Tang Jun lived in Xin'an for more than a month, and there was no movement until the moon. But Xue Chongxun is not idle, he has to ask a lot of things all day long, and managing so many people at one time is really complicated and tricky. He had 40,000 troops in his hands, of which more than 24,100 were actually cavalry, and the rest were heavy soldiers and logistics personnel, and generally did not go into battle.

The main force of the Luoyang Army was stationed in Cijian and defended by fortifications, but they did not dare to take the initiative to attack for fear that the Tang army would make a detour to rob the Yellow River Warehouse in the northern mountains. So Xue Chongxun divided the main force of the more than 20,000 Chinese troops into two armies, left and right, and asked Zhang Wulang and Yin Ci to lead the daily formation and coordinated training; He also asked Wang Changling to lead the civilian officials to manage the military supplies and grain and grass, and Yu Wenxiao restrained the scouts and made careful efforts to inquire about the news.

More than 20,000 horses eat more than people, and they are really burning money, not only do they have to eat grass, but each horse has to take a bucket of corn and salt every day, plus tens of thousands of people's food, and a large grain transport team has to go back and forth from Tongguan every month to replenish grain and grass. Therefore, when a general, Xue Chongxun, gave up Cijian and outflanked Luoyang from the south bank of the Yellow River, Xue Chongxun was worried that the logistics line would be cut off, so he refused to be built by others, and continued to stay in the barracks and ask people to train every day.

Day after day, until the sixth day of the lunar month, the world suddenly snowed, and the snowflakes were very beautiful, and Xue Chongxun received a private letter from Empress Gao on this day. He was a little surprised, although the letter only told him to defeat the Hui Dynasty Yunyun as soon as possible, with the intention of urging the war, and the words were all official affairs, but the queen personally wrote a letter that really surprised him.

Wang Changling, who happened to be on the side, asked, "What did the queen say?" ”

Xue Chongxun wanted to hand him the letter, but when he saw that the font was thin and clear, as if it was Empress Gao's handwriting, he stopped after a moment of silence, and only said: "Urge us to start a war as soon as possible." ”

Wang Changling said: "She believes that the lord can win. There are only two reasons for Dafan to urge the war, one is to defeat the heart, and the other is to fear that the generals will support troops outside and lose their own weight. ”

Xue Chongxun shook his head and smiled, noncommittal. Of course he won't mess around now, otherwise he will kill himself, and the possibility of success with a positive bloodline like Li Longji is very small, let alone someone with his surname Xue. Can the tens of thousands of soldiers and horses in his hands follow the rebellion, if they dare to claim the emperor, they will definitely be the target of the public, and when the time comes, what will they do to defeat the hundreds of thousands of border troops who are still in the Tang Dynasty, the forbidden army in the Gyeonggi region, and the Fanshangfu soldiers in the southern ya?

Wang Changling saw Xue Chongxun smiling, and also said with a smile: "So the queen is eager to overcome her heart, and she wants the lord to get rid of the trouble in her heart as soon as possible." ”

At this moment, Zhang Wulang and the others rode in from outside the camp, walked in front of Xue Chongxun and dismounted, and said, "Xue Lang, the weather has changed suddenly, and the soldiers have been trained in formation, do you want to retreat?" ”

Xue Chongxun listened and climbed up to a high ground next to him to see the scene outside the camp. I saw that the wilderness among the snowflakes was full of people, like a big dark cloud, and the scale of more than 20,000 people was so wide, like a sea of people pressed by the black. The weather is hazy and the sight is not very good, and you can't see the left and right sides of the sea of people.

He had no shelter from the wind on the high ground, and when he was blown by the cold wind, he got a layer of goosebumps, and the cold was unbearable. But I saw that the soldiers outside stood motionless, even though the snowflakes fell, and the cold wind howled, they remained quiet. Xue Chongxun suddenly realized that this was in ancient times, and it was really not easy for the army to have such discipline.

Xue Chongxun couldn't help but sigh: "The Tang army is resistant to war, and it can be seen from this camp. ”

Zhang Wulang and other generals said kindly: "Xue Lang, as the main general, shares weal and woe with the soldiers, and often asks about every detail, and everyone has a deep understanding of concern, and he has never shown favoritism in military discipline, so he has today's morale." ”

Xue Chongxun smiled: "So, my master general is quite qualified?" Don't just pick up nice things, tell the truth. ”

The generals have said good things one after another, what is not arrogant or rash, strict in governing the army, and good at accepting advice. Xue Chongxun said: "Yesterday, someone said that I should send troops to Beibi Mountain, but I didn't listen. ”

Everyone looked at each other after hearing this, and was speechless for a while, many people were not comfortable with Xue Chongxun's way of speaking, only Wang Changling, Zhang Wulang and other acquaintances laughed and did not speak.

Although Xue Chongxun didn't really believe in those, his confidence had reached its peak at this time, and he immediately said: "Order all the troops to go back to the camp to rest, and from today you don't have to go out for three days. ”

Because this decision was too sudden, the generals were stunned, and someone persuaded: "I am attacking the enemy for defense, the enemy army is defending against my edge for the joint army, and there are many weaknesses in the grain road, why not win by surprise?" ”

Xue Chongxun suppressed his smile, pointed to the huge queue like an iron plate outside the camp and said categorically: "I am strong and weak, who is playing tricks with them?" First destroy the main force of the enemy army head-on, settle the battle in one battle, and then slowly calculate after the battle. I have made up my mind, and it is useless to say more! ”

Everyone has been getting along for more than a month, and they have somewhat understood Xue Chongxun's temperament, sometimes he is very modest and obedient to others, sometimes he is stubborn and self-serving, once he decides that he can't pull the donkey back, no matter how much he says, it will be in vain, and if he is in a hurry, he may have to be punished.

So the order was conveyed, and the troops collected their troops and returned to the camp for three days to repair. But these three days are not to stay in the tent and sleep, there are many preparations for the war, each person has at least three weapons, bows and arrows, short soldiers are equipped with everyone, and the main battle weapons are either spears and double-edged broadswords or shields. Everyone was busy picking up all kinds of ordnance, counting arrows, thirty arrows for quivers, and carrying a hundred arrows for the survivors.

On the 8th day of the first lunar month, the military quartermaster specially distributed red beans, walnuts, pine nuts, persimmons, millet, yellow rice, glutinous rice, millet, water chestnut rice, jujubes and other things, so that everyone could cook laba porridge and eat meat at night. Xue Chongxun said to everyone that he had a good year after winning the battle.

After a good meal, the camp was set out early the next morning before dawn, and the horns and drums beat on the camp, and the scene was extraordinarily magnificent, a lively and busy scene.

Xue Chongxun only began to pack his clothes and armor after he had eaten enough, and before he set out for the battle, he received a suit of armor worn by a general from the Ordnance Palace, and today was the first time he wore it. The structure of all parts of the body is almost the same, but the helmet is a little strange, there are actually three horns, and after wearing it, he has a feeling of familiarity in the bronze mirror...... Suddenly remembered that this helmet was a bit similar to the Fusang warriors on TV, which made Xue Chongxun a little puzzled, but after thinking about it, it must have been learned from the Tang Dynasty, so he felt a little more comfortable.

After putting it on, he hung up a barrier knife and a horizontal knife to match, then took a two-edged Mo knife and held it in his hand, and came out of the big tent fully armed. The generals and the Flying Tiger Regiment Guards were already waiting outside, the horseman led the horse over, Xue Chongxun turned over and got on the horse, and shouted: "Go!" ”

In fact, the coordination of each army and battalion is commanded by the generals separately, Xue Chongxun didn't care at all, there were too many people, he couldn't see it, let alone command them one by one, just take the guards away.

After walking for a while, the dawn in the east had just broken through the night, and after a little light, Xue Chongxun looked back before and after, only to see the flag of the Chinese army fluttering, the team was balanced and upright and very neat, the infantry and cavalry were wearing armor, and the eyes were full of iron goods, like a large torrent of steel. As the battalions walked, they beat the cowhide drums, and the armies listened to the drums and coordinated their steps, and the heavy footsteps made the earth tremble.

Not far from Xin'an to Cijian, there were scouts on the road to report, Cijian enemy troops have heard the wind, have been prepared, and set out to line up outside the camp to wait for work.

Xue Chongxun looked back at the crowd: "Li Sanlang is a little bold, so he just has a showdown. ”

After the hour, the whole Tang army arrived at Cijian, with light cavalry and crossbowmen as the vanguard, and stabilized the front line with arrows, and the Chinese army successively set up the whole team.

This place has already been explored, and the open terrain within a radius of twenty or thirty miles is bordered by the Gushui River in the north, and there are some small hills in the south, which is suitable for the deployment of large armies.

Xue Chongxun ordered Zhang Wulang to command more than 12,000 troops of the left army to deploy in front, and the right army to deploy in the rear as a reserve.

After assigning command, just as he was looking to find a high place to watch the big scene, he suddenly heard the roar of horses' hooves, and the front was full of men and horses, and he couldn't see the situation clearly, so he asked, "What happened?" The general from the front reported: "The enemy cavalry took advantage of my unstable foothold and rushed forward, and the forward general was ready to meet the battle." ”

Zhang Wulang said: "The number of war horses in Luoyang is limited, and the horse team must not be much. And the main force of the enemy army did not dare to rush to fight, otherwise they would gather too far away and be in chaos. So Xue Lang doesn't have to worry. ”

Xue Chongxun nodded and said: "The left army continues to form a team, how to fight all Tingwulang, just let go of your hands and feet." ”

Zhang Wulang clasped his fists and saluted, then rode his horse to the front of a two-story chariot, turned over and dismounted, and climbed up the wooden ladder. It was a command vehicle, with various flags on the upper floor, drums, gold, gongs, trumpets, and other things on the bottom, and some soldiers defending inside.

Seeing this, Xue Chongxun said in his heart: There are no mountains left and right in this plain area, and Lao Tzu will not see anything after a while, and there is no big car here. So he also rode over and followed the command car, and the cavalry of the Flying Tiger Regiment had to guard the chariot on the left and right.

Standing on a high place is really visible, this car is really practical, although it is conspicuous in the high place, it is located in the center of the army, far beyond the range of ordinary bows and crossbows, there is no danger, if there is a heavy weapon that can hit such a long range, it can also hit the target just right...... That should be missile, not the accuracy that cold weapons should have.

Xue Chongxun looked at it with great eyes, and saw that the horses in front of him were galloping, and the arrows were flying wildly, and they were already fighting. Today is a good day, the sky is clear, but the snow on the ground has not yet melted, otherwise this kind of land will be dissipated by smoke and dust by thousands of horses. G