The county lord of Jincheng also wrote a letter to ask for warmth, and even Empress Gao wrote a personal letter to Xue Chongxun in her private name, attaching great importance to the war.

Queen Gao didn't know the bottom of her heart, and when she went to the court, she heard the courtiers behind the curtain saying that Li Longji had 100,000 troops and established three provinces and six departments, which was very powerful. I also heard the eunuchs who were in charge of the affairs inside that Xue Chongxun had never fought a big battle at all, and he relied on Cheng Xianggong to support the southern front in Longyou to resist the Tubo and Tuyuhun coalition forces.

Coupled with the public opinion caused by the defeat in the first battle, the rumors inside and outside the palace these days have also made Queen Gao feel uncertain. She is not yet twenty years old, and she used to practice a little in fighting with women in the competition for favor, and she was even more unheard of about military affairs, so she naturally couldn't figure out the situation on the battlefield.

But she was in this position, and even if she couldn't figure out the war, she could understand the consequences of the war: if the battle was lost...... The Chang'an regime will inevitably decline, what is Brother Fen's throne still sitting on?

At this moment, Queen Gao felt that Brother Fen was a bit wise and foolish, no matter how the power changed, no one should want to take his life, he didn't care about the government at all, and he was helped up by others to sit on the throne. At the beginning, Brother Fen was a thorn in Youzhou, he didn't care about government affairs, just eating, drinking, having fun and hunting, and lived a good life, but he received an edict from the Emperor Taishang of Chang'an asking him to inherit the unification, what is wrong with being an emperor?

Queen Gao thought about Brother Fen, and reflected on whether she was too eager for quick success? Just about to get involved in political power, they encountered this kind of incident, in the future, if Li Longji really wants to regain power, even if they don't embarrass Brother Fen, they will definitely not let her go!

It's okay if you give death directly, but if you are confined to the cold palace, how will you live? Queen Gao thought that she was young and at a good time, but she had to be accompanied by a lonely lamp all day long, and her heart trembled.

So she took the pen to write a letter to Xue Chongxun in person, but she didn't know what to say, and then she saw that the inner Yu Liben was standing on the side of the royal collapse, and she asked: "I want to write a letter to the king of Hedong, what should I write?" ”

Yu Liben saw that Queen Gao was distracted these days, and he didn't want to speak rashly, so he took the opportunity to say when he heard the question: "Xue Lang is an understanding person, and there are many fierce generals under him, Niangniang doesn't have to worry too much, the rumors and rumors are all instigated by ignorant people." If you pass on the letter, the slave and maid feel that you should not intervene in the war, lest Xue Lang think that the palace does not trust him. ”

Empress Gao felt justified after hearing this, and couldn't help but nod slightly.

Yu Liben pinched his tone again, and said calmly: "The slave maid heard that Xue Lang did not move in Xin'an, and thought to himself that he must be slow and stable, let's not worry about him on a business trip, but the progress is slow, but they attach too much importance to caution and tie their hands and feet...... At this time, if Niangniang promised Xue Lang to defeat the Hui Dynasty and add an official to the knighthood, it would encourage him to be bold and enterprising, killing two birds with one stone. ”

"Kill two birds with one stone?" Empress Gao pondered for a moment, then smiled lightly, "Not only does it let him go, but it also shows my trust." ”

Yu Liben bowed and said, "Niang Niang Mingjian." ”

Empress Gao was in a better mood when she said this to Yu Liben, and said with a smile: "I see that you have other thoughts and want to fight for Xue Dalang...... After all, you are a person with His Royal Highness Taiping, and you are more loyal to the old lord than to me. ”

Yu Liben hurriedly said: "Don't see the queen mother, today, except for Xue Lang and their family, who is still sincere to help you?" ”

(Hurry up and take a look at the author's recommended work: The little widow provokes the cold president) G